Started on FM18 the other night.
Took charge of my local side, Macclesfield Town and see how far I can get them. I thought i'd struggle a lot as they don't have a big squad. But watching them week in week out in the real world I feel I know a lot about each players in terms of strengths and weaknesses. What they do have going for them is no debt (but zero transfer budget and £1k a week of wage budget which I have basically spent on bringing in a scout and another couple of staff), some experienced players and fairly low expectations (top half finish, first round of FA Cup and 3rd round FA trophy). Unsurprisingly I am having to bring in loan players from bigger team’s U23 squads.
Preseason was 4 minnows which all got dealt with fairly easily and Leicester U23 which I got smashed by 5-0, though I was playing a very mixed experimental side. Media expected me to lose, but not by 5! Anyway, league started with 2 draws (both I led in) to Wrexham (A) and Hartlepool (H) and then I have gone on a run of form winning the next 5 or 6 games with the exception of a 2-1 loss (again a led in!!) to Southport. The highlight was a 4-0 victory away at Gateshead. This has propelled me to the top of the National league with Leyton Orient just behind.
Fitness is becoming an issue and we picked up a couple of injuries to key players just before I closed the game last night. I managed to beat Solihull at home (as expected) with a rotated side just before coming off the game. The problem I am facing is outside of the first 11 I don't have a lot of quality. I am allowed to sign 6 long term loans and I have used 3 on a CM, CB (as my main man is 35 and can't play each match) and a LB. I have 2 players who can play LB but one isn't great and the other I am playing LM/LW. I am going to try and nurse the squad until after Xmas before bringing in another couple of loans in the hope I am still in the shout of the title then. Slight concern is my keeper has been called up to Iraq national team and I only have 1 backup who isn’t great and likes to play sweeper keeper, which I do not! So far he has only missed the one match. But hoping he performs badly and gets dropped. It’s definitely an area which needs to be strengthened.
I am currently playing a 4-4-1-1 with a shadow striker and advanced forward, 2 wingers, 1 deep lying play maker and a CM. The defence is pretty standard. In sides I am expected to win I have a backup 4-4-2 formation. But to be honest scoring goals is not an issue with the 4-4-1-1. So I mainly play that at home too. When wanting to shut out games I have experimented with subbing the shadow striker to a DM and going 4-1-4-1 but I am thinking this just brings on more pressure.
I am also going to take charge of a Serie D side in Brazil on a different save and try and see what I can do with them. Never really done much of a Brazil save before as in Serie A you end up playing tons and tons of games with the State League, National League, Cups and Copa Lib so you need a huge squad. My plan is to pick a Serie D side outside of Rio and Sao Paulo and see if I can take them up the leagues. No idea what budgets or squads are like down there yet. But that's all part of the fun!
