An Americans Journey

[doyce7]

Ok, so my Manchester United save is basically dead. Couldn't keep myself engaged with it. I needed a new story to tell. This is going to be a journeyman save. The start of which will be a different than the usual journey man. I am American, so it stands to reason that I should start in the US, but I'm not starting with a club, no I'll be starting with the USMNT. The plan would be to manage the US through the 2022 World Cup and then try to find a club job. This club job could be anywhere, as this will be a pretty large database. I will have England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Holland, Russia, Belgium, Scotland, Ukraine, and Turkey loaded in Europe. Brazil, Argentina and Colombia loaded in South America. North America has MLS and I forgot to add Mexico but it'll be playable as soon as I'm able. Who knows where I'll end up, Europe... I'll end up in Europe but how I get there should be fun. I'm considering making a rule that I have to take a club job outside of Europe before I can go to Europe but we'll see.

Spoiler: Season by season results

2021-22	USMNT	Qualify for World Cup	Nations League 1st in group	World Cup SF exit to Spain
2022-23	Lyon	Finished 2nd Ligue 1 89Points	Reach Final of Coupe de France vs Monaco	Hired 12/23 Lyon in 3rd

 

[doyce7]

The journey starts here. Qualifying for the World Cup should be fairly straight forward but CONCACAF can be full of surprises. Panama and El Salvador have been replaced in the final group from real life by Haiti and Nicaragua. No disrespect to those teams but they are step down from Panama and El Salvador, so the group should be easier than in real life.

We start off against Canada, what you would expect to be our toughest opponents along with Jamaica and obviously Mexico. Hoping for 9 points from this first round of fixtures but I would take 7.

 

[doyce7]

Before the games start I do want to show you the tactic and what I consider to be my best 11. The midfield and the wings are pretty well settled and will probably be the guys who lineup in Qatar.
Brooks is nailed down at BPD but I'm not sure who will be his partner long term. I'm leaning Miazga but I'm open to Miles Robinson or Aaron Long. Carter-Vickers may also get a look.
At WB Dest will be a starter on one side or the other but I'm looking at Antonee Robinson on the left but he is back up to Dest if I decide to go with Toljan and Yedlin on the right.
Striker might be an open competition between Balogun, Sargent, Daryl Dike, Timothy Weah, even Ricardo Pepi will get games. I'm leaning Balogun but I'm not married to that.

Now to the games, first up Canada.
Bit of a terse game early but in the 22nd minute Antonee Robinson blasts down the left side and pings in a low and hard cross and Balogun gets on the end of it to smash it home at the near post 1-0. The game goes back into a shell and nothing really happens until in the 73rd minute Bradley plays a ball over the top and Pepi gets in behind with a beautiful first touch and finishes with his second one. 2-0 and that's how it finishes.

Next up, Jamaica. Reyna opens up the scoring the 15th with a back post header on the looping cross by Toljan but Jamaica gets an almost immediate reply on a through ball from Andre Gray to the feet of Kemar Roofe in the 17th, 1-1. The score stays level through halftime until the 59th when a lofted through ball from Peter-Lee Vassell gets to Jamal Lowe and he finishes in the far corner, 2-1. We start throwing men forward in around the 70th, finally in the 78th Brendan Aaronson rifles one off the crossbar and Balogun cleans it up but Balogun is ruled to be offside, still 2-1. In the 86th minute a header from Balogun is blocked off the line but only as far as Pulisic who turns it in but again, it's ruled offside. We were headed to a defeat until the dying embers of the match Pulisic drills the ball across the face of the goal and Brendan Aaronson is there to meet it and draw the match level at 2-2 in the 95th minute. And that's how it finishes 2-2, what a game that was.

Not much to say about Nicaragua, easy game, Balogun got 5 goals.

Here is the table after the first round of games. We are in good shape considering we played our 2nd and 3rd hardest opponents in the first 3 games.

 

[doyce7]

Back for round 2 and this time we start off with Mexico. We open the scoring in the 31st with a back post header from the feet of Reyna to the head of Pulisic and that was the only scoring of the first half. The second half gets a bit wild but I'll try my best to talk you through it. A very deep free kick from near the halfway line by Jesus Corona connects with the head of Hector Herrera but it's parried by Steffen. The ball then goes off a USA defender, not sure who, then a Mexico player, not sure who, finally Andreas Guardado just kinda falls over and gets a piece of the ball and it trickles over the line, 1-1 in the 51st. The game stays even until the 82nd when a Yunas Musa cross gets flapped at by Ochoa, which he directs into the path of onrushing Folarin Balogun and he hammers home, 2-1. Then in the 86th Memo Ochoa launches a ball nearly the whole length of the pitch and Hirving Lozano runs under it to finish and make it a 2-2 final. So we were undone by the deepest free kick I've ever seen result in a goal, plus all the calamity in the 6 yard box, and the longest kick I've ever seen from a player in FM and it's inch perfect. Awesome. We were far the better team too.

The other two games don't really need much said. Haiti actually took the lead for about 20 minutes but never really got worried, it's Haiti.

Still though, things are looking good, as you would expect. Really wanted to beat Mexico at home...

 

[doyce7]

International round 3: Tokyo Drift. We play Costa Rica and Canada this time round. Schedulers doing us no favors as we are away to both.
First up Costa Rica. The first half passes without incident and ends 0-0. In the 57th minute Bradley releases Paul Arriola who gets all the way to the byline before crossing into nobody but the keeper, lets it hit him in the face? Anyway, the ball falls into the path of Balogun who fires it in at point blank range. In the 68th, Reyna stands over a corner and lifts it onto the head of Matt Miazga for 2-0 at the far post. Everything was going smooth until the 86th when Christian Gamboa unleashes a perfectly weighted throughball into Alvaro Saborio to make it 2-1. That's the way it finished but Costa Rica did hit the post a little after their goal so definitely not a great showing. But a win is a win

Next up, a rematch with Canada. Another match that gets a bit wild after going into the break 0-0. But 33 seconds into the restart Daryl Dike heads in an Antonee Robinson cross to make it 1-0. 6 minutes later Jeremy Toljan hits a rocket from just outside the D for 2-0. 6 minutes after that Alphonso Davies plays a beautiful 1-2 with David Wotherspoon that ends with a Davies rocket of his own, 2-1. The game settles down at 2-1 for nearly 30 minutes until Ike Ugbo receives a throw in and lofts the ball over the top to Marco Bustos, who finishes it well into the bottom corner for 2-2 at 86 minutes. I'm fuming until the 90th when Brenden Arronson gets his second 90+ minute goal. Balogun is played through by Aaronson but is blocked, the ball falls to Pulisic who one touch passes to the onrushing Aaronson for the 3-2 win.

Mexico actually drops points in Jamaica with a 0-0 draw. So with that we are behind by only goal difference at the top, 11 points clear of 5tth and 7 clear of the playoff spot.

 

[doyce7]

Don't really have to much to say about round 4. We play Jamaica, Nicaragua and Haiti, home/away/home.
The Jamaica game was a boring affair, a Dayrl Dike Penalty in the 21st provided the only goal and Jamaica never even really threatened to score other than an Andre Gray goal that was ruled out because he was miles offside.
Nicaragua and Haiti both put up a fight but honestly I was not paying that close attention to either of these games once we went up by multiple goals. What a thing for a manager to say.

With the Haiti result we are officially qualified

I still want to finish top of the group though and to do that we must beat Mexico in March. We'll also play Honduras and Costa Rica to finish off the group. Really dissappointed in Canada's performance in FM, so good in real life but I guess it's hard to replicate that in game.

 

[doyce7]

Last round of games now, Mexico is first up, but in the lead up to the Mexico game I was offered an interview. Obviously I have to decline. I am going to manage the US until after the World Cup and I'm not going to manage both as that breaks any kind of realism. I would have been very intrigued by Atalanta.

Let's get to the games, away to Mexico and playing at the Azteca is always going to be tough. It was a tense game all the way through but it was definitely a game of few chances. In the end there was only 1 really good chance and it fell to Mexico. Andreas Guardado slides through Raul Jimenez and that was that. We tried to get forward as the game progressed but it was not to be. 1-0 loss, my first as USA boss.
The other games this round were against Honduras and Costa Rica, both at home.
Honduras was a frustrating game, we could have and probably should have scored 5 and I was fuming when Lozano equalized in the 77th but a corner from Zimmerman in the 87th restored the lead and Roldan put the game away in the 90th with tap in off a Siebatcheu shot off the post.
Costa Rice was tight for the first half, going in 0-0 but a screamer from Mckennie opened the scoring on 51 and Sargent made it 2-0 on 72 off a through ball by Bradley. Costa Rica had an own goal in the 89th from a corner and got their consolation through a wonderful shot from just outside the box by Saborio.

Final table looks like this. Mexico dropped points in a 3-3 draw vs Costa Rica, no surprise as Jamaica qualifies in 3rd and Costa Rica beat Haiti before they played Mexico and us and that was enough to qualify for the playoff.

The Nations League is next so that will be my next post. After that is done I'll probably do a post where I discuss what my World Cup team will look like

 

[doyce7]

Just a very small update on the Nations League and then a bigger post about the World Cup roster.
Nations League was never important but we had an easy group as you would expect.

As for the World Cup, here is who we will be playing. I don't expect much from the Italy game of course but I think we can beat Poland to second.

Other news, on the Job front. I was offered an interview and even the job at Bayer in the lead up to the World Cup. I offered to quit the USA job if hired but I thought that would mean I take over after the World Cup but alas that is not what it meant so the job will have to be turned down.

Next up, the roster that will compete in Qatar

 

[doyce7]

World Cup time! Let's meet the team. My number 1 in goal, as he has been in nearly every game so far, is Zack Steffen. Backing him up will be Hamid and Turner but obviously don't plan on them featuring in any game unless Steffen gets hurt

Next up CB. Brooks is going to start on the right as my BPD with Richards probably second choice and on the left I'm going to start with Carter-Vickers but Richards may end up in that spot also. Long probably won't get much game time and will only play if needed. I may end up trying Bradley at BPD at some point though, he did play there in the Nations League a couple of times to try it out.

At Fullback, Antonee Robinson and Dest will figure to be the starters with Toljan being first reserve on both sides but Dest can also play on the left if I want the raw pace of Yedlin out there or an all arounder like Adams if he is not in midfield. Might be a risk going into the tournament with only one true LB but I'm gonna risk it.

At DM playing as a DLP Adams will be the starter but Bradley will probably get some time here too. McKennie will be playing in midfield further forward and Long is just the backups backup here as well.

In midfield, McKennie will be the starter at Mezzala along side Bradley as BWM. Aaronson will backup at Mezzala with McKennie being backup at BWM. Yes I am relying alot on 35 year old Michael Bradley to stay fit but there is not a lot of depth at BWM since both Adams and McKennie are needed as starters elsewhere. If he gets hurt then McKennie will slide over into that role and and Aaronson or possibly Musah or Reyna playing at Mezzala. The other option would be to make the BWM a BBM instead and that opens up Aaronson and Musah as options in that spot. We'll see how it goes.

On the Wings is where we find our best players. Reyna will start on the left as IF(S) and Pulisic will be on the right as IW(A). Backing them up will be Yunus Musah, Konrad De la Fuente and Timothy Weah who can all play on both sides, though they all prefer to be wingers on the right, rather than IW. We'll make it work.

Up front is where you might say is our weakest group is. Luckily I only play with 1 striker. The "main man" as it were will be Folarin Balogun, He has banged in the goals for me in both qualifying and the Nations League so I am going to trust him to get the needed goals in the World Cup. backing him up will be mainly Daryl Dike but Sargent isn't far behind and Weah will be 4th choice here in addition to his backup duties on the wing.

This is how we are going to lineup. We have been using the same system as I used in my Man United save and it has worked pretty well. I'm a little concerned how it is going to play as an underdog because I've only ever used this exact system as the more talented team but I have been working on a slightly more defensive version to fall back on. The basics of the system is that it is a slightly toned down Gegenpress.

Now with the long squad post out of the way, it's time to play the games. We lost the friendly to Paraguay at home which is less than ideal but we have Poland up first. Come on USA, I believe that we will win!

 

[doyce7]

World Cup time. First up we play Poland in what could be seen as a battle for second if you assume Italy would finish first. Balogun is blocked not once, not twice but 3 times in the first 20 minutes in one on one situations and the scoring stays 0-0 until Tyler Adams gives away a penalty in the 24th and Lewandowski puts it away for 1-0. It stays that way through halftime with the US being the better team throughout but Szymanski powers a rocket from the far corner of the box to the opposite corner of the goal for 2-0 in the 62nd and USA is in trouble now. A Reyna cross from deep finds the head of Yunus Musah, who came on for a tiring Pulisic, at the back post to get a very late consolation but Poland is able to get all 3 points from this one. not a great start, that Musah goal could come up huge though if we can get a result from Italy.
The Italy game didn't get off to the greatest of starts, Carter-Vickers nearly got sent off in the first minute for a two footed lunge but got off with a yellow. Italy was on the front foot early with Immobile hitting the bar and Chiesa blazing one over it when it was easier to miss, Italy found a breakthrough in the 34th with Chiesa not missing this time to lead 1-0. That was the score at halftime and it's looking more and more like an early exit... until Christian Pulisic picks the ball up near midfield and runs down the wing, cuts inside just outside the box, makes an Italian defender miss a tackle to get just outside the 6 yard box and fire home 1-1 in the 55th. Legitimately one of the best FM goals I have ever seen. That's how the game finished, neither side really had a sniff of goal after that.

Now for the shocker, Iran BEAT Poland! We go into the last game of the group knowing that if we beat Iran by 2 goals we are through no matter what. A 1-0 can still get us past the group with an Italy win but if Poland and Italy draw then we and Poland would be level and they beat us.

It was never in doubt. I'm not even going to recount the goals, we were up 2-0 after 10 minutes and nothing else mattered.

We get France in the knockouts, so that is probably the end but you never know

 

[doyce7]

Here are the World Cup groups heading into the knockouts. The biggest shocker has to be Scotland beating out Brazil in group D, Scotland even beat Brazil 2-1 in the final game of the group to go through!

Here is what round 2 looks like.

 

[doyce7]

Woah, Scotland!? Germany does have their national team players loaded, it is not greyed out players. Elsewhere, Messi will not be getting his World Cup trophy this time around either as Argentina are knocked out by Sweden.

As for us, it's time for France. found out before the game that Mbappe will not be a part of things as he is injured so break for USA. We were all over France at the start, Balogun missed a 6 yarder, Musah hit the post, then finally a breakthrough in the 22nd, Pulisic crosses from the byline and finds Balogun to turns it in 1-0. It stayed that way through the half and France finished the first half with only 4 shots, total to USA's 7. Still 1-0 until Rabiot gives away a penalty which Musah puts away. On the kickoff, France gives the ball away and McKennie releases Balogun away on goal for 3!-0 and 2 goals in 2 minutes! France were dreadful until Adams gives away a penalty which Giroud places for 3-1, ok it's fine there is only 10 minutes left. Theo Hernandez scores a header from a corner, 3-2... oh no... Giroud hits the post on 86 and then Tyler Adams steps up on 87 with a 35 yard screamer for 4-2 and that's how it finished. Wow, we beat France, no Mbappe but it's still ******* France. On to the next one!

Btw in the lead up to the France game I was offered and took and Interview with Lyon. I'm not sure if I will take the job if offered but I still have not applied to any job, these are just natural interview offers. Lyon sit in 3rd in Ligue 1, their manager took the Juventus job at the end of November.

Final matches of round 2, Italy breezes past Austria and Senegal beats Uruguay on penalties

 

[doyce7]

The Quarter Finals. Honestly, never thought we would get this far, we play Belgium now.

Ok so there is not much to say about this game, Reyna slides Pulisic through on 17 for 1-0 and Trossard gives away a penalty for Dike to finish and put the game to bed. This game was BORING, not that I really care, we won!

The underdog runs of Scotland, Sweden and Senegal come to an end at the Quarter stage, so only one Cinderella remains, us. We play Spain next, can we really get to the final? Really?

Oh I was offered the Lyon job, not sure if I want to take it. They have agreed to a delay so I should be able to finish the World Cup before having to decide.

 

[doyce7]

Buckle up because the Spain game is a wild one
In the second minute, Carter-Vickers of all people bursts down the left side and hits an early cross which is brought down by Balogun about 10 feet outside the box and BANG second touch is a rocket off the underside of the bar 1-0! In the 8th Yunus Musah gets played in by Balogun and he hits a missile in off the post 2-0! Reyna plays Balogun in at the near post and Balogun puts it past Simon for 3-0 inside the first 10 minutes! What is going on!? That was 3 goals on 3 shots in under 10 minutes.
Spain was not going to go away quietly though and in the 12th Pedri plays a low bullet cross and Gerard Moreno is there to finish, 3-1. In the 18th Busquets plays a long through ball and again Moreno is there and through on goal it's 3-2. Reyna with a free kick just outside the area is saved by Simon and I can't stress how great this save was, the ball was almost going to hit the very corner where the bar and post meet and he kept it out, that was the last highlight of the first half so it is 3-2 at halftime. In the Second half Pedri goes on a mazey run seemingly through every defender on the field and buries home 3-3. uh oh. The score stays level until the 71st when an Eric Garcia cross meets the head of Ferran Torres and Spain takes a 4-3 lead. We could not muster a response and Spain moves on to the Final. Cinderella goes home empty handed this time.

In the other Semifinal, Portugal beats Italy so we have a Spain vs Portugal Final and Italy vs USA 3rd place game.

In the Final Portugal prevails through a goal from Ronaldo. So Ronaldo finally gets his World Cup win

In the 3rd place game, my final game in charge of the USA, we lose the Italy rematch. With the Semifinal disappointment and basically not caring about 3rd place, the game was a blur and I couldn't even begin to tell you how Italy scored or how close we came to scoring. It was a great run and I couldn't be more proud of the boys.

Here's a final look at the World Cup bracket.

I am now going to decide if Lyon is the right job for me or if I want to wait until the summer and see what comes up.

 

[doyce7]

Couple of last notes concerning international stuff, Reyna had the most assists in the tournament and it's confirmed we were the biggest overachievers.

Michael Bradley retires from the national team, not that that's at all surprising for a 35 year old

And lastly we moved up in the national team rankings to 11th on the back of our run to the Semifinals

 

[doyce7]

Well...

I accepted the Lyon job and resigned from the USA. Lyon sit in 3rd in Ligue 1 only 2 points behind PSG for top. The board objective is to finish in the top 3 and get Champions League football for next season. We have a healthy bank balance and a good transfer budget but they have been spending way over the wage budget, so that will be the first thing I work on.

Here is the team. I think I can bring over my 4-3-3 that I like to use and I'll start with that as a base. It's always nice to already have a good keeper in Anthony Lopes, I may try to get younger there in the summer but he should be great for now. I've already got my eye on a few guys I want to move on asap. Boateng, Mendes, Toko Ekambi, and kone will be offered out day 1. Boateng because of age and wage, he is still a good player but not for that money and his pace is pretty lacking at 34. Mendes, like Boateng is a useful player but he is one of the highest paid players at the club and probably won't be a starter. Toko Ekambi would be a really good player to keep around but again, wage is too high for what he will be.

The team is pretty well balanced honestly. I don't think it needs a ton of work. My main target this January will be a RB and maybe a CB. Hey look one of my USA boys is here, John Brooks may have been a mainstay in my USA team but I'd rather he be 3rd choice here until the end of the season, I'll likely try to move him on in the summer. I may try to move Lodi on just because we could get a good amount for him and we have Luca Pellegrini on the team as well but I'm not going to force that.
I have basically a week to figure out what I'm going to do before the transfer window opens and the season kicks back off. It is December 23rd as I accept the job. I also need to hire basically a complete backroom staff. It's going to be a frantic start for sure.

 

[doyce7]

So Monaco is the first game and I had planned to cover it in detail but there is too much to go over so I'm gonna show you the team that played my first game and the stats from the game then get to the transfers

Who's ready for transfers? Let's go, there are a few
Outs first. Boateng goes to Leverkusen for 4.2M, as stated before the age/wages/lack of pace made this an easy sell. Mendes was the second out the door, wages being the main reason here as Mendes is good enough to play for me but not start. He goes to Fiorentina for 425K, yeah not a lot of money but his contract was expiring at seasons end. Kone was the next to go for 750K, as 3rd choice LB behind two really good ones, he was never going to play so might as well get some change for him and get him off the wage bill. Remember that we started this 120K+ OVER budget. Last of the early window outs is Toko Ekambi just too much money for an average player who just turned 30, picked up 6.5M for him.

So with these 4 players going out that clears 181K in wages and brought in another 10M to spend on transfers.
The ins will be a separate post

 

[doyce7]

Let's do some ins now!
First up I said I wanted another RB, welcome Vanderson, young fairly quick, good crossing and dribbling, and only cost 9M with only 3 of that up front. I did a decent bit of installments to make the money stretch. Vanderson won't be first choice right away but we literally had only 1 RB at the club. He is the future.

Next up, well I sold my second best CB(Boateng) and 4th choice cover(Mendes) so I needed to bring in a CB to start along side Denayer. I decided to go with Nathan Ake who was transfer listed at Man City. Now I normally like to have tall CBs and Ake is not that but he can help cover at DM if I move on another CB which I did with Davinson Sanchez but he decided to go to Atletico Madrid instead. Ake will start the rest of this season as my BPD and we'll revisit in the summer. Ake's price tag comes in at 20M with 8 up front and could rise to 21 if he plays 50 league games.

Next up, Predrag Rajkovic. He comes in mostly because he had a relegation release clause of 1.8M and if nothing else can be sold at a profit later. He will backup the rest of this season unless Lopes gets sold and he becomes starter. I didn't need him but it's too good of business to pass up if you ask me.

With Rajkovic coming in, one of Lopes or Pollersbeck needed to go. Nobody was willing to pony up the big bucks for Lopez so i let Pollersbeck go off to Genoa for 2.6M. Not bad, I got a better GK for an 800K profit.

Last out of the window, Reine-Adelaide is a decent player but I felt I had better options, or at least as good of options so he goes to Premier League Hull(yes you read that right) for 3.6M. Once you see one of the players I brought in you'll definitely see why I let him go.

Now the last 3 ins, the deadline day trio if you will. The first to be confirmed on deadline day is Patrick Berg who is pretty much the ideal player to sit in front of the back 4. I actually was originally going for Sander Berg but he turned us down. Patrick Berg is going to be a starter most of the time and should fit right in. Berg comes in for 14M, 5 up front and will rise to 15 once he plays 50 league games.

This is the one I'm most excited about. Welcome, Thiago Almada! I know he isn't quite as good as previous FMs but this guy should be able to really tear up the French league if I can develop him a bit. Almada comes in for 12.5M, 5 up front and another million after 50 league games. You guys see a theme here? Almada will feature on the left wing as IF(S), in midfield as a mezzala, or as an AP or AM if I go to a 4-2-3-1 at some point. The point is he will play quite a bit and hopefully will develop into a great player for Lyon.

The last signing is one for the future, Mateus Lima comes in for 1.6M with another 200K being owed if he plays 50 league games. He was immediately sent out on loan in Ligue 2 as he is not quite ready for the first team but hopefully will bang in some goals and be ready to back up Dembele next season.

Speaking of Dembele, Spurs came in for him with a 44M offer and he wanted to go. I had to have a chat with him where we agreed that he could go for 60M. Spurs didn't bite(honestly if they had go to about 54 with at least 40 up front I would have let him go). So Dembele remains with the club through at least the end of this season but that is something to watch. I have my eye on Ben Sesko, who is still at Salzburg, if Dembele gets another big offer.
That's enough for 1 post I'd say. I'll recap the first month of on pitch results in the next post

 

[doyce7]

This is going to be a shorter post, the transfers have me exhausted but the games have been played so I'm just gonna get this out there now rather than waiting and risk getting too far ahead.
We did play PSG for the first time this month and even took the lead through a goal from Rayan Cherki, did I not mention how happy I am that Cherki is still at the club? That boy is going to get some gametime from me, I'll tell you that right now. Your eyes do not deceive you, 41 year old Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back at PSG and still scoring goals. He came off the bench in this one to level things before Neymar does Neymar things and we lose but we played well that's about the best I could ask for against PSG.

The rest of the month sees us progress in the French cup and win 9 points from 5 league games

Not the best month in terms of points but we maintain our 3rd place and Champions League spot which is all the really matters this season. More importantly I feel like we are a better team coming out of the month than we were going in.

 

[doyce7]

February was a mostly good month, we got through to the French Cup Quarter Finals but we also did drop a game vs Strasbourg which is not ideal. Interestingly we have been perfect at home with 7 wins from 7 but on the road we have not been good. In the league we have 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses away from home. That will need to change if we are to get top 3 this season.

We did manage to get 4 wins from 5 games in February so I guess we can't really complain. The league still looks good, PSG are now running away with it as you would expect and a small gap is opening up between ourselves and Marseille in 4th. We've got 13 games left to make that gap stick.

In other news, PSG has been knocked out of the French Cup. I really want to win this now, Lyon last won the French Cup back in 2012 and with PSG no longer in it, this has to be ours for the taking. We do have one of the hardest teams remaining in the next game with Lille coming to town, get past them and our only competition should be Monaco.