March 2038
Norwich (a) FA Cup 5th Round - The scoreline suggests a far closer game than it actually was. Derry’s apprenticeship at centre-forward continues and Navarro gets his first - a fine close range header - on his first start. (Most of) the deputies did a fine job getting us through there.
FA Cup final quarter final and it’s Manchester United, with our only ray of light being that we are, at least, drawn at home.
Liverpool (h) - Back to full strength with the Lazenby, Parker, Thiry trio at the top end, hopefully in a position to do the business. A number of other players return to give us the strongest possible 11. That was a very good win and we restricted Liverpool to just the 4 shots on target and one of those was the penalty Pizzuti saved.
Parker’s 4 week injury rules him out of the Champions League 2nd leg and the FA Cup quarter final and he will be missed.
Fulham (a) - Our game in hand is against the team struggling in 18th and a win would take us level at the top of the table, with Man City. Parker’s injury means Krylov comes in and this is probably a good game to give both Thiry & Martin a rest. Absolutely fuming with that - we didn’t even look like scoring until we went long ball for the last 15 minutes. Just could not break them down.
That was a huge missed opportunity to make some headway on the top of the table.
Crystal Palace (h) - This needs a massive improvement from the Fulham game and they’re told as much. Krylov, Parker and Duro are the notable absentees. Central defender Ba had an absolute shocker and was at fault for both their goals, so it’s fitting he got the winner but we were fortunate and made hard work of the win.
Valencia (h) Champions league last 16 2nd leg - A very narrow lead from the first leg puts us in a reasonable position, but Valencia are dangerous opposition and our best players have returned. That was so far from being a decent performance it’s unreal, but Lazenby totally digs us out of a hole and shows why we paid a lot of money for him.
Barrington Parker signs a massive new contract on £300k a week, but it keeps him here for another 5 years which will stop the vultures from circling for the time being. If we can just pull the same for Thiry, that would be a real coup.
The youth intake doesn’t produce anyone of note so it’s down to poaching some youngsters if we can.
Champions League quarter final:
For the third season in a row we’re through to the Champions League quarter final...we’ve not made the semi’s yet.
Manchester United (h) FA Cup quarter final - Not the game I want to be resting players, but that extra time against Valencia took quite a lot out of key players as Jose, Rousseau and Thiry all need a rest. Krylov, Navarro and Lopez are the replacements. Krylov produces a mazy run and clinical finish before Lazenby - once again - just takes over and takes his tally to 30 in all for the season.
But the damaged foot rules him out for 2 weeks and that is probably the one injury we will struggle the most with. Either Derry, or Jansen - at opposite ends of the experience spectrum - will be needed to deputise.
Player profile: Cesar Lopez. The American centre-back has somehow never played more than 25 league games in the season for me, but is another of my longserving unsung heroes. He’s won the Championship, 2 Carabao Cups and the European Cup II with me and has more than played his part. 211 games in all and working his way to 100 International caps.
In the other quarter final, Brighton pull off a shock and beat Manchester City and the semi-final draw is
West Brom v Oldham
Stoke v Brighton.
This really is there for the taking but West Brom are one of my bogey teams.
Leicester (a) - U18 player Petrella has to come in as both Parker and Krylov are out with a lack of fitness. They’re joined by Thiry, Lazenby and Pedro Martin meaning we have a starting 11 that is some way from the one I would have chosen. Unfortunately, Petrella properly blows his chance in a game where Leicester had no shots - none - of any type, and we didn’t make the most of it.
Still pretty tight between the top 4 but that Leicester game feels like a big missed opportunity. We’ve still to play Man City & Chelsea (both at home) and they are 2 of our final 3 games - it could be an epic run in.