BoxToBox Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Smashing work! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fer Fuchs Ake Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Great signing with Bender. I have an Arsenal save going and I picked him up for about 13m in my first season to rotate with Coquelin. He's been nothing but solid for us in every game that he's played. Good job in the Capital One Cup as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keano16 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Good going! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted October 29, 2016 Author Share Posted October 29, 2016 7 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Smashing work! 6 hours ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said: Great signing with Bender. I have an Arsenal save going and I picked him up for about 13m in my first season to rotate with Coquelin. He's been nothing but solid for us in every game that he's played. Good job in the Capital One Cup as well. Thanks chaps! Bender has been solid so far for me too so far. Nothing spectacular, just dependable, which is exactly what I need him for Apart from the Capital One Cup, the rest of February went reasonably well. A good draw at Anfield followed by a good win at home against the Hammers. The only annoyance was a draw against a Hull side we should have beaten soundly And we drop down to 7th, although there is still a buffer between us and the mid-table places. At this stage, anyone from 12th to 20th could be relegated. Realistically, Swansea in 11th have done enough to stay up. At the other end of the table, Spurs and Man U are still going toe-to-toe for the title, although City and the Gooners could still mount a late charge. I think Liverpool and Chelsea are too far back at this stage, although they have the quality in their squads to still make the Champions League slots. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 March comes around quickly, and the Board agree to improve Youth Recruitment Also, 3 of our young stars finally get callups to the England squad and Joel Campbell gets British citizenship - no more work permits for you my lad! We have had over £33M sitting in our war kitty all season, and now that we have qualified for Europe via the Capital One Cup, lots of our transfer targets are suddenly more interested in signing for us! For James Ward-Prowse its a double whammy, as it is very likely that Southampton are going down this season! He will be our first big banner signing of this save... no pressure! And... then our top goalscorer gets injured! The results in March are disappointing, especially since we were twice in the lead against Newcastle, and were the better team against Stoke. The less said about the Man U game, the better! We are still in 7th, although everyone is catching us up! We'll definitely finish in the top 10, but at this stage it could be anywhere between 7th and 10th! Our form recently has been decidedly average! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Only 6 more games to go... And with Callum Wilson out for most of them, the task of scoring goals falls on less steady shoulders. To be fair, they do pretty well, and in fact it is our defense which becomes very porous! The win away against Leicester was a joy to behold, just as the injury time leveller at Spurs caused me to run around my kitchen pumping my fists in the air. The loss at home against Everton had me waving my fists at the computer screen, as did the draw with Norwich, in which we totally dominated and missed 7, yes SEVEN, clear cut chances... and not the sort of "clear-cut-but-not-really" chances that the game sometimes counts... real, died-in-the-wool sitters that my mother-in-law could have scored! ...and breathe... The FA Cup was a fairly one sided affair, with relegated Southampton not putting up much in the way of resistance And that leaves the final table looking like this... Man U ran away a bit at the end, to the extent that City and Arsenal almost caught Spurs as they tailed off. Chelsea miss out on Champions League football, finishing 5th after winning the title last year! Liverpool round out the top 6, and we come home in a marvellous 7th! We gained 6 points on last year's total, scoring 5 more goals in total but worryingly conceding 7 more. At the bottom of the table, Southampton and Wolves came up and down in the same season, with West Ham joining them. The Hammers, who miraculously survived the drop last year following an almighty effort, couldn't repeat the feat, losing their final 5 games on the bounce to seal their fate. Derby County, however, fared well on their return to the top flight, finishing 8th and almost catching us! I mentioned a few posts ago how much I don't like the winter months in the EPL. So I thought I'd show a little graphic to demonstrate why... Here are the League results for Autumn - P14 W9 D2 L3 Here are the results for December and January - P11 W4 D0 L7 and finally for spring - P13 W3 D8 L2 So, prior to December, we averaged 2.1 points per game, between December and January we averaged 1.1 points per game, and after January we averaged 1.3 points per game... I really need to do something about the second half of the season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 That winter slog murdered you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 8 hours ago, BoxToBox said: That winter slog murdered you. Indeed, and add to that our complete inability to keep a clean sheet in the last couple of months certainly cost us 6th place, and possibly even 5th. That is my main objective for the new season; to isolate the cause of our slump in defensive ability, and try to eradicate it. I think it might simply be that in the second half of the season teams were sitting back more against us, and we gave them more opportunity to counterattack. I will look at our goals conceded to see if this is the case. In the meantime, however, if anyone wants a job, there are plenty on offer! All is well at Elland Road The stadium purchase went as planned, using £50M from readily available funds, and a £50M loan. However, true to the Leeds spirit, I have been given a significant sum of money for transfers (£65M) Martinez decides on his England squad for the World Cup, and four Leeds players are going: Taylor, Cook (who has also signed a new 4 year deal with the club), Lallana and Wilson. I am especially happy for Lallana and Wilson, who had been dropped from the national side before they moved to Leeds It is unsurprising, therefore, to see Lallana and Wilson appearing on the Leeds awards and stats list. Charlie Taylor wins the main awards for the 3rd season running! Again, there is no place for Kranevitter in the 'Best Eleven', but I've come to realise that his role will never be as glamorous as that of the more adventurous midfielders. Oh, and check out Kranevitter's 18 yellow cards!! The EPL awards are interesting, not least because Callum Wilson was on course for being top goalscorer until Aguero scored 6 against Southampton with a couple of games to go! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 1, 2016 Author Share Posted November 1, 2016 I carried out an analysis of the goals we conceded in the final 1/3 of the season. Although the middle 1/3 (December and January) saw us drop the most points, in fact half of the games we played over that period were against teams that finished above us in the league, so it isn't really surprising. The most worrying 'slump' was at the end of the season, when we drew 8 out of 14 games in all competitions, and only kept 3 clean sheets. During that period we conceded 18 goals, at a rate of 1.3 per game, compared to our overall season rate of 1.1 in all competitions. Of those 18, 9 were equalisers, 7 saw the opposition take the lead, and only 2 were to extend a lead (both in the defeat against Man U). So, on 50% of the occasions when we conceded, we had already taken the lead in the game, and on 40% of occasions the opposition took the lead. In only 1 game did the opposition score twice in succession. This, at least, is a positive statistic, as it shows that we were competitive in all but 1 game (and that game was against the future champions). Breaking down the goals into categories we get the following: Errors (o.g. or penalties) - 3 Set Pieces - 5 Open Play - 10 We can discount the Error category, as there is little we can do as managers to stop a player mishitting a clearance into his own goal... Looking at the Set Piece goals in more detail, 4 were from corners, 1 from a free kick, and all of them were headers or shots from crosses that were either not properly dealt with or in which marking was suspect Now onto the Open Play goals - 3 were from counterattacks (in each case we were the dominating team), 2 were from crosses, 3 were from through balls to strikers from midfielders, and 2 were from medium-long range speculative shots. If we discount the speculative shots, as there's little we can do about those (sometimes a player simply scores a cracker of a goal!), and the counterattacks (as we will always run the risk of a counter if we are dominating a match), then there are only 5 open play goals that we need to concern ourselves with, the 2 from crosses and 3 from through balls. Overall, of the 18 we conceded, only 10 fall into the realms of being preventable in some way. Of those 10, 7 were from crosses (both set piece and open play). This, therefore, should be the area in which I need to focus myself when looking at amending my tactics to reduce goals conceded. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 1, 2016 Author Share Posted November 1, 2016 OK, so now I'm really annoyed! Martinez just dropped Lewis Cook, Callum Wilson and Adam Lallana from the final England squad for the World Cup. Despite Wilson scoring 23 goals, getting 4 assists and 6 PoM awards, he is dropped in favour of Sturridge, who only scored 3 goals in the entire season! And Lallana is dropped in favour of Walcott, who only made 8 starts and got 3 goals and 1 assist. Lallana, meanwhile, got 10 assists, 2 goals and 4 PoM awards... that's favouritism!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 1, 2016 Author Share Posted November 1, 2016 In other news, Raheem Sterling got himself injured in a pre-tournament friendly, so Cook is back in the squad West Brom, Villa and Cardiff got promoted to the Premisership And that £50M loan to buy the stadium just kicked in... £475k per month for 10 years! Next time I'll round up the Europa League and Champions League finals, and then start on the 2018-19 preseason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Jesus, those loan repayments! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 1, 2016 Author Share Posted November 1, 2016 57 minutes ago, BoxToBox said: Jesus, those loan repayments! Tell me about it! I'd better not be too generous with the transfer spending! Leverkusen win the Champions League on penalties, and do it the hard way, beating Barcelona and Real Madrid along the way! The final was all one way traffic, and I still can't quite work out how Real Madrid didn't score. Even after Madrid were reduced to 9 men in extra time (2 sendings off!!) they still hit the bar and looked the better side! Still, its the result that counts! In the Europa League it was a second victory for Germany with Gelsenkirchen beating hot favourites AC Milan, again on penalties! So, well done Germany! Finally, before moving on to the preseason, a little round-up of the manager movements... I guess the biggest name is Frank de Boer joining Arsenal A little bit of a Clearance Sale at the end of the season, to free up wage space and squad space for our impending Europa League adventures. First to go is Bendtner. He only played a couple of games last season, and with Wilson, Clough, Campbell and Eggestein in front of him in the pecking order, there's no point in keeping him around Next to go is Luke Murphy. Luke did well for us in the games he played, but has been increasingly frustrated with his lack of first team football. Realistically, he is number 5 or 6 in central midfield, so I'm happy to let him go for £1.3M Next on the chopping block are central defender Bellusci and right back Berardi. Bellusci still had a year to go on his contract, but frankly he is only just about capable of dealing with Premiership strikers. Berardi, on the other hand, I could easily have offered a contract to, but you'll see soon why I let him go... This is why I let Berardi go - Kyle Walker was available for £3M! And he only wanted £30k per week as well! In addition, we got in early for Southampton's young star player, James Ward-Prowse. He should fit nicely within our tactical shape, playing as a playmaker on the right of midfield, allowing Lallana to stay at left midfield where he is generally more effective for me. Our first 'Marquee' signing of this save... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 2, 2016 Author Share Posted November 2, 2016 Everything is going well, so clearly PSG wil come along and ruin it all! Kranevitter had a release clause for clubs in the CL, and PSG activated it. Oh well, we bought him for less than £10M and sold him two seasons later for £30M... not a bad bit of business (I'm glad I bought Sven Bender now!) With all of our other dealings we are light on central defenders, so we pick up out of favour Jonny Evans for £3M And finally, Botaka leaves on a free, and we pick up a young defender as a prospect for the future The only other transfer dealings we may make are to get a goalkeeper... but I'm taking my time with that one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 Nearing the end of preseason, and the the opening salvoes of the Europa League Qualification rounds. But first, a quandary. I have a fairly solid midfield, but I have lost Kranevitter. Bazoer will now move from the role he occupied last year as a central defender into central midfield, and Cook will reprise his Box-to-Box midfielder role. James Ward-Prowse, our new star signing, will occupy the MR slot with Lallana as our ML. Altogether, a really strong midfield. In reserve, I have Sven Bender and Alex Mowatt for the central positions with Jason Molumby and Kalvin Phillips snapping at their heels. Here are Bazoer and Cook's attributes However, we have been scouting Rabiot of PSG for a while, and have been undecided as to whether or not to bid. He is available for around £7M, and about £40k per week. Everton have just had a bid accepted, so if I want him I need to move fast In scouting Rabiot, I also noticed that Fred was on the transfer market. I'll need around £15M to get him, and he'll want about £50k per week, but I can afford that. I'm in the middle of scouting him at the moment, but I won't be finished with his scouting before Rabiot decides on the Everton deal. My only concern is his Balance attribute... What do you think? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 The balance is a worry, but Fred does seem great. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fer Fuchs Ake Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Both are good but you seem stacked in midfield. I'd say don't sign either of them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 So, the plot thickens... Rabiot turned Everton down as they weren't offering enough wages... this allows us to finish scouting Fred before we make a decision and in the meantime, we sell our 1st choice and second choice Goalkeepers. Wait! What? Our 1st AND 2nd choice Goalies.....!?! To be fair, Carpi offered a lot of money for Silvestri, enough that I could get Forster from relegated Southampton. Forster is a much better all round keeper than Silvestri, whose main attribute was his shot stopping. Forster should be able to organise the defence better, and deal with aerial balls more effectively, whilst still retaining the shot stopping prowess The title odds are in and that's nice to see, top 10 finish expected! We draw Brondby in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the Europa League, and batter them all ends up. A 1st half hat trick from Callum Wilson away from home is followed up by 3 more from the team at Elland Road. To be honest, we had harder preseason games! as evidenced by the preseason results. We start the season hosting Norwich, after which we take on Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League Playoff games. We should make it to the Europa League Group phase, which is one of our season goals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 Excellent move keeper-wise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 6, 2016 Author Share Posted November 6, 2016 12 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Excellent move keeper-wise. Thanks, he's been great between the sticks so far. We settled on a Board expectation to make the Europa League playoff, but I really wanted to make the Group Stage, so I was very happy to draw Shamrock Rovers, and the team didn't disappoint in the first leg, although we waited for over an hour to make the breakthrough Johannes Eggestein finally got a competitive goal for us, and in fact he got a brace! The Second leg was an interesting affair, with our B team largely struggling to break down a packed defence, but we got a goal in the end to extend the lead and make it to the Group stage! Our other results weren't bad either, although the Cardiff result was annoying I'm happy with the table so far I still haven't made any decisions regarding signing Fred or Rabiot. Both are still available with 1 day left before the transfer deadline... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 Just a quick roundup of the end of the transfer window... But first the Europa League Group draw took place at the end of August, and what a group we've been drawn in! No disrespect to the other sides, but I actually think that we are the strongest team, even though we were only seeded third! We should have a great chance to qualify for the knockout stages! In the end our saga with Fred and Rabiot sort of petered out. By the time we got round to bidding for Fred he decided he didn't want to join us after all, so we decided to go for a loan of Rabiot, with an offer to buy him for £5.25M at any time. This is a good deal for us I think. On the less positive side, Arsenal came in with an eleventh hour bid for Charlie Taylor, and completely unsettled him, and he is now moaning to his teammates. Fortunately only Garbutt is listening, and Taylor even scored in the game which immediately followed, so it isn't yet affecting him on the pitch. I just hope things will calm down. The transfer window was a busy one, with the three biggest deals below and finally, here is a look at the squad that will take us through the first half of the season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 September rolls on by, and we are busier than ever, with games in the Capital One Cup, Europa League and Premiership. But first, I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd sold my 1st and 2nd choice keepers. I picked up Forster from Southampton, but I also got a new number 2... expensive, but he could easily be Forster's long term replacement Our first Group game in Europe was against the Group's 1st seeds, and we beat them well - easier than the scoreline would suggest. They held the ball for long periods of time at the back, but had no penetration at all, and we took our chance well! In our other games, the month started brilliantly, with two good wins in the Premiership followed by our Europa League match. I have a terrible record against Jurgen Klopp's Man City, so it wasn't a surprise to lose that game, but the final two games were frustrating. The Brighton game we left far too late, as we completely forgot how to shoot until late substitute Callum Wilson reminded everyone how to do it, and the game against the Baggies was 'computer-hurlingly' frustrating. We had a lot of good chances to score, and in the end gave it away, literally, through a terrible back pass from loanee Rabiot Whilst I am happy to be in 6th place, we should really have at least drawn the West Brom game, which would put us in 5th... oh well, there's a long way to go yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 A little mini Europa League update for October... So in terms of group games thats P3 W3 D0 L0 9 points. We only have to win one more of our group games and we'll be through to the knockout phase. Overall in European competition this season I am P7 W7 D0 L0, Goals For - 10, Goals Conceded - 0 !!!! Sorry about invoking MC Hammer but I am very chuffed about our European campaign so far! Couple more games to play in October, including hosting the Gooners and a Capital One Cup game against Sunderland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 Cracking work in Europe, hammertime indeed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 9, 2016 Author Share Posted November 9, 2016 11 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Cracking work in Europe, hammertime indeed! cheers mate! Our results in October were excellent, the draw with Palace notwithstanding. Highlight of the month was a 3-0 hammering of Arsenal at Elland Road, although the victory was marred by injuries to Lallana and Wilson. Both will be out for 3 weeks. We also booked ourselves a Quarter Final place in the Capital One Cup with a straightforward victory over Sunderland. The table looks interesting, now that we have reached the quarter mark of the season. Spurs, Man U and Arsenal are the early pace setters, with Chelsea, ourselves and Leicester forming another small group half a dozen or so points behind them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 9, 2016 Author Share Posted November 9, 2016 Our European adventure continues, with year another victory... that's 8 wins in a row in the Europa League Johannes Eggestein has started to find the net more regularly, as well as spectacularly... he won the November Goal of the Month for a wonderful overhead kick against Hull Our November results don't look that great at first glance, but on further inspection I'm only really disappointed at the draw against Hull. We beat Chelsea at the Bridge, and drew against Spurs, the current league leaders, both of which are good results, and in Europe we guaranteed topping the group with a win and a draw. Yes, it was disappointing to finally lose our 100% record in Europe, and concede our first goal, but it was always going to happen sooner or later, and we were fielding a large proportion of our rotation players to keep the starters fresh. The table is still looking good. We are establishing ourselves near the top with some good consistent results, and based on this should really expect to challenge for a European place again next spring. At the bottom of the table, however, look at Liverpool!!! 18th! I can't see them sticking with the manager much longer! December sees us take on Southampton in the Quarter Final of the Capital One Cup, the mighty Sheriff in our final Europa League group game, and several more Premiership games. We are now moving into the months that traditionally I do worst in, December and January. Wish me luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 10, 2016 Author Share Posted November 10, 2016 Liverpool finally get fed up with being in the relegation zone and sack the manager in early December 2018! In the Europa League we go from a somewhat disappointing game in Austria, in which we conceded our first goal in the Europa League, to a convincing win against the hapless Sheriff, although our finishing leaves a little to be desired! 32 shots, 2 goals... However, those final results put us qualifying for the knockout stages as the group winners Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Looking golden in the Europa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 11, 2016 Author Share Posted November 11, 2016 11 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Looking golden in the Europa. I think our progress will hinge on who we get drawn against. There are some good teams, such as Valencia, Chelsea and Liverpool who have qualified. If we can avoid one of the favourites in the 1st Knockout round then who knows what might happen! Also, we're in the semi-final of the Capital One Cup again... seems like Leeds gets on well with this competition! (Pity the Board think its pointless!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 12, 2016 Author Share Posted November 12, 2016 December 2018, and Liverpool import yet another foreign coach to try to turn around their miserable season The draw for the Europa League knockout stages could not have been nicer to us, as we face Maribor from Slovenia However, midway through the month we suffer our biggest defeat of the entire save at the hands of Man U. The worst thing is that the round up says that we were unlucky to be beaten. Essentially, we went in at half time 1-0 down, and then conceded 4 goals in 10 minutes to Higuain... nobody else, just Higuain... it was a feat of goalscoring the likes of which I have never seen - every time he touched the ball it went into the back of the net! Oh well, the rest of the month went pretty well, especially considering this is usually one of my bogey months where I drop a lot of points! And the table is still looking good for us. Liverpool are still struggling, and Cardiff are going down. At the top, Spurs are 16 points clear of us and Man City, and it would take a miracle for them to finish the season outside the Champions League places. Can they keep it going to the end of the season though? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 Geez, Higuain came out angry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 12, 2016 Author Share Posted November 12, 2016 17 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Geez, Higuain came out angry. Tell me about it! The good news is that Eggestein has found his scoring boots and is now a starter alongside Callum Wilson. I just hope I can keep hold of them. If we fluke our way into the Champions league then it'll be fine, but if it's the Europa league again I'm not so sure! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fer Fuchs Ake Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 Higuain is a great player. I signed him on an Arsenal save once and he scored about 33-35 goals in about 40 appearances in all competitions. Once I dropped him at home to Southampton in the BPL to keep Giroud happy. We were 0-1 down at the 70th minute. I brought Higuain on and he scored in the 75th, 77th and 83rd minute to win it for us 3-1! Great going in Europe and the BPL. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 14, 2016 Author Share Posted November 14, 2016 On 11/12/2016 at 23:44, Fer Fuchs Ake said: Higuain is a great player. I signed him on an Arsenal save once and he scored about 33-35 goals in about 40 appearances in all competitions. Once I dropped him at home to Southampton in the BPL to keep Giroud happy. We were 0-1 down at the 70th minute. I brought Higuain on and he scored in the 75th, 77th and 83rd minute to win it for us 3-1! Great going in Europe and the BPL. Thanks, and I'll need a plan to deal with Higuain... I'm facing Man U in a very important match, very soon! Happy New Year, everyone. It is January 2019, and the last vestiges of festive cheer are well and truly buried as Stoke and Cardiff part ways with their managers. One piece of happy news is that Johannes Eggestein has really started to find a good run of form. He struggled to find the net in his few outings last season, and didn't really do much of note until the end of October. Since then, however, he has been on fire, and got the Young Player of the Month award for December as acknowledgement. Lewis Cook came third, sending me a reminder that even though Cook has been an integral part of my first team since the start of the game, he is still only young! This is not what we wanted, however, our key centre half going down for a month. Add to that an injury keeping Balanta out for a couple of weeks (2 days after Mammana's injury) and we are a little thin on the ground at the back. Arguably the most important matches of the month came in our Capital One Cup semi-final against Liverpool. Despite a shocking start to the season, Liverpool have lost only 1 match under their new manager, and are rocketing up the table, so I was very happy with our performance over 2 legs. Back-to-back Capital One Cup finals for us Man U beat West Brom in the other semi-final, pitting us against Higuain again! Let's hope he leaves his scoring boots at home this time! We seem to have overcome our bogey month, with a string of superb results (even if the performances weren't always amazing). A win is a win is a win, as they say! We've now only lost 1 match since the end of September (and that was our battering from Man U)... If you thought that impressive run of form would give us much of a cushion in the League, think again! The Premiership is SOOO competitive, that we are still 9 points behind Spurs, and lying in 4th place! On a different note, remember when Liverpool were in the relegation zone in November? Remember when they were 17th at the end of December? Well, they are now 9th! Cardiff are basically going through the motions, and things aren't looking good for Stoke and West Brom... Next time I'll update you on the transfer situation at the end of January. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 Difficult to catch the top 3 at that level of consistency, but I think 4th place and the respective Champions League qualification would be a huge breakthrough for your side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 15, 2016 Author Share Posted November 15, 2016 On 11/14/2016 at 15:58, noikeee said: Difficult to catch the top 3 at that level of consistency, but I think 4th place and the respective Champions League qualification would be a huge breakthrough for your side. Agreed! We'll see what happens in the final 1/3 of the season. The transfer window was quiet for us, with no-one coming and no-one going. Still there were a few big moves Johannes Eggestein wins the YPoM award for the second month running... Eddie Howe, having been sacked by Stoke, gets hired by Cardiff, and Roberto Mancini, of all people, takes the reigns for the Potters. Mancini can't help them, however, as Callum Wilson sends a 4-goal message to Man U's Higuain - "anything you can do, I can do better!" Unfortunately the screenshot cuts off Wilson's 4th goal, but suffice to say he played a blinder! ;) Still got a few games to play in January before the next update, but I'm off to Wembley tonight so no playing this evening! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 16, 2016 Author Share Posted November 16, 2016 February starts with more managers getting the chop, including my nemesis, Jurgen Klopp. Incidentally, he got the sack the day after we finally ended our run without a win against Man City. So, in effect, I gave Klopp the chop! Later in the month we faced Maribor ("Who are you? Who are you?".... no seriously, who are you?). After an absolute hammering on their home turf, they parked the bus and we put out the C team for the home leg. We still have only conceded 1 goal in Europe this season! At the end of the month Guardiola comes back for his second stint at Man City, and Marcelino takes the reins at Swansea. We've been relatively injury free this season, touch wood, but lose our reserve keeper just before the Capital One Cup final. He'l be gutted, as he has played in all of the domestic cup games this season. Another excellent result overall, marred by defeat against Spurs in the FA Cup. We hit the post and the cross bar in that game, and didn't really deserve to lose. The table is still looking good. We are even catching up to the top 3, and have an eight point cushion over City and Chelsea. Thee's basically no way that we can finish outside the top 6 now, which means we will equal or better our league finish from last season. So we are almost guaranteed European football of some sort next year, albeit we are gunning for the Champions League. 10 wins in a row! 14 assists so far for Ward-Prowse - that is the reason I spent all that money on him, so I'm very happy with the way he has performed for us Callum goes from strength to strength each season! March sees us play in the Capital One Cup final against Man U, the 2nd knockout round of the Europa League against Spartak Moscow, and some important Premiership games, including Chelsea and Arsenal! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 16, 2016 Share Posted November 16, 2016 Shaping up into a cracker of a season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 17, 2016 Author Share Posted November 17, 2016 20 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Shaping up into a cracker of a season. Cheers, mate. Well, what a month March 2019 was. First off, another one bites the dust as Mark Hughes gets the old heave-ho from Norwich, to be replaced by Brendan Rodgers. Our first game in March is the Capital One Cup final, and unfortunately we can't replicate last season's epic victory over Newcastle. Frustratingly, in comparison to our 5-0 battering by Man U in the league, we held our own in the final, and Man u only took the lead after Lewis Cook (of all people) got caught in possession on the edge of our own penalty area. We threw the kitchen sink at them in the second half, but couldn't find an equaliser. Oh well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The 2nd Knockout round of the Europa League was altogether more satisfying, however, as we trounced Spartak Moscow. A dominating 2-0 victory at home in the first leg was followed by a rip-roaring match in Moscow. A proper 'cup tie', it was end-to-end stuff as Spartak threw everything into attack. In the end we came out 4-2 winners, for an overall win of 6-2 over both legs. But now the serious games start, as we draw AS Monaco in the Quarter Finals. Meanwhile, this is a season for record setting, as Lewis Cook gets his 7th Player of the Match award of the season, a new club record. The defeat in the Capital One Cup aside, our results are once again more than I ever hoped for, with wins at the Emirates AND White Hart Lane, and a draw at home against Chelsea! And all that means that not only are we in a commanding position to qualify for the Champions League next season, but we are neck and neck with Arsenal, and only 2 points shy of Spurs. If we play well in the closing weeks we could possibly even get 2nd place! But no matter what we do we still can't seem to achieve Manager of the Month Well done Jose! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 19, 2016 Author Share Posted November 19, 2016 April, and we are into the final throws of the season... First, we played our Quarter final against AS Monaco. An 86th minute away goal by Monaco in the Home leg marred an otherwise perfect evening of football, but we went into the return match full of confidence. It wasn't meant to be, sadly, as our finishing let us down. Despite hitting the woodwork twice, we were only able to come away with a single goal, and a third from Monaco in the 70th minute sealed our fate. Ah well, we never actually expected to reach this far, but I did feel we had the quality to beat them. Our European Campaign makes for very enjoyable viewing, however! Our Premier league results were a bit of a mixed bag. A stupid equaliser from Watford lost us 3 easy points, while a 92nd minute equaliser against Leicester rescued a point for us. Later in the month, we secured 3 fabulous points against league leaders Man Utd. Having gone 2 goals up, we were cruising until a clearance from Luke Garbutt cannoned off Alex Mowatt into our own goal! Seeing a way back into the game, Man U went all out attack, and managed to pull level, until an 85th minute screamer from 15 yards out by central defender Eder Balanta won the game for us. Again though, our normally excellent defence let us down against Villa, as we conceded a late goal to lose what should have been another easy win. However, our points did secure us a Champions League berth for next season. Altogether an excellent achievement for Leeds, in only their 3rd season back in the top flight. The question remains, how will the top 4 places finish up? Man U are still top, but our victory over them has narrowed the gap to only 3 points with 3 to play. Spurs and Arsenal are 2 and 3 points behind us respectively, but have a game in hand. With only a few games remaining, the title is wide open, and we could even sneak our way to the top of the table with a bit of good fortune. In fact, with a bit of better defending in April, we could easily have been top at this point! Man City and Chelsea will get the Europa League places for finishing 5th and 6th, and the Europa League spot for winning the FA Cup could yet go to Sunderland (who beat Everton in their semi-final) or Liverpool (who are yet to play Man U in their semi). At the bottom, West Brom and Cardiff are relegated, and unless a miracle occurs Stoke will be joining them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Going to be some run in! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 19, 2016 Author Share Posted November 19, 2016 9 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Going to be some run in! I know! I think I'll do a game by game update as it gets down to the wire. Thanks for the ongoing support by the way, much appreciated! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fer Fuchs Ake Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Have you hit the Favoured Personnel/Club Icon/Club Legend list yet? Surely you must be close after all you've done for the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 19, 2016 Author Share Posted November 19, 2016 1 hour ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said: Have you hit the Favoured Personnel/Club Icon/Club Legend list yet? Surely you must be close after all you've done for the club. Not sure yet, haven't checked! I hadn't realised that Arsenal and Spurs were playing their game in hand against each other! The table now looks like this with 3 games left. Week 36 fixtures for the top 4 look like this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 19, 2016 Author Share Posted November 19, 2016 Cardiff sack Eddie Howe, who had been in charge since January. God knows why, as they hadn't a hope in hell of staying up, and a manager of Eddie Howe's class could have bounced them back up in a season! A great home victory for us against Liverpool (I know I'm doing something right when Liverpool line up against me in a 4-1-4-1!), and with Arsenal only drawing we have a good chance. Man U beat Spurs away from home which was a great result for them! Man U retain their advantage, but now we are almost guaranteed at least 3rd place! Yet again Spurs start the season really well and crumble near the end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 You had one job Spurs! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 20, 2016 Author Share Posted November 20, 2016 On 19 November 2016 at 14:48, Fer Fuchs Ake said: Have you hit the Favoured Personnel/Club Icon/Club Legend list yet? Surely you must be close after all you've done for the club. Just checked and I'm on the Favoured Personnel list On 19 November 2016 at 18:38, BoxToBox said: You had one job Spurs! Hehe, they get worse! Week 37 fixtures for the top 4... Arsenal and Spurs stumble and can only draw, whereas Man Utd hammer Watford. We have an absolute mare at Derby and lose our unbeaten run in the league. Our own fault really, as we should have been 2 or 3 up by the hour mark, but could only score a single goal. We came back to level it up in the last 10 minutes after Derby had scored a couple, but then a calamitous own goal gave all 3 points to the home side. And so the table looks like this. Man U secure the title, and we are still locked in a battle for 2nd place against Arsenal. Spurs are guaranteed 4th. Ouch, that hurts! AS Monaco, our vanquishers in the Quarter Final of the Europa League, go on to beat Leverkusen, and will face Liverpool in the Final at Villa Park. Now I'm gutted we didn't get through, imagine playing against Liverpool at Villa Park for the Europa League trophy!! Meanwhile, in the Champions League, Barca beat AC Milan, Spurs and Real Madrid to get to the final. Juve beat Atletico, Arsenal and PSG on their way. Both teams have beaten some superb teams to get there, so you can't say either doesn't deserve to be there! In other news, three of our main transfer targets for our journey into the Champions League are now off the table. Shakiri, from relegated Stoke, is joining Spurs, and Pulisic and Xhaka have both signed new contracts! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Damn shame, still no matter what 2nd or 3rd is an excellent season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 1 hour ago, BoxToBox said: Damn shame, still no matter what 2nd or 3rd is an excellent season. Yep, I never actually thought I could overhaul Man U, especially with their incredible goal difference. Hopefully I can get 2nd! in other news, Felix Passlack has started to become increasingly interested in a move to Yorkshire to get CL football (Dortmund are going to miss out this season). He'll cost 30m+ and about 75k p/w but it might be worth it! I could also pick up Sule for 28m or Ivan from PSG for under 30m. Odegaard is also available but at 56m he's out of my price range. Edit - btw that's the Romanian hot prospect Andrei Ivan, who hasn't broken into the PSG side and has asked to leave for 1st team football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 Week 38 fixtures: we are only really concerned about Arsenal, who have a fairly easy home match against Norwich. A win for us against Newcastle will see us take 2nd place in the final table, but a win for Arsenal and a draw or defeat for us and we will finish 3rd. And our end of season defensive woes continue, as the normally dependable Eder Balanta has a mare, and we concede 3 goals. And the final table looks like this at the top. In the previous three seasons we finished 1st in the Championship, 9th and then 7th in the Premiership. If you'd offered me a Capital One Cup Final appearance, Europa League Quarter Final and 3rd in the Premiership I'd have bitten your hand off at the start of the season, but I can't help thinking we could have done better. For a team that only conceded 26 goals in the first 36 games, letting in 6 in the final 2 games is very frustrating. Oh well, Champions League to look forward to next season! Next update we'll see what happens in the FA Cup final, Europa League and Champions League Finals, and start our summer wheeling and dealing. Our transfer targets are currently: - Felix Passlack (right sided player who is a natural DR/WBR/MR/AMR) - Minimum Fee Release Clause of £34.5M and wants to play CL football next year - Andrei Ivan (Complete Forward who can't break into the PSG side but who could give us the best strike rotation in the Premiership) - available at £30M and currently unhappy - Niklas Sule (strong centre half who would complete a powerful foursome of DCs, enabling Riechedly Bazoer to return to his more natural position in the centre of midfield) - listed at £28M Adrien Rabiot, who has been on loan from PSG all season (and who has played really well in 22 starts), won't join us for less than 70k per week. This would make him our top earner, and frankly if I'm not paying any of my other players that much money, he doesn't deserve it! Greedy git! Of the three listed above I could afford two, but will probably have to limit myself to just one as I'm not falling into the financial trap that Leeds fell into back in the first part of this century. If I can get a decent price for one or two fringe players I may revise that, however. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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