Welcome to The Set Pieces’ most ambitious Football Manager Project yet. You Call The Shots is the first time we attempt to unite the FM20 community to show just how good they are at the game. The premise is simple: we click the buttons, but it’s your votes that will decide how well we do. So, can we show we’re FM til we die by leading Sunderland back to the Championship?
Episode 1; Episode 2; Episode 3; Episode 4; Episode 5
More than two game months have passed since our last episode of You Call The Shots, which should provide enough of an indication that things have been going pretty well.
In fact, a 15-game unbeaten start in the league is probably one of the most impressive I’ve seen (but that might be a reflection of my own Football Manager skills). We’ve only conceded three goals and sit in second place in League One, with a game in hand on the leaders Ipswich.
Your votes have proved to be pretty successful too. Last time you decided in overwhelming fashion that Will Grigg should remain as our starting striker after hitting a rich vein of form when deputising for the higher-rated duo of Nicklas Bendtner and Kyle Lafferty after injury. Eight goals in the next 12 game suggests you were right.
Similarly, your decision for us to sign James McClean on loan to offer more depth on the left was equally as strong. McClean scored within 10 minutes of his debut and has achieved an average rating of 6.95 so far (7.10 in the league), which suggests he’s a pretty good pick
But just as things look as though they were going too swimmingly, we’ve hit a slight bump in the road. Four draws in our last six league games suggests the start of a worrying trend – even if the the other two matches were 6-0 wins – and we need to decide if it’s something to worry about.
Creating clear-cut chances appears to be our weakness in those matches, although we haven’t really looked in any real threat of losing, so strong have our defensive performances been. So our one and only vote is simple, should we make a change or hold our nerve?
Because this series is all about your votes, we also want to let you have the chance to send us any thoughts on the side and what we can do to improve it, so send over any thoughts below.
Stay tuned to The Set Pieces to find out the result of the vote and see how the consequences of your decision unfold.
