This Saint Gonna Be Easy: Ch. V - Endgame

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Can't disagree with anything here. JWP is definitely deserving of POTS. As for Goal of the Season, I honestly can't remember his goal but given most of his goals were from long range, I imagine it was a belter. Vietto is definitely signing of the season. Not only did he bring the best out of Dolberg but he also contributed massively himself. JWP also gets YPOTS which is fair, given he's 23 and won POTS. And then there's team of the season (they just appear to have picked random player roles).

Forster was obviously the GK of the season, given he played every PL game. Cedric and Bertrand started almost every game and deserve their spots. Yoshida and Van Dijk were our two centre backs but they weren't great. I guess they were better than Stephens or Hoedt. Romeu is definitely our DM of the season having played way more games than Besic and having performed very well. Lemina and JWP were clearly the two CMs of choice with both of them performing to a very high standard throughout the season. Tadic was alright this season but he didn't have any other competition so he gets in there. And, of course, up top we have Kasper Dolberg and Luciano Viet- hang on, what? How the hell does Crappiadini beat Vietto to Team of the Season? Let's compare them, side by side.

Vietto: 16 appearances, 11 goals and 5 assists.

Gabbiadini: 14 appearances, 1 goal and 1 assist.

Poor Luciano.

Edited December 2, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

5 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Brilliant!

It's more than we have in our balance!

There's an angel on my shoulder telling me to spend wisely. There's a devil on the other telling me to spend it all.

[BoxToBox]

Gabbiadini must have had a million key passes.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

1 minute ago, BoxToBox said:

Gabbiadini must have had a million key passes.

I blame the Portsmouth supporters again. Or maybe he pulled a Michael King and used slightly ... unethical ... measures.

[john1]

Decent kitty budget for next season Any targets in mind?

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

13 hours ago, john1 said:

Decent kitty budget for next season Any targets in mind?

I don't have any players targeted, moreso positions that need strengthening. We definitely need a better backup LB than Targett, we'll try for a better backup GK than McCarthy and we'll need another quality striker to rotate with Dolberg so he doesn't get injured as much.

As I said to BoxToBox though, £51m is more than we have in our entire balance so I'll probably only spend half of it plus whatever I make from sales. I'm coming towards the end of the window so I'm hoping to have a transfer update out later in the day.

[Keano16]

All caught up. An up and down first season but a solid finish. Fantastic budget for next season to continue to strengthen!

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

18 minutes ago, Keano16 said:

All caught up. An up and down first season but a solid finish. Fantastic budget for next season to continue to strengthen!

Cheers for following.

Up and down definitely describes last season. We had a few great results and a few absolute shockers. I'm hopeful that we can push on and get an even more solid finish this time around. As for the budget, between player sales and just careful spending, my transfer budget is around the same as it was at the start of the transfer window despite many signings having been made. If our overall balance improves, I'll possibly splash out more in January.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Transfers - Second Season:

Well, this was quite the busy window. We raked in a record transfer income having made two big sales. We signed a good few as well and now have some very good squad depth.

Sales:

Virgil Van Dijk

Virgil Van Dijk wanted to leave for a while and I promised he'd be allowed go for £50m. While we're not getting that amount up front, we are set to make money from 2 6-month installments totaling about £8m and some other clauses totaling about £15m. He was disappointing last season, averaging a 6.8 all season. His low marking, poor decision making and low concentration seemed to let him down. Given the amount of big teams who had been interested, I knew I'd lose him this window. We've made good money off a player who wanted to leave and so I'm happy with this.

Wesley Hoedt

He's quite a good player and I didn't plan on selling him but Newcastle were relentless. They came in for him quite late in the window with about three earlier bids which I turned down. This one was hard to turn down though. For a player valued at £25m (prior to the sale) we've got some great money for him. £29.5m up front, possibly rising to £46.5m after some clauses are met. We also get 20% profit of next sale if he kills it at Newcastle and they sell him for a fortune. Again, like VVD, he was only OK last season, averaging about a 6.8 as well.

Jordy Clasie

Quite a good midfielder but surplus to requirements as there was no room to register him. He'll ply his trade at Torino. Decent money for him too but slightly below what his market value was listed at (£12.5m).

Sofiane Boufal

We don't play wingers so we don't need him. He was my first sale as I looked to get rid of him ASAP. A little bit less money than I had hoped to get but he's gone and that's the main thing. He also on high wages so it was good to get rid of him for that reason as well.

Signings:

Curtis Anderson

I pulled a @BoxToBox with this one, having signed Curtis as soon as he got released from City's academy for free. He looks quite tidy and I think he could develop into quite a decent player in the future. He's already got some good base attributes to work with at only 17 years old. His reflexes and handling, in particular, are impressive. And if it doesn't work out, we lose nothing as we got him for free. He's also English which will help if we get a hard Brexit.

Khouma Babacar

Well, I said we needed to sign a quality striker to rotate with Dolberg and here he is. Coming in from Fiorentina at just £8.5m, Babacar is fast, strong and a tidy finisher. He's a great option to have from off the bench and if Dolberg or Vietto get injured/go out of form, I'll have no qualms about putting Babacar in there. He's a natural at AF and CF, the two roles we play up front which is great. Just a really well-rounded striker overall.

Leon Goretzka

Well, Leon is certainly the marquee signing of the summer despite coming in on a free. He's on very high wages and does have a release clause (£76m) but I'm really excited to have him here. He's a great Mezzala (and we'll be playing one) and is rated as a leading PL player by my scouts. I came in for him early in the window and backed out due to his wage demands. Then, Everton came in and he rejected them. Finally, we came in again and secured his signature. He's young, has great mentals and will be a fine addition to the squad. I can't wait to see how he'll do for the club.

Jordan Lukaku

I also said I needed a better backup LB than Targett prior to this window and we've certainly gotten one here. Coming in for just £5.5m, Lukaku may become more than just a backup with some of those attributes. He's very fast and has a decent work rate which I love in a full back. He's also a good tackler, has high determination and is a quality dribbler. Lukaku is a great option to have for squad depth.

Pau Lopez

The new backup goalkeeper, Lopez comes in on a free transfer from Espanyol. He's young, rated highly by my scouts and certainly looks more reliable than McCarthy who I sold to Norwich for £2m. He's got good reflexes and and good handling and while he certainly won't usurp Forster's place, he'll be a solid backup who'll probably see a lot of cup football. A good signing given he comes in for free.

James Tarkowski

Our replacement for Hoedt, Tarkowski comes in from Burnley for £16.5m. He's English which is great for registration.  He's a great ball-playing defender and seems to be the perfect replacement for Hoedt. He also knows the league which is good. He's got some solid mentals and decent physicals but the main attraction is his technicals. 15 passing, 15 tackling, 14 marking and 15 heading (paired with 15 jumping reach) means he's a reliable defender who'll probably be a first-teamer for us. Can also play DM if needs be which is great for squad depth.

Wallace:

Last but not least, Wallace comes in from Lazio to replace Van Dijk. He comes in for just £16m which is a bit of a robbery, in my opinion. He's only 23 and has a bit of room to grow but even if he doesn't he's a very solid defender. The main things to note about him are his 15 for tackling and marking, his 16 for heading, his 18 strength and his 15 positioning. He looks like a beast at the back and will certainly be a key player in our defence. He's a player who should really add a defensive stability which we lacked last season.

You'll notice we also got Tarashaj on loan again but it's just for squad depth. He's fifth choice and it's not even worth showing his attributes.  As grateful and all as I am for his surprisingly good contribution last season, he'll barely play unless we get decimated with injuries. I know I said that last season and he ended up becoming an important player for us but this season, it's the truth. He's not as good as Vietto, Dolberg, Babacar or Austin. I might play him in the Carabao Cup.

 

Edited December 3, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[BoxToBox]

Hell of a window, Goretzka is a real coup and Babacar + Lukaku + Wallace steals.

[oriole01]

Goretzka is an excellent signing for a team like Southampton. Was it his decision to leave the Smurfs or was he actually considered surplus there? Tarkowski seems overpriced to me, I guess Burnley really valued him.

Liking this window a lot, next year could be very interesting!

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

35 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Hell of a window, Goretzka is a real coup and Babacar + Lukaku + Wallace steals.

Cheers. We've certainly got some great value from this window whilst also keeping our finances healthy. I'm really looking forward to seeing how these signings work out.

30 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

Goretzka is an excellent signing for a team like Southampton. Was it his decision to leave the Smurfs or was he actually considered surplus there? Tarkowski seems overpriced to me, I guess Burnley really valued him.

Liking this window a lot, next year could be very interesting!

He just allowed his contract to run down. The Smurfs finished poorly in the Bundesliga (8th) so they didn't really give him much reason to sign a new deal. None of the big clubs came in for him and so we snapped him up.

As for Tarkowski, I think we paid a fair price though it's certainly not a bargain. It's around what his value was listed at. They also might've added a bit to the price because we're divisional rivals and he's English.

For better or worse, this season will probably be very interesting.

[kidthekid]

great signings. Every one of them looks great.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

15 hours ago, kidthekid said:

great signings. Every one of them looks great.

Cheers mate. I've high hopes for Goretzka,Tarkowski and Wallace in particular as they'll be in the first team for most of our matches. Lukaku, Lopez and Babacar will provide quality backup while Anderson is a prospect for the future.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Tactics - Season 2:

These are the tactics I'll be using. We'll play on the counter against bigger teams and possibly sit a bit deeper as well. We might look to retain possession late on in matches where we have a narrow lead. It's almost the exact same as last season except a BBM and Mezzala in central midfield instead of a RPM and a CM (A). The team you see there is our full strength team which we will be playing as often as possible.

[john1]

Interesting signings  Especially Goretzka  

[Ellandroadhero]

Really good stuff and nice team. I’d consider making the full backs wing backs so you have some more natural width in a very narrow formation (I’m using a diamond with Milan with a carrilero and mez with wingbacks, one on support and one on attack and it’s great. Also, I’ve had Dolberg on two different saves and I think he flourishes in a support role. In my Ajax team he played as a lone striker CF s and was top scorer with 34 goals, holding the ball up, playing it wide and getting on the end of crosses. For Milan I have him as. DLF support, he’s not scoring as much, but getting a lot of assists and still a healthy goal tally. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

5 minutes ago, john1 said:

Interesting signings  Especially Goretzka  

They certainly are. Babacar and Goretzka in particular are ones I look forward to seeing in action. I'm surprised he joined us to be honest. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

5 minutes ago, Ellandroadhero said:

Really good stuff and nice team. I’d consider making the full backs wing backs so you have some more natural width in a very narrow formation (I’m using a diamond with Milan with a carrilero and mez with wingbacks, one on support and one on attack and it’s great. Also, I’ve had Dolberg on two different saves and I think he flourishes in a support role. In my Ajax team he played as a lone striker CF s and was top scorer with 34 goals, holding the ball up, playing it wide and getting on the end of crosses. For Milan I have him as. DLF support, he’s not scoring as much, but getting a lot of assists and still a healthy goal tally. 

Cheers mate. I've not tried him on a support role but in a two striker system, that could be worth a go. He might feed Vietto more as well.🤔 Definitely something I'll consider. As for the full backs, I don't want them to advance too much because I don't want to get blasted on the wings. Maybe I should consider pushing them up a bit more though for support. Thanks for the tactical input.

[Ellandroadhero]

8 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

Cheers mate. I've not tried him on a support role but in a two striker system, that could be worth a go. He might feed Vietto more as well.🤔 Definitely something I'll consider. As for the full backs, I don't want them to advance too much because I don't want to get blasted on the wings. Maybe I should consider pushing them up a bit more though for support. Thanks for the tactical input.

Yeah, I think you might be alright with them on a support role. Maybe even WB D would work well as it would give you more width, but they won’t go kamikaze. 

Hopefully the support role for Dolberg works well for you! Maybe the Mez could be set to an attack duty behind him and run into space he creates. Alternatively, he may also provide assists for the BBM. Plus he’ll definitely still score as a CF. 

Anyway, good luck with the next season. I read all this today and really enjoyed it. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

9 hours ago, Ellandroadhero said:

Yeah, I think you might be alright with them on a support role. Maybe even WB D would work well as it would give you more width, but they won’t go kamikaze. 

Hopefully the support role for Dolberg works well for you! Maybe the Mez could be set to an attack duty behind him and run into space he creates. Alternatively, he may also provide assists for the BBM. Plus he’ll definitely still score as a CF. 

Anyway, good luck with the next season. I read all this today and really enjoyed it. 

I've already played a few matches (August update out later) and they've been with the exact player roles in the picture so I won't be able to start the season with these tweaks. I will apply them for the next match I have though.

I'll keep the full backs as they are against the Top 6 and go with your advice in my next match Vs a non Top 6 side because what you're saying certainly makes sense. It'd be good to get that extra support out wide without them completely bombing up the flanks. I'll try Dolberg as a CF (Support) immediately and see what difference it makes. Cheers. 

[andychar]

Some great signings there and I bet you were happy to ship Van Dijk out of the country if you had to lose him at all.

What's the expectation this season?

[tajj7]

IIRC Goretzka is injury prone, so keep an eye on that, but great signing none the less. Generally becomes World Class, on my save he was signed by Dortmund on a free (I actually agreed to sign him then withdrew because I had so many good CMs) , then was signed by Man Utd for like £90 million.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

7 hours ago, andychar said:

Some great signings there and I bet you were happy to ship Van Dijk out of the country if you had to lose him at all.

What's the expectation this season?

From the board, top half in the league, fourth round of Carabao Cup and Sixth round of FA Cup.

Personally, I'd like to see us at least make a decent attempt for the Europa League spots in the league though. A quarter final/semi final appearance in one of the cup competitions certainly wouldn't go amiss either.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

6 hours ago, tajj7 said:

IIRC Goretzka is injury prone, so keep an eye on that, but great signing none the less. Generally becomes World Class, on my save he was signed by Dortmund on a free (I actually agreed to sign him then withdrew because I had so many good CMs) , then was signed by Man Utd for like £90 million.

Wow, I wouldn't like to lose him but if I did, making that much money would be great. Of course, the most we'll make off him currently is £76m (his release clause). As for injury proneness, he got injured for two weeks the day after I signed him . Thankfully that was early in the window and he didn't miss any competitive games.

[wynter]

Brilliant Window. Wallace looks like an utter beast and Goretzka is world class. 

Good luck with the next season. 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

A pretty average month. Can't complain but no major wins happened either.

Ipswich (H): G. Luciano Vietto, Kasper Dolberg (Pen)   A. Luciano Vietto, Leon Goretzka

A convincing enough win to start the season. It was to be expected against a newly promoted side though so I won't get too ahead of myself. A well worked move in the first half saw Vietto get tripped up in the box and we earned a penalty. Dolberg sent the keeper the wrong way with a beautiful effort into the bottom corner and we had the lead going into half time. We created a lot in the second half but couldn't find another goal. That was until Goretzka, on his competitive debut, slid a peach of a through ball to Vietto who finished calmly, sweeping the ball into the bottom corner. This assist plus a 92% pass completion ratio earned Goretzka a Man Of The Match award. A very promising start for him.

Burnley (A): G. Kasper Dolberg (Pen)   A. None (Pen given due to handball)

This one saw James Tarkowski make an appearance against his former club. The game was very evenly matched with both of us enjoying a similar amount of shots and SOT and us having a little more possession. Like last time, the deadlock was broken by a first half penalty from Kasper Dolberg as he coolly placed his penalty into the bottom corner. The second half was uneventful, made even more so by the fact that we began to defend a bit more on 65'. Their equaliser came in the strangest of ways with Charlie Taylor scoring an accidental worldie from 40 yards on 76'. He ****ed up his cross and, due to Forster's questionable positioning, ended up burying it in the far corner. Disappointing because I felt we'd done enough to get the 3 points but it wasn't to be.

Dag & Red (A): G. Charlie Austin (2)   A. Pierre-Emille Hojbjerg (2)

As I let my Ass Man do the Carabao Cup games, there's not that much to say about the game itself. However, one thing that is maybe worth noting is that this game resulted in competitive debuts for Lopez, Lukaku and Babacar. Lopez and Lukaku kept a clean sheet with the latter getting a 7.2 which is a good start (albeit against weak opposition). Babacar was a bit quiet on his debut but didn't have a bad game either, ending up on a 6.9. We're through to the net round where we'll face Ipswich at home. Win that and we'll have satisfied the board.

Key Points:

• Wallace and Tarkowski look like a solid pairing.
• We're creating some good chances, more so than this time last season.
• Could be slightly more clinical but that will come.
• A solid, if unremarkable start.
• Of all the ways I've dropped points, a full back scoring a worlide by accident late on is probably the strangest one yet.
• I should pay more atetntion to the Carabao Cup now that the board care and it would appease Vietto if we win.
• Goretzka's looking good so far. We've gotta keep him fit though as he is quite injury prone.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

23 minutes ago, wynter said:

Brilliant Window. Wallace looks like an utter beast and Goretzka is world class.

 Wallace has been very solid so far and Goretzka's made a great start as you can see above. I hope they can continue like this because if they can, we'll do well.

25 minutes ago, wynter said:

Good luck with the next season. 

Cheers.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

#JustArsenalThings

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Michael was content with how things were going so far. The home draw against Watford wasn't great but it was better than the 4-3 loss to them at home last season. Against arguably the best team on paper (they have Sanchez, Aguero, KDB, Jesus, Pulisic etc) they were very unlucky in defeat. They'd earned a credible home draw against Liverpool, gotten through to the next round of the Carabao Cup and beaten Middlesbrough. What annoyed him was the fact that the Man City match marked the third game in a row where they had dropped points because a full back scored, with Cunningham having scored the equaliser for Watford. Walker got City's second goal and Christ, it was a lucky goal. It was the 93rd minute and he tried to chip a pass to Jesus. He overhit it, Forster came out to claim it, tripped over his own feet and the ball dinked in off the bar. The 93rd minute! To make matters worse, he got fined for the string of expletives he let out upon conceding the goal. He felt hard done by there. It wasn't his fault the camera had picked it up. The cameraman shouldn't have been standing so near. Didn't stop the FA from giving him a slap on the wrists, the ****ers.

He was happy with how the Carabao Cup had gone so far. He had been surprised when he was told the board actually had an expectation for the Carabao Cup this season. That was Kreuger's influence no doubt. Just trying to put extra pressure on him the sly *****. Still though, that win against Ipswich meant he had met those expectations. And with a draw against Newcastle up next, he might even exceed expectations. So Kreuger can just do one.

The Watford result was one he accepted blame for.He had taken the lads out to see the new 'Insidious' film the night before for a team bonding session. Most of them reported having had trouble sleeping that night which led to a lethargic performance against Watford. Jesus, he had never known they were such pansies. He made a note to not bother with the cinema for the next team bonding session. They'd probably just do paintball. Might give them experience in getting shots on target...

Edited December 24, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

September Update:

Watford (H) G. Khouma Babacar   A. Leon Goretzka

As was pointed out above, it's not an ideal result but it's better than the loss we suffered in this fixture last season. We played some nice football and created a fair few chances but we ultimately weren't able to get the breakthrough until the 70th minute. Khouma Babacar, subbed on for Vietto, was played in on goal from a delicious Goretzka through ball and he blasted it home, getting his first goal for the club. We sat back after that, content to see out a 1-0 win. It wasn't to be however, as Cunningham slotted home a close-range effort from a poorly cleared corner. Disappointing to only draw but as I said, it beats what we got last season.

Man City (A): G. Kasper Dolberg (Pen)  A. None (Dolberg earned it)

Away to a team that had Sanchez, Aguero, KDB, Jesus, Sane and Pulisic at their disposal, I can be happy enough with a loss of a one goal margin. We attempted to sit back and hit them on the break and perhaps come away with a 0-0. Aguero undid that plan in 9 minutes, sweeping home from a cross. He had a chance to make it two on 31' after Wllace gave away a penalty for a foul. Forster made an epic save to deny him, diving low to his right. We pushed for goals more in the second half and we got one on the 87th minute. Dolberg scored his third penalty in five matches to give us strong hope for a draw. We parked the bus completely and I thought we'd got away with it until Walker accidentally scored his through ball on 93' after Forster's **** up with a minute to spare. Gutting to concede so late but a creditable result I suppose.

Liverpool (H):

Credit to you, @Ellandroadhero because your tactical tweaks seem to be working. We drew one (this match) and won two (the matches below) since we made your suggested changes. This was the first match I played after you suggested them and I implemented them straight away. Against a very in-form Liverpool side, I expected a loss in this one. Not only did we draw but we were actually unlucky not to win. We had more shots, SOT and slightly more possession. Dolberg was dropping noticeably deeper on his support role and was trying to play in Vietto more but Vietto's finishing was poor. Oh well. I didn't change the full backs for this one as they had Salah and Coutinho on the wings. But we played well and created more than they did so I'm happy with this.

Ipswich (H): G. Shani Tarashaj  A. Khouma Babacar

Carabao Cup so I let the Ass Man, Orlando Trustfull, take this one. A slightly unconvincing win but we played a weakened starting side. Babacar came off the bench around 70' and assisted Tarashaj on 90' to give us a 1-0 win. Not very convincing but it gets us through to the next round which is all I ask for. Good to see Babacar getting involved.

Middlesbrough (A): G. Dusan Tadic, Daniel Ayala (OG)   A. James Ward-Prowse, Kasper Dolberg

With Middlesbrough being newly promoted and our form being a little bit mixed, we really needed to win this one. We controlled the game and started on the front foot and we were getting into their box a lot early on. Our opener would come from outside the box with Tadic scoring a beauty from outside the box on 31' which won him Goal of The Month. They leveled shortly after on 34' with Patrick Bamford getting their goal. We fought back hard and eventually regained the lead just before half time after Daniel Ayala diverted Dolberg's cross/shot into his own net. This goal proved to be the winner as we couldn't find a 3rd in the second half nor could they equalise. A pretty pleasing performance and a decent win.

Tadic Goal:

Key Points:

• We're playing some lovely football.
• We're doing slightly better than last season.
• Goretzka is great.
• Luck was not on our side in the Watford or Man City games with us droping points late on in both thanks to full backs.
• We're a bit too profligate for my liking.
• Following that, Vietto has been quite poor so far.
• We're on course for a top half finish so far.

Tadic GOTM.mp4

Edited December 7, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[Ellandroadhero]

11 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

September Update:

Watford (H) G. Khouma Babacar   A. Leon Goretzka

As was pointed out above, it's not an ideal result but it's better than the loss we suffered in this fixture last season. We played some nice football and created a fair few chances but we ultimately weren't able to get the breakthrough until the 70th minute. Khouma Babacar, subbed on for Vietto, was played in on goal from a delicious Goretzka through ball and he blasted it home, getting his first goal for the club. We sat back after that, content to see out a 1-0 win. It wasn't to be however, as Cunningham slotted home a close-range effort from a poorly cleared corner. Disappointing to only draw but as I said, it beats what we got last season.

Man City (A): G. Kasper Dolberg (Pen)  A. None (Dolberg earned it)

Away to a team that had Sanchez, Aguero, KDB, Jesus, Sane and Pulisic at their disposal, I can be happy enough with a loss of a one goal margin. We attempted to sit back and hit them on the break and perhaps come away with a 0-0. Aguero undid that plan in 9 minutes, sweeping home from a cross. He had a chance to make it two on 31' after Wllace gave away a penalty for a foul. Forster made an epic save to deny him, diving low to his right. We pushed for goals more in the second half and we got one on the 87th minute. Dolberg scored his third penalty in five matches to give us strong hope for a draw. We parked the bus completely and I thought we'd got away with it until Walker accidentally scored his through ball on 93' after Forster's **** up with a minute to spare. Gutting to concede so late but a creditable result I suppose.

Liverpool (H):

Credit to you, @Ellandroadhero because your tactical tweaks seem to be working. We drew one (this match) and won two (the matches below) since we made your suggested changes. This was the first match I played after you suggested them and I implemented them straight away. Against a very in-form Liverpool side, I expected a loss in this one. Not only did we draw but we were actually unlucky not to win. We had more shots, SOT and slightly more possession. Dolberg was dropping noticeably deeper on his support role and was trying to play in Vietto more but Vietto's finishing was poor. Oh well. I didn't change the full backs for this one as they had Salah and Coutinho on the wings. But we played well and created more than they did so I'm happy with this.

Ipswich (H): G. Shani Tarashaj  A. Khouma Babacar

Carabao Cup so I let the Ass Man, Orlando Trustfull, take this one. A slightly unconvincing win but we played a weakened starting side. Babacar came off the bench around 70' and assisted Tarashaj on 90' to give us a 1-0 win. Not very convincing but it gets us through to the next round which is all I ask for. Good to see Babacar getting involved.

Middlesbrough (A): G. Dusan Tadic, Daniel Ayala (OG)   A. James Ward-Prowse, Kasper Dolberg

With Middlesbrough being newly promoted and our form being a little bit mixed, we really needed to win this one. We controlled the game and started on the front foot and we were getting into their box a lot early on. Our opener would come from outside the box with Tadic scoring a beauty from outside the box on 31' which won him Goal of The Month. They leveled shortly after on 34' with Patrick Bamford getting their goal. We fought back hard and eventually regained the lead just before half time after Daniel Ayala diverted Dolberg's cross/shot into his own net. This goal proved to be the winner as we couldn't find a 3rd in the second half nor could they equalise. A pretty pleasing performance and a decent win.

Tadic Goal:

Key Points:

• We're playing some lovely football.
• We're doing slightly better than last season.
• Goretzka is great.
• Luck was not on our side in the Watford or Man City games with us droping points late on in both thanks to full backs.
• We're a bit too profligate for my liking.
• Following that, Vietto has been quite poor so far.
• We're on course for a top half finish so far.

Tadic GOTM.mp4

Love it! Glad that worked! 

[john1]

Not bad month apart from conceding last minute goal against Man City  

Edited December 8, 2017 by john1

[DavidBeckham]

Decent month mate! And cracking goal from Tadic!

[Bitner]

Tadic saving the manager, what a player!

Cheers,
Bitner 

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

On 07/12/2017 at 18:56, Ellandroadhero said:

Love it! Glad that worked! 

Thanks mate.

21 hours ago, john1 said:

Not bad month apart from conceding last minute goal against Man City  

Yeah, can't complain about how it's gone. The Man City game was gutting though.

12 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Decent month mate! And cracking goal from Tadic!

Cheers mate. That Tadic goal was the first time I reverse having a player win Goal of the Month.

8 hours ago, Bitner said:

Tadic saving the manager, what a player!

Cheers,
Bitner 

He's great. Quality playmaker to have in behind the strikers.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

 

[john1]

Interesting  

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

13 hours ago, john1 said:

Interesting  

Very. Hopefully they're right and I'll get a soft Brexit. 

[BoxToBox]

You'd be bettef off with the 17 foreigner limit brexit, that way you can sign whatever wonderkids from anywhere freely. I'm seeing all sorts of Prem and Championship sides stuffed with South American talent that'd never have gotten a permit before. Even League 1 and 2 picking up great (relatively) African talent.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

1 hour ago, BoxToBox said:

You'd be bettef off with the 17 foreigner limit brexit, that way you can sign whatever wonderkids from anywhere freely. I'm seeing all sorts of Prem and Championship sides stuffed with South American talent that'd never have gotten a permit before. Even League 1 and 2 picking up great (relatively) African talent.

I suppose that's true too. I was just worried about getting some low limit for foreign players. 

[BoxToBox]

Just now, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

I suppose that's true too. I was just worried about getting some low limit for foreign players. 

Think I've only ever seen that happen once, between 17 and 18.

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

October Update:

The definition of mixed.

Tottenham (H): G. Khouma Babacar   A. James Ward-Prowse

Our month didn't get off to a great start with a home loss to Spurs. Though, to be fair, I didn't expect anything else from this fixture. Kane put them 1-0 up on 33' with a close range finish. Things got worse for us on 39' when Vietto was forced off with an injury. Thankfully he was only our for 3 days after the match. Alli got their second just before half time, sweeping home from a cross on 41'. For the second half, I decided that we'd have to go for it a bit more and so we began to come forward a bit. We got a glimmer of hope on 78' when Babacar smashed an effort past Lloris from a JWP through ball. We pushed for that elusive equaliser but just couldn't find it. Kind of disappointing but it was to be expected.

West Ham (A): G. Kasper Dolberg, Luciano Vietto and Leon Goretzka   A. James Ward-Prowse, Leon Goretzka and Morgan Sanson

A Man-of-The-Match performance from Leon Goretzka saw us get a very welcome 3 points. A match we lost 1-0 last season, it was certainly one for the neutrals this time round. It was an open, end-to-end game for the first while and we struck the first blow with Dolberg scoring on 38' following a JWP pass. We made it two on the stroke of half time with Vietto coolly slotting home from a Goretzka through ball. I thought it would be a routine win but we had to make it hard for ourselves. Chicharito got their first on 54' to make us a bit nervous. Then Cresswell equalised on 69'. Another ****ing full back. However, we got the final blow when Goretzka blasted one in from 20 yards on 85' after being released by Sanson. What a time to get your first goal for the club! A very good win for us.

Chelsea (A):

Um... Yeah, I don't know either. Willian got their first on 14'. Hazard made it 2 on 19'. Fabregas made it 3 on 23'. Hazard killed us off on 90+1'. The less said about this match the better.

Newcastle (A): G. Charlie Austin  A. Shani Tarashaj

Same story as for all Carabao Cup games so far, I let Orlando deal with it. Austin put us ahead on 23'. This lead lasted for all of 10 minutes before Gayle retaliated for them on 33'. It stayed this way all through extra time and so it took a penalty shootout to separate us. It was Besic who netted the winning penalty for us in a 6-5 victory. Lukaku and Tadic missed for us. Sterry, Mitrovic and Barlaser missed theirs. We have now exceeded board expectations for this competition and will play Norwich in the Quarter Final away. I might take this competition more seriously now that we've hit the quarter finals.

League Table:

We find ourselves slap bang in the middle on 12 points from 9. The top 6 is as you'd expect. In fact, just looking at the table now, there's no team in a position you wouldn't expect them to be. I guess Norwich are doing a little bit better than you'd think. We've faced more of the Big Six than the teams around us though so we may be able to push on a bit.

 

[john1]

Mixed month but at least you are doing well in Carabao Cup  

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

27 minutes ago, john1 said:

Mixed month but at least you are doing well in Carabao Cup  

Cheers.

We're certainly doing well in the cup. Strong chance of making the semi finals as I fancy us to beat Norwich. We're doing well enough in the league as well, I suppose. We're meeting expectations and the teams around us have slightly harder schedules so hopefully we can take advantage of that.

[kidthekid]

you've had some tough fixtures by playing some of the big sides already, things should get easier

[noikeee]

I'm a bit surprised to find you 10th, from scrolling through the updates I saw a lot of green dots next to the results, I thought you were higher up!

Still pretty solid. It seems like you're usually doing fine but struggling more in the very big matches (Chelsea, Tottenham etc) and I'm not surprised looking at the tactic. The AI, when they're favourites, they have absolutely no fear in throwing their fullbacks forward, and against a diamond that very easily creates a 2 v 1 on the wing that can be extremely dangerous. I would suggest either switching to a wide formation... or doing what I do which is to use these matches to attack the AI back and exploit the gaps they leave behind.  The diamond isn't really very suitable for sitting back and hoping for the best on the counter.

Edited December 10, 2017 by noikeee

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

12 hours ago, kidthekid said:

you've had some tough fixtures by playing some of the big sides already, things should get easier

Hopefully yeah. We've been playing pretty well against teams around our level so hopefully we can shoot up the table when the fixtures turn a bit easier.

10 hours ago, noikeee said:

I'm a bit surprised to find you 10th, from scrolling through the updates I saw a lot of green dots next to the results, I thought you were higher up!

Still pretty solid. It seems like you're usually doing fine but struggling more in the very big matches (Chelsea, Tottenham etc) and I'm not surprised looking at the tactic. The AI, when they're favourites, they have absolutely no fear in throwing their fullbacks forward, and against a diamond that very easily creates a 2 v 1 on the wing that can be extremely dangerous. I would suggest either switching to a wide formation... or doing what I do which is to use these matches to attack the AI back and exploit the gaps they leave behind.  The diamond isn't really very suitable for sitting back and hoping for the best on the counter.

I was surprised too to be honest but we've had slightly harder fixtures than a few of the teams above us so hopefully we can climb above them in the coming weeks. As for playing against the bigger teams, I've really committed to the narrow tactic and so I don't have any quality wingers for a wide formation. Tadic could do a job there and maybe Dabo or Lukaku on the other side might work but we've been playing some nice football even against the bigger sides with the diamond so I'm reluctant to change. 

The only result I was properly disappointed with against the big sides was the one against Chelsea and I tried something new there. I normally play the same formation against the big teams but on a a counter mentality rather than standard. This time I did that but also dropped slightly deeper. We invited way too much pressure and created very little so I won't do that again. We played Arsenal away the next month (update out later) and we played on counter without dropping deeper and I was fairly happy with how we did. 

What you're saying about attacking them makes sense but, honestly, I wouldn't have the cajones to do that against the bigger sides.  

Thanks for the tactical input though, it's always welcome. This new version of last season's diamond is based off advice I got from Bitner about the central mids being too attacking and advice from EllandRoadHero about Dolberg and my full backs.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Fer Fuchs Ake

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

Final word on Brexit - it's a soft one. Nothing will change in the world of English football.