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Thanks for that burkeyoa, good work on your Portsmouth story!

Coming up is my daunting Quaterfinal against Barcelona, with the first leg at the Camp Nou.... COME ON YOU SPURS!

---------- Post added at 05:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:41 PM ----------

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18/04/2010
Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

UPDATE:
Tottenham Hotspur fought hard to a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou today, with a spirited showing against the might of F.C Barcelona.

Following a scoreless first half, one minute after the break, great play from David Bentley set up dos Santos outside the box, who danced around a defender and played a delightful ball into the penalty area for Jermain Defoe to run onto and smash into the bottom left hand corner of the Barcelona goal, leaving Victor Valdes no chance.

After 55 minutes of play, a lapse in concentration from Gareth Bale gifted Ibrahimovic time and space in front of goal, but Ochoa dealt with his effort comfortably.

However the upset was not to be, as after 84 minutes, Ibrahimovic beat Ledley King to a cross from the left and with a well timed, close range volley tied up the match.

The second leg is at White Hart Lane on the 24th of April 2012, with Tottenham sitting on what could prove to be a crucial away goal in another hotly anticipated match.
 
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24/04/2012
White Hart Lane, London, England

SPURS: WE BELIEVE

Tottenham Hotspur today have advanced to the UEFA Champions League Final after defeating F.C. Barcelona 2-1 after extra time to win 3-2 on aggregate.

The match started strong with a few chances at either end, until on 23 minutes Argentine superstar Lionel Messi played a great ball to the feet of Andres Iniesta, who hit it first time for the first goal of the match. Tottenham's Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa had no chance on the play.

And then on 28 minutes Barcelona thought they had gone two-nil up, when
Ibrahimovic fired a fierce drive past Ochoa, only to be cleared off the line by fullback Kyle Naughton.

The match was deadlocked with Barca leading in the match and on aggregate until on 42 minutes with Kranjcar skipping past the challenge of Pique on the left wing and sending a cross toward the middle. Giovanni dos Santos beat Chygrynskyi to the ball to glance a header into the far corner past the helpless Valdes to tie the match at 1-1.

Halftime score: 1-1 (2-2)

Shortly after halftime on 49 minutes, Giovanni dos Santos found himself in front of goal, but an absolutely fantastic Victor Valdes save pushed the ball past the post for a wasted corner.

The game was then relatively quiet as both teams didn't want to push too far forward, when on 70 minutes Lionel Messi swung a cross that beat Ochoa to reach the head of Chygrynskyi, only for Captain Ledley King to clear off the line - just in time.

The game really heated up as just a minute later, Jermaine Defoe made a nice move to create space to shoot, beating Valdes but also just beating the post.

The tempo had really increased as Kranjcar played a nice switch ball to Bentley, who in turn played it through to dos Santos. The young midfielder used his skill to beat Chygrynskyi, only to be frustrated by another great save from Valdes as Chygrynskyi hoofed it clear of danger.


Disaster struck for Tottenham on 75 minutes as Sebastian Bassong brought down wonderkid Bojan. The referee called Bassong over to show him his second yellow card and left Tottenham fighting with 10 men!

Tottenham managed to hold on to the end of 90 minutes, extra time would decide the contest.

In the first real action of extra time, Jonathon Woodgate narrowly headed over after connecting with a Gareth Bale corner on 93 minutes.

The extra time period was quiet, as the two tired teams battled, with Tottenham dominating the possession. On 102 minutes, Modric lofted a free kick into the box towards dos Santos, who was tripped by Pique. Penalty!
Newly arrived on the pitch, Robbie Keane stepped up and drilled the penalty in off the left upright, to take a 2-1 lead in the match, and a 3-2 lead on aggregate!

Almost immediately, a fired up Zlatan Ibrahimovic was played clean through on goal by a sublime Messi pass, but Ochoa did superbly to deny him down low at close range.

Just 2 minutes later, Ibrahimovic fired a fierce shot on target to the top corner from about 25 yards, only for a flying
Guillermo Ochoa to tip it over with a fantastic save.

Then just a few minutes later on 109 minutes, that man Ibrahimovic again found space and bent a shot on goal, just out of Ochoa's reach but rattling the upright! Messi beat Bale to the rebound and had a clear scoring chance, but Ochoa once again dived superbly to his right to tip it wide!!!

Tottenham drew it back and parked the bus, defending with life and limb for the remainder, the only other chance coming on 118 minutes, when a frustrated Ibrahimovic ripped a shot full of venom whistling over the bar.

Then just minutes later, the Tottenham faithful at White Hart Lane erupted in cheers and chants as Frederic Studer blew the final whistle to seal the milestone victory!!!
Against all the odds, Tottenham have advanced to the Champions League final with a 2-1 (3-2 aggregate) win over F.C. Barcelona!

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Man of the Match was Giovanni dos Santos, with his one vital goal and a 7.8 rating.

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Ajax will take a 4-0 lead into their second leg at Juventus this Wednesday, to determine who plays Tottenham in the final.
 
APRIL

With the month of April, the Champions League final participants were decided and 3 team were confirmed as doomed to relegation. But at the top of the table, the race for the title was still open, with Manchester United holding the upper hand.

Going back to the start, the first game for Tottenham was against Inter Milan, where a sublime performance from Giovanni dos Santos with a hat trick secured the win and advancement to the Semi final against Barcelona!

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Next up was West Brom in the Premier league. King and Modric gave enough goals to see them off 2-1.

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Following this, was a tough clash with Barcelona in the Champions League, the result is mentioned in above posts, but a goal from Defoe was enough to draw 1-1 and set up an exciting return leg at home. Defoe had played an incredible 18 hours without scoring before this point!!
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Jammed in between my Champions League fixtures was a Premier League match with Wigan, where my tired reserve team battled to a disappointing 1-1 draw after new signing Afellay managed a goal.

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Now was the real deal, the exciting match with F.C. Barcelona at White Hart Lane. The first goal came when Andres Iniesta of Barcelona tucked away Messi's neat pass into the back of the net. Just before halftime, the man Spurs fans have come to worship, dos Santos, scored the equaliser of a cross from Kranjcar.
In the 76th Minute Bassong was sent off, and with the game tied on aggregate, we went to extra time! in the 104th minute, dos Santos was fouled in the box by Pique, and Keane stepped up to score the penalty. After some late pressure from Barca, countered by incredible saves from Ochoa, Tottenham were on the way to a Champions League final!

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However, for the final some bad news as star central defender Sebastian Bassong will be ineligible due to suspension from his red card!

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The penultimate Premier League game of the season and last game in April was against mid-table Newcastle. Defoe got two and dos Santos added another as we cruised to a 3-0 win.

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_____________________________

The month of March has two key dates.

One obviously being the Champions League Final on the 19th of May at Allianz-Arena, which has been drawn against Ajax (who defeated Juventus 6-2 on aggregate).

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The other key date is the final day of the Premier League.

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Above is the premier league table with one game to play, and is almost a repeat of last seasons ending!
Basically, I need to win against Everton to have a chance, and at least draw to prevent Man City from possibly leapfrogging me for 3rd.
If I win and Manchester United draw/lose and Liverpool draw/lose, I win a second consecutive Premier League title.
If Manchester United win, they win the title.
Man Utd's final game is against 15th place Portsmouth, Liverpool is vs 5th ranked Arsenal, Tottenham are up against 8th ranked Everton and City play 12th ranked Wolves.

Anything can happen in the beautiful game, but I would predict a fired up Manchester United securing a title to give Sir Alex Ferguson one last hurrah before his impending retirement on the 27th of May.
 
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The latest round concluded the Barclays Premier League for the season.
Tottenham Hotspur did their job, defeating Everton 1-0 thanks to a wonder strike from Afellay.




Unfortunately, the Liverpool result did not go our way, as they soundly beat Arsenal 4-0.
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However, neither of these results really mattered, as in what is reported to be Sir Alex Ferguson's last match in charge of the Red Devils, they put on a master class in absolutely destroying Portsmouth 6-0 to win the Premier League title in decisive fashion.
A summary of the results from the final day of the Premier League season:





 
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No worries, you are still in Champions League, by finishing 3rd. Good story mate, keep it up. :)
 
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FINAL
19.05.2012
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Played at the 69,901 capacity Allianz-Arena in Munich, Germany.

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TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR INJURY UPDATE:

  • Attacking midfielder Niko Kranjcar has been ruled out of the final through injury after sustaining strained knee ligaments after twisting sharply during a training session.
  • 22 year old Giovanni dos Santos has fully recovered from his strained wrist that saw him miss the Premier League season finale against Everton, and is due to start in the final.
  • Cultured winger David Beckham will be unavailable for selection due to strained ankle ligaments.
In other non-injury related selection news, strong centre-back Sebastian Bassong is suspended from his red card in the Semi-Final second leg against F.C. Barcelona.
Midfielder Ibrahim Afellay is ineligible for selection.

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Expected Tottenham Hotspur squad for the Champions League Final.


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The injury to Kranjcar forces me to move Bentley to the left wing and start Robbie Keane on the right wing.
And the suspension to Sebastian Bassong leaves me with a decision of who to start at central defender, at the moment I like the pairing of King and Woodgate, but due to Woodgate's unhappiness I may start Milito in his place, it looks like it will be a game time decision.

COME ON YOU SPURS!

 
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19/05/2012
Allianz-Arena, Munich, Germany

HEARTBREAK FOR SPURS

Urby Emanuelson's powerful goal in the second minute of extra time was a enough to end Tottenham's dream run and first appearance in the Champions League Final with a 2-1 defeat.

Jermain Defoe had taken the lead for Spurs on 39 minutes, before a late fightback from Ajax, with dangerman Suarez equalizing on 87 minutes. Urby Emanuelson's powerful finish in the 92nd minute proved insurmountable to Spurs over the final 28 minutes.

It was a promising start for Spurs, with the game tipped in our favour for most of the contest - it just wasn't to be!
The first major action of the game was when Defoe capped a nice move, thanks to a neat pass to split the defense from Luka Modric and sent us up 1-0.

A terrific performance Ajax centre-back Nicolas Otamendi neutralized Giovanni dos Santos and his skillful running in the early stages, as the Tottenham attack failed to penetrate the Ajax line. Opposite him, Brazilian defender Luisao was a tower at the back for the Dutch side and cleared cross after cross with his powerful headers.


A disappointing game, when I had thought I was on the way out with a 1-0 victory, it quickly turned into a 1-2 defeat.
Defoe leading the line was effective for his part in the goal, but in hindsight I should have adjusted the personnel, maybe in a 4-4-2 with Crouch up front, just to give some height to the front line, as the aerial battle was soundly lost by my side.

We were playing very well defensively and through the midfield, but in the final third the ball struggled to get in on the ground, and the crosses from wide positions were cleared again and again.

It was also unfortunate, with dos Santos still showing effects of his injury that saw him miss the final premier league game of the season. He was almost invisible in the early stages, but started to flare up as the game wore on, but failed to recapture the fine form he had been in for the majority of the season.

Sebastian Bassong was also sorely missed, as it was a tired Ledley King who lost his man Suarez and allowed him to latch onto a through ball to score the equalizer. The agony of this was King was about to be replaced by Gabriel Milito, and had this change gone through earlier, maybe I am celebrating now!

But it is not time to dwell on the defeat, it was a solid effort and the team will take great pride in defying expectations to reach the final, and will be good experience moving forward.
In the upcoming offseason - including Euro 2012 (just as a note, England won the 2010 World Cup in my game) - I will be looking to strengthen the squad in depth, focussing largely on the defenders. King, Woodgate and Milito are only getting older, and I may spend the money on bringing in some quality talent to strengthen what is a stingy Premier League defense.

Tottenham Hotspur are now a legitimate contender for the League title, and this status will help attract the bigger names to join and help the club on towards future glory!

Manchester United have approached me to take over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford - what should I do???????




 
When I played Spurs I sold Lennon for 40m and Palacios was best player in the league when he was 28-30 years old..I played it because it is my favorite team and I just wanted to play,not to win but lol I took a lot of young players and later sold them and my transfer budget increased very much.In the begining of 3rd season I got 70m. to spend but later I sold players like Catermole or Gago and I had a buget as Real Madrid.It was awesome game to me.
Nice story by the way,keep it up.
 
Man Utd is a terrific team, but would you just leave all that work at Spurs?

There's more money, more players, proberly more succes, but also a little less challenge and a little less fun... Is it not more fun to take Spurs to be the numer 1 team in Europe?
 
2012/13 SEASON

I have chosen to reject the Manchester United job offer, I feel my work is unfinished and I want to bring the club greater success.

Some major transfer activity to report in the summer window from Tottenham Hotspur.

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Notable outings include Jermain Defoe, who got some average money from Real Madrid to sit on the bench, and a few other small money transfers to rid the club of unneeded players.

This was my biggest spending ever, as acquired striker Edin Dzeko from Wolfsburg for £31m and midfielder Jeremy Toulalan from Lyon for £21.5m + Alphonse Areola.
Both deals were affordable thanks to the 48 monthly payments option.
For depth I signed Ballack on free transfer and paid Le Mans £5m for the services of Sebastian Corchia at right back.

Edin Dzeko is an extremely talented player and I can see him making a massive impact to my squad this season.
Toulalan has the class to command the midfield, and I am confident of him being a success in the Premier League.

For the preseason, I toured to Mexico, and played Palmeiras and my reserve team.
Results:
3-0 win at Monterrey
1-2 loss to Pumas
4-0 win at Cruz Azul
0-2 loss to America (MEX)
4-0 win over Palmeiras
5-0 win over reserves

I am confident of this season, but I feel my squad is lacking in something - I just don't know what it is!
 
Good job there. Nice signings too but all the free transfers you made in the 10/11 were a bit stupid imo, could've sold them for 10m maybe + loan fees and stuff. Anyway congrats for reaching the CL Final and hope you continue your success :D
 
AUGUST

The season was underway with a Premier League victory at home over Sheffield United, 2-0 thanks to Modric and Keane.
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Next up was a shocking upset as a brace from Miller cancelled Toulalans' fierce early goal as I fell away to West Brom 2-1.
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Inspired to recover from the surprising defeat, Spurs came out strong against Liverpool, with Jack Rodwell's goal on 2 minutes taking a good start. With a win seemingly in the bag, Aquilani of Liverpool popped up in the fourth minute of extra time to steal a point for the scousers.
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Edin Dzeko has made a good start, showing tremendous vision in the attack and create many opportunities.
 
SEPTEMBER

September didn't start any better, a 2-1 defeat to Sunderland, with a goal from Modric proving too little, too late.
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Finally another win, 2-0 over Fulham thanks to a sublime Dzeko with Modric adding another on the stroke of halftime.
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Next up was my Champions League Group C match with Sparta Prague. I have been handed a rough group this season, with a strong Genoa side and Real Madrid to contend with. This match saw Dzeko and Modric add goals, enough to see off Sparta 2-1.
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Following the midweek Champions League victory, we seemed to hit some good form, with a tough 1-0 win away at Manchester City thanks to a brilliant performance from Dzeko.
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Continuing the win streak were my reserves, called up to defeat Crystal Palace 3-1 in my first League Cup match of the year, through a double from Crouch and Lukaku.
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Unfortunately another disappointing appearance, this time at home to West Ham in the Premier League, saw us defeated 1-0 with the added insult of Toulalan sent off for a second yellow card.
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Notable has been the performance of Edin Dzeko, consistently achieving a rating above 7.00 in all games he features in, I am extremely pleased with this transfer so far! Hopefully the good times roll on, and the team can pick up form and keep going.
 
OCTOBER

Unfortunately the poor results continued, with a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the group stages.
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The team bounced back with a dominating win over Aston Villa, as we ran out 3-1 victors at Villa Park.
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Yet another poor home result followed, with a 0-1 defeat at home to Stoke.
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Then another Champions League group defeat as we fell to Genoa 0-1, losing to a controversial penalty.
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The reserves came out again to defeat Huddersfield in the League Cup, with Crouch and Lukaku again the scorers.
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Hopefully I can pick up the form of the squad and turn in some decent results to pick up my standing in the Premier League.

Other news of note, Manchester United is languishing in the bottom half of the table, and it looks like Alex Ferguson's replacement, Javier Aguirre, will be sacked soon.
Chelsea have meanwhile stormed to the top of the table and are racing out to a big lead, with over achievers Wolves and Sunderland in the top 4.
 
Good story this pal.

could be time to join the mancs but it would in all honesty make your story less intersting. For career and enjoyment value its time to go home via united road. Otherwise stick with the yids and keep up the good work with the story.
 
NOVEMBER

Continued disappointment at home, this time suffering through a 1-1 draw with Wolves. Jack Rodwell popped up to secure a point for my side.
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Then it was another home defeat, a 3-1 demolition courtesy of Genoa. This put my Champions League knockout round hopes in serious jeopardy, and left me with it all to do.
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My decent away form was promising, as I secured a 1-0 win over Everton back in the Premier League thanks to Niko Kranjcar.
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Just as soon as I though the away for was looking good, I fell 1-0 to Arsenal in a hard fought North London derby.
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Trying to find some consistency, I hung on to beat Newcastle at home with a 2-1 win. A brace from Niko Kranjcar securing the win.
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Then another defeat, as Chelsea were limited thanks to a brilliant display from Ochoa in goal, but still managed to secure a 1-0 victory over my side.
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Next on the fixture list, was a crucial Champions League match against Sparta. I needed to win and Real Madrid needed to lose to set up the deciding game in a weeks time. Unfortunately, I only managed a 1-1 draw, but it would not have mattered, as Madrid romped to victory over Genoa with ease.
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A disappointing series of results, I am now out of the Champions League, but cling to life in the FA cup and League cup. Hopefully the Euro Cup turns into a success, with my first knockout game against Sevilla.

I must once again comment on Edin Dzeko's exceptional form, the man is true class up front, scoring goals, creating goals, and just playing wonderful football.
Toulalan, Modric and Rodwell are churning out solid games working as a threesome in the engine room, and dos Santos and Kranjcar are gelling in the attacking midfield area.
 
DECEMBER

** My game is ahead of the current time, and I want to catch up in my story so at the moment my updates are frequent as I try to catch up (H)

A fantastic game, and a good all round performance in the Premier League, as I toppled struggling Manchester United 4-2, with goals from Dzeko (2), Rodwell and dos Santos.
Roberto Manchini is now at the helm of United, but they still languish in the bottom half of the table.
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Then came a stunning 4-4 draw against Wolves, that unfortunately ended in defeat on penalties. A surprising game as both teams played outstanding football.
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We came out guns blazing, as Dzeko annihilated Bolton with a hat trick to win 3-1.
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Then was some salt for the wound, as a meaningless game verse Real Madrid was played. I rested some in the first team, as we were defeated 4-0 and out of Champions League.
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Group C results :'(
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Then was a disappointing draw with Bristol City 0-0, as dos Santos was taken off injured.
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A shock defeat at Portsmouth was up next, as Dzeko continues to play well, but the front line just didn't gel lacking dos Santos.
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A returning dos Santos fired up the team, as they beat down on Ipswich 3-0.
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The run continued with another 3-0 win in the premier league, this time against Sheffield United. Bassong got a brace, and could have had a hat trick, but he fired his penalty well wide right.
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Seemingly we had found form, as we rolled to a third straight win over West Brom 2-0.
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Ending the year on a 3 game winning streak is a huge morale boost, and hopefully this form will carry over into the New Year.

The World Footballer and World Player of the Year was awarded to Cristiano Ronaldo for the second year running.

Moving into the New Year, I will be looking to pick up some defenders in the window to bolster my squad and help string together some more consistent results. My goals for the remainder of the season are to:
- Finish 4th or higher in the Premier League
- Win the Euro Cup

Onwards into 2013!
 
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