Posted by Football Manager Guru in The end of the season is always the most exciting time of the year not only in real-life soccer, but also in our favourite game Football Manager 2010. Not only do we finally get to know if your team has managed to squeeze into the top 6 for Europe spots, you also get to know your transfer budget for next season and you could finally get rid of players you find to be an eyesore (hint: Michael Ball)
Without further delay, let’s get right into the remaining 5 games of Wolves 1st season in Football Manager 2010. After which I will write a special write-up post, reviewing Wolves’ 2009/2010 season in depth, and also taking a look at various statistics of my team and eventually deciding which players to keep and to sell.
My first game saw me head to Old Trafford without my 2 first team strikers, Doyle and Ebanks-Blake, meaning I had to play Fonseca upfront with my last choice striker Vokes. Man United were strong going forward and it did not take them long before Valencia cut in from the flanks to score the opening goal. My attack was toothless as Fonseca was doing all the work alone while his partner Vokes can be often found dreaming.
After the restart, Berbatov scores a magnificent effort from the edge of the area, and although Fonseca scores a superb individual effort, it was not sufficient to rally the team to stage a comeback. It was simply too hard playing with young and inexperienced Sam Vokes, who was often dispossessed too easily. Wolves deserved to lose.
Krivets was injured in training prior to my 2nd game against Portsmouth at home, and young Canales had the opportunity to play from the start. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise when Canales threaded a ball through to Milijas which set him free and Milijas made no mistake from close range to score, giving us the 1-0 lead. Fonseca doubled our lead just before half time, after he chested a cross down from the flanks and volleyed it beautifully into the corner for a goal.
2-0 was the scoreline at half-time. I told the boys to set out to retain possession and they did that well up to the 76 minute mark when Portsmouth pulled one back. However, any bit of nervousness in the Wolves’ defence evaporated when Fonseca hit them on the break after Stearman dispossess someone and makes a cross-field through ball which Fonseca latched onto, and finished beautifully.
Fonseca is finally justifying why he might be the bargain buy of this season like I indicated at the start of the season.
Wonderkid Canales played well in the first EPL game he started in, making 5 key passes.
Meanwhile, bargain buy left back Shevchuk, continued his good run of form. He made 11 interceptions the whole game and it was a number that was unrivalled by anyone else.
In addition he also showed that he could not only read games well, but he could also put in tackles to nullify threats from wingers. He won 8 out of 9 tackles he made, the most in the whole team.
In our next game against Sunderland we were tipped to win by the media, and we did not fail to disappoint.
Canales continue to play from the start as Krivets was still not back from injury. And this proved to be another chance for young Canales to challenge Krivets for the AMC role and he made full use of it when he made a through ball for Ebanks-Blake to score. At the 38 min mark, Jones of Sunderland cut in from the left flank, and blasted a ball past Enyeama to equalize.
Wolves tried to restore the lead immediately after the half-time break, but Sunderland has opted for a defensive option and proceeded to park the bus in front of goal. They were happy to obtain a point, but I wasn’t. Relentless assaults on the Sunderland goal was to no avail.
And just when we were looking to head to a boring draw, substitute Doyle took a ball to the byline, before cutting back the ball back to Jones who was unmarked outside the penalty box. Jones made a great long range effort and we scored, snatching the 3 points at the Stadium of Light.
In the 2nd last game of the season, we played Stoke at home, and it resulted in a convincing win. Stoke had no chance at all. Stoke had an early corner and Enyeama proceeded to pluck the ball out of the air and punted a long ball down the field for Krivets to latch on. When the Stokes defenders were rushing back to defend, Krivets had already set Fonseca through on goal to score the opening goal for us. 1-0 the scoreline.
The second goal before halftime was a result of Stearman dispossessing someone, and then proceeding to sprint down the right flank before squaring the ball to Doyle who passed the ball into an open goal. Stearman was demonstrating that not only could he defend well on the right, he could attack as well.
Fonseca made it 3-0 to us after half time when Stoke made a bad backpass to their keeper, and Fonseca managed to intercept the ball to slot home the third goal. A convincing win at home.
Our last game of the 2009/2010 season was to be played at home against Bolton and I proceeded to play my strongest lineup. I always felt that in real life, as a soccer fan, you would always want you team to be finishing on a high note regardless of whether it was a good season or bad season. The last day meant a lot more than just another game. It will be a while before we get to see our favourite team, and we want to part with good memories. Also, some players will not be around the same time next year, and it’s nice to see them play before we bid goodbyes.
The above is the strongest Wolves XI that you can see. Early in the game, Doyle had a goal ruled out as offside, and Henry hit the crossbar with a long range effort. Fonseca carved out our first goal when he held the ball up at the byline, before picking a pass back to Henry who was just outside the penalty box. With time and space on his side, Henry made no mistake in guiding the ball into the net.
We lead 1-0 going into half time. Bolton hardly threatened at all and our defence was doing a great job. We could have easily extended our lead by 2 to 3 goals, but some brilliant piece of goalkeeping from stopped us from making the scoreline embarassing.
And as the referee blows the whistle to signal the end to the last game of the season I felt a mixture of emotions.
I was happy that I guided Wolves to the 8th in the league. Originally Wolves was tipped by many to struggle in the relegation zone afterall, we are a club that just got promoted to the EPL a year ago.
I was a little disappointed that we missed the Europa spot by 3 points, which is basically a win. Suddenly, flashbacks to the Villa game which we drew 5-5 due to complacency, and the 2-2 draw at home to Man City came to my mind. If only we did not make mistakes then, we could have an additional 4 points, which will see us playing in Europe next year.
I was excited about the next season, excited to bring the players I have in mind to the squad now that we are a little more respected in the Premier League.
All in all, it was a good year, and it was a fantastic journey with Wolves. I have played FM ( and also Championship Manager in the past) for a long long time now, and I think this is one of the most satisfying moments. I thank all you readers out there, who have supported the Wolves team and acted as my virtual fans in the stadiums, and me and the boys will do our best to bring football to greater heights at the Molineux stadium.
Be sure to check out my post on the Wolves’ Season 09/10 In-Depth Review that I published at the same time as this article.
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Hi Jason,great season there, unlucky that you miss the Europa league by 3 points. But you have definitely make Wolves a force to reckon with next season. To guide them to 8th position is a great achievement.
It will be interesting to see how your team is doing next season. I am as excited as you and the feeling is always great when it comes to signing new players. It depend on how ambitious is your board and i hope they are as ambitious as you. Good luck on the new signings.
Thank you Lye, my squad has come a long long way, and while it gives me great satisfaction to know they finished 8th and exceeded media expectations, the sense of satisfaction is even greater when people like you give the squad the credit they deserve (:
Hi, Good effort with your season as Wolves, very impressive, I recently started one with Wolves prior to reading this, with a friend to battle against relegation, I had an unlucky start to the season losing 4 out of 4, admittedly it was Arsenal and City. Anyway, the point is … what instructions do you give your team to get the results you do because I have been fiddling around with the tactics for a while now and I haven’t been able to get a good result, my best being a 1-1 draw with Burnley. Your help would be much appreciated … lol