mr_jones

November 2021 Crunchtime in the Europa League and what should i say? The team delivered! Another 4-0 win in austria against Graz brought us back in business. And in russia we continued our run and won also 4-0. Another hattrick from Serhou Guirassy, who's probably in the form of his life! Now we have the qualification for the next round in our own hands, we just need to bring in points against Tottenham. In Ligue 1 our results unfortunately were not quite as good. We can secure a tight win against Lille but lost the big game against PSG. Two goals from Isco sealed our defeat.

October 2021 The good thing first. The decision from the new board came quick. No Nuno Espirito Santo - i can continue my work. Looks like that decision also gave the team a boost. because we played a perfect month! Especiall Serhou Guirassy continues his strike with 5 goals this month. In the Europa League we maintain our chances for the next round with a solid 4-0 victory against Graz. Second place! If we keep continue like that, we can achieve a good season. As long as no one stops Guirassy from scoring im positive. With 13 goals in 12 matches he's leading the scoring table. And after that five-goal-strike in october he deserved the "Player of the Month"-Trophy!

September 2021 Not a good month. In the league we are struggeling and play very inconsistent. At least we can celebrate an important victory against Monaco. And in the Europa League? Oh boy, we face a 0-3 loss against Krasnodar and then Tottenham sweeps us with 0-5 out of their stadium. Means we are on the last place after two games with a goal difference of 0-8. That will be a hard path.. The spanish takeover is now official. And they still want to install Nuno Espirito Santo as new boss in town. But the new owner is so kind and let me in charge for now.. lets see, where this one will go...

August 2021 Expect the loss against Nice, we had a good start into the new season. And you can see, Guirassy is already scoring again and again! Sixth place after four games is ok. PSG is already on fire again. But yeah they just brought Harry Kane and Nabil Fekir for 180 millions in Harry Kane is a good topic. We face his ex-club Tottenham in the Europa League. Also FK Krasnodar and Puntigamer Sturm Graz. The qualification for the next round probably depends on our matches against the russians. And because our president wants to retire, there are still takeover rumours all the time. But now it looks like we get some new spanish owners. And they want to replace me with Nuno Espirito Santo...

Congratulations to the championship with Venezia! Now nice switch to spain. The squad looks really old and experienced, but the wages... First of probably get ride of all the old overpaid players? Do you have a good DoF or searching for one?

Transfers Summer 21/22 A really busy window with more movements than i actually wanted. But lets look. Out Actually just the transfers of Bourigeaud and Soppy are hurting. Bourigeaud was a key player in Midfield and on the wing. Now he wants to challenge himself in the Premier League. Soppy doesn't wanted to sign a new contract. So our DoF sold him to the Verts. Don't now, if the U21 European-Champion will be lucky with this transfer. Also Lea Siliki, which hadn't had a chance in my plans left us. And M'Baye Niang will stay in Saudi Arabia, while Al Ahli Saudi FC putted his loan clause. In So DoF had a bit work to do. First of, we needed to boost up our defence. Issa Diop was unhappy at West Ham and placed on transfer list. For less than five millions a real steal. Nicolas Cozza is joining from Montpellier and will complete our four Central Defence spots. On the wingbacks we found with Romain Perraud and the expierenced Djibril Sidibé two good options, to give our key players a rest. In the midfield we also needed some more options. Nampalys Mendy was on loan list. But he just wanted a transfer, so we brought him in for 6,75 millions. Abdou Harroui was on my shortlist and DoF saw that, so he brought him in for 7 millions. I'm really happy with that transfer. The other players are for the attacking side. Tino Kadewere is flexible and can play up in the front or on the left wing. Manu Garcia will be fighting with Terrier for the place in the offensive midfield. The last two loans were made by the DoF himself. Carles Pérez is a decent player, which gives us another option on the right wing. Not necessary, but ok. And Reiss Nelson is almost an upgrade for the left wing! I think with this transfers were ready to play on three parties! I think with this transfers were ready to play on three parties! Even if i normaly don't like that high amount of transfers in one window. But at the end of the last season we were walking on the edge with the little squad.

June 2021 The transfer window has just opened and our DoF has spotted the CD-Position as a weakness and has allready done some work. Around 14 millions for dutch international Jordan Teze. Contract was already out. Would have been a nice move, but then this happened... Damn! Takeover rumours and a transfer embargo. So we can't do any transfers in june. The Teze-Deal falls apart, instead in Rennes he's landing in Leeds. But okey, i can live with that, close to 15 millions for one player would have affected our budget to much. The search continues, hopefully the embargo ends soon.

May 2021 So we ended the season with a decent run. Three remis (at least a goalless against PSG) and a win against Nice (thanks to Guirassy). With a bit more luck, we could have qualified for the Champions League, because we are just two Points behind Lille. But this would probably come a bit too early. Surprise of the season is definitely Lens, which sovereign secured the Vice-Championship. Player-Review Alfred Gomis was a good Number 1 and will be it also next season. But we need a new Backup, because Romain Salin will face retirement. In the central defence i'm really pleased with Nayef Aguerd. But he's going to need a new partner. Damien Da Silva is getting older and has no pace, Gélin and Nyamsi doesn't have the abilty for Ligue 1 yet and Adams goes back to Hoffenheim. On the defense wings we have two solid options with Traoré and Maouassa. What we need are some decent backups, because they can't play all games. In the central midfield i'm really happy, that Camavinga will come back from his long injury. Nzonzi played a good season, but has to go back to China. In the offensive was Serhou Guirassy with 25 goals definitely our Life-Insurance! Bourigeaud also played a really good season. Terrier is a player, who can make the difference, when he wants. Doku is the fast rocket on the wing and Del Castillo was a sniper in front of the goal. But also we need to invest in the deepth of the squad, because we will play in three tournaments next season.

April 2021 So the good results continue in April. Against St. Etienne we get a tight win and in Nimes we receive a late equalizer. But then we can achieve two important wins against Monaco and Strasbourg. With that we should be able to play Europe League next season. Then it was time for the big game in the Coupe de France Final. But just on time we weren't ready, or maybe better, PSG showed us our limits. We didn't had any chance. The game was already decided at half-time while PSG was leading with 0-3. That game showed us, that it will be a long path, to be competitive with the rich qatari-club. The DoF had also some work to do with extending contracts from key players. Damien Da Silva extended his expiring contact. Nice to see, that the captain stays on board, but please: A three year contract for a player, who's turning 33 next month is a bit too long... And also Faitout Maouassa signs a new deal. One of our best players!

+1 for Boavista too, because the project looks nice. I would also go for Bordeaux, because i like to play in France, but i agree, that this step would be a bit too early.

Interesting save, which i will follow from now one. Impressive how you always find that great players! Sadly i missed Cabo Verde allready, where i wanted to go on holidays two years ago

Great transfers and, especially in january, really good results! with a bit of luck maybe the championship is allready possible! but wtf is happening with Napoli?

March 2021 First of all: We did it! Beating Lorient and going to the Final of the Coupe de France! And there we face obviously... PSG! In the Ligue 1 we lose in Lille after we were up 1-0. But came back with two wins against Lorient and Angers. The last one was really sad, because we lost Camavinga, our best player injured. And damn, he's going to be ruled out for half a year! The only god thing is probably, that because of that injury, he will stay in Rennes for another year, because no one is going to sign him in summer. With the injury of our star, probably some future stars appeared in the club. Luckly, we got a decent youth intake. Going into the last phase of the season, we can keep our Euro League Place.

February 2021 A perfect month! Except the goalless draw in Marseille we win every game in February! In the cup the France we also get through to the semi-finals, where we play against Lorient. We're back in the Euro-qualification-places!

January 2021 Our appearances in the league are very mixed. Against Bordeaux and Lyon we lose. At least we can beat Dijon at their ground. In the meantime PSG is going nuts Better are the things going in the Coupe de France. Against Orléans we have no problems. Ligue 2-Side Caen is also beaten with 3-0. And against Marseille we need a bit of luck, winning through penalties and slide into the quarter final. There we will face Troyes, another club from Ligue 2. What happens on the transfer market? Due to my late arrive in December, we're not far into scouting. So i let all the work do our DoF. First off, he signs Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe on a free contact. A PSG-Academy-Player who's currently on loan at Guingamp. Ebimbe could become a good player, but also has a lot of work to do. So he will probably be no reinforcement for the next season. In the scouting-meeting we decided, that our problem zones are the central midfield and the right wing. There we just don't have enough options. So what, does our DoF do? Right, he signs a centre back on loan! Kasim Adams looks ok, even if he didn't had any chance at Hoffenheim, and we don't have to pay much. But for the central defence we actually had enough options. And on the deadline-day DoF goes utterly wild. Instead of bringing something in for the first squad, he's signing five (!) left backs for the reserve team. Well done boy