I'm yet again finding it too easy to spend a hell lot more money than would be feasible in reality. I mean, in my only season at Newcastle, I've spent £17.5M on Wellington Nem during the summer, plus around £15M on Benteke, £17M on Mkhitaryan and £18M on Sturridge in January, not to mention all the other smaller transfers in both windows.
I always offer just a little amount upfront and all the rest in 48 installments. I know it's not a very good idea for the finances of the club in the long term but these deals give me assurance that I'll compensate the investment with European qualification.
Right now, I'm around March in my 1st season, challenging for the league title - yeah, my 1st season with Newcastle (!!!).
I've got a great starting XI and I'm building some nice depth as well.
Lately I've been playing that way:
Krul
Debuchy - Yanga-Mbiwa - Coloccini - Santon
Mkhitaryan - Sissoko - Cabaye
W. Nem Ben Arfa
Cissé
Actually, Nem is on a bit of poor form right now so I'm using Sturridge on the right, and on the easier games, I'm experimenting with a 4-4-2 formation. Also, Cissé was injured for 2 months, so Benteke got a lot of playing time as well.
That means if I play the formation above - which is a great team, capable of beating anyone in the league -, I've still got people like Astori (a CB I signed in the summer), S. Taylor, Tioté, Anita (who's been even better than Tioté as my DM), Sturridge and Benteke on the bench. Pretty amazing.
To get enough funds for all this, I had to get rid of players like D. Simpson, Y. Gouffran, J. Perch, J. Gutierrez, S. Marveaux, S. Ameobi and G. Obertan. None of them are really missed at all, though Gouffran was useful.
By the way, Yanga-Mbiwa and Coloccini are the best CB partnership in the league. They're both leading the league in average rating despite playing on a very attacking side with a high defensive line and operating as ball playing defenders. Only Kompany has a comparable average rating.
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