Tom Blacksmith
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Sell them, with that amount of money you can easily get equal or better replacements, great read and good shout on going to blackburn !
A UK Journeyman Story
- Thread starter Hampus Silverholt
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Hampus Silverholt
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Cheers mate, and yeah they were out of the door on 1st January! Haven't actually spent a ridiculous amount to replace them either...
Hampus Silverholt
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As expected, the bids came in for our key players in January and I did not hesitate to accept them.
James Garner and Joe Geldhart have both joined Sheffield United for a combined fee of £36m. The fans are not happy but I couldn't care less, I don't want to manage players that don't want to be at the club.
At £20m, the fee we got for Gelhardt was the highest fee Blackburn have received since Roque Santa Cruz!
The final departure out was Taylor Richards, who also wanted to leave the club under the previous manager and has joined Bordeaux for £9m
Now for the exciting part.
Despite having a lot of money in the bank we haven’t spent all of it, as I have one eye on the summer window as well...
To replace Joe Gelhardt we bought Shakur Omar for £18m from West Ham, a player both @Enrico Pucci and @TheNotSoSpecialOne are familiar with. He’s 23 here and close to Premier League quality, so I’m really excited to see what he can do in the Championship
Midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka was transfer-listed by Villa for £3.8m, so he came in as the replacement for James Garner
We also signed Jellando Duncan for £8m from fellow playoff chasers Bristol City - I like his versatility and really think he could make a very good playmaker in central midfield.
We also strengthened our ageing defence (our current centre back partnership is 34 year old Conor Coady and 35-year-old Ben Gibson) with Felipe Rocha joining for just £2.5m from Benfica
That was it for the permanent transfers, but we also managed to secure the loan signings of Dane Scarlett from Spurs and Lee Foster from Liverpool to give us further quality in the squad
I’m liking the balance of the squad now and despite the upheaval in January, we still managed to go through the whole month unbeaten.
But the problem is that the clubs around us all keep winning too! So we’re still fighting it out for the playoff places in 7th position.
One of those teams above us is Lincoln, who are having a resurgence under Scott Parker - it's making me question whether leaving was the right decision again!
But we can’t keep focusing on them, with 17 games remaining we have a job on our hands to get Blackburn into the playoffs at least.
James Garner and Joe Geldhart have both joined Sheffield United for a combined fee of £36m. The fans are not happy but I couldn't care less, I don't want to manage players that don't want to be at the club.
At £20m, the fee we got for Gelhardt was the highest fee Blackburn have received since Roque Santa Cruz!
The final departure out was Taylor Richards, who also wanted to leave the club under the previous manager and has joined Bordeaux for £9m
Now for the exciting part.
Despite having a lot of money in the bank we haven’t spent all of it, as I have one eye on the summer window as well...
To replace Joe Gelhardt we bought Shakur Omar for £18m from West Ham, a player both @Enrico Pucci and @TheNotSoSpecialOne are familiar with. He’s 23 here and close to Premier League quality, so I’m really excited to see what he can do in the Championship
Midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka was transfer-listed by Villa for £3.8m, so he came in as the replacement for James Garner
We also signed Jellando Duncan for £8m from fellow playoff chasers Bristol City - I like his versatility and really think he could make a very good playmaker in central midfield.
We also strengthened our ageing defence (our current centre back partnership is 34 year old Conor Coady and 35-year-old Ben Gibson) with Felipe Rocha joining for just £2.5m from Benfica
That was it for the permanent transfers, but we also managed to secure the loan signings of Dane Scarlett from Spurs and Lee Foster from Liverpool to give us further quality in the squad
I’m liking the balance of the squad now and despite the upheaval in January, we still managed to go through the whole month unbeaten.
But the problem is that the clubs around us all keep winning too! So we’re still fighting it out for the playoff places in 7th position.
One of those teams above us is Lincoln, who are having a resurgence under Scott Parker - it's making me question whether leaving was the right decision again!
But we can’t keep focusing on them, with 17 games remaining we have a job on our hands to get Blackburn into the playoffs at least.
Hampus Silverholt
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We’re now more than 3 months into life as Blackburn manager, and it’s fair to say things are going well.
The new signings have settled in well and February was a month where we could not stop winning games in the Championship, with the only downside being us getting knocked out of the FA Cup by Chelsea.
We also somehow managed to lose 4-0 against relegation-threatened Reading in a bizarre game.
I thought that would be the start of a slump but a brilliant comeback win against Portsmouth calmed any fears of that.
So the good form means that we are now firmly in contention for automatic promotion, whilst it looks like Lincoln will struggle to make the playoffs after a bad run of form
The exact same tactic we had at Lincoln seems to be working at Blackburn, although it does help when the players are of much better quality…
Daniel March has been the main goalscoring threat in the last few months and has notched 14 league goals so far this campaign.
He was signed before I joined on the cheap from Arsenal, but one worry is a £16.75m release clause in his contract that we cant get rid of!
Shane Thorbourne is another player that I’ve inherited who has performed well, with 7 goals and 8 assists so far this season.
I actually tried to sign him for Lincoln in the summer when Liverpool made him available for £700k. He ended up choosing Blackburn and I ended up managing him anyway!
There’s still a lot that could happen with 10 games to go, but our match away against current leaders Brighton in a month could potentially be a big one!
And the last game of the season is away against Lincoln… you can just see something happening in that game, can’t you?
But if all goes well, we could be leading Blackburn back to the Premier League!
The new signings have settled in well and February was a month where we could not stop winning games in the Championship, with the only downside being us getting knocked out of the FA Cup by Chelsea.
We also somehow managed to lose 4-0 against relegation-threatened Reading in a bizarre game.
I thought that would be the start of a slump but a brilliant comeback win against Portsmouth calmed any fears of that.
So the good form means that we are now firmly in contention for automatic promotion, whilst it looks like Lincoln will struggle to make the playoffs after a bad run of form
The exact same tactic we had at Lincoln seems to be working at Blackburn, although it does help when the players are of much better quality…
Daniel March has been the main goalscoring threat in the last few months and has notched 14 league goals so far this campaign.
He was signed before I joined on the cheap from Arsenal, but one worry is a £16.75m release clause in his contract that we cant get rid of!
Shane Thorbourne is another player that I’ve inherited who has performed well, with 7 goals and 8 assists so far this season.
I actually tried to sign him for Lincoln in the summer when Liverpool made him available for £700k. He ended up choosing Blackburn and I ended up managing him anyway!
There’s still a lot that could happen with 10 games to go, but our match away against current leaders Brighton in a month could potentially be a big one!
And the last game of the season is away against Lincoln… you can just see something happening in that game, can’t you?
But if all goes well, we could be leading Blackburn back to the Premier League!
Hampus Silverholt
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We started the end of season run-in with an appalling loss to Stoke but then reacted to that defeat with 4 crucial wins in a row.
That meant we were pulling away from the playoff places along with Brighton, who had been top of the league for the last few months.
We played them next.
The game on Good Friday would essentially decide who won the Championship.
But it didn’t quite go to plan…
For some reason whenever we lose a game we get absolutely battered. Our last 4 defeats have all been by at least 3 goals.
All of a sudden there was a lot of pressure on us in our final 4 matches of the season, with Fulham just 2 points behind in 3rd place.
And it was our former club Lincoln, the team we left Blackburn for halfway through the season, who we played in the final game of the season! The script was writing itself.
Some really nervy performances followed, but we gained 2 crucial wins against Milwall and Swansea to edge us further to promotion.
Was it enough to ensure Lincoln wouldn’t ruin the party on the last day? Of course not.
With a 3 point gap I’d be confident, but inferior goal difference compared to Fulham and the unique scenario of playing Lincoln in the very last game is making me nervous.
That, plus the news of our top scorer and main goal threat Daniel March being ruled out of the game is making me very, very nervous.
The reason we left Lincoln in November was to get Blackburn promoted back to the Premier League as soon as possible.
Now all we need is a draw against Lincoln to ensure that happens.
We can’t bottle this, can we?
That meant we were pulling away from the playoff places along with Brighton, who had been top of the league for the last few months.
We played them next.
The game on Good Friday would essentially decide who won the Championship.
But it didn’t quite go to plan…
For some reason whenever we lose a game we get absolutely battered. Our last 4 defeats have all been by at least 3 goals.
All of a sudden there was a lot of pressure on us in our final 4 matches of the season, with Fulham just 2 points behind in 3rd place.
And it was our former club Lincoln, the team we left Blackburn for halfway through the season, who we played in the final game of the season! The script was writing itself.
Some really nervy performances followed, but we gained 2 crucial wins against Milwall and Swansea to edge us further to promotion.
Was it enough to ensure Lincoln wouldn’t ruin the party on the last day? Of course not.
With a 3 point gap I’d be confident, but inferior goal difference compared to Fulham and the unique scenario of playing Lincoln in the very last game is making me nervous.
That, plus the news of our top scorer and main goal threat Daniel March being ruled out of the game is making me very, very nervous.
The reason we left Lincoln in November was to get Blackburn promoted back to the Premier League as soon as possible.
Now all we need is a draw against Lincoln to ensure that happens.
We can’t bottle this, can we?
Hampus Silverholt
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The good news before our final league match of the season was that star striker Daniel March was fit enough to have a place on the bench.
At the time I thought that was crucial news, but it turned out that we didn’t even need him anyway…
January signing Shakur Omar was the man of the moment - with his 2 goals firing us to promotion in a game we were actually quite lucky to win!
It was a risk to leave Lincoln for the Blackburn job, but one that has been fully justified with us getting promoted to the Premier League at the first time of asking!
Fulham were the other team that ended up getting promoted in the playoffs, with my former club Lincoln finishing in a very impressive 9th place.
2nd place is a great feat for our squad, which will need to be drastically improved on in the summer if we stand any chance of staying in the Premier League.
Shakur Omar was an inspired signing for us, with his 12 goals in 19 league matches a massive reason why we got promoted.
One really unsung hero this season has been 33 year old Alex Mowatt, whose performances as a box-to-box midfielder have resulted in 6 goals and 9 assists this season.
We have a real big task at keeping Blackburn in the Premier League next season and although my tactic has done well for me over the last few years, I don’t think it’s a wise way to go for a team in a relegation battle.
We only have £39m to spend in the summer, but we can make that go a long way if we spread the payments out over a few years.
It’s a bit of a small budget though considering we have £90m in the bank and more Premier League money to come!
But next season we enter an alternate universe where Man United are good and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is one of the best managers of all time…
We’re not quite there yet, but do have a 3-star reputation and an impressive 69% win percentage in 316 games as a manager.
8 years ago we were in the second tier of Welsh football… next season we will be in the Premier League!
At the time I thought that was crucial news, but it turned out that we didn’t even need him anyway…
January signing Shakur Omar was the man of the moment - with his 2 goals firing us to promotion in a game we were actually quite lucky to win!
It was a risk to leave Lincoln for the Blackburn job, but one that has been fully justified with us getting promoted to the Premier League at the first time of asking!
Fulham were the other team that ended up getting promoted in the playoffs, with my former club Lincoln finishing in a very impressive 9th place.
2nd place is a great feat for our squad, which will need to be drastically improved on in the summer if we stand any chance of staying in the Premier League.
Shakur Omar was an inspired signing for us, with his 12 goals in 19 league matches a massive reason why we got promoted.
One really unsung hero this season has been 33 year old Alex Mowatt, whose performances as a box-to-box midfielder have resulted in 6 goals and 9 assists this season.
We have a real big task at keeping Blackburn in the Premier League next season and although my tactic has done well for me over the last few years, I don’t think it’s a wise way to go for a team in a relegation battle.
We only have £39m to spend in the summer, but we can make that go a long way if we spread the payments out over a few years.
It’s a bit of a small budget though considering we have £90m in the bank and more Premier League money to come!
But next season we enter an alternate universe where Man United are good and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is one of the best managers of all time…
We’re not quite there yet, but do have a 3-star reputation and an impressive 69% win percentage in 316 games as a manager.
8 years ago we were in the second tier of Welsh football… next season we will be in the Premier League!
Hampus Silverholt
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I do love a summer transfer window!
There have been a lot of incomings as we try to build a Blackburn squad that can actually stay in the Premier League.
Firstly, there were a few departures which got us some decent money for squad players.
The only first-teamer to go was Lewis Travis who wanted to leave after more than 10 years at the club, which did not go down well with the fans!
In terms of incomings, so far we have spent £67m on players.
The defence was an area we needed to improve on and I’ve arguably bought an entirely new back 4!
First up was Jørgen Kampenhoi for £6m from Chelsea - I initially thought he’d be our new first choice right-back, but he’s probably going to be a rotation option.
Fellow Norweigan Trogeir Vinje joins for £9m for Molde - a player who can play centre back or right back
To add more experience I also bought in Jason Denayer for less than £1m.
And the final defender to arrive was Helder Bastos for £10.5m - you just can’t resist a bargain wonderkid but he’s also the only kind of player whose transfer fee and wages we can afford!
And that’s it… in terms of defenders anyway!
A new goalkeeper was also needed, so I decided to go big and splash out £25m on Mile Janjetovic from Dinamo Zagreb
We didn’t end there with Zagreb though, wonderkid Sebastian Frankle also joined for £9.5m. Similar to Bastos from Flamengo, he’s already premier league quality, has lots of room for improvement, was a cheap fee and has affordable wages - the ideal transfer!
Next up was central midfielder Juanjo Tejedor for £10.5m from Atletico Madrid - he’s been on the fringes of their first team for years and hopefully can be one of our key players this season
And finally, to provide us an option on either wing, we have acquired Noni Madueke on loan from Leeds.
I wanted to buy him outright but didn't have the budget, so instead we’ve got him on loan with a mandatory purchase of £10m at the end of the season. It’s just not worked for him since moving back to the Premier League and I’m hoping he can kickstart his career here.
And so what do all of those transfers mean? They mean we’re still predicted to finish bottom anyway…
We also have Man City away in our first game of the season, which will be my first ever match as Premier League manager - great!
These young, new signings are going to have to gel very quickly.
There have been a lot of incomings as we try to build a Blackburn squad that can actually stay in the Premier League.
Firstly, there were a few departures which got us some decent money for squad players.
The only first-teamer to go was Lewis Travis who wanted to leave after more than 10 years at the club, which did not go down well with the fans!
In terms of incomings, so far we have spent £67m on players.
The defence was an area we needed to improve on and I’ve arguably bought an entirely new back 4!
First up was Jørgen Kampenhoi for £6m from Chelsea - I initially thought he’d be our new first choice right-back, but he’s probably going to be a rotation option.
Fellow Norweigan Trogeir Vinje joins for £9m for Molde - a player who can play centre back or right back
To add more experience I also bought in Jason Denayer for less than £1m.
And the final defender to arrive was Helder Bastos for £10.5m - you just can’t resist a bargain wonderkid but he’s also the only kind of player whose transfer fee and wages we can afford!
And that’s it… in terms of defenders anyway!
A new goalkeeper was also needed, so I decided to go big and splash out £25m on Mile Janjetovic from Dinamo Zagreb
We didn’t end there with Zagreb though, wonderkid Sebastian Frankle also joined for £9.5m. Similar to Bastos from Flamengo, he’s already premier league quality, has lots of room for improvement, was a cheap fee and has affordable wages - the ideal transfer!
Next up was central midfielder Juanjo Tejedor for £10.5m from Atletico Madrid - he’s been on the fringes of their first team for years and hopefully can be one of our key players this season
And finally, to provide us an option on either wing, we have acquired Noni Madueke on loan from Leeds.
I wanted to buy him outright but didn't have the budget, so instead we’ve got him on loan with a mandatory purchase of £10m at the end of the season. It’s just not worked for him since moving back to the Premier League and I’m hoping he can kickstart his career here.
And so what do all of those transfers mean? They mean we’re still predicted to finish bottom anyway…
We also have Man City away in our first game of the season, which will be my first ever match as Premier League manager - great!
These young, new signings are going to have to gel very quickly.
Hampus Silverholt
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Feels like it's taken ages but I suppose 8 seasons isn't too bad to get to the Premier League - was hoping to manage in Scotland at some point but I suppose Rangers or Celtic would be the only 2 teams that can tempt me now
Cheers mate and yeah I think he could be a huge player for us this season. He's miles better than any other winger we have so am just hoping he stays fit all season!
Hampus Silverholt
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With our first game of the season away against Man City - did you expect anything else other than a heavy defeat?
I don’t expect us to get anything in games like that - it’s our home form which will determine if we’ll stay up or not this season.
And a big win against Leeds in our first home match of the season showed that we’re capable of performing at the top level!
Another away loss followed but we were again able to get a victory at Ewood with a huge win over Burnley in our local derby.
We also got smashed by Man United in the Carabao Cup, but I can’t say I’m too bothered about that competition - overall the first 7 games of the season have been a success.
7 points after 5 games and in 10th position, I’ll take that! We’re even ahead of Chelsea in the league!
We’re always going to be underdogs this season, but it was still a shock to see just how low our wage expenditure is. It’s nearly half of Fulham’s, who were promoted alongside us last season.
You’d think that we have loads to spend still but our transfer budget has been depleted after spending £60m in the summer. It just shows you how ridiculous the money involved in the Premier League is!
Having said that, we do actually have £70m in the bank so something doesn’t quite add up…
Elsewhere, one of our summer recruits Sebastian Frankle is not a happy bunny. Apparently, I promised that I’d bring in another Croatian to help him settle.
That’s despite us having signed Mile Janjetovic before him, who was happy that we bought in Frankle because he was another Croatian player - ridiculous!
So aside from the player politics, it’s been a decent start to life in the Premier League. We have some tough fixtures to follow but have proven that we won’t go down without a fight this season.
I don’t expect us to get anything in games like that - it’s our home form which will determine if we’ll stay up or not this season.
And a big win against Leeds in our first home match of the season showed that we’re capable of performing at the top level!
Another away loss followed but we were again able to get a victory at Ewood with a huge win over Burnley in our local derby.
We also got smashed by Man United in the Carabao Cup, but I can’t say I’m too bothered about that competition - overall the first 7 games of the season have been a success.
7 points after 5 games and in 10th position, I’ll take that! We’re even ahead of Chelsea in the league!
We’re always going to be underdogs this season, but it was still a shock to see just how low our wage expenditure is. It’s nearly half of Fulham’s, who were promoted alongside us last season.
You’d think that we have loads to spend still but our transfer budget has been depleted after spending £60m in the summer. It just shows you how ridiculous the money involved in the Premier League is!
Having said that, we do actually have £70m in the bank so something doesn’t quite add up…
Elsewhere, one of our summer recruits Sebastian Frankle is not a happy bunny. Apparently, I promised that I’d bring in another Croatian to help him settle.
That’s despite us having signed Mile Janjetovic before him, who was happy that we bought in Frankle because he was another Croatian player - ridiculous!
So aside from the player politics, it’s been a decent start to life in the Premier League. We have some tough fixtures to follow but have proven that we won’t go down without a fight this season.
Hampus Silverholt
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Six more Premier League games have been and gone and we have acquired six more points - I suppose that’s alright?
One of the wins in that time was a real smash and grab against Chelsea but I couldn’t care less. Results like that really give me confidence that we can stay up this season!
Then on the flip side of that, we got absolutely shafted at home to Brighton - that kind of result makes me think we’re destined for relegation…
We also got a very important win against Villa in our most recent game, which leaves us in 13th place after 11 games in total.
Our player of the season so far has been Noni Madueke, who has 4 goals in 10 Premier League matches which could prove to be vital for us.
Another player that has been brilliant for us is one I didn’t even expect to be in the first team this season. Jørgen Kampenhoi has firmly cemented himself as first choice right back with 2 assists and an average rating over 7!
On the other hand, £10m summer signing Juanjo Tejedor has very poor so far. He did actually score his first goal of the season in our last game, so I’m hoping that kick starts his season.
Finally, our starting striker Shakur Omar has not played badly this season but only has 2 goals in 11 games. If he continues to average a goal every 5 matches and Noni stops scoring then we could really be struggling.
We have games against Sheffield United and Southampton up next, both of whom are below us in the table, so it’s a chance for us to pick up more points.
But after that we have a really tricky run playing 4 teams in the top 6 including high-flying Wolves, so we need to get some points on the board before then!
One of the wins in that time was a real smash and grab against Chelsea but I couldn’t care less. Results like that really give me confidence that we can stay up this season!
Then on the flip side of that, we got absolutely shafted at home to Brighton - that kind of result makes me think we’re destined for relegation…
We also got a very important win against Villa in our most recent game, which leaves us in 13th place after 11 games in total.
Our player of the season so far has been Noni Madueke, who has 4 goals in 10 Premier League matches which could prove to be vital for us.
Another player that has been brilliant for us is one I didn’t even expect to be in the first team this season. Jørgen Kampenhoi has firmly cemented himself as first choice right back with 2 assists and an average rating over 7!
On the other hand, £10m summer signing Juanjo Tejedor has very poor so far. He did actually score his first goal of the season in our last game, so I’m hoping that kick starts his season.
Finally, our starting striker Shakur Omar has not played badly this season but only has 2 goals in 11 games. If he continues to average a goal every 5 matches and Noni stops scoring then we could really be struggling.
We have games against Sheffield United and Southampton up next, both of whom are below us in the table, so it’s a chance for us to pick up more points.
But after that we have a really tricky run playing 4 teams in the top 6 including high-flying Wolves, so we need to get some points on the board before then!
Hampus Silverholt
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Our tough run of fixtures started with an insane game away to Newcastle. We were drifting towards a defeat, only to score 2 late goals in the game to salvage a draw.
£25m goalkeeper Mile Janjetovic even saved a last-minute penalty to gain us a point in a match where he made 16 saves and got a perfect 10 rating!
That result gave us some momentum and we followed that with 2 more huge wins against Sheffield United and Southampton.
33 year old Alex Mowatt came on as a sub in both of the games… and scored in both too!
And those wins saw us move up to 9th position in the Premier League at one point.
But then we had the dreaded run against teams in the top 6. It started away to Spurs…
The bizarre thing about the 6-0 loss was that we weren’t even that bad - we just couldn’t cope with 6’7” Lorenzo Lucca who scored 5 goals!
So after that battering, I was expecting a very long December against some of the better teams in the league. But the results have actually been ok.
That run included a very impressive 2-2 draw at Anfield and an even more impressive 2-0 win over Arsenal on Boxing Day.
And those results mean that we are comfortably in midtable despite being predicted to go down at the start of the season.
We’ve really made Ewood Park a fortress this season and out of the 28 points we have so far, 25 of those have come at home! Incredibly, that means we have the best home form in the whole division!
The 4-3-3 formation that we adopted at the start of the season is working wonders, we just need to find a way to get results away from home.
We’ve also been quite lucky with injuries this season, using just 20 players in total which is the lowest amount of players used in the Premier League.
And after criticising him slightly in the last post, Shakur Omar has shown his quality with 6 goals and 2 assists in his last 10 matches.
We have a tiny bit of money to spend in January, so could make some further improvements to the squad if the right players are available.
But we’re just over halfway through the season and unless we have a catastrophic drop in form, it looks like we should keep Blackburn up!
£25m goalkeeper Mile Janjetovic even saved a last-minute penalty to gain us a point in a match where he made 16 saves and got a perfect 10 rating!
That result gave us some momentum and we followed that with 2 more huge wins against Sheffield United and Southampton.
33 year old Alex Mowatt came on as a sub in both of the games… and scored in both too!
And those wins saw us move up to 9th position in the Premier League at one point.
But then we had the dreaded run against teams in the top 6. It started away to Spurs…
The bizarre thing about the 6-0 loss was that we weren’t even that bad - we just couldn’t cope with 6’7” Lorenzo Lucca who scored 5 goals!
So after that battering, I was expecting a very long December against some of the better teams in the league. But the results have actually been ok.
That run included a very impressive 2-2 draw at Anfield and an even more impressive 2-0 win over Arsenal on Boxing Day.
And those results mean that we are comfortably in midtable despite being predicted to go down at the start of the season.
We’ve really made Ewood Park a fortress this season and out of the 28 points we have so far, 25 of those have come at home! Incredibly, that means we have the best home form in the whole division!
The 4-3-3 formation that we adopted at the start of the season is working wonders, we just need to find a way to get results away from home.
We’ve also been quite lucky with injuries this season, using just 20 players in total which is the lowest amount of players used in the Premier League.
And after criticising him slightly in the last post, Shakur Omar has shown his quality with 6 goals and 2 assists in his last 10 matches.
We have a tiny bit of money to spend in January, so could make some further improvements to the squad if the right players are available.
But we’re just over halfway through the season and unless we have a catastrophic drop in form, it looks like we should keep Blackburn up!
sahajpal97
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Love this series.
Feel free to check out mine.
1. Journeyman save (FM 2021): https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/the-journey-of-a-lifetime.178165/
2. The Big Rebuild (FM 2021): https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/the-big-rebuild-club-1-manchester-united.178171/
Feel free to check out mine.
1. Journeyman save (FM 2021): https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/the-journey-of-a-lifetime.178165/
2. The Big Rebuild (FM 2021): https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/the-big-rebuild-club-1-manchester-united.178171/
Hampus Silverholt
Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2017
- Messages
- 1,266
- Reaction score
- 2,242
- Points
- 113
Despite the relative success we’ve had so far this season, I decided that a new left-back was needed in January due to the form of current starter Harry Pickering, who was constantly dropping 6.1 performances.
So when Luke Shaw was loan listed by Atletico Madrid, I had no hesitation in getting him in even though he’s now the highest wage earner at the club.
The only other bit of January business was a transfer I made many months ago. Ecuadorian Eddy Ortiz joins for £1m after being highlighted as one of the 50 wonderkids in the world and it looks like he can become a special player in the future.
So that was it in terms of transfers…
Then Shakur Omar got injured.
That gave backup striker Daniel March the opportunity to shine.
He got injured a day later…
Suddenly we were in desperate need of a striker - the transfer window was not over for us yet!
Funnily enough, those two injuries didn’t matter in our next game away at West Ham. The irony of picking up our first away win of the season without a fit striker was not lost on me!
Despite that result, we still needed a forward player so Matt Robertson came in for £5.5m from Derby. The fact he can play on the left was a big factor in signing him too, as it’s also a position we’re short on numbers in
Robertson has only played two games so far but it’s fair to say that he needs to hit the ground running. We’ve struggled for form lately and in our last 6 games, we’ve scored just 2 goals.
Yet we’re still 13 points clear of the relegation zone after 25 Premier League games. I’m already counting down the matches and have my sights set on getting 40 points.
Our upcoming games do not look promising though and it’s only the Sheffield United game which I expect to get something from with the form we’re in.
We desperately need our strikers back fit and need to find some wins from somewhere or else this could be an uncomfortable end to what has been a very successful season so far.
Surely we’re not going to get dragged into a relegation battle now?
So when Luke Shaw was loan listed by Atletico Madrid, I had no hesitation in getting him in even though he’s now the highest wage earner at the club.
The only other bit of January business was a transfer I made many months ago. Ecuadorian Eddy Ortiz joins for £1m after being highlighted as one of the 50 wonderkids in the world and it looks like he can become a special player in the future.
So that was it in terms of transfers…
Then Shakur Omar got injured.
That gave backup striker Daniel March the opportunity to shine.
He got injured a day later…
Suddenly we were in desperate need of a striker - the transfer window was not over for us yet!
Funnily enough, those two injuries didn’t matter in our next game away at West Ham. The irony of picking up our first away win of the season without a fit striker was not lost on me!
Despite that result, we still needed a forward player so Matt Robertson came in for £5.5m from Derby. The fact he can play on the left was a big factor in signing him too, as it’s also a position we’re short on numbers in
Robertson has only played two games so far but it’s fair to say that he needs to hit the ground running. We’ve struggled for form lately and in our last 6 games, we’ve scored just 2 goals.
Yet we’re still 13 points clear of the relegation zone after 25 Premier League games. I’m already counting down the matches and have my sights set on getting 40 points.
Our upcoming games do not look promising though and it’s only the Sheffield United game which I expect to get something from with the form we’re in.
We desperately need our strikers back fit and need to find some wins from somewhere or else this could be an uncomfortable end to what has been a very successful season so far.
Surely we’re not going to get dragged into a relegation battle now?
Hampus Silverholt
Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2017
- Messages
- 1,266
- Reaction score
- 2,242
- Points
- 113
Just as our key attacking players were returning to full fitness, we were met with the news that Noni Madueke was out for a month as well as main centre back Helder Bastos.
It was not good news at all as Noni has been our player of the season so far with 5 goals and 6 assists, whereas Bastos was part of a reasonably successful and settled back four.
With the run of fixtures that we had, it was no surprise that we picked up 2 points from our next 5 games.
And the poor form saw fans question the very same tactics that had got the club up to 13th in the table!
The team that was predicted to finish bottom at the start of the season had gone 6 games without a win in the toughest league in the world, who would have thought it?!
There were obviously many factors that contributed to that run, one of which I have named the “Luke Shaw curse”
Since arriving on loan in January, earning £83,000 a week, he has constantly underperformed and we have won just one match.
His one last chance came against Wolves at Molineux - the uninspiring run of form from both him and the team meant that we desperately needed a win
And that’s exactly what we got, with centre midfielder Tejedor getting 3 assists (which doubled his entire tally for the season)
We’ve been poor lately but when the pressure is on, we seem to deliver! That win means we’re still in 13th place in the Premier League - a position we seem to have been in for months.
So there are 8 games remaining and we’re 10 points above the bottom three - we just need one final push in order to keep Blackburn in the Premier League.
It was not good news at all as Noni has been our player of the season so far with 5 goals and 6 assists, whereas Bastos was part of a reasonably successful and settled back four.
With the run of fixtures that we had, it was no surprise that we picked up 2 points from our next 5 games.
And the poor form saw fans question the very same tactics that had got the club up to 13th in the table!
The team that was predicted to finish bottom at the start of the season had gone 6 games without a win in the toughest league in the world, who would have thought it?!
There were obviously many factors that contributed to that run, one of which I have named the “Luke Shaw curse”
Since arriving on loan in January, earning £83,000 a week, he has constantly underperformed and we have won just one match.
His one last chance came against Wolves at Molineux - the uninspiring run of form from both him and the team meant that we desperately needed a win
And that’s exactly what we got, with centre midfielder Tejedor getting 3 assists (which doubled his entire tally for the season)
We’ve been poor lately but when the pressure is on, we seem to deliver! That win means we’re still in 13th place in the Premier League - a position we seem to have been in for months.
So there are 8 games remaining and we’re 10 points above the bottom three - we just need one final push in order to keep Blackburn in the Premier League.
MidKnightDreary
Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2019
- Messages
- 109
- Reaction score
- 93
- Points
- 28
Great work so far!
Hampus Silverholt
Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2017
- Messages
- 1,266
- Reaction score
- 2,242
- Points
- 113
cheers mate, slowly getting there! The champions league will be won at some point in this save... (I hope!)
Hampus Silverholt
Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2017
- Messages
- 1,266
- Reaction score
- 2,242
- Points
- 113
A last-minute winner away to Southampton gave us a very lucky win but took us to 39 points, which all but secured our Premier League status for next season.
It also left Southampton languishing in the relegation zone despite being predicted to finish 7th at the start of the season!
And with that win our players were already on the beach, so we ended the season scoring just once in our final 5 league matches.
But that really didn’t matter in the end - our first season in the Premier League was a massive success as we finished in 14th and a whole 12 points above the relegation zone! Southampton also ended up getting relegated which was a big shock considering the quality of their squad.
The high turnover of players in the summer was justified, as our young squad that was quickly assembled together has defied all expectations by finishing in 14th.
Very few players that were with us last season in the Championship played a big part in this campaign but one exception was Carney Chukwuemeka. The £3.8m signing started every single Premier League game for us this season.
New signings Torgeir Vinje and Mile Janjetovic also played every single minute of the Premier League campaign.
And because of their form, they were considered to be some of the signings of the season!
Shakur Omar ended up with 12 Premier League goals in the end - that’s actually a great return for the main striker of a team predicted to finish bottom of the table.
And Noni Madueke provided some magic throughout the season with 7 goals and 7 assists - again a vital contribution for a team lower in the table.
Having said that, a big reason for our success has actually been the defensive contribution - we conceded 51 goals in 38 games, which is pretty decent for a team recently promoted from the Championship.
Next season we have been given a £52m budget, which can go a long way but it’s annoying that the number is so low when we have £95m in the bank already.
The question is - are we going to be able to attract the calibre of players to the club that can take us to the top half of the Premier League? Or is another relegation scrap on the cards?
In which case, do we start looking at what other jobs are available…
It also left Southampton languishing in the relegation zone despite being predicted to finish 7th at the start of the season!
And with that win our players were already on the beach, so we ended the season scoring just once in our final 5 league matches.
But that really didn’t matter in the end - our first season in the Premier League was a massive success as we finished in 14th and a whole 12 points above the relegation zone! Southampton also ended up getting relegated which was a big shock considering the quality of their squad.
The high turnover of players in the summer was justified, as our young squad that was quickly assembled together has defied all expectations by finishing in 14th.
Very few players that were with us last season in the Championship played a big part in this campaign but one exception was Carney Chukwuemeka. The £3.8m signing started every single Premier League game for us this season.
New signings Torgeir Vinje and Mile Janjetovic also played every single minute of the Premier League campaign.
And because of their form, they were considered to be some of the signings of the season!
Shakur Omar ended up with 12 Premier League goals in the end - that’s actually a great return for the main striker of a team predicted to finish bottom of the table.
And Noni Madueke provided some magic throughout the season with 7 goals and 7 assists - again a vital contribution for a team lower in the table.
Having said that, a big reason for our success has actually been the defensive contribution - we conceded 51 goals in 38 games, which is pretty decent for a team recently promoted from the Championship.
Next season we have been given a £52m budget, which can go a long way but it’s annoying that the number is so low when we have £95m in the bank already.
The question is - are we going to be able to attract the calibre of players to the club that can take us to the top half of the Premier League? Or is another relegation scrap on the cards?
In which case, do we start looking at what other jobs are available…