redtilimdead
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West Ham announced at the start of the 2015/2016 season that Slaven Bilic would be relieved of his duties and in will come young Danish manager Simon Knutsen, an FC Copenhagen fan, would take the reins.
With the board wanting a mid table finish, Knutsen went about recruiting players. See the ins and outs for the season here:
View attachment 143358
Three defeats out of four at the beginning of the Premier League season left them wondering whether they'd be embroiled in a relegation dog fight come the end of the season, what with having to go through numerous gruelling qualifying rounds for the Europa League. Miraculously, they made the group stage, in a group with Lazio, Dnipro and St. Etienne. However, they failed to qualify for the knockout phase.
Patchy form had them lingering round the top 8-9 places in the league, and having been eliminated from both the League Cup and, as aforementioned, the Europa League, the emphasis was very much trying to qualify for Europe as well as a decent FA Cup run. A 2-0 win over Man U at Xmas time was the catalyst for a great run of results in January. Emmanuel Eboue had got injured for 10 months with damaged cruciates, when up until then he'd been performing very well. Lucas Romero and Ajer were solid in the midfield. Andy Carroll was really banging them in, and the flourishing development of both Aaron Creswell and Michell Antonio was starting to excite the fans.
A largely unbeaten March and April followed, as did progression in the FA Cup (twice needing a replay against Leicester and Newcastle respectively). A great run of 9 league wins out of 10 as seen here, as well as the cup run:
View attachment 143357
Andy Carroll was on fire. So the climax of the season was approaching, and progression in the cup all the way to the semis, then the final. Leap-frogging, and staying above Chelsea into 5th was a great achievement, they just needed to finish the job. Arsenal won the league with a whopping 98 points. Tottenham, and both Manchester clubs, completed the top 4. WHU had finished 5th, and also they managed to beat Man City on penalties to clinch the cup. A great season all in all. Star performers. Randolph (especially in shootouts), Jenkinson, Cresswell, Antonio, and Carroll. Payet did his bit also.
Here are Carroll's end of season stats, he finished EPL top scorer:
View attachment 143356
With Jenkinson's loan set to end, Vidic ageing and City sniffing round Cresswell I think I needed to tighten up at the back, with maybe another striker to support Carroll (my system only has one up front). With Europa League football next season, and a decent young hungry squad, it was time to look towards 2016/17.
With the board wanting a mid table finish, Knutsen went about recruiting players. See the ins and outs for the season here:
View attachment 143358
Three defeats out of four at the beginning of the Premier League season left them wondering whether they'd be embroiled in a relegation dog fight come the end of the season, what with having to go through numerous gruelling qualifying rounds for the Europa League. Miraculously, they made the group stage, in a group with Lazio, Dnipro and St. Etienne. However, they failed to qualify for the knockout phase.
Patchy form had them lingering round the top 8-9 places in the league, and having been eliminated from both the League Cup and, as aforementioned, the Europa League, the emphasis was very much trying to qualify for Europe as well as a decent FA Cup run. A 2-0 win over Man U at Xmas time was the catalyst for a great run of results in January. Emmanuel Eboue had got injured for 10 months with damaged cruciates, when up until then he'd been performing very well. Lucas Romero and Ajer were solid in the midfield. Andy Carroll was really banging them in, and the flourishing development of both Aaron Creswell and Michell Antonio was starting to excite the fans.
A largely unbeaten March and April followed, as did progression in the FA Cup (twice needing a replay against Leicester and Newcastle respectively). A great run of 9 league wins out of 10 as seen here, as well as the cup run:
View attachment 143357
Andy Carroll was on fire. So the climax of the season was approaching, and progression in the cup all the way to the semis, then the final. Leap-frogging, and staying above Chelsea into 5th was a great achievement, they just needed to finish the job. Arsenal won the league with a whopping 98 points. Tottenham, and both Manchester clubs, completed the top 4. WHU had finished 5th, and also they managed to beat Man City on penalties to clinch the cup. A great season all in all. Star performers. Randolph (especially in shootouts), Jenkinson, Cresswell, Antonio, and Carroll. Payet did his bit also.
Here are Carroll's end of season stats, he finished EPL top scorer:
View attachment 143356
With Jenkinson's loan set to end, Vidic ageing and City sniffing round Cresswell I think I needed to tighten up at the back, with maybe another striker to support Carroll (my system only has one up front). With Europa League football next season, and a decent young hungry squad, it was time to look towards 2016/17.