D.Woodgate
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First Half of Season 2013-2014
With so much money to spend, it seemed rude not to go out there and try and sign a big name to boost the morale in the camp and excite the fans!
News just in that Mikel Arteta, a Basque legend, wants to finish his career in the Basqueland. Although ageing at 31 and beginning to lose his physical attributes, he is still a class act and at 3.2million, an absolute bargain for a couple of seasons, especially considering how great a role model he will be on the training ground for the youngsters! (See attached picture). Unfortunately there were not any other players really worth signing at the time, so the war chest has been left largely untouched, however Athletic are hoping to pick up another few youngsters over the course of the year.
As for the Champions League qualifier, Athletic Club got drawn against Club Brugge from Belgium, who the lads wasted no time dispatching 6-0 on aggregate, with Ander standing out as a top performer, scoring 2 and setting up 2 over the two legs. Then we got grouped with Arsenal and Dortmund for the Champions Cup group stages… AGAIN. 2 seasons in a row? Im sick and tired of seeing Arsene Wenger the leathery rat, give us someone else to play! Red Star made up the numbers and looked like they were going to be the wiping boys, because to be honest, they are absolutely swag!
Domestically the season started very slowly, losing to Athletico Madrid and Barcelona and drawing to Getafe and Deportivo in the first month or so. To make matters worse, Arsenal had remembered about the shock knockout round loss to the lads the season before and Babacar evidently had a point to prove, scoring a hattrick in a 4-0 rout at the Emirates, and wow, in hindsight I wish that last goal hadn’t gone in! We drew both the games with Dortmund 0-0, bore draws, but in all honesty a well grafted point in Germany, Meanwhile, Red Star were dispatched 5-2 and surprisingly, only 1-0 at home, but at least another 3 points were on the board. Even more surprising was the return trip for the Arsenal game in Bilbao, where the lads managed to step up their European game again, beating Arsenal 3-1 to ensure that 11 points were in the bank, considering we went through on 9 points the season before, it was looking good!
Well.. I thought so, until I realized we’d been Knocked out of the European Champions Cup on goal difference by Dortmund, (guess they got their revenge for last year..), the goal difference was 1! +3 and +4 respectively… Devo’d... if only we’d scored one more against Red Star or let in one less against Arsenal.. Great…. I have attached a picture of the Group Table for anyone who fancies having a little laugh at my expense.
However, domestically, by November things began to pick up, beating long time rivals Real Madrid 3-0 with Llorente bagging a brace. Unbelievable tekkers from the lads. By the end of December, we were sitting 7th in the table and still in the Spainish Cup, with the opportunity to test ourselves in the Europa Cup in the new year, Not quite the point we were hoping to be in, but there was still plenty of time for improvement.
I evaluated the situation at Athletic Club at the turn of the 2014 new year. The reality of Basque only players began to hit home with only a pool of 587 players to choose from. Only 3 of which are valued above 2.5 million, Xabi Alonso, Javier Garrido the Monaco Left Back and Mikel Gonzalez Porto’s Centre Back… Not great prospects considering even Xabi Alonso is 32 years old at this point, Monreal is a lot better than Garrido and San Jose is a lot better than Mikel Gonzalez… After such a fantastic 2013, it appears that half way through the 2013-2014 season, maybe Athletic have gone as far as they can with their Semi Final Champions League performance the year before. With Athletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona spending mega bucks, signing players such as Dzeko, Navas, Lavezzi, Lucas Barrios, Montolivo and Jovetic as well as holding onto players such as Messi, Aguero and Ronaldo while my only major signing was a deteriorating Arteta, how can Athletic really hope to compete with the elite of Europe?!
The reality of the Basque Transfer situation was made even more apparent with the dual notification that Ander and Llorente were both unhappy. Both want to leave the club. With Villa, Xavi and Iniesta all ageing, Barcelona are interested in Muniain, Llorente and Ander, as well as Athletico Madrid threatening to offer the 21million transfer clause in his contract. Ander rejected a new contract which was offered in the hope of removing the 21 million clause to no avail. Thankfully due to private conversations with both players, neither requested an immediate transfer but no doubt, unless we begin to challenge for major honours, these teams will be back, knocking on the door with undoubtedly ludacris offers. 4th place is simply not good enough any more, but realistically can Athletic really be expected to do any better?
Sitting in 7th place, it was time for a change. A more Attacking home formation.
4 3 3, with a holding midfielder anchor man and 3 front men. Time for Felipe to step from his Super-sub role and push Muniain further forward! With Felipe as a Poacher, Muniain as a Deep Lying Forward and Llorente as a Complete Forward, the big basque guns are ready for battle.
Bring on 2014! Come on the lads!
I have attached some pictures of the youngsters which look like good prospects that I have managed to pick up/bring through the youth system. Although none look as good as Felipe, there could be a few alright players there, re training Xabier as a centre mid, with that work rate and passing he could become fantastic! Waiting for the next batch to come through at the end of the season! With Arteta and Xabi Prieto both getting on, new faces need to start appearing and as discussed there aren’t many exceptional prospects above the age of 20!
With so much money to spend, it seemed rude not to go out there and try and sign a big name to boost the morale in the camp and excite the fans!
News just in that Mikel Arteta, a Basque legend, wants to finish his career in the Basqueland. Although ageing at 31 and beginning to lose his physical attributes, he is still a class act and at 3.2million, an absolute bargain for a couple of seasons, especially considering how great a role model he will be on the training ground for the youngsters! (See attached picture). Unfortunately there were not any other players really worth signing at the time, so the war chest has been left largely untouched, however Athletic are hoping to pick up another few youngsters over the course of the year.
As for the Champions League qualifier, Athletic Club got drawn against Club Brugge from Belgium, who the lads wasted no time dispatching 6-0 on aggregate, with Ander standing out as a top performer, scoring 2 and setting up 2 over the two legs. Then we got grouped with Arsenal and Dortmund for the Champions Cup group stages… AGAIN. 2 seasons in a row? Im sick and tired of seeing Arsene Wenger the leathery rat, give us someone else to play! Red Star made up the numbers and looked like they were going to be the wiping boys, because to be honest, they are absolutely swag!
Domestically the season started very slowly, losing to Athletico Madrid and Barcelona and drawing to Getafe and Deportivo in the first month or so. To make matters worse, Arsenal had remembered about the shock knockout round loss to the lads the season before and Babacar evidently had a point to prove, scoring a hattrick in a 4-0 rout at the Emirates, and wow, in hindsight I wish that last goal hadn’t gone in! We drew both the games with Dortmund 0-0, bore draws, but in all honesty a well grafted point in Germany, Meanwhile, Red Star were dispatched 5-2 and surprisingly, only 1-0 at home, but at least another 3 points were on the board. Even more surprising was the return trip for the Arsenal game in Bilbao, where the lads managed to step up their European game again, beating Arsenal 3-1 to ensure that 11 points were in the bank, considering we went through on 9 points the season before, it was looking good!
Well.. I thought so, until I realized we’d been Knocked out of the European Champions Cup on goal difference by Dortmund, (guess they got their revenge for last year..), the goal difference was 1! +3 and +4 respectively… Devo’d... if only we’d scored one more against Red Star or let in one less against Arsenal.. Great…. I have attached a picture of the Group Table for anyone who fancies having a little laugh at my expense.
However, domestically, by November things began to pick up, beating long time rivals Real Madrid 3-0 with Llorente bagging a brace. Unbelievable tekkers from the lads. By the end of December, we were sitting 7th in the table and still in the Spainish Cup, with the opportunity to test ourselves in the Europa Cup in the new year, Not quite the point we were hoping to be in, but there was still plenty of time for improvement.
I evaluated the situation at Athletic Club at the turn of the 2014 new year. The reality of Basque only players began to hit home with only a pool of 587 players to choose from. Only 3 of which are valued above 2.5 million, Xabi Alonso, Javier Garrido the Monaco Left Back and Mikel Gonzalez Porto’s Centre Back… Not great prospects considering even Xabi Alonso is 32 years old at this point, Monreal is a lot better than Garrido and San Jose is a lot better than Mikel Gonzalez… After such a fantastic 2013, it appears that half way through the 2013-2014 season, maybe Athletic have gone as far as they can with their Semi Final Champions League performance the year before. With Athletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona spending mega bucks, signing players such as Dzeko, Navas, Lavezzi, Lucas Barrios, Montolivo and Jovetic as well as holding onto players such as Messi, Aguero and Ronaldo while my only major signing was a deteriorating Arteta, how can Athletic really hope to compete with the elite of Europe?!
The reality of the Basque Transfer situation was made even more apparent with the dual notification that Ander and Llorente were both unhappy. Both want to leave the club. With Villa, Xavi and Iniesta all ageing, Barcelona are interested in Muniain, Llorente and Ander, as well as Athletico Madrid threatening to offer the 21million transfer clause in his contract. Ander rejected a new contract which was offered in the hope of removing the 21 million clause to no avail. Thankfully due to private conversations with both players, neither requested an immediate transfer but no doubt, unless we begin to challenge for major honours, these teams will be back, knocking on the door with undoubtedly ludacris offers. 4th place is simply not good enough any more, but realistically can Athletic really be expected to do any better?
Sitting in 7th place, it was time for a change. A more Attacking home formation.
4 3 3, with a holding midfielder anchor man and 3 front men. Time for Felipe to step from his Super-sub role and push Muniain further forward! With Felipe as a Poacher, Muniain as a Deep Lying Forward and Llorente as a Complete Forward, the big basque guns are ready for battle.
Bring on 2014! Come on the lads!
I have attached some pictures of the youngsters which look like good prospects that I have managed to pick up/bring through the youth system. Although none look as good as Felipe, there could be a few alright players there, re training Xabier as a centre mid, with that work rate and passing he could become fantastic! Waiting for the next batch to come through at the end of the season! With Arteta and Xabi Prieto both getting on, new faces need to start appearing and as discussed there aren’t many exceptional prospects above the age of 20!
Keep it up! 