All Aboard! - The Managerial Rollercoaster

[Werrett]

FA Cup 3rd Round Draw​

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Tottenham Hotspur have been drawn against Manchester United in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, a tough draw that will see the London club put to the test almost immediately with a potentially difficult road ahead. The task is made all the more difficult due to the fact that the fixture will be played at Old Trafford, but Clement's boys will be looking to progress as they try to win the English manager his first piece of silverware.

The game will be played on the Saturday 5th January, 2019 at 15:00

Tottenham last won the FA Cup back in 2015, following a victory against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.​

 

[Werrett]

This story is getting better and better!

Thanks man, means a lot!

Any closer to starting yours up again?

 

[xJamieWilliams]

Thanks man, means a lot!

Any closer to starting yours up again?

the guy reckons I need a new laptop, considering I only use it for FM and browsing the web might just get one of them HP ones for £180, but with annoying stuff like valentines day coming up and a holiday, it's not a priority haha, kill me!

 

[Werrett]

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Complacency Kicks In...

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Another game where we were far from our best, I think a lot of it is down to the congested fixture schedule but we can't use that as an excuse, we have plenty of quality in the squad and should be able to battle on with the rotation.

Harry Kane bagged his first goal in 14 appearances to give us an early lead, a much needed goal for the Tottenham academy product as he's become under much speculation from the media lately, this time last year he had 12 league goals..This time round he only has a single league goal.

The lead was short lived though, you're most vulnerable after scoring and this proved to be the case as Norwich attacked straight from kick-off before Ahmed Hamoudi found the net from a beautifully curled effort from just outside the penalty box, a disappointing goal to concede...

Two more first-half goals from wide-men Wilfried Zaha and Xherdan Shaqiri saw us head into the half with a 3-1 advantage over our Norfolk based opposition, we were looking like a better team already.

Eric Dier made it 4-1 in the 2nd half when he powered his header into the top right hand corner following a Shaqiri corner, a wonderful towering header from the former Sporting man as we looked set to dominate the rest of the match.

However...Things got interesting when Hamoudi scored his second of the game to pull one back for the visiting side before Taider scored a 90th minute free-kick to bring the Canaries within one, a shocking defensive performance as the complacency looked to have kicked in..I'm disappointed with our 2nd half performance but pleased we bagged the 3 points.

Spurs fans will be hoping to see Harry Kane get back to scoring ways, the Irish international bagged 36 goals in 49 appearances last season (All Competitions).​

 

[Werrett]

the guy reckons I need a new laptop, considering I only use it for FM and browsing the web might just get one of them HP ones for £180, but with annoying stuff like valentines day coming up and a holiday, it's not a priority haha, kill me!

Oh definitely, I understand where you're coming from! I only use this laptop for Football Manager and Twitter/Sports News so it has terrible specs, looking to upgrade when I go to University this Summer. But real life takes priority over FM every time, it's sad but true! ​

 

[xJamieWilliams]

Harry Kane is Irish??

 

[Werrett]

Harry Kane is Irish??

Well in real life he's a local lad from Tottenham, but on my game he chose to play for Ireland apparently!

 

[Werrett]

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Extra-Time Needed...

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A 3-1 victory against Queens Park Rangers at New White Hart Lane see's us progress into the Semi-Finals of the Capital One Cup. Harry Kane opened the scoring after 11 minutes when the Striker latched onto a Paulinho through ball before chipping the ball over the rushing keeper, a lovely finish and his 2nd goal in 2 games saw us take an early lead in the game.

Former Tottenham man Mousa Dembele equalised for QPR 11 minutes later when the Belgian midfielder struck the ball low and hard from 12 yards out out of reach of Hugo Lloris..Was the sale of Dembele coming back to haunt me?

Fortunately not as Xherdan Shaqiri and Ross Barkley found the net in the first half of Extra-Time to see us take the victory and the progression into the Semi-Finals..Not our best performance and the 120 minutes will surely cost us for our next match, but we're through...And that's the main thing.

Having just scraped past QPR in the Quarter-Finals we will now face Chelsea in the Semi-Finals..A difficult challenge but with Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Ourselves being the last 4 teams, we were never going to be faced with an easy opponent.

Which of the four teams will be heading to Wembley?​

 

[Werrett]

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The Knock-Out Stages...

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With the new year approaching I was invited to attend the draw for the next round of the UEFA Champions League in Basel, the 2nd time I had attended while managing a Football club. It was a great occasion and I met a lot of idols such as Ancelotti, Luis Enrique and Phillip Cocu. I also met with Mauricio Pochettino with whom I had a little discussion about the recent changes at Tottenham, he seemed a nice enough guy and was open to share some advice with me, but I'm not sure I'll be using it...

Anyway, having progressed from the group stages of the Champions League we were un-seeded for the first knock-out stage draw alongside teams such as Freiburg and Genoa..With expectations of reaching the Quarter-Finals we were always going to be up against it with potential fixtures against Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern...

We were pulled out of the hat to face German giants Bayern Munich, one of the most difficult challenges available..But we'll do our best, defeat here will be disappointing but acceptable as I'm not sure we're quite strong enough to keep Bayern at bay..But if the belief is there, who knows?

The first-leg will take part on Tuesday the 19th February at 19:45.

A home leg to kick off the draw, not my preferred route but if our fans get behind the team, I think we can take a good result with us to Germany..I'm excited!

Everywhere I looked there were superstars eagerly awaiting their clubs fate...

We and Bayern were the first two names out of the hat, so we had to sit and wait for a while as the rest of the draw was carried out by legends of the trade such as Luis Figo..Pele and Platini.

Upon completion, here is a look at the rest of the draw:

What do you think of the draw?

Some big games in there such as Monaco v Juventus and PSG v Atletico..It's definitely going to be interesting to see who progresses, will holders Barcelona prevent an upset?​

 

[xJamieWilliams]

Fair enough for Kane! Tough draw against Bayern but I have a feeling you'll sneak through!

 

[Werrett]

Apologies for the lack of updates today, been busy with College work..Plenty of updates to come tomorrow!

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[Werrett]

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The Wins Are Getting Harder to Come by...

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A scrappy win for us at Villa Park, Villa had almost double our shots and roughly the same number on target but were unable to find the net. Luckily for us we took the lead early on, former Palace man Wilfried Zaha made a darting run down the right hand side before cutting into the box where he slid the ball under Brad Guzan, a lovely finish and a much needed goal.

The rest of the match was very back and forth until Xherdan Shaqiri was taken down just inside the box, a quick change of feet saw the Swiss winger change direction from right to left only to be taken down by a trailing leg, a definite penalty.

Christian Eriksen stepped up and converted the penalty with a calm, collected finish. The Danish international sent the American goalkeeper the wrong way as the ball nestled into the bottom left hand corner, a brilliantly placed penalty and a much needed 2-0 victory.

Christian Eriksen's 3rd goal of the season secured the win for Tottenham, the Danish International also played part in setting up the opener, his 8th assist of the season.​

 

[Werrett]

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Kane is Back in Town!

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Disappointing result here following what has been a pretty good run of late..The game was very scrappy and we failed to put together a good passage of play while QPR sat large numbers behind the ball to cut us off in the final third..The first goal of the game came in the 2nd half after William Carvalho chopped down Dembele inside the box, a poorly timed challenge and a deserved penalty.

Giovanni Simeone (Son of Diego) put the ball in the back of the net from 12 yards out to give the game its opening goal, Lloris guessed the right way but the penalty was perfectly placed meaning it was far our of the reach of the Frenchman.

Loved striker Harry Kane bagged the equaliser 15 minutes from time as he jumped high to nod home Wilfried Zaha's cross from 8 yards out, a beautifully timed leap saw the Irish international beat Caulker to the ball before guiding it back past Alex McCarthy in the QPR goal, a lovely equaliser.

Sadly we couldn't muster up a winner despite our late dominance, we'll have to settle for the draw...

Harry Kane's 3rd goal in 4 games..Is the local lad back to his best?​

 

[Werrett]

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Townsend...Why?

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Well well...What can be said? It was a close game and a draw was probably a fair result but the way in which it happened was quite disappointing. Andros Townsend, not only a former Spurs player but a former player of mine at Newcastle equalising late on with a header, I knew the sale of Townsend would haunt me, just not like this...

Zivkovic gave us the lead just after the hour mark with a brilliant little flick over Fraser Forster, a lovely finish and a much needed goal for the Dutch international, but the equaliser late on denied us the 3 points.

A little disappointing but we'll come back stronger next time.

Townsend who spent the best part of a decade at the club was certainly the villain in this piece...

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[Werrett]

December 2018 ​

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Results

December was a long month, 8 matches in 4 weeks certainly put our squad to the test. The loss against Barcelona was a tough way to start the month, but we bounced back with a run of 5 wins before ending the month with back to back 1-1 draws. I'm pleased with how we did in December, extremely pleased.

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After our good run of league form we find ourselves in 3rd place in what seems to be a very tense battle for the top 4..Only 4 points separate ourselves from 6th place so we need to make sure we keep up the winning momentum, but a tough month in January is going to make that incredibly difficult...

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How About Next Month?

Erm...Well, January looks like a terrifying month.
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[xJamieWilliams]

**** January! hahaha

 

[Werrett]

Messi's Done it Again...​

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Lionel Messi today claimed his 7th Ballon d'Or as he finished ahead of fellow Barcelona striker Luis Suárez and Chelsea forward Diego Costa. The Argentinian has now won the award for 4 successive years and some argue he could be the best player of all time..It's unlikely anybody else will ever win the award as many times as him.

The Argentine certainly deserves the award this year as he scored 38 and set-up 16 in 58 appearances, a wonderful season from the 31 year old. His performances along with Luis Suarez's were pivotal in Barcelona's League, Cup, Champions League and Super-Cup triumphs in the past 12 months.

Cristiano Ronaldo has now failed to make the top 3 for the past two years as his time at the top looks to be over, unlike his Argentinian rival...Although Ronaldo has managed to bag 12 goals and 5 assists in 14 appearances this season.​

 

[Werrett]

Unable to Score - First Time in 27 Games...​

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Tottenham Hotspur were today held to a 0-0 draw by Merseyside team Everton as they failed to find the net for the first time in 27 league matches, ironically the last league match Tottenham were kept out in was a 1-0 defeat to the Toffees.

Tottenham have been firing on all cylinders this season as they've racked up a total of 42 goals in 19 matches, 2nd only to North London rivals Arsenal who have 44 goals.

The goaless draw see's Spurs maintain their spot in third place behind Chelsea, but with a tough run of fixtures to come Clement's side could soon see themselves sliding down the table.

A well fought battle between the two teams currently occupying 3rd and 4th in the table.​

 

[Werrett]

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Tottenham Brushed Aside by Red Devils

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A poor performance, I rotated the side to allow a couple of youngsters to have a go and my decision backfired horribly, we had a few chances but nothing spectacular.

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[Werrett]

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Another Costly Defeat...

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We were unlucky here, playing at the Etihad was always going to be a tough task and we were always going to be the underdogs..Khacheridi got us off to a great start after 8 minutes when he headed home Christian Eriksen's cross, it was almost too good to be true!

Which it was...A quickfire double from James Milner and Sergio Aguero gave Manchester City a 2-1 lead, the same result after 90 minutes. We defended well but sadly two great pieces of play carved us open, but defence is something I'm trying to fix in this window so hopefully we can improve in future game.

We're beginning to slip in terms of points, but hopefully we can bounce back against Chelsea next week.​