It’s rare that any FMer has an approach to the game that doesn’t include some form of youth development, whether it’s producing your own players or signing young talent to give them a platform. If you’ve been following my FMing over the years you’ll know that I’m no different to the norm here. There’s been fleeting moments where I might have changed my approach slightly, but by god I can’t keep away from the knock-down prices, low wages and that potential column filling up with gold stars.
As I wrap up my third season at St Mary’s with Southampton on FM22 we have the youngest squad in the Premier League on average by far. It shouldn’t be a shock. How did my young squad get on though, and who are our standout performers?
Season Three Summary
Premier League
We had an incredible start to season three that just kept rolling. At the halfway stage of the season we were sitting top of the Premier League. We were unbeaten across our 19 matches, with 15 of them being wins. We were just two points ahead of Liverpool though, who were also unbeaten.
Surely it wouldn’t be a fairy-tale so early on in this save? Little Southampton with the 14th highest salary per annum in the league wouldn’t be able to overcome the big six would they?
No, no they wouldn’t. It was bloody close though! We were 14 points away from City at the top of the table last season in 3rd place, this season’s 3rd place finish saw us finish just six points behind Liverpool. We scored six less goals this season compared to last, but actually conceded six less this time round so our goal difference of +55 is exactly the same as last season. There was more incredible wins along the way, with a 5-1 against Villa, a 6-1 against Sheffield United and a 7-0 demolishing of Burnley in January.
Our four defeats came against Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Aston Villa, in a match that ended our incredible unbeaten league run which had been running since the 22nd of April 2023. It was our draws that killed the title challenge in the end, including a 0-0 on matchday 37 against Spurs which was the only league match all season where we failed to find the net.
At the fifth time of asking we finally got a win against Manchester United, beating them 3-1 at St Mary’s in October. Though a league double against them wasn’t to be, it wouldn’t be the only time we’d play against them this season. They scored 100+ goals for the third consecutive season but for the past two it hasn’t been enough to secure them the title.
It wasn’t to be, but you know me, I’m fine with it. I won Manager of the Year and there’s always next season for another assault on the Premier League title.
Domestic Cups
I was determined to do much better than last season in the domestic cup competitions so there wasn’t as much rotation as I usually have done in the past.
We made it to Wembley in my first season, losing out against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi final. They were our cup foes that season, with Manchester United replacing them in season three. We managed to draw first blood though, taking home our first domestic trophy of the save and the first domestic cup competition the club has won since the 1976 FA Cup.
Delighted to win an EFL Cup to add to last season’s Europa Conference League trophy in the cabinet. The old “play the ex-player” trick worked perfectly as an Anthony Martial double downed his old club in a confident cup final performance.
We had some really tough draws in the cups this season, overcoming Arsenal in the EFL Cup third round on penalties, taking Liverpool to a replay in the FA Cup third round before securing an unbelievable 4-1 win at Anfield to go through and now United stood in our way again, this time in the FA Cup quarter final. It looked as though it was going to penalties, with the full time score being 2-2 and extra time amounting to not much at all. In the 121st minute, Mo Salisu slid in and won the ball from Victor Osimhen but the loose ball fell to Jadon Sancho who’d got in front of Romain Perraud. He kept his head and finished coolly past Gavin Bazunu. A cruel way to end this season’s FA Cup run. Talking of cruel…
Champions League
Last season’s third place finish in the league saw us take on our first ever Champions League challenge. I wasn’t expecting much and I was expecting much less when we got drawn into a group with RB Salzburg, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
Five remarkable wins and one disappointing defeat away in Munich later we’d unexpectedly finished second and qualified for the knockouts. Summer signing, Benjamin Šeško, came into his own, hitting a late winner at home against Barca before scoring a double against his old club, Salzburg, and hitting another goal in the Camp Nou. He then proceeded to destroy Atalanta in the knockouts, scoring four of our seven goals in a 7-1 first leg victory. A 2-2 draw away from home set up a quarter final clash with our old friends, Manchester United.
Football Manager gives and takes away in equal measure. In the 93rd minute of the first leg we were cruising. The score read 4-1 and 31,000 of the 32,000 St Mary’s crowd was bouncing. Then Victor Osimhen scored a 94th minute goal. I’d say consolation, but going from 4-1 to 4-2 in the home leg of a two-legged tie is far from that. I’m sure you can all predict what happened in the second leg.
Hate you FM (but I also love you too so I’ll be back next season for even more…).
Feeling 22-ish
I’ve made a fair few changes to this squad in my three seasons in charge. There’s only really a few players left over from when I initially took over. Where the core of the squad beforehand was closer to 30 than 20, or even over 30, e.g. the likes of Nathan Redmond, Oriol Romeu, Jack Stephens, Moi Elyounoussi, Stuart Armstrong, that’s been shifted much more in the direction that I prefer. I said at the beginning, we’ve now got the youngest squad on average in the league, at 24-years-old. That could still be younger, but 36-year-old Fraser Forster has just signed a new deal to continue as my back-up keeper.
The blog title is partly a nod to Taylor Swift, but mainly just because I’ve now got a core group of players who are around about the age of 22 and I want to show them off.
Tino Livramento
I wouldn’t say he’s the main reason why I wanted to manage Saints on FM22 but he’s high up there on the list. 2023/24 was his best season yet and he’s showing real improvements in his game. He provided 17 assists in his 40 appearances this season, adding to his 21 from the previous two seasons combined. He’s flying up and down that right flank and I love the low crosses he puts in for our Advanced Forward, usually Adam Armstrong, to finish.
I was positive Chelsea had a buyback clause on him when I started the save but I can’t seem to see it now. If it’s expired then it’s only another positive for us as he’s now the second most valuable player at the club.
Andrew Omobamidele
I picked up Omobamidele for his relegation release clause of £10m when Norwich went down at the end of season one. Is he the best defender in the Premier League? Not quite. But he’s young, quick, has a great personality and attitude and he’s only getting better and better. He made 23 starts across all competitions this season and will likely be our third choice CB going into next season too. It feels harsh to say that especially after he won the English Players’ Young Player of the Year this season.
His fellow countryman, Gavin Bazunu (22), cemented himself as our number one this season too, so that can only be a good thing for both club and country.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis and James Garner
I’d been tracking THB and Garner for the entire save so far. I just knew they’d be available to buy at some point and that both City and United wouldn’t give them the gametime they both deserve. Both players arrived in January this season, Garner for a club record fee of £27m potentially rising to £32m and Harwood-Bellis in a gamechanging swap deal for Lyanco. I see their arrivals as the start of the next phase for the club. They’re young, English and, importantly, quality players. They’ll both walk into our starting line up and could be the catalyst to push the club to that next level.
They both got around 1,400 minutes of action since their arrival and I think that’ll be hitting the 3,000 mark like our other key players from this season like Salisu, Tino and Billy Gilmour. Gilmour is also 22-years-old and had another superb for the club, averaging a 7.41 across his 28 league appearances, and a 7.35 overall for the season.
I could be here posting screenshots of my entire squad to be honest. Thierry Small (19) got 2,100 minutes this season and is developing brilliantly. Andreas Schjelderup (20) forced himself into the latest NxGn wonderkid list. I’ve already mentioned Benjamin Šeško (21) in this post, he finished his first season at the club with 23 goals and is only going to get better. A name you’ll likely recognise, Filip Rønningen Jørgensen (22) finally got a work permit after actually being my first signing at the club in the January transfer window of season one. This was his breakout season and he’ll be competing with Garner and Gilmour for those two CM spots.
What’s Next?
I’m already in the club’s favoured personnel, it’s time to start pushing to become an icon and legend. The board want us to start becoming the best of the rest, which looks as though it translates into finish just outside of the top three. We’ve just had two consecutive top three finishes so I’m confident we can keep hitting those expectations.
There’s no current plans to sell any players, but alongside the young players at the club there’s also a group of players hitting their peaks. Season one arrivals, Anthony Martial and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are both now 28-years-old and the deals they had in place with Man Utd and Chelsea to top up their wages end this summer. Ché Adams and Adam Armstrong, who I’ve not even mentioned in this post despite him scoring another 33 goals this season to make it 104 goals in three seasons, are both 27. Is it time to cash in and kickstart the next cycle of the save?