Patrick Vieira - from Midfielder to Manager

EndaDC said:
loving this story, just caught up. I can't believe milan sacked you, was sure strootman would have been brilliant. best of luck with arsenal.
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I still can't believe it either to be honest! I was really looking forward to managing Strootman but the Arsenal squad is pretty good :) Cheers man!

Disclaimer89 said:
Unlucky! Babacar is a beast, signed him for Sporting Lisbon story last year...insane!




Glad to see Perez back to his best! He was on fire before his injury.



​
What a complete a$$hole!! haha. This story keeps getting more and more interesting..




Ouch!! Thankfully you still have a deep war-chest to use..



FINALLY CAUGHT UP! haha


Great to see the Lewandowski transfer worked out; scoring on his debut and scoring consistently.

Have to admit, as a spurs fan, I was was secretly happy with the cup result ;)

Fantastic story, keep it up.​
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Haha, glad you've caught up now :) The Milan chairman was a complete *******!!

I really need Lewandowski to work and keep up his form :)

Haha, I wasn't so pleased with the cup result lol, We'll get them back I'm sure ;)
 
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After a fairly impressive September, October started with, what should be, a straight forward game in the Europa League against group outsiders, IFK Goteborg.

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This should be one of the easiest games of the season so a few changes were made to give the fringe players a run out. Emre Can moved to left back once again due to Gibbs not being selected for the competition. Smalling also came in for Mertesacker, Cazorla partnered Wilshere again in midfield. Serge Gnabry and Theo Walcott also both came in to fill the wing positions with Carlos Tevez leading the line to give Robert Lewandowski given a rest.
​


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Santi Cazorla opened the scoring with a great strike from the edge of the box which gave the 'keeper no chance after just 5 minutes.

We failed to create anything else of any note before Carlos Tevez doubled the lead just after half time. A mix up in the Göteborg defence allowed Tevez to tap in from close range.

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Then with less than 20 minutes left, Serge Gnabry played wonderful ball through to Juan Mata who scored from a tight angle to make it 3-0.

Iuri Medeiros then rounded things off with a great run from out wide into the penalty area where he finished brilliantly passed the 'keeper.


​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Santi Cazorla

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Give licence go get forward against a side who were never really going to cause us a problem going the other way. He scored the first goal with a brilliant strike.

Goals - 1
Assists - 0
Rating - 9.0
​
 
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After beating Goteborg, our attentions quickly turned back to league action and one of the biggest games of the season so far ... Man Utd at the Emirates.

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We make a number of changes for the Man Utd game after putting some of the fringe players in for the EuropaLeague game last time out.

We go back with our strongest side with Tiémoué Bakayoko making his first start of the season after recovering from injury. Juan Mata also moves out to a wide right position which allows us to go a little more defensive and leave out another attacking midfielder.
​


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Alexis Sánchez scored his first of the day when a cross came in from Héctor Bellerín, David De Gea got his hand to it but it fell on the goal line with Sanchez not able to miss from there.

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Romelu Lukaku then got his first of the day when he totally bullied Per Mertesacker to head home from a cross from the right hand side.

Lukaku then got his second when he capitalised on a poor header from Willems which was meant to go back to Cech but didn't reach him. Lukaku got on the end of it and finished with ease.

Alexis Sánchez then levelled late on when he finished a cross from Héctor Bellerín who made a great run and cross.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - Alexis Sanchez

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It was a tough decision this time with Sanchez and Lukaku both scoring 2 goals and both recording a rating of 8.8. I think the general play of Sanchez just tipped it in his favour though.

I was starting to lose faith a little in Sanchez after a poor start to the season but 2 goals here makes me change my mind slightly.

Goals - 2
Assists - 0
Rating - 8.8​
 
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We now came up against a Wolves side who had just dropped into the relegation zone.

Just before the game however, we heard of some injury news ...

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looks to miss a month or so of action with a back strain which he picked up in an earlier training session.

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We set up with the same 11 that got a point against Man Utd in the previous fixture. I'm expecting a big performance from Alexis Sanchez after his 2 goals against United.

Tiémoué Bakayoko also starts for the second time in a row which could be a serious ask of his fitness after a while on the sidelines injured.

​


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This was a pretty even game here but we did enough to get the win.

I decided to change things up slightly as we were being far too open when playing away from home. Tiémoué Bakayoko was a big part in us changing slightly after coming into the side as a holding midfielder.

Levent Gülen fouled Robert Lewandowski in the penalty area early on which gave Santi Cazorla a chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot after just 12 minutes, it was a chance he took well. This is now the 5th penalty that Robert Lewandowski has won for us already in just 11 games.

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Alexis Sánchez then proved my pre-match prediction to be correct when he doubled our lead just after the hour mark. He made a good run off the ball and got behind the full back, Robert Lewandowski then managed to play him through as Sánchez placed it past the 'keeper and into the back of the net.

Wolves managed to get on back not long after when Ioannis Fetfatzidis scored. A shot came in from Fredy Guarín which Petr Cech couldn't handle and the re-bounded save fell straight to Fetfatzidis only a couple of yards out who couldn't miss.

Wolves had a couple of late chances but nothing you would describe as 'clear cut'.

​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Robert Lewandowski

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I thought this guy would be all about goals but it's actually his all round play that's impressed me the most. He assisted for both goals today which takes his tally to 6 assists and 4 goals in 11 games.

Goals - 0
Assists - 2
Rating - 7.4​
 
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Now back to the Europa League as take on, arguably, our biggest challengers for winning the group, as we take on Stuttgart away from home.

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We make a few changes for this game, mainly to keep everyone happy and rotate the squad a little.

Carlos Tevez, Iuri Medeiros, Serge Gnabry and Emre Can all came into the side mainly to give them some minutes on the pitch. It's a big game for the two wingers here today as they've not had a lot of football this season so they have it all to prove today.
​


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A decent draw here but it has to go down as 2 points dropped.

Iuri Medeiros opened the scoring within the first 20 minutes. Carlos Tevez played the ball forward which the Stuttgart defence failed to deal with. Iuri Medeiros then went through 1v1 with the 'keeper and finished very well.

Timo Werner equalised just 2 minnutes later when Stuttart caught us on the break and had a man over which they used very well. Werner went through on goal and finished well.

Iuri Medeiros then turned provider as he whipped in a deep free-kick which was finished well on the volley by Serge Gnabry.

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Stuttgart made it 2-2 late on when Alessandro Schöpf equalised with a brilliant finish from a wide position just inside the penalty area.
​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Iuri Medeiros

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Scoring the opener and assisting the second goal ensured he won the man of the match award today. I asked both wingers to take their chance today and both did, especially Medeiros who scored and assisted.​
 
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The final game of the month saw us back in league action as we take on an ever improving Everton side who just move into the top 10 prior to kick off.

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We go back to our strongest line up with the family formation which we've used in some of the tougher games recently. Tiémoué Bakayoko will have a big game today competing with Ross Barkley in midfield.

​


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Alexis Sánchez opened the scoring early on when Bellerin put in a brilliant cross which Sanchez finished at the far post.

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Everton caused us a number of problems today and got an equaliser midway through the second half when Gerard Deulofeu cut inside and beat Willems to finish past Cech into the far corner.

I'm getting more concerned about the amount of draws we're having already, that's 4 draws in the opening 9 games already. This was our undoing at Newcastle when we missed out on top 4 so I'm eager to put this right straight away.
​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Héctor Bellerín

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Another good attacking performance from Bellerin who assisted for the goal. He's seems to be getting better game on game this season.​
 
Impressed by Bellerin yet then mate!?

Good story still :) think you may need more pace in defense as Mert is probably about 8 for acceleration haha
 
Bellerin's been good mate, not quite Zappacosta form but still pretty good :)

Tell me about it! I'll be looking in January, Mertesacker is just so slow, its worse than you think .... it's 7 for acceleration haha!
 
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The draw against Everton signalled the end of October as we finished the month unbeaten ...

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We stayed unbeaten in all 5 games during this month which stretches our unbeaten run to 6 games in all competitions.

Although we avoided defeat, we still drew too many games than we'd have liked.

The draw against Man Utd wasn't a bad result but the ones against Stuttgart and Everton are ones we can look back on and think we should have won.

After picking up 5 points from a possible 9, we drop down the league slightly ...

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After 9 games we drop down to 5th place and behind my old side, Newcastle.

It's all really tight though as we're still only 3 points off Man City in top spot.​
 
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Just at the start of November, before we faces Crystal Palace in the first game of the month, we received some injury news ...

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Juan Mata will miss around 3 weeks of action with a strained stomach muscle!

He's been different class since signing so he's going to be a big miss as he'll miss the majority of this month.
​

We now concentrated on our first game of the month which see's us come up against a struggling Palace side currently 14th in the league.

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Cazorla comes in for Tiémoué Bakayoko as we move the holding midfielder to an attacking midfielder. Iuri Medeiros also came into the side to replace the injured Juan Mata to play wide right.

​


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We took the lead inside 10 minutes when Alexis Sánchez was fouled by Joel Ward inside the penalty area, the referee immediately pointed to the spot.

Santi Cazorla then slotted the penalty away and in the process scored his 5th of the season in only 7 starts (although 4 of the goals have come from the penalty spot).

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Bellerin then played in a ball from the right hand side which Santi Cazorla connected with, he didn't get a clean connection though and his effort hit Steven Zuber and sent the 'keeper the wrong way to make it 2-0.

Aaron Kuhl then had an effort on goal from distance which Cech couldn't keep hold off, Callum Wilson then got to the rebound before anyone else and scored into the open net to get one back.

We played okay here but we're still a long way off hitting top gear.
​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Petr Cech

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He played pretty well today and made a number of good saves, especially late on. I felt he could have done better with their goal but in truth it's the defenders who should have reacted quicker. He's certainly been an improvement on Gerónimo Rulli.

Goals - 0
Assists - 0
Rating - 7.5​
 
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We now turn our attention back to Europe as we prepare to take on Stuttgart in the reverse tie of the last Europa League game.

The reverse fixture ended as a draw so we'll be looking to put this right tonight.

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We went with the same side that beat Crystal Palace lat time with just one exception, Serge Gnabry coming in to play left wing as we give Alexis Sanchez a bit of a rest.

With the amount of wingers in the squad I'm struggling to keep them all happy so the Europa League is a perfect chance to give players like Gnabry some game time.

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A really good performance here as we brush aside weaker opposition.

We got off to a flyer when Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring after just 3 minutes. He connected from a cross from the left hand wide which Willems put in, it was a great cross and really Lewandowski couldn't miss.
Jetro Willems then got himself on the scoresheet to make it 2-0 just after 20 minutes. He cut in from the left hand side and finished low into the bottom far corner to double our lead.

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Serge Gnabry capped off the scoring in added on time when he converted a cross from Theo Walcott as we hit Stuttgart on the counter attack.

We were much closer to playing to our full potential here as came through the test pretty easily.
​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Jetro Willems

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A really impressive performance from here today as he set up Lewandowski for the opener and then scored the second himself. He'd actually had a couple of shaky games recently so this kind of performance was much needed.

Goals - 1
Assists - 1
Rating - 8.8​
 
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As we prepared for the London derby against West Ham next, we learned of some even more injury news ...

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Luri Medeiros will miss the remainder of the month with a groin strain which will see him miss games against West Ham, Swansea and Athletico.
​

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Serge Gnabry keeps his place in the starting line up after an impressive outing last time out, he does however swap sides and plays on the right hand side this time. Other than that we go with the same time.

Youngster Petr Silhavy makes the bench for the first time though after impressing in training.

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Petr Silhavy looks a really prospect in the youth sides. He's only 17 but already 6 foot tall with brilliant physical stats.

He starts on the bench today with the hope of giving him some game time late on.
​

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Another very good and performance to match.

Two 3-0 wins in a row, you can't really complain with that.

Tiémoué Bakayoko won the ball high up the pitch and played in Alexis Sanchez who caught the West Ham defence on the back foot. He got goalside and finished well past the 'keeper to make it 1-0 within the first 2 minutes.

Early in the second half Serge Gnabry got to the byline and cut the ball back to the edge of the box where Aaron Ramsey was waiting and fired the ball into the back of the net to double our lead.

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Robert Lewandowski then rounded things off and made it 3-0 with just 20 minutes to go. The capitalised on a poor backpass from Aaron Cresswell which didn't reach the 'keeper, Lewandowski nipped in and scored.

Youngster Petr Silhavy came on for the final 20 minutes or so and certainly didn't look out of place. He showed one bit of play as he beat the full back and put in a wonderful early cross which found Lewandowski who was sadly offside. I'm hoping for big things from the kid anyway.
​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Alexis Sánchez

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A very good game from the lad today. He's really picked his for up from the first 3 or 4 games or so when I was worried how quiet he was. He's now got 6 games from 12 games. A goal ratio of 1 in 2 from the wing is about as good as you can ask for.

Goals - 1
Assists - 0
Rating - 8.7​
 
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We now head to south Wales to take on a struggling Swansea side who haven't won in 5 games.

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Iuri Medeiros makes a surprise return to action after only being out for a couple of weeks. The international break helped us here as he didn't even miss a single game for us.

Santi Cazorla also makes returns to the side today. I've taken a bit of a risk today by playing Cazorla as an attacking midfielder, my concern is whether the defence has enough cover from the midfield. This is why it's so important that Tiémoué Bakayoko has a good game and is watching out for midfield runners.
​



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Another good performance which makes it 4 wins in a row with 3 clean sheets in a row.

Iuri Medeiros came back into the side to open the scoring. He tapped the ball home after an effort from Lewandowski had an effort saved by the 'keeper, the rebound though only found Iuri Medeiros who finished with ease.

Per Mertesacker then doubled our lead after heading home from a corner. Alexis Sanchez whipped the ball in and Mertesacker towered over Ashley Williams to head home.

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Swansea had a chance to come back into it just before half time though when Aymeric Laporte fouled Georgi Milanov in the penalty area with the referee pointing to the spot. Petr Cech saved the penalty low to his right hand side though to keep the score at 2-0.

We saw the game out well in a very professional performance which didn't really give Swansea a way back into it.
​


MAN OF THE MATCH - Per Mertesacker

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Marshalled the defence well as we claim our 3rd win in a row. He also scored the second goal to underline his dominance in the air.

Goals - 1
Assists - 0
Rating - 8.1
​
 
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The win against Swansea signalled the end of the month as we finish November with a 100% record ...

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4 wins from 4 ensured November was a really good month for us.

Most pleasing for me was the 3 straight clean sheets we had towards the end of the month.
​

With a maximum, 9 points from the 3 league games we played, we move up the league ...

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We move up to second, just 1 point behind last years champions, Chelsea.

It's still all really close at the top though as Man City, in 5th, are only 3 points behind us.​
 
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The first game of December gave me a chance for revenge as we take on local rivals, Tottenham ...

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A tough game against Tottenham here who we suffered our one and only defeat to this season in the league cup. Since then though we've gone 15 games unbeaten and have found a really good defensive record.

Iuri Medeiros comes back into the side to replace Theo Walcott. No one's really made the right wing position as their own whilst Oxlade-Chamberlain has been injured. We also pushed back our full backs t try and makes us a little harder to beat against a good Tottenham side here.

​

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A very good win here which is our 6th win in a row.

Alexis Sánchez opened the scoring early on. He picked the ball up on the halfway line from a Tottenham corner and ran through the Tottenham defence, Thiery Henry-esq. It was a brilliant goal from a player now really hitting form.

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Tottenham then levelled midway through the second half though when Son got the better of Laporte to finish from a deep cross to make it 1-1.

Robert Lewandowski then scored his first of the month when he connected with a deep free-kick which Santi Cazorla whipped in, he finished well from 6 yards out to score his 7th of the season.

He then set up Serge Gnabry to wrap up the game as he made it 3-1 as he finished from a brilliant ball in from Lewandowski.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - Robert Lewandowski

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A good performance from the summer signing here as he scored a brace to claim his 7th of the season. He really needs to keep this form going if we are to carry on with our title challenge.

Goals - 1
Assists - 1
Rating - 9.0​
 
Last edited:
Wait.... it says in the screeny it was Cazorla Lewa and Gnabry who scored but you said Lewa had 2 haha

Or am I reading that wrong!??
 
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I've decided to just do monthly updates for the next couple of months or so as I'm so far behind the story here.

The rest of December went like this ...

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The rest of December went very well with s just suffering defeat once.

Tottenham aside, the best result of the month has to be the 3-1 win over my old team Newcastle.

The 2-0 defeat against Man City was the only real disappointment of the month as they thoroughly deserved their victory.

Alexis Sanchex continued his good form this month and along with Robert Lewandowski, scored 3 goals each.
​

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We maintain 2nd spot and now go joint points with Man City who moved from 5th spot to top!

Chelsea are only 2 points behind us both and have 2 games in hand so it has to be advantage to them.

Most pleasing is that we're already 9 points clear of 5th place, which is currently occupied by Newcastle.
​

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The group stage of the Europa League also finished during December.

We had a couple of disappointing draws but still managed to stay unbeaten in all 6 group games.

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This run of wins meant we managed to finish top of group I, 4 points cleat of Athletico who snatched 2nd spot by finishing 2 points infront of Stuttgart.


After finishing top, we should have been given a more favourable draw in the 1st knockout round ...

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Rubin Kazan in the 1st knockout round proved the importance of finishing top of the group.

There's some big teams in this years Europa League, with Bayern, Dortmund, us and PSG battling it to be favourites.
​

With the transfer market about to open in just a couple of weeks I started looking at options ...

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I saw that Real Madrid had accepted offers from Liverpool and Monaco for Gareth Bale for a fee of just over £13 million ... I had to get involved with this so I immediately matched the offer and offered him a really good contract!

Bale obviously now had a decision to make ...

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How disappointing!!

Gareth Bale chooses Monaco instead of us both us and Liverpool.

I'm really gutted at this, I was really excited to see him, Sanchez and Lewandowski as an attacking 3. Sadly that is no longer a possibility!

I can only suspect that Bale turned us down due to us not being in the Champions League!
​

My next transfer option was more of a defensive option which is where we need to strengthen the most ...

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We had an offer accepted for ex Chelsea defender, David Luiz!

It's not a lot of money simply because his contract is due to expire in the summer but for such a small fee we may as well bring him in right away.


Sadly, this transfer didn't work out either ...

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Once again our transfer target turned us down, this time choosing Chelsea instead.

I can understand this decision a little more as Chelsea are champions of Europe and England so probably give Luiz a greater chance of silverware than we can.

Still disappointing though as we wait for the window to open before looking elsewhere.
​

There was one managerial change during December ...

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Liverpool sacked Carlo Ancelotti despite only appointing him in the summer.

He leaves Anfield with the club struggling in 14th spot having lost 4 games in a row.

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They immediately appointed Paco Jémez who saw an instant upturn in form with them finishing the month in 8th with 3 wins in a row since taking over.​
 
I've been watching this story for quite some time now but never took the time to comment on how much I like it so I am here to rectify that. Will definately be following more actively from now on :)
 
TheOtherSpecialOne said:
I've been watching this story for quite some time now but never took the time to comment on how much I like it so I am here to rectify that. Will definately be following more actively from now on :)
Click to expand...

Thats mate :) always good to get feedback and comments :)
 
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