Mandy42
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Posts posted by Mandy42
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November 2021
Game Week 13
Unlucky for some, and that someone might be us. We have to go to the Etihad and do what we were unable to do in 3 attempts last season, get a win against Man City. That however was against Pep. Pep is gone and Bielsa has shifted across the Pennines from Leeds to Manchester.
Before kick off I am not so silently cursing the international break. I'm having to field a right ragtag team of vagabonds because all the players who weren't fit enough to play for me 2 weeks ago, well they still got selected and played for their countries in the meantime. That and it seems the England international was in the last set of games to be played. So all my England players are knackered before we even get going. To add insult to tiredness the Man City line up looks fresh as a bunch of daisies. It shows in the opening half hour, bring back Pep! Last season City were ponderous and as scared of us as we were of them. This season it's like trying to wrestle a rabid badger.
The players are definitely agitated, rushing passes, if not making mistakes then making bad decisions. On 37 minutes When Tammy volleys us in front it's a real smash and grab. But the exchanges at the beginning of the clip show how City are hounding us for the ball and our passing being wayward. Multiple times before we scored City took the ball off us in such fashion and fashioned a chance at goal.
We stagger to halftime under immense City pressure. Never mind the 100% perfect record, if you'd offered me a draw in the dressing room at halftime I'd have ripped your arm off. Instead we have to go back out and face the 2nd half storm. City have 2 goals chalked off for offside. Kaio Jorge their 19 year old Brazilian forward is like a rocket, he just doesn't seem able to time his runs. After the hour mark we double our advantage with a Timo Werner strike. He's on the left wing, with Mount now in the box to box midfielder role as Kante and Kovacic have been removed before they get themselves sent off.
I make it to about 75 minutes before I drop the mentality and try bunker down to see out the rest of the game. We hold on until the last few minutes but can't keep a clean sheet. Jorge gets on the end of a through ball. It's been coming, and that goal has been on since the opening 10 minutes. I'm afraid this is going to go the same way as the Lyon game and we are going to give up a 2 goal advantage. A Hudson-Odoi volley surely seals it for us as I demand more from the players to get us over the line with all 3 points.
13 wins from 13. Man City hold the record for 18 consecutive wins on the bounce.
We have Liverpool next in the league at the end of the month.
Man Utd stay in contention
An amazing 16 points back to the Champions league places which is the minimum board requirement for the season.
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November 2021
Game Week 12
Fulham away in the league before the international break. Hopefully just who we need to right the ship. While yes we've only lost 1 competitive game so far this season. We've conceded 6 goals in our last 5 games, and drawn 3 in a row in the Champions league. This is not acceptable to me and I'd rather get back to winning and not conceding... thank you very much.
Unfortunately, with the growing injury list, especially in the wide positions I am forced to play Mason Mount as an inverted winger on the left. With Timo Werner available as his replacement, even though Timo still has a couple of days left on his own injury rehab. Mason nets us a penalty in the 19th minute after Milik is bundled over from a corner. Most amusing as he was pushed as the corner was taken, when anyone who has watched any video on us at all this season knows we've never put the ball into the box direct from a corner this campaign.
Fulham had a few half chances, but were limiting themselves by keeping players behind the ball to restrict our chances of grabbing another. This only intensified when they had a player sent off for a 2nd bookable offence on the hour. Then much to my dismay they attempted to make a game of it in true smash and grab fashion right at the death. Milik made the game safe in the last few minutes. But the 1st part of the video shows that Fulham hadn't given up trying to get something from the game near the end.
Liverpool ain't messing around.
Burnley move into a European spot with this win.
Not 6-0 then.
City didn't play. The gap stays at 5 points, feels like it's been 5 points forever.
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November 2021
Group E Match 4
With only 2 points from the last 6 available in the Champions league, it is safe to say I'm not that impressed with our performances in the competition. Not simply because it leaves qualification from the group up in the air. But at over £2M for a win and "only" £800k for a draw, we are bleeding potential cash as well. Worse is we have Lyon in this game and Inter away, having only managed to draw against them in our home fixtures.
Though before we get into the action, last months awards. With Timo coming back strong from his shoulder injury to take the player of the month. Though I've just noticed it says he's on loan with us? He better flaming not be!
What happens when you maintain your perfect record? You get the manager of the month again.
Anyway, moving swiftly on before either Jurgen or Ole make a claim for a share of the award! For some reason, Lyon seem less "up for it" in the opening stages at home. Maybe the pressure of being the home side and being expected to take charge of the game? I have the cure for that, always expect your players to take control of the game. Marcus Edwards seems to love minute 5 as he scores in it for the 2nd game running. Left the front of the video un edited to show we don't always get the fake offside short corner right! Marcus Edwards though, he's making a push for that 1st XI spot with Hakim Ziyech injured.
One player who has very much played himself into the 1st XI and secured himself a new 5 year contract is Tammy Abraham. He bags us our 2nd before the hour mark in an otherwise pretty uneventful game. I almost missed this highlight video as I was sure it was going to be called back for offside. But Abraham is behind James when he crosses the ball. Even though he is beyond the defender? And the ball goes forward? No matter, 0-2 up with 30ish minutes to play. This is the kind of performance I was expecting in the home game.
That is until we concede this sloppy monstrosity 10 minutes later. Slack passing at the beginning, not the most controlled clearance in the middle. And I've absolutely no idea what the defending in the box is. Then in stoppage time we succumb to a swift counter which ends up with the ball in our net. This is good play from Lyon, and I have to take partial blame for this. I've kept the mentality on attacking and not made the usual changes to try see out the game, as we were bossing both chances and possession. Sometimes it scores us late goals, sometimes it costs us late goals.
Marcus Edwards probably won't be making a play for Hakim Ziyech's position in the 1st XI, as Lyon nearly killed him in the 2nd half. He's out for at least 2 months with a fractured upper arm. I don't mind dropping points, or conceding late goals. But I do dislike this trend that teams think it's ok to beat the crap out of my players. That's 6 on the injured list now. Oh and Inter beat Fenerbache in Italy, so all of us but the Turkish whipping boys are sitting on 6 points.
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8th last season after a shaky start, hopefully you can build on going unbeaten that 1st month and have less of a job catching up later in the season!
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4 hours ago, mark wilson27 said:
October 2nd:
Its now time for me to choose the squad for the two games against Belgium (1) and Iceland (42) in the European Nations League. Both of the games will be played away from home
The squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers:
Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Dean Henderson
Defenders:
Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Michael Keane, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Joe Gomez, Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Eric Dier
Midfielders:
Jordan Henderson, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount, Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Dele Ali
Attackers:
Harry Kane, Rhian Brewster, Che Adams
October 6th:
The physio has informed me that John Stones has picked up an injury and will be replaced by Jamaal Lascelles, he is a 26yr old central defender from Newcastle. He has two under 21 caps
interesting strikers choice!
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of all the places to pull it... you pulled it in training... must be small if nobody noticed!
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October 2021
U23 Update
The striker they said would struggle to play at U23 level bags us a hat trick.
He then scores 2 in the league, in a result I didn't see coming.
Not the most inspiring "international" game, but we have Bilbao and Feyenoord to look forward to as the other teams in the group.
Back to back goals for Valentino show the attacking mentality right wingback is paying dividends.
Back in the league and a 1st XI performance sees us comfortable winners.
Disappointing display from the 2nd XI to finish the month. This was our game in hand over Man Utd in the league, could have benefitted from taking all 3 points. Plus the goal we conceded was a woeful punt up field over the top of our defence.
As each team in the group only plays the others once, we have apparently already qualified before we play bottom of the group Stevenage.
We maintain a 4 point gap at the top, could have been 6 with a better performance against bottom side Norwich.
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October 2021
U18 Update
I've had my eye on Dane Scarlett sine I took over the youth teams. He bangs in enough goals, but like most Spurs players, he has absolutely no interest in coming to play for a decent London club. Oh well. This game was how I expected the senior fixture to play out, at least more goals. Though the score line is kinder to Spurs than the game was, their stoppage time goal was little more than a consolation.
This game had snore draw written all over it until we were awarded a stonewall penalty in injury time. I'd tuned out from the game so much I had no idea who I had on the pitch who was best to take it!
No issues for the youth team in putting European opponents to the sword. Am very impressed with them in this competition what with us being the youngest team in the group.
Took till almost the last kick of the game to make this result as easy as the game actually was.
We are in control of the group at the halfway stage.
10 point gap sees us very comfortable at the top of the table. For comparison Man Utd are top of the North section also on 28 points. They however only have a 4 point lead in their section back to 2nd place.
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October 2021
Game Week 11
When I made the choice to field the 1st XI in the Carabao cup, I thought it might come back to bite me in this game. Spurs at home in the league. My justification for such a choice would have felt so much better if we had actually progressed in the cup. But that was not to be! So here we are, our perfect start to the season and 5 point gap at the top in jeopardy due to my personal priorities. I say 2nd XI, in certain positions it's pretty much whoever is fit enough to play. Ethan Ampadu, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic have all been injured in training to varying degrees. Callum Hudson-Odoi is recovering from a hard tackle in the Watford game and won't be able to play the whole match. Thus U23 players Marcel Lewis and Charlie Wiggett make the bench.
Calvert Lewin goes close for them in the opening exchanges, a free header clipping the bar and bouncing over. Then on 5 minutes we take the lead. A short corner routine I just love, sees Marcus Edwards finish from close in. I love this for a couple of reasons, mainly the credit of the match engine. For ages I've moaned about goals being called back for offside "wrongly" due to players not involved in the move. But here, the engine acknowledges that Mount knows he's offside and Edwards has to chase down the ball himself. I also like it because I can see it being cooked up on a training ground somewhere, lets fake an accidental offside pass to make the defence pause for a second and then go back to crisp smart passing to get the ball in the net.
I've no idea how this ended 1-0, with a front 3 of Son, Kane and Calvert Lewin I certainly didn't expect to keep a clean sheet. From our end we had 25 shots, 10 on target in a game which had me biting my nails all the way through but the neutrals will probably put down as a classic for years to come.
Fortnight ago it was 3, last week it was 4, is next week going to be 6?
Firmino didn't play against us in the cup either. Man City held though is a good result for us.
Partey has been in the goals for Arsenal of late.
Wolves climb above Spurs after we beat them. 5 point gap between 5th and 2nd. Then a further 5 points to us at the top. It took us 13 games to get to 33 points last season with games 12 and 13 seeing us struggle through back to back draws against Watford and Arsenal.
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October 2021
4th Round
I will hold my hand up and say last season we were very lucky when it came to our cup draws. Thus I can't moan too much about getting Liverpool in only our 2nd tie of the Carabao this year. We have a strange record against Liverpool, having never lost to them under my tenure in the league. We however find it very difficult to get past them in the cup. Famously (at least to me) James Milner dumped us out of the Champions league semi final last season with an 89th minute winner. I said in an earlier post that there might be some strange choices regarding which team plays which fixture. Well this is it, for me this is a 1st XI game. I know the Carabao is seen as the "lesser" domestic competition and mostly it's not even being judged by the board. In real life Arsenal almost annually played their kids in this competition. However, the long term goal of the save is to win silverware. LOTS and lots of silverware, so lower hanging fruit such as the Community Shield, and the Carabao cup will be of higher importance to us. Basically the less games required to win it, the more I'll be all over it.
Liverpool on the other hand have a more conventional Carabao approach, they field a respectable team but it isn't their best. There's no Mane, Jota, Grealish or new summer signing Martin Odegaard. Which is why I am disappointed with how poor we were in the 1st half. We didn't create anything of real substance though we weren't in any real danger either. Then Mendy, my 1 concession to a full strength 1st XI makes a mess of a simple Robertson cross from the left. Harry Wilson, making his debut for Liverpool, is on hand to tap in the loose ball and give the visitors the lead. That might be Mendy's final game in a Chelsea shirt, he just never seems to perform when I need him to.
We get to half time and it feels like a regular occurrence now that I'm chewing the players out in the dressing room. I'm not sure what is more annoying, the reaction in the Watford game where the players basically ignore me. Or the reaction in this game. We equalise straight from kick off, and it's soooooo simple. My mood is lifted slightly, and we do play better in the 2nd period but we just can't manufacture a clear chance to win the game. I've mentally prepared myself for penalties when. Harry Wilson strikes again. This time a well placed free kick into the top corner on 87 minutes.
So much for low hanging fruit.
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October 2021
Game Week 10
Pretty much a month after we faced Watford in the Carabao cup we now played them at Vicarage Road again in the league. The 2nd XI was dispatched to get us a result and we were all over the for the 1st 20 minutes doing everything but score. So much so that when a highlight came up for a Watford free kick in a promising position my 1st reaction was I was in for a royal FMing and they were going to score with their 1st attempt at goal. This was not the case however as we cleared the free kick to the halfway line. Where Timo Werner plays a clever header into the patch of Marcus Edwards. Edwards is off, motoring across the grass and uncatchable, 1v1 with the keeper and looks like a certain goal. Except he blasts it high and hard, cannoning the ball off the crossbar and I think the chance is gone. Timo Werner pops up and taps home the rebound to give us a much deserved lead!
Timo doubles our lead from the penalty spot on 37 minutes. Then 4 minutes later he secures his hat trick with a poachers finished from a Marcus Edwards rabona cross after we had kept the ball alive from a free kick. Job done, at halftime I tell the players to guard against complacency, change the mentality and instructions to help us play out the game in the 2nd half at reduced intensity and save the legs. Sadly I had to bring Callum Hudson-Odoi off as he was injured in a challenge during the 1st half.
3 minutes into the 2nd half and I might as well have not bothered at halftime. Absolutely none existent defending at a corner gifts Watford a consolation goal.
It had no bearing on the game and probably doesn't affect the season but I laid into the players at the time and let them know that the 2nd half performance was not acceptable compared to the 1st when the game was finished. It's little paper cuts like this that are gonna bleed away our chances of filling the record books. Don't they know I'm building the greatest club of all time here!
Though this comment from a fan after the game is taking it a bit too far!
The other kind of vintage Arsenal
Leeds give Liverpool a run for their money
Man Utd go one better than us this week.
Think I've cursed everybody, as the top 6 is well the top 6 with the other teams falling away after I commented on their performances.
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October 2021
Group E Match 3
After being unable to break through the Inter defence in our last Champions league game I was hoping to fare better against current group leaders Lyon. As the current main threat to us qualifying from the group I wanted to field my strongest XI. We seemed to be doing a lot of clearing and chasing after the ball for the home side and not really controlling the game. When we conceded 5 minutes before half time it was through a woeful piece of play. It's a simple ball into our box and Livakovic should simply rush out and sweep that up all day long.
Even more frustrating, berating the players resulted in an instant reaction. A defensive mistake led to Tammy Abraham latching onto a long ball forward. Scoring with perhaps his furthest strike from goal all season.
And that was that. When Maxwel Cornet was sent off for a 2nd bookable offence in 1st half injury time I thought the tide had turned in our favour. It just led to a different type of frustration. We had all of the ball but no penetration at all. They parked two buses in front of their goal and we just couldn't find a way through. Bringing on a 2nd striker in place of a holding midfielder didn't increase our chances either. Feels like a massive missed opportunity to put some daylight between us and Lyon and take control of the group. The only saving grace is that Inter went to Turkey and played for a draw. The had 43% possession and didn't register a shot on target. Meaning they now have 3 points from 3 games and sit 2 points behind us in 3rd place.
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October 2021
Game Week 9
We survive the international break with little to no pressure on the squad in terms of injury. Mason Mount is being stalked by Hertha Berlin, though he appears to have no interest in wanting to leave. The same cannot be said for Christian Pulisic, who is being serenaded by Real Madrid. He apparently is extremely interested in a move. We will see what January brings as they appear to be willing to offer big money which is always welcome and could make a space for Hudson-Odoi in the 1st XI. I might have changed my mind by then though and want to keep him.
Crystal Palace is our opponent in our return to league action. With most of the 1st XI playing games in the break, we go with our 2nd team. We are rusty in the opening exchanges and we give away a soft penalty within 5 minutes. I say soft, if it's a penalty at all as the foul seemed to occur off the pitch once the ball had gone out for a corner. Luka Milivojevic's penalty is saved by Livakovic to keep it 0-0. Gyazo yet again messed me about and doesn't record the 1st goal. We score on the 15 minute mark, Marcus Edwards gets the ball from a short corner on the left. He shoots and the keeper manages to deflect it onto the frame of the goal. Unfortunately it bounces down at the back post for Timo Werner to finish from a tight angle.
That settles my nerves after the early penalty scare. One person whose nerves don't need settling is Marcus Edwards, everything good about us in this game seems to be going through him. 10 minutes after Werner scored, Edwards latches onto a long clearance from Livakovic. He goes straight at the Palace defence, I think he's going to play Werner in, but he continues alone. He survives a robust challenge from the Palace left back, but while the defence seems to stop expecting a foul, he continues into the box and smashes the ball home into the far corner.
A Timo Werner penalty after who else but Marcus Edwards goes down (rather softly) sees us cruise through the 2nd half.
Liverpool are rolling.
Same as last week for the Gunners with Spurs hanging on to beat Leeds
Anything we can do it seems Utd can do.
Pretty sure I've cursed Norwich after saying I hope they are around the top 6 come the end of the season.
We went 22 unbeaten out of the gate last season, but that included 4 draws. So at the same point last season we had 2 fewer points.
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October 2021
Game Week 8
Southampton, the team that beat us last season straight after our loss to Everton. I'm pretty bitter, however with them sitting bottom of the table I will be even more bitter if we don't get a result this time. This is a 1st XI game, simply due to the way the fixtures the rest of the month pan out. It might cause us problems later in the month but for now I just want to maximise points in the league before other competitions hot up.
We get off to a perfect start when Reece James finishes spectacularly from a short corner. We have the lead with only 2 minutes played. Then the game quietens down, we dominate but with no end product to show for it. In the 24th minute that changes, as Pulisic surges forwards, he rides a tackle and the referee plays advantage. It pays dividends for us as the American finds Abraham in the box to double our lead. It takes Gyazo longer to upload the replay than it does for us to score our next goal. Reece James with a free kick, just outside the box, in line with the penalty spot. I think it's too central, he proves me wrong, doubling his tally for the game and indeed the season.
Not to be outdone by James, Abraham nearly takes the roof off the net for his 2nd. With only 10 minutes to go in the 1st half we are 4-0 up and the days work is done. A Tammy Abraham penalty to secure his hat trick is the only action in the 2nd half.
Liverpool and Utd make no mistakes in their chase to keep up with us.
Vintage 1-0 to the Arsenal
Spurs struggling again.
City breeze past Newcastle.
I doubt we will remain perfect, or undefeated for the whole season. However our win against Man Utd early in the campaign could yet prove decisive as like last season they look to be our closest challengers.
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3 hours ago, andychar said:
You get one guess as to the first thing I did when I went to Fisher 😂
filed a restraining order?
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Come to me Katie....
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Balls!
gone and messed up the save from the point of view of this thread. Getting completely carried away and playing through the season meaning I couldn't go back and fill in the end of month standings...
Which means I will have to do a kind of round up post, then get back to the regular format next season.
The highlight of February was our Carabao Cup final appearance against Liverpool at Wembley. I expected us to get absolutely smashed, though I had been expecting that for quite a few rounds now! In the end it took a Rodrigo Bentancur screamer from outside the area in the 91st minute to see us lose 1-0. A fair result as Liverpool had 24 attempts on goal, compared to our 3.
Our league form in February started poorly with a 2-3 away defeat against struggling Wycombe. However after that we would go 13 games unbeaten in the league, 9 wins and 4 draws keeping us in and around the sharp end at the top of the table.
Midway through April with only 4 games left in the campaign we had 4 day period that would define our season. We sat top by a single point, we would travel to 3rd placed QPR knowing a win would put us out of their reach and secure us automatic promotion. Following that 2 days later we would have to go to 2nd placed Lincoln.
At the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, both teams kept their powder dry and the game ran out in an exceptionally boring 0-0 draw. While we hadn't secured promotion we hadn't thrown it away either. However at Sincil Bank against Lincoln it was a different story. Who else but Dominic Samuel put us 1 foot in the Championship on 11 minutes. Followed by a moment of madness as we were awarded a penalty on 14 minutes which Lynden Gooch buried to double our advantage. Lincoln pulled 1 back just before halftime to keep us honest in the second half. But by parking the bus and holding onto the ball we were able to get the job done and ensure we would be in the Championship next season.
Two games left to play, promotion secured, 5 points clear of 2nd placed Lincoln with 6 to play for. We lost away 0-2 to Oxford, but Accrington held Lincoln to a 1-1 draw which saw us crowned champions with one game to play.
We would go on to lose our final home game of the season against Rotherham 2-1. Champions with a Whimper.
End of Season Standings (46 games played)
Sunderland 92
Lincoln 91
Wigan 89
QPR 88
Barnsley 80
Rotherham 75
Ipswich 72
Bolton 69
Oxford 66
Walsall 64
Salford 63
Bristol Rovers 61
Coventry 61
MK Dons 58
Wycombe 58
Accrington 58
Fleetwood 56
Bradford City 56
Gillingham 53
Doncaster 45
Tranmere 43
Rochdale 43
AFC Wimbledon 39
Scunthorpe 32
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Week 31
Friday 9 April 2021
Fulham v Wolves 20:00 0 - 2Saturday 10 April 2021
Man City v Leeds 12:30 3-0
Liverpool v Aston Villa 15:00 1-1
Crystal Palace v Chelsea 17:30 0-2Sunday 11 April 2021
Burnley v Newcastle 12:00 1-1
West Ham v Leicester 14:05 2-2
Spurs v Man Utd 16:30 1-0
Sheffield Utd v Arsenal 19:00 0-0Monday 12 April 2021
West Brom v Southampton 18:00 0-2
Brighton v Everton 20:15 1-30 -
There job is insecure, and now so are you because you've been laughed at some much!
Give the man a job not a complex!!
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Will Wilson sounds like a Deadpool stunt double.
Jordan Henderson looks quite spritely for a 55 year old... Certainly plays like one though...
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Tuesday 5/1/21
Carabao Cup Semi Final 1st Leg, The Stadium of Light: Sunderland 4 vs 1 Newcastle
Anthony Patterson, Dujon Sterling, Tommy Smith, Jack Baldwin, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Josh Harrop, Max Power, Daniel Arzani, Dominic Samuel, Chris Maguire.
Must admit I've been waiting for this fixture all season. Their reserve squad is still in the Leasing.com trophy so I figured a Tyne and Weir derby of some description was on the cards. However, never in my wildest dreams did I expect that we would finish the home leg 4-1 winners. We came out of the traps like a greyhound with Chris Maguire putting us ahead in the 4th minute as he taped in a back post cross that had evaded everyone else.
Miguel Almiron pulled one back for the visitors on 31 minutes after a period of controlled passing which suggested they might be growing into the game. In fact we were hanging on for the halftime whistle under continuous Newcastle pressure when we cleared from a corner. Dominic Samuel appeared to be the only Sunderland player outside of our box and when he flicked the clearance on with his head it just looked as though Newcastle would recycle the ball. But out of nowhere Josh Harrop pounced on the flick on and was away into the opposition half with only the keeper to beat. A strong finish low down past the keeper saw us take a narrow lead in at halftime.
Goals on the break from Borthwick-Jackson and Samuel in the 2nd half broke the Newcastle will and saw us go into the away leg with at least a foot in the final.
Saturday 9/1/21
Sky Bet League One, The Memorial Stadium: Bristol Rovers 0 vs 2 Sunderland.
Joe Lumley, Dujon Sterling, Tommy Smith, Jack Baldwin, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Josh Harrop, Josh Scowen, Daniel Arzani, Dominic Samuel, Chris Maguire.
Possibly the best fixture we could have had after the showcase feature of a semi final. Bristol Rovers sit in 19th place after a woeful season and didn't put up much more than a rearguard effort. Not that said effort wasn't frustrating. It took until the 78th minute for us the break the deadlock. Borthwick-Jackson only knows how to score one kind of goal, an absolute thunderbolt with his left foot when he is left ignored on the left and over laps at the corner of the box.
Dominic Samuel scored his 12th of the season, well deserve for his en devour all day. He's one of those strikers that when they play on the opposing side your assistant manager constantly reminds you that they are "getting lost" so you have to man mark him, but then your player is being dragged out of position. Samuel just pops up, near post, far post, 1st time volleys, power headers, little clipped flick headers. He had hit the crossbar twice and narrowly headed wide twice before he final connected at the front post late on.
New signing Joe Lumley had only two saves to make, and he made them very well to keep a clean sheet on his debut. My scout team had informed me I needed to sign him at any price. When that price came back at £39.5k I was over the moon to snap QPR's hand off.
Saturday 16/1/21
Sky Bet League One, The Stadium of Light: Sunderland 0 vs 3 Wigan.
Joe Lumley, Dujon Sterling, Tommy Smith, Jack Baldwin, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Josh Harrop, Josh Scowen, Daniel Arzani, Dominic Samuel, Chris Maguire.
Only our 3rd defeat of the season, by far our biggest, though I would be the 1st to suggest that the scoreline flattered them. In simple terms they took their chances and we didn't take ours. We each had 5 shots on target, we couldn't find the back of the net and they clinically put away 3. Daniel Arzani hobbled off midway through the 2nd half which restricted our choices in trying to mount a comeback. It just wasn't our day.
Monday 18/1/21
Leasing.com Trophy North 3rd Round, Highbury Stadium: Fleetwood 0 vs 1 Sunderland.
Anthony Patterson, Conor McLaughlin, Jack Baldwin, Tom Flanagan, Denver Hume, Kevin McDonald, Aiden McGeady, Max Power, Lynden Gooch, Will Grigg, Jack Diamond.
With only 2 days since the league game there were always going to need to be wholesale changes to the team. And it showed in the performance. Max Power slide in and bundled the ball into the net after mayhem ensued in the area after we put a free kick in. We kept the ball after that and kept Fleetwood at arms length.
Wednesday 20/1/21
Sky Bet League One, The Stadium of Light: Sunderland 2 vs 0 Fleetwood.
Joe Lumley, Richard Brown, Jack Baldwin, Michael Collins, Denver Hume, George Dobson, Aiden McGeady, Max Power, Lynden Gooch, Will Grigg, Jack Diamond.
It wouldn't be FM if you didn't play the same team twice in a row due to fixtures being rearranged multiple times. We were able to rotate and field a stronger side than we did in the Leasing.com Trophy. They on the other hand rolled with the same starting XI as 2 days earlier. Jack Diamond finished smartly after a lovely passing move left him effectively alone in the penalty area. A Will Grigg penalty just before halftime sealed the tie. Nice to see Grigg scoring again but after back to back injuries of longer than a month I feel his time at the club might be coming to a close.
Saturday 23/1/21
Sky Bet League One, Wham Stadium: Accrington 1 vs 1 Sunderland
Joe Lumley, Conor McLaughlin, Tommy Smith, Ryan Sweeney, Denver Hume, George Dobson, Kevin McDonald, Dujon Sterling, Josh Harrop, Will Grigg, Jack Diamond.
Officially found my favourite stadium name! That is excellent. The game however, was not. We scored with a Josh Harrop volley from outside the box on 77 minutes. I thought that was going to be that. However we capitulated just 8 minutes later from the simplest of goals. A header from a corner.
Tuesday 26/1/21
Carabao Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg, St. James Park: Newcastle 3 vs Sunderland 3 (4-7 on aggregate)
Joe Lumley, Conor McLaughlin, Tommy Smith, Ryan Sweeney, Denver Hume, Josh Scowen, Kevin McDonald, Dujon Sterling, Josh Harrop, Will Grigg, Chris Maguire.
Wow! We went out cautiously and just tried to hold onto the ball. However Newcastle were up for it and made the most of what little ball they got hold of. As they scored 3 times with only 39% possession. Will Grigg only seems able to score from the penalty spot.
Thursday 28/1/21
Leasing.com Trophy North Quarter Final, The Utilita Energy Stadium- Valley Parade: Bradford 0 vs 0 Sunderland.
Joe Lumley, Richard Brown, Jack Baldwin, Tom Flanagan, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Elliot Embleton, Max Power, Daniel Arzani, Will Grigg, Aiden McGeady.
3rd time this season we went to penalties in this competition, and we just ran out of steam. Bradford beat us 6-4 in the end after neither team really did enough to beat the other in regular time.
Saturday 30/1/21
Sky Bet League One, The Stadium of Light: Sunderland 2 vs 0 AFC Wimbledon
Joe Lumley, Conor McLaughlin, Jack Baldwin, Tom Flanagan, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Josh Scowen, Josh Harrop, Kevin McDonald, Dujon Sterling, Jason Cummings, Aiden McGeady.
After 9 games this month it is getting to the point of basically picking XI warm bodies than can more or less play in the position I need them in. Arzani is on his way back from his 2nd injury this month. Harrop had to wobble off today. Luckily 23rd placed Wimbledon didn't put up much of a fight and 2 first half goals saw us take all of the points and roll into February.
End of January Sky Bet League One Standings (30 games played)
Sunderland 61
Lincoln 61
QPR 58
Barnsley 58
Wigan 55
Ipswich 54
Rotherham 53
Bolton 50
Oxford 43
Fleetwood 43
Walsall 42
Accrington 41
MK Dons 39
Coventry 38
Gillingham 38
Bradford City 37
Wycombe 36
Salford 36
Doncaster 33
Bristol Rovers 30
Tranmere 30
Rochdale 28
AFC Wimbledon 27
Scunthorpe 20
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TAKE THE MONEY!!!
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Zimbabwe has a ZRP team where the P stands for Police. I always dread playing them! Wonder if they get a couple of convicts in as ringers if they are good players.
Also after your win against National Police I'm sure you will be getting a few more parking tickets this month.
0 -
Wednesday 2/12/20
FA Cup 2nd Round, Portman Road: Ipswich 2 vs 1 Sunderland
Anthony Patterson, Jordan Willis, Tommy Smith, Ryan Sweeney, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Josh Harrop, Max Power, Daniel Arzani, Dominic Samuel, Jack Diamond.
Always the way, you progress in the competitions that the board don't care about and you come unstuck below expectation in the others. This game however was always going to be tough, with Ipswich in and around us at the top of league one. We only won the league fixture 1-0 and on another day it could have gone the other way. Well this was that other day.
Sunday 6/12/20
Sky Bet League One, The Ricoh Arena: Coventry 0 vs 2 Sunderland
Anthony Patterson, Jordan Willis, Tommy Smith, Ryan Sweeney, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Josh Harrop, Max Power, Daniel Arzani, Dominic Samuel, Jack Diamond.
Back to the league, and with the same lineup we get ourselves a dominant win. Arzani scoring a screamer on 3 minutes to set us on our way. Then bagged his 2nd in the middle of the 2nd half with a tap in from a left wing cross. Nice to see him among the goals finally as he was touted as our important player of the season by the pundits at the start, but hasn't lived up to that tag as of yet.
Saturday 12/12/20
Sky Bet League one, The Stadium of Light: Sunderland 2 vs 0 Scunthorpe
Anthony Patterson, Richard Brown, Tommy Smith, Ryan Sweeney, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Elliot Embleton, Josh Scowen, Lynden Gooch, Jason Cummings, Jack Diamond.
With Scunthorpe sitting comfortably bottom of the table I felt ok with letting some of our backup and reserve players play. Patterson kept his place in goal. Jack Diamond scored in the opening minute with a bundling challenge which saw both himself, the Scunthorpe player and the ball end up in the back of the net. Jason Cummings hit the post from the penalty spot late on in the 1st half, but otherwise I had no complaints over the performance. Borthwick-Jackson gave us a cushion midway through the 2nd period with an absolute laser after overlapping on the left.
Tuesday 15/12/20
Carabao Cup Quater Final, The Stadium of Light: Sunderland 1 vs 0 Swansea
Anthony Patterson, Conor McLaughlin, Jordan Willis, Tom Flanagan, Denver Hume, George Dobson, Josh Harrop, Josh Scowen, Lynden Gooch, Jason Cummings, Aiden McGeady.
Having won our last few cup ties on penalties against better opposition I was expecting this one to be close. When I saw the pre match build up and noticed Swansea had lost their last 5 games in a row, well then I began to get my hopes up. It was a fairly even contest, and our goal seemed to lead a charmed life at times. Patterson did reward my faith in keeping him in for the later stages of the cup by pulling off a decent double save. Jason Cummings' great diagonal run and cute finish into the bottom right corner across the keeper was our real only moment of quality, but it was enough to book us a semi final berth.
Saturday 19/12/20
Sky Bet League One, The Stadium of Light: Sunderland 0 vs 0 Oxford.
Anthony Patterson, Conor McLaughlin, Jordan Willis, Jack Baldwin, Denver Hume, George Dobson, Josh Harrop, Josh Scowen, Dujon Sterling, Jason Cummings, Aiden McGeady.
Patterson stays in for this fixture as Lee Burge has gone home with a cold, or he's just taking the rest of December off as holiday because he doesn't think he will get back in the team. We didn't play very well, at least we didn't do a lot with the amount of possession we had and a draw was probably a fair result on the balance of play.
Tuesday 22/12/20
Sky Bet League One, AESSEAL New York Stadium: Rochdale 1 vs 1 Sunderland
Anthony Patterson, Dujon Sterling, Tommy Smith, Ryan Sweeney, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Chris Maguire, Max Power, Daniel Arzani, Dominic Samuel, Jack Diamond.
This was not a fair result, Rochdale sucker punched us with an equalizer with pretty much the last kick of the game. Jack Diamond had put us ahead with an absolute howitzer of a strike from outside the box just before the half hour mark. We were in complete control. Daniel Arzani couldn't have known it at the time, but he probably cost us all 3 points midway through the 2nd half. He bundled a Dominic Samuel header over the line from an offside position when the original effort looked like it was going in anyway.
Saturday 26/12/20
Sky Bet League One, The Peninsula Stadium: Salford 1 vs 1 Sunderland
Anthony Patterson, Dujon Sterling, Tommy Smith, Ryan Sweeney, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, George Dobson, Chris Maguire, Max Power, Lynden Gooch, Dominic Samuel, Jack Diamond.
Boxing day and our 3rd draw on the bounce as Jack Diamond rescues us a point with another killer of a strike in an otherwise poor performance.
Monday 28/12/20
Sky Bet League One, The Stadium of Light: Sunderland 1 vs 0 Bradford City
Anthony Patterson, Conor McLaughlin, Jordan Willis, Jack Baldwin, Denver Hume, Max Power, Josh Harrop, Josh Scowen, Dujon Sterling, Jason Cummings, Aiden McGeady.
Our final game of the year, and we finally get back to winning ways in the league. Jason Cummings finish under an onrushing goalkeeper on 10 minutes was the difference. We looked more comfortable, but we didn't create much, which seems to be our stumbling block at the moment. We don't concede many, but when we do, we don't look like scoring many either. Hench the high number of draws.
End of December Sky Bet League One Standings (25 games played):
Sunderland 51
Wigan 48
Lincoln 47
QPR 46
Barnsley 45
Ipswich 44
Bolton 43
Rotherham 37
Accrington 37
Oxford 35
Walsall 35
Wycombe 32
Bradford City 32
Fleetwood 31
Bristol Rovers 29
Doncaster 29
Gillingham 29
Salford 29
MK Dons 28
Coventry 28
Tranmere 26
AFC Wimbledon 22
Rochdale 20
Scunthorpe 15
0
FM[21] Finis Coronat Opus
in FM Career Updates
Posted · Edited by Mandy42
November 2021
Group E Game 5
Speaking of the Champions league, that was next. Group whipping boys from Turkey were coming to the bridge. We needed a win to go into the final match against Inter with as much of our destiny in our own hands. However, with this game sandwiched juicily between Man City and Liverpool in the league, it was 2nd XI all the way. That is, the cobbled together 2nd XI due to injuries.
Hudson-Odoi got us underway and calmed down just after 10 minutes played Ghosting in at the back post after Loftus-Cheek had crossed low. 5 minutes later and the lead was 2. This time Loftus-Cheek going down in the area, the ref and then VAR gave a penalty. Though the commentator indicated Ruben must have dived. Timo Werner converted the spot kick. 5 minutes later and we were coasting at 3-0. Livakovic with a majestic assist, though their keeper should have done better.
Through to halftime and then to near the hour mark without further incident. I make changes due to fatigue one of them is Timo Werner for Mason Mount on the left. However Timo has other ideas. He nets us our 4th, so when the journalists ask after the game what it felt like to take him off on a hat trick. Actually, I took him off when he'd only scored once, he's the one who made it awkward by scoring again. The fresh legs of Mount and Pulisic don't waste anytime combining to score our 5th.
We settle down after that. But with only 5 minutes left on the clock. We can't resist going the full length of the pitch from another Fenerbache corner. This time Loftus-Cheek finds the net for his 2nd of the game.
Inter grabbed a late winner away in France. Which due to them drawing with Lyon at home and beating them away, they cannot be passed by them. Meaning they will qualify regardless of our result in the final game. Lyon having drawn with us both home and away can still leapfrog us if results go their way. Basically, keep it simple and don't lose to Inter, that way they can't equal our points total.