[FM10] When The Saints Go Marching In - Crouchy's Mighty Saints Save!

[crouchaldinho]

Here are the Premier League title odds.

[crouchaldinho]

UPDATE FOR AUG 2021:

Manager Comments:

A great result against Chelsea, as detailed above, but we came down to earth with a bump after a Premier League opening day defeat at Manchester City.

Next up was our first foray into the Europa League. A 3-1 win in Hungry was followed up by a 3-0 win in St. Albans to take us through to the Europa League group stages!

Then we faced Arsenal at home. We managed a quite astonishing 3-0 win thanks to goals from Dimitrov (his first since returning to the club), Yegorov and Rossi.

We ended the month with a 3-2 win over newly promoted West Brom. This included a brace for Victor Yegorov and a debut goal for new signing Klaus Madsen.

All in all, good stuff at the beginning of our second season in the top flight!

Current League Position:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Leeds        |       | 4     | 2     | 1     | 1     | 4     | 1     | +3    | 7     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Newcastle    |       | 4     | 2     | 1     | 1     | 7     | 6     | +1    | 7     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 7th   |       | St. Albans   |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 7     | 5     | +2    | 6     | [/b]
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Fulham       |       | 4     | 2     | 0     | 2     | 5     | 5     | 0     | 6     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Hull         |       | 4     | 2     | 0     | 2     | 4     | 7     | -3    | 6     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

COYS!

[crouchaldinho]

Here is our Europa League group:

[crouchaldinho]

Finally, let me show you some of my new signings.

First of all, our new goalkeeper:

[crouchaldinho]

Our new left-back (well, he is being retrained at left-back anyway):

Make any jokes you might like about the name of our new secret 'weapon'!

[crouchaldinho]

I badly wanted to bring Dimitrov back to Clarence Park after his loan spell here a couple of years back. I paid over the odds for him, no doubt, but he should be a good signing:

[crouchaldinho]

We enter September with some tough games ahead. We'll play two Europa League games next month. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

[Nottingham Forest]

They all look like class signings mate. Especially the keeper. How well have they gelled? I know it's still early days but have they gelled/started to gel like you hoped they would? Congrats on winning the FA Cup and the Charity Shiled. Also well done on getting in to Europe . .

[Flamers]

6 rushing out on the keeper though? I would look to increase that

looks like a solid side but why is the wing back just a wing back? it confuses me as to why the game does that...

Flamers

[crouchaldinho]

They all look like class signings mate. Especially the keeper. How well have they gelled? I know it's still early days but have they gelled/started to gel like you hoped they would? Congrats on winning the FA Cup and the Charity Shiled. Also well done on getting in to Europe . .

Thanks very much Nottingham Forest. I think the gelling should be okay as I'm introducing the new players slowly.

[crouchaldinho]

6 rushing out on the keeper though? I would look to increase that

Fair point and certainly a weakness. Great goalkeeping attributes otherwise.

looks like a solid side but why is the wing back just a wing back? it confuses me as to why the game does that...

I know. A bit annoying. I hope it won't take too long to retrain him as a DL though.

[SnakeXe]

Great updates there crouchy, excellent start to the season! Love Kalashnikov's name I assume you're retraining him to DL as well?

Edit: You just answered that!

[crouchaldinho]

Thanks SnakeXe. Yes, definitely retraining to fullback. Hopefully, it won't take too long. He is a quality player so I thought it was worth the gamble.

[Saxonaitor]

Norwich better bounce back up. Good luck to the crouch and St Albans for the rest of the season

[crouchaldinho]

After a few days of not being able to play much FM, I finally get down to a session tonight and play a couple of games. Then, out of nowhere, I suddenly get a crash and lose two matches worth of progress.

Now, you must note that I'm a slow player, and tonight it must have taken me around 45 minutes to prepare and play out those two games. To make matters worse, they were two good wins as well!

So progress lost, which is hugely frustrating, and I'm feeling really annoyed and angry. Instead of going to bed now having had some relaxing FM time, I'm feeling all stressed and cross.

Just had to get it off my chest and tell someone. Mrs Crouchaldinho wasn't sympathetic enough when I told her.

[Mike7077]

Just win those matches again, my friend. If you've done it once...

[Wavelberry]

After a few days of not being able to play much FM, I finally get down to a session tonight and play a couple of games. Then, out of nowhere, I suddenly get a crash and lose two matches worth of progress.

Now, you must note that I'm a slow player, and tonight it must have taken me around 45 minutes to prepare and play out those two games. To make matters worse, they were two good wins as well!

So progress lost, which is hugely frustrating, and I'm feeling really annoyed and angry. Instead of going to bed now having had some relaxing FM time, I'm feeling all stressed and cross.

Just had to get it off my chest and tell someone. Mrs Crouchaldinho wasn't sympathetic enough when I told her.

The worst thing ever. Definitely (apart from when you type up a big update and then lose it all). And the wife never cares.

Just caught up with this again though Crouchy and well done on the FA cup win. Hopefully you can win those two games again and be back up in no time.

[crouchaldinho]

Thanks Mike. I will get around to it at some point but not right now while the pain of the crash is still in my mind.

What makes it worse is that the stupid bug that caused it has been in each of the two previous FMs and still hasn't been fixed. It's a search bar issue. For some reason, sometimes the search bar goes 'buggy' and will only let you type in one letter at a time. If you don't notice and continue typing and then press return, the search function just uses the last letter you typed in and brings up practically everything in the database. This can occasionally be enough to crash the stupid game. No idea if it is still in FM11 but it has been in the last few versions and never seems to get fixed.

[Flamers]

Oh the joys of having a quad and 2.9GB of RAM

I'm sure you can pull of the wins again

Flamers

[SnakeXe]

The current Mrs SnakeXe is actually pretty understanding about my FM addiction! I think it might be because I don't mind her watching Gok's Fashion Fix when I'm playing it

[Flamers]

Well done, a good trade off there

Flamers

[crouchaldinho]

The worst thing ever. Definitely (apart from when you type up a big update and then lose it all). And the wife never cares.

Just caught up with this again though Crouchy and well done on the FA cup win. Hopefully you can win those two games again and be back up in no time.

Thanks Wavelberry.

[crouchaldinho]

The current Mrs SnakeXe is actually pretty understanding about my FM addiction! I think it might be because I don't mind her watching Gok's Fashion Fix when I'm playing it

Good work my friend. Although, to be honest, if my wife watched that, I'd probably have to leave the room and go play elsewhere!

[SnakeXe]

Good work my friend. Although, to be honest, if my wife watched that, I'd probably have to leave the room and go play elsewhere!

It's not that bad when you don't pay any attention to it whatsoever

[bently_the _yid]

What a wonderful read just read this from start to finish whilst playing my own FM Career on 11 not 10 as Dover trying to do something similar as you crouchie except im not as understanding and nice to former players as you brilliant career so far i hope i have as much enjoyment in mine as you clearly have in yours

[crouchaldinho]

Thanks for that bently_the _yid!

Good luck with your career. Hope you have fun with it!

[higgins]

After a few days of not being able to play much FM, I finally get down to a session tonight and play a couple of games. Then, out of nowhere, I suddenly get a crash and lose two matches worth of progress.

Now, you must note that I'm a slow player, and tonight it must have taken me around 45 minutes to prepare and play out those two games. To make matters worse, they were two good wins as well.

So progress lost, which is hugely frustrating, and I'm feeling really annoyed and angry. Instead of going to bed now having had some relaxing FM time, I'm feeling all stressed and cross.

Just had to get it off my chest and tell someone. Mrs Crouchaldinho wasn't sympathetic enough when I told her.

I can feel your sorrow here bro!

[Nobby_McDonald]

The current Mrs SnakeXe is actually pretty understanding about my FM addiction! I think it might be because I don't mind her watching Gok's Fashion Fix when I'm playing it

That sounds like my lady and The fiX Factor.

[SnakeXe]

That sounds like my lady and The fiX Factor.

I think I'd have FM on with home-made blinkers and music blaring through headphones in that situation! I'm a semi-serious musician and stuff like X Factor is painful on many levels.

[Nobby_McDonald]

I do have one problem... my computer is right next to my TV.

[crouchaldinho]

Not good, Nobby. Not good.

[crouchaldinho]

New update coming in just a minute, once I've got the pictures uploaded.

[crouchaldinho]

UPDATE FOR OCT & SEPT 2021:

Manager Comments:

We were going fairly strong in the league initially. The win away to Spurs was a really strong result as was a good win at home to Southampton. A frustrating patch followed though, as we lost at home to Newcastle and away to Sunderland by narrow margins. A solid draw away at Chelsea followed by a win away to Leeds wrapped up a fairly good couple of months for us though.

We kicked off our League Cup campaign during these months too. A really solid 3-0 victory over Everton was a real highlight for us during September.

We're also really enjoying life in the Europa League. We remain unbeaten in Europe, with a 100% record. I was astonished by how well we played against group favourites OM. To go to their place and win 3-0 was absolutely marvellous!

Current League Position:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Chelsea      |       | 11    | 2     | 8     | 1     | 9     | 8     | +1    | 14    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | West Brom    |       | 10    | 4     | 2     | 4     | 15    | 15    | 0     | 14    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 12th  |       | St. Albans   |       | 8     | 4     | 1     | 3     | 12    | 9     | +3    | 13    | [/b]
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | Hull         |       | 11    | 4     | 1     | 6     | 10    | 14    | -4    | 13    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Sunderland   |       | 11    | 3     | 1     | 7     | 9     | 17    | -8    | 10    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

COYS!

[crouchaldinho]

Thought I would share a screenshot of this result in the Europa League:

The opposition dominated possession, had 4 clear cut chances, hit the woodwork 4 times and had 13 corners. We still won 1-0!

[crouchaldinho]

And here is how our Europa League group stands at the moment:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team       |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 1st   |       | St. Albans |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 7     | 0     | +7    | 9     | [/b]
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Rapid Wien |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 4     | 4     | 0     | 4     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | OM         |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 4     | 5     | -1    | 4     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Red Star   |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 3     | 9     | -6    | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[crouchaldinho]

UPDATE FOR NOV & DEC 2021:

Manager Comments:

November was a wonderful month for us. It started with the return game against OM, which we managed to scrape through 1-0. This saw us qualifying for the next round of the Europa League, which meant that I was, once again, the mastermind and the name on everybody's lips!

After this, we were back to the league and we managed to keep our fine form going domestically. A 1-0 win over Liverpool at Clarence Park was a real highlight for us.

The greatest moment of the month, however, was clearly this 5-0 win over Manchester United in the League Cup:

Continued in the next post.............

[crouchaldinho]

December was a long month with nine games in all. We had another great run of results in the league but ended the month somewhat disappointingly drawing three in a row at home. It was still enough to win me the manager of the month award for December:

Current League Position:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Liverpool    |       | 20    | 10    | 9     | 1     | 31    | 13    | +18   | 39    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Arsenal      |       | 20    | 11    | 3     | 6     | 34    | 21    | +13   | 36    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 3rd   |       | St. Albans   |       | 18    | 10    | 5     | 3     | 23    | 13    | +10   | 35    | [/b]
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Newcastle    |       | 20    | 10    | 4     | 6     | 34    | 24    | +10   | 34    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Southampton  |       | 20    | 9     | 6     | 5     | 28    | 23    | +5    | 33    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

COYS!

[crouchaldinho]

We won the last two games in the Europa league, despite having already qualified, meaning that we still have a 100% record in European competitions.

Here was the final table for Group J:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team       |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 1st   | Q     | St. Albans |       | 6     | 6     | 0     | 0     | 12    | 2     | +10   | 18    | [/b]
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | OM         |       | 6     | 3     | 1     | 2     | 8     | 6     | +2    | 10    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Rapid Wien |       | 6     | 2     | 1     | 3     | 10    | 9     | +1    | 7     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Red Star   |       | 6     | 0     | 0     | 6     | 5     | 18    | -13   | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

And this is the draw for the next round:

[crouchaldinho]

At the end of December, the Clarence Park expansion was completed.

This is what our facilities look like now:

[crouchaldinho]

END OF THE YEAR 2021 LEAGUE TABLE & PLAYER STATS:

Current Premier League Standings on 31/12/21:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Liverpool    |       | 20    | 10    | 9     | 1     | 31    | 13    | +18   | 39    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Arsenal      |       | 20    | 11    | 3     | 6     | 34    | 21    | +13   | 36    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 3rd   |       | St. Albans   |       | 18    | 10    | 5     | 3     | 23    | 13    | +10   | 35    | [/b]
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Newcastle    |       | 20    | 10    | 4     | 6     | 34    | 24    | +10   | 34    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Southampton  |       | 20    | 9     | 6     | 5     | 28    | 23    | +5    | 33    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Man City     |       | 20    | 8     | 7     | 5     | 30    | 18    | +12   | 31    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | West Brom    |       | 20    | 9     | 4     | 7     | 28    | 27    | +1    | 31    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Tottenham    |       | 20    | 8     | 6     | 6     | 24    | 20    | +4    | 30    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Bristol City |       | 20    | 8     | 5     | 7     | 29    | 28    | +1    | 29    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Chelsea      |       | 20    | 4     | 15    | 1     | 17    | 14    | +3    | 27    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Sheff Utd    |       | 20    | 7     | 6     | 7     | 18    | 19    | -1    | 27    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Aston Villa  |       | 20    | 7     | 5     | 8     | 20    | 17    | +3    | 26    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | Man Utd      |       | 20    | 8     | 2     | 10    | 21    | 22    | -1    | 26    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Sunderland   |       | 20    | 7     | 5     | 8     | 19    | 27    | -8    | 26    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  |       | Blackburn    |       | 20    | 6     | 5     | 9     | 19    | 27    | -8    | 23    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  |       | Hull         |       | 20    | 4     | 6     | 10    | 13    | 22    | -9    | 18    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  |       | Fulham       |       | 19    | 4     | 6     | 9     | 24    | 35    | -11   | 18    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  |       | Stoke        |       | 19    | 3     | 7     | 9     | 17    | 32    | -15   | 16    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 19th  |       | Reading      |       | 20    | 4     | 4     | 12    | 10    | 27    | -17   | 16    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 20th  |       | Leeds        |       | 20    | 3     | 6     | 11    | 10    | 20    | -10   | 15    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

First Team Squad Statistics (all competitions)- sorted by average rating:

| Pkd   | Inf   | Name                | Position     | Apps    | Gls   | Ast   | MoM   | Av Rat| Age   | Nat   | Value | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| GK    | Rsv   | Shlomi Soffer       | GK           | 31      | -     | 1     | 2     | 7.04  | 28    | ISR   | £3.8M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DR    | Wnt   | Steffen Christensen | D/WB/M R     | 9 (5)   | -     | 1     | -     | 7.00  | 19    | DEN   | £1M   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DL    | Wnt   | Sergey Kalashnikov  | WB L         | 15      | -     | 3     | 2     | 7.49  | 25    | RUS   | £12.5M| 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DC    | HG    | Leandrinho          | D C          | 29      | -     | -     | 2     | 7.05  | 24    | BRA   | £3.1M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DC    | HG    | Ben Kearns          | D C, DM, M C | 7 (12)  | -     | 1     | 2     | 7.07  | 26    | ENG   | £1.5M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| MC    | HG    | Michael Ball        | M RLC        | 10 (15) | 2     | 4     | -     | 7.00  | 19    | ENG   | £4.6M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| MC    | Lrn   | Christian Lorenz    | DM, M C      | 17 (1)  | -     | 2     | -     | 6.96  | 21    | AUT   | £4.5M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| MC    | HG    | Andrés Abdesalam    | M C          | 26 (2)  | 3     | 3     | -     | 6.94  | 27    | ESP   | £5.5M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| AMC   | HG    | Aleksandar Dimitrov | AM/F C       | 22 (1)  | 5     | 8     | -     | 7.10  | 23    | BUL   | £12.5M| 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| ST    | PR    | Gaetano Rossi       | ST           | 16 (8)  | 9     | 1     | -     | 6.89  | 26    | ITA   | £3.5M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| ST    | PR    | Victor Yegorov      | ST           | 28      | 20    | 5     | 6     | 7.31  | 24    | UKR   | £6M   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S1    | HG    | Ben Amos            | GK           | 1       | -     | -     | -     | 6.90  | 31    | ENG   | £2.5M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S2    | PR    | Aritz Larrea        | D RL         | 8 (7)   | -     | -     | -     | 6.83  | 18    | ESP   | £825K | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S3    | Unh   | Ryan van Dijk       | D C          | 23      | 1     | 1     | -     | 6.96  | 25    | NED   | £4.9M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S4    | Wnt   | José Manuel         | DM, AM RC    | 5 (17)  | -     | 4     | -     | 6.74  | 19    | ESP   | £3.4M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S5    | Rsv   | William Carvalho    | M C          | 11 (1)  | 1     | 1     | 1     | 7.08  | 29    | ANG   | £3.2M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S6    | PR    | Klaus Madsen        | AM C         | 3 (6)   | 2     | 2     | -     | 7.02  | 27    | DEN   | £6M   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S7    | PR    | José Luis Barrios   | ST           | 9 (11)  | 5     | 2     | 1     | 6.59  | 21    | ESP   | £4M   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -     | Inj   | Tom Stansfield      | M RC         | 26 (1)  | 2     | 7     | 1     | 6.90  | 27    | ENG   | £4.2M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -     | Rsv   | Frits Gorré         | D C          | 2 (1)   | -     | -     | -     | 6.90  | 27    | NED   | £2.7M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -     | Inj   | Steffen Nørgaard    | AM/F C       | 18 (3)  | 7     | 6     | 3     | 7.16  | 20    | DEN   | £5.25M| 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -     | Inj   | Óscar               | M C          | -       | -     | -     | -     | -     | 23    | ESP   | £3.9M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -     | Rsv   | Guillermo Conti     | D C          | 4 (3)   | -     | -     | -     | 6.77  | 19    | ARG   | £5.5M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -     | Wnt   | Cristobal Alonso    | D LC, M L    | 12      | -     | 1     | -     | 7.05  | 20    | ESP   | £2.4M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -     | Inj   | Dean Smith YP11     | D RL         | 20 (1)  | -     | 1     | 1     | 7.20  | 17    | ENG   | £3.4M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[crouchaldinho]

Our quiet progress in the League Cup has seen us through to the semi-final, where we have drawn Manchester City.

[crouchaldinho]

League Cup Semi-Final, First Leg (at the Manchester City Stadium, Manchester) - Man City 0 - 3 St. Albans City

Formations/Line-ups

Overview, match stats & player ratings

Hugely unexpected result. We struggled against these in the league recently, so I was expecting a tough day out in Manchester.

It seems Manchester City rested a number of players and we took full advantage.

There is no question that we were the better team and deserved the result. We have a great result now to take back to Clarence Park. Fingers crossed we can see the second leg out and get to another domestic cup final!

[SnakeXe]

Fantastic season so far crouchy, the results against both Manchester clubs and OM the pick for me! COYS!

[Flamers]

How is the money coming along in your tiny stadium?

Flamers

[crouchaldinho]

Fantastic season so far crouchy, the results against both Manchester clubs and OM the pick for me! COYS!

Cheers SnakeXe. They really were amazing results!

I think we're a fair bit away from the top sides still, in all honesty, but I'm really hoping for some kind of silverware this season.

[crouchaldinho]

How is the money coming along in your tiny stadium?

Flamers

It's not Flamers. I'm likely to have to sell in the January transfer window. If I can get a good offer for my best centre-back, Ryan van Dijk, I'll accept it in order to clear some of the debt.

A new stadium is definitely needed. It can't be too far away, I would guess, because Clarence Park can't be expanded again now according to my board.

[Flamers]

You also need new training and youth facilities

Flamers

[crouchaldinho]

I know! I have requested again and they have plans to sort it out for me!

[Flamers]

YAY!!! Good players then

Flamers

[crouchaldinho]

League Cup Semi-Final, Second Leg (at Clarence Park, St. Albans) - St. Albans City 3 - 0 Man City

St. Albans City win 6-0 on aggregate!

Formations/Line-ups

Overview, match stats & player ratings

Manchester City made some changes for this one. Out came the big guns. They made six changes in all. It didn't matter in the end though.

I've no idea how Roberto Mancini has managed to stay so long at Manchester City on my save, nor how he has managed to have some success. He is, without doubt, the most cautious and defensive manager ever. Well, it seems that way to me anyway.

His team didn't come to attack or to get their way back into the game. They didn't attempt to take the game to us. Basically they just sat back and we hammered them!

It's true, however, to say that my side were totally up for it. They were really motivated by my pre-match and half-time talk, and they played really well, as we took the game to City and went for high tempo attack.

Anyway, we're through to the League Cup final! Woohoo!