(FM22) - Achieving Everything - Leicester City

[LutterworthFox]

2022/23 Season - First Achievement Gained!

It's taken long enough but eventually I have ticked off my first achievement!

We faced Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League and Jacub Pheasant-Burkitt came off the bench to score on his debut becoming Leicester's youngest ever goalscorer!

1 down, 99 to go!

 

[LutterworthFox]

The greatest bottle job of all time, maybe I am the new Brendan!!!

Absolutely fuming to chuck away a 4-1 lead in the final minutes!!! We played amazingly until the end, gutting and fuming at the same time!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2022/23 Season - September to November

The 2022 World Cup is here and it's time for the rather long Premier League break, so what better time to update you on how things are going!

Firstly the bad news, we bottled it in the League Cup, in the 3rd round we played really well to beat West Ham 4-2, we then faced Palace in the 4th Round and manage to concede in the last minute which sent the game to penalties.

Misses from Harvey Elliott and Dewsbury-Hall meant we lost 4-2 on spot kicks. Really disappointing as I wanted a good run in this competition.

Next, the Europa League, we had a tough looking draw but we performed really well to top the group, winning 5 of our 6 games.

Some really good results including wins home and away against Roma. In the final game we had already qualified in top spot, I blooded some of the youth lads and 2022 Intake star Eoin Doyle scored on his debut for the club!

Group topped which means we go straight into the 2nd knockouts round.

Now to the League and my word is has gone so well!

11 games, 24 points with only 1 defeat and that was away to Man United. Some really good results as well including a 2-0 win away to Spurs, a solid 1-1 draw away to Chelsea and there was that bonkers game against Man City where we were 4-1 up in the 89th minute and conceded 3 times in the final minutes!

Overall though an amazing start to the season, attacking wise we are absolutely incredible, Adeyemi has been really good and is the leagues top scorer with 10 goals. Defensively we could be better, only 2 clean sheets in those 11 games but as long as win I don't mind!

3rd in the league although we've played more games than those around us. We just need to keep this going and a top 4 spot is in our hands! What a brilliant start!

Star man wise, I could easily talk about Adeyemi but I won't, there is one man who has taken the league by storm so far, a man who last season wad binned off by Brendan Rodgers and packed off on loan, that man is Dennis Praet, he came back in this season after his loan ended and with Tielemens and Choudhury leaving he came into the first team and has been utterly incredible!

Just wow! 7 goals, 6 assists in his 17 starts, I never even considered him at the start of the season but with a few niggly injuries from the likes of Maddison and Dewsbury-Hall he got his chance and now is pretty much the first name on the team sheet!

Finally, the World Cup is coming and it's nice to see we have a few of our lads representing.

Both James Justin and James Maddison have been handed England callups which is a big surprise. It's going to be fun to see if Adeyemi gets picked up top for Germany, he is the man on form so he should be starting!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2022/23 Season - December and January

I was going to do a World Cup update but to be honest hardly anyone played. James Justin and James Maddison only made one sub appearance each before being dumped out by winners Spain on penalties in the Last 16.

Adeyemi didn't start in the German team during the group stage but when the knockouts started he began to get more starts, he scored once and was then left out of the team when they lost to Italy in the semi final!

Schmeichel was on ever present in the Danish side that lost to Holland in the quarters, this meant Iversen didn't play. Schmeichel conceded 7 in his 5 games but kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Argentina in the Last 16.

Belgian duo Praet and Castagne failed to help Belgium even get out of the group stage. I say help, Praet didn't even feature in any match. Castagne played in all 3 and scored in their final group game, a 1-1 draw over Nigeria.

Iheanacho was by far the clubs best performer, he scored 4 times in his 4 games, he scored in 1-1 draws against Belgium and Holland in the group stage and got a brace in their Last 16 loss, 2-3 against Italy. Ndidi only featured in 2 games, both of the 1-1 draws I mentioned before but didn't play great.

Now that's covered let's go back to Leicester and there has been a bit of transfer business.

Firstly let's discuss the players leaving (or left). Unfortunately I had to sell Caglar Soyuncu, his contract was up at the end of the season, he was refusing a new deal so I needed to make sure I got a fee for him, he leaves for £13.75 and joins Shakhtar

Another player who was refusing a new deal was Ricardo, I couldn't get anyone to sign him and he has decided to leave on a free transfer at the end of the season and join PSG, Frustrating!

The third player to leave was Patson Daka, with the arrival of Adeyemi and with Iheanacho proving to be a good backup he didn't get the gametime he probably deserved, he asked to leave and I cashed in. £24m is not too bad.

So new players were needed and I brought 4 players in.

Firstly is Oumar Solet, the central defender, Soyuncu's replacement joins from RB Slazburg for £20m. Young. talented and a good deal. An exciting prospect.

Talking of exciting prospects I brought in Ronnie Edwards from Peterborough for £2m. A cracking deal for the young English defender.

The next wasn't exactly needed but there were still doubts on whether Desbury-Hall would stay and also Ndidi's contract is up at the end of next season and the rumours are he won't be renewing. So I brought myself in Salvatore Esposito for £8.25m from SPAL. An incredibly cheap fee for someone who looks top quality and only 22! A readymade replacement for Ndidi if and when he leaves.

Now for the funny one! With Daka going I needed another Striker, I needed someone on the cheap so thought I'd have a laugh and see how Vardy was doing at Liverpool, he joined them in the Summer for £3.4m, he had made 3 sub appearances and that was it! I cheekily put a £2.6m bid in and they accepted, so a profit made and he is on nearly half the wage as he was before! Welcome back Sir Jamie!!!

So 4 brilliant deals to bolster the ranks, now it's time to push on and finish in that top 4!

Result wise it's been decent, 7 games over December and January and we've managed to win 4 of them with only one real bad result and that was a 3-0 defeat to Villa.

We also progressed in the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory away to Forest Green, not the battering I expected but I did give the youth a chance. We face Brentford at home in the next round. We also saw a goal for Vardy on his first game back at the King Power!

Still in the top 4 and there is a little buffer to 5th at the moment, we need to continue the decent form though and not fall off like last season.

Finally, we've also had the annual intake preview and it doesn't look great on the surface

A new AM is on the cards, great seeing as I don't play with one. There is also the possibility of a decent central midfielder. Other than that, that's it!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2022/23 Season - February/March and Youth Intake

Another two months down and it's been rather inconsistent!

Let's start with the cup competitions and firstly the Europa League, we were handed a really tough tie as we faced AC Milan. With the World Cup on in the middle of season it meant the round of 16 was one leg only, we were at home and I fully expected a win.......we didn't!

We played so well, like amazing, their keeper ended as POTM, that tells you it all! We took it to extra time but couldn't find a way through, Milan scored mid-way through the first half of extrs and we just couldn't get that goal back. Really frustrating but I'm proud of how we played overall.

Now to the FA Cup, we dispatched Brentford in Round 4 with a scrappy 1-0 win and then faced Wolves away in Round 5. A tough tie and so it proved to be. We really didn't turn up.

A 3-1 defeat and they fully deserved it. I've had to switch up the attack and play Adeyemi out on the right lately as we have one serious injury.

Horta, who had been playing really well on the RW is now out for 6-7 months, a terribly timed injury and with Johnson and Elliott really not ready for continuous game time it now means Adeyemi may have to switch to the RW and then Nacho or Vardy will play up front. As you can see in the Wolves game it didn't work!

So our most realistic chance of a trophy is now over, our only aim now is to get that top 4 spot and in the league it's been going pretty well.

8 games, 5 wins and 16 points. Only 2 defeats and they were against both Manchester clubs, we are really struggling against the big boys but that last game in March has given me hope we are closing the gap. A brilliant 3-1 win over Arsenal, the Nacho up front/Adeyemi on the right worked a treat! It's also been nice to keep a few clean sheets, 4 in our 8 games, I've been giving Iversen some game time in goal and he is doing pretty well.

Still in 3rd and we have a nice little buffer to the teams below us, 8 clear of Everton and Man United but they have 2 games in hand on us. We also 11 clear of Villa in 7th so a European spot is looking odds on with 9 games to go.

And those 9 games don't look too bad.

5 of them at home but we have some toughies, Newcastle, Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal to play so it's not going to be easy. Our away games also look tough with both Leeds and West Ham to play.

So a tough run to end the season, I'd say we need to win 5 of those games to get us in the top 4, get that and Everton needs to get 23 points out of a possible 27.

We're also very close to a few achievements.

Adeyemi (goals), Maddison (assists) and Praet (average rating) all in the running to end top in the league rankings this season so a few could be ticked off.

Finally, the youth intake and to be honest it was really poor with these 2 lads the best of a bad lot!

I do like the look of Chris Smith, he has some good attributes but needs work on his mental's mainly.

 

[LutterworthFox]

A very small update and this is a first for me (in my blog save and this) that I've had a player in the NxGn Top 50 wonderkids!

Harvey Elliott is 12th but technically he isn't actually my player but Chris Popov, signed from Man United in real life in 2021 is somehow 28th on the list!

He's currently on loan at Chester and not doing too bad, 10 goals in 33 games from the wing. Maybe I should be looking at giving him a first team squad place next season?!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2022/23 Season Review

Well here we are, the end of my 2nd season in charge, we had 9 games since the last post, 9 games to secure a top 4 spot and with that Champions League football, it was a tough run in and we probably needed to win 5 of those 9 games to achieve our aims. So did we do it?

Well as you can see we won 5 games but our end of season form was a f*cking shambles. 3 straight defeats capped the campaign off and defensively we were shocking. Really not how I expected it to end, the big question though is, was 15 points from those final games enough to secure top 4?

Well we went into the Chelsea game (the last game of the season) knowing if we lost Chelsea would go above us, meaning we had to rely on Aston Villa getting at least a point at home to Man United. As you can see above we lost, but did Man United drop points?

YES THEY DID!!!

We scraped it by the skin of our teeth, so I have to be happy, we achieved top 4 for the first time since our league title win in 2016. However, that end of season capitulation has really annoyed me, with 3 games to go we were looking at ending 2nd, we ended 4th and if Man United had won we would have ended 5th!

So Champions League football next season is guaranteed and with that a decent chunk of money, great news!

So let's now see who my key men were and there is only one man to start with.

Dennis Praet was a revelation this season, after being left out in the cold by Brendan and being packed off on loan to Torino, he came back and was by far my best and most consistent performer.

He ends of the clubs player of the season, he also ends with the most assists in the Premier League alongside James Maddison with 13 and that is an achievement I am needing! More on that in a bit. Praet ends with 12 goals, 15 assists and an average rating of 7.47 from his 38 starts! Sensational!

Talking of James Maddison, he ends, alongside Praet with the most assists at the club with 15. These 2 were amazing in the midfield, scoring plenty, assisting so many times. They are going to be key men moving forward. Maddison ends with 15 assists and 9 goals from 39 starts.

Winter signing Oumar Solet ends of the clubs young player of the season, he came in as a replacement for Soyuncu and immediately performed well. An average rating of 7.27 from 21 starts. Only 23 as well so plenty of time to get even better.

The final player to speak about is Wonderkid striker Karim Adeyemi, this lad had a major blip mid-season but ended in style, he scored 22 goals in the Premier League and 24 overall with 10 assists. Let's just hope we can keep hold of him!

And here is the clubs best XI, you can see where our issues lied! Out wide the boys just didn't perform (I won't blame Horta as he got a 7 months injury due to a damaged cruciate ligament). Other than that Ricardo didn't do great at right back but we won't need to worry about him as he is off to PSG!!!

Now let's discuss achievements, so Dennis Praet and James Maddison ended as the Premier League top assisters with 13 each and that, is an achievement!! The big disappointment was Adeyemi couldn't overtake Lukaku as the league top scorer and Praet ended 2nd in the average rating rankings.

Not bad though really, is it?

But there's more!!!

The Premier League end of season awards came about and Adeyemi was voted the players' young player of the season! Another one ticked off, so that's 3 this season! Pretty good!

So a really good season overall, top 4, 3 achievements and some amazing performances.

There is also a bit of transfer news to announce, unfortunately another one of my key men is leaving, Ndidi is out of contract at the end of next season and is refusing a new deal so I decided to cash in, he is moving to Chelsea for £38.5. I do feel I have other options in the DM role with both Esposito and Schlager there to slot in.

So we are losing Ndidi and Ricardo this Summer but I don't feel we need to actively look for replacements, I think I have enough in the squad to cover it.

The one main aim this Summer is to bring a new Winger in, Elliott's loan is up and Horta is out until at least October so we are left with Barnes and Johnson and I am thinking about loaning Johnson out for the season to give him more game time.

We have £53m to spend this Summer and I think that may go up when the Ndidi deal goes through, so a lot to spend on a new Winger!

Other than that I don't think the squad need huge changes, we have good depth and some young lads I really want to try and integrate into the first team squad to see if they have what it takes.

As you can see there is one gap and that's on the Left Wing. Obviously it all depends on who leaves, I am expecting bids for the likes of Justin, Castagne, Barnes and Dewsbury-Hall to name a few, let's hope I can hang onto them.

Finally, a bit on the finances, we end the season at -£5m but we haven't had the money from the Ndidi deal yet. This season we have made a profit of £6.5m so overall not bad!

Quite a bit of green in the revenue, one of the reasons we haven't made more is the fact we are still paying £2m per month on bank loans. The good news is that 2 of our loan end this year, one in July, one in December meaning £1m per month less to pay!

That's all for now, thanks for reading! Let's hope we can do even better next season!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - Pre-season and August

Another season is here and there has maybe been a bit more change I wanted!

Unfortunately there were three very big out's, I had already mentioned in the previous post that Ricardo was joining PSG on a free and Ndidi was off to Chelsea, he leaves for £38.5m, we also lost James Justin, who for some reason decided to whinge like mad about not playing as a Wing Back but instead he was being used as a Full Back! I told him I'd change the role, he asked to leave!!! Bayern Munich is his new home for £45m, not bad and more than his estimated value!

We also lost a few of the youth's,, RB Daley-Campbell and Midfielder Callum Wright both join Hull for £500k and £1.1m respectively. GK Brad Young joins Charlton for £400k.

So a few new players were needed, a new Winger was required to replace Harvey Elliott who's loan was up, I needed a new RB to replace Justin and a new CB was an aim just because there was interest in Fofana and Evans is now 35.

So please welcome the new boys, firstly the big one!

Lukas Nmecha joins from Wolfsburg for £30m, rising to £60m with addons. A top quality, awesome looking player who can play up front and on both wings, my plan for him is to play him on the left wing.

Replacing James Justin is fellow English Right Back Max Aarons, he joins from Norwich for £22.5m.

And coming in to bolster the back-line is Adam Webster who comes in from Brighton for £11.5m.

Finally, just to bolster the midfield I brought in Welsh international Dylan Levitt on a free transfer from Manchester United.

So 4 really good signings and a decent profit as well. £64m spent, £85.5m brought in.

So the season kicked off and it started in style! First up was an away trip to Arsenal and we absolutely battered them!

Stunning! We were so clinical scoring from 50% of our shots on target!

In our other August match we faced Crystal Palace at home and ended up 3-0 winners.

A first goal from Nmecha in the game. What an amazing start to the season, let's hope we can continue!

Finally, is the Champions League draw, we were seeded 4th and we got a pretty tough looking group.

Even though it's tough I do feel we have a shot at 2nd, I'm sure on our day we can beat both Feyenoord and Porto.

 

[LutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - October to Early December

Thought I'd give you all a little update seeing as the Champions league group stage is over.

But first let's talk domestic competitions and firstly the League Cup. After beating Hull 5-2 in the 3rd round we faced Spurs and with so many unfit players I had to rotate the team and unfortunately we lost the tie 1-0. Really frustrating as this was a competition I thought we had a chance of winning.

Now to the League and my word did we start well! It's a shame in the past few weeks the wheels seem to have come off but the sheer number of games we are playing is really beginning to affect the lads.

Just look at that seas of green! If you include the August wins over Arsenal and Palace it means we started with 8 wins in the first 8 games! We were truly incredible but as you can see, lately it's been hard work. Our winning run came to an abrupt end with a 4-0 hammering by West Ham, since then we've had 3 draws but they do include an away draw to Man Utd and a home draw to Liverpool.

And that little blip means we have just lost top spot. Still though, 30 points from 13 games is an amazing start.

Now to the Champions League and it's been very up and down!

A good start with a win over Feyenoord at home and then a really good away draw to Juve but then we got absolutely battered by Porto before paying them back at home with a solid 3-1 win. The loss to Juve, a game where we were 2-0 up meant going into the final game we had to better Porto's result to go through, Adeyemi scored early and we managed to hang on for a 1-0 win, Porto lost however so the result didn't actually matter!

Into the knockouts! A fantastic achievement.

Player wise there is one man who has been utterly amazing and that Karim Adeyemi.

11 goals in 13 games and 9 in 9 in the league, he's also won the Premier League Player of the Month for November and Young Player of the Month for August, September and October! Stunning!

Oumar Solet has been an absolute rock in defence and also a threat from corners, he's scored 4 times in 11 starts but lately has really struggled with fitness, like most of the squad to be honest!

In other news, I've managed to persuade the board to expand the ground, it's only a 4k expansion but it's better than nothing.

My next update will be at the end of January, I'm expecting a bit of transfer business. The board have increased my available transfer budget to £25m and I do have an area I want to improve, I really need a new DM, Schlager and Esposito just haven't been consistent enough and it looks like Schlager may well leave, I've also told Soumare he can go so we will be a little short in midfield.

 

[LutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - December/January

The Winter window has slammed shut and we have done some business!

Out goes Xaver Schlager, signed last season for £27m, he leaves after really not doing well for £31.5m and joins Atalanta. Not a bad deal really.

Boubakary Soumare also leaves on loan to Sampdoria for 60% wage and £210k per month. There's also a mandatory future fee built in for £5.25m + £2m of addons.

Other than that there were no more out's, there was interest in Iheanacho and he has asked to leave but he won't be going for anything less than £35m, the highest bid I received was £23.5m.

Now for the in's and I won't lie, I am ****** excited by a couple of these deals.

In comes Barry Cooke, the 17-year old Goalkeeper joins from Nottingham Forest for £550k. He need serious work but hopefully with some mentoring by Schmeichel he will improve enough to become my No. 2 keeper.

Central Midfielder Nicolo Fagioli comes in from Juventus for £22m. My replacement for Schlager and he will be vying for that DM spot with Esposito.

The 3rd and final deal is Winger/Striker Yusuf Demir, signed for £12.75m (that was his release clause) this lad is amazingly good, he is going to be a superstar. For this season though he will be going back on loan to Rapid Wien.

Now to the results and it's been a bit up and down, definitely more up's though as you will see!

As you can see it's gone very well! Yeah OK we had a major blip at the end of December but they were 3 tough away games. The Man City especially was a total freak, they had 7 shots on target and scored all 7!!

I didn't change anything, all I did was have a team meeting telling the lads to keep their chins up and my word it worked! January was the month of all months, 7 wins out of 7, 6 in the league and 24 goals scored!!!

The 7-1 win over West Ham was by far the best performance of my 2 and a half seasons in charge, stunning!

The League table proves great reading, somehow we are well within a shot of winning the league! We just need to continue our good form.

We've also progressed in the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over rivals Nottingham Forest, we will face Newcastle at home in Round 4.

Finally, the Champions League draw has been made and we will face AS Monaco in the Last 16. A winnable game!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - February/March

What an amazing couple of months.....in the League anyway! We really are doing something spectacular at the moment.

But first the disappointments.

We managed to screw it up in the FA Cup, I had to rest a few players with the sheer amount of games and the players who came in didn't play well. We took the lead in 35 seconds but by half-time we were 3-1 down, Praet scored late on but it wasn't enough, we just weren't good enough and lost the game 3-2

Next the Champions League, I felt we had a winnable tie against Monaco but after the first leg we looked to be struggling. We did take the lead right on half time but a late Ben Yedder goal meant the score ended 1-1.

The second leg was total bonkers and I won't lie we bottled it....twice. We took a first half lead through Nmecha but Monaco levelled mid-way through the second half, we retook the lead with 11 minutes to go but in the final minute Monaco equalised to send the game into extra time.

Midway through the first half of extra time we were down to 10 men after Solet got a second booking but just before half time we once again took the lead. The second half of extra was total and utter madness, Monaco had both Kamara and Vojvoda sent off to send them down to 9 men in the final minute but somehow Monaco scored in the 121st minute to send the game to penalties, my laptop was so close to being launched out the window!!!

10 penalties and only 1 missed, it came down to the final takers, Reis scored for Monaco, Praet stepped up......and missed. Absolutely gutting, what a way to lose!

Disappointments out the way, now for the good news, it is going ****** well in the League!!!!

7 games over the 2 months, 5 wins and 2 fantastic draws against Man City in 3rd and Liverpool in 2nd. Yes that's right we're top!!!

7 games left and we're top by a point from Liverpool, show's you just how big that last result was, especially as we equalised in the 92nd minute!

Absolutely amazing, but can we keep it going? Clearly it's going to be tough, so many times over my FM journey my team has fallen apart when it matters most. We do however have an OK run of games.

Man Utd and Spurs to play but other than that every game is winnable. Liverpool also have a decent schedule of games with only Chelsea and Arsenal the "big boys" to play.

Finally, we had the youth intake and it was dire! Like awful, 0.5*!!! There is only one player who looks anywhere near half decent and that's Striker/Left Winger Karl Davies.

He isn't bad overall and has a decent personality, maybe one for the future?!

Anyway, that's all for now! This is going to be exciting!

 

[Sam91]

Unlucky in the cups mate but letting you focus on the league!! Looking forward to see if you can pull it off

 

[LutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - April

Seeing as this is going to be a tense end to the season I'm going to do a month at a time. 7 games to go, 4 in April so let's see how it went.

Game 32/38 v Manchester United (H)

A vintage Leicester display, Man United hardly had a chance and we performed really well. It took until the 72nd minute for us to make the breakthrough, Nmecha grabbing the goal. We then sat back and kept the ball to see out a priceless 1-0 win. Liverpool also slipped up away to Wolves, drawing 0-0 meaning we are now 3 clear at the top.

Game 33/38 v Southampton (A)

One of those games where you may expect a slip-up but my word we played amazingly. Barnes scored after 45 seconds to set us on our way before Nmecha and Carboni, only playing because of a 3 month layoff for Fofana scored before half-time to send us in 3-0 up. Adeyemi scored a penalty midway through the 2nd half and that was it, a 4-0 win! Liverpool won meaning the gap is still 3.

Game 34/38 v Brentford (H)

An awful display but I was expecting it at some point, no way was FM going to make it easy for me. We were definitely the better team, it shows in the fact their Goalkeeper ended with their highest rating. We couldn't find a way through though and the game ended 0-0. Liverpool beat Aston Villa 1-0 meaning the gap is back down to 1.

Game 35/38 v Bournemouth (H)

A huge win! Adeyemi scores his 26th and 27th goals of the season in the 1st half to put us 2-0 up before Barnes scored midway through the 2nd half to seal a massive 3-0 win. Liverpool beat Newcastle away 2-1. This is going to be tense!

So at the end of the month we are still 1 clear, it's been a huge month, no goals conceded and only 1 poor result.

We head into the final 3 games with a slim lead with no margin for error whatsoever.

Our final 3 games are;

Spurs (A)
Burnley (H)
Wolves (A)

Liverpool have:

Chelsea (H)
Arsenal (A)
Southampton (H)

I have a feeling we may needing to rely on one of those teams to help us out!

Wish me luck!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - May & EOS Review

This is boys and girls, 3 games to go, 3 MASSIVE GAMES!!!!

36/38 v Spurs (A)

This game took on even more significance after Liverpool's 1-0 win over Chelsea, we HAD to win but I won't lie I wasn't confident. We started really but just could not find a way through, halftime 0-0 and we were by far the better team. We needed to find a breakthrough and it fell to that man Adeyemi to get us firing. He scored after 72 minutes to give us the lead and it took him only 4 more minute to get his 2nd and his 29th league goal of the season. Spurs then decided to wake up and had a few chances and they grabbed a goal back in the final minute. It was too late though and we won the game 2-1! HUGE HUGE WIN!

37/38 v Burnley (H)

The penultimate game of the season, we would face Burnley in the 3pm kickoff before Liverpool's game with Arsenal at the Emirates. If we win and they lose the title is ours, if we win and they draw we are there bar the counting as our goal difference is better.

Once again it was the Karim Adeyemi show as he destroyed Burnley in 35 minutes of the 1st half!! This lad is something else, another hat-trick and even though Burnley grabbed a late goal back it wasn't enough and we end 3-1 winners. SO CLOSE NOW!

But did we seal it without kicking a ball?

No we bl*ody didn't! Jordan Henderson grabbed the only goal in a 1-0 win away to Arsenal.

So we go into the final game 1 clear at the top, we have to better Liverpool's result to win the league. Man the nerves!!!!!!!

Game 38/38 v Wolves v Leicester & Liverpool v Southampton

The huge news prior to the game was a training ground injury for DM Esposito who is out for 3 months, a massive blow for us for the final game.

The game kicks off and we are straight on the front foot and it doesn't take long for the nervies to be settled as we take an 11th minute lead courtesy of James Maddison, it doesn't last long though and Pedro Neto levels the game a minute later.

News then comes through from Anfield, Mo Salah has scored to put Liverpool ahead, we're down to 2nd.

25 mins into the games and massive heartbreaking news. Liverpool have grabbed a 2nd but Wolves have a penalty after a push in the box by Carboni, Neves steps up and scored, 2-1 to Wolves, 2-0 to Liverpool. We need a miracle now.

28 mins - We're back in it!!! Adeyemi (who else) scores a lovely goal as he breaks free of the defence and slots it home. 2-2! We still need another though.

The half time whistle blows, we have 45 minutes to save this.

70 minutes - We just cannot find that goal, chances have come and gone but we just can't break through. The Liverpool game is over, they have scored twice more to go 4-0 up

84 mins - MASSSIVE!!!!!! The Wolves goalkeeper clears the ball, it's wonderfully won in the air by Castagne who heads to it Maddison, he plays a gorgeous ball over the top to Adeyemi, he runs slightly wide but cuts back play it square to Fagioli who is brought down, after a VAR check it's a penalty!!!! This is it!

Adeyemi steps up........ IT'S IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have comeback to lead 3-2. Now hang on boys!!!

90 mins - So close to a 4th, Castagne cuts inside and smashes it against the bar, Liverpool are now 5-1 up but that doesn't matter now, we have 4 minutes of injury time to hang on.

94 mins - IT'S ALL OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LEICESTER CITY ARE PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!

What a season, what an ending, I am lost for words.

Absolutely incredible!!!! We were just brilliant all season, even when we had a bad result we came back in style, our end of season form, especially when we were out of the cups was just incredible. 17 wins and 3 draws from our final 20 games, insane but we needed it, Liverpool ran us so close.

Wow, what a season it's been.

But now let's look at the key men and there's only one place to start.

Karim Adeyemi, what a player, £14.75m he cost and in a way it is him who we can thank for winning the league. 34 goals in 30 league games, 38 in 37 overall. This lad is insane and has single-handily gained me 3 achievements. Premier League top goalscorer, Premier League highest average rating and Football of the Year. I have no idea how I'm going to hang onto him!!

Next is my favourite player and that's Dennis Praet, once again he ends with the most assists in the Premier League. 16 in all with 9 goals and to think when I came here he was out on loan and destined to leave. What a player!!

Signing of the season goes to Lukas Nmecha, what a signing this lad was. Worth every penny, he ends with 15 goals and 10 assists in 38 starts.

A few other worthy mentions.

Oumar Solet had another amazing season in the heart of our defence, 35 starts, 5 gosals and an average rating of 7.39. Unfortunately though he wants to leave as we didn't win a cup this season! Odd!

Harvey Barnes was also incredible this season, the front 3 of Barnes, Nmecha and Adeyemi are just amazing.

And here is the whole title winning squad! I did not think I'd be saying that after 3 seasons!!!

Now I look forward to next season, it is going to be very tough, we are now going to have everyone wanting to beat us so I can see it being a lot tougher.

Squad wise my plan is to try and keep this group of players together, this is going to be tough, because, as you can imagine, a lot of players are now wanted. Adeyemi is being touted for a big money move, as is Horta, Iheanacho, Solet, Fofana, Barnes, Thomas and Carboni. Let's hope I can ward the big boys off!

My main transfer aim this season is to find a new goalkeeper. Schmeichel is now 37 and is declining quickly especially physically. I have £51m to spend and I plan to blow it all on a top quality keeper.

Other than that my plan is to bring some of the youth boys through and then look to replace anyone that leaves.

Achievements wise, we ticked off 4 this season. "Win Premier League" and the 3 Adeyemi achievements "Top Goalscorer, Highest Average Rating and Football of the Year". That takes me upto 7. Still 93 to go though!! Time to kick on.

Wow, I am out of breath, that was such a fun end of the season but also draining and really hard work! Now it's time to recharge and go again!!!

 

[Masons_14]

2023/24 Season - May & EOS Review

This is boys and girls, 3 games to go, 3 MASSIVE GAMES!!!!

36/38 v Spurs (A)

This game took on even more significance after Liverpool's 1-0 win over Chelsea, we HAD to win but I won't lie I wasn't confident. We started really but just could not find a way through, halftime 0-0 and we were by far the better team. We needed to find a breakthrough and it fell to that man Adeyemi to get us firing. He scored after 72 minutes to give us the lead and it took him only 4 more minute to get his 2nd and his 29th league goal of the season. Spurs then decided to wake up and had a few chances and they grabbed a goal back in the final minute. It was too late though and we won the game 2-1! HUGE HUGE WIN!

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37/38 v Burnley (H)

The penultimate game of the season, we would face Burnley in the 3pm kickoff before Liverpool's game with Arsenal at the Emirates. If we win and they lose the title is ours, if we win and they draw we are there bar the counting as our goal difference is better.

Once again it was the Karim Adeyemi show as he destroyed Burnley in 35 minutes of the 1st half!! This lad is something else, another hat-trick and even though Burnley grabbed a late goal back it wasn't enough and we end 3-1 winners. SO CLOSE NOW!

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But did we seal it without kicking a ball?

No we bl*ody didn't! Jordan Henderson grabbed the only goal in a 1-0 win away to Arsenal.

So we go into the final game 1 clear at the top, we have to better Liverpool's result to win the league. Man the nerves!!!!!!!

Game 38/38 v Wolves v Leicester & Liverpool v Southampton

The huge news prior to the game was a training ground injury for DM Esposito who is out for 3 months, a massive blow for us for the final game.

The game kicks off and we are straight on the front foot and it doesn't take long for the nervies to be settled as we take an 11th minute lead courtesy of James Maddison, it doesn't last long though and Pedro Neto levels the game a minute later.

News then comes through from Anfield, Mo Salah has scored to put Liverpool ahead, we're down to 2nd.

25 mins into the games and massive heartbreaking news. Liverpool have grabbed a 2nd but Wolves have a penalty after a push in the box by Carboni, Neves steps up and scored, 2-1 to Wolves, 2-0 to Liverpool. We need a miracle now.

28 mins - We're back in it!!! Adeyemi (who else) scores a lovely goal as he breaks free of the defence and slots it home. 2-2! We still need another though.

The half time whistle blows, we have 45 minutes to save this.

70 minutes - We just cannot find that goal, chances have come and gone but we just can't break through. The Liverpool game is over, they have scored twice more to go 4-0 up

84 mins - MASSSIVE!!!!!! The Wolves goalkeeper clears the ball, it's wonderfully won in the air by Castagne who heads to it Maddison, he plays a gorgeous ball over the top to Adeyemi, he runs slightly wide but cuts back play it square to Fagioli who is brought down, after a VAR check it's a penalty!!!! This is it!

Adeyemi steps up........ IT'S IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have comeback to lead 3-2. Now hang on boys!!!

90 mins - So close to a 4th, Castagne cuts inside and smashes it against the bar, Liverpool are now 5-1 up but that doesn't matter now, we have 4 minutes of injury time to hang on.

94 mins - IT'S ALL OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LEICESTER CITY ARE PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!

What a season, what an ending, I am lost for words.

View attachment 583800

Absolutely incredible!!!! We were just brilliant all season, even when we had a bad result we came back in style, our end of season form, especially when we were out of the cups was just incredible. 17 wins and 3 draws from our final 20 games, insane but we needed it, Liverpool ran us so close.

Wow, what a season it's been.

But now let's look at the key men and there's only one place to start.

Karim Adeyemi, what a player, £14.75m he cost and in a way it is him who we can thank for winning the league. 34 goals in 30 league games, 38 in 37 overall. This lad is insane and has single-handily gained me 3 achievements. Premier League top goalscorer, Premier League highest average rating and Football of the Year. I have no idea how I'm going to hang onto him!!

View attachment 583801

Next is my favourite player and that's Dennis Praet, once again he ends with the most assists in the Premier League. 16 in all with 9 goals and to think when I came here he was out on loan and destined to leave. What a player!!

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Signing of the season goes to Lukas Nmecha, what a signing this lad was. Worth every penny, he ends with 15 goals and 10 assists in 38 starts.

View attachment 583803

A few other worthy mentions.

Oumar Solet had another amazing season in the heart of our defence, 35 starts, 5 gosals and an average rating of 7.39. Unfortunately though he wants to leave as we didn't win a cup this season! Odd!

View attachment 583804

Harvey Barnes was also incredible this season, the front 3 of Barnes, Nmecha and Adeyemi are just amazing.

View attachment 583805

And here is the whole title winning squad! I did not think I'd be saying that after 3 seasons!!!

View attachment 583806

Now I look forward to next season, it is going to be very tough, we are now going to have everyone wanting to beat us so I can see it being a lot tougher.

Squad wise my plan is to try and keep this group of players together, this is going to be tough, because, as you can imagine, a lot of players are now wanted. Adeyemi is being touted for a big money move, as is Horta, Iheanacho, Solet, Fofana, Barnes, Thomas and Carboni. Let's hope I can ward the big boys off!

My main transfer aim this season is to find a new goalkeeper. Schmeichel is now 37 and is declining quickly especially physically. I have £51m to spend and I plan to blow it all on a top quality keeper.

Other than that my plan is to bring some of the youth boys through and then look to replace anyone that leaves.

Achievements wise, we ticked off 4 this season. "Win Premier League" and the 3 Adeyemi achievements "Top Goalscorer, Highest Average Rating and Football of the Year". That takes me upto 7. Still 93 to go though!! Time to kick on.

Wow, I am out of breath, that was such a fun end of the season but also draining and really hard work! Now it's time to recharge and go again!!!

I had just finished reading the April update and went onto twitter to see the final update of the season had just went live. Dramatic finish to the season and what a season it was, hopefully you get to keep most of the squad together and keep competing.

 

[LutterworthFox]

Another achievement!

In all the excitement last night I missed an achievement.

I was named Manager of the Year

 

[LutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - Transfer Update & August

It's been a really good Summer, only a few players have left and I have brought a few players in that I really feel gives me a good shot of challenging once again for the Premier League title.

Firstly, the out's and I let a few of my back-up players leaves, the ones who haven't featured much or those that asked for a move.

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The two big leavers are Iheanacho and Dewsbury-Hall, both asked for a move and with them dropping down the pecking order I let them go. Overall we've sold £115m worth of players, none were in the first XI. Another player to leave who isn't on that list is Johnny Evans who left before the season changeover for £190m to Tigres UANL.

We also lose a legend. Jamie Vardy has retired! The good news is he stays on as a coach. He's not great but we couldn't let him go.

View attachment 583874

Now to the in's, with the likes of Iversen, Iheanacho and Dewsbury-Hall leaving we needed to replace them. A new GK was my main aim and I got my Number 1 target. So please welcome 6 new signings!

Aaron Ramsdale - Goalkeeper - £39.5m from Arsenal

I wanted to bring in an English Keeper and Ramsdale was my first thought, a brilliant acquisition and with Schmeichel now 37 this lad will be my new number 1.
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The deal is also a club record fee which another achievement ticked off.

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Andrea Belotti - Striker - £9m from AC Milan

An amazing deal!! Belotti comes in for a really cheap fee and will be my back-up Striker for the season. What a player to have on the bench.

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Conor Gallagher - Central Midfield - £25m from AC MIlan

I looked at Conor when he left to join AC Milan but Chelsea wanted over £40m for him. He isn't highly rated but he will do a good job when called upon.

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Anton Savitski - Striker - £4.6m from Sparta Rotterdam

Now one of the future, at 18 Savistski has plenty of time to improve but he already looks top quality. We won't be seeing him this season as he goes back to Rotterdam on a season long loan.

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Damian Ieva - Left Back - £8.5m from River Plate

Another young lad comes in but he will be in the first team this season. I needed a new Left Back to be back-up to Luke Thomas and this lads looks really good. This is forward planning as there has been numerous offers for Thomas from some of the big boys in England, at some point he will ask to go or the offer will be too good to turn down.

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Emre Demir - Central Midfield - £5.25m from Barcelona

The final signing of a busy Summer, this one was done on deadline day. With Dewsbury-Hall and Soumare both going I needed some more options in midfield, Demir isn't highly rated but attribute wise looks really good and will add some much needed depth to my midfield.

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So 6 new faces in the first team squad, £90m spent, £115m brought in so a nice profit on transfers.

I've also brought a couple of players in from the youth side.

Wanya Marcal-Madivadua comes in to add depth to the left wing, last season he was on loan at Hearts and was named Scottish Premiership Player of the Season. He isn't great but I feel he deserves a season in the first team to see if he can improve.
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Ben Nelson also comes in, a player I've wanted to give a chance to over the past couple of seasons but loan offers came in and I felt he was better served getting game time away from Leicester. Last season he was at Sunderland and did really well helping them to 3rd place in League One.
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So the season kicks off with the Community Shield and we didn't face one of the big boys. Southampton won the FA Cup last season, beating Newcastle 1-0. I expected a win and the players duly obliged.

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A 4-1 win, a stunning display and a debut goal for Conor Gallagher. A really pleasing day at the office and it sets us up perfectly for the season ahead. Also the Community Shield win is another achievement!

Now to the league and we had a tricky start with both Arsenal and Liverpool to play in our first few games. We did really well though!

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A solid 2-1 win over Arsenal was followed by a 4-0 hammering of Brentford. We then faced Liverpool at Anfield and produced a gritty display to hold on for a 0-0 draw.

7 points from the opening 3 games, a fantastic start!

The Liverpool draw was also our 18th game unbeaten and that's a new club record beating 17 games unbeaten back in the 1924/25 season, that's another achievement ticked off!

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That's 11 achievement done overall, check the 2nd post on the thread to see the progress.

Finally, we've had the Champions League draw.

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We were seeded 1st which meant we missed out on some of the big boys but still were handed a tough looking draw with Atletico and Benfica in our group. I have confidence though we can end in the top 2.

 

[LutterworthFox]

NEW ACHIEVEMENT!!!!

Oh my word, I'm lost for words! I have just witnessed the greatest and biggest win in the history of the Premier League!

10-0!!!! I made 3 subs at half time and brought 3 youth players on, it was 8-0 at half time!1! Stunning!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - September to Mid-December

So far so good! Overall we have been decent, the odd slip up but there have been some stunning displays, as you will have seen above!

In the League Cup we've started well with some tricky ties.

Even so I've mixed the team around a bit and we have done really well. A scrappy 2-1 win away to Man United was followed by a really good win at home to Palace, Ben Nelson scoring a brace!

The Champions League has gone really well, we had a tough group but one I felt we could get out of and so it proved to be.

4 wins out of 6, you can really ignore the final game because we had already topped the group and I play all my reserves! Some great results though including 3 games where we scored 6 goals! Sammy Braybrooke and ben Nelson scoring their first goals for the club in the 6-0 homewin over Red Star.

In the 6-0 win away win over Red Star their was also a first career goal in his first ever start for 2024 Intake star Karl Davies.

It look close but we had already topped the group after matchday 5!

Now to the league and so far we have been really good.

Not a bad start, only the single slip up and that was a 2-0 defeat away to Spurs, a game in which we absolutely dominated but failed to break them down, they scored twice late on, they did not deserve it! Other than that things have gone well, a few rubbish draws lately but I've had to mix the team around due to the number of games we've had to play.

Going pretty well so far, joint top but 2nd on goal difference.

So a solid start, let's hope we can keep it going!

 

[LutterworthFox]

Two Achievements Gained!

It's December 31st and the annual Worldwide awards have been released and Karim Adeyemi has smashed it!!

What a year for the lad! I did not think I'd be ticking those achievements off this quick! Stunning!