FEBUARY
Everton 1 - 0 Chelsea (Hulk)
Wolves 0 - 1 Everton (Soldado)
Newcastle 2 - 4 Everton (Veratti, Soldado, Hulk, Jagielka)
Everton 1 - 1 Newcastle (Jagielka) FA Cup 5th Round
Barcelona 1 - 0 Everton - Champions League 1st Knockout Round
Stoke 2 - 2 Everton (Rodwell, Yakubu)
Newcastle 0 - 2 Everton (Hamsik, Yakubu) FA Cup 5th Round Replay
Arsenal 2 - 0 Everton - League Cup Final
Good month which saw us go unbeaten in the league and progress, after a replay, in the FA Cup.
Unfortunate to lose to Barcelona, we went to the Nou Camp and attacked, had more possesion than Barca, how many teams can say that?
Also lost the League Cup final which is a bit of a blow but Arsenal played well, a good Eduardo goal give them the lead and they got a 2nd in the dying minutes to make it look more comfortable than it was.
MARCH
Everton 2 - 0 Blackburn (Yakubu, Adrien)
Liverpool 1 - 4 Everton (Soldado, Hulk, Yakubu x2) FA Cup 6th Round
Everton 1 - 1 Barcelona (Jagielka) Champions League 1st Knockout Round (1-2 on agg)
Bolton 1 - 2 Everton (Hulk x2)
Everton 4 - 1 W.B.A (Soldado x3, Hulk)
Everton 2 - 1 Man United (Hamsik x2)
Birmingham 1 - 1 Everton (Soldado)
Another good month, unbeaten again in the league. Partciularly please with the win over United and the destroying of Liverpool at Anfield in the FA Cup.
Could have taken the Barca game to extra time but they scored an equaliser on the night in the 85th minute, but of a gut-wrencher!
APRIL / MAY
Everton 4 - 0 West Ham (Soldado x2, Heitinga, Cahill)
Chelsea 2 - 3 Everton (Soldado, Yakubu, Vaughan) FA Cup Semi Final
Everton 2 - 0 Arsenal (Soldado, Heitinga)
Everton 1 - 0 Fulham (Veratti)
Sunderland 0 - 4 Everton (Hulk x2, Heitinga, Hamsik)
Liverpool 1 - 0 Everton
Everton 3 - 1 Man City (Hulk, Jagielka, Yakubu)
Everton 1 - 0 Arsenal (Jagielka) FA Cup Final
Well, what an achievement! We finished 2nd in the league after, just 4 points behind Chelsea. Very happy with that considering at one point we were over 15 points behind. Back into the Champions League next season, that was my main aim at the start of the year. 1st then 2nd is a fantastic achievement in my opinon.
On top of this great league finish, another trophy for the cabinet! Back to back FA Cup wins has left the club and its fans ecstatic! Thats a Premier League title, 2 FA Cup's, 1 Europa League and a European Super Cup in just 2 seasons, as well as a 2nd place finish in the league and a runner's up medal in the League Cup.
PLAYERS OF THE SEASON
Well he doesn't get in the top 3 but he deserves an honourable mention for the amount of goals he scored despite being a backup to Hulk and Soldado all season. Mr. Yakubu!!
He was brilliant as an impact sub and starting in the place of one of the big 2 when they were injured and he picked up 15 goals and 9 assists in 21 starts and 15 sub appearances, a very nice return.
3RD PLACE
HULK
In his first season at the club he has been fantastic, leading the line so well with his tremendous pace and power. He managed to get 26 goals in total as well as 12 assists, a great first season!
2ND PLACE
Marek Hamsik
Also his first season, he had a lot to live up to as the replacement for Areta. But, he thrived under this pressure from the fans and bagged 15 goals, 1 less than Arteta last term, and 19 assists, 2 more than Arteta last term. Overall, a great season, especially as Arteta flopped massively for Chelsea!
1ST PLACE
Phil Jagielka
What a season he has had! Voted player of the year by the fans too, Phil has been solid when played at centre back or right back. He bagged an impressive 9 goals with almost all of them coming from corners. 2 assists and an average rating of 7.35 overall, 7.54 in the league, mean Phil is a worthy choice for the player of the year.
An honourable mention must also go out to youngsters Rodwell and Gosling, who were fantastic last season stepping in when it mattered. Rodwell's versatility saw him make 47 appearances in the end, and he was brilliant all the way through. Had to stave off some pretty intesne interest to keep hold of him in the Summer, with Ancelotti and Fergie snooping around!
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed my second season with Everton and am looking forward to what the future brings as I have signed quite a lot of hot prospects and youth players over the last couple of years who should be coming through soon enough.
As well as the Everton job, I have now taken on the USA job. This seemed like an attractive first step into international management but if I feel at any time like I cannot fully commit to my club, then I will walk away immediately.
My first month in charge saw me go to the Copa America, but with a squad the previous manager had picked. With 6 injuries from a 23 man squad, we were left very bare especially as most of these injuries were to our CM.
COPA AMERICA GROUP STAGE
Argentina 1 - 0 U.S.A
Very unfortunate to come away with nothing after putting up a brave fight. We were reduced to 10 men just before half time and eventually the extra man counted when they scored in the 78th minute. Overall, a performance I can take a lot from and am very proud.
U.S.A. 2 - 0 Peru (Dempsey, Donovan)
Arguably the 2 best players got the goals today. Nice win which means a draw in the last game should see us through.
U.S.A. 0 - 0 Paraguay
A good draw as most of the team finished the match on fitness in the mid 60's. Into the 1st knockout phase where we unforttunately meet Brazil.....
COPA AMERICA QUARTER FINAL
Brazil 2 - 0 U.S.A
Another brave performance but the massive gulf in class showed in the end with 2 second half goals from Hulk and Pato, a free-kick and a rebound from a penalty. Lot of work to do but there is some real potential here and I look forward to the challenge ahead, its something very different!
Everton Transfers IN
I promised myself I wasn't going to spend too big as I want to try and keep most of the squad around and try to nurture young talent. Only made 2 signings for what could be classed as big money.
First, there were the signings of Miguel Amorim, Pedro Silva, Steven McGrath, Alex Smithies and Gary Garnder, all youngsters who have a bright future ahead of them. They may make appearances this season but it is far more likely they will go out on loan or feature for the Reserves.
Then, for £3.3m, Carsten Struckmann joined from Wolsburg. An American AMC, he was signed before I took the job as USA manager but he was one of the reasons for me accepting the offer.
Next, Yannis Tafer. One of the real striking stars of FM10, he is going to be on the fringes of the first team fighting for a place and trying to show what he can do. Signed from Lyon for £9.5m.
Finally, Neymar signed from Santos for £17.5m. A lot of money yes but he will be worth every penny in a few seasons as he becomes one of the best in the world. Really excited by the 2 striking prospects we have now.
Everton Transfers OUT
Loaned out quite a lot of youngsters in order for them to gain first team experience. Amorim, Agard, Guarch, Tunnicliffe, Baxter, Duffy, Gardner and Villalva have all been loaned out.
Phil Neville was sold to Newcastle for £675k as he wasn't featuring regularly enough to justify his £45k a week wages. Sad to see him go but Tim Cahill replaces him as captain.
Following Phil to St. James' Park was James Vaughan, as a youngster he was tipped to be the next big thing but he never really lived up to the height. He has left for £9m which is fantastic, and his sale freed up the funds for Tafer to join, who hopefully turns out to be twice the player Vaughan ever was for us.
Jan Mucha, an agreed signing who joined last summer was sold for £3.1m to Southampton, I don't think he made an appearance all season. We have a new, younger backup to Howard in Alex Smithies, who will get his chances in the early round cup games this season.
Finally, Lukas Jutkiewicz was sold for £2.1m to Leyton Orient. Quite where they got that money from I do not know, but a decent fee for someone who was never going to play. Not a bad bit of business.
Overall, I am pleased with the Summer's dealings as I kept my squad together and added some young faces. Distin, Cahill, Yobo and Howard are now the only players over the 30 mark and will be eased out over the next couple of seasons. Howard, Yobo and Cahill will put up a **** of a fight for their places though as they were immense last season. Looking forward to seeing Neymar in action inparticularly, but Tafer, Rodwell, Dodo, Gosling and Stuckmann are also youngsters to look out for, and obviously Veratti who has already had such an impact on the first team!
Not much of a update but because the site was down I didn't have time to do it in anymore detail. I have played on til about November in Season 3 but will update later on.
