Show me that oil money!
Newcastle have always been an interesting team with an amazing history and passionate fanbase. Ashley has gone, so on to brighter times, what can they achieve?
Welcome to the next episode of the managing Newcastle United in the first season series on FM24. This is part two of the guide so far and the results of the season. The previous guides you can find here:
So, here comes Newcastle United! The opportunities are endless, they have been putting together a good squad of youngsters, with a great manager. They have also done well by qualifying and playing in the Champions League. Plus there is a serious amount of money to reinvest in the team.
In this guide we are going to:
- Look at the end of season league performance and individual performances.
- We will look at the tactics which have been used.
- Where the team will go next.
Read on to push Newcastle United to glory on FM24!
Newcastle United results
In this section, we will go through the results of the first season with Newcastle United on FM24. What that means is we look at the league table and see how we measure to the season goals. We then use this data to identify the shortcomings and strengths of the team.
This season has been successful to a point, we ended up in the top four and and qualified for the Champions League. We also managed to win the FA cup, while the league cup and Champions League were too much. Man City and Liverpool were just too strong for us in the league, but there is always next year.
Looking at the stats we won 24 from 38 games, which is 66% of our games. We have calculated in the past that 76% win rate should do the trick, but not this year. We could use this data in order to create a win rate performance based recruitment model across the top 5 leagues.
When looking at our goals scored you can see that we are out of place. Something strange happened over January where we could not score goals. When you look the conceded data you can see with are in the right group, so it’s the goal scoring data that we need to be worried about.
I am proud of Newcastle for winning the FA cup though, this is a cup that tends to evade me. While we got Liverpool in the final, this is the time that we beat them, albeit on penalties. After this the board let me know that they would be giving me £234m to invest in new players next season.
Individual Performance
In this section we look at the player performances for the season. We are looking at the successes and the failures here from transfers or existing players. We are also looking to identify where the team stats could be better and gain an advantage.
As you can see we have a large nucleus of players that are playing over a 7 rating. The interesting thing is that they are in balanced positions, so keeper, fullbacks, midfielders and striker. This indicates that we need to look at centre backs and the inside forwards. This could be a role change, a position or even a personnel change.
Looking at the Xg data we can see that the majority of players are exceeding there target. We do however have a few underperformers, Joelinton is three goals under and Harvey Barnes is 4 goals under. The over achievers are Wilson who is 3 above his target and Almiron is nearly 2 goals over.
Trippier, Almiron, Akturkoglu and Barnes are all struggling with passing completion rates. While they are playing in the final third in most cases, if we had a high completion in those zones then we would be more dangerous. The main thing I have picked up here is that Barnes may not be the superstar I wanted him to be.
Newcastle United Tactics
In this section we will be discussing the FM24 tactics we used with Newcastle United. We have used the original tactics that we build in the day one series for the whole season which is a positive.
In the last issue, we had a very successful spell up to January and were in sight of the title. We then bought Akturkoglu and Fabian as the board wanted high reputation players. It went slightly downhill after this moment.
From the data we have above, the wingers are still causing a problem in their performance, so we need to look at the role and personnel. We have just bought an inside forward, so hopefully when he settles it will improve. Isak and Wilson are still fighting it out for the striker spot, but Wilson is edging it.
We also didn’t have much in the way of attacking midfielders, Joe Willock was our best bet, but if he gets injured then we lose another channel. Using the current ability recruitment model we compared the ratings of the team to the market. Fabian was an obvious choice as he ticks the worldwide reputation box too.
Conclusion
Newcastle United are a fun team to mange on FM24! When you first take over there is very little money to spend. We then got £104m in January to spend and then another £234m has been confirmed for the new season. This means you can make a super team going forward.
The strength of this team is the central midfield, while they lean towards the defensive mindset they are brilliant at defending and passing. Having this strength in the midfield helps to dominate the possession.
The weakness of this team is the lack of pace in the backline, meaning that you should be playing a high line. Which then in turn rules out attacking football and possession based football.
The opportunity with this team is the a mixture of the young squad and the huge amount of investment. The squad will mature over time and become better, and with the money available you can keep investing in the youth.
The threat of course is the lack of success. This team is on the up and they have manged feats that were not expected of them. If they do not reach these goals then it will be difficult to sign the next level of player and even more difficult to keep hold of the players you have.
I hope you enjoyed this guide, now go and start your journey with Newcastle United on FM24. Please comment any feedback below.
