Gaming Matters: FIFA16 Wimbledon Career Season 4 Pt2

With FIFA17 just I've completed the Wimbledon career mode and will publish the rest of the final season in two month segments, starting with November & December and including a round up of the January transfer dealings.

November & December Results

League – Watford – A – 2-3

Ojo 45pen (VIDEO)

Pucciarelli 80 (VIDEO)

Before this match I rejected the opportunity to take the Udinese manager role. I may look to do a travelling career in FIFA17 but this project is all about four seasons with a team starting in League Two. I've enjoyed this Wimbledon challenge and hope to do the same with a different team in FIFA17. We started November with a defeat though as first Miguel Layun scored after 25 minutes before Sheyi Ojo equalised from the spot after Manuel Pucciarelli was fouled by Steven Berghuis. Dutch winger Berghuis then looked to have grabbed a winner on 76 minutes before Pucciarelli equalised four minutes later after great work from William Vainqueur. It was Watford who took all three points in the end at home though as Adalberto Penaranda of Venezuela scored in the 88th minute.

1 – Tottenham Hotspur – 25

2 – Manchester United – 19

3 – Leicester City – 19

4 – Southampton – 19

5 – Wimbledon – 18

6 – Sunderland - 18

League – Sunderland – H – 4-1

Vainqueur 8 (VIDEO)

Pucciarelli 16 (VIDEO)

Ambrose 33 (VIDEO)

Ndlovu 90 (VIDEO)

We took a comprehensive win against the Black Cats despite finishing the match with eight players on the field after both Andrew Farrell and substitute Juan Camara were sent off and Christian Kabasele went off injured with no substitutions left. We had 15 shots and 12 on target so their keeper kept the score down if anything. First Vainqueur scored a tap in after keeper Jordan Pickford denied Pucciarelli after a magical run that took him past Tony Jantschke (purchased from Borussia Moenchengladbach) and Younes Kaboul. Vainqueur returned the favour eight minutes later with an assist for Pucciarelli to score at the near post. Efe Ambrose then added a third with a shot from outside the box following a corner before Sunderland pulled one back in the second half. Super-sub Dino Ndlovu then added the fourth following great work by Joey Pelupessy who charged into the box and set up the South African striker for a first time shot.

1 – Tottenham Hotspur – 26

2 – Manchester United – 22

3 – Wimbledon – 21

4 – Leicester City – 20

5 – Southampton – 20

Also: Arsenal 7th, Chelsea 9th and Liverpool 14th

League – Tottenham Hotspur – A – 3-1

Pucciarelli 37 (VIDEO)

Saint-Maximin 56 (VIDEO)

Roux 90+3 (VIDEO)

The win over Sunderland was the perfect preparation before the trip to play the league leaders at White Hart Lane. Pucciarelli was in fine form and opened the scoring when Dominic Iorfa assisted by heading the ball back across goal for him to score past an out of position Hugo Lloris. Shortly after the break Alan Saint-Maximin exchanged passes with Pucciarelli and outpaced Federico Fazio to score a second goal. Spurs pulled one back on 77 minutes when Alex Pritchard headed in after Craig Gordon initially saved a shot. Nolan Roux then secured the win in injury time as Spurs pushed forwards for an equaliser. Pelupessy won the ball and with a two-on-one situation set Roux free to score his first for the club.

1 – Tottenham Hotspur – 26

2 – Manchester United – 25

3 – Wimbledon – 24

4 – Manchester City – 22

5 – Chelsea – 20

6 – Leicester City – 20

7 – Southampton - 20

League – Sheffield Wednesday – H – 3-1

Pelupessy 15 (VIDEO)

Saint-Maximin 41

Ndlovu 56 (VIDEO)

The next win was at home to bottom club Wednesday as we moved into December and held a 3-0 lead before the scored a consolation penalty. That came after our Ghanaian back-up midfielder Bright Addae fouled in the area and Barry Bannan put away the spot kick on 67 minutes. Pelupessy had given us the lead after quarter of an hour with a first time shot from Ojo's pass which hit both posts before crossing the line. Saint-Maximin added a second before half time and then Ndlovu delivered a third with a powerful shot from the edge of the area after a great run through the heart of the defence.

1 – Manchester United – 28

2 – Wimbledon – 27

3 – Tottenham Hotspur – 27

4 – Leicester City – 24

5 – Manchester City – 23

6 – Chelsea – 21

7 – Southampton – 21

Also Arsenal 9th in 19 and Liverpool 15th on 15

League – Leicester City – A – 1-1

Saint-Maximin 90+3

This was a battle of 2nd vs 4th in the league. We conceded a goal to Leicester in stoppage time at the end of the first half then struck back with an equaliser in stoppage time at the end of the game. Croatian striker Andrej Kramaric scored for the Foxes with a header from a Riyad Mahrez cross.

1 – Manchester United – 31

2 – Tottenham Hotspur – 30

3 – Wimbledon – 28

4 – Manchester City – 26

5 – Leicester City – 25

6 – Southampton – 24

7 – West Ham United – 23

8 – Chelsea - 21

League – Chelsea – H – 1-1

Ndlovu 76 (VIDEO)

Chelsea goal (VIDEO)

Another game against a top side as 8th place Chelsea came to visit. The away side took the lead when Brazilian Kenedy scored after a mistake by Gordon. The Scottish keeper came rushing out to collect a lobbed ball to the Chelsea player from Marko Marin's flick on but got nowhere near it and Kenedy scored with a simple finish. Gordon will be particularly unhappy with Farrell for losing possession at the back with a sloppy pass out from defence. It was another late equaliser and this time Farrell made amends by winning the ball high up the field and playing in Ndlovu to score off the post with a first time shot, thus living up to his Super-sub title.

1 – Tottenham Hotspur – 33

2 – Manchester United – 31

3 – Wimbledon – 29

4 – Southampton – 27

5 – Manchester City – 26

6 – West Ham United – 26

7 – Leicester City – 25

Also Chelsea 9th on 22, Arsenal 10th on 22 and Liverpool 13th on 19

League – Arsenal – A – 1-0

Ndlovu 86 (VIDEO)

Ndlovu stole the show with another late goal to snatch all three points with only a few minutes to go. We turned defence into attack and Pucciarelli broke down the left wing before passing to Ndlovu in the middle. The substitute still had to get past Kieran Gibbs and beat Wojciech Szczesny to score but he made that look easy. This win made it 4-2-0 in our last six games taking 14 points from a possible 18.

1 – Tottenham Hotspur – 36

2 – Manchester United – 34

3 – Wimbledon – 32

4 – West Ham United – 29

5 – Southampton – 27

6 – Manchester City – 26

7 – Chelsea – 25

8 – Leicester City – 25

9 – Everton - 25

League – Newcastle United – H – 0-1

The six game unbeaten run came to an end at home to Newcastle as Aleksandar Mitrovic scored when one-on-one with Gordon on 41 minutes. We switched to a more adventurous 3-4-3 formation in the second half and finished with 10 shots to their 4 but to no avail.

1 – Tottenham Hotspur – 39

2 – Manchester United – 37

3 – Wimbledon – 32

4 – West Ham United – 30

5 – Manchester City – 29

6 – Southampton – 27

7 – Sunderland - 27

League – Swansea City – A – 4-0

Camara 18

Ndlovu 50

Roux 67 (VIDEO)

Akakpo 90 (VIDEO)

We were 3-0 up in this match when Gordon saved a penalty after Jaroslav Navratil fouled in the area. Kris Commons came off the bench at half time and assisted in more than one goal. He took the ball on the half-way line and ran at the defence before playing a through ball for Roux to score the third and in the dying seconds he took the ball from Gordon on the edge of his own box, dribbled to the half-way line and released Serge Akakpo with a through ball again for the Togo player to score his only goal of the season past Kristoffer Nordveldt.

1 – Manchester United – 40

2 – Tottenham Hotspur – 40

3 – Wimbledon – 35

4 – Manchester City – 30

5 – Southampton – 30

6 – West Ham United – 30

7 – Arsenal – 28

8 – Leicester City – 28

Also Chelsea 11th on 26 and Liverpool 15th on 23

January Transfer Window

The biggest blow over the window was that Ndlovu handed in a transfer request which the board of directors agreed to grant. It was a real shame considering the number of vital goals he scored for the bench. His record for the season was eight goals in twelve games.

I also used French striker Nolan Roux as a make-weight in a part exchange deal for West Ham United striker Enner Valencia. The Ecuador international cost £2m plus the French striker. During January it was also confirmed that Saint-Maximin would be out injured for several weeks so the first priority was to strengthen the forward line and we brought in several targets. I bought one striker and loaned another. The purchase was also from West Ham although he started the game at Ipswich Town and that's Freddy Sears. I liked the striker, now 29 years old at this point, when he was a young West Ham player on loan at Crystal Palace. It seems FIFA took him back to his original club and now I prised him away again for £1m. The loan was American striker Rubio Rubin from Manchester United, a player who starts the game at FC Utrecht in Netherlands who in the 2018/19 season is 22 years old. The other two players coming in during January were wide players to support Ojo and Brecht Dejaegere as I didn't think Navratil and Steeven Langil were up to the job. Both Lucas Piazon and Alvaro Vadillo came on loan from Chelsea and Real Betis respectively. Apart from Ndlovu and Rous we also lost a number of young fringe players in January. Three players who came through the youth system left form other clubs with centre forward Jake Baldwin joining Swindon Town for £160k, Australian full back Jason Petratos going to Italian Serie B side Chiavari for £220k and winger Jarrett Molyneux joined Chelsea for £850k. Paraguayan centre back Edgar Lezcano joined for free in the summer of 2017 and now left for £800k to Birmingham City in the Championship.