This Saint Gonna Be Easy: Ch. V - Endgame

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

November Update:

Swansea (H): G. Khouma Babacar (2), Leon Goretzka, Kasper Dolberg   A. Dusan Tadic, Khouma Babacar (2)

This game was certainly one for the neutrals! Who would've though Southampton vs Swansea would be a 7 goal thriller? We lost 3-1 in this fixture last season and we looked set to repeat that in this game as we conceded on 15' with Jefferson Lerma scoring the opener. They got their second only 5 minutes later with Roque Mesa scoring in the 20th minute. We pulled one back on 30' when a Dusan Tadic shot deflected off a defender and quite literally bounced off Babacar and into the net. A bit lucky but we'd take it. Leon Goretzka equalised on 48' after a neat pass from Babacar. Babacar then put us ahead on 52' with a close range finish following an opposing defender inadvertantly sliding it into his path. I was happy for all of 21 minutes until Mesa leveled on 73' and they looked like they had escaped with a draw. However, we had the last laugh after Babacar threaded a beautiful pass into Dolberg's path for him to bury it in the back of the net on 86'. A good win ahead of a trip to the Emirates.

Arsenal (A): G. James Ward-Prowse, Leon Goretzka  A. None, surprisingly

I didn't give us any chance of getting anything out of this but we came home with all 3 points! We looked to hit them on the counter and we did just that. With Giroud and Ozil in such good form, we had to keep the shackles on both of them. Wallace did an excellent job of man-marking Giroud and he barely got a sniff. We took the lead on 24' when a poorly cleared corner pinballed its way into Leon Goretzka's path. He made no mistake and we had the lead. We made it two on the stroke of half time when we broke forward on the counter attack and Mustafi accidentally slide tackled the ball right into JWP's path. He blasted it home and we made it 2. We sat back for the rest of the game and unashamedly parked the bus. A great win to get.

Newcastle (H):

Annnnnd we essentially undid that result with a home loss to a struggling Newcastle. A really flat performance saw us succumb to a 0-1 defeat. Hoedt and Redmond played against their former club in this fixture though the latter only appeared from the bench. It was a very even game but Newcastle got their goal on 45', just before half time, when Ritchie's effort deflected in off Tarkowski and past Forster. It went down as a Tarkowski OG. We just could not get any way back into the game and slumped to a defeat. Very disappointing.

Key Points:

• We don't deserve Goretzka.
• It took us til late November to lose against a team outside the Top Six. Last season it took us until just mid-September when we lost to West Ham.
• Babacar provides a great energy to the team.
• Wallace is very good when we want to mark someone out of the game. Doing it to Giroud wasn't the first time we did that.
• We have to bounce back from that Newcastle result.
• That's the last of the big teams, we've no excuse not to win most of our next 5 or 6 games.
• Very busy December coming up. There'll have to be a bit of rotation.
• We do have decent squad depth though.

Onwards and hopefully upwards.

 

[oriole01]

Form has been ticking up lately, you're playing some exciting football for sure. Hopefully this bodes well for making a run on the Europa League, and I believe that's a realistic target for you this year.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

20 hours ago, oriole01 said:

Form has been ticking up lately, you're playing some exciting football for sure. Hopefully this bodes well for making a run on the Europa League, and I believe that's a realistic target for you this year.

Cheers.

We're certainly playing much nicer football than last season and we're scoring a lot more while also being a bit more solid defensively. If, and I'll admit it's a big if, we can keep this form up, I too can really see us cracking the top 7 and making it into Europe.

[BoxToBox]

It'd be great if you made Europe and used it to get a few more players to build on such an impressive young core.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

1 minute ago, BoxToBox said:

It'd be great if you made Europe and used it to get a few more players to build on such an impressive young core.

Qualifying for the Europa League this season would be a dream. The thing holding us back is our reputation. We have the money to send but it's hard to find quality players who are interested who would significantly strengthen us. Getting to the Europa League (and maybe getting a good European run on top of that) would go a long way towards

A. Attracting quality new players and

B. Convincing the likes of Goretzka to stay with us.

With the form we're in, I can see it happening but we need to avoid injuries to key players and to stay consistent. Which may be difficult as arguably two of our best players (Goretzka and Dolberg) are very injury prone. The two Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea will round out the top 6, almost certainly. But hopefully we can squeeze into that 7th position and hopefully the FA Cup and Carabao Cup winners will be from the Top 6 so that we qualify through the league.

[BoxToBox]

The injury problems are a shame, both are potential worldies.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

For once, Michael had no complaints about how his team were doing. Things were going well! He was beginning to get an idea of what he should be doing. The fans were beginning to buy into him and his squad was beginning to respect him. In terms of football, things couldn't be going much better.

The downside was outside of football. Namely the PR side of things. He'd had to advertise Red Bull earlier in the month. It was a generic advertisement which ended in him taking a hearty swig of the drink. His ****wit PR team had forgotten to tell him that he was meant to spit out the drink between takes and so he got gradually more hyper until he had to escorted off the premises. The advertisement itself was called off but his caffeine-loaded bloopers made their way to YouTube. The Newcastle fans really took the ****. They were passing large inflatable wings around the away end of St. Mary's. He couldn't even get back at them either because the ******s managed to come away with a win. The board were pissed off as well. Apparently the ad was an agreement as part of a sponsorship deal. Which he had blown. But they didn't come down too hard on him despite Ralph's insistence. Just a small fine and a slap on the wrist. 

Despite their slogan, Red Bull did not give Michael wings. It did however give him a place on YouTube's Trending page and a fine of 2 week's wages. Maybe, he decided, he should stay away from advertising for a while.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

1 hour ago, BoxToBox said:

The injury problems are a shame, both are potential worldies.

Aye. Other than Goretzka's preseason injury, I can't remember either of them getting injured this season which is surprising. It's also quite worrying because I feel one of them is due one...

[john1]

Superb win over Arsenal   Any interest in Goretzka?

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

28 minutes ago, john1 said:

Superb win over Arsenal   Any interest in Goretzka?

Cheers. I was thrilled with it.

Thankfully no interest in Goretzka, not yet anyway. But with the way he's been playing, I don't see it being long before the big teams come knocking.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

December Mini-Update

A very good half-month for us.

Leicester (A): G. James Ward-Prowse  A. Oriol Romeu

The first match of December saw us face off against a Leicester side in very similar form to us and also in a very similar position. We drew first blood early when JWP blasted home an effort from just inside the box from an Oriol Romeu pass. This tuned out to be the winner as the rest of the game was very evenly contested. To be fair to our defenders, while Leicester created a few chances, they never looked that much like scoring. A very good away win to get. I thought we'd only get a draw out of this one.

Man Utd (H): G. Leon Goretzka, Luciano Vietto  A. Leon Goretzka, Khouma Babacar

A very creditable home draw against a side who beat us home and away last season. We played very well for the opening half an hour, controlling the game. However, they struck first with Mata sweeping home from a cross on 24'. We hit back very quickly though with Goretzka burying one on 29' after a headed knock-down from Babacar (he's been starting ahead of Vietto for a while because of Vietto's poor form). The rest of the half was even with neither side giving an inch. We came out for the second half full of energy and it showed in our performance. Babacar was injured in the first half so I subbed him at half time for precaution and put on Vietto. Vietto repaid that faith 10 minutes later with a goal on 55' after a lovely Goretzka through ball. Mkhitaryan got their equaliser on 74' unfortunately. To be honest, we were lucky not to concede after that. United really threw the kitchen sink at us for the last 15 or so minutes. We came away with a very satisfactory draw though.

Everton (A): G. Luciano Vietto, Charlie Austin  A. Kasper Dolberg

We continued our bright start to the month against a faltering Everton side who, after a decent start, had fallen down somewhat. Kevin Mirallas gave us a nightmare start, scoring a close-range effort on 11 minutes. I opted to start Vietto in the hopes that he'd build on his goal in the last match and he did, netting one on 15' following a side-footed pass from Dolberg to equalise. The game was very back and forth with both teams creating some quality chances up until the 85th minute. This was when substitute Charlie Austin blasted in a beautiful belter from 25 yards out, winning the ball of James McCarthy only a few seconds free being dispossessed by him. We parked the bus for the remaining 5 minutes and came away with a well-earned victory.

Norwich (A): G. Jack Stephens, James Ward-Prowse, Shani Tarashaj   A. Mario Lemina, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

Once again, as it was a Carabao Cup game, I decided to be trustful in Orlando to get the job done. He managed very capably, getting us a convincing win to get us through to the semi finals. Jack Stephens knocked home from a corner on 45' after a flick-on from Lemina to give us the lead going into half time. Thompson pulled one back for them on 56' and we were level again. JWP, who had just been subbed on, scored on 65' to give us the lead again. Tarashaj put the nail in their coffin on 86' after a a neat pass from Hojbjerg. We've completely defied board expectations in reaching the semi finals which is great. We'll face United which isn't so great. 

I'll post the ‘Key Points’ at the end of the month.

 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

If you're wondering why I'm posting December as two halves rather than the whole month, it's for two reasons. The second half will come Thursday.

A. We'll play 7 games in total in December. If I was to post a summary of all of those matches at once, it would be a massive text wall.

B. As there are many games to be played in December, if I was to wait until I had finished the whole month to post an update, there'd be quite a delay.

I'll likely do the same in January for the same reasons as we'll be playing nine matches in total (I don't know how we'll cope, that's just under a match every 3.5 days) as well as navigating a transfer window.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[john1]

Very decent month  Especially getting a draw against Man Utd  

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

50 minutes ago, john1 said:

Very decent month  Especially getting a draw against Man Utd  

Cheers John. 

I'm really happy with how this month is going so far. The match against United was nail-biting, we were really hanging on for those last few minutes. I will admit that, to get that draw, we had to slightly FM them. 

[kidthekid]

it's all coming together, it's happening

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

54 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

it's all coming together, it's happening

I like the optimism!

It's certainly coming together, for now at least. I can't think of any complaints that I'd have about how we're doing on the pitch. However, we're not even half way through the season so we have to make sure we can keep this form up. We have three games left in December, all of which I think we should win. 

January is the make or break month though. We'll face 9 matches in 31 days. Two of those are PL games against Liverpool and City. If we can get through January and still be in/in touching distance of 7th place, I'd fancy us to qualify for the Europa League. January will be a big test of how good our squad depth is as well.

[oriole01]

Brilliant stuff .

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

30 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

Brilliant stuff .

Cheers mate. I'll hope it continues.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Played the first of our remaining three games of December and that happened. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

December Mini-Update (Second Half):

West Brom (A): G. Luciano Vietto (2)  A. Oriol Romeu, Kasper Dolberg

Our first of our remaining three games was an away clash with an out of form West Brom. It didn't take us long to draw first blood with Vietto, who seems to be rediscovering last season's form, finding the net after 9 minutes after a threaded through ball from Dolberg. As you can see from the previous post, JWP had to be subbed off injured on 51' with a torn hamstring. Vietto added to our lead on 64' when he blasted in his second after a long ball over the top from Romeu. A good win.

Stoke (H): G. Mario Lemina   A. None

We were intent on getting revenge against Stoke after they beat us 3-0 in this fixture last season. The players certainly showed that on the pitch, injuring two of their players to the point of having to come off. Fletcher was their first victim on 29' before Shaqiri was forced off on 41'. We were reduced to 10 men on 54' when Tarkowski got his second yellow of the match. I subbed Romeu for Yoshida and played a 4-0-2-1-2. A ballsy move which would look like genius if we won and naivety if we lost. Thankfully, we got the win with JWP's replacement blasting one in from long range on 74'. We parked the bus after that and came away with a 1-0 win. Before the match, I would've hoped for a bigger margin but given we were a man down for a while, I'm happy.

Norwich (A): G. Luciano Vietto (2)  A. Morgan Sanson, Dusan Tadic

We rotated heavily here with Dolberg, Tadic, Goretzka and Cedric bring dropped to the bench. We came away with a win but a slightly more narrow one than I would've liked. Vietto got us our first on 26' from a lovely Sanson pass. However, we threw away our lead just before half time when Baker buried one from a low cross on 43'. We'd go onto win it though when Vietto slotted home from a Tadic through ball on 64'. We held out for our win and we've had a very, very pleasing December.

League Table:

With just one game to go until we hit the halfway point, we find ourselves in a remarkable 6th place. We also have games in hand on some teams due to our Carabao Cup commitments. We're 10 points clear of 11th with a game in hand on them so it's looking very likely that we'll get the top half finish and hopefully even more than that. Chelsea lead the pack with Spurs putting the pressure on just behind them. The top 5 are to be expected, with United being the only big team that's struggling. Stoke are doing the opposite to last season as they find themselves battling relegation compared to them battling for Europa League this time last year. 

Key Points:

• Vietto is a man reborn and is giving us exactly what we need up front.
• We'll miss JWP.
• Lemina is a very capable replacement but we'll have to keep him fit.
• Besic is also injured for a few weeks, having been forced off against Norwich. We better keep Romeu fit.
• We're doing very, very well.
• January will be the toughest month of the year. A real test of our mettle.
• Wallace and Tarkowski are a rock solid partnership in defence.
• Last but not least, LOL @ rivals Bournemouth who are battling relegation.

Edited December 14, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake
Added Key Points

[noikeee]

I'd comment on the remarkable upturn of form and the excellent 6th place, but what everyone's thinking looking at that screenshot is wtf is up with Man Utd?

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

1 hour ago, noikeee said:

I'd comment on the remarkable upturn of form and the excellent 6th place, but what everyone's thinking looking at that screenshot is wtf is up with Man Utd?

Even more than “Wtf is up with Man Utd?” it's “Wtf is up with defending champions Man Utd?”

And honestly, I've no idea. Mourinho is still at the club so it's not as if managerial turmoil is to blame. It's reminiscent of his most recent second season at Chelsea come to think of it. They haven't sold any key players but they haven't made any major signings either. Still, with the squad they have, you'd think they'd be able to be around the top four with last season's squad. 

[BoxToBox]

1 hour ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

Even more than “Wtf is up with Man Utd?” it's “Wtf is up with defending champions Man Utd?”

And honestly, I've no idea. Mourinho is still at the club so it's not as if managerial turmoil is to blame. It's reminiscent of his most recent second season at Chelsea come to think of it. They haven't sold any key players but they haven't made any major signings either. Still, with the squad they have, you'd think they'd be able to be around the top four with last season's squad. 

Any bad injuries?

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

2 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Any bad injuries?

Now that I check it, Lukaku missed about 4 months due to injury.

Also, @noikeee I was wrong about no major signings. Mahrez came in for £50m and Zielinski for £40m.

They were doing fairly well up until the start of December. Then they drew against us, lost to Chelsea, lost to Leicester and lastly lost to Arsenal. They had two dodgy draws at the start vs West Ham and Everton.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

“I think Southampton will finish above teams that are well below them.”

It's an infamous quote usually attributed to Paul Merson. And it was one that Michael King liked. So much so that he quoted it to the press after the Stoke match. He hadn't really understood why the media had taken the **** out of him. Still, that didn't bother him because his team was flying high. How much had changed in a year! Last year, around mid-December, his job was being threatened and they were looking like they wouldn't even make it into the top half. Now Gao Jisheng and the rest of the board (with one exception) were saying his position was untouchable and they were battling for a Europa League spot. Life was good. The fans had completely forgotten about the misgivings they'd had last season and none of them seemed to care anymore that a man with no prior experience whatsoever was in charge of their club despite the constant reminders from Portsmouth and Bournemouth fans.

Unfortunately, he couldn't be fully carefree because January was coming up. Dreaded January. 31 days. 9 matches. Gruelling. He had moaned about it to his assistant manager, Orlando Trustfull.

“We've got a match nearly every three days, Newcastle will unsettle our best players during the January window because of that ****ing tycoon and we'll have to get through the entire month without James Ward-Prowse. This ain't gonna be easy.”, he'd said.

Orlando chuckled softly “More like this SAINT gonna be easy, eh Michael?”

Michael didn't laugh.

“Not funny, Orlando.”

 

 

 

[Guest El Payaso]

This is bloody quality stuff. Really nice to read. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

1 hour ago, El Payaso said:

This is bloody quality stuff. Really nice to read. 

Cheers mate, that means a lot.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

TFW you have Sanchez, De Bruyne, Aguero, Sane, Ederson and more yet you still lose 5-0 to a newly promoted side.

[oneronaldo]

2 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

TFW you have Sanchez, De Bruyne, Aguero, Sane, Ederson and more yet you still lose 5-0 to a newly promoted side.

I'm imagining Stewart Downing hitting a hat-trick past Ederson and telling them to suck his balls.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

45 minutes ago, oneronaldo said:

I'm imagining Stewart Downing hitting a hat-trick past Ederson and telling them to suck his balls.

The poor fecker is transfer listed and stuck in their Under 23's so the only time he can say that stuff is to youth players. And it might be taken badly out of context...

[deltablue]

Wow, that's embarrassing. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

January Mini-Update (First Half):

Ipswich (A): G. Kasper Dolberg  A. Mario Lemina

We kick-started this nightmarishly busy month with a win against Ipswich. We controlled the game hit didn't really have that cutting edge and had to make do for a narrow win. Dolberg started the game horribly with a missed penalty after 4 minutes. He then made up for it on 17' after a tidy through ball from Lemina. The win did come with quite a caveat though - Vietto injured himself and is out for 7 weeks. Not what we needed right now.

Luton (H): G. Charlie Austin, Shani Tarashaj  A. Shani Tarashaj, Steven Davis

We let the second string take the FA Cup match to give some rest to our starting XI. Against a side from much lower down the leagues, I could afford to play a heavily rotated side. Mind you, I said the same last year and look how that turned out. Tarashaj got the first on 22' following a pass from Davis. Not much happened for the rest of the game until the 93rd minute where Austin stabbed home from a Tarashaj cross to seal the win. We'll play Brentford in the next round.

Burnley (H): G. Kasper Dolberg, Khouma Babacar  A. Leon Goretzka, Kasper Dolberg

It was a game I felt we needed to win given we're to face City and Liverpool this month and we did. Dolberg got our first on 24' after a lovely Goretzka through ball. A glitch in the game saw this assist get awarded to Tadic. Vietto's replacement, Babacar ingratiated himself shortly after with a close-range strike on 27' to put us two to the good with Dolberg assisting. Defrel made things a bit nervy for us on 78' when he pulled one back for Burnley but we held out. Mainly because we parked the bus.

Watford (A): 

Annnnnd this is what I was worried would happen. It was such a lethargic, tired performance from us and Watford easily beat us. We never really looked like scoring and gave them more chances than we'd normally concede. Richarlison got the inevitable goal on 65'. Cunningham, who scored their equaliser on the reverse fixture earlier this season got the assist. What a plague he's turning out to be.

Man Utd (A): G. Charlie Austin  A. Shani Tarashaj

I'm not disappointed about this as we're still in with a good shot for the game at St. Mary's. Both of us played our second XI for this one. Fosu-Mensah got their first after just 11 minutes and I began to fear the worst. Lingard made it 2 in the 29th minute and we looked like we were sinking fast. However, we got a lot more resilient and they struggled to get meaningful shots at our goal. If only we could've started the match like that. We pulled one back on 41' when Austin converted from a Tarashaj through ball. We pushed for the equaliser in the second half but we couldn't break them down in an evenly fought second half. We've got an away goal which could come in handy.

The update for the second half of January will be out tomorrow along with a transfer round-up.

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

January Transfer Window:

Outs:

Matthew Targett:

Well, he was kicking up a fuss about  a lack of first team football so we've sold him. With Bertrand and Lukaku being ahead of him in the pecking order, it made sense to cash out. He's off to Huddersfield for £2m. They're mid-table in the Championship and he's only a rotation player for them which tells you all you need to know about his chances here.

Harrison Reed:

I forgot we even had him up until a few months ago when he complained about me not registering him. No where near Premier League standard, Reed has also been shipped off to Huddersfield where he'll also be a rotation player. They'll become an affiliate at this rate. We got £6m for him which is decent.

Ins:

Giovani Lo Celso:

Giovanni Lo Celso was our first signing of the transfer window, coming in on loan from PSG. He probably won't usurp Tadic for the AP (S) role but he'll be able to provide some more depth to the squad in an area where we're weak. He'll be brought in off the bench most games and will probably play cup competitions. He's certainly got some quality attributes with 15 Passing, 16 Vision, 16 First Touch and 15 Technique being the pick of them.

 

Omar Abdel Halim:

Well they say a fair exchange is no robbery but this wasn't a fair exchange and we've robbed them blind. Omar comes in from Al-Ahly for just £575k after we activated his release clause. He's got high potential and a lot of room for growth at just 18. We've loaned him out Nantes where he scored a brace on his debut. The future's bright for him. 17 Vision at his age is brilliant, we just have to get that passing and first touch up. He's no Vogel but I have high hopes for the lad.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Well this is bizarre. We've found a regen called Mosquito yet his name is just a regular Brazilian name. Mosquito is probably the strangest regen name I've seen on FM.

I did get a kick out of seeing this headline though:

Edited December 18, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[BoxToBox]

7 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

Well this is bizarre. We've found a regen called Mosquito yet his name is just a regular Brazilian name. Mosquito is probably the strangest regen name I've seen on FM.

I did get a kick out of seeing this headline though:

There's a real Brazilian striker named Mosquito. Used to be an 18 year old free agent in 16(I think) with decent potential.

In real life he was involved with that dodgy Deportivo Maldonado crowd.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

January Mini-Update (Second Half):

Man City (H): G. Khouma Babacar  A. Leon Goretzka (Kind of)

The second half of January saw us face the first of the Big Six that we'll play this side of the year. It wasn't a fixture I saw us getting points from so I'll happily take a draw. It was a cagy first half which saw neither side able to break the other down. Aguero struck first blood on 47' after being set through on goal. We equalised shortly after when Babacar scored on 59' after a Goretzka played in a through ball which found Babacar from close range. The ball was slide tackled away from him but towards the goal and it kind of trickled over the line. A messy equaliser but we'd take it. Jesus scored in the 92nd minute but it was chalked off due to offside.

Bournemouth (H):

What an awful, awful performance. Like the game against Watford earlier in the month, I think the fixtures just caught up with the players. They created nothing and got cut open so many times that it could have been even worse. A very un-Southamptonlike performance. Tarkowski gave away a penalty on 41' which Cabaye tucked home. We pushed very hard for an equaliser later in the second half and threw men forward. This left us vulnerable at the back and Jay Rodriguez scored against his former club on 87' to seal our fate. Dreadful.

Liverpool (A): 

We made up for that result to some extent with a draw away to Liverpool. Like the City game, I didn't expect any points out of this one so I'm happy with this. It was a fairly scrappy match with both sides having a few chances but nothing particularly clear-cut. We'll certainly take this result.

Man Utd (H): 

I'm not disappointed to be knocked out because Man United are, quite simply, a superior side. Even their second string is scary! I am disappointed with the manner or it though. The away leg was fine, a 2-1 loss is respectable but at home I would've expected far better than a 2-0 loss at home. Pellegri got the first after... 30 seconds. Yeah. That was kind of foreshadowing for the performance to come. Andreas Pereira scored their second on 25' and they looked certain to get through. And they did. Vietto is gonna get very pissed off that we haven't won silverware at the end of the season.

Key Points:

• It's not as bad as it looks given the strength of the opposition but it's certainly not great.
• Vietto is a vital to us. No surprise that our dip in form coincides with his injury.
• Shame he'll want to leave in summer. 
• Goretzka's been robbed of two assists this month.
• One thing that seems to work (and I've been doing it for a few months) is making Wallace, who's a physical beast, man-mark the opposition's best striker. It's a very handy tactic in the big games.
• The worst is behind us.  We won't have fixture congestion like that for the rest of the season.
• Following on from that, I'll do the updates in the normal way now again instead of in two parts like I did for December and January.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake
Added bullet points

[noikeee]

Dunno what's wrong here but can't see any of the Gyazo images.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

4 hours ago, noikeee said:

Dunno what's wrong here but can't see any of the Gyazo images.

It's appearing fine on my laptop and phone. Anyone else having this problem? Might have to change something if so.

[Guest El Payaso]

3 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

It's appearing fine on my laptop and phone. Anyone else having this problem? Might have to change something if so.

Works on my phone but not on my laptop.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

4 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Works on my phone but not on my laptop.

Even stranger again. Recently, I've been copying the Gyazo link and inserting the images from the URL. Before that, I just saved the images and used ‘click to choose files’. Maybe it's to do with that? But then again, it's appearing on both my phone and laptop so if there was a problem with that I probably wouldn't be able to see them either. I'm not sure what the problem is. I might go back to the old way of uploading the images (save to a file and upload from that) and see if that makes a difference.

[Guest El Payaso]

I had at some point same problem with my own career report. Though I was seeing them with my laptop while the phone didn't show anything. I'm using Imgur myself. Just uploaded some screenies to my most recent post and seems to work on both. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Right, went back to the old way. Are they visible?

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

So this happened before our last game of February.

You better have been a good signing, Pau Lopez...

[Ellandroadhero]

20 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

So this happened before our last game of February.

You better have been a good signing, Pau Lopez...

😬

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

February Update:

Certainly not bad but a little frustrating. Took the screenshot a bit too quickly and I have the United result from January at the top. Sorry.

Brentford (A):

An easy match to start the month with a win, right? Wrong. Our second XI spluttered to a draw that we were honestly lucky to get. It was a pretty drab match with neither of us creating that many chances but any good chances that were there were created by them. Essentially, the second XI proved why they're the second XI. It was quite a poor performance overall.

Middlesbrough (H): G. Cyrus Christie OG, Kasper Dolberg  A. Khouma Babacar

Our first bit of Premier League action this month saw us grab a deserved three points against a a Middlesbrough side defying expectations of a relegation scrap. They held us to a 0-0 for the first half of the game with us creating many chances but none particularly clear-cut. We took the lead on 52' after Cyrus Christie scored an own goal that wasn't his fault. A Dolberg cross caused chaos in the are which led to a defender clearing it which would've been fine for them had he not hit it straight into Christie's back. It bounced off him and in to give us a 1-0 lead. With the game looking set to end that way, we broke swiftly from a counter attack on 90+3' with Babacar playing a lovely ball into Dolberg who coolly slotted it home. A convincing and much needed win.

Tottenham (A): G. Luciano Vietto   A. Kasper Dolberg

"Lads it's ... Southampton" is what Pochettino was probably saying to Kane and co ahead of our away clash with them because they were top of the league and in quite the convincing run of form.* We surprised everyone though when we took the lead after just 6 minutes when Dolberg squared to Vietto who calmly swept it into the back of the net. This lead would last all of 3 minutes when Eriksen would level the game on 9'. a very good draw to get especially given their recent form and who we were very much against the odds for this one. Also, Dele Alli Dia didn't score against us for once which was nice.

Brentford (H): G. Shani Tarashaj, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Charlie Austin, Dusan Tadic   A. Charlie Austin, Dusan Tadic, Shani Tarashaj

We forgot how to defend so thank **** we remembered how to attack. The second string once again proved why they're second choice as they relied on the starting XI to bail them out. We went 1-0 down on 26' as Neeskens Kebano notched their first from close-range. The striker pairing who are proving so effectual in the cups teamed up to equalise as Austin played Tarashaj through on goal for him to slot home the equaliser on 34'. They quickly took restored their lead when Adama Niane scored on 37'. They went 3-1 up on 60' after Ollie Watkins fired home from 20 yards. It looked like we were about to crash out of the competition until I brought on 3 first-teamers in Tadic, Cedric and Wallace. We scored almost immediately after, having gotten a new-found energy on 62' when Hojbjerg fired in a belter from the edge of the box from a Tadic corner. We earned a penalty shortly after that and Austin converted it on 68' to get us back level. We'd finally get the winner in extra time when Tarashaj played in Dusan Tadic who calmly finished off the game. Not very convincing from us.

West Ham (H): G. Dusan Tadic, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Kasper Dolberg   A. Cedric, Khouma Babacar

Well, it's not an excuse I'd use much but we've been FM'ed here.** To add insult to injury, Backstabbiadini tore us a new one. We took the lead after 33 minutes when Dusan Tadic rifled in an effort at the back post after a Cedric cross. It stayed that way until half time but we doubled our lead just after the break when, on 48', Hojbjerg blasted one in after an under-hit Winston Reid clearance. We looked good value for our victory until Crappiadini pulled one back for them on 58'. Wallace was then smart enough to score an own goal, diverting an innocuous cross into his own net on 74' to get West Ham level. We took the lead just three minutes later when Babacar released Dolberg on 77' and he placed his effort into the corner. It wasn't to be though as Backstabbiadini would get another goal against his former club on 90+3' with only about 20 seconds left. Gutting and frustrating.

Tottenham (A): G. Dusan Tadic   A. Luciano Vietto

We faced Spurs again this month for the 5th round of the FA Cup. This was our final chance to appease Vietto as we had been eliminated from the Carabao Cup last month and we failed. He's easily one of our best players and he'll certainly want to leave in summer because of our lack of silverware. Gulp.  Wonderkid Joao Felix gave them the lead on 19' after an Aurier cross. They doubled their tally on 33' when Onomah buried one past Pau Lopez who needed to convince me that he was a capable replacement for Forster. He did alright I suppose. Didn't make any mistakes but didn't do anything major. I think Forster would've struggled to prevent their goals as well. We got ourselves back into contention on 45+1' when Tadic knocked one in after a pass from Vietto. We huffed and puffed in the second half but couldn't break them down and we crashed out of the competition. At least we got further than we did last year.

 

*

**

 

Key Points:

• Gabbiadini/Backstabbiadini/Crappiadini can do one.
• An average month. A great draw against Spurs was followed by a poor draw to West Ham.
• Tadic is in quite good form which is encouraging. He's they key creative player so we need him playing well.
• The second XI will certainly remain as the second XI.
• Babacar's getting some assists which is good but he's not scoring at all.
• We're not as good defensively as we were at the start.
• Dolberg and Vietto are both doing quite well as a striker partnership though.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

February Table:

And so we currently sit in 8th place. We're not looking likely to see Europa League football this season (Leicester won the Carabao Cup and we have to displace one of Leicester, United or Liverpool to qualify which we probably won't, given their respective form and squad strength) but we're almost certainly on for a top half finish which was the board expectation. The main thing to note is that we still have 11 games to play and we already have one point more than we got in the entirety of last season. Meanwhile, Newcastle are showing that money can't buy success as, despite their ridiculous, tycoon-fueled net spend, they currently sit just 5 points off relegation with a game more played than Stoke. Chelsea have overtaken Spurs since we held them to a draw while United have recovered to some extent following Lukaku's return to fitness.

[john1]

Not bad position to be in with Saints, hopefully you can go on the run and get in top 7.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

17 minutes ago, john1 said:

Not bad position to be in with Saints, hopefully you can go on the run and get in top 7.

Cheers John.

Yeah, I'd hope we can get into the top 7. I believe we have the ability to do so but I won't get my hopes up because we'll be competing against some quality sides in Liverpool, Leicester and Man United.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

 

Michael had been asked to set up a Twitter account by Gao Jisheng as part of an attempt to “rebrand the club as a people's club”. Something “that both fans and potential supporters could relate to”. His words, not Michael's. Apparently, Gao hadn't learned from his previous mistake in getting Michael to do PR work. Michael, against his better instinct, agreed just to please Gao. If Gao liked him, he knew he'd have a much better chance of staying in the job should times get hard. He had been given free reign and told that anything goes as long as it doesn't get the club into trouble or disrepute. He'd chosen to ignore Ralph's comment about it being “like giving a monkey a machine gun”. As long as it got his name and, by extension, the club's name out there the board would be happy. So he'd agreed. After all, it couldn't go any worse than the Red Bull ad...

 

[noikeee]

19 hours ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

The main thing to note is that we still have 11 games to play and we already have one point more than we got in the entirety of last season

It's definitely a much stronger season, you've got a big gap over Everton and are effectively on a close fight with the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool. Think you can be pretty happy with that.