Beginning the final run in was a clash with Lens, who had beaten us 2-1 earlier in the season. I wanted us to start on the front foot and try to take an early lead to build confidence we could win this time...
And inside 10 minutes we were in front, as Rodrigo Muniz took his goal tally to double figures for the season. However, on the half hour mark, Lens were level and it was game on again! Victor Lekhal hasn't been as much of a first team regular for me this season, but his strike only 3 minutes later would quickly restore our lead! From that moment, there only looked like one team that would go on to win the game and both Muniz and Lekhal made it a brace a piece in the second half to gain redemption for the defeat earlier in the season.
Rennes were up next and again they were a side we'd dropped points earlier in the season against, with a 1-1 draw...
But again we showed how we have improved throughout the season to win again! Diop opened the scoring with a fine effort from outside the box, before Burgstaller sealed the vivtory in stoppage time after coming off the bench in the 88th minute to initially just waste time!
After 3 wins in a row, we went into the game against bottom side Brest feeling confident of a big win...
But we actually came very close to a defeat and only a 90th minute equalizer spared our blushes against a team that are guaranteed to be playing in Ligue 2 next year!
A much tougher fixture followed, with 2nd place Monaco visiting! We were soundly beaten by them in our previous encounter and many expected a similar result here...
They did dominate us for majority of the game having 12 attempts at our goal and did manage to beat Juan Soriano on one occasion. We only managed 4 at theirs, but managed to actually take a couple of ours and record a perfect smash n grab win!
It was a massive result for us that ensures we will be playing in a European competition next year! Unbelievable achievement for us in our first season back in the top tier!
Our next game would see us take on 3rd placed Marseille and there was 7 points between us at kick off...if we could win, then it would give us a very outside chance of still finishing in the top 3 and getting in the Champions League...
But it proved a little beyond us at this stage and we were well and truly battered!
With Europa League qualification already assured and no chance of finishing any higher, the last couple of games were a bit of a formality and the lads were clearly already on their holidays as we conclude the season with a rather underwhelming finish.
A 5th placed finish in our first season back in Ligue 1 is a phenomenal achievement and I didn't expect us to finish anywhere near this high up the table! So proud of what we have accomplished this season! That win for Toulouse over us on the final day of the season ensured they stayed up as well, whilst at the top PSG ran away with it for majority of the season and eventually finished champions by a clear 12 points and 32 points ahead of us! They are going to be a very, very tough club to dethrone.
Our finances were dire as we finished the season, with the club nearly £7 million in the red, so this prize money for our 5th placed finish is most welcome!
Ligue 1 = 5th (qualified for Europa League)
Coupe de France = 9th Round (knocked out by Rennes)
As we look over the squad stats for the season, it's clear to see that less players reached the benchmark of an average rating of 7.0, but there was still plenty to be impressed with! The defence was where we really overperformed and Isaak Toure turned out to be a beast for us this year and I'm still distraught about losing him on a free. Juan Soriano was an amazing signing between the sticks and I'll be hoping his excellent season doesn't draw attention from bigger clubs. Nicola Murru and Neco Williams were great in the full back positions and bagged 15 assists between them this season as we capitilized on our wing play. Up front, both Rodrigo Muniz and Guido Burgstaller did a job for us, scoring 21 times between them, although we could really do with a 15-20 goal a season man up top....but budgets restrained us last season and they were the best we could bring in and they did a job! The midfield was where I think we could have done better if I'm honest, although nobody was terrible. Quentin Cornette did well and surprised me this season as I expected him to struggle, but he ended up leading the assist charts, whilst Emanuel Vignato proved a valuable loan signing adding a combined 13 goals/assists.
The Best 11...
The Awards...
It's so gutting that we are losing Isaak Toure to Burnley on a free transfer as he was named Ligue 1's most promising player!
On the plus side, we should be able to keep hold of left back, Nicola Murru, who was named in the Stars of the Season and 11 of the Season squads!
There was another accolade for me as well, as I lift the Ligue 1 Manager of the Season!
Next year, I may have to look at utilizing our aerial ability a little more. We are one of the stronger headers of the ball in the league, but recorded one of the fewest amount.
We might need to get a couple of players in with some good dribbling ability too. We record more than the average amount of dribbles per game, but are loose with it.
We recorded the 5th best defence in the league this season and off the back of that, the board have changed their vision slightly for us to focus on being defensively solid. After finishing 5th, they also changed their expectations from avoiding relegation to becoming a mid table and established team in Ligue 1 over the coming years.
The Commercials...
As far as squad improvements go this Summer, again I'm working with real tight budgets as the board only gave me £6 million to spend. They have increased the wage budget by over £100k per week though which will help, but I'll need to be shrewd with my signings.
I was back in International action with France as the season came to a close, kicking off with a friendly win over Slovenia. Michael Olise again scoring for me and he has been a revelation since I introduced him to the national side with 2 goals in his opening 3 games.
I also handed a debut to Lyon central midfielder, Florent Da Silva, who also bagged himself a goal in his first appearance.
Olise was again on target as we beat Azerbaijan in our European Group Qualifier. He is quickly becoming a star for the national side!
As expected, we top the group and are in prime position to qualify for the main tournament after the opening 3 games!
We won't play anymore International games until September, so it was time to return to Le Havre and start the Summer transfer business as I look to improve my squad for the new season. My first piece of business was to tie down Liverpool's Neco Williams for another season long loan.
I also need to start looking at the infrastructure of the club and am pleased that the board accepted my requests to invest in both the training and youth facilities.
My next signing through the door is another season long loan deal. This time, it's for Manchester United's 24 year old Spaniard, Pepelu! There is also a clause in there that I can buy him for £7.5 million if he has a stormer of a season for us!
He'll be the main replacement for Victor Lekhal who has left the club on a free to join ES Setif in his native Algeria. When I joined the club, Lekhal was one of my best players, but he struggled up at Ligue 1 level last year and I felt we had much better options so was happy to move him on.
Another Spaniard joining the club this Summer is experienced centre back, Unai Garcia, who comes in on a free transfer from Osasuna. He has been with them throughout his entire career, so it remains to be seen if he can settle at another club and in another country, but for no fee and cheap wages, he was worth the punt.
The first player I signed for an actual fee this Summer is Norwegian striker, Ohi Omoijuanfo. I'm hoping he is going to be our main man up top this year and am looking to him for 15+ goals in the league campaign. I've forked out £1.7 million to bring him here from Red Star where he had a good season last year, scoring 15 times in 24 games in the Serbian top tier. This is a step up, but he has the attributes to deliver and could prove to be a bargain if he can!
European qualification through Ligue 1 just became a little bit tougher. France have been overtaken by Portugal in the European coefficients table, which means we've lost a Europa League place and gained a Europa Conference League spot instead.
There has also been a shake up in French football with Ligue 1 dropping from 20 teams to 18.
I needed to bolster my options out wide and ideally wanted a player I could pick up on the cheap, who could play down either wing. Andros Townsend fits the bill perfectly and should be able to have an impact for us. He joins on a free after being released by Everton.
Next in is my main signing of the Summer. I wanted a French player, ideally under 23, who could have a direct impact on the first team. Matteo Tramoni is the guy I have signed for a fee of £2.7 million spread over the next 3 years with £900k up front. He joins us from Cagliari and is a great signing who will push for a starting 11 place immediately.
I managed to free up a little bit of money by reducing a couple of the cup bonuses for the year and with that extra dough, I brought in promising right back, Jannik Bendig. At 17 years old, the Belgian definitely looks like one for the future and the £1.8 million I have paid to bring him here from Eupen could prove to be a steal over the coming years!
We played the usual round of pre season friendlies, although if our results this year are anything to go by, we won't be going into the season full of confidence.
The pre season preview has the bookies predicting us for a 13th placed finish, so they don't think we'll be amongst the relegation fight, but don't think we'll get anywhere near another European qualification spot. PSG are again hot favourites, although they don't dominate every position in the media dream 11 this season!
Our first game of the season would see us take on Reims. Last year we recorded a 2-1 win and a 0-0 draw against them, so hopefully we could kick things off well and maintain our unbeaten record against them...
Perfect start!
However, we knew the likelihood of maintaining an early undefeated streak was very slim as our next game would see us welcome PSG to the Stade Oceane...
And as expected, we were run ragged by the Champions. We kept the scoreline respectable but it could have been so many more as they had 27 shots at our goal!!
I've got a bigger problem festering as goalkeeper Juan Soriano isn't happy after I rejected a £3 million bid for him from AC Milan. Could my goalkeeper be on his way out the door?
I decided to keep him in the starting lineup for the game against Nantes, hoping that he would at least put in a good performance to impress his potential suiters to up their bid...
It turned out to be the right decision as he turned in a good performance and kept a clean sheet as we went on to win the game comfortably.
Transfer deadline day came and we received and accepted bids in excess of £11 million pound for our star goalkeeper from Sheffield United, Brighton and AC Milan. However, he opted to reject all their offers and stay with us after all! We've had a result there!
We'll definitely be needing to call on some solid performances between the sticks from him in the Europa League as we have been handed a very tough group that we'll do well to get out of!
Back in Ligue 1, we record our first bore draw of the season against Strasbourg. A back and forth game that could have gone either way in all honesty, but neither side was able to make the breakthrough on the day.
A solid enough start to the season with 2 wins from our opening 4 games and PSG already out the way, leaves us in the top 6, but it's still very early days.
Time for the French national side to turn out again for 2 more Euro Qualifiers against Estonia and Ireland...2 games I expected us to win with relative ease...
We got the job done against Estonia, recording 27 shots at their goal in the process and probably should have won by a silly scoreline. However, against Ireland, we looked lacklustre and were easily the poorest we've been since I took over as manager.
Despite dropping points against Ireland though, we are still very much in control of this group!
We beat Lyon twice last year (scoring 7 goals in the process) as they had a disappointing campaign, but they have started a lot better this season and we thought they may provide a sterner test...
And they did just that! We didn't help ourselves with the red card for Nicola Murru early in the 2nd half, although we were dominated for most of the game so I'm not convinced the outcome would have been different anyway and we won't make any excuses. Just not good enough!
On the plus side, the board did agree to put some more cash into our youth recruitment!
And the junior coaching!
Our first taste of Europa League football would see us go out to Italy to take on Atalanta...
And we put up a brave effort out there against probably the strongest team in the group. If we play like this against the other sides, we have a chance of picking up some points for sure.
We'd now won only once in our last 5 games in all competitions and really needed to put in a performance against Rennes back in Ligue 1...
But again it's a disappointing result and this is without a doubt, the most difficult run I have found myself in since taking over as Le Havre manager.
And then we were completely hammered by Marseille too! Morale is low and the squad are lacking a serious amount of confidence at the moment!
Lens were above us in the league, but only by 4 points and a win could be massive in getting ourselves back on track...
But instead we could only manage a draw! Which, on the face of it, isn't the worst result considering we had to play the last 25 minutes of the game with 10 men after Dzenis Burnic was sent off for a two footed lunge that is also likely to see him banned for 3 games! Not what I need from my captain in our time of need!
And to make matters worse, I lose my best attacking midfielder for up to a month with injury!
But we must soldier on and turn our attention to our 2nd Europa League Group game against Real Sociedad...
We started the game on the front foot and took a deserved lead on 18 minutes when Guido Burgstaller rounded the keeper and slotted home. After that though, it looked nervy and always like we were waiting until we'd concede, and on 68 minutes we did and they were level. Confidence is really low and it's clear for all to see, but somehow we managed to hold on for a point!
Back in Ligue 1, it was another defeat as we are beaten 3-0 by Nice. I changed up for the formation here to a 5-3-2 but to no ovail and it didn't inspire any better performance. Starting to feel the pressure now!
I had a welcome break away from the stresses of domestic football with the French national squad and it was nice to get a couple of wins under my belt! Although, with sheer dominance in both games, we should have won by much bigger margins!
And with those victories come qualification for the Euros 2024.
I was hoping I could bring back some positive energy from International duty and it might help us get back to winning ways in Ligue 1 against 17th placed Angers...
It seemed to work as we record our first league win in 7 games!
Despite that victory, we are still languishing in the bottom half of the table and desperately need to string together 2 or 3 more wins to move ourselves away from the relegation battle.
We start this update with injury updates that will really effect our team over the next couple of months. Having only just returned from injury, Kelechi Nwakali will now miss another month, whilst Andros Townsend will be out for 2! Things really seem against us this season!
After a loss and a draw in our opening two matches, it was imperitive that we went out to Belgium and got a result against Anderlecht to keep any hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League alive...
And we only went and did it! A narrow win keeps us in with a chance of progressing in the competition!
We sit 2nd in the group at the half way stage! If we can beat Anderlecht at home in our next game, it would be massive!
Before that though, we had to play a Montpellier side that did the double over us in Ligue 1 last season...
We did manage to stop the rot and earned a draw this time round, but we really should have won after creating 15 chances on their goal, to their 5 on ours!
Turning our attention back to the 2nd Anderlecht meeting, we had every right to feel we could get a result after already winning in Belgium...
And we were spot on at home too with a solid 2-0 victory which now puts us in prime position to make it out of a very tough group!
We'd now strung together 4 games without defeat and may just be finally finding our feet for the season, so back in Ligue 1, we had to be confident of getting a result against 17th placed Toulouse who only had 3 points from their opening 11 games...
Easy as you like! Quentin Cornette dominated in the final third and hammered home a couple of goals. He started this season really slowly and in some really poor form, but seems to be finding his best form lately.
I was then off with the France national squad for our final Euro's group qualifier against Azerbaijan. It was a bit of a nothing game in terms of us already winning the group, but it would be nice to go unbeaten in the group...
In the first 45 minutes, we completely blew them away and the game was over at half time. We stepped our foot off the gas in the 2nd period which avoided complete embarrassment for Azerbaijan. I handed out another debut, this time to Moussa Dembele who has been scoring for fun for Lyon in Ligue 1 (10 in 9 games), and he didn't disappoint banging in a hat trick!
A decent qualifying campaign ends with us topping our group, unbeaten, with 7 wins from 8 games. Completely met expectations against a relatively weak group...obviously no offence to Ireland and Scotland, but our France squad is far superior.
Back in Ligue 1, we'd play a Monaco side that will be disappointed with their performance so far this season. They sit 7th at the moment and would have been hoping they could close the gap a little more on PSG after their runner up spot in the league last year...
However, we are struggling to show improvements on last season too, and Monaco proved way too strong for us! They were all over us in that first 45 minutes and had already put the game to bed by the break! Disappointing from our side that we just didn't look up for this from the start!
It wasn't the ideal result to be going into our crunch game against Real Sociedad in the Europa League. We knew a draw out in Spain would see us into the knockout stages...
But we couldn't get the job done. Sociedad absolutely battered our goal for 90 minutes and if it wasn't for Juan Soriano between the sticks, we would have lost this game by a much bigger margin!
Going into the final game, we still have it in our hands. If we can get a point against Atalanta, we'll qualify. If we fail to do that, but Real Sociedad fail to beat Anderlecht, we'll also be through. We still have a big chance!
Back in France, Marseille came calling for my potential services offering me an interview for their vacant manager's role. I have to admit I was tempted, but decided not to turn my back on Le Havre just because we're having a difficult season.
I was looking for my lads to show they appreciated my loyalty against Lorient...
But instead, they have me immediately questioning my decision not to go for the Marseille job as we turn in our worst performance of the season, not registering a single shot at the Lorient goal all game!! Terrible!
And to rub salt in the wounds even more, I lose one of my best players for the rest of the season!
So we're down in 12th position after 14 games and closer to the relegation places than the top 6! Things really aren't going to plan this season...our football is poor, our players are underperforming, our new signings have been hugely underwhelming! This is going to take some real work to turn our season around!
Bordeaux were one of the few clubs below us in the league, so that made this a must win game for us...
We got the job done in a tightly contested game! A massive and much needed 3 points for us!
It was a huge confidence boost before we welcomed Atalanta in a huge game which could determine our qualification or not for the knockout stages of the Europa League...
With just 1 minute to go, we were heading to victory and into the knockout stages! And somehow, from that position, we lost the game! Unbelievable!
Luckily though, Anderlecht got the win over Sociedad in the other game, which means we qualify on a better head to head record! What a topsy turvy season this is turning out to be!
We're going to face a very tough fixture though to progress any further as we take on the richest club in the world!
Back in Ligue 1, our inconsistency was again our downfall. After beating Bordeaux, it was really hoping we could follow up with another win against Clermont Foot, but instead we were beaten and again our performance on the pitch was poor!
At least we didn't suffer any embarassment against lower league opposition in the Coupe de France though!
That led us into the Winter break and hopefully a couple of weeks to rest and recoup before we come back in the New Year to take on Montpellier in the next round of the cup...
Fair to say the break treated us well! Let's hope this result can kick start 2024 and make it a decent year for us!
However, the last team you want to play when trying to build some momentum is PSG...
Not surprisingly, we were thrashed!
We followed it up with another defeat against Lille. Although this was slightly heartbreaking as we fought so hard to get back in the game from 2-0 down only to concede with one of the final kicks of the game! Absolutely gutting!
Nantes were struggling down in 17th, so would present us with an opportunity to get back to winning ways after two very tough games...
But we couldn't do it and have to settle for a point! After being 2-0 down inside 16 minutes, I should probably take it, but these games are ones we really should be winning!
Next up was our Coupe de France 11th round fixture against Lens...
And we're out! Not for the first time this season have we thrown a lead away and then been beaten in the dying minutes of a game! This season is genuinely turning out to be an awful one!
Back in Ligue 1, we really had to see our clash with 9th placed Strasbourg as a must win...
But we were outplayed for most of the game and probably lucky to come away with just a 1-0 defeat!
It leaves us in real trouble and we're officially dragged into the relegation battle!
With no win in 5 games, I didn't go into our game against Lyon with any confidence whatsoever...
But somehow, against all the odds, we pull off a massive result! A real determined and gritty performance that we will need to see much more of over the next couple of months!
It was a huge confidence boost as we travel to the North East of England for the first leg of our Europa League knockout round with Newcastle...
But that confidence was entirely misplaced as we were battered and are virtually out before The Magpies even come back to France.
And things were just as bad back in domestic action as we concede another 4 at Rennes. That Lyon result was only 3 games ago, but it already feels so much longer!
Next up was our second leg against Newcastle and as negative as it sounds, the plan really was to try not to suffer the same embarrassment we had away from home...
And we did at least manage to keep this scoreline respectable and earn a credible draw, although it does have to be debated how much Newcastle actually put into this game. We are out of the competition though!
I felt like if we played to the same level at home to Marseille in the league, we might be able to sneak a result...
It was a brave effort from the lads, but they just had that little bit more class than us on the day and we suffer another defeat. It's a result that saw us drop to 14th in the table and just 3 points above the relegation places now!
Lens are flying in 5th place and with us desperately needing a win, I wasn't sure if this is where we were going to get it...
It wasn't, but we did pick up a very valuable point with a valiant defensive display! They were on top for most of the game, but a resilient display at the back ensured we limited them to a single goal and pick up the draw.
With our form on the pitch being awful, off the pitch we do have plenty to be excited about as the youth intake produces 5 potential elite talents for the future! I just need to hope I keep my job long enough to see these lads through the academy!
Julien Gautier looks like he could definitely be a future star!
The positivity around the club's promising youth intake might just inspire the first team to a winning performance against 3rd placed Nice...I hoped...
And it actually did! An incredible result for us just when we needed it and we jump from 15th to 11th in one game!
Angers are right down in amongst the relegation battle, which made our game against them a must win...it was absolutely essential we got the win here and nothing less would do...
By the narrowest of margins, we got the 3 points! Andros Townsend called on all his experience to get us over the line with a fine strike from outside the box!
After beating Montpellier 5-0 in the cup at the start of the calendar year, we had a great opportunity here to make it 3 wins on the bounce...
And the lads delivered! Just like that in 3 games, we have moved 10 points clear of the relegation places! An incredible turnaround out of absolutely nowhere!
With just 7 games remaining, we looked nailed on to stay up now!
It was 10th vs 12th as we took on Toulouse in our next match in a bit of a nothing game with neither side likely to go down or get into the top half...
And neither side really looked all that interested as we played out a bore draw.
All of a sudden, we found ourselves on a 5 game unbeaten run, but to get a result against 2nd placed Monaco might be a bit of a stretch...
Or maybe not!! What a performance from my lads!! Excellent!!
In France National Team news, we were handed a decent draw for the Nations League. Portugal will present tough opposition, but we should be looking to gain maximum points against both Austria and Croatia to be honest! The competition will kick off in September after the European Championship this Summer.
And the draw for that was also very kind to us. We should definitely be looking at topping this group in the Summer and progressing to the knockout stages without too much issue.
Back at Le Havre, confidence is booming all of a sudden and we looked to take that into our game with Lorient...
We left it late...very, very late...but it's another win chalked up as we continue to finish the season strongly!
Although we couldn't carry it through to the game with Bordeaux. We were the better side in this one, but they took their chances and we didn't...that was the difference on the day!
We quickly put things right against Clermont Foot though! Much better!
The Clermont game saw Ohi Omoijuanfo score his 19th goal in all competitions for the season (12 in the league). He started the season really slow and for the first half of the year, I was debating getting rid this Summer after just a single season at the club. However, he does seem to be coming into his own now and proving his worth...I might need to have a rethink about whether he deserves a place in my squad next year or not.
And he managed to bag his 20th of the season against Lille, although the result was far from impressive from our perspective as we were well beaten.
Our final game of what has been a very strange season would be against bottom of the table and already relegated Reims. Surely we could finish things off with a win for the fans...
Nope! Just a mundane draw to conclude the Ligue 1 campaign.
So it's a 10th placed finish for us in season 3. Disappointing based on last season's 5th, but still over achieving against all the expectations against us. PSG once again ran away with it and at no point in the season did they ever look like being toppled. Monaco were again runners up and there was a big gap back to the rest!
Ligue 1 = 10th
Coupe de France = 11th Round (knocked out by Lens)
Europa League = 1st Knockout Round (knocked out by Newcastle)
The squad stats for the season immediately show me that majority of my players underperformed this season, with only a couple reaching the desired target of 7.0 for their average rating over the course of the season. Ohi Omoijuanfo turned out to be a decent signing up top in the end finishing up on 21 goals. He doesn't contribute much in the way of assists, but this could be more down to the lack of ability of other players to score to be honest. Quentin Cornette's average rating wasn't the greatest, but his contribution of 9 goals and 9 assists is good enough for me at this level and will likely keep him here for me next year. Matteo Tramoni didn't light up Ligue 1 at all during his first season in France and his average rating of just 6.60 makes him one of the most disappointing players of the whole season! It was gutting to lose Neco Williams after just 13 games to injury and he was sorely missed in the right back role, although it did give 18 year old Jannik Bendig an opportunity to get 24 appearances under his belt, although judging by his overall performance, this level may be beyond him at this early stage of his career and I may look for a loan move for him next year if I can bring in decent cover in that role. At 34 years old, Breno had a decent enough campaign at centre back, but he will retire this Summer and again reinforcements will be needed in that role. Juan Soriano was our best player this season and turned in some fantastic performances between the sticks and I have no doubt that he could be our main source of income this Summer if he is to leave...there was a lot of interest in him last Summer with bids coming in to £11+ million and his stock has now risen even further and he would command a big fee if he is to be prized away from the club.
The Best 11...
The Awards...
There was an additional award for Kelechi Nwakali who was named as the Best African Player in Ligue 1 this season.
Over the course of the season, we have been quite passive with our shooting and probably need to focus on taking more shots next year in order to score more goals. We are quite clinical when we do shoot, so more shots should result in scoring more.
One of the weakest areas of our game this year has been tackling. We don't make as many tackles as most teams in the league and when we do, we're quite poor at it!
Over the course of the Summer, I will need to focus on rebuilding the dressing room atmosphere as it's quite poor, although the support for my management of the club is still quite strong amongst the players.
The Commercials...
If I am going to improve the squad this Summer as much as I think I need to then there are going to need to be some departures to raise more funds, as the board have only given me a very small budget to play with again. There has been no raise in the wage budget either, so players will definitely need to leave to make room for new ones to come in! It's not going to be the easiest of Summers.
So before the Euros kicked off, I got my 23 man squad together and this is who made the cut.
I booked us a warm up game before the competition got started and I wanted us to play decent opposition in the World top 20. We record an encouraging victory over 17th world ranked side, Colombia, and the lads seem raring to go.
Our Euros campaign would kick off against Czech Republic and I was keen for us to get our group stage off to a good start with a win...
And we did just that! The Czechs made it a lot easier for us with the 22nd minute sending off of Pavelka and we took full advantage going on to record an easy win.
Next up was Switzerland who had lost to Norway in their opening fixture. If we beat them here, it would put them out of the competition and almost certainly put us through to the knockout stages...
Job done! Paul Pogba starred as he hammered in two free kicks to put us firmly in control of Group D!
Norway and a certain Erling Haaland were up next. We knew if we could keep the big man quiet, it would go a long way to winning this game...
We play out a draw, but it was an awful result from our perspective as Norway finish the game with 9 men and we can't take advantage and win the game. A really bad performance to finish off the group stages and we will need to be a lot better than this if we are going to go deep in the competition.
Fair play to the Norwegians though as that point ensures they come through with us.
We will need to be at our absolute best if we are going to get through the next round as we are drawn against the holders, Italy...
And we got the better of them in a real back and forth game, where both sides held the advantage at different points of the match. In the end though, it was again Paul Pogba who shone through as the star of the show to score the goals which got us over the line! He's having an amazing tournament for us!
Poland were up next for us and after beating one of the best sides in the competition in Italy, there's no denying confidence was high going into the Quarter Final...
We dominated throughout and probably should have won the match by a much bigger margin, but it is job done and we're into the semis.
And our semi final opponents would be Portugal...
And we turned in our best performance of the tournament yet to make it through to the Final. I had a very tired Jules Kounde and Kylian Mbappe, so had to rest them both here and the other lads stepped up superbly! William Saliba was called in to start in place of Kounde and scored the decisive second goal that saw us through.
There was none other than my native England waiting for us in the Final, and here is the lineups as we go into the last game of the competition.
It was always going to be a tight game and in the end it was one that Gareth Southgate's team just edged by a single goal. It's a frustrating final to lose for us as we were the better side for long periods and had 62% of the possession along with creating 12 chances to their 6. Gareth's negative, defensive tactics paid off, England rode their luck and nicked the win!
Despite losing the final, we do remain the number 1 ranked country in the world.
Paul Pogba was named as the tournament's best player and he was also joined by Theo Hernandez in the team of the tournament as well.
My first departure of the Summer was backup goalkeeper Mathieu Gorgelin who leaves the club to join Newcastle. I only bagged a £52k fee for the 33 year old, but it was more about getting him off the wage bill as he was earning nearly £11k per week and I felt I could get a backup keeper for much less on the salary.
I'm not going to lie...it really feels like my board are against me. I have had a request denied for an increase to transfer revenue made this Summer, meaning I'll only get 20% of whatever I make in the transfer market! When I tried to fight my case, they told me they were happy to sacrifice positions in the league for the financial stability of the club apparently!
So I know I need to make cheap signings of good players this window. So I was delighted when I agreed a deal to bring right back, Youssouf Sabaly, to the club for just under £2 million. He would be a great addition, but the board jump in and block my transfer as they would like me to focus on bringing young players in. Again, when I tried to fight my case, there was no budging!
As a final kick in the teeth, I didn't want to sell Juan Soriano this Summer as I don't think I'd have enough funds to replace him with another keeper as good. However, the board went above my head and sold him to Burnley as they felt we couldn't reject the £21 million they offered for him! However, with add ons to be paid to Tenerife (who I bought him from) and installments coming in, they have given me a measly £1.7 million of that whole transfer fund in the kitty to spend this Summer. What an absolute joke!!
So I decided if I have a board that are willing to **** all over me, then I'll **** all over them! I stuck in a job application for the vacant manager's role at Bordeaux!
And it wasn't long before I was sitting down in front of their board to discuss the job!
And it was only a matter of days after that when I was offered the job! With tensions with a Le Havre board at an all time high and me being ****** by them one too many times, I decided to jump ship to a club with a little more ambition about them! The long term goal is still going to be the same...topple PSG...just with a different team.
My new home is the 42,115 capacity Matmut Atlantique.
My new club have been struggling in Ligue 1 for the past few seasons, hovering above the relegation spots for a few years now. They've certainly fallen right away as one of the best clubs in the country since their Ligue 1 title winning side of 2008/09.
The financial state of the club isn't great with a debt of nearly £7 million in the bank and a wage budget that we are overspending against by nearly £60k. My first job is going to be to have a bit of a clearout of certain players to sort things out financially.
Luckily, I do have a very big squad, so moving some players on is in our interest to trim the numbers a little anyway.
One player I will be looking to keep though is star man, Remi Oudin. He's the man I'll be looking to build my attack around!
The first player to leave is Titouan Thomas who moves to the Spanish second tier for £105k. He simply wasn't deemed good enough for my team.
It didn't take long for me to do business with my old club, but it wasn't bringing one of my old players in. In fact, I sold our right back, Ivan, to them for a fee of £2.4 million. It brings in much needed funds to the club and clears a chunk off the wage bill too!
He was quickly followed out the door by Fidel Chaves for £130k and Moussa Doumbia for £450k. We had better options in both their positions and I was happy to move them both on.
That brings the wage bill down considerably and we are now overspending by only £10k. More players will need to leave but we are getting closer to where we need to be.
Next to go was 37 year old centre back, German, who moves to Portugal. Ferrol were prepared to pay £225k for him, which is an amazing return for a player of his age and who wasn't considered good enough for my team anyway!
Another departure as Joshua Guilavogui is moved on. Again, one of the aging players at the club at 33 years old, it was a good time to move him on. He joins Russian side, Sochi, for a fee of £250k.
And with that, we are now a good £28k under our wage budget! Hopefully, I have impressed my new board with my movements in the market and looking after the long term future of the club, so early in my career.
I played quite a few friendlies to familiarise myself with my new squad and for the most part our pre season went well, rounded off by a couple of decent efforts against England's elite clubs.
The bookies have us finishing 10th this season, a few places above my old club who are expected to struggle without me at the helm. No surprise to see PSG as hot favourites and dominating the media dream 11 again.
After letting a few players go since my arrival, this is the squad I will be starting the new season with.
And with the players at my disposal, this is the tactic I have come up with.
We wouldn't have it easy to kick things off as my first competitive game would be against a Monaco side that have finished as Ligue 1 runners up for the past 3 seasons in a row. They're also a side that have beaten Bordeaux in their last 7 meetings...
But my lads did me proud on the opening day earning a very credible draw to kick things off.
Meanwhile, Le Havre's first game without me in the dugout resulted in defeat.
My first game in front of the Bordeaux faithful would be against local rivals, Nantes...
And it was the perfect way to introduce myself to the home fans! A good result and a good performance to match!
Another departure from the club followed that game as Sekou Mara leaves for Sheffield United, for a fee of £4.1 million. He hasn't even made my bench in the opening couple of games and although he is young and could have improved, I was happy to take a good fee for him to help balance the books!
And with that money, I am able to invest in the loan signing of French centre back, Nicolas Cozza from Spurs, for the season. He gives us an essential new option in the heart of the defence and improves our back line immediately!
Our 3rd league game of the season saw me suffer defeat as Bordeaux manager for the first time against Nice. Not a bad effort against the side that finished 4th last year though!
An average start to life at Bordeaux but plenty about our play so far to feel encouraged!
Our next game would see us take on a Metz side that hadn't won yet this season. I felt an opportunity for another 3 points...
And that opportunity passed us by as we were stunned with an old fashioned smash n grab defeat. We had 16 shots to their 3, had 2 goals disallowed, and rued our missed chances as they stole the victory from under our noses with a last minute winner.
Back on international duty with France, we had our first games in the Nations League...
I was looking for us to bounce back from the Euros final defeat against Portugal, but we simply never turned up and it was an awful performance all round. We did at least put things right against Austria although it was still disappointing that we let them back into the game when cruising at 3-0.
Back in Ligue 1, we would take on Lyon...
And we'd suffer another defeat!
I decided it was time to have a look at the tactic and try to create something new and this is what I came up with. Something very different to my usual and I drop the wide forwards for the first time on FM for a long time!
PSG would be our next opponents though and probably not the best team for us to try a new tactic against and get a true reflection of what we might be able to achieve with it...
Although we did lose, there was plenty to be encouraged about and we actually gave the champions the best game I have ever given them. We were competitive and it could be argued we deserved a point from the game.
The stats show that we have plenty to be optimistic about with this new setup.
I was looking forward to trying it out against Lorient in our next game...
However, the 6th minute sending off of Remi Oudin cost us the chance to properly try it again, and it's another defeat on the board!
I went into the game against Lille just hoping we could keep 11 players on the pitch...
We did and we carved out a much needed solid 1-0 win! Hopefully a sign of things to come!
Marseille away were our next game and it would be very encouraging if we could follow up the Lille result with another massive win...
But the performance was nowhere near as good and we were outplayed for most of the game and consequently well beaten!
Four more games without a win followed and with us sitting 16th in Ligue 1, the pressure was very much on. My job had moved to a very insecure status and word amongst the media was that a bad result against Clermont Foot could see me relieved from my position.
A team meeting was called before the game to try to encourage the lads. And a demanding pre game team talk told them I expected a win to get us out of this rut!
Now either these players have no respect for me, or they are just shockingly ****, or my tactics are total rubbish...whatever it is, the performance was abysmal!
And I am sacked from my position after just a few months in charge!
The decision was not entirely justified in Bordeaux's next game though as without me, they made it back to back 5-0 defeats!!
Overall, I managed 150 games and won half of them. It wasn't a bad record. A Ligue 2 title win with Le Havre before leading them into European competition, a Ligue 2 and Ligue 1 manager of the year award and a Euros final with the French national team.
I'm calling it a day there with this save as I don't want to take on a 3rd French side in this save, when the original plan was to play a 1 club save with Le Havre. Before I started this, I ran a poll that got a few more votes after this had already started and the winning side that people wanted to see me manage was Hibs in Scotland. This makes sense as a final save in FM22 as we only have a couple of months left before FM23 launches, so I'll be starting that career up soon with a target of dethroning Rangers and Celtic before the FM23 release.
And that opportunity passed us by as we were stunned with an old fashioned smash n grab defeat. We had 16 shots to their 3, had 2 goals disallowed, and rued our missed chances as they stole the victory from under our noses with a last minute winner.
Back on international duty with France, we had our first games in the Nations League...
I was looking for us to bounce back from the Euros final defeat against Portugal, but we simply never turned up and it was an awful performance all round. We did at least put things right against Austria although it was still disappointing that we let them back into the game when cruising at 3-0.
I decided it was time to have a look at the tactic and try to create something new and this is what I came up with. Something very different to my usual and I drop the wide forwards for the first time on FM for a long time!
PSG would be our next opponents though and probably not the best team for us to try a new tactic against and get a true reflection of what we might be able to achieve with it...
Although we did lose, there was plenty to be encouraged about and we actually gave the champions the best game I have ever given them. We were competitive and it could be argued we deserved a point from the game.
The stats show that we have plenty to be optimistic about with this new setup.
But the performance was nowhere near as good and we were outplayed for most of the game and consequently well beaten!
Four more games without a win followed and with us sitting 16th in Ligue 1, the pressure was very much on. My job had moved to a very insecure status and word amongst the media was that a bad result against Clermont Foot could see me relieved from my position.
A team meeting was called before the game to try to encourage the lads. And a demanding pre game team talk told them I expected a win to get us out of this rut!
Now either these players have no respect for me, or they are just shockingly ****, or my tactics are total rubbish...whatever it is, the performance was abysmal!
And I am sacked from my position after just a few months in charge!
Overall, I managed 150 games and won half of them. It wasn't a bad record. A Ligue 2 title win with Le Havre before leading them into European competition, a Ligue 2 and Ligue 1 manager of the year award and a Euros final with the French national team.
I'm calling it a day there with this save as I don't want to take on a 3rd French side in this save, when the original plan was to play a 1 club save with Le Havre. Before I started this, I ran a poll that got a few more votes after this had already started and the winning side that people wanted to see me manage was Hibs in Scotland. This makes sense as a final save in FM22 as we only have a couple of months left before FM23 launches, so I'll be starting that career up soon with a target of dethroning Rangers and Celtic before the FM23 release.
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