2013 Double Trouble V2.0: Suarez & Cavani @ Barcelona

[MerlionMaple96]

Double Trouble V2.0: The Return of MM96

 

I'm Back! Yes, folks, just days after completing the "Race to be Perfect" Challenge, I'm back with another career. This time around, I will be returning to my roots, and the challenge that really kicked off my involvement here on Vibe. That's right, I'm back with "Double Trouble". When I first completed the challenge, I did so with Paulo Dybala and Alex Schalk two young strikers aged 19 and 21 respectively. It took me 13 seasons to reach my target, not surprising considering I was a newcomer to the game. This time however, I have decided to up the ante. The strikers I have chosen are no longer young players with potential but instead established players, both aged 25. Yes, 25. The fact that both of them are that old only gives me a window of opportunity of around 10 years. No, it will not be easy. Most probably, I will fail. But I do know one thing, if I do, I will go down kicking and screaming like a little girl. Are you ready for this? Because, I certainly am...

 

The Club

 

The two players I had targeted were by no means cheap. Hell, they would cost a boat load of money. Hence, I knew I needed to use a rich club. This narrowed my list considerably as to my possible options:

 

- Real Madrid

- Barcelona

- PSG

- Manchester City

- Chelsea

- Bayern Munich

 

I discounted both City and Chelsea quite quickly because I knew this challenge would be almost impossible to complete in England. Bayern and Real both then also went out the window as I hate them in real life! Left with a choice between PSG and Barca, I decided to pick the latter because they had the better team already and I had no choice but to hit the ground running. So, using my contacts, Vilanova got the boot and I was the new man in charge

 

 

The Players

 

Not so fast folks! Where's the fun if I just told you who I was going to be using. To make this a little more interesting let's see who can guess the players! Here are some clues:

 

- They are both 25

- They are of the same nationality

 

That should be more than enough information to make an educated guess! The first person to guess right wins absolutely nothing Just for fun folks! Just for fun... Last time I did this was with Welbeck and AS was first to guess right! It's the community's job to make sure he doesn't do it again!  :ph34r:

 

Alright, update numero uno is complete. Have some fun guessing who I'll be using! Update number 2 will be here tomorrow and will reveal the players and Season 1. It would be awesome to get some comments folks. That is all! 

. 

[anfieldsquirrel]

Zarate / Messi / Viatri?

[J-savage]

Suarez and Cavani? Both 25, Uruguayan, cost a lot. ?

[Ashez]

I know who

[anfieldsquirrel]

Isn't Cavani 24? probably correct if he's 25.

[Lee-Roy]

Remy and Giroud?

[anfieldsquirrel]

Remy and Giroud?

That was my next guess :lol:

[Lee-Roy]

It's a good guess but after posting I'd have thought he'd go for psg if using them two. And Cavani is 25z

[anfieldsquirrel]

Ah probably is Suarez and Cavani then

Giovinco and Rossi?

[J-savage]

Nope I checked as well! He's 25! Hopefully I'm right !

I know who

Do you wanna tell me?

[Obika]

Wise decision to get on with something else! I may post an iScout from the H2H indicating where I'm at, and it is not exactly deep into the second season.

[Matthew]

I know who

This is where you PM me the answers

[MerlionMaple96]

Double Trouble V2.0: The Return of MM96

 

Well looks like you guys put your heads together and came up with some pretty decent guesses! Of the most popular four: Messi/Zarate, Remy/Giroud, Cavani/Suarez and Rossi/Giovinco, one was indeed correct. When I was deciding who to pick as well, my decision really did boil down to these four. The first one I threw out of the window was Rossi/Giovinco - Although two good strikers the tactic I will be using calls for a Poacher + Target Man partnership up front. Unfortunately, Neither Rossi nor Giovinco quite fit the bill of a Target man. Next to go was Messi/Zarate. I have had a bad experience with Messi in the past (as a goalscorer) and had never used Zarate, so I wasn't going to take a plunge into the deep end with that duo. Finally, I was left with Remy/Giroud and Cavani/Suarez. It was a tough decision but I ended up going with the duo I chose because I felt they were stat-wise better than the other pair...

 

The Players

 

Edinson Cavani

 

 

Stats Before IT

 

 

 

Cavani will be my Target Man in the duo. As you can see, he's already a beast. On IT he's Hulk. Like seriously, He's Hulk

 

Luis Suarez

 

 

Stats Before IT

 

 

Suarez will be the Poacher in the Pair. I've used him before to deadly effect (100 goals in England) but that was by himself up top. It will be interesting to see how he performs in a partnership

 

The Tactic

 

This tactic is essentially a tweaked version of the one I used in my last attempt. I have been able to achieve considerably better success with this on my test saves. Hopefully that will translate into the real challenge

 

 

Team Instructions

 

 

Season 1 in the next update folks. Comments would be class. And a shout out to FMH King who guessed correctly

[J-savage]

Yes!!!!!! If Cavani and Suarez weren't in the news this week I wouldn't have guessed!! good luck MM96

[anfieldsquirrel]

Nice, good luck .

[MerlionMaple96]

Cheers lads. I'll try to get an update out by tonight

[MerlionMaple96]

 

Season One - Rock N' Roll

 

Transfer Update

 

Even as manager of one of the richest clubs in the world, I was only given a transfer budget of 47 Million Euros to spend on transfers this season. Unfortunately, the combined price for Suarez and Cavani amounted to a whopping 74 Million Euros! This meant I had to finance my transfers by selling a couple of players I deemed useless to the cause. Yes, Keravlin will kill me for this, but that's alright  

Transfers Out

Since my tactic did not involve any wingers, they were the players I sacrificed to finance my purchases of Cavani and Suarez. The first player to go was Cristian Tello. For a cool 11.25 Million Euros, I shipped him off the the Hawthorns

 

 

Tello shocked at his manager's ruthlessness!

 

Unfortunately, even after the added 11.25 Million Euros to my budget, I still did not have enough to purchase Cavani and Suarez. This meant I needed to get rid of even more dead-weight. This time it was Pedro who was cut as I sold him to Chelsea for a whopping 36 Million Euros! 

 

 

Not too sure why he's so happy. He has to contend with Oscar, Hazard, Mata, Marin and Moses for a starting spot!

That was the extent of my exploits in the transfer market this season as I saw it unnecessary to get rid of anyone else.
 

Starting XI

 

Most of my team picked itself, although I did have to make a few close calls. The toughest decision was probably playing Alex Song over Sergio Busquets. Honestly, it was just a gut choice. I have no logical reason for choosing Song, just that I did. Another tough choice was Bartra over Puyol. For me Puyol's age and fitness were huge causes for concern and I just decided that Bartra's youthful exuberance would be better. I didn't consider Mascherano As I said before, the rest of the team just fell into place. The only player I felt bad about leaving out was Fabregas. In my mind, he would become Iniesta's successor though, so it was fine

 

 

On the Field of Play

 

Spanish Super Cup 1st Leg

 

 

A tight affair, as Cavani notches his first goal of this challenge.

 

Spanish Super Cup 2nd Leg

 

 

We emerge triumphant as Cavani sends us to the promised land with a late winner

 

Spanish Cup Final

 

 

Bilbao's tireless work ethic and flair were too much for us. (Plus, they have Llorente )

 

La Liga

 

 

This league is MUCH too easy. 100 point season right off the bat. Unbeaten too

 

Champions Cup Final

 

 

I don't understand why I always pick up red cards in vitally important matches  :wacko:

Player Statistics

Alright, so the target is 1200 goals. I have around 10 season to reach that. That means I'll need 120 goals a season. It's going to be bloody difficult! Let's see what my Uruguayans did this season

Luis Suarez

Stats after 1 season of IT
 

 

In Game Figures

 

 

A goal a game keeps the doctor away Seriously though, a solid season. Now Cavani would need to score 58 goals for me to reach my 120 goal target!

Edinson Cavani

Stats after 1 season of IT

 

 

In Game Figures

 

 

Yikes! We just miss out by 5 goals as Cavani bangs home 53 Oh well, just have to make up for it next season

 

Player Awards

 

 

Not quite a clean sweep as Alvaro takes the young player of the year award  Still, Suarez with the League and World double is pretty impressive

 

Progress so Far

 

Luis Suarez

 

 

Games Played (Domestic): 62

Goals Scored: 62

Games Played (International): 0

Goals Scored: 0

 

Total Goals: 62

 

Edinson Cavani

 

 

Games Played (Domestic): 62

Goals Scored: 53

Games Played (International): 0

Goals Scored: 0

 

Total Goals: 53

 

Absolute Total: 115

 

There you have it guys. Season 1 is complete. Although we didn't quite reach our target we did come mighty close, which I'm extremely pleased about. Hopefully I can improve on this next season. Comments would be just peachy The good, the bad and the ugly all appreciated! Update 2 coming soon...

[anfieldsquirrel]

Wow!!

[Ashez]

Great start

[Obika]

Nice start - when they peak it's going to have to be a MASSIVE season

[MerlionMaple96]

@Ash: Cheers

 

@AS: I Know!

 

@Tobinho: That's what I'm banking on. I need probably three 150 goal seasons when they peak...

 

Update on the way lads

[MerlionMaple96]

 

Season Two - Gimme Shelter

 

Transfer Update

 

The transfer budget this season was considerably higher than the last and money was no longer an issue. Any transfer I made were merely to strengthen the squad and not to raise funds...

 

Transfers In

 

I was in the market for a solid Centre Back and an Advanced Playmaker. Although Bartra had been decent last season, I wanted to bring in someone a little more "familiar" if you know what I mean. Essentially I wanted to poach a United player So I went to over to the United Team Screen and had a look at the team. Of course, there was one player who was really at the forefront of my mind and when I saw his stats I knew that I just had to buy him! Sure it cost me 24.5 Million Euros, but Phil Jones was priceless in my mind...

 

 

Jones' reaction when he found out he'd have to defend Cavani and Suarez in practice

 

The next player I decided to purchase just happened to be a young English lad as well. Despite Messi's decent performance last season. I found that he was scoring too many goals and that his teamwork rating was a little low for my liking. So, I decided to replace him. Yes, I replaced Messi! With who, you ask? Well, Jack Wilshere cost just 32.5 Million Euros...

 

 

Yes, it was indeed Jack who stole the cookie from the cookie jar...

 

I made two other less important transfers as well. The first was to bring in Zeljko Brkic from Udinese for 8 Million Euros as an understudy to Valdez. The second was a relatively unknown lad by the name of Kiko Olivas, another centre back who cost me 6.5 Million Euros from Cordoba.

Transfers Out

 

Essentially I felt it superfluous to have too many players kicking around and decided it appropriate to trim down the squad a little by cutting off dead weight. The first to walk the plank was Isaac Cuenca, who departed for Dortmund for a solid fee of 12.5 Million Euros

 

 

Cuenca faking injury in an attempt to avoid a transfer. It didn't work...

 

Next to take the walk of shame was Ibrahim Affellay who I sold to Atletico for a measly 10.5 Million Euros

 

 

Afellay, thinking he looks cool  <_< 

Other cuts included the sale of Adriano to Porto for 2.6 Million Euros, Villa to Napoli for 2.4 Million Euros and a bunch of useless La Masia graduates...(Please don't kill me Kerav  )
 

Starting XI

 

As I mentioned above, the only changes to my starting XI were the swapping of Jones for Bartra and Wilshere for Messi. That being said, Iniesta, Xavi, Song and Alves all saw a lot less playing time as I began using the likes of Fabregas, Sergi Roberto, Busquets and Montoya more often.

 

 

On the Field of Play

 

Spanish Super Cup 1st Leg

 

 

Revenge for last year's Spanish Cup defeat!

 

Spanish Super Cup 2nd Leg

 

 

Just playing out a pointless game

 

Spanish Cup Final

 

 

Luckily it was Sevilla and not Llorente and Co. that we had to face this time

 

La Liga

 

 

We went one better than last season. Although, we did lose a game this time around

 

Champions Cup Final

 

 

Shock defeat to Milan. Especially after such an easy first leg. That's football for you though I guess.  :wacko:

Player Statistics

Alright, so the target is 1200 goals. I have around 10 season to reach that. That means I'll need 120 goals a season. It's going to be bloody difficult! Let's see what my Uruguayans did this season 

Luis Suarez

Stats after 2 seasons of IT
 

 

In Game Figures

 

 

An early exit from Europe limited his game time to 5 less than last season. As such, the 11 goal drop isn't too unexpected. Let's just hope Cavani can step it up!

Edinson Cavani

Stats after 2 seasons of IT

 

 

In Game Figures

 

 

Cavani does manage a few more but it doesn't make a huge difference sadly. I'm still going to be behind on my target

 

Player Awards

 

 

Clean Sweep this time Cavani gets his first major accolade and Suarez picks up World Player of the Year again!

 

Progress so Far

 

Luis Suarez

 

 

Games Played (Domestic): 119

Goals Scored: 113

Games Played (International): 1

Goals Scored: 0

 

Total Goals: 113

 

Edinson Cavani

 

 

Games Played (Domestic): 117

Goals Scored: 109

Games Played (International): 0

Goals Scored: 0

 

Total Goals: 109

 

Absolute Total: 222

 

Sadly another marginally poor season means that we are now 18 goals behind the target No worries though, as I fully expect them to compensate for this next season when they both peak at the age of 27. Anywho, Comments would be just class and the good, the bad and the ugly are all appreciated! Update 3 coming soon...

 

 

[Ashez]

Going strong mate

[J-savage]

Well done! You can make up for the 18 goals no problem!!

[MerlionMaple96]

@ Ash: Cheers

@ FMH King: I really hope so!!!

[Matthew]

Can't believe you replaced Messi

[Keraviln]

Ok... I just read the entire thing...

I will, calm myself down and then respond...

[anfieldsquirrel]

Don't see the need in that post tbh Kera, just because he's changed Barca around don't start having a go. It's his game and career, if you don't like it then stop reading.

[MerlionMaple96]

Don't see the need in that post tbh Kera, just because he's changed Barca around don't start having a go. It's his game and career, if you don't like it then stop reading.

No that's fine AS. I'm the one who told him to have a go at my team. Just for some laughs After all, he is the Barca expert Cheers for the support though...(ur my 2nd favourite Scotsman )

Can't believe you replaced Messi

Just proves everyone is replaceable

[anfieldsquirrel]

But you had to change the squad as you did to buy the players, and fit the tactic you're using

And your favourite is? :lol: