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#220605 On a quest to be the best. [FM15]
simoncoyne
#220260 Tongey's Travels.
simoncoyne
#220247 Bayern and Beyond
simoncoyne
March 2018
Let's face it, you all want to know what happened in the second leg of the Champions League, so let's just skip ahead:
We did exactly what we needed to do, winning by three goals without conceding more than two. Unfortunately, since the scoreline was the same in both legs that meant extra time, and we just ran out of steam, hanging on for the lottery of penalty kicks. And we didn't have a winning ticket, unfortunately, crashing out 4-3
The league results. A big match against Borussia Dortmund that will go a long way toward determining when we can wrap up the title.
Another 1-0 match against Hamburg, but this time we used the home advantage to come victorious. I would have swapped this win for the cup match, though, 10 times out of 10.
Another classic Der Klassiker. We may have gotten the better of possession, but they made the most of theirs and things got really nervous. Barbosa won a penalty for us in the 4th minute that Schweinsteiger duly converted, then Kevin Grosskruetz, who was complaining about the penalty's legitimacy, went and scored down the other end. Juan Jesus gave them the lead five minutes later, but Barbosa scored a goal of his own to equalise. The match-winner came from an absolute bomb off the foot of Pierre Hjobjerg - 25 yards out and into the top left corner. Sadly, the win was marred by an injury to Mario Gotze, he'll be out for at least six weeks. Especially poor timing, given that this match was just before the Atletico Madrid second leg.
My largest victory in charge of Bayern. A hat-trick from Özil, a brace from Januzaj, and goals from Barbosa, Insigne and Muller and Thauvin in substitute roles.
We head into April knowing that we have six matches left and that's it. We're 17 points ahead of Dortmund but they have a game in hand, so I'm treating it as a 14-point lead and know that we probably won't clinch until there are four matches left. Since the Atletico match I've been trying to do "mini-rotations", keeping 8 of my core players in the starting lineup whilst rotating out three other players in an attempt to keep everyone happy.
#220231 Dans Journey Around The World [FM15]
simoncoyne
#220214 Bayern and Beyond
simoncoyne
Well, I'm not sure what happened, other than it's a giant nightmare. We're still doing well in the Bundesliga, as you'll see, but everything else...well, there's no other way to put it - it's gone to shit.
I'm not sure what happened to the screenshot from the Wolfsburg match on the 3rd, but we won, 3-1, with Barbosa nabbing a brace and Özil scoring the other
Dumped out of the German Cup in the quarter-finals. A poor, uninspired showing by the first-choice squad
Yes, we won, but when you consider that our opponents are at the foot of the table and all but relegated, a 1-0 victory (with the goal coming in the 83rd minute) is a poor performance, derby or not. But that just sets the table for:
Probably the worst performance in my time as manager. Again, I sent out my supposedly "first choice" side, the same that lost to Hamburg, and the result was even worse. As you can see, we absolutely dominated possession and couldn't do anything with it. Meanwhile, the defence was stumbling all over each other, and we're practically out of the Champions League, needing either to win 3-0 or by 4 clear goals. Granted, we did exactly that the last time we played Atleti at home, but that was with a more reliable defence made up of exactly the same players!!!
Goalscorers and Bundesliga table. We'll win the league, but that's about it:
#220194 Gabriel Batistuta - Batigol is back!
simoncoyne
#220193 Bayern and Beyond
simoncoyne
December 2017 - January 2018
A quirk of the schedule threw up three straight home matches, and we dominated each one. The Nurnberg match was actually a bit closer, but two Adnan Januzaj penalties made it seem more out of reach than it was.
We had already clinched top spot in our Champions League group, so I sent out a second-choice squad and still demolished Shaktar.
We just couldn't finish. We had more shots, but they weren't of sufficient quality. Even bringing in super-sub Bernard couldn't inspire the team. The loss to 2nd-place Leverkusen narrows the gap to four points with one match left before the break, confirming our status as Herbstmeister.
Dortmund is no doubt Bayern's main rival, but on a personal level, Schalke is probably the team I like the least. So this 5-0 thumping was satisfying on a personal level. Good for Mesut Ozil, too - he scored for the first time this month.
Results and goalscorers - now that Barbosa ended his scoreless streak, he's scoring for fun with three goals in six matches. Lorenzo Insigne returned from injury to make an instant impact:
Here's the table. Leverkusen is just four points behind, but we claim the winter championship for the fourth year running:
A quiet January transfer window saw me focus more on re-signing my players than bringing in new ones. However, two new players with join at the end of the season, one on a pre-contract and one on a transfer:
The famous Tonny Trinidad. I've been resisting picking him up for ages, but he's stayed at Feyenood this whole time and is now a three-star player with 4.5 potential. He'll be ready to slot in straight away next season and will allow me to off-load players such as the oft-injured Marco van Ginkel.
I beat off Barca and Real for the rights to this Turkish regen, who should partner nicely with Trinidad. He cost €12 million which will rise to €15 million after appearances.
Two more matches at the end of January, and they augur well for February:
Coming back from the break, we stuff 4th-place Hoffenheim at their place. Lorenzo Insigne scored again, making me re-think his position in the squad as well as Florian Thauvin's
The corresponding fixture at the start of the year was the perfect symbol for our early season troubles and Timo Horn's struggles. I let him start again versus his old team, and he did quite well. By the way, Insigne scored yet again!
Next month, a very busy February with two matches each week, including a Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.
#219323 BMG x2
simoncoyne
Bayern should definitely hire a 43-year-old Dutchman who led them to four Bundesliga titles on the bounce in an alternate universe to pull them out of their funk.
#219320 Gabriel Batistuta - Batigol is back!
simoncoyne
#219319 Tongey's Travels.
simoncoyne
What is it they say in FM? Oh yeah: "Brilliant start to the season lads, now let's kick on and really give the fans something to cheer about!"
#219069 Dans Journey Around The World [FM15]
simoncoyne
#219062 Bayern and Beyond
simoncoyne
Thanks Dan - things are moving along pretty well, but not as smoothly as last season. Although I suppose that makes me a bit like the lady with a Virginia ham under each arm crying because she doesn't have any bread...
November 2017
As with October, we had five matches, three in the Bundesliga and two in the Champions League:
Shut out against Kaiserlautern on the road, and this is notable because it is actually the first time since the 5th of November, 2016, that we failed to score. That's 364 days since we were shut out in a competitive match. Our defence was fairly decent, given that we only allowed one goal, but three points dropped as far as I'm concerned.
The return leg against Genk, and the win puts us in the driver's seat to advance to the knockout rounds. Porto also won their match against Shaktar, meaning we're both on 8 points going into our match together on 29 November
We return to our clean sheet ways of the past year with this 2-0 win over Hertha at home. Gotze and Ozil score in the first half, and the defence makes it stick. However, with 34 shots, we really could, and should have scored more.
Another 2-0 win, this time away from home against a Freiburg side that started the season brightly but slipped into mid-table obscurity and are now closer to the relegation zone than the European places (although not by much). Thauvin makes the most of his start to open the scoring, and the second goal was scored by Gabriel Barbosa, with his first goal for us since August. Not exactly what you want in a striker, but I was willing to overlook things given how well Zlatan, Gotze and company have been scoring.
After the match, this popped into my inbox:
Cha-ching! I knew he wouldn't have any problems scoring those ten goals. Does it make me a little remorseful that with him doing it so quickly, it might have been a sign I shouldn't have sold him? A little, but with any luck Barbosa will still be banging them in for us long after Lewandowski has retired.
Our big Champions League showdown against Porto, and we take all three points and confirm our passage to the knockout stages. Barbosa, clearly relived at having broken his drought, bagged a brace which proved to be crucial in the final margin. Due to Genk beating Shaktar, we have pretty much secured the top spot as well.
This month's results and goalscorers:
Here's the standings at the end of November. With four matches until the break, we're in good shape to claim the Herbstmeister for the fourth season running. Hoffenheim has faded somewhat, but Leverkusen has come on strong and is now in second, five points behind us.
At the other end of the table, whilst Nurnberg's point total is still in the single digits, they are actually a point closer to safety than they were at the end of October. Things are very tight at the end of the table, with 11th through 17th no more than three points away from either potential relegation or safety.
#218794 Dans Journey Around The World [FM15]
simoncoyne
#218704 Tongey's Travels.
simoncoyne
This, this I like...
#218702 Bayern and Beyond
simoncoyne
Five matches this month, thanks to the international break. Why can't the fixture congestion ever occur in the first part of the season when everyone is fresher?
Our defensive woes continue. As you'll see, this is a recurring trend throughout the month. And the season. I just don't understand how the same defence that led the Bundesliga last year with 26 goals allowed can be leaking so many. At this rate, we'll pass that total by the winter break. It's a good thing that we score a lot, too.
This is more like the Bayern that I know. Five goals from five different goal scorers including both centre halfs. I decided, with a match at home against a mid-table opponent, to throw caution to the wind and put our home winning streak on the line by starting Timo Horn in goal. It turned out that he didn't let us down. Last year's defence is back, this year's would have made the score 5-4.
Two weeks later it was the first Der Klassiker. We travelled to Dortmund rested and relaxed, and never trailed in the match. The first goal may have been credited as an own goal, but Barbosa would have put it in the next if the Dortmund defender hadn't. Kurt Zouma scored two more in identical circumstances, headers off of goal kicks. I'm glad Dortmund was unprepared defensively - our centre halfs have been heading in corner kicks since, oh, the moment I got here.
A bit of a letdown when we travelled to Belgium for the Champions League. Schweinsteiger scored in the 3rd minute, and asking this defence to protect a one-goal lead for 87 minutes is a bit of a fool's errand I'm afraid. Somehow, 5 points from the first three matches is still good enough to top the group:
The last match of the month. We fell behind early and went into the locker room down 1-0 at the half. Ever-reliable Bernard hit the equaliser, and Thomas Muller put us in the lead, important to maintain our place top of the table.
The month's results and goalscorers:
The Bundesliga table. Note how it's us and Hoffenheim. What is this, 2008?
#218639 Tongey's Travels.
simoncoyne
#218637 Dans Journey Around The World [FM15]
simoncoyne
#218394 Bayern and Beyond
simoncoyne
Zlatan with the hat trick against Augsburg! Unfortunately, we let in three as well.
I'm really worried about our defence. It hasn't changed from last year's championship-winning squad, but we are letting in goals all the time. The only loss was Holder Badstuber, and he didn't really get a game in after signing a pre-contract with Mainz in January.
Timo Horn has been horrible. He hasn't won a game in the Bundesliga (Neuer, by contrast, is 6-0-0) and lets in goals left and right. He was supposed to be more of a job share for Neuer than a backup in case of injury, but right now I simply don't trust him. I forgot to rotate Neuer out of the squad for the German Cup match, and frankly, I'm glad I did because I don't know if Horn would have succeeded against Freiburg. We've got Matheusao, who's supposed to be our keeper of the future, but he's still a few seasons aware and needs to go out on loan for a few years a la Thibault Courtois. Back to the drawing board for the keeper situation, I guess.
Normal service has resumed at the top of the table, both for us and Dortmund. We'll play each other on 16 October, just after the international break. We've also drawn Nürnberg for a Süd derby in the third round of the DFB-Pokal. 1860 München beat Dortmund(!) and I was really hoping to draw them, but alas, it was not to be. They've drawn 2.Bundesliga side RB Leipzig in the next round, so there's a chance Die Loewen could still progress and we could meet in the quarter-finals. Here's hoping!
#218352 Bayern and Beyond
simoncoyne
The board wanted me to sign a five-year deal, but I had already knocked that back a few months ago. I suggested just a one year extension, expecting them to counter, but they accepted.
At least I've got my captain's support.
#218332 On a quest to be the best. [FM15]
simoncoyne
#218330 Dans Journey Around The World [FM15]
simoncoyne
#218329 Bayern and Beyond
simoncoyne
FC Bayern
Pre-season and August wrap-up
A busy offseason saw three big names come in on transfers:
Zlatan is the player I was alluding to earlier when I said I was tracking a big-name player who was out of contract. As it happens, he re-signed with PSG for a season, but they must have had buyer's remorse as they transfer listed him. I ended up having to spend €800,000 instead of getting him on a free, but that's okay because he agreed to terms that were €50,000 less then he was asking for on a pre-contract back in March. He'll serve as my second-choice striker, and will get his contract renewed if he makes 20 league appearances. If he's doing well, I'll make sure that clause is triggered. If he stinks up the joint, I'll make sure he doesn't even see the bench. But with those ratings, I feel confident that he'll perform well in the Bundesliga.
Here's the big signing. Özil was transfer listed for some reason, and I was able to get him for the knockdown price of €15 million (especially when you consider that Arsenal paid €50 million for him). He's just 28 years old, but I had to give him a sweetheart five-year deal as I faced competition from Liverpool and Dortmund to sign him. One part of his contract is a 10% sell-on clause, which is fine with me because I have no intention of selling him - he'll play out his contract and we'll see what happens then as he'll be 33.
Bayern's new record signing, secured from Lazio for €55 million. 20 years old when I signed him and already a 3.5 star player, my scouts think he'll be 4.5 stars when all is said and done. But wait - why sign a striker for so much, especially when I've already signed Zlatan as cover. Surely, after spreading that much, I wouldn't just loan him out? The answer as to why I signed Barbosa lies with my next graphic:
Lewandowski gone to Madrid. I was able to negotiate them up to €70.5 million; €63 million up front, and the further €7.5 million after he scores ten league goals for Real. Once that deal was done, I needed to get a premium striker, and money was no object. I considered Higuain, but Barbosa is eight years younger with similar ratings.
The signings in full. As you can see, even after making a club-record signing, I still made €3 million in the transfer market this summer. I was able to negotiate Saul up to €25 million from PSG, they originally offered less than I paid for him. Visser and Vollmann were in my first crop of regens, those players are now at the point where I can make money selling the ones not good enough to play for Bayern:
The loans out:
And the free transfers. Franck Ribery solved my problem for me by announcing his retirement, but I think he's having second thoughts because he's twice pushed back his retirement date by a month and I can't see what his backroom staff attributes will be yet. Again, Muller and Neumann are regens whose time at the club has come to an end:
Here's the results of the friendlies. An unbeaten pre-season, but we weren't able to defend our Super Cup title, the streak ends at five. This was Jurgen Klopp's first piece of silverware since I arrived in Munich
And finally, here's August's matches that matter. Barbosa is off to a flyer with three goals in two matches, Özil's providing goals and assists, and Zlatan has managed to get himself on the scoresheet as well. After signing Timo Horn, he's more of a squad player than a back-up goalie so I decided to give him the start against his old team Borussia Monchengladbach. That might have been a mistake
The table shows the story. Had the Gladbach match occured in November, it would have been a mere blip. But because it came in Matchday 3, we're in fifth place on goal difference.
#218233 DP91's European Glory
simoncoyne
Yeah, Lewandowski is pretty awesome. If you had him in your squad, you'd have to be a fool to sell him...
#218232 Tommos European Journey
simoncoyne
#218223 Gabriel Batistuta - Batigol is back!
simoncoyne
Because it's Argentina?
#218221 Tongey's Travels.
simoncoyne
#218220 BMG x2
simoncoyne
I say that all the time!
#218155 Dans Journey Around The World [FM15]
simoncoyne
Good luck in Wales.
#217863 Tommos European Journey
simoncoyne
#217776 BMG x2
simoncoyne
This could be its own thread - Where in the World is Zizou?