Inter Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">which Hardy points out had nothing to do with him but we don't believe him (Kevin Campbell *cough, cough, splutter, splutter*). </div></BLOCKQUOTE> id also like to point out that kevin campbell lasted under a fortnight at the club and never even played a friendly.... Oh...and i would also like to add that channel 992 has nothing to do with me and everything to do with goat. your obsession with this is becoming worying Annnnnnnnd.....i didnt need a package deal to majorca as i already managed to get Man City into Europe in my first season. Ohhhh and i left man city in 4th when i left, so i didnt cause their relegation...well thats it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrizio Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Champions league for West Brom? are you mad!!?? Well it took a long time but finally baggies fans have something to celebrate! A 4th place finish was enough to secure European football for the first time since reaching the dizzy heights of the UEFA cup semis a few seasons back. Despite a fickle squad, West Brom performed consistantly well over the course of the season and are apparently over the moon with finishing so high in the league. Chris Morris the gaffer said <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">im abosolutly over the moon with finishing so high in the league </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Brings a tear to the eye! Heres the squad who got them there: Schwartz, S GK The 21 year old has had a solid season and proved a worthy replacment for Bogdan 'the Judas' Lobont. Padeon, S LB Signed midway through the season, the Italian chose to join WBA over Portsmouth despite Pompey cruising to league victory. A very clever young man Gavranicic, G CB A true rock in every sense, big Goran had the physical build and intellect of a large stone. Left with Arrieta to join Leo's Blackburn Gonzalez CB The south american looks like a solid player, good heading, tackling and marking abilities, show grow with time. Caretto, L CM Was on the verge of signing for Chelsea when Morris came to his senses and realised what a great player he is. Not a great goal scorer but a scorer of great goals. Fletcher, D CM The Scot fits into the midfield role perfectly and has the ability to slice open defenses with great passing Pina, J LM With the 2nd best av rating in the premiership the Spaniard really has been incredible on the left flank. Will be the main man for the next few years. God bless him! Aidoo, L MR Not always as effective as Pina on the left, but Aidoo is a hard worker with bags of skill, he'l have to fight for his place with the arrival of Italian youngster Matteo Di Legge. Delgado, FC His value seems to rise daily Delgado's extreme pace and lethal finishing has made him one of the premierships best strikers. His tally of 19 goals saw him finish with more strikes than Pazzini, Cassano and Henry. Clarke,J FC The 19 year old is the only Englishman left in the first team. His supreme finishing, and strength in the air makes him a great asset. Will hopefully improve on goal tally next season and avoid injury. With hardly a penny to spend in the summer transfer market the team is not looking ready for the demands of Europe. Come on chairman give us some cash! Next season could either be one to remember or one to forget, hopefully we can make a mark on Europe and keep a good position in the league, but a few injuries could ruin it all.... let the season commence! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 With the season now at a close, Tottenham Hotspurs manager Rick Boult has to be pleased with the final league table. Predicting a 6th place finish at the start of the year which was more than both the board and fans wanted, he has to be happy with how the squad put up with the pressure he put upon them. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Last season was ok for us, i got what i wanted in the league and we progressed well in both cups. The F.A Cup was particulary hurtful as over the 90 minutes away to Chelsea, we deserved a draw at the least. European football will be played at White Hart Lane progressing the club well and gaining funds to further expand the stadium, improve training facilities and bring in the sort of quality the fans here deserve.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Final League Position - 6th Top Goalscorer - Jermain Defoe - 21 Most Assists - Stewart Downing - 12 Best Average Rating - Stewart Downing - 7.57 Most Man Of The Match Awards - Salvatore Gambino - 4 Fans Player Of The Year Award - Jermain Defoe ___________________________________________________________ Looking Ahead <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Next season, the fans and board want a bit more from the squad and expect us to gain European Qualification again. Again i disagree with their decision, and have set my sights on possibly winning the EPL this year. At the very least i want a top 3 finish from the lads and i expect the players i've brought in to show the same commitment the rest of the team did last year and for them to be proud to pull on the white jersey.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Transfers In <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Player Name | Transferred From | Cost | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | John Kennedy | Celtic | Free | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | Joao Ribeiro | Peterbrough | 725k | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | Tim Janssen | Birmingham City | 3.9 Million | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jlloyd Samuel | Athletico Madrid | 700k | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | Pietro Accardi | Palermo | Free | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- </pre> Transfers Out <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Player Name | Transferred To | Cost | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | Ruud V. Nistelrooy | Aston Villa | 700k | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | Simon Davies | Aston Villa | 1.8 Million | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | Frederik Kanoute | Lyon | Free | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | Nicola Pozzi | Roma | 2.5 Million | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | Paul Robinson | Chelsea | Free | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STFC will rule again Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Joe Lewis - GK Joe is a more than capable back-up keeper who, if he keeps progressing the way he has, will eventually be the 1st choice keeper at the club. Adam Clough - DR A product of the youth academy, Adam looks likely to be a fixture in the squad for many years to come and could end up being first choice in a couple of seasons if he keeps improving like he has. Mikael Dorsin - D/DML Mikael is the 1st choice left back and puts it very consistent performances and adds good balance down the left side for the side. Matthew Bates - DLC Another product of the youth academy, Matthew adds good depth to the squad as he can play left back or centre back depending on where he's needed in the team. Thomas Vermaelan - DC Brought in last season on a bosman, Thomas put in consistent performances last season but i'll be looking for him to give me a reason to make him a permanent fixture in the 1st team. Sergio Hellings - D/DMC Brought into the club for 5m in the summer, Hellings is a strong imposing centre back with a lethal long shot on him and he'll be partnering Yago this season in what looks to be a very promising pairing. Yago - DRC Brought in to help strengthen the centre of defence along with Sergio Hellings, Yago will hopefully help sort out the problems in defence. Labinot Harbuzi - AMC Labinot was brought in for 2.8m from Leo's Blackburn team which is a bargain price for a quality attacking midfielder like him. Will be one of the first names on the team sheet this season. James Morrison - AMRC Another product from the highly successful academy that we have at the club, James is equally comfortable playing in an attacking midfield role or wide on the right wing. Adds good depth to the midfield. Tobias Hysen - AM/FLC A big name signing in the summer from Niall's Everton team for 6m, Tobias is a top quality player that will add quality to the squad and will hopefully help push the club onto the next level. Brynjar Hermannsson - AMLC A bargain buy just a couple of seasons ago, Brynjar has turned in several decent performances since then and I'll be looking for him to continue in the same vein this season. Miroslav Matusovic - FRC Equally comfortable playing down the right or down the centre, I'm hoping that he'll show his quality and will be showing me exactly why he should be the first name I put down on the teamsheet. James Beattie - SC Cemented his title as the top striker at the club last season as he hit the 20 goal mark for the 1st time since joining the club, can always be relied on to put away any chances that come his way and we'll need him to keep putting away those chances if we're to start going places. I'm still looking around for several additions to the team as we're quite low on numbers, we especially need an imposing goalkeeper and also a creative left winger as these are the main areas that I feel need looking at. It looks like it'll be a manic few weeks before the transfer window closes . Targets 1 - Finish 10th or higher in the Premiership 2 - Reach Quarter Finals of FA Cup 3 - Reach Quarter Finals of League Cup 4 - Beat as many EPL managers as possible 5 - To make a profit over the season We've put the last season behind us and am looking forward to this season with renewed hope which will probably evaporate by christmas but I will live in hope that my team finally perform like they're capable of . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Some people, not mentioning any names, but hes irish, think there are 3 big teams in the EPL this year. I'd go along with that, but it is my belief that the blue half or Mersyside isn't a part of that group. Yes the manager is tactically sound, the squad score goals and the back up is adequete, but they don't have the quality running through the team like down at White Hart Lane. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'That M****y is an arrogant fool, total nutter, trying to say Spurs are not one of the big sides this season in the EPL. I agree Chelsea are right up there, with a talented manager and the money to buy anyone in the world. I also agree that Pompey are yet again going to be a strong outfit and to an extent that Everton will come good again. But he shall leave Spurs out of this list at his peral, and im going to show you why!' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> The Team Looking at the squad, you can see there is quality all over the field with excellent cover The Tactic The most important role of the manager, choosing the tactic, and although width is a problem at times our main strength is the quickness of our play The First 11 GK - Igor Akinfeev Although not officially a Spurs player, the transfer will go through on monday morning. At 23, he's young and athletic, and although the loss of Robinson was hard, i feel we have improved on the goalkeeping position this season. DR - Mark Wilson Mark had a solid season last year, playing every game for us due to him being able to switch between left and right back. Good all round stats and still at a young age, hopeful of many more years service from the Scot. DL - Pietro Accardi Pietro was brought in preseason as i only possesed 1 left footed defender in Anthony Gardner. Again good defensive stats, may just get the nod over Gardner and another new buy, Jlloyd Samuel. DC - Ledley King Not much really to say about Ledley other than he's the captain and rock of our team. Yet to put a foot wrong in my 2 seasons at Spurs and always chips in with a few goals via corners. DC - Vincent Kompany Quickly following in his parner Kings footsteps, Vincent would go straight into any Premiership team bar none. Sometimes asked to play in the DMC role due to his defencive stats compared to Freddy. DMC - Freddy Guarin Again every Premiership team has been linked to this superstar, he's not yet reached his full potential in my mind. Lack of goals has been a problem for me but shooting aside, another class act. MC - Daryl Smylie Frowned upon when first purchased, Daryl has made other Premiership managers eat there words. In my opinion, the best all round midfielder in the EPL. Goals, assists, Smylie ran the show last year, becoming my Player Of The Season. MC - Niko Kranjcar Left out of the side for much of my first season at Spurs, Niko impressed during last Pre-Season and since then, i've never looked back. Guarenteed to get you goals, he's one of those players you can't keep quiet for long. MC - Thomas Hitzlsperger My first buy as Spurs manager completes the strong midfield quartet. Hitzy's long range shooting and long range passing left my jaw open last season, another key player for Spurs. SC - Jermain Defoe I'd argue the best striker in the Premiership. Bought by myself after his brief spell at Man Utd, Jermain was 2nd top goalscorer in the EPL last year, 1 behind Gilardinho, notching 21 goals. SC - James McFadden The suprise dangerman of my team, James played most of last season in midfield. However, injurys to other strikers saw him playing upfront and after banging in 4 past Coventry, i've never looked back. The Back Up Players No team can expect to win the Premiership or Champions League without quality running throughout the squad. Tim Janssen Fought for his signature with Chelsea, Tim chose WHL as his Home. Could possibly break into the first team depending on James's form, he has the pace and finishing quality to scare any Premiership defence. Stewart Downing With the highest average rating and most assists last year, Stewart knows he'll have a massive role to play this year. His finishing lets him down slightly however, making him start on the bench. Salvatore Gambino 'Gambo' as we call him had a good first season for us providing back up to Niko and coming up with a few vital goals. He gained the most MOM awards last year and, like Stewart, knows he has a major role to play for me this year. Aureliano Torres A Pompey reject, for unknown reason, Aureliano is the best striker of the ball at Spurs. His free kick and long shot ability match that of Hitzy but with the tactic i use, find it hard to fit him in. Anthony Vanden Borre Every team has a utility player, and Spurs are no different. I had Anthony on loan at Blackburn so you could say i've raised him from a child. He can play right across the back line so always makes the subs bench. Right, there you have it, part 2 of my update. Hopefully this proves Tottenham are going to be a force to be wreckoned with this year as long as the manager can stay off the booze. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrizio Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 The Predictions have arrived! Season 2009/10B] Aston Villa - Manager Sam Bourchard An 11th place finish for Villa last season sees Sam Bouchard strengthening the side in the summer. Having done a good job at Spurs previously I think the Villa gaffer will improve his sides finish by a few places. Maybe other teams commitment to Europe will give him a good run in the cups League - 9th FA Cup - Quarters League Cup - Final Blackburn - Manager Leo Hardy The managerial merry-go-round sees the former Man City boss take over Blackburn. Without a great amount of time to improve the squad it will be a tough season as the competition in the premiership gets better. Gavranicic will sort the defense and a decent league position should be obtainable. League - 10th FA Cup - 4th round League Cup - 4th round Chelsea - Manager Danny King With Abramovic's millions at his disposal, King will be looking to build a team to challenge Portsmouth this year. And with Pompey showing considerable weakness towards the end of last season I think Chelsea will nick their crown. But its a tough one to call League - 1st FA Cup - Semi League Cup - 4th rd. Everton - Manager Niall Murphy Everton finished disappointly last season, but with the team gaining vital European experience I think theyl perform better in the league this time around. Its going to be tight at the top, but in my opinion there not quite on par with the top two yet.. League - 3rd FA Cup - Final League Cup - Quarter Fulham - Manager Mo Ilyas Fulham are steadly building a decent squad under Ilyas, and a few good signings such as Sonck (100k) will see them improve a little on last season. League - 12th FA Cup - 3rd rd League Cup - semi Middlesbrough- Manager Ben Jackson Another gradually improving side but still playing catch up with more established sides in the league. Made a top notch signing in Hysen and I now how good Matusovic can be up front. League - 13th FA Cup - Quarter League Cup - Quarter Newcastle- Manager Mark D'Ardenne D'Ardenne's stratagy of booting everyone who isnt French out the club is a different approach to say the least. The team should gel quickly as they all speak French. Recovering the damage done in the JDC year will take time.. League - 11th FA Cup - 4th rd League Cup - 3rd rd Portsmouth- Manager Andy Nilsen A great season last year but turned a bit crap towards the end. Has flogged last years bosman signings off to other clubs so should have a monster transfer budget to try and retain the title. But with the added pressures of Europe its going to be tough.. League - 2nd FA Cup - Semi League Cup - Final Southampton- Manager David Williams Were lurking near the bottom of the table all last season and with little resources to change things its going to be as you were this time around. Well thats just my opinion anyway League - 15th FA Cup - 4th rd League Cup - 3rd rd Tottenham- Manager Rich Boult Boult seems confident about his sides chances of seriously competing in the next campaign. There is no denying the talent in the side and should improve on last years 6th place finishing. May push the top clubs, but I feel wont go the distance League - 5th FA Cup - Final League Cup - Quarters WBA- Manager Chris Morris That leaves yours truely, and with the team playing in Europe next year, I think this will have a negative effect on our league position, it would be an achievment to finish top 6. A good run in the cup would be nice, as would winning the champions league (aye right ) League - 7th FA Cup - Quarters League Cup - Semi With the standard in the Premership increasing year after year its going to get more and more difficult to predict who'l finish on the top of tree. My tip for the title is Danny's Chelsea, but it could go one of four ways, lets hope for an exciting season!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrizio Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 woops sorry Rick i called you Rich! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 Lol well the beer doesn't come cheap Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keedo666 Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 Class predictions Chris, i particularly liked the way you dismissed Olaf's chances Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted May 24, 2005 Author Share Posted May 24, 2005 Very good Chris, though I think you have just given ne the impetus I needed to prove you wrong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wi11iams Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 15th? 15th? *******15th?........ cheers, you must have more faith in me than I do Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunga99 Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by wi11iams: 15th? 15th? *******15th?........ cheers, you must have more faith in me than I do </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Lucky I didn't do the predictions dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kndusr19 Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 Season 5 – The Fulham Redemption Season 5 game highlights Fulham 1-3 West Bromwich Well done to Chris for giving Mo a slaughtering at home. West Bromwich are not in the top 5 of the EPL for no reason and don’t let Chris fool you into thinking that West Bromwich are a low aiming team with no stars. While Mo lacks the Chris’s worldwide player knowledge to attain the hidden gems in the world, Chris has acquired a top set of players with will be challenging for the EPL title and European champions league cup next season. Fulham 1- 1 Middlesborough This game with Bens Middlesborough sums up Fulham’s season to a tee. Fulham had a penalty in the first half to which Mo rejoiced……until Fulham missed the penalty! Then …..Fulham had another penalty in the first half….Hurrah…..a different Fulham player stepped up this time to take the penalty.....excellent!.....the penalty is saved!! How the hell did that happen?…..OK, calm yourself down…we are still in this game….0-0 still. Then on 40 minutes we have a player red-carded and we are down to 10. At half time, Mo is left open mouthed as to what has just happened. To add to Fulham’s misery borough scored in the second half. Fortunately just before the death, Fulham managed to find an equaliser and the game end square at 1-1. Portsmouth 5 – Fulham 0 Portsmouth scored there first 3 goals with some lovely mesmerising football and their first 3 shots on target! Goat was having a bad run in the EPL previous to this, but certainly put away his worries in the past. Portsmouth had 10 shots on target and it certainly would not have surprised me if we finished 10-0 down on the night! After this defeat, Mo had thought to himself that this will be the last game that he will be in charge of Fulham. A P45 will be awaiting him when the coach returns to Craven Cottage. Fortunately for Mo, the board warned Mo about the resounding defeat to Portsmouth and gave Mo a vote of confidence. At the end of the day when Mo left Craven cottage in his Toyota Carina E (That's the 1.8 GS...it comes with standard plastic hub caps , the Fulham supporters were still chanting for Mo to leave Fulham. Mo on the last day of the season managed to hold onto the 13th position in the EPL when Fulham drew away to former Danny’s Brum. A heavy defeat to Ben’s Middlesborough by Rick’s Spurs allowed Fulham to leapfrog Middlesborough on goal difference. Season 6 Targets: <UL TYPE=SQUARE> <LI><STRIKE>Hamper Niall’s progress any which way I can!</STRIKE> Everton are having trouble themselves without Mo interfering, but am sure Niall will bounce back from his very disappointing 7th position. At least Niall with be playing in Europe next season via the intertoto cup route, if only Mo could say the same for Fulham! <LI>Have a good run in the domestic cups. <LI>Sell most of the previous season’s regulars and manage his new set of bosmans! <LI>Get Fulham to finish above 12th in the EPL. Fulham should have finished 12th this season, as this is the first year that Fulham failed to progress from their previous league position. <LI>Put Fulham in a better financial state than they currently are. At the end of this season Fulham were around 9million in the red. The Fulham board injected £4 million to stop the club going into administration and Fulhams 13th positon in the EPL assured that over £4 million was paid for their position in the league. Fulham were always within the wage structure set by the board, but unfortunately as Fulham have a small ground, they cannot sell as many tickets as the rest of the EPL! Finances will always be tight until the ground is expanded…..Has anybody seen the cost of property prices in London? It will be a costly project! <LI>Sign quality strikers. Even with Mo’s coaching ability, Mo has been unable to turn average strikers in good strikers. It looks like that you can’t make an average striker better in the current climate of football management. The only way to get better strikers is to sign better strikers! <LI>Stay in the job as long as possible! Mo as always been edgy at Fulham during this season, Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. With the Fulham board and supporters just about satisfied with the league position. Mo will remain at the helm for another season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STFC will rule again Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 8th August 2009 West Brom 2 Cipriani 25 Padoin 36 Middlesboro 0 Looking to get off to a good start, my team decided to put in yet another sub-par performance as Cipriani and Padoin both scored to give the victory to Chris's West Brom team. I'll be looking for bring in some top quality signings so we can start playing the way that I know that the team is capable of. 15th August 2009 Middlesboro 1 Harbuzi 78 Portsmouth 2 Pazzini 33 Kalou 90 With not holding out much hope before the match after Goat promised revenge after the 3-0 victory over his team last season, the result wasn't that bad considering the attacking options that Goat has at his disposal at Portsmouth. Pazzini finished off a well-worked move involving Wright-Phillips but Harbuzi then took on half of Goat's team ending up with him putting the ball past Weise for the equaliser. With a draw looking likely, late Pompey substitute Kalou rose above Deco at the near post to head the ball past Hannson, giving Goat all three points. This game showed why they won the title last season and why they are such a formidable team. 19th August 2009 Newcastle 1 Aimar 32 Middlesboro 0 A north-east derby against the french man Mark's Newcastle team didn't go without incident with the Magpie's Faty being sent-off for two bookable offences early in the game and then my keeper Lewis giving a penalty away after pulling down Stankovic in the box. Aimar put away the penalty to secure all three points as my team struggled to find a way back into the match. 22nd August 2009 Middlesboro 4 Harbuzi 20 Matusovic 39 Beattie 78 Hundeboll 88 Blackburn 0 This was my first match up against Leo's Blackburn team and was expecting a tough battle for the points. But for once, my team pulled out a top performance with Harbuzi, Matusovic, Beattie and Hundeboll all finding the net in a comprehensive victory. Now if we can just play like this every week, we'd be challenging some of the top teams in the premiership. After extensive searching, I've finally added several players to the squad which was severely lacking numbers. Deco - AMC After being released from Barcelona in the summer, I decided he'd fit in well at Middlesbrough and will be pushing Harbuzi for a starting place in the team hopefully. Serkan - DMRC After initially having a work permit turned down, I persisted and a work permit was granted the second time. Bought for 5.25m from Fenerbache, it's money well spent as he's a top defensive midfielder that i'm sure will fit in extremely well at the club. Leo - D/DMR A 6m signing from Marseille and at only 23yrs old, Leo will be a permanent fixture at right back in the first team for many years to come. Being a brazilian, he'll add plenty of flair to the right side of the team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
goat261 Posted May 26, 2005 Share Posted May 26, 2005 Nilsen Delivers Once Again! After a disappointing season finishing 10th I came back stronger than ever in one of the most devastating title wins in history. We started off inconsistently with disappointing performances in the first 4 games. Then came the run of all runs winning 18 in 20 games which basically secured the league in January. We were never in real trouble always being 10-15 points ahead of second place, that was until about the last 10 games were we picked up 8 injuries to the first team! The rest of the players that were left were unfit on 60-70% fitness so I knew it would be hard to win a lot of games which proved to be true as we only won 2 in 10. Thanks to our earlier form in the league we still won the title by 7 points on 83. If only we didn’t get all the injuries in the last few months we would of broke into the 100 point target. In the FA cup we went out disappointingly to our rivals Southampton in the 4th round after Niemi had a stormer to give them a very lucky win. We went out in the semis of the league cup as we played the second leg with only 9 men after Chelsea injured 5 of our players! To make things worse we held on and was going through on away goals until Wiese gave them a goal with the last kick of the game. Stats in EPL Final League Position - 1st Goals - 89 Conceded - 32 Top Goalscorer - Pazzini 17 Most Assists - Rothen & Kalou 13 Best Average Rating - Rothen 8.0 Fans Player Of The Year Award - Pazzini So onto the new season The summer is always a feeding ground for clubs with money and this year once again I have secured the financial state of Portsmouth so I can spend as much as I need to. Transfers In Valdez 14.25m A class act at Bayern Munich who will replace Kerzhakov as back up to villa and Pazzini Fabrico 7.5m A fantastic player who will rotate with Mascherano, Clark and Boogaart Blondel 5m Class Versatile attacker, hoping to mold him into the next Donovan Jarstein 800k Norwegian u21 (even though he is 24 ) keeper to replace Guatelli as back up to Wiese Some fringe players had to go Rothen 10m A class act but I’m afraid he is 31 so I decided to cash in while I still could Kerzhakov 13m A good player but he wasn’t happy with being back up (bit hard to play you when your injured for 4 months you idiot) There’s also been a bid from Inter for Kalou that I have accepted which will bring in another 25m along with Adriano (no not the one you think but a class centre back who will tighten up the defence). However this deal isn’t guaranteed as Adriano is a greedy git and wants 90k which he doesn’t deserve so we will have to wait and see if he agrees to the 50k I offered him. Another bid as came in for Villa for 25m but I am undecided whether to sell or not. Community shield Portsmouth 1-1 Chelsea With the teams looking like this Portsmouth GK Weise DL Evra DC Bouma DC Hubschman DR Baltisch DMC Boogaart DMC Mascherano ML Carvalho MR SWP AMC Peralta SC Pazzini Subs Villa Korzym Kalou Jarastein Clark Andreasen VS Chelsea Gk Ellegaard DL Bridge DC Terry DC Gallas DR Bonera DMC De Rossi MC Ballack MC Rosicky AMC Cani SC Cassano SC Ammendola Subs Postiga Carrick Drogba Nilmar Nesta Sanctis Cigarini My plan was to defend well and then hit Chelsea with the DCA Deadly Counter Attack. This was going to plan as it was 0-0 with Chelsea having no shots when all of a sudden from a throw in Peralta scored a screamer from 35 yards much like Gerrards goal last month to give Pompey a 1-0 lead. Up to the 50th minute and Chelsea still didn’t have a shot, infact they didn’t even get near our box. That was until the ref stepped in and sent Carvalho off for his second booking even though he only fouled twice all game and neither were that bad . So down to 10 men and still Chelsea didn’t have a shot until the 66th minute when Postiga went through and scored there first shot of the game. Still with 10 men we attacked the Chelsea goal making it an exciting finish with end to end football all the way to penalties. This was my first Penalty shootout and with us missing 4 out of 6 penalties the season before I was not very confident at all Villa SCORED Ballack Scored Andreasen SCORED DE Rossi scored Balitsch SCORED Nesta scored Hubachman SCORED Nilmar scored Kalou SCORED Postiga (Chelsea’s goal scorer) MISSED!!! Premiership 2009/10 Portsmouth 4-0 Spurs This opening day fixture looked a tough one on paper however it was a stroll in the park as Rick’s ego along with his title challenge was given a massive blow with a fine performance from the champions (that sounds great by the way doesn’t it Niall) Pazzini set the tone for the game when he headed in a brilliant cross from Peralta on the 10th minute. 10 minutes later the machine was at it again as he lobbed the keeper from 25 yards to make it 2-0 in the first 20 minutes. The game took a turn for the worse when Villa had to come off with an injury and for some odd reason the ref wouldn’t let me bring on a sub at all so we had to play the rest of the game with 10 men! I know just my luck isn’t it. In the 57th minute Pazzini then sealed his hat trick scoring a 30 yard screamer and then to make things even better he scored his 4th in injury time to give us a 4-0 win even though we had 10 men for an hour Middlesbrough 1-2 Portsmouth Pazzini started were he left off against Spurs scoring in the 30th minute to give us a deserved lead going into half time. We dominated all the way through the game but one piece of ‘magic’ (more like my defenders just standing there watching) from Harbuzi levelled the game up at 1-1 in the 77th minute. We continued to hammer the Boro goal, then just when I was cursing my luck Kalou rose like a salmon to head the ball home in injury time. Kalou ran up to Ben just like he did to Murphy last season and gave him the famous celebration “I don’t think so†just to rub it into his face. Portsmouth 4-0 Charlton What can you say about the goal scoring machine Pazzini? Another hat trick in this game which takes his tally up to 8 goals in 3 games. Carvalho scored the goal of the night though after a mesmerizing passing move ended with a sweet half volley. Southampton 1-4 Portsmouth With 3 defenders out before the game we had to play a make shift back line which included Mascherano as the right back and Balitsch playing as a centre back. Wright-Phillips gave us the 1-0 lead in the 34th minute thanks to a marvellous pass from balitsch. The lead only lasted 6 minutes though when the Saints equalised with there first shot on target thanks to a wonderful strike by Guiza. Valdez then came on at half time for the injured Carvlaho so I had to shift the team about again moving SWP to right back, Mascherano in his normal role as the holding midfielder and Valdez on the right wing. These changes changed the game completely as it took a pretty even match into a one way killing spree as Blondel took his chance to impress me with his first appearance scoring an absolute screamer right after half time to make it 2-1. I know what your think but don’t worry Pazzini did score to make it 3-1, game over. The ref feeling sorry for the down and out Saints awarded them a penalty for nothing. However Wiese made sure justice was done saving the spot kick from the ex Evertonian Zurawski . Blondel then made it 4-1 as he squeezed the ball home from goal mouth scramble. We are currently top of the league after 4 games winning all 4, scoring 14 and conceding 2. Chelsea have a game in hand though and have also got a 100% record after the first 3 games so as you would of guessed the major Two teams of the EPL are fighting it out from the get go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted May 26, 2005 Author Share Posted May 26, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by goat261: We are currently top of the league after 4 games winning all 4, scoring 14 and conceding 2. Chelsea have a game in hand though and have also got a 100% record after the first 3 games so as you would of guessed the major Two teams of the EPL are fighting it out from the get go. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Ah, I see this one coming back to bite you in the arse just like most of your previous comments Andy. Have to agreethough that writing "champions" is a pleasurable experience. That's why I used it so frequently myself and why I will be using it again, next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted May 27, 2005 Author Share Posted May 27, 2005 Everton set their stall out to win the title back Intertoto Cup FInal Been an interesting start to the new campaign for Everton with pain in Spain and joy in Merseyside being the dominant factors so far. After qualifying through to the Inter Toto Cup Final, we were drawn against Real Sociedad and this turned out to be a very tough draw indeed as we found out to our cost. Unfortunately for Everton, Sociedad turned out to be an excellent footballing outfit and put us under immense pressure at home where they romped into a two goal lead. With Everton stunned at the simple brilliance of the Spaniards football (considering we had easily beaten Barca, Madrid and Valencia in the last campaign) Murphy went more attacking in an attempt to recover the away goal. This paid off when Gilardino nodded home from close in and all looked good again. However, Sociedad were not to be outdone and came back to score two very late goals courtesy of a Bogelund own goal and a Nihat special. A 4-1 defeat. In the second leg Everton were hopeful of coming back from three down but fate was to conspire against us totally. In the opening minutes, Sociedad managed to silence Goodison Park when a long range effort from 30 yards put the Spaniards 1-0 up and 5-1 ahead. Although Everton gamely fought back to equalise, the sending off of Gonzalez early in the first half meant we had to take on a competent side with 10 men and we were unable to get the goals required. Therefore, no European football for Everton this year, a fact the manager was not too disappointed about: The facts are that although it would be nice to be competing in the UEFA Cup this season it is not a competition that I rate enormously. There's a lot of games for very little money and the standard is quite poor overall. We saw last year that Portsmouth were able to steal our title by having no European football to play for as we concentrated on reaching the Champions League semi finals. This exit enables us to concentrate on the league and the expected challenge of Chelsea and Portsmouth for the championship. FA Barclaycard Premiership Manchester City 2 - 1 Everton Well a shock defeat to newly promoted Man City here but on the day City did actually totally deserve their win by dominating the game and stopping us from creating many chances. Unfortunately though, Murphy was burned by the man marking system once again as sudden changes by City saw defenders being pulled out of position and even when Murphy re-set them it still bloody happened - so the lesson is be very careful when you man mark cos it's fecked... Everton 2 - 1 Aston Villa Sam Bouchard arrived at Goodison park with the look of a man under severe pressure. When Bouchard was at Spurs he was known as a colourful chap but working with Doug Ellis has obviously got to the man as he turned up at Goodison looking like he was auditioning for Scream IV. A shadow of his former self and looking rather scary I must say. Murphy was confident of turning the match into a horror show for Bouchard given that his new formation had turned out some excellent home performances towards the back end of last season. And Everton soon took the lead as Kim Kallstrom (subject of a £32m pound bid from Atletico Madrid) stepped up and curled a fantastic free kick into the top corner, beating Sorensen all ends up. Knowing however that Bouchard's men had sneaked an undeserved 1-1 draw at Goodison last season, Murphy couldn't relax until the second was scored. And it wasn't too long in coming as Borut Semler raced in to finish with composure. 2-0 to Everton but we had taken our chances whereas Villa were attacking well but not seriously troubling Isaksson. However, Villa's start to the season has been impressive and in the end they were unlucky not to get a point out of the game when Van Nistelrooy got on the end of a corner routine to bring Villa back into the game. With Sam moving to a very adventurous 4-4-2 Villa put us under pressure and in the end Murphy moved to a 4-5-1 in the last 15 minutes to seal the points. In defeat, Sam had nothing else to do but chase some attractive young teenagers in the crowd. Everton 3 - 0 Arsenal The twice consecutive European Champions aren't the same threat in the league now that most of us have worked out how to play for quite some time. Despite this, they are capable of pulling off the odd shock with their quality players but on this occasion they weren't at the races. A Gilardino double and a first goal for the club from Wilhelmsen sealed the points for Everton. Injury Shocker for Everton Devasting news hit the club today as influential skilful striker Robert Vittek breaks his leg and is out for 7 months. Murphy forced into the transfer market, signs Mexican striker Peralta on a free and Manu Del Moran from Spurs for £6m. Also incoming is influential full back Revielliere at £7m who goes straight into the first team. QPR 1 - 3 Everton Everton's resurgence continues with a comfortable victory over the London outfit. The match is notable for a debut goal for Peralta to seal the points. Everton 2 - 0 Portsmouth Oh dear Andy....what happened to the champions? Easily beaten at Goodison Park is what. And so it was time for the match that is undoubtedly the biggest grudge match in the Premiership. Nothing quite stirs up the emotions like a Murphy vs Nilsen battle and this one was a massive match due to recent hostilities being renewed in the press. It also featured the ex-champions vs the defending champions with both clubs amongst the favourites for the title again this season. As Nilsen arrived at pitch side on Goodison Park, the boos and jeers rang out to a crescendo - surpassing any level of distaste that even a meeting against Liverpool can muster. Nilsen had made himself a target for Everton fury after recent pronouncements to the press that Everton could not be counted as title challengers and that Murphy had taken the club backwards despite a champions league semi final place. The man was asking to be taken down a peg or two and Murphy was just the man to make sure it was administered. The game kicked off and within three minutes Portsmouth were up to their old dirty tricks as "star" striker Pazzini elbowed Boumsong in the head earning a yellow card when surely a red was called for. It was however, the last meaningful contribution from Nilsen's Italian forward as he barely gets a kick in the game and was later substitituted when retribution for his earlier foul saw him pick up a deserved knock. Get in there lads!! Everton had set their stall out carefully in a 4-5-1 with Murphy aware that Portsmouth had beaten us at Goodison last season mainly due to an excellent opening 10 minutes where two goals gave him an early advantage. After a few tactical changes before the match, this didn't ever look like occurring again as Gilardino burst through on 9 minutes only to shoot narrowly over from distance and Pompey were struggling to get into their attacking stride. The first half though was a largely an even affair with Pompey restricted to a couple of long efforts from Mascherano and Carvalho, one saved by Isaksson and one hitting the side net. Everton were largely in control but Pompey's second string keeper was having an impressive game and our best chance was a Kallstrom effort from just outside the box which went narrowly wide. Into the second half and the game swings in Everton's favour as we begin to dominate proceedings and Pompey are put on the back foot. Then Everton suffered a double blow, injuries to the impressive Renato and wing man Wilhelmsen forcing Murphy into making changes. On came Tomas Sivok and Luis Gonzalez. And on 63 minutes the crowd rose to their feet as from a corner, Gonzalez met the ball with a great header and the net rippled. 1-0!!!!!! But NO!! Nilsen had got to the ref before the game and the goal was disallowed. Will lucky Nilsen's fortune never end? Everton continued to attack, changing the focus as Nilsen struggled to contain European Player of the Year Martin Petrov down our left flank. Then poor management by Nilsen saw him make his substitutes early as his players struggle to cope with the managers instructions and then on 70 Baltish was injured leaving Pompey down to 10 men. With Everton already controlling the game it was bad news for Pompey. But all off a sudden it was Gonzalez causing the problems as we entered the final ten minutes with Murphy, instrumental on the bench urging his team forward. Now was the time to go for the jugular. With running from the wings, full backs and central midfield, Pompey were holding on but on 83 the inevitable happened as Tomas Sivok, a Murphy stalwart from 2004, leapt like a salmon to meet a Petrov corner - thundering the header in off the post....Goodison erupts, the ref says goal and the contrast of a manager who is loyal to his players against the revolving door of Pompey is starkly highlighted. Tremendous. But it's not over, just three minutes later Sivok darts in again from another corner and buries the second. Where was the defence, where was the defence? Having scored three goals from corners in the game this looks to be a severe weak point for Pompey and could be exploited by the better sides as we did .2-0 game over and Everton are victorious....Afterwards Murphy stated: Well I think we have given Pompey a lesson here in that you never write off a quality side. In all honesty the better side has won this game and now Fratton knows that if this title ends up a two horse race, it is going to be between Everton and Chelsea. I honestly think retaining the title will be beyond Pompey this season and their form in 2009 isn't impressive overall despite a good start to this season. We'll be going for the league and today we let the rest of the Premiership know it. Carling Cup 2nd Round Derby County 1 - 0 Everton Well disappointing result after beating a poor Pompey side we went down ourselves in the Carling Cup when Derby had one shot in the first half that went in and wee couldn't get the equaliser. Not too disappointed to lose the game as I have already won this cup and our ambitions are much higher this season. So after 5 games we sit in joint second on 12 points, with Chelsea's 100% start to the campaign showing the pace will be quick this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keedo666 Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 good report Niall , always interesting to read about grudge matches Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunga99 Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 Chelsea gunning for the TITLE Yes with the start of the season upon us Mr. Abramovic has made it clear the he wants the premiership to return to Stamford Bridge and he is willing to back his new manager with the cash to do the business. Of course winning the title this year could be the hardest yet with more human managers than ever before plus the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Birmingham all having the teams capable to beat anyone on there day. Add to this the likes of Everton who without European football this year at Goodison Park will be a major force in the league and WBA who under Chris Morris will be harder to beat with some of the best player ever seen down at the Hawthorns this will be a hard task. On the plus side Manchester United shouldn’t be a problem anymore now there signed Rick Boult II as there manager and Portsmouth manager Andy will not doubt sell most of his best players and bosman signing to weaken his team like he did a couple of seasons ago, we all know what happened to Portsmouth last time they were in the champions league and Andy couldn’t rotate his players right and they finished a disappointing 10th. In order to take back the title there had to be some major signing to help bring down the average age of the team and bring back some much needed class to last season double winners. Transfers In… Paul Robinson from Tottenham for free A goal keeper coming into his prime and will give me options when one of my other goal keepers is having run of form. Helder Postiga from Porto for free Another old spurs boy who being playing for Porto for the last few season. I feel this lad has improved enough to make an impact on the premiership this time around and has plenty of goals in him. Nilmar from Lyon for free Class forward who will get goals from all over the pitch and with Drogba and Mutu both hitting 30 years old he could easy take the place. Alessio Ammendolea from Birmingham for 28 million My record signing while I was at Birmingham City and in the short space we worked together I knew this lad had something special to offer. Maybe will not get much of a chance this season to prove himself but he’s only young and will no doubt become a world class star. Daniele De Rossi from Roma for 20 million I must admit I didn’t know much about Daniele until after my UEFA Cup semi final against Roma in which both games he played a big part in. The second leg really brought my interest level up when he ran the show from midfield and scored two great goals in the process. With Cigarini being my only other dmc this was an important buy for Chelsea and I was over the moon when he agreed to join. Geoginio Boateng One for the future who can play either in attack or midfield and will give me more options with all the games Chelsea will play this season. Of course with all these players coming in there had to be some sales as Chelsea aren’t as rich as they once were. Transfer Out… John Barker to Deportivo for 375k A reserve team player who didn’t look up to much so when the offer came in I agreed to let this player move to Spain. Paulo Ferreira to Parma for 4.6 million A class right back but with Bonera and Gallas able to play right back and Paulo almost 31 I cashed in before he lost his value. Eidur Gudjohnsen to Milan for 4.1 million Gudjohnsen has given the club good service over the years but with all my new forwards arriving he would no longer make the team so I let him go for a cut price deal to Milan. Christian Wihelmsson to Everton for 5.5 million Think I may have made a mistake letting Wihelmsson go as after the sale of him and J Cole I realized my midfield was looking a bit weak. I should have kept him really just for the last minute goal that knocked Portsmouth out the Carling cup in the semi. Joe Cole to Deportivo for 10 million I didn’t want to sell Joe Cole but he took an instant dislike to me when I first took over and tried to loan him to Southampton (thinking about it who would want to go there). With his contact only having 1 year left on it and his refusing to sign a new deal I cashed in now to save losing him on free in 12 months time. Also leaving on a bosman is: Carlton Cole to Wolves Geremi to Fulham More to follow soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 So there i was, minding my own business, getting my weekly massage from my lovely lady, Ms Elisha Cuthbert, when my phone starts ringing. After a quick joke about 'its not the only thing that will be vibrating after this massage' i answer it. To my disbelief is none other than swarn enemy to any team but his own, David Gill. Now, many managers and fans have rang to tell me what such a great job i was doing at Spurs, but never another teams board member, so i listened contently to what he had to say. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Sir Rick, it's David Gill, i can't talk too loud there are outsiders in the room and this information is confidential so just listen. Some maniac American named Glazer is trying to take over the club which is going to see us plumit into massive debt. If he gains control, the fans will no longer have a say on the running of the club and, as i know your a fan, i know your going to feel strongly about this, which is why i've rang.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Quite bedazzled by the previous statement, i asked how i could be of service... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'I'm glad you asked, there are 2 options. Option 1 would see you plough your millions earnt being 1 of the greatest managers ever to walk the earth, your multi-million pound contract with durex condoms and flogging that Inter-Toto cup of yours, to take over the club instead of that muppet.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I thought to myself, 'Without that durex deal, how am i going to make love to Elisha, she's afraid of pills.' So i had to ask what option 2 was..... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Option 2 Sir Rick is a massive sacrifice. It would mean you taking charge of the team as a replacement for Rafa Benetez, who has failed to live up to expectations. You would then have 1 season to sort the club out and raise its stock value, thus meaning Glazer would have to lend an even bigger amount of cash which is already at its limit. Our only hope then is the tribunal comittee look at the figures and reject his claim. The choice, is yours.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, that was rather unexpected obviously, so i told David i'd ring him back in an hour. Feeling stressed, i relieved some pressure all over Elisha and, with her lying in my arms (obviously she'd tissued herself down' i rang David back and told him i'd be taking option 2, and therefore taking over the managerial position at Manchester United. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunga99 Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by AsherDSSc: Translation So there I was, stalking the lovely lady, Ms Elisha Cuthbert, when my phone starts ringing. To my disbelief is none other than David Gill the man who’s offered the Manchester United job out to every world class manger in EPL but who have so far all rejected the job. Now, many managers and fans have ringed to tell me what a crap job I was doing at Spurs, so I listened contently to what he had to say knowing this could be my last chance to jump ship again. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Rick are you sober, it's David Gill, I can't talk too loud as I’m outsiders the local mental hospital and if they hear what I’m about to tell you I could be locked up for life. Well basically where in the **** as we can’t get a new manager due to the fact that Nilsen, Murphy Morris and King don’t want the job. I hear your about to get sacked at spurs and are willing to work for peanuts added to all that Glazer is trying to buy our club </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Quite still a little drunk and confused by the previous statement, I asked how I could be of service... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'I'm glad you asked, there only one option that I can think of now we can’t get a decent manger in and that’s to hire you as the next manager of Manchester United and with your management skills you soon have us in the championship and Glazer will not want to buy the club anymore. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I thought to myself I took Blackburn down why not take Manchester United down as well. Well, that was rather unexpected obviously, so I told David I’d ring him back in an hour. Feeling stressed, I relieved some pressure my magazine of pictures of David Beckham and I rang David back and told him I’d take the job. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted May 27, 2005 Author Share Posted May 27, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dunga99: <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by AsherDSSc: Translation So there I was, stalking the lovely lady, Ms Elisha Cuthbert, when my phone starts ringing. To my disbelief is none other than David Gill the man who’s offered the Manchester United job out to every world class manger in EPL but who have so far all rejected the job. Now, many managers and fans have ringed to tell me what a crap job I was doing at Spurs, so I listened contently to what he had to say knowing this could be my last chance to jump ship again. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Rick are you sober, it's David Gill, I can't talk too loud as I’m outsiders the local mental hospital and if they hear what I’m about to tell you I could be locked up for life. Well basically where in the **** as we can’t get a new manager due to the fact that Nilsen, Murphy Morris and King don’t want the job. I hear your about to get sacked at spurs and are willing to work for peanuts added to all that Glazer is trying to buy our club </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Quite still a little drunk and confused by the previous statement, I asked how I could be of service... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'I'm glad you asked, there only one option that I can think of now we can’t get a decent manger in and that’s to hire you as the next manager of Manchester United and with your management skills you soon have us in the championship and Glazer will not want to buy the club anymore. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I thought to myself I took Blackburn down why not take Manchester United down as well. Well, that was rather unexpected obviously, so I told David I’d ring him back in an hour. Feeling stressed, I relieved some pressure my magazine of pictures of David Beckham and I rang David back and told him I’d take the job. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 Dont encourage him Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STFC will rule again Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 That's genius Danny Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kndusr19 Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by STFC will rule again: That's genius Danny </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Ditto that. That was utter class. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted May 27, 2005 Author Share Posted May 27, 2005 Ok, now that Everton are back above Fulham I thought it was time to update the website. I've been hard at work all afternoon (well, for at least half an hour) making the transfer details for all you stattos out there to appreciate even more fully. Hope you like it. The all important early 2009/10 League Standings Your Updated Gaffers Listing Who's currently the top EPL manager according to all the muppets in the game The All Important Trophy Cabinet And updated transfer page Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 I really need to stop drinking Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted May 30, 2005 Author Share Posted May 30, 2005 Everton Top Toffees in England once again. Everton continue to press home their claims to the title with an impressive run of eight wins on the trot and a highly entertaining draw away at Old Trafford leaves the Toffees top of the table on 25 points. Manchester United have a couple of games in hand and Chelsea also have one game in hand but they still need to bag the points and the pressure switches to Boult and King to see if they can respond. This season's Premiership is shaping up to be the greatest yet as apart from the three clubs mentioned, Sam's Aston Villa, Wenger's Arsenal and indeed Andy's Portsmouth in 6th place still look like credible challengers. The run continued with a few tricky away games. Newcastle 0 - 2 Everton With Mark D'Ardenne absent, maybe never to return and who knows but the man himself, an Everton victory was going to push the insecure Geordies boss closer to the sack which was an interesting side show to Murphy's main concern of grabbing the three points to keep up the push for top spot. On the day Newcastle started with £100K a week man Pablo Aimar running the show from his attacking mid position but the Geordies lacked a clinical edge to their play. Everton soon took control of the game as Pedretti imposed himself on the Argentine and once we went into the lead Newcastle never looked like getting back into the game. A second goal rounding off a good Everton performance as the boos echoed around St James' Park. A lovely sound. Everton 2 - 0 Blackburn Rovers With Leo Hardy AWOL, his Blackburn side went down at Goodison with ex-Evertonian Kasper Schmeichel unable to prevent a Blackburn own goal giving Everton the lead. A second goal before half time finished the game as a contest. Bolton 1 - 3 Everton Bolton may be consistent strugglers in the Premiership but always provide a tough game at the Reebok and this one was no different as the goal of the month winner for September from Phil Conner flashed past Isaksson to put Bolton ahead. However, Everton were able to come back from this setback and record a 3-1 win which in the end was a well deserved victory. Everton 2 - 0 Liverpool The Toffees leave it late in a tight game against rivals Liverpool. Two goals in the last 11 minutes, from Petrov and Burzanovic, see Everton re-affirm themselves as the top team in Merseyside. Manchester United 2 - 2 Everton With Rick Boult firmly in position as the new Manchester United gaffer and starting off with comprehensive victory over Ben's Middlesbrough at Old Trafford and a win at Pagi's Charlton Athletic, Manchester United have now to be counted as genuine challengers for the title once again. With an awesome attacking trio of Rooney, E'too and Ronaldinho, backed up with midfield steel and flair from Smylie and Baptista, Boult was confident before the game and anticipating a Man Utd victory. Murphy, playing it coyly in the press responded classily with a simple "we'll see on the day" and it was the Everton manager who was the man to call it right. Knowing that a point would be a good result, Murphy employed his "goat buster" tactic and pushed Kasper Bogelund onto Ronaldinho and Anthony Revelliere onto Wayne Rooney thus attempting to stifle Man Utd's game plan which is largely dependent on width. The game kicked off and immediately it was Alberto Gilardino making an impact - having the strength to see off the Man Utd challenges to fire an unstoppable effort into the roof of the far corner of the net. What a start and quite simply stunning brilliance from the Italian striker against his old club who discarded his talents so wastefully. However, it was long before Boult had a stroke of luck - as after only eight minutes, Everton's rock of a left back Antony Reveillere was injured requiring an Everton defensive reshuffle. In response, Nigel De Jong was moved from his central defensive pairing with Matel Radoi to left back and Werner Wolf came into the central defensive position. Unfortunately for Everton, Wolf was short of match practice and his slack defending from the German U21 international allowed E'too to get in and grab an equaliser. 1-1 and Utd were starting to call the shots as you would expect from the home team. However, Everton's genius in the midfield was having none of it and in the second half up stepped Kim Kallstrom to fire home an unstoppable shot from range, beating Rensing in the Utd goal all ends up. YESSSSSSSS.....However, further disaster was to hit the Everton side as another injury saw the lads having to face the United onslaught with 10 men for the final minutes. As Murphy tried to shore up the lead, United attacked us and with Everton having no striker on the field we just couldn't get out of our own half. The match had definitely swung Boult's way and with 7 minutes left the inevitable equaliser arrived from the boot of E'too once more, the Cameroon international reclaiming his worth as one of the EPL's most lethal strikers. At this stage, Murphy just wanted to hear the final whistle and eventually the ref blew up after the normal "Man U aren't winning" added on time eventually elapsed half an hour later. After the game Murphy enthused: <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'm very pleased with my teams performance here today. To get any sort of a result at Old Trafford you have to be defensively disciplined, have an outstanding work ethic and indeed have the flair and ability to take your chances. And sometimes that isn't even enough as United's first eleven is full of outstanding players. Today, with a little more fortune we would have taken all three points but injuries have hampered our ability to do that. All in all though, I congratulate my players from Isaksson to the front men for taking a point here today and maintaining our unbeaten run. Having played most of the top six now and not lost to any of them, we see nothing to fear from the opposition this year. We have a great chance of winning the league. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunga99 Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 Results… Community shield Portsmouth 1 Peralta 44 Chelsea 1 Postiga 66 sent off-Carvalho 51 minutes Portsmouth Man of the Match: Wiese 9/10 Portsmouth Attendance-72418 Refereed by Rob Styles All the Community shield is for me is a over hyped friendly but some managers do take this game seriously. Due to the fact we was playing Europe 3 days later to qualify for the Champions league I told me players I would be marking a lot of changes to the team at half time and to take it easy out there as its only a friendly because I didn’t want any injuries for Wednesday game or the start of the season . Andy used a new formation which worked well against me until the red card Carvalho got for he over the top tackling he tired to do on my players. Second half and it was all Chelsea and the goal finally came via Postiga (his first goal for the club). Still all Chelsea and we should have wrapped this game up before the final whistle but Wiese was on excellent form and the match went into penalties and as I have never won a penalty shootout out on FM I didn’t hold out much hope. 1-1 lost on pens Portsmouth GK Weise DL Evra DC Bouma DC Hubschman DR Baltisch DMC Boogaart DMC Mascherano ML Carvalho MR SWP AMC Peralta SC Pazzini Subs Villa Korzym Kalou Jarastein Clark Andreasen VS Chelsea Gk Ellegaard DL Bridge DC Terry DC Gallas DR Bonera DMC De Rossi MC Ballack MC Rosicky AMC Cani SC Cassano SC Ammendola Subs Postiga Carrick Drogba Nilmar Nesta Sanctis Cigarini Pens Villa SCORED Ballack Scored Andreasen SCORED DE Rossi scored Balitsch SCORED Nesta scored Hubachman SCORED Nilmar scored Kalou SCORED Postiga Missed Well done to Andy Nilsen I know this meant so much to you . Champion League Qualifying Rd 1st leg Siroki Brijeg 0 Chelsea 4 Drogba 13, 42 Postiga 55 Mutu 60 Man of the Match: Cigarini 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-9905 Refereed by Michael McCurry This game shouldn’t have caused a problem and it never did. A double from Drogba in the first half settle the nervous. Postiga then added a third in the 55 minute before Mutu sealed the game with a fourth so send us a step closer to the Champion league group stages. 4-0 Win Premiership Game 1 Newcastle 0 Chelsea 2 Cassano 12 De Rossi 18 Man of the Match: Cassano 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-52068 Refereed by Mark Clattenburg I hope this wasn’t the last time I played Marks Newcastle team because they were turning out to be a guaranteed 3 points . In truth my two goals were lucky, the first the goal there keeper should have saved and the 2nd was a deflection from a free kick that hit the wall. 2-0 Win Premiership Game 2 Chelsea 2 Mutu 59 Drogba 78 Blackburn 1 Borowski 39 Man of the Match: Drogba 10/10 Chelsea Attendance-39037 Refereed by Chris Foy My first game against Leo and I see he’s already been learning his trade from Mo with defending for your life and hope to get in a sneaky goal in. Blackburn only had one attack highlight all game but some how found themselves 1-0 up at half time. Second half the same story but we finally got the break when Drogba hit the post and Mutu slotted home the rebound. Then Drogba gave us the win the play deserved with a goal in the 78 minute. 2-1 Win Euro Super Cup Arsenal 2 Pedersen 19 Henry 45 Chelsea 3 Nesta 48 Mutu 54 Postiga 85 Man of the Match: Rosicky 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-18495 Refereed by Niels Hendriks Another friendly but this time it was the winners of the champions league verses UEFA cup winners. The first highlight in the game came from Arsenal with Pedersen scoring a wonder goal from 35 yards out, then just before half time Henry who may be getting on a bit still can find the net scored there second. Second half and on comes Mutu and Postiga to give Drogba and Cassano a break. Nesta hit a header from a Rosicky corner and then six minutes later Rosicky releases Mutu who pulls the game level. Not wanting penalties for obvious reasons and with Arsenal on the ropes I go all out attack and Postiga give Chelsea an unlikely comeback against Arsenal. Win 3-2 Champion League Qualifying Rd 2nd leg Chelsea 6 Nimar 5 pen 28, 39 Postiga 78 Ammendolea 79 Mwafulirwa 85 Siroki Brijeg 0 Man of the Match: Nimar 10/10 Chelsea Attendance-36139 Refereed by Michael McCurry After being 4-0 up from the first leg I rested some of the big players for my next premiership game and gave some of the second team time to experience some European football. Nimar finally getting a start in the line up after some injuries he had suffered since he had been at the club and what can you say about an hat trick in the first half. Second half more of the same with goals from Postiga, Ammendolea and Mwafulirwa to seal a comfortable win for my team and champion league football for this season. Win 6-0 More to follow soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STFC will rule again Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 Having been without a manager for several months, the board of directors at Birmingham have finally found someone to fill the manager's position at the club but the managerial appointment has been met with shock and disappointment by the faithful Brummie fans. Complete Unknown Ben Jackson II has beaten several top managers to be appointed as manager at Birmingham on a one year rolling contract and has been given an extravagant transfer fund to improve the squad as the new manager attempts to put the club back in their rightful place as one of the top clubs in the Premier League. Will the new manager make a success of things or will their fortunes follow the same path as Middlesbrough who had their old manager walk out after the embarassing 11-0 demolition inflicted on them by Rick's Man Utd team??? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 Having been at the club just under a month, Rick Boult has to be pleased with the start he has made at Manchester United. Still unbeaten after 5 games in charge and playing some very attractive football, the fans are hopeful of a long and succesful era with Boult at the helm. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'I've been a Manchester United fan all my life. Living in London is hard as i've never been to OT but from what i've seen on TV Boult looks like he's doing a top job.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Another fan went on to comment... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'He certainly has a good fashion sense with his armarni suits and red hair to support the team, he gets my vote' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> With the pressure really on Boult to come up with the goods this season, he's hit the ground running with some good results both on an off the field. Now broken up with Spurs anchor girl Elisha Cuthbert, he's found love in another top TV totty, Celebrity Love Island co-host Kelly Brook. A friend had this to say. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Lucky b*****d, i don't know how he does it' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Results League Cup 2nd Round Nottingham Forest - A - 1-0 - Scorers - Cerci Not the most convincing start, it took 120mins to finally take a chance and advance to the next round. English Premier League Middlesbrough - H - 11-0 - Scorers - Chivu, Ferdinand, Smylie, Tuncay, Baptista, Rooney, Van der Vaart, Eto'o, Ronaldinho x3 Not much to be said about this match other than the better team won. The EPL hadn't seen a drubbing like this ever and Boult was already considered a hero among the fans. English Premier League Charlton Athletic - A - 3-1 - Scorers - Tuncay, Baptista, Eto'o Another sound performance saw of Pagi's ever improving Charlton. Down to 10 for the last 15 minutes due to an injury saw Charlton pull 1 back after United went 3-0 up. English Premier League Southampson - H - 2-0 - Scorers - Ambrosini, Ronaldinho Having just lost there manager to the blue manc scum Man City, Southampton were at 6's and 7's all game. If not for Niemi it could have been another 11-0 drubbing. English Premier League Everton - H - 2-2 - Scorers - Eto'o x 2 A close encounter which probably deserved more clear cut chances than were created. United came back from behind twice to secure a well deserved draw. Conclusion With the United side currently sitting in 7th place but with games in hand, Boult is already thinking the Premiership title is well and truly won. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Many people have said i've moved to United for the money but i'd like to point out i've been a loyal Manchester United fan my whole life. I lived there until my 19th birthday until i was appointed Blackburn Rovers manager and had to move out. I'm now back where i belong, living just down the road from all the lads who've already egged my house 4 times and positioned my prized garden knome collection into positions from the karma sutra (thanks Wayne). Only ourselves and Chelsea go unbeaten heading into November and i see it as a fight to the finish between these 2 clubs. Hopefully, we can keep up with the pace going into January where a few purchases in the right positions will see us come out top at the end of the season. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunga99 Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 Results… Champion League Group E Chelsea 3 Rossi 28 Cani 39 Drogba 54 Real Madrid 0 Man of the Match: Bonera 8/10 Chelsea Attendance-42358 Refereed by Pierluigi Collina This game was a lot closer than the score suggests and if it wasn’t for some fine defending from my lads it could have been a different story. Rossi has really settling well into the team scoring goals from the dmc position and Cani carried on his fine form from last season. Drogba is still a goal scoring machine. 3-0 Win Premiership Game 3 Bolton 0 Chelsea 2 Nilmar 36 Postiga 71 Man of the Match: Jassi 8/10 Bolton Attendance-27483 Refereed by Chris Fox Bolton always play well against me and this time it was no different with there goal keeper Jassi having a superb game between the sticks and there team on a whole looking dangerous on the counter attack. This season my team have been lethal in front of goal and it took two awesome finishes to finally find away past there keeper from Nilmar and Postiga. 2-0 Win Premiership Game 4 Chelsea 3 Drogba 14 Ballack 22 Cigarini 46 Birmingham 2 Pander 10 Anelka 90 Man of the Match: Ballack 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-42414 Refereed by John Hillier Another game against my previous team and it didn’t start well with Pander slotting home a free kick in the first 10 minutes but we hit back with Drogba scoring and then Ballack to give us a 2-1 lead at half time. Right from kick off Cigarini doubles our lead with a 30 yard strike and that the way it stay until the last kick of the game when Anelka pulled one back in the 90 minute but it was to little to late. 3-2 Win Premiership Game 5 Chelsea 1 Terry pen 45 Liverpool 0 Sent off: Jenas 85 min Liverpool Man of the Match: Staw 9/10 Liverpool Attendance-42432 Refereed by Mike Riley Maybe I had a bit of luck in the game with a penalty for me and a red card for a Liverpool player but when your team doesn’t play well you sometimes need a little bit of luck. Liverpool threw everything they had at me in the last 10 minutes and I think it was all played on highlights but in the end it was good win for my lads. 1-0 Win Well what a great start to the new season in the league winning all 5 games and topping the league to boot. As I couldn’t make the Sunday session I left team affairs in the hands of my assistant manager. As I don’t really know how the games went I just give the scores and scorers without my manager’s comment. Premiership Game 6 Chelsea 2 Cani 42 Cassano 66 Sheff Wed 0 Man of the Match: Cani 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-40949 Refereed by Uriah Rennie Champion League Group E Hajduk 0 Chelsea 2 Drogba 45 Nilmar 86 Man of the Match: Drogba 8/10 Chelsea Attendance-34869 Refereed by Carlos Megia Davila Premiership Game 7 Tottenham 1 Gallas og 65 Chelsea 1 Drogba 26 D’Alessandro missed pen 26 Man of the Match: Drogba 8/10 Chelsea Attendance-47985 Refereed by Matt Messias Premiership Game 8 Chelsea 2 Cani 8 De Rossi 83 Middlesbrough 1 Beattie 13 Man of the Match: Rosicky 10/10 Chelsea Attendance-39530 Refereed by Mark Clattenburg Premiership Game 9 Chelsea 2 Nilmar 39 Mutu 74 Southampton 0 Man of the Match: Nilmar 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-41654 Refereed by Barry Knight Well my assistant manager didn’t do to bad only drawing with Tottenham but they were mostly easy games that I should have won easily anyway and I seemed to have played a lot of home games so I might be in a bit of a false position in the league. The bad news is I have two major players injured for a long time. Rosicky 9 months Drogba 6 months So I will be using the Abramovic’s cash to add to the squad and hopefully replace those players with class addictionst to my team. Players stats.. Goals 1st. Drogba 7 2nd. Nilmar 6 3rd= Postiga 5 3rd= Cani 5 5th. Mutu 4 Average Rating.. 1st. Carrick 7.83 2nd= Cigarini 7.75 2nd= Rosicky 7.75 4th. Nilmar 7.70 5th. Drogba 7.58 Most App.. 1st. Bridge 14 2nd= Cani 13 2nd= Robinson 13 4th= De Rossi 12 4th= Terry 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmYouEffSee Posted May 31, 2005 Share Posted May 31, 2005 Aston Villa....Good?! It's November already and quite surprisingly Aston Villa aren't relinquishing in a midtable spot which the board were seemingly quite happy with as a target for this year. Bouchard has added neumerous players to his side including the extremly equipt midfielder Simon Davies in from Spurs, Ruud Van Nistelrooy also joined from White Hart Lane for an absolute bargain price, Jefferson the Brazilian no.1 signed also, and the pick of the bunch must be Djibril Cisse on a free from Liverpool. These signings have offered depth to the squad, and some real attacking forces to give the club that edge for the whole season. So far, it's going very much to plan for the Villans, but with games in the Premiership being played everyday of the week almost, it's surely not going to stay like that....is it? Premier League Match 1 Aston Villa [4]: Zonneveld(PEN), Cisse(2), Bierofka Fulham [0]: Mo was upbeat before the game, possibly banking on another 7th minute exit and another slightly easlier win, but it wasn't to be, and things didn't pan out the way the Fulham man wanted. To be honest, his team were outclassed on the day completly forcing the new man in goal Jefferson to find something else to do for the day. After Zonneveld was brought down in the box it was he who picked himself up and slotted home for his first for the club. Cisse was put through twice, either side of half time and duly knocked them both home setting himself up for a debut hat trick. Although he didn't bag his third, he did whitnes one of the best individual goals that English football has ever seen. Jefferson took a second out from his chess game with a steward to throw the ball out to Gary Neville. Neville then passed it forward to Bierofka - 2 minutes after entering the fray - who was just beyond the half way line on the right hand side of the field. Bierofka then set his sights on goal, took the ball around neumerous Fulham players, traveling in a zig zag pattern across the pitch leaving devistating prints on the pitch which the groundsman surely will not be happy about. This perculiar pattern finished after Bierofka took the ball sideways, span around the centre half and blasted it past the keeper to the back of the net. Simply Sublime. The goal was surly to be considered for effort of the season, an extremly good goal, hopefully it'll earn this man a trophy because it was just, phhh, unbelievable. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Daniel Bierofka Well, I picked up the ball from Gary and just thought, i'll get a goal here. And....i did. In the process i thought i'd write a little message to the boss, hence the treck across the pitch, leaving lots of marks on the picth. If you look closer at the pattern, it's in the form of a Z with a sideways P at the top, which when translated into German, i love you boss. He's the best boss i've ever had, and i know we'll win things this year. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Premier League Match 2 Everton [2]: Kallstom, Semler Aston Villa [1]: van Nistelrooy Niall Murphy can count himself quite lucky to have picked up all three points at Goodison Park, after their opponents Aston Villa pushed throughout the whole 90 minuts with plenty of free flowing attacking football. The attacking play just couldn't find a finish and without Everton's keeper' being on form i'm sure the away side would have gotten at least a point, if not more from the game. A superb free kick from Kallstom and a good goal from Semler in the opening half hour took the wind out of the sails of Villa, and it took a Ruud Van Nistelrooy drive from the edge of the box to beat the keeper. Dispite recording the first loss of the new season, the team can take a lot from the result and count themselves quite unlucky. Premier League Match 3 Aston Villa [0]: Man City [0]: Attack...Good Save Robert Green........Attack...Good Save Robert Green........Attack...Good Save Robert Green.... Premier League Match 4 Sheff Wed [1]: Earnshaw Aston Villa [3]: Bierofka, Rubirosa, Cisse With Sheffield Wednesday relinqushing at the bottom of the Premier League, a rather easy game was in prospect for the away side at Hillsbrough. Unfortunatly events didn't pan out as such with Wednesday putting up a fight at the back preventing the attacking line of Villa for much of the game. Another run across the field from Bierofka resulted in a goal whist Rubirosa and Cisse nicked tap-ins later on in the game. Wednesday's consolation goal came at the end of the game after a 'Route One' attack gave Earnshaw the oppertunity to score, and he duly did. Premier League Match 5 QPR [1]: Nemeth Aston Villa [3]: Suazo, Bierofka, Cisse Yes....same score as the previous match....however quite a different game. As Niall Murphy found out last season, QPR are a good side and have what it takes to pull of surprising victory's against big sides, so when Nemeth headed home a corner on 9 minutes...things looked...ominous to say the least! The score stayed the same throughout the first half, and we had to wait until the 48th minute for the reply. After that goal QPR looked wounded, and Villa just kept piling on the pressure. Late on two more goals from Bierofka and Cisse secured the win. Premier League Match 6 Aston Villa [1]: van Nistelrooy Arsenal [1]: Chevanton Arsenal scored early on whilst Villa managed to net one late on, so going on that you'd think that the home side were lucky to get the win, but you'd be wrong. Aston Villa had the vast majority of possession and although couldn't pick up the win, fully deserved to. Could this be an early omen against sides, playing so well yet achieving so little?? League Cup 2nd Round Aston Villa [2]: van Nistelrooy, Nolan Blackpool [0]: A new look Aston Villa side were given the oppertunity to show off the squad's depth and that it did playing very well, keeping a clean sheet and scoring two goals. The 'second string' have been performing very well in the reserve league and some have gained themselves another oppertunity to shine in the future through playing this fixture. With hard fixtures a piling up, no doubt these players will be used again in the near future. Premier League Match 7 West Brom [1]: Vargas Aston Villa [5]: Suazo, Cisse, Bierofka, van Nistelrooy Vorisek As Cisse's shot hit the back of the net in the 7th miute, West Brom boss Chris Morris left the dugout and his job at the club! Sensational! He just got up and left as Cisse celebrated near the corner flag, and walked out.... The scoreline got worse for Brom', as Bierofka added a third just before the break. Assistants for Morris stepped in at half time to give ome form of team talk, and it looked to have done something as Vargas scored just after the hour mark, but the joy was shortlived as substitute Ruud van Nistelrooy buired one home 5 minutes later. After Lampard had a goal disalowed, Vorisek smashed one home from the edge of the box to finish the riot at 5-1. It's been 14 years since Aston Villa won a trophy, the League Cup in 1996, and since Bouchard has been at the club they've made one final appearance and have stepped up their aim in the league to a whole other level. Surely the Villans can't last long in the title race with so many teams putting on top quality performances everyweek? Portsmouth next could well make or break Villa as the table begins to break up ever so slowly. Premier League Match 8 Aston Villa [3]: Cisse, Suazo(2) Portsmouth [1]: Villa A simply sublime goal from Villa on 4 minutes recieved a standing ovation from the whole crowd. It must've been one of the best goals ever to hit the back of the net at Villa Park, if not one of the best in the Premiership that has ever been scored. After a couple of minutes the Portsmouth manager Andy Nilsen sat down and stopped jumping about, then....as if the gods were shining on his opposite number, a bird dropped his load on Nilsen's sparkling new suit. Nilsen was taken a back by the dolop, yet the fun wansn't over yet as the ball flew out of the sky and hit the man on the head. Nilsen was on the floor...covered in sh*te....ahhhh fun . Whilst Nilsen was cleaning himself up, Cisse smacked the ball home to bring the game level at 1-1. The second half brought two goals.....the first being Suazo's 49th's league goal for Aston Villa, and the second being Suazo's 50th! Bierofka was brough off with 15 minutes to go and was awarded with a standing ovation from the crowd, bigger than Villa's, for his part in the game today. Bouchard was chuffed with his team's performance against the current Premiership Champions, looking very pleased with the result, proving the egg was well and truly on Goat's face....and the sh*te likewise on his jacket. Premier League Match 9 Newcastle United [2]: Vucink(2) Aston Villa [2]: Cisse(2) Dissapointing would sum up today's game. Newcastle had only scored 3 all season before this game, and i've got to say iot's dissapointing to have conceded two in one game. Two late goals for Vucink killed off the Villa charge, and although i'd like to give credit to Mark for his team's performance, i can't...because he left after 20 minutes....ahh well! Premier League Match 10 Aston Villa [1]: Davies Blackburn [0]: Simon Davies bagged his first goal for the club in a hard faught battle with Rovers. Leo Hardy didn't travel to Villa Park and it's just as well as his team went down 1-0. Simple as....another win Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 With Everton having a full month without any competitive football as the international schedule set in along with Carling Cup and European games (yes lads sit there and put the feet up while the competition fights it out over minor trophies ) - Murphy has spent much of his recent time visiting his rivals grounds in last nights session, taking in an exciting game in the Carling Cup 4th Round between Rick Boult's Manchester United and David Pagi's Tottenham. Unfortunately Murphy was also present for Pagi's "enthralling" 0-0 home draw against the dour Ilyas' Fulham outfit and then travelled to Milan to see Andy Nilsen's Portsmouth save themselves from certain group stage elimination with a jammy late winner against AC Milan. All good news of course as it keeps Mr Nilsen involved in Europe. But now it is time to get back to the league campaign as Middlesbrough and Tottenham Hotspur both play the Toffees in the next week. Everton did play two Premiership games though and here is how they turned out: Everton 4 - 0 Birmingham Ben Jackson (the former Middlesbrough manager) has recently taken over Birmingham City in the wake of Danny King's departure to Chelsea and travelled to Goodison knowing that throughout King's tenure in the midlands, Birmingham had only managed to get a point at Goodison Park on one occasion. With Murphy enjoying a good record over the Brummies the main talking point before the game was would Jackson's new ideas provide a stiffer challenge in this fixture - as Ben had managed to win a few against us for Middlesbrough mainly in cup competitions. However, on the day the result was rarely in doubt after a rampant first half performance by Everton had Jackson bemoaning his team's defensive prowess. The reality was though that Everton's attack was on song and burying the Brummies at every opportunity. Gilardino gave us an early lead and after a Basturk og (The Turk had an awful game) Goodison was soon on it's feet applauding a beautiful goal. On the right side of midfield, Wilhelmsen took the ball, looked up and played an inch perfect cross field ball right into the path of the onrushing Martin Petrov. With one touch, the European Footballer of the Year controlled and slotted past Lobont to make it 3-0. A tremendous team goal. The second half was a more even affair but late on Renato fired home to make it four and round off a miserable afternoon for Birmingham at Goodison Park once again. Chelsea 2 - 1 Everton With both teams tied at the top on 28 points but with Chelsea having a game in hand, I didn't want to lose this game and employed a smothering formation with the intention of hitting Danny King's men on the break. With Chelsea's early form making it look like they might be the best team in the Premiership this season, and boasting a formidable squad full of world class players, the last thing Murphy wanted from his men was to concede early. Unfortunately on this occasion, that is exactly what happened as Chelsea grabbed the lead after only 6 minutes - Cassano got in just ahead of the Everton defence to slot past Isaksson. Remaining cautious at this stage, Chelsea were running the show with Everton really struggling to get a foothold in the game at all. As Murphy grappled with the situation, he made the mistake of removing Pedretti from patrolling the runs of impressive attacking midfielder Cani and a few minutes later paid for it dearly as Chelsea's creative man was able to score from close range. 2-0 down at HT and it was a deserved lead for Danny's men. At HT, Everton made a few more changes attempting to get back into the game and around the hour mark did pull one back through Kim Kallstrom who ghosted into the box to score. As Murphy anticipated a surge for the equaliser, it just didn't occur even though Chelsea by now were offering very little as an attacking side. Everton's best and last chance to grab a point came in the second minute of injury time, when Gilardino found Peralta lurking just outside the box, but the Mexican striker lacked the composure when the chance presented itself to him and blazed over. After the game Murphy commented: <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Congratulations to Chelsea, I think on their first half performance they deserved to win the game although there weren't really many chances for either side. This win puts them firmly in the driving seat now for the title and you got to say that with their squad they should be a difficult team to catch. It's going to be tough for me and Andy Nilsen down at Pompey to keep up the pace Chelsea are setting, but, I'm sure Danny King will hit a sticky patch at some stage and we hope to be there to take advantage. Six points is nothing after only 12 games. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> In other news Everton last night agreed to sell their squad captain Mattieu Flamini when Birmingham manager Ben Jackson faxed through a very very attractive offer of £12m pounds for the French midfielder. Flamini had recently lost his place in the first eleven and was struggling to come to terms with no longer having a guaranteed role and Murphy felt it was time to let him go. Flamini will of course be fondly remembered as the man whose goal won the Carling Cup at Wembley for Everton in 2007 - a goal that delivered the first of Murphy's three trophies so far at Goodison Park. And I know Danny will love being reminded of that. Current Table 2009/10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 where are all you lazy feckers? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Getting really really drunk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STFC will rule again Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Lazy? Moi? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunga99 Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Chelsea players need a 2 week holiday Yes with Chelsea players are playing almost twice a week every week the Chelsea team is down to there bare bones due to injury and low fitness level. While there main rivals Everton are putting there feet up every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night due to them getting beaten by Real Sociedad in the intertoto and the mighty Derby in the Carling cup . Mr Murphy can look forward to a full strength team to pick from every game. Results… Carling Cup 3rd Rd Chelsea 1 Mwafulirwa 77 Sunderland 0 Man of the Match: Campbell 9/10 Sunderland Attendance-28900 Refereed by Ryan Hunt The 2nd team was out for this game and the boys didn’t let down there manager with Mwafulirwa getting the goal in the second half to send Chelsea into the next round 1-0 Win Premiership Game 10 Fulham 2 Vonlanthen 66, 83 Chelsea 3 Nilmar 12, 85 Distan og 89 Man of the Match: Cassano 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-52068 Refereed by Mark Clattenburg Have to feel sorry for Mo after this game as with only 5 minutes to go Fulham was leading the game 2-1 after two well stuck goals from Mo new boy Vonlanthen. Nilmar got the game level for Chelsea and in the last minute we got lucky with an own goal thanks to Distan in the last minute. 3-2 Win After the game King said Mo Ilyas is a great manager and I know if Fulham had the same kind of budget as some of the big boy in the premiership Fulham would be challenging for the league title. Fulham fans and board can be very proud at the job he is doing. Champions League Group E Chelsea 0 Werder Bremen 1 Klasnic pen 49 Man of the Match: Schafer 9/10 Werder Bremen Attendance-38402 Refereed by Metin Tokat With a big game against Everton in the league next I took a big risk and sent out a weaken team and it backfired on me. The performance was still of a high standard for the Chelsea team but we just didn’t get any luck in the game itself with Werder scoring the penalty (there only shot on target in the game) and they goal keeper winning the man of the match award with some outstanding saves. 1-0 Defeat Premiership Game 11 Chelsea 2 Cassano 9 Cani 31 Everton 1 Kallastrom 65 Man of the Match: Petrov 8/10 Everton Attendance-42371 Refereed by John Hiller The big one and with an almost fully rested team I had high hopes for this game. With both teams tied at the top on 28 points and with Chelsea having a game in hand and playing at home I had to win this game. What a first half the Chelsea team had with complete control of the play and the only time Everton got hold of the ball was when Isaksson picked the ball out of the net. First Cassano slotted home then Cani added a second. Second half Niall made some changes to his team and Everton played a lot better and set up a nervous finish to the game when Kallstrom pulled one back for Everton. 2-1 Win Carling Cup 4th Rd Chelsea 2 Cigarini 45, 89 Leicester 0 Man of the Match: Cigarini 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-30628 Refereed by Rob Styles Carling cup again so my old Birmingham player Cigarini got the chance to take a place in the team ahead of De Rossi and he scored two thunder bolts both from a well worked corners that I have had the lads practicing on the training field. 2-0 Win Premiership Game 12 Manchester City 2 Simonetta 63, 80 Chelsea 3 Cassano 13, 40 Benedetti 34 Man of the Match: Ballack 10/10 Chelsea Attendance-47907 Refereed by Mark Clattenburg Different clan and different game but same old story, 3 points against Mr. Williams . With Chelsea storming into a 3 goal lead Dave showed why he such a good manager and changed a few things to his team and almost got an unlikely comeback with two goals from Simonetta. 3-2 Win Champions League Group E Real Madrid 4 Robben 52 Fabiano 58 pen 79 86 Chelsea 0 Man of the Match: Fabiano10/10 Chelsea Attendance-74928 Refereed by Metin Tokat This was an even game until Madrid scored Robben (a Chelsea old boy) gave Madrid the lead then they gave Chelsea a football lesson with some great play and scoring some good goals in the process thanks to a Fabiano hat trick. Chelsea need to win there last game in the group stage to have a chance to go into the knockout stage and a defeat in the last game we wouldn’t even qualify for the UEFA cup. 4-0 Defeat Premiership Game 13 Chelsea 1 Cassano 18 Aston Villa 1 Nistelrooy 87 Man of the Match: Robinson 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-42062 Refereed by Graham Poll Next up was Sam’s highflying Villa who had already beat this season Portsmouth. I was really struggling to field a team with a good fitness level for this game. 10 minutes into I noticed Carrick was playing up front which was a mistake so I made a sub and brought on Cassano who I was hoping to rest. Within 8 minutes on the pitch Cassano had given us the lead and that’s the way it stayed in the first half. Second half Villa came more into the game which I think was due to the poor fitness to my team and with only 3 minutes left Van Nistelrooy stuck to give Villa a deserved draw. 1-1 Draw Carling Cup Qtr Final Chelsea 3 Cassano 75, 82 Cani 79 Wolves 0 Man of the Match: Boeteng 9/10 Chelsea Attendance-38333 Refereed by Simon Francis Went with a 2nd team again but as this was the qtr final I put all the big guns on the bench. First half was a boring affair with little highlight. Second half more of the same and the last thing we needed was extra time so I tried to win the game in the last 20 minutes by bring on the big guns which paid off with Cassano grabbing two goals and Cani getting onto the score sheet as well. 3-0 Win Premiership Game 14 QPR 0 Chelsea 2 Ammendolea 28 Postiga 42 Alessandro missed pen 45 Man of the Match: Bonera 8/10 Chelsea Attendance-19109 Refereed by Mike Riley QRP started this game the brighter hitting the crossbar inside the first 15 minutes. They then went on to have the best of the highlight until Ammendolea (getting his first start in over a month) hit one past the goal keeper in the bottom right corner. Postiga who had a good start to the season but then went off the boil when he got unhappy due to the fact he hadn’t started many league games then sealed the victory with a 25 yard effort on goal. 2-0 Win Manager View A good start to the season so far unbeaten in the league but we have still got to play the likes of Arsenal, Portsmouth, WBA and Manchester United. Also add to the fact we have also played Everton and Liverpool at home and still have away ties against these teams Chelsea are in a bit of a false position. Reached the semi final in the league cup which will bring a meeting against either my old team Birmingham City (now under the management of Ben Jackson) or Fulham. Champion’s league and I have a must win game to reach the next stage and hope results go my way. With all these games I will need to add a few signing to the squad in the January transfer window and I’m in secret meeting with Manchester United boss Rick Boult over a player exchange deal. Report done I'm off down the pub now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmYouEffSee Posted June 5, 2005 Share Posted June 5, 2005 Bouchard....A God? After leading Aston Villa to 5th in the Premier League and only a mear handful of points behind the Champions League spots, many are starting to believe that Sam Bouchard is a miracle worker! Surely a team that finished 14th the season before this couldn't pull out a top 4 performance this term.....or could they? With the goals flying in and the clean sheets appearing aplenty it looks as if Bouchard's hard work is finally paying off, and the Aston Villa faithful are bloody loving it. We asked a few fans how they felt about their manager and this was their response. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Results art bes we've had int yurrrs. It's jusst loovelyy </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Yao knaw thingges art gaoing youuuurr way fiiiinallly when yao arrr connfident o winnin at oold traaford </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Ai think tha ii'd marrrie Samwell if i wasnt alredy marrid to me sista, not that i'm guay, i jus lov im. Beaoootiful </div></BLOCKQUOTE> We did try to get English out of the Aston Villa fans but they weren't able to comply saying "we arrr" each time of asking. Premier League Game 11 Bolton [1]: Kringe Aston Villa [2]: Baker, Nolan After a rather tough schedule over the past few weeks, Bouchard decided to leave out many of his regular 11 for this game against Bolton. In came Baker and Nolan in the midfield inplace of Vorisek and Lampard, and upfront Cisse, ruled out with an injury, and van Nistelrooy were replaced by Suazo and the never present Sam Parkin. Parkin watched Baker nessle a free kick into the back of the net early on in the game, before playing a pivital part in the second - playing a chipped ball through to Nolan for him to finish the game off. League Cup 4th Round Hartlepool [0]: Aston Villa [5]: van Nistelrooy(3), Nolan(2) Utter Domination from the word go. Simple as! Van Nistelrooy got his hattrick within half an hour whilst Nolan easily slotted home two in the second half to put Villa through to the 5th round away to Southampton. Premier League Game 12 Aston Villa [1]: Vorisek Liverpool [2]: Holm(2) The man who Sam Bouchard first brought to the Premiership did his old manager no favours this afternoon by knocking two past Aston Villa either side of half time. Vorisek sneaked one in at the back post mid way through the second half but Liverpool seemed content to hang on to the ball rather than attack. A very difficult game today, making this only the second defeat in 14 games for Villa this season. Premier League Game 13 Man Utd [0]: Aston Villa [0]: Usually Old Trafford is quite a scary place to visit, and there aren't many teams that can walk away with pride let alone points, yet Aston Villa managed to do both! Rick Boult has really pushed on from the start of the season, making some really good looking signings and forming quite an unbeatable side, that of which can score for fun if they really turn it on, however today wasn't the case. After scoring 11 against Middlesborough the other week the arrogant United boss told his team to run the show and destroy. They couldn't. Rick must surely be devistated, however his team roll on in the league, and must not be lookin' forward to a trip to Villa Park later on in the season. League Cup 5th Round Southampton [0]: Aston Villa [0]: Quite a boring match if i'm honest. About 3 pieces of attacking play throughout the whole game and both teams just looked shattered after a grueling start to the season. The game eventually went to Penalties where Bierofka scored the winner after Southampton missed, to give Villa the spot in the quater finals! Premier League Game 14 Chelsea [1]: Cassano Aston Villa [1]: van Nistelrooy For the umpteenth time already this season, Aston Villa are playing away from home and once again they face tough opposition. Danny King's world beaters looked as if they could have had the win early on and after Cassano scored many would've put money on them to go on and win the game. This wasn't to be, as Bouchard's Villa once again faught their way back into the game and claimed their deserved point late on. A slightly battered Chelsea felt the wrath of a set of hard tackles which surely hasnt' helped their injury crisis at the minute. League Cup Quater Final Portsmouth [2]: Korzym, Yankov Aston Villa [3]: Davies(2), Baker The Aston Villa roadshow continued to stride on today as they reached their first Semi-Final of the season at the expense of Andy Nilsen's Portsmouth. Villa's only first half attack ended up giving them the lead dead on half time as Simon Davies netted his second goal this season. A livid Nilsen dragged his team in at half time among a chorus of boo's from the home crowd and gave them a right earfull. It looked as if it may have worked as Korzym scored moments after rejoining the game for the second half. That was short lived as Baker curled one home on 58 minutes to the amazement of the Pompey boss. Yankov scored late on to take the game to extra time but Portsmouth didn't look like a side that could handle it, well, their goalkeeper didn't anyway! It was only a matter of time before someone hit the back of the Pompey net once more, and Simon Davies was the man that did it. Game, Set and Match to Aston Villa. Premier League Game 15 Aston Villa [4]: Nolan, Suazo(2), Taylor Tottenham [0]: The first Aston Villa home game in over a month proved well worth the wait as David Pagi once again tried to conquer....and failed . The man marking system employed by Spurs failed miserably and i expect Vincent Kompany will be recieving many a lashing for his poor performance. Teh Band wagen rawls own....or the band wagon rolls on in English Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 Manchester United Boss In Sex Scandal Current Red Devils boss Rick Boult has been described as a hard drinking ladies man by fellow EPL managers and after saturdays goings on, Sky Sports can reveal this to be true. Boult was seen woo'ing an unnamed young swedish teen in his local Sports Bar in the early hours of sunday morning. Onlookers were shocked as the well respected manager was pounced upon by the girl who grinded, sucked and swallowed all Boult had to give right in the middle of the dancefloor. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'I know Boult's a good lookin lad, whose loaded and is apparently hung like a horse, but there's still no need to do what 'sl*t' did in the middle of a club. It's not as if she was bad looking either, she could have had any lad in there, yet the United manager was seen as the pick of the bunch in the club and no doubt this will come back to haunt him later in life.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> The managers friend had a totally different outlook on the matter... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'I've known Rick now 14 years and i'm yet to see a girl Rick couldn't pull. He just has a way with the ladies, it's like a gift he was born with.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Boult was then seen leaving the club with current Evertonian manager Murphys fiancee Mel, who assured us they were just going home for coffee. This reporter for 1, doesn't believe that for a second. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmYouEffSee Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 United Boss Caught In A Trap Rick Boult had thought that Saturday night out on the town in Manchester was a good night and something that he'd most definatly do again, however the Brisish Constabulary dont think he will! The Red Devils leader was in a unnamed local sports bar, pulling a young girl up and down his body seemingly enjoying every moment of it. Things would've been fine, but the girl was young......very young...only 12 infact, which a passing undercover policeman saw. He went inside the bar and duly advised the United boss to move on home before he called for back up. The policeman John Aloaloalo walked Boult outside of the bar and to the end of his road Letsby Avenue. It's reported that Boult went on to pick up another youth on his way to his front door, but according to reports in The Sun he picked up a random stray dog 'Mel' he called it and went inside. Either way, Boult must watch his steps from now on with near enough everybody in Manchester keeping their eyes on him. Jim Cockin...Moss Side...Sky Sports Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 *Test* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keedo666 Posted June 7, 2005 Share Posted June 7, 2005 Yes as you may have heard, Mark D'Ardenne is no more having been sacked by the "fat controller" Freddy Shepperd. This was due to a poor run of results on the back end of last season and a poor start to the new season. In my defence my last five fixtures of last season were 4 decent computer players and Arsenal away, and in the same way my first two fixtures of this season were chelsea and Tottenham- so it seems i was doomed to be sacked with a scandalous fixture list like that! . Newcastle 0-2 Chelsea Despite the result i was more than in this game and felt that maybe i could have snatched a draw, and indeed could have stopped the rot and maybe even saved myself from the sack- as it happened i lost and my poor run continued. Newcastle 0-4 Spurs An absoloutely disgraceful performance by my team 4-0 down in the first twenty minutes- i was simply overwhelmed by the quality within the spurs team. However having gone 4-0 down the team saved face and did not concede for the rest of the match, but in true toon army tradition could not hit a barn door offensively Newcastle 1-0 Boro This match was a dour affair, and did not shape up as the thrilling bottom of the table derby as i had envisaged. This was mainly due to Jacques Faty receiving his marching orders after 20 minutes for a vicious foul on some hapless boro player- this led to the manager questioning whether the crack he passed around the dressing room before the game had been the best of pre-derby preparations. Anyway with Faty off the toon army were now down to 10 men and i prepared myself for yet another defeat- but cometh the hour cometh the man. Pablo Aimar, majestic in his glory, radiant in his magnitude, and generally fu**ing awesome began to call the shots in midfield- eventually going down and earning us a penalty which he promptly got up and sidefooted past the keeper!Goooaaaaaalll...embaressingly the first of the season for the club . Having nicked a goal i shut up shop and closed out the match, gaining a valuable 3 points and a victory in the derby. At this point my CPU died and my assistant manager was left to steer my club to glory- having left them in 14th with a game in hand i returned to find newcastle 19th and myself out of the job- somewhat harsh in my opinion but maybe a blessing in disguise as i reincarnated myself as Mark D'Ardenne II(this time with french nationality-hurray) My first game back in the job was against Arsenal in the league cup.....bugger Newcastle 2-1 Arsenal Bloody fantastic- and a great start to my second spell at the helm of NUFC. We deserved to win this game and that is what really pleased me- we outplayed the current champ league holders and this gave me hope for the future. Newcastle 1-1 Portsmouth With the league holders next on the fixture list i was apprehensive about how i could get something out of this game. As it happened i told my team to play defensively and my wingers to tuck in behind the full backs in defensive situations to give me some numbers at the back. This proved to be my downfall as Stankovic got in the way of a soft pompey shot and deflected it into my goal midway through the secong half. At this point i should mention that pompey had me on the rack with my young colombian keeper in the form of his life saving pretty much everything- so into injury time the match went and with hope fading pompey had a corner, which was headed out to alliadiere who took the ball and began a slick interchange of passes with Corvia and Aimar, which resulted in Aimar finding himself with the ball on the edge of the box- what did he do- of course he curled it into the net and with that nicked a point from Andy.... bloody brilliant. Newcastle 1-2 Watford Away in the cup we completely dominated this game but a lack of composure infront of goal causeed us to go down 2-1 to a poor watford side. A disapointing result as we should definitely have won this game, and the blame must lay on the shoulders of my misfiring strikers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted June 8, 2005 Author Share Posted June 8, 2005 Everton lead the way With 20 games played in the 2009/10 season, Niall Murphy's Top Toffees sit proudly at the summit of the FA Barclaycard Premiership as the vital Christmas schedule approaches. Everton have been setting an incredible pace so far having amassed 52 points from the possible 60 on offer. If Everton can keep up this form the club could potentially smash Chelsea's Premiership points record of 96 set in Mourinho's debut season in 2004/05. However, all these records are side issues to the main ambition of regaining our Premiership title of 2007/08 which Nilsen's Portsmouth borrowed for a year last season. At this stage it appears that this season the Premiership campaign is a three horse race between Everton, Manchester United and Chelsea, with Sam Bouchard's Aston Villa in 4th place hoping to take advantage of any slip ups by England's big three clubs. At this stage, retaining the championship looks unlikely for Andy Nilsen's Portsmouth as he finds to his cost that it is much much harder to retain the title than to win it. To Rick Boult's credit, Manchester United have managed to stay with the pace Everton are setting and are only three points behind in 2nd place. With Boult having made the signings to arrive in the January window to enhance an already incredible squad, the Mancs will be a very hard team to see off and their threat is recognised at Goodison Park. Chelsea have also been active in the transfer market and cannot be counted out of the race as if they win their games in hand they will be right back up in the mix. Danny King also has an awesome squad at his disposal and his whinging about having too many games must be rightly put into that context. Here's some of Everton's latest wins, Since the defeat to Chelsea we have won all our games in the Premiership, 7 in total. Everton 1 - 0 Fulham Mo's Fulham are much improved this season and proudly sit just outside the top 6. With Fulham boasting a strike force containing Wesley Sonck and ex-Evertonian Johan Vonlanthen, we knew that Mo's usual tactic of putting five across the back, then hoping to create the one good chance he needs to win the game would be much more threatening to us this season than in previous campaigns. Therefore, Everton lined up in their 4-5-1 formation and a slog fest began where both managers knew that the likelihood was that the first goal would win the game. For 70 minutes the game was deadlocked at 0-0 when Murphy decided to go for the winner, moving to 4-4-2 and introducing Burut Semler to the attack. Within minutes the Italian legend that is Alberto Gilardino found room taking a pass of player of the month Wilhelmsson (thanks again Danny ) to rocket a shot past Mark Crossley in the Fulham goal. 1-0 and game over I thought, but Fulham did create one very good chance when for some reason all my defenders marked all the players in the box for a Fulham free kick, leaving Vonlanthen free with the chance to grab an equaliser. He missed and it was three more points for the Toffees. A psychological edge also established for the rematch in a few weeks time in the FA Cup 3rd Round. Everton 3 - 0 Tottenham With David Pagi newly installed at his favourite team Tottenham Hotspur he visited Goodison Park in high spirits, clearly delighted to be in the White Hart Lane hotseat. However a ruthless display by the Toffees illustrated to Pagi that he has to work to do if Tottenham are to become one of England's top teams again with a comprehensive 3-0 win. Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 1 Everton Wednesday are rooted firmly to the bottom of the table and this was one of those games where I don't know how we didn't score 6 but nothing was going in, until Benoit Pedretti turned in the box and fired into the top corner. West Brom 0 - 2 Everton Easy victory over Albion who never really got into the game. Southampton 0 - 2 Everton Very pleased with this win as Southampton were the form team going into the game and their manager Sanchez had just won the manager of the month award, which is probably why they lost this game. 2-0 routine. Everton 5 - 0 Manchester City Two long strikes from Renato, who just to make Dave Williams happier , was only playing in that position due to a pre match injury to Kim Kallstrom gave Everton the edge in a game we dominated from start to finish but met ex-Evertonian Robert Green in inspired form in the City goal. Late in the second half, Williams was apparently sent off to watch the game in the stands and saw his side fall further behind when Burzanovic, Semler and Petrov took good chances to give the game a scoreline I think it probably deserved. Come on yeeeee Toffees!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmYouEffSee Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 Villa Crumple After Liverpool Defeat....Yeah Right! Aston Villa's Premiership title push rolls on as four more wins in the last few weeks have pushed them up into 4th place. Sitting 11 points behind Man Utd, who are at the top of the table, with a game in hand - possible 8 points behind, the future is looking rosey for the Villans. Premier League Game 16 Middlesbrough [0]: Aston Villa [4]: Suazo(3), Lampard The sheer domination of the away side was just too much for 'boro on the day. After Suazo knocked in the first Villa never looked back and netted 3 more in the second half. Suazo looked incredible upfront alongside Cisse, and the two combined just polished boro' off. Ben certainly left his mark on the northern side, with the shocking defeat to Rick surely doing more damage than anybody could've anticipated. Premier League Game 17/B] Aston Villa [3]: Cisse(2), Lampard Charlton [0]: After Jefferson went to the papers a couple of weeks ago saying that the Brazilian no.1 should be in the starting line up, Bouchard decided to give him a chance. It went quite well for the South American born man as he pulled off a couple of very nice saves and proved to be favourable with the fans and physio staff too. Darren Baker fell injured on 3 minutes, however in the absense of the regular physio...due to Mr Murphy stealing him away for contract talks, there wasn't anybody to aid to the young man. Jefferson took it upon himself to sprint to the man in agony and lifted him up carrying him to the sidelines. A move that saw him recieve a large pat on the back from the big cow....Charlton's mascot..., and a large round of applause from the crowd. Cisse netted the first goal on 12 minutes, slotting it home from close range after a tremendous ball through from Frank Lampard. Cisse returned the favour 3 minutes later putting Lampard through who duly slotted home in the exact same fashion. Cisse curled one home on 39 minutes to finish the game off, tallying his goal's this season up to 10. Finally Bouchard's found the three forwards that can play amongst eachother, van Nistelrooy, Suazo and Cisse all bagging the goals recently. Premier League Game 18 Southampton [2]: Dinjca, Kristianson Aston Villa [5]: Suazo, Cisse(3), Lampard Frank Lampard once again proved his worth to the team by setting up 3 of the 5 goals, and scoring one himself. The deadlock was broken on 44 minutes with Dinjca knocked in at the near post from a corner. The second half kick started Villa and 4 goals were scored in the space of 18 minutes, truly killing off any hope Southampton had ot keeping their impressive form up and running. Suazo knocked in the first and his 10th of the season, before Cisse bagged two in 4 minutes to put the game beyond the Saints. Lampard turned it on with a 35 yard strike on 63 minutes, moments before Kristianson scored for the home side after a break away. Yes that's right....after the whole team stopped for a 'break-away' biscuit...they bagged their 2nd of the day. Before they could mount any kind of comeback at all, Villa were back over them causing serious integestion....enabeling Cisse to bag his 2nd hat trick of the season. Premier League Game 19 Fulham [1]: Vonlanthen Aston Villa [3]: van Nistelrooy, Nolan, Cisse Jefferson's heroics in the Charlton game were long forgotten on 40 minutes, when he miscontrolled a back pass and practically stood still watching the simplist of goals Vonlanthen must've ever scored. Disgraceful. After a half time kick up the arse...and a change around in personnel, Villa came back kicking and screaming second half from the off, scoring without Fulham touching the ball from the kick off. Jefferson pulled himself together and made a few good saves to redeam himself before his footballing brain shone through. His long throw to Kevin Nolan, on for the tired Frank Lampard, gave the midfielder time to take the ball under control and run forward with the ball. He made it to the edge of the box before drilling it into the top left hand corner of the net...simply sublime once more! Fulham crumped like paper after the goal and it wasn't long before Cisse, who'd been knocking on the door all afternoon, managed to net himself a goal. Fulham are a solid side but just lack that midfield dynamo that so many of the top clubs have at the moment. A solid defence and goalkeeper for Fulham mean they've got good foundations, but after losing a goal they just fold like paper in the wind. Ye Old Title Race... Well it's hotting up again this term as we step into Christmas (not quoting Elton John there), and apply teams for the grueling Christmas schedule. There are only a few teams that are fighting it out realistically for the Champions League spots and even less for the actual Premier League title itself. Chelsea, Everton and Manchester United look destined to fight it out for the league whilst Portsmouth and Aston Villa look the closest thing to them. Arsenal and Liverpool are a little way behind and after watching Fulham fold i think you can count them out of the race for the Champions League. With Chelsea playing a game every three days, surely it's only a while before their players burn out....or is it? The Squad looks capable enough to beat anybody, and that's been the case for much of the season however with a lot of games coming up it'll be a test if Chelsea's squad rotation system can last to the end of January where yet more competitions add to the list...aswell as the UEFA Cup return. Everton look quite steady in my opinion, winning many games and picking up points like there's no tomorrow, and without a European or Domestic Cup competition to worry about so far could this be the key to success? The FA Cup begins in January and i'm sure Murphy would like to win it..but with injury's beginning to show in games, and a grueling line of fixtures to contend with over the XMas season, time will tell if they'll be up for the task. Rick Boult's Man United ave had a turnaround this season, not really surprising anybody, but are defeating nigh on everybody they come up against...and by high scorelines too. A top quality first 11 to pick from, even the top 16 are worth their weight in gold, but will things last when players start getting injured? I'm sure Boult can keep up with the pace of things if his team stay in fitness. Hopefully things will change 6's and 7's appear on the scoreboard each week, let's hope it's not all 6's and 7's in the boardroom come the end of the season, if Boult's season is once again fruitless. Andy Nilsen's Portsmouth....well....it's been a bit of a phhhhhh' sesaon so far. Yeah the participation in the Champions League is still going well, but the legaue is much to be desired for. Last season's champions havnt stepped up to the next level this season, and as Murphy did with Everton, have slipped back a bit. Not to that extent, but if things keep goibng this way, who knows where he'll be in 3 months time. The fans arent going to enjoy a Yo Yo effect over the seasons, hopefully Goat can pull his socks up and get back in gear. Not too much...but a little bit As for Villa...things are rosey . I can't complain about anything really, maybe the spending and finances through that, but slowly i'm sorting that out. It's lookin' good at Villa Park, much better than 13th last season. The Villa train rolls on... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 United For The Title With this being Rick Boult's first season in charge of Manchester United, not much was expected in relation to them challenging for the Premiership crown. Over the past few weeks however, the Red Devils have been playing the most attractive football this coutry's ever seen and many top pundits are tipping them for the title. Danny King, Chelski Boss <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Boolt eees a quoloty manager, moy moneuy's ooown heem to juce hedge oot Eveertoon' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Andy Nielsen, Portsmouth Boss Unable to get a quote due to him still crying, 9-0 9-0 9-0 Sam Bouchard, Aston Villa Boss <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Wurl, yao know wha eiii thank, Bowlt fot title eiii suy' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Some other, less profiled managers also gave there opinions..... Niall Murphy, Everton Manager <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Give me your hub caps! United for title my ass! </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Alex Mccarney, Liverpool Manager <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Calm Down, Calm Down </div></BLOCKQUOTE> On hearing these claims, Boult invited his whole team (11 men only) round to his house for a chat and a rub down session with his mistress, Kelly Brook. After an hour or so, he was seen to pull out some sort of flask which our reporter outside in a tree could just about read out 'props'. After extensive research, this reporter has found out that very bottle was used by non other than Michael Jordan in Space Jam to boost his teams morale. Recent results suggest this same 'mystery juice' is working down at Old Trafford. Results English Premier League Queen's Park Rangers [0]: Manchester United [2]: Eto'o, Ronaldinho An easy game for United with an early goal from Eto'o settling the nerves. QPR look like there going to be relegated this season with them offering very little resistance. A 2nd was scored just after half time and with changes made at half time, the 2nd half wittled out without too much fuss. English Premier League Manchester United [5]: Cerci (4), Berbatov Arsenal [1]: Pedersen Arsenal at this stage were still among the top runners but after this crushing result, they started to slip away. Again another early goal settled us down and the crowd really got behind us to hammer the London scum. Cerci's performance may yet get him a starting place. League Cup 1/4 Final Manchester United [6]: Ferdinand, Ambrosini (2), Cerci, Rooney, Eto'o Watford [0]: Championship side Watford were no match for a far superior United side. Even with players rested, another goal glut for the fans to enjoy. Aston Villa were drawn in the Semmi's with the first game being played at Old Trafford English Premier League West Bromwich Albion [1]: Clarke Manchester United [1]: van der Vaart Having just lost there manager, WBA should have been a walkover, and they were. Rafael struck midway through the first half and United were dominating. The home side took 80 minutes to muster up a shot yet in the 93rd minute, a near post header from there young englishman gave them a very undeserved point. English Premier League Tottenham Hotspurs [0]: Manchester United [2]: Berbatov (2) My record against Pagi was 100% going into this match but playing against my old team wasn't going to be easy. United created lots of chances but funnily enought 2 schoolboy goals secured the win. A late penalty for Pagi offered a glimmer of hope but Rensing stood firm and got a well deserved clean sheet for the back 5. English Premier League Manchester United [9]: Smylie, van der Vaart, Cerci (2), Ronaldinho (4), Eto'o Portsmouth [0]: A result Andy will want to forget, but 1 the rest of EPL will remind him about for years to come. The movement from the lads was out of this world with Ronaldinho the pick of the bunch with 4. To be fair, Wiese in goal did nothing to help the defence but after they had just won 4-0 in the Champions League in midweek, all credit has to go to United. English Premier League Manchester United [3]: Rooney (3) Chelski [0]: With this being the 2nd tough game in a week, the lads were struggling for fitness. Chelsea were theoretically top if they won there games in hand but a confident performance from United saw us dominate from the off. Chelsea never really got going which may be due to them playing so many games but again, i can only beat whats in front of me. After the game, Chelski manager Danny King wished me the best of luck in taking his Championship crown. English Premier League Manchester United [3]: Rooney, Baptista, Berbatov Blackburn Rovers [0]: A local derby after a weeks rest was just what the doctor ordered. Rooney struck his 50th goal for the club on the half hour mark killing Rovers chances. I help build the Ewood Park club so i know what it used to be capable of, but new manager Leo Hardy has somewhat dismantled it. Baptista and Berbatov struck in quick succession giving me another 3 points and keeping the pressure on Mr Murphy. English Premier League Manchester United [6]: Rooney (3), Cerci (3) Bolton Wanderers [0]: Another pounding for a midtable club which i have to admit, should have been over the record set by ourselves earlier in the season to Bens Boro'. Jussi in goal, the only reason for the 6 and not 16 score line in another result which saw Boult's men surpass the 50 goal mark in the Premier League after 20 games. Managers Comment <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'These last few weeks have been the best in my managerial career. We've beaten some of the best teams in the EPL this year and with a few easy games coming up over christmas we should be right up there. A few signings in January will help with the morale and fitness of the lads with Ammendolea the main target from rivals Chelsea. Reaching the Semi's of the League Cup without any real tough games has meant the lads have been given the odd rest but with Villa in the next round, the big guns will be brought out. 2nd in the league is seen as a great achievement from the board and the fans but i won't be happy until we knock Everton off the top spot and are in our rightful place, top of the league.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Accents performed by Sam Bouchard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelfastNiall Posted June 9, 2005 Author Share Posted June 9, 2005 Mo Ilyas "gets revenge" by dumping Everton out of the FA Cup FA Cup 3rd Round Everton 0 - 1 Fulham My distinctly average FA Cup record took another blemish as Mo Ilyas' Fulham's game plan worked to perfection, a late Robbie Keane effort punishing Everton for not taking their chances in a game in which only one team was attacking. As Fulham's tactic is to defend and hit teams late on the break - this was a well deserved win for Fulham's men - even if Murphy was bemused that Fulham's first attempt on goal arrived after the 70 minute mark. With Everton pushing to break the deadlock at 0-0 and to avoid an unnecessary replay at Craven Cottage, the tables were turned from the league encounter when Everton grabbed the only goal of the game to win the points, as Irishman Keane nipped in with a calm and composed finish to beat Isaksson in the Everton goal. Therefore Everton now have no option but to put all their eggs in one basket and try to win the league as this season has been a very poor one for us in both domestic cup competitions. FA Barclaycard Premiership Aston Villa 4 - 2 Everton Sam Bouchard's Aston Villa gave us a very tough game at Goodison Park and felt a sense of injustice that they lost that game earlier in the season. After the return game it was Murphy feeling hard done by as two corner routines where the striker sits unmarked well outside the box undid our defence which up until this game was the best in the Premiership. Two long rangers from Cisse, the second taking a huge deflection from the set pieces proved the difference between the sides on the day, although to their credit, Villa also performed very well over the course of the game. On the trip to Villa Park though, Murphy grabbed his opportunity to "tap up" the transfer listed by request Suazo, one of Villa's most important attackers and as a result the player will be moving to Goodison Park in July on a Bosman free. Despite a few verbals after the game in the tunnel, Murphy pointed out to the unhappy Bouchard that he was unable to persuade Suazo to sign a new contract and stay at Villa Park and the player felt a move to Goodison was too good an opportunity to refuse. Everton 2 - 0 Q.P.R. Routine win over the London outfit. Everton 1 - 1 W.B.A Well with Chelsea and Manchester United battling it out at Stamford Bridge on the same day, this was a great opportunity for us to move back in front of the Reds and increase our slender lead over Chelsea, if the result went our way in London. Everton though have been suffering quite a few injury setbacks lately and went into this game without Pedretti, Vitek, Petrov, Reveillere and Gonzalez. As a result, Clichy came in on the left flank for Petrov, De Jong continued to deputise for Reveillere (who has been a revelation for us this season) and we were reduced to giving young and untried Sarno a place on the bench. Unfortunately, Everton are still in a position where we cannot afford a squad of the quality of Chelsea and Manchester United, so in effect we are always going to be punching above our weight by challenging these two massive clubs for the title. Everton took an early lead through Gilardino and proceeded to dominate the Albion with ease. However, WBA are clearly my bogey side at Goodison Park as I have still failed to get one of the baggies at home, although I have also yet to lose to them away. I used to think it had something to do with the previous manager, Chris Morris, but obviously they are just a bogey side as for around the 3rd year in succession, an 87th minute equaliser saw us mugged at the end of the game and two vital points were dropped. The Title Race Well this is clearly the best title race we have ever had in EPL Challenge as there are four world class teams (and Aston Villa - sorry Sam but I look at your first 11 and wonder how they are doing so well!!) in the Premiership now. In all honesty, King's Chelsea and Boult's Manchester United are now in prime position (with their unbelievable wealth and funding - not to mention they are both good managers, that is taken for granted) to dominate the Premiership for the next few seasons. Both Andy Nilsen and myself have remained loyal to our respective lesser reputation clubs in Portsmouth and Everton and have done very well to grab a Premiership each in the past two seasons. However, it will be more difficult for us to get back to the top although Andy's liking for manipulating the Bosman market greatly will probably keep him in contention most seasons. Everton need to expand the stadium and have a great first 15, but Murphy is beginning to switch his attention away from the normal world class players when competing with Man U and Chelsea as currently we have little chance of bringing them in. We have a great chance to win the league this year but then again, 5 of us do. Sam's Villa are in my opinion over achieving so credit must go there to Sam for an outstanding campaign so far but I think he has a lot more work to do especially if he gets into the Champions League next season. In fact, this year is probably his best opportunity to bring home the title for Deadly Doug. Mo at Fulham is doing a great job against the financial restrictions in place at Craven Cottage. No one likes playing Mo and his team is coming on very well and is an excellent cup side as I have found to my cost already this season and is proven by an FA Cup already in the bag. Just outside this group are Ben and Pagi at Birmingham and Tottenham respectively. Both bosses have a great opportunity at these clubs having inherited massive amounts of money to spend in the market and if both bosses spend wisely, they will soon close the gap to the top 5 or 6 clubs. Young Alex at Liverpool is an unknown quantity and we have yet to see what he can do to bring the scousers back into the big time. And with Mark D'Ardenne having found the competition too challenging at Newcastle and left the game, that leaves Dave Williams at Manchester City who probably has the hardest job at the minute trying to bring City up the league when most of the human managers can out manoeuvre him on wages and reputation for his targets. At the top it looks like this (from memory) 1. Man Utd 55 2. Everton 55 3. Chelsea 53 4. Aston V 51 5. Pompey 50 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsherDSSc Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 United Still Pushing On With the season just reaching the midway point, Mancheser United sit pretty at the top of the table. Having only lost once all season away to Mo, the fans have to be over the moon with the clubs current condition. Manager Rick Boult recieved the Manager Of The Month award for December after winning all 8 of his games and with a few tasty buys already set for January first, the squad would be able to have a well deserved break heading into the New Year. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 'Many people wrote of the clubs chances coming in to the season with only a squad of 15 players for me to choose from. I joined the club just before the transfer window shut so its been hard for us to rotate our players and give them an occasional rest. Now the window is open again, i'd expect 7 or 8 players to be joining us and help us push for the title. Injuries and suspensions are beginning to hit us hard but hopefully we can keep up with the pace until that settles and we can push for the end of the season.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Results English Premier League Liverpool [0]: Manchester United [2]: Baptista, Rooney Liverpool had a few injuries going into the game which meant they were lacking up front and it showed as United dominated with Liverpool having no outlet. It took until the 77th minute to finally take the lead with a thunderous strike from Baptista. Rooney made it 2 shortly after making it a successful day out to Mersyside. English Premier League Sheffield Wednesday [0]: Manchester United [1]: Eto'o Bottom of the league, the Owls were struggling to come to terms with the Premiership so i took it upon myself to rest a few players. Eto'o was brough in for the soon to be departing Berbatov and showed why he should start more games. After 4 minutes, Eto'o was sent through on goal and beat the keeper near post to end the game. F.A Cup 3rd Round Oldham Athletic [1]: Taylor Manchester United [3]: Eto'o Another opportunity to rest players so Eto'o run out again. 3 more to his total for the season yet again made him stake his claim for a first team spot. Oldham battled hard but were never going to test the United back 5. Bournemouth or Norwich await us in the next round. League Cup Semi Final Manchester United [7]: Baptista, Ronaldinho, Ambrosini, Rooney (4) Aston Villa [0]: Yet another human manager battered in front of the Old Trafford faithful. When will they learn that they can't come to the Theatre of Dreams and attack the Busby Babes. 7 was a bit harsh on high flying Villa but it's since made Sam think about just how good his Villa squad need to be to be in with a shout of winning the league. English Premier League Chelski [3]: Berbatov, Nilmar, Cani Manchester United [3]: Ronaldinho (2), Baptisia The top 2 sides in the EPL came head to head at Stamford Bridge with everyone expecting the game of the season. They were not left dissapointed. A first half which saw Chelski dominate but couldn't converte that dominance into breaking the deadlock. Into the 2nd half, United came into the game more and saw us take the lead with a Ronaldinho free kick. Chelski then equilised with van der Vaart sent off just after for 2 bookable offences. 10 men United still went on the attack and were handed a dubious penalty to which Ronaldinho slotted home. Chelski made a few tactical changes and yet again levelled the game to make it 2-2 with 15 minutes left. 88th minute and the home side took the lead to the dispare of the whole United team who had put so much into the game. With injury time looming, a nice peice of play down the left wing saw the whole Chelski defence shuffle over and after Cerci laid of Baptista with just the keeper to beat the whole crowd, including Murphy, Bouchard and Nielsen rose of there chairs in hope of an equiliser. Julio duly obliged and smashed the ball past the keeper giving United a well deserved draw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STFC will rule again Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Premiership 1st November 2009 Birmingham 2 Edu 46 Huddlestone 49 Man City 0 With us facing off against Dave's struggling Man City, we managed a comfortable victory with Edu and Huddlestone both getting on the scoresheet. It looks like Dave will have a big task on his hands this season and I'm slowly turning things round at my new club. 22nd November 2009 Birmingham 1 Fernandez 14 QPR 1 Bent 47 This was a game that I was looking to get all three points from and all was looking good in the first half after Fernandez finished off a cross from Adu. But then my team didn't turn up in the 2nd half as QPR found a way back into the game as a player that I sold in my last job came back to haunt me as Bent took on several defenders before cleverly finishing past a despairing dive from Lobont. Not the result I was looking for but a point's a point and it could make all the difference come the end of the season. 24th November 2009 Everton 4 Gilardino 14 Basturk 33(OG) Petrov 43 Renato 88 Birmingham 0 Having only recently taken over at Birmingham, I came up against Niall's Everton team who after a mixed season last season had found very good form as they looked to be heading back to the top of the table. The one thing going in my favour was that in my old job at Boro, we had a good record against Everton but that was mainly in cup competitions. As soon as the match started, my defence then proceeded to let the other team the freedom of the pitch as Everton put away three goals in the first half with Gilardinho, an own goal from Basturk who had a nightmare during the match and current European Player Of The Year Petrov all finding the net. Thankfully, the 2nd half was much more even until Renato wrapped up a comfortable victory for Niall late on in the game. I'll be looking to put Niall in his place when it's the return fixture at St Andrews, as I think his Big Head Syndrome is slowly returning with his resurgent team looking like they'll be a good bet for the title this year so someone needs to keep his feet on the ground . 5th December 2009 Birmingham 2 Anelka 36 Adu 77 West Brom 0 With Chris having left his WBA team in extremely good shape, I was just hoping for a good performance and maybe sneaking a win. But with several top performances from several players in the team, we pulled off a decent win with Anelka and Adu getting on the scoresheet so this result should give us confidence as we look to get up the league as quickly as possible. 13th December 2009 Portsmouth 2 Pazzini 52 Valdez 74 Birmingham 1 Basturk 23 With Goat's Pompey team having falling behind in the title race, this was a game that I thought I could get something out of, which was turning out to be true in the first half as a Basturk goal seperated the two sides. We came out for the second half feeling good but that quickly disappeared as my defence gifted Portsmouth two goals as Pazzini and Valdez duly punished the mistakes to secure the three points for Goat. I'll definitely be looking to put it right against Goat when we play each other at St Andrews later in the season . 16th December 2009 Birmingham 2 Esposito 12 Adu 89 Newcastle 0 This game turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for Mark as Esposito and Adu heaped more misery onto the Frenchman's shoulders as we pulled off a comfortable victory. After the match, Mark resigned from his job and retired from football, stating that he'd lost his love for the game but we'll hopefully see him back in the hotseat in the future as we'll all miss his french ways . 19th December 2009 Birmingham 1 Anelka 68 Blackburn 1 Stead 50 A bit of a bore draw at Leo's Blackburn team with Leo's assistant being in charge whilst Leo is off sunning himself abroad (or working as he'll have us believe ). A neat finish by Stead was cancelled out by the ever improving moody frenchman Anelka whohit a lovely shot past the despairing Andersen in goal. 23rd December 2009 Arsenal 3 Chevanton 29, 53 Henry 61 Birmingham 3 Adu 5 Upson 24(OG) Emerton 81 This was a game that was thrilling from start to finish as I came up against the one player that I can never stop and that's Thierry Henry who's unstoppable every time I play the Gunners. So I couldn't believe it when we were 2 goals to the good in 24 minutes of the first half as Adu and an Upson own goal put us ahead, with Henry being non-existant. That was until Arsenal pulled one back through a clever finish by Chevanton as Arsenal starting putting massive pressure on our defence. We got to half-time and as I sent my troops back out for the second half, I knew Henry would come back to haunt me once again. This came true as he put Chevanton through for the equaliser with a defence splitting pass and then Henry took on my whole defence, ending up smacking the ball into the top corner leaving Lobont to pick the ball out of the net as Arsenal celebrated taking the lead. It got to 80 minutes and I decided to go for it so put on 2 fresh subs and went more attacking and my plan worked within a minute as Emerton got the ball on the wing, took the ball past 2 players and put the ball past the Gunner's keeper to make it 3-3. A thrilling end to a thrilling game . 26th December 2009 Bolton 0 Birmingham 1 Anelka 90 This was a game where we outplayed Bolton but just couldn't hit the target. It was looking like it would be a draw until the ball broke to Anelka who sprinted past 2 defenders and put the ball past the despairing keeper. I've never been a big fan of Anelka but he's proving me wrong with his performances and goals since I joined the club. 29th December 2009 Birmingham 3 Fernandez 36(PEN) Anelka 82, 86 Liverpool Another decent performance from my team as Fernandez scored from the penalty spot after being fouled by the Liverpool keeper and Anelka finished off the job with 2 well-placed goals towards the end of the game. The team is starting to get used to the new formation and tactics and with the expected signings, we can only go from strength to strength. 9th January 2010 Sheff Wed 0 Birmingham 0 A one-sided game that we should have won if it wasn't for the human brickwall that Sheff Wed put in front of their goal. Was a bit disappointed that we couldn't find a way through but at least the result keeps the good run of form that we have been having going. FA Cup FA Cup 3rd Round 2nd January 2010 Birmingham Esposito 6, 37, 76(PEN) Eagles 33 Owen 52 Anelka 78 Hull 0 With a possible cup upset on the cards, my team did me proud as they demolised Hull 6-0 with Owen scoring a debut goal with Eagles and Anelka also scoring and Esposito putting away a top quality hat-trick which was capped off by a lovely penalty that gave the Hull keeper no chance. If we keep playing like this, this cup surely has our name on it. UEFA CUP UEFA Cup Group F 29th October 2009 Birmingham 3 Fernandez 45, 61 Basturk 63 Olympiakos 0 UEFA Cup Group F 19th November 2009 Betis 3 Beasley 30 Pellegrini 56 Melli 78 Birmingham 0 UEFA Cup Group F 26th November 2009 Birmingham 2 Eagles 13 Edu 66 Groclin 0 UEFA Cup Group F 10th December 2009 Levski Sofia 3 Vasilev 45 Makriev 77 Ivanov 90 Birmingham 2 Anelka 2 Adu 8 With 2 wins out of the 4 group games that we played, we're comfortable through to the knockout round facing off against Partizan Belgrade in the 1st knockout round and with the positive performances in all but one of the games, even the Levski Sofia match which we lost but was down to going down to 10 men with injuries, I'll be looking to progress through the rounds which will hopefully end up with us holding the UEFA cup aloft, which i'd love to do after reaching the final but not winning it with Boro last season. Carling Cup Carling Cup 4th Round 4th November 2009 Charlton 0 Birmingham 3 Mills 10 Eagles 32 Fernandez 68 Carling Cup Quarter Final 2nd December 2009 Fulham 0 (3) Gonzalez 95 Fernando 105 Pienaar 111 Birmingham 0 (0) After a very good team performance and victory over Charlton in the 4th round, we were drawn against Mo's Fulham which was going to be tough considering how improved Fulham have been as of late. I went into the match with a bit of optimism having sent out my best team, that was until Fulham battered us in the first 90mins but we somehow managed to get to extra-time without conceding, I then sent out my weary team hoping to get to penalties but Mo's team just piled on more pressure leading to them scoring 3 goals in extra-time as they put us out of the competition. I will gain my revenge, oh yes I will...muahahaahahahahahaaha(evil laugh) . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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