Ex Pro Turned Manager; Just like Lamps, Stevie G, Thierry and Sol

[FM_TNSSO]

December 2020

December 2020


English Premier Division
Matchday 16 - Arsenal (Away)
Drew 1-1

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A great point away at The Emirates. We were on the back foot for most of the game but defended well and took our chance when it came!


English Premier Division
Matchday 17 - Watford (Home)
Won 4-2

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I went with a more attacking 4-2-3-1 formation for this one dropping the DM in favour of an AM role. It worked a treat as we scored 4 goals for the first time in a while against struggling Watford and these sort of wins are the ones that will fire us up the table and away from the bottom 3! Jordan Ayew took both his goals with superb accuracy, taking him into double figures for the season!


Carabao Cup
Quarter Final - Bournemouth (Home)
Lost 3-2

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Absolutely ******* livid! We were 2 goals up with half an hour remaining and then completely fell on our arses and were beaten 3-2! A terrible result based on the circumstances of the game and I'm ****** as we had the semi finals in our sights!


English Premier Division
Matchday 18 - Norwich City (Away)
Won 3-1

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The lads were told in no uncertain terms that I expected better, and they delivered as we beat bottom side Norwich on their own turf! Another win means another 3 points gained and we move further away from those dreaded relegation places.


English Premier Division
Matchday 19 - Manchester City (Away)
Drew 0-0

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Another great point away from home against one of the big boys this month! We defended with some real solid determination here and created chances of our own too against a City side that was expected to dominate us! I'm proud of the lads!


English Premier Division
Matchday 20 - Burnley (Home)
Won 4-1

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We finish the month on a nice big win at home to Burnley. Britt played the wide left role today and cutting in seemed to suit him better than playing the front man as he bagged himself 2 goals! Something for me to think about moving forward.


English Premier Division Table

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Player of the Month
David Brooks

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My record signing found some immense form this month after being rather average so far this year. Four goals and three assists in six games is a wonderful return for any player!


Other News


In a bit of a blind rage after the defeat to Bournemouth in the cup, I went to have a look at the job market and fired my CV off to three clubs with a higher reputation that Middlesbrough - Fiorentina, Lazio and Wolfsburg!

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The game against Norwich was my 100th in football management, which meant my 100th as Boro manager!

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Wolfsburg were the first club to come back to my job applications with an invite to interview for the manager job. I attend and all seems to go well from my side!

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Lazio and Fiorentina quickly followed suit and invited me in for an interview. There were some serious questions to be asked about the low budgets on offer from Fiorentina, but the Lazio meeting went well!

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Jordan Ayew was named in the African Team of the Year, and finished runner up in the African Striker of the Year to Aubameyang.

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Lazio came back to me to say they didn't think I was the right man for the job. Out of the three I applied for, this would have been my favoured role so it was a little disheartening not to get an offer. It was no surprise that Fiorentina also decided I wasn't right for them after an interview that went terribly.

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Manager's Diary


Our best month of the season sees us go undefeated in the league throughout December. It means we're up to 9th in the table and not too far off a potential push for European qualification. It leaves me in a bit of a predicament with the pending outcome of my interview with Wolfsburg...on paper, they are a bigger club with a better reputation but do I want to leave The Boro just as we seem to be finding our best form to go to a team that is massively underachieving in Germany...I guess it may just come down to the money they offer me (if they offer me that is).


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[FM_TNSSO]

January 2021

January 2021


FA Cup
3rd Round - Swansea City (Away)
Won 5-1

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Absolutely battered 'em! This was one way traffic all game with Swansea barely mustering up any decent chances worthy of a highlight! We banged in 5, but it could easily have been 7 or 8 as we ran riot in their half of the pitch! Shaqiri, Britt and Ayew were sensational as a front 3!


That win over Swansea set up an away day at Everton later in the month.

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English Premier Division
Matchday 21 - Blackburn Rovers (Home)
Drew 1-1

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Marcus Tavernier came off the bench to grab a goal to give us a well deserved point! We should have won the game really, but the most important thing is that we didn't lose a game we didn't deserve to lose!


English Premier Division
Matchday 22 - Chelsea (Away)
Lost 3-1

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Our 7 game unbeaten streak comes to an end at Chelsea. No complaints, they were just better than us on the day!


English Premier Division
Matchday 23 - Aston Villa (Home)
Drew 2-2

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What a game for the fans...loads of chances, end to end stuff and four goals, although neither set of fans walk away with bragging rights and have to settle for a draw.


FA Cup
4th Round - Everton (Away)
Won 4-2

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A great away win to progress in the cup! The first half was a mini goalfest, especially with a mad 5 minutes which saw both teams score 3 between them! All we had to do in the 2nd half was tighten up and we did just that as we kept a clean sheet and added a 4th goal to earn ourselves a big win!


English Premier Division
Matchday 24 - Crystal Palace (Away)
Lost 1-0

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Palace have done well to pull off the signing of Julian Draxler and it was his 8th minute wonder strike that gave them the lead! It turned out to be the winner in what was a pretty poor game from both sides...we were sloppy and looked pretty lacklustre to be honest!


English Premier Division Table

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Player of the Month
David Brooks

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Brooksy was again our best player this month, with a couple of stand out performances against Everton and Chelsea, in which he scored in both games.


Other News


Wolfsburg came in with a job offer for me, but it would have meant leaving The Boro just as we seem to be getting our **** together, and for a pay cut as well with only a 1 year deal on offer! So I rejected the job, deciding to see it out here for now!

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Jordan Ayew will be sorely missed for 2 months after picking up an injury in the game against Aston Villa!

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We will go away to Reading next month in the 5th round of the FA Cup.

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Transfer News


Incoming Loan (Potential Perm Deal); I wanted to bolster our attacking options with a player who can score goals, with Jordan Ayew scheduled to spend a couple of months on the sidelines injured. Riyad Mahrez fits that bill perfectly although I want him to prove himself before committing a sizeable fee for him - so we've taken him on loan for the rest of the season (paying £60k of his wages p/w) and agreed an optional future fee of £13.5 million with Man City to make the deal permanent.

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Manager's Diary


A winless month in the league sees us drop to 13th in the table and it looks like we're playing for mid table obscurity again this year...which would be overachieving on our targets so I can't complain too much! Progress through two rounds of the FA Cup is good work and with a very winnable tie against Reading coming up in the 5th round, we could certainly look to go deep in this year's competition.


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[WeArePalace]

Loving this story so far mate good work, the format is great. Interesting to see that you rejected the job though, do you plan to wait for a bigger team or stay at Boro until the end of the season or so?

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Loving this story so far mate good work, the format is great. Interesting to see that you rejected the job though, do you plan to wait for a bigger team or stay at Boro until the end of the season or so?

Cheers mate....things are going well and we are overachieving at Boro so I'm not in any rush to move on. However I am keeping my eye out for bigger clubs to move on and progress my career (Boro have a 3.5 star reputation rating so any teams of 4 stars or more are of interest).

 

[FM_TNSSO]

February 2021

February 2021


English Premier Division
Matchday 25 - Bournemouth (Home)
Lost 2-1

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Oh how we are missing Jordan Ayew up front! We had 23 shots and only managed 1 goal and it cost us as Bournemouth mounted a second half comeback to win! A really bad result for us considering they were bottom of the form table coming into the game!


English Premier Division
Matchday 26 - Manchester United (Home)
Lost 4-1

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At half time, we were 1-0 up and had 6 shots to United's 2, so were looking good! However, the early sending off of Daniel Ayala in the 2nd half was the turning point and Man Utd ran riot and made the extra man count....we simply couldn't live with their impressive attacking lineup with only 10 men.


FA Cup
5th Round - Reading (Away)
Won 5-0

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A walk in the park against our Championship opponents and a much needed boost to morale! Hopefully we can kick on from this result and pick up some results in the league over the next couple of games.


English Premier Division
Matchday 27 - Everton (Away)
Lost 4-3

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A wonderful game of football for the fans, but a game where again we are on the wrong end of the result! VAR ****** us today, with two goals being disallowed through the 'modern technology'.


English Premier Division
Matchday 28 - Liverpool (Home)
Won 3-0

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Where on earth did we pull that from?! In 4 previous meetings with Liverpool, we'd been beaten and came into this game on the back of a 7 game winless run in the league so wasn't confident about breaking that record. However, we really turned it on and not only did we beat Liverpool comfortably, we were good value for the result as well! Mahrez showed his worth with two cracking goals to steal the show!


English Premier Division Table

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Player of the Month
Xherdan Shaqiri

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Shaqiri has been excellent this month with 3 goals and an assist to his name. The Swiss international is really starting to come good now!


Other News


Lewis Dunk picked up an injury just before the Man Utd game that will see him out for nearly a month.

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Chelsea will come to The Riverside next month for the quarter final of the FA Cup.

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Manager's Diary


That win against Liverpool certainly put a more positive spin on what was otherwise a pretty disappointing month. Most importantly, it brought our winless streak to an end and we now need to capitilize on it and build some momentum off the back of such a great result! Progress in the FA Cup again sees us through to the quarter final and we'll look forward to facing Chelsea next month as we look to make it to Wembley again for the semis. There are some big jobs potentially floating about with the Arsenal, Liverpool, Hoffenheim, Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao manager's all reported as insecure in their roles - I'll keep an eye on these situations as I'm now keen to elevate my career to the next level should the right opportunity arise.


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