Life in Football Manager

It’s been a while since I have last updated on what is going on in my career game, during the time that I have not been writing I have filled it up with playing. It definitely helps if you don’t let the writing about Football Manager take over from actually playing it otherwise I would run out of things to say. So since I last wrote about my game I have actually played a whole season and half, I did get a little carried away before I put my progress to paper.

The team that I have got now at Arsenal is more or less sorted it is definitely a team that can challenge for the league it has plenty of experience and players at their peak as well a the right balance of young players, with a few minor tweaks and a good run in the league it could see me at the top. I have come to kick myself in developing a Liverpool side that has great talented youth players coming through as well as a killer pair up front in Torres and Aguero as they have become the dominate force of the league and look really unstoppable specially if you allow yourself to slip a few games, Liverpool have been the only team that have made it difficult for me to get to the top.

The start of 2013/14 then actually seen me getting rid of a few players, players that had served the club well but really weren’t pulling their weight anymore. During the last campign I was really disappointed by Cesc Fabregas, apart from being injured for the majority of the season whenever he actually played he did well but wasn’t giving the squad the extra bit of a boast I needed from them, he didn’t score many goals from midfield and never rarely made many either and when he is compared to Meirda he wasn’t really worth the wages he was getting paid as the combination of Meirda was bringing me goals from those central positions and too valuable to drop for Cesc. So when a bid of £42 million came in from Real Madrid I jumped at the chance to get the boy out of the door. He was followed by Eduardo who was really coming to the end of his peak years, it was time for him to leave and I couldn’t find any room for him in the squad anymore, so a year before his contract was up I cashed in when I could £3.5 million came in for him. Hleb who went to Wigan in the January 6 months before his contract ended netting £350k which was better then nothing, it could be used to pay a few of the players wages for a week, Bently really pushed him out of the squad.

The swoop of the season was former Barcelona and Liverpool player Giovani Dos Santos. I had already been able to snatch him from Barcelona on a free transfer a few seasons ago at Liverpool but when I had the chance to do it again from Liverpool I wasn’t going to refuse the opportunity specially for a player worth near £16 million and still to reach his peak. Next stop was a decent goalkeeper to back up for Olezabal, Fabinski was good but I was looking for someone better than him, I finally settled for Craig Gordon after many attempts for other goalkeepers, paying £15 million for him though I think I was robbed when I look at it now, he is now 31 and there is better players out there, but I am sure that he will do his job when called upon. Next step then was a striker, Samaras was doing well but his goals tally was falling and I needed a younger striker to take his place. I looked again at me previous experience with players, Henri Saviet seemed a perfect option. He had since moved on from Liverpool to Valencia in a free transfer when I left but was playing regular football and playing it well there, a good backup for Bendtner, Walcott and Trejo I though £14m wouldn’t be so bad. I also signed a 25 year old Alan Kardec who looks just as good even better then Saviet and at the same price I couldn’t resiste but accept even though I had won the bid for Saviet, the only problem was that the Brazilian was unable to get a contract and had to be shipped out to Belgium to gain nationality there.

The season started well with a Charity shield win against Liverpool, a close game which in which I was able to pressure Liverpool in to their own half, but the only problem was my strikers were unable to get past the young defense, taking pot shots that weren’t going anywhere. Liverpool scored first with Aguero and then Bendtner equalised, great bit of passing across the field until it was in the box with Silva who pulled it back to Bendtner who hit it on the volley. That goal was enough to take it to penalties, Aguero this time was the first player to miss the spot kick and cruelly enough Dos Santos scored his penalty to seal the win, his first competitive game for The Gunners.

The league carried on are winning ways, beating Bolton in our opening game, and Manchester United in another closely fought battle, Walcott being the player to cap off a brilliant display with two goals and a 3-2 win at Old Trafford. But even though we were playing much better than last season and grabbing important wins, when it came to the lesser teams away from home we totally forgot our defense, Portsmouth able to get a 4-2 win against us and Wigan’s late goal at the JJB were just two of the disasters that cost us the league, conceding it to Liverpool who won it with 83 points, a season that went to the wire. Those games that I should have won easily proved crucial as I finished 4 points behind the Reds in the Premiership battle when I drew 2 games more than Liverpool. But when you look at the difference between the two sides when it comes to away games it just backed it all up, Liverpool finishing 7 points clear and why were they so successful away from home? They could score goals as simply as that, 50 in fact. Liverpool’s strike force was amazing and 104 league goals all season was quite an achievement for Boothroyd. But I was rather happy with the 2nd place 6 points above Chelsea showed we were going in the right direction, I am now confidence that 2014/15 season will be my year for another league title.

In the other competitions I knew to keep myself in the job that I would have to keep up winning silverware in order to keep the fans happy. It was a tough 3rd round draw against Manchester United, definitely not a team you want to see so early in the competition. United quickly went two up at The Emirates, Rooney firing them ahead two minutes in and just after the half hour mark. But with the second goal going in it sparked my team into action and Walcott pulled the game back before half time giving us a fresh look at the game once we came back out. We left it late but it was Walcott again who scored to force extra time and then penalties Walcott found himself in space and seen a chance to shoot and fired it into the right hand corner in the 88th minute. The penalties were not United finest moment as Ronaldo was the only player able to convert a penalty, while Arsenal had a 100% success rate. Reading were next and swiftly passed and Portsmouth even easier in a 4-2 victory in a revenge match for what had happened previous in the Premiership. Derby were in the semi finals and it was 2 goals again from Walcott that made sure Arsenal were to meet another fellow London team once again in a Cup final. From the off Chelsea were in charge of the game, plenty of time on the ball and tested Oier plenty of times 20 in fact, but it was Arsenal that were able to the find the net, we only managed 4 shots on target and 3 of them found the back, Dos Santos with the first and Walcott and Saviet ended the match with a goal a piece and a winners medal in the League Cup. But it wasn’t the same story defending the FA cup as it was Liverpool this time in the 3rd round and they were just too strong at Anfield and won 3-0 even with Aguero being stretched off in the 25th minute. We reached the quater finals of the Champions League before Milan were able to come back from a 2-1 defeat at The Emirates, it was a soul destroying game as we went to Milan with so many hopes of the Semi-Final trip taking a 2-1 lead into the game, but Martins and Pato made us suffer as they won 3-1 in Milan.

Taking a look at the seasons best Eleven we didn’t play too badly and it is definitely something we can improve on: