warlock

That's very impressive for a first season back in the championship. Are you ready for Premier League football?

All home defeats are disappointing, but - of course! - if I'm going to lose, there's no-one I'd rather lose to

Racing Club de Lens: Season 1, end of year report As we entered the new year, we were enjoying mixed fortunes. We were firmly in the playoff spots, but some way off the league leaders. But the headline news was an extraordinary run in the cup that saw us defeat PSG after a nerve-shredding penalty shootout, and then an even better performance that saw us better Lyon 2-1 in normal time. Unfortunately, our reward for these heroics was a visit to Nice where our luck ran out in a 0-1 defeat. Even more unfortunate was the effect this run had on our league form, as we recorded just two wins in our first six league games of the year, including a disappointing home loss to Lorient. In the event, this proved to be our last loss of the season as we embarked on a brilliant run of form that saw us drop just 6 points from our final 14 games: Although even this wasn't enough to overhaul the vast gap to a brilliant FCSM side who were worthy champions, we nevertheless over-achieved by securing the automatic playoff spot. We never did find a way out of our complete reliance on superstar winger Tony Mauricio, who finished as our top scorer and leading provider of assists by some margin. No suprise that he also secured the most PoM awards, contributing to 34 goals in 42 appearances. Loan striker Julien Ngoy provided 13 goals in 39 matches, and would have done much better had he learned the essential art of not being offside. In defence, our own Three Musketeers in central defence, Zakaria Diallo, Aleksandar Radovanovic and Steven Fortes, can take much of the credit for a great season, helping us to a league leading defensive record of 23 clean sheets and just 21 goals conceded. Looking ahead to next season the squad will require some new faces, both because we have a few players who have reached the end of their careers, and because much of the squad wasn't good enough for L2, let alone the top flight. On the other hand, there are number of youngsters on the fringes of the first team who will need careful assessment and opportunities. The board has made £16m available for transfers, with a substantial increase in the wage budget too, so reinforcements are definitely possible.

Congratulations . And on the MotY award, too!

I'll post a full end-of-season update later today, but for now...

There are some records you just don't want to deal with . But that's not a bad start to the season!

You'd hope What's *your* goal for the season? Top 6, or something more ambitious?

Good news, and good luck I still have a Brentford save on the go, but been concentrating on my French save with Lens - I find it difficult to switch between saves (bear of small brain, I am).

Seems harsh! I guess only 2nd would be 'best of the rest' but it's a vague goal to be judged on. Hope they appreciate you at Metz.

The old late-season slump. I'm sure we've all been there. Hopefully you can find some consistent (good) form - 5th place still looks eminently achievable

Our strength is as the strength of 12 because our hearts are pure... Incredible performance from the lads, we were 3-1 ahead at one point but Mbappe We were immense for 120 minutes, and even immenser in the shootout.

Oh... that Cambridge! I used to go to Boston a lot on business between 1990 and 2005 and became a Patriots and Red Sox fan as a consequence - the Sox at Fenway was the only baseball game I ever managed to attend. For the inverse reasons as Hootieleece, I've had to hold my nose while cheering them on since the Liverpool acquisition

Racing Club de Lens: Season 1, December Having managed to play on to Christmas, things are looking pretty good. We're 11 games unbeaten in the league, and 13 unbeaten in all competitions - which, I'm informed, is a club record . Unfortunately, there's a few too many draws in there, especially at home, which means we haven't managed to close the gap on the league leaders. More important for now, team cohesion is in the green (just) and we're playing better football. Mauricio continues to drive the team with 12 goals, 6 assists and an average rating of 7.65. Julien Ngoy is also contributing with 7 goals and 2 assists in 15 league games. The only real area of concern is our inability to break down ultra-defensive teams, hence those home draws. If I can solve that tactical puzzle we'll be in good shape. Unfortunately, we'll almost certainly lose our unbeaten status in the New Year - first game of 2020 sees us face PSG in the cup

I often do better away. When I'm at home the AI will come and pack the defence and it's sometimes a struggle to break them down. When the AI is at home they'll sometimes open up a bit.

Always a tricky situation, but I take the simple approach: anyone who wants to leave can leave, only want committed players, no-one is bigger than the club, other cliches are available. Less important but worthy of consideration, I think, it's always worth staying on the right side of quality players because there might be an opportunity to re-sign them in the future. With le Fee at Man City there's a chance they'll have him sitting on the bench for a year and if you're playing CL football then you might be able to bring him back at a bargain price. We can dream...