Galatasaray - The Quest to take over Europe

Leagues Loaded

England (L2+)

France (NAT+)

Germany (2D+)

Holland (JL+)

Italy (B+)

Portugal (2D+)

Russia (1D+)

Scotland (3D+)

Spain (2L+)

Turkey (1D+)

Aims of save

To get Galatasaray back into Europe

To get into a CL spot

To recapture the title for Galatasaray

To qualify for the Champions League Group Stage

To reach the knock-out stages of the Champions League

To win 2 titles in a row

To win 5 titles in a row

To qualify for the latter stages of the Champions League

To reach the final of the Champions League

To win the Champions League

To win the Club World Cup

To win more than 1 Champions League in succession

Side-aims

To get a full squad of Turkish players

To have a youth-only team

To get the Turkish League as far up the rankings as I can

To manage Turkey and take them as far as I can

PRE-SEASON

Media Prediction (3rd) - I reckon we can do it, with players such as Felipe Melo, Fernando Muslera and Selcuk Inan at my disposal, the title isn't out of the question either

Pre-season friendlies

Inter (H) - Hehe, straight into the tough games as we face the 2010 Champions League winners Inter Milan, should be a tasty one!

Seongnam (A) - A test on unfamilar ground for the boys, should win though.

New York (A) - Another trip outside Europe, hopefully the lads enjoy the USA and win too.

Goztepe (A) - I'm sure the team will be homesick after trips to Asia and North America so we bring them back home to face inferior opposition in Goztepe

Turgutluspor (A) - An easy win to round off pre-season.

Team Report - A squad loaded with quality but we could use some young talent for the future.

Budgets

Transfer Budget: 573K

Wage Budget: 631K

Wage budget currently used: 613K

Youth - No-one looking too special at the moment, a team full of average players.

I guess this is expected, IRL the club spent a lot to bring in the likes of Muslera, Riera, Sercan Yildirim, Eboue and Ujfalusi to the club. I was expecting a low budget, my top priority will be to loan in a left-back as that's where we are weakest.

Club News

I've managed to convince the chairman to upgrade the youth facilities which will take a year and our Junior Coaching Budget has also been increased.

Updates will come weekly (in-game), I will update match by match but in a slightly different style than my previous threads, I will also update on the rest of the world's progress regularly as well.

Achieving those goal will be easy so long as you have Emmanuel Eboue.

Anyway, good luck with this. I once read that Turkey and Turkish clubs could be the next dominant force in football due to having a healthy population and income. It'll be interesting to see if you can accomplish such in Football Manager and there aren't many better platforms to do so than Galatasaray.

28/7/11 - Intra-Squad Friendly - Galatasaray vs Galatasaray Reserves

We had little trouble defeating the reserves in this friendly, I played the first team for this one and we got an easy win, Felipe Melo got us off to a flyer, smashing the ball into the roof of the net from 22 yards out. However, the reserves got a lifeline, the ref pointed to the spot controversially after the goalscorer Melo tripped Ibrahim Selen in the box. 16 year old Hakikat Gursoy kept his nerve to equalise from the spot. We retook the lead 10 minutes later, a poor control by Burak Ozkan saw Baros take the ball off him and finish. Baros soon scored again, a shot from the edge of the box which keeper Emirhan Ergun should have saved but didn't made it 3-1. We went into the break 4-1 up, Felipe Melo floated a free-kick into the box and Elmander's aerial process proved useful as he headed it in over the keeper. The second half was pretty much as you were and we had a goal disallowed, Ujfalusi picked out Sabri Sarioglu who finished but it was ruled out for offside. Sabri played a big part in goal number 5 though, Riera's cross found him at the back post and he was fouled by Isa Dogan for a penalty, much to the fury of the Reserves. Baros sent it straight down the middle and scored to complete his hat-trick, the Czech striker wasn't quite done though, turning past his marker before placing it into the corner. An impressive victory, albeit against a poor reserve team.

Galatasaray: Felipe Melo (11), Baros (27, 32, pen 78, 88), Elmander (38)

Galatasaray Reserves: Hakika Gursoy (pen 17)

Transfer

I brought in a new goalkeeping coach, one that once coached at Real Madrid, Manuel Amieiro had a below average playing career in the lower leagues of Spain but the 57 year old should bring out Muslera's full potential.

Achieving those goal will be easy so long as you have Emmanuel Eboue.

Anyway, good luck with this. I once read that Turkey and Turkish clubs could be the next dominant force in football due to having a healthy population and income. It'll be interesting to see if you can accomplish such in Football Manager and there aren't many better platforms to do so than Galatasaray.

Of course . That is exactly my intention with Galatasaray!

Good luck with GS mate! I'm loving this club in my save.

Good luck with Galatasary!

Good luck with GS mate! I'm loving this club in my save.

I know . I intended to wait until you left Galatasaray before starting this but due to the collapse of my other save, I just couldn't wait!

Good luck with Galatasary!

Thanks!

good luck i'll be reading!

good luck i'll be reading!

Thanks, hope you enjoy

Lots of good aims there.

Lots of good aims there.

Thanks, I hope I can achieve most if not all of them!

I know . I intended to wait until you left Galatasaray before starting this but due to the collapse of my other save, I just couldn't wait!

You might have had to wait till FM13...

Good luck aiming those aims, the latter half of those are really hard for me.

You might have had to wait till FM13...

Good luck aiming those aims, the latter half of those are really hard for me.

It's a good thing I didn't in that case! Those aims will probably be a lot harder for me than they are for you .

14/8/11 - Friendly - Galatasaray vs Inter

We were on the back-foot this match, offensively we didn't look like a threat but I was encouraged by our defensive performance, limiting the Italians to try long shots and shots from impossible angles. Keeper Muslera clearly relished his encounter with Uruguay team-mate Diego Forlan, thwarting him at every opportunity. Forlan did score after 70 minutes but the offside flag was up. Javier Zanetti and Forlan had chances to score but Muslera was equal to them. We held out for a 0-0 draw in the end, a satisfying result with Eboue winning the man of the match award.

Galatasaray 0-0 Inter

Transfers

I felt we could use some more staff, so I brought in Andreas Herbst to our medical department, I have confidence in the German physio despite him having no past experience. I also brought in ex Chelsea coach Paul Clement. 2 more scouts also arrived, ex Liverpool scout Eduardo Macia recently left Olympiakos and agreed to come here, also arriving was Bundesliga veteran Paul Steiner, a regular in the Bundesliga with Koln as a player, also worked as a scout with Bayer Leverkusen for 17 years so I have faith in him.

Transfer News Around the World

Real Madrid were the team to make the first bold move in the transfer market, splashing out 9.25M to sign 18 year old Brazilian striker Leandro, a gamble by Jose Mourinho there. The other teams soon followed, mega-rich Malaga spent 5.75M to bring Douglas in from Twente and another 9 and a half million was spent on Lazio's Italian holding midfielder Cristian Ledesma, the two signings a statement of intent by the Malaga board. Elsewhere, Bayern Munich snapped up Metalist's right-winger Marko Devic, the Ukrainian international scored twice in his two games for them this season. Zenit also decided to spend on Brazilian talent, spending 7 million to bring in Sao Paulo centre-half Rodolfo.

Premier League Activity

Arsenal

Arsene Wenger has certainly pulled his wallet out this season, spending almost more than every other Premier League club combined. As if Mertesacker, Arteta, Gervinho, Chamberlain and Andre Santos weren't enough. His first venture into the market was in Brazil, bravely paying Cruzeiro £14M for the service of Walter Montillo, the Argentine midfielder's creativity and passing range should help him fit right in. The sale of Emmanuel Eboue () to Galatasaray left him needing a back-up right back and not many were surprised that he brought in a French player, spending 8 million on Franck Beria, yet to make an appearance for France, this move may change that. Many were surprised with Wenger's 3rd signing, bringing in Italian left-back Federico Balzaretti from Palermo for £13 million, with Santos, Gibbs, Beria and Vermaelen all capable of playing left-back, the signing shocked a few, time will tell if it was a good choice. No-one left Arsenal permanently with youngsters sent out on loan, Argentine keeper Damian Martinez and new signing Chamberlain were sent off to Spain with feeder club Salamanca. Sanchez Watt went to League 1 Charlton and Emmanuel Frimpong was sent to Ligue 1 Lorient as well.

Aston Villa

No huge revolution for Villa, only 2 signings for them. The first was Adam Lallana from Southampton for £3M, having played in League 1 last season, Villa fans are unsure if he can make the step up. Their other signing came in a more experienced form, Wayne Bridge coming in on loan from Man City, having spent last season on loan with another claret and blue side, Bridge is hoping his performances can attract Villa or another club. Leaving on loan were Nathan Baker and Samir Carruthers to Oldham, Chris Herd to Bournemouth, Shane Lowry to Notts County and most notably Eric Lichaj to Burnley.

Blackburn

Nothing yet from the Indian owners, only loans out, Nick Blackman to Scunthorpe, Matthew Pearson to Crewe and Amine Linganzi to Preston.

Bolton

Just a couple of loans out, Mark Connolly to Swindon and Adam Blakeman to Crewe.

Chelsea

Just the one signing, Chelsea needing a back-up keeper saw their solution in South Africa spending 210K to complete the signing of Itumeleng Khune, 37 caps for South Africa and plenty of time at the age of 24. A few loans out include Billy Clifford to Rotherham, Milan Lalkovic to MK Dons, Ben Gordon to Coventry and Jamal Blackman to Yeovil. More high profile moves see Oriol Romeu and Josh McEachran loaned out to Belgium with Westerlo.

Everton

Cashless Everton didn't buy anyone, nor did they sell anyone, only a loan out for Jose Baxter to Preston.

Fulham

Strangely, Martin Jol felt the need to bring in 2 keepers but didn't exactly spend much on them. 149K to bring in Martin Dubravka from Zilina, a big step up for the Slovakian keeper. Belgian goalkeeper Glenn Verbauwhede comes in on a free after Club Brugge released him. They sold Stephen Kelly to Celtic for £1.8M, having made just 18 appearances for the club after joining for free, the fans will hardly miss him.

Liverpool

Just a bunch of loans out, Jack Robinson and John Flanagan to Sheff Utd. Andre Wisdom and Conor Coady to MTK. Danny Wilson to Genk and Nathan Eccleston to Coventry.

Man City

They've spent quite a lot so far, the stand-out signing of the window getting Ganso from Santos for 22 and a half million, the 21 year old is a hot prospect but had anyone else spent that much money on him, it would be a risk. Cameroonian keeper Carlos Kameni comes in to be back up to Joe Hart for 5.25M from Espanyol. Leaving the club most notably is Wayne Bridge on loan to Aston Villa, also Greg Cunningham to Stromsgodset and Alex Nimely to Swindon.

Man Utd

Only loans out for United unlike their noisy neighbours. Pogba and Diouf leave for Antwerp, Welbeck, Gibson and Macheda all join Twente and Amos is sent to help out Solskjaer at Molde. Making the most of their relations there.

Newcastle

No huge signings for Newcastle, with some expecting more of the Andy Carroll money to go into transfers. They brought in 4 signings but no-one that screams quality. Ex Manchester United youngster James Chester comes in from Hull for £1.3M, that was the most they spent on a player. Belarusian international left back Maksim Bordachov was willing to sacrifice a possible Champions League run with BATE to play in the Premier League for £1M. Their next signing came from Norwegian club Stabaek, spending £180K on Icelandic international defender Bjarni Olafur Eiriksson. Newcastle's focus was definitely on defence as they brought in Daan van Gijseghem from Club Brugge for £375K, the Belgian centre-half is 23 and may well have a bright future. Leaving the club on loan were Mehdi Abeid to Hartlepool, Michael Richardson to Burnley, Conor Newton to Shrewsbury, Nile Ranger and Tamas Kadar to Huddersfield and Bradden Imman to Queen of the South.

Norwich

3 signings come in, their first signing was Nottingham Forest centre-half Luke Chambers for £650K, also arriving were Darren Carter, an ex Premier League player on a free transfer and Welsh veteran John Oster for £130K from Doncaster. Only one departure, George Francomb on loan to Burton.

Q.P.R

Two transfers coming in and both from South America, centre-back Paulo Andre comes in for 2.1M from Brazilian side Corinthians, Newell's left winger Leonel Vangioni also arrives for £1.8M, the question remains are they ready for the Premier League? A couple of loans out are Matteo Alberti to Bournemouth and Rowan Vine to Exeter. A few permanent departures as well, out of favour Gary Borrowdale joins Burnley for £675K, Italian striker Alessandro Pellicori leaves for Torino for the same price having never played for the club. Hogan Ephraim is sold to Ipswich for a million with Jamie Mackie also going back to the Championship with Reading for £1.2M.

Stoke

Andrew Davies leaves on loan for Sheff Utd and more significantly, Tom Soares is sold to Southampton for £1.3M having made just 7 appearances for them.

Sunderland

Steve Bruce content with one signing so far, surprisingly he's gone back to Paraguay despite the dodgy signing of Cristian Riveros, Bruce has faith in his decisions signing Victor Caceres for £1.4M from Libertad. A Paraguayan international defensive midfielder. Roarie Deacon and Michael Liddle leave on loan for Bury and Burton respectively.

Swansea

Their one signing comes in the form of Danish international offensive midfielder Lasse Schone, arriving from NEC for £1.5M. A well rounded player they hope will do fine in the Premier League. David Cotterill and Casey Thomas leave on loan for Sheff Wed and Newport respectively. One permanent departure is Andrea Orlandi, leaving Swansea for newly promoted Serie A side Novara for £1.3M.

Tottenham

Just loans out for Mr Redknapp, John Bostock to Millwall, Rose to Bristol City, Thomas Carroll to Wycombe, Harry Kane for Bradford and Townsend for Sheff Utd. They did make some money from sending Giovani dos Santos on loan to Valencia.

West Brom

George Thorne leaves on loan to Sheff Wed and apart from that a couple of players leaving. Moneybags Russian side Anji make a surprising move, signing Marc Antoine Fortune for £1.2M and West Brom also sell Roman Bednar, the Czech international returns to Scotland, joining Rangers for £1.5M.

Wigan

The Wigan fans were delighted with their first signing, acquiring Mario Santana on loan from Napoli, an experienced Serie A player that can certainly add to the team. Experienced Icelandic international Arni Gautur Arason is likely to be a back-up keeper, once had a spell for Man City without playing a match, he joins for free. Finally, French right winger Aatif Chahechouhe joins to give the commentators a tough time and to add some pace to the game, he joins from Nancy for £1.6M. Callum McManaman joins Oxford on loan and 2 players have left the club, Hendry Thomas went to Birmingham for £1.5M but perhaps more surprising was the sale of Jordi Gomez to Osasuna for £1.7M with many considering him a favourite of Roberto Martinez.

Wolves

Their sole signing is a young Danish attacker, Lucas Andersen joins from AaB having played just 12 games for them, Mick McCarthy has seen enough of him to snap the 16 year old up. Leaving on loan are Ashley Hemmings and John Dunleavy to Ujpest and Jamie Reckford to Barnet.

Premier League Weekend 1!

There was a great opening to the Premier League as Blackburn and Manchester United faced off at Ewood Park, United edged out an evenly contested game, Rooney gave them the lead in the second half but Ruben Rochina's Premier League debut goal late on looked to have earned Rovers a point, Rooney had other ideas though, his goal winning it for United in the 90th minute. Their Manchester ivals had a lot less trouble, goals on either side of the half by Silva and Nasri (on his debut) seeing Wolves off 2-0. QPR pulled off a shock, holding Tottenham to a draw, Scott Parker may have given Spurs the lead on his debut but it was another debutant that equalised, DJ Campbell's penalty was saved by Gomes but he scored the rebound to bring QPR level in the London derby. Darren Bent scored twice as Aston Villa saw off Swansea in the first Premier League game in Wales, a red card at the end for N'Zogbia put a dampener on Villa's evening though. 2 early goals in West Brom's encounter with Stoke, Crouch's debut opener was cancelled out by Odemwingie, ending in a 1 all draw. Wigan couldn't break down Bolton at home and were forced to take a point in a goalless draw. The game's late kick-off was the biggest shock of the day, Liverpool led early on against Norwich thanks to a goal by Kuyt but a red card for Jose Enrique turned the game in Norwich's favour, Andrew Crofts equalised straight away before Grant Holt gave them the lead later in the first half, Norwich were dominant and never really looked like losing, a great day for them.

Attention turned to Sunday's fixtures, the Tyne-Wear derby was won by Sunderland at St James Park, only one of Newcastle's 4 defensive signings played, and Bordachov was unable to cope with El Mohamady as he scored both goals in a 2-0 win. Louis Saha got the only goal of the game in Everton's win over Fulham. The biggest opening day match was clearly Arsenal v Chelsea, Arsene Wenger spent a lot of money in the summer but Chelsea have been better in recent years. None of Arsenals' signings even made the bench, Chelsea running out 3-0 winners, Kalou and Drogba sent Chelsea 2-0 up in the break at the Emirates and to rub salt into the wound, Ashley Cole netted from the spot to give Chelsea a 3-0 win.

Player of the week: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Flop of the week: Manuel Almunia (Arsenal)

I hope you like these updates as they take a while

17/8/11 - Friendly - Seongnam vs Galatasaray

I'll be honest, we didn't do that well in this match but we snatched a win early on, Eboue's drilled cross found Elmander who smashed it in. However, there was some bad news as well, Eboue came off clutching his knee, and he'll be out for a month with a damaged knee cap. Aykut Ercetin put in a great performance in goal, stopping Seongnam every time they attacked.

Galatasaray: Elmander (7)

Premier League Transfers

Arsenal

Just one more player loaned out, Carl Jenkinson joining Exeter.

Liverpool

Loaned out Jay Spearing to Burnley.

Man City

They sold youngster Alex Henshall to Blackpool for 500K

Man Utd

Sam Johnstone is sent on loan to Scunthorpe.

Newcastle

They send James Perch on loan to Ipswich.

Stoke

They made their first signing, spending 60K to bring in Ulises de la Cruz from Liga de Quito, an ex Premier League player, having played for Aston Villa and Reading. One of the most shocking transfers of the summer saw them sell Rory Delap to Swansea for £900K, a shocking transfer considering their game-plan was based on his long throws.

Swansea

As well as their shock signing of Delap (see above), they have signed Valerenga's Swedish international Fredrik Stoor who returns to the Prem having played 4 games for Fulham.

West Brom

Lateef Elford-Alliyu is loaned out to Brentford.

19/8/11 - Friendly - New York vs Galatasaray

A dismal performance by the team in this match, the only reason the score was 1-0 was because Thierry Henry wasn't playing. We lost late on thanks to a screamer by Haydn Lewis, what made it worse was Kazim and Baros came off due to injury, fortunately none of their injuries would keep them out for any longer though. A shocking display though and a deserved defeat.

New York: Lewis (80)

Transfer around the world

PSG have made their first signing, bringing in Vasilis Torosidis from Olympiakos for 6.75 million.

Premier League Transfers

Sunderland

Steve Bruce completes the signing of Mexican international left back Adrian Aldrete from Morelia for 2.8 million

West Brom

Kayleden Brown is loaned out to Crewe.

21/8/11 - Friendly - Goztepe vs Galatasaray

The guys obviously missed Turkey, our performance improved greatly and we took the lead around the half hour mark when Engin Baytar set up Selcuk Inan who smashed it in off the crossbar from 25 yards out, ironically the first Turk to score for us in pre-season. We continued to play well but had to wait till late on to get our second, Sercan Yildirim's cross was met by Elmander but he hit the post, club veteran Ayhan Akman bundled in the rebound to double our lead, I was disappointed that we allowed Goztepe to get one back, Idan pulling it back for Samil Unal who finished it, still we won however which we needed.

Goztepe: Samil Unal (90)

Galatasaray: Selcuk Inan (32), Ayhan Akman (87)

Premier League Transfers

Blackburn

Josh Morris is loaned out to Tranmere

Man City

Another statement of their intentions, spending no less than £21 million to sign Rubin's Italian centre-half Salvatore Bocchetti, will it pay off?

Newcastle

Phil Airey is loaned out to Morecambe.

West Brom

An experienced signing, albeit only in Asia, West Brom pay Seoul £250K to sign Brazilian left-back Adilson, an old signing but his experience could help the Baggies.

Premier League Weekend 2!

The first match of the weekend saw a Sunderland team fresh from winning the Tyne-Wear derby against an Arsenal side who looked far from impressive against Chelsea. It was Sunderland who struck first with El Mohamady scoring his 3rd of the season to give the Black Cats the lead. Arsenal responded well though, Aaron Ramsey scoring the equaliser. Arsenal took the lead in the second half thanks to a goal by Chamakh, Sunderland levelled it again though thanks to Arsenal old boy Larsson, Sunderland unlucky not to get more than a point from the match. On to the 15:00 matches, Norwich continued to impress on the Premier League stage, getting a point at Villa Park. Richard Dunne gave Villa the lead but Norwich new boy Luke Chambers equalised, a disappointing result from Villa's point of view. Fulham vs West Brom played a decent match, Bobby Zamora and new signing Bryan Ruiz gave Fulham an early 2-0 lead, Shane Long grabbed a second half goal to make it more of a contest but Zamora's 2nd made it 3-1. Scharner pulled one back for the Baggies to set up a tense finish but Fulham got the three points. A huge shock at Old Trafford saw United lose to Everton, the Toffees deserved the victory and it was ex United player Louis Saha that dealt the damaging blow. Tottenham and Newcastle both had disappointing starts to the season, Spurs drawing at Swansea and Newcastle losing to Sunderland and Spurs came out victorious courtesy of goals by Adebayor and Kranjcar. Wolves and Blackburn suffered defeats to the Manchester clubs on day 1 and it was Karl Henry who scored the game's only goal to give Wolves 3 points. In the days late kick-off, Swanses more than put up a fight at Stamford Bridge but ultimately fell to an on-form Chelsea, Nicolas Anelka and a Lampard spot-kick gave Chelsea the lead, Leon Britton got a consolation for Swansea but they couldn't score again, a good effort though.

Sunday only had one match as Bolton took on Man City, a match Bolton were unlucky not to get anything from, Ganso marked his City debut with a goal inside 7 minutes but his joy didn't last long with David N'Gog immediately levelling the scores. Edin Dzeko scored in the second half to prevent City from dropping points.

Player of the Week: Luke Chambers (Norwich)

Flop of the Week: Ben Foster (West Brom)

28/8/11 - Friendly - Turgutluspor vs Galatasaray

We did alright in this match but we made it a lot more difficult than it needed to be. we took an early lead, a one-two between Baros and Kazim saw the former give us the lead. Disappointingly, Turgutluspor equalised when Halil Zeybek's cross is volleyed in by Huseyin Kuday. The home-team were then reduced to ten, Ogun Ozcan dismissed for a two-footed tackle on Selcuk Inan. We had chances but didn't put them away, fortunately we managed a late winner when Sercan Yildirim got to a loose ball before the keeper and finished to win it for us, we didn't look too convincing though.

Turgutluspor: Huseyin Kuday (25), Ogun Ozcan (32)

Galatasaray: Baros (6), Sercan Yildirim (85)

Rest of the World Transfer

Real Madrid have signed another young player for quite a lot of money, Paco Alcacer comes in from Valencia for £8.75 million.

Premier League Transfers

Blackburn

Their first signing of the window is Aldo Duscher from Barcelona Ecuador for £450K, the Argentine is a holding midfielder.

Chelsea

Paulo Ferreira is offloaded to Newcastle for £950K

Everton

The cash-strapped club make their first signing, Tarik Elyounoussi comes in from Fredrikstad for £725K, the Norwegian international adds spark to the wings.

Newcastle

The Toon have had a busy transfer window and that continues, Norwegian international defender Vegard Forren arrives from Molde for £2.9M, Paulo Ferreira joins from Chelsea for £950K and Danish international Michael Krohn-Delhi arrives from Brondby for £1.2M. One player leaving is Samuel Adjei on loan at Morecambe.

Norwich

In for £230K is Bulgarian international left-back Petar Zanev from Litex. On his way out is Oli Johnson to Brentford for free

QPR

Ex Werder Bremen midfielder and Danish international Daniel Jensen arrives on a free.

Sunderland

They sign Belgian international winger Yassine El Ghanassy from Gent for £1.2M. Another "El" in the team. Trevor Carson is loaned out to Oldham.

Swansea

A signing for the future in 16 year old French striker Rhys Ewagnignon, he was released by Caen so comes to Wales on a free.

Tottenham

They sign Landon Donovan from LA Galaxy for £6.75M. The American has played in the Premier League for Everton before.

Carling Cup 2nd Round

On the Tuesday, Blackburn faced off against Bournemouth who made the Premier League side battle for victory, Hoilett may have given them an early lead, Steve Fletcher levelled it for Bournemouth but Goodwillie got a second half winner. Perhaps the shock of the round saw a weakened Liverpool side fall to Colchester in extra time thanks to a goal by Kayode Odejayi. QPR saw off Huddersfield, Campbell gave them an early lead, Danny Ward equalised but second half goals by Young and Faurlin saw QPR win 3-1. Aston Villa must have felt lucky facing League 2 opposition in Macclesfield but it certainly wasn't easy, Lallana scored early on to give Villa the lead, Congolese striker Vinny Mukendi equalised shortly after. Stephen Ireland scored the winner though. West Brom got an easy victory over Rochdale, Cox, Dorrans and 2 for Long as they scored 4. Wolves saw off Scunthorpe thanks to a goal by Sam Vokes. Norwich needed extra time to knock out Sheffield Wednesday, newboy Darren Carter gave them the lead but Chris Lines' equaliser took it to extra time, which is where Aaron Wilbraham netted the winner. Wigan got a smashing victory over Plymouth, Jones, Santana and Maloney put Wigan 3 up, Jake Phillips was sent off for Plymouth and Wigan scored more, Santana's 2nd, Boyce and Sammon gave Wigan a 6-0 lead. Everton managed to beat Wycombe 1-0, Ross Barkley got the winner.

Premier League Weekend 3!

The days early kick-off was the North London Derby, Arsenal who have started the season and Tottenham, it was a miserable day for the Gunners as 2 early goals by former Gunner Adebayor pretty much killed off their chances, Kranjcar scored in the second half to seal a 3-0 win at the Emirates. Bolton got a good start in their match against Wolves, Tuncay Sanli scoring his first for the club, Ebanks-Blake equalised for Wolves but N'Gog put Bolton back in front, however Richard Stearman got a late equaliser meaning Bolton would have to settle for a point. Everton fresh from winning at Old Trafford, knocked three past Blackburn. Goals all coming in the first-half by Cahill, Osman and Saha all finding the net. Newcastle managed a victory against Stoke, Peter Lovenkrands and Vuckic scored in either half before Crouch got a consolation late on. Sunderland managed a convincing victory in Wales in a feisty encounter. John O'Shea, El Ghanassy and Bramble all scored in the first-half to seal the points. However, both sides saw players sent off, Bessone for Swansea and Gardner at the end for Sunderland. Aston Villa won away from home against Wigan, Petrov and Bent scored the goals. The days late kick-off saw West Brom face off against Man United, the Premier League champions recovered from defeat to Everton to win 3-0, 2 early on for Rooney and one for Fletcher got the points.

Newly promoted QPR got an important victory at home to Fulham to start Sunday off, DJ Campbell getting the decisive goal. Liverpool and Man City was the much anticipated encounter of the weekend, both sides battled it out and Luis Suarez thought he'd scored the winner with 5 minutes to play but Samir Nasri had other ideas, bagging the equaliser.

Norwich were extremely unlucky to lose their first game of the season against Chelsea, despite registering 7 shots on target to Chelsea's 2 it was Chelsea who won thanks to a goal by Anelka.

La Liga

Nothing out of the ordinary on the first day, goals from Xavi, Sanchez and a Villa penalty saw Barca beat Villarreal 3-1 despite Rossi's goal. Real Madrid had a little more difficulty against Zaragoza, Ronaldo gave Real the lead but Angel Lafita equalised, Ronaldo scored again for the winner and it ended 2-1.

Super Cup

Barcelona were expecting an easy win against Porto but didn't get one, Porto took the lead thanks to Fredy Guarin, substitute Soriano equalised late on taking it to extra-time, Alexis Sanchez looked to have won it for Barca but Cristian Rodriguez pulled it level with 2 minutes to go, it was then that Barcelona won on penalties, Fabregas scoring the deciding penalty after Alves missed for Barca and Rodriguez and Skavysh missed for Porto.

August 2011 Summary

Galatasaray 0-0 Inter (Friendly)

Seongnam 0-1 Galatasaray

For us: Elmander (7)

New York 1-0 Galatasaray

For them: Lewis (80)

Goztepe 1-2 Galatasaray

For us: Selcuk Inan (32), Ayhan Akman (87)

For them: Samil Unal (90)

Turgutluspor 1-2 Galatasaray

For us: Baros (6), Sercan Yildirim (85)

For them: Huseyin Kuday (25), Ogun Ozcan (32)

A pretty average pre-season, we never really hit top gear. We snatched a draw against a first team Inter Milan side which was pleasing but didn't play too well against Seongnam and New York despite a win in the former match. Our performances improved against the weaker Turkish sides but it was disappointing not to keep a clean sheet in those matches. I think we still have a team good enough to make a great start to the season.

Premier League Transfers

Blackburn

After a pretty boring window, the fans have 2 more players to sing for, Senegalese veteran keeper Tony Sylva arrives on a free after being released by Trabzonspor. He's not the only oldie joining though, Mexican international midfielder Juan Pablo Rodriguez arrives for £1.1M from Santos Laguna.

Fulham

Alexander Kacaniklic is loaned out to Gillingham.

Stoke

2 more signings for Stoke, Moreira arrives for 275K from Chinese side A'erbin, just one cap for Guinea-Bissau to his name and over 30, do Stoke need him? Stoke also make a memorable signing from the South African league, many remember him for scoring the first goal at the World Cup and his name, Siphiwe Tshabalala joins the Potters for £325K from Kaizer Chiefs.

Tottenham

In comes Colombian international left-back Pablo Armero from Udinese for £5.75M to give Assou-Ekotto some competition.

Prem Player of the Month

1. Ashley Cole (Chelsea)

2. Wayne Rooney (Man Utd)

3. Luka Modric (Tottenham)

Young Player of the Month

1. Ganso (Man City)

2. Davide Santon (Newcastle)

3. Marc Albrighton (Aston Villa)

Manager of the Month

1. Andre Villas-Boas (Chelsea)

2. David Moyes (Everton)

3. Harry Redknapp (Tottenham)

10/9/11 - Sportoto Super Lig - Galatasaray vs Trabzonspor

Arguably our toughest opponents this season, Trabzonspor are the sole Turkish representative in the Champions League and defeating them would be no easy task. We looked promising early on, Baros going close and Yekta Kurtulus having a shot saved. It was all for nothing as Trabzon took the lead, Mierzejewski pulling it back for Alanzinho who drilled it into the bottom corner. We found it difficult to get going again after that but Trabzon didn't threaten us too much. Trabzon could and should have doubled their lead, a stray pass by Caglar Birinci fell to Alanzinho but Muslera got his body in the way to prevent the goal. Towards the end of the half, Caglar looked to atone for his error and saw his drive hit the inside of the post and bounce back out. The second half was more of the same but Trabzon's defence and keeper especially held firm to make us start the season with a disappointing defeat.

Trabzonspor: Alanzinho (19)

Other TSL Results

Antalyaspor 0-1 Orduspor

Antalya: Minev (90+4)

Ordu: Sedat Bayrak (52)

Karabukspor 0-0 Mersin I.Y.

Eskisehirspor 0-3 Fenerbahce

Fener: Stoch (22), Semih Senturk (25), Selcuk Sahin (55)

Ankaragucu 1-1 Gaziantepspor

Ankara: Kelhar (82), Hurriyet Gucer (73)

Antep: Murat Ceylan (missed pen 67), Popov (70)

Buyuksehir Bld. 2-1 Samsunspor

Buyuksehir: N'Gal (5), Zayatte (34)

Samsun: Burak Calik (83)

Manisaspor 3-1 Sivasspor

Manisa: Murat Erdogan (36), Makukula (58), Yigit Gokoglan (83)

Sivas: Sandro (81)

Kayserispor 1-1 Genclerbirligi

Kayseri: Amrabat (41), Santana (missed pen 51)

Gencler: Zec (44)

Besiktas 1-1 Bursaspor

BJK: Fernandes (11)

Bursa: Cenk Gonen OG (5)

Premier League Transfers

Arsenal

Gavin Hoyte is loaned to Colchester.

Blackburn

Jason Lowe is sent on loan to Nottingham Forest.

Bolton

Tope Obadeyi joins Hartlepool on loan.

Chelsea

Todd Kane joins Cheltenham on loan

Man City

Frederic Veseli is loaned to Crawley.

Man Utd

Reece Brown joins Southend on loan.

West Brom

Adil Nabi is loaned out to Barnet.

Wolves

The transfer window may have ended but free agents can still be signed (but not registered I think), Serbian international defender Ivica Dragutinovic joins them having been released by Sevilla.

Premier League Weekend 4!

The days early kick-off was between Aston Villa and Man City, Villa played well and took the lead thanks to Bent, an unlikely win for Villa? Dzeko had other ideas scoring 2 minutes later and again in the first half which is how it stayed. West Brom saved themselves a point late on at Ewood Park, Vukcevic had given Rovers the lead but Gera got a late equaliser. More late drama in Fulham v Newcastle where it was Jonas Gutierrez who grabbed the points. Manchester United left Old Trafford disappointed after being held by a stubborn QPR side, Hernandez had given United the lead but DJ Campbell scored yet again for Rangers to give them a deserved point. Arsenal were having a poor season despite all the cash Wenger has spent, all eyes were on them to see if they could change that at Stoke. It was going well, Benayoun giving them an early lead with his first for the club and Gervinho scoring his first Arsenal goal in the second half to make it 2-0. From that point Arsenal completely switched off, certain of the three points and 2 goals by Walters sandwiching one for Whitehead to complete a phenomenal turn around which saw Stoke leave with victory. Everton's 100% record continued away at Wolves, Cahill and Anichebe scored in either half in a 2-0 victory, Wolves' frustration shown by Henry's red card near the end. Chelsea's blushes were spared at home to Wigan in the days late kick-off, Anelka had given them the lead but on the 89th minute Conor Sammon got an equaliser, Chelsea went straight on the attack though and Malouda scored to end the game in a Chelsea win.

Sunday saw two in-form sides meet in Sunderland and Norwich, home advantage probably proved the deciding factor for Sunderland, Sessegnon gave them the lead in the first half. Steve Morison equalised for Norwich but Wickham scored straight away to give Sunderland back the lead and that's how it remained. Liverpool had little trouble getting a win against Bolton, Rodriguez, Downing and Suarez all scoring in a 3-0 win. Bolton will feel hard done by the scoreline.

Tottenham faced a Swansea side with just 1 goal scored in the Premier League against Chelsea and that was obvious as Adebayors explosive start to the season continued with 2 goals, the second from the spot.

La Liga

Nothing surprising on day 2, Real Madrid stormed to victory at home to Getafe, a Kaka penalty and 2 each for Ronaldo and Higuain as it ended 5-0. Barcelona though had to fight a lot more for victory against a resilient Real Sociedad. Xabi Prieto gave Sociedad a shock lead but Barca had a quick response through Soriano. Messi soon gave Barca the lead which they kept till half-time. Sociedad came right out of the blocks in the 2nd half, Griezmann and Prieto scoring in quick succession for another turn-around. Barcelona responded quickly though, Xavi and Messi both scoring to complete a 3rd turn-around in an exciting match!

Great reports, hope to see more. You havent write in a while, but i hope for more

Great reports, hope to see more. You havent write in a while, but i hope for more

I'm sorry, I just haven't found the time, I do intend to at some point in the future so don't consider this dead . I'm glad you enjoy it!

16/9/11 - Sportoto Super Lig - Sivasspor vs Galatasaray

After an opening day defeat, I was eager to see how the team would respond and the answer came after less than 5 minutes, Felipe Melo won the ball deep in Sivas' half, played it to Baros who slipped in Elmander, the Swede touched it past the keeper and gave us the lead. The Swede scored his first goal for the club and turned provider just 3 minutes later, playing it in for Riera who finished well, another player scoring his first GS goal. We got a 3rd when Yekta Kurtulus burst into the box and centred it for Elmander who beat his marker to the ball to get his 2nd. 3-0 up at half-time, there was no way we'd lose this. We were given a scare right at the start of the second half when Erman Kilic's free-kick from the right was spilt by Muslera and it proved costly as Mehmet Nas squeezed in the rebound. Any hopes of a comeback by the home team were quickly scrapped when Baros played it across for Elmander who coolly finished for his hat-trick, that's how it stayed. A commanding victory to let the league know we're coming.

Sivasspor: Mehmet Nas (47)

Galatasaray: Elmander (5, 16, 50), Riera (8)

Other TSL Results

Orduspor 2-0 Ankaragucu

Ordu: Banahene (62), Dalmat (pen 87)

Ankara: Ozgur Cek (missed pen 73), Weeks (82)

Trabzonspor 3-3 Buyuksehir Bld

Trabzon: Tayfun Cora (33), Vittek (45+2), Halil Altintop (90+3)

Buyuksehir: N'Gal (6), Zayatte (31), Gokhan Suzen (51)

Bursaspor 1-1 Eskisehirspor

Bursa: Deniz Aslan (58)

Eskisehir: Deniz Aslan OG (22) LOL!

Mersin I.Y. 0-0 Manisaspor

Samsunspor 3-0 Antalyaspor

Samsun: Murat Yildirim (7), Andre Bahia (70), Valdomiro (90+1)

Fenerbahce 1-0 Karabukspor

Fener: Mehmet Topuz (85)

Gaziantepspor 2-2 Kayserispor

Gaziantep: Popov (52), Cenk Tosun (70)

Kayseri: Sefa Yilmaz (39), Amrabat (88), Khizanishvili (6)

Genclerbirligi 1-3 Besiktas

Gencler: Sidnei OG (81)

BJK: Mustafa Pektemek (39), Harush OG (57), Kara (85)

Premier League Transfers

Stoke

Another player returns to the Premier League on a free transfer, Canadian international Paul Stalteri is now an experience signing for the Potters, the ex Tottenham and Fulham player was released by Gladbach in the Bundesliga.

Swansea

Darnel Situ is loaned out to Charlton.

Wigan

Rob Kiernan joins Notts County on loan.

Premier League MIDWEEK

2 struggling teams in Liverpool and Wigan met at Anfield and the stadium was rocked when Conor Sammon scored after just 5 minutes. The Anfield faithful breathed a sigh of relief when Suarez equalised in the 2nd half but were shocked again when Wigan straight away retook the lead through Albert Crusat. Wigan sealed it late on thanks to Franco Di Santo, an impressive victory at a ground like Anfield.

Premier League Weekend 5!

An exciting match up on the early kick-off saw Man City host Chelsea in a title encounter. Chelsea stunned City inside 2 minutes when Frank Lampard opened the scoring, they responded well, levelling through an English international of their own, James Milner. Chelsea took the lead again in the 2nd half through a goal by Alex and scored again through Malouda to seal a 3-1 win away from home, a big win. Bolton faced an Aston Villa side who have had a bright start to the season, Darren Bent gave Villa the lead but it was another Darren that made sure Bolton came away with a point, Pratley getting the leveller. Liverpool suffered a poor defeat at home to Wigan midweek and would be hoping to repay their fans with a good performance at home to Wolves. They took the lead through Maxi Rodriguez but Wolves fought back well, levelling it through Michael Kightly before Steven Fletcher got a late winner to see Liverpool fall at home to poor opposition again. QPR have made a great start to life in the Premier League and hoped to continue against Blackburn, this sadly wasn't the case. Yakubu and Mauro Formica both scored in the first half to give Rovers three points. West Brom manager Roy Hodgson knew he had a tough fixture ahead of him as they faced an Everton side who have a 100% record including an impressive win at Old Trafford, the Baggies rose to the challenge though, Chris Brunt scored the only goal of the game. Wigan on the back of an impressive win against Liverpool faced a Sunderland side who have only dropped 2 points thus far, Wigan were reduced to ten as James McArthur was sent off, Sunderland taking full advantage straight away, Bendtner giving them the lead. Wigan came out of the blocks in the 2nd half and Di Santo equalised, scoring his 2nd in as many games to give Wigan a deserved point in a game they probably deserved 3. In the days late kick-off, Newcastle battled hard on Man United's visit but couldn't prevent defeat against a United side who would have preferred a better start to the season, Berbatov scoring the game's only goal.

On Sunday, Norwich vs Tottenham was the opening game, Tottenham have started the season well and continued in that form against Norwich, it took until the 2nd half for Luka Modric to give Spurs the lead, Simeon Jackson however scored his first Premier League goal to level the scores. Tottenham waited until the 72nd minute to start scoring and boy did they, Huddlestone, Bale and a first goal for new signing Pablo Armero in the space of 5 minutes gave Tottenham a 4-1 win, perhaps a harsh scoreline on Norwich. Arsenal were having an abysmal start to the season, just 1 point in 4 games despite a rare massive spending spree by Arsene Wenger, surely they would recover in a home match against a Fulham side who weren't doing much better. However, Fulham came out hungry and Moussa Dembele scored inside a minute and then scored again towards the end of the half to give Fulham a 2 goal lead. Arsenal pushed in the 2nd half and got a goal back through one of the new recruits, Andre Santos but couldn't find another, losing yet again.

La Liga

A few of the 'chasing pack' dropped points, Valencia were held 1-1 by Sporting, Villarreal lost 1-0 to Granada and At. Madrid lost 3-2 at home to Racing. No surprises with the big two though, Barca saw off Osasuna 3-0, Villa opened the scoring before Messi netted twice in a row in the 2nd half to seal the win. Levante put in a spirited performance against Real Madrid but conceded far too many early on to get a result. Kaka was the star of the show, opening the scoring with a penalty, goals from Khedira and Kaka again made it 3-0. Juanlu pulled one back for Levante but Gonzalo Higuain quickly saw off Levante's chances off a comeback as it finished 4-1.

Europa League Group Stages Match 1

Group A

German side Hannover met Croatian side Hajduk, Ante Vukusic gave the Croatians a shock away lead, Konstantin Rausch levelled for the Germans and Edinho gave them a 2nd half lead. Ivan Vukovic equalised for Hajduk but Hannover won it late on through Artur Sobiech. The other game in the group was much less exciting, 0-0 between Steaua and Sporting CP.

Group B

A very tough group saw Atletico Madrid take on Gaziantepspor, it took a late winner by Adrian to give them a win on their own turf. Stoke played their first group stage game at the Britannia, hosting Udinese. Kwadwo Asamoah scored first on the stroke of half-time, Rafa Jorda doubled their lead in the 2nd half, Palacios scored straight away as Stoke searched for a way back but it wasn't enough. Asamoah scored again before Barreto added a late 4th.

Group C

Omonoia have done well to reach the Group Stage and were rewarded with a home game against Anderlecht. They certainly pounced going 2 up after 6 minutes, Konstantinos Makridis and Hernan Rengifo scoring but it didn't last. Dieumerci Mbokani quickly pulled one back and youngster Fernando Canesin Matos equalised. Tom de Sutter scored what became the winner after 25 minutes, a harsh result on Omonoia, Anderlecht scored all of their shots on target! An all Scandinavian match saw Rosenborg take on Kobenhavn, it was an easy win for the Danes. Pape Pate Diouf gave them an early lead and 2nd half goals by Cesar Santin, Thomas Kristensen and Christian Grindheim.

Group D

Fulham had a tough opener to the Group Stages, hosting Lazio, they put in a good performance but ultimately fell to a Tommaso Rocchi goal in the 2nd half at Craven Cottage. Rubin made tough work of Valerenga in Norway, new signing Nelson Valdez gave the Russians the lead but this was cancelled by Veigar Pall Gunnarsson. Christian Noboa netted the winner in the 2nd half for Rubin.

Group E

Litex vs Metalist wasn't considered one of the most exciting matches in the world but it proved to be quite a spectacle. Jose Sosa gave Metalist the lead inside a minute with Cleiton Xavier doubling it on the stroke of half time. Hristo Yanev got a last minute consolation for Litex but that was all in a game they deserved more from. Israeli side Maccabi Haifa managed to hold AZ to a draw, Eli Bracha had given them an early lead. Magnus Lekven didn't do his new team any favours by getting sent off but the Dutch side did find a late leveller through Swedish international Pontus Wernbloom

Group F

Dinamo Bucharest will be disappointed with a draw against Sevilla having led 2-0 through goals by Liviu Ganea and Marius Niculae. Sevilla had to be patient and waited till the end for goals by Alvaro Negredo and Marco Ruben to level it. Twente also suffered a shock result in that group, with Lokomotiv Sofia getting probably the biggest win of their history. Martin Borisov gave them the lead before Nacer Chadli equalised shortly after. Valentin Dimitrov got a 2nd half winner to send the Bulgarian crowd crazy.

Group G

Tottenham faced a tough away trip to Athletic Bilbao and quickly lost the lead to youth product Markel Susaeta in 2 minutes. It didn't take them long to equalise though, Aaron Lennon converting from the spot. Athletic Bilbao were reduced to ten when 19 year old Jon Aurtenetxe's inexperience was evident as he walked off. The Spaniards survived over an hour with ten men and got themselves a point. BATE and Nacional faced off in the other match with the same result, Daniel Candeias was sent off for the Portuguese side, however they were soon in front anyway, experienced Brazilian striker Thiago Gentil on the score sheet. BATE however fought back and Sergey Klimovich equalised in the 2nd half.

Group H

Czech side Viktoria Plzen got a creditable 0-0 draw against moneybags PSG with Diego Lugano sent off for the French side near the end. Elsewhere were celebrations in Switzerland as Zurich triumphed over Palermo, Amine Chermiti scored first for the home side but Matias Silvestre got a swift equaliser. However, the response of the equaliser was matched by Zurich with Paraguayan international Enrique Vera finding the net to win it.

Group I

Panathinaikos faced Dinamo and it was up to Spanish striker Toche to score twice in the 2nd half to give the Greeks a 2-0 win in a dominant display. In the other game, Celtic suffered a disappointing defeat away to Sion with Sergiy Kravchenko scoring the game's only goal.

Group J

Besiktas managed to scrape a victory at home to Dynamo Kyiv, goals by Filip Holosko and Guti from the penalty spot gave BJK a 2 goal advantage, Dudu got one back at the start of the 2nd half but Dynamo couldn't score again. Birmingham managed to hold on for a point away to Belgian side Genk in a tough group for a Championship side. Elyaniv Barda gave Genk the lead but new signing Fernando Belluschi levelled it in the 2nd half to get Brum a point.

Group K

Sochaux came out of their encounter with PSV more than happy as Marvin Martin scored the only goal of the game to give the French side three points. Home advantage proved helpful for Standard as well against Salzburg, Mohammed Tchite scored first and Maor Buzaglo got a 2nd in the 2nd half to make it 2-0. Marco Materazzi not so surprisingly was sent off for Standard at the end.

Group L

CSKA Sofia completed a set of 3 Bulgarian teams in the Europa League Group Stages and got a draw at home to OB with the Danes leading through Bernard Mendy's penalty, it was Gregory Nelson who pulled them level. In the other game, just one goal in it for Schalke by Klass-Jan Huntelaar saw off Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Champions League Group Stages Match 1

Group A

An amusing group stage draw saw Arsenal get the same group as Man United did IRL. This time out Otelul would do the English side a favour, holding Basel to a 0-0 draw away from home, partly due to a red card for Aleksandar Dragovic for the Swiss side. Arsenal won probably the toughest match they'd play in the group stages, van Persie and Chamakh scoring in either half before Nicolas Gaitan got Benfica a consolation, the Champions League a nice distraction from their poor league form.

Group B

Again, the Group Stage draw was strange, Trabzonspor getting exactly the same group Dinamo did IRL. A penalty by Lisandro Lopez gave Lyon a deserved win over Ajax. Real Madrid gave Trabzonspor a harsh welcome to the Champions League, knocking 8 past the poor Turks. Ronaldo scored an early penalty to give Real the lead, goals for Khedira, Coentrao and a 2nd for Ronaldo on the stroke ofhalf time saw the score at 4-0 at half-time. Real Madrid scored straight away in the 2nd half, with a Turk himself, Nuri Sahin making it 5, 2 goals for Higuain made it 7 in a miserable day for Trabzonspor. They managed to get 1 back through Adrian Mierzejewski but Real had the last laugh, Tayfun Cora giving away a penalty, getting his 2nd yellow and watching Ronaldo complete his hat-trick from the spot in the last minute to cap off an 8-1 smashing. An incredible performance by the Galacticos.

Group C

Olympiakos managed to get a point against Bayern Munich in the first match, Ivica Olic gave Bayern the lead but the Germans were not happy with the match officials as Jean Makoun equalised in the 5th minute of first half stoppage time. Sierra Leone international Medo gave Partizan a shock lead against Villarreal early on. Marcos Senna equalised though before Stefan Babovic saw red for the Serbians, this opened the path for 2 goals for Giuseppe Rossi, with the first being a penalty to see Villarreal win.

Group D

A heated encounter between AC Milan and Zenit saw 8 yellows and 2 reds brandished out, Ambrosini started the card fest, getting sent off after just 2 minutes for Milan. Goals in either half by Pato and an Ibrahimovic penalty gave ten man Milan a 2-0 lead. That's how it stayed as Bruno Alves picked up his 2nd yellow towards the end for Zenit as well. The Stamford Bridge crowd was left disappointed by a poor home performance against Borussia Dortmund which saw BvB win 2-0, Lucas Barrios scored in either half.

Group E

Leverkusen and Marseille played out a great battle for the neutrals, Stefan KieBling gave them an early lead but Loic Remy equalised in the 73rd minute. It didn't take long for Andre Schurrle to put his side back in front and KieBling sealed it at the end, a goal for Andre Ayew in the last minute set up a tense finish but it finished 3-2. Porto faced Slovan Bratislava in a pretty dull game with just one goal, Nicolas Otamendi after 9 minutes winning it for Porto.

Group F

Manchester United were close to suffering a very harsh defeat against Lille, Eden Hazard's second half penalty was Lille's only shot on target and gave them the lead. United were patient and went for it on the 70th minute, 1 for Hernandez and 2 for Berbatov in 8 minutes calmed the nerves of the Old Trafford faithful. One of the most intense matches you'll ever see saw Napoli face CSKA Moscow, 14 yellows and 2 reds were given out by Swiss ref Claudio Circhetta. Seydou Doumbia saw red for CSKA first for his 2nd yellow. Edinson Cavani then gave Napoli the lead, the Italians were down to ten when Federico Fernandez picked up his 2nd yellow late on but it didn't faze them as Cavani scored again to win it 2-0.

Group G

APOEL had done very well to get to the Group Stages but were no match for a team with so much more in their bank balance, Manchester City, Dzeko and Adam Johnson scored in either half with an injury time own goal by Savaas Papadopoulos the icing on the cake in a dominant performance. Elsewhere Shakhtar will have been proud of a point against Barcelona, Eduardo had given them the lead before Messi equalised in the 2nd half, Xavi gave Barca the lead with 12 minutes to play, everyone thought it was over until that man Eduardo scored again to give Shakhtar a bonus point in a tough group.

Group H

Inter put in a solid performance to defeat Rangers on match 1, Forlan and Mauro Zarate put Inter 2-0 up at half-time with Carlos Bocanegra putting it into his own net to gift Inter a 3rd. Wisla battled hard to win a point away from home against Valencia, a great result, Roberto Soldado gave Valencia the lead but Andraz Kirm scored shortly after the restart to give the Poles a draw.

Sorry for not updating regularly, I've just had a bit of a break from FM, I'll be switching between this and Revelations but it shouldn't take me long to complete the latter. Just be grateful I don't have Skyrim!!!

Haha it won't be as hard as you think, I won the title 4 times in my first seasons and the cup 3 times and finally won the CL in my 4th season. If you find the right players, it's all too easy but the playoffs are really stressful Good luck

I like how Arsenal had Man Utds group

Haha it won't be as hard as you think, I won the title 4 times in my first seasons and the cup 3 times and finally won the CL in my 4th season. If you find the right players, it's all too easy but the playoffs are really stressful Good luck

I'm a rubbish FM manager, never won a domestic league title and that's a fact (despite having won the Champions and Europa League, go figure)

I like how Arsenal had Man Utds group

As a United fan myself, I hope Arsenal crash and burn but they've already beaten Benfica away from home which should be the hardest match they play, they've had a terrible start to the Prem though, just 1 point from 5 matches.

21/9/11 - Sportoto Super Lig - Galatasaray vs Mersin I.Y.

We faced a newly promoted Mersin Idman Yurdu at home in a midweek fixture ahead of the big derby at Fenerbahce at the weekend, however I knew that Mersin were not an opponent to take lightly and fielded our first XI. Mersin certainly proved me right, we made a bright start as Baros fired just wide after a minute, we had a few more chances but couldn't find the target. Disappointingly we let the away team back in to it towards the end of the half and Amoah missed a sitter after getting the better of Servet Cetin. After a harsh half-time team talk we didn't look much better, infact we looked worse, the referee turned down a penalty appeal for Mersin, albeit a weak one after a corner and we were struggling to find inspiration, I felt we were lacking creativity in midfield and decided to make a brave sub on 77 minutes, off came probably the best player of the team Felipe Melo and on came young Emre Colak and it proved to be an inspired decision as Emre Colak laid it off for Selcuk Inan to blast it into the top corner from 20 yards just 2 minutes later, a huge sigh of relief there. Our celebrations were almost silenced as Ben Yahia rattled the cross-bar from a free-kick. We managed to seal the win late on, Riera swung in a deep corner which Ujfalusi somehow managed to head back across the goal and he was rewarded for his efforts as Servet Cetin's shot was blocked and the ball fell back to the Czech defender who had a simple finish, the Mersin players claimed hand of God against him but the ref was having none of it as we secured 3 points ahead of a big match for us.

Galatasaray: Selcuk Inan (79), Ujfalusi (89)

Other TSL Results

Ankaragucu 0-2 Samsunspor

Samsun: Kemal Tokak (17), Andre Bahia (48), Bance (33)

Antalyaspor 2-3 Trabzonspor

Antalya: Deniz Baris (18), Necati Ates (41)

Trabzon: Burak Yilmaz (28), Glowacki (pen 52), Ali Turan OG (85), Glowacki (missed pen 73)

Besiktas 1-0 Kayserispor

BJK: Edu (42), Caner Turp (85)

Buyuksehir Bld. 2-1 Sivasspor

Buyuksehir: Zayatte (30), Efe Inanc (34), Gokhan Suzen (46)

Sivas: Mehmet Nas (pen 9), Grosicki (69)

Eskisehirspor 0-2 Genclerbirligi

Gencler: Tum (41), Kulusic (85)

Karabukspor 0-1 Bursaspor

Bursa: Tagoe (49), Khuboni (70)

Manisaspor 1-5 Fenerbahce

Manisa: Isaac (54), Klukowski (80)

Fener: Mehmet Topuz (pen 10, 52), Ziegler (21), Cristian Baroni (28), Serdar Kesimal (35)

Orduspor 0-3 Gaziantepspor

Ordu: Sedat Bayrak (82)

Gaziantep: Arafat (5, 87), Murat Ceylan (25)

Carling Cup

First off was probably the biggest shock of the round as Man United fell at Old Trafford to Middlesbrough, a blend between youth and first team didn't work for Sir Alex and Tony McMahon netted the only goal of the game to send United out at their first hurdle. James Milner and Gareth Barry scored at either end of the 90 minutes to give City a hard fought victory over Norwich at Carrow Road. Another all Prem tie saw extra time required to separate QPR and Wigan, Ben Watson gave the Latics the lead after less than a minute, Tommy Smith equalised in the 2nd half to take it to extra time, Wigan came off better though, Mohamed Diame and new signing Aatif Chahechouhe scoring on either side of half-time to give Wigan a 3-1 win. An evenly contested tie between Stoke and Bolton saw Stoke take an early 2 goal lead thanks to Kenwyne Jones and Marc Wilson, Ivan Klasnic pulled one back right on half-time which must have unnerved Stoke as Martin Petrov found a 2nd half equaliser to send it to extra time, neither side scored and the game went to penalties where despite a miss by keeper Asmir Begovic, they triumphed 3-2 with Dean Whitehead scoring the winning penalty in a shoot-out with a lot of misses. Tshabalala and Palacios were the others on the scoresheet for Stoke with Wilson and Begovic missing. Petrov and Eagles converted for Bolton with Tuncay Sanli, N'Gog and Steinsson all missing. Chelsea's reserves captained by Malouda did a good job at League 1 Walsall, Lukaku gave them an early lead which Irishman Conor Clifford added to before half-time. Clifford scored again from the spot to seal a comfortable win. Wolves faced a tough challenge at home to West Ham despite them beingin the Championship and despite Ebanks-Blake giving them an early lead, Kevin Nolan and Carlton Cole turned the game around seeing Wolves leave the competition.

Slightly less action on Wednesday, Aston Villa were lethal against Midlands rivals Coventry, goals for Petrov, 2 for Agbonlahor followed by Stephen Ireland all before half-time made the score 4-0. Despite dominating at home to Championship Barnsley, Blackburn needed penalties to overcome them, Ricardo Vaz Te gave the away side a shock lead, Blackburn had to wait for a leveller but it came from David Goodwillie. Blackburn had no trouble on penalties though, even without Yakubu, Goodwillie, Roberts, Bruno Ribeiro and Dunn all scored with Danny Drinkwater the only Barnsley player to score his spot-kick as Goran Lovre and Steve Foster missed. Fulham vs West Brom was quite a spectacle, Moussa Dembele gave Fulham the lead but right after half-time the Baggies responded with 2 goals in quick succession, Mulumbu and Scharner netting. Late on, it looked like West Brom were heading through but Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora had other plans turning it around again as it ended 3-2. Leeds were perhaps unlucky to leave the competition against Everton, Victor Anichebe and Jack Rodwell scored on either side of half-time to give Everton a 2-0 lead, Billy Paynter pulled one back late on for Leeds but a fine performance by Tim Howard ensured Everton would go through. European hero Fernando Belluschi did it again for Birmingham scoring their only shot on target against Newcastle at St James' Park knocking the Geordies out. The most eagerly awaited tie was at White Hart Lane as Spurs took on Arsenal in a heated North London Derby, Tottenham have played much better this season so far where Arsenal have been dreadful, Assou-Ekotto gave Spurs the lead after ten minutes but Arsenal bounced back quickly through van Persie, Modric gave Spurs the lead back and Arsenal left it till reasonably late to equalise with Chamakh scoring. The game went to extra time where the game was won by a youngster, and not an Arsenal one, Jake Livermore scored a memorable goal to take Spurs through and taking a possible trophy off Arsene Wenger's list.

La Liga

Midweek La Liga kicked off with a good match as Valencia hosted Barcelona, Sergio Busquets scored first at the stroke of half-time with Alexis Sanchez sealing the win late on, a good result. The biggish teams have struggled recently and that trend continued as Athletico Madrid were held by Sporting at home and Sevilla dropped points away to Osasuna. There were no such shocks for Real Madrid away to Racing, Xabi Alonso gave them the lead with Fabio Coentrao sealing it late on. On Thursday, Villarreal were also held, Mallorca drawing at El Madrigal.

In the Premier League he'd have been sent off for a two footed lunge

In the Premier League he'd have been sent off for a two footed lunge

You'd be surprised at how often players are sent off in the Turkish League IRL!

24/9/11 - Sportoto Super Lig - Fenerbahce vs Galatasaray

Fenerbahce have had a storming start to the season winning all their matches, we couldn't have faced them at a much worse time but in matches like this, anything can happen. Unfortunately early pressure by FB saw Ozer Hurmaci rocket it past Muslera from 30 yards out, a deserved goal for them. We looked to bounce straight back when Elmander was put through but he scuffed the shot well wide. The middle part of the half was pretty boring but Fener almost got a 2nd when a low cross found Semih Senturk who could only hit the post. A half-time team talk appeared to change things and the team started playing better but couldn't create anything clearcut and it was Fenerbahce who looked more likely to score in the dying minutes, Stoch's cross was turned round the post by Muslera and from the resulting corner Semih Senturk's header was cleared off the line by Eboue on his GS debut, a deserved victory for Fenerbahce which hopefully wouldn't affect the team too badly.

Fenerbahce: Ozer Hurmaci (7)

Other TSL Results

Mersin I.Y. 0-1 Buyuksehir Bld.

Buyuksehir: Ali Guzeldal (pen 25)

Samsunspor 0-2 Orduspor

Ordu: Andre Bahia OG (11), Dalmat (70)

Trabzonspor 1-0 Ankaragucu

Vittek (76)

Genclerbirligi 2-0 Karabukspor

Gencler: Burak Ozsarac (44), Erdal Kilicaslan (48)

Kayserispor 0-4 Eskisehirspor

Kayseri: Emre Akdeniz (40)

Eskisehir: Boyd (4, 9), Pele (37), Mehmet Yildiz (77)

Sivasspor 4-0 Antalyaspor

Sivas: Keita (10), Eneramo (pen 42), Cihan Yilmaz (47), Navratil (60)

Antalya: Minev (89)

Bursaspor 0-0 Manisaspor

Manisa: Dixon (47)

Gaziantepspor 0-1 Besiktas

Gaziantep: Nounkeu (3)

BJK: Sivok (21)

Premier League Transfers

Aston Villa

2 players loaned out, Daniel Johnson to Port Vale and Elliott Parish to Brentford.

Fulham

Martin Jol has certainly made an unexpected signing, French winger Steed Malbranque makes a shock return to Craven Cottage, looking to add to his 172 league appearances for the club. Having only recently left England for Saint-Etienne, his contract was broken almost immediately but he has now returned to where his English adventure began. Dan Burn is also loaned out to Exeter.

Man Utd

Matt James is sent on loan to Brentford.

Swansea

Lee Lucas joins Northampton on loan.

West Brom

Sam Mantom is sent on loan to Tranmere.

Premier League Weekend 6!

Before the season, Manchester United vs Arsenal would have been considered as a big game in the title race but with Arsenal having only 1 point so far, Sir Alex must have been pleased with the timing of this match, it was Robin van Persie though who silenced the Old Trafford faithful with the first goal. Dimitar Berbatov got a swift leveller, United had to be patient and took the lead with 15 minutes thanks to Javier Hernandez, a late 2nd for Berbatov saw United win 3-1 and continue Arsenal's winless season. Blackburn put in a quality performance to beat Newcastle at Ewood Park, Junior Hoilett netted first after 3 minutes and Yakubu made it 2, Ruben Rochina sealed it late on. Everton had a phenomenal start to the season, only losing once in their last fixture, sadly for the Toffees they got a 2nd, a terrible performance at home to QPR, DJ Campbell gave them the lead with Tommy Smith sealing victory late on. Pointless Swansea had an away trip to Fulham and snatched a result in a not good performance, Danny Graham scored first for the Swans early on with Damien Duff levelling on the stroke of half-time, a draw that pulls them above Arsenal leaving the Gunners at the foot of the table. Stoke got an impressive victory at home to Norwich, Jermaine Pennant gave them the lead with Siphiwe Tshabalala promptly doubling it, a Grant Holt goal worried Stoke fans a bit but Matthew Etherington and Peter Crouch both scoring to make it 4-1. Sunderland were extremely unlucky to come out of their match against Man City losing their unbeaten start, Pablo Zabaleta was sent off for City in the 2nd half and City left it till late where Samir Nasri got the winner. Chelsea were expected to continue their 100% start at home to Bolton but were shocked early on by Darren Pratley, Alex got a quick equaliser though and Frank Lampard won it in the 2nd half, Bolton can be pleased with their performance however.

A dull Sunday fixture saw an all Midlands clash between Wolves and West Brom, Wolves scored their only shot on target which was Nenad Milijas, that goal was the only one. Liverpool were desperate for points in their visit to Villa Park and got 3 thanks to none other than old boy Stewart Downing, scoring against his former club, reluctant to celebrate. However, Villa played well with Darren Bent's sending off ruining any chance they had.

Tottenham continued their unbeaten record at home to Wigan, Scott Parker scored after just 4 minutes with Luka Modric also scoring in a 2-0 win which saw Mohamed Diame sent off the Latics.

La Liga

The first match of the weekend saw 2 goals by Manu del Moral give Sevilla a deserved 3-1 win over Valencia. Real Madrid had to work to keep their 100% record at home to Rayo, Andrija Delibasic gave Rayo a shock lead. Marcelo though managed to equalise before half-time, Real's chances were put in jeopardy when young keeper Tomas Mejias was sent off, with Casillas injured before the match, Castilla keeper Isaac was forced to come on. Real Madrid left it till late to score twice with Higuain and Ronaldo netting to make it 3-1. Barcelona got a convincing win against Atletico Madrid, Villa, Messi and Adriano all scoring for Barca. Elsewhere, Villarreal fell down 3-1 to Athletic Bilbao.

September 2011 Summary

Galatasaray 0-1 Trabzonspor

Trabzon: Alanzinho (19)

Sivasspor 1-4 Galatasaray

Sivas: Mehmet Nas (47)

GS: Elmander (5, 16, 50), Riera (8)

Galatasaray 2-0 Mersin I.Y.

GS: Selcuk Inan (79), Ujfalusi (89)

Fenerbahce 1-0 Galatasaray

Fener: Ozer Hurmaci (7)

We had a tough start to the season, having to play Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce, the teams that came in the top 2 last time out, unfortunately not getting any points out of the two matches, we were especially unlucky against Trabzon. We did well against the weaker teams we faced though, comfortably seeing off Mersin and Sivasspor to still leave us with a chance to catch up.

Premier League Transfers

Aston Villa

Nathan Delfouneso is sent out on loan to West Ham.

Blackburn

Jordan Slew joins Bristol Rovers on loan.

Chelsea

Jacob Mellis joins Middlesbrough on loan.

Newcastle

Joan Simun Edmundsson joins Port Vale on loan.

Stoke

Matthew Lund is sent out on loan to Crawley.

Sunderland

Jordan Cook is loaned out to Brentford.

Wolves

Aaron McCarey is sent out on loan to Morecambe.

Prem Player of the Month

1. Luka Modric (Tottenham)

2. Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

3. Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd)

Young Player of the Month

1. Davide Santon (Newcastle)

2. Jack Rodwell (Everton)

3. Junior Hoilett (Blackburn)

Manager of the Month

1. Andre Villas-Boas (Chelsea)

2. Harry Redknapp (Tottenham)

3. Sir Alex Ferguson (Man Utd)

Still need to do better against the best.

Still need to do better against the best.

Completely agree, update coming up

Don't play defensive in the big games with Galatasaray, it would be suicide, just in case you did that

Don't play defensive in the big games with Galatasaray, it would be suicide, just in case you did that

Thanks for the advice . I don't really play defensively though, we've been a bit unlucky in the big games so far, it's all a learning curve!

The big teams hurt you, once you sort that you'll be um, sorted

The big teams hurt you, once you sort that you'll be um, sorted

Thanks for the logic lesson .

A bit unlucky but you can keep going and it'll get better. Maybe a slight tactical tweak will do wonders.

Or maybe just buy some good players in January.

A bit unlucky but you can keep going and it'll get better. Maybe a slight tactical tweak will do wonders.

Or maybe just buy some good players in January.

I'm confident we can do better as the season progresses

Buying players in January is out of the question, there is no transfer budget due to the amount the team has spent IRL, which is understandable, I'll have to look for some real bargains but even then I'm doubtful.

I don't want to name any players since it may spoil your experience but try loaning players. Especially young and talented ones. You can loan them for a season with an agreed future fee which will be lower then what you must normally pay if he performs. I did that in my first season and it did wonders for me as I later bought him cheaply and he consistently finished as top scorer

I see where you're coming from, it's all a matter of finding a suitable player, I like to play by only getting players recommended by scouts/backroom staff, I feel it's more realistic that way. I'll definitely take your suggestion on board though, I just hope a good player is available.

The results against the biggest teams is what counts, as that is what is going to seperate you from them at the end of the season!

Ask for a lona report then ^^ I do that always, when managin lower league

1/10/11 - Sportoto Super Lig - Galatasaray vs Bursaspor

The fixture list has certainly given us a tricky start, I was more confident of a victory against Bursaspor than the other big matches but I knew it wouldn't be easy and easy it was not. I decided to bench Baros in favour of ex Bursa striker Sercan Yildirim hoping for a more motivated performance against his former club. Our pressure paid off after 20 minutes, Elmander played it to Sercan Yildirim who danced his way past the defence and scored at the 2nd attempt after Carson saved the first, looks like my decision payed off. Neither side threatened much for the rest of the half. However, Bursa really went for it in the 2nd half, coming close a few times, in the dying minutes, Turgay Bahadir managed to turn in the area but to the relief of me and all GS fans out there, Muslera came up big and saved it, pushing it well away from goal. Our last few minutes were made even harder when Felipe Melo picked up his 2nd yellow for a foul on Svensson but we held out for the win, an important one too.

Galatasaray: Sercan Yildirim (19), Felipe Melo (88)

Other TSL Results

Antalyaspor 1-5 Mersin I.Y.

Antalya: Necati Ates (19)

Mersin: Nobre (34), Amoah (48, 61), Ozokwo (53), Cagdas Atan (89)

Orduspor 1-1 Trabzonspor

Ordu: Ali Camdali (11)

Trabzon: Burak Yilmaz (64), Zokora (90)

Ankaragucu 1-0 Sivasspor

Ankara: Ergin Keles (52)

Sivas: Mehmet Nas (43)

Karabukspor 0-4 Kayserispor

Kayseri: Amrabat (50, 75), Cangele (pen 56), Gokhan Unal (67)

Manisaspor 2-2 Genclerbirligi

Manisa: Murat Erdogan (7), Kahe (57)

Gencler: Tum (32), Zec (70)

Samsunspor 0-0 Gaziantepspor

Eskisehirspor 1-1 Besiktas

Eskisehir: Kamara (9)

BJK: Edu (51)

Premier League Transfers

Chelsea

Rohan Ince joins Aldershot on loan

Newcastle

James Tavernier is loaned out to Notts County

Premier League Weekend 7!

An uncharacteristic weekend in the Premier League saw more games played on Sunday than Saturday. First off, Sunderland were looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season against a Bolton side who haven't won yet. However, a goal by Kevin Davies made sure that Bolton did get their first win. Newcastle then faced Everton and a draw was probably the right result as Steven Taylor's goal was cancelled by Louis Saha against his former club. QPR were so close to victory at home to West Brom after Shaun Wright-Phillips gave them the lead but 2 late goals in the space of 2 minutes by Peter Odemwingie, the first being a penalty gave the Baggies the win. It's taken the Gunners a while but they finally got their first win of the season at home to Blackburn, a 5th minute strike by Theo Walcott enough to win it, Andre Santos was sent off 5 minutes later leaving Arsenal to play 80 minutes with ten men but they held on.

Sunday began with an all Midlands clash between Aston Villa and Wolves, Charles N'Zogbia gave the home side a lead but Michael Kightly found a leveller. Steven Fletcher scored deep into the 2nd half to give Wolves an impressive away victory, a harsh result though on Aston Villa. Man City vs Tottenham was considered to be an important match in the title race, many wondering if Harry Redknapp's sides unbeaten start would continue at the Etihad. It was Edin Dzeko who scored first giving City the lead, Rafael van der Vaart equalised in the 2nd half as Spurs were unlucky not to go on and win but stayed unbeaten. Fulham visited Carrow Road to face Norwich, after a goalless first half, Martin Jol must have picked the perfect team-talk as Moussa Dembele, 2 for Andy Johnson then Dembele again gave Fulham a 4-0 win. Wigan were willing to take anything they could get at home to Stoke, the Potters having made a good start, their league position hiding the fact they have 2 games in hand. It was Wigan who started brighter, Albert Crusat scoring after 4 minutes, Ben Watson doubled their lead before Jonathan Walters quickly pulled one back. Cameron Jerome found an equaliser in the 2nd half and Stoke managed to get a point. Sunday was completed by an anticipated encounter between Liverpool and Chelsea, Liverpool have had a poor start to the season where Chelsea have won all their matches, no-one however expected Chelsea to be as rampant as they were, Florent Malouda scored early after 3 minutes with Jose Bosingwa adding to that on 9. Didier Drogba scored as soon as the 2nd half started to make it 3 with Ashley Cole completing the rout late on, another poor performance at Anfield by the Reds.

League champions Manchester United completed the week with a visit to Swansea, Ashley Young promptly put United in front, Ryan Giggs then made it 2 before a Danny Graham goal made United think that it wasn't going to be easy after all. Shortly after the restart, Dimitar Berbatov regained United's 2 goal advantage and a late goal by Park Ji-Sung wrapped up the points, a 4-1 scoreline was deceiving though as Swansea more than made a go of it in this match.

La Liga

Real Madrid started the weekend with a tough fixture away at Espanyol, a goal from Angel Di Maria relieved Jose Mourinho as Espanyol could easily have won it. Later in the day, Barcelona went top of the table on goal difference after a comfortable win at Sporting, Barca have looked more confident in their results lately and demonstrated that, Alexis Sanchez was the first to score, the half ending 1-0. A 2nd half red for David Villa meant nothing to the Champions, scoring just 2 minutes later through Xavi, another 2 minutes after that Lionel Messi added a third, Jonathan Soriano completed the win not long later. Elsewhere, a late goal by Alvaro Negredo gave Sevilla a win away to Atletico Madrid, otherwise there were no surprises in La Liga.

Europa League Group Stages Match 2

Group A

Hajduk bounced back from an opening day defeat to beat Steaua 1-0 thanks to an early goal by Ante Vukusic. A dominant display by Sporting CP sent them top against Hannover, Andre Carrillo and Ricky van Wolfswinkel were on the scoresheet.

Group B

After a terrible home defeat to Udinese, Stoke's next match saw them face a tough trip to Turkey where they took on Gaziantepspor, they did manage a result though, Dean Whitehead gave them the lead and Wilson Palacios sealed it late on. Udinese went top after an impressive display against Atletico Madrid, Kwadwo Asamoah scored first and Siem de Jong's penalty made it 2, Barreto sealed the win late on, 7 goals in 2 games for Udinese, they are definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Group C

Anderlecht managed to win against Rosenborg to go top, Tom De Sutter scored first for the Belgians before Rosenborg saw John Chibuike red carded, it didn't stop them from equalising though, Mikael Dorsin scoring the leveller but Anderlecht responded with Vittorio Thomas netting the winner. Kobenhavn will have been disappointed with their performance at home to Omonoia, Stahis Aloneftis gave the Cypriot side the lead and Thomas Kristensen equalised, but the Danes thought of this as an easy win and underestimated them, a poor draw at home.

Group D

Lazio went top of the group with their win against Valerenga but left it late. Bojan Zajic's red card for the Norwegians opened the door for Lazio with Tommaso Rocchi and Andile Jali scoring the goals as they won 2-0. Fulham faced tough opposition in Russia in the form of Rubin Kazan, Nelson Valdez scored early on for Rubin but Fulham turned it around courtesy of Moussa Dembele and Andy Johnson, Valdez scored again towards the end to equalise but still a valuable point for Fulham especially in a match they didn't play well in at all.

Group E

AZ were expected to coast through a group with Litex, Metalist and Maccabi Haifa in it with a draw against the Israeli side last time out just a hiccup. However, what was meant to be an easy visit from Bulgarian side Litex turned into a disaster, Svetoslav Todorov gave Litex the lead, Charlison Benschop equalised for AZ on the stroke of half-time but Ilia Prodanov gave Litex the lead again and Maxime Josse sealed it late on to leave AZ in danger of not qualifying. Metalist took an early lead against Maccabi Haifa through Jonathan Cristaldo with Oren Krais pulling it level.

Group F

After suffering a shock defeat to Lokomotiv Sofia, Twente bounced back with a 1-0 win against Dinamo Bucharest, on loan from Man United, Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of the game. 2 Alvaro's gave Sevilla a 2-0 lead, Cejudo and Negredo the 2 who scored, Ivan Nikolov pulled one back but that was it despite a good effort by the Bulgarians.

Group G

Athletic Bilbao stormed to the top of their group after smashing 5 past Nacional in Portugal, Fernando Llorente scored first from the penalty spot and Gaizka Toquero made it 2-0. Llorente's second was followed by a goal by David Lopez with Llorente then completing his hat-trick. Tottenham didn't do as well as their Spanish opponents but still won against BATE from Belarus, Gareth Bale scored after less than a minute and quick goals by Emmanuel Adebayor and Scott Parker made it look like a long night for them but BATE could argue that they played better for the rest of the match as Tottenham didn't challenge the keeper again but couldn't score so it was a comfortable win for Spurs.

Group H

Palermo were in clinical form as they took apart Viktoria Plzen, Francesco Della Rocca scored first and later 3 goals in 3 minutes by the Italians came from different scorers, Angelo Ogbonna, Fabrizio Miccoli (pen) and Gonzalo Castro all scoring, Miccoli scored his 2nd to wrap up the match. Zurich battled hard away to PSG but couldn't get a result, Kevin Gameiro got the first goal, with Jeremy Menez adding a 2nd before half-time, Zurich got one back quickly through Amine Chermiti but Bressan secured the win in the 2nd half.

Group I

Although they were at home, Panathinaikos would still prove difficult for Celtic, Beram Kayal was sent off for Celtic but Gary Hooper still gave Celtic the lead in the 2nd half, a goal that began an incredible half, Kostas Katsouranis equalised from kick-off with Sotiris Ninis giving the Greeks the lead minutes later. Ten man Celtic weren't done yet though, Joe Ledley equalised in the 83rd minute and Mohamed Bangura made himself a hero for Celtic getting a late winner. The group was blown wide open when Dinamo beat Sion 2-0, Arijan Ademi and Mateo Kovacic scored the goals meaning every team in the group is on 3 points.

Group J

Birmingham were more than a match for Besiktas on the day at St Andrews but the Turkish side's finishing was slightly better, Ekrem Dag's early penalty opened the scoring with Kara adding a 2nd not long later, the Senegalese international was sent off in the 2nd half for Besiktas but Birmingham failed to capitalise, instead late on Hendry Thomas was also sent off. They did get one back in the last minute thanks to Morgaro Gomis but it was too little too late. A result which sent Besiktas top. The other game in the group also saw excitement as Dynamo Kyiv met Genk, Marvin Ogunjimi scored first for Genk but Dynamo equalised straight away, Olexandr Aliev with the goal. Genk had a penalty later in the half and although Jelle Vossen's initial effort was saved, he tucked away the rebound to give Genk the lead back, but again Dynamo had an instant response as Andriy Shevchenko levelled the scores. Genk eventually did get the win however, thanks to Christian Benteke.

Group K

Sochaux had done well to beat PSV on day 1 but could they maintain that form against Salzburg? The early signs weren't good, Alan scored from the penalty spot to give the Austrians the lead. Yassin Mikari levelled for Sochaux before Roman Wallner restored them the lead, Sochaux equalised again quickly, Sebastien Roudet getting the goal. PSV had difficulty at home to Standard, Ola Toivonen scored the only goal of the game with Wilfried Bouma also getting sent off for the Dutch side, an unlucky result for Standard.

Group L

CSKA Sofia made it 2 wins out of 3 for Bulgarian clubs in the Europa League, not quite as good as Litex's win over AZ but a win. Goals in quick succession by Ianis Zicu and Junior Moraes put CSKA 2 up. Hapoel Tel-Aviv (their opposition) did well to fight back, Baruch Krais pulling one back before Omer Damari scored as soon as the 2nd half started to level it, CSKA got their deserved win though, Junior Moraes getting his 2nd in the last minute. Schalke made qualification from Group L that bit harder by losing to OB, Hans Hendrik Andreasen scored the only goal of the game, with Schalke unable to put the ball in the net, a disappointing result.

Champions League Group Stages Match 2

Group A

Arsenal got a storming victory over Basel to make their presence in Group A felt, Robin van Persie scored first with Mikel Arteta adding a 2nd before half-time. Walter Montillo and 2 more from van Persie gave them a 5-0 win. On top of that Otelul Galati did the Gunners another favour by holding Benfica to a draw, Daniel Chavez actually scored first for the Romanians but Oscar Cardozo equalised shortly after. Otelul could have won it at the end but Ionel Enescu missed a penalty which marred another great result for Otelul.

Group B

Real Madrid, on the back of an 8-1 win against Trabzonspor were expecting a minor challenge by Ajax but certainly weren't expecting to lose 3-0, Derk Boerrigter, Ismail Aissati and Mounir El Hamdaoui all scored in the first half. To rub salt into the wound, Marcelo would miss their match against Lyon after getting sent off. Poor Trabzonspor faced Lyon at home, they could only try their best to restore some honour against Lyon, Jimmy Briand scored the first goal in Turkey before Michel Bastos missed his penalty, fortunately for Lyon Lisandro Lopez was there to put in the rebound. Bafetimbi Gomis added a 3rd before half-time, it looked like another poor day for Trabzonspor, however they came out for the second half and grabbed themselves 2 quick goals, Alanzinho and Marek Sapara scoring them, the score was 3-2 and they still had a chance. Then Giray Kacar gave away another penalty to Lyon, got sent off and watched Yoann Gourcuff make it 4-2, a 2nd for Gomis at the end left Trabzonspor wondering what could have been.

Group C

Bayern Munich produced one of the most dominant performances ever in the Champions League against Partizan, Nemanja Rnic was sent off for the Serbian side. Mario Gomez and Bastian Schweinsteiger's penalty put Bayern 2 up either side of half-time and Holger Badstuber sealed the win, not letting Partizan have a single shot. Olympiakos gave themselves a great chance of qualifying with their performance away to Villarreal, the Spanish side led early on after Olof Mellberg put it into his own net. The Swedish defender more than made up for it though, scoring twice at the other end before ex yellow Ariel Ibagaza sealed a 3-1 win.

Group D

After beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp would be hoping for more of the same against AC Milan, Alberto Aquilani made sure that wasn't the case after 2 minutes, Mario Gotze equalised shortly after the restart before Mathieu Flamini worried the Milan fans further by getting sent off, it didn't stop them from scoring though as Pato gave them the lead again, a red for Robert Lewandowski for Dortmund did nothing to help them get back in it and it finished 1-2. Next up was Chelsea's visit to Zenit St Petersburg, early goals for Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda put Chelsea 2-0 up, Alexandr Bukharov pulled one back for the Russians but his keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev put the ball into his own goal to seal a win for Chelsea.

Group E

A Maicon red card certainly didn't help Porto against Leverkusen but didn't stop them either, a Stefan Reinartz own goal and one for Cristian Rodriguez gave the 2004 winners a 2-0 win. Marseille dispatched Slovak Bratislava thanks to the form of the Ayew brothers. Andre scored the first from the spot and Jordan got the other 2 in the second half.

Group F

Manchester United had a tough trip to Russia where they would face CSKA Moscow, they ended up stumbling over the finish line thanks to an own goal by Alexey Berezutskiy and Javier Hernandez. Lille put in a stylish performance to destroy Napoli 3-0, Antonio Rosati's own goal put the French side in front with Joe Cole making it 2. Rio Mavuba finished off the win late on.

Group G

Shakhtar showed good composure to go to Cyprus and win against APOEL, Willian scored first for them and Sergiy Krivtsov made it 2. Jadson scored from the spot to add a third before APOEL did get a consolation, Savvas Michail scoring it. Jadson scored another penalty late on to seal it for Shakhtar. Finally, the match everyone was waiting for, Barcelona vs Manchester City, anticipated as a great match. It was none other than Lionel Messi who opened the scoring after 3 minutes before a memorable moment for Yaya Toure saw him level it against his former club. Messi scored again in first half stoppage time to give Barca the lead back before Sergio Busquets wrapped it up in the 2nd half.

Group H

Valencia put themselves in serious danger of not qualifying, a draw against Wisla was bad enough but a defeat to Rangers meant nervous times for the Spaniards, Steven Davis with the only goal for the Gers in first half stoppage time. Inter had no such trouble taking down Wisla in Poland, Andrea Ranocchia opened the scoring in the 3rd minute of first half injury time before 2 goals by Diego Forlan (the first being a penalty) made it 3-0, Walter Samuel added a 4th before Diego Milito scored in stoppage time.

The results against the biggest teams is what counts, as that is what is going to seperate you from them at the end of the season!

I know, especially with the play-off system at the end of the season :S!

Ask for a lona report then ^^ I do that always, when managin lower league

I did but got no good results, when your scouts come up with the likes of George Elokobi, you wonder why you bothered.

17/10/11 - Sportoto Super Lig - Genclerbirligi vs Galatasaray

An easy match on paper, but even before the match I made a decision which could have affected the outcome immensely, I allowed player who needed match fitness to play in the reserves, not realising that the first team's match was on the same day, because of that I could only name 3 subs, 2 of them unfit. We started some early pressure with Elmander being put through but not able to find a way round the keeper, it was clear Genclerbirligi's main threat was going to be from set-pieces, Muslera doing very well to come across to block Tum's shot. We took the lead shortly after, Sercan Yildirim picked up a loose ball on the left and floated a lovely ball across for Elmander to head home, we scored again right before the interval, Sercan Yildirim turning provider again, putting Elmander through who touched it past the keeper before scoring, a great half for us and we were looking to keep it up. Bad news at the start of the 2nd half, as straight away Zec bulleted in past Muslera from 25 yards out to put them back in it. I was genuinely worried, Sabri Sarioglu danced past the defence before the keeper denied him again, my fears were true though,, a defence splitting ball sent Tum through who gladly lifted it over the keeper to equalise, we applied some late pressure but Genclerbirligi held firm for a draw, despite not winning, we climbed up to 5th.

Genclerbirligi: Zec (46), Tum (84)

Galatasaray: Elmander (16, 43)

Other TSL Results

Sivasspor 4-1 Orduspor

Sivas: Eneramo (6, 46, 68), Cihan Yilmaz (pen 45)

Ordu: Gosso (14)

Besiktas 1-0 Karabukspor

BJK: Quaresma (76)

Karabuk: Erdem Ozgenc (missed pen 83)

Gaziantepspor 1-2 Eskisehirspor

Gaziantep: Wagner (60)

Eskisehir: Erkan Zengin (7), Boyd (36)

Mersin I.Y. 3-1 Ankaragucu

Mersin: Nobre (2), Andre Moritz (9), Ben Yahia (pen 87)

Ankara: Turgut Sahin (35)

Trabzonspor 2-0 Samsunspor

Trabzon: Glowacki (13), Halil Altintop (50)

Samsun: Mustafa Sarp (57)

Fenerbahce 2-0 Antalyaspor

Fener: Semih Senturk (11), Serdar Kesimal (77)

Kayserispor 4-1 Manisaspor

Kayseri: Riveros (10), Tevfik Kose (19), Kujovic (25), Amrabat (74)

Manisa: Huseyin Tok (90+2)

Bursaspor 0-1 Buyuksehir Bld.

Bursa: Ozan Ipek (70), Wederson (85)

Buyuksehir: Madureira (pen 49)

Premier League Transfers

Arsenal

Benik Afobe joins Exeter on loan and Gavin Hoyte is loaned to Walsall.

Blackburn

Tom Hitchcock joins Bournemouth on loan and Jason Lowe is loaned to Preston.

Bolton

Mark Davies joins West Ham on loan, Jack Sampson is loaned to Bristol Rovers and Joe Riley is sent on loan to Macclesfield.

Everton

Apostolos Vellios joins Watford on loan.

Norwich

Matthew Ball is sent on loan to Yeovil.

Sunderland

John Egan is loaned out to Rotherham.

Swansea

Thomas Butler joins Swindon on loan.

Wolves

Johnny Gorman is loaned to Rotherham.

Premier League Weekend 8!

Chelsea continued their unstoppable start against Aston Villa, Frank Lampard bagged first after 2 minutes, it was Adam Lallana though who equalised, Florent Malouda instantly gave Chelsea the lead again before Didier Drogba sealed the win. Blackburn made tough work of a fixture at home to Swansea, Simon Vukcevic scored first after less than a minute before Danny Graham equalised. Martin Olsson scored the winner for Rovers in the 2nd half. Manchester United were rather fortunate to score all 3 of their shots on target at home to struggling Norwich, Antonio Valencia scored early on and this was added to by Tom Cleverley and Nani. Manchester City had a tough task at the Britannia and Stoke certainly showed that, David Silva got goal 1 with Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero following suit. Stoke got one back thanks to Cameron Jerome but it wasn't enough. It took a late winner by Shola Ameobi to separate West Brom and Newcastle. Arsenal looked to have turned a corner following a comprehensive victory over Basel and their first win against Blackburn. Everton however put them back in their place, Leighton Baines got the opener before Gervinho got a swift leveller. Everton left it till late but Marouane Fellaini got the Toffees a deserved win.

Wolves and QPR were surprises to pundits that they were in the top half, a good match awaited. It took just 3 minutes for Karl Henry to get booked and given a straight red card, his indiscipline only aided QPR and Jay Bothroyd scored twice to give Rangers a win at Molineux. Liverpool have started the season poorly and looked to remedy that against Sunderland, they did thanks to a Luis Suarez double, could King Kenny turn it around.

Tottenham preyed on a Bolton side struggling for points, goals by Steven Pienaar and Emmanuel Adebayor meant that Sandro's red card wouldn't affect them much at all.

La Liga

The Spanish community were waiting for one of the big 2 to crack and to the surprise of many it was Barcelona who lost at home to Racing. Barcelona couldn't really argue with the result though, Sergio Busquets' red card was promptly followed by a goal by Gonzalo Colsa, a win for Real Madrid would mean advantage Galacticos. And they went and did it at home to Real Betis, they didn't find it easy, Kaka and Raphael Varane put them 2 up but a goal by Ruben Castro set up a tense ending but it was Real who went 3 points clear at the top. No other surprises though.

Frank Lampard started a game?