It’s been a busy summer for me and unfortunately that means I haven’t had ,much time to write over the last MFL season. I’m hoping I can get back to some more consistent writing over the next few weeks both on my own gallery progress and some more tactics content. Before we get into the season review, a quick recap of where we were going into the season.

Heading into the season I spent on 4 new players to improve the starting XI as well as give us a much stronger side when we have to rotate. I was hoping this would give us some better performances against the strong sides, where I tend to rotate, and result in a few more points over the year. Although promotion was still well out of reach based on squad strength The goal in the cup remained getting out of the group as it has been every year.

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The League

The league campaign got enough to strong start. We managed to take advantage of a weak opening schedule to take 7 points from the opening four games. The results dropped off a bit towards the midseason break, but we still ended up in 9th place two points behind 7th. The not the best set of results, but a start I was hoping I could build on after the midseason break

The second half of the season was truly shocking. We one the first game back from the break, but could only manage a single draw in the remaining 10 games of the season to just about keep 9th place. I didn’t feel confident with my tactics all season, and it all fell apart even against the weaker teams in the league for us. Fortunately, there was no relegation from Spark this year, so we avoid a playoff games I would not have been confident in!

Looking back at the statistics it was our worst season in goals scored by some margin dropping from 37 in the last two years to just 20 this year. On the other hand we were better defensively, our 48 goals conceded was 7 less than we’ve managed in a season previously. Clearly going forward is where the improvements need to be made most next year.

The Cup

The Aspirants Cup started off with a very disappointing 3 points from the first 4 games. Fortunately for us we ended up in a very closely fought group and weren’t completely out of the running. A win in game 5 set up a winner-goes-through came against Commons Farms Istanbul in the final round. We were very much the better side and took a 1-0 win to earn 2nd place in the group.

We got the round of 16 off to a strong start with Timmy Cooper scoring in the 5th minute. We doubled our lead after 26 minutes and looked to be cruising to a place in the Quarter Finals. However, a 93rd minute equaliser sent us to extra time, much like last season when we conceded an own goal in the extra period and were eliminated. This time we held and managed to squeeze a 3-2 win on penalties.

The quarter finals started off in similar fashion. This time Alex Waite got the early goal after 8 minutes and we followed it up with two more goals by the 30 minute mark. Despite Spark City pulling one back it was a comfortable victory in the end.

There was no early goal for us in the Semi-Finals as we played out a nervy game against Minster Magic. The Magic scored the opener after 37′ minutes and it proved to be the winner. It was a tight game with both teams struggling to create chances, although Magic were the slightly better side. Overall a fantastic cup campaign and a very nice 1030 $MFL earned.

Progression

Progression was a little down on previous years, although we did still manage double digit overall improvements across the team. It’s probably to be expected given the core of the team having been playing regularly for 3 seasons now. There just might not be that much progression left in the squad.

Having said there were some highlights. Our star player Karlheinz Stangl progressed another +2, taking him up to 67 overall. He’s progressed +11 in total over his 4 seasons with us and at least +2 in each season. He’s about to turn 30, so he might not have too many seasons left but he’ll a key part of the squad until he retires.

Also going up by +2 was LM Alexander Waite. I brought him thinking he had the potential for decent progression and at 25 he’ll hopefully go further. His partner on the left side, LB Gustavo Rubiano, also picked up +2 overall. At 23 he’s also got plenty of potential to grow over the next few seasons.

Also of note was ST Martin Beck and GK Ettore Bonetti who both got themselves into tier jail this season. Hopefully, I’ll end up with at least my second Uncommon player by the end of next season.

Thoughts on Season 8

The first thing I need to do is get some tactics nailed down better than I did this season. With Flint likely to fill up more next season, the need to avoid relegation will become more critical. I’d like to be finishing in 8th+ going forward and avoid the need for a relegation playoff. Depending on the improvements in the league, it could be a tough ask unless our tactics are solid.

Next season, incremental improvement in the squad will continue to be the aim. I’ll look to make a couple of targeted improvements at CB and ST over the offseason, but I won’t be looking to bridge the 30-40 point overall gap to the promotion challengers. Some players might be slowing down in progression but there is still a decent amount of potential in the squad. In the future I may need to think about loans if I really want to challenge for a spot in Ice.

If you fancy giving MFL a go sign up using this link and we’ll both earn a free common card when you spend $25 in the pack Store.