A kid with a plan - Patrick Liljenqvist

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European Results:

In Summary:

- Chelsea retain their BPL crown, whilst Liverpool edge Arsenal for second on goal difference. Everton are relegated!

- Atletico finish just one point behind Barca, and 6 ahead of Real Madrid

- Bayern edge Schalke by a single point for the Bundesliga

- PSG totally dominate the Ligue 1, losing just one game, and finishing on 99 points, 20 clear of second placed OL

- Ajax retain the Eredivisie, whilst NEC's Makienok wins the Golden boot yet again (bargain striker perhaps?)

- PSG waltz to the Champions League title, completing a hugely successful season under Joachim Löw, where they lost just 5 games in all competitions.

- Arsenal claim the Europa League on penalties over Dortmund

 
World Cup Group Stage:

We were drawn in a group with Brazil, Canada and Cape Verde Islands, and thus would reasonably be expected to finish second. Here are our results:

First up was Canada, and we got the job done. I came off the bench in the 67th minute and put the game to bed with a powerful strike.



Unfortunately Brazil were just too strong for us here, as the scoreboard showed. I played the full game this time, and played reasonably well without standing out.


I once again came off the bench today, and with our side already 3 goals up, I didn't do anything special as we saw out a comfortable win.


We will face Argentina in the knockout round, who go in as heavy favourites to send us packing.
 
World Cup Part Two

Well unsurprisingly, we were bundled out of the Cup by Argentina, but we didn't go down without a fight. Between the two sides, we set a new record for World Cup goals! Unfortunately, despite playing 90 minutes, I was not amongst the scorers. Thus ends our World Cup campaign.


Well as you can see, we lost to the eventual Champions, and there's no shame in that. Lionel Messi led them to tournament victory, as they beat reigning European Champions England in the final. Remarkably unrealistic for England to be so impressive on the World stage in the near future ;)
 
A Bright Start
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No sooner had my Sweden side been eliminated from the World Cup, I was back playing for AS-Saint Etienne. Due to our Europa League qualification via the Fair Play tables, we would have to negotiate every single qualifying round in order to make the group stages. Before the World Cup was even over I was playing qualifiers for Saint-Etienne. I'm still feeling quite jaded, but I'm determined to do what is asked of me.

Things started brightly for me, as we comfortably dispatched of Jeunesse of Luxembourg. I scored in the first leg and had a hat-trick of assists in the second.



Sadly, that second leg proved to be the last match that my international team mate and friend Anton Tinnerholm would play for Saint-Etienne, as he joined English side Queens Park Rangers. It was great that he went out on a high though, scoring a rare goal and picking up player of the match.

Overall I was very pleased with our transfer business though. The experienced Mathieu Debuchy arrived as Tinnerholm's replacement a couple of weeks later, and a hugely talented young attacking midfielder, Alen Halilovic, joined for a bargain 1.4m after failing to break into the first team at Barcelona. Keisuke Honda was another experienced head to join the club, and hopefully this means I will not be relied upon quite as heavily as I have been, and will be able to get some rest every now and again.



My good form continued throughout the remaining Europa League qualifiers though, as I scored a number of goals, and produced some match-winning performances



I hit the ground running in our league campaign as well.



My performances in the Europa League played a huge part in our progression to the group stages of the competition. After the qualifying rounds I was just shy of the top of both the goals and assists chart, but was the highest rated player in the competition. We have been drawn into a very tough group alongside Porto, Villareal and Lech. We will do well to progress to the knockout stages, but that is the aim!

 
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It's now January, and my impressive form for AS-Saint Etienne has continued. I'm top of the goalscoring charts for the club, and things are looking positive. We're now in the winter break, which in my case, was definitely needed, as I've been in need of a rest for a while.

15 goals and 10 assists from 32 appearances are numbers that I can be very proud of. Some of my goals were pretty spectacular, and I also picked up 5 player of the match awards.

I made a further three appearances for Sweden during this period as well, scoring once in a defeat to Serbia. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been in and out of the squad since the World Cup, and it seems his days representing Sweden are numbered.

It was my performances in France that caught the eye, and at the tender age of 19, I received not only the Swedish Midfielder of the Year award, but also the overall Swedish Player of the Year. I was deeply honoured, and having won both of these, I am determined to hold onto them for as long as I possibly can!

Lionel Messi took out both of the major prizes this year - order is restored! Martin Ødegaard retained the Golden Boy award too. Hopefully next year I can target that prize!

In other news, the Saint-Etienne training facilities were upgraded in the last couple of months. I'm certainly not complaining, as it improves my chances of reaching my potential. Onwards and upwards!

 
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