BobBev Posted December 28, 2005 Author Share Posted December 28, 2005 Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me? July 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">For some it's the ultimate job. For the others it's the last job. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> You don’t see many giant inflatable bananas at the City of Manchester Stadium these days (for the full story of that particular craze see here) - but then again you don’t see Kevin Keegan there either, not after he quit and I took his place. And who are you, you’re probably asking. Well I’ll tell you – I’m MARIOORA KEEGAN, a distant relative of the great man himself and I’d love it, just love it if I could take Manchester City back to the big time. It would be no easy task however – the club was saddled with a £40M bank loan and an overdraft of over £7M. I had been allocated a transfer budget of £1.4M but I felt that I would probably hold on to that until the winter transfer window. Like any new manager the first thing I did was to meet the backroom staff and get to know the playing squad. A series of pre-season games had already been established, the first of which at Tranmere, took place on my first day in charge. I left the team selection entirely to my Assistant Manager Derek Fazackerley, limiting my contribution to a few words on the general shape that I wanted to introduce. As everyone knows, the jewel in the Man City crown was livewire winger Shaun Wright-Phillips and as luck would have it he was injured half an hour into the game. Fortunately it was nothing too serious, a wrist injury that would probably sideline him for a week. The result was a satisfactory 4-0 win during which Steve McManaman and Trevor Sinclair looked particularly impressive. Our next warm-up match took place in Germany at non-league Braunschweig and not only did we suffer a humiliating 2-1 defeat we also lost left winger Kizito Musampa. He suffered a torn groin muscle and as we had the 26-year-old Dutchman in on loan for the season from Atletico Madrid we contacted the club to discuss his situation. They asked him to return to Spain to have the club doctor examine him and a decision was taken that surgery would be required to rectify the problem. With a layoff of some 4 to 5 months required both clubs agreed to a mutual termination of his loan contract so that he could have his treatment and rehabilitation back in Spain. This was pretty unfortunate as I had quite liked the look of the lad and I had him pencilled in for a place in the first eleven. Our pre-season preparations continued with a trip to the MK Dons where we scraped a 1-1 draw but at least we didn’t get any players injured. Our only home warm-up came with a visit from Croatian side NK Dinamo and a sparse crowd witnessed a poor 2-1 defeat with David Sommeil, Trevor Sinclair and Robbie Fowler all picking up minor knocks. Our uninspiring pre-season continued with a terrible 2-0 defeat at Scunthorpe, Jon Macken ending in the treatment room and keeper David “Calamity†James not impressing. Believing that I needed some cover in the centre of defence I invested a modest £85K to bring Lorenzo Amoruso from Blackburn on a one-year deal. I don’t know how much playing time the big man will get but he could well prove to be useful. For our final warm-up match at Darlington I set the team up in the formation that I wanted to use for the season and with the starting eleven that I believed to be our strongest based on what I had seen thus far. The only exception was the absence of Robbie Fowler up front as he was still recovering from his injury. I wanted to employ a variant on a 4-5-1 formation, partly through preference and partly because I was very light on strikers. I had a standard back four guarded by a withdrawn midfielder in an anchor role. Then there were two central midfielders with two wide men playing ahead of them and a single striker. If you saw it on paper it would look like a 4-1-2-2-1 to be accurate. My preferred starting eleven was as follows GK – David James (only because both Nicky Weaver and Geert De Vlieger were both out with long-term injuries) DR – Danny Mills DL – Ben Thatcher DC – Richard Dunne DC – Sylvain Distin DMC – Joey Barton MC – Steve McManaman MD – Claudio Reyna AMR – Shaun Wright-Phillips AML – Antoine Sibierski SC – Jon Macken (Fowler when he is fit) Apart from losing Reyna for three weeks with a back injury it worked out fairly well and we won 2-0. The back four all looked solid and Macca had a pretty decent game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me? July 2004 For some it's the ultimate job. For the others it's the last job. You don’t see many giant inflatable bananas at the City of Manchester Stadium these days (for the full story of that particular craze see here) - but then again you don’t see Kevin Keegan there either, not after he quit and I took his place. And who are you, you’re probably asking. Well I’ll tell you – I’m MARIOORA KEEGAN, a distant relative of the great man himself and I’d love it, just love it if I could take Manchester City back to the big time. It would be no easy task however – the club was saddled with a £40M bank loan and an overdraft of over £7M. I had been allocated a transfer budget of £1.4M but I felt that I would probably hold on to that until the winter transfer window. Like any new manager the first thing I did was to meet the backroom staff and get to know the playing squad. A series of pre-season games had already been established, the first of which at Tranmere, took place on my first day in charge. I left the team selection entirely to my Assistant Manager Derek Fazackerley, limiting my contribution to a few words on the general shape that I wanted to introduce. As everyone knows, the jewel in the Man City crown was livewire winger Shaun Wright-Phillips and as luck would have it he was injured half an hour into the game. Fortunately it was nothing too serious, a wrist injury that would probably sideline him for a week. The result was a satisfactory 4-0 win during which Steve McManaman and Trevor Sinclair looked particularly impressive. Our next warm-up match took place in Germany at non-league Braunschweig and not only did we suffer a humiliating 2-1 defeat we also lost left winger Kizito Musampa. He suffered a torn groin muscle and as we had the 26-year-old Dutchman in on loan for the season from Atletico Madrid we contacted the club to discuss his situation. They asked him to return to Spain to have the club doctor examine him and a decision was taken that surgery would be required to rectify the problem. With a layoff of some 4 to 5 months required both clubs agreed to a mutual termination of his loan contract so that he could have his treatment and rehabilitation back in Spain. This was pretty unfortunate as I had quite liked the look of the lad and I had him pencilled in for a place in the first eleven. Our pre-season preparations continued with a trip to the MK Dons where we scraped a 1-1 draw but at least we didn’t get any players injured. Our only home warm-up came with a visit from Croatian side NK Dinamo and a sparse crowd witnessed a poor 2-1 defeat with David Sommeil, Trevor Sinclair and Robbie Fowler all picking up minor knocks. Our uninspiring pre-season continued with a terrible 2-0 defeat at Scunthorpe, Jon Macken ending in the treatment room and keeper David “Calamity†James not impressing. Believing that I needed some cover in the centre of defence I invested a modest £85K to bring Lorenzo Amoruso from Blackburn on a one-year deal. I don’t know how much playing time the big man will get but he could well prove to be useful. For our final warm-up match at Darlington I set the team up in the formation that I wanted to use for the season and with the starting eleven that I believed to be our strongest based on what I had seen thus far. The only exception was the absence of Robbie Fowler up front as he was still recovering from his injury. I wanted to employ a variant on a 4-5-1 formation, partly through preference and partly because I was very light on strikers. I had a standard back four guarded by a withdrawn midfielder in an anchor role. Then there were two central midfielders with two wide men playing ahead of them and a single striker. If you saw it on paper it would look like a 4-1-2-2-1 to be accurate. My preferred starting eleven was as follows GK – David James (only because both Nicky Weaver and Geert De Vlieger were both out with long-term injuries) DR – Danny Mills DL – Ben Thatcher DC – Richard Dunne DC – Sylvain Distin DMC – Joey Barton MC – Steve McManaman MD – Claudio Reyna AMR – Shaun Wright-Phillips AML – Antoine Sibierski SC – Jon Macken (Fowler when he is fit) Apart from losing Reyna for three weeks with a back injury it worked out fairly well and we won 2-0. The back four all looked solid and Macca had a pretty decent game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacemaker7 Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 Just pleased to see you really ...... Must be great being so old and having all this time to write Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted December 29, 2005 Author Share Posted December 29, 2005 It's great PM and I'm not even retired yet. Just imagine how much time I'll have then - you'll never get rid of me August 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Maine Road was a great football stadium but as time moved on it stayed where it is. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> As August arrived the bookmakers published their odds for the Premiership title. Man Utd were 6-4 favourites with Arsenal and Chelsea both 7-4 and Liverpool 3-1. At 300-1 we were clearly seen as relegation candidates and I was immediately quizzed by the press, asking if we had a strong enough squad to stay up. I responded positively saying that I was sure that our players were good enough. There was one very interesting development before we got into competitive action when Reading contacted us with an offer we couldn’t refuse and The Goat was back. Yes, City legend Shaun Goater returned in exchange for a nominal fee to have one last tilt at glory. After six glorious seasons at Maine Road the Bermudan international had moved on but now he was coming home. I was somewhat surprised when there was some criticism of the singing from the fans as he was supposed to be a cult figure amongst them. Despite this I rather hoped that he would be a decent backup to the unfit Fowler as I couldn’t see Robbie playing week in and week out. The season opener was a televised encounter at Newcastle and Fowler was able to start so the only change to my first choice selection was the inclusion of Paul Bosvelt for the injured Reyna. Just for the heck of it I put Goater on the bench – knowing Fowler’s lack of fitness I could see him getting a run out. It was our much-maligned keeper David James who impressed most in the 1-1 draw, some excellent saves gaining him a MOM award. This was despite gifting Nicky Butt with the opening goal on the stroke of half time, a comedy clearance falling at the feet of the unmarked midfielder. With 15 minutes remaining we were still behind so I threw on Sinclair and Goater in place of Macca and Fowler. It paid off big time with Wright-Phillips setting Sinclair free to outpace the Newcastle defence and finish neatly past Shay Given. For the midweek visit of West Brom I decided to go with the same starting eleven and I emphasised to the players that this was the sort of game that we really had to win. If we failed to beat the so-called weaker teams then we would certainly be drawn into the relegation struggle. A penalty, won and converted by Fowler, put us ahead with just two minutes showing on the clock. We threatened intermittently for the remainder of the half without doing any further damage. With Macca tiring late on I once again brought Sinclair off the bench and he repeated his trick of scoring minutes after his introduction. The visitors pulled a goal back near the end but we were able to hold on for a very satisfactory 2-1 win. The weekend trip to Norwich fell into the same category as our last match and I wanted to se a good result. I resisted the temptation to bring Sinclair off the bench but I did give Fowler a rest, Jon Macken getting his first start of the season. Macca rewarded me with a great display in midfield and the MOM bubbly. We recovered from a poor start after conceding an early goal, equalising quickly through Macken, Macca laying on the goal. It was honours even at half time but we went ahead on 58 when Wright-Phillips fired home after a neat corner routine. But with less than 15 minutes remaining James flapped at a cross allowing a free header and we ended with a 2-2 draw. It was a midweek visit by Bolton next and Fowler came back in up front but there were no further changes to the team. A very uneventful first half was enlivened with a goal from Fowler shortly before the interval, Macca setting up his former Liverpool teammate for a neat finish. The visitors enjoyed a greater share of possession in the second period but some woeful finishing and a few smart stops by James kept our lead intact. Fowler had to be withdrawn with an arm injury 15 minutes from time and on came The Goat. The stadium erupted when he made the game safe in stoppage time when a diving header connected with a Wright-Phillips cross. The final game of the month involved a trip to Everton and with Fowler injured Macken returned to the starting eleven. Claudio Reyna was now fully fit and I decided that he would come into midfield instead of the ageing Bosvelt. The home side lined up with a pretty defensive formation and with chances few and far between the first half ended in a goalless stalemate. The game opened up a little after the interval and as the players tired I brought off a flagging Macca and threw on Sinclair. For the 3rd time this month Frank came off the bench and scored within minutes, this time heading home a cross from Antoine Sibierski for what proved to be the winning goal. I was impressed by the contribution of Sylvain Distin in defence and he has established a pretty solid partnership with Richard Dunne in the centre. We had surprised a lot of people by remaining unbeaten in our opening month and sat in a very respectable 3rd place in the table. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 1 | +14 | 13 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Newcastle | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | MAN CITY | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Charlton | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Man Utd | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo30 Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 Like the style, will keep my eyes are on this one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted December 30, 2005 Author Share Posted December 30, 2005 Thanks Leo September 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">They compare Steve McManaman to Steve Heighway and he's nothing like him, but I can see why - it's because he's a bit different. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> We had a few players involved in World Cup qualifiers but for most of the squad the international break meant a fortnight without any football so most of them were well rested for the televised match at home to Aston Villa. But we did have some casualties after the qualifiers with Richard Dunne and Claudio Reyna nursing knocks and not fit to play whilst Trevor Sinclair had twisted a knee in training. It turned out to be a great match for the Sky TV audience but not so great for my nerves. Juan Pablo Angel got the visitors off to a great start, scoring after just three minutes after he caught our defence on the turn. Paul Bosvelt, in for Reyna, found an equaliser on 16 minutes after great work by Sibierski on the left and we reached the break all square. Within five minutes of the restart Bosvelt scored his second, firing home a shot across the advancing keeper and into the far corner after a delightful flick from Sibierski. But it took Angel less than five minutes to score his second, firing through a crowd of players from a corner. I replaced a clearly out of sorts Fowler with The Goat hoping to offer more attacking threat but with less than 15 minutes remaining substitute Luke Moore fired Villa ahead minutes after coming on to the pitch. The youngster outpaced a static defence to take the ball around a stranded David James. Then with time running out The Goat proved his worth by grabbing a late equaliser, Macca the player who provided the telling pass that split the visiting defence. The Man of the Match plaudits went to Sibierski for his sterling performance on the left side of midfield. The next weekend we faced our stiffest challenge of the season so far, a trip to league leaders Arsenal. I restored Richard Dunne to central defence and brought Jon Macken into attack but with Bosvelt in good form there was no place in the starting eleven for a fit-again Reyna. I’m still not quite sure how we did it but in one of the biggest smash-and-grab raids in history we came home with a 2-1 win. The Gunners were all over us for most of the match but, credit where credit’s due, David James was just awesome. He made save after save to deny the home side after Gilberto fired them ahead on 20 minutes. We were hanging on for dear life for most of the match but on a rare excursion upfield Wright-Phillips scored a wonderful equaliser to shock the Gunners. They were even more shocked when substitute Reyna, on for a tiring Macca, scored the unlikeliest of winners three minutes from time. He was set up by The Goat, who had replaced Macken in a double substitution. I love it when substitutions turn the game and so far this season I seem to have had some success in this area. A goal after just 15 seconds got us off to a flyer in our League Cup tie at Tranmere, Trevor Sinclair scoring straight from the kickoff. Robbie Fowler doubled our advantage on 25 minutes and I was pleased at how the team was playing. I made some changes to the starting eleven to give some of the fringe players some action and they were responding well. But injuries to Fowler, Reyna and young midfielder Lee Croft interrupted our rhythm and the home side reduced the deficit with seven minutes remaining. By the end of the game we were holding on for the win and by that time The Goat was a virtual spectator as he too was struggling with a knock. Fowler was diagnosed with a fractured wrist and would be out for a month – the others should all be fit within a week. I reverted back to my preferred eleven for the visit of Chelsea, with the exception of the injured players of course, meaning that Jon Macken started up front, Bradley Wright-Phillips took a seat on the bench and Willo Flood kept his place in midfield after impressing in midweek. The game was lost in the first quarter of an hour with £30M signing Ronaldo and full back Paulo Ferreira both scoring. We tightened up at the back after that but it was too late and although we made a few chances we failed to get an effort on target all afternoon. Our first defeat of the season dropped us down to 5th place but it was still all very tight and we were just a point off the lead. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Charlton | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Newcastle | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | MAN CITY | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 10 | +3 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted December 31, 2005 Author Share Posted December 31, 2005 October 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Young Gareth Barry - he's young. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> With Antoine Sibierski out for a few weeks with strained knee ligaments Trevor Sinclair started on the left at home to Middlesbrough and Paul Bosvelt came back into central midfield. The game started cagily with both sides probing but not over-committing to attack. When Danny Mills got his second booking of the game on 25 minutes our game plan had to change and I decided to remain positive by going three at the back and take off an attacker. The game was still goalless at the break but we took the lead just after the restart, Macken having a simple finish after great work from Wright-Phillips on the right. With 20 minutes remaining I decided to try to close the game down so Macken came off and I put on an extra defender. It did the trick as we withstood increasing Middlesbrough pressure to hold on to the 1-0 win. Like ourselves, Charlton had made a good start to the season and when we travelled to the Valley in midweek I expected a hard match. Sun Jihai replaced the suspended Mills but that apart I named an unchanged side. As might be expected the home side saw a bit more of the ball in the first half but we had our moments and both keepers made some impressive stops. We made most of the running in the second half though and Sinclair broke the deadlock five minutes after the restart. We had chances to build on our lead but failed to take them and Charlton grabbed an equaliser against the run of play with quarter of an hour remaining. I decided to introduce fresh legs and I threw on all three subs, looking for the win. It did the trick as Willo Flood scored our second with less than five minutes to play. He latched on to a ball over the top from Barton and showed neat control and no little composure to round Dean Kiely and tuck the ball away. World Cup qualifiers gave most of the lads a weekend off although Dunne, James and Wright-Phillips were all in action as well as some of our younger players in the Under-21s. Reyna returned to the lineup for the visit of Blackburn with Bosvelt moving to the bench to make room and Mills returned from suspension.. Some poor marking at a corner gave the visitors an early lead in what proved to be their only scoring attempt. We never got any attacking momentum going and the disappointing 1-0 defeat lost us a chance to move up to second place. I sent the same eleven to Southampton and I was much happier with the level of our performance. Macken scored two excellent goals in the first half and Reyna was also on target after the interval to give us a comfortable 3-0 win. We hosted Wrexham in midweek in the 3rd round of the League Cup and once again I selected many of our fringe players to give them some competitive action. The lads came up trumps with an excellent performance and were never troubled in the 5-0 victory. By the end of the month we had Sibierski and Fowler back in full training although neither was fit enough to make the team for the visit of Portsmouth. Macca was also absent, out for a few weeks with a calf strain. It was a frustrating game as we failed to find a way past an inspired Shaka Hislop and conceded a breakaway goal to lose 1-0. Despite the defeat we entered November holding second place and feeling pretty pleased with our good start to the season. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 36 | 9 | +27 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | MAN CITY | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 13 | +6 | 24 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 9 | +11 | 23 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Chelsea | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 14 | +9 | 22 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Portsmouth | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 20 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 1, 2006 Author Share Posted January 1, 2006 November 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I’d love to be a mole on the wall in the Liverpool dressing room at half time. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> We travelled to Liverpool with both Fowler and Sibierski named amongst the substitutes. Antoine was probably fit enough to start but Trevor Sinclair had been playing so well in his absence that he kept his place on merit. Macken was forced to miss the match after picking up a knock in training so The Goat was given the nod up front. The Reds had been having a very poor season thus far and sat down in 13th place but Anfield is always a tough place to get a result. Three times Claudio Reyna put us in the lead and three times the home side equalised – talk about a thriller. But the worst of it all was that they went ahead for the first time in the game with the stadium clock reading 91 minutes and 56 seconds – heartbreaking, especially for Man of the Match Reyna. I used our midweek Carling Cup match at home to Norwich as a vehicle to give some players returning from injury a run out and also to give some fringe players some action. And anyway, all the big teams treat the competition with contempt so I thought that I would do the same. Paul Bosvelt impressed, scoring our opener ten minutes into the second half and also striking the woodwork. Antoine Sibierski made the tie safe with a goal in stoppage time to give us a 2-0 win and send us into the Quarter Finals. It was back to our first eleven for the visit of Birmingham and there may have been 12 places separating the teams in the Premiership table but on the day there was little to choose between them. Possession, chances and goals were all shared, Jon Macken firing us ahead after 8 minutes and Clinton Morrison equalising five minutes later. Macken was on target again in our final league game of the month at Tottenham in another evenly contested match, scoring what proved to be the winning goal after 20 minutes. Once more there was little to split the teams in terms of chances and both keepers were in sparkling form with Paul Robinson edging out David James for Man of the Match honours. On the final day of the month we played our League Cup Quarter Final at Fulham on a Tuesday evening and I decided to play the side that got us there. It was another very even contest and we lost by a narrow 1-0 margin, Luis Boa Morte scoring the only goal of the game midway through the first half. An up and down month saw us slip down a couple of places but if we can hold on to 4th place at the end of the season then everyone at the club will be delighted. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 15 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 43 | 10 | +33 | 35 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Newcastle | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 25 | 9 | +16 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 16 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 28 | 17 | +11 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | MAN CITY | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 18 | +6 | 28 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Charlton | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 18 | +8 | 25 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 That league table looks all wrong, I think you've got a spelling mistake, surely it's U-N-I-T-E-D ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 Absolutely amazing start, following this story with interest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 2, 2006 Author Share Posted January 2, 2006 Thanks for the support chaps. December 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Despite his white boots, he has pace and aggression. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> We had an opportunity for immediate revenge as Fulham came to the City of Manchester Stadium but both Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips were absent through injury. An early Paul Bosvelt goal got us off to a flying start but by half time we were behind as “Andrew†Cole (he’ll always be plain Andy to me) scored twice in ten minutes. Reyna spared our blushes with a swerving shot from the edge of the area with 15 minutes remaining to save a point. The first Manchester derby of the season took place at Old Trafford and I felt that it could a pivotal game for us. We went into the match high on confidence and needed all of our team spirit as the home side were dominant for most of the game. We defended stoutly with David James making some fine saves to keep the match scoreless. We took the lead against the run of play ten minutes into the second half after some great work by Sinclair set up Bosvelt for a simple finish. Then in the 82nd minute Danny Mills was booked for the second time and I was forced into a defensive re-shuffle, switching to a three-man midfield in an effort to hold on to the lead. But it was not to be and Phil Neville squared the game a few minutes later with an unstoppable cross-shot that left James helpless. Despite the disappointment of losing the lead so late on I was still satisfied with the point and it kept us above our neighbours in the table. The visit of Crystal Palace saw Sinclair suspended and Sibierski injured so I had to ask Jon Macken to play on the left of midfield and put Fowler up front. Mills was also suspended so I brought David Sommeil in at right back. Reyna and Bosvelt bossed the midfield with the American scoring twice in our excellent 4-1 win with Macken and Fowler getting our other goals. Newcastle were our next visitors and a win would move us above him in the table. Both Mills and Sinclair returned to the starting eleven as we looked to keep our good run of form going. Once again the midfield were instrumental in fashioning another fine win, Reyna scoring his 9th goal of the season early on and Sinclair getting his 7th in the second half. Jon Macken’s 27th minute goal provided the meat in the sandwich between those two strikes as we outplayed a subdued Newcastle side to move up to 3rd in the Premiership. Boxing Day saw us travel to West Brom and the relegation strugglers enjoyed a good first half, going into the break a goal ahead and also having hit the woodwork. Bosvelt conjured up an equaliser on the hour after some magic from Wright-Phillips but four minutes from the end the poor man’s Ronaldo, Rob Earnshaw, made the winner for Jason Koumas. Given our rich vein of form this was a disappointing defeat and left us one of four teams all on 36 points chasing the leading two. Just two days later we entertained 19th place Norwich and I had to make several changes to the lineup to rest some tired players. Despite enjoying most of the possession and creating all of the chances, we failed to penetrate the Canaries rearguard. Keeper Robert Green took the Man of the Match plaudits in the goalless draw and we reached the New Year hanging on to a top-5 position. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 22 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 58 | 17 | +41 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 44 | 25 | +19 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 21 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 32 | 19 | +13 | 39 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Everton | 22 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 39 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | MAN CITY | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 24 | +11 | 37 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Man Utd | 22 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 26 | 20 | +6 | 36 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 3, 2006 Author Share Posted January 3, 2006 January 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> That was a tremendous strike which hit the defender full on the arm - and it nearly came off. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> The transfer window may have re-opened but with little money available I had no real options to strengthen the squad and my only activity was to release a couple of Under-18 players who didn’t look like making the grade. New Years Day saw us travel to near-neighbours Bolton and put in probably our worst display of the season so far to suffer a 3-0 defeat. Just two days later we entertained 4th place Everton looking to get back to winning ways. Having changed half the team to bring in fresh legs I was disappointed to go into the break a goal down but two goals from Robbie Fowler and a Man of the Match display by fellow scouser McManaman turned the game around and we won 2-1. It was FA Cup action next and a trip to League One side Chesterfield and a breakaway goal for the home side, combined with an inspired goalkeeper, threatened the ultimate embarrassment of being on the wrong end of a giant-killing act. But substitute Joey Barton scored twice in the last ten minutes to take us through and spare our blushes. We then found out that we would be losing Sun Jihai in the summer when he rejected our offer of an extended contract and agreed terms with Mallorca instead. Sean Wright-Phillips was suspended for the trip to Aston Villa, a team surprisingly struggling at the wrong end of the table. Once again we made life difficult for ourselves by conceding the opening goal but Fowler scored a fine equaliser before the break, firing home a curving shot from the edge of the area. We were caught cold shortly after the restart to go behind again and were unlucky on several occasions not to create another equaliser. The final nail in the coffin came in stoppage time as, chasing the game, we were caught on the break and conceded again to lose 3-1. We faced a trip to London in the 4th Round of the FA Cup with Fulham our opponents and we were hoping to avenge our defeat in the League Cup Quarter Finals. Claudio Reyna was absent as he was in the USA squad for the Gold Cup so Joey Barton was drafted into midfield. Two goals from Trevor Sinclair in the first half put us well on the way but the home side proved to be our bogey team once more. They pulled a goal back on 57, equalised with 20 minutes remaining with a Sun Jahai own goal and got the winner in stoppage time when Andy Cole scored with a shot that deflected in off Danny Mills. Another frustrating Cup exit meant that all we had left to play for was a top-six league finish and an elusive European place. The month ended with another match against London opposition with a visit from league leaders Arsenal. Now the last thing you want to do against the Gunners is to give them a goal start but that’s exactly what we did, Thierry Henry putting them ahead midway through the first half. However we responded superbly and equalised on the half hour when Richard Dunne powered home a Sinclair corner. Wright-Phillips put us in front early in the second half and we went on to dominate the remainder of the game. Sun Jahai scored our 3rd with quarter of an hour remaining and Barton put the icing on the cake with a 4th in stoppage time. The 4-1 win was magnificent reward for possibly our best display of the season and it was particularly satisfying after our recent FA Cup exit. The end of the month heralded two pieces of news – keeper Nicky Weaver was back in full training after a 13-month layoff and Steve McManaman would be leaving in the summer after accepting a contract offer from Southampton. Macca has done well for us this season but his general lack of fitness makes him a luxury player as far as I am concerned and I would not have been offering him a renewal anyway. His departure would have the added benefit of lopping £35K off our wage bill, perhaps giving some latitude to bring in a new face or two in the summer. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 67 | 25 | +42 | 54 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 26 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 54 | 30 | +24 | 52 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 25 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 35 | 22 | +13 | 44 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | MAN CITY | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 42 | 32 | +10 | 43 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Everton | 26 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 38 | 33 | +5 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Charlton | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 46 | 30 | +16 | 41 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Southampton | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 34 | 35 | -1 | 39 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | Man Utd | 26 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 33 | 29 | +4 | 38 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 3, 2006 Author Share Posted January 3, 2006 January 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> That was a tremendous strike which hit the defender full on the arm - and it nearly came off. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> The transfer window may have re-opened but with little money available I had no real options to strengthen the squad and my only activity was to release a couple of Under-18 players who didn’t look like making the grade. New Years Day saw us travel to near-neighbours Bolton and put in probably our worst display of the season so far to suffer a 3-0 defeat. Just two days later we entertained 4th place Everton looking to get back to winning ways. Having changed half the team to bring in fresh legs I was disappointed to go into the break a goal down but two goals from Robbie Fowler and a Man of the Match display by fellow scouser McManaman turned the game around and we won 2-1. It was FA Cup action next and a trip to League One side Chesterfield and a breakaway goal for the home side, combined with an inspired goalkeeper, threatened the ultimate embarrassment of being on the wrong end of a giant-killing act. But substitute Joey Barton scored twice in the last ten minutes to take us through and spare our blushes. We then found out that we would be losing Sun Jihai in the summer when he rejected our offer of an extended contract and agreed terms with Mallorca instead. Sean Wright-Phillips was suspended for the trip to Aston Villa, a team surprisingly struggling at the wrong end of the table. Once again we made life difficult for ourselves by conceding the opening goal but Fowler scored a fine equaliser before the break, firing home a curving shot from the edge of the area. We were caught cold shortly after the restart to go behind again and were unlucky on several occasions not to create another equaliser. The final nail in the coffin came in stoppage time as, chasing the game, we were caught on the break and conceded again to lose 3-1. We faced a trip to London in the 4th Round of the FA Cup with Fulham our opponents and we were hoping to avenge our defeat in the League Cup Quarter Finals. Claudio Reyna was absent as he was in the USA squad for the Gold Cup so Joey Barton was drafted into midfield. Two goals from Trevor Sinclair in the first half put us well on the way but the home side proved to be our bogey team once more. They pulled a goal back on 57, equalised with 20 minutes remaining with a Sun Jahai own goal and got the winner in stoppage time when Andy Cole scored with a shot that deflected in off Danny Mills. Another frustrating Cup exit meant that all we had left to play for was a top-six league finish and an elusive European place. The month ended with another match against London opposition with a visit from league leaders Arsenal. Now the last thing you want to do against the Gunners is to give them a goal start but that’s exactly what we did, Thierry Henry putting them ahead midway through the first half. However we responded superbly and equalised on the half hour when Richard Dunne powered home a Sinclair corner. Wright-Phillips put us in front early in the second half and we went on to dominate the remainder of the game. Sun Jahai scored our 3rd with quarter of an hour remaining and Barton put the icing on the cake with a 4th in stoppage time. The 4-1 win was magnificent reward for possibly our best display of the season and it was particularly satisfying after our recent FA Cup exit. The end of the month heralded two pieces of news – keeper Nicky Weaver was back in full training after a 13-month layoff and Steve McManaman would be leaving in the summer after accepting a contract offer from Southampton. Macca has done well for us this season but his general lack of fitness makes him a luxury player as far as I am concerned and I would not have been offering him a renewal anyway. His departure would have the added benefit of lopping £35K off our wage bill, perhaps giving some latitude to bring in a new face or two in the summer. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 67 | 25 | +42 | 54 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 26 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 54 | 30 | +24 | 52 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 25 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 35 | 22 | +13 | 44 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | MAN CITY | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 42 | 32 | +10 | 43 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Everton | 26 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 38 | 33 | +5 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Charlton | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 46 | 30 | +16 | 41 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Southampton | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 34 | 35 | -1 | 39 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | Man Utd | 26 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 33 | 29 | +4 | 38 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 February 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Goalkeepers aren't born today until they're in their late 20s or 30s and sometimes not even then. Or so it would appear. To me anyway. Don't you think the same? </div></BLOCKQUOTE> We faced London opposition once more in our first game of the month and travelled to Stamford Bridge with Ben Thatcher and Paul Bosvelt both suspended although Reyna was now back from the Gold Cup after the USA were surprisingly eliminated in the Quarter Finals. Having just got one over on the league leaders I was hopeful of a decent result against their nearest challengers but when we went two goals down inside ten minutes I was not so optimistic. We pulled ourselves together after our nightmare start but made little impression on a stubborn Chelsea defence and our 2-0 defeat was a bitter pill to swallow after our performance against Arsenal. Another road trip was required at the weekend and we travelled to relegation-threatened Middlesbrough on the Sunday having slipped down to 7th place. I am at a loss to explain our tendency to start as though we are asleep and once again we were caught cold and conceded an early goal. There was less than 60 seconds on the clock when George Boateng fired his team in front and they held on to their narrow advantage until the final whistle. Our final game of a short month featured London opponents again with Charlton making the trip north. I had high hopes of avoiding an early concession when Wright-Phillips came close to scoring in the first minute, his shot coming back off the crossbar. But with ten minutes showing on the stadium clock it happened again, Shaun Bartlett easily outjumping a static defence to head home a corner. We looked positively pedestrian as we laboured away to get back into the game but our efforts were in vain. I even took off an out of sorts Wright-Phillips in the second half but that did little to improve our play. The dismal 1-0 defeat makes it three losses out of three this month and we are steadily undermining our bright start to the season and are in danger of falling into mid-table obscurity. Certainly my hopes of finishing above our city rivals are fading fast and we have to get back into a winning run soon or we can kiss Europe goodbye. Right at the end of the month poor Nicky Weaver suffered another setback when he strained his knee ligaments in training and would miss another month of action. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 29 | 19 | 4 | 6 | 71 | 27 | +44 | 61 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 29 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 58 | 34 | +24 | 56 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Charlton | 29 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 49 | 30 | +19 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Everton | 29 | 15 | 3 | 11 | 43 | 35 | +8 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Man Utd | 29 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 40 | 31 | +9 | 47 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Newcastle | 28 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 40 | 29 | +11 | 46 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | MAN CITY | 29 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 42 | 36 | +6 | 43 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 March 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> He can't speak Turkey, but you can tell he's delighted. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> With just two league matches on our schedule March would also prove to be foreshortened as far as competitive football was concerned. We started with a trip to Blackburn and the almost inevitable early goal came after three minutes, Paul Gallagher doing the damage. Thankfully Fowler found an equaliser after quarter of an hour but then hobbled off injured shortly afterwards with Sinclair following him off before the break. The scores were tied at half time but the home side took the lead again within ten minutes of the restart but Reyna squared the game on the hour. Wright-Phillips had been having some disciplinary problems throughout the season and kept picking up bookings and the youngster didn’t help our cause when he was booked for the second time in the game with ten minutes remaining. A midfield re-shuffle saw us hold on to take a point and end the run of defeats. Before our next game we sold on one of our young defenders as James Lee-Matthews agreed a £250K move to Colchester. Macca came in for the suspended Wright-Phillips for the visit of Southampton and made an immediate impact, giving us the lead after quarter of an hour. Minutes before half time he turned provider, whipping in a cross for fellow scouser Fowler to double our advantage with a diving header. We reached the break with our 2-0 lead intact, aided in no small part by the visitor’s inability to get a shot on target. They continued in the same vein after the break, spurning some reasonable chances, and we sealed the win with a goal from Sinclair late on. I was relieved to get a win under our belts and hoped that we could find a decent run of from to close out the season. The Under-18’s capped a great season by securing their league title with three rounds of matches still to play and Crystal Palace were confirmed as the first team to be relegated form the Premiership after a dreadful season. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 31 | 21 | 4 | 6 | 73 | 27 | +46 | 67 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 31 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 62 | 35 | +27 | 62 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 30 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 45 | 30 | +15 | 52 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Man Utd | 31 | 13 | 12 | 6 | 43 | 32 | +11 | 51 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Charlton | 31 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 51 | 32 | +19 | 50 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Everton | 31 | 15 | 4 | 12 | 44 | 38 | +6 | 49 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Tottenham | 31 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 48 | 33 | +15 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | MAN CITY | 31 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 47 | 38 | +9 | 47 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ell and Back Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Nice stuff BobBev, I'm enjoying this. Good luck with the run in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 Cheers Ell April 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> The good news for Nigeria is that they're two-nil down very early in the game. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Geert De Vlieger started back in full training at the start of this month and with Weaver also over his most recent injury we had a full complement of keepers for the first time this season. I put the 33-year-old Belgian on the bench for the trip to Portsmouth as we looked to try to finish the season on a high with good results in our last half dozen or so games. Just for a change we got through the first half without conceding a goal but we had a man sent off instead. Trevor Sinclair was booked twice in the first 40 minutes and I was forced to switch to a three-man midfield for the remainder of the game. Despite being short of numbers we were still creating chances and the home side had cause to thank keeper Shaka Hislop for keeping the game scoreless. But then in the 66th minute Danny Mills got his second yellow card forcing me to take off Barton, bring Amoruso into central defence and move Mikkel Bischoff to right back. We held out until three minutes from time when Yakubu scored with a powerful shot from some 25 yards out. We still had some fight left though and two minutes later Fowler squared the game with a great finish from the edge of the area. Just as I was giving thanks for an unlikely point the home side the home side scored again in stoppage time but thankfully the referee had spotted an infringement and it was disallowed. During the next few days we agreed one-year extensions for both Paul Bosvelt and Shaun Goater. The Goat hadn’t seen too much action but I felt that his experience would be useful for one more season. Even though Bosvelt had turned 35 he was in good physical condition and had performed very well for us and was deserving of another 12 months. With our next match scheduled to take place on a Sunday there was some shock news the day before that rocked the whole of Manchester. Following a 2-1 defeat at Everton, Man United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was sacked by the United Board. There was immediate speculation in the press regarding a replacement with Steve Bruce touted by many as the favourite to take over. The following day Middlesbrough parted company with Steve McLaren with some commentators suggesting that he was in line for the Old Trafford job. Meantime we faced a Liverpool side sitting in mid table with manager Rafa Benitez facing increasing unrest from his team’s supporters. With Mills and Sinclair both suspended, Sibierski came in to midfield and David Sommeil started at right back. We had the better of the opening 30 minutes without penetrating the visiting defence. Then we lost Wright-Phillips after a dreadful challenge from Xabi Alonso that saw the Spaniard red-carded with Macca coming on as a replacement for our injured player. Richard Dunne came off with a knock just after the restart and at the same time I brought on The Goat for a struggling Fowler. When Ben Thatcher was injured on the hour I was out of subs so I had to move Barton to left back and play with ten men. By the end of the game Sommeil and Macca were virtual spectators as they both struggled with knocks and we just ran out of steam. In spite of our problems we created enough decent chances to get the win but Jerzy Dudek made some fine saves to hold us to a frustrating goalless draw. The news on Wright-Phillips was bad as he was diagnosed with a torn calf muscle and would be out for at least three months following surgery. This was not what we needed at a point in the season where we desperately needed to get a run of wins going if we were to secure our European dream. A few days later there was a further surprise from Old Trafford as former Mexico and Real Madrid legend Hugo Sanchez was unveiled as the new manager. Mills and Sinclair were both back in the side for the trip to Birmingham, Antoine playing on the left and Trevor moving to the right to cover for Wright-Phillips. Claudio Reyna gave us the lead inside ten minutes but we were pegged back half an hour later when Walter Pandiani equalised, both goals benefiting from deflections. Only a goal line clearance by Richard Dunne kept the match even as we struggled to offer much attacking threat. With Barton starting to hobble I introduced Sun Jihai after an hour but our play didn’t improve much. The winning goal came with 15 minutes remaining and it went to the home side, much to my disappointment. Young Stephen Jordan replaced the injured Thatcher for the visit of Spurs in a game that we had to win if we had any hope of a top-six finish. Our opponents sat one place and three points above us and a defeat would just about end our season. But the magic of the first half of the season has well and truly vanished and a second-half goal from Frederic Kanoute condemned us to a poor 1-0 defeat. Danny Mills was both injured and suspended for the trip to Fulham so David Sommeil started at right back. Hoping to pep up the attack I dropped Fowler and started The Goat with Jon Macken sitting on the bench. With confidence low and our earlier attacking flair conspicuous by its absence we needed to grind out a result or two to lift our spirits. After a goalless first 45 minutes The Goat fired us ahead in the 66th minute. But our bogey team struck back with a soft penalty five minutes later to grab a 1-1 draw. Typical of our recent luck was the fact that home keeper Edwin van der Sar was voted Man of the Match for a series of stunning saves to deny us a win we desperately needed. With just two rounds of matches remaining all hope of European football next season had gone and we were playing for pride. Arsenal and Chelsea were neck and neck in the title race and we had no hope of overtaking rivals United to gain local bragging rights. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 36 | 23 | 5 | 8 | 80 | 29 | +51 | 74 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 36 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 72 | 40 | +32 | 74 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 36 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 57 | 36 | +21 | 65 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Man Utd | 36 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Everton | 36 | 17 | 5 | 14 | 50 | 45 | +5 | 56 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Tottenham | 36 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 53 | 42 | +11 | 55 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Charlton | 36 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 55 | 40 | +15 | 53 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | Blackburn | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 45 | 42 | +3 | 52 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | MAN CITY | 36 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 50 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 8, 2006 Author Share Posted January 8, 2006 May 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Gary always weighed up his options, especially when he had no choice. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Liverpool finally ran out of patience with Rafa Benitez and the Spaniard was given his marching orders as his team still sat marooned in mid-table. Our penultimate match was the biggest of the season – a televised Monday evening visit by hated rivals Manchester United. According to my watch we had played just 36 seconds when the first goal was scored and the second followed 20 minutes later, both of them coming from Sibierski. Yes, you read that correctly – after 20 minutes of play we were 2-0 up and looking good. Unfortunately it didn’t last and just before the break the visitors pulled a goal back with a shot that deflected off Mills. The amount of times that that had happed this season I was beginning to think that Danny was incapable of actually blocking a shot! We survived a scare or two in the second half but just as I was preparing to take him off and bring Macken on, The Goat made the game safe with our 3rd goal. Needless to say the fans and the Board were delighted with the victory. I was just plain relieved to have won a game, our first success in six games. The season finished with a visit to relegated Crystal Palace and, still on a high from our last match, we racked up an excellent 6-0 win - quite a contrast from our form in the previous month or two. Both Sun Jihai and Steve McManaman made appearances form the bench to mark their final game for the club before their summer departures. Despite finishing with two wins our final league position of 8th was a disappointment given our splendid form in the first half of the campaign but the Chairman was still delighted with our season and the £7.75M in prize money improved our bank balance quite dramatically. After having topped the table for most of the season, Arsenal stumbled in the home straight and Chelsea took the title. A 13th place finish by Liverpool was disaster for the Merseysiders but the Geordies were delighted by their team’s top-three position. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Chelsea | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 75 | 41 | +34 | 78 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Arsenal | 38 | 23 | 7 | 8 | 82 | 31 | +51 | 76 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Newcastle | 38 | 18 | 13 | 7 | 58 | 37 | +21 | 67 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Man Utd | 38 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 55 | 43 | +12 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Everton | 38 | 18 | 5 | 15 | 53 | 48 | +5 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Tottenham | 38 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 55 | 44 | +11 | 57 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Charlton | 38 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 59 | 43 | +16 | 56 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | MAN CITY | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 59 | 44 | +15 | 56 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Blackburn | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 47 | 46 | +1 | 53 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Portsmouth | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 46 | 47 | -1 | 52 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Bolton | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 42 | 43 | -1 | 52 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Birmingham | 38 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 45 | 41 | +4 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Liverpool | 38 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 36 | 37 | -1 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | West Brom | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 45 | 51 | -6 | 47 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Fulham | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 45 | 56 | -11 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Southampton | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 45 | 58 | -13 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Aston Villa | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 45 | 54 | -9 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Middlesbrough | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 42 | 71 | -29 | 36 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Norwich | 38 | 4 | 16 | 18 | 31 | 54 | -23 | 28 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Crystal Palace | 38 | 6 | 1 | 31 | 23 | 99 | -76 | 19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> On the playing front Ben Thatcher and Shaun Wright-Phillips both made it to the Premiership Select, with young Shaun finishing runner-up to Thierry Henry in both the Player’s Player of the Year and the English Footballer of the Year. Claudio Reyna finished as our top scorer with a dozen goals and the departing Macca racked up 10 assists. I was pleased by the contribution of Sinclair, Bischoff, Bosvelt and Barton but we had an obvious problem on the goalscoring front that I needed to rectify. Domestically, Newcastle lifted the League Cup and Everton triumphed in the FA Cup whilst in Europe, Fenerbache took the UEFA Cup and FC Bayern the Champions League. Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle and Man United all qualified for the Champions League, Everton, Charlton and Tottenham would play in the UEFA Cup and the Inter-Toto would feature ourselves and Blackburn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 12, 2006 Author Share Posted January 12, 2006 Season 2 June/July 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I know what is around the corner - I just don't know where the corner is. But the onus is on us to perform and we must control the bandwagon. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> To be honest our summer was fairly uneventful as, despite a profitable season I was given a transfer budget of just £900K so my options in the transfer market were limited. I was interested in developments at Anfield as Danish legend Michael Laudrup was revealed as the new man in charge of Liverpool – after his success with Brondby in Denmark how would he fare in the Premiership. Our Inter-Toto adventure would begin in the 3rd round and in light of the early start to the season I eschewed any additional friendlies, preferring instead to concentrate on competitive action. On the playing front there was little change with just two new players arriving prior to our European opener. Veteran centre back Nourredine Naybet came in from Spurs for a nominal £60K fee, the 35-year-old offering some solid experience at the back. The other addition was a more exciting prospect as 24-year-old Spanish striker Guiza joined from Mallorca on a free transfer. I was hoping that he would offer us more bite up front as that was clearly an area that we had struggled in last season. Steve McManaman and Sun Jihai left on their pre-arranged transfers, Nicky Weaver, Lorenzo Amoruso and Lee Croft were all allowed to leave when their contracts expired and around a dozen youngsters were released from the youth setup. Action began in mid-July with a two-legged encounter against Finnish side TPS but neither of our new signings had arrived in time for European registration so they were left sitting on the sidelines. We took the lead 90 seconds into the away leg and went on to create, and miss, a boatload of chances for the next 30 minutes. A penalty against the run of play allowed the home side to level but Shaun Goater regained the lead before half time, having already had a goal disallowed earlier. We continued to dominate play in the second half and The Goat got his second of the game to give us a decent lead to take into the return. Before the next leg we picked up another free agent in the shape of 21-year-old Czech midfielder Tomas Sivok who had been released by Sparta Prague. An interesting quirk in the UEFA regulations allowed him to be selected for the home leg and he showed well in our 1-0 win. In the Semi Final we faced a much tougher prospect when we were drawn against Spanish side Betis. The home leg started badly as we conceded inside five minutes but thankfully Claudio Reyna found an equaliser before the break and the tie ended all square at one apiece. Shaun Wright-Phillips was welcomed back into full training at the end of the month and I was hopeful that he had made a full recovery from his surgery. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spav Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 Bob, that's a good first season with Manchester City. I'll be interested to see if you can improve their fortunes even more and finish higher up the table in your second season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 13, 2006 Author Share Posted January 13, 2006 Cheers Spav, glad you're reading along August 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I don't think there's anyone bigger or smaller than Maradona. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> At the start of the month I received the welcome news that the Board had made available an extra £2.5M in transfer funds so I was quick to dust off my shortlist and see if we could strengthen the squad. With the bookies rating us at 40/1 shots for the title alongside Everton and Liverpool they seemed to be expecting at least a top-eight finish and I was certainly hoping to build on our success of last season. For our return leg in Betis I restored Joey Barton to midfield now that he had recovered from an injury picked up in training a few weeks earlier. I also moved Mikkel Bischof to the bench and brought Sylvain Distin back into central defence. Once again we conceded early on but this time we were unable to find a way back into the game. When the home side scored a second goal with just under ten minutes remaining we looked dead and buried but a goal from substitute Sivok gave us hope. However Betis were able to hold out to win 2-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate and our brief European foray was over. I decided to use the bulk of my transfer funds to try to bring Italian midfielder Andrea Gasbarroni in from Juventus and my offer triggered bids from several other clubs for the 24-year-old. At the same time I despatched an offer to Colombian international Freddy Grisales to come to Manchester at the end of his current contract. Personal terms were quickly agreed but the move was subject to a work permit and it would take several weeks for a decision to be finalised. On the same day unsettled keeper Geert De Vlieger handed in a transfer request, which I immediately agreed to, moving the Belgian to the reserves and promoting the talented Kasper Schmeichel on to the bench. To my delight I was able to convince Gasbarroni that his future lay in Manchester and the £2.7M deal was concluded. Our season opener in the Premiership came at local rivals Bolton and I was pleased to be able to select Shaun Wright-Phillips who was fully fit. New striker Guiza made his debut and Gasbarroni was selected amongst the substitutes. Eight minutes into his first appearance the Spaniard fired us ahead and five minutes later he scored his second. Twenty minutes into the game Wright-Phillips put us 3-0 up and that was how the score stood at half time. The home side pulled a goal back shortly after the restart but five minutes from time Guiza completed his hat trick to seal a thoroughly impressive introduction to his new career. Our first home league game featured a visit by West Brom and goals from Reyna and Sinclair gave us a comfortable 2-0 win and a very satisfying start to the campaign. More good news followed as the work permit application for Freddy Grislaes was successful, clearing the way for him to join us at the start of February next year. The only change I made for the midweek trip to Charlton was to put Naybet on the bench now that he had recovered from an earlier training injury. We lost Trevor Sinclair to injury after 20 minutes and ten minutes later fell behind to a Francis Jeffers goal. We created a few chances to square the game but the home side always seemed to have the edge and scored again through substitute Shaun Bartlett 15 minutes from time to seal the win. The 2-0 defeat ended our brief winning start to the season and with Sinclair suffering a calf strain he would be out for a fortnight Antoine Sibierski was given a start on the left wing for the televised game at home to Everton at the end of the month. Less than five minutes had been played when Guiza scored his debut home goal and two minutes later we doubled our lead when defender Alan Stubbs deflected a shot from Barton into his own net. When we went 3-0 up in the 40th minute through Reyna the game looked secure but the visitors pulled a goal back in stoppage time to reduce the deficit. During the break I told the lads that we needed to hold firm for the opening period of the second half and not give the visitors the encouragement of another goal. They did exactly that and went on to score twice more in the closing quarter of an hour, Guiza claiming them both for his second hat trick in two games. We ended the month in a reasonable 4th place with Arsenal heading the table having won all four of their league games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spav Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Guiza - would that be pronounced 'geezer'? Think of all the fun you could have with newspaper headlines if it was that way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 15, 2006 Author Share Posted January 15, 2006 There's an accent in there somewhere Spav so I'm not sure on the pronounciation September 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> You get bunches of players like you do bananas, though that is a bad comparison. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> At the start of the month Ben Thatcher and Shaun Wright-Phillips came head to head when they represented their countries as Wales held England to a respectable 1-1 draw at the Millennium Stadium. They both played again in midweek as back-to-back World Cup qualifiers took place and Claudio Reyna also played twice for the USA, all three returning injury-free, if a little weary. I decided not to make any changes for the trip to 3rd place Birmingham and goals from Sibierski and Man of the Match Shaun Wright-Phillips gave us an excellent 2-0 win although we did lose Guiza for a week with a sprained wrist. Our next action came in a midweek trip to Crewe in the 2nd Round of the League Cup and I took the opportunity to give some playing time to the fringe players in the first team squad and two goals from Robbie Fowler settled the tie in our favour. For the visit of struggling Leicester I reverted back to my first choice selection with the exception of the injured Guiza and Fowler kept his place after his impressive display in the last match. Talk about a game of two halves – a dour first period ended goalless but we struck four times without reply in the second half, Reyna and Bosvelt each getting a brace. The midweek visit of Burnley saw Guiza and Sinclair both back from injury and both players marked their return by getting amongst the goals in our impressive 4-0 win. Guiza scored twice and Sinclair once with Wright-Phillips netting the 4th as we moved up to 3rd place in the table. We ended the month just a point behind new leaders Chelsea and second place Arsenal. Shaun Wright-Phillips was recognised as Player of the Month in the Premiership with Claudio Reyna runner-up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 October 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Not many teams will come to Arsenal and get anything, home or away. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> It was only October 1st, far too early to use the term “make or breakâ€, but I couldn’t help feeling that the trip to Arsenal could be a key moment in our season. With my first choice eleven all playing consistently well confidence was high but a poor result here could undermine our excellent start. Just as it looked like we had weathered the early storm of Arsenal pressure Freddi Ljungberg put the home side in front after quarter of an hour. We kept our heads up through and equalised through Guiza 15 minutes later. But we were fated to go into the break behind and, having struck the bar minutes earlier, Reyes scored the home side’s second goal shortly before the interval. I brought Gasbarroni on for a struggling Sinclair but it failed to spark us and we looked outclassed in the second period. The home side scored twice more, each goal deflecting home off the unlucky Wright-Phillips. The 4-1 defeat served to underline the gulf in class between ourselves and the top teams and it was a sombre trip back up north. A few days later we faced London opposition again with the visit of Fulham and a 1-0 defeat proved that lady luck had deserted us, at least temporarily. The only goal of the game came in the 4th minutes when Luis Boa Morte scored a total fluke, the ball bouncing into the net off his shoulder. When Richard Dunne missed a second-half penalty I just knew that we wouldn’t score and I was resigned to the defeat. With half a dozen players involved in back-to-back World Cup qualifiers I was hoping that they all returned unscathed, but it wan not to be as Ben Thatcher, Claudio Reyna and Shaun Wright-Phillips all suffered injuries. Thatcher was the worst affected, his broken wrist meaning that he would be out for a month. So we travelled to Southampton with three enforced changes where we were reunited with Steve McManaman. Thankfully we just came out on top in an even encounter, the winner coming from a skilful lob from distance by Paul Bosvelt. Just as Stephen Jordan had been given a first team opportunity due to the injury to Thatcher, the 23-year-old left back suffered a dislocated jaw after a nasty training ground collision – bad luck for him and another enforced change for me. He was joined in the treatment room by Sibierski, allowing Bradley Wright-Phillips to get a start on the left wing for the televised visit of Newcastle. The goalless draw wasn’t exactly enthralling viewing for the TV audience and the visitors had the brilliance of keeper Shay Given to thank for their undeserved point. For the midweek trip to Blackpool in the League Cup I continued with my policy of giving the second string players some game time and the home keeper performed miracles to keep the scoreline respectable. Our 2-0 win came courtesy of goals from young midfield duo Willo Flood and Stephen Ireland, both of whom looked like excellent prospects. Our final action of the month involved a trip to Portsmouth and with David James out with bruised ribs I gave 18-year-old Kasper Schmeichel his senior debut. A disappointing 2-0 defeat meant that the teenager did not enjoy a winning start to his career but he was not at fault for either goal. A poor month in the league saw us slip down to 5th place with an unbeaten Arsenal just ahead of Chelsea at the top of the table. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 21, 2006 Author Share Posted January 21, 2006 November 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Argentina won't be at Euro 2000 because they're from South America. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> We got off to a pretty dreadful start at home to Liverpool with the visitors scoring twice in the opening twenty minutes, both goals coming from the head of Sami Hyypia as our defence went to sleep. We improved after the break, Guiza pulling a goal back shortly after the restart but it was too little too late and we were unable to claw back an equaliser. In midweek we travelled to Chesterfield in the League Cup and I once again rotated the starting eleven to give the fringe players some competitive action. Andrea Gasbarroni opened the scoring with his first goal for the club after quarter of an hour and Willo Flood scored our second before the break. We pretty much dominated play but there was no further scoring and the 2-0 win took us into the Quarter Finals. We had half a dozen players involved in International freindlies and Claudio Reyna returned with a minor injury that meant he missed the trip to Aston Villa. We rode our luck in the first half to reach the break with the game still scoreless. Then within two minutes of the restart Paul Bosvelt fired us ahead but we were pegged back ten minutes later through Angel. Just after the hour mark Bosvelt struck again with his second of the match and substitute Willo Flood wrapped up the points with a goal in stoppage time. In our last league match of the month we welcomed visitors Blackburn and on balance of play our 1-0 win was barely deserved. Guiza netted his 11th goal in 14 games after quarter of an hour after he was freed by a through ball from Bosvelt. The 35-year-old Dutch midfielder is enjoying another fine season and is still in very good physical condition. Our Spanish striker is proving to have been a great signing and has now nosed ahead of Thierry Henry in the Premiership scoring chart. I had a tough decision to make going into the League Cup Quarter Final at QPR – with a huge derby match coming up at Old Trafford in a few days time should I stick with my rotational policy in the Cup? This was still the best hope of silverware for a team such as ourselves so I was tempted to put out my best side but in the end I stuck to my guns and rested the first eleven for the United showdown. A sellout crowd at Loftus Road enjoyed a highly competitive encounter with play swinging from end to end as both sides looked to play attacking football. An early goal from Robbie Fowler gave us a good start and we held our slender lead until Willo Flood scored in stoppage time to seal the win and vindicate my decision. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Still reading the story. Nice to see Fulham didn't get relegated (and even are able to beat someone strong ). My favourite English team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 22, 2006 Author Share Posted January 22, 2006 Cheers Tanel - glad you have bought a plane ticket to Manchester Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 22, 2006 Author Share Posted January 22, 2006 December 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I want more from David Beckham. I want him to improve on perfection. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> The month began with a trip to Old Trafford for the first Manchester derby of the season, and an eventful game it turned out to be. After 6 minutes we lost Sibierski to injury so Gasbarroni was brought on. In the 14th minute Man United full back Heinze received his second yellow card giving us a man advantage. Midway through the half Reyna put us in front when his shot took a deflection to deceive Tim Howard in the United goal. At this point I should have been feeling quite confident – a goal up and playing against ten men would surely give us an advantage. But I was far from happy as I can honestly say that in my long and varied management career I cannot recall getting a win when playing against ten men. My concern proved to be justified as first Kleberson equalised right at the end of first-half stoppage time, the goal being his first of the season. Then Roque Santa Cruz put them ahead two minutes after the restart, scored his second of the match with 20 minutes remaining and five minutes from time we lost Guiza when he received his second caution. Talk about a bad day at the office! The next weekend we entertained 5th place Tottenham and with Guiza suspended and Fowler out with a training injury, The Goat started up front. We found ourselves a goal down after just 90 seconds and two behind on the half hour. Frankly we never looked like scoring ourselves and the 2-0 defeat was a real disappointment. A trip to runaway leaders Chelsea seemed unlikely to break our recent losing streak and with several players severely lacking in confidence I felt that the time was ripe to make a few changes. On that basis in came Schmeichel, Dunne and Gasbarroni and out went James, Distin and Sibierski. To give an indication of what we were up against let me show you the Chelsea teamsheet – Cech Ferreira Bridge Terry Carvalho Lampard Rosicky Robben Robinho Ronaldo Pizarro Subs – Cudicini, Drogba, Gudjohnsen, Duff, Johnson Not a bad lineup I’m sure you’d agree. Despite all of this we put up a pretty good performance and even took the lead through Gasbarroni after 20 minutes. Rosicky equalised on the half hour and late goals from Ronaldo and Lampard condemned us to a 3-1 defeat. In midweek a struggling Leeds side visited having just sacked cousin Kevin who took over as manager a year ago. Having missed out on a family reunion, I decided that drastic changes were required to kick-start our season, so I dropped most of the first-teamers and went with the lads that had taken us to the semis of the League Cup. After a goalless first half we finally broke the deadlock through a Richard Dunne penalty. This seemed to relax the lads and they started to play some impressive stuff, adding a second thorough Guiza to seal a comfortable 2-0 win. The bad news was an injury to Bradley Wright-Phillips who suffered a groin tear effectively ruling him out for the remainder of the season. Boxing Day featured another visit from a struggling northern team, Bolton the club in question this time. Once again our opening goal came in the second half via a Richard Dunne penalty but this time it merely served to equalise the visitor’s first half strike. With the game seemingly heading towards a draw we sloppily gave away a second goal in stoppage time for a disappointing 2-1 defeat. Two days later we were at relegation threatened West Brom and despite creating more chances than you could shake a stick at we managed to miss them all and returned home with a poor 0-0 draw. With just four points to show for our efforts, December has been a terrible month and we have lost our momentum totally. We were still occupying 6th place in the table but there was a clear gap opening up between us and the top five. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Chelsea | 20 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 55 | 15 | +40 | 55 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Arsenal | 20 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 41 | 11 | +30 | 43 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Liverpool | 20 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 38 | 20 | +18 | 41 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Man Utd | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 35 | 17 | +18 | 39 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Tottenham | 19 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 29 | 13 | +16 | 39 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Man City | 21 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 34 | 25 | +9 | 32 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Newcastle | 21 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 24 | 17 | +7 | 32 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | Southampton | 21 | 9 | 3 | 9 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 30 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | Everton | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 32 | 29 | +3 | 29 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | Birmingham | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | Charlton | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | Fulham | 21 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 29 | -5 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | Portsmouth | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 22 | 29 | -7 | 26 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | Blackburn | 20 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 28 | -9 | 23 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | Aston Villa | 21 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 23 | -8 | 21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | Leicester | 21 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 19 | 40 | -21 | 17 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | Bolton | 20 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 19 | 32 | -13 | 15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | West Brom | 21 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 30 | -13 | 15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | Burnley | 20 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 44 | -30 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | Leeds | 21 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 10 | 46 | -36 | 8 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 27, 2006 Author Share Posted January 27, 2006 January 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I'm not disappointed - just disappointed. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> The year started positively with a cracking 4-0 win at home to Charlton, Guiza scoring all of our goals to set a new club record. His hat trick arrived inside the opening 20 minutes as we flew out of the starting blocks and the visitors never recovered. His 4th was the pick of the bunch though, a stunning strike from fully 30 yards out that curved wickedly into the top corner. The Spaniard was on the scoresheet again in our 2-0 win at Leicester in the FA Cup 3rd Round, Andrea Gasbarroni getting the second late in the game. Joey Barton showed how well he is maturing as a player with a commanding display in midfield, linking defence and attack in a most effective manner. Southampton came sniffing for two of our players whose contracts will expire in the summer, tabling contract offers for Richard Dunne and Claudio Reyna. I definitely wanted to keep Richard although I wasn’t so certain regarding Reyna but finally decided that his experience would be useful in developing potential starts such as Willo Flood and Stephen Ireland. The American quickly accepted our counter-offer of a one-year extension but to my surprise Dunne turned us down flat, preferring a move to the south coast. For the first leg our League Cup Semi Final against Spurs I decided that I was going to keep faith with the players that had taken us this far so I rested many of our first choice starters. It proved to be an expensive decision, a rather poor 4-1 defeat making us a real outside bet for a shot at some silverware. A desperately poor 2-0 defeat in the league at Everton followed with Thatcher and Gasbarroni both picking up knocks, though neither was serious thank heaven. With Chairman John Wardle calling for “a high-profile signing†I had to remind the boss that with under £1M left in the transfer pot that would take some doing. The arrival of explosive Nigerian forward Julius Aghahowa on a Bosman move from Shakhtar after his work permit was approved gave us more options up front but Mr. Wardle still seemed hopeful of a bigger name. With injuries, suspensions and international commitments (Naybet had been called up for the African Cup of Nations) we were down to the bare bones for the trip to Brighton in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Aghahowa enjoyed his debut, scoring the opening goal in our 3-1 win. Young midfielders Flood and Ireland also impressed, both adding to their goal tally. Shaun Wright-Phillips had been enjoying another excellent season and I wasn’t hugely surprised when the Chairman gave me the news that we had received an offer for the 24-year-old. But when I heard the details I was gobsmacked – Inter were offering £14.5M plus Edgar Davids and Julio Ricardo Cruz, £8M of playing talent combined. Of course it was far too good to turn down. Unfortunately the two players involved turned down a move to City point blank. I say unfortunately not because I wanted Shaun to leave but not only would we have received a substantial sum of money but we would also have had two excellent players coming into the squad, but it was not to be. To have any hope of overhauling the lead built by Spurs in our League Cup Semi Final we needed to score early. In fact we failed to score at all, the game ending 0-0, and all we had to show for our endeavours was two more injured players. We had the same scoreline in our final game of the month at struggling Burnley and indeed were grateful to a rejuvenated David James for a share of the points. Now sitting in 7th place in the table we needed to get a decent run of form going if we were to achieve the holy grail of European qualification. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted January 29, 2006 Author Share Posted January 29, 2006 February 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> There's a slight doubt about only one player, and that's Tony Adams, who definitely won’t be playing tomorrow. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> 30-year-old Colombian international Freddy Grisales joined the club at the start of the month and he was straight into the first eleven for our visit to Leicester and he made an excellent debut. The home side played most of the game with ten men after Gavin McCann was sent off in his first appearance for his new club. Keeper Robert Green performed miracles to restrict us to a single Aghahowa goal and sods law said that they were bound to equalise. The inevitable happened ten minutes form time and I was sorely disappointed with the 1-1 draw. High-flying Arsenal came to town a few days later and inspired by two goals from Antoine Sibierski and some great goalkeeping by David James, we battled for a good 2-2 draw. New boy Grisales scored twice at Fulham before having to go off at half time with a knock and the match turned out to be a real thriller. We may have scored twice in the first period but the home side had scored three times and we came out after half time a goal down. Sibierski equalised from the penalty spot in the 50th minute but then we lost Shaun Wright-Phillips minutes later. A re-shuffle saw Willo Flood move to the right wing and Aghahowa come on in midfield, the Nigerian going on to score twice to give us a great 5-3 win. The news on Wright-Phillips was bad – he had a torn groin muscle and faced a three-month layoff. With brother Bradley also badly injured this season it was not a happy time for the siblings. A late goal from Guiza gave us a 1-0 win at home to Birmingham in midweek with Trevor Sinclair replacing the injured Shaun on the right wing and putting a splendid display. We ended the month with a 5th Round FA Cup tie at West Ham and a brace from Guiza combined with a long-range bullet from Grisales took us through to the Quarter Finals with a 3-1 win. We learnt a few days later that we would face bitter rivals Man United in the next round, a prospect that had the fan’s mouths watering already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 March 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Shaun Wright-Phillips has got a big heart. It’s as big as him, which isn't very big, but it’s bigger. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> March opened with a televised match at home to Southampton and despite picking up a knock Guiza scored the only goal of the game in the first half to give us a good 1-0 win. We had now established a bit of daylight in 7th place over the chasing group but were still 6 points adrift of our top-six target. The FA Cup Quarter Final at Old Trafford was an evenly matched affair with both sides creating, and missing, a number of chances. The home side shaded the first half but we had the better of the second period, coming agonisingly close to scoring in a frantic goalmouth scramble during which Guiza, Reyna and Sibierski were somehow denied by keeper Tim Howard. The winning goal came in the 84th minute and it went the way of the home side, David James coming for a near post corner and Fabrizio Miccoli getting there first. The defeat was a bit harsh on us as I thought that we at least deserved a replay back on our own turf. We recovered well from the disappointment of the cup exit with a crucial 2-0 win at Newcastle in our next match. The Magpies were just a place above us and a victory was vital if we were to have a chance of overhauling them. The goals came from a Grisales piledriver midway through the first half and a rather fortunate own goal a few minutes later. The win moved us to within a point of 6th place and if we could keep our winning streak going in the league then we had a chance of further progression. We kept our good run going with a 2-0 win at home to Portsmouth with Grisales and Sibierski getting the goals in a five-minute spell in the second half. By that time the visitors were playing with ten men and we were able to take advantage of superior numbers helped by their adventurous approach as they chased the game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted February 7, 2006 Author Share Posted February 7, 2006 April 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> We are three games without defeat is another way of looking at it. But if we are honest we have taken two points from nine. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Our 100% in March was enough to give me my first managerial award in the Premiership but I’d gladly swap that for a place in Europe. Some of our recent good work was undone in our first game of the month when we suffered a dreadful 5-1 pasting at 4th place Liverpool as the Reds simply overwhelmed us. We recovered well in our next match though with an impressive 3-0 win at home to Aston Villa. I started Aghahowa up front to rest Guiza and he opened the scoring just before half time with a great near post header. Freddy Grisales added the second, again a headed goal, in the 65th minute and Joey Barton wrapped up the points with his first goal of the season right at the end of the game. In our next match at Blackburn we conceded the opening goal from the penalty spot inside the first 20 minutes and for the remainder of the half we never really got going. But we burst into life after the break and scored three times in a frantic four-minute spell. Substitute Willo Flood squared the game in the 72nd minute when he timed his run into the box to perfection to score a tap-in goal. A minute later Paul Bosvelt put us in front as Flood turned provider and three minutes after that Julius Aghahowa completed a remarkable turnaround with our 3rd goal. Three of our final four matches involved teams in the top five of the Premiership – a demanding run-in that would make or break our hopes of European football. It began with perhaps the biggest match of the season for us – Man U at home. There was less than six minutes on the clock when United went in front, Esteban Cambiasso somehow outjumping our entire defence to send a looping header over the head of David James. On the half hour Calamity then conceded a needless penalty by pushing Paul Scholes and Fabrizio Miccoli slotted home the kick to put the Red Devils well in charge. I was not too happy at half time and told the players so in no uncertain terms. The rocket seemed to do the trick and within two minutes of the restart we were back in the game after David Sommeil scored his first goal of the season from a corner. With time running out we were pressing hard for an equaliser and it finally came in the 84th minute through Freddy Grisales to give us a deserved point. Our final game of the month involved a trip to Tottenham, the team just above us in the table. A win would take us up to 5th place so in many ways it was perhaps our most vital game of the season thus far. We got off to a cracking start with Freddy Grisales scoring a hat trick inside 20 minutes. We were playing some of our best football of the season and the Colombian was at the heart of everything we did. Even a missed penalty on the half hour failed to interrupt our flow and Sibierski put us further ahead on the stroke of half time. Grisales scored his 4th with ten minutes remaining and Aghahowa completed the rout in stoppage time to give us our biggest win of the campaign. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted February 10, 2006 Author Share Posted February 10, 2006 May 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> The tide is very much in our court now. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> With two games left to play the race for 5th place was a three-way fight between ourselves, Spurs and Newcastle. We opened the month with a tough game at home to league leaders Chelsea and then a week later we closed the season with a trip to relegated Leeds. Newcastle faced Aston Villa and Blackburn whilst Tottenham took on Arsenal and Fulham in two difficult London derbies. The stadium clock showed 90:25 when the deadlock was broken against Chelsea and it was Didier Drogba that got the goal. Prior to that we had made most of the running, forcing Petr Cech into action with such effect that he was the recipient of the Man of the Match award. I couldn’t help but feel frustrated to be denied at least a point with such a cruel defeat. The win allowed the Blues to retain their Premiership title and a win for Newcastle took them above us into the top five. Spurs fought out a thrilling 4-4 draw at Highbury, scoring twice in the last minute to steal an unlikely point. In our final game at Leeds we quickly established a two-goal lead through Sibierski and Aghahowa, the Nigerian scoring again before the break to give us a 3-0 lead at half time. Elsewhere Spurs were a goal down at Fulham but Newcastle led Blackburn by the same scoreline. Paul Bosvelt scored our 4th on the hour to complete a comfortable win and at full time we waited to hear the news from Ewood Park and White Hart Lane. Neither game produced any further goals however and our last-second defeat the previous weekend ended up costing us our 5th place finish. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Chelsea | 38 | 29 | 4 | 5 | 93 | 32 | +61 | 91 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Man Utd | 38 | 24 | 12 | 2 | 73 | 25 | +48 | 84 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Arsenal | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 79 | 41 | +38 | 77 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Liverpool | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 76 | 37 | +39 | 76 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Newcastle | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 50 | 27 | +23 | 67 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | MAN CITY | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 71 | 42 | +29 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Tottenham | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 53 | 47 | +6 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Birmingham | 38 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 47 | 39 | +8 | 54 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Fulham | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 42 | 50 | -8 | 54 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Portsmouth | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 42 | 51 | -9 | 50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Blackburn | 38 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 41 | 49 | -8 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Southampton | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | 40 | 46 | -6 | 47 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Aston Villa | 38 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 38 | 43 | -5 | 46 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Everton | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 53 | 66 | -13 | 43 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Charlton | 38 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 40 | 55 | -15 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Bolton | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 38 | 59 | -21 | 39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Leicester | 38 | 11 | 6 | 21 | 38 | 61 | -23 | 39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Leeds | 38 | 6 | 7 | 25 | 22 | 71 | -49 | 25 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | West Brom | 38 | 4 | 11 | 23 | 27 | 60 | -33 | 23 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Burnley | 38 | 3 | 8 | 27 | 25 | 87 | -62 | 17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Whilst disappointed not to have made the top-five I was still pleased with our final league position and with the fact that we would have European football to look forward to next season. There had been some excellent individual performances throughout the team and I was delighted to see full backs Ben Thatcher and Danny Mills chosen for the Premiership Select. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Shaun Wright-Phillips | 24 (2) | 3 | 9 | 5 | 74% | 2.78 | 8.84 | 61% | 8.00 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Freddy Grisales | 15 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 83% | 2.07 | 1.31 | 58% | 7.93 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Ireland | 9 (3) | 2 | 3 | 3 | 82% | 0.83 | 0.31 | 62% | 7.83 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ben Thatcher | 33 | - | 1 | - | 74% | 3.75 | 0.95 | - | 7.61 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Danny Mills | 41 | - | 1 | 1 | 79% | 4.08 | 1.51 | - | 7.56 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Julius Aghahowa | 10 (5) | 9 | 2 | 1 | 83% | 1.10 | 1.93 | 54% | 7.53 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Claudio Reyna | 29 (1) | 6 | 8 | 2 | 85% | 1.33 | 0.33 | 64% | 7.53 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Joey Barton | 41 (1) | 1 | 3 | 4 | 79% | 3.11 | 0.83 | 52% | 7.48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Bosvelt | 40 (4) | 7 | 9 | 2 | 84% | 1.29 | 0.40 | 51% | 7.41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Güiza | 31 (3) | 21 | 7 | 4 | 85% | 0.91 | 2.49 | 72% | 7.38 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Robbie Fowler | 5 (1) | 3 | - | - | 90% | 0.85 | 0.42 | 58% | 7.33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Sylvain Distin | 40 | - | 1 | 1 | 78% | 2.33 | 0.46 | - | 7.33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Willo Flood | 9 (12) | 6 | 8 | 1 | 84% | 2.38 | 1.11 | 52% | 7.29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tomas Sivok | 10 (8) | 1 | - | - | 83% | 3.25 | 0.44 | 38% | 7.28 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Richard Dunne | 30 (3) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 74% | 2.58 | 0.35 | - | 7.27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Sommeil | 32 (1) | 1 | 1 | - | 78% | 3.03 | 0.22 | 18% | 7.27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andrea Gasbarroni | 21 (15)| 3 | 10 | 1 | 75% | 2.34 | 3.10 | 55% | 7.25 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David James | 43 | - | 1 | 2 | 52% | - | - | - | 7.21 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Shaun Goater | 7 (3) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 85% | 0.54 | 0.67 | 50% | 7.20 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Antoine Sibierski | 33 (3) | 8 | 12 | - | 74% | 0.88 | 3.06 | 60% | 7.19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Jordan | 12 | - | - | - | 75% | 2.26 | 0.17 | - | 7.17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Trevor Sinclair | 21 (2) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 77% | 1.52 | 2.71 | 62% | 7.09 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mikkel Bischoff | 9 (2) | - | 2 | - | 74% | 1.73 | 0.20 | - | 7.00 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nourredine Naybet | 11 (3) | - | - | - | 74% | 2.88 | 0.09 | - | 7.00 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Bradley Wright-Phillips | 6 (4) | - | 1 | - | 79% | 1.35 | 2.70 | - | 6.80 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kasper Schmeichel | 9 | - | - | - | 44% | - | - | - | 6.67 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jon Macken | 0 (3) | - | - | - | 95% | - | 3.83 | - | 6.67 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 Season 3 June/July 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> The 33 or 34-year-olds will be 36 or 37 by the time the next World Cup comes around, if they're not careful. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> We had seven players representing their countries in the World Cup during the summer - Shaun Wright-Phillips, Julius Aghahowa, Claudio Reyna, Freddy Grisales, Richard Dunne, Jon Macken and Nourredine Naybet. On the contract front we agreed new deals with Paul Bosvelt, Mikkel Bischoff, Antoine Sibierski, David James and David Sommeil, Richard Dunne made his planned move to Southampton and we released Geert De Vlieger, Shaun Goater, Robbie Fowler and Jon Macken along with three youngsters. Our only squad additions over the summer were the arrival of half a dozen youngsters from the Youth Academy. Striker Guiza was voted the Fan’s player of the year after his 21-goal haul last season. Despite making a healthy profit the Board only allowed me £1.4M in transfer funds but they did decide to add a further 7,000 seats to the stadium. Despite limiting me financially the Chairman also called for a high profile signing, indicating that he would make further funds available for the right player. I decided to test his resolve with a £4M offer for Chelsea striker Mateja Kezman. He agreed to fund the deal but the move fell through as we failed to gat a work permit approved. Emboldened by the Chairman’s positive attitude I worked out a deal with Fenerbache to bring former Maine Road legend Nicolas Anelka back to Manchester. I also managed to persuade Mr. Wardle to sign defensive midfielder Timmy Simons from Club Brugge and centre back Mladen Krstajic from Schalke 04. Having qualified for the Inter-Toto Cup I decided that this would be the perfect pre-season warm-up programme and did not arrange any other matches. We started off with a 3rd Round tie against Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv with the 1st leg played in Manchester. I also decided to experiment with a slightly different formation, moving away from the use of two wingers to a narrower three-man midfield, allowing me to play with two strikers. The visitors created a number of reasonable chances so I was pleased that we kept a clean sheet. Considering that the players were adjusting to a new formation we played fairly well and Guiza scored both of our goals in the 2-0 win. In the second leg it was Aghahowa who provided the goals, scoring both goals in our 2-1 win to send us into the Semi Finals with a 4-1 aggregate. We faced a challenging tie against Spanish side Betis in the Semi Final and were dreadfully unlucky to lose the 1st leg in Spain 2-0, their second goal coming deep in stoppage time. A goalless draw in the home leg brought our brief European adventure to an end but after our taster I was more determined than ever that to achieve at least the same again this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted March 18, 2006 Author Share Posted March 18, 2006 August 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Nicolas Anelka left Arsenal for £23million and they built a training ground on him. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Our league campaign began with a trip to Southampton and I was delighted with our comfortable 4-0 win. Aghahowa got us off to a sparkling start with a smartly taken goal inside 20 minutes and Grisales doubled our advantage before half time. The Colombian extended our lead with 20 minutes remaining and Anelka came off the bench to wrap the game up in stoppage time. After our flying start to the campaign it was a huge disappointment to play so poorly in our first home game of the season, barely scraping a 1-1 draw against Leicester. We got back on track with a good 2-0 win at Birmingham though, with Aghahowa and Anelka getting the goals. Next up was a visit from Fulham and a very impressive 4-1 win with Guiza scoring twice and Grisales and Aghahowa also on the scoresheet. 19-year-old Stephen Ireland was a star in the centre of midfield and the lad clearly had a bright future ahead of him. The players seemed to be adjusting well to the new formation and one of the distinct advantages was that it allowed me to deploy two strikers and still use a holding midfielder in front of the back four. For our final game of the month at home to Portsmouth I rested the midfield trio that had played so well in the previous game and brought in Sinclair, Bosvelt and Sibierski as well as rotating Anelka from off the bench to play up front. My general plan was to use the strength of the squad as much as possible and I felt that I had three really good strikers so I wanted them all to get their fair share of match time. I also wanted to make sure that Timmy Simons was used as he had impressed thus far and would definitely be pushing Barton for a regular start. We put in another good display with Sinclair doing well in midfield, Guiza getting another brace and Bosvelt adding the 3rd in our 3-0 win. I was very pleased with our start to the season and particularly happy to see Stephen Ireland winning the Young Player of the Month award. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | MAN CITY | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2 | +12 | 13 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Liverpool | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Chelsea | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Arsenal | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
will_coleridge Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 I'm guessing the quotes are Big Ron's!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted March 19, 2006 Author Share Posted March 19, 2006 Actually Will they are all Keeganisms September 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Hungary is very similar to Bulgaria. I know they're different countries. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I now had a pretty good idea of my preferred lineup with our new formation. Despite my misgivings David James remained first choice keeper with young Kasper Schmeichel waiting in the wings. Ben Thatcher and Danny Mills were automatic choices at full back with David Sommeil and new signing Mladen Krstajic in the centre. Joey Barton and Timmy Simons will battle out the anchor position in front of the defence with Tomas Sivok as backup. We are well served in midfield with Shaun Wright-Phillips, Freddy Grisales and Stephen Ireland probably the strongest trio. But with the likes of Reyna, Bosvelt, Sinclair, Willo Flood, Sibierski and Gasbarroni all in the squad we have a fair amount of depth. Up front perm any two from Guiza, Anelka and Aghahowa with Bradley Wright-Phillips also available. In our opening game of the month at Charlton, a Monday evening TV encounter, we came away with a draw in a match that we should have won. Stephen Ireland gave us the lead after 20 minutes but we were pegged back on the half hour. We were creating some good chances but not taking advantage of them but we re-took the lead close to half time when Sommeil headed home a corner. However the home side found another equaliser from a free kick and despite exerting significant pressure we just couldn’t find a winner. The next weekend we hosted Everton and I was pretty happy with our 3-1 win, all of our goals coming in the first half. Simons got us off the mark with a header from a corner and then Aghahowa added our second. Simons was on target again with a beautifully struck free kick to put us well in charge. We lost Ireland with a knee injury but it was nothing serious and he should be fit in a week or so. It was squad rotation time for the Tuesday evening visit of Chester in the 2nd round of the League Cup and it took us quite some time to get into our stride. We eventually ran out 3-1 winners with goals from Sibierski, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Distin and we were then drawn away to Charlton in round three. Our first defeat of the season came in a disappointing performance at Arsenal where we lost 2-0. We were so poor in the first half that we failed to register a shot on target and went into the break a goal down. After a suitably scathing team talk we looked a lot better in the second half. We missed a golden opportunity to equalise midway through the second half when Simons had his penalty attempt saved and a second goal conceded late on sealed our fate. Wigan were the visitors for our final game of the month and once again we struggled to get going in the first half. The introduction of Willo Flood for the injured Sinclair at half time had an immediate impact, the young Irishman scoring the opening goal within a minute of the restart. Confidence boosted, we were a different team from then on and dominated play and Flood scored his second of the game with 15 minutes remaining to seal the 2-0 win. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 4 | +15 | 24 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 9 | +13 | 22 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | MAN CITY | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 7 | +14 | 20 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Everton | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 12 | +8 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Arsenal | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 October 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Danny Tiatto is not going to make a mistake on purpose. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> A 1-0 defeat at Newcastle was a disappointing way to start the month as once again we looked listless in the first half and only started to play a bit when I gave the lads a rocket at half time. After a break for World Cup qualifiers we put in a much better performance in the televised home game against newly promoted Crewe, racking up a four-goal lead by half time. Grisales, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Sommeil and Krstajic were the scorers with Gasbarroni adding a final goal in the second half for a thrilling 5-0 win. We kept our momentum going in our next match at Aston Villa as we raced into a two-goal lead inside the first ten minutes. Guiza broke his 7-game drought with the opener after 2 minutes and five minutes later Freddy Grisales doubled our advantage with a sweet volley. The home side pulled a goal back with 20 minutes remaining but we sealed a good win when Guiza scored his second in the 75th minute. The only negative was that Danny Mills and Nicolas Anelka both picked up knocks that may rule them out for a game or two. Apart from the enforced changes I sent out as strong a side as I could at Charlton in midweek in the 3rd round of the League Cup as I still reckoned that this competition offered us our best chance of a trophy. Guiza was on target again when he opened the scoring in the 3rd minute and was denied a second ten minutes later by an offside decision. Unperturbed, he scored one that counted just before half time to send us into the break with a good 2-0 lead. The home side struck back on the hour but a goal from Aghahowa five minutes later dashed their hopes of further recovery and sent us through to the next round with a 3-1 win. Second place Chelsea were the visitors in our final game of the month and our biggest crowd of the season so far witnessed a pretty even game. A goal from Claudio Pizarro after 20 minutes proved to be enough to win the match for the visitors but the fact that Petr Cech was later voted Man of the Match says much about our level of play. A draw would indeed have been a fair result but there are many times in football when you don’t get all that you deserve. I couldn’t help but be pleased with our league position but neighbours United remained unbeaten and Arsenal would overhaul us if they won their games in hand and Newcastle would be breathing down our neck if they did the same. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 11 | +20 | 33 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 12 | +18 | 32 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | MAN CITY | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 10 | +19 | 26 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Arsenal | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 4 | +12 | 24 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Newcastle | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 18 | 8 | +10 | 23 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Thought you brough this to an end, but you'll never know in FMS section! Good luck for upcoming season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted March 23, 2006 Author Share Posted March 23, 2006 Tanel, I never seem to manage to finish any story properly but I'm going to keep this one going a little longer. November 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> The game has gone rather scrappy as both sides realise they could win this match or lose it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> The month began with a trip to Old Trafford for the first Manchester derby of the season as we looked to inflict a first league defeat on our neighbours. We fell behind to a goal from Brazilian midfielder Juninho after quarter of an hour but stuck to our task well and didn’t allow United to get away from us. On balance I felt that we were the better side and despite losing Grisales when he received a second yellow card with 15 minutes remaining we continued to search for an equaliser. United keeper Tim Howard denied us on several occasions with some fine saves and we were kept at bay and lost 1-0. Before the midweek visit of Birmingham in the League Cup 4th round we lost Aghahowa with a knee injury so his place was taken by Anelka with Flood replacing the suspended Grisales. We took the lead through Gasbarroni after quarter of an hour but then lost the influential Wright-Phillips to injury 20 minutes later. Shrugging off this disappointment we extended our lead through Anelka a few minutes before half time. The visitors reduced the deficit within five minutes of the restart but a late goal from substitute Joey Barton tied up the win and put us in the draw for the Quarter Finals. Sods law said that we were drawn against rivals United but at least we got pulled out of the hat first and would play at home. We had Danny Mills suspended for the visit of Crystal Palace so Bischoff came in at right back and Grisales returned to midfield. A controlled performance saw us a goal up at half time through Guiza with the excellent Anelka adding two more after the break to give us a good 3-0 win. In our match at Liverpool we were on the back foot from the moment that Grisales received his second yellow card inside 20 minutes to leave us a man short. Harry Kewell put the home side in front on the half hour but as in our game at United earlier in the month we worked hard to stay in the game, forcing Kirkland into some fine saves. We even struck the woodwork in the second half but couldn’t find an equaliser. A late goal from Morientes killed us off and I felt that the 2-0 defeat was a harsh result although I was very annoyed at Freddy for getting himself sent off twice this month. Our final game of the month was the League Cup Quarter Final at home to United and we found ourselves a goal down after just 30 seconds when Calamity failed to deal with a 30-yarder from Roque Santa Cruz. But Timmy Simons got us back on terms after quarter of an hour and five minutes later Sommeil put us in front with a shot that any striker would have been proud of. However the visitors struck back on 24 when Santa Cruz scored his second of the game and it was back to square one. The lads were clearly up for this one though and Anelka put us back in front before half time. We continued in the same vein in the second half and Nicolas elevated himself to cult status when he score three times in the second period to give us a fantastic 6-2 win and send the fans wild. The £1.2M in gate receipts set a new club record and I began to feel that after a result like that maybe our name was written on the cup. United continued to set the pace in the Premiership and remained unbeaten but despite another two league defeats we still hung on to a top-five place. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 37 | 13 | +24 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 16 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 40 | 18 | +22 | 38 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Arsenal | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 8 | +13 | 30 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | MAN CITY | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 32 | 13 | +19 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Liverpool | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 27 | 16 | +11 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 December 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> It's like a toaster, the ref's shirt pocket. Every time there's a tackle, up pops a yellow card. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Danny Mills was serving another suspension for the visit of Tottenham so Bischoff came in at right back. On the left Stephen Jordan had displaced Ben Thatcher after some dynamic displays and he kept his place. It was a competitive and even affair with both keepers kept busy and neither side could find the net with the game ending scoreless. Mills returned for the trip to Bolton for our 3rd televised game in succession but Guiza was absent with a groin strain so Aghahowa was recalled in attack. We recovered well from conceding an early goal and struck back to score four times before half time. Anelka bagged a brace with Simons and Gasbarroni also on target. We failed to reach the same heights in the second half and the home side pulled a goal back but we remained well in front and ran out 4-2 winners. During the next week we were hit with a series of injuries with Grisales, Simons and Krstajic all joining Guiza in the treatment room. The most serious was the groin strain suffered by our Serbian centre back who would be out for several months. He had been in superb form since his arrival and would certainly be badly missed. So for the visit of Blackburn I brought Distin in to defence and Barton took the holding role. Anelka kept his excellent form going with two goals inside the first 20 minutes. In the second half Aghahowa got in on the act with a double of his own to secure a fine 4-0 win. Before the visit of Southampton we were hit with another long-term injury when Bradley Wright-Phillips suffered a serious groin strain. During a rather dull encounter we were forced into three enforced substitutions as Mills, Sinclair and Sommeil all left the game at various stages. After a goalless first half we fell behind on the hour mark but rescued a point with a late goal from Anelka. The injury to Mills turned out to be a calf strain and would likely miss the rest of the month. Mills and Sommeil weren’t fit for the trip to Leicester so Bischoff played at right back and Naybet came in to the centre. Last season’s Premiership strugglers had surprised many with their good form and sat in mid-table. They had the better of the first half and took the lead on the half hour but Aghahowa sneaked an equaliser on the stroke of half time. We looked much better after the break and Aghahowa scored his second on the hour with Gasbarroni wrapping up our 3-1 win ten minutes later. Man of the Match Gasbarroni had been a revelation in midfield when given his chance and had another excellent game. The visit of Birmingham on Boxing Day was a frankly dire affair with barely a chance created in the first 45 minutes. A triple substitution shortly after the break improved matters slightly but it was no great surprise when the game ended as a bore-draw. For our trip to Fulham at the end of the month we had Naybet and Aghahowa away on international duty but with Guiza fit enough to start up front. Once again we were second best in the first half, falling behind after 20 minutes but the impressive Gasbarroni equalised on the half hour. We looked much sharper in the second half but found the home keeper in great form. We finally got the winning goal late in the game when substitute Flood tapped-in after Roy Carroll had saved from Anelka. United finally lost their unbeaten record but still headed the table and we were still holding on to our place in the top five. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 22 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 48 | 18 | +30 | 53 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 23 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 50 | 20 | +30 | 52 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 23 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 36 | 17 | +19 | 47 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | MAN CITY | 23 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 46 | 18 | +28 | 44 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Arsenal | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 35 | 15 | +20 | 43 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Liverpool | 23 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 39 | 26 | +13 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Everton | 23 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 42 | 30 | +12 | 38 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | Aston Villa | 23 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 23 | 24 | -1 | 33 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | Tottenham | 23 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 28 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | Leicester | 23 | 8 | 4 | 11 | 33 | 36 | -3 | 28 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | Blackburn | 23 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 27 | 32 | -5 | 28 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | Charlton | 23 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 35 | 42 | -7 | 28 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | Bolton | 23 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 29 | 36 | -7 | 24 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | Birmingham | 23 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 28 | 40 | -12 | 24 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | Fulham | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 33 | 49 | -16 | 24 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | Wigan | 23 | 6 | 4 | 13 | 24 | 35 | -11 | 22 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | Portsmouth | 22 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 21 | 31 | -10 | 21 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | Crystal Palace | 23 | 6 | 1 | 16 | 23 | 47 | -24 | 19 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | Southampton | 23 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 28 | 45 | -17 | 18 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | Crewe | 23 | 0 | 8 | 15 | 15 | 54 | -39 | 8 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted April 21, 2006 Author Share Posted April 21, 2006 January 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> England can end the millennium as it started - as the greatest football nation in the world. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I had to make quite a few changes for the New Years Day trip to Portsmouth and we were on the back foot for long periods of the game. David James turned out to be our saviour, saving a penalty in the first half and making some stunning saves in a frantic closing stage. By that time we were defending a one-goal lead established by Distin with a header from a corner after 25 minutes and we were mighty relieved to hold on for the win. Unfortunately we lost Guiza for several weeks with fractured ribs and also picked up several yellow cards to rule out three more players for the next match. Suspensions and injuries meant big changes for our FA Cup 3rd round tie at home to Watford. Despite this we were totally in charge and ran out 3-0 winners with Shaun Wright-Phillips scoring twice and Anelka adding the 3rd. Once again some changes were required for the 1st Leg of our League Cup Semi Final at Newcastle. 20-year-old Chinedum Onuoha had been called up from the reserves and was filling in expertly for Mills but I didn’t have many options up front and with Aghahowa suspended and Guiza and Bradley Wright-Phillips injured I did not have a striker on the bench. Having had a good feeling about this competition after our fantastic win in the last round I had a totally different feeling at the end of the game. Not only did we play very poorly, losing 3-0 and having Bischoff and Gasbarroni injured. I had to ring the changes again for the visit of Charlton in the Premiership and despite making most of the running we were caught on the break in the first half and then kept at bay by an inspired keeper to lose 1-0. A couple of days later I learnt that we would be losing Danny Mills in the summer after he rejected our offer of a contract extension and opted for a move to Villarreal in Spain instead. On the same day Naybet made a shock decision to retire immediately leaving us short of cover in central defence. Next up we travelled to London to face Spurs in the 4th round of the FA Cup and with Anelka suspended we once again had no attacker on the bench. Had 17-year-old forward Daniel Sturridge not suffered a broken leg when playing for the Under-18s then he would certainly have been called up to the first team after scoring at a rate of a goal a game for the youngsters. Having established a two-goal lead by half time it was disappointing to concede twice in the second half, the 2-2 draw adding a replay to out already busy schedule. Over the next few days I moved to fill some of the gaps in the squad, bringing in the experienced centre back Stephane Henchoz on a free transfer and loaning young Spanish defender Pique from neighbours United for three months. We knew that if we had any chance of overturning the three-goal deficit in the 2nd leg of our League Cup Semi Final then we needed an early goal. The stadium clock showed just two minutes when Anelka obliged with a header from a Grisales cross. David Sommeil gave us real hope on the half hour when he powered home a Gasbarroni corner. Freddy Grislaes came within the width of the crossbar of getting a remarkable equaliser before half time as we cranked up the pressure. Five minutes after the restart we did draw level when Grisales smashed home a penalty and it was game on. But we just couldn’t quite complete our recovery and no further goals were forthcoming in normal time, not in the extra 30 minutes, so we faced the penalty shootout lottery. We had our first three kicks saved by Newcastle keeper Steve Harper but the Magpies were equally profligate and we won by scoring two to their one. We had a few weary looking players for the trip to Everton for our televised league match but I have to say that I was hugely impressed with our fighting spirit. Having conceded an early goal we struck back through Anelka, a fit again Guiza and Gasbarroni to go into the break 3-1 up. We then had to contend with injuries to Mills and Sinclair, a fightback from the home side that saw them draw level, and the dismissal of Distin in the 84th minute. But a last minute goal from Sommeil with a headed corner gave us a gutsy 4-3 win and delighted our travelling support. The news on Sinclair and Mills was less welcome, the midfielder diagnosed with strained knee ligaments and the full back with a calf strain. Our final action of a hectic month was our FA Cup 4th round replay at home to Spurs and the crowd enjoyed a classic cup-tie. We took the lead after 12 minutes through Gasbarroni but then Jermain Defoe struck twice in the next ten minutes to put his team in front. The superb Gasbarroni got his second on the half hour to square the game and we were even-stevens at half time. There were no further goals in the next 45 minutes and once again we faced extra time. We managed to avoid the penalty lottery when the impressive Grisales scored with a stunning 25-yarder just minutes before the end of the extra period. Although our league form had suffered a little in a hectic month I was delighted to have come through two extremely tough cup-ties and I was really looking forward to our appearance in the League Cup Final and a chance of some silverware. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 27 | 20 | 5 | 2 | 57 | 23 | +34 | 65 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 27 | 18 | 4 | 5 | 55 | 25 | +30 | 58 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 27 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 42 | 20 | +22 | 55 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Liverpool | 27 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 52 | 26 | +26 | 54 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | MAN CITY | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 51 | 22 | +29 | 50 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Arsenal | 24 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 42 | 16 | +26 | 49 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted April 22, 2006 Author Share Posted April 22, 2006 February 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I'll never play at Wembley again, unless I play at Wembley again. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Our opening match of the month at Wigan proved to be a pretty even encounter and looking at the final Opta stats there was precious little to choose between the teams. The key difference was that we managed to get a couple of goals and thanks to a fine performance by Calamity James, they didn’t. Our first goal came early on through the impressive Gasbarroni but we had to wait until stoppage time at the end of the game before the win was secure when Guiza scored our second. In between times we relied on James to keep the home side at bay and the big man may be doing enough to get a contract extension in the summer. We were a goal down at home to 3rd place Newcastle inside ten minutes but Man of the Match Freddy Grisales got us back on level terms with a peach of a goal ten minutes later. His curling shot from the corner of the area nestled into the top right hand corner of Given’s goal giving the Irish international no chance. Anelka was clearly in the mood and he put us ahead just before the break when Wright-Phillips picked him out with a whipped cross. Our top scorer made the game safe ten minutes from time when he timed his run to perfection to latch on to Gasbarroni’s ball over the top of the Newcastle defence. As we prepared for our FA Cup 5th round tie at home to Reading, Julius Aghahowa suffered a groin strain in training and would be sidelined for several weeks. Even though Danny Mills was now back in full training young Chinedum Onuoha kept his place at right back after impressing greatly when called up to the senior team. Stephen Jordan was also keeping first choice left back Ben Thatcher out of the starting eleven with some very steady displays. Shaun Wright-Phillips gave us an early lead when he finished off a mazy run with the most delightful chip over the advancing keeper. The Championship side regrouped and kept us at bay until a few minutes before the break. But two goals in two minutes from Gasbarroni and Grisales sent us into half time in a winning position. Second-half goals from Anelka and substitute Sibierski sealed a comfortable win to take us through to the Quarter Finals. The win also set a new club record of six successive victories. As we looked forward to our trip to Wembley for the League Cup Final we got the news that we would travel to Aston Villa in the next round of the FA Cup. An injury to Sibierski meant that we had to risk Bradley Wright-Phillips on the bench even through he had just returned to serious training after his layoff so I had to keep my fingers crossed that we didn’t lose either of our main strikers. Despite both sides playing some open attacking football neither keeper could be beaten in normal time and extra time was required. We were just three minutes into the extra 30 when Gasbarroni gave us the breakthrough after some selfless play by Anelka. When Shuan Wright-Phillips scored our second at the death there was no doubting the final result and the club claimed their first major trophy since their success in the same competition 31 years earlier. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 29 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 61 | 26 | +35 | 68 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 29 | 20 | 4 | 5 | 60 | 26 | +34 | 64 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Liverpool | 29 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 57 | 26 | +31 | 60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Arsenal | 28 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 53 | 20 | +33 | 59 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Newcastle | 29 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 45 | 23 | +22 | 58 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | MAN CITY | 28 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 56 | 23 | +33 | 56 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted April 23, 2006 Author Share Posted April 23, 2006 March 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Kanu, a guy with a heart as big as he is. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Bottom of the table Crewe were still looking for their first win in the Premiership when we visited them at the start of the month and our 2-0 win did nothing to improve their record. It took us some 40 minutes to convert one of our many scoring opportunities into a goal, Timmy Simons succeeding with a free kick from some 30 yards out. Gabarroni was absent through injury so I asked Joey Barton to come in an take on a more attacking midfield role and he did OK but was obviously a but rusty having not played for some time. Our second goal came on the stroke of half time when Anelka was on hand to tap home a rebound from a Guiza shot. I kept with the same starting eleven for our FA Cup Quarter Final at Aston Villa as we sought to extend our impressive cup form. We took the lead midway through the first half when Anelka latched on to a long clearance from James, drew the keeper off his line and squared the ball to give Guiza a simple tap-in. Minutes later the home side squared the game with a soft penalty but a Grisales thunderbolt put us back in front before the break. The game was still finely balanced and with 15 minutes remaining Villa equalised again game after we got a bit careless in our own third and conceded possession with a sloppy pass. There was no further scoring so the 2-2 draw meant a replay back in Manchester in ten days time. To describe our league match at home to Arsenal in midweek as a game of two halves would be quite an understatement. The visitors dominated the first period and it was only thanks to David James that we were not overwhelmed. His resistance was broken on the half hour as the visitors finally turned their dominance into a goal. But minutes later we were back on terms through a Grisales howitzer and we started to look a bit more interested. On the stroke of half time we took the lead when Simons calmly converted from the penalty spot to take us into the break in front. The second period was a mirror image of the first as we were all over the visitors and at one point only a remarkable triple-save from the visiting keeper stopped us from extending our lead. We got our reward eventually when Guiza scored twice in the last ten minutes to seal an excellent 4-1 win that took us above our opponents on goal difference. In one of those coincidences that the fixture computer throws up from time to time we had to host Aston Villa in the league the weekend before we faced them again in the cup replay. I was considering bringing Trevor Sinclair back into the reckoning after his injury layoff but had to reconsider after he pulled a groin muscle in training and was ruled out for the rest of the season. We now had both Aghahowa and Gasbarroni back in full training but neither were ready for action quite yet, although Julius was given a set on the bench. A frankly uneventful first half was enlivened with a stoppage-time strike from Guiza to take us into the break in front. In the second period the floodgates opened – Wright-Phillips scored within a minute of the restart, Freddy showed that he had his shooting boots on with two corkers and Anelka finished the scoring in our 5-0 win. Hopefully our comprehensive victory has given us the psychological advantage for the forthcoming replay. We started the FA Cup replay as we ended the league match and by the time that Shaun Wright-Phillips put us in front after 20 minutes we had already created a string of chances. The match continued in the same vein but a combination of desperate defending, inspired goalkeeping and wayward finishing prevented us from building on our lead. As time ticked on I was increasingly concerned that we would get caught on the break but with a little over five minutes remaining substitute Aghahowa tucked the ball away to double our lead and I started t relax a little. We still had a couple of scary moments but held to take the match 2-0 and book our place in the Semi Final. Our attendance of 54,979 was confirmed as a new club record, as were the £1.5M in gate receipts. After a weekend off for World Cup qualifiers we ended a successful month with a trip to 2nd place Chelsea, coincidentally the team that we would be facing in the FA Cup Semi Final next month. With Shaun Wright-Phillips out injured a fit-again Andrea Gasbarroni returned to the starting eleven. Confidence is clearly sky-high at present and we showed no signs of being overawed by the expensive array of superstars at Stamford Bridge. We outplayed our hosts in the first half and reached the break 2-0 up thanks to Guiza and Anelka. Unfortunately we went off the boil a little after the break and our luck turned against us. They pulled a goal back when Mikkel Bischoff sliced a clearance into his own net and then Wayne Bridge scored his first goal of the season in stoppage time to rob us of a deserved win. A top-six finish was now virtually certain given that we had an 18-point lead over 7th place Villa but I was privately targeting a finish in the top three and Champions League football. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 32 | 24 | 5 | 3 | 70 | 30 | +40 | 77 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Liverpool | 32 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 64 | 27 | +37 | 69 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 32 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 66 | 30 | +36 | 69 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Newcastle | 32 | 19 | 10 | 3 | 54 | 24 | +30 | 67 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | MAN CITY | 32 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 69 | 26 | +43 | 66 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Arsenal | 32 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 58 | 29 | +29 | 63 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted April 30, 2006 Author Share Posted April 30, 2006 April 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> They don't come every three days, like they come after this one. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> We had the novel experience of a clean sweep of the March awards as Shaun Wright-Phillips, Chinedum Onuoha and I all finished top of our respective categories. At the start of the month Mladen Krstajic returned to the heart of the defence for the visit of bitter rivals Man United. A fairly even first half ended goalless but I was thrilled with what I saw after the break. We took the lead on 54 minutes when a shot from Freddy Grisales deflected off Phil Neville and into the net. Guiza doubled our lead with less than 15 minutes remaining when he sprung the offside trap to score his 20th goal of the season. The icing on the cake game five minutes from time when John O’Shea was dismissed when he brought down Gasbarroni in the area and the referee adjudged it to be a professional foul. Anelka smashed the ball home to complete a 3-0 rout that moved us up to 4th and sent almost 55,000 fans home in delirium. The next day cousin Kevin was sacked by Birmingham 18 months after he was booted out by Leeds. The poor man just can’t seem to hang on to a job no matter how hard he tries. The next weekend we travelled to London to face Crystal Palace, a club deep in the relegation dogfight. Our 2-0 win courtesy of Guiza and Barton didn’t help their cause and they slipped ever closer to the dreaded drop. In midweek we faced the challenge of Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final buoyed by the fact that unfancied Wigan had beaten Arsenal 1-0 at the weekend to book their place in the Final. Sadly we couldn’t match their achievements, an 11th minute goal from Ronaldo being enough to win the game. Before facing the challenge of a visit from 2nd place Liverpool at the weekend we were boosted by the return of Shaun Wright-Phillips to the side. We took the lead inside a minute through Guiza and but for the heroics of Chris Kirkland we would have extended our lead in the opening half hour. But the visitors struck back and squared the game before the break with their only on-target effort of the half. The Liverpool keeper continued to defy us after the interval but we finally got the goal we deserved two minutes from time through Grisales. The win jumped us up to second in the table, five points behind rivals United. For our trip to Spurs at the end of the month Guiza was forced to the bench as he was carrying a knock and Aghahowa was injured so Bradley W-P got a rare start in attack. There were just 12 seconds on the stadium clock when Freddy Grisales fired us in front to claim the quickest goal in Premiership history. We held our lead until just after the restart when Jermain Defoe scored an equaliser after one of our attacks broke down. But just after the hour mark Freddy scored again to restore our lead just before he hobbled off injured. Substitute Guiza made the game safe in the last ten minutes when he tucked the ball away to secure a fine 3-1 win. An excellent month in the league saw another clean sweep in the monthly awards with Freddy Grisales, Chinedum Onuoha and myself all taking the honours. With just two games left to play we actually had a chance of the title – on the other hand we could lose them both and drop down to 6th. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 36 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 79 | 39 | +40 | 81 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | MAN CITY | 36 | 24 | 6 | 6 | 79 | 28 | +51 | 78 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 36 | 24 | 6 | 6 | 76 | 36 | +40 | 78 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Liverpool | 36 | 23 | 7 | 6 | 74 | 34 | +40 | 76 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Newcastle | 36 | 22 | 10 | 4 | 59 | 27 | +32 | 76 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Arsenal | 36 | 21 | 10 | 5 | 70 | 33 | +37 | 73 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted May 6, 2006 Author Share Posted May 6, 2006 May 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> You need 88 points for the title and we've got 61 at present with 16 games to go, but if you set targets you limit yourself. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Our penultimate game of the season was a Monday evening televised match at home to Bolton and although Guiza was back up front we were missing Shaun Wright-Phillips who had suffered an injury in training. The only goal of the game came on the half hour when Grisales tucked away a penalty. We had most of the game but big Jussi in the Bolton goal was in unbeatable form so I was doubly grateful for the referee’s decision. We made the relatively short trip to Blackburn knowing that a win would guarantee at least second place irrespective of what anyone else did. A tense first half finished goalless although we created a fair few chances but had trouble converting them. It was more of the same in the second half and we just could not find a way through a stubborn Blackburn rearguard with Brad Friedel in particularly good form. I had deliberately refused to try to follow the other matches taking place but as soon as we the final whistle sounded I frantically tried to check the results. A win for United had secured the title and even though Liverpool were also victorious our superior goal difference gave us the runners-up position, a fantastic achievement for the club. Not only were we amongst the highest scorers in the division but we had the best defensive record in the league, a real tribute to the players who had worked so hard this season. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Man Utd | 38 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 83 | 40 | +43 | 87 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | MAN CITY | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 80 | 28 | +52 | 82 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Liverpool | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 80 | 34 | +46 | 82 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Chelsea | 38 | 25 | 6 | 7 | 81 | 38 | +43 | 81 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Newcastle | 38 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 62 | 30 | +32 | 79 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Arsenal | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 72 | 35 | +37 | 76 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Aston Villa | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 43 | 42 | +1 | 56 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Everton | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 70 | 66 | +4 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Tottenham | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 47 | 48 | -1 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th| | Charlton | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 57 | 71 | -14 | 47 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th| | Blackburn | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 40 | 50 | -10 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th| | Leicester | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 56 | 62 | -6 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th| | Bolton | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 45 | 54 | -9 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th| | Fulham | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 54 | 77 | -23 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th| | Portsmouth | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 36 | 55 | -19 | 39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th| | Southampton | 38 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 48 | 70 | -22 | 38 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th| | Birmingham | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 49 | 69 | -20 | 36 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th| R | Wigan | 38 | 8 | 9 | 21 | 40 | 64 | -24 | 33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th| R | Crystal Palace | 38 | 8 | 3 | 27 | 33 | 76 | -43 | 27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th| R | Crewe | 38 | 0 | 13 | 25 | 22 | 89 | -67 | 13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> We featured significantly in the end of season awards – Freddy Grisales was voted the Player’s Player of the Year with Shaun Wright-Phillips runner-up; David James, Timmy Simons and Grisales were named in the Premiership Select; I came second in the Manager of the Year award; Freddy and Shaun did a one-two in the Footballer of the Year stakes. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Freddy Grisales | 42 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 76% | 1.92 | 2.64 | 62% | 8.29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andrea Gasbarroni | 34 (1) | 11 | 20 | 5 | 78% | 1.96 | 1.44 | 48% | 8.11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Shaun Wright-Phillips | 46 (1) | 7 | 16 | 7 | 75% | 2.65 | 5.99 | 52% | 8.06 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nicolas Anelka | 38 (7) | 24 | 15 | 6 | 82% | 0.82 | 3.97 | 55% | 7.89 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Chinedum Onuoha | 21 (1) | - | 2 | - | 71% | 2.57 | 0.97 | - | 7.86 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Timmy Simons | 42 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 81% | 2.84 | 0.42 | 64% | 7.64 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Danny Mills | 27 | - | 1 | - | 76% | 3.21 | 1.51 | - | 7.59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mladen Krstajic | 27 | 1 | - | 1 | 82% | 2.44 | 0.07 | 26% | 7.59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kasper Schmeichel | 1 (1) | - | - | - | 72% | - | - | - | 7.50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Trevor Sinclair | 15 (6) | - | 9 | 2 | 73% | 0.95 | 2.34 | 57% | 7.48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Güiza | 42 (4) | 23 | 13 | 2 | 82% | 0.85 | 3.47 | 62% | 7.48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mikkel Bischoff | 28 (1) | - | - | - | 75% | 2.82 | 0.34 | - | 7.45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David James | 55 | - | - | 3 | 55% | - | 0.02 | - | 7.44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Jordan | 33 | - | 1 | - | 79% | 2.01 | 0.71 | - | 7.42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ben Thatcher | 23 | - | 1 | - | 78% | 2.47 | 0.88 | - | 7.39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Sommeil | 41 (1) | 5 | 3 | - | 78% | 2.42 | 0.31 | 45% | 7.36 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Joey Barton | 27 (5) | 2 | 5 | 1 | 82% | 2.18 | 0.51 | 51% | 7.34 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Julius Aghahowa | 26 (12)| 14 | 2 | 1 | 81% | 0.94 | 3.35 | 60% | 7.26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Ireland | 5 (11) | 1 | 5 | 3 | 78% | 2.55 | 1.35 | 58% | 7.19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Sylvain Distin | 17 (2) | 2 | 1 | - | 77% | 1.87 | 0.23 | - | 7.16 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Claudio Reyna | 3 (5) | - | 1 | - | 88% | 1.42 | - | - | 7.13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Bosvelt | 8 (1) | 1 | - | - | 76% | 1.07 | 0.93 | - | 7.11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Bradley Wright-Phillips | 2 (5) | 1 | 1 | - | 90% | 1.08 | 1.43 | 66% | 7.00 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Antoine Sibierski | 5 (5) | 2 | - | - | 84% | 0.79 | 2.38 | 36% | 7.00 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Willo Flood | 3 (18) | 3 | 2 | - | 80% | 1.25 | 1.43 | 66% | 6.90 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tomas Sivok | 1 (6) | - | - | - | 81% | - | - | - | 6.86 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephane Henchoz | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Our midfield trio of Grisales, Gasbarroni and Shaun Wright-Phillips had been outstanding and was one of the real drivers for our success. Anelka and Guiza had scored nearly 50 goals between them, Timmy Simons had been superb in the holding role and David James had another fine season. I was particularly pleased with how Onuoha and Jordan had come through to be first team regulars, displacing the excellent Mills and Thatcher in defence. But despite all of this I was already considering how to strengthen the squad for next season. We would definitely be losing some of our older players in the summer and replacements would need to be found. But that could wait for the moment as we enjoyed our achievements and then took a nice break for the early part of the summer, ready to return refreshed and ready for another season in the top flight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian of Nazareth Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Excellent season there Bob, been catching up with this one, congrats on the second placed finish and the League Cup win Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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