2026/27 Season - September to December
The first half of the season is over and personally I think it's gone well so far, I've actually managed to blood some of the youngsters and even if they aren't rated very highly they have all done a good job when called upon!
September
An amazing month, we were absolutely flying, smashing goals in for fun, we were however conceding quite a few, it was good fun to watch though!
6 games, 27 goals scored!! An amazing run! We also saw first goals at the club for academy graduate Chris Popov in the win over Blackburn and in the 5-2 League Cup win over Fulham, Ben Nelson, Dale Lamb and Eoin Doyle scored, Nelson is a real-life graduate, Doyle and lamb are both intake players.
October
Eventually we start to slip up, 1-0 defeats to Atletico in the Champions league and Man Utd in the Premier League were really poor results but didn't set us back too much. We managed to progress through the League Cup on penalties to Brighton, the young lads doing the business again, we also won 3 of our 4 league games keeping us top of the pile.
November
Overall a really good month, wins over Atletico and Brugges in the Champions League mean we qualify for the knockouts with a game to spare, we just need to beat Shakhtar in the final game to end top. The only poor result of the month was the 0-0 against Brighton, we hammered them but couldn't find a way through.
We saw a first club goal for academy star Sammy Braybrooke this month, he scored twice against Burnley, both of them screamers.
December
Games galore!!!
A really mixed month, it started with an absolute shocker away to Everton, we were utterly woeful. We came back though with 2 leagues win and a crazy 7-3 win over Shakhtar to qualify top of our Champions League group, we saw a Sammy Braybrooke hat-trick in the game as well!
Really pleasing but winning the group doesn't guarantee an easy game and we will face PSG in the Last 16!!!
We then went and lost on penalties to Liverpool, poor old Ben Nelson the lad to miss the decisive spot kick.
We then had a crazy run of games, every couple of days and really tough ones at that. 4 games, 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. I'm quite happy with that and as we end the year we sit in 2nd behind Arsenal on goal difference.
Just look how tight it is!!!
Finally, I want to go through a few of the kids who have had game time so far and have done pretty well.
Lin Cheng-Yi came through last season intake, I wanted to let him have a little taste of first team football and he has shown he can do it. He played against Atletico in the home game and got a 7.5 and an assist. He also played in the Brighton League Cup game and scored in the shootout.
2023 Intake player
Dale Lamb has made 7 starts this season, 4 in the Champions League and 3 in the League Cup, he even managed to grab a goal in the 5-2 win over Fulham.
Right back and 2022 Intake player
Chris Smith has made 10 starts so far, Max Aarons has been injured quite a bit so I've given him more gametime than I expected. He's done really well, getting 5 assists along the way
Finally,
Sammy Braybrooke! He isn't rated highly at all but when called upon has been solid. He's made 8 starts and 10 sub appearances, he's scored 5 goals, 3 in the Shakhtar game and 2 in the Burnley game, he loves a screamer as well!
The futures bright!