Have just started another game with The Swans - had previously been playing still on the 8.0.1 database until recently, promoted as champions in 1st season. Was just enjoying pre-season ready for my first crack at Championship survival when my save game became corrupted
So, starting again on 8.0.2. Just trying to sort the squad out, shifting some dead wood from the reserves - Austin, Amankwah, O'Leary, Butler, Lawrence & Way all likely to be moved on and will send some of the young reserves to Port Talbot for the season. Rangel is a completely different player on the newer database, massive improvement in stats, so definitely holding on to him.
Have so far signed Benoit Leroy (AM/LC) from Chamois for not very much money to bolsetr central midfield; can play left wing if needed (eg: when Andy Robinson gets injured as he frequently seemed to do on my previous save!). Also Gyorgy(?) Korsos (DM/DC, DR, WB) on a free, Diawara (DC) on a free (although will reserve judgement on him, but good heading & reasonable pace which I need for my tactic), Canning (Martin or Matthew, can't remember; DC) also on a free I think - should do as cover, lowish wages and will hopefully improve a bit. Got Bonnissel as left back on a free - 34yr old but stats still good & should do for 1st season. Was trying to decide on a striker & ended up bidding for Daryl Murphy & Liviu Ganea, both around £300k - Ganea came through first so signed him; haven't pulled out of the Murphy bid yet but can't really justify it. Would be interested how you guys have rated the 4 strikers that start the game at Swansea - suspect I will favour Scotland & Duffy, but Brandy's pace looks tempting perhaps as an impact sub, not sure about Bauza yet.
Have also terminated a couple of coaches & replaced them with better staff, could do with finding a couple of decent scouts somewhere though.
Started pre-season - 3 games in:
Bristol City (A) - 4:1 win
Motherwell (H) - 4:1 win
ADO Den Haag (H) - 3:2 loss (after playing much of game with 10 men - oops, hard tackling maybe not great in friendlies!!)
Port Talbot, Ostersund & Zenit Petersburg to come before the season starts in anger.
Duffy had great game against Motherwell coming on as 2nd half sub & scoring a fine hat-trick. Ganea looked reasonably sharp so far. Rangel looks good at right back and I suspect Bodde & Tate will be important for me - I tend to play them together as DMs (with barrows) ahead of a 3 man defence. Leroy looks promising too with a couple of good assists - seems to get forward well.
So far so good really. Difficult to read too much into the pre-seasons. I suspect the first 10 games or so might be a bit rocky with all the new signings taking a while to gel but overall I'm fairly confident. I erred on the side of caution with the board's expectations, opting for promotion rather than title challenge or champions - should be easily achievable if my previous game was anything to go by (will be interesting to see how things pan out between the different patches).
Will try to keep you informed - probably be a while as I'm unlikely to get much chance to play over the next few weeks (and I think I play quite slowly, I do tend to fiddle around with things quite a bit!).
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