One City, One Club, One Love - A Newcastle United Story

[Klippybo]

HELLO AND WELCOME!!!!

When my Athletic Bilbao save crashed I immediately knew where I was going next - my beloved Newcastle United (shock horror lol - Aberdeen will be next no doubt). Normally I am about 10 seasons in with Athletic before I jump on board with Newcastle but not so this year.

As you are aware that I am a Newcastle United supporter and have been since 1990 even though I was born and bred in Aberdeenshire. My first ever game at the stadium was the match where Alan Shearer broke the club scoring record and my relationship with my girlfriend depends on the club as the moment Newcastle lose more than they have won in our time together she is dumped (65 wins and 56 defeats at the moment, it is marked on the fridge - Steve Bruce seems to like her lol).

Anywho I digress. The aim of this save is to dominate world football with Newcastle United, get rid of Mike Ashley as chairman and hopefully do well with the Scottish national team. Simples.

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THE CLUB

Founded - 1892
Stadium - St. James' Park
Capacity - 52,354
Nickname - The Magpies

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HONOURS

First Division Winners - 1904-05, 1906-07, 1908-09, 1926-27

Second Division/Championship Winners - 1964-65, 1992-93, 2009-10, 2016-17

FA Cup Winners - 1910, 1924, 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955

FA Charity Shield Winners - 1909

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Winners - 1969

UEFA Intertoto Cup Winners - 2006

Texaco Cup Winners - 1974. 1975

Anglo-Italian Cup Winners - 1973

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So please follow, comment and enjoy my career with my beloved!!!!​

 

[Klippybo]

A few people are now longer there now lol


PRE-SEASON

So as a supporter of the club I went in with some pre-conceived ideas regarding the current squad and ended up shipping out over 9 players from the first team squad and replaced them with 7 or 8. As Mike Ashley is still the owner I have to buy young players, work within the wage budget and finish mid table - all acceptable but I want him out.

I overhauled the backroom staff also with the biggest name being Dennis Bergkamp who joined as a coach. Also off the field I managed to get Crewe Alexandra as a feeder side so hopefully their record of bringing through quality young players will continue!

Here are transfer dealings......

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PLAYERS OUT

Not all of those transfers were down to me but most of them were. Ritchie left to raise funds as he was a natural LWB and RM and I play a formation with neither of those formations so off he went. I had 5 CBs already so that was the end of Federico Fernandez while Javi Manquillo was my 3rd choice RB so that was the end of him. Saivet, Colback and Elliot were never in my plans while Karl Darlow left as I felt I should cash in on him before his contract expired. Atsu left to fund a move for a RW (which didnt go to well lol), Gayle went cheap but with my new signing, Joelinton and Carroll in the squad I had one man extra. Ki Sung-Yeung left as I had plenty of CMs despite also selling Colback and Saivet.

Basically I sold most of my experienced players!!!! Arguably only Dubravka, Lejeune, Carroll, Clark, Dummett, Schar and Shelvey are experienced members of my squad.

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PLAYERS IN

I spent the cash here as I paid out nearly £60m to enhance my squad. My main signing was Dani Olmo who I brought in from Dinamo Zagreb for £21m. I have heard great things about Olmo and amazingly the squad didnt have any natural AMCs so I went for Olmo ahead of a young lad from Anderlecht.

As backup to him I signed 18y/o Brazilian Marcos Paulo who was wanted by Chelsea and Arsenal and only cost me £8m from Fluminense. Hopefully he will progress and improve and become every bit as good as Olmo.

My 2nd biggest signing was the deadline day signing of Alfredo Morelos from Rangers as I gave them £20m for the Colombian hothead. I literally decided to bring him in and ship out Gayle a few days before the deadline as I personally cant stand Joelinton in real life so thought **** him I will go buy someone else. Cant stand Morelos IRL either but I admire him as a player (at times lol). Hopefully Morelos will develop and become a star.

My forays into Scottish football didn't end there as I raided Aberdeen for Lewis Ferguson and Dean Campbell who I brought in for pennies. Ferguson especially I have high hopes for although with Shelvey, Hayden and the Longstaff brothers ahead of them they could find game time difficult. Aberdeen incidentally also sold Scott McKenna to Arsenal.

So on deadline day I needed a RW and a backup keeper as I didn't want to recall Freddie Woodman from his loan spell at Swansea. Mile Svilar came in on loan from Benfica to cover for Dubravka but I had no money and couldn't find a decent RW on loan and in desperation I found a semi-decent RW on the free transfer list so brought in Gabriel Torje and surprisingly he is valued at £9m. He will be a one season wonder.

Finally I paid the £7m fee to bring in Jetro Willems permanently from Eintracht Frankfurt. He is a bargain at that price and I hope the Dutch international will kick on and make the left back position his own although with Paul Dummett as his backup he should be safe enough lol (love Dummett IRL).

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SQUAD

I am happy with my squad. My first XI should be competitive in the league but if I am honest I dread any of my AMs getting a long term injury as the backups (Muto, Paulo, Torje) are either not good enough or maybe too young for regular Premiership football.

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HOPES FOR THE SEASON

Top half and a cup run would be nice lol. That's it!!!

Oh and for Mike Ashley to sell the club obiously.​

 

[Extra Time FM]

Some fantastic signings there. Good luck on your journey. I will be following

Lewis Ferguson looks decent. I'm interested in seeing him progress.

 

[Brane_Orsou]

As a fellow geordie I will be keeping a close eye on this. Quite the clear out but some good signings as well. Look forward to seeing how things come along!

 

[JamesScott2908]

Looking forward to see how this plays out! If you haven't already, Check out Yannick Toure in the u23's! Top prospect IRL! Hope Joelinton scores more for you than he has so far this season ha!

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Robbed Aberdeen, bought and praised Alfredo Morelos. This makes me sick!

 

[Klippybo]

AUGUST

Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff (Hayden), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin (Muto), Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron, Morelos*

First game and first win!!! I have to admit that for the first 20min or so we were all over the place as we went a goal down and they had a goal disallowed but we fought back and won easily as Morelos got a double on his debut. All 3 of our goals came from a combined distance of under 10 yards lol.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron (Muto), Morelos (Joelinton)

A decent point considering we went 1 goal down in the first 30secs. They dominated the 1st half hour but after that we dominated and were unlucky not to win in truth.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Lascelles, Willems (Dummett), S.Longstaff (Hayden), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo*, Muto, Morelos (Joelinton)

Never did I imagine that going into this game that we would score 5 goals but that is what we did as we came out on top in this entertaining encounter. Dani Olmo was the star of the show and scored 2 stunning late goals to lead us to victory. BTW - Everton appointed Luciano Spaletti as their manager.

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Carabao Cup 2nd Round

Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Clark, Dummett, Hayden (Campbell), M.Longstaff (Ferguson), Torje, Marcos Paulo, Muto, Joelinton*

Through we go as expected. Joelinton got his first goals for the club while Ferguson and Campbell made their debuts. They had a goal disallowed while Schar's goal was a rebound after he missed a penalty.

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SUMMARY

Must'nt grumble!!!! We have had a great start to the season as we defeated Norwich, drew with West Ham away before putting 5 past Everton at Goodison Park before my backups went out and defeated Scunthorpe in the League Cup.

Going forward my team looks good but we are giving away far too many shots on goal and opportunities for my liking so hopefully that will come to an end but next month sees us having some really tough fixtures.

We have been drawn away to Southampton in the Carabao Cup which will be a tough match.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
JONJO SHELVEY

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PREMIER LEAGUE

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[Klippybo]

SEPTEMBER

Lineup - Dubravka, Krath (Clark), Schar, Lascelles, Willems (Hayden), S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin*, Olmo, Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

Amazing!!!

We put 5 past Everton in our last league match and then we come up against another decent side in the shape of Wolves and put 5 past them too!!! Saint-Maximin was the hero as he scored a hat-trick while Shelvey continued his good form.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin (Clark), Schar, Lascelles, Willems, Hayden (M.Longstaff), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos

Well its fair to say that we have been brought back down to earth with an extremely large bump as Liverpool humiliate us. If the scoreline is just acceptable the amount of chances, shots on goal etc that we let them have certainly wasnt. Sure we are scoring goals for fun ourselves but our defensive work needs to be much better!

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin (Krafth), Schar, Lascelles*, Willems, Hayden, Shelvey (M.Longstaff), Saint-Maximin (Muto), Olmo, Almiron, Morelos

Now thats much better!!!! This was a tight match and the first goal was always going to be crucial. We thought we had the lead when Morelos scored but he was offside however captain Lascelles broke the deadlock minutes later. Olmo made it 2 and Morelos broke away to grab the 3rd. Chelsea missed loads of chances but I am delighted with the clean sheet.

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Carabao Cup 3rd Round

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, Hayden (M.Longstaff), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin*, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos (Joelinton)

Phew!! We were 2up and cruising but then threw it away as we conceded 2 late goals. The match went straight to penalties and despite Schar missing our 2nd penalty we scored our next 4 to win the shoot-out.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles (Dummett), Willems, Hayden, Shelvey*, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

A decent point I suppose. Joelinton came off the bench to rescue a draw for us although we missed several decent chances beforehand.

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SUMMARY

We go into October in fine fettle as we are 5th in the table and through to the 4th round of the Carabao Cup where we will play Watford away. We blew away Wolves and Chelsea which were obviously the highlights of the month but were torn apart by Liverpool which showed us how far we have to go. Possibly the 2-2 draws against Southampton and Brighton showed us our true level although I aint complaining at being 5th!!!

We go on next month and we shall see where we will end up at the end of it. Will our form take a dip or will we stop conceding silly goals and push on?

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ALLAN SAINT-MAXIMIN

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PREMIER LEAGUE

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[Klippybo]

OCTOBER

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, Hayden (S.Longstaff), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo*, Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

WOW!!! We seem to kick off every month with a fine win and we continued that trend here with a great win over Arsenal. I couldn't believe it when we went in at half-time 4-1 up with the Willems goal being the highlight. Almiron finally got off the mark which was pleasing.

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Lineup - Dubravka*, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Dummett, Hayden, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin (Torje), Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Muto, Morelos (Joelinton)

A horrible match with just two incidents. Firstly Dubravka saved a first half penalty from Chris Wood and then the game winner when Muto struck late on. He has started 2 league games and scored on each occasion now. A rare clean sheet!

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems (Dummett), S.Longstaff*, Shelvey (Hayden), Saint-Maximin, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos

We weren't at our best here but 2 late goals pulled us over the line and we got the win which wasn't as comfortable as the scoreline suggests. Sean Longstaff scored a double - he and Shelvey have 7 goals already in the league between them which is pretty impressive.

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Carabao Cup 4th Round

Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Lascelles, Willems (Dummett), Hayden (S.Longstaff), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos

We reach the quarter-finals with this narrow victory. I had meant to rest Morelos but forgot and he ended up getting the winner - lady luck is with me it seems.

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SUMMARY

A perfect month!!!! We won 4 out of 4 including putting 4 past Arsenal and reaching the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. We really did well this month and moved into a Champions league spot however if we are still there at our next update I will be amazed as our next 3 matches are against Spurs, Man Utd and Man City.

In the Carabao Cup I was content with the draw. We avoided Arsenal and Man City but also Gillingham, Lincoln City and Brentford and we ended up with Bournemouth.

Rumours are circling about the impending sale of the club also. That excites me greatly. Only ever had 1 tycoon takeover ever but that hasn't been mentioned so fingers are still crossed.


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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MARTIN DUBRAVKA

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PREMIER LEAGUE

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[Klippybo]

NOVEMBER

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Clark, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

The run continues as Miggy's 1st minute goal was enough to beat Spurs and moves us an incredible 7pts clear of them in the race for a Champions League spot. That's also 3 clean sheets in our last 4 games - my players are learning it seems.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff (Ferguson), Hayden, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron (Torje), Morelos

A strange match. To be 1-0 up and 2-1 up at Man Utd showed that we are able to compete at this level but on the other hand we ended up losing and they had 2 goals disallowed so the scoreline could have been so much different.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems (Dummett), S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos (Carroll)

The final scoreline doesnt tell the whole story as never in a million years did we deserve to lose 4-1. In fact maybe a draw would have been a fairer result but it was not to be. Andy Carroll scoring was nice though.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lejeune (Clark), Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey*, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

We get back to winning ways with a perfect away performance. We battered Crystal Palace and could have won by more. Shelvey missed a penalty but converted the rebound fortunately while Florian Lejeune finally returned from injury.

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SUMMARY

Its difficult to know how good a month this was as we won twice and lost twice with some mixed performances however we go into December 4th in the table which is still pretty good. If you look at the table below you will see Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester struggling while Everton are in big trouble!

Two side notes for you. After Carroll scored against Man City he didn't turn up for training the next day so he is in the bad books and will probably be leaving the club in the summer if not before while the club are also in takeover talks with a consortium planning to invest up to £70m in the club. I am presently in the transfer embargo that comes with a takeover.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MIGUEL ALMIRON

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PREMIER LEAGUE

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[TheHomeEnd]

Nice man keep it up ?

 

[Klippybo]

DECEMBER

Lineup - Dubravka, Hayden, Schar (Lejeune), Lascelles (Clark), Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo, Muto, Morelos (Joelinton)

An enthralling game in which we came back from 2-0 and 3-2 down so I am pretty pleased that we came away with a point - especially since due to injuries that I had to play Isaac Hayden as a makeshift RB. Muto scored a double to make it 4 goals in 3 starts this season while Morelos has went 9 league games without a goal.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin (Krafth), Schar, Lascelles (Lejeune), Dummett, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin*, Olmo (Muto), Almiron, Morelos

The two surprise teams of the season so far went head to head here and we just nicked it thanks to Morelos' first league goal in a few months. Watford had an early goal disallowed and probably deserved a point in truth.

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Lineup - Dubravka*, Krafth (Hayden), Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos (Joelinton)

What a win!!!! My team just don't know when they are beat as we somehow escape with all 3pts here. We had 2 men sent-off (they had 1) and were outplayed throughout but Allan Saint-Maximin slid in the winner in stoppage time to score in his 3rd league game in a row.

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Carabao Cup Quarter-Final

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lejeune, Clark, Dummett, S.Longstaff* (Hayden), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin (Marcos Paulo), Olmo, Almiron, Morelos

We reach the semis with a tough win over Bournemouth. Olmo put us in front early doors and we hung on although they had a goal disallowed and Shelvey missed a penalty. Keeping a clean sheet is extremely pleasing as we had Schar, Lascelles, Willems and Krafth suspended.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles (Lejeune), Dummett, S.Longstaff, Shelvey (Hayden), Saint-Maximin, Olmo, Almiron*, Morelos (Joelinton)

I am delighted with this win as I hate Villa. We had a nightmare start as we quickly fell 2 goals behind but from then on we dominated and deservedly went in front. We were cruising it tbh but somehow they levelled in the last minute which left me gutted however we went straight up the park to win a penalty and Miggy tucked it home to complete his hat-trick and win us the match.

Villa are rock bottom and without a manager - ha ha ha.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Lascelles, Dummett, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin*, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron (Muto), Morelos (Joelinton)

Saint-Maximin is at it again!!!! He scored the late winner here to make it 5 league games in a row in which he has scored in. Almiron had an earlier goal disallowed.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lejeune, Lascelles, Dummett, Hayden (M.Longstaff), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin*, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos (Joelinton)

Saint-Maximin shouldn't have played here as he wasn't fit enough but I had to give him a chance to keep his scoring run going and he managed to do so although he did pick up an injury in the 2nd half. We should have won the match tbh.

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SUMMARY

We navigated the Christmas period brilliantly as we went the whole of December unbeaten which sees us on the fringes of the title race but secure in 4th place which is pretty amazing. With Arsenal and Chelsea really struggling (Everton are still in a relegation battle) it is only really Spurs who I can envisage overtaking us but we have a healthy 8pt lead over them.

Allan Saint-Maximin was undoubtedly star man this month as he just kept on scoring goals (6 out of 7 games) and he has really been shouldering the goalscoring responsibility as Morelos has been disappointing.

Off the field we have been drawn at home to Chelsea in the FA Cup and in the Carabao Cup semis we will play Brentford which gives us a great chance of reaching a final. As for the takeover the talks are ongoing which is a nightmare as we are entering a new transfer window. Mike Ashley has come out saying it has to happen soon but there has been no news and I am still under a transfer embargo. I only have about £2m to spend anyway so its not as if I can do much lol.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ALLAN SAINT-MAXIMIN

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PREMIER LEAGUE

Manager Changes

Chris Wilder joins Everton
Sam Allardyce joins Sheff Utd​

 

[Klippybo]

JANUARY

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin (Krafth), Lejeune, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff (Hayden), Shelvey, Torje, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos

WHAT THE ACTUAL ****!!!!!!!!

I am raging at this result as we were 2-0 up with 40min to go but we collapsed to a 5-2 defeat which is atrocious. Saint-Maximin was injured so his run of goals is at the end and while it was nice to see Morelos grab a brace to concede 5 goals in the 2nd half is just embarrassing.

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FA Cup 3rd Round

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin (Muto), Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

Meh. This was a boring match but I fear our best chance of reaching the next round is gone as we couldn't make the most of our home advantage.

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Carabao Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg

Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Lejeune, Clark, Dummett, Hayden (Ferguson), M.Longstaff (Campbell), Torje, Marcos Paulo, Muto (Cherki), Joelinton

I took a risk and played my backups against a decent Brentford side who are 4th in the Championship and we just did enough. To get 3 away goals is pleasing too. Cherki (who became our youngest ever player) and Campbell made their debuts here.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin*, Olmo, Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

An easy win. Olmo got us off the mark when he chipped their keeper from 25 yards and then Saint-Maximin scored a double (plus had one disallowed) to seal the win. He has scored in each of his last 7 league games.

Elsewhere Crystal Palace and Leicester drew 5-5 - it was 3-3 after 20min lol.

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FA Cup 3rd Round Replay

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin (Krafth), Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

This was always going to be a tough match and so it proved although we didn't do too badly. When Saint-Maximin scored (again) I thought we would upset the odds a little bit but we conceded again and then Lascelles got sent-off so it was not to be.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin* (Krafth), Schar, Lejeune, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Clark), Muto (Torje), Morelos

This match was all about my 2 full backs. Yedlin got the only goal of the game with a fine finish from the edge of the area and then Jetro Willems got sent-off for the 2nd time this season. We held on for the win though.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Schar (Clark), Lejeune*, Dummett, S.Longstaff, M.Longstaff, Saint-Maximin (Marcos Paulo), Olmo, Almiron, Morelos

A great win. We took the lead and then got quickly pegged back and then we got a penalty but Schar put it wide. Fortunately Sean Longstaff scored the winner on the day when he first partnered in central midfield with his brother under my stewardship.

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Carabao Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg

Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Lejeune, Lascelles*, Dummett, Hayden, M.Longstaff (Ferguson), Torres, Marcos Paulo, Muto, Joelinton

We reach the final of the Carabao Cup with a narrow win over Brentford. Man City lie await in the final.

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SUMMARY

We started 2020 decently enough although we did throw away a 2 goal lead to lose 5-2 to Arsenal and also got knocked out of the FA Cup after a replay to Chelsea. However on the flip side we have all but secured 4th place and Champions League football and we have reached the Carabao Cup final too which is nice.

Now to events off the pitch...….

WE HAVE BEEN TAKEN OVER!!!!!!!!

Yes Mike Ashley has gone and Steve Irving has come in with rumours of a new stadium no less although havent seen anything about that. He didn't give me any more transfer money though and after renewing a few contracts I only had about £6m to spend.

So regarding transfers I sold Gabriel Torje for £1.6m and a few **** U23 players for next to nothing apart from Rolando Aarons who joined Hull for £2.3m. As for signings I had one deal pre-arranged and with Torje leaving I needed a RW so I brought in Ferran Torres on loan from Valencia.

My pre-arranged signing was that of Rayan Cherki who I brought in from Lyon for £1m. The left winger looks to be a tremendous prospect and I hope to nurture him well and help him achieve things.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DEANDRE YEDLIN

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PREMIER LEAGUE

MANAGER CHANGES
Aleksandrs Starkovs (who?) joins Aston Villa
Spurs sack Jose Mourinho

TRANSFERS

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[TheHomeEnd]

What tactics do you use for this?

 

[Brane_Orsou]

Flying mate! Some great wins and some odd games as well.

Looking forward to seeing what Jan brings transfer wise

 

[JamesScott2908]

Everything is going very well! Saint-Maximin has been a bit of a machine hasn't he!?

 

[Klippybo]

Everything is going very well! Saint-Maximin has been a bit of a machine hasn't he!?

Everything is going very well but when we get beat we get thumped. My defence is a big worry. St. Max has been unbelievable!!!

Flying mate! Some great wins and some odd games as well.

Looking forward to seeing what Jan brings transfer wise

Cheers. Not much happening in January tbh. Will amend the previous post in a minute to update everything.

What tactics do you use for this?

4-2-3-1 attacking with tiki-taka and a couple of minor changes lol

 

[Klippybo]

FEBRUARY

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lejeune, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron (Muto), Morelos (Joelinton)

A boring 0-0 draw which means that it is the first time we have failed to score in the league this season.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff (Hayden), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo, Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

That's another 2pts dropped. We are slipping up a bit now. We have the game against Villa next before the cup final.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems (Dummett), S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo*, Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

Always nice to beat Villa and time is running out for them to save themselves - good!!!!

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SUMMARY

Only 3 games were had in February and tbh we struggled a little bit as we dropped points against West Ham and Norwich but we did beat Villa at the end of the month pleasingly. Despite dropping those points we still have a significant lead over 5th place so we just need to keep it going.

Crystal Palace sold Wilfried Zaha to a Chinese side for over £50m!!!

Anywho next month we have the Carabao Cup final as well as the all important youth intake.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DANI OLMO

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PREMIER LEAGUE

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[Brane_Orsou]

Rayan Cherki is a talent! Bargain at £1m

 

[Klippybo]

MARCH

Carabao Cup Final

Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems (Dummett), S.Longstaff, Shelvey (Hayden), Saint-Maximin*, Olmo, Almiron (Muto), Morelos (Joelinton)

WE WIN THE CARABAO CUP!!!!!!!

Unbelievable. Our 51 year wait for a major trophy is over as we sneak past Man City on penalties. When we fell behind in the 2nd minute thanks to Aguero heading in a Silva corner I thought it was going to be a hiding but we dug in and equalised through Saint-Maximin. Man City were the better side but towards the end of the match we had some chances and I thought we would nick it but Sane scored late on which was surely going to be the winner however Muto popped up in stoppage time to take us into extra-time.

Extra-time was a non event pretty much so we went to penalties and despite Joelinton missing our 2nd penalty, Silva and Stones missed their 4th and 5th while we scored our remaining 4 which meant Olmo's penalty won us the cup.

Man City had 29 shots to our 16 but we had 57% of possession and did very well. A minimum standard against the big teams has been set!

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Lineup - Dubravka, Krafth, Schar (Lejeune), Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff (Hayden), Shelvey, Saint-Maximin*, Olmo, Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

A good win and a good performance but I am disappointed that we didn't score more as we played most of the game against 10 men and missed an early penalty. Cant grumble too much though as we did come from behind to win after all lol.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin*, Marcos Paulo (Torres), Almiron, Morelos (Joelinton)

A fine win which included a wonder strike from Almiron which came moments after Shelvey missed nis 2nd penalty in as many games. Morelos had another shocker. He really is struggling. Dani Olmo missed his first league game of the season here which leaves Dubravka and Morelos as the only ever presents.

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Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Willems, S.Longstaff, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Olmo (Marcos Paulo), Almiron* (Muto), Morelos

Morelos scores!!!! He is almost in double figures now. He certainly has been performing well below his abilities.

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SUMMARY

As you can see this was a memorable month as we finally ended our major trophy hoodoo. We won the Carabao Cup (at 12.30am cos I couldn't sleep - thought I would play to send me asleep - just got me more excited lol) thanks to an enthralling penalty shoot-out win over Man City which ensures European football for next season - however we are set for higher targets than that!!

I will know announce that although it aint secured - 4th place and Champions League football is in the bag. I cant see us throwing away a 10/13pt lead and maybe, just maybe we can aim for 3rd and overtake Man City but I doubt that very much.

I got a decent looking CM in the youth intake but not much else and rewinding back 3 months it was announced that the UK is leaving the EU.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ALLAN SAINT-MAXIMIN

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PREMIER LEAGUE