Manchester United: Building on Success

[Eaglesfan27]

Greetings to everyone reading this. This is the electronic journal of Christopher Engles.

I'm a 37 year old manager who is considered something of a young phenom. I started out my first season of managing professional football at Harrogate Town in the English Conference North back when I was 29. During my first season, I didn't know if I was going to make it through to a second. We had some rocky games in that first season. Fortunately, I showed enough improvement in the 2nd half of the season, that they gave me a chance to come back for another season. You can read about my first season as manager in this thread:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/...ead.php?t=32963 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=32963)


In my second season as manager, I really developed a system and brought in some good talent. Thanks to their play, I managed to help Harrogate win promotion from the English Conference North. You can read about that season in this thread:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/...ead.php?t=33340 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=33340)


In my third season, we continued to gather talent and we continued to win. We won the English Conference National Title and were promoted to League Two. You can read about that season in this thread:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/...ead.php?t=33908 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=33908)


In my fourth season, after some early struggles, the team adapted to League Two play and we went on a tear in the second half of the season. Thanks to our hot play, we won the English League Two Title and were promoted to League One. You can read about that season in this thread:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/...ead.php?t=34430 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=34430)


In my fifth season, I had to make a very hard decision. The team was struggling in League One as the board had continued to refuse to expand the stadium over the years. We were losing money. We didn't have the money to keep our top players. We were floundering. My status was very high and I was being offered several high profile jobs because of what I had done with Harrogate. I made the hard decision to leave Harrogate in midseason and I moved to Wigan. I suddenly had massive amounts of money. I sent some of it to Harrogate Town for a few of my favorite players. You can read about my fifth season in this thread:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/...ead.php?t=35300 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=35300)


In my sixth season, I managed to bring in some potent talent to Wigan via Bosman signings. Thanks to that talent, we won the English Championship with a 99 point season in which we had 30 wins, 9 draws, and 7 losses. I was glad to see that my new system worked nicely at this higher talent level. You can read about my sixth season in this thread:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/...ead.php?t=36645 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=36645)


Then, in my seventh season, I knew that Wigan would have a hard time staying in the EPL and I also knew that Manchester United had a coaching vacancy. It took well over a month, but just before league play started Manchester United approached me and offered me the manager's job. I felt bad leaving Wigan after only a year and a half, but this was the golden ring I had been trying to reach. I quickly took the job. I had moderate to good success in my seventh season as I brought in a few very talented players, including wonderkids Adriano and Craig King. We also brought in the very talented Stewart Downing at left wing. As a result, we improved from the previous finish of 5th place to a 2nd place team. You can read about the seventh season here:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/...ead.php?t=36968 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=36968)


In my eighth season, we enjoyed great success. We had an early battle with Chelsea for the EPL lead. Eventually, our offense really started popping. Wayne Rooney had his best season ever as a Red Devil. Our defense came together. We won the EPL Title. We also won the English Cup Title. However, we fell short of the quadruple and lost in the final of the Champions League and the English FA Cup. Those were both disappointing losses. A developing story all year long was Wayne Rooney's dissatisfaction that I would not let him go to Milan or another "more prestigious club" that made huge offers for him. You can read about the eighth season here:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=37396


So, now I begin the 9th season. My biggest question remains: Do I sell Rooney or do I sign him to a new deal. I desperately want to sign him to a big extension, but if he doesn't take a deal in the next month or so I will consider all offers for him.


<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[Eaglesfan27]

June 19, 2012 -

Last Year we had a very successful financial year as you already know if you read about last year's course.

We have over 100 million in the bank after paying a 37 million dollar dividend to club shareholders.

As a result, the board is willing to let me offer Rooney a bit more.

I'm now offering him: 220,000/week, 44k/goal, 44k/assist, 20% annual raise, and 11 million dollar signing bonus. He is a true star, and I will be happy if he accepts this deal. This is a 4 year deal that will take him through most of his prime years.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 20, 2012 -

Wayne Rooney scored England's only goal in a 1-1 tie with Serbia & Mont. in the European Championship Group Play. Wes Brown, Eagles, Downing, and Alan Smith also started for England! They all played well.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 21, 2012 -

Jeroen Schreurs played well for Holland, but they lost 2-0 to Sweden in the European Championship Group Play.

Damien Duff had an assist and John O'Shea played well in Ireland's 2-1 win over Spain in the European Championship.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 21, 2012 -

Sheesh. Wayne Rooney has rejected this offer. He still feels he is deserving of a better basic salary. I don't know how much better it can get. Carlos Tevez is making 180,000 at Juventus in comparision.

I make Rooney another offer:

The same terms except that the yearly wage raise is now 25%. Also, I add a minimum fee release clause of 120 million dollars.


Wayne Rooney scored 2 goals today for England in their 2-0 win over Romania in the European Championship Group Match. Stewart Downing assisted on both goals. Eagles and Brown also started. Alan Smith came on as a reserve for Joe Cole at the 55 minute mark.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 23, 2012 -

Wayne Rooney has rejected this latest offer as well. I'll make him another offer in a week or two, but it is looking even more likely that I will move him if I get a high value offer.


Eric Djemba Djemba tore his hamstring during a match for Cameroon today. He will be out for about 2 months.


Before tearing his hamstring, Djemba had an asist for Cameroon in their 2-2 tie with Nigeria in a World Cup Qualifying match.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 23, 2012 -

Sweden and Ireland met in the European Championship Quarter Final. Ireland won on penalties after regulation in a 3-2 shootout. John O'Shea played very well for the club. They didn't use Damien Duff at all.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 24, 2012 -

Juventus has sacked Fernando Orsi. My assistant, Carlos Queiroz is considered the favorite to be hired away! He would be a big loss. He is an excellent Assistant Manager who has offered me plenty of great advice.


Holland beat Spain 2-1 in the European Championship Quarterfinal. Jeroen Schreurs had an assist for Holland in the match and played well.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 27, 2012 -

England beat Holland 3-0 in the European Championship Semi-final. Wayne Rooney had a goal, James Milner had a goal, and Jermain Defoe had the last goal. Christopher Eagles had an assist. Stewart Downing played well. Wes Brown didn't play this match.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 28, 2012 -

Germany beat Ireland 0-0, but on penalties in the European Championship Semi-final. Germany and England will meet in the Final.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 1, 2012 -

Liverpool have signed Wayne Bridge away from Chelsea on a Bosman deal.


The transfer window has opened.

The board is delighted with my performance.

[Tellistto]

Sad to say, Man U or you are now likely on Rooneys disliked list. This basically means he won't sign no matter what you do. It'd probably be better to be proactive if/when you decide he's to go, by offering him to clubs at whatever price you want to get for him. Since Milan offered 80+ offer him around for 100 and see if anyone bites, someone will probably come back with at least a counter. Don't let him go for nothing, even paying Everton 35% is better than getting 0.


Tell

Mostly just to get the subscribe :P

[Eaglesfan27]

Sad to say, Man U or you are now likely on Rooneys disliked list. This basically means he won't sign no matter what you do. It'd probably be better to be proactive if/when you decide he's to go, by offering him to clubs at whatever price you want to get for him. Since Milan offered 80+ offer him around for 100 and see if anyone bites, someone will probably come back with at least a counter. Don't let him go for nothing, even paying Everton 35% is better than getting 0.


Tell

Mostly just to get the subscribe :P
I agree with everything you said. He is still angry at me for not letting him move last year, and I'm fairly sure I'm on his disliked list. I'm going to make one last offer for him, and then I'm about to begin actively shopping him.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 1, 2012 -

Everton have signed Akin Serhat from us on a Bosman transfer. I'm glad to see him leave.


Aston Villa has signed 30 year winger Darijo Srna from Lens on a Bosman transfer.


Everton have signed keeper Ceiran Hutcheson from Hearts as a Bosman signing.


Everton have signed midfielder Valery Mezague from Portsmouth on a Bosman signing.


Fulham have signed Peter Whittingham from Aston Villa on a free transfer.


Everton have signed 31 year old striker Nathan Ellington from Portsmouth on a Bosman signing.


Fulham have signed 29 year old striker Helder Postiga from Porto on a Bosman signing.


Aston Villa have signed 24 year old keeper Paul Lancaster on a free transfer from Liverpool.




Thomas Heaton has left the club on a free transfer as his contract has expired.

Steve Burgess has left the club on a free transfer as his contract has run out and we did not feel it was worthwile to renew.


Juventus did not take Mr. Queiroz away from us :) They signed Franco Colomba instead to be their new maanager.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 1, 2012 -

England beat Germany 2-1 in the European Championship Final! Stewart Downing had the first goal at the 5 minute mark, and he assisted on a Joe Cole goal at the 20 minute mark in their 2-1 win. Eagles, Downing, and Rooney all started and played well for us.


Sam Allardyce has stated that he feels he has accomplished everything possible after winning the European Championship and he is stepping down as manager of England!!!


I don't apply for club jobs, but I certainly do apply for National Jobs if I think I have a chance of being accepted. I'm going to apply to become England's Manager.


Michael van Praag has been sacked from Holland's National Team as they are disappointed with the team's failure to win the European Championship.

Rafa Benitez has been sacked from Spain.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 5, 2012 -

Romania's Tiberiu Ghioane has won the European Championship Best Player Award. Damien Delaney of Ireland came in 2nd, and Sean Brady of Ireland came in 3rd.


Wayne Rooney has won the European Championship Golden Boot. He was the leading scorer with 5 goals. Seefan De Weerd of Holland came in 2nd, and Sanli Tuncay of Turkey came in 3rd.



Wow. Wayne Rooney has told me that he is no longer angry at me for not allowing him to move clubs! He does believe that he isn't fully fit yet (which he believed all year last year, but I kept playing him regularly anyway.)



He is now requesting 180,000/week, a 5.8 million dollar signing bonus, 9k/goal, and 5.4k per assist. This is the first time he has altered his demands in some time. He wants a 4 year deal. The board will now allow me to offer up to 240k/week for him. Since he is no longer angry, I try offering him exactly what he requested.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 8, 2012 -

Today was a good day!

First, Wayne Rooney came into my office. He agreed that he likes me and wants to work with me. He signed a new 4 year deal worth 43 million dollars!

An hour later, the national body for England called me. They told me they felt there is no one who is better qualified to become the next national manager of England! I wonder if Rooney forgave me because he realized I was going to be his national coach?


Whatever. I'm just happy that both things happened today. I accept the job as England's Manager. I hope Manchester United doesn't become too upset.



Club Atletico de Madrid has sacked Lorenzo Serra Ferrer.

Chelsea have signed 21 year old keeper Federico Donatelli from Torino for 6.4 million dollars.


Now, that I have cleared up the question of Rooney, I need to analyze all of my club's positions and decide where to invest the 47 million dollar transfer budget (if anywhere - I never spent 38 million of my 50 plus million last year.)

I'll go celebrate this great news with my wife and sleep on this and look at our roster tomorrow.

[Barkeep49]

I thought for sure Rooney was going to go. That's terrific news for you!

[illinifan999]

This is probably the message the AI managers got ingame. :p

hxxp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/dansik/fmmanager.gif

sorry i hate hxxping but dont want to get anyone in trouble :(

[Eaglesfan27]

I thought for sure Rooney was going to go. That's terrific news for you!
I thought so too. I'm really happy that almost a year of kissing butt finally worked :D

[Eaglesfan27]

This is probably the message the AI managers got ingame. :p

hxxp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/dansik/fmmanager.gif

sorry i hate hxxping but dont want to get anyone in trouble :(

:) No need to apologize. I haven't been officially appointed yet, but I'm sure something like that will happen soon ;)

[weinstein7]

I'll go celebrate this great news by sleeping with my wife and look at our roster tomorrow.

Fixed it for you.

[Galaxy]

Great news EF...

Your team seems pretty in place, maybe go after a player like Abu?

By the way, I got my laptop, downloaded the patch, and will load up a new career tonight. I'm thinking I will start in either Ireland or Scotland low-tier leagues.

[Eaglesfan27]

Great news EF...

Your team seems pretty in place, maybe go after a player like Abu?

By the way, I got my laptop, downloaded the patch, and will load up a new career tonight. I'm thinking I will start in either Ireland or Scotland low-tier leagues.

I'm guessing you meant Adu? Unfortunately, I doubt my 47 million dollars will be enough to get him. He is valued at 55 million now and Chelsea views him as indispensable. I'll look at the roster in a few hours, but I suspect I'll be looking to invest in a younger defender or two.

[Galaxy]

Yeah, Adu..

Maybe can bring in one or two young stars with loads of the potential in the center through the backfield. Looking from the roster, age def. seems to be a concern in the backfield, and maybe the midfield.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 8, 2012 -

Roster Analysis:

GK:

Tim Howard - Age is a worry since he is 33, but he still has top notch ability. The question is how long? In any case, he should be my starter this year.

Chris Taylor - The likely heir apparent. He is 22 years old. He is very good at most things. The only undoing might be his poor ability at rushing out. Otherwise, he looks like a very good keeper. He is the #1 backup now.

David Harper - He is a 22 year old keeper who might develop into a top notch keeper. Has superb physical ability. He has excellent goalkeeping skills. He might eventually beat out Taylor for the #1 job. His biggest weakness is that he loses his composure at times.


Final analyis: I'm happy with my 3 keepers at this time. We have one or two good keepers in our U18 team. I don't see a need to acquire a keeper this year.



Defenders:

Mikael Silvestre - Still a very capable defender at the age of 34. The question is how long can he keep it up? He had a few bad games last year, and I think he is slowly starting to wear out. This is his last season that he is signed through and I'm not sure if I will invite him back after this year. If I do, it will certainly be as a backup.

John O'Shea - 31 year old left back/centreback is still very good at the age of 31. He isn't top notch, but he is close. I feel comfortable with him on the pitch as long as he has a top notch defender next to him. He is signed for 2 more years and shows no signs of decline.

Cristian Chivu - 31 year old leftback/centreback is top notch defender. Great passer who does a wonderful job of initiating the counter attack. Also a very good defender. I'm glad he is happy to be here now. He is signed for 2 more years.

Lucio - This 34 year old Brazilian centreback is still one of the best in teh world. He has better physical attributes than any defender on my team, and better than almost any player. Superb speed even at the age of 34. He has excellent mental attributes. His technical attributes are starting to decline. I wonder how many more years he has left? He is signed through this year, and I will offer him an extension very soon if he is interested.

Rio Ferdinand - This 33 year old English Centreback is still a top notch defender. Almost as good as Lucio in physical ability, he is just as good in mental and technical skills. Really a top notch defender. I plan on re-signing him too if he wants to play longer. He is signed through this year.

Matais Cahais - This 24 year old Argentian was my first attempt at injecting some youth last year. Didn't play much, but really developed last year. He is a little slow, and doesn't jump as well as I would like, but he has excellent mental and technical abilities. I will use him much more often this year and see if he is a long term answer.

Wes Brown - This 32 year old right back/centreback still has grat physical skills. His mental abilities are solid, but his technical abilities are starting to decline just a bit. He should be able to play regularly for me for at least another year and maybe two.

Zdenek Grygera - This 32 year old rightback/centreback is starting t show his age a bit. He is still very good in almost every area, but not great in any area any longer.


Overall, I like this group and barring injuries I don't think we have a need. However, the guys are all old. We need to inject youth in this group. It's the only group I don't have a young potential superstar. I'd like to acquire one this year.

[Eaglesfan27]

Midfielders:

Stewart Downing - This 27 year old left winger is in the prime of his career. He is a world class left winger. My only concern is that a few guys on the team don't particularly like him. However, Rooney and Adriano love the guy. He is my clear #1 starter for at least a few years. He is signed for 2 more years.

Damien Duff - This 33 year old Irish left winger still has great speed, great physical abbilities, but his technical abilities are beginning to decline significantly. Perhaps the media were right, it might be time to start using this guy less frequently. However, I think he might be good enough for one more year. His mental attributes are top notch.

Alfonso - This 20 year old Spanish left winger is continuing to develop skills. He has very good physical skills, great mental skills, and his technical abilities are passable but still in need of development. In particular, I'd like to see him develop better crossing. Also of concern is that despite being a left winger, he is right footed. That inhibits the speed of his crosses at times.


Phil Neville - 35 year old defender/midfielder is strictly backup material. He has decent physical skills, very good mental skills, and poor technical skills except he is a decent defender still.

Eric Djemba Djemba - This 31 year old midfielder is still a top notch player. His injuries that are occuring with age are a concern. He has top notch phyiscal abilities, very good mental attributes, and very good technical skills. Has a superb long range shooting ability. Probably has 1-2 more years of first team football. He is signed through this year.

Barry Parker - I brought this 22 year old midfielder onto the team for youth. He is probably ready to play more regularly now. However, top players in the midfield remain ahead of him on the depth chart.

Michael Wood - This 20 year old midfielder is becoming unhappy that we aren't using him. He is developing in some areas nicely, and is worth 14 million dollars! However, I find myself considering selling him. Mainly because I don't think he is ready to play regularly, but he does have a great deal of potential. I might work him onto the pitch more.

Darren Fletcher - This 28 year old Scottish midfielder is still a top notch midfielder. He doesn't have very good speed, but he does everything else well. He is a great passer. Still one of my #1 midfielders, but perhaps not for long if Cook continues to develop..

Jamie Cook - This 20 year English Wonderkid is developing very nicely. He doesn't have great speed, but he has terrific off the ball skills. He has very good mental attributes. He has a great long shot. He is an excellent passer, excellent penalty shooter. He will almost certainly become our top midfielder in the near future. This kid has superstar potential. We recently signed him to a 4 year deal. He is signed through 2016.

Dalibor Stevanovic - This 27 year old midfielder is a very good midfielder. He has excellent shooting ability, good defensive ability, good physical skills. My biggest concern is his lack of determination on the pitch at times. He is good, but we have a glut of talent in the midfield. He might be one of my top candidates to attempt to move.

Souleymane Mamam - This 27 year old midfielder is a good midfielder. He is getting lost in the numbers game. He has excellent foot speed (the best among all of my central midfielders), he has good mental abilities, average technical skills. He is also someone I could seek to move out of this glut.

Christopher Eagles - This 26 year old right winger has become a star. His only fault is lack of good foot speed, yet he uses great anticipation, great crossing ability, good shooting, and excellent mental attributes to play the position very well.

Jeroen Schreurs - This 24 year old Dutch player could potentially push Eagles for the #1 right wing slot. He has better footspeed, excellent mental attributes, and is a superb passer. He really does everything well. He had a knock for not being brave before I acquired him, but this hasn't been a significant problem.


Overall, this position is overloaded with quality. I think Downing - Djemba - Fletcher - Eagles is as good a 4 across the midfield as any team in the world. Cook is a potential superstar. Wood could become very good too. Our stars aren't too old, and if anything I need to move a bit of the excess talent.

I definitely don't see the need to acquire a player unless it is a superstar who has sentimental attachment (such as Adu - although I might play him at Forward if I could somehow get him.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Finally, Striker:

Alan Smith - This 31 year old had a great season last year as he was one of 4 players to score over 20 goals, however, he shows signs of starting to decline in the offseason. It will be interesting to see if he rounds into shape as the pre-season commences. He still has excellent physical abilities, superb mental abilities, but his technical abilities have declined during this offseason. He is signed for 2 more years, and would appear to be among our top 4 strikers.


James McFadden - This 29 year old Scottish player is still in his prime. He also had over 20 goals last year. He is looking very good in practice, and appears to be a top notch striker still. Clearly my third best striker.


Wayne Rooney - This 26 year old is in the prime of his career. I'm very happy to have signed him to a new 4 year deal. He does everything well except tackling the opposition. He has excellent speed that is the best of my strikers. He is a superb dribbler. He has excellent first touch and shooting ability. Not great at heading, but doesn't have many weaknesses. Clearly my #1 striker. Led the team with 31 goals last year.


Adriano - This 20 year old Brazilian striker is my best acquisition at Manchester United so far. He has skyrocketed in value to over 50 million dollars now. He is signed to a new deal for 3 more years. He has superb physical abilities, excellent mental attributes (except for low creativity and flair), and excellent first touch. He is a great finisher around the net. Not a good penalty shooter, but that is ok. He is clearly either my #2 or #3 striker and should get better in the next few years.


Craig King - This 22 year old wonder kid didn't get to play much last year and I'm afraid it slowed down his development. One of my top goals this year is to get King more PT. He has great finishing ability, and he has the potential to be a star or superstar. I need to get him more PT. He is only signed through this year, and I need to make sure he is happy. I plan on offering him an extension now. I contact his agent, and his agent informs me that Craig wants to stay with the club but he wants to be reassured of more playing time this year. He also wants a raise to 70,000/week as well as a 1.2 million dollar signing bonus. I offer him all of those things.


Louis Saha - This 33 year old striker has lost most of his abilities. He is mostly around for sentimental reasons at this point. However, I will let him go when his contract runs out after this year. His footspeed was his last great attribute, and that has seriously declined now.

Ruud van Nistelrooy - This 36 year old striker has lost all of his speed. He didn't have a ton of speed to start with. He has a great shooting touch still, and is still a top notch penalty shooter. I don't anticipate using him much, and mostly signed him for sentimental reasons. He is a player/coach this year and I'm hoping he will agree to work for us as a physio after he retires.

Ernesto Marino - This 26 year old striker is good, even very good, but he isn't top notch. On most teams, he would be a #2 or #3 guy, but here he gets knocked out of the rotation by 5 guys who are better than him. I really want to move him, and will attempt to be very active in doing so very soon.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 8, 2012 -

My plans:

1. Perhaps for sentimental reasons, I really want to acquire Freddy Adu. I have 47 million dollars to work with. I also have a few spare players. I'm going to make a bid for Adu, using that money, Marino, and Wood or Stevanovic as a package deal. I don't know if it will be enough to get Adu. Perhaps this is a sentimental move and is not a smart move. However, I think Adu's value is going to continue to rise.. hopefully I get him and hopefully it is a smart investment. Seeing him play for Chelsea in the Champions League convinced me his footspeed is not so bad that he can't be effective at this level.


2. If my Adu bid(s) fail, I will go after a young defender or two to inject youth into that group. I really don't see any other needs at this point.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 9, 2012 -

Today I was officially announced by The English Football Association as their new national coach. Pundits wonder if a conflict of interest will merge as I divide my time between club and country.


The English Football Association has told me that expect England to qualify for the forthcoming World Cup. They expect strong performances from the national team throughout the qualification period and wish to remind me that the hopes and dreams of this proud footballing nation rest squarely on my shoulders.


Thanks, no pressure there.



Valencia has told Football365.com that they are interested in acquiring Jeroen Schreurs from us. Schreurs' agent is quoted on the site as saying that his client would be tempted by a move to Valencia if it should happen.


I reply to the rumor by saying, that "we will move Jeroen only if the price is right."



France has appointed Lens Boss, Victor Zvunka, as their new national coach.


Spain has appointed Real Madrid boss Francisco Chaparro as their new national coach.


Holland has hired PSV boss, Guus Hiddink, to be their new national coach.



Craig King has signed a new deal for 3 years and 10.5 million dollars. I need to make sure that I give him the promised extra playing time in the near future.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 10, 2012 -

Chelsea has rejected my first offer of 47 million dollars, Michael Woods, and Ernesto Marino for Adu. I will offer Stevanovic in that deal as well. I'll also add 30% of next sale on Adu.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 10, 2012 -

Today we are playing at Apollon in a friendly match. I'm strictly looking for a good tune-up today.

GK: Howard
DL: Silvestre
DC: Chivu
DC: Cahais
DR: Grygera
ML: Downing
MC: Stevanovic
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: McFadden
SC: Smith

S1: Taylor
S2: King
S3: Schreurs
S4: Adriano
S5: O'Shea
S6: Mamam
S7: Parker
S8: Brown
S9: Alfonso
S10: Lucio
S11: Ferdinand
S12: Cook

[Eaglesfan27]

27 minute mark: Downing with a corner.. to the near post.. Smith heads it over the bar.

33 minute mark: Stevanovic with a hard long range shot.. over the bar.

36 minute mark: Eagles passes it long to Downing.. he has a breakaway.. he dribbles into the box.. shoots.. upper left corner.. good save by the keeper.

43 minute mark: Downing passes to Stevanovic in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. the keeper saves it.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. Not much action. Our guys need to get in shape. I bring in the guys on the bench pairing Adriano and King at forward.


56 minute mark: Alfonso crosses the ball for King.. it sails over King's head.. into the goal! Fluke Goal! 1-0 lead.

73 minute mark: Alfonso crosses long to Schreurs who dribbles down the right sideline.. Schreurs passes it to King by the near post.. he traps it.. turns.. shoots.. upper right corner! GOAL!!!! 2-0. King with a nice shot.

86 minute mark: My midfielders pass it around the pitch.. looking for a hole in the defense.. Alfonso passes it to Adriano in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. the keeper dives.. tips it over the bar.


Game over. 2-0 win. Nice tune-up for us.

We outshot them 12-2.

Downing won MoM, 9 for form, 12 of 16 passes, 1 of 1 tackles, 3 of 3 headers, 13 runs, 1 foul drawn.

Eagles, Schreurs, and Alfonso all did well. Most of the team was average. King did well too.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 13, 2012 -

Chelsea have offered 5.8 million plus 30% for Barry Parker. Very interesting, I tell them I want over 15 million for him. However, if they reject this Adu deal, I might throw parker as a part exchange in my new offer to them.


Jeroen Schreurs has told football365.com that he would be keen on joining Valencia, but the speculation is unsettling. He would like the situation to be settled one way or the other soon.

I don't want to move him, but if they force my hand I might...

[Eaglesfan27]

July 13, 2012 -

Chelsea have rejected my most recent offer for Adu. Now, I know that I'm going a bit too much on emotion as I find myself making a very generous offer for him:

I'm offering them 47 million, Michael Wood, Marino, Stevanovic, and now adding Mamam to the deal (I would add Parker, but I can't until the most recent counteroffer to Chelsea is rejected.)

I'm also upping the percentage of next sale to 40%. Adu certainly would be another star if we get him (at the expense of depth.)

[Eaglesfan27]

July 13, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Kalamaria which is a mediocre team. They will be another "Get into shape" match for us.

It's warm with temperatures in the 80's.

GK: Howard
DL: Silvestre
DC: Chivu
DC: Cahais
DR: Grygera
ML: Downing
MC: Cook
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: O'Shea
S3: Schreurs
S4: King
S5: Brown
S6: Mamam
S7: Duff
S8: Lucio
S9: Parker
S10: Smith
S11: Ferdinand
S12: Wood

[Eaglesfan27]

15 minute mark: Cleyton pushed Rooney.. Cleyton gets a yellow card.

30 minute mark: Cook passes to Rooney.. he dribbles past a defender.. into the box.. shoots.. over the bar.

32 minute mark: Wellington pushed Cook.. yellow card for Wellington.. Cleyton argues the call.. gets his second yellow card.. he is ejected.

37 minute mark: Eagles passes to Fletcher in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. good save by their keeper.

45 minute mark: Mamam passes the ball to Cook just outside the box.. he shoots.. wide right.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. I bring in the guys on my bench. Wood is among those, and is therefore getting his first real action with the big team even if it is a friendly.


54 minute mark: Wood passes to Duff in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. the keeper blocks it.. Smith gets the rebound.. taps it into the right half of the goal! GOAL!!! 1-0 lead.

89 minute mark: Duff dribbles down the left sideline.. crosses it long to the far side of the box.. Schreurs with a diving header.. the ball sails.. into the upper right corner! GOAL!!!! 2-0.


Game over. 2-0 win. Another good tune-up.

We outshot them 15-2 (8-0 on target)

Their keeper won MoM.

Schreurs, Cahais, Cook, and Fletcher looked really good. Everyone else was average.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 15, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Olympiakos in a friendly match. They are one of the better teams in Greece and this should be a good match. This match will be televised in Greece and England.

It's hot and sunny with temperatures in the high 80's today.


GK: Howard
DL: Silvestre
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Cook
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: McFadden
SC: Smith

S1: Taylor
S2: O'Shea
S3: Schreurs
S4: King
S5: Cahais
S6: Mamam
S7: Alfonso
S8: Grygera
S9: Parker
S10: Chivu
S11: Marino
S12: Wood

[Eaglesfan27]

1st minute: Brown passes it long to Smith.. he has a breakaway.. whistle.. he is called for having been offside.

1st minute: Eagles steals the ball at midfield.. passes it long to McFadden.. he beats two defenders to it.. dribbles between them.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!! 1-0.

11 minute mark: Howard stops a 15 yards hot from Vasaliskas.


Halftime: A lackluster first half with only a few good scoring opportunities. Hopefully, my stars turn it on once the regular season starts. I'm bringing in the bench players.


51 minute mark: Mamam steals it at midfield.. passes it to Schreurs on the right wing.. he crosses to Marino in the box... Marino settles it.. shoots.. lower left corner.. the keeper dives.. GOAL!!!! 2-0. Good job Marino. Raise your trade value!


Game over. 2-0 win for us.

We outshot them 12-7 (4-3 on target)

Howard won MoM. Everyone played well.

[GoldenEagle]

This is your conscience speaking.

You are giving up way, way too much for Adu.

That is all, for now.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 17, 2012 -

Chelsea have rejected my latest offer for Adu. I will make one final offer: I perform the previous offer plus I add Barry Parker into the mix. This will wipe out depth, but will also clear out a log jam of players at midfield while adding another true star to the mix. Then, I'll be able to mostly rely on Adu, Cook, Fletcher, and Djemba in the middle of the midfield. However, this offer is very generous and it will be my last offer for Adu (although I might declare interest and see if he wants to put pressure on them.)

[Eaglesfan27]

This is your conscience speaking.

You are giving up way, way too much for Adu.

That is all, for now.

I *know* you are right, yet I couldn't stop myself from making one final offer.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 18, 2012 -

Milan have offered 80 million dollars for Freddy Adu!

[Eaglesfan27]

July 20, 2012 -

Chelsea have rejected my latest offer for Freddy Adu. The insanity must stop. I will not make any more offers unless they accept a reasonable offer. I will try to pressure them by making my desire to add Adu public.


Rada Benitez has been hired at Atletico de Madrid to take effect immediately.


The media speculated about my interest already. They feel that chelsea will sell Adu at the right price, but not to an EPL rival. They have a good point.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 20, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Sint-Truiden a team in Belgium in a friendly match. They have a mediocre team and should be easy to beat.

It's sunny with temperatures in the mid 70's.


GK: Howard
DL: Silvestre
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Cook
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: O'Shea
S3: Schreurs
S4: King
S5: Cahais
S6: Mamam
S7: Duff
S8: Grygera
S9: Parker
S10: chivu
S11: Marino
S12: Wood

[Eaglesfan27]

2 minute mark: Downing crosses to Cook in the middle of the box.. he heads it.. the keeper punches it over the bar.


32 minute mark: Cook crosses it to rooney.. he heads it... into the upper left corner.. Go.. whistle. Rooney is judged to have jumped unfairly with the defender.. the goal is waved off.


Halftime: 0-0 tie.


55 minute mark: We have a flurry of shots that their keeper stops.

65 minute mark: I put the bench players into the game.


0-0 tie. Very disappointing. Everyone was was just average except Eagles and Downing who played well. I hope the guys pick it up once the season starts.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 23, 2012 -

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has told the press that he will not sell Freddy Adu at any price.

I've already moved on. I've made bids on two young Italian Defenders who appear to have the potential to be great. I made a bid for Parma central defender Salva. Salva rejected the 9 million dollar bid yesterday. This 19 year old central defender has told Parma that he wants to come to Manchester United and he has made his wishes well known to the public via the press.

I also made an offer of 8.4 million for Gabriele Marchetti and Valencia rejected the offer. These two young Italian centrebacks could be great defenders in the future. I'll look to add them to the club to bolster our depth in the one area where I think we need it.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 25, 2012 -

Gabriele Marchetti has told Valencia boss Covelo (and the press) that he is upset that the club rejected our transfer bid for him. The 20 year old central defender is keen to join Manchester United and states that he should be allowed to leave.

Parma countered my offer for Salva today by asking for 19 million. I counter that with an offer of 15 million.

[Galaxy]

I think going for the two young defenders may be a better move for the depth and long-term for the United. Milan's $80 million offer should scare you away.

[robbgmaier]

those adu manuevers you made were just madness. jesus I'm glad chelsea didn't agree. sometime in a couple years when you start a new dynasty you can get him :)

I still say you should have shipped rooney's ass out :)

[daedalus]

Even better . . . when his contract comes unprotected, rescue Adu from Stamford Bridge.

And I agree with Rob M. :D

[Desnudo]

July 20, 2012 -

Chelsea have rejected my latest offer for Freddy Adu. The insanity must stop. I will not make any more offers unless they accept a reasonable offer. I will try to pressure them by making my desire to add Adu public.


Rada Benitez has been hired at Atletico de Madrid to take effect immediately.


The media speculated about my interest already. They feel that chelsea will sell Adu at the right price, but not to an EPL rival. They have a good point.

If you really want to bring him in, wait until Chelsea make a big transfer buy. If the expenditure drops them out of the "Rich" category, they'll be more likely to accept an offer for Freddy Adu. More difficult with them because of the Sugardaddy in charge, but still possible. Also, the players you were offering reminds me of the old tactic of trading unwanted players for draft picks in FOF. I think the AI is too smart in FM for that.

[Eaglesfan27]

Even better . . . when his contract comes unprotected, rescue Adu from Stamford Bridge.

And I agree with Rob M. :D
You'll right. I was going crazy with Adu madness ;)

I'll definitely try to get him at some point in the future if he continues to be so effective. Unfortunately, they just signed him to a new 4 year deal, so it will be a bit until he becomes unprotected again.

[Eaglesfan27]

If you really want to bring him in, wait until Chelsea make a big transfer buy. If the expenditure drops them out of the "Rich" category, they'll be more likely to accept an offer for Freddy Adu. More difficult with them because of the Sugardaddy in charge, but still possible. Also, the players you were offering reminds me of the old tactic of trading unwanted players for draft picks in FOF. I think the AI is too smart in FM for that.

I think you are right. The AI was too smart. The only guy I offered that they wanted was Parker ;)

[Eaglesfan27]

July 27, 2012 -

Aston Villa signed Juventus' Wayne Dunn for 3.2 million dollars. This young central defender is one good one that slipped under my nose. He might become a very good defender.


Today we play a friendly against my old team, Wigan. They have gotten rid of most of my old favorite players, but I wanted to play them in my last friendly of the season to see how they look. Next year, I might even play them on their pitch (this is the only friendly that I scheduled.)


It is cold today with temperatures in the 40's and it is cloudy.

GK: Howard
DL: Silvestre
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Cook
MC: Fletcher
MR: Schreurs (Eagles is hurt)
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: O'Shea
S3: Smith
S4: King
S5: Cahais
S6: Mamam
S7: Duff
S8: Grygera
S9: Parker
S10: Chivu
S11: Marino
S12: Wood

[Eaglesfan27]

The only guys I recognize in the top 11 are Paddy Kenny and Michael Stewart. The rest are all new acquisitions. Tom Hutchinson and Greg Kelly are the only bench guys I recognize.

24 minute mark: Ferdinand passes it long to Rooney.. he dribbles past two defenders.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

32 minute mark: Fletcher intercepts it at midfield.. passes it long to Rooney.. he gets it just outside the box.. splites the defenders.. shoots.. lower right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0.

34 minute mark: Rooney gets the ball on the left wing.. dribbles past two defenders.. into the box.. passes it Adriano by the far post.. he heads it.. upper right corner.. Paddy with a diving save.

41 minute mark: Downing beats two defenders down the left side.. crosses it to the near post.. Adriano with a diving header.. wide left.


Halftime: 2-0 lead. I saw the good performance I was looking for before we play in the Community shield in 10 days. I put in my bench guys now.


75 minute mark: I've seen a spark in Wood's play during the last 30 minutes, perhaps I should give him significantly more PT than I was expecting..

87 minute mark: Duff crosses it to Mamam on the right edge of the box.. Mamam passes it to King by the left post.. King settles it.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-0.

King looking good.


Game over. 3-0 win for us.

We outshot them 15-5 (9-1 on target)

Downing wins MoM, 9 for form, 10 of 10 passes, 0 tackles, 0 headers, 1 interception, 13 runs, 2 fouls drawn.

Rooney and King also looked good with 8's for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 28, 2012 -

Parma have accepted my offer for Salva, the young central defender. I contact his agent, and he informs me that Salva wants 27,500/week. Mr. Queiroz thinks that this player has a lot to learn before he is ready for first team football and we should only offer 5,600/week. I offer him 23,000/week for a 4 year deal.

[Eaglesfan27]

July 31, 2012 -

Newcastle have payed Tottenham 10.5 million dollars for Jermain Defoe.

Tottenham fans are extremely angry at Gary Megson for selling Defoe who was a fan favorite.

My scout watched Adu today and feels that he would be a good signing. Excellent scouting, Roy Keane.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug. 1, 2012 -

Oddschecker.com has announced the odds to win the EPL Today.

We are the favorites at 6-4. Chelsea is second at 7-4, Liverpool has 2-1 odds, Arsenal has 10-1 odds, Aston Villa has 25-1 odds, and Tottenham is next with 33-1 odds.

A journalist asked if I expect us to win the EPL title this season.

I responded, "We have a good chance of winning the title, but the players must stay focused and give their best in every match."


Salva accepted our contract offer. I hope this 15 million dollar deal ends up being worth it (I think this might be one of my bigger risks signings.)



The board is very pleased with my performance as manager.

The board has announced that due to better financial performance than expected, they are increasing my transfer budget by an additional 12 million dollars!

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 2, 2012 -

My scouts noted that Antonio Ortega is an 18 year old right winger "with a very bright future in the game." As a result, I decided to offer Xerez 5 million dollars for him (his current value.) They accepted my offer. I contact his agent who informs me that his client wants 1,600/week plus 40,000 signing bonus. I happily offer this on a 4 year deal. I think this kid could develop into something special. He will become my fastest player ever. He also is reported to have amazing acceleration. He is already an ok dribbler and passer. He has other things to learn, but at 18 he has plenty of time to learn.


Salva has been called up to the Italy U23 squad for the Olympic Games!

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 4, 2012 -

Antonio Ortega has accepted my contract offer and the deal has been completed. Antonio should arrive soon.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 5, 2012 -

Today we play against Tottenham in the English Community Shield! Tottenham has a talented squad. Keeper Paul Robinson has continued to play well during the past few years. Striker Carlton Cole and Daniel Omoya Braaten have played great. Centreback Mbulelo Mabizela is a very good defender. Midfieldere Pedro Mendes remains a very good player despite his age (33.)

We are 4-6 favorites.

It's sunny with temperatures in the high 50's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Grygera
ML: Downing
MC: Parker
MC: Cook
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: O'Shea
S3: Smith
S4: King
S5: Cahais
S6: Wood
S7: Duff

In this match, we are allowed to use 5 of our 7 subs.

[Eaglesfan27]

2 minute mark: Braaten trips Adriano who was breaking away.. yellow card for Braaten.

3 minute mark: Adriano with a lively dribble down nthe right side of the pitch.. crosses it to Rooney in the center of the box.. he heads it.. barely wide right.

9 minute mark: Lucio with a long pass to the edge of the box.. Cook shoots.. the keeper blocks it.. Downing with the rebound.. blazes it.. over the bar.

14 minute mark: Parker passes it into the left side of the box for Rooney.. Rooney is near the end line.. he shoots that amazing parallel shot.. it is parallel to the end line.. it curves into the upper right corner.. AMAZING! I've never seen any other player shoot the ball like that. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

19 minute mark: Lucio gets a yellow card for tripping Carlton Cole.

23 minute mark: Eaton passes it between Lucio and Ferdinand to Cole.. he dribbles into the center of the box.. shoots.. lower left corner.. GOAL. 1-1.

25 minute mark: Braaten trips Adriano again! That is his second yellow card.. he is ejected.

28 minute mark: Taylor bodychecks Downing.. Downing is hurt! Taylor is quickly becoming my most hated player ever! I put Duff on for Downing.

31 minute mark: Cook is tripped by Jason Eaton.. yellow card on Eaton.

32 minute mark: Adriano steals it from Mabizela in the box.. he passes it to Rooney on his left.. Rooney shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-1.

38 minute mark: Mabizela gets a yellow card for a trip on Adriano.

39 minute mark: Stuart Parnaby gets a yellow card for a push on Rooney.

45 minute mark: Ledley king gets a yellow card for tripping Duff.

46 minute mark: Duff burns a defender.. crosses it to the near post.. Rooney jumps.. heads it.. into the upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-1. That is Rooney's hattrick! He loves the limelight!


Halftime: 3-1 lead. There are over 90,000 fans here today.


Given this ref's proclivity to give yellow cards, I pull Lucio since he has one already. I put Cahais on for him.

47 minute mark: Runstrom dribbles into the box.. fakes out Ferdinand.. Cahais comes over to help.. Eaton is in the box.. Runstrom passes it to Eaton.. Eaton shoots.. upper right corner.. Howard dives.. it is past him. GOAL. 3-2 lead for us.

50 minute mark: Cook gets a yellow card for pushing Cole.

63 minute mark: Wood on for Cook and King on for Adriano.

70 minute mark: Duff trips Pedro Mendes.. yellow card for Duff.

76 minute mark: Howard stops a long shot from Mendes.

79 minute mark: Beautiful goal.. Rooney dribbles into the left side of the box.. passes it across the box to Eagles who taps it back to King who fires it into the upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 4-2.


Game over. 4-2 win for us.

We outshot them 14-11 (9-5 on target)

Rooney wins MoM, 10 for form, 19 of 20 passes, 0 of 1 tackles, 4 of 12 headers, 1 interception, 4 runs, 1 foul drawn, and 3 goals.

Eagles and Duff both had 9's for form. Chivu and Ferdinand both had 8's for form. The rest of the team had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match:

The win was nice, but costly. Downing suffered a groin strain in that hit by Taylor. He is out for 2 weeks or so. Barry Parker also suffered a strained neck and will miss about 5 days.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 8, 2012 -

Darn. Matias Cahais suffered a hip injury in practice today and will miss about 2 months. As a result, it looks like my new Italian signing will be getting more PT.

[Eaglesfan27]

August 9, 2012 -

20 year old Salva played well for Italy in their 1-0 win over Ghana in their first Olympic game. The USA lost to Nigeria 1-0.

England is not in the Olympics group stage.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 11, 2012 -

Lazio has offered Danny Cox (21 year old below average to average centreback worth 8.2 million dollars) plus 17 million for Jeroen Schreurs. I counter with 37 million dollars and that player for Schreurs (I've learned my lesson about not just saying no.)


Arsenal Manager Jose Luis Mendilibar states that he has serious doubts about my chance to win the EPL Title! He feels that I'm too inexperienced to win the title (wasn't he watching last year?) He also states he is unsure how such an inexperienced manager got a job at such a big club in the first place!!


I respond, "I think Jose Luis Mendilibar has no class. We have disliked each other ever since he became manager of Arsenal. I'm tired of keeping this fued quiet. I think he is a jerk, and he doesn't like me. There is no chance we are ever going to like each other. I'll let our play on the field do the rest of my talking."


Tim Howard came into my office and told me that he really wanted to help prove Mendilibar wrong.

Adriano came into my office and told me he likes my response to Arsenal's manager. He feels we have similar personality traits and that we will work together well on and off the pitch!


Lucio came into my office and told me he is very disappointed in my "unprofessional comments to the media."

Christopher Eagles came into my office and told me that he is also disappointed in my unprofessional comments.

[Desnudo]

The funny thing with counteroffering a huge transfer fee is sometimes they accept. I remember Chelsea offering $20 million for one of my players and I countered with a bug-off request of $60 million. They accepted, which kind of left me in a bind. :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 11, 2012 -

Juventus have offered 30 million dollars for Stewart Downing. I counter with an offer of 60 million dollars for him.

[Eaglesfan27]

The funny thing with counteroffering a huge transfer fee is sometimes they accept. I remember Chelsea offering $20 million for one of my players and I countered with a bug-off request of $60 million. They accepted, which kind of left me in a bind. :)
I'm definitely running that risk, particularly with Downing :) It's sort of a nice bind to be in :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 12, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Arsenal in our season opening EPL Match. Arsenal has a talented but aging team. They are led by strikers Javier Saviola and Lukas Podolski. Left winger Jose Antonio Reyes is still a quality left winger. Right winger Salomon Kalou has played very well. Centrebacks Joseph Yobo and Frank Wolf are just average. Keeper Manuel Almunia keeps his job so far, yet he is aging and his skills are declining.

Arsenal are 6-4 favorites!

It's sunny with temperatures in the 70's.

Downing, Cahias, and Salva are all unavailable for this. Downing and Cahais due to injury, and Salva due to the Olympics.


GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Grygera
ML: Duff
MC: Stevanovic
MC: cook
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: O'Shea
S3: SMith
S4: King
S5: Wood

[Eaglesfan27]

First 10 minutes: Arsenal putting the pressure on us, but our defense is holding. Grygera and Lucio have both made a few big plays.

23 minute mark: Chivu starts the counter attack.. long pass to Rooney.. he fakes out two defenders.. dribbles into the box.. shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper blocks it.. Wolf clears it seconds before Adriano gets to the rebound.

28 minute mark: Rooney gets the ball at midfield.. nice leading pass to Adriano just outside the box.. Adriano dribbles into the box.. shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper blocks it.

30 minute mark: Lucio starts the counterattack.. heads it to Adriano at midfield.. he passes it up the pitch to Rooney.. he dribbles into the box.. shoots.. lower left corner.. solid save by the keeper.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. They have over 60,000 fans here today.


Eagles is tired. I need to pull him off the pitch. I wonder if he is hurt. I don't have many options. I put Alan Smith in at right wing.



48 minute mark: Grygera with a 2-footed tackle on Kalou.. yellow card for Grygera.

63 minute mark: Cook with a powerful curving shot.. upper right corner.. great save by the keeper.

64 minute mark: Rooney collides with Wolf.. Rooney is hurt.. I decide to pull him and put King on for him.

75 minute mark: Howard saves a long range shot from Reyes.

78 minute mark: cook gets a yellow card for a trip on Biasi.

82 minute mark: cook is tired and barely avoided a second yellow card after tripping Reyes.. I put Wood on for Cook.

88 minute mark: Duff crosses to Adriano who heads it.. the keeper saves it.



Game over. 0-0 tie.

They outshot us 5-4 (5-4 on target - first time I've ever seen 100% accuracy from both clubs!)

Lucio won MoM, 9 for form, 19 of 21 passes, 8 of 9 tackles, 12 of 13 headers, 3 interceptions, 1 run, 1 foul drawn. He was huge in stopping their strikers.

Howard, Grygera, Ferdinand, and Rooney all had 8's. The rest of the team had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 12, 2012 -

Salva played well for Italy in their 3-0 win over Japan in the Olympic match. Italy has qualified for the next round.

The USA tied Australia 1-1 but is in danger of not advancing since Spain and Nigeria both have 4 point after 2 games while the USA only has 1.

[Eaglesfan27]

The funny thing with counteroffering a huge transfer fee is sometimes they accept. I remember Chelsea offering $20 million for one of my players and I countered with a bug-off request of $60 million. They accepted, which kind of left me in a bind. :)

How true :(

Aug 13, 2012 -

Arsenal have made an offer of 9.2 million plus Domenico Ranieri (A very raw 22 year old right winger) for Jeroen Schreurs. I counter with an offer of 75 million plus the player (just because they are my rival.)

Barcelona have offered 22.5 million for Schreurs. I counter with an offer of 65 million dollars.

Oops.. Lazio did accept my counter offer of 37 million plus Danny Cox for Jeroen Schreurs!

It looks like I really did set my offer a bit too low! Oh well, Schreurs was getting upset at not playing more regularly. I'll need to use this money plus my other transfer money to get another quality young right winger who is ready to play now.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 13, 2012 -

YES!!! I may still have a way out! Danny cox doesn't want to come play for us! He isn't even willing to name a price! Great! Danny you are my hero, getting me out of my bind. I make the perfunctory offer of 27,500/week which is the max the board will allow (I don't want to be the bad guy in this thing), but I'm fairly sure he will reject *crosses fingers*.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 14, 2012 -

Darn, my defenders are dropping like fies. Cristian Chivu suffered a calf strain and will miss about 2 weeks.

Arsenal have signed 21 year old spanish midfielder Mario from Valladolid for 30.5 million dollars. Mario looks like a very impressive midfielder. Valladolid fans are reportedly livid that their favorite youngster was sold.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 15, 2012 -

Darn. I just can't win. Jeroen Schreurs has officially requested that he be put on the transfer list and transferred as soon as possible.



Today we host Fulham in our home opener in the EPL. Fulham has a good team led by midfielder Peter Whittingham and Thomas Hitzlsperger. Strikers Collin Johns and Milan Baros are quite good. Their most consistent centreback Carlos Bocanegra is away on international duty for the USA in a World Cup qualifying match. This is shocking to me as I can't believe I didn't notice that Howard was called away! Zesh Rehman will have to play great with Bocanegra gone.

We are 4-5 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the 40's.

GK: Taylor (has to start with Howard gone.)
DL: O'Shea
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Duff (downing is still hurt)
MC: Parker
MC: Fletcher
MR: Schreurs
SC: McFadden
SC: Smith

S1: Harper
S2: Ortega
S3: Marino
S4: Mamam
S5: Wood

[Eaglesfan27]

8 minute mark: Duff passes to McFadden in the box.. he fakes out a defender.. passes it to Fletcher.. he shoots.. over the bar.

34 minute mark: Simon Davies gets a yellow card for pulling Duff's jersey.

35 minute mark: Duff passes it to Parker outside the box.. he shoots.. hard curving shot.. upper right corner.. brilliant save by the keeper.

39 minute mark: Schreurs crosses it to McFadden who heads it.. the keeper punches it over the bar.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. We have over 64,000 fans here today.


57 minute mark: Duff with a corner kick.. to Lucio in the center of the box.. he heads it.. the keeper blocks it.

61 minute mark: Schreurs with a long range shot.. the keeper saves it.

66 minute mark: Bad game for Fletcher. I put Wood on for him. Schreurs is tired, I put Ortega on for him. Smith is tired, I put Marino on for him.

73 minute mark: Our midfielders pass it around looking for a hole in the defene.. finally Barry Parker shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper saves it.

80 minute mark: Duff with a corner.. to the near post.. Parker heads it.. the keeper blocks it.. McFadden whiffs on the rebound.. the defense clears it.

84 minute mark: Ortega passes to Wood.. he blasts a shot.. past the keeper.. upper left corner.. it hits the crossbar. The defense clears the rebound.

88 minute mark: Duff crosses to Marino.. he settles.. shoots.. over the bar.


Game over. Disappointing. A second 0-0 tie.

We outshot them 22-0 (12-0 on target)

Their keeper, Michael Rensing, won MoM with a 10 for form for his 12 saves.


Ferdinand, Schreurs, Duff, and Parker all had 8's for form. Fletcher had a 6. The rest of the team had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

Tim Howard played well for the USA in their 5-0 win over Bermuda in the World Cup Qualifying match.

Bobby Convey had a goal. Freddy Adu had a goal, and Landon Donovan had a hattrick for the USA. Justin Moose had 3 assists.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 17, 2012 -

Danny Cox snubbed my contract offer! Danny you are my hero :)

Danny's agent said that his client only recently joined Lazio and he wants to become a regular at Lazio and considers that more important than looking at options any where else.

As a result, the Schreurs deal has been cancelled.

Schreurs told the press today that he expects to be in the first team, and he would be glad to stay at Manchester United if he gets regular football, but otherwise he wants to be traded.


I offered Valencia 12 million dollars for Gabriele Marchetti (a few weeks after he put pressure on them) and they have now accepted the deal.

Mr. Queiroz believes that Marchetti has considerable talent for his age and that we should offer him up to 19,500/week. That is exactly what Marchetti is requesting along with a 300,000 dollars signing bonus. I give him what he is asking.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 18, 2012 -

Salva played well for Italy in their 3-0 win over Argentina in the quarter finals of the Olympics today.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 19, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Aston Villa in this EPL Match. They are currently 13th while we are in 15th at this early point of the season. They are led by the stellar play of their keeper Leo Franco who is questionable for this game. Gareth Barry has been their best defender so far in the season. Robbie Keane and Luke Moore are having a good start to the season at striker. Torsten Frings is a new midfielder who has done well so far.

We are even odd favorites.

It's sunny with temperatures in the 50's.

GK: Howard
DL: Silvestre
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Grygera
ML: Downing (pushing him right into action now that he healed today)
MC: Stevanovic
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Schreurs
S3: King
S4: Mamam
S5: Brown

[Eaglesfan27]

10 minute mark: Downing crosses it to Rooney by the near post.. he heads it... into the crossbar.

22 minute mark: Eagles collides with Gareth Barry.. Eagles is hurt. He has to come off. I put Schreurs on for him.

30 minute mark: Downing crosses to Adriano who heads it to Rooney in the center of the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper blocks it.

35 minute mark: Rooney with a 30 yard strike..curving.. curving.. curving.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. blocks it.

44 minute mark: Schreurs evades a defender.. passes it to Rooney 35 yards out.. Rooney dribbles between two defenders.. into the box.. shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper saves it.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. They have over 42,000 fans here today.


47 minute mark: Silvestre passes it long to Adriano.. he tries to fake out the defender.. the defender tackles him.

65 minute mark: Adriano is tired, I put King on for him. I also put Mamam on for Fletcher.

70 minute mark: Ferdinand passes it to Rooney 40 yards out.. Rooney dribbles past one defender.. past a second defender.. into the box.. he fakes out the keeper with a move to his left and then to his right.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0. Magnificent individual effort! Finally we score a goal this season.

72 minute mark: Howard stops a long range shot from Ifill.

75 minute mark: Howard stops a flurry of 3 shots.

77 minute mark: Howard steals it from Dickhoff just outside the box.. dribbles past the lone defender in front of him.. shoulder fakes the keeper.. shoots.. upper right corner... GOAL!!!! 2-0!

80 minute mark: Bierofka crosses to Vassell in the middle of the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. Howard saves it.


Game over. 2-0 win for us.

We outshot them 20-9 (10-5 on target)

Rooney won MoM, 10 for form, 15 of 19 passes, 1 of 2 tackles, 1 of 11 headers, 1 interception, 13 runs, 1 foul drawn, and 2 goals.


Howard also had a 10 for form.

Downing had a 9 for form.

Schreurs, Grygera, Ferdinand, Lucio, and Stevanovic all had 8's for form.

The rest of the team had 7's for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Report:

Schreurs is going to get more Playing Time just like he wanted. Christopher Eagles suffered a torn groin muscle and will miss at least a month.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 20, 2012 -

My scout, Mick Brown, feels that Marseille full back Mickael Schmidt would be a useful addition to the squad. This kid is 19 and he can play either right or left fullback. He is already very very talented according to my scout. His only weakness is very bad natural fitness. He is currently valued at 5.8 million dollars. I offer them 5.8 million for him.

Valencia's Gabriele Marchetti is ecstatic to have come joined Manchester United. He reported that he is very happy to be working for such a good manager as Christopher Engles. The kid sure knows how to suck up ;)

The 12 million dollar deal is complete.


Howard, Grygera, and Downing were all selected to the EPL Team of the Week.

Tottenham have signed Leicester's Piotr Trochowski for 11.5 million dollars.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 21, 2012 -

Salva played brilliantly in the Olympic Semi-final against Germany, but Italy lost to Germany 1-0.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 22, 2012 -

Today we host Everton in an EPL Match. Everton is currently 6th in the EPL and is off to a fast start. They are led by striker Neil Gibson who has 3 goals. Their defense has been solid with centreback Anthony Gardner playing great early in the season. Left winger Andy Reid continues to play well also. Richard Wright is finally the backup keeper. Ceiran Hutcheson has done well as the new keeper.

We are 4-6 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the high 30's.

GK: Howard
DL: O'Shea
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Parker
MC: Cook
MR: Schreurs
SC: McFadden
SC: King

S1: Taylor
S2: Neville
S3: Wood
S4: Alfonso
S5: Smith

[Eaglesfan27]

1st minute: Downing crosses to King who heads it.. the keeper blocks it.. Downing gets it.. passes it back to Parker just outside the box.. Parker shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

19 minute mark: Akin Serhat, my old striker, dribbles into my box.. Lucio tackles him.

35 minute mark: Schreurs crosses to McFadden who heads it to King in the middle of the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. great save by the keeper.

45 minute mark: McFadden collides with Anthony Gardner.. McFadden is hurt. I put Smith on for him.


Halftime: 1-0 lead for us. We have over 75,000 fans here today.


46 minute mark: Downing passes to Smith in the left hand of the box.. Smith shoots.. upper right corner of the box.. the keeper blocks it.. the rebound sails back to Smith.. Smith shoots again.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0! That is Smith's 100 League Goal.

62 minute mark: Wood on for Cook who is injured now.


Game over. 2-0 win for us :)

We outshot them 16-8 (9-3 on target)

Downing won MoM, 10 for form, 22 of 27 passes, 3 of 4 tackles, 2 of 10 headers, 1 interception, 12 runs, 4 fouls drawn, and 1 assist.

Smith had a 9 for form as a sub.

Schreurs and Howard had 8's for form.

The rest of the team had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 22, 2012 -

James McFadden suffered a severe back strain and is expected to be out for about 3 weeks.

We have been put in Group A of the Champions League along with Fenerbahce, Gorica, and PAOK. Overall, a very favorable draw.

We have been given 4.8 million for being in the Champions League Group Stage.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 24, 2012 -

Middlesbrough boss Ian Holloway has voiced his doubts over Manchesher United's chances of winning the EPL Title. He claimed that we are not unbeatable and he believes his side will beat us tomorrow.

I reply, "I believe that we have the ability to go all the way. However, we can't overlook any team. Middlesbrough has a good team, and our team will have to be focused to beat them tomorrow."

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 24, 2012 -

Salva was MoM in Italy's 2-1 win over Spain in the bronze medal Olympic Game. Gabriele Marchetti also played well for Italy in this match.

Marseille have rejected my bid for Schmidt. I counter with an offer of 10 million dollars.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 25, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Middlesbrough in the EPL. We are currently in 6th place. They are in 15th place. Their main striker, Marcus Niculae is injured for this match. Also, their right winger, Steven Pienaar is injured for this match. They will be relying on their strong defense to keep them in the match. Leon Andreasen and Chris Riggott are really playing well this year. Striker Porcellis will have to step up to provide some offense. Johny Alenjandro Acosta is playing decent in the midfield.

We are 4-6 favorites.

It's windy with temperatures in the mid 50's.

GK: Howard
DL: Silvestre
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Grygera
ML: Downing
MC: Stevanovic
MC: Fletcher
MR: Schreurs
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Mamam
S3: Neville
S4: Ortega
S5: Smith

[Eaglesfan27]

The First half was boring with no good scoring opportunities for either side.


0-0 at half. They have over 35,000 fans here and they are playing Turtle style.


49 minute mark: Schreurs passes to Adriano in the box.. he shoots.. good save by Lastuvka.

59 minute mark: Adriano gets the ball from Howard at midfield.. Adriano floats a great pass over two defenders.. Rooney gets it.. outside the box.. fakes out a defender.. dribbles into the box.. fakes out the keeper.. dribbles to his right.. shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

70 minute mark: Smith on for Rooney who is tired, and Ortega on for Schreurs who is tired.

73 minute mark: Porcellis is obstructed by Ferdinand in the box.. the ref awards a penalty shot.. Bruno steps up.. shoots to Howard's left.. he dives.. it's past him. GOAL. 1-1.

88 minute mark: Ferdinand passes it long to Ortega on the right wing.. he dribbles to the corner.. crosses it for the far post.. Smith with the header.. good save by the keeper.


Game over. 1-1 tie.

We each had 10 shots (4-2 on target in our favor.)

Downing won MoM, 10 for form, 17 of 25 passes, 3 of 12 tackles, 1 of 7 headers, 2 interceptions, 17 runs, 2 fouls drawn.

Fletcher and Rooney had 9's for form. Grygera, Schreurs, and Adriano had 8's for form.

The rest of the team had 7's for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 26, 2012 -

Marseille have countered my offer by saying they will sell Mickael Schmidt for 14 million dollars. I'm actually more excited about Schmidt's potential than either of my other young defenders. He already seems ready to play. I agree to their counter offer. I contact his agent who states that Mickael will require a 4 year deal with 24,500/week salary. Mr. Queiroz disagrees with my assessment and thinks that Mickael still has a lot to learn before he is ready to play and that we shouldn't offer more than 10,000/week. I disagree with Mr. Queiroz on this one, and I decide to offer Schmidt 23,000/week for 4 years.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 27, 2012 -

Grygera, Fletcher, and Downing were all selected to the EPL Team of the Week.

Barcelona has sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Milan for 70 million dollars! Due to a 20% sell-on clause that previous management made when they sold Ronaldo, we have just received 14 million dollars.

[Barkeep49]

With your board letting you keep transfer money will that 14 million go in your pot of available money?

[Eaglesfan27]

With your board letting you keep transfer money will that 14 million go in your pot of available money?
I think so. Let me check now. No, they didn't put it towards transfer money :(

Fortunately, I'm fairly sure I'm done spending this year anyway. I have acquired three young defenders, the youngest of which is ready to play regularly in my opinion (Mickael Schmidt.)


Aug 28, 2012 -

Middlesbrough have offered 1.7 million plus 50% of next sale for my keeper Manu. His name not withstanding, he isn't impressing me enough to keep him long term. I ask for 2 million and the 50% clause. If they agree, I will sell.

Everton have paid 18 million dollars for 22 year old Italian Striker Mauro Di Mauro from Atalanta in Italian Serie A.

Mickael Schmidt has signed the contract that we offered. He has made it known that he is very keen to rise to the challenge of playing for such an illustrious club.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 30, 2012 -

Middlesbrough has agreed to our counter offer, and they have reached an agreement with Manu. We will now receive 2 million for him to go there.

[finkenst]

So, my first season is over...

what do you do during the offseason?


take a holiday? scout the worldcup senseless?

just trying to figure out what to do next...

[Eaglesfan27]

So, my first season is over...

what do you do during the offseason?


take a holiday? scout the worldcup senseless?

just trying to figure out what to do next...
When I was in the lower leagues, I basically just watched the internation scene casually out of a sense of interest.

As I moved into the higher leagues, I've started seriously scouting the international scene during the offseason. I'm always trying to keep an eye out for a potential young star.

[illinifan999]

I'm kinda pissed. Man Utd is the team I want to manage as well. Well I've had some success with Marseille and Barcelona, Juventus, and Real Madrid came and offered me a job. Past experiences with Juventus in other CM games have made me despise them so I rejected that, Barcelona didnt look attractive, and Marseille's players got big heads and I didn't want to deal with all that so I went to Real Madrid. Next day, Man U manager retires. I think the game did it on purpose.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm kinda pissed. Man Utd is the team I want to manage as well. Well I've had some success with Marseille and Barcelona, Juventus, and Real Madrid came and offered me a job. Past experiences with Juventus in other CM games have made me despise them so I rejected that, Barcelona didnt look attractive, and Marseille's players got big heads and I didn't want to deal with all that so I went to Real Madrid. Next day, Man U manager retires. I think the game did it on purpose.

Ouch, that is brutal :(

[Eaglesfan27]

Exciting dynasty related news today (sort of.) We did our taxes and don't owe nearly as much as we thought we did. Our anniversary is coming up soon, and usually I buy Mrs. Eaglesfan some expensive jewelry for our anniversary, but she really wants a new computer. I also want a new computer. So, we aren't getting each other much of anything except for a few small things and we are splurging on a top of the line computer. I just placed the order, and I'm going to be very tempted to try to transfer this dynasty from my laptop to that new computer. I usually watch TV while playing, but the new computer should be BLAZING fast.

Pentium 4 3.73 GHZ Hyperthreading, 4 GB of dual channel ram (she wants it to be modern for at least 5 years), along with a bunch of other great features (including the newest video card I could find.) Anyway, I'll have a tough decision of whether or not to give up the comfort of the couch for the blazing sim speeds that this new desktop could bring to FM :)

I do know that when I eventually start my next dynasty (which may not be until the next version of this game comes out), I'll be running more leagues than I've ever run before. However, that will be in the future, because I have no intention of leaving this dynasty until the next version of the game comes out or I get fired from Manchester United.

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug 30, 2012 -

Today I was asked to submit my list of 26 players for the English National Squad for our upcoming World Cup Qualifying match against Sweden.


I selected the following players:

GK: Chris Kirkland, Paul Robinson, and Chris Taylor

Defenders: Wayne Bridge, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Anthony Gardner, Glen Johnson, John Terry, Jonathan Woodgate, and Wes Brown (I know that is a lot of defenders ;))

Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Joe Cole, Stewart Downing, Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves, James Milner, Scott Parker, Nigel Reo-Cooker, and Shaun Wright-Phillips (Eagles is hurt or he would be on this list.)

Forwards: Shola Ameobi, Carlton Cole, Jermain Defoe, Luke Moore, Wayne Rooney, and Alan Smith.

[Eaglesfan27]

OOC Note: Being able to play at work is just too nice. I'll keep this dynasty on the laptop ;)

[Eaglesfan27]

Aug. 31, 2012 -

Middlesbrough has signed 22 year old Spanish Keeper Manu from us for 2 million dollars.

Many is very happy to move as he felt like being on the sidelines was comparable to being in hell. He is greatly relieved at having been sold.

The transfer deadline is today.


National News: Anthony Gardner was hurt in practice today and had to be removed from the national squad. I called up Craig King to replace him.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 1, 2012 -

Interesting, the press is "surprised" at my not choosing Jermaine Jenas to the national squad. Otherwise, they don't feel there are any real surprises.



Uh-oh, the board is only satisfied with my performance as manager. I can't blame them. It has been a disappointing first month of the season with us in 6th place.


Stewart Downing has won the EPL Player of the Month award. Wayne Rooney came in 2nd, and Djibril Cisse of Liverpool came in 3rd.


Coventry City's Wayne Worthington has won the EPL young Player of the month. Adriano came in 2nd, and Steve Edwards of Leeds came in 3rd.


Chelsea's Jose Mourinho has won the EPL Manager of the Month. Tony Colbert of Liverpool came in 2nd, and Steve Coppell of Fulham came in 3rd.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 4, 2012 -

Salva and Babriele Marchetti have been called up to Italy's U21 Squad.

Jamie Cook and Michael Wood have been called up to England's U21 squad.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 4, 2012 -

Tim Howard played well for the USA in their 2-0 win over El Salvador in the World Cup Qualifying match.


"An unnamed ex-England star admitted to the press that he is worried about England's Chances of beating Sweden at Rasunda on Wednesday. The former international commented that getting the better of Sweden would be a difficult task and he was interested to see how Christopher Engles would appraoch the World Cup European Qualifying Section match."

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 4, 2012 -

Today I'm coaching the England U21 game against Sweden's U21 team in the Euro U21 Championship Qualifying match.

It's 50 degrees and sunny out here in Sweden.

GK: Jon Hooper
DL: Ryan Miller
DC: Danny Cox (the same one that didn't want to come play for me)
DC: Martin Scott
DR: Lee Roberts
ML: John Hall (very impressive looking young left winger, who is unfortunately the property of Chelsea.)
MC: Michael Wood
MC: Jamie Cook (my only two guys starting on the squad)
MR: Matthew Harvey
FC: Wayne Worthington
FC: Gavin Lynch

S1: Ryan Warner
S2: Luke Clark
S3: Steve Turner
S4: Steve Wilson
S5: Ian Robson
S6: Paul Taylor
S7: Bob Wright (also one of my guys)

Paul Kelly is going to be an unused sub, but he is also one of my guys.

[Eaglesfan27]

1st minute: Harvey tries a long strike from the right wing that sails over the bar.

13 minute mark: Worthington with a long curving shot.. the keeper blocks it.. Lynch passes the rebound to Cook.. he shoots.. hard shot.. upper right corner.. over the bar.

28 minute mark: Wood with a long range shot.. the keeper saves it.

44 minute mark: Cook passes it to Wood just outside the box.. long range shot.. the keeper saves it.


Halftime: 0-0 tie.

49 minute mark: Cox passes to Cook at midfield.. he passes it long to Worthington just outside the box.. Worthington turns on the speed.. dribbles to his left.. shoots a powerful shot to the upper left corner around the keeper.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

53 minute mark: Harvey intercepts a pass.. passes it long to Lynch in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOal.. offside goal on Lynch. The goal is disallowed.

58 minute mark: Martin Scott trips Maimberg (a Swedish striker) in the box.. whistle.. penalty awarded.. Hagberg steps up.. shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL. 1-1 tie.

59 minute mark: I put my man Bob Wright on for Lynch who is tired. I also put Luke Clark on for Hall at left wing since he is tired.

88 minute mark: Clark takes it down the left wing, he crosses it to Harvey by the far post.. Harvey with a header.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-1!


Game over. 2-1 win for us :)

We outshot them 18-2 (10-2 on target)

Their keeper, Peter Karlsson, won MoM.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 4, 2012 -

Salva played well for Italy in their 5-0 win over Estonia. Salva had a goal and an assist. Not bad for a centreback. Gabriele Marchetti also played well in this match.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 5, 2012 -

Today we play in Sweden in my first World Cup Qualifying match. It's an exciting time.

It's sunny with temperatures in the mid 50's.

GK: Kirkland
DL: Cole, Ashley
DC: Terry
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Cole
MC: Gerrard
MR: Milner
SC: Rooney
SC: Moore

S1: Robinson
s2: Woodgate
S3: Hargreaves
S4: Bridge
S5: Parker
S6: Smith
S7: Defoe

[Eaglesfan27]

1st minute: Downing burns three defenders.. dribbles into the box.. draws one of the centrebacks over to him.. passes it around the defenders to the near post.. Rooney heads it.. into the upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

17 minute mark: Downing crosses it to the far post.. Gerrard heads it.. over the bar.

23 minute mark: Terry with a few nice defensive plays.

41 minute mark: Kirkland with an acrobatic save on a breakaway.

45 minute mark: Kirkland stops a long range shot.



Halftime: 1-0 lead for England. There are over 32,000 fans here today.


54 minute mark: Rooney dribbles between two defenders into the box.. shoots.. over the bar.

62 minute mark: Alan Smith on for Luke Moore, and Scott Parker on for Gerrard.

77 minute mark: Downing dribbles past two defenders into the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. good save by the keeper.

86 minute mark: Brown with a good defensive play.

88 minute mark: Downing dribbles down the left side of the pitch.. crosses it to Rooney by the near post.. he heads it.. into the left goal post! The defense clears the rebound.


Game over. 1-0 win for us.

We outshot them 31-5 (15-3 on target)

Rooney won MoM, 10 for form, 29 of 36 passes, 1 of 3 tackles, 6 of 13 headers, 2 interceptions, 9 runs, 1 goal.

Joe Cole and Stewart Downing also had 10's. The rest of the team had 7's except for Wes Brown who had an 8.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 5, 2012 -

The following roundup is all from World Cup Qualifying play:


Darren Fletcher had an assist for Scotland in their 3-0 win over Kazakhstan.


Zdenek Grygera played well for the Czech Republic, but they tied Croatia 0-0.


John O'Shea played brilliantly for Ireland in their 3-1 win over Macedonia. Damien Duff just played ok.

Cristian Chivu played very well for Romania in their 1-0 win over Hungaria.

Dalibor Stevanovic played ok for Slovenia in their 1-0 win over Northern Ireland.

Tim Howard played very well for the USA in their 4-0 win over Cuba.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 7, 2012 -

Aston Villa suffered a serious blow today when Ciprian Marica broke his leg in multiple places. He will miss 6-7 months of the season.


Paul Scholes told the press today before our game against them tomorrow that "Manchester United is playing great football and that if they maintain their great form, it would be difficult for anyone to stop them."

I decide not to respond to that comment.


Sep 8, 2012 -

Today we host Coventry in a televised match. They are 10th in the EPL. We are in 6th place. Their keeper, Paul Anderson has been playing phenomenal football early in the year. Their defense has been very solid, led by the play of Titus Bramble. Tehir midfield has been good with Richie Partridge and Gareth Williams leading the way. Striker Wayne Worthington (the same one that just scored for me in the U21 match) has played very well so far, and has 3 goals on the year in 3 starts.


We are 4-6 favorites.

It is sunny with temperatures in the 70's.

GK: Howard
DL: chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Grygera
ML: Downing
MC: Stevanovic
MC: Fletcher
MR: schreurs
SC: King
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Mamam
S3: Salva
S4: Ortega
S5: Smith

[Galaxy]

Exciting dynasty related news today (sort of.) We did our taxes and don't owe nearly as much as we thought we did. Our anniversary is coming up soon, and usually I buy Mrs. Eaglesfan some expensive jewelry for our anniversary, but she really wants a new computer. I also want a new computer. So, we aren't getting each other much of anything except for a few small things and we are splurging on a top of the line computer. I just placed the order, and I'm going to be very tempted to try to transfer this dynasty from my laptop to that new computer. I usually watch TV while playing, but the new computer should be BLAZING fast.

Pentium 4 3.73 GHZ Hyperthreading, 4 GB of dual channel ram (she wants it to be modern for at least 5 years), along with a bunch of other great features (including the newest video card I could find.) Anyway, I'll have a tough decision of whether or not to give up the comfort of the couch for the blazing sim speeds that this new desktop could bring to FM :)

I do know that when I eventually start my next dynasty (which may not be until the next version of this game comes out), I'll be running more leagues than I've ever run before. However, that will be in the future, because I have no intention of leaving this dynasty until the next version of the game comes out or I get fired from Manchester United.

With a 3.2GhzHT P4 Processor and a 2GMRAM, FM2005 is totally awesome. I got alot of leagues, and it really adds alot more game. It's pretty fun to actually see the European cup competitions play with teams actually in games, and gives national squads alot more talent, as well as alot more to scout. What brand are you looking at?

[Eaglesfan27]

10 minute mark: Downing with a corner.. kicks it towards the far post.. Adriano heads it.. good save by the keeper.

15 minute mark: Howard stops an Ameobi breakaway.

30 minute mark: They are keeping 8 and 9 men back to stifle our offense.

37 minute mark: Chivu starts a counter attack.. long pass to King.. he centers it for Adriano in the middle of the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. good save by the keeper.

42 minute mark: Downing passes to King in the left side of the box.. he shoots.. the keeper punches it over the bar.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. We have over 68,000 fans here today.


48 minute mark: Downing crosses to Stevanovic.. he shoots.. it hits the right goal post and bounces back.

62 minute mark: Downing has picked up an injury, I put Mamam on for him. King is tired, I put Smith on for him.

80 minute mark: Schreurs with a hard shot.. it hits the right goal post!

87 minute mark: Mamam crosses it to the far post.. Adriano heads it.. over the bar.

88 minute mark: Stevanovic passes it to smith in the box.. he shoots.. over the bar.

91 minute mark: Fletcher passes to Mamam.. he crosses it to the right side of the box to Adriano.. Adriano shoots the powerful angled shot.. upper left corner.. it's past the keeper.. into the net! GOAL!!!! 1-0! That is Adriano's first goal of the year.


Game over. 1-0 win for us :) We needed that win.

We outshot them 12-6 (3-2 on target)

Downing wins MoM, 9 for form, 12 of 20 passes, 0 of 1 tackles, 3 of 8 headers, 13 runs, 1 foul drawn.

Howard had an 8.

Everyone else had a 7 for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

With a 3.2GhzHT P4 Processor and a 2GMRAM, FM2005 is totally awesome. I got alot of leagues, and it really adds alot more game. It's pretty fun to actually see the European cup competitions play with teams actually in games, and gives national squads alot more talent, as well as alot more to scout. What brand are you looking at?

It's already in production. We ordered a Dell. Mrs. Eaglesfan and I were going to wait until after we purchased the house, but due to some excellent work by our tax lawyer, we owe MUCH less than we thought we would owe. Therefore, with our current budgeting being very good to be on schedule (and actually ahead of schedule) for the house, we decided to splurge on a super computer for our combined anniversary gift. Except, Mrs. Eaglesfan wanted it sooner rather than later, so we ordered it last night. It should be here at least a week before our anniversary.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep. 10, 2012 -

Today the odds for the Champions League were posted. Real Madrid are favorites at 4-1 odds. We are second with 5-1 odds. Milan has 7-1 odds. Chelsea and Zaragoza(!?!) have 11-1 odds. Liverpool has 12-1 odds.

(OOC Note: On Call tonight, but hoping for a quiet call with plenty of FM. Also, I have received word that my computer shipped today and should be here between Friday and Monday.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 11, 2012 -

Today we travel to play PAOK in our first group stage Champions League Match. PAOK is a decent team led by centreback Christos Karypidis. Midfielder Labros Charalabos Vangelis is a decent player. Striker Petros Spyropoulos is an average striker. Spyros Papagiannopoulous is a decent keeper. We should be able to handle this team without too much trouble.

We are 4-7 favorites.

It's sunny with temperatures in the mid 70's today.

I'm going with a risky line-up...

GK: Howard
DL: Schmidt (in his debut)
DC: Salva (in his debut as well.)
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Duff
MC: Parker
MC: Cook
MR: Schreurs
SC: King
SC: Smith

S1: Taylor
S2: Lucio
S3: Marchetti
S4: Ortega
S5: O'Shea
S6: Adriano
S7: wood

[Eaglesfan27]

7 minute mark: Salva starts the counter attack.. long pass to Duff on the left wing.. he passes it Smith just outside the box.. Smith dribbles into the box.. shoots from 15 yards out on right side of the box.. upper left corner... it's past the keeper.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

19 minute mark: Smith gets a yellow card for a trip on Makris.

35 minute mark: Salva with a good defensive play.


Halftime: 1-0 lead for us. They have over 28,500 fans here today.


58 minute mark: Duff passes to Cook.. hard shot from 25 yards out.. curving.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. and catches it.

60 minute mark: Schmidt with a good tackle just outside the box.

61 minute mark: Corner kick to the far post for PAOK.. Manikas with a header.. Howard blocks it. Vasileou gets the rebound.. shoots.. upper right corner. GOAL. 1-1.

I put Adriano on for King who is tired. Also, I put Ortega on for Duff who has picked up a minor injury.

68 minute mark: Parker passes it to Adriano in the left side of the box.. he fakes out a defender.. shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-1.

81 minute mark: Ferdinand with a long pass to Adriano just outside the box.. he fakes out a defender.. dribbles past another defender.. into the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-1. Adriano's second goal in 15 minutes.


Game over. 3-1 win for us.

We outshot them 9-8 (5-3 on target)

Adriano wins MoM, 8 for form, 7 of 7 passes, 0 tackles, 1 of 2 headers, 4 runs, 1 foul drawn, and 2 goals.

Howard, Brown, Ferdinand, Parker, and cook also had 8's.

The rest of the team had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

We were given 400,000 dollars for that win.

Damien Duff injured his wrist and will miss about a week.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 15, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Southampton in an EPL Match. We are currently 4th in the EPL while Southampton is 13th. Left winger Jorge Pina has been their most consistent performer so far this season. Keeper Simon Jentzsch is also playing very well. Centreback Danny Higginbotham remains an effective player. Right winger Johan Absalonsen is the leading scorer with 2 goals. He also plays striker at times.

We are 4-6 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the 60's.

GK: Howard
DL: Silvestre
DC: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DR: Grygera
ML: Downing
MC: Djemba
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Wood
S3: Marchetti
S4: Ortega
S5: McFadden

[Eaglesfan27]

9 minute mark: Eagles crosses the ball to the center of the box.. Rooney heads it.. over the bar.

12 minute mark: Higginbotham gets a yellow card for tripping Rooney.

20 minute mark: Rooney with a long range curving shot.. barely wide right.

44 minute mark: Djemba passes to Rooney in the box.. he is running parallel to the endline.. shoots.. that amazing shot parallel to the endline.. it curves.. the keeper saves it!


Halftime: 0-0 tie. They have over 32,000 fans here today.


75 minute mark: Howard with a series of brilliant saves. Downing is injured and has to leave the pitch. I put James McFadden in at left wing.

I also put Wood on for Djemba.

80 minute mark: Adriano with a 2 footed tackle on Higginbotham.. Adriano gets a yellow card.

86 minute mark: McFadden crosses it over Rooney's head and over the sideline.

92 minute mark: Fletcher passes to McFadden in the box.. he shoots.. the keeper pushes it over the bar.


Game over. Another disappointing 0-0 loss. Chelsea is running away with the league so far. They have won every game.

We outshot them 16-10 (8-4 on target)

Their keeper, Simon Jentzsch, won MoM, 9 for form with 8 very good saves.


Howard, Lucio, Chivu, Eagles, Downing, and Rooney all had 8's for form. The rest of the team had 7's for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

Richard Money has been sacked by Manchester City.

Stewart Downing has suffered a sprained ankle and he will be out for 4 weeks or so.

I'm thinking it might be time to throw a new formation out there, particularly with Downing's injury.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 17, 2012 -

I decide to break out a 4-3-1-2 that I've been toying with for a while. I've got the guys practicing it in anticipation of using it our next game.

Liverpool beats Chelsea 4-1! With that win Liverpool takes over 1st place. Liverpool has 19 points after 7 games, Chelsea has 18 points, and we only have 13 points. We'll need to make up ground soon.


ROFL. After the match, Liverpool's Tony Colbert said that Chelsea having any chance of winning the EPL Title is laughable. Nice to see Colbert pick on chelsea for once.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 18, 2012 -

Lucio and Rooney were selected to the EPL Team of the Week.


John Ward has been hired as the new manager at Manchester City. This 61 year old manager left Nottingham Forest to take over this job.


The guys are operating my new offense well in practice. I'm cautiously optimistic that this will translate into actual game play..

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 21, 2012 -

The third round draw of the English League Cup went very well today as we will be hosting Cambridge at our pitch. They are currently 18th in League Two.

Adriano has come into my office and told me that he would like a new contract. I told him I would consider it if he picks up his play.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 22, 2012 -

Today we host Blackburn in an EPL Match. They are 17th in the EPL while we are in 3rd place. Today I'm using my new formation. Blackburn is led by right fullback Brett Emerton who is a very versatile player. Midfielder Jozef Adam is a solid player. Centreback Petri Pasanen is a good defender. Striker Michael Perry leads the team with 2 goals. Keeper Samir Handanovic is a decent keeper.


We are 4-7 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the mid 50's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Duff
MC: Stevanovic
MR: Schreurs
AMC: Adriano
SC: McFadden
SC: King

S1: Taylor
S2: Wood
S3: Marchetti
S4: Ortega
S5: Smith

[Eaglesfan27]

5 minute mark: Schreurs crosses it to the middle of the box.. Adriano with a diving header.. just wide right.

21 minute mark: McFadden passes to Duff in the left side of the box.. he shoots.. wide right.

35 minute mark: McFadden with a free kick from outside the box.. hard shot.. it hits the crossbar.



Halftime: 0-0 tie :( We have over 91,000 fans here today.


56 minute mark: Duff passes it to Stevanovic just outside the box.. he shoots.. the keeper tips it wide.

65 minute mark: Smith on for King. Ortega on for Duff.

84 minute mark: Ortega shoots.. a defender blocks it and sends it wide of the net.

87 minute mark: Chivu passes to Stevanovic who shoots a hard powerful curving shot.. the keeper saves it.



Game over. 0-0 tie :( I'm astounded. Last year, we had the best offense in the league. This year we are struggling to score goals :(

We outshot them 13-1 (8-0 on target)

Their keeper won MoM, 9 for form, with 8 saves.

Schreurs and Chivu had 8's for form. Everyone else had a 7 for form.

[Galaxy]

Sep 21, 2012 -

The third round draw of the English League Cup went very well today as we will be hosting Cambridge at our pitch. They are currently 18th in League Two.

Adriano has come into my office and told me that he would like a new contract. I told him I would consider it if he picks up his play.


Better beat them. :D

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 26, 2012 -

Today we host Gorica in a Champions League Match. I'm using the new formation again. If it isn't explosive this game, I'll be tempted to scratch it. Gorica is just an average team with strikers Rok Brajic and Valter Birsa being their best players. Right fullback Denis Kostic is a good defender, but he is injured for this game. Keeper Bostkan Kralj is good. The rest of the team is average or slightly worse. This is a team from Slovenia.

We are 1-6 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the 40's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Duff
MC: Parker
MR: Schreurs
AMC: Adriano
SC: McFadden
SC: King

S1: Taylor
S2: Wood
S3: Marchetti
S4: Ortega
S5: Smith
S6: Salva
S7: Cook

[Eaglesfan27]

3 minute mark: Schreurs with a hard shot from 25 yards out.. the keeper blocks it.. the rebound goes to Parker.. he shoots.. it deflects off a defender.. rolls towards the left goal post.. McFadden gets to it.. shoots.. upper left corner! GOAL!!!! 1-0.

8 minute mark: Duff crosses to Adriano.. he hads it.. into the goal.. Adriano jumped unfairly with the defender.. the goal is nullified.

36 minute mark: Parker passes to Schreurs outside the box.. he shoots from 25 yards out.. strong curving shot.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0!


Halftime: 2-0 lead for us. We have over 67,000 fans here today.



53 minute mark: Duff dribbles it past his man.. crosses it to Adriano in the box.. he heads it.. over the bar.

62 minute mark: cook on for Parker, Salva on for Ferdinand, and Smith on for McFadden who is tired.

87 minute mark: Long pass from Chivu to King on the right side of the box.. he centers it to Adriano.. Adriano dribbles into the box.. shoots.. lower left corner.. past the keeper.. GOAL!!!! 3-0.

89 minute mark: Long pass from Salva to Smith on the left wing.. Salva centers it for Adriano.. he runs up.. diving header.. into the upper left corner! GOAL!!!! 4-0.


Game over. 4-0 win for us.

We outshot them 15-0 (8-0 on target)

Duff wins MoM, 10 for form, 29 of 39 passes, 6 of 6 tackles, 2 of 3 headers, 19 runs, and 1 foul drawn.

Chivu, Schreurs, and Adriano all had 9's for form.

Brown, Lucio, and McFadden all had 8's for form. The rest of the team had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 29, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Millwall. They are in 17th place in the EPL while we are in 5th. Millwall has a good team led by new keeper Maurizio Tommasi who has been playing very well so far this season. Unfortunately, his defense has only been average. Simon Marshall has been decent, but the rest of the defensive line has been below average. Striker Simeon Jackson and attacking midfielder Gary Dempsey have led the offense. Nyron Nosworthy has played well on the right wing.

We are 4-7 favorites.

It's sunny with temperatures in the 70's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Salva
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Duff
MC: Djemba
MR: Eagles
AMC: Fletcher (he will be more of a distributor as opposed to when Adriano is at the position.)
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Wood
S3: Marchetti
S4: Cook
S5: Smith

[Eaglesfan27]

4 minute mark: Fletcher trips Otti.. He gets a yellow card.

5 minute mark: Djemba with a long range shot.. the keeper blocks it.

15 minute mark: Fletcher passes it to Duff on the left wing.. he dribbles down the left sideline.. crosses it to the center of the box.. Rooney heads it.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

33 minute mark: Hard shot from Djemba.. it hits the crossbar.

36 minute mark: Good defensive play by Salva.


Halftime: 1-0 lead for us. They have over 19,000 fans packing the stadium.


55 minute mark: Fletcher with a free kick.. passes it to Adriano 30 yards away from goal.. Adriano passes a great leading ball for Rooney just outside the box.. he dribbles into the box.. shoots.. powerful shot.. lower right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0! That is Rooney's second of the game.

60 minute mark: Smith on for Adriano who is tired, and Cook on for Fletcher. Also, I put Marchetti in for Ferdinand.

82 minute mark: Howard stops a flurry of shots.


Game over. 2-0 win for us.

We each had 12 shots, we had 6 on target, but they had 5 on target.

Duff wins MoM, 8 for form, 26 of 34 passes, 2 of 3 tackles, 4 of 10 headers, 3 interceptions, 11 runs, 5 fouls drawn, and 1 assist.

Every starter except for Fletcher and Adriano had an 8. Fletcher and Adriano both had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sep 30, 2012 -

Journalists have written that they think Damien Duff is past his prime and shouldn't be playing so often for our first team. I must admit that his skills are starting to fade, but he still performs well at times and is my second best option at left wing.


Oct 1, 2012 -

The board is just satisfied with my performance.


Djibril Cisse has won the EPL Player of the Month. Edgar Barreto of Leicester came in 2nd, and Daniel Bierofka of Aston Villa came in 3rd.


Leed's Nick Porter has won the EPL Young Player of the Month. Ian Robson of Newcastle came in 2nd, and Simon Marshall of Millwall came in 3rd.


Liverpool's tony Colbert won Manager of the Month. Jose Mourinho of Chelsea came in 2nd, and Bruce Arena of Aston Villa came in 3rd.


Salva has told the Daily Mirror that he is having difficulty settling in at Manchester, and he is finding that there is a major cultural shock.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 3, 2012 -

Today we host Manchester City. We are currently in 4th while they are in 19th place. They are led by midfielder Said Boutahar who is having a superb year so far. Striker Benjamin Lauth is the leading scorer with 3 goals. Damien Delaney is the leading defender of a relatively weak defensive line. Keeper Libis Andres Arenas is very talented, but he could crack if we pepper him with enough shots.

We are 4-6 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the 40's.

GK: Howard
DL: Schmidt
DC: Lucio
DC: Marchetti
DR: Grygera
ML: Alfonso (he is developing nicely)
MC: Stevanovic
MR: Schreurs
AMC: Adriano
SC: McFadden
SC: King

S1: Taylor
S2: Wood
S3: O'Shea
S4: Cook
S5: Smith

[Eaglesfan27]

3 minute mark: Schreurs with a corner kick.. King heads it.. over the bar.

22 minute mark: Stevanovic passes it to Adriano in the box.. he dribbles one step.. shoots.. upper right corner.. good save by the keeper.

39 minute mark: Marchetti passes to Alfonso who passes to McFadden in the box.. he shoots.. the keeper punches it over the bar.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. We have over 91,000 fans here to watch us play our rivals.


52 minute mark: Howard stops two quick shots.

62 minute mark: Adriano is having a bad game. I put Cook on for him. I also put Smith on for McFadden.

72 minute mark: Alfonso passes it to Smith who is left of the box.. he plays a perfect cross for King who is 15 yards out.. King with a powerful strike... upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

76 minute mark: Alfonso passes to Stevanovic just outside the box.. hard shot.. upper left corner.. great save by the keeper.

81 minute mark: Schmidt starts the counter attack.. passes it to Smith on the left wing.. he passes it to Cook in the box.. Cook burns a defender.. shoots.. upper left corner.. the keeper dives.. it is past him! GOAL!!!! 2-0.


Game over. 2-0 win for us.

We outshot them 14-4 (7-3 on target)

Alfonso won MoM, 8 for form, 26 of 33 passes, 0 tackles, 4 of 6 headers, 1 interception, 3 runs, 3 fouls drawn.

Howard, Grygera, and Schmidt all had 8's as well. The rest of the team had 7's.

[daedalus]

Game over. Another disappointing 0-0 loss.I absotively, posolutely HATE those. :DI'm astounded. Last year, we had the best offense in the league. This year we are struggling to score goals :(Are you meeting up with the SuperGoalies? You still seem to be getting shots and getting them on target.

Good to see some wins in recent games as well. :)

[Desnudo]

I think it's an unlucky phase. I went through 5-6 matches in a row last season where the opposition's keeper rated 8 or higher. It seems to happen from time to time in FM. Fortunately it also happens to AI teams.

[Eaglesfan27]

I think it's an unlucky phase. I went through 5-6 matches in a row last season where the opposition's keeper rated 8 or higher. It seems to happen from time to time in FM. Fortunately it also happens to AI teams.

Hopefully, that is all it is. We haven't lost any games, but we have quite a few ties and are falling behind Chelsea and Liverpool fast.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola, I do think Smith's age is starting to catch up with him, and I think my decision to make him mostly a bench guy this year was probably a good call.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 5, 2012 -

Today I coach England U21 squad in their game against Andorra. We significantly outclass them and this English U21 championship Group Game should be a blow out in our favor.

We are using the same lineup as last time except that Jamie Cook is injured and won't be starting. One of my other midfielders, Paul Kelly will start at midfield instead.

Lineup:

GK: Jon Hooper
DL: Ryan Miller
DC: Danny Cox (the same one that didn't want to come play for me)
DC: Martin Scott
DR: Lee Roberts
ML: John Hall (very impressive looking young left winger, who is unfortunately the property of Chelsea.)
MC: Michael Wood
MC: Paul Kelly (my only two guys starting on the squad)
MR: Matthew Harvey
FC: Wayne Worthington
FC: Gavin Lynch

S1: Ryan Warner
S2: Luke Clark
S3: Steve Turner
S4: Steve Wilson
S5: Ian Robson
S6: Paul Taylor
S7: Bob Wright (also one of my guys)

[Eaglesfan27]

8 minute mark: Corner kick from Hall to Martin Scott outside the box.. he shoots from 25 yards out.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

15 minute mark: Paul Kelly with a pass from 30 yards out to Worthington in the box.. he fakes out a defender.. dribbles to the right side of the box.. shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0.

23 minute mark: Harvey with a cross from the right side.. Paul Kelly with a diving header by the near post.. he connects.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-0.

30 minute mark: Wood passes to Worthington inside the left side of the box.. he shoots from the far left side of the box.. excellent strike.. sailing to the upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 4-0.

32 minute mark: Kelly passes it to Worthington in the box.. he shoots.. lower right corner.. GOAL!!!!! 5-0! That is Worthington's hattrick!

37 minute mark: Hall passes it to Worthington inside the left half of the box.. strong strike.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!!! 6-0! That is Worthington's 4th goal of the game!

39 minute mark: Kelly passes it to Lynch on the right side of the box.. Lynch centers it back to Kelly who has a diving header.. upper left corner... GOAL!!!! 7-0!

42 minute mark: Hall crosses it for Worthington in the center of the box.. he heads it.. the keeper blocks it!

44 minute mark: Worthington gets the ball from Hall otuside the box.. he passes it back Hall just inside the left corner of the box.. Hall shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 8-0.


Halftime: 8-0 lead. Only 8900 fans at the match :(



57 minute mark: Wright on for Lynch. Taylor on for Wood, and Harrison on at right wing.

66 minute mark: Worthington passes it to Wright in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 9-0!

80 minute mark: Hall crosses it from the left wing.. Worthinton dives.. heads it.. into the upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 10-0. That is his 5th goal!

89 minute mark: Hall takes it up the left side of the patch.. he crosses it for the far post.. Wright heads it.. into the upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 11-0. That is Wright's second of the match.


Game over. 11-0 win! What a great win. Hopefully, the national team can do as well as tomorrow as the media expects us to demolish this team.

We outshot them 30-0 (16-0 on target)

Wayne Worthington won MoM, 10 for form, 19 of 21 passes, 0 tackles, 3 0f 5 headers, 1 interception, 5 runs, 2 fouls drawn, 1 assist, and 5 goals.

Except for the keeper and Danny Cox, every starter had a 10 for form!

Cox had a 9 for form, and Jon Hooper the keeper had a 7.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 6, 2012 -

Today we play against Andorra in what should be an easy World Cup Qualifying match. The media expects us to win big today and, anything less would be very disappointing.

GK: Kirkland
DL: Ashley Cole
DC: Woodgate
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Joe Cole (due to Downing being injured)
MC: Milner
MC: Gerrard
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Moore

S1: Robinson
S2: Bridge
S3: Cole
S4: Gardner
S5: Parker
S6: Smith
S7: Defoe

[finkenst]

1 season, 84 million dollars to real madrid, $3m signing bonus with 170k/week salary and iker casillas has signed with chelsea.

my board is crazy. starting with ~94mil transfer budget and they gave me another 77mil not 2 months later...

gotta find a killer right winger to pair with arjen robben

[Eaglesfan27]

5 minute mark: Cole passes it to Rooney in the far left side of the box.. Rooney shoots from long distance.. upper right corner.. Vicious shot by Rooney! GOAL!!!! 1-0.

20 minute mark: Rooney steals the ball from their centerback 15 yards away from goal.. Rooney takes one step.. shoots.. over the keeper's left shoulder.. GOAL!!!! 2-0.

28 minute mark: Eagles crosses it to Milner just outside the box.. Milner shoots.. lower left corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-0!

31 minute mark: Eagles passes it to Joe Cole just outside the box.. Cole shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 4-0.

44 minute mark: Milner passes it to Rooney just inside the box.. he shoots a hard curving shot.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 5-0! That is Rooney's hattrick!


Halftime: 5-0 lead. We have over 78,000 fans here at Wembley watching the match today.


50 minute mark: Joe Cole passes it to Moore in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 6-0.

I decide to give Rooney rest, and I put the third cole on the roster in at striker. However, I put Wayne Bridge in for Ashley Cole. I also put Scott Parker in for Gerrard.

57 minute mark: Joe Cole passes it to Carlton Cole inside the left half of the box.. he shoots.. hard shot.. the keeper blocks it.. Moore gets the rebound.. fires it into the right side of the net! GOAL!!!! 7-0.

80 minute mark: Carlton Cole steals the ball inside the box from the centreback.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 8-0.

89 minute mark: Eagles crosses it to Moore in the middle of the box.. he hits it on the half-volley.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 9-0. That is Moore's hattrick.

90 minute mark: Joe Cole steals it at midfield.. passes it to Carlton Cole just outside the box.. he dribbles into the box.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 10-0.


Game over. 10-0 win for us.

We outshot them 36-2 (23-0 on target)

Rooney won MoM, 10 for form, 8 of 8 passes, 0 tackles, 2 of 5 headers, 3 interceptions, 5 runs, 1 foul drawn, 3 goals.

Eagles, Joe Cole, James Milner Luke Moore, and Carlton Cole also had 10's for form.

Wes Brown, Ferdinand, and Woodgate all had 9's.

Steven Gerrard had an 8. The keeper and the other 2 subs had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

1 season, 84 million dollars to real madrid, $3m signing bonus with 170k/week salary and iker casillas has signed with chelsea.

my board is crazy. starting with ~94mil transfer budget and they gave me another 77mil not 2 months later...

gotta find a killer right winger to pair with arjen robben
Yeah, Chelsea can be a very fun team to manage :)

I don't know how is developing in your career or what year you are in, but if it is 2009 or later, I recommend you take a look at Christopher Eagles. He isn't a killer right winger, but he does nicely. Jeroen Schruers has also really impressed me. Of course, I am a bit biased ;)

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

The media is very impressed with the style and verve shown in this demolition with Andorra.

The 10-0 win was a new record for the English National Team :)



International roundup (All WC qualifying matches):

Damien Duff played well for Ireland and had an assist in their 2-1 win over Norway. John O'Shea also played well in this match.

Zdenek Grygera played well for the Czech Republic in their 4-0 win over Malta.

James McFadden played well, but Scotland ended up tying Switzerland 0-0. Darren Fletcher played ok in this match.

Dalibor Stevanovic played well for Slovenia and had an assist in their 3-1 win over russia.

Tim Howard played well, but was rarely challenged in the a 3-0 win for the USA over El Salvador.

[Galaxy]

I decided to delete my dynasty. I just turn the first of the year in January, and it's alot more work to type and keep pace. This game is too addictive to be patient. :)

Entering the new year, I am suprising everyone by sitting two points out of 1st, and play the conference leaders in my next game. We were predicted to be "safe mid-table". :) Chelsea purchased Real Madrid's Adriano for E41.5 million. The shocker of the entire game may be your United. They are in 12th place, 19 points out of first! They are still alive (and barely got through the qualification stage-Real Madrid didn't and fell to the UEFA Cup) in the Champions League (play Inter in the "Sweet Sixteen"). I am waiting for the Sir to be fired. No rumors yet. Manchester City, Birmingham City and Newcastle are battling it out for that last golden ticket, 4th place and the CL's berth. It's amazing to watch. Arsenal trails Chelsea by a point for the top spot. Milan sits sixth in Serie A.

[Galaxy]

Dola...
Sorry to steal the thread...
How do teams "move up" in their reputations, as well as managers?
Is it possible for teams to reach the wealth and level of the Premier Clubs of Europe (Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Milan, Juventus, ect).

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola...
Sorry to steal the thread...
How do teams "move up" in their reputations, as well as managers?
Is it possible for teams to reach the wealth and level of the Premier Clubs of Europe (Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Milan, Juventus, ect).

No need to apologize. I always appreciate questions and comments. I know what you mean about the dynasty. Sometimes there is a desire to just play and not type.

I think that both teams and managers improve their reputations by winning. For teams, they need to win bigger leagues/cups/matches that they weren't expected to win. For example, Harrogate's reputation improved as I took them up the ladder.

For managers it is the same thing. Win with a bad team, and your reputiation will improve. That is why I like to start in the lower ranks. It is easier to impress the media and fans by helping a lowly team rise through the ranks than it is to impress the media by winning a lot with a team that is already on top. At least that is my opinion on the matter.

Also, I started a huge career with over 20 leagues on the new computer. So far, it is running very smoothly :) I won't play it too much because this dynasty is my main FM passion, but that universe will be fun to play every once in a while.

[Galaxy]

Are you using the MLS as your career in your other dynasty? I will keep you posted on the dynasty. It's awesome to have alot of leagues. I have all the premier 'European" leagues and USA, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. It's fun to watch the best teams in Cup play. How do teams move from Continential reps to "Worldwide" reps? Would seem to take alittle more then winning.

[Galaxy]

No need to apologize. I always appreciate questions and comments. I know what you mean about the dynasty. Sometimes there is a desire to just play and not type.



I played about three months in two days. I'm still shock at Manchester United 19 points out of first, 12th place standing. If this game was a women, I'd hit it. :D

[Eaglesfan27]

Are you using the MLS as your career in your other dynasty? I will keep you posted on the dynasty. It's awesome to have alot of leagues. I have all the premier 'European" leagues and USA, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. It's fun to watch the best teams in Cup play.
Yes, I'm trying to manage in the MLS. So far, it is cool, but I'm not far into that career because I've been on call this entire weekend and it has been busy. Actually, time to spend a bit of time with my wife and then go to sleep.

[Desnudo]

Are you using the MLS as your career in your other dynasty? I will keep you posted on the dynasty. It's awesome to have alot of leagues. I have all the premier 'European" leagues and USA, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. It's fun to watch the best teams in Cup play. How do teams move from Continential reps to "Worldwide" reps? Would seem to take alittle more then winning.

Adding to what EF wrote, you can increase team rep by adding players with high world reputations. Winning the Champions League has the largest impact on your team rep, followed by winning league championships, major cups, and minor cups, in that order.

According to Marc Vaughn, you can increase your world rep by going on tours of foreign countries, but I haven't been able to tell how much affect that has on the rating.

Teams move from Continental to Worldwide reputation the same way that they move from Local to Regional reputation, by winning.

[illinifan999]

My favorite thing is when players list you as favoured personel. Had none on Rosenborg, then had my starting defenders and keeper list me on Marseille, and now Torres has me after one season with Real Madrid. And I managed to steal Freddy Adu from Liverpool in my game. I'm starting to notice the Americans are starting to catch up in my game. I have an awesome prospect playing on my B team, and Adu and a defender from the US starting. Also noticing other Americans getting a ton of praise.

[daedalus]

According to Marc Vaughn, you can increase your world rep by going on tours of foreign countries, but I haven't been able to tell how much affect that has on the rating.If I remember Marc's post correctly, he mentioned tours having effect on the specific country you toured in. If my understanding of his comment is correct, it could be quite awhile before your touring will have noticable effect on the global level.

[finkenst]

Yeah, Chelsea can be a very fun team to manage :)

I don't know how is developing in your career or what year you are in, but if it is 2009 or later, I recommend you take a look at Christopher Eagles. He isn't a killer right winger, but he does nicely. Jeroen Schruers has also really impressed me. Of course, I am a bit biased ;) EF27,

frankly, for some reason, Eagles isn't very good in my game...

Chelsea fun to manage:
$205 million later...

Starting at Keeper: Iker Casillas. (84m)http://dynamic.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/cool.gif
Starting at one striker: Adriano. (80m)http://dynamic.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/cool.gif
Starting at right-wing: Dejan Stankovich. (31m)http://dynamic.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/cool.gif
Starting a d/dm rc: Steven Whitaker (3.5m)http://dynamic.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/cool.gif

Out:
Petr Cech to R. Madrid (45m)
Richard Carvalho to R. Madrid, as well. (12m)
Carlo Cudicini (2.3m) I think i screwed this one up. I learned to "do nothing" with other transfer offers.


it's crazy.

And then...

Out for 5 months after surgery: Wayne Bridge. :( http://dynamic.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gif

[finkenst]

dola,

oh, what are the requirements to be player-eligible for CHampion's Cup?

[Eaglesfan27]

A player is eligible for the Champions League if you declare him available before the tournament starts when you are required to submit a list. Also, around midseason, you can pick replacements (3 moves and removing a guy from the eligible list counts as a move.)

As far as Eagles not being good in your game, I would guess it is just the variability that seems to exist in every game of FM.

Looks like you have some nice pickups :) I really do want to manage Chelsea one day ;)

[Desnudo]

If I remember Marc's post correctly, he mentioned tours having effect on the specific country you toured in. If my understanding of his comment is correct, it could be quite awhile before your touring will have noticable effect on the global level.

That's probably the right intepretation. I think the best affect will be an increase in merchandise sales, if the game reflects real life. I've had great difficulty scheduling friendlies outside of Europe, so I really haven't seen any boost. I've tried to tour China and South Korea, but I always get turned down.

[Desnudo]

A player is eligible for the Champions League if you declare him available before the tournament starts when you are required to submit a list. Also, around midseason, you can pick replacements (3 moves and removing a guy from the eligible list counts as a move.)

As far as Eagles not being good in your game, I would guess it is just the variability that seems to exist in every game of FM.

Looks like you have some nice pickups :) I really do want to manage Chelsea one day ;)

Eagles isn't that great in my game either, but that's due to Man U not playing him regularly until he was 25 or 26. Now, at 27, he looks all right, but I'm afraid it's a little to late for him to really grow.

[daedalus]

Your best bet at right wing may be Joaquin, Tim. He is one of the more highly rated right winger at the moment.

I believe teenagers are also eligible for Champions League, even without being declared to be on the European roster. I wouldn't quote me on that but that's been the case for me in both CM01/02 and the FM'05 demo.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 9, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Belarus' U21 Team. They should be more of a match than Andorra was but we are still expected to win handily. Their best players are keeper Boris Kamornikov and midfielder Vyachesalav Melnikov.

We are using the same lineup as last time. It will be interesting to see if Worthington can have another dominant game.

[SirFozzie]

Your best bet at right wing may be Joaquin, Tim. He is one of the more highly rated right winger at the moment.

I believe teenagers are also eligible for Champions League, even without being declared to be on the European roster. I wouldn't quote me on that but that's been the case for me in both CM01/02 and the FM'05 demo.

Close enough, you can play unlimited U21 players as long as the player's been on your team for at least two seasons

[Eaglesfan27]

25 minute mark: Intricate series of passes between my midfielders.. finally from Wood to Lynch who passes it into the box to Worthington.. Worthington shoots from 15 yards out.. upper right corner... GOAL!!!! 1-0.

30 minute mark: Wood passes it to Lynch in the right edge of the box.. he centers to Worthington.. nice pass between two defenders.. Worthington in the center of the box.. he shoots.. lower left corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0.

35 minute mark: Kelly passes it to Worthington in the box.. he shoots.. the keeper blocks it.. Lynch gets the rebound.. fires it into the upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-0.

45 minute mark: Wood passes it to Lynch in the box.. he shoots.. it hits the right goal post.


Halftime: 3-0 lead for us.


50 minute mark: Hall passes it to Worthington in the left side of the box.. he passes it to Lynch in the center of the 6 yard box.. Lynch shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 4-0.

55 minute mark: Hall with a corner kick.. Lynch heads it.. the keeper blocks it.. it sails just outside of the box.. Martin Scott gets it.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 5-0.

59 minute mark: Peter Taylor on for Kelly, Bob Wright on for Lynch, and Luke Clark on for Hall at left wing.

60 minute mark: Clark steals it at midfield.. dribbles up the left side of the pitch.. crosses it to Worthington in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 6-0! That is Worthington's hattrick.

83 minute mark: clark dribbles up the left side of the pitch.. crosses it to Wright by the near post.. he heads it.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 7-0.


Game over. 7-0 win for us.

We outshot them 24-1 (12-0 on target)

Worthington wins MoM, 10 for form, 23 of 26 passes, 0 of 1 tackles, 4 of 5 headers, 2 runs, 2 assists, and 3 goals.

Lynch and Hall also have a 10 for form.

Wood and Kelly both had 9's for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 9, 2012 -

Other international news:

Mickael Schmidt played well for France and assisted on a goal in a 4-0 win over Macedonia in a Euro U21 Championship Group Match.

Salva was brilliant for Italy in their 5-0 win over Luxemborg in the Euro U21 championship Qualifying match.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 10, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Belarus in the World Cup European Qualifying Match. We should be able to beat them handily.

GK: Kirkland
DL: Cole, Ashley
DC: Woodgate
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Cole, Joe
MC: Milner
MC: Gerrard
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney (who will only play a half unless it is close.)
SC: Moore

S1: Robinson
S2: Bridge
S3: Gardner
S4: Parker
S5: Smith
S6: Defoe
S7: Jenas

[Eaglesfan27]

22 minute mark: Eagles passes it to Rooney in the box.. he shoots.. it hits the crossbar.. the keeper clears the rebound.

35 minute mark: Cole crosses it to Rooney.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. catches it.

41 minute mark: Cole passes to Gerrard.. he shoots from just outside the box.. the keeper saves it.


Halftime: 0-0 tie.


49 minute mark: Eagles takes it down the right wing.. crosses it to the center of the box.. he heads it.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

60 minute mark: Defoe on for Rooney who is tired, Jenas on for Eagles, and Gardner on for Ferdinand.

66 minute mark: Gerrard passes it to Defoe in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. the keeper blocks it.

77 minute mark: Gerrard passes it to Jenas on the right wing.. he dribbles up the right wing.. crosses it to Moore in the right side of the box.. Moore settles it.. shoots... upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0.

80 minute mark: Brown with a long pass.. it's over the defenders head.. Moore races past the defender.. into the box.. dribbles.. shoots.. upper left corner.. it hits the post.. and bounces in! GOAL!!!! 3-0.

91 minute mark: Milner passes it to Defoe in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 4-0!


Game over. 4-0 win for us.

We outshot them 18-1 (13-1 on target)

Rooney wins MoM, 10 for form, 14 of 16 passes, 1 of 1 tackles, 1 of 2 headers, 1 interception, 7 runs, 1 foul drawn, and 1 goal.

Moore has a 10 for form.

Milner and Woodgate have a 9 for form.

Brown, Gerrard, Cole, and Defoe each have an 8 for form.

The rest of the team had 7's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

The press is thrilled by the quality of our win.


In other international news:

Jeroen Schreurs played well for Holland but they lost their World Cup Qualifying match 1-0 against Israel.

James McFadden had an assist in Scotland's 1-1 tie with Spain.

Zdenek Grygera played well in the Czech Republic's 1-0 win over Armenia.

Damien Duff had an assist and a goal in Ireland's 4-0 win over San Marino.

Cristian Chivu played very well for Romania in their 0-0 tie with Turkey.

Dalibor Stevanovic played well in Slovenia's 1-1 tie with Wales.

Tim Howard faced a lot of shots, but stopped most of them in the USA's 4-1 win over Cuba.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 13, 2012 -

Back to League Play!

Today we travel to play Tottenham in an important EPL Match. They are currently in 12th, but they are dangerous. We are in 4th. Tottenham's Carlton Cole is still doubtful due to an injury he suffered during our previous international match. Ledley Kingleads the defense. Pedro Mendes is the best performer in the midfield. Paul Robinson is playing well in goal.

We are 4-6 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the mid 50's.

I'm going back to the 4-4-2 as my strikers are getting too tired and I need one or two more Attacking midfielders to make the other formation work. Also, with Downing back, I think the 4-4-2 will work well again.

GK: Howard
DL: Schmidt
DC: Lucio
DC: Marchetti
DR: Grygera
ML: Downing
MC: Stevanovic
MC: Fletcher
MR: Schreurs
SC: McFadden
SC: King

S1: Taylor
S2: Wood
S3: Alfonso
S4: O'Shea
S5: Smith

[Eaglesfan27]

11 minute mark: Marchetti with a series of good defensive plays.

36 minute mark: Schreurs dribbles up the right sideline.. crosses it to McFadden.. he heads it.. good save by the keeper.

43 minute mark: Crap! Lucio gets called for a handball in the box! Penalty shot awarded... Runstrom steps up.. shoots.. lower left corner.. Howard dives.. it is past him.. GOAL. Down 1-0.


Halftime: Down 1-0. They have over 36,000 fans here today.


60 minute mark: Fletcher gets called for a yellow card. I pull Fletcher and bring in Alan Smith to play AMC and go back to my 4-3-1-2 which I will break out to try to spark the team at times.

77 minute mark: Ledley king tripped Smith in the box.. penalty awarded!!! Stevanovic steps up.. shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-1.

80 minute mark: McFadden with a two footed tackle on King.. he gets a yellow card.

83 minute mark: Howard stops a long range shot from Mendes.. Marchetti with a key tackle to clear the rebound.


Game over. 1-1 tie, and yet another 2 points slip away. Least we got a point...

They outshot us 12-4 (6-3 on target)

Lucio won MoM (despite his goal costing mistake), 8 for form, 23 of 25 passes, 6 of 7 tackles, 12 of 13 headers, 4 interceptions, 2 fouls drawn.

Downing also had an 8 for form despite being rusty in his first game since his month layoff due to injury. McFadden also had an 8. The rest of the team had a 7 for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 14, 2012 -

Jose Luis Mendilibar's term at Arsenal was not long. He has been sacked today as Arsenal is in 14th place currently in the EPL!

Michael van Praag is among those who are believed to be in the lead for the job.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 15, 2012 -

Lucio was selected to the EPL Team of the Week.


Oct 16, 2012 -

I decide to let Michael Wood go on loan to Cardiff to get PT every day and further his development.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 17, 2012 -

Arsenal has hired Victor Munoz from Valencia to be their new manager. Munoz is expected to get the team into the top half of the table by the end of the year.

[daedalus]

Ledley King leads the defense.Obvious bug in the game engine. Everyone knows Ledley King would already be Ashburton Grove by '12. As is only proper for a Spurs international centreback.

If only to piss off Spurs fans. :DGame over. 1-1 tie, and yet another 2 points slip away. Least we got a point...You gave up points to Spurs?!? For SHAME!!! :D

[Tellistto]

In my game Spurs were freaking beasts in the first 2 seasons, won the league in the first season easily, then barely lost it in the second. Now THAT'S a damn bug that needs squashed. Thankfully, in the third season they got player raided from hell and crashed and burned. I was quite happy about that. Not that I dislike Spurs too much, mind you, they did steal points from Liverpool this past week, which makes me happy as can be!


Tell

[Northwood_DK]

They also scored one of the best goals seen in the EPL in a long time.

[Eaglesfan27]

I agree that it was a shame Tottenham tied me. They always seem to give me problems for some reason, more so than any other EPL Team :(

Oct 17, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Fenerbahce in a Champions League Group Match. I don't think this team has very much talent. Their best players are their strikers Aksu Cafercan and Ozturk Ali. Left winger Mustafa Budak has talent as well. Centreback Christian Ziegler has been their best defensive player this year. Their keeper, Ozcelik Ali Melih has been average at best.

We are 4-5 favorites.

It's sunny and in the high 60's here in Istanbul.

Giving some second stringers a chance:

GK: Taylor (first big match for him)
DL: Silvestre
DC: Salva
DC: Marchetti
DR: Brown
ML: Alfonso
MC: Parker
MC: Cook
MR: Schreurs
SC: McFadden
SC: King
S1: Howard
S2: O'Shea
S3: Chivu
S4: Smith
S5: Ortega
S6: Rooney
S7: Duff

[Northwood_DK]

Giving some second stringers a chance....

Just lik RL ManU did two weeks ago against bottom of the league Norwich.

They lost 0-2

[Eaglesfan27]

3 minute mark: King is caught from behind by a defender.. he has so much potential as striker, but the lack of footspeed really does hurt him sometimes.

10 minute mark: McFadden passes to King in the box.. he shoots.. over the bar.

15 minute mark: McFadden passes to King in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper stops it.

29 minute mark: Parker gets called for obstructing Ali in our box.. penalty awarded.. Aksu Cafercan steps up to take the shot.. blasts it to Taylor's left.. he dives.. it is past him. GOAL. Down 1-0.

33 minute mark: Alfonso crosses it long.. King by the far post.. heads it.. good save by the keeper.


Halftime: Down 1-0. They have over 52,000 fans here today.


56 minute mark: McFadden is exhausted and King has been ineffective.. I put on Rooney and Smith at striker.

68 minute mark: Alfonso passes it into the box for Rooney.. the defense closes in and takes the ball away from him.

72 minute mark: Schreurs passes it to Smith in the right side of the box.. he dribbles into the 6 yard box.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-1.

86 minute mark: Marchetti steals it at midfield.. passes it to Rooney just outside the box.. Rooney draws two defenders.. splits them with a sharp pass to Smith in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-1.

89 minute mark: Marchetti heads the ball to Rooney in our zone.. Rooney dribbles past one man at midfield.. past another man 10 yards up the pitch.. past the 2 central defenders.. into the box.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-1! Sensational Goal!

93 minue mark: Salva with a good defensive play.


Game over. 3-1 win for us :)

We outshot them 15-5 (9-1 on target)

Rooney wins MoM, 9 for form, 6 of 7 passes, 1 of 1 tackles, 2 of 2 headers, 5 runs, 1 foul drawn, 1 assist, and 1 goal.

Alan Smith also had a 9 for form with his 2 goals.

[Eaglesfan27]

Giving some second stringers a chance....

Just lik RL ManU did two weeks ago against bottom of the league Norwich.

They lost 0-2
Fortunately, Salva and Marchetti seem to have some good talent ;)

Taylor hardly had to face any shots (except for that penalty shot.)

However, you bring up a good lesson :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 20, 2012 -

Jose Mourinho is talking trash before our match with Chelsea tomorrow. I decide to ignore his comments and not reply.

Christopher Eagles is complaining that he isn't getting enough Playing Time and he wants to be traded if he isn't going to get more PT :(

Sheesh, he just came back from his injury, and I'm planning on starting him against Chelsea.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 21, 2012 -

Today we host Chelsea in a critical EPL Match. I honestly believe we MUST win this match if we are going to have any chance of winning the EPL Title this year. We are currently in 5th place, 8 points behind first place Liverpool. Chelsea is currently in 2nd. Chelsea has an explosive offensive this year. Our defense is amazing, allowing only 2 goals in 11 league games, but our offense has been weak. Chelsea's top striker, Adriano, is hurt for this game and that will likely hurt their explosive offense. Freddy Adu is the second leading scorer, and he will have to play well if they are going to beat us. Arjen Robben, Ricardo Carvalho, Sanli Tuncay, and Wesley Sneijder are all hurt for this game as well. Freddy Adu and Joe Cole will be the main guys in the midfield. Petr Cech is still a quality keeper. Paulo Ferreira is playing right fullback very well. Pablo Aimar is a great distributor. They are going to use Rafael van der Vaart at their lone striker spot with Adriano hurt. He is an interesting choice..

We are 5-4 favorites.

It's is sunny with temperatures in the 50's.

We are using our very best lineup:

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Djemba
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Duff
S3: O'Shea
S4: Stevanovic
S5: Smith

[Eaglesfan27]

Very interesting, my scout was mislead.. Freddy Adu will be at the lone striker spot today with Cole and Aimar at the attacking midfield spots. van der Vaart is in the center of the midfield..

1st minute: Downing has the ball stolen by Ferriera.. he trips Ferriera right after this occurs.. yellow card for Downing.. Downing doesn't seem like the same dynamic player this year despite great ratings at times..

12 minute mark: Good header by Lucio to stop a Cole cross from reaching Adu.

18 minute mark: Rooney passes to Eagles in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. Cech dives.. tips it over the bar! Great save.

24 minute mark: Djemba passes it to Rooney in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. great save from Cech.

30 minute mark: Howard stops a 20 yard shot from Adu.

36 minute mark: Adu shoots from 25 yards out.. Howard tips a hard shot over the bar.

40 minute mark: Diego trips Downing.. yellow card for Diego.

41 minute mark: Djemba shoots.. it bounces back to Chivu.. Chivu passes to Fletcher just outside the box.. Fletcher shoots.. hard banana shot.. upper right corner.. Cech dives.. it is past him! GOAL!!!!! 1-0!!! :)

42 minute mark: Djemba passes it to Adriano in the box.. John Terry trips Adriano.. penalty shot awarded!!!! Lucio steps up confidently.. shoots.. lower left corner.. it's a blast.. no chance for the keeper! GOAL!!!! 2-0. :)

2 goals in a minute!


Halftime: 2-0 lead for us! We have over 91,000 fans here today.

53 minute mark: Lucio gets a yellow card for a trip on Adu.

61 minute mark: I put Duff in for Downing and O'Shea for Lucio due to their yellow cards.

71 minute mark: Duff with a cross from the left corner of the pitch.. Adriano heads it.. good save by Cech.

77 minute mark: Smith on for Rooney who is tired.

82 minute mark: Aimar passes to Adu in the box.. he shoots.. hard shot.. upper left corner.. Howard dives.. tips it over the bar.

84 minute mark: Eagles takes it down the right side of the pitch.. crosses to Adriano 10 yards from goal.. Adriano traps..shoots.. upper right corner.. Great save by Cech.


Game over! 2-0 win :)

We outshot them 11-7 (9-4 on target)

Downing has an 8 for form and wins MoM, 15 of 17 passes, 0 tackles, 1 of 1 headers, 1 interception, 11 runs, 2 fouls drawn.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 23, 2012 -

Fletcher was named to the EPL Team of the Week.

Oct 24, 2012 -

Today we host Cambridge in the third round of the English League Cup. Cambridge is a vastly inferior team compared to our own. Their striker Simon Robinson is the only player who might be EPL Worthy, but he is only 20 and is very raw. Dean Davies is a mediocre midfielder, but their best in that area. Keeper, Danny Clarke should be overmatched by our offense. Centrebacks Peter Castle and Joey Hutchinson should also be overmatched. Cambridge is currently 14th in League Two.

We are taking a small chance by starting several second stringers, but I will leave Howard in goal.

We are 1-15 favorites!

It's sunny with temperatures in the mid 50's.

GK: Howard
DL: Schmidt
DC: Salva
DC: Marchetti
DR: Grygera
ML: Alfonso
MC: Parker
MC: Mamam
MR: Schreurs
SC: MCFadden
SC: King

S1: Taylor
S2: Duff
S3: Marino
S4: Stevanovic
S5: Cahais

[Eaglesfan27]

6 minute mark: Stuart Boardley gets a yellow card for tripping Schreurs.

9 minute mark: Schreurs gets a yellow card for elbowing Boardley.

14 minute mark: Great cross from Alfonso who heads it.. just wide right of the goal.

18 minute mark: Schreurs takes it down the right sideline.. crosses it to the far post.. McFadden with a header.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

24 minute mark: Alfonso passes it to Salva in the left side of the box.. what is salva doing up there?!? He shoots.. amazing hard shot.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0! Salva scores!

35 minute mark: Schreurs dribbles past two defenders.. down the right sideline.. crosses it to King.. he heads it.. the keeper punches it over the bar. McFadden takes the corner.. finds King by the near post.. King traps.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!!! 3-0.

43 minute mark: Parker passes it to Alfonso in the left corner of the pitch.. he sharply crosses it to the center of the box.. McFadden jumps.. heads it.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 4-0!


Halftime: 4-0 lead for us. We have over 62,000 fans here today.


58 minute mark: Cahais on for Marchetti. I also put Marino on for King.

68 minute mark: Alfonso takes it down the left sideline of the pitch.. crosses ito to the near post.. Marino with a header.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 5-0!

91 minute mark: Parker passes to Marino outside the box.. Marino passes it between two defenders to McFadden.. he is in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 6-0! That is McFadden's hattrick!


Game over. 6-0 win for us.

We outshot them 21-0 (11-0 on target)

McFadden won MoM, 10 for form, 17 of 18 passes, 1 of 1 tackles, 11 of 15 headers, 2 interceptions, 8 runs, 2 fouls drawn, 1 assist, and 3 goals.

Schreurs, Alfonso, Parker, and Schmidt all had 10's as well.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 26, 2012 -

I've come to an agreement of 8 million dollars for a very promising right winger from Argentina who is currently playing for Independiente. However, there is a strong chance that he will be denied a work permit. I want this player because I think Schreurs and Eagles are becoming too unhappy sharing the spotlight and I'll eventually have to move them.... also my scout believes Carlos Godoy has the potential for a legendary career, and from the video I've seen, I agree. The kid is lightning fast with great skills... I just hope that the WP goes through.

[Tellistto]

May I just hijack this thread and say...


Everton beat ManU today!

That is all.

Tell

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 27, 2012 -

We've drawn Leicester in the 4th round of the English League Cup on our pitch. They are currently 8th in the EPL.

[Eaglesfan27]

May I just hijack this thread and say...


Everton beat ManU today!

That is all.

Tell

Darn :(

Oh well, hopefully it won't happen in my dynasty's world ;)

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 27, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Birmingham in an EPL Match. Birmingham is currently 9th in the EPL while we are in 4th. Birmingham is led by Scott Parker who is playing very well in the midfield and is their leading assist man with 5 and second leading scorer with 5 as well. Dmitry Sychev is their leading scorer and striker with 7 goals. Robin van Persie is playing very well on the left wing. Martin Taylor is a good right fullback who is pesky and can get under the opposition's skin. Keeper Jose Moreira can play brilliantly at times. He worries me as he could shut us down if he has a big game.

We are 4-6 favorites.

It's raining with temperatures in the 40's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Djemba
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Duff
S3: Marino (Smith is hurt and Marino is the next best striker)
S4: Stevanovic
S5: Cahais

[Eaglesfan27]

4 minute mark: Downing dribbles past two defenders.. into the box.. showing that flash again.. passes.. the keeper tips it.. Adriano gets it on the right side of the box.. quick pass to Rooney in the middle of the box.. Rooney wide open.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

19 minute mark: Downing passes it to Rooney in the box.. he shoots.. a defender blocks it.. Adriano gathers the rebound.. passes it to Eagles.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0! That is Eagle's first goal of the year.

32 minute mark: Djemba intercepts it at midfield.. passes it to Rooney in the left half of the box.. rooney passes between two defenders.. to Adriano in the middle of the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-0


Halftime: 3-0 lead for us. They have over 30,000 fans here today.


52 minute mark: Djemba passes it to Rooney.. Rooney shots from 30 yards out.. severe curve to it.. curving.. into the upper right corner.. the announcers call it a trademark Rooney goal! GOAL!!!! 4-0.

57 minute mark: Howard stops a long range shot from van Persie.

60 minute mark: I put Cahais on for Lucio who has a yellow card, and Stevanovic for Djemba who also has a yellow card.

70 minute mark: Howard saves a 25 yard shot from Sychev.

72 minute mark: Howard stops a 20 yard Scott Parker shot on goal.

77 minute mark: Marino on for Adriano who is tired.

83 minute mark: Howard stops a point blank shot from Scott Parker.

93 minute mark: Cahais with a good defensive play.


Game over. 4-0 win for us.

We each had 12 shots (they outshot us for on target shots 10-7)

Rooney wins MoM, 10 for form, 19 of 22 passes, 1 of 3 tackles, 2 of 4 headers, 4 runs, 2 fouls drawn, 1 assist, and 2 goals.

Howard also had a 10 for form.

Downing had a 9 for form, and all other starters had an 8.

I decide to praise Rooney after this game.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 29, 2012 -

Howard, Fletcher, and Downing were all selected to the EPL Team of the Week.

Paul Kelly has finished his loan at Cardiff and he was sad to go. He was hoping Cardiff might make an offer to make the move a transfer.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oct 30, 2012 -

Today we host Fenerbahce in a Champions League Group Match. Like last time, I will be using some backups. Hopefully, I won't need to use Rooney to rescue the day this time...

We are 4-5 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the mid 30's.

GK: Taylor
DL: Schmidt
DC: Salva
DC: Marchetti
DR: Grygera
ML: Alfonso
MC: Parker
MC: Cook
MR: Schreurs
SC: McFadden
SC: King

S1: Ortega
S2: Howard
S3: Duff
S4: O'Shea
S5: Eagles
S6: Adriano
S7: Rooney

[Eaglesfan27]

7 minute mark: They are keeping 9 men back.. we are having a flurry of shots blocked by their players in the box before they can even reach goal.

18 minute mark: Schreurs passes to Barry Parker just outside the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. good save by the keeper.

25 minute mark: Taylor with a save of a point blank shot by their striker.

30 minute mark: McFadden with a corner kick to the near post.. Parker heads it.. the keeper punches it over the bar.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. We have over 81,000 fans here today watching the match.


57 minute mark: Alfonso passes to McFadden in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper blocks it.

75 minute mark: Ortega on for Schreurs who is tired, Duff on for Alfonso who is tired, and Adriano on for King who is also tired.

91 minute mark: McFadden crosses to Ortega who passes to Cook.. he is 30 yards out.. he blasts a banana shot.. curves.. upper left corner... the keeper dives.. it is past him! GOAL!!!! 1-0!


Game over. 1-0 win for us.

We outshot them 22-3 (15-1 on target)

Their keeper, Erman Ergec, won MoM for his 14 saves.

Jamie Cook had a 9 for form, 31 of 33 passes, 3 of 4 tackles, 1 of 1 header, 1 interception, and 1 key goal. A very good came for Cook.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

We won 400,000 for that win (as we have for all of these wins.)

We have advanced to the 1st knockout round of the Champions League despite having 2 games left.

[Eaglesfan27]

November 1, 2012 -

The board is now pleased with my performance as manager.


Stewart Downing has won the EPL Player of the Month. Andy Reid of Everton has come in 2nd, and Gareth Williams of Coventry came in 3rd.


Sean Brady of Everton has won the EPL Young Player of the Month. Gianluca Giannini of Millwall came in 2nd, and Miguel of Newcastle came in 3rd.


Everton's Micky Adams has won EPL Manager of the Month. Kevin Keegan of Leicester came in 2nd, and I came in 3rd.

[finkenst]

In my game Spurs were freaking beasts in the first 2 seasons, won the league in the first season easily, then barely lost it in the second. Now THAT'S a damn bug that needs squashed. Thankfully, in the third season they got player raided from hell and crashed and burned. I was quite happy about that. Not that I dislike Spurs too much, mind you, they did steal points from Liverpool this past week, which makes me happy as can be!

Tell
Yeah...

Chelsea (my team) won the EPL on GD with Tottenham tying us. Paraphrasing TK: Now we know it's not realistic. Tottenham in second. :)

On another note, check this wonderful line in the champions leauge:

http://www.moosh.net/%7Etimothy/images/cl-standings.JPG

:D

That's right.. 1 goal in 3 games...and 5 point.

[daedalus]

Oct 26, 2012 -

I've come to an agreement of 8 million dollars for a very promising right winger from Argentina who is currently playing for Independiente. However, there is a strong chance that he will be denied a work permit. I want this player because I think Schreurs and Eagles are becoming too unhappy sharing the spotlight and I'll eventually have to move them.... also my scout believes Carlos Godoy has the potential for a legendary career, and from the video I've seen, I agree. The kid is lightning fast with great skills... I just hope that the WP goes through.And now you're waiting . . . for Godoy. :D

It's been a long day. Bad jokes are sometimes called for.

[Tellistto]

I've come to the conclusion that to keep the game even close to realistic you'd have to control nearly every one of the big teams to keep teams from buying players. Chelsea seems to want to monopolize every good forward, Madrid seems to want to monopolize every good midfielder, and in the end the Italian teams buy from the Spanish teams for gobs of cash. Just bugs the hell out of me.


Tell

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 4, 2012 -

Today we host Liverpool in a key televised match that is essential for us to win. Liverpool is currently leading the EPL based on the AMAZING play of Djibril Cisse and Yakubu. Djibril Cisse has 17 goals in 17 games, and Yakubu has 15 goals in 18 starts. Fortunately, Yakubu is injured for this game. Andres D'Alessando has been playing great this year and is leading the team with 8 assists. Jamie Carragher and Jordi are very good centrebacks who have kept the defense solid. Gael Clichy has played fantastic at left fullback. Chris Kirkland has been a very good keeper this year.

We are 5-4 favorites.

It's raining with temperatures in the 40's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Djemba
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Ortega
S3: Duff
S4: O'Shea
S5: Smith

[Eaglesfan27]

5 minute mark: Eagles passes to Adriano outside the box.. he passes it to Rooney in the middle of the box.. great pass.. Rooney shoots.. upper left corner.. Kirkland dives.. blocks it. Great save.

7 minute mark: Jordi strips the ball from Rooney as he dribbles into the box.

14 minute mark: Cisse steals it from Ferdinand.. Brown stops him and clears the ball.

21 minute mark: Eagles crosses it to Rooney.. he heads it.. good save by the keeper.. Rooney gets the rebound wide of the net.. centers it for Downing.. Downing shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0.

23 minute mark: Downing goes down the left sideline.. fakes out a defender.. passes it to Fletcher outside the box.. Fletcher shoots.. towards the upper left corner.. Rooney is by the left post.. he redirects it in midair.. towards the right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0! Great play by Rooney!

25 minute mark: Howard stops a shot from 20 yards out by Gerrard.

27 minute mark: Howard stops a point blank shot from Cisse.

41 minute mark: D'Allesando with a corner kick to the middle of the box.. Cisse outjumps Lucio.. heads it.. into the upper left corner.. GOAL. Up 2-1.

43 minute mark: Downing passes it to Fletcher just outside the box.. Fletcher shoots.. inches wide left.


Halftime: 2-1 lead. We have over 91,000 fans here to watch this huge match.


48 minute mark: Clichy bodychecks Eagles.. Eagles is hurt.. he can't go on. I put Ortega on for Eagles.

53 minute mark: Chivu intercepts the ball.. passes it down the left sideline.. Rooney gets to it.. crosses for Adriano he shoots.. Jordi blocks the shot.

65 minute mark: Clichy gets a yellow card for pulling Ortega's jersey.

67 minute mark: D'Allesandro passes it to Bridge who passes it to Owen (who just came on as a sub).. Owen shoots from 25 yards out.. it sails over Howard's left shoulder.. into the net.. GOAL. 2-2.

70 minute mark: Djemba is tired, I put Duff on for him. Adriano is tired, I put Smith on for him.

85 minute mark: Downing crosses it from the left side of the pitch.. Smith heads it.. great tip by Kirkland to put it over the bar. On the ensuing corner.. Downing finds Lucio by the near post.. he heads it.. brilliant catch by Kirkland.

They keep 9 men back most of the next 9 minutes.


Game over. 2-2 tie. Disappointing that we didn't win at home, but at least we didn't lose. We still don't have a single EPL loss this year, we just have too many ties and not enough wins.

We outshot them 19-12 (8-7 on target)


Downing wins MoM, 15 of 17 passes, 1 of 3 tackles, 1 of 3 headers, 1 interception, 16 runs, 1 assist, and 1 goal.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

Our streak of 20 games unbeaten is a new team record.

Stewart Downing and Christopher Eagles both sprained their ankles. Both will be out for about 5 days.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 6, 2012 -

Carlos Godoy has accepted our offer. However, the move has been delayed due to a WP issue. We will hear on Nov 19 if his WP is approved.

Nov. 7, 2012 -

Today we host Leicester in the 4th round of the English League Cup. Interestingly enough, we play them again as our next opponent in an EPL Match. They are led by the stellar play of right winger Edgar Barreto who has become a premiere right winger. Their keeper, Paul Gallacher, has been brilliant this year despite his advancing age. Dean Ashton has never impressed me on tape, but the guy scores well beyond what his talent would seem to indicate. He has 9 goals and 6 assists in 15 games. Rohan Ricketts is playing very well in the midfield. The defensive line has been somewhat poor with only Jonathan Spector playing well.

We are 1-2 favorites.

It's raining with temperatures in the 40's.

GK: Howard
DL: Schmidt
DC: Salva
DC: Marchetti
DR: Grygera
ML: Alfonso
MC: Stevanovic
MC: Cook
MR: schreurs
SC: McFadden
SC: King

S1: Ortega
S2: Taylor
S3: Duff
S4: O'Shea
S5: Smith

[rexallllsc]

Oct 26, 2012 -

I've come to an agreement of 8 million dollars for a very promising right winger from Argentina who is currently playing for Independiente. However, there is a strong chance that he will be denied a work permit. I want this player because I think Schreurs and Eagles are becoming too unhappy sharing the spotlight and I'll eventually have to move them.... also my scout believes Carlos Godoy has the potential for a legendary career, and from the video I've seen, I agree. The kid is lightning fast with great skills... I just hope that the WP goes through.


Did his agent approach you w/ video, or did you just watch his goals from past games?

[Eaglesfan27]

4 minute mark: Schmidt thorws it in deep in enemy turf.. long throw to McFadden in the right side of the box.. he heads it.. into the upper right corner! GOAL!!!! 1-0. That is McFadden's 50th goal for us of his career.

18 minute mark: Schmidt throws it in deep in enemy turf.. to King who heads it back to him in the left side of the box.. he shoots.. very strong curving shot.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. tips it wide.


Halftime: 1-0 lead for us. We have over 63,000 fans here today.


61 minute mark: Grygera is hurt, I put O'Shea on for him. King is tired, I put Smith on for him.

70 minute mark: Alfonso crosses it from the left side of the pitch.. Smith heads it.. good save by the keeper.

75 minute mark: Alfonso passes to Smith in the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. very good save by the keeper.

77 minute mark: Salva with a good defensive play. He and Marchetti are playing great together.

78 minute mark: I spoke too soon :( Salva gets called for tripping Ashton in the box.. penalty shot awarded.. Ashton steps up.. shoots.. lower right corner... Howard dives.. it is out of his reach. GOAL. 1-1 tie.


End of regulation. We are going into extra time..

Halftime of Extra time: I put Duff on for Alfonso who is exhausted.

116 minute mark: Howard stops a 20 yard shot from Barreto.

120 minute mark: Duff crosses to Smith in the middle of the box.. he heads it... over the bar.


End of Extra time. It is going to penalties...

Unfortunately, this lineup only has 3 very good penalty takers and 2 mediocre ones. I put the 3 best first: McFadden, Cook, and Stevanovic. I put Alan Smith and Duff who are both mediocre as the 4th and 5th shooters....

We shoot first:

McFadden shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL! 1-0.

Barreto shoots first for them.. to Howard's right.. he dives.. blocks it!!!


Cook steps up next... shoots lower right corner.. wide of the net. :(

Martin Cranie steps up.. shoots to Howard's left.. he dives.. blocks it!!!

Stevanovic steps up.. powerful shot.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0.

Dean Ashton steps up for them.. shoots to Howard's left.. he dives.. it is past him. GOAL. 2-1.

Alan Smith steps up.. Shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. tips it... it's still in!!!

Tomi Petrescu steps up.. he must make it for them to stay alive.. he shoots.. wide left!!!! We win 3-1 on penalties! :)



Game over. 1-1 tie, 3-1 win on penalties. :)

They outshot us 16-14 (9-7 on target)

McFadden wins MoM, 10 for form, 16 of 27 passes, 1 of 2 tackles, 9 of 15 headers, 1 interception, 13 runs, 7 fouls drawn, 1 goal.

Craig King only had a 7 and is starting to make me wonder if this wonderkid is ever going to be good enough. His lack of footspeed is starting to concern me. It's not bad, but not very good.

[Eaglesfan27]

Did his agent approach you w/ video, or did you just watch his goals from past games?I watched goals from his past games. I've been approached by dozens of agents but they are usuallly from English Championship matches.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 10, 2012 -

We will host Newcastle in the quarterfinal of the English League Cup.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov 12, 2012 -

I decide to loan Paul Kelly to Sheffield Wed, and Jimmy Murphy to Chesterfield.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov 14, 2012 -

Today I coach England in an international friendly against Slovenia. Dalibor Stevanovic is believed to be starting for Slovenia today, and it will be interesting to see how my player does against me. Chris Kirkland was hurt the other day, and I will have to pick a new keeper. I will give Chris Taylor the start.

GK: Taylor
DL: Ashley Cole (Coach is telling me to limit him to 45 minutes)
DC: Gardner
DC: Ferdinand (I will limit him to 45 by choice.)
DR: Brown
ML: Cole, Joe
MC: Parker
MC: Gerrard
MR: Jenas (Eagles is hurt and Jenas might be better)
SC: Rooney (I will limit him to 45)
SC: Moore

S1: Robinson
S2: Bridge
S3: Barry
S4: King (I'll give my guy PT today)
S5: Ben Bennett
S6: Smith, Alan
S7: Defoe
S8: Ashton
S9: Glen Johnson

[Eaglesfan27]

6 minute mark: Stevanovic shoots from 20 yards out.. Taylor stops it.

12 minute mark: Stevanovic takes a free kick from just outside the box.. he curves it around the wall.. curving.. into the upper left corner..GOAL! Down 1-0.

13 minute mark: Joe Cole crosses it for Jenas in the box.. he heads it.. over the bar.

31 minute mark: Joe Cole passes to Parker just outside the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. solid save by the keeper.

45 minute mark: Joe Cole crosses it to the far post.. Moore heads it.. over the bar.


Halftime: We are down 1-0. There are over 67,000 fans here at Wembley today.


I put Craig King on for Rooney, Defoe on for Moore, and Wayne Bridge on for Ashley Cole.


49 minute mark: Jenas crosses to King who settles it.. shoots.. into the crossbar.

61 minute mark: Jenas passes it to Parker just outside the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper blocks it with a brilliant dive.

64 minute mark: Jenas crosses it from the right wing.. King jumps.. it sails over King's head.. Joe Cole jumps as it sails to the far post.. he heads it.. into the upper left corner.. GREAT PLAY! GOAL!!!! 1-1.

82 minute mark: Joe Cole crosses it from the left side of the pitch.. to the far right side of the box.. Jenas heads it to Defoe's feet by the right post.. Defoe shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-1.

91 minute mark: Jenas passes to Joe Cole who passes to Parker.. Parker passes it to King in the box.. he shoots.. upper left corner.. the keeper dives.. it's past him! GOAL!!!! 3-1! King with a goal :)


Game over. 3-1 win for England over Slovenia in this friendly.

We outshot them 13-4 (8-2 on target)

Joe Cole wins MoM, 9 for form, 30 of 35 passes, 0 tackles, 1 of 6 headers, 1 interception, 1 run, 1 assist, and 1 goal.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Report:

Craig King thanked me for having confidence in him and for helping him to get his first international goal in a TV interview. He also mentioned that he thought I was a great manager. That makes me feel bad about demoting him to a sub, but I think he might do better in that role for a bit.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov 17, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Leicester in an EPL Match. They played us tough a little over a week ago, but we are bringing out our best players for this match. WE are in 5th place in the EPL currently, while they are in 8th place.

We are 4-7 favorites.

It's raining with temperatures in the 40's.

GK: Howard
DL: chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Djemba
MC: fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Ortega
S3: Duff
S4: O'Shea
S5: King

[Eaglesfan27]

2 minute mark: Lucio starts the counter attack.. passes it to Rooney at midfield.. he passes it to Eagles.. Eagles dribbles into the box.. shoots.. lower right corner.. the keeper dives.. blocks it.

6 minute mark: Djemba trips Canero.. yellow card for Djemba.

9 minute mark: Downing steals it at midfield.. passes it to Rooney just outside the box.. Rooney with a crossover move on the one defender.. he dribbles into the box further.. fakes out the keeper.. shoots.. lower right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0. That is Rooney's 100th career EPL goal!

19 minute mark: Rafael bodychecks Lucio.. Lucio is hurt.. Rafael gets a yellow card.

20 minute mark: Eagles passes it to Adriano in the right side of the box.. Adriano with a curving cross.. Rooney in the middle of the box.. Rooney heads it.. into the upper right corner.. it's past the keeper.. brilliant header.. GOAL!!!! 2-0. That is Rooney's second goal.


Halftime: 2-0 lead.


61 minute mark: Djembas has a yellow card for so I put Duff on for him. Chivu also picked up a yellow card, so I put o'Shea on for him. I want to give Rooney the shot for the hattrick but he is tired, and the game is in hand. I put King on for him (I think King might play the left striker better which is part of why I'm demoting him to bench player.)

68 minute mark: Howard stops a 15 yard shot from Ashton.

84 minute mark: Howard stops a long range shot from Petrescu.


Game over. Nice 2-0 win on the road.

We outshot them 11-6 (6-3 on target)

Rooney wins MoM, 10 for form, 13 of 16 passes, 1 of 3 tackles, 1 of 4 headers, 2 interceptions, 10 runs, 3 fouls drawn, and 2 goals.

Adriano and Downing also had 10's for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

Our board is very pleased with that win.

Chelsea has suffered a serious blow as influential full back Paulo Ferreira has suffered a fractured vertebrae in his back and will miss approximately 6 months.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov 19, 2012 -

Lucio, Downing, and Rooney were all selected to the EPL Team of the Week.

Carlos Godoy's Work Permit application was denied. I appeal the decision. I hope this goes like Adriano's did when I won the appeal....

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 21, 2012 -

OH YEAH! Carlos Godoy has been granted a conditional British Work Permit for his move to Manchester United ;)

The transfer will go through on January 1, 2013 when the next transfer window opens.


Now, I just need to decide which right winger to try to attempt to move (the answer might surprise you the reader.) ;)

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 21, 2012 -

Today we host PAOK in a meaningless Champions League Group Match. I'll use my second string liberally.

We are 4-7 favorites.

It's raining with temperatures in the 30's.

GK: Taylor
DL: Schmidt
DC: Salva
DC: Marchetti
DR: Grygera
ML: Alfonso
MC: Parker
MC: COok
MR: Schreurs
SC: McFadden
SC: Smith

S1: Howard
S2: Duff
S3: King
S4: Silvestre
S5: O'Shea
S6: Ortega
S7: Rooney (won't play unless injury knocks out both strikers.)

[Eaglesfan27]

1st minute: Alfonso dribbles into the box.. he shoots.. the keeper blocks it.. right back to Alfonso.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-0. That is Alfonso's first goal for us this year.

3 minute mark: McFadden gets a yellow card for a trip on the centreback.

5 minute mark: Smith elbows Karagiannis.. yellow card for Smith.

10 minute mark: Parker passes to Schreurs in the box.. he shoots.. wide left.

15 minute mark: McFadden is limping, I might pull him soon.

16 minute mark: Alfonso gets called for pulling Sahra's jersey.. yellow card for Alfonso.

19 minute mark: Cook gets a yellow card for pulling Vasileiou's jersey.

41 minute mark: Alfonso passes it to McFadden.. he shoots from 25 yards out.. curving shot.. just wide right.

44 minute mark: Schreurs gets a yellow card for tripping the left wing.


Halftime: 1-0 lead for us. There are over 75,000 fans here today.

I decide to put King on for McFadden who is limping and Duff on for Alfonso who is one of my many guys with yellow cards.

47 minute mark: King gets a yellow card for obstructing Papaganopolous.

54 minute mark: Parker passes to Cook who is 35 yards out.. he shoots a blistering banana shot that cuts through the air.. curving.. into the upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-0! Excellent strike!

68 minute mark: Taylor stops a blistering long range shot from Vasileiou.

72 minute mark: Duff collided witha defender and he cannot continue. I have to put Ortega out of position on the left side.

91 minute mark: Parker passes to Cook who is 25 yards out.. he shoots another very powerful banana shot.. upper left corner.. the keeper dives.. it's past him! GOAL!!!! 3-0.


Game over. 3-0 win for us.

We outshot them 20-2 (8-1 on target)

Cook wins MoM, 10 for form, 30 of 33 passes, 1 of 2 tackles, 0 of 4 headers, 1 run, 1 foul drawn, and 2 goals.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

We were awarded 400,000 dollars for this win.

Damien Duff suffered a fractured jaw, but is expected back in 3 weeks or so.



International Info (World Cup play):

Matias Cahais came on as a sub and had an assist for Argentina, but they lost 3-2 to Chile in the World Cup Qualifying match.

Adriano had 2 goals and an assist for Brazil in their 5-0 win over Paraguay in their World Cup Qualifying match!

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov 24, 2012 -

Excellent! Fulham beat Liverpool 3-1 to help bring the 1st place team a little closer to the pack :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 25, 2012 -

Today we host Leeds in an EPL Match. We are currently in 5th place while Leeds is in 17th. Leeds has a relatively weak team, but it is time for my key guys to start, and I'm starting them. Leeds is led by the scoring of striker Shane Paul who repeatedly asked to join my team. He is impressing with 5 goals on a relatively weak team. Gregory Maury is the second leading striker with 4 goals. Paul Connolly leads a suspect defensive line. Mikel Martins is a fair left winger and has been the best midfielder. Keeper Richard McDonald has been great this year, and I've considered pulling him up to the national team. He is a quality keeper.

We are 1-3 favorites.

It's raining with temperatures in the 40's.

GK: Howard
DL: chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Djemba
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Cahais
S3: King
S4: Ortega
S5: Stevanovic

[Eaglesfan27]

6 minute mark: Downing dribbles past two defenders.. into the box.. he passes it to Djemba in the box.. he settles.. shoots.. over the bar.

22 minute mark: Downing crosses.. Adriano heads it.. the keeper pushes it over the bar.

23 minute mark: Downing crosses to Rooney in the center of the box.. he heads it.. over the bar.

25 minute mark: Ferdinand gets a yellow card for a trip on Shane Paul.

32 minute mark: Gregory Maury trips Djemba.. yellow card for Maury.

44 minute mark: Barker takes the ball away from Eagles outside the box.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. We have over 91,000 fans here today.


47 minute mark: Eagles is stripped of the ball again.

55 minute mark: Downing passes to Rooney in the left side of the box.. Rooney fakes right.. shoots.. upper left corner.. very narrow crease between the keeper and the goal post.. Rooney finds it! GOAL!!!! 1-0! That is Rooney's 15th goal of the year.

60 minute mark: McDonald blocks a series of shots from Rooney and Adriano.. brilliant display by the keeper.

Cahais on for Ferdinand, and Stevanovic on for Djemba.

68 minute mark: Eagles crosses for Rooney in the box.. he has a diving header.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. blocks it.. brilliant save.

73 minute mark: Sidwell passes to LuaLua in the box.. he fakes out the keeper.. shoots.. upper left corner.. Howard dives.. he was too far out of position. GOAL. 1-1 tie.

King on for Adriano.

82 minute mark: Fletcher passes it to Downing who is 30 yards out.. Downing does something I've never seen him do.. shoots a blazing banana shot from 30 yards out.. upper left corner.. it's past the keeper who looks as shocked as I do! GOAL!!!! 2-1.


Game over. 2-1 win for us. :)

We outshot them 19-6 (10-3 on target)

Christopher Eagles wins MoM, 10 for form, 20 of 26 passes, 3 of 3 tackles, 1 of 3 headers, 1 interception, 15 runs, 1 foul drawn. I'm glad to see that Eagles thrive as he is the right winger I'm hoping to move..

Downing with a 10 for form as well. Rooney with a 9 for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

Eagles hurt his knee and will be out about a week (part of the reason I want to move him. I'm suspecting he is becoming injury prone as he ages. He is currently 28 and 3 years older than Schreurs who is faster and almost as skilled. Of course, I won't move Eagles if I can't get a discreet good offer.

Djemba injured his chest and will miss 5 days.


With that win and Liverpool's recent loss, we are only 5 points behind the first place team now.

[finkenst]

i find in my second season that i alternate my players a lot better now... I actually review my schedule to see where I'll need my top players vs. the "second" tier players.. that is probably what caused the brilliant CL line of 1w-2d-0l with 1gf and 1ga...

What is the name of the guy who wrote all the training schedules for FM? I"m trying to find it and siilly me, i didn't bookmark it.

[Eaglesfan27]

i find in my second season that i alternate my players a lot better now... I actually review my schedule to see where I'll need my top players vs. the "second" tier players.. that is probably what caused the brilliant CL line of 1w-2d-0l with 1gf and 1ga...

What is the name of the guy who wrote all the training schedules for FM? I"m trying to find it and siilly me, i didn't bookmark it.
If my memory is correct, it is "Lysander" who created the training schedules. They are also called the Gary schedules.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 27, 2012 -

Eagles and Rooney were selected to the EPL Team of the Week.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 28, 2012 -

Time to decide whose contract I should extend:

Mikael Silvester - This 35 year old left fullback is still a viable backup. I decide to see how much he wants to extend his contract. He wants 51,000/week. The board will only allow us to offer 33,000/week due to his age presumably (same as van Nistelrooy)

Lucio - This 34 year old centreback is still on top of his game as far as I'm concerned. This phenomenal physical specimen hasn't shown any decline in his physical abilities. He wants to keep his salary of 110,000/week, but says he isn't interested in extending. I decide to try to talk him into extending for one more year at the 110,000/week. I'm hopeful he agrees. The board will allow me to offer up to 240k/week to Lucio! I guess the board likes him ;)

Eric Djemba - 31 year old midfielder is still a high quality player who doesn't show signs of physical decline yet. He is currently paid 74,000/week. He is requesting 72,000/week for 2 years plus 1.45 million in signing. I try to convince him into signing a 3 year deal (effectively a 2 year extension.)

Rio Ferdinand - 34 year old centreback is starting to show the first signs of age, but he is still very very good. I decide to contact his agent about an extension. He only wants to play this year too, but I try to convince him to sign a 1 year extension. He is currently paid 140,000/week but is only requesting 120,000/week which is what I offer him. I also offer him 400,000 signing bonus.

Phil Neville - This 35 year old defender/midfielder is no longer a skilled player. He is strictly a backup now, and I see no reason to extend his contract.

Damien Duff - This 33 year old left winger is starting to show a decline with significant decrease in speed already. I don't see him as a regular player any longer but he is very creative and he has good technical abilities as well as outstanding physical skills. He is currently making 120l/week. I contact his agent to see if he is interested in remaining as a backup. I offer 80,000/week as Mr. Queiroz still thinks Duff is worth it.

Louis Saha - This 34 year old striker has lost his speed which was always his greatest asset. I'll let him leave after this year.

Dalibor Stevanovic - This 28 year old midfielder remains a good rotation player. He is currently only making 16,500/week. He is requesting 48,000/week and I think he is worth it if he agrees to a 4 year deal.

Finally,

Tim Howard - The 33 year old American Keeper has been brilliant this year. I'm glad I didn't acquire a new keeper after all. I think Howard still has a year or two left in him. He is currently making 77,000/week and he wants a 2 year deal at that rate. I decide to extend it to 3 years and offer him the 2 million dollar signing bonus that he is requesting.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov. 30, 2012 -

James McFadden fractured a cheekbone in practice today and he will miss about 3 weeks.


Ferdinand signed a new 2 year deal worth over 9 million dollars.

Stevanovic signed a new 4 year deal worth just over 9 million dollars.

Lucio has signed a new 2 year deal worth over 9 million dollars.

Howard has signed a new 3 year deal worth 10.5 million dollars.

Eric Djemba has signed a new 3 year deal worth 10.5 million dollars.

Duff refused 80,000/week. I decide to let him go as I feel he is going into decline.

Silvestre has signed a new 2 year deal worth 2.6 million dollars.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec 1, 2012 -

The board is pleased with my performance as manager.


Stewart Downing has won the EPL Player of the Month Award.

Wayne Rooney came in 2nd, and Johan Absalonsen of Southampton came in 3rd.


Adriano has won the EPL Young Player of the Month. This will be the last year that he will be eligible for this award.

Mario of Arsenal came in 2nd, and Ian Robson of Newcastle came in 3rd.


Bruce Arena of Aston Villa won EPL Manager of the Month. Ciriaco Cano of Blackburn came in 2nd, and Steve Bruce of Newcastle came in 3rd.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec. 1, 2012 -

Today we travel to play West Ham in an EPL Match. They are in 16th while we are in 3rd. West Ham is led by right winger Jobi McAnuff who is playing very well. Striker Dani is the leading scorer with 3 goals, and their weak offense handicaps the team. Craig Powell also has 3 goals at the other striker position. Centreback Marchena is very good and he is keeping the team afloat along with his skilled teammates along the defensive line. Keeper Vlada Avramov has had a very good year.

We are 1-2 favorites.

It's overcast with temperatures in the mid 40's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Stevanovic
MC: Fletcher
MR: Schreurs
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Cahais
S3: King
S4: Parker
S5: Ortega

[finkenst]

If my memory is correct, it is "Lysander" who created the training schedules. They are also called the Gary schedules.
you rock... gary is what it's called.. there is also lyssien general training for midfielders.

:)

*bookmarks the page this time*

[Eaglesfan27]

1 minute mark: Stevanovic passes it to Adriano.. he shoots.. the keeper dives.. blocks it.

6 minute mark: Fletcher passes to Rooney who is 30 yards out.. he shoots.. banana shot.. trademark shot.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. blocks it!

35 minute mark: Downing trips Davies.. yellow card for Downing.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. They have over 35,000 fans here today.


55 minute mark: Dani takes it down the right side of the pitch.. he crosses it to Frank Lampard by the near post.. Lampard heads it... it hits the right post.. and bounces in! GOAL. Down 1-0.

60 minute mark: Parker on for Stevanovic who is tired.

65 minute mark: Schreurs puts a move on his man along the right wing.. passes it to Adriano in the right edge of the box.. he passes it to Rooney by the far post.. Rooney heads it.. over the bar.

69 minute mark: Downing takes it down the left side of the pitch.. he passes to Fletcher who is 25 yards out.. Fletcher blasts a shot.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. it's past him! GOAL!!!! 1-1.

80 minute mark: Schreurs passes it to Adriano just outside the box.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper blocks it.

82 minute mark: Brown passes to Schreurs who heads it to the center of the box for Adriano.. he shoots.. curving shot.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-1!

91 minute mark: Downing passes to Rooney in the left side of the box.. Rooney psses to Adraino in the middle of the box.. Adriano shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 3-1! That is Adriano's second goal of the game.


Game over. 3-1 win :)

We outshot them 15-8 (9-3 on target)

Adriano won MoM, 8 for form, 24 of 27 passes, 0 of 1 tackles, 6 of 7 headers, 1 interception, 2 fouls drawn, and 2 goals.

[Eaglesfan27]

you rock... gary is what it's called.. there is also lyssien general training for midfielders.

:)

*bookmarks the page this time*
Glad to help. I think Gary and Lyssien are the same person (I wasn't too far off with Lysander ;))

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec. 3, 2012 -

We drew a match at Sunderland for the Third Round of the English FA cup.

I've sent Cedric Gomis on loan to Bournemouth. I'm hoping a club might want to buy Gomis.

[marshall881]

Just wanted to let you know that I have been following for some time, and that this is a tremendous dynasty. Keep up the good work. I will be following along.

[Eaglesfan27]

Just wanted to let you know that I have been following for some time, and that this is a tremendous dynasty. Keep up the good work. I will be following along.
Thank you very much.

[nfg22]

Well Eagles, because of you I bought FM2005, and I also took on harrogate...now the season isnt here yet but I cant promote any of my youth from reserves or U18...Except sam walburton and Lee Morris, I promoted both of them but no one else, also since I have no transfer funds and finances are going down what can I do to get more money/better players?

[Eaglesfan27]

Well Eagles, because of you I bought FM2005, and I also took on harrogate...now the season isnt here yet but I cant promote any of my youth from reserves or U18...Except sam walburton and Lee Morris, I promoted both of them but no one else, also since I have no transfer funds and finances are going down what can I do to get more money/better players?
From what I remember, Lee Morris and Sam were the only two real players on the U18 and reserve squad. The rest should be greyed out players, who are fictional place holders I think.

I'd recommend the same thing that I did. Try to survive the first season, raise your reputation, and get some loan players to come help you out. I strongly relied on loan players the first few years. Also, Andrew Wright is a good base to build around at left wing.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec. 4, 2012 -

Today we travel to play Gorica in a meaningless Champions League Group Match. This will be our final CL match of this stage.

It's raining with temperatures in the 30's.

We are 1-3 favorites.

I'll be giving the second team time here.

GK: Taylor
DL: Schmidt
DC: Salva
DC: Marchetti
DR: Grygera
ML: Alfonso
MC: Parker
MC: Cook
MR: Schreurs
SC: King
SC: Smith

S1: Howard
S2: Silvestre
S3: O'Shea
S4: Ortega
S5: Chivu
S6: Fletcher
S7: Adriano (I really should have declared one more striker eligible for CL Play.)


OOC NOTE: It doesn't get too much better than watching the draft and playing FM :)

[Eaglesfan27]

5 minute mark: Schmidt passes it to Alfonso in the left corner of the pitch.. he crosses it.. Parker heads it... upper left corner.. over the bar.

32 minute mark: Alfonso dribbles into the left half of the box.. passes it across the box to Schreurs.. Schreurs with a hard shot.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. it's past him! GOAL!!!! 1-0.

38 minute mark: Schmidt gets a yellow card for a trip on Bozic.

39 minute mark: Alfonso passes to Parker outside the box.. hard shot.. the keeper parries it.. Schreurs and the keeper race to it.. Schreurs is tackled.. by the keeper! Penalty shot awarded! Grygera steps up... confidently.. shoots.. lower right corner, it is out of the keeper's range! GOAL!!!! 2-0.


Halftime: 2-0 lead. Gorica only has 4,000 fans here, ridiculous.


61 minute mark: O'Shea on for Schmidt (due to his yellow card) and Ortega on for Schreurs who is tired.

65 minute mark: Ortega with a corner kick.. to the middle of the box.. Smith heads it.. it hits the right goal post.. and bounces in! GOAL!!!! 3-0. That is Smith's 5th goal of the year.

84 minute mark: Ortega passes it to Smith in the middle of the box.. he shoots.. lower left corner.. the keeper dives.. tips it.. but it goes in! GOAL!!!! 4-0.


Game over. 4-0 win for us.

We outshot them 24-0 (7-0 on target)

Smith wins MoM, 10 for form, 16 of 21 passes, 1 of 2 tackles, 12 of 20 headers, 2 runs, 2 fouls drawn, and 2 goals.

Alfonso had a 9 for form.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec. 8, 2012 -

Today we host Newcastle in the English League Cup Quarterfinal. Newcastle is 6th in the EPL. They are led by the strong play of centrebacks Scott Murphy and Per Kroidrup who are playing great this year. Keeper Jesus has been playing great in goal. Ricardo Oliveira has developed into a very good striker who leads the team with 8 goals. Jermain Defoe is still a very good striker and is second on the team with 7 goals. Hatem Ben Arfa has become a very good left winger.

We are 4-5 favorites.

It's raining with temperatures in the high 30's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Djemba
MC: Fletcher
MR: Eagles (he has teams interested.. time to showcase his skills to move him.)
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
s2: Cahais
S3: O'Shea
S4: Ortega
S5: King

[Eaglesfan27]

11 minute mark: Eagles passes to Djemba who shoots.. hard curving shot.. upper right corner.. Jesus dives.. catches it.

19 minute mark: Oliviera with a powerful blast from 20 yards.. Howard catches it and clutches it gratefully to his chest.

30 minute mark: Howard stops a long range shot from Arfa.

35 minute mark: Downing dribbles past a defender.. past another defender into the box.. he passes to Rooney by the near post.. he slams a powerful shot.. Jesus dives.. blocks it!

44 minute mark: Downing crosses it to Rooney in the center of the box.. he heads it.. the keeper blocks it.


Halftime: 0-0 tie. We have over 87,000 fans here today.


46 minute mark: Eagles takes it down the right sideline.. crosses to Downing in the left side of the box.. he passes to rooney in the center of the box.. Rooney shoots.. great save by the keeper to tip it over the bar.

54 minute mark: Djemba passes to Downing in the left corner.. Downing dribbles past a defender.. passes to Fletcher.. he shoots from 15 yards out.. over the bar!

61 minute mark: Djemba is tired, I put Ortega in for him.

74 minute mark: Downing passes to Ortega.. he shoots.. over the bar.

77 minute mark: Downing dribbles past two defenders.. into the box.. passes to Adriano.. he blasts a shot to the upper right corner.. Great save by the keeper!

81 minute mark: Rooney passes it to Fletcher just outside the box.. he shoots.. another solid save by the keeper.

94 minute mark: Downing crosses it to the center of the box.. Fletcher heads it.. over the bar.


End of regulation. 0-0 tie. This is going to extra time. Eagles is exhausted. I'm going to move Ortega to the right wing and put O'shea in at the midfield in Djemba's spot!

94 minute mark: Downing crosses to Rooney who heads it.. the keeper blocks it.. Fletcher with the rebound shoots.. acrobatic save by the keeper!

99 minute mark: Downing with a corner.. to O'Shea who heads it.. the keeper blocks it.. Rooney gets the rebound.. shoots.. the keeper blocks it again! Amazing saves by the keeper!


Halftime of extra time. 0-0 tie.


111 minute mark: Downing dribbles past two defenders.. passes it to Ortega.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. tips it over the bar.

116 minute mark: Adriano is exhausted (and he isn't a good penalty shooter) so I put Craig King in for him.

117 minute mark: O'Shea passes it into the box to King.. he shoots.. over the bar.

120 minute mark: Downing crosses to Rooney.. he heads it.. the keeper blocks it.. King gets the rebound.. shoots.. great save by the keeper!


End of extra time. We are going to penalties against a very hot keeper.. amazing game from him.



I pick Rooney, King, Lucio, Downing, and Fletcher to be my penalty shooters in that range.


We shoot first:

Rooney steps up.. blasts a shot into the upper left corner.. GOAL! 1-0.

James Milner steps up for them... shoots to Howard's right.. Howard with a great dive.. great save!


King steps up next.. he shoots.. upper right corner.. the keeper dives.. it's past him! GOAL!! 2-0.

Daniel Jensen steps up.. shoots to Howard's left.. Howard dives.. gets his finger tips in it.. and pushes it wide!!


Lucio steps up.. he looks very confident.. he blasts a shot into the upper right corner.. the keeper didn't even move.

Ben Arfa steps up... he has to make this to keep them alive.. he shoots to Howard's right... Howard dives.. blocks it!!!


It's over! 3-0 win on penalties after a 0-0 regulation match!


We outshot them 27-7 (18-3 on target)

Their keeper, Jesus, wins MoM with the most amazing 18 save game I've ever seen. This spanish keeper who is only 22 looks like he is going to be a star for Newcastle.

[Eaglesfan27]

Post Match Info:

We were given 360,000 dollars for that win in the English League Cup.

We will host Everton in the semi-final of the English League Cup. The Wolves will host Liverpool in the other semi-final.


Excellent news. Jeroen Schreurs has come to me and told me he wants to stay and asked me to remove him from the transfer list. I was hoping this would happen as he is younger and I think faster than Eagles and about the same skill level. Also, three teams are now interested in Eagles (Valencia, Juventus, and FC Bayern. I'll be glad to move him to any of those teams for about 30 million.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec 12, 2012 -

Yes! Leeds of all teams beat Liverpool and if I win my next EPL Match I could potentially take over 1st place in the EPL.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec 14, 2012 -

Not a great draw, but not a bad draw for the next round of the Champions League. We will play Porto with the 1st leg being on our home pitch.

The first match will be played Feb. 20, 2013.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec 15, 2012 -

Today we travel to play the wolves in an EPL Match. If we win, we will take over 1st place. The Wolves are currently in 15th place. The Wolves are led by Bruno Moreira who is developing into a very good striker. Even at the age of 32, Seyi George Olofinjana remains a very capable midfielder. Centreback Alexandr Orekhov is a very good Russian centreabck who is a crafty veteran. Stuart Taylor remains a quality keeper.

We are 4-7 favorites.

It's sunny with temperatures in the low 50's.

GK: Howard
DL: Chivu
DC: Lucio
DC: Ferdinand
DR: Brown
ML: Downing
MC: Djemba
MC: Fletcher
MR: Schreurs (time to get him used to playing with the first team.)
SC: Rooney
SC: Adriano

S1: Taylor
S2: Cahais
S3: Alfonso
S4: Ortega
S5: King