Cracking the top 4

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TheOtherSpecialOne said:
First up well done on signing Benteke. I am curious however, what are you planning on doing when Pelle returns to full fitness? Will you be rotating them or wil you be implementing the both? Anyway tough draw against Valencia and as expected they look to be the better team, still you've gotten some great results in St Mary's so not all is lost.
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Rotation between the two is the plan :) Hopefully our run in Europa and the cup can continue, providing plenty of games for both to have sufficient game time. Thanks for following bud :)
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Tete, Wanyama, Clasie, Hesketh, Tadic, Mane, Pelle.

It just wasnt to be. We made some great chances throughout the match but some poor finishing from Graziano Pelle along with some great saves from Valencia's keeper kept us out. Valencia caught us out right at the death as we switched to overload and looked for that vital goal. Our European journey ends and we have been found wanting.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Tete, Bender, Clasie, Hesketh, Insigne, Mane, Benteke.

A great performance against a tough Stoke side after the downer that has been the last week. Christian Benteke scored his 4th goal for us as he continues to cement his place in the team over Pelle. As the commentary suggests an injury to Insigne is a huge blow for our run in. Another superb performance from Jake Hesketh see's him named man of the match and he is quickly becoming one of our most important players.

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Starting XI - Rulli, Targett, Van Dijk, Fonte, Tete, Wanyama, Clasie, Hesketh, Tadic, Mane, Benteke.

And we complete the double over Stoke with a good away performance. Jake Hesketh once again ran the show with an 8.2 match rating and he showed his class when he set up Dusan Tadic for the opener with a stunning ball across the face of goal. Christian Benteke then continued endearing himself to the fans by doubling our lead, it was just a shame we conceded that late goal to ruin our clean sheet. Apparently not satisfied with injuring Insigne, Stoke felt they had to injure Tadic this time, who will miss the next few weeks. This somewhat forces my selection for the next games with Rodriguez and Mane our only fit wingers, although Ward-Prowse is capable of playing wide right.

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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Tete, Wanyama, Clasie, Hesketh, Rodriguez, Mane, Benteke.

A really poor performance at St James Park as we mealy surrendered to Newcastles domination. The one goal turned out to be enough with Wijnaldum scoring it. Rulli made an excellent penalty save late in the first half but even that wasnt enough to lift us and spur us into action. We are really starting to suffer and miss those injured players, especially Steven Davis and Dusan Tadic.
 
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February Review
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An inconsistent and perhaps slightly disappointing month as we crash out of Europa and lose away to Newcastle in the Premier League. Wins against Stoke and Norwich in the Prem were good and we are still in the FA Cup, so not all bad.
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The Premiership is just starting to open up a little bit now as with our games in hand the top 7 should pull away from the rest of the field. Rodgers has improved Sunderland but surely not by enough while Sheffield Wednesday also look to be gone. Further news is Liverpool sacking Klopp and replacing him with Joachim Low who immediately proceeded to win them the League Cup.

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The FA Cup hands us a home Quarter final against Spurs. This should be a cracking game.
Player of the Month​

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This month I am going to give the award to Christian Benteke who has started to bang in the goals in recent games. He seems to have settled fairly well and fitted in perfectly and at the moment is keeping Graziano out of the team.

An honourable mention though to Jake Hesketh who has earned himself a vastly improved contract at the club and a spot as a regular starter in the team. In just 18 month Jake has improved so much and I truly believe he can be up there with the Coutinhos, the Firminos and the Barkleys of the Premiership.

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March Preview​

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With our departure from European competition our fixture list is a lot less crowded. Hopefully this will give us more preparation and recovery time in what is a really tough month that will decide our ability to hang at the top of the table.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Koulibaly, Cedric, Wanyama, Clasie, Davis, Sims, Rodriguez, Pelle.

A returning Steven Davis and a debut for young Josh Sims wasnt enough to prevent us getting absolutely thumped by United. We were really very poor all match and they had no problem walking through our defence with both Memphis Depay and Felipe Anderson grabbing two goals a piece. Unbelievably Sadio Mane picked up an injury just 3 minutes after coming on as a substitute and will miss the next 2 weeks, this is really starting to hurt.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Targett, Van Dijk, Koulibaly, Cedric, Bender, Davis, Hesketh, Tadic, Rodriguez, Pelle.

A real damp squib of a match as the midfields almost battled eachother into submission. Two horrific own goals from Rulli and Van Dijk eventually consigned us to defeat as we crash out of our cup defence at the quarter final stage. The positives of the day were that it was nice to see Rodriguez back in the goals, Hesketh had yet another superb match and Josh Sims got more game time in the 2nd half.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Davis, Hesketh, Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Benteke.

I'm sure the papers will be telling about how Everton combusted but the real story is that we played them off the park. This has to be the best performance I have seen during my time at the club. Plenty of positives including wonderful performances from James Ward-Prowse and Jake Hesketh who showed exactly what academy players can do, Christian Benteke notching another goal and young Josh Sims getting yet more minutes under his belt. The best moment of the match was Wanyamas stunning half volley from 30 yards which surely has to be a goal of the year contender!
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Davis, Hesketh, Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Benteke.

A really good match this time around against Tottenham as an unchanged side held them to a point. Dusan Tadic has hopefully really kick started his own form by scoring our goal for us to make it 2 in 2 but unfortunately Berahino equalised for Spurs just after half time. A good point which I will take happily.
 
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March Review
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I cant help but feel that this has been a poor month for the club. We lost heavily to United, self destructed in the cup against Tottenham and then could only manage a point at home in the league against Tottenham again. The Everton result was superb but not enough to outweigh the bad.
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Just 8 games to go in the Premiership as the table levels out with everybody having played the same amount of games. Now that everything has levelled out we are still well and truly in with a shout of European football, if not Champions League and are only 7 points off of the lead of the table! Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday have shown no signs of turning anything around while Brentford surely only have a slim chance of turning things around. The one thing that pleases me is that when you take into account points and goal difference, we definitely seem to be clinging on to the tails of the big clubs rather than falling back into the mid pack.
Player of the Month​
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Jake Hesketh takes the award this month as he puts in a string of superb performances. Going to start calling this kid the English Xavi. He has such an eye for a pass, a fully fledged first team starter now.

April Preview​
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This looks like it could be a really promising month as our run in looks a lot kinder than other teams!
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Fonte, Van Dijk, Cedric, Bender, Davis, Hesketh, Tadic, Mane, Benteke.

I shouted myself hoarse at the boys after the match to try and get them to understand just what is at stake here. This was a truly awful performance as we threw away a first half lead to lose to Villa, despite playing against 10 men for the last half an hour. Much improvement needed if we are to secure a European spot.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Bender, Davis, Hesketh, Tadic, Insigne, Benteke.

Poor yet again as we dominate the game but fail to win it. We went behind early in the 2nd half and threw caution to the wind as we threw Pelle on with Benteke to play with two target men. This paid off almost instantly as Pelle nodded home to level us up, but we couldnt get the win. Our Europe fight is falling to pieces.
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Clasie, Hesketh, Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Pelle.

I dont have the words for the frustration I am feeling as we fall to a late defeat to Palace. All of a sudden we just dont seem to be able to create anything and as we started to attack later in the game to try and grab something, they hit us on the counter in the very last minute to consign us to defeat. One of the lowest moments of my career so far.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Davis, Hesketh, Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Benteke.

Where on earth have all the goals gone. Our dismal month comes to a close and we are without a win in 5 now. I probably put the curse on it by saying we have a kind run in but it is simply not good enough. We didnt even look like winning this one as we played like the away side for most of it. Our confidence is completely gone and it will take somebody stepping up and doing something special to get it back.
 
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April Review​

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An absolutely shocking month as we can only pick up 3 draws from 5 games. This has the potential to have completely ruined our season and heads are going to roll because of it.
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Fortunately, the teams around us have been having shockers as well as West Ham, Aston Villa and Everton somehow stay behind us. The title is still anybodys although we will still play a major part in who wins it! Sunderland, Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday are now officially relegated meaning Derby County have survived their first season back in the Prem.
Player of the month​
Nobody. Nobody deserves it. We have bee just awful and I am not willing to praise anybody for something that they havnt achieved.

May Preview​
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Games against City and Liverpool will be interesting as both are still fighting for the title. I will accept absolutely nothing less than a win against Sunderland.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Clasie, Hesketh, Tadic, Rodriguez, Pelle.

As you can probably see from the stats, this was not pretty. A shocking display against a City side that played almost the entire match with 10 men means we are now 7 games without a win. I am absolutely baffled as to our run of form and will need to try something different to turn it around.
 
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