January 2020 is in the books, and here's how the first month of the new decade went by.
- January 1: 4-0 over West Brom, Lewis Coyle back in style, marking himself with an 8.6 match score only surpassed by Bamford with 2 goals and 9.30.
Another good performance by Bamford, attracts further interest from the Premier League. He is now "wanted" by 6 different clubs and I hope a bid will come - but they will have to get off about 20 mill before I sell. Tyler Roberts will take his place and I believe he will be good enough to make sure we still move up the PL.
The position in the Premier League is extra interesting this season. Liverpool are down 10th after 20 rounds, Chelsea 11th and United 7th - while Wolves, Bournemouth and Leicester are in the top 6. At the bottom I am already watching the relegation candidates - there will definitely be a few good transfers to pick up, including Zaha in the Palace if they continue the bad form.
- January 4: 3-0 over Crewe in the FA Cup 3rd round. A few of the reserves got the opportunity from the start and it was great to see Alioski grab the chance with a MOM award after goal and assist. He was actually intended for a starting role as a left wing at the start of the season, but a controversy surrounding a new contract gave Helder Costa the opportunity instead while Alioski was allowed to be unhappy on the bench. Costa seized the opportunity, and has kept Alioski out ever since.
- January 8: So! The Carabao Cup ... our biggest opportunity to win a trophy this year, besides the league of course. We are the semi-final, the opponent is Newcastle. We start at home with a fantastic 4-0 win, not least thanks to Jonjo Shelvey. You can always count on him. Red card after 8 minutes, and a penalty for us - which Mitrovic misses though! "Oh no, one of those days" I thought .... but he took revenge 15 min later and by the break it was 3-0. Pablo Hernandez became MOM with two goals.
- January 11: Biggest news of January. Tottenham have bought promising striker and current Championship top scorer, Patrick Bamford in a record deal worth 32.5 mill sterling pounds! On a personal note, this was too good an offer to turn down. Their original bid was about 22 million pounds, and I thought I would try and push the limit so I raised the bid by 10 million pounds. To my surprise they accepted right away. Im not planning on buying a new player, and will have Tyler Roberts getting the chance to start the rest of the season. I also have Nketiah on loan from Arsenal, and he should probably start in front of Roberts - but I prefer to give my own player the minutes. Let's see how it works out in the coming weeks!
As I hoped earlier, Tyler Roberts made an instant impact... lets hope it continues. First game after the sale of Bamford:
Other noteable results in january, was the "slapping" of Aston Villa in the FA Cup 4th Round. There must be some premier league sides fearing me aldready, cause yet another away win over a club from the topshelf in England.
6-0 away, and I believe they had their strongest 11 on the pitch.
The 2nd Leg of the Carabao Cup semi final against Newcastle, setting us up against rivals Chelsea in the Final:
January also marked the beginning (and end) of the winter transferwindow. As i wrote earlier, Bamford was sold for a record deal 32,5 mill sterling pound.
I used some of the money on Mendy from Leicester, wanting to have a substitute for Kalvin Phillips who has more than once been recommended giving a break. Mendys contract would expire summer 2020, so I got im really cheap for 1.4 mill SP.
Lewis Coyle returned from loan, and HE IS A BEAST! Taking over right away as right back, for also well playing Ayling - but wow... why in gods name was this guy on loan? He has also been my best player in january, with 5 games from start (cant play in Cups) and a 8.36 rating. Wow! Newcastle already interested, but his stats shows Premier League level and ill try and keep him for the future no doubt!
Last but not least, I did a bigger review of the new youth system and found this message in my development center. It sounds promising, but im yet to learn the fully impact of the new system of regens... but this is getting exciting!