Gaming Matters: FIFA16 Wimbledon Career Season 4 Pt1

Finally after three consecutive promotions the name of Wimbledon was back in the top tier of English football. It was another busy summer of ins and outs but a lot of the work had been done the previous January with no less than ten players putting pen to paper for free transfers when their contracts ended. Two of the first I went for were Scottish internationals from Celtic – Craig Gordon and Kris Commons. Gordon would be the number one keeper for the season and the original thought would be that former Stoke City, Nottingham Forest and Derby County midfielder Commons would be heavily involved too. As more signings came in though it became apparent that his ageing legs would be making guest appearances from the bench if at all. The highest rated free signing was William Vainqueur from Roma and I see the French midfielder forming a strong partnership with Joey Pelupessy in the middle of the park. Back in January I expected to be losing Allan Saint-Maximin when his loan expired in July so I went on the hunt for strikers and brought in one from France and one from Italy. Nolan Roux is 30 years old and arrived from St Etienne while from Empoli we snapped up Manuel Pucciarelli who will be as much of a mouthful for commentators as he will be a handful for defenders. It will be interesting to see how the Italian settles in though as he spent his entire career with Empoli to date. Staying in Italy we also found a Ghanaian midfielder by the name of Bright Addae at Ascoli who along with Juan Camara and Dean Furman will be the back-up to the Vainqueur-Pelupessy partnership. Three players came from the Belgian Pro League with exciting winger Brecht Dejaegere from KAA Gent, strong centre back Christian Kabasele from Genk and French wide midfielder Steeven Langil from Beveren. The final January signing was Santiago Garcia, the Argentine left back signing from Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. We did have one other free player but that was an unattached former Turkish Super Lig striker Serge Akakpo. The former-Trabzonspor striker was released by the club at the end of last season.

When it came time to spend transfer money in July (something I'd practised not doing for most of the three previous seasons) my priority was to re-sign two of the stars of the seasons to date after their loans ended. Saint-Maximin cost £5.5m from Monaco after scoring 39 goals in 71 appearances over the last two seasons. Sheyi Ojo also came from Liverpool for £2m which is a bargain for the player who has already played more games for me than any other at 97. We also needed to strengthen the defence so right back Dominic Iorfa cost £3m from Wolves and Andrew Farrell was £3.5m from MLS side New England but he's already forging a great partnership with Kabasele.

Chelsea made a surprise bid of under £2m for reserve keeper Anton Vall and I managed to get them up to £2.5m with no problem. The young Swede had only featured a couple of times but was complaining about not getting enough game time which he will hardly get at Chelsea. Soon after I bought Jamal Blackman from them for £160k to take his place. The other sales were all well under £1m each but totalled just over £2m including Omar Heaton and Christian Toonga both joining Shrewsbury Town. Andy Barcham was with me from the start and went to Crewe for £275k while the two highest value sales were both previous free transfers and therefore effectively £1m profit – Ventsislav Hristov went to Charlton Athletic for £525k and Venezuelan winger Jeffren to Sheffield United for £475k.

The months of July and August are covered below as we played in the pre-season tournament in Italy and then had our first three league games in the Premier Division.

Start of Season Sales

Anton Vall – GK – 68 – 20yo – Sweden – Chelsea - £2.5m

Ventsislav Hristov – ST/CAM – 68 – 29yo – Bulgaria – Charlton Athletic - £525k

Jeffren – RM/LM – 67 – 30yo – Venezuela – Sheffield United - £475k

Omar Heaton – CDM/CM – 63 – 19yo – England – Shrewsbury Town - £400k

Andy Barcham – LM/RM – 64 – 31yo – England – Crewe Alexandra - £275k

Christian Toonga – CM/LM – 63 – 20yo – England – Shrewsbury Town - £275k

Jake Conlon – CM – 58 – 20yo – England – Morecambe - £210k

Callum Wilson – RB/RWB – 59 – 20yo – England – Exeter City - £120k

Start of Season Purchases

Allan Saint-Maximin – ST – 73 – 21yo - France - Monaco - £5.5m

Andrew Farrell – CB/RB – 74 – 26yo – USA – New England - £3.5m

Dominic Iorfa – RB – 76 – 23yo – England – Wolverhampton Wanderers - £3m

Sheyi Ojo – LM – 71 – 20yo - England – Liverpool - £2m

Jamal Blackman – GK – 62 – 24yo – England – Chelsea - £160k

William Vainqueur – CDM/CM – 76 – 29yo – Roma – Free Contract

Nolan Roux – ST/RW – 75 – 30yo – France – St Etienne – Free Contract

Manuel Pucciarelli – ST/CAM - 75 – 27yo – Italy – Empoli – Free Contract

Santiago Garcia – LB – 75 – 30yo – Argentina – Werder Bremen - Free Contract

Brecht Dejaegere – LM/RM/CDM/CAM – 75 – 27yo – Belgium – Gent – Free Contract

Christian Kabasele – CB – 74 – 27yo – Belgium – Genk – Free Contact

Craig Gordon – GK – 74 – 35yo – Scotland – Celtic – Free Contract

Steeven Langil – LM/RM – 70 – 30yo – France – Beveren – Free Contract

Bright Addae – CM/CDM/RB – 70 – 25yo – Ghana – Ascoli – Free Contract

Kris Commons – CAM – 68 – 35yo – Scotland – Celtic – Free Contract

Serge Akakpo – ST – 67 – 18yo – Togo – Trabzonspor – Free Contract

Loans Out

Jonathan D'Haene – CB/CDM/CM/RB – 60 – 18yo – Belgium - Portsmouth

Starting Squad for Season 4

Goalkeepers

Craig Gordon – 75 – Scotland – 35yo

Jamal Blackman – 62 – England - 24yo

Right Backs

Dominic Iorfa – 76 – England - 23yo

Michael Heinloth – 70 – Germany – 26yo

Mamadou Bagayoko – 66 – Ivory Coast - 28yo

Left Backs

Santiago Garcia – 75 – Argentina – 30yo

Cameron Borthwick-Jackson – 70 – England – 21yo (2nd year of loan)

Jason Petratos – 57 – Australia - 19yo

Centre Backs

Christian Kabasele – 74 – Belgium - 27yo

Andrew Farrell – 74 – USA - 26yo

Sergio Ayala – 70 – Spain - 25yo

Efe Ambrose – 69 – Nigeria – 29yo

Edgar Lezcano – 68 – Paraguay – 20yo

Central Midfielders

William Vainqueur – 76 – France – 29yo

Joey Pelupessy – 73 – Netherlands - 25yo

Juan Camara – 70 – Spain - 24yo

Bright Addae – 70 – Ghana – 25yo

Dean Furman – 69 – South Africa - 29yo

Kris Commons – 68 – Scotland – 35yo

Huang Bowen – 67 – China – 30yo

Suk Won Bae – 65 – South Korea – 20yo

Pele Weghorst – 65 – Netherlands - 17yo

Gabor Vadocz – 64 – Hungary - 18yo

Diego Abrao – 59 – Brazil - 16yo

Right Midfielders

Jaroslav Navratil – 69 – Czech Republic – 26yo (Left midfield also)

Jarrett Molyneux – 65 – England – 19yo (Left midfield also)

Tobias Sandberg – 56 – Sweden - 18yo

Left Midfielders

Brecht Dejaegere – 75 – Belgium – 27yo (Right midfield also)

Sheyi Ojo – 71 – England – 20yo

Steeven Langil – 70 – France – 30yo (Right midfield also)

Strikers

Nolan Roux – 75 – France - 30yo

Manuel Pucciarelli – 75 – Italy - 27yo

Allan Saint-Maximin – 73 – France – 21yo

Dino Ndlovu – 72 – South Africa – 28yo

Marcus Rashford – 71 – England – 20yo (2nd year of loan)

Serge Akakpo – 67 – Togo - 18yo

Jake Baldwin – 52 – England - 17yo

Pre-Season Tournament

Group – Genk – 0-0

Group – Gaziantepspor – 1-0 – Saint-Maximin 30

Group – Empoli – 2-1 – Petratos 42, Baldwin 90

Semi-Final – Sassuolo – 3-0 – Roux 54, Garcia 64, Vainqueur 90 Final – Bologna – 0-1

The pre-season tournament went almost to plan but we fell at the final hurdle against Serie A side Bologna in the final. Most of the new signings were in the starting eleven for the first match against Belgian side Genk (with centre back Kabasele facing his old side) and a patchy performance saw us take a 0-0 draw. In the second group match against Turkish side Gaziantepspor we took a 1-0 win thanks to a first half goal from Saint-Maximin which can be seen below. For the final group game I had to gamble and play the young reserves and support players as the first team and priority substitutes were in need of a rest. It meant that striker Manuel Pucciarelli didn't get to face his old side though as our opponents were Empoli who we beat 2-1 thanks to goals from young left back Jason Petratos on a rare foray forwards and a 90th minute winger from centre forward Jake Baldwin. That win secured us a match against another Serie A side Sassuolo in the semi-final which we won 3-0 with a comfortable performance with the first team restored to the starting eleven. All three goals came from new signings as Nolan Roux, left back Santiago Garcia and captain William Vainqueur secured the win. In the final we were outclassed by Bologna pure and simple as we had one of those games where we just didn't make our chances count.

YouTube Highlight

PLAY Second group game against Gaziantepspor and in the first half Kris Commons nicks the ball from experienced Turkish midfielder Hurriyet Gucer and advances with the ball, triggering a run from Allan Saint-Maximin. As he got to the half-way line Commons played an aerial through-ball for Saint-Maximin to run onto as he outpaced the Turkish back line. Neither Nigerian centre back Gbenga Arokoyo or Kadir Keles could prevent the French striker getting his shot away and keeper Ozkan Karabulut was beaten for the only time that day.

August Matches

League – Everton – H – 0-1

League – Manchester United – A – 1-1 – Saint-Maximin 79

League – Bournemouth – H - 2-0 – Saint-Maximin 24, Ojo 86

League Cup – Reading – A – 0-1

We may have gained promotion in three successive seasons as champions by outclassing our opposition in the majority of matches we played but the Premier League is a different prospect. That being said the some defeat to Everton in the opening game of the season was a disappointment. In the next game against Manchester United at Old Trafford we were a goal down early on and looked to be heading for a second consecutive 1-0 defeat until last season's top scorer in the Championship Saint-Maximin stepped up with the equaliser with eleven minutes to go. We finally recorded our first win of the season against Bournemouth at home in the final league game of August with Saint-Maximin and Sheyi Ojo scoring. All the goals can be seen in YouTube highlights. Already after three league games there are players that are fixed in the starting eleven and some still battling for a place. The back four of Iorfa, Kabasele, Farrell and Garcia is set and captain Vainqueur has been excellent. Saint-Maximin remains the number one striker and on the right wing Brecht Dejaegere has shown enough skill and pace to guarantee a start. Ojo is battling with Steeven Langil for the left wing spot and there is a battle between Roux and Pucciarelli for partnering Saint-Maximin in attack still. Although Pelupessy should be the partner for Vainqueur his early performances were unconvincing and with so many central midfielders there have been chances for Bright Addae, Juan Camara and Dean Furman already. In the final game of August I made a miscalculation and played too many young players in the League Cup against Reading. The lads still put in a sterling performance and the match was only decided by what I feel is a goalkeeper error which you can see in the highlights as the ball bounced up and over Gordon into the net. The bonus is that without the League Cup matches and with the F A Cup not starting until January now for us we can focus purely on the league with our strongest team until Christmas.

YouTube Highlights

PLAY Manchester United in the league. A Wimbledon attack broke down as Matteo Darmian capitalised on a poor touch from Pucciarelli in the box and cleared the ball to the half way line. Farrell met the ball with a defensive header and found Garcia making a run into midfield. He played the ball to Saint-Maximin who had his back to goal and three United players in close proximity but that didn't deter him. He turned Phil Jones and wriggled past Marcos Rojo into the box where he had a brief moment to pick his spot. His shot beat Argentina international keeper Sergio Romero at the far post and the score was level at 1-1.

PLAY Highlights of the match against Manchester United at Old Trafford which ended in a 1-1 draw.

PLAY The first goal against Bournemouth at home. A free kick on the half way line is taken short to Bright Addae who has space to work in. He lofted the ball towards the box but before it can reach a striker it's headed away by Gonzalo Rodriguez. His clearance only falls to the feet of Addae though and he knocked the ball straight back in first time low to Saint-Maximin. This time the striker had the time to collect the ball and turn Rodriguez to get space and time in the box to place the ball past Artur Boruc for 1-0.

PLAY The second goal of the Bournemouth match. Tyrone Mings of Bournemouth breaks down Wimbledon's attack on the right wing and Iorfa does well to retrieve the ball and look for a new avenue of attack. He avoided any challenges as we worked back to the half way line and played the ball forwards to Pelupessy. The Dutch midfielder turned Eunan O'Kane and advanced looking for options until he saw Ojo in acres of space on the left. As he broke into the box with the ball he had all the time in the world to pick his spot and even the late lunge from Benik Afobe didn't put him off. Boruc was beaten for a second time and the 2-0 win was secured.

PLAY The goal that knocked us out of the League Cup. As the clip starts Edgar Lezcano had just been sent off for his second bookable offence. It's a 70th minute free kick a long way out taken by Northern Ireland international Oliver Norwood who lofts the ball into the box. Sergio Ayala is defending against American Danny Williams and Diafra Sakho who Reading must have bought from West Ham at some point. Ayala is the wrong side of Williams and the Reading player gets to head the ball first but heads it into the ground with force. Unfortunately the ball bounces with enough force that it loops up and over Craig Gordon in goal and into the net. As there was no leg movement at all from the Scottish keeper I have to place the blame at his door for that one, even if a small percentage has to go to Ayala.

That's all for this update. The next update will focus on our matches in September and October with seven games including Manchester City and Liverpool as well as London derbies with West Ham United and Crystal Palace.