Evolution of the football manager

You planning on leaving or is it a one club story? What other leagues have you loaded up?
 
Have got no plan whatsoever. Trying to live it like a real manager, Live for the moment make career choices as they come. I've only loaded the English top 3 divisions was planning on adding leagues as the game went on, especially for feeder teams but the problems loading that last summer means i may be stuck in the premiership but will try it again this summer.

At the moment im very happy at Villa. Its been a bit more of a challenge to get Villa into the top 4 than i expected and getting a run in all cup is still well beyond us so will see how the rest of the season goes and see where were going to go from there.
 

The Europa League Final 2013

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From Amsterdam arena

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Both sides arrive in Amsterdam to play there first ever Europa League final and hoping to win the trophy for the first time.
Before kick off the two managers talked of there respect for each other with Donald reffering to Di Matteo as "one of the nicest people in football" with Di Matteo replaying the compliment and confirming "we get along very well" The frendship will certainly put on Hold as both managers look to take home a major trophy




Aston Villa Team News​
Long term injury victims Andre Bertolacci and Ryan Shawcross almost make it back for this huge game, Bertolacci is in teh team but only to make up the 7th sub
Stephen Warnock misses the biggest match of his 4 year Villa carear with a suspension



The Match​
6 - Villa Sub - The match is hardly underway and Darren Bent is streachered off injured by John Terry and replaced with normal Europa League forward Maxi Lopez

23 - GOAL - TORRES

HT - Possesion almost equal but Chelsea having much better of the actions with Gordon Making several importaint saves to keep us in it

66 - Villa Sub - Our first tectical change as Courtinho replaces Agbonlahor

78 - Chelsea sub - They shut up shop and go defensive Raul Reireles for Eden Hazard

81 - Villa Sub - Ok were going all out Yaya Sanogo on for El Ahmadi

93 - GOAL - Maxi Lopez WE'VE DONE IT WITH THE LAST KICK OF THE BALL! Oh wait Disaloud! how can you do this! that hurt man!

FT - Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa


Chelsea have won the Europa League

View attachment 261785 View attachment 261786​




"I Cant help but be devistated! Especially after the disaloud goal right at the death when it looked like we'd saved it just to be ruled out it was gutting! Having said that Chelsea were the better team on the night so i can only congratulate them on there success"
 

Match 38

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The final game of the 2012/13 season
Battle for 4th place


Aston Villa V Liverpool V Chelsea
View attachment 261802 View attachment 261801 View attachment 261800


So this is how the final day can work out and the teams we'll be watching


Liverpool V Tottenham
West Ham V Aston Villa
Wolves V Chelsea​


This is how the prize of 4th place will be won


Aston Villa can secure 4th place with a win or Draw due to there superior goal difference
If Aston Villa Draw
Liverpool must beat Spurs and have a 30 goal swing between Liverpool and Villa


If Aston villa loose
Liverpool must beat Spurs
Chelsea must beat Wolves and enjoy a 18 goal swing between themselves and Aston Villa and need Liverpool don't win


Kick Off​


20 - Liverpool - Dawson og - LI 1-0 TH


25 - Villa Goal - Maxi Lopez - WH 0-1 AV


44 - Villa Goal - Maxi Lopez - WH 0-2 AV


53 - Liverpool - S Gerard - LI 2-0 TH


59 - Villa Goal - Abgonlahor - WH 0-3 AV


70 - Wolves Goal- O'Hara - WO 1-0 Ch


75 - West Ham Goal - Holman - WH 1-3 AV


87 - Chelsea Goal - Sturrage - WO 1-1 CH


88 - Liverpool - A Carrol - LI 3-0 TH


Full Time


All the excitement was all for nothing as Aston Villa strolled to Victory against the Hammers and Cruise to 4th place and CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!
 

Season 2012/13 Review


View attachment 262037


Premiership - 4th
FA Cup - 4th Round
League Cup - 4th Round
Europa League - Runner Up​




My second season as Villa Manager has been and gone and our progress has been slow but steady as came close to a big European trophy but made up for it with a champions league place in the league




Like last season my second term in charge had plenty of character building moments such as Loosing the Europa League Final, regular slip ups against the likes of QPR and Swansea. Were also still no where near the strength of the two Manchester Teams or Arsenal and Chelsea so still work to do!
Season Highlight this time is undoubtedly fighting back to take 4th place and a Champions League place




Gather Round lads​
"May 2013 is a time in our life's we'll never forget We played our hearts out in Amsterdam but came up just short in the Europa League Final but I know we can build on that when we move up to the Champions League Next season. We Showed in the league how great we are at attacking by being 2nd top goal scorers. Well done!"




League​


The battle for 4th was not to different from last season until the final day when it was left to Villa and Liverpool to fight for the position which we won in the end. We showed great character to claw our way into the heat of the battle in March and April and held on through Mays hectic schedule to get a shot a Champion League football.
Elsewhere it was Further glory for Man Utd and Fergie as they won the league and were join in Europe's premier competition by Man City and Arsenal.
QPR and Swansea keep Spurs, Everton and Newcastle out of European Competition next season after both sides had brilliant season fading away at the end after also being in the fight for Champions League football.
At the bottom Bolton and Blackburn return to the Championship and are joined by woeful Wigan after they got a grand total of 10 points.
Joining the Premiership in August are Championship winners Huddersfield. Runners up Southampton and play-off winners Sunderland

Wigan sack Martinez
Everton sack Paul Lambert, Who wasn't doing too bad!
Blackburn sack Stewart Kean who always does bad!
Bolton Sack Owen Coyle
Fulham Sack Martin Jol




Europe ​
Well I wanted to have a good crack at the knockout stages and that just what we did going on a 15 match unbeaten run till we crossed paths with Chelsea in the final where they continued to knock us out of cups returning the favor from season 1.


View attachment 262023



Domestic Cups​
Very little to say here. Never planned to play anything except back up players and youth team players and that's what we did. Will review that for next season although it wont be any higher up my list of priority.




2012/13 season player awards
Very familiar awards already!​

- Charles N'Zogbia Retained the English Player of the year but only just from club mate Darren Bent
- Darren Bent was the leagues top scorer with his haul of 43 being almost Double the next best
- Bent and N'Zogbia in the League team of the year just to make a total copy of the 2011/12 awards haul for the club.


During Darren Bents amazing record goals scoring season the man who's record he broke Andy Cole presented him with a special Golden boot award for his achievement of being the highest total in 1 season.


View attachment 262022




Aston Villa Player of the year

​
The awards are dominated by the three musketeers of the Villa front line






Tried to tinker With Gabby's role in the team to try and get him more involved with assists and goals but that doesn't seem to have come through. Still his part in the team is very much recognized by the fans and myself who felt he had to be on this list.






Good old Charley! Never did I think when I chose to throw him on the right wing over Mark Albrighton did I expect to see the wonders he's performed. Almost an assist for every appearance in the league and 7 goals onto of that. Better than last season but only 1 man made my season






After some dispute over last years winner Darren Bent left the world in no doubt over who would be Villa's player of the season. Running away with the league golden boot and getting a total of 50 for the season from 43 appearances, 2 as sub




Match of the season
22nd December 2012 - Molyneux
Wolves 3-5 Aston Villa​


I said at the time it was a ding dong match and it sums up our season perfectly. Prolific in front of goal but not when it matter and still a bit leaky at the back. Until we got the 5th goal late on when we hit Wolves on the counter attack there was never more than 1 goal between the teams




Buy of the season
Toby Alderweireld

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Belgian Center Back Alderweireld was not on my radar until his agent offered him for £6m and having had him in FM11 I felt it was worth the cash to try him V Bonnucci to see which one would be best suited along side Ryan Shawcross and TOby won that battle, However another fight for the position will take place next season when Ciaran Clark returns to the squad after two seasons out on loan.




Maxi Lopez was going to get the award for his efforts in the Europa League but as im probably going to sell him I thought not a good reason to pick a player of the year when im willingly going to sell him




The end of season finals


FA Cup Final
Liverpool 2-0 Man Utd


Champions League Final
Barcelona 1-0 Man City - AET




Going into summer

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Last summer I decided to get away from it all with a nice summer holiday and was left pondering how the squad didn't handle the amount of football we played last season and tiredness was a long running issue. Not this time perfection was not achieved as there was a lot of players moaning about lack of football but rather that than a team of tired players so im happy with that progress. My personal summer holiday has been put off this summer as I want to look through the tapes of all of my loans and youth players and decided on there futures and who will be around when Aston Villa go into the Champions League! Bring your passports for 2013/14 folks!
 
Congrats on 4th mate!! Great story KIU
 
2014/15 Season Preview
Adventuring to the League of Champions




Main Summer News​
Villa transfer record smashed for Jack Rodwell £24.5m
Board plan to further expand stadium to 54000
Angelo Antenucci announced that he will retiring at the end of the season. He will be a huge loss!
Stephen Warnock suddenly decided he wanted to stay as soon as i decided to train y your right back Fricker as a left back so i sold him in anger to Norwich
Villa up to 37th in European rankings after Europa League final appearance




Targets​
Having now reached the Champions League and the top 4 in the league the aim is now to stay there! Anywhere in the top 4 would be enough to satisfy me although im starting to this higher and challenging the two Manchester teams
Despite adding Champions League football to the agenda im hoping we can have a good run in at least one of the domestic cups
Champions league come to Villa park for the 1st time and I'd expect us to be bottom seeds so we'll be up against it to get out of the group but dang it we'll try and to be in Europe after Christmas is the goal.




Premiership - Top 4 finish
FA Cup - Semi Final
League Cup - Semi Final
Champions League - In Europe after Christmas
Media thinks we can get 7th so a little more progress on last seasons 8th but still i think we'll be higher up than that come next May


Pre Season Press Conference


The Aston Villa fans were addressed by there manager as the new season is upon us.

​
This summer saw 18 players leave permanently with only 3 players arriving to join the squad. Sir Don't you think you've taken a massive step back by going into the biggest season in the recent history? "We have cleared the squad of a lot of back up, loan and youth players rather than quality first players which we have retained minus Steven Warnock who wanted to leave"
So you think the club can repeat last seasons success abroad and in Europe "Yes i think we will be a tighter nit squad of players determined to push ourselves to the next level and prove ourselves in Europes biggest competition"
Why was there such a lack of players arriving this summer? "Easy there was a lack of quality players available at an acceptable price. Jack Rodwell being the future of the national team and i can't wait to see him settled in our team. Mario Bolatti may not be to recognizable a name to all of you but as the season goes on he'll be the name on the tip of your tongue"





IN
Very Very quiet this year, Easily my quietest with a team in development.


The midfield was almost my sole point of focus on the face of it. During last season i went after two young Argentines. First one Guido Mas couldn't agree a fee from Boca but my midfield target Mario Bolatti arrived from Internacional. "Looks like a brilliant player to fill the shoes of Jean Makoun"
Everton's star midfielder Jack Rodwell was my main target for taking over from Fabian Delph and after some negotiations the deal was set at £24.5m and he will join my rebuilt midfield
Fernando Gago also arrived but he will be used a back up




One striker came in to replace Maxi Lopez, "who i regretted selling" as it left no solid back up for Bent so luckily nobody had snapped up Adebayor so i offered a season long loan and he will be with us till the summer when his Man City contract runs out.





Out


There was a huge exodus of players as i tried to free up money for one more big money buy but nothing came through!


7 Players from last years 1st team squad main ones being defenders John Mensah and Leonardo Bonucci Midfielder Fabian Delph and forward Maxi Lopez


Less Players go out on loan to "Go and prove themselves worthy of a place in the team" This time Callum Robinson, Daniel Devine, Robbie Cotton, Mitchell Weiser ad Derrick Williams all going out on loan for the season and if they do enough they could be in the Villa team next season, Or sold!


As usual i have a warchest for January if i need or want it there's up to £25m this time.


Other Summer news


Managers​
Busy summer with all the sackings at the end of last season

Premiership 1st
Everton - Marcelo Bielsa
Fulham - Paul Lambert
Blackburn - Martin Jol
Bolton - Jay Jay Okocha
Wigan - Chris Casper
Andre Villas Boas quit Tottenham to join Roma and is replaced with Alan Pardew.


Also getting a big job abroad was new Bayern Munich manager Martin O'Neil




Community shield
Liverpool 4-1 Man Utd

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Wayne Rooney put Man Utd in front and on the way to another community shield but Liverpool roared back and won easily, ridiculously easy




Top 10 transfers
Tottenham spent big on forwards and Man Utd bought Cabaye


Antoine Griezmann - Arsenal - £19.75m
Giuseppe Rossi - Tottenham - £17.5m
Sebastian Coates - Ath Madrid - £16.25m
Yohan Cabaye - Man Utd - £16m
Christian Fuchs - Liverpool - £15.5m
Shane Long - Tottenham - £15m
Aly Cissokho - Paris SG - £14.75m
Fernandinho - Inter - £14.5m
Chris Brunt - Tottenham - £14m
Nathan Dyer - Arsenal - £13.25m
Hatem Ben Arfa - Paris SG - £12.75m
Davide Santon - FC Bayern - £12.75m




ASTON VILLA X1 2013

View attachment 262226​


The team of 2013 again see's minimal changes from last year except the two new midfielders who joined for huge fee's this summer and Jack Fricker making the step up to the 1st team. Fricker will usually be replaced by either Alan Hutton or Marc Muniesa when we play the top teams.
 
Who the **** is in charge of Newcastle? Selling Yohan, Hatem and Davide (although only Davide remains in my team lol). In my game Villa have been relegated twice! Also in my game Bonucci is worth £20m and is 1st choice for Italy (even before I became their manager).
 
Darran I know it aint your birthday but **** i am a generous guy -

images


images


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What more can you expect from typing "a horse says moo" on you tube!

I Have picked up David Court as a coach since these photo's went up so thanks!

Anyway hope you've all enjoyed me and Klippybo's pre season tomfoolery! Season will start tommorow. No horses, No Grampa in my pocket maybe a little bit of David Court!
 
August ​


- Beat Marseilles 3-2 on Aggregate to qualify for tricky Champions League group
- Darren Bent injured for up to 2 months in the first game!
- Middlesboro become our new feeder team




Fixtures



Aston Villa V Wolves - Premiership​
Our premiership season kicks off at home to local rivals Wolves. Two close matches and a classic have happened during Donalds time in charge "We have to get off to a good start today and Wolves will present us with a chance to do that"


Aston Villa 3-0 Wolves
Bent 3​


Bent starts the season on fire until he goes off injured with 20 minutes to go "A post match review shows Bent could be out for between 1 and 2 months with a twisted Ankle" Certainly not how i wanted my season




Marseille v Aston Villa - Champions League Best Placed playoff​
Aston Villa play there first ever Champions League game in the home of former Champions Marseille. Expectations are not high but if we play to our best we have a shot at getting through


Marseille 2-1 Aston Villa
Sanogo​


Came ridiculously close to an undeserved win. Marseille dominated the game and could have scored 4, 5 or more. At least we sneaked an away goal to keep us in the tie when the 2nd leg comes round




Man Utd V Aston Villa - Premiership​
Our yearly thrashing at Old Trafford couldn't have come at a worse time. At least i come here expecting nothing with several back up players taking over with a huge European game in 3 days


Man Utd 2-1 Aston Villa
Adebayor​


Certainly not the thrashing i expected. Was level at the half way stage then Man Utd briefly took the lead before Adebayor drew us level and United needed a very late goal from Kagawa to get the 3 points they probably just deserved


Aston Villa V Marseille - Champions League Best Placed playoff 2nd leg​
After a terrible performance in the first leg we welcome Marseille to Villa park for a must win match! "Today Sanogo will get his big chance to prove himself up front"


Aston Villa 2-0 Marseille
Bertolacci, Sanogo
AGG Aston Villa 3-2 Marseille​


A Boring first half where we were restricted to long shots was kicked into life at the start of the second half as we went right on the attack and took the lead. Sanogo doubled our lead and after Sanogo's 2nd goal we spent the rest of the match sitting back looking to hit the French side on a counter attack but no 3rd goal came and we are through "JUST"




Aston Villa V Everton - Premiership​
"We have got to carry on the momentum from that brilliant European performance to drive us on a keep our winning run going through the first month of the season"


Aston Villa 3-2 Everton
Sanogo, N'Zogbia, Agbonlahor​


After throwing away the league twice i was just happy we managed to get a late winner to get us out of jail with the 3 points.




Champions League

View attachment 262314​
After two years of work i had that sinking feeling that we wouldn't get to the group phase but we fought back in the 2nd leg to qualify to the group stages. Could have got a easier draw than Barcelona and Benfica but at least with Sparta Prague in the group we should at least end up in the Europa League




League
Interesting start where the top 7 teams are likely to be the 7 best teams in the league. Will they all be there in may season? We will have to play a lot better to stay there.

View attachment 262315




Player of the Month
Yaya Sanogo
View attachment 262316

​
With Bent broken in the opening game we needed our best forward to step up. Adebayor came in and wasn't to great so decided to finally give Sanogo his chance and he's so far showing there may be life without Bent!
 
£12.75m for Bolatti???? Jeezo.

Rodwell is great. I like to train him up as a cb so he can cover in emergencies during a game.

I forgive God as he got a bargain in Walcott - why did you not go in for him at that price? I just spent double that on him at the age of 27!

Plus he freed Kenny Miller - who as you know - I think he is a disgraceful player!
 
No space for Walcott. I have N'Zogbia, Agbonlahor, Coutinho, Marc Albrighton, Lenny Nangis and Markovic already fighting to play off Bent so im overflowing there already without adding Walcott!

Bolatti has come on leaps and bounds at Internacional and the scouts rate him higher than Rodwell, comparison agrees. Made a steady start so hopefully he'll prove you wrong!
 
An unscheduled busy final day of the transfer window


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5 players New players show up​


Only one will go right into the 1st 11 and that is Spanish Left back Jose Angel arriving from Roma for £15.75m.


Also arriving on a free this time. Italian Daniele Rugani was on a free so picked him up will probably loan him out and then sell him.
View attachment 262356



3 Regen youngsters arrive​


Defender Matty Fletcher was under my nose at feeder team Middelsbrough. After giving us great right wingers such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani Sporting Lisbon sell us Ricardo Oliveira and we also pick up Ipswich forward Tom Brown



Markovic got lost in the battle for attacking midfielders and was sold to Kobenhavn for £4.4m, Nangis was also stuck on the fridge so he went off to Middlesbrough on loan. Two other back up players got the chop. Nathan Delfounseso awouldnt go out on loan so after falling out with the career Villa forward he was finally sold off to Blackburn for £3m. Final sale of the window was back up injury prone Marc Muniesa for £5.75m. After picking him up on a free last season.
 

September​


- Gabby Agbonlahor hits 250 league matches against West Ham
- Almost beat Barcelona in the Champions League
- Jack Frickers "Youngest premiership player" record is broken by Ricardo Oliveira 16 years and 24 days. Remember the name!



Fixtures


West Ham V Aston Villa - Premiership​
The home side have made a horrific start to the season with 3 defeats from 3 games and just 1 goal to show for it. Championship chaser Aston Villa will be looking to kick off there month with a good result and performance going into a massive game against Barcelona


West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa​


"Today's result sums up our start to the season. They were a utter disgrace today. We let the fans down and never looked like scoring"




Aston Villa V Barcelona - Champions League match 1​
This is the biggest test so far. Can we amend our faltering start or will it just get worse? "Unfortunately Bent and Coutinho have just fallen short in there return from injury"


Aston Villa 2-2 Barcelona
Sanogo 2​


We made a stunning start by taking the lead after 15 minutes. We had a few more chances before Barca cranked up the pressure on the half hour but we held out till half time. In fact we held our own till the 84th minute when Leandro Damiao got Barca a equalizer they barley deserved! So with 91 minutes played sanogo struck again to throw the mutipal champions into the shock of a lifetime. But for everyone who watches Spanish football they will know that Lionel Messi will score in the 93rd minute to ruin everyone's day! But a point from Barca is nothing to moan about!




Sunderland V Aston Villa - Premiership​
After a one season stay in the Championship Sunderland are back in the Premiership and could not have a better time to face a Villa side still recovering from a battle with Barcelona! Key point here as Ricardo Oliveira makes his first appearance and starts while Darren Bent returns at his old stomping ground


Sunderland 1-1 Aston Villa
Bent​


Second match in a row were thwarted by a late goal, Second awful performance in the League. Title hopes gone already, Champions league chances aren't looking handsome even in the very early going!




Aston Villa v Ipswich - League Cup 3rd Round​
"Some Youngsters such as Jack Ficker, Andrew Giddings and Ricardo Olivera have made splashes on the 1st team. Well tonight the other youngsters get there chance to do so too"


Aston Villa 2-1 Ipswich
Giddings
Kovacic​


A close ran thing in the League cup early stages! The youngster got a run out and did a job to get through to the next round to play Southampton




Aston Villa V QPR - Premiership​
Back to the league and were desperate for a better result "We really need a win today but with the fixture pile up we have got to rotate and everyone must perform"


Aston Villa 2-0 QPR
Shawcross
O'G​


We went about the game very well and dominated possession with 66% in our favor possibly being the best we've had in a premiership match




Champions League ​
A very solid start and im mega impressed with the start we made. Getting a point and putting in a great fight against Barcelona far beat my expectations.
A taste of everything this month with just 1 decent performance and two poor. Still a case of must do better. But almost every team in the league would be saying that except league leaders Wolves!




Player of the Month
Jack ButlandView attachment 262471​

Jack Butland won the league young player of the month and had a much better month in goals ending it with a clean sheet against QPR.
 

October​


- Stadium up to 55000 just in time for Champions League victory against Benfica
- Month ends with two defeats in a row against Southampton



Fixtures


Sparta Prague V Aston Villa - Champions League match 2​
A Trip to Prague but no time for party. We have to get 3 points today and will try and do so with back up players. Brave or Stupid? Lets have a look!


Sparta Prague 1-2 Aston Villa
Clark 2​


Captain for the Day left back Ciaran Clark scored both goals to get us our first Champions League win. Off to a vital Double header with Benfica to probably fight over 2nd place.




Tottenham V Aston Villa - Premiership​
A Haunting moment from season 1 is revisited. We got destroyed here 4-0 towards the end of season one. A well rested team should do better tonight!


Tottenham 1-1 Aston Villa
Albrighton​


As we were on the way to yet another defeat big changes were made as Adeybayor came off the bench to drag us back into the game and was involved as Marc Albrighton scored a 90th minute equalizer "We were very slow out of the blocks. 70 minutes of poor performance is not terrible this far into the season"




Aston Villa V Stoke - Premiership​
After fighting back to get a point against Spurs we will be looking to get a Win under our belts after that break for the international window.


Aston Villa 4-0 Stoke
Coutinho
N'Zogbia
Bent 2​


Domination! For the first time this season we really struck top gear and hit 4 goals in 50 minutes and managed to rest a few players for Europe




Aston Villa V Benfica - Champions League match 3​
With Barcelona a lot better and Sparta Prague a lot worse "We have to look at the double header with Benfica as the battle to get 2nd place and through to the last 16"


Aston Villa 2-0 Benfica
Bent
Bolatti​


Won the game and did it very comfortably. "We won by 2 goals and it should have been a few more, We played very well"




Southampton V Aston Villa - Premiership​
The last premiership match of the month against Southampton who "were unlucky to go down two years ago after taking a long time to find there feet but after doing so they looked like they belonged in the premiership" First of a double header with Southampton visiting us in the League Cup in 4 days time


Southampton 2-1 Aston Villa
O'G​


Just when it started looking like we were back on form this horror show happens. " I Wasn't sure how i was going to play Wednesdays league cup tie but after that everyone's dropped!"




Aston Villa V Southampton - League Cup 4th round​
As we get ready to play Southampton for the second time in 3 days im praying the back up players do better than the 1st team did!


Aston Villa 0-1 Southampton​


Another poor performance in front of goal! "Midfield bossed the game racking up 64% possession but we didn't get a good performance from out forwards who have knock us out of the cup"





Champions League
View attachment 262574​

No complaints about the Champions League form and results. Two games two wins no problems although the Sparta Prague game was a little close for comfort




Wolves still lead the way as we begin to loose ground on the leaders as they stretch there legs



Player of the Month
Coutinho
View attachment 262576

​
Brazilian Midfielder Coutinho was really giving Gabby Agbonlahor problems last season and his form this season has seen him make the left side attacking position his own!
 
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