Hi all,

I am back with the mid-season update! Let us first take a look at the games played so far.

 

The first three rounds of fixtures were all scrappy one nil wins as the team wasn't fluid yet with my tactics. Then came Arsenal away, where we were lucky to come away with a 3-2 victory after an injury time winner from the brilliant Antonio Valencia. However, the joy was shortlived as we were destroyed 5-1 by Dortmund away, with Lewandowski grabbing four goals like how he did last season against Real Madrid.

 

Lewandowski?

I did everything I could (OIs, specific man marking) to stop him but he was unstoppable. And now the question is, should I try to sign him on a free transfer when his contract expires? I don't want one of our rivals to snap him up and yet it's against my philosophy of signing English players. Do let me know by leaving a comment at the end of this entry and tell me if I should try signing him :)

 

Bouncebackability

Like all great United teams, we recovered from the thrashing to go on a 12-match unbeaten run, not counting a solitary defeat to Liverpool at Anfield after going ten men. Dortmund beat us again at Old Trafford with a late goal and we were unlucky not to have at least gotten a draw. With qualification from the Champions League group stages sealed and zero possibility of overtaking Dortmund as group leaders, I fielded all my young players against PSG away. Despite losing 2-3, they gave a good account of themselves, matching the experienced internationals from the cash-rich side.

 

Center Backs Closing Down Bug?

We were beaten for the second time in the league by Newcastle away from home after my central defenders decided to go haywire by closing down too furiously (bug?), leaving Ben Arfa with arches of space to finish with ease past De Gea. Otherwise, we were excellent in the league as shown in the table below:  

 

 

League Gone Crazy?

We have been the best team in the league with a healthy 6-point lead over our nearest rivals. We also have the best goal difference, resulting from the best goals scored and against records. Stoke is the surprise package of the season so far, sitting on second place in the table with 39 points. Chelsea is a further 5 points behind. The table looks chaotic to say the least with Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool all in the bottom half of the table. Sunderland looks as if they are heading for relegation, with a mere 9 points from the first 19 games.

 

Players Assessment



 

Goalkeepers

De Gea started the majority of the games after Lindegaard disappointed me with a few howlers in the League Cup. The wonderkid from Spain has been excellent for me, making brilliant saves and looking assured while handling crosses. I expect interest from the Spanish giants sooner or later.

Defenders
The defenders were well rotated, with all starting at least 10 games with the exception of the ageing Ferdinand. Despite starting a mere 8 games, Rio has the highest average rating out of all the defenders and is staking a claim to start more games coupled with unfortunate injuries suffered by Smalling. To my delight, new signings Walker and Shaw settled quickly at the full-back positions.

Central Midfielders
Carrick suffered a long-term injury early in the season and as a result, Giggs played a bit more often than I would have liked him to. Impressively, he was still doing a job at DLPd, moving the ball accurately and quickly to the front four. Fletcher continued his amazing recovery from the unfortunate bowel illness with commanding performances in central midfield. Fellaini was the star in central midfield, with 3 goals and 5 assists from the BWMs position. I decided to play Jones in midfield for most of the season and he too was encouraging before an unlucky injury struck.

Wingers
My right wingers were arguably the most impressive players in the first half of the season. Valencia scored an amazing 7 goals while picking up 5 assists and 4 Player of the Match awards. Zaha's development was pleasing too with 3 goals and 6 assists (He is English!). On the opposite flank, no one really impressed me and this may be due to the support duty given to them. On a bright note, Januzaj broke into the first team and is no longer intimidated by the prospect of first team football.

Strikers
These are the two vital positions of my tactic as they are the main goal grabbers of the team. The four strikers didn't disappoint as they all shared games and goals evenly:

Welbeck: 10(4) games, 9 goals and 1 assist
Rooney: 19(3) games, 9 goals and 5 assists
RVP: 17(7) games, 11 goals and 6 assists
Chicharito: 13(3) games, 11 goals and 3 assists  

If the new fab four can all grab at least 20 goals each, it will give me 80 goals for the season and that will go a long way to help the team to a successful season.

All in all, it was a great first half of the season, with the team remaining in contention for all four competitions. We drew AC Milan in the first Champions League knockout round and it will be tricky facing the likes of Kaka and Balotelli. Chelsea awaits us in the League Cup semis and I am expecting two tough ties. Hopefully, come the end of the season, we will have some reasons to celebrate about!

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With lots of love,

Beckham Plays FM