Welcome back to the Tuesday club!
Last time out we saw Steve Bruce fail miserably at replicating the success of Gareth Southgate using the games’ AI and best-perceived players. This time, I am in charge! The catch… I have the name the squad as close to Gareth’s as possible – irrespective of a players in-game reputation, club, or form! It’s name only!
The Football Association want our England team to reach the Quarters. To me, any improvement on Bruce’s second round exit is a bonus. (If you missed it, revisit Bruce’s attempt here https://fm2012.co.uk/2021/07/13/tuesday-club-fm-2012-at-euro-2020/).
I add some backroom staff to help me. I appoint the current outgoing England manager Mike Phelan as my Assistant (yes, Phelan broke the shackles to cut his managerial teeth at Norwich). I bring in ex-internationals Rio Ferdinand, David Platt, Joe Cole and Paul Scholes into the coaching set-up. With 6 weeks to the tournament, I am not sure what impact they’ll have – but every little helps!
The FA have lined up three pre-tournament friendlies, against Austria, current world no.1 Italy, and Greece. I want to use the opportunity for the squad to gel, and give some International experience to our (what will be) inexperienced squad! I add one more friendly against Romania. The more the merrier!
It looks like our Group B featuring Holland, Poland and Wales will be a challenge. Eyes on the Poland and Wales games to help progress.
I guess the reason you are here, is that you want to see the squad of 2021 in the world of #FM2012… Drumroll….
The squad has a very Southgate-esque look – i.e. loaded with right backs! I have bulked it out with some familiar names – players to who have been called up, or featured during the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign or the 2019 Nations league campaign namely; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tom Heaton, Michael Keane, Lewis Dunk, Eric Dier, Fabian Delph, Nathan Redmond and Ross Barkley. James Ward-Prowse and Jesse Lingard were in the provisional squad for Euro 2020, so also go in.
I have edited the menu to show you what our assistant thinks .. clearly we look like we’ll struggle in goal! Of the 22 players I have included, only 8 have been capped, while Stones, Trippier and Hendo have four between them.
For the tournament squad I will add a couple of young attacking regens in to replicate the likes of Sancho, Bellingham and Rashford, who are far too young to be in the DB. I will also add a regen left back to cover Luke Shaw. It’ll likely be at the expense of some of the peripheral real-life players (i.e. Redmond, Keane and Delph).
Oh, I forgot to show what leagues they are currently featuring in… Mings and Pickford are currently playing non-league football. Luke Shaw just got relegated from League One with Brighton, so will be a League Two player next season. Keane, Coady, Lingard, Redmond, and Ward-Prowse are all playing the the Championship. The rest are, thankfully, playing in the Premier League, except for Harry Kane whos in the West Brom reserves, and not played a competetive game for over a year!
Prior to the Euro 2020 squad announcement I am asked to pick my Captain. My assistant (Mike Phelan) suggests Ryan Shawcross, or Phil Jones… I only have one option, right?
Harry Kane is announced as the new England Captain! The uncapped West Brom reserves player, Kane has played 38 Premier League games in the past five in-game seasons, scoring three goals. As mentioned, has not kicked a ball in a year. Not quite prolific, but he will get a chance!
Kane does actually have a decent ‘influence’ stat, so it’s not a total disaster.. though the squad arn’t impressed. Nevermind, it’s not up to them!
I don’t actually get to play any friendlies before naming the full squad. Regen forwards Christopher King and Miguel Currie are joined by young midfielder Wayne Redman and young left back Jamie Graham. Redmond, Delph and Keane are the players put on the standby list. It’s off to the Euros!
There is a predicted press pack pile-on, as the squad goes viral. Apparently football in England doesn’t exist outside the Premier League!
Tyrone Mings, plucked from the ninth tier, is such an unknown entity, the England scouts can’t even complete his profile. He’s listed as a right-back.
The other non-league player in the squad, Jordan Pickford, is playing for Darlaston Town. The penalty hero from this year will get to make his England bow. Can he replicate the form?
Our first friendly is against Austria. It’s a chance to start learning our formations and for the lads to get to know each other. I play a familiar back-five, and give Harry Kane a debut leading the line. Pickford, Shaw, Maguire also make debuts.
Remarkably, the team are competitive! Harry Kane scores a debut goal on 40 minutes and we create changes. It’s not until late in the game, when substitutions take their toll that Austria get into the game.
Harry Kane is named Man-of-the-Match. Could this be a sign of things to come?
Luke Shaw also impresses on the left getting our third-highest rating. He’s a shadow of his Shawberto Carlos best, but his workrate, tackling and composure mean he can do a job!
It’s a friendly against the current World Cup holders and no.1 ranked team Italy next. With three days between games I need to rotate the players a little bit. Trippier, Dunk, and regen Redman make their debuts.
Its a tough afternoon at Wembley. Despite Conor Coady giving us the lead, Italy assert themselves and comfortably win 6-2. Regen Christopher King scores his first England goal after coming off the bench.
The press are not kind to the lads after that humbling! I tell the lads not to be to dispirited. Onto the next one!
We host Romania, as another chance to for the squad to blend. I change to the back-up, attacking formation to give the lads a chance to get more familiar with it. Kane is not fully-fit so Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain steps in to an unfamiliar attacking role. Jordan Henderson takes over the Captain’s armband from Kane and Maguire.
With the game tight Harry Kane comes off the bench to score his second goal in three England games.
The last friendly wedged in sees us take on Greece. After a winning against Romania, I still to the 4-3-3. Kane is back in the team, with Maguire. James Ward-Prowse, Jesse Lingard and Eric Dier all make their debuts.
It’s a great way to end our preparations – a 4-2 win. Harry Kane’s form continues, with his third in four. Not bad for a Baggies reserve player! Christopher King also scores his second and third England goals. Unfortunately for Tyrone Mings. the Euro 2020 dream has ended before it began. He is ruled out for the touranament.
I announce my squad numbers list after the game. The screenshot gives in idea of which players are at which clubs!
We have a final press conference before we board the plane to Belgium. Its a last chance for the press-pack to stick the boot in! Yes – I am confident the squad will do the job!
#EURO2020 is here! Our opening fixture is against Holland and I decide to stick with the attacking formation that served us well in the final two friendlies. I select a side that resembles the look of the actual side as closely as possible. Regen King plays the role of Foden/Saka.
I the pre-game team talk I tell the lads to play with no pressure of expectation. They relax, which I think is good. It proably wasn’t the best plan. Holland start the game with intent and try to assert themselves on our young squad. After 17 minutes Luc Castaignos makes a breakthrough, and our inexperienced heads drop. After half an hour we are three down and are looking vulnerable with every attack.
The halftime whistle goes and we trudge in four goals behind. I make a treble-sub, going more defensive. Shaw, Sterling and Henderson make way. We see an instant improvement with King – moving central – scoring in the 47th minute. Holland reply instantly with two more before King scores his second (and fifth in five games). The game ends in a 7-2 rout.
I’ll be honest, I had hoped for an unlikely success story with this side, but by playing a non-league goalkeeper and league two left back maybe it was inevitable?!
Onto the next game, against Poland. I go back to the attacking wingers, recalling Oxlade-Chamberlain, Barkley and regen Redman. Tom Heaton comes in for Jordan Pickford, as does regen left back Graham for Shaw and Eric Dier for John Stones. Despite Christopher King’s brilliant form, Harry Kane leads the line. I need to keep some elements of the #Euro2020 story relevant, after all.
This time, it’s our turn to the three-up after half an hour! The recalled Oxlade-Chamberlain gets us going on twenty minutes, before Harry Kane scores a quick-fire double. Tom Heaton does a fine job of keeping the Poland forwards out with a couple of key saves.
Eric Dier sees red on the hour mark, meaning its a rejigged backline again. Conor Coady drops into his real-life familiar CB role. Ross Barkley scores his first international goal before a late consolation from the Poles. It makes no matter – our campaign is under way! Raheem Sterling is names man-of-the-match for making three assists.
We have the fans back on side!
The win puts us in an good position for the final group game against Wales. If we avoid defeat, we’ll progress!
The final group game is actually a repeat of last weeks’ blog post where Gareth Bale put Steve Bruce’s England side to the sword. Eric Dier and Conor Coady are suspended, so Kieran Trippier starts at right back, Lewis Dunk comes into center half and Maguire has a run at DMC. The forward line is unchanged.
Gareth Bale picked up an early knock and spent the best part of 80 minutes limping around the left side of the field. Wales boss Carl Fletcher obviously loathed to take off his talisman. (Fletcher was Plymouth Argyle boss from 2011-13, and more recently Leyton Orient boss after a period in Bournemouth’s backroom set-up under Eddie Howe).
We ourselves created very little, and we happy to see out a draw to ensure we progress to Round 2!
Holland top the group with a clean-sweep. The majority of goals coming from our game!
We draw the host-nation Belgium in the Second Round! That’ll be a tough draw. Like the crop of players toping the world rankings today, Courtois, De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku, Witsel all feature in the squad.
I mix up the team again for this one, recalling Shawberto Carlos and Stones. Ross Barkley is injured, so Jesse Lingard comes in. Raheem Sterling is given a rest and attacking regen Miguel Currie gets a run on the left (Sancho-esque maneouver?)
Harry Kane stuns the Genk crowd on six minutes and the ground falls silent but for a handful of Three-Lions fans. The roar gets loader on 23 minutes as Kane strikes again – his fourth of the tournament, and seventh in eight Internationals for me!
At halftime I tell the lads not to panic and be complacent. A couple look stressed – but its the Euros – tough opposition will come!
Axel Witsel gets one back on 60 minutes and we are against the ropes! I bring on Trippier for Stones and Henderson for Lingard to help steady the ship. Hazard and De Bruyne ping in cross after cross (no direct running?) and the defensive partnership of Wolves’ Maguire and Spurs’ Walker keep Lukaku at bay!
We hold on! The hosts are out!
Our non-league mascot Pickford is happy with that one!
We have met the FA’s objective of a European Quarter Final – remarkably. We draw Spain, a side which still has Cesc Fabregas pulling the strings and Gerard Pique at the back.
On the 1st July Harry Kane is released from his West Brom contract. The lad who has scored four tournament goals, and seven International goals did not do enough to convince we could do a job for the Baggies.
I keep an unchanged side for the Spain game. Now we have passed the 1st July, we can boast having a League Two player at left back. Take a bow Shawberto!
We have a knack of scoring early goals and free-agent Kane is at it again in the 10th minute. It’s a dream start! Spain hit back with a quickfire double on 15 and then 23 minutes.
At halftime Shaw is replaced with regen Jamie Graham, and Sterling comes on for Oxlaide-Chamberlain. We are rewarded with another quick goal from regen Miguel Currie – we’re back in it!
We then suffer three injures after making the two subs; Currie, Sterling and then substitute Chris King all get taken off. We are down to nine outfield players – it’s a disaster! We hold on to full time, but will have to play Extra-time with nine. The formation looks like this;
Extra time was always going to be a tough ask. Rodrigo breaks England hearts just before half time of extra time. I got all-out attacking for the second period of ET, but it’s no good. Spain comfortably see the clock tick down and progress to the Semi-finals! Bugger.
Our journey with the England squad for Euro 2020 is over. We met the FA’s objective of Quarters, and beat Steve Bruce’s marker of second round. I still feel disappointed the lads couldn’t replicate the success of real-life. It was always going to be tough with non-league and football league players!
Harry Kane bowed out of the tournament with five goals. It wasn’t enough for a golden boot, but a remarkable achievement given his in-game credentials and history.
The FA report that they are impressed with my management. Depsite being slaughtered for my squad selection, this is nice to read!
In a strange twist of reality, Italy go on to replicate their real-life success and win the competition.
Final screenshot is to show that Harry Kane makes the team-of-the-tournament squad. Wonderful stuff, Harry!
I hope you enjoyed revisiting the Euros with an #FM2012 twist. If you’d like to see any screenshots, or other international teams, please let me know. Thanks for Jakob on twitter for the idea for our first #TuesdayClub features. Coming soon to the Tuesday Club… Team GB at the Olympics!
Until next time. SWEET CAROLINE.
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