Started with Rafa, now we're here

[Kamakazeee]

Started with Rafa, now we're here - Introduction

 

Adorable in his own way, isn’t he? I love him, genuinely do. He gave me hope again for my club, soon as we were relegated I thought he’s gone, were gone. He stayed, he brought us back up, he gives me and every other Geordie hope. 

This career thread will be different to most, it may be a bit guide like at times, but it’s going to be one club thread, I won’t be jetting around the world managing clubs in different continents building up my reputation to hopefully one day to be offered a “big job”. I am effectively starting with a relatively big club, in the biggest league not unemployed. My aim is to take Newcastle United from being a unstable mess, full of players either not good enough to be there, remnants from past recruitment failures, mercenaries and players who don’t want to be there. To applying an philosophy of professionalism, loyalty and talent to match this clubs stature, alongside a pragmatism within the club that ensures that decisions are made for the good of club and not to hold it back.

This will be done by applying the values of the two of my favourite managers, both from different eras of Newcastle, Kevin Keegan and Rafa Benitez. They both brought passion, a winning mentality, desire, knowhow. Keegan brought a style of football that had its loyal fanbase purring, the neutrals enthralled and the rivals jealous. Benitez, brings pragmatism, he CV that holds him in the highest of echelons, many mistake him for being boring,harsh in my opinion, given the tools his teams play some fantastic stuff. Gerrard and Torres on song? The demolition of Man Utd at Old Trafford, Istanbul, even with newcastle we scored 4,5,6’s on numerous occasions last year in the second tier.

I want all that back at Newcastle, real life I will have to wait, on the game it can be much sooner. The two managers are very similar, except Benitez has extra bit of pragmatism that has won him many trophies, which isn’t to say Keegan wasn’t successful, without him Newcastle United in the present day would be a very different club in terms of stature. 

The thread is probably going to include a lot of reading, apologies for that, but it's going to take on many different forms. It will have story/progression aspect to it- in the general theme of updates throughout the season recording results, likely on a monthly basis. I will also write about development, transfers, staff and many other topics. It will probably outline very well how I manage a club, my club. I couldn’t and wouldn’t invest this amount of time into any other club. One thing I won’t go into detail about is tactics, I will outline the system briefly, but I feel they are done to death, I have wrote about them numerous times, other people have, there is more than enough out there, plus if you want advice on tactics Cleon and Rashidi can inform much better than me or anyone else, player development and squad building over the past few years has took precedence for me. I will however, show you how I use players to tackle what many may call tactical problems.

So, this ethos, the transformation I keep banging on about, how will it be done? Personality and management, it’s the player makeup; without a positive personality, they won’t develop to reach their potential- they won’t apply themself on the pitch and interact with their teammates correctly and finally they will be difficult to manage. Remember before I wanted to transform this club from the doldrums and negativity it’s been in for the past decade, into a club that bleeds professionalism, determination, loyalty (too many years we’ve had players treat the club as a stepping stone, which in fairness it is how it was sold to them- Moussa, I’m looking at you). 

Determination and Professionalism will be the first port of call, bring in players and staff who have high numbers in such areas you're halfway to succeeding. I’m not looking for prima donnas, I want players who will roll their sleeves up and get to work. I want players who will have a positive effect on the younger players at the club. Keegan’s entertainers were a flashy team granted, very easy on the eye, but if you wanted to go to battle with them? Shearer, Ferdinand, Speed, Ginola etc, they would have something to say and you had better be prepared to fight to the end. So talent, grit, determination it all comes together to be part of the fabric of a successful football club. Rafa Benitez has started the process at Newcastle, there is the basis of a very decent team, ordinary in some areas, but the grit and determination is there in abundance. His hands are tied behind his back in real life, sadly, but on the game I have much more control, to which I refer you back to a quote of something I mentioned earlier, “alongside a pragmatism within the club that ensures that decisions are made for the good of club and not to hold it back”. 

For too long under the current regime or not so distant past, it’s hard to figure out the direction of the club at the moment, the club has cared to much about the money, rather than what was needed on the pitch. We have tried to cut corners in terms of the infrastructure of the club, we have tried to exploit a market whereby we sign cheap and reap the benefits. Granted this worked originally, as we got to 5th place, but the players were all sold the same story, play well and we will sell you to a bigger club for a profit and we both win. It didn’t exactly work out that way, once we got the 5th place, naturally all the players expected to be sold when all the bigger clubs came sniffing. Ashley went back on his word and wanted to keep the team together, but instead of spreading ambition to them, he didn’t invest, we stood still, he thought one more year of development and they would take the club to the treasure trove of the Champions League. If he invested, then maybe. However, we now had unhappy players, who loyalty was not to Newcastle, the club was never sold that way. Now, I want players with loyalty, who want to take this club to the next level, then the next and the next and so forth. This will also apply to backroom staff, there will be once again be a place for ex players, they will be the first considered to fill gaps in the staff. Players will be given the choice to retire at the club once again rather then being seen as a means to make money once they pass a certain age. And finally, the academy will no longer be ignored, as there is no loyalty towards a club than that of its own, whilst ensuring that any players who don’t make it have the opportunity of relatively successful career elsewhere. 

The final thing I can think of to mention will be that I will be focusing on a British core, pretty much every successful team I can remember had such a group, Newcastle will be no different. It’s not to say we won’t be going down the foreign route, that would be stupid and we have to lead to that market initially due to the inflated price of current home nation players, but long term we will be focusing on the home grown nature of the team.

Tactics
Tactics, I said I will be briefly outlining the system  I will play and I will do that here. It’s nothing game breaking, flash, it just makes sense. I always feel too many people over complicate this part of the game, whereas it’s actually the easiest. The nuances and clever stuff should be saved for player development and squad building and team/player interaction.

As you can see a 352. I won’t be trying to emulate Pep’s wonderful possession style football or on the other end of the spectrum Pulis’ negative style as Newcastle have never been team that has enjoyed or been successful using either. The DNA of Newcastle is to work hard, play the ball from the back to the wide positions and get into the box for the two strikers. Historically, 442 has been the formation for such a style on Tyneside, but I prefer the 352, it gives you so many more options.

I’m not going to go through every player role as that would be going against what I am trying to create. I want the team to be a team, act as a team, play as a team. I don’t want to be constantly flicking through the tactics screen to make changes. I like to play simply as possible, so I can divert my time into areas of the game I enjoy much more, such as play development. I always find players are the best tactics, I never have two players the same in the squad, as I see no benefit. My team selection and substitutions will be my primary form of tactics. 

The keeper is just a standard keeper, who is told to distribute to the defenders, it allows to retain possession and build from the back and play the ball or carry the ball into midfield. Again the defenders are standard, in the future the outer centerbacks may become Ball playing defenders, i’ll have to see how it plays out. One wingback and one complete wingback, they provide the width down the flanks and be passing option to the defenders when playing out from the back. The central midfield brings a lot of variety, runners, support for the strikers, playmakers and so on. Without such variety, there would be a big onus on the wing backs. You may see that there is not a holding midfielder, centrally I have a lot players, 3 defenders and 3 central midfielders, it's risky, but i feel by having the correct players it's worth the reward of having more players in the attacking phase and build up. Two strikers? Shearer and Ferdinand, who else would have loved to have seen how that partnership would have turned out in the long term? Options again, that’s all I wanted. We can also get a typical number 9 onto the pitch, something which Newcastle are renowned.

How the tactic will play out will be player dependent, not on how good my tactical skills are. Few examples and scenarios, Are we playing easy team that will sit deep? I can play my defenders that better on the ball and most creative midfielders. Playing against the big boys? Aggression and defensive capabilities will be favoured. Playing against team who are good passers e.g. Man City, I would want a more aggressive midfielder in there to break up play. Playing against a team who are pressing my midfield hard and my midfielder keeps getting caught in possession, then switch for someone who is better on the ball. A team is defending deep, I can mess with my striker partnership, I can go for a more creative striker and complete striker. My advanced forward is getting bullied, switch him for a targetman type. Players are tactics, my tactics are just a framework for them to go out and play. I have the organisation, imagination of a both managers. The players account for the rest.

Team shape and mentality are set at Standard and Fluid (which may change to flexible in the future). Why standard? I’m using aggressive player roles, I don’t need the mentality to be anything but aggressive. The team shape is fluid, as I only have 2 players up top, the rest are in midfield and defensive line, so I can afford to let other areas of the team to get forward. 

The team instructions are nothing special, they allow the defensive line closer to the midfield and negate the gap. They also get the team working hard, which is paramount for my vision for the club and but also gets us proactive in winning possession back and forcing the opposition into making choices, hopefully wrongs ones.

In a nutshell the tactic is a skeleton, I want the players to dictate how we play. A lot rests on my team selection, but if I put a team of play-makers on the pitch, i want them to dominate possession, because that's the type of player they are and not because they are told too. If I put quick strikers up top and strong defenders in midfield and defence, we won't dominate possession but look to break play up and play on the counter and so forth. The players aren’t bogged down with team instructions telling them to play retain possession, play out from the back, play direct, quicken or slow the tempo of the game, it will be totally their decision.

Hopefully, that wasn’t too long, it turned into a rant in places, but the way my club is treating Rafa Benitez drives me insane. However, I think it does well in giving you a general idea of what I want to achieve. I don’t think I have missed anything, but the thread will catch itself up if I have

Howay the lads.

If anyone is interested, my database set up is below;

China (CSL Only), United States (MLS Only), Belgium (Juplier Pro League Only), Croatia (1. HNL Only), English (National League North/South and Above), France (Ligue 2 and Above), Germany (2. Bundesliga and Above), Italy (Serie B and Above), Netherlands (Eredivisie Only), Norway (Eliteserien Only), Portugal (Liga NOS Only), Romania (Liga I Only), Scotland (Scottish Premiership Only), Spain (Segunda Division and Above), Argentina (Superliga Argentina Only), Brazil (Brasileirao Only)

Database: Large
 
 

[danmcconnell1]

Fantastic insight to your clear love for Newcastle. They are the typical sleeping giant, the club is huge but had under performed for a huge number of years for reasons I'm sure you can explain better than I, but I'll definitely be following what is a brilliantly written piece so far.

[Kamakazeee]

Started with Rafa, now we're here - Preseason

 

Preseason
So, the game has loaded up, I have ideas banging round my head. I have attended all the pointless meetings and met my assistant manager. This is the time of the season you need to get right, as I firmly believe this is the most important part of the season, especially your first. Get it right and your laughing, balls it up and your playing catch up. So, I take my time, I break it up into 5 parts which all at some point intertwine. I am methodical in how I do this, as it make or break a season before it starts. They are in no order of importance. 

Morale - Player happiness. Who wants to go into the season miserable? I am creating a new culture here. So having players with high morale is a no brainer and the quicker I do this better. The best and most effective way to do this is through friendlies. I set my team up against some of the poorest teams I can find and let them go to work on them. Cruel, yes. But, I don’t see any benefit in playing hard teams in pre-season, why run the risk of getting beat? No one likes that. 

Friendlies - Games are everything and if I set up and play them correctly, they will give me something towards everything on list, winning brings morale, playing means fitness, more games allows the players to learn your tactics and the more the players play together, the more they get used to each other. Seems like miracle drug don’t it? That’s just exactly what it is, so as long as I don’t get impatient and rush ahead and bugger up all my preparation, then the players will all get sufficient time to gain what they need to. Newcastle start with full quota of a 23 man squad, so I am looking to play around 8-10 friendlies, this should ensure than everyone gets sufficient game time.

Tactics familiarity - Again this comes with games, so for sake of repeating myself, I cover friendlies above. However, I see this as being right up there with fitness for being the most important part of preseason. Why? The more fluid my tactic is the better my players will play and know the nuances of my tactic, especially as it’s a shape/style they have not played before. Generally the quicker I do this the better and I am lucky enough to be going on a training camp since I am managing a big club, this usually tends to speed up the process. 

I do have to bare in mind that there a certain factors which affect the rate in which players will learn my tactic. Signing players will slow the process and even lower if I am excessive with my incomings and outgoings, this also applies to promoting young players. If I train more than one tactic or change the instructions of the tactics then this will also be hindrance to tactical familiarity.

Fitness - The most important part of preseason for me, everything else Ii mention can be improved throughout the season without too much of a knock on effect. However, whilst fitness can be improved throughout the season, starting with unfit players will not have the capability to play to their full potential, increase the risk of injuries and tire a lot more quickly than if they were properly match fit. I’d rather avoid this, so whilst i keep repeating the same thing over, taking my time, doing this properly will minimize the risk of this. Hopefully by the end of preseason I will have every player on around 94/95% match fitness and I will not have wasted it, anything less (barring injuries) then I have. One final benefit of having everyone at peak fitness going into the season, it makes easier to maintain fitness throughout.

Team Cohesion - This is effected by new players being brought into the first team, whether that’s by new signings or by promoting players from the youth team. If I do make wholesale changes then I will focus team cohesion on the training page. This will help new players settle, help with language barriers, it could prevent the chances of homesickness and help the team gel.

To summarise, throughout preseason I want to play enough games so that every member of my team is full match fit, morale is at the highest I can possibly make it. I aim to have my tactic fully fluid and every player at least starting the progress of being fully integrated into the team. Doing this will ensure that I suitably prepared my team for season forthcoming. This is just my method of navigating preseason, reading it back it seems a bit guide like, yet brief.

However, as I write this I haven’t even pressed continue on the game yet. So, now I am going to go through my process of setting up my club before I progress into the season, as this is crucial to the rest of my career at Newcastle, laying the groundwork as they say. 

Basically, I use the menu on the left of the screen as a list.

The Squad

To kick things off I looked at the Newcastle squad and did a bit of housekeeping, as there was a few players who needed moving:

    -    Massadio Haidara and Jesus Gamez are both transfer listed. Neither player has the necessary quality to challenge the first team with at least 2 players in both their positions ahead of them. Secondly both players are seen to be injury prone and in real life struggled to even get over the past few seasons, only playing a handful of games between them. 
    -    Macaulay Gillesphey is promoted to the first team, he’s versatile, young, looks to have a bit about him. He will be good cover option whilst Paul Dummett is out injured and finally the whole point of the save initially was to get Newcastle United running in a way that in my eyes it should be, giving the young players a chance is a part of that. 
    -    Tyrique Bartlett and Elias Sorensen have both been put into the U18’s from the reserve team, not because they aren’t good enough for the reserve team, I just tend to manage my squads a bit differently, something which I will describe later.
    -    Rob Elliot is promoted to the first team. Not quite sure why he starts in the reserves, but I instantly make him my first choice goalkeeper. Sadly, Martin Dubravka doesn’t look to have the attributes to match his talent in real life, especially if his start at Newcastle is antning to go by.
    -    The last thing I do to the current squad is apply the contract view and sort out any squad statuses that don’t appear to match ability of the player. It flares a few tantrums, but by doing this as early as possible, it gives the players a  chance to get over themselves before the season starts and makes everyone aware of their roles going into the season.
    
Transfers
Some peoples favourite part, they are mad for it. I’m not a fan personally, I think SI could do a bit of work to make the AI a bit more aggressive and competitive in the transfer market, but that is a different conversation and topic altogether. In regards to Newcastle and my approach to deciding what I need, then my hands are tied really, as we don’t have a lot of funds to work with, a transfer budget of around £9.5m and a wage budget of around £41k is not going to stretch far in today’s market. 

However, we are quite lucky in the sense that Rafa Benitez, bless him, has managed to build largely capable squad, in FM terms anyway. I would like to add another defender, I am planning on playing 3 at the back, after inspecting the squad, Jamaal Lascelles will be with me a long time, Mbemba is ok, same can be said for Ciaran Clarke and Florian Lejeune (who is also underrated) I need a quality center back to make this a defense of Premiership quality, as its the one area of the squad a bit lacking. 

Transfers IN
Matthijs De Ligt (£4.5m up front, £11m over 3 years) - A cracking young defender who portrays exactly what I want from my outer centerbacks. Very good defensively and even better on the ball. Throughout the negotiations he made known he would glad to join such prestigious club in such a big, he did want the promise of trophies, which don’t mind, I like ambition. He also has a lot of scope for improvement, however his development is something I will cover in later post. I know he cost a lot, but I felt comfortable enough staggering the payments with the knowledge that I’m investing in a player for the next 5 years minimum, more than likely double that and after. I like to think of it as Juventus investing in Buffon all those years ago.

Tobias Svendsen (£400k) - A young player, full of potential and very cheap. He will spend the season training with the first team, but will play the majority of games with the U18’s and reserves. I hope he will the occasional cup games to help his progress, his development will be interesting to watch, as I doubt I will play him or develop like many would suspect. Again player development is something I will touch on later.

Transfers OUT
Jesus Gamez & Massadio Haidara (£5m combined) - I’m going to bunch these together as like I mentioned above, they are being sold for similar reasons. They have both missed pretty much the best part of 2 years in Gamez’s case and about 3 years in Haidara’s case. I can’t rely on them due to there injury records, so i got what I could. 

Curtis Good (£200k) - Not a standout name by any means, but he has been at the club for 6 years, during his earlier days he was near the first team on numerous occasions, but couldn’t quite push self to that next level. Towards the more recent times of his Newcastle career injuries and failed loan moves have stalled his career. He was never going to progress any further, so I sold him back to Australia.
Numerous young players were sent out on loan from the reserves, especially the ones aged 20 or over. At the start of my game, any player that is 20 or above and not good enough for the first team I tend to either sell or loan out. I more often than not, conclude that these players will never be good enough for the first team. Hopefully by going out on loan they have good seasons and raise in value.

Staff
I didn’t want to overhaul the staff too much, as terminating too many contracts would worsen our already poor financial situation. Next season I will make more of the changes I think need to be done to ensure the club runs as efficiently as it possibly could. However, that’s not to say I haven’t made any changes at all, I have made several at all levels of which I will go into more detail about below.

1st team
I haven’t messed too much with the 1st team coaching set up, as I think it’s sufficient enough for the first season at least. However, I did make a few changes, Mikel Anita agreed to mutually terminate his contract, doing so vacated the assistant managers position. I decided to fill it by promoting Dave Watson from the U18’s. His attributes are sound, I very much doubt I could go out and get anyone better, plus it helps promote the loyalty culture I am trying to promote. The second change made is I added a goalkeeper coach to the first team set up due to there only being one, which should help the spread the workload and allow the players to get a better standard of coaching, he goes by the name of Iñaki García Sendín. 

U23’s 
I was happy enough with the U23 set up, as there wasn’t much room to maneuver and it’s already being managed by club legend Peter Beardsley who is doing a relatively good job without many players of note. Hopefully throughout my time we can get him some better players to develop. With this in mind, I did hire him an assistant manager to help with training load.

U18’s 
Obviously by promoting my U18’s manager to become my assistant manager I needed to find a new one. Now, Juan Martinez I specifically headhunted to manage the youth team players at my club. He plays similar football to me, 532/352, pressing, mixed playing style, this make me confident any information I get from him on the young players in my squad will make sense. By looking at his profile you can see he is an excellent judge of potential, good man manager, he will keep my young players motivated, a good disciplinarian and has sound tactical knowledge who’s forte is working with young players. He’s literally perfect and well worth the effort of searching him out.

I also went through the trouble of bringing back a fan favourite in Steve Harper as a young goalkeepers coach. We are running the old boys club here and there will be once more a place for the ex-players of this club (this is more of a pet hate in real life). I am also keeping an eye out for when Shay Given hangs up his gloves and also Laurent Robert.

The final change to the youth set up was I hired a new Head of Youth Development. Joe Joyce whilst being at Newcastle for a fair few years, hasn’t had two many successes in young players coming through during his watch. So I felt the time was right to make a change, however the guy I employed as his replacement, Daral Pugh, is somebody I have specifically searched out. Some people look at the person they are hiring's stats and personality and leave it there, which you feasibly could stop there and hire a good HOYD. I like to go into things a bit deeper, at first I search the same as anyone, but then I look at what else the profile of the person is telling me. The most important part I have highlighted, he plays the same/similar formations and playing style to me, echoing what i said about my youth team manager. I want things to be consistent, what’s the point in having a HOYD or youth team manager who plays a different formation and style to you? I want players that will fit into my system and my way of playing. What’s the point in my hiring a HOYD who likes playing with wingers, when I don’t use them? When those players when they come into the academy will be redundant, so it’s important to look at things with a bit more intrigue and depth. It’s simple, but effective. 

Scouting

Now we are onto the area of  the club where I made the most drastic changes. The scouting at Newcastle has been below par for a few years now, it was always geared towards exploiting certain markets and pretty much neglected anywhere else. Fast forward a few years, Rafa has tried to change things, but the club is at standstill whilst the takeover progresses, meaning his hands are tied in what progression can be made. This is represented in the game, the club has 3 scouts, both pretty average and one scout sharing his responsibilities between being data analysis. Getting staff to share their responsibilities between multiple roles is typical of Newcastle under the Ashley era, especially for the size of the club. Going forward I will ensure the club specialised staff in every area of the club to maximise efficiency.

What I have done is hire a whole new scouting set up geared towards initially building up our knowledge in our home nation, Europe and the two big nations in South America. I don’t do anything clever with the scouting parameters, I set it to the country/nation in question, I usually set a max age of 17 and then potential good. I usually get loads of players listed within each scouts report, I will then use different views and filters to weed out the ones that aren’t of interest and then use the scouts report to look at player’s of interest  a little further. 

I also tend to do a lot of manual scouting, especially at the start of the game. This would entail manually going through clubs and using filters and views to look at players and scouting players that catch my eye. I usually start with the leagues I have loaded up, I do this to build an initial short list of players whilst i wait for my scouts to get their reports in. It’s time consuming, but it’s a handy thing to consider, young Tobias Svendsen was directly found through this method. 

I also take a bit of care when hiring my scouts. I initially search for scouts under the knowledge they score high in Adaptability, Determination, Judging ability and Potential Ability. Adaptability and Determination is important as your scout will be travelling and if he is in a country he has no previous knowledge of , these two attributes affect how quickly he settles and starts churning out reports. Judging players ability and players potential is pretty much what it says on the tin, judging the players ability will indicate the level he is playing at and judging the players potential will indicate the level he can play too. Something I take into consideration is the nationality and knowledge the scout currently has, as when he signs he will bring that knowledge to the club (I also take advantage of this when hiring other staff too including coaches and assistant managers etc), it will also speed up the rate he produces reports when they already have knowledge of the country your sending them too. 

If anyone is interested I have listed the current scout set up I have and what I am building towards.

Training
I am not going to go to much into detail on how I train individual players as I want to that in separate pieces on certain players. However, I do want to explain how I tackle training throughout pre-season as I have different methods for different scenarios. 

Generally, I stick general training on balanced with average intensity, as I don’t want to skew/weight the training favourably towards anything other than an overall focus. However, if I have signed a few players or promoted players then I will concentrate on team cohesion over the pre-season period. You may ask why I don’t focus on fitness? It’s because I can gain everything I need fitness wise through playing friendlies and giving everyone the appropriate amount of minutes. 

The scheduling bar I move all the way towards the end of “more match training”, when this is paired with match preparation set as tactics, the team is getting the maximum amount focus on tactics. As I mentioned above, preseason for me is split into 3 parts, tactical familiarity, morale and fitness. All three can be improved upon by games , but you can also get that boost by setting up your training effectively.

I’m not going to go to in depth when describing how I train players individually, as like I said above I want to do individual pieces on player development and how/why I made certain decisions. However, there are a two rules and tips I want to share here;
    -    I will endeavour to train every player at the club with the focus/effort they will make it into my first team. Even if they don’t make it at my club or I dont have the expectation they will, I could be surprised or sell them for money in the future. 
    -    I make massive use of the notes function, which I think is massively under appreciated. It takes minutes to take note of what your training a player as, individual focus, their reaction to different types/intensities and tutoring effects/reactions. You can even set yourself reminders on certain dates. It is a massive benefit to me iin how I manage and develop my players.

Friendlies

I explained in depth above how I approach friendlies, so I am just going to give you the meat and bones of how we did here. I do want to note that this is not how I would strictly set up my friendlies, as I would always have a 4 day gap between each friendly. However, the friendlies against First Vienna FC 1984, Floridsdorfer AC and SV Horn were already arranged before the game started due to the training camp I had been dealt. 

Though you can see from the result the preseason fixtures went as expected, we scored plenty of goals and weren’t put under any pressure at all. Looking at the squad screenshot you can see, most players in the squad have a match sharpness of around the high 90’s. Morale is generally very good, the only players suffering from a lack of fitness is players that started the game injured. Lejeune, Yedlin and Dummett all started the game injured, Yedlin was fit in time for the final friendly. You can see that preseason has been a major success, we scored plenty, morale is generally high, fitness is very good and my assistant manager tells me the players are blending well together ad are on their way to developing a strong understanding.

News
We have been drawn against Wolves in the first round of the Carabao Cup. Whereas, in the league we kick off our campaign with the unfavourable task of Man City at the Etihad.
 

[Kamakazeee]

13 minutes ago, danmcconnell1 said:

Fantastic insight to your clear love for Newcastle. They are the typical sleeping giant, the club is huge but had under performed for a huge number of years for reasons I'm sure you can explain better than I, but I'll definitely be following what is a brilliantly written piece so far.

Thanks. I have just finished my uni year, planned to do few tough mudder like contests over next month or two, but went and done my ACL (its in fashion atm anyways)  So, I needed a project to keep me busy. 

Newcastle is a mess, Rafa can take us places, but hes let down massively by Ashley. Sad times.

[warlock]

Fantastic start, and I'll definitely be following this. Good luck!

[Kamakazeee]

Started with Rafa, now we're here - August

 

(PREM) Manchester City 1 - 2 Newcastle United
B. Silva (70) - Slimani (17, 90+5)
Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Clarke | Yedlin, Gilesphey | Hayden, Diame, Merino | Gayle, Slimani | Subs used: Mbemba, Manquillo, Kenedy
This is a game that I am going to do to quick tactical analysis on in a separate post as I feel it perfectly portrays how I play this game. On the match, Man City pretty much dominated and I was powerless to stop it, so both goals were against the run of play, yet planned. The first came from Merino robbing a rather pedestrian looking Yaya Toure and feeding Gayle into the channel, he put the afterburners on and the City defenders couldn’t catch him, he got into the box and squared it to Slimani to tap in. The onslaught came and we held out for as long as we could, but we ended up conceding one too many free-kicks outside the box and Silva stepped up put it in the top corner. Naturally, I expected another straight after, but right on the stroke of full time Gayle was released again in the right channel by Hayden and like Carbon copy of the first he squared it for Slimani to tap in. 

(PREM) Newcastle United 5 - 2 Bournemouth
Ritchie (pen 13), De Ligt (23), Slimani (46), Joselu (79), Perez (90) - King (32), Defoe (45)
Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Clarke | Manquillo, Kenedy| Hayden, Diame, Merino | Perez, Slimani | Subs used: Hayden, Yedlin, Joselu
Battered them, I don’t even know how they got two goals, as they never had the ball. We started the game with intent to score goals and we probably should have had a couple through Perez and Slimani by the time the former was fouled in the box. Ritchie scored the resulting penalty and 10 minutes later put the ball on the head of De Ligt from a free kick to double our lead. We got sloppy at the back and King ran onto a Begovic clearance to give Bournemouth hope, shockingly Defoe managed to convert half attempted clearance by Clarke right on half time to draw level. I was fuming, but I knew the goals were against the run of play, so I encouraged the team and Slimani restored out lead on the kick off, Perez and Yedlin played a one-two on the right and Slimani head Perez’s cross. The flood gates opened with substitute Joselu slotting home a Merino through ball and he turned provider for Perez who wrapped the scoring with a goal his performance deserved. 

(EFL CUP) Wolves 1 - 2 Newcastle
Rafa Mir (4) - Perez (6), Murphy (77)
Darlow | Mbemba, Lascelles, Gilesphey | Yedlin, Atsu | Svendsen, Shelvey, Diame | Joselu, Perez | Subs used: Hayden, Murphy, Gayle
Wolves got off to a flyer, they made the start we were hoping too, aggressive, smart and quick. I knew if we took the lead early it would make the game a lot easier, but they did exactly that and scored from a good move down the right, resulting in a tap in for the striker at the back post. However, whilst we hit back straight away through a goal from Perez who made the goal from all his own work and hitting one from the edge of the box, Wolves sat deep and kept playing on the counter, which was what I wanted to avoid and why I wanted to score early. We did eventually score late on through Jacob Murphy, who I actually brought on as a Wing back on the right, but his left footedness naturally attracted him infield on the ball. He played a one two with Joselu, ran with ball on the right side of the box and hit it across the keeper. We saw the game out without any hairy moments.

(PREM) Swansea 1 - 3 Newcastle United
Bony (56) - Gayle (18), De Ligt (62), Diame (77)
Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Clarke | Manquillo, Kenedy | Ritchie, Diame, Merino | Gayle, Slimani | Subs used: Gilesphey, Joselu
Man of the match Gayle started this game like man possessed, he hit the post twice within the first 10 minutes, leading to me thinking it was going to be “one of those days”. However, he put my fears to rest on 18 minutes scoring a peach of a free kick after Slimani was pushed to the ground. We dominated play til half-time put couldn’t find the next goal to give us that much deserved insurance. So, it was no surprise when Swansea started the half with purpose and equalised through Bony, which was really disappointing goal for us to concede, considering how dominant we were and how sloppily we defended the second ahase aftera corner from themselves. I noticed Gayle was being pushed around by their defenders, probably due to the hammering he gave them in the first half, so I took him off for a more target man type striker in Joselu. Straightaway the change was evident as started to hold the ball better in the Swansea half, we won a corner on right, which Ritchie sent in and Swansea defended well, De Ligt stayed up though and when the ball was played back in by Kenedy, Joselu out muscled a Swansea defender and headed towards goal, the keeper made the save but De Ligt tapped in the rebound. He’s becoming quite the goalscorer recently, as the match edged towards full time, Diame robbed a Swansea defender as he wanted too much time on the ball and slotted past the keeper as he came out to close down the angle.

 

Managers points

• It's a decent start to the season, they are all teams I expect to beat, bar Man City, but we thoroughly deserved our win.
• The goals conceded is a bit of a worry, as if we are to overachieve this season then that will have to improve, thought if we keep scoring the at the rate we are it should compensate.
• De Ligt looks a player and Slimani looks like he is going to be very important this season, I doubt I could afford to keep him though. 
• Yedlin will be a big player once fully fit.
• Merino is going to develop into a very complete midfielder.

News
We dominated the awards for the month of August, with De Ligt winning the player and young player of the month awards and myself winning the manager of the month award. We also drew Brighton in the 3rd round of the Carabao cup.

[Kamakazeee]

Started with Rafa, now we're here - Man City tactical analysis

 

I like to play this game as simply as I possibly can, I don’t like to endlessly click on the team instructions as I believe you lose sight of what your trying to create. Instead I like to build teams, I like players that are different, I like to be able to make different teams and make substitutions that change games rather than make tactical changes. That’s not to say I don’t make tactical changes, I just prefer to use my players. 

So, the start of the season quickly came round and my first game was approaching, Man City away. Nice, huh? What it is though is the perfect game to be able to document my thinking when approaching a game, not just against the big teams, any teams. It’s not going to be a long article as it doesn’t need to be and I have already wrote enough for the first few. 

Firstly, Iet's set the scene, Newcastle are newly promoted, the team is quite poor in terms of premiership quality. So, what am I going to do? I concentrate on my team rather than City, a lot of people would look to play defensive, try and bag a draw. I think a little differently, if I change my team to sit back, then I am inviting pressure, why would I want to do that? City will break us down eventually there team is too good. So, I begin to go over there team in my head, what advantages can we make for ourselves. Then I remembered a news article I saw, they were going through a mini injury crisis in midfield.

No De Bruyne, no Gundagon, no Fernandinho, No Delph (Yaya got injured in the match so ignore him, I took the screenshot after the game). 

This is the only time I think of their players, they going to go with a midfield of Yaya and the two Silva’s, technically they dominate us all over the pitch, I want to dominate them aerially and physically in the centre. If we go toe to toe with them, they are going to batter us, so I want to bully them. I don’t need ball players, I want good hardworking, psychical players who won't shirk a challenge. Man City will naturally dominate the ball, so I want team full of pace so that when they turn over possession we break quickly. Remember, I am not changing my tactics, I am changing my players, so by playing my normal mentality and not a lower one , they players will still take risks on the ball and not play safe, which hopefully still yield chances for ourselves. 

So, with that in mind here is the team I am going with:

Elliot: My best goalkeeper.
Lascelles, De Ligt, Clarke: My best defenders, not ball players. We don’t need defenders with guille, we save them for the games where we need to break teams down. 
I am going split my fullbacks, Yedlin I wanted his pace and attacking prowess, I am hoping he will link up well with Gayle in the right channel, plus Hayden is positionally sound and can cover for him. Whereas, Gilesphey, I have placed on the left wing back, he is a ball playing centre back by trade, but merino is more of playmaker with poor positional sense, so i wanted that extra security for him. Diame is powerhouse and will drive forward with the ball, but is also strong and tall. Slimani is relatively quick, good in the air and hardworking, he is also the best finisher in the team. Gayle is quick and can attack the channels really well, my primary reason for choosing him. I am expecting Man City full backs to push high, which will leave space in the channels, which is where i want gayle attacking and the ball clearing too. Hopefully he gets to the ball and provides cutbacks for my onrushing players from deep.

So, that's why I choose the players I did, I know my players, I know what they can do, it’s imperative to picking a team fit for purpose. Now, I will show you it in action. I am going to go through both goals, as defensively I don’t take any notice of what the opposition is doing, I like to make sure we are causing them problems.

For reference, the green lines indicate the path of the ball and the blue lines the players movement.

GOAL 1

IMAGE 1

 

 

1. Merino has won the ball in the air against Silva, highlight why I wanted physicality and height in my midfield. He has headed the ball to Slimani who was waiting just before the half way line.
2. Slimani collects the ball and holds it up looking for options, he eventually passes the ball infield to Hayden.
3. Hayden, collects the ball and waits for Yedlin to make his move on the outside of him where he passes the ball. Gayle also starts to make his move here. 
4. This move instantly has us on the front foot, we are attacking the city defence face on as they are in retreat.

IMAGE 2

 

1. Yedlin collects the ball on the right and uses his pace to beat his man. Whilst he does this, Gayle keeps up with play just to the left of him.
2. Yedlin plays the ball into the area where gayle collects it in the channel and turns to attack the box. He sees that slimani has beaten his man to the box, where he squares it.
3. Slimani has an easy tap in to put us 1 nil ahead. 

It's simple, nothing tactical, just knowing how a game is going to go and having the necessary players on the pitch to cope with it. I have put two big squares on the pitch in image two, the space is created for me, I didn't nothing to entice that, I just made sure I had the players to take advantage.

Key points

1. Height in the midfield means we won the initially aerial duel to start the move.
2. Pace on the right wing enables Yedlin to beat his man, otherwise the pass isn’t on to Gayle.
3. Yedlin and Gayle both supported each other due to their outstanding pace.
4. My best striker had the necessary anticipation and off the ball movement to get into the box and also the composure to finish.

Just what I preach, I didn’t use any instructions, players are the best tactics.

 

GOAL 2

IMAGE 3

 

 

1. The ball has been played back to Elliot my goalkeeper, Instantly, Aguero closes him down. He boots the ball clear, poorly infact as it only makes it as far as Hayden my number 14.
2. He is instantly put under pressure by Silva their number 21, he instantly headers the ball onto Manquillo my right back number 19. Hayden then attacks the space after.
3. Manquillo takes the ball down, and starts to drive into the space with the ball.

Again, we have moved the ball quickly, got into a position where we are attacking the City defence whilst they are in retreat.

 

IMAGE 4

 

1. Manquillo, my right back (number 19) has played the ball infield to Hayden after being pressed by the City defender (number 12). 
2. Hayden is then pressed by the number of Man City and pops the ball around him into the space in the channel, which Gayle (my number 9) has made his move into.
3. He collects the ball, and turns to see Slimani has once again made his move onto the edge of the opponents area.
4. This time Slimani draws out the keeper and puts the ball around him and finishes. 

Similar to the first goal, I knew where the space was going to be before the match and during. My team selection ensured I had the players on the pitch to take advantage of the situation. One thing to note is that I made no changes whilst we were ahead, even as the game was closing or after city scored. It was working before why wouldn't it after? I never want to encourage pressure.

I hope that gives you a bit of insight into how I play the game, its simple, but effective. My squad building once I get the means to do so, will make this even more prominent. 

[Kamakazeee]

 

Started with Rafa, now we're here - September

(PREM) Newcastle United 3 - 0 Crystal Palace

Mbemba (31), Slimani (45), Merino (61)

Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Mbemba | Yedlin, Kenedy | Ritchie, Shelvey, Merino | Perez, Slimani | Subs used: Hayden, Atsu, Joselu

Going into this game I was slightly concerned that we hadn’t kept a clean sheet in a competitive game this season, so that was in the back of my mind. However, I kept with my personal philosophy on the game of only worrying about my team and was adamant I wasn’t going to change my tactics. Testament to this we nearly scored in the first minute, Slimani getting his head onto a Yedlin cross to the back post, with Speroni pulling stupidly good save. This set the tone of the match, but it took a brilliant cross from Kenedy when Crystal Palace thought they had escaped harm’s way after dealing with a Ritchie free kick, Mbemba rose highest after staying up from the prior freekick. This seemed to have a adverse effect on Palace, who quite visibly sat deeper and deeper, something which Merino and Shelvey enjoyed as they dictated play and it wasn’t long before Merino slid Slimani in who made no mistake in finishing shooting across the Palace goal. The second half Palace showed a bit of fight, but Merino put them to bed midway into the half with wonder goal after exchanging passes with Atsu on the left. Palace tried to fight back and went noticeably aggressive in the midfield, which led to me introducing Hayden for Shelvey, who helped play them at their own game and secure that all important first clean sheet.

(PREM) West Brom 2 - 3 Newcastle United

Morrison (5), Chadli (45+3), De Ligt (4), Perez (16, 27)

Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Clark | Yedlin, Kenedy | Ritchie, Shelvey, Merino | Perez, Slimani | Subs used: Atsu, Diame

Pardwho? This game had extra motivation for me, considering who the manager was and holding my hands up it affected my judgement. After getting off to brisk start, De Ligt converted a Ritchie corner, only for West Brom to respond almost instantly, without us touching the ball. Yedlin missed a interception from a hopeful punt up field, Chadli latched onto the ball almost instantly, squaring the ball to Rondon who probably should have scored, but Elliot got down low to block it, however, Morrison was first to react to the rebound and slotted home. However, we began the wrestle control of the match, which resided in Perez scoring two identical goals. The first involved Ritchie yet again who fed Yedlin down the right, he hit the byline, held the ball and laid to edge of the box, where Perez collected the ball, shifted to his right and bent it in the top corner. Ten minutes later we found ourselves in similar situation on the left this time with Kenedy, who again held the ball at the by line, he whipped in his cross, Evans cleared, but only as far as Perez on the edge of the box, who smashed into the top corner from a similar position as before. Perez was running the game at this point, he slid in Slimani twice, but a good save from Speroni and lack of composure let him down. Now, before Chadli scored I had noticed Perez was starting to get some rough treatment, and I should have brought Joselu on at this point as out moves were starting to break down with Perez and we needed a more physical presence upfront. But, I got cocky and figured with Perez on the pitch we would score more goals, however, just before halftime, Perez was robbed after firm tackle from Yacob. West Brom broke quickly and Chadli found himself one on one with Elliot and finished cooly. I made the change at halftime, our attacks started to stick again, but no more goals meant we finished the game winners.

(EFL CUP) Brighton and Hove Albion 0 - 1 Newcastle United

Clark (67)

Darlow | Gilesphey, Clark, Mbemba | Manquillo, Atsu | Svendsen, Diame, Hayden | Murphy, Joselu | Subs used: Shelvey, Perez

From one extreme to the other, a guy I detest in Pardew, to guy I love in Hughton. Brighton had started the season similar to ourselves, strongly. Which was good, as it meant i wouldn't go to bed in tears when i've beat them. Though in truth it was scrappy match, with little quality to talk about. The one attacking move to grab your attention came from ourselves, Svendsen played smart one two with Murphy, got himself some space in the right channel, he crossed to the back post where Joselu met the ball, for Ryan to tip over the bar. Svendsen whipped in the resulting corner, where Clark headed home.

(PREM) Newcastle United 2 - 0 Huddersfield

Merino (27), Joselu (78)

Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Clark | Yedlin, Kenedy | Ritchie, Shelvey, Merino | Perez, Joselu| Subs used: Hayden, Murphy, DIame

Another one of our promotion rivals, who had suffered a much more difficult start than to ourselves. Nevertheless there was a job to be done and we did it, though we were terrible in this match in truth. I knew Huddersfield like to press, so I put my most comfortable defenders on the ball on the pitch in a hope they would have the confidence to play, but they and the midfield kept getting caught out on the ball. The amount of time we turned over possession in dangerous areas was unbelievable. We got a lucky break from corner that Huddersfield failed to clear, the ball ricocheted around the box and Merino was the one to keep his composure and put us ahead. At half time I gave the team a bollocking, they came out and kept possession a lot better, but Huddersfield came out really put us under pressure initially, trying to force mistakes, they created a few decent opportunities, but Elliot was more than equal to them. I brought Murphy and Diame on for Perez and Shelvey, the main culprits in the first half for not keeping the ball. It was those two that combined to set Joselu up to put the game beyond Huddersfield. Diame robbed Mooy on halfway as he wanted too long on the ball, he quickly switched play to Murphy on the right, who centred the ball with a cross from deep, Joselu had beaten his man to finish first time. The only bit of quality in another wise poor match.

(PREM) Newcastle United 0 - 0 Southampton

Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Mbemba| Manquillo, Kenedy | Ritchie, Shelvey, Diame| Perez, Slimani | Subs used: Hayden, Atsu, Joselu

This was quite the opposite to the Huddersfield match, we deserved so much more than a draw. Southampton, pretty much mimicked real life, they kept the ball for meaningless amounts of time and we were very happy to let them have it and play quickly on the counter once we gained possession. Luckily for them Forster was in inspired form on his return to St James Park and saved from Slimani and Joselu late on, in superb fashion. We really missed Merino in this game, he is really becoming a big player in my team. We did enough to win this, but unless we get that bit of luck, then we don't have the quality up top to force a game.

Managers points

• Another very solid month in terms of results. Performances questionable, but winning when were not playing well is handy.
• Clean sheets are starting to become a thing, I was worried we were going to have to outscore opponents.
• We don’t protect our weakness well enough yet, though that will come with better players.
• Europe is definite possibility.
• I'm not taking much notice of the league table yet, as we've beaten teams I would expect us to bar Man City.
• The so called "lesser players" are doing a stirling job in the EFL Cup

 

News

Mikel Merino has been awarded young player of the month, scoring an impressive two goals from midfield. Paul Dummett has agreed to a new 4 year contract, as next season he would be entering the final year of his current deal. Dummett is vital player to the team, coming through the academy and cementing his place out on the left, his versatility is also important. The board have agreed to improve the youth and data facilities, with data facilities done in a matter of months and the youth facilities by the time the next season starts. They also declined to improve the training facilities. We have also agreed a deal with Coventry, where by they become our feeder team, I don’t necessarily loan players out that are in my plans, but when I do I like to control what I can.

[Kamakazeee]

Started with Rafa, now we're here - October

(PREM) Watford 2 - 4 Newcastle United
Richarlison (3), Pereyra (7) - Diame (11), Slimani (40, 79), De Ligt (50)
Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Lejeune | Yedlin, Kenedy | Hayden, Diame, Merino | Perez, Slimani | Subs used: Mbemba, Manquillo, Gayle
It can be tricky playing against teams such as Watford, as you don’t know how they are going to approach the game. On this occasion they came out and give us a good seeing too early doors, two goals in the first 10 minutes had us clinching, Richarlison showed his devastating pace to glide past De Ligt as he was racing to get on the end of a Doucore through ball, Elliot came out to meet him but the power of his shot left helpless. We tried to bounce back, but Watford’s pace and power was still causing problems to out defence, Kenedy ended up fouling Deeney on the edge of the box, it was one of those moments where you just feel that he’s going to score and Pereya stepped up and did nothing to mock my fears as bent into the top corner. Cracking goal. At this point I’m panicking, are we on the end of a battering? What can I change? I changed nothing, why? We weren’t playing badly, sometimes you have just got too sit back and applaud good play, right? We slowly started getting out midfield on the ball and this was evident has Diame got the ball from deep, started a marauding run through the center of the pitch, playing a one two with Slimani, before hitting the ball wide to Perez, he returned his pass into the box where DIame was determined not to be beaten has he volleyed home. This should have been alarm bells, as Diame’s presence and power was beginning to be noticeable, he shrugged off Pereya wide left. He slid the ball down the left to Kenedy, who pulled the ball back to the edge of the area, where Slimani was waiting to rifle the ball into the roof of the net. Back in it. I gave the lads some encouragement at half time, swapped Gayle for Hayden and put Perez into the midfield, I did this for two reasons, I wasn’t stretching the Watford defence enough, Gayle would run in behind and two, most of our good play has come from players running from midfield with the ball, Perez along with Diame would do this at will. The second half kicked off like the first, Watford testing us, but with our changes at half time we had something to offer them on the counter attack, which actually resulted in our first corner of the game. Merino drilled the ball into the box, De Ligt who has been a very capable scorer this year helped himself to another. Now do I stick or twist? Stick, we are playing brilliantly on the counter and that’s where our 4th goal came from, substitute Manquillo pinched the ball from RIcharlison, centered it to Diame, who released Perez, he played it round the corner to Gayle, who ran into the channel and squared it to Slimani to wrap up the win. I perfect example of not panicking, sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up to good play, that’s why I only concentrate on my team. 

(PREM) Newcastle United 0 - 2 Manchester United
Lukaku (23), Fellaini (70)
Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Clark | Yedlin, Gilesphey | Hayden, Shelvey, Merino | Gayle, Slimani | Subs used: Ritchie, Atsu, Diame
Beaten by the better team is all I can say here, they have the quality that I hope to in a few years so we can go toe to toe with them. We started the game bright enough, Gayle beating the Man Utd defense, especially Smalling a few times early on and pulling De Gea into at least one good save. However, Pogba’s influence started to become more prevalent and it didn’t take long before he outmuscled Shelvey, drifted past Hayden and sent Lukaku through one on one, who made no mistake. The second goal for Man Utd really pissed me off, Fellaini somehow managed to dribble the ball from the halfway line and slot home, FELLAINI?! What were my midfield and defence doing? One of them bizzare moments I can’t explain. Next season, I will hopefully have the players to really go at Man Utd, this year they bullied us really with the pace and power. 

(EFL CUP) Newcastle United 1 - 0 Swansea
Ritchie (34)
Darlow | Hayden, Lejeune, Mbemba | Manquillo, Atsu | Ritchie, Svendsen, Diame| Perez, Joselu | Subs used: Shelvey, Murphy
Back to collecting clean sheets, which were well received after two tough games. This was a largely uneventful game, which was lit up by the brilliance of Matt Ritchie. He was constant thorn in the Swansea midfield, whilst everyone else on the pitch played like death warmed up, Ritchie was like mad man and actually ended up having 7 shots, all on target, hitting the woodwork 4 times (which I count as on target ). The only goal of the game as Svendsen was brought down on the edge of the area, Ritchie stepped up confidently and put it past Nordfeitld, who incidentally actually had a good fame also, it was like there was only two players playing, him vs Ritchie. Ritchie won!

(PREM) Stoke 0 - 2 Newcastle United
Gayle (21), Perez (23)
Elliot | De Ligt, Lascelles, Clark | Yedlin, Kenedy | Ritchie, Shelvey, Merino | Gayle, Slimani | Subs used: Lejeune, Diame, Perez
We lost Slimani quite early in this game, he went off injured on the 23rd minute. However, this game was about Yedlin, he absolutely terrorised Stoke down the right flank, he started the game intent and he had the beating of both Shaquiri and Stafylidis all game long. He first showed his intentions after 2 minutes when he hit the byline and his cross reached Slimani’s head and forced Butland into a superb save. He repeated this move 3 more times until he eventually found the feet of Gayle attacking the front post where he converted Yedlin’s low cross past Butland’s near post, a save the keeper probably should have made. Shortly after Slimani had suffered a head injury and Perez was brought on to replace. Bizarrely Perez scored with his first touch of the game as he compounded Butlands misery, he charged down Butland, who was wanting too long on the ball, he tackled him on the edge of his box and rolled the ball into an empty net. The match went on in a similar vein, Yedlin was instrumental all game, but we suffered with losing Slimani’s height and presence in the box.

Manager Points 

• Solid month, nice to see we are comfortably beating the teams around us/similar stature.
• Mikel Merino’s importance to the team is growing by each game, he really does orchestrate our play. 
• Gap to the big six, is evident. Though if we are consistent in beating the teams in and around us we should be able to challenge top 4.
• Yedlin reaching full fitness is massive, his pace is lethal down the right wing.

 

News
Dummett and Lejeune have both returned to training, they will spend time with the reserve squad until they reach full match fitness. They can both play numerous positions, Lejeune midfield and center back and Dummett center back and left back, there versatility will be priceless entering the christmas period. Slimani will be out for 4 weeks with his head injury, he will be a massive miss upfront and he is the only rounded complete striker I have.

[warlock]

@Kamakazeee You still around? I was enjoying this - the only forum thread I've ever subscribed to!