PRE SEASON
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Totally messed up my pre season this year. Really frustrated me as i enjoy doing pre season and getting all the players match fit! I think the World Cup kind of threw me off a little. Plus i tend to sort my friendlies out once my fixture list comes out!
It was too late this time though, as by the time i tried arranging friendlies against some big clubs, they were not available. Would have been nice for the story to see some big teams coming to the new Bobby Robson Stadium!
I also couldnt arrange a tour of USA as i foolishly accepted an invitation to go on a Dutch tour. I still managed to get in one game in against a team in USA though.
With my pre season kind of messed up for how i normally like it, i ended up having a random one to be honest. Ive neglected some of the traditional friendlies this story has become familiar with. Having lost a bit of interest because of this, i decided to let my assistant manager control my friendlies as ive been wanting to get this season started!
Anyway....
A decent 2-0 win over New York Cosmos, nice to see Fowler get on the scoresheet. Im hoping to play my young home grown CB alot more this year! An expected convincing win 5-1 over Capelle, with Dybala, Bonazzoli & Woodrow all scoring, including my new signing at CB, Knoche! Im really hoping this guy is settles in quickly and becomes a real wall at the back!
Disappointed i lost to Vitesse, i did have a few players missing throughout some friendlies due to the World Cup and a few other players already at !00% fitness.
Decent wins over Boca & San Lorenzo at The Bobby Robson Stadium! And we finished off this years pre season with a 5-1 win over Cork City.
Nothing really to shout about from that, but i was happy to just get it out of the way and kickstart our defence of the Premier League!
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So, we are now predicted to finish 5th place! Still quite a difficult task if you take into consideration the reputation of our club and our stature. We are still merely building the club. We are still well down the league as far as Annual Salary goes so to be competing with the best is amazing.
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Our expectations were always going to be Challenging for the title after winning it last year. Apart from our amazing run in the Champions League last season, i was very annoyed with our performances in the cups. Being knocked out of the FA and Capital One Cups so early was a bit of a kick in the teeth. I will be looking to field stronger sides in those competitions this year and trying to battle on all fronts. We still dont really have enough depth to be doing that, but i will be trying my best to at least bring trophies back this season.
The famous treble would be amazing, League, CL & FA would be perfect. KEEP DREAMING EH.
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Our first 2 months of football isnt as difficult as it has been the past few years.
We will be competing in the Community Shield this year as a reward for winning the league, where we will face off with Man Utd. Starting the campaign off with a win and a trophy would be awesome so i will be playing the strongest side i have available.
We kick off our title defence against Sunderland away, then we host Liverpool at Bobby Robson Stadium, which will be the first competitive game in our new stadium. I really hope we see an increase in attendances as at Portman Road, there seemed to be some sort of bug. We never sold out 1 game....and we only averaged 23-25k in each of the last 3 seasons. Shocking when you think weve just got promoted and been over achieving. IRL the crowds would be coming in surely.
West Ham A, QPR H, Brentford A & Cardiff H are the other league games we have in August & September. We will also have a CL game and the 3rd rnd of the Capital One Cup.
I will be making an update on the Community Shield, then my next update will be at the end of September!