My French Journey

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azabh50

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My french journey

Thought I would have a go at doing a story to keep me interested in a save for a while and after reading someone doing an italian one while only signing italian players I thought i would do something along the same lines but in France. I was originally going to take charge of Monaco but thought it would be too easy to start with so ended up opting for Lille instead. Hopefully I can turn them in to one of the top sides in France.

Here goes.....

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June

The club has no philosophies but my own philosophy will be to sign only french or algerian players which makes it a little more harder. I have a few players loaned out but none of real importance except a young kid called Martin Terrier who looks like he could develop into a first team player and Xeka who may be given a chance when he returns from his loan. We also have Ezequiel Ponce on loan from Roma who will likely get some game time as I rotate my squad throughout the season.
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I have a decent transfer budget for new signings with £13.25 million however I only have £3.6k per week left in wages so will likely adjust my budgets. Looking at my squad I feel like I could do with some better players out on the left wing and also a left back mainly. I want to try and sign young players who I can help develop into a squad so that will be my priority first before I think about challenging the big teams in France.
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July


We managed to win all our pre season friendlies without conceding a single goal although they were all weak opposition apart from Lorient but hopefully we can carry that on into the start of the season.
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After identifying where i needed to strengthen the squad I managed to make two decent signings in Roussillon and Bouanga. I still haven't decided who my best 11 will be but by January i may offload a few players to trim the squad down although a lot of the players are young and wont develop into first team players.
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August

Just before the beginning of the season Bouanga gets an injury and is out for 2 weeks so we will likely miss him as we are short of quality on the left side.


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This wasn’t a very good opening game as we conceded quite a few good chances and didn’t create any of our own. Missing a penalty at the end was the icing on the cake.

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Got an early goal and thought we would go on from there and add to it but we didn’t. Thought we were going to hold on for a clean sheet again but wasn’t to be. Again we conceded a lot of good chances without really creating any of our own so I think I might need to look at signing someone with a bit more creativity.

After identifying I needed more creativity I managed to sign a more creative player in Baptiste Santamaria for an initial £3.3m set to rise to £7.25 when we qualify for Europe and after he has played 50 games for us. He is young and still has more potential so I didn't mind spending that much on him as he will hopefully be worth a lot more as he develops.

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Changed my advanced playmakers from AML & AMR to AMC and looked a lot better going forward this game. El Ghazi got the only goal of the game and MOM. We seem to concede a lot of attempts on goal but they are all from distance so don’t feel like its anything to worry about.

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This was a frustrating game where we couldn’t score against 10 men. We created a lot more chances than usual here and their keeper made a few good saves whilst they never threatened to score themselves.

One win, three draws and three clean sheets so not a bad first month of the season. We haven’t played any big sides yet so if we can keep clean sheets against them too then I will be happy but need to start scoring more goals against weaker sides so that’s something I will try to improve on.
 
September

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This was probably the best performance we have had so far as we created a lot of good chances and kept a clean sheet again. We didn’t really get threatened by Bordeaux but I would like us to start taking more chances as it seems if we start conceding then we will be losing a lot of games due to our ability to score.
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We suffer our first loss in a game I feel we were unlucky in. A mistake causes us to concede the first goal then the second is a good strike from edge of the box and the third is a massive deflection. Again we struggle to take chances we created. Hopefully they will bounce back from our first defeat in the next game although its at Home to Monaco.
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We played a lot better here against one of the big teams in French football and we nearly snatched a winner last kick of the game but it went just wide. Playing my lone striker as a complete forward worked out better in regards of him bringing players into play more so I will try that again next game. Our best performer was Bruno Santamarina who completed 130 passes in the game with 4 of those being key passes.
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This was an away game which I thought we would win. We started well creating a lot of good chances and hit the woodwork twice. Throughout the match we conceded a fair few chances ourselves and when we went 1-0 down, I thought we would end up losing but carried on creating chances and levelled the game but could of lost it last kick of the game with their striker being one on one and blazing it over the bar.
 
October

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I can see why Troyes are doing well in the league because they really played us off the park the first half and we only had one shot. It took a 25 yard screamer for us to break the deadlock after we started the second half a lot better. Troyes didn’t create anything all the 2nd​ half until they equalised in the 88th​ minute which was so frustrating.
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We didn’t really do anything in this game as we seemed to just sit back and contain and try and get something on the break which we did really well until we conceded from a corner after 56 minutes. We nearly equalised instantly as Pepe got on the end of a cross in the box but turned it onto the post instead. After 60 minutes I made a few changes and Bissouma who came on as a sub played Benzia in behind and he goes on to slot past the keeper. We hold out till injury time and concede a silly penalty to undo all our hard work before they kill the game off last kick of the game.
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This was a game we really needed to win due to us being in a run of bad form. We dominated this game after they went down to 10 men but they scored from a corner and I thought it was going to be another game where we couldn’t finish. Made a few substitutions and brought Ponce on who scored an equaliser in 82nd​ minute with his first chance and Benzia got the winner five minutes later with a strike from 20 yards after a corner was headed out to the edge of the box. Pepe has had a run of games after moaning about playing time and he really hasn’t been good enough so I might try to offload him in January if I can.
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Great way to finish off the month with a very effective performance at home to Marseille. We went with a counter mentality this game and a 4-4-1-1 with Benzia behind Pepe which worked really well as they couldn’t cope when we won the ball back and broke forward quickly. Pepe had a lot of chances this game and wasted every one so he definitely wont be starting next game.

We ended the month on a high note ending our run of 5 games without a win and now we can hopefully put together some wins and start climbing the league table.
 
November

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First game of the month and we manage to win our first away game of the season! Ponce got the start ahead of Pepe and he repays it with a hat trick. Overall we played very well, they created a few good chances but we were brilliant going forward and should of scored more. Got some tough fixtures coming up Saint Etienne at home and then away to Montpellier and Lyon so a win here was important to keep the little bit of momentum we have.

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We didn’t deserve to lose this game as we were the better team. They created two chances all game and took one of them whereas we created a lot of good chances but their keeper made some good saves. Think its going to be tough to pick up points in the next few games.

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1st​ half I noticed we had a lot of space between the defence and midfield with one of their strikers dropping into it to pick up the ball and causing a lot of problems. 2nd​ half I changed tactics so I could be stronger in the middle of the pitch and have a DM which completely changed the game and we then went on to dominate the 2nd​ half only for us to concede in injury time to a corner which was a kick in the teeth. We also had Pepe and Ponce both pick up injuries to put them out of action for a few weeks leaving us with one striker.

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Came here with the intention of grinding out a draw and that’s exactly what we managed to achieve and we limited them to long shots from distance. We did have a few chances at the end to steal it but happy with a draw.
 
December

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Again we create a lot of good chances and don’t take them which is really becoming a common theme. Roussillon under performed again so think im going to drop him for a few games and give another player a chance. Same can be said about the centre of midfield as last few games they haven’t been good enough.
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Honestly wasn’t expecting anything out of this game and overall we didn’t do too bad despite the scoreline. We created a couple of good chances but they were just more ruthless in front of goal. We haven’t won in 5 games now and we really need to turn it around otherwise I think the sack could be looming.
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The game was poor quality with only one shot on target for each team. We went on to win it on penalties after Bordeaux missed their last 3 penalties and then Thiago Mendes kept his nerve and converted. Through to the next round and we drew Red Star FC so we fancy our chances of getting to the semi finals.


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We needed this win and we deserved it. I went with a more attacking look and it paid off with us creating quite a few good chances and we should of scored more. They did get a goal near the end but we kept them quiet for most of the game. Hopefully we can get a bit of form going and lift the mood in the dressing room.



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This is the best result we have had all season. We never looked like we wouldn’t win this game and played very good football in the process of keeping Nice quiet. If we can play like this more often then we will start climbing the table very soon.


So after starting the month poorly and going on a 6 game winless streak, we end it with two good wins on the bounce. I have been linked with the Crystal Palace job in the papers who are 18th in the league and according to their fans I am the favourite for the job. I've only just begun with Lille and want to bring them some success before i think of moving anywhere else. Hopefully I can have a good second half to the season and look at improving the squad for next season.
 
January

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A good month for us overall with five wins from seven games and the two losses were both in the cups. We made one signing in January and that was a right back in Steven Moreira for £3.2m as we needed another player to rotate with Kevin Malcuit.
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He does a very good job for us when playing as he loves to get forward which helps us in stretching teams instead of them camping and forcing us in to long shots. He also has potential to get better and we will likely sell him for more than we paid in a few seasons time.
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Wasn’t really too fussed about this one. We lost to a very good free kick and should of scored more than just the one goal but I would rather focus on the league for now.

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We go through to the next round but it was not as easy as it should have been. With Monaco and PSG still in the tournament I highly doubt we will go on to win the cup but the run has helped build morale in the team.
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This game was a great game for the neutral with 7 goals, a red card and a last minute equaliser disallowed for offside. We went 1-0 up and got pegged back then went 2-1 up and got a man sent off and then Caen just dominated us and created chance after chance. They didn’t take their chances though and we managed to equalise and then get a penalty to steal the game. We didn’t deserve to win this game but it’s a win regardless and moves us up into the top half of the table.

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Another win and our 4th​ in a row in the league. We come back from behind after I made some tactical changes as I realised they were getting too much space behind my midfield. We seem to be very good going forward recently with us scoring 11 goals in our last 4 league games.

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Another away win and a clean sheet against a team who were in good form. Couldn’t of asked for anything more. We were brilliant and created a lot of chances whilst keeping them quiet. Some players seem to be getting tired so will need to rotate people now so hoping it doesn’t ruin the form we have going.

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This was an even game but one piece of brilliance from Falcao was the difference. We had a good run and we could of possibly won the cup as PSG lost on penalties to Ajaccio. We created good chances but our finishing let us down.

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I rotated a few players here and we did not play well at all. Strasbourg created so many chances against us but didn’t take them and we managed to steal it at the end. We couldn’t cope with them going forward and seemed to give them loads of time and space but we come out with another win which makes it 6 in a row in the league.
 
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