Hi readers,

I am finally done with the second season! Like what the title says, this game really puts you through an emotional roller coaster ride! Why do I say so? Lets start with the league:

EPL


We won the league by just one point! We were trailing Spurs by 5 points with 3 games to go as the squad was struck by an injury crisis towards the end of the season. I was prepared to give the league up until Spurs was miraculously beaten at home twice consecutively by Cardiff and Forest (how many times would this have happened?!) and thankfully, we capitalized on their slump by winning our last three games againstChelsea H, Newcastle A and Hull H to clinch the title. It was by no means a vintage season and unlike last season, we didn't score the most goals or concede the least. We were really lucky this time round to avoid the second season syndrome.

League Cup


We won! We had a run of easy draws until we met Arsenal in the finals and I was surprised by the ease of the victory. It was a bizarre game with an hat-trick of own goals as we dismissed them 3-0 and secured the first ever league cup win of my tenure. I was also pleased to see Chris Smalling pick up the man of match award.

FA Cup


Lady Luck smiled on us yet again! We beat Liverpool 1-0 in the semis to reach the finals and our fierce rivals Leeds United awaited us at Wembley. It was a crazy game and Fellaini was sent off real early 10 minutes from half-time. (I am pretty sure that there's a bug regarding these sending-offs) However, I was still relatively confident as my team always seems to play better with ten men and it was against a weaker opposition. Phil Jones opened the scoring on 78th minute with a powerful effort and I was sure that it was the winner until Pratley equalized with a Gerrard-like screamer from 25 yards. With that we went into extra-time and in the second period, Jones capped an excellent performance from the bench with yet another powerful effort to win us the FA Cup. Vidic got sent off right at the end and again, I strongly believe that it's due to a bug in the match engine.

Champions League


I thought it was gonna be a special season when we beat PSG in the semis to meet Dynamo Kyiv (they beat Juventus!!) in the Champions League Final. Everything was going my way with victories in every single one of our domestic competitions and with a relatively weaker opposition awaiting us in the final, I was confident. Miraculously, the team was real flat and the real hot Younes Belhanda grabbed all three goals to beat us comfortably. It blew my chance of a clean sweep and I was really disappointed. It felt like the roller coaster has plunged right to the bottom from great heights.

On a positive note, we added three trophies (plus the community shield) to my collection and it was certainly a successful season. Let us now take a look at the players' performance:



Goalkeepers
As you can see, De Gea played the majority of the games once more with Lindergaard really unconvincing. That made me sign Victor Valdes on a free towards the end of the season to provide better cover. It was yet another superb season for De Gea, who saved us on countless occasions with his great shot-stopping ability.

Defenders
I rotated the defenders even more this season, so much so that they each played half of the games. Chris Smalling and Ryan Shawcross impressed the most with the highest ratings, and they will have to raise their game even more next season to replace the fast deproving Vidic. The full-backs weren't particularly impressive, and with Evra fast deteriorating, there's a need to bring in another left-back in the summer.

Midfielders
Age certainly didn't show in Michael Carrick's performances as he grabbed 6 goals and 7 assists in an impressive season. Jones, Fellaini, Fletcher and Shelvey contributed 10 goals and 21 assists altogether in a productive season.

Red card bug?
This is supported by the fact that a total of 12 red cards was obtained throughout the course of the season. This is exceptionally high in comparison to the situation in real life and I am contemplating if I should tweak my tactics/players instructions to improve the problem. What do you guys think?

Cleverley
I would like to give a special mention to one of my favourite players at United. I retrained him at MR as I was trying to mold him into a similar type of player as Beckham (myself!). I played him as WMa and he was simply electrifying with 8 goals and 9 assists! He really reminded me of myself with quality delivery, clever runs and great finishing ability. Unfortunately, he tore his hamstring towards the end of the season and will be out for 2-3 months. Lets hope that he will come back playing the same way!!

Strikers
Lewandowski has a solid first season with 16 goals and 4 assists and he will only get better once he settles down in Manchester. Rooney grabbed 18 goals and 7 assists while Chicharito scored only 10 as he went through a dry spell in the middle of the season. Special mention goes out to Danny Welbeck, who went on to be our top scorer with 23 goals and an incredible 12 assists in a brilliant season. This is definitely due to the improvement in his composure through training and he's really growing into a beast for us upfront. Long may it continue!

All in all, it was a satisfying season despite losing a second consecutive final in Champions League. It certainly made me even hungrier for it and I will give my all to go one step further in the next few seasons! I will be looking to play the game slower and enjoy the details of the game more as I feel like I have rushed through my games out of excitement. Hence, I may be making tweaks to my tactics (I have been using the same treble attacking tactics throughout the season without changing) and I will be posting more updates instead of just 2 per season. Bring on the third season!


With lots of love,

Beckham Plays FM