Patrick Vieira - from Midfielder to Manager

papinades said:
You're doing a pretty good job in Milan , I guess you brought pride back to the tifosi , and you cannot be replaced for that reason , can't wait forward next upload !

Love your thread !!:wub:
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Thanks mate! I have some news on my future which I'll post shortly.

Nnicod55 said:
You can win the new board to back you!
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Thanks man, I hope so! Not been here long enough to really do anything yet
 
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After the news broke about the takeover now being complete, I was pretty nervous about my future! I'd only been here about 5 months and we're second in the league and still in the cup. Considering the club finished 8th last season under the previous manager, surely the new guy must be impressed with the improvement we've made ...

Fortunately he was ...

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A message came down from the top man saying he was happy for me to stay on at the club!

I was relieved but can't help thinking that any kind of drop in form and my position will be under threat.

Our good start to the season was even more important than I originally thought. If we'd had a slow start I'd probably be out the job by now.

Now I knew I was staying at Milan, I continued to scroll through potential recruitments to make this January, after all I had £15 million to spend plus a couple of players I could ship out ...

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Well, I thought I had £15 million to spend anyway!

It turns out the new owner has wiped all the money I'd saved and given me nothing to spend!

This is so disappointing, I really thought I could bring 3 or 4 players in so we could keep up with Juventus at the top and secure Champions League football for next season.

As it turns out we'll have to work with what we've got for now.

The summer budget will be interesting, if he pulls the same kind of tricks at the end of the season then I may be looking for new employment.​
 
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With me constantly looking at new signings to bring in, despite having no budget. The end of the month quickly crept up on me ...

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We finished December unbeaten with 3 wins from 4 games played.

We started the month brilliantly with a 1-0 win over rivals, Inter and followed that up with 2 more wins, and 2 more clean sheets, both against Torino.

The only disappointment was the late 2-2 draw against a pretty poor Bari side which we really should have beaten.

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9 points out of a possible 12 keeps us comfortably in 2nd place, 9 points clear of Roma in 3rd.

However, we're still 4 points off leaders, Juventus who look as strong as ever. We've still got some way to go before we can overtake them.
​

Team of the month

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This team of the month award is getting stranger and stranger. I'm not really sure what they base the selections on, because I know for sure it isn't performances over the last month.

Carlos Bacca is one player who deserves his pick having scored 3 in 3 during December.

Once again Davide Zappacosta makes the side despite a pretty quiet month compared to his standards. Other strange selections are, Paulo Dybala who only scored 1 goal, I think he's made the team every month now dispute what his form's been like.

Lucas Biglia is another strange one as is the goalkeeper selected, Mattia Perin. Both recorded pretty average, if not poor, average ratings but find themselves in the team.

I'm taking less and less note of this award as the season goes on!
​

With the end of the year now upon us, I thought I'd have a look at how my old club were doing, Newcastle ...

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Well, they're in 9th spot but are in some excellent form!

The last time I looked was probably about 2 months ago and they were in the bottom 3 so they've really picked themselves up. They're still some way off the top 4 though which would have been the challenge this season.

More good news for the Toon is that they qualified from their group in the Europa League and now face Lyon in the 1st knockout round.

Back to Milan and these are the fixtures we have coming up in January ...

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5 games in total, including 1 cup game, and every single one of them is winnable.

I'd be pretty disappointed to drop any points here if we're honest.

The toughest game will probably be in the cup against Napoli. I know they're only 9th in the league but the team they have is capable of much more than that.​
 
My predictions: All wins except for a Napoli draw 1-1 and Palermo loss 1-0 ;)
 
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With the first game of the month still a week away and the players just returning from the winter break, I thought we'd try and offload a few fringe players in the hope of adding to the squad.

But before I could do that I heard from Bayern Munich ...

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Bayern enquire about the availability of midfielder Jose Mauri who's had a really good season so far.

The enquiry was quickly rejected as I really don't want to lose him. He's got a release clause of £45 million and still has 3 years left on his contract so we're certainly not being pushed to sell him.

If Bayern came back with a huge offer though we'd have to consider it.

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At only 21 Mauri looks to be a really good player and has played in every single league game bar 1 this season and recorded an average rating of 7.22 which includes a few performances in an unfamiliarly position.

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This is slightly worrying, that the player himself has commented about the speculation.

I had a chat with him and told him that no offers would even be considered until the summer and even then they'd have to offer a huge amount for us to accept it.

Bayern are struggling in the German league anyway and are already 10 points behind Dortmund who lead the way.

He seemed to accept this and hopefully he can keep him head down and finish the season well.
​
 
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After receiving the news about Mauri, I was feeling a bit down and a bit nervous that he'd force a move. To be fair to him, he's been really good about it so far but whether that will be the case if an offer came in, I'm not sure.

Anyway, a phone call from one of the scouts cheered me up no end ...

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He'd heard that Kevin Strootman was unhappy at Roma and had even rejected a few contract offers.

It really looked like he wants out of the club.

He hasn't had a brilliant season and has only started 3 games this season, with another 7 sub appearances. This is mainly due to injuries as he's missed about 8 weeks of football due to various injuries.

He's back fit now though and when he's firing he's world class.

The best news of all though, is that his contract is up at the end of the season ...

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A £67k per week contract which runs out in the summer.

I've got to get him!!

Even though his contract runs out, I'd still like to bring him in straight away, especially as Mauri could be on his way if Bayern end up offering for him.

Because of this I sent an enquiry to Roma to see what they'd take to sell him now ...

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I couldn't believe it!

£27 million they wanted!!! This wouldn't be too unreasonable if he was in a 5 year contract and in the form of his life. But in reality he was in the last 6 months of his contract and playing his worst season he's probably ever played.

'**** this' I thought, I'll just offer him a contract and get him in the summer.

​

So I did ...

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We did it!

Strootman signs on a free transfer!

He demanded a pretty high wage which we brought down to £90k per week, which is still high but certainly achievable.

I'm really happy with this, once he joins I think Strootman will be the best midfielder in the squad and if he can regain his form, one of the best in the league.

My only concern is his recent injury history which certainly hasn't been promising this season. Because of this the transfer is a bit of a risk but a risk I'm happy to take.​
 
**** of a signing and a free one that weakens a rival!

Can't go wrong mate!
 
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With the Strootman and Muari business dealt with, I went on to offer out a couple of fringe players in the hope of bringing in some funds to use this month ...

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Only one offer came forward for midfielder Admir Mehmedi and that was from West Ham who offered £3 million.

I was hoping to bring in a little more for the lad but right now I'd take anything in the hope of brining in someone better. He's hardly kicked a ball this season so there's no point him staying here.
​

But then ...

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I was shocked when I heard of this.

Admir Mehmedi rejects the offer West Ham made to him, basically they didn't offer him enough money.

So instead he decided to stay here and struggle to even get on our bench! Smart move!

West Ham are 7th in the league and challenging for spot in Europe so it sounds a bit daft turning them down.
​

I'd hoped we'd have better luck with the next offer that came along ...

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Norwich came in with an offer of £5 million for goalkeeper, Ron-Robert Zieler.

To be fair to the lad, he hasn't really had a chance since moving here just before I arrived. He moved here to be number 1 but I couldn't turn down the prospect of Donnarumma.

He moved here for a decent amount so taking this £5 million would mean taking a loss on him but he's not going to play and I can use that £5 million to strengthen elsewhere.

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So the offer was accepted and he was on his way.

Everyone was happy.

Straight after this deal was done I had one intention ...

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Donnarumma signs a new 4 year deal with the club keeping him there until 2022.

I felt this was needed with Zieler leaving and Diego Lopez being rubbish.​
 
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After a 3 week break, we now face 14th placed Sassuolo, eager to get the win.

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After a 3 week break I had some decisions to make to see who would start.

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Acerbi and Kenedy came in to replace the suspended duo of Mangala and Antonelli. With Kenedy coming into the side it meant both wing backs move into midfield. The one other change we made was Thiago Maia coming in to replace Bertolacci after serving his suspension.
​

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What an absolute shocker! I can't actually believe it.

We got off to a brilliant start by opening the scoring after just 5 minutes. Kenedy put in a cross which found Zappacosta who's effort on goal was divertered into his goal by Paulo Miranda.

Sassuolo then levelled with another own goal, this time Mijailovic the unlucky culprit. A cross came in from the right which hit the midfielder and wrong footed the 'keeper. Mijailovic just couldn't move his feet quick enough to get out the way.

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Then on the stroke of half time, Sassuolo went in front. The caught us on the break and capitalised on our lack of full backs, the cross came in from their left wing and was finished at the far post totally unmarked.
Davide Zappacosta then equalised with a brilliant goal, he got the ball on the edge of the box, took the ball past the 'keeper and smashed it into the top corner.

At this point we really went for the game and went with 3 up-front. This proved to be our undoing as Sassuolo eventually took the lead with yet another cross coming in and the attacking player being unmarked.
Carlos Bacca had a brilliant chance late on but scuffed his shot well wide.

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This is now 2 really disappointing results in a row, we need to drastically improve if we want to keep within distance of Juventus.
​


MAN OF THE MATCH - GREGOIRE DEFREL (Sassuolo)

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He played really well today and managed to score one and assist one.​
 
Interesting formation you got there mate!

****, my prediction failed at the first game haha
 
Average Joe said:
Interesting formation you got there mate!

****, my prediction failed at the first game haha
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The wide midfielders are usually wing backs but because Antonelli was suspended and we didn't really have a replacement I pushed them both into midfield.

I know haha, thats the first thing I thought when we lost too!!
 
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After dropping 4 points in the last 2 games we were desperate for a win against Atlanta who are only a few points clear of the relegation zone.

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After the shocker in the previous 2 games, Antonelli comes back into the side and Zappacosta is pushed back more to give us 2 wing backs.

I also dropped Suso after a couple of poor games, Jose Mauri was pushed further forward to take his role. He isn't fully comfortable in the role but looking at his attributes he should be able to play there, it also meant that Nigel De Jong came into midfield which should shore things up a little more.
​

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A really good start here ensured we earned all 3 points.

We weren't brilliant today and capable of so much better but a good opening 15 minutes really put the game to bed early. Our main man, Carlos Bacca, opened the scoring in the opening 10 minutes. Zappacosta supplied the cross which Bacca finished after being unmarked at the far post.

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Mauri then celebrated his move further forward by scoring our second just 4 minutes later. He beat the 'keeper at the near post after Atlanta failed to clear their lines following a free-kick into the box.

Carlos Bacca then had a glorious chance to score his second of the game on the stroke of half time from the penalty spot. Sadly though he blazed his effort over the bar.

We saw out the second half well with neither side really created anything of note.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - DAVIDE ZAPPACOSTA

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Set up the first goal for Bacca and looked very solid defensively after being brought back from midfield to wing back.​
 
Great job at capturing Strootman man ! He is capable of getting your game to a whole new level if he can stay healthy !
 
Average Joe said:
Zappacosta is ridiculous for MOTMs!
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I know mate, he's got about 12 assists from right back and its only January!

kolas79 said:
Great job at capturing Strootman man ! He is capable of getting your game to a whole new level if he can stay healthy !
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Thanks man, I'm hoping so. Just hope he doesn't get injured straight away, knowing my luck he probably will
 
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