Cuomo10 Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 Europe... Right, where do I begin!? We had an excellent run in the CL qualifiers beating TNS and putting in 2 exceptional performances to knock Kobenhavn out. We were unlucky against Odd and fought well during the 2 legs. We made a sweet £1.4m and earned a tie against Sheriff in the Europa League. A 2-0 home win helped us progress as we lost 3-2 away but have secured a place in the Group Stages. We've been given an additional £2.6m for reaching the group stages and it's a quite remarkable achievement and still can quite believe it. We've played one league game which was at home to Hibernians in a game where we won 2-1 and already gain an advantage on them. We made no signings but I did try and being back Steve Borg who was a youth product of ours who was a 2nd year, A rated, player, however he chose Balzan over us. From the Kobenhavn game onwards, I dropped both wingers to form a 5 in midfield and it's working really well against the sides Ive faced in Europe all of whom have a better rep than us. I am looking to move them forward again during league games but will adopt this during the Group Stages. Barbs and Spiteri have been our star players so far with good contributions from Deguara and C Grech. Some good talent in this team but I still feel I lack depth in areas. I'm going after players but the situation of not being able to offer a full time contract is starting to become annoying. I am not sure if it is a bug as other Semi-Pro teams can offer them but I cant (I've posted this in the bugs forum). Hopefully the additional revenue can push us to become Professional. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 Not a bad draw all things considered, im not expecting too much but we could put up a fight at home Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 24, 2018 Author Share Posted December 24, 2018 Sept & Oct 26 An excellent start to the league season with 8 wins and 1 draw in our first 9 games. Both months have been fixture heavy, more than what we are used to and we have had to rotate a lot to keep players fresh and allow players to rest where needed. The Europa league hasnt been too bad. We picked up a win at home to Vitesse and lost narrowly to Ludogorets but Legia dominated against us as we lost 3-0 to them at home There have been some good performances but none more so than Spiteri who is averaging 7.44 and has contributed to 8 goals, scoring 5 and assisting 3. I picked up another CB in Anton Borg as I need another option at centre back and he has done well but was signed too late to make our European squad My subs and rotated players have put in some steady performances. Andrew Chircop is RB from last seasons intake and has done well when called upon Our finances currently sit at £5.2m and this seasons European run has set us up really well for the future. We're on the right tracks to begin our domestic domination and another big step is the club turning pro ready for next season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkybike1 Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 Well done, you're set up well for the future! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 25, 2018 Author Share Posted December 25, 2018 21 hours ago, funkybike1 said: Well done, you're set up well for the future! Thank you, we've got a great foundation now and we need to try and become the dominate force in Malta now. Turning pro will be a massive help Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 26, 2018 Author Share Posted December 26, 2018 Nov & Dec 26 A really busy couple of months which really stretched our squad in terms of players becoming jaded and having to manage player resources. Pleased to say that we came out on top. In Europe, we lost our 2 remaining away games but beat Ludogorets 1-0 at home. The defeat away to Vitesse in the final group game meant that we finished bottom of our group. We've been solid in the league and remain unbeaten and we are now unbeaten in our last 29 league games. We have an 11 point lead at the top and it is now in our hands to make sure we do not blow this lead and retain our title. The frequency of games will lessen as we approach the second half of the month so we have a great chance to start our best 11 as often as possible. We smashed Birkirkara 6-0 in the Maltese Super Cup and then put another 3 past them in the league 3 days later. The domestic dominance swing has happened very quickly as we then beat Hibernians 3-1 away a few days later. We are through to the next round of the Cup and I have my sights set on getting further than the quarters for the first time. Back to the 4-4-2 for our domestic games and its been consistent. Anton Borg has been quality since bringing him in and our defensive performances have been very strong. Bjorn Zarb has hit 20 and unfortunately doesnt seem to be improving much more than his current ability. At the start of the season he was 5*PA; this has decreased to 3.5 now. I made the decision to draft in another CB that, Aidan Vella, who looks very strong so far. Midfielders have performed well, especially in the middle and Spiteri is still our stand out player of the season so far. Barbs is doing his thing and has bagged 17 in 25 games As you can see, there has been a lot of rotation and has been very much a squad game more so this season due to the additional games in Europe. Im scouting the market to see what additional quality I can add to the team. Centrally I am happy, but at FB and WM positions I could do with an extra player or 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Jan & Feb 27 Almost a flawless couple of months and we maintain our 11 point lead. Since the last update Birkirkara have won all of their league games and are our closest challenges but with 4 games left to play in the league, the title is almost ours. A lot less rotation has been required since the turn of the year but I've been giving some game time to a couple of youngsters. A lot of good ratings across the starting 11 and the new CB pairing has worked well. We have been relentless going forward and Barbs has reached his highest tally in a season with 25 in 31 (24 in 31 last season). Hammett has done well since partnering up with Barbs with scoring 11 in 13 starts. Been really impressed with Spiteri this season and im hoping that the 17 year old will continue to develop as we go to a pro status and can start training full time. My subs and squad players have contributed and the 3 youngsters that I have been giving a little more game time to are Caruana, Camilleri and Chircop. Farrugia is a big part of the first team but Grech and Spiteri have performed better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Youth Intake Not too bad with some decent potential that I hope I can develop with now going Pro a little more. Im wanting to improve the youth and training facilities but not sure how much the next level is and dont want to blow a big chunk of our money just yet. I know that if we make the CL qualifiers we will get some decent revenue so may just pull the trigger on training facilities first. We've got a couple solid looking CB's, one with low determination and one with a decent rating. We also have our first non Maltese player come through the intake and Im quite happy its a keeper as Ive been looking for another one and may be able to utilise Cardinalli Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 End of Season We won all of our final league games, keeping clean sheets in each and retained the title. We finally made it past the quarters but we lost out to Birkirkara in the Semi's in a game where we didnt really play well which was disappointing. A host of solid performances across the team as a whole. Goals throughout and some strong defensive displays. Spiteri continued to shine and is developing well. A true squad effort this season, especially during the first half when juggling the Europa Group stages and a lot of fixtures. With some decent youth players showing positive signs, the future continues to look bright and with some good looking players from the latest intake I am hoping to develop some more. We received £83k for finishing 1st, £12k more than last season. I decided to request improvements to both our youth and training facilities. The board accepted both and we take the next steps with improving the club as a whole. We've now turned professional and hoping this helps maintain and sustain our players with their future developments. I will now be looking to improve the quality of the backroom staff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 28, 2018 Author Share Posted December 28, 2018 With the extra revenue comes a higher tax hit of £200k, But some new sponsorship deals soften the loss a little and then this helped nicely Some recognition... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuomo10 Posted December 28, 2018 Author Share Posted December 28, 2018 Overachievers in the CL too... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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