[FM19] The Hart Chronicles - Volume IV: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be!

[PaulHartman71]

I am back after a year long absence from these parts (and playing FM in general tbf). 

 

This save will be played on the recent update of FM19. Inspired somewhat by ManUtd1's big journeyman I've had this idea for a save planned for a while. The aim of it is to win the Champions League with a team that hasn't won it before from "every" country in Europe. I say every with brackets as I won't be using any extra files on this save so I will "only" be doing it for the 34 countries available on the game. I guess I could do 35 if you include the Liechtenstein side, but I won't have to worry about making a decision on that for a very long time.

As I often like to do on saves on FM I will start off with Arsenal and then work my way around the rest of Europe from there. I'll be starting the game with the top leagues from England, Spain, Germany and France all loaded, then will take one away and add another as I complete one. So when I win the CL with Arsenal I will take England off and add Italy, then take the next off and add Portugal, Turkey, Russia, etc and so on.  

[PaulHartman71]

Matt Hart looked at the newspaper proudly. Everything that he had worked so hard for over the last 35 years had come to fruition. It had not been easy. He'd spent 50 years in the new timeline he had created in China, where he was trying to accomplish the bizarre and very specific mission that had been left for him. He had failed miserably of course. But he did have lots of money and a time-machine and eventually when he managed to get in the right social circles he was able to create a clone baby in the mid 2060's, then bring it back with him to 1985. He had named it after his glorious grandfather, Paul Hart, the arch patriarch of the Hart family and little Paul Hart II had been able to accomplish everything that Matt had needed to happen. 

 

 

Paul Hart: Arsenal confirm former striker and U23 manager as heir apparent to departing legend Arsene Wenger

 

In news that has surprised many in the game, Arsenal have appointed from within to replace Arsene Wenger, who despite a public resignation is widely rumoured to have been sacked by the Arsenal board. Ivan Gazidis spoke strongly in favour of the new manager, just 35 and with no managerial experience behind his belt. "Paul Hart knows the club better than anyone and has done some tremendous work in the U23 squad in the last few years. People say that we are naive or cheap in not looking for an established manager, but look at Pep Guardiola at Barcelona. When you already have a talented individual within your ranks, why not promote from within?" 

Of course just a few days later it was announced that Ivan Gazidis was to move to AC Milan, which has left many fans and pundits within the game questioning what the true motives or reasoning was behind Gazidis' decision. Raul Sanellhi remains behind as Director of Football though and he will surely offer an experienced head who can help Paul Hart through the season ahead. Stephan Lichsteiner, Sokratis, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Bernd Leno have already been signed by the club this summer and it looks like they will add to that shortly, with Dennis Suarez set to arrive on a season long-loan from Barcelona. Paul Hart is not said to have been very involved in that transfer, but in his first press conference he said they would be looking to add a few more players if some were to leave. 

"I'm sure many of you will be aware that it looks like Mohammed Elneny will be leaving the club in the next week or so," Hart began. "If he does leave then we will of course look to bring in another central midfielder. If there is any other movement I will of course let you know." 

Paul Hart is said to be a big fan of Mesut Ozil which will no doubt have played a part in the Arsenal hierarchy's decision to give him the job, as they've just signed Ozil to such a big contract they will want to get the best out of him. There was talk of former PSG and Sevilla manager Unai Emery potentially replacing Wenger, but it is thought that Gazidis and co were put off by his reluctance to guarantee that Ozil was in his long term plans. Aaron Ramsey's contract situation looks no sooner to being resolved, with Paul Hart praising the Welsh international but refusing to say whether he is likely to stay on at the club. Danny Welbeck also has 1 year left on his contract and it is thought that Arsenal would like to shift him to avoid losing out on a transfer fee, but it is thought that his massive wages are putting any interested clubs off. 

Only time will tell whether Paul Hart, who churned out 248 times for The Gunners, scoring 94 times from 2005-2014, will be a success as manager. It was often cited what a good player he was throughout his time at the club, but he could unfortunately never nail down a place in the starting 11 as a result of injuries and better players being ahead of him.

The highlight of his Arsenal career was probably coming off of the bench in the 2014 FA Cup final, which would ultimately be his last ever appearance for the side at just 30 years old, to assist Aaron Ramsey and score the winning goal to break the club's trophy draught, before he spent 2 years at Portsmouth and then a final season plying out for Southend United, during which he received the injury that would end his career. The Arsenal fans will be hoping he can assist in breaking their drought of Premier League wins, but few of them probably seriously believe that he can. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

An interesting window for The Gunners, which if you include Denis Suarez's loan deal saw 8 players join them this summer. Mohammed Elneny left the club to join Jardim's Monaco who were looking for some experience ahead of what could be a difficult season. This freed up enough funds for Arsenal to complete a shock move for highly rated Ajax prospect Matthijs de Light. The 19 year old CB had many clubs interested, but Arsenal were very quick and decisive to land the young star. Arsenal's deal has a variety of bonuses included, which could see the deal rise to as high as £40M depending on if they qualify for the Champions League, win the FA Cup and/or the Europa League. 

De Light's transfer opened the doors for the controversial Shkrodan Mustafi to leave the club and Arsenal fans were as shocked as anyone when they heard that it was Man United who had opted to sign him. Their fans had initially been praising Ed Woodward for securing Real Madrid talent Marcus Llorente for £35M, but he faced huge criticism when it was announced Mustafi was joining for the cut price £20M. 

Arsenal eventually replaced Elneny with former Tottenham player Nabil Bentaleb, who they signed for £19M from Schalke. Raul Sanhelli was reportedly left with a headache after a summer of trying to shift on Danny Welbeck, who at various stages of the summer had agreed deals with Leicester, Lyon and Porto, but could never agree on a contract with any of them. It was reported that Arsenal had negotiated deals first for Vincent Aboubakar and then later Wissam Yen Bedder to replace him, but those deals were never signed as he never left.  

[ManUtd1]

Great to have you and this save back! 

[PaulHartman71]

Mid Season Update 

 

 

 

A pretty comprehensive performance in the group stage. A relatively easy group other than Rennes who we drew with twice, although I didn't really put out a first strength team in any of the Europa League games. We have CSKA Moscow in the 1st Knockout Round. 

 

 

Would've liked to have gone further but we had quite a few injuries and Spurs at the weekend so the team we put out at Bournemouth wasn't enough to get the win. We move on. 

 

 

We got off to a thumping start on the opening day with a big win away to Leicester. We were 3-0 up after 8 minutes. Mkhitaryan was on hand to get another goal early on as we put Wolves, but then an injury crisis which saw 7 first team players out, including Aubemeyang sidelined for a few weeks, meant we lost away to Brighton. Thankfully we followed that up with a huge performance against the champions. It was a pretty tight game, but then Mendy got sent off and gave us a penalty in the 64th minute which Lacazette thumped home. Otamendi then gifted us another one late on which Laca once again thumped home. 

We beat Burnley 2-0 to get an important 3 points going into a double header of United away and Chelsea at home. United have been brilliant this season under OGS and we struggled against them especially with the injuries we had defensively. 3-1 makes it sound like we were in the game more than we were. A very cagey game against Chelsea saw us grab it late on with 2 goals and 3 points which truth be told we probably didn't deserve. 

 

 

Denis Suarez scored a stunning 25 yarder to give us 3 points at Southampton, before a strong Palace side held us to a bore-draw. Newcastle didn't make it easy for us but we did win 2-0 in the end, although this again was a scoreline which flattered us. We were much the better side against Spurs at home, but thanks to a late Harry Kane goal we only got a point. An awful performance at Cardiff saw us ruing our missed with a 0-0, but our next PL game a few weeks later saw us comfortably beat Fulham. 

 

 

With everyone back and fully fit we were able to rotate in December and we were in excellent form, especially defensively. 6 wins on the bounce including a fantastic win at Liverpool which saw Mavropanos come off the bench and head home a winner from a corner. Nabil Bentaleb was instrumental in getting us a win against Watford with 2 goals and an assist, whilst Mkhitaryan and Aubemyang both scored in victories against Leciester and Bournemouth. 

 

 

There's only 4 points separating 2nd and 5th, but we have to be very happy with the way things have gone so far. United have looked unstoppable (partially thanks to one Shkrodan Mustafi who has barely put a foot wrong in their defence) so there's no shame in being 7 points behind them and even being as high as 2nd is massively overachieving given my only aim this year was 4th or a EL win. Plenty of games to play and City and Liverpool will surely start picking up points and end up above us, although they do all have the CL to worry about which we don't. A poor year for Spurs so far as they look in no danger of threatening to finish in the Top 4. 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

 

Danny Welbeck was finally shifted in January as Southampton signed him for £3.8M with 6 months left on his contract. Wissam Ben Yedder was snapped up for £27M to add depth with Welbeck leaving. 

[deltablue]

The legend returns! 

[PaulHartman71]

End of Season 1 Update

 

FA Cup

 

 

We had it pretty easy on our way to the Quarter Finals, with only Burnley providing that much competition. I wasn't massively confident going into the game with United even at home as they've been so good this season, but wow, what a performance from their ex-man Mkhi. An incredible hat-trick which put us through to the Semi Final, where we narrowly lost in extra-time to eventual winners Liverpool. 

 

Europa League

 

 

A fantastic run to the final which saw us keep 6 clean sheets from 8 games. Galatasaray were probably the toughest test, but thankfully we prevailed to set up a final meeting with RB Leipzig. 

 

 

We got an early penalty which always helps, but overall we were much the better team and RB Leipzig offered very little. A big win and great to win the competition even if it didn't end up mattering too much in terms of CL qualification. 

 

PL

 

 

We continued our fine form going into 2019 with a big win over Everton, before comprehensive victories against Wolves and Brighton. Man City smashed us up at their place, but we bounced back against Burnley, then pulled off an absolutely huge win at home to United. Mesut Ozil's goal incredibly took us just 6 points behind the leaders and almost by accident we found ourselves in a title race! We then went to Stamford Bridge and got turned over, before we dropped points against both Southampton and Palace. As soon as we were in the race we were out of it - typical! 

 

A 2-1 win against Newcastle was marred by Aubemeyang picking up an injury that would see him miss the rest of the season. A 1-1 draw in the NLD was followed up by good wins against Fulham and Cardiff, before we lost at Watford. We struggled against Huddersfield, before winning two big games against West Ham and Liverpool. Late winners from Ramsey and especially Iwobi at Anfield would prove pivotal in our bid for Top 4. Thanks to those results it did not matter too much that we dropped points at Everton and on the last day at home to Bournemouth. 

 

 

If you'd offered me 4th and a Europa League win at the start of the season I'd have been very happy with that. Gives me a good foundation to build with next season. Not convinced we can compete for the PL and CL next season, but think we can have a good crack at the league and hopefully make Quarters of CL depending on how the draw goes. 

Big year for Ole who secured the United job full-time. Pep could only manage 5th but managed to cement himself in Man City folklore by beating his old side Barcelona in the Champions League final to secure their first CL trophy. Absolute disaster for Poch and Spurs who could only finish 8th, looked like Kane and Eriksen both got long term injuries which didn't help them. He was subsequently sacked and replaced by Rafa Benitez, who somehow managed to finish above them with Newcastle. Brilliant seasons for South Coast sides Bournemouth and Southampton too. 

Absolute shocker for Wolves who somehow managed to go down. Might try to raid them for 1 or 2 players in the summer. 

 

Squad Details

 

 

Sokratis one of the main ever presents and actually one fans POTY. He formed a very solid partnership with De Ligt who missed a few games to injury but otherwise looked good. Lacazette top scorer and leading man upfront, with Ozil and Mkhi impressing too. 

Monreal left for China in March for £10M. He was desperate to go so I let him. Suarez loan will end and he will be gone - he was a decent back-up but nothing to write home about massively, whilst Ramsey will of course be a loss when he leaves for Juve. Rob Holding is pretty desperate to leave for first team football so he will likely be gone, whilst Petr Cech is retiring. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A breakdown of the CL last 16. Dinamo obviously the standout side from that as they finished 2nd to Barcelona in a group also consisting of Ludogorets and Shakhtar. 

I'll obviously be keeping an eye on the CL in terms of who I can manage after Arsenal too. At the moment I have the Spanish, French and German leagues loaded. 

The obvious candidate for France is PSG, although I don't know how optimistic it is to hope they don't win it before I win it with Arsenal, whilst also hoping the PSG job comes up as well. Monaco are a great back-up option, but as shown by getting to the QF they could potentially also win it before I get the chance to manage them. Germany is a harder one as Bayern and Dortmund have both won it, probably looking at RB Leipzig or Schalke as my best bet over there. Atletico Madrid the standout option in Spain, but they also could win it before I manage them, with Sevilla and Valencia decent backup choices there. 

[PaulHartman71]

Career History

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19     Arsenal     Premier League       4th               Europa League winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Trophy Cabinet

 

Europa League   x1 - 2018/19 (Arsenal)

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Ramsey goes and a fair bit of deadwood shifted. Holding for just £7.5M obviously a bit crap, but wouldn't sign a new deal and would've lost him for nothing next summer so took the loss. 

 

 

Our big signing was Adrien Rabiot on a free. I didn't think he'd come to us given some of the clubs linked and I didn't offer him a huge huge deal, just what he asked for (which was still a lot obviously). We had Martinez (GK backup), Chambers and Reiss Nelson return from loan so I didn't need to sign another winger or right back to be back-up. I did need another left back with Monreal leaving though. Initially I wanted Chilwell or Sessegnon, but both were quoted at like £50M which I wasn't paying, especially with Fulham going down. Rico Henry was signed instead for just £8.25M. I needed a back-up for the attacking midfield role and Grealish was available at a cut price £12M after kicking up a hissy fit about wanting to leave, not too sure why as they got promoted as Champions, but I wasn't going to complain. 

Some pretty weird transfers this summer. Almost a bit FIFA-esque and not very FM in the sense of how unrealistic they were. 

 

Chelsea swapping out Hazard for Lingard, whilst United also got in Koulibaly and Thiago ffs  

In other news on the managerial front - Jurgen Klopp took the vacant post at Barcelona, which saw Allegri join Liverpool. Not really sure how they managed to convince him to leave Juve for that, but Conte has gone back to Juve. 

[PaulHartman71]

Mid Season 2 Update

 

League Cup

 

 

Our 2nd string have only had to play Championship sides in the League Cup so far, but so far, so good. Everton await in the Semi Finals. 

 

Champions League

 

 

We really didn't get given the nicest of groups, but we pulled off a huge result as Champions League football returned to the Emirates. 3-1 against Barcelona got things going brilliantly. Unfortunately Inter pulled off a great result as Champions League returned to the San Siro as they beat us 2-0. We thankfully managed two wins against RB Leipzig in our double header,  as we then got turned over 3-0 at the Nou Camp. A huge result from RB Leipzig as they pulled off a draw with Inter, which meant all we had to do was draw with Inter to get through and we managed it. 

 

 

We only finished 2nd in the group, but despite being unseeded we've only ended up with Shakhtar in the next round. 

 

Premier League

 

 

We kicked off the season in incredible form as despite some tricky games we won all 5 of our first fixtures, with wins at champions Man United and at home to 2nd place Chelsea particularly impressive. We could only draw at West Ham, but then won another 4 on the bounce against newly promoted Stoke and Bournemouth, Brighton and Leicester.

 

 

 

Our winning streak stretched to 8 games as we then beat Fulham, Newcastle, Cardiff and Derby too. A difficult double header of Spurs and Liverpool followed, with a decent point at Spurs followed up by a tough loss at Anfield. Since then however we have beaten Everton, Watford and rounded the year off with Grealish getting MOTM as we beat his old side. 

 

 

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Very good start Paul and welcome back.

And Stoke came back up at the first attempt.

[PaulHartman71]

I made no incoming transfers in January, however Nabil Bentaleb joined AC Milan on loan for the rest of the season for £1.5M. They also added in a mandatory future fee of £32.5M which I wasn't going to turn down. He was a good player, but wanted to leave for first-team football and a £12M or so profit for 18 months worth of football can't be turned down really. I may add in another midfielder in the summer, but for now I'm happy for Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles to get more game-time.

[PaulHartman71]

End of Season 2 Update

 

League Cup

 

 

It took a shoot-out to do it but we got past Everton in the Semis to set up a final with their neighbours Liverpool. Unfortunately for us Allegri's Liverpool were the better team on the day and deserved the win. 

 

FA Cup

 

 

A pretty easy run in the FA Cup which saw us get to the Semi Final with our 2nd string before we unfortunately went out on penalties. It was disappointing, especially as Palace have been crap this season, but I had to rest for the Champions League mid-week...

 

Premier League

 

 

We got 2020 off with a bang as we smashed the champions 3-0 at home, before beating Southampton 2-0. We followed that with a disappointing trip to the Etihad where they beat us 1-0, which was our first loss of the season in the league, then we dropped some more points at Chelsea. We did beat a poor Palace side away from home, but then dropped some more points at West Ham, if it wasn't for Ben Yedder that could've been another L, but we ended February with another 2 wins, with the Brighton won thanks to another late Ben Yedder winner. 

 

 

We beat Bournemouth away 2-0 at the start of March, before a bore draw at home to Fulham. We then won 3 on the bounce with Aubemeyang playing a crucial role, as he grabbed winners at home to Cardiff, then a late one at Leicester before a huge one at home to Spurs. The next game was the one that pretty much decided the title as we were level on points going into it, unfortunately Allegri's Liverpool ran riot at Anfield with Salah bagging a hat-trick. The disappointment from that loss spilled over into our next few games as we almost lost at Newcastle, before losing at home to City and very narrowly beating Derby away, although by that game the title was pretty much already Liverpool's. We finished the league with a win at Villa and a 0-0 against Watford. 

 

 

I'd have definitely taken 2nd at the start of the season after finishing 5th last time, but it was slightly disappointing both to let Liverpool win the league and blow it ourselves as we were in a great position for large spells of the season. Chelsea had an absolute stinker without Hazard and Spurs under Benitez managed Top 4 at City's expense. An awful year for Palace who finished rock bottom and lost in the FA Cup final to Frank Lampard's Leicester. 

 

Champions League

 

 

Shakhtar were pretty poor in the home tie so we went into the 2nd leg with the advantage of them having no away goal. This proved crucial as even when they went in 2-1 up at half-time not only were we still winning the tie, but we knew one goal would kill them. Thankfully we got that goal in the 52nd minute through Ozil and then shut up shop to prevent them from getting the 2 they needed. 

 

 

If I'm honest we got quite fortunate to draw Chelsea as they were the worst team in the Quarter Final. We them at home in the league no problem and whilst we only drew 0-0 away, since they've lost Hazard to United they lack a kill threat. They did get a goal through Jesse Lingard who was dancing again at the Emirates in the first leg, but he wasn't dancing when Aubemeyang scored the goal that knocked them out at The Bridge. He donned a Jesse Lingard during his celebration. 

 

 

I was quietly confident when we got Man United as well because even though we struggled to them last season, this season in the league we've beaten them home and away with no trouble. It looked like we were heading out when they beat us 2-1 at home, with Eden Hazard grabbing a brace. We had the last laugh in the second leg though as Shkrodan Mustafi sensationally got himself sent off in the first half which meant we ended up winning 2-0. It was a masterstroke selling him to them after all 

 

 

The final was one that I didn't see us winning because I assumed we'd get Barcelona who smashed us at the Nou Camp in the Group Stage, but Pep found a way to get past his old side again (now managed by Klopp) just like he did in the final last year. I thought it was all set up for Pep and City to win two Champions Leagues on the bounce, especially as they beat us home and away in the league, but a solo goal from Aubemeyang was ultimately the difference. He even had a penalty saved later in the game, which meant the last 20 minutes were proper squeaky bum-time. 

A fantastic achievement though and makes up for not winning the league for sure. I didn't expect to win the CL so soon and thought it would take until next year at least, but I was more confident in the knockout stages playing the English sides than I would've been against a Barca, Real or Juve who we avoided. 

 

Squad Details

 

 

Bernd Leno very solid and goal and won the Golden Glove. Torreira the only other non Liverpool player apart from Leno and Hazard to make TOTY. Sokratis and Ozil were very consistent, with Auba and de Ligt also very good too. A relatively average year for Lacazette who started the season so strongly too. Big shout out to Rico Henry who I got a lot of **** from the board and fans for signing, but he was brilliant whenever he was called upon. Reiss Nelson was very promising but unfortunately struggled with injuries a lot. 

[PaulHartman71]

Career History

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19     Arsenal     Premier League       4th               Europa League winners
2019/20     Arsenal     Premier League       2nd               Champions League winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Trophy Cabinet

 

Champions League  x1 - 2019/20 (Arsenal)
Europa League     x1 - 2018/19 (Arsenal)

 

Nations Completed

 

1. England - Arsenal 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

5 English sides in the Quarters was pretty mad, with Barca, Juve and Real making up the other slots. 

[PaulHartman71]

A quick look at the other leagues I have loaded at the moment: 

 

 

  

 

Edited March 16, 2019 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

PSG have actually sacked Tuchel after a shocking season that saw them lose out in every competition apart from their community shield  

 

The main problem I think I have is that whilst my reputation has gone up a lot with the Europa and Champions League win - I'm still not sure it's enough to land the PSG job. The initial news piece only lists Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola (just sacked by City) and Napoli's Ancelotti as the candidates. It would be doubly annoying if Ancelotti gets it as I could feasibly get the Napoli job but don't have the Italian leagues loaded yet. 

I'm certainly not ballsy enough to resign and go for the job as there's literally no other decent jobs on offer in the other 3 leagues, only Real Madrid who I obviously can't go for. Perhaps there will be a manager merry go round when someone takes the Real Madrid job, although I imagine whoever out of Pep or Jose doesn't get the PSG job will get the Real gig. 

Only time will tell. I think I will risk applying for the PSG job and just see how it goes. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

When I first saw this I assumed they rejected me which would be fair enough, but since they said this I thought it best to resign and go for it. 

 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Been given a £120M budget which is nice, although it's actually £100M less than I had at Arsenal where I'd occurred so much money from not spending much the previous year and winning the CL this year. 

 

A vague idea of the transfers they've done in the last few years: 

 

It's still a very good squad and almost criminal that they didn't win a single domestic trophy apart from the Super Cup lat year. Lyon look like they've been managed well, but with the squad we have plus whoever I bring in we should win the league really. 

 

 

This is probably the first choice team. A very strong side with no obvious weakness that I can see, apart from maybe the goalkeeper. The likes of Draxler, Di Maria and 35 year olds Thiago Silva and Cavani on the bench, as well as Bernat too. It's a ridiculous squad really  

[PaulHartman71]

Oh and I've also set it up so from next summer the English leagues will be gone for the Italian leagues. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A pretty mad summer to be fair. The first thing that became apparent when I joined was that we had ageing players like Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria on monstrous wages when they were only rotation or back-up options. All 3 of them only had a year left on their contract so I shifted Cavani and Di Maria on, with Thiago Silva opting to retire at the end of the season. 

To some extent I did strengthen title rivals and champions Lyon by giving them Di Maria, but I also ham-stringed their entire budget as they've had to take him on massive wages and tbh his stats really aren't that great anymore. I was amazed Real Madrid were willing to take Cavani at 32/33 for what they paid, but I certainly wasn't turning that down with 1 year left on his deal. 

I didn't want to lose Ndombele as he's a good French player, but he kicked up a huge fuss and was desperate to leave and once I got a very good CM in I was willing to deal with them. Dragged on a bit but we eventually agreed a deal. Kampl, Ajer, Bernat and Maycon were also squad players who I managed to shift for good money. Souza, Weah, Krychowiak and Jese were also deadwood that I managed to move on. 

 

 

The big signings were of course Virgil van Dijk and Christian Eriksen who I successfully managed to unsettle and get in for big but decent money. Lyon couldn't give their top scorer Dembele a new contract, presumably in part due to Di Maria signing, so I swooped in and signed him to sit on our bench  I did need a few French players so he was good in that sense and is quite versatile. Keylor Navas joins after 1 year at Brighton to be our new first choice keeper. I did push hard for De Gea or Ederson but couldn't convince either Manchester club to depart with them. Coquelin joined to replace Ndombele as rotation at CM, whilst Jordan Ikoko joined as back-up RB and also to fill up the HG quota. Murat Bozan is a 16 year old German regen who is okay, I didn't sign him my DOF did before I took him off signing youth players. 

Finally, after Real Madrid picked up Cavani they decided they wanted to offload Benzema. I couldn't afford nor really wanted to outright buy him, but I thought he'd serve as very good option on the bench so I got him on a loan deal which they accepted. 

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Well done winning the Champions League Paul.

I have a feeling I'll say that again in the future.

[PaulHartman71]

Mid-Season Update

 

Coupe de la Ligue

 

 

Lens gave us a decent game but in the end we had enough for them. 

 

Ligue 1

 

 

I wasn't confident that we'd dominate the league purely because they didn't particularly dominate last season, but aside from a frustrating match at Rens we comfortably won 7 of our first 8 games, with even Marseille not really offering much against us. 

 

 

In our next 12 league games we dropped points just one time, which was away to Lens. Lyon were the toughest test and Di Maria really should have scored at least twice for them but he blew his lines on both occasions, perhaps vindicating selling him to them. 

 

 

You can't write off Marseille just yet as they're only 7 points behind and have done very well themselves, but there's pretty much no chance Lyon or anyone else is catching us. I think if we avoid defeat against Marseille in the away game then it's pretty much in the bag. 

 

Champions League

 

 

Dortmund obviously a decent side, but you would've struggled to fix a draw easier than this, especially when you consider we were a 2nd seed so could've had some much better sides as the strong team. We won every game without any trouble at all, only really struggling a bit in Copenhagen when I played a heavily rotated side. 

 

 

We've got Valencia in the next round, which is probably one of the easier ties we could've got. 

 

A big shoutout to Kylian Mbappe who so far has 21 goals and 2 assists in 20 games...

[PaulHartman71]

 

The January transfer window was a reasonably busy one, with the most notable departure being Marco Veratti to Man City. He made a lot of noise about wanting to leave for Man United in the summer, but they went for Ndombele instead so he remained with us. He'd been pretty disruptive the whole time and was the only member of the squad with poor morale. I don't think his performances were that bad but when City offered me £58M I wasn't going to turn it down. 

Another big departure was Giovani Lo Celso to Inter. He seemed a decent talent but with Eriksen, Havertz and Draxler ahead of him he just wasn't getting much of a look in. I couldn't believe it when Inter came in with that much for him. I probably would've taken half of that, so that was a no brainer as well.

Areola wanted to leave as he wasn't getting first team football so when Porto came in with a decent offer I let him go too. Back-up defenders Thilo Kerer and Mitchel Bakker were also allowed to leave. 

 

 

Obviously on the face of that you'd think "wtf you sold £100M+ worth of players and only spent £18M?!" and maybe you'd be right to think that, but I didn't see the point in going too nuts unless the targets I wanted were available. Neymar and Mbappe also needed new contracts and you don't need telling to know they didn't come cheap  

 I was prepared to spend £80M on Kante to replace Verrati, but Chelsea wanted closer to £100M which we couldn't really afford right now. I compromised and managed to get Gundogan on loan until the end of the season, such was City's desperation to get rid of him they've only got me paying 30 percent of his wages. They also desperately wanted rid of Riyah Mahrez (again for just 30 percent of his wages) so with Neymar and Coman having the odd fitness problem I thought **** it and got him in too. Maignan is a HG at club back-up GK and Bertrand was signed as a back-up left back. 

Overall I'm happy with the squad as it is and think we will still walk the league and have a good crack at the Champions League. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

End of Season Update

 

Coupe de la Ligue

 

 

We managed to stroll to the final and ended up comfortably beating Bordeaux 4-1 to win my first trophy in French football. 

 

French Cup

 

 

A pretty easy run to the Semi Final, although did have an absolute mare against Caen with a Mbappe late penalty saving us from a shoot-out. I'll make no bones about it that I rested the team for the away trip to Monaco as we had a Champions League match mid-week. Obviously would've liked to have got to the final, but it was a risk I had to take given we had a few injuries and fitness issues already. 

 

Ligue 1

 

 

Our unbeaten run stretched to the end of February, when Lyon managed to beat us on home turf. The most important part was beating Marseille though, which we did thanks to a wonderful hat-trick from Mbappe. 

 

 

After that loss to Lyon we actually won every single one of our remaining fixtures, aside from a weird blip at Bordeaux that saw us lose 5 (5!!!! ) - 1. I didn't even rest anyone or have too many fitness problems other than Christan Eriksen who was out from February until the end of the season. 

 

 

We ended up with the most wins and points in Ligue 1 and PSG history. We obviously had a very good season, but I was a bit surprised at that as thought PSG would've at least got similar before. We didn't have huge squad depth outside of the obvious quality that we had and on a few times I was resting players for CL or because they weren't fit. Neymar especially struggled with fitness a lot and Eriksen missed everything after February. 

 

 

 

We did lose at home to them, but we'd done more than enough in the first leg to ensure the tie was already dead. 

 

 

**** me. We did unbelievable in the home leg, but the PSG bottle job curse looked like it had returned when after half hour at the Nou Camp we found ourselves 3-0 down. Grimaldo nicked a goal before half-time which was a huge boost and killed Barca as they now needed another 2 without reply. They were all over us and looked certain to get at least one of them, but then we caught them on a break and Barca old boy Neymar killed the game. He even got another one late on to rub salt in the wounds as PSG made their way to their first ever Champions League Semi Final. 

 

 

We went from the easiest draws to the hardest real quick. We did really well to get past Barcelona, but Real Madrid was a step too far. If we'd had Eriksen and Gundogan fit maybe we could've got past them, but without our two first choice CMs we went into both games at a bit of a disadvantage. We were actually 2-0 up at home but then they got back into the game through Asensio and Isco - and it was goals from those two that lost it for us in the away leg too, where we just couldn't score. 

 

A shame, but we had a very good season domestically and there is solid groundwork to have a real go next year in the Champions League after a big summer again. 

 

 

 

Mbappe did extremely well with 42 goals and 3 assists in 51 games, with Grimaldo and Coman also proving key figures in the side. Eriksen never really got into his stride and Neymar also struggled with fitness a bit. Van Dijk and Marquinhos very good at the back too, with Navas a reliable figure in goal. 

 

Edited March 20, 2019 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

Career History

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19     Arsenal     Premier League       4th               Europa League winners
2019/20     Arsenal     Premier League       2nd               Champions League winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21     Paris SG    Ligue 1              1st               Ligue 1 & Couple de la Ligue winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Trophy Cabinet

 

Champions League  x1 - 2019/20 (Arsenal)
Europa League     x1 - 2018/19 (Arsenal)

Ligue 1           x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG) 
Coupe de la Ligue x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG)

 

Nations Completed

 

1. England - Arsenal 

 

Edited March 20, 2019 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

 

It was another CL for Real Madrid. Not quite as good a year for the English sides, although Ole did get to the final. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

I forgot to mention that Maitland-Niles was bossing it up in the Marseille midfield  

[PaulHartman71]

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

My old side came in for Keylor Navas, which given they have the very good Leno already who is like 5/6 years younger I thought was a bit weird. I didn't actually clock how old Navas was so I thought £22.5M for a 34 year old was a decent move to let happen. We also lost a few more squad players, although Almalda was on loan last season and the other two barely played at all anyway so to get £24/25M+ for them was decent business. 

 

 

 

 

I wanted Kante as my Veratti replacement and always planned to get him. I signed Woj to replace Keylor Navas as he's done well at Juve but wanted more money than they were offering him. De Gea and Ederson again couldn't happen. I thought **** it I'll put in a cheeky bid for Pogba not expecting them to give me the time of day, but after a bit of negotiating they were willing to let him go for £143M so I thought sod it, why not? 

Vidal also joins on a free transfer as experienced depth and wantaway #JLINGZ joins his old mate Pogba on a season long loan from Chelsea. Michielan is a young regen striker that was brought in as emergency back-up. 

Mbappe kicked up a huge fuss about wanting to leave for United, Barca or Real but none of them were willing to pay the £200M price tag I put on him. Barca offered me £100M and I re-negotiated it so it was £100M plus a 34 year old Lionel Messi which I thought was a decent deal for them, but they turned it down. 

The starting 11 ffs  

Woj 

Mario Gaspar - Marquinhos - Van Dijk - Alex Grimaldo 

Pogba - Kante 

Coman - Eriksen - Neymar 

Mbappe

 

Absolutely outrageous. Draxler, Dembele, Haverts, Kimpembe, Lingard, Vidal all on the bench and others like Coquelin, Ryan Bertrand etc around as well. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Gone from a massively easy group as 2nd seeds to a massively hard one as 1st seeds ffs. Buzzing to return to my old stomping ground though 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Banter

[PaulHartman71]

Mid-Season Update

 

Trophee des Champions

 

 

A nice win against Lyon with goals from Mbappe and Neymar to secure our first trophy of the season on the first day of the season. 

 

Coupe de la Ligue

 

 

A resounding win against AS Saint Ettiene in our first League Cup game. 

 

Ligue 1

 

 

We won our first 4 games of the season with absolutely no trouble at all, with Neymar even getting 4 at Montpellier. Amiens away proved tricky as despite being 3-0 up at half-time we almost blew it. We then lost at home to Nimes in a complete shock and I thought ****, this season isn't going to be so easy. But then we beat Nantes and Bordeaux before...

 

 

Winning every other game so far. Monaco away we got very lucky and were actually 2-1 down at half-time. Marseille away we got quite fortunate too and I thought we'd draw with Saint Ettienne, but other than that we've been rampant. Almost embarrassingly good. 

 

Title obviously in the bag as we're 17 points clear. Big shout out to Nimes who are having a raging season. 

 

Champions League

 

 

My return to North London unfortunately ended in defeat, with Lacazette and Aubemeyang getting one each to put me down. Winning the group was an upheal struggle from then, but we beat Bilbao and then a Pogba hat-trick secured a huge win against Inter, before another Pogba goal secured a point at the San Siro. A Pogba brace secured a 2-2 draw with my old side as I failed to beat them again, before we beat Bilbao comfortably on the last match day. 

 

 

Not managing to beat my old side at home has really cost us as our 1st knockout round match will be against Ole's Man United who are the Champions League holders, although we've of course robbed them of Pogba which must've hurt them a bit. It will be a tough couple of matches though either way.  

[PaulHartman71]

 

Ryan Bertrand was allowed to leave the club as another left-back was signed...

 

 

Benjamin Mendy was transfer listed by Man City after he kicked off about a contract or something, luckily we have lots of money so splurged £41M and gave him a nice contract. Jesse Lingard was recalled by Chelsea as he wasn't deemed to be playing enough, so in came Wilfried Zaha, another player that City were willing to loan out because they can't give him enough game time.

[PaulHartman71]

End of Season Update

 

 

A fantastic Quarter Final performance, but we rested quite a bit for the away trip to Marseille and unfortunately went out. 

 

 

A Semi Final exit in the French Cup too as all the eggs were put in the Champions League basket. 

 

 

We weren't as dominant in Ligue 1 as we had been earlier in the season, with "only" 6 wins from our next 9 games, with 3 draws against Nimes, Monaco and SM Caen who very nearly beat us. 

 

 

A strong end to the season though as we dropped points just two more times, against Lille and Marseille, which were both games we could've lost, although we'd already won the league by that point anyway. We also rested pretty much our first team every time I had a CL game mid-week too, so can't complain too much. 

 

 

1 less point than last season, although we did broke a new record for the least defeats ever, so that's nice. 

 

Champions League

 

 

Man United are a very strong side and not a team you want to play in the 1st Knockout Round, but we took their best player from them in the summer and it was Pogba who played a crucial role in both games. He bossed the midfield with Kante and Eriksen who helped us get 3 goals at home, although United did fight back with a brace from Hazard. Pogba nicked an away goal for us early on at his old stomping ground and we managed to defend strongly to prevent them from getting any further goals. 

 

 

We went from one of the hardest draws  to one of the easiest. Fair ****s to RB Salzburg for getting to the Quarter Finals, some achievement for an Austrian team and to be fair to them they held their own for most of the match in Austria. We got very jammy and got 2 extra away goals deep into injury time which completely killed the tie. Andre Ramalho had a game to forget as he got a brace of own goals for them in the return leg  

 

 

A hugely difficult tie as Alexander-Arnold sliced through our left side to whip in for Salah to head home an early lead at Anfield. I thought the floodlights had opened, but led be Van Dikj at the back we held firm, then Liverpool's old man headed home from a corner to give us a huge away goal. Mbappe scored with a wonderful solo effort to make it 1-0 in the return home tie and Liverpool didn't have an answer for it. 

Allegri has a lot of beef with me though, not really sure why. Obviously I stole Van Dijk in the summer, but he was being a right dick in all the pre-match pressers for the home tie. I thought I'd be a ***** and deliberately unsettle both Alexander-Arnold and Salah, which worked a treat and in the following days after they got knocked out I managed to secure deals to permanently sign both of them  We needed a RB and potential upgrade for Coman anyway, so given they were both top of my target lists for their respective position everything went great. 

 

 

Juventus were far from the side I feared the most on the other side of the draw, as they got past Man City to avoid having to play them in the final. Juventus are still a decent side, but Lazio took them to the wire in Serie A so I think they were less prepared and dominant as they have been in previous seasons. Pogba had a great game in midfield and a Mbappe brace cancelled out an early goal from a 37 year old Cristiano Ronaldo. Former Juve old boy Coman popped up with a late goal to rub salt in the wounds and cap PSG's first ever Champions League title. 

[PaulHartman71]

Career History

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19     Arsenal     Premier League       4th               Europa League winners
2019/20     Arsenal     Premier League       2nd               Champions League winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21     Paris SG    Ligue 1              1st               Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners
2021/22     Paris SG    Ligue 1              1st               Ligue 1, Champions League & Trophee Des Champions winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Trophy Cabinet

 

Champions League      x2 - 2019/20 (Arsenal), 2021/22 (Paris SG)
Europa League         x1 - 2018/19 (Arsenal)

Ligue 1               x2 - 2020/21, 2021/22 (Paris SG) 
Coupe de la Ligue     x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG)
Trophee Des Champions x1 - 2021/22 (Paris SG)

 

Nations Completed

 

1. England - Arsenal 
2. France  - Paris SG

 

Edited March 25, 2019 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

 

As I said before it was a huge year for RB Salzburg of Austria who knocked out Spurs to get to the knockout stage. Pretty decent showing from the Ukraine sides too as both Dynamo and Shakhtar reached the knockout stages. Bayer Leverkusen representing an interesting option as they've emerged as  real threat in Germany, even knocking out my old side Arsenal. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The main thing of note in Spain perhaps being Real Sociedad breaking into the Top 4, which has left neither Valencia or Sevilla in the CL. Vigo pipping Bilbao to a final Europa spot, which saw the Bilbao boss get sacked... Villarreal lingering in 10th. 

 

 

As I said before Lazio ran Juve very close to the title, with both the traditional big Milan sides back in the Champions League now. This meant that both Roma and Napoli missed out. You'd think Napoli would definitely sack their manager for that, but it looks like they jumped the gun and sacked their previous boss in January, making way for Genarro Gatusso to come in. Roma have in-fact sacked their manager though... 

 

 

A huge year for Leverkusen as they pip Bayern to the title, with RB Leipzig in 3rd. Those two are definitely the most ideal candidates for Germany, with Hoffenheim and Schalke also decent options, but I think with those jobs unless one of them have a mare I'll have to get quite lucky and have their managers leave for better jobs at the right time. 

 

As things stand though both Bilbao and Roma have sacked their managers and I'm very keen for the Roma job. I'd take the Bilbao job, but I think they're basque policy would make it quite hard to take them from decent Europa League side to conquering Champions League winners. Of course throughout this challenge I'll encounter much harder prospects than Bilbao, but for now I'd rather take the easier routes whilst I can. 

I'm not against the idea of say I take a team like Bilbao for a season and then Atletico Madrid became available because Simeone left, unless I thought my Bilbao side were better off then I would just jump ship and take that job instead. 

[PaulHartman71]

It initially came back that I couldn't get the Roma job due to the compensation, but the great people at PSG actually let me leave after I spoke to them about leaving for Roma. Silent Stan never even let me do that at Arsenal  

I've landed the Roma job and Carlo Ancelotti, the man who replaced me at Arsenal, has now left Arsenal to replace me at PSG  

[PaulHartman71]

 

The main point of interest this summer was Bryan Christante's big money move to Chelsea. I didn't particularly plan to sell him or anything, but his head was gone as soon as the offer came in and in all honesty, as a club with no CL football we do sort of need to sell to buy - so it probably worked out best for all involved. I also shifted big wages in Nzonzi and Gonalons who were ageing and coming towards the end of their deals anyway...

 

 

Raheem Sterling has become the latest casualty of Man City's shotgun transfer policy, which has seen him throw in a transfer request due to lack of playing time. £35.5M is an absolute steal for him and he's only 27, with not massive wage demands either at just over £200K for week. A huge signing that I'm very excited about.

I'm also reunited with 3 players that I've previously had play under me. Jesse Lingard, much like Sterling, is a fine English talent who was fed up with lack of playing time and and was on the transfer list so I swooped in and took him. He is a few years older at 29, but should get 2-3 very good years out of him yet. 

Zaha joins me on loan from City having done the same thing last season at PSG, whilst Bentaleb who I actually sold to Milan for lack of playing time has now been transfer/loan listed by them as he's not playing there. I didn't think they'd loan him to me as we're an Italian club, but the Italians seem a lot more flexible about that sort of thing. 

Arsenal actually replaced Ancelotti with Bayer Leverkusen's star manager, Manuel Baum, so it will be interesting to see if his replacement, Luis Enrique, can keep up the good work for them in the Bundesliga. 

[PaulHartman71]

We've got a decent Europa League group draw in Galatasaray, FC Zurich and CSKA Sofia, but the 2022 World Cup has caused some utterly bizarre scheduling. The Champions League and all the domestic leagues are more or less put on hold whilst the tournament progresses, but for some reason some of our Europa League games will happen once all of my internationals have ****ed off to Qatar. 

 

The World Cup is 21st Nov-18th Dec and all of our games are from 20th Oct-5th Jan. So at least 2 games played with loads of players down, whilst the crappy teams we play will be full strength. A bit bum, although we do have quite a good Academy and some decent youth options to count upon. 

[PaulHartman71]

Getting closer to Dec/Jan now and just noticed something mental. 

 

The 1st and 2nd Knockout Round in the Europa League are straight knockout as a result of the World Cup!?  

I did look at the fixture list and think how on earth would it all fit in if we went the distance in the Europa, well there's your answer. It's all still 2 legs all the way in the CL. 

[PaulHartman71]

Mid-Season Update

 

Italian Cup

 

 

Decent couple of home ties have seen us reach a winnable two legged Semi Final against Palermo. 

 

Europa League

 

 

We got through the group without to much both, although Zurich did give us a bit of a scare at home. Galatasaray were abysmal though, they were so bad that a 36 year old Edin Dzeko got a hat-trick and Kostas Monolas was a crossbar away from a hat-trick himself  

 

 

Serie A

 

 

We hit the ground running with a big win against Cittadella with Sterling nabbing a brace on his debut, before a decent draw at the San Siro. We then beat Torino and pulled off a huge comeback against 10 times in a row champions Juventus. We were 3-0 down and then goals from Schnick, Bentaleb and Sterling in the 90th minute meant we got a point which was incredible. 

We then won away at Bologna, before beating Crotone, drawing at Genoa and then beating Chievo thanks to super sub Edin Dzeko. 

 

 

We continued our unbeaten run into October, with 4 straight wins against Udinese, Palermo, Lazio and Benevento, with 2 goals in stoppage time to secure that win with Palermo. Sterling was on hand to rescue another point at the San Siro, with his 93rd minute strike securing that draw. We then drew with Sampdoria, before beating Cagliari away from home. 

We were 2-0 up at Atalanta at half-time, but they came back to let us take just a point. We beat SPAL and then a poorly performing Napoli side in successive home wins, before we suffered our first defeat of the season on the road at Fiorentina. 

 

 

Top 4 is the aim and at the moment we're in a strong position to make it. It's very tight at the top, before our loss to Fiorentina we'd actually been top of the table for several months which was a most welcome surprise, yet I always sensed it was more on luck than merit. I don't seriously believe we can mount a title challenge this season, but I'll certainly give it a go and sod off the Europa League if it looks like we've got guaranteed Top 4. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

January saw us depart with £88M worth of assets. 

City matched Nicolo Zaniolo's release clause and got him for £62M. I can't really complain at that price and whilst he was doing well he wasn't indispensable. We've got 3 very good youth 18-20 year olds in the CM position that have come through the youth ranks, so I will give them some game time along with Bentaleb until the end of the season rather than go nuts for someone now. 

El Shaarawy had been regularly playing but Chinese clubs wanted him and he was demanding an extra 80-90K pw to stay, which even being Italian for HG purposes he wasn't worth me paying him that. So I let him go too. Zaha will get some more game time and there's a decent youth prospect who I can play too, before re-evaluating what we will do there in the summer when we can potentially attract better players with guaranteed Champions League football.

[PaulHartman71]

End of Season Update

 

Italian Cup

 

 

A good couple of performances against Palermo set us up for a final trip against Juventus, but with Sterling out for the season from late March in the end we didn't have enough for them and a Dybala goal sunk us to a 1-0 defeat. 

 

Europa League

 

 

It was actually quite cool and exciting to have two straight knockout matches to kick of the knockout stages of the Europa League. Spartak Moscow gave us a hell of a game and we had real problems breaking them down, but Zaha got on the end of a Sterling cross in injury time to put us through. 

We then got drawn away to Monaco which was another tricky game, but Patrik Schnick popped up late on to give us the win. I'm pretty sure we would've gone through on away goals anyway at 1-1, but wasn't too clear how it worked with just 1 game, thankfully didn't need to find out. 

 

 

Schalke were a very decent side and gave us far more problems than a 5-3 aggregate win would first suggest. They took the lead in our home game and it took a fine fightback in the 2nd half to get the win, with Lingard smashing home a huge goal late on. The away leg was very very tough, as Schalke went 2-0 up and we looked to be heading out until Alessio Riccardi tapped home a late goal to take us to extra-time on away goals. Patrick Schnick was the hero as he got a brace in extra-time. 

The teams left were Real Sociedad, Mainz and Arsenal. I knew to win the tournament we would probably have to face my old side and I was absolutely buzzing when we got them in the Semi Final as it meant a trip back to the Emirates. Well...

 

 

An absolutely horrific performance which saw us 5-1 down at half-time. They are a stronger side than us but to lose that bad when we only really had Sterling out injured was embarrassing. Reiss Nelson had a point to prove as the winger I never gave a real chance to be a regular fixture in the first 11 scored a hat-trick against me, with Adrian Rabiot and substitute Tyreece John Jules getting the other goal which made it 6-1 late on. 

We were better at home but the tie was well and truly finished by that point anyway, glad to get the win but it didn't really mean anything. Arsenal would go on to win the tournament. 

 

Serie A

 

 

We picked up a huge win against Top 4 rivals Inter which saw Lingard and Sterling both have great games. Juventus beat us at home which was disappointing but not a surprise, then we beat Bologna but picked up a poor loss on the road to Torino. We very nearly only drew at Crotone but Luca Pellegrini scored from a scramble in the box late on following a corner. 

We did only get a bore draw at Cittadella, before we made up for the lack of goals with a 5-4 thriller at home to Genoa, before at 3-2 away to Chievo. 

 

 

Patrick Schnick was responsible for our point at home to Udinese thanks to his two goals, one of which came very late on. Palermo gave us a lot of trouble in the Italian Cup but rolled over for us at their place as we flattened them 4-0, before we got flattened ourselves 4-1 at the San Siro by Milan. 

We followed that disappointment up with 2 good wins against Benevento and Fiorentina, but our momentum went after that 6-1 at Arsenal and we picked up just 5 points from our last 6 games, with 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses which saw any chance of a title push fall away. 

 

 

If you'd offered me 3rd at the start of the season I would've definitely taken it so overall it has to go down as a promising season. Roma are back in the Champions League and I hope we can push for the league and get to the CL knockouts in the season to come. 

 

 

Raheem Sterling was our best player and we definitely suffered when he got injured, but I was very pleased for him to win the Serie A Player of the Season award in his first season in Italian football. Patrik Schnik was slow to get going but grew into the season as it went on, whilst Florenzi, Zaha and Lorenzo Pellegrinni also did well. 

 

[PaulHartman71]

Career History

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19     Arsenal     Premier League       4th               Europa League winners
2019/20     Arsenal     Premier League       2nd               Champions League winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21     Paris SG    Ligue 1              1st               Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners
2021/22     Paris SG    Ligue 1              1st               Ligue 1, Champions League & Trophee Des Champions winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23     AS Roma     Serie A              3rd               Italian Cup runners-up
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Trophy Cabinet

 

Champions League      x2 - 2019/20 (Arsenal), 2021/22 (Paris SG)
Europa League         x1 - 2018/19 (Arsenal)

Ligue 1               x2 - 2020/21, 2021/22 (Paris SG) 
Coupe de la Ligue     x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG)
Trophee Des Champions x1 - 2021/22 (Paris SG)

 

Nations Completed

 

1. England - Arsenal 
2. France  - Paris SG

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

I was very pleased to see my old side retain the Champions League, not just as it shows I clearly left them in a great place, but they also stopped Atletico Madrid from being ruled out of this challenge in Spain  

A decent showing for Ukraine again as Shakhtar get past Dortmund on penalties to make the Quarter Finals, whilst RB Salzburg of Austria make the knockouts again. Ajax and CSKA Moscow also notable qualifiers from the group stage. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Barcelona win the title this time, with everyone else some way behind them. Real Sociedad out of the Top 4 just as quickly as they got there, although very nearly pipped Real Madrid to 4th. Sevilla back in among the Top 4 after a long absence. 

 

 

Leverkusen couldn't hold on to their title and actually ended up 5th in the end, with Dortmund taking the win. Bayern have now gone 2 seasons without winning it. A good showing from RB Leipzig again. 

 

 

There doesn't seem to be a clear favourite in Russia which is probably a good thing as it means I'll have 4-5 sides to choose from without it making too much difference when I do get there. 

 

Krasnodar ended up winning it this season though, with surprise package Akhmat Grozny finishing in 3rd.