Season summary + pre season

After so and so season we finished in 7th place once again. We struggled to find our own style of play and rhytm. Starting out with a plain 4-3-3 and ending the season with a refined 4-1-2-1-2. I feel confindent going into the next season, we've found out what I believe is the best system, where we can challenge the big teams every time we face them. I'll show you some of the better results against the big ones.

Probably my most satisfying win. We really dominated this game right from the start, even though we didn't get to any real goal scoring oppurtunities. But my both strikers are young and inexperienced, but they're growing by every game.

A fine and comfortable win where we had an amazing first half. Tottenham did come back in the second half but couldn't produce that lethal touch in front of goal.

A good display against the best team in the league, they scored on every opportunity and we didn't.. that's really the big difference.

Here are the rest of the results, we stepped it up in the later part of the season but still managed to get some unlucky results in, like the one against burnley and middlesbrough.

I snapped up Akinefeev! on a free transfer deal in the winter and he replaced Ochoa, who by no means did a bad job, but we did let too many goals past us. Akinfeev became that wall i needed, and he should be, as he might be one of the best goalies in the game.

Goncharenko did a great job in midfield but unfortunatly i had to let him go. I tried to renew his contract but he couldn't get a new work permit, his stay here has been hampered with injuries, so I had to cash in on him. I got 7,5 M £ from PAOK, but I had to pay some of Gonchas wages.

Candreva was another player I had to let go. Whined most of the season about the competition for places and never really produced any good displays when I gave him the chance. Got a big transfer out of him from Marseille - 8,5 M £.

Other players that left was Addison (9,5) Robinson (free), Burton (2,5) and Hill (free)

So, on to the transfers for next season:

Young prospect for the fullback positions.

Mats Hummels from Dortmund was a good centre back. Not better than what I have but it was tough finding any good defenders this season. He'll rotate a lot with Cathcart. Kryvtsov still feels like the best defender.

Petrucci, United bred italian. Bought him off of Celtic and I was impressed with his development. Will be Canales back-up in that creative AMC role.

Mateo Mustacchio was a great find. 12 M £ isn't that bad either and he'll be my starting Right fullback and be a great cover for the central positions aswell.

Marquinhos was this seasons transfer bomb. Tried to get him last season aswell but couldn't finance the deal back then. Now I splashed the rest of my budget on one player, Hummels was actually bought after Marquie so i had some wiggle room. Will form a great striking force with Rossvold, Winter and MacDonald.

Good first games, qualified comfortably against Caen. I didn't manage my team in the friendly games but the team produced some good displays without me.

Dec 2014 - Europe and PL

I had taken a break from FM for about a week, didn't feel the inspiration as the team juggled with results and letting far to many easy goals past them. I found out yesterday what might have been the problem.. I had for some reason focues playing out the wings..but I'm not feilding any wingers.. I play a very tight powerful central midfield that spreads out when attacking and gets back behind the ball in defence. After I changed this I gained much more control of the games, I also did some minor adjustment on the defenders and the "pushing up" of the backline.

Still not feeling the team spirit yet and i might focus on playing with the same starting 11 for a few mathes in a row now.

Aug 2014 Transfers

Here's the final standings from the season that went. European qualification was a satisfying achievement, I had hopes of getting 6th place but Meh.. who cares as long as we achieve the same thing either way.

Restructing the squad was the next step, even though not as radical as I was afraid of halfway through last season. I'll be keeping my tight midfield and sell off Camacho and bring in some more creativity in midfield. Some attackers will be looking for new clubs as i need to shrink squad in that department and instead add 1 or 2 new fullbacks. Rossvold is safe in attack but the rest is pretty much up for grabs. Obolo is old, Vaughan is always injured, Naki isn't settling into the way I'd like to play, MacDonald is pretty much safe aswell seeing as he's an own-product by now.

Some time went and here's how it played out.

I'll summerize the players quickly. Gosling was a filler-player, as he can play both in DR and the midfield positions. Jack Cork was an alternative but he was a bit too expensive in the latter stages of the transfer window. Tiendalli was also a filler, but I really wanted a bench player that could cover both fullback positions.

I was closing to sign him last window but he got snapped up by another team (Spartak Moscow i think.. I don't wanna double check) and I had to buy him now instead. He and Rossvold will form a very exciting striker duo.

Bertrand was the perfect option for my vacant left back position, quick, strong and technical... and english! :)

Canales, somewhat my new favourite real-life player. Couldn't let Real get there dirty hands on him in FM aswell. He's looking really good in the game thankfully.

I needed a good second keeper and I didn't have many to choose from. There was an even better regen from Italy but he was first choice in Palermo and had no interest in joining Millwall anyway. This was the smart choice, loaning him with a buy-out option (6M £).

Candreva will add some much needed creativity in midfield, is also a perfect option if i want to play with wingers at some point.

This was a filler player. Won't get that much playing time. Probably...

Gosling is more versatile and english, and with his paycheck I'll be sure to make use of him when I see fit.

The tactics I've been trying out so far. Playing out the european qualifying opponent Valur (11-0) in 2 games. Lost narrowly to Man City(0-1) and then beat Portsmouth 5-2 away from home.


Feel free to comment on my choices so far... or just Ask questions!

/Majk

January Updates 2014

Millwall is going steady in the top-half of the Premier League and is currently in 8th place. ( I've actually played up until game 30, but I'm gonna go through the important stuff up until january )

Top 3 players so far:

Sergiy Kryvtsov (23) - avg rating: 7.34 - 32 apps 4 goals 2 assists

Guillermo Ochoa (28) - avg rating: 7.20 - 29 apps 33 conc 11 cln

McDonald Mariga (26) - avg rating: 7.13 - 32 apps 8 goals 2 assists


I'm extremly happy with my central defenders (Kryvtsov+Cathcart) along with Ochoa, they really tighten things up at the back. We used to let goals get past us way too easy but things have certainly changed.

They problem we're having is not having a working attacking-style of play. It's more power football and when we get chances we usually have no idea who passed, or we have those break-away moments the strikers gets themselves out of the defenders way but can't seem to get it past the keeper.

I'm planning on changing my play to a more ordinary 4-4-2 and have some natural attacking wingers produce chances from the flanks. This means having to sell off some of my central midfielders and striker and spending the money on some really good creative wingers. Camacho, Tshabalala will probably leave seeing they ain't getting enough playing time as it is. Petrov and Goncharenko could prove to be a perfect pairing in a new midfield central set-up. Mariga will be staying as he can play on the right and as a striker. I love his versatility.

I'm not posting pictures right now because it messes up everything I've written so far. But i'll put them up at the end of my season, it's a promise.

As for my Ghana career it's been terminated. I qualified for the World cup, was very happy with that but didn't enjoy the squad options. All the great players where in central midfield, adn then there was Opare as a great wing-back but no real options in Goal, Left defence, Wings or Attack. (A.Gyan was OK though).

Instead Ivory Coast approached me, seeing as they were also going to play in the WC and had a pretty easy group with France, Paraguay and Montenegro, I decided to go with them instead. They're not much better than Ghana but they're more balanced.

Back to Millwall - As I mentioned I'm currently in 8th position and I've been hanging around in that region for quite some time. 5th place is in reach with just 4 points up. The Teams ahead of me are, in order:

Chelsea
Man City
Man Utd
Arsenal
Everton
Tottenham
Aston Villa

I have a nice schedule ahead of me with only Manchester United as the real threat. Liverpool is in the last game but they're not going too good, even got Benitez sacked a few weeks back, lying in 10th position. I'm hoping for 6th place and it's achievable looking at my contenders fixture-lists.

Wish me luck!

/Majk

End to a season, and the start of a new one

We ended the season with a very good run getting two especially tough wins against Liverpool (1-0) and Wolves (2-1) and in the very last game we sealed our position with a 1-0 win against Sunderland.

Goncharenko, Addison, Cathcart, Ochoa did really well overall this season. The strikers helped out but never at the same time. There was always a new striker to score the winner every new game. I'm missing that consistent goalscorer but maybe it's my fault for shifting the tactics a lot in the beginning and midle of the campaign. This season will be different now that I've found a set up that works against big teams aswell as smaller opposition.

Zigoni could've been a Millwall player by now but we had the same issue as Johnny Karp and his Notts Co. Zigoni felt he was too good for The Lions, maybe he would've been, but he certainly wasn't at the moment. We'll have to look for other options now. Strengthening the defensive line is a bigger concern though where Garics will be sold to open up for a really good full-back.



As you can see we managed to strengthen most areas. I couldn't lure a top striker to the club. The players left to choose from where all getting to expensive. Defederico, Marquinhos, Neymar, Tardelli, where all a few millions too steep and the players I could afford didn't want to join (O.Cardozo). I decided on pushing for young turkish player Deniz Naki who played for Lazio but was valued really low compared to his stats. He was a more creative forward and could add to the mix of strikers i already possess.


Sergiy Kryvtsov is the catch of the window for me. An extremly solid defender who has his best years ahead of him. He's outstanding in every department except for his decision-taking which is a mere 9. But I don't really think that'll matter too much.

Tim Cahill, former Millwall star returns home at the tender age of 33. I had a dream about taking Cahill back to The Lions before his career ended and thankfully i got the opportunity when he still had something to give to the team. Statwise he's still one heck of a player and he'll be vice captain to Miles Addison, I'll certainly look for Tim to learn some the younger players one or two tricks.

Thiaguinho is the right back I was looking for. Pretty cheap aswell, possessing the stats of a centre back(except jumping) and add the speed of a wing-back and you'll have this brazilian regen.

Deniz Naki was the striker I was talking about earlier. I'm hoping he'll develop into that superstriker i needed this year.

Migliaccio is already 32 but has great stats for a central defender. His main place is in midfield though but he'll act as a very good cover for both positions.

Jason Brown wanted to leave the club to get more playing time so I had to add a back-up keeper who could step up if Ochoa got injured. Westwood is no where near Ochoas quality but for the price paid I got a fairly good keeper.

Millwall has started out impressivly with a fine 1-0 win against Arsenal in the opening game and then just continued winning. Let's hope this streak will last a while longer.

Mid-season 2013 Feb

Millwall is holding their own this year. In a respectable 9th position in the Premier League it's looking like I will achieve the goals i've set infront of me and my team.

High points this year is the formation we found after some time into he season where it totally stabilized the play, from going up and down, from playing well to getting totally dominated. Now it's less goals in both directions and we seem to have the upper hand in most of the games, except against the big teams. But we never seem to get outplayed like we did before.

The new formation is a pretty straight-forward 4-3-3 with to ball-winners in midfield togheter with a deep-laying playmaker. With Vaughan back we now have a nice attacking set-up. Mariga is learning to play in attack aswell and Ivan Obolo has joined from Zenit on a free transfer.

I've been letting Craig Cathcart play as a right back up until now because he was the only one capable. Addison took his place in central defence togheter with Paul Robinson. I signed Garics as a new RB and this lets Cathcart get back to his old position as CD and Robinson will probably start from the bench.

I had to sell a few players to raise funds and clear some space on the wage budget.

Anichebe - 4M £ (Young Boys)
Hofland - 1,6M £ (Empoli)
Swanson - 4,5 £ (Cagliari)
O'Toole - 5,75M £ (Caen)

I can't understand where this money is going because I had hopes of getting enough funds to buy out Zigoni who has been my best striker so far with 10 goals in 18 games.

2012 September 1st - transfer news

A quick transfer summary would be: Fairly well!

I got a much needed improvement in goal ( Ochoa - 5 full stars, Very versatile keeper )
My Midfield also got some very strong players in Mariga, Petrov and Camacho. I'll think about retraining Mariga to either MR or ST.. since his attributes would be fantastic for a Tower striker. He has a fairly good aptitude (yellow/light green dot) for playing as any of those two new positions.



Parma had been down in Serie B and didn't qualify this year either. Mariga was the only big star left in their team. Got him for 5,5M £ and I see that as a bargain.



Craig is an old loanee player at Millwall and grew fond of my team when he was here. Wasn't needed at Man Utd but I had to fend of Werder Bremen to get him.



Petrov, another great ukrainian talent to go hand in hand with Goncharenko. I believe Petrov is even better and is probably the strongest central piece at Millwall.



I tried for Joe Hart once again but his demands were too high. Guillherme Ochoa was in my opinion an even better option. I've always loved this player, even in real life. Is seen as my best player overall by my scouts. Can't really disagree...



Van de Laak is a cheap rotation player. I had to add width to the squad and his ability to play both as MR, AMR and ST made him a valuable player. James Vaughan had gotten injured in training at this point so the search for Strikers were priority 1. Having sold Garner earlier I only had MacDonald and Anichebe to rely on. None of them are starting material.. MacDonald is however a coming big striker.



Gianmarco Zigoni, as a big Milan-supporter i know about this young striker in real life. I'm sure he'll develop like this IRL aswell, good job FM. Had done a good job with Johnny Karp at Notts Co so I was pretty sure he could handle it in the Premier League. A loan with a buy-out clause at 2,9M £.



Erik Rossvold is a young regen I've been watching for the last season. Has much better aerial abilities than MacDonald, and his overall a more ready striker. Will fill in for Vaughan togheter with Zigoni in Attack.



I've been going at it for this guy for the last 4 transfer windows.. He hasn't bloomed yet and I find it strange. He always develops to be a fantasti DMC, maybe it's the new patch or maybe it's just a random occurance. I'm sure that he'll be a wonder in my midfield if he just gets regular playing time. Welcome Ignacio!



I've changed my tactics a bit since last season. Depending more on my midfield to be a better cover for my defence. Playing more counter attacking football against better teams (Arsenal, City,Chelsea etc) and a more controlling or attackin style when we face teams of lower or equal quality. (Hull, Sunderland, West Ham etc.)



Here's the first games.

Had a fine game against the Villains and is pleased with the draw. It could've gone either way.

Arsenal dominated me but didn't really get any dangerous chances. A mistake in the marking on a free-kick gave them their goal and i countered some great attacks but couldn't put it past Almunia.

Leicester was easy to dominate, too bad it wasn't a PL game.


I've set my sights on a mid-table finish, and I said that to the board aswell. I feel confindent in my squad compared to last season.