shen

You didn't watch the Stoke and Boro games I take it?

Fatawu and Ricardo are never going to hold that flank.

Are we afraid of touching the ball or what? Cross just bobbling across the box and every Leicester player looked like trying to avoid it.

Cheating Ipswich players. Trying to con their way to a peno.

Biggest 45 minutes of the season coming up. We really need it.

Can we just appreciate the quality of that finish?

DAKAAAA

At least the teams at the front vary a bit in recent years. But having a dominant team each season sucks a bit. If Mercedes are this far ahead, then the field will only be evened out by the drivers' lack of experience of being in that position, a bit like McLaren last year.

Halfway stage of the season, W16 D2 L0. I don't understand just how little of a challenge it is. Haven't even really had to try. Hardest part is keeping players happy cause I signed too many players, but luckily I can just release them before they become an issue.

I think Maresca got way too much criticism for his style. Some were adamant we never attacked with pace or on the counter, but we clearly did at times. I would always choose the patient play which would periodically result in some nice movements and clear cut chances above the sporadic wondergoals we got under Cooper, Cifuentes or even Sven. Re Saving our bacon, 12 points deduction would probably have been a foregone conclusion this season without the money generated from the compensations. The income probably gave us a better shot at survival both last season and this season. That we completely squandered those opportunities is not on Maresca.

No major changes from a UI or gameplay perspective IMO. When reading some of the corrections/updates, it really raises an eyebrow. It's still such an unfinished, unpolished product it beggars belief.

Can hope for a miraculous Wolves escape

We lost Heskey before Taylor even landed here. Lennon, Walsh, Marshall, Collymore, Zagorakis, Arphexad and Cottee left shortly after, while some players declined or were struggling with injuries like Flowers. I.e. a huge part of the club culture and player quality left or were on a sharp decline. There were a few decent signings under Taylor (Walker, Rowett, Davidson), but obviously some massive misses as well. At the time, I thought it was a good appointment having been England U21s Manager and us needing a rebuild. It turned out really bad, but in retrospect, he probably had a far tougher job on his hands than we as fans want to acknowledge - certainly far tougher than Rodgers had.

Connections Puzzle #999 🟦🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Maresca never enters this conversation. It's fair enough you disliked the style of football, but his results were good and he was probably responsible for saving our behind financially/PSR wise when he, his staff and KDH went to Chelsea. He effectively gave us a blueprint for a successful team and Cooper and the recruitment staff left behind messes it up. Compare this to the mess Taylor & Rodgers left us with. Also, cast your memories back to the football we played under Holloway, Levein or even just Cooper, RVN and Cifuentes - utterly disjointed and ineffective. How you can brand Maresca's style worse than those is quite staggering to me.

Either MrTini23 or CTRL 26

Loans, loans, loans 🥇

Ended up going to amateur side Diegem in the Belgian third tier, as it is probably the club in the lowest playable tier in Belgium that is closest to my hometown. Don't remember when I've last played as an amateur side, if ever. They have "good" youth facilities, which I'm already learning is a massive drain on finances (~60-75k Monthly expenses) as I have no Income, really. Easy start so far with an away win at league favorites OH Leuven U23 😅 though. Am being reminded of how frustrating the bugs and navigation in FM26 is though 😫 Update: Finding it to be a breeze so far. Went on an 11-game winning streak to kick off the season. Bogstandard 4-2-3-1 gegenpress style formation without any OP players even. Got some new skins which greatly helps speed and overall UI experience though.

I read that Osula's goal is the first time a winner was scored on 90+ minutes by a sub against Man Utd in the PL era. Pretty remarkable stat.

What a trio of relegated Championship clubs that would be. Surely the three biggest clubs on average to go down into the third tier in the same season?

Another fantastic strike for your goal by the way. Somewhat reminiscent of the famous Toby Yeboah goal the way it bounces in off the crossbar.

Nick De Marco - Chief of Anti-Corruption

Elvis Hammond - (Ankle) Manager

Ended up going to amateur side Diegem in the Belgian third tier, as it is probably the club in the lowest playable tier in Belgium that is closest to my hometown. Don't remember when I've last played as an amateur side, if ever. They have "good" youth facilities, which I'm already learning is a massive drain on finances (~60-75k Monthly expenses) as I have no Income, really. Easy start so far with an away win at league favorites OH Leuven U23 😅 though. Am being reminded of how frustrating the bugs and navigation in FM26 is though 😫

Looking to rekindle my interest with a new save. Any suggestions for fun Leagues or challenges? Realistically I'm looking at Europe, but I'm open for whatever. I usually choose the worst side in the lowest league I can, spend the first season cleaning up and finding some good frees and quality loans, setting up a solid tactic and hopefully achieve promotion at the first time of asking. It's usually a procession after that.