Birmingham City - Implementing a cantera policy

[bcfc1]

End of Season Post

The first season is over and it has been a great start to the career. We made a great start to the season and then kept it up to win the league with over 100 points. Incredibly we only lost 3 league games all season and it was only due to the fact that we drew a lot that we didn't win the league by a bigger margin. Norwich and Bournemouth chased us for most of the season and in the end it was Norwich who got 2nd place and automatic promotion. Bournemouth ended up losing in the playoff final to Brentford which is frustrating, I was looking at signing Rico Henry from Brentford as my new LB.

We went out of both cups pretty early but both ere against very good Premier League opposition (Man Utd and Tottenham) so it wasn't surprising. Next season will be completely about trying to fight for safety so I'm not imagining putting together a great cup run next season either. One positive from the cups was that we beat West Brom it gave me some confidence that we might be able to compete in the top league.

Final League Table

Squad

Goalkeepers - Etheridge was incredible and our best player of the season. Prieto made 1 appearance in a cup game but never really got a chance against Etheridge. This is one position that doesn't need improving in the summer.

Defenders - Colin and Clarke-Salter were the only regulars as Roberts was cut down by a horrible injury and the LB position switched from Friend to Seddon once he returned in January. Clark performed well when he played but didn't play as much due to Colin being incredibly consistent and remaining almost completely injury free. San Jose performed well in Roberts absence and also replaced Sunjic in the holding role when necessary as well.

Midfielders - The only changes here came due to fatigue as Sunjic, Harper and Sanchez were the regular midfielders. San jose, Gardner/Wintle and Boyd-Munce provided adequate cover but they got no where near the level of the starting 3. Harper will need replacing but the other 2 will be big players for us next season.

Forwards - All of the strikers had okay seasons but nothing special. This is one area that I will spend a lot of the summer looking at. Bela started the season well but was replaced by Leko once we changed tactic. Halilovic started in the no.10 position as a creative option but once he was sold and replaced by Bailey/Sturridge, that position became one of our main goal threats and Bailey in particular had a great second half of the season.

Player of the Year
Neil Etheridge

It is rare that the goalkeeper gets the highest average rating for the season but that is what has happened here with Etheridge being incredible in goal for us. He isn't the flashiest keeper in the world but his ability to regularly make good saves has saved us plenty of points this season. He is going to have an even tougher time next season but if he can be as consistent as he has been this season then we have a good chance of staying up.

Young Player of the Year
Rekeem Harper

I was so tempted to give this to Odin Bailey as he has impressed me so much but he was only around for half a season and Harper has impressed for the entire season. He has been incredible in the midfield and is both our energetic runner and a main creator for the team. He will be a difficult player to replace, although I have a deal lined up which could replace him and more.

​

 

[seventhcolumn]

View attachment 546356

This is how it looks at the moment. I'm still tinkering with it though, particularly the striker and RM role. If you try the tactic and find a better role for those positions then let me know.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I love tinkering with tactics myself so I'll be sure to get back to you if I have any success with the adjustments I make.

 

[bcfc1]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I love tinkering with tactics myself so I'll be sure to get back to you if I have any success with the adjustments I make.

I've changed the tactic again based on the signings made of the summer so I feel like I am constantly tinkering with it. Let me know how you get on with Birmingham.

 

[bcfc1]

Pre-Season

Again I am writing this on the day of the first game of the season (at home to Burnley) and it has been a busy summer so far. The transfer window is still open and although it is unlikely, I am still looking to make one more signing. The only player from the first team squad that we sold was Adam Clayton to Sheff Weds for £575k and the only players leaving were Clarke-Salter, Harper and McGree who had their loans finish.

On to transfers in then and, in my opinion, we have made some fantastic signings to compete at this level and hopefully fight off relegation. The first transfer made was from local rivals Aston Villa as we brought in Kortney Hause for £2.5mil. With Clarke-Salter leaving we needed a new starting CB who was comfortable on the left side and Hause fits that perfectly. He was on my shortlist as a player I wanted but unlikely to sign due to playing for Villa but they transfer listed him and then he was interested in joining so in he came.

The next signing was LB Max Lowe from Sheff Utd for just £300k. My first choice option for LB was Rico Henry but after Brentford won the playoffs, he was now unlikely to join. Hopefully Brentford go straight back down and I might be able to pick him up then. For now anyway we signed Lowe for an incredibly low fee and he will compete with Seddon for the LB position.

Our next signing was a big one and our most expensive as we brought Rekeem Harper back to the club in a deal worth up to £19mil. We probably paid slightly over the odds for him but there are very few players that can play his position and almost none once you narrow that list down to those from the West Midlands. He was incredible for us last season and I will be hoping for another big season from him. The fact that he is now our player completely as well means I can plan long term on building a team around him.

While not costing us anything, this next deal is probably the biggest of the lot. Coming back to the club is local hero Jude Bellingham on a loan deal for the season. This was actually the first deal I arranged in the summer but he couldn't join until he turned 18 due to loan rules in Germany. The original plan was for him to replace Harper but now that I have both of them I will be changing the tactic slightly to accommodate them both in midfield. It is extremely unlikely we are going to be in a position to sign him anytime soon so this will be about enjoying him back at the club while we can.

On to the penultimate signing of the window, so far at least, as bring in a CB partner for Hause in youngster Nathan Collins from Stoke. With the CB's other than Hause all being over 30, Roberts (31), San Jose (32) and Friend (33) we needed a young CB and Collins was probably the best option out there. He looked a very solid option and will likely start the season as the partner with Hause with Roberts and Friend providing experienced back up.

The final season is another Nathan as we have loaned Nathan Redmond for the season from Southampton. We have the option to make the deal permanent for just £12mil at the end of the season which I plan on taking advantage of. The only reason we didn't sign him permanently was that we didn't have the money left in the budget after the big deals for Harper and Collins.

We have also had Crowley and Villalba rejoin from being out on loan last season to help bulk out the squad a little.

Tactic

With me changing the tactic so often in this save, I think I'm on my 4th or 5th version now, I thought I would share what I plan on at least starting the season with.

The main change is that the RM has been pushed into the RCM position. This is mainly so that we can fit Harper and Bellingham into the starting XI. This will also free the wing up for Colin/Clark to get forward a lot more on the right side. This change also means that Sanchez doesn't naturally fit into the tactic. I've therefore decided to start retraining him as a striker and hopefully he will learn to play the F9 role. The striker has become more of a facilitator than scorer so this may suit Sanchez pretty well, once he was learned the position.

Squad

GK - Etheridge, Prieto
RB - Colin, Clark
CB - Collins, Roberts
CB - Hause, Friend
LB - Lowe, Seddon
DM - Sunjic, San Jose
CM - Bellingham, Crowley
CM - Harper, Wintle
AM - Redmond, Sturridge
LW - Leko, Bela
ST - Bailey, Sanchez

Others - Villalba, Hogan

 

[Jedd95]

Good read mate and I love the plans for the club. Really interesting to see the challenge. All the best for the season.

 

[bcfc1]

August

A decent start to the season as we take a point from Burnley who are always a difficult team to play. They scored an early goal which worried me but we battled for the rest of the game and our goal in the 79th minute was completely deserved.

A great win against Brentford who will surely be relegation rivals with us this season. The 2 early goals set us on the way and then we managed the rest of the game well and then scored with a late counter attack as they pushed forward. Its nice to get the first win of the season early on.

Incredible result. We certainly had our shooting boots on. The first half was pretty boring but we came alive in the second and everything we hit seemed to find the back of the net. We aren't going to get too many games like this during the season so we need to enjoy them while we can.

Through to the next round we go with a solid win against Bristol Rovers. Solid all round performance which is good as we have a tough run of games coming up.

Incredibly it takes the end of the month for us to lose a game. Our general game was pretty good but they dominated us at set pieces and all 3 of their goals came from them. Defending set pieces is certainly something we will be working on in training in the future.

Summary

A very good start to the season as we have 7 points on the board from 4 games and are through to the next round of the cup. It is nice to build these points as the next month is tough with games against Man City, Arsenal and Everton in the league. We seemed to have settled pretty well though and most of the team are performing well. On to the transfer talk and we made 1 more sale and 1 more move in. We sold backup GK Andres Prieto to Atletico Madrid for £400k. I wasn't looking to sell him but they came in with a bid and it made sense to take the money for a backup GK. I then needed to replace him so I signed Matija Sarkic from Wolves for £190k. There weren't many options for a competent backup GK but I was able to find one for a small fee. If he can develop a little more then he could possibly even replace Etheridge.

Player of the Month
Nathan Collins

League Table

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[bcfc1]

Good read mate and I love the plans for the club. Really interesting to see the challenge. All the best for the season.

Thanks. It is a decent challenge as the region have produced players good enough to compete at the very top so I should be able to progress well. Using a good region is key to making this work.

 

[bcfc1]

September

Only losing 1-0 is not bad against Man City and it could have been much more to be honest. We are obviously nowhere near Man City in terms of quality and I went into this game thinking if we could keep it below 3 then I would be happy so I'm pleased it was only 1. The only disappointing thing was that after keeping them out for so long, we conceded in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Another massive team and, while it was another loss, it was another respectable scoreline. We actually had our own chances in this game and could have scored but Arsenal are of course a much better side and these are not the types of games where we are expecting to get any points.

Through to the next round of the cup we go as we beat Blackburn on penalties. We had low morale going in to this game and it showed at the start as Blackburn took an early lead. We rallied back and equalised through Sturridge and then piled on the pressure but couldn't get the winner. I was worried when Sturridge missed our first penalty but Blackburn lost their composure and hit 2 of the penalties wide to give us the win. We face Arsenal in the next round so this may be as far as we go but it is already better than last year.

The last game of the month is a cracker as we draw 3-3 with Everton. Bellingham got us off to a great start but the game kept twisting and turning as we both took the lead but finally Davies got their equaliser and the game stayed at 3-3. Everton are another team that have much better quality than us so I am pleased we were able to get something from this game.

Summary

It has been an incredibly tough month where, because of an international break, we had only 3 league games and 4 games in total. There won't be much tougher months than Man City, Arsenal and Everton so I'm glad we have got through it and can still say we are not in the bottom 3. Beating Blackburn in the cup means we didn't go the entire month without a win and it means we have gone at least 1 round further in the League Cup compared to last season. We have been drawn against Arsenal in the next round so it will be extremely tough to go any further but if they decide to put the backups/kids out then we might have a chance.

Player of the Month
Kortney Hause

League Table

 

[bcfc1]

October

Another game without a win but it has been a really tough run of games. My big worry is that our morale has taken a big hit and from my very limited knowledge of the game, morale is a big factor on how the team does.

A win. A league win. An actual league win. It hasn't happened for almost 2 months but we put 3 points on the board. This whole season is about survival and picking up these kind of wins are going to be vital for us to do that.

Norwich are likely going to be a relegation contender so not losing to these teams is going to be vital. The game itself was distinctively average with no real quality. Even the 2 goals were pretty poor to be honest. Quality isn't important at this point though, points are.

Out of the cup we go as Arsenal outclassed us and had the quality in front of goal to score. We tried to make a competition of it but never really had the clear chances to really do anything here. Going out here means we can completely focus on the league until the FA Cup starts.

The month ends with a draw but it could have been better if Bellingham had converted the penalty. They scored from an early set piece but after that we were probably the better team and deserved the equaliser and maybe even all the points. I switched Bellingham and Harper in midfield which seemed to help both of them. The LCM is more all round demanding while the RCM is more attack focused so it seems to be playing to both of their strengths.

Summary

Another month goes by and it is a decent month where we picked up 5 points from 4 league games. As expected, we are struggling to compete but there are moments in almost all games where we look like we can create chances. What we don't have is a clinical player up top to put those chances away on a regular basis. The risk of playing a F9 and relying on the 2 behind him to get the goals doesn't seem to be really working at the moment. Not much can be changed until at least January though so we need to find a way of getting some goals from the front man we have at the moment.

Player of the Month
Neil Etheridge

League Table

 

[bcfc1]

November

What a game and what a comeback. Leicester are really struggling this season but they still have some great quality in their team and showed it in the way they took the chances. At 3-1 down I almost through this game in but Redmond got one back very quickly and then Collins got the equaliser in the 71st minute. From that moment on it was all us and we could have won the game.

What a win and with such a good performance. I'm about 1/3 through the season so the usual tactic change came and it has had an immediate effect. We were incredibly strong at the back in the first half and it looked like Man Utd ran out of ideas before we then got 2 late goals to take all the points. You know you are doing well defensively when both Pogba and Fernandes got subbed off due to poor performances.

Derby day comes and we snuck out with a point in a game we deserved very little from. Villa are flying high at the moment in the top 6 and showed why as they out performed us for large portions of the game. We only got our goal from a ridiculous error by Martinez. Bailey put in a cross/shot that went straight to him but in catching the ball he backed up and took the ball over the line. We were very lucky here and won't get that kind of luck too many times.

Summary

A very short month due to an international break and being out of the League Cup and it has been a successful month. I can't imagine we will be able to say this again this season but we went the entire month unbeaten and picked up 5 points from some difficult opposition. We actually won the toughest game of the 3 and then got draws against the other 2. I've changed tactics again as the asymmetric style wasn't really working for us. I've not really been able to have much success with a creative/deep striker and have gone back to an advanced forward. If anyone has any tips on how to get a F9/DLF type of striker to work well then please let me know as I haven't had any success with it in years.

Player of the Month
Nathan Collins

League Table

 

[bcfc1]

December

Not a great result but it was a decent performance. Both teams were pretty even in terms of chances but they had much better quality up top to put their chances away. We are not at a point where we can compete with this level of team and I think it will take a couple of seasons before we can even think about that.

We defended so well here. The number of fouls committed shows how hard we worked to try and stop Liverpool getting into any rhythm against us. Redmond scored after 16 seconds after a long ball over the top put him one on one. After that it was backs to the wall and see if we could repeat it. We couldn't but only conceded once ourselves to take a point from Liverpool.

What a result and also what a performance. The first half was pretty average but everything clicked in the second half and we put away our chances. The number of fouls and yellow cards is the only thing concerning me with this tactic. It seems to have grown massively since the change. I need to try and remove that while also making sure we don't look the aggressiveness that is helping us in games like this.

Another great score line that could have been even better if we didn't have 2 disallowed goals. We dominated large portions of the game and never really looked like conceding. Maybe it is new tactic syndrome but things seem to be working well at the moment.

This game was over after 10 minutes as Redmond is starting to really enjoy the striker role. We probably have the lowest reputation in the league so teams feel like they can attack us but the speed we have in that front 3 is creating havoc when we get the ball forward quickly. I'm tempted to try and a quicker, more direct style of play but I don't plan on changing anything while this is working so well.

We end the month with a draw but I am pretty pleased with it as we had to rotate almost the entire starting XI. This game came just 2 days after the previous one so a lot of the starters weren't fit enough so we had to rotate and the backups struggled to do anything in the game. I made a couple of subs and it was Bellingham and Leko who linked up to get the equaliser late on and save us a point.

Summary

It has been a busy month with 6 games in total but it has been a successful one where we gathered 11 points. The 3 match win streak against Brighton, Fulham and Leeds has propelled us up the table and much closer to safety. The only negative from the month was the loss to Tottenham but they have some great quality in their team so results like that are likely to happen. Just like last season, we have been busy in the transfer market in this month with some of our players wanted. I've arranged a couple of sales with a couple more waiting to go through. It might be another busy January where the squad players get changed a bit.

Player of the Month
Nathan Redmond

League Table

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[Jedd95]

Looks like the tactic change has helped! Great season so far mate - huge win vs Mufc.

 

[bcfc1]

January

The new year starts with a good win in the cup against Preston. I rested a lot of players but it didn't matter as the quality of the team shone through in the end. Through to the next round we go. We have been drawn against Chelsea so it may as far as we go.

Another good win against a struggling Brentford side. We got the goals needed early on and then sat and made sure we didn't concede anything. The own goal in the second half made things even more comfortable for the rest of the game.

Redmond is on fire at the moment. I went in to this window thinking I might need to find a 'proper' striker but Redmond has looked very comfortable in that position. It means I don't need to look for a striker in this window and can take my time until the summer to make a decision on what to do there.

Wow wow wow. The result against Man Utd last month was great, this is something else. Not only the great result but we actually played well and looked the better team for most of the game. We got 2 early goals with Leko's coming from a bad error by Dias and from there we just looked comfortable and never really looked like losing it.

Out of the cup we go as Chelsea completely outclassed us. I put out the backups as I wasn't too fussed about the cup's this season as the focus in entirely on the league. It was nice to go give a couple new signings a first start as well and I will talk about transfers at the end of this post.

Back to winning ways as Sanchez came in for Bailey who was injured and put in an incredible performance. Bailey has really impressed ever since he came back from his loan last season but Sanchez has reminded me why he started the game as Birmingham's best player.

The last game of the month here and it brings in 3 points and a clean sheet. We absolutely battered Everton here. I always think of Everton as the 'best of the rest' in the Premier League after the big 6 but they were very poor here. I actually finished this game slightly disappointed that we only scored 2 as we had the chances to score a lot more than that.

Summary

It is another busy month as we played 7 games as well as have plenty of movement in the transfer window. The month could barely be any better as we won every league game with the only loss being against Chelsea in the FA Cup. The new tactic seems to have really helped as we have looked like a proper Premier League team in this set up. It has given almost everyone the freedom to play attacking football while also being strong at the back by not allowing the full backs to get too far forward.

Transfers

Starting with the players out and there have been a few. Both Crowley and Villalba were stealing wages while never really getting any game time so their departures were arranged in December. The fee for Villalba was great but he had clause that meant that Valencia get 75% of the transfer fee so most of that money is going straight out of the club. San Jose was next as he returned to Spain. He has been a decent option for us and his ability to play at CB and DM was great for cover however he wanted to leave and we made a decent fee for a player that was comfortably in his 30's and not a starter for us The next 2 transfers saw both of our backup CB's leave the club. Both were unhappy and had put in transfer requests so I just took the fees we could make from them and put it into their replacements.

On to the incoming transfers then and we have 3 mentioned here although probably the biggest transfer we made is not mentioned which I will about at the end. The first transfer shown here is Easah Suliman who is the first CB to come in. He is our 3rd choice CB and looks a solid option to come in when needed.

The next signing is another CB as I signed Cian Harries for a small fee of just £400k from Bristol Rovers. While not highly rated by my scouts I think he looks a great steal for that kind of money. He has all the attributes needed for a ball playing defender and has useful player traits of tries long range passes and switches play which will suit our current style of play as we look to take advantage of the speed our front line has.

The final new signing is another loanee from Dortmund as young Isak Bergmann Johannesson joins for the rest of the season. I'm sure you are wondering how an Icelandic lad that has played in Iceland, Sweden and Germany counts towards my cantera policy but, atleast according to the game, he was born in Sutton Coldfield so is very much a local lad.

The final transfer that isn't mentioned there is that I was able to extend Bellingham's loan to run until the end of next season. He has been great for us so far this season and I thought Dortmund would want him back for the first team but they are happy to continue loaning him to us.

Player of the Month
Jonathan Leko

League Table

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[bcfc1]

Looks like the tactic change has helped! Great season so far mate - huge win vs Mufc.

It has been a revelation. I'm still playing with it a little but if it keeps performing as it has been then I think I have found one to finally stick with.

I have a question for everyone that is following along. The transfer policy is to only buy players from the region but obviously the club started with loads of players not from that region. At the end of this season I will still have 6 of those players.

Etheridge
Colin
Sunjic
Bela
Sanchez
Hogan

Etheridge, Bela and Hogan are no better than backups and I will be looking to sell them.

Colin, Sunjic and Sanchez are still very much involved with the first team though. Do I keep them or do I push them out of the club over the summer and make sure the team is entirely made up of players from the region come the start of the 3rd season?

In terms of following the policy I think I probably do need to look at moving them out, it will be hard to say bye to those 3 though as they are very good Premier League quality players.

Let me know what you all think.

 

[Jopley99]

can you show us the tactic bud? awesome read btw

 

[bcfc1]

February

We came out quickly but then Arsenal showed their class to take the game from us. We tried to go for it more in the second half but we just couldn't get the goal we needed and to be honest, by the end of the game it was more likely we would concede again rather than equalise.

It is the same scoreline but the game was much tighter here. We looked to be in this one until the very end and had a decent chance at the end that Leko should have finished but it wasn't to be. I wasn't expecting to be able to compete with teams like this at all this season so I'm pleased we can go head to head with them and create problems for them.

The last game of the month is a massive result as we scored 5 against Southampton. Redmond couldn't play against his parent team so Leko moved up top and Bela came in on the left wing and both really impressed. I said in my last post that Bela is a backup player and I will be looking to sell him in the summer but he reminded me that he does have some qualities that work for us. Leko has now got me thinking whether I should switch him and Redmond around as Redmond does prefer the LW.

Summary

February is always a short month and this one only had 3 games. All 3 games were away from home as well which was surprising. We had 2 tough games against Arsenal and Chelsea where we didn't get any points but were able to bounce back with a big win against Southampton that keeps us flying high in the top half of the table. The match report after the Southampton game said the win has pushed us into the European qualification fight which is far higher than I thought we would be this season. I don't think we will have enough to push into it this season but it is great to be mentioned in it in just our first season in the Premier League.

Player of the Month
Matija Sarkic

League Table

 

[bcfc1]

can you show us the tactic bud? awesome read btw

I'm still playing around with it but this is how it is at the moment. The left side is much more effective than the right side though so I haven't got the balance right.

 

[seventhcolumn]

It has been a revelation. I'm still playing with it a little but if it keeps performing as it has been then I think I have found one to finally stick with.

I have a question for everyone that is following along. The transfer policy is to only buy players from the region but obviously the club started with loads of players not from that region. At the end of this season I will still have 6 of those players.

Etheridge
Colin
Sunjic
Bela
Sanchez
Hogan

Etheridge, Bela and Hogan are no better than backups and I will be looking to sell them.

Colin, Sunjic and Sanchez are still very much involved with the first team though. Do I keep them or do I push them out of the club over the summer and make sure the team is entirely made up of players from the region come the start of the 3rd season?

In terms of following the policy I think I probably do need to look at moving them out, it will be hard to say bye to those 3 though as they are very good Premier League quality players.

Let me know what you all think.

for me personally, if I was the one in control here I would keep those players around for a little while longer however I have a pretty major bias as a fan of these players irl so for authenticity's sake I think maybe bringing in local lads as replacements is the right call.

 

[bcfc1]

March

It is a disappointing start to the month as we got caught having a bad couple of minutes and they were able to score twice to take the points. We were the dominant team for most of the game so it is very disappointing to come away with nothing. With the amount of good luck we have had this season though, we were due some bad luck eventually.

Another disappointing result as we couldn't get a goal here to win the game. We were the stronger team again but couldn't break them down. The number of yellow cards we got here is a concern as well. The new tactic includes a higher line of engagement and pressing harder which I think is leading to this as our defenders keep having to commit professional fouls when teams hit it over the press.

A good win to end the month against a really struggling Leicester side. With us mid-table I hadn't looked at the relegation zone too much but Leicester are right in it and in real danger of going down. A couple of big teams are in trouble as Everton are down there as well. If either of them go down then it will be a massive shock. It will also remove a major competitor from the league for us.

Summary

Another short month of just 3 games, this time due to an international break. This was probably our most disappointing month of the season as we played 3 games that we could have won but only won 1 of them, and that 1 was probably the toughest team even if they are having a poor season. The loss to Norwich was particularly tough to take as we had complete control of the game but then had a crazy couple of minutes where we threw it away. Next month is going to be extremely tough as we have 4 games and they are Villa, Man Utd, Tottenham and Liverpool. As long as we don't lose the first game then I will be happy.

Player of the Month
Nathan Collins

League Table

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[bcfc1]

April

Get in. We lost Bellingham to injury for the rest of the season before this game so Johannesson came in to start and delivered by getting the second goal. We made a great start with Harper scoring and looked pretty comfortable after that. The rest of the month is incredibly tough so I'm pleased we have been able to get at least one win already.

A good draw here against a top side. I was disappointed to concede the equaliser just before half time but it was deserved for them. You can tell if you look at the xG match story, the second half was boring and almost nothing happened. Redmond had a very poor game, although no one in front line came off with a decent rating.

We almost threw it away. This is a great result that keeps our slim European hopes alive. At 3-0 it looked like we were playing well and going to see out a routine win. Even after Sissoko got 1 back we looked okay and Harper scored another. Then Lucas Moura made it a very nervy ending as he scored twice in added time. Thankfully we were able to hold on to the win and a very important 3 points.

The last game of the month brings the only loss and it was fully deserved as Liverpool outclassed us from start to finish. We had a couple of decent chances in the last 10-15 minutes but we didn't really deserve anything from this game. We are still a few seasons away from competing against teams like this on a regular basis.

Summary

Overall it has to be a positive month as we had some really tough games but came out with 7 points and only 1 loss against likely champions Liverpool. The wins against Villa and Tottenham kept our slim hopes of Europe alive but the loss to Liverpool means it is all looking unlikely again. I'm not sure how well this squad would cope with the challenge of regularly playing twice a week so it may be a blessing that we don't have Europe next season. I wouldn't have minded the boost in reputation though to try and attract better players. Next month brings the season to a close with winnable games against Brighton, Fulham and Leeds. Hopefully we can do well in all 3 of these games and go into the summer on a high.

Player of the Month
Rekeem Harper

League Table

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