JANUARY
Lineup - Simon, Capa (De Marcos), Yeray, Martinez, Yuri, Sancet, Moriba,
Williams*, Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Fati)
A fine victory. Williams scored 2 in 2min and then Ansu Fati scored a screamer from 25 yards. Moriba and Sancet impressed in central midfield.
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Copa del Rey 2nd Round
Lineup - Ivan Martinez, De Marcos (Lekue), Nunez, San Jose (Vivian), Ganea, Sancet,
Moriba*, Gomez, Unai Lopez, Cordoba, Fati (Villalibre)
Much like the previous round - I expected a more convincing victory from my backups but 2-0 is what we had to settle for. Nice to give some of my younger players a run out though.
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Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Yeray, Martinez, Yuri (Lekue), Dani Garcia, Benat, Williams (Gomez), Raul Garcia, Muniain, Aduriz (Fati)
We got our arses handed to us here as we were awful. Benat had a great game somehow but nobody else performed and we were lucky it was only 3. Atletico are now 4pts clear of us in the league.
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Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Lekue), Yeray, Martinez, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat,
Williams*, Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Fati)
What a game this was!!! We went 2-0 down and then surged back to go 3-2 up however we got pegged back and but fortunately Williams completed his hat-trick to win us the game. Leganes weren't done there however as they had a stoppage time equaliser disallowed. I am a bit worried that we have conceded 6 goals in our last 2 games though.
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Copa del Rey 3rd Round
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Yeray, Martinez (Nunez), Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat, Williams,
Raul Garcia*, Muniain (Fati), Aduriz
We progress into the next round with a victory here. Aduriz got the winner with his 5th goal of the season - he will be released in the summer.
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Lineup - Simon, Lekue, Yeray, Nunez, Yuri, Dani Garcia (Moriba), Sancet, Williams, Raul Garcia (Cordoba),
Muniain*, Aduriz (Fati)
Very impressive as we beat a fellow Basque side. Raul Garcia missed a penalty so it could have been more. Always nice to see my youngsters score and Sancet got his first goal for the club here.
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Copa del Rey 4th Round
Lineup - Ivan Martinez, De Marcos, Nunez, San Jose (Vivian), Ganea, Sancet (Vencedor), Moriba,
Gomez*, Unai Lopez, Cordoba (Guruzeta), Fati
The draw was kind to us yet again and we did the job here but I am disappointed not to have scored more as we raced into an early 3 goal lead.
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SUMMARY
There was lots going on this month both on and off the pitch! In the league we did lose to Atletico Madrid but bounced back with some victories which sees us end the month in 4th place, a few points clear of Valencia. European football should easily be obtained but at which level I am not sure.
We have progressed in the Copa del Rey and have a semi final against Eibar to look forward to. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are out so there is a chance of success there.
Regarding the transfer window I sold my midfielder, Vesga, to Sevilla for £1.4m which was a great deal considering he was out of contract in the summer. Several U19, B and C team players were also sold or arranged moves with one young striker going to Arsenal in the summer but he wasn't anywhere near my plans.
I did bring in one player as I paid Osasuna £1.1m for this young CB to help the B team........
Finally the coach I signed from Leeds (forget his name) was poached by Girona to be their manager and we got £1m for him while we have arranged to look into buying the stadium so that is great news. The weirdest transfer of the window? Barcelona signing Aleksandar Mitrovic from Fulham for £31m!!!!
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
INAKI WILLIAMS
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LA LIGA