Patrick Vieira - from Midfielder to Manager

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24 hours before the kick off the Premier League campaign and one of our rivals was still trying to unsettle us ...

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Man Utd making a huge offer for Ainsley Maitland-Niles!

The deal could rise to just over £45 million with £22 million being paid upfront.

To be fair to Utd, this is a huge offer for a kid who's proved absolutely nothing in the game and has only had one decent season in the Premier League, with Everton.

I like the look of him though so after debating it for a long time I decided to reject the offer and give him this season to prove himself.


With this out of the way, we can now focus all our attention on the season opener against Leicester who finished a very respectable 10th last season.​
 
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With all the transfer business now at the back of my mind, it was time to concentrate on Leicester and the first game of the league.

My main worry was not how Leicester would line up or cause us problems but who I'd select in the starting 11.

I had a couple of options ...

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This is probably the most obvious approach.

We conceded too many goals last season so Vidal was brought in to try and help the back 4, especially when the full backs bomb forward which I really want them to do.

This would mean handing debut's to the 3 new signing all in the first game.


Option 2


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Option 2 sees us a little more attacking.

The big plus side with this option is that we're able to play Juan Mata in his favourite position. He was so good last season and after rejected an offer of £25 million from Barcelona I don't really want him to be sitting on the bench all season.


Option 3

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Option 3 is a little more risky and unknown.

It would see us playing with a back 3 with Marc Bartra being able to come into midfield when we have possession.

This could work the best against Leicester as they're due to play 2 up front with a norrow midfield. However a lot of our goals came from the full backs overlapping last season and we'd lose that with this option.



I was still doubting myself which option to go with whilst in the coach travelling to the King Power stadium. We kick off in a matter of hours and the lads need to know who's playing ...​
 
I find fullbacks vital to attacking this year!

Almost every attack I see for my team uses a fullback in some way or another.

Shaw and Bellerin are always battling for best average rating in the league too (Bellerin still at Arsenal, though I did try to buy him!)
 
Average Joe said:
I find fullbacks vital to attacking this year!

Almost every attack I see for my team uses a fullback in some way or another.

Shaw and Bellerin are always battling for best average rating in the league too (Bellerin still at Arsenal, though I did try to buy him!)
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree mate, defo the case when I was at Milan anyway :)

Bellerin is class mate :) His speed seems to beat most full backs when he goes forward!
 
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So here we have it, the first day of the 2019/2020 Premier League season.

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This is how the 2 sides line up ...

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We change a few things in the summer and go back to a 4-5-1 formation after trying a 4-4-2 towards the end of last season.

We gave debut's to Marc Bartra, Arturo Vidal and Youri Tielemans. It's also a big day for Jack butland as he has a real chance to stake his claim as our number one this season with us being unable to sign another so far in this transfer window.

Leicester, as expected, did go with a narrow midfield with 2 strikers. Their main threat looks to be Mario Ballotelli, on his day he can be brilliant so he'd defiantly one to watch.

​



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A good win but in a game where we still looked vulnerable at the back.

We got off to a cracking start when Robert Lewandowski finished off a cross from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at the near post within the first minute.

We then targeted the right hand side again when Hector Bellerin doubled our lead. Bellerin made a brilliant run into their box from the right and finished under the 'keeper.

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain then made it 3-0 before half time when he finished well from the edge of the 6 yard box after Aaron Ramsey showed a good bit of skill to play him through.

The second half was a different story though as Leicester came right back in it.

Veton Berisha then got one back as Leicester hit us on the break. Mario Balotelli played in a brilliant cross and Berisha beat Willems in the air at the far post to get one back.

Mario Balotelli then made the last few minutes nervy by getting another one back. Youri Tielemans lost possession in midfield which Leicester took full advantage of by playing in the Italian who finished with ease. I had hoped Butland would have done better with the effort but I'm not sure if I'm being too harsh on him there.

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Ainsley Maitland-Niles then came on as a late sub, the lad had been the talk of pre-season after we rejected offers from Man Utd but today he let his football do the talking. He came on as a sub with half an hour or so to play and immediately missed a guilt edged chance.

He did grab the 4th of the afternoon late on though as Tielemans played a lovely ball through to him which put him 1v1 with the 'keeper which he finished into the top corner.

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MAN OF THE MATCH - Aaron Ramsey

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He really made us tick today and was the 'go to' man in midfield. He also looked to have struck up a good partnership with Tielemans early on.

Goals - 0
Assists - 1
Rating - 9.0​
 
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After that cracking win against Leicester we then moved onto the Super Cup final and the first chance of silverware of the season.

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We go with the same line up that beat Leicester on the opening day which is a bit of a risk really as we look to dominate possession against a very good Man City side.

City meanwhile go with a very attack minded 4-4-2 with danger everywhere you look. Hopefully this means we can dominate the ball more though as we'll have an extra man in midfield. Andre Gomes is another potential match winner and will want to impress today after we let him go last season.

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A great win which gives us our 2nd piece of silverware since taking over.

The game was end to end for the full 120 minutes.

André Gomes opened the scoring after we only sold him last January. It was a wonderful strike which no 'keeper in the world would have saved. He struck it from at least 30 yards which hit the crossbar and bounced in.

Aaron Ramsey levelled things up on the hour mark though with an equally brilliant strike. It wasn't from the kind of distance that Gomes was but it was still a brilliant goal. He picked up the ball on the edge of the box out wide, took a touch infield and struck it with his weak foot right into the far corner. Again, the 'keeper had no chance.

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Lewandowski then squandered a few chances with the closest him coming hitting the bar. Substitute Ainsley Maitland-Niles had a glorious chance to win it in normal time but a poor finish followed from his good run into the box.

The game went into extra time when again both sides had chances to win it. It became a story of the two goalkeepers as the game progresses as both looked unbeatable.

The match then went to penalties with the game finishing 1-1.

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Otamendi missed the 5th and decisive penalty to award us the 2019 Super Cup. More praise for Jack Butland here as he saved 2 penalties, the save for the 5th and final one was real world class as well.

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MAN OF THE MATCH - Aaron Ramsey

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2 times in a row for the midfielder. He's really come of age so far this season. He was good last season but his form in the opening 2 games would put him in any side in world football.

Goals - 1
Assists - 0
Rating - 9.0​
 
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With us winning both games this season, I didn't see any need to make any changes to the starting line up. With Wolves lining up with a 4-4-2, we should be able to dominate possession as we have an extra man in midfield.

​

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Another good win but I'm getting more and more concerned about the amount of goals we're conceding.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain opened the scoring early on after Hector Bellerin got to the byline and cut back for the Englishman who slotted away nicely.

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Robert Lewandowski doubled the lead just after the half hour mark when Willems pt in a decent cross which saw Lewandowski beat Danny Batth in the air to head home from the penalty spot.

I then though Aymeric Laporte had put the game to bed by heading home from an inswinging corner after again beating Danny Batth in the air.

But, just like against Leicester, after being 3-0 up we allowed Wolves back into it.

Arturo Vidal as judged to have fouled Ioannis Fetfatzidis in the penalty area. Fetfatzidis then took the spot kick himself which he made no mistake with to make it 3-1.

We were still dominating the game but Wolves got another one back through Benik Afobe. Afobe beat Willems in the air at the far post from a cross put in by Immobile. This made it 3-2 in a game that Wolves were hardly even in!

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Substitute Daan Nijkamp then stole the show though. Straight from kick off after conceding he really put the game to bed with his first of the day. He made a great run off the shoulder of the defender which Vidal found brilliant to put him 1v1 with the 'keeper. He then finished like an experienced pro to score his first goal in English football.

He wasn't done there though as the scored his second of the afternoon 2 minutes later. He was involved in the build up play well and played it out wide to Willems who put in another good ball which Nijkamp finished from close range.

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We played really well today but still conceded 2 goals from them only having 3 shots on target all game!


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​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Youri Tielemans

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A good performance from Titelemans today as, along with Aaron Ramsey, ran the midfield today. He's done really well since coming in during the summer. He's played and started in all 3 games and recorded an average rating of 8.2 ... so far so good.

Goals - 0
Assists - 0
Rating - 9.0​
 
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After coming on a sub in the last game against Wolves and scoring 2 goals I thought I'd show you all Daan Nijkamp ... hopefully the next big thing ...

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He already looks brilliant and is only 19 years old.

He's also already a full Dutch international, playing in 2 qualifying games.

He can play either attacking midfield or a central striker but with that kind of finishing (17 already), I feel he's got to be playing up front.

I'll try and give him some game time this season and bring him on late on in games just like we did against Wolves.​
 
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We now enter the difficult part of the month and prepare for the first real challenge of the season

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We make just one change for this game which was enforced due to a slight injury to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain so Ainsley Maitland-Niles comes in and makes his first start for the club. Despite scoring twice in the last game, youngster Daan Nijkamp still finds himself on the bench today.


​


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A decent draw which we probably would have taken before kick off.

We started really well and were the dominant side. That dominance paid off when Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring when he beat Matija Nastasic at the near post to convert from a cross from Hector Bellerin.

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The first half contnued the same way with Man Utd offering very little and us wasting chances to extend our lead.

Then on 58th minute, the whole game changed when Aymeric Laporte was deemed to have pulled back Lukaku in the penalty area. Laporte was starting to struggle with the big lad and all second half Lukaku was getting the better of him. The referee deemed Laporte to be the last man and was also shown a red card.

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Lukaku stepped up and converted the penalty himself to draw things level.

We really struggled from this point on, Balanta came on as a sub for Ainsley Maitland-Niles and did well but we were always going to struggle against a class side with only 10 men.

Butland but in another good performance though which made sure we take home a share of the spoils.


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​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Hector Bellerin

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A good defensive display here from Bellerin. He also set up the opener for Lewandowski. What really impressed me though was how he got up and down the flank when Maitland-Niles was taken off to put another defender on.

Goals - 0
Assists - 1
Rating - 9.2​
 
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Another challenge today against a Liverpool side with 2 wins and a draw in their opening 3 games.

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Éder Álvarez Balanta starts with Laporte being benned after seeing red against Man Utd. Balanta performed well at Old Trafford so I'm not concerned about him today. Ainsley Maitland-Niles also keeps his place in the side with Oxlade-Chamberlain not yet fit enough for a return.

​


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A brilliant win here against a decent Liverpool side.

The first half was a bit cagey with neither side really creating anything clear cut.

We took the lead just before the hour mark though when Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored his second of the season. He finished well from a really tight angle which the 'keeper probably should have done better with.

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We then threw Daan Nijkamp with just over 10 minutes to go for his second appearance for the club. And unbelievably he scored again within 5 minutes of coming on. He showed great pace to beat Sakho to a loose ball near the penalty area and finished brilliantly to net his 3rd goal in 2 sub appearances.

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​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Hector Bellerin

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Another good performance from the full back today as he took care of Lazar Markovic all game as well as offered a threat going forward.

Goals - 0
Assists - 0
Rating 8.5
​
 
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AUGUST 2019

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We've got to be pretty happy with the first month of the season!

4 wins from 5 plus a decent draw away at Old Trafford is about as good as you can hope for. One of those 4 wins also brought us some silverware as we beat Man City in the Super Cup.

We're already the top scorers in the division, scoring 13 goals in the opening 5 games but we've also conceded a few too many.

We looked a bit shakey at the back in Leicester and Wolves game and even looked at one point to have thrown our lead away. We'll need to work on this if we're to achieve anything this season.


With 10 points taken in August we find ourselves in top spot at this early stage ...

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Surprisingly Watford have had an equally impressive start to the season as they too pick up 10 points from their opening 4 games.

Man City have also had a good start to the season with 3 wins from their opening 3 games as they're 1 point behind us but with a game in hand.

It's far too early to be looking at the league really but we haven't been top of the league very often so I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

​


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Diego Simeone won the manager of the month award with a 100% record with 3 wins from 3 games.

Vieira came second with 3 wins from 4 with Mark Hughes impressive start sees him coming 3rd.

​


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Daan Nijkamp's impressive start to the season saw him winning the Young Player Of The Month award. He only played 61 minutes of football this month but still managed to score 3 goals from the hugely talented Dutch international.

Jeff Reine-Adelaide came second who's out on loan from us at Southampton. He's started the season well, scoring 2 goals in 2 starts. He was out on loan at Leicester last season and failed to impress so this is really his make or break season.

​


We also had the Champions League group stage draw made at the end of the month ...

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We've been drawn against Porto, Olympiacos and Legia Warszawa.

We should qualify from this group with some ease with only Porto being capable of causing us any problems.

​
 
Good luck with the group and I hope this time Arsenal and Olympiakos will qualify both since in real life they kicked us out !
 
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After a fairly impressive start to the season, our attention now turned to the dreaded transfer deadline day. I still had around £90 million to spend and was desperate to add a goalkeeper to help out Jack Butland, despite him having a good start to the season.

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With me so desperate for a keeper, I made numerous offers for some of the best around ...

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Sadly, all 4 offers made were either rejected by the club or the player himself!

This was getting so depressing that I pretty much resined myself to dealing with this same squad for the rest of the season.

I'd given up on finding a new 'keeper and decided to trust Butland until January. He's had a brilliant start to the season and probably does deserve a chance.


Just as I thought things were winding down, we had an offer come in which complicated things slightly ...

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I genuinley feel this is a **** offer!

£13.75 million up-front in an offer which could rise to as much as £26 million.

But for a player who was right up there in terms of the highest average rating last season, I think he's worth more than that!


He isn't someone that I want to sell anyway so the offer was rejected.

​



With one hour left in the transfer market it looks to be a quiet one at The Emirates.​
 
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With just over 2 hours left of the transfer market, I was sat at my desk looking at the bank balance left ... We still had around £90 million left in the transfer kitty!

With that in mind, I decided to blow it all ...

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£75 million on Juventus ace, Paul Pogba!!

It's a huge sum of money but could be a real game changer.

We've got the money so I thought why not get it spent.

The big question now was whether we could get the deal done before the window slammed shut ...

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Yes we could!

With an hour to spare, the deal was confirmed as we smashed the British transfer record!

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His stats are pretty insane!

There isn't even a weakness in his game, this lad could become a real Arsenal legend if he can live up to his reputation.

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He's spent 8 years at Juventus after his famous free transfer from Man Utd.

Every year his stats and performances have inproved as well, averaging a rating of 8.10 in his two games this season and 7.59 the season before that.

His goal tally isn't too bad either, scoring 12 last season and 2 in 2 already this term for the Italian champions.


With that deal done, the transfer window slammed shut with me pretty happy!​


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With the transfer window now shut, our attentions had to quickly turn to league action against a struggling QPR side with only 3 points from their opening 4 games.


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We make just one change from the win over Liverpool as new signing, Paul Pogba comes into the side following his £75 million transfer. I feel a bit sorry for Youri Tielemans who has done nothing wrong to miss out but there's no way we can't play Pogba!

Éder Álvarez Balanta also kept his place in front of Aymeric Laporte after impressing well against Leicester.

​


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This has to be our most complete performance of the season so far.

Alexis Sánchez opened the scoring after just 5 minutes and grabbed his 1st of the season in the process. He beat the full back with ease and cut inside from the left to smash home at the near post.

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Ainsley Maitland-Niles then grabbed his 3rd goal in 3 starts to doubled our lead. He played a good 1-2 with Lewandowski and finished well towards the far post.

Éder Álvarez Balanta then continued his good form and put the game to bed by making it 3-0 with a brilliant header from a corner taken by Sanchez.

We were brilliant here and never really allowed QPR to get into the game. Paul Pogba looked good as did Balanta who is really taking his chance after Laporte missed out through suspension.


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​



MAN OF THE MATCH - Alexis Sánchez

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Absolutely ran the show today and showed brilliant skill by beating the full back and firing home at the near post. It's only his 1st of the season but he's still been impressive.

Goals - 1
Assists - 1
Rating - 9.0​
 
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After that comfortable win over QPR, we now prepared ourselves for a different challenge completely ...

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Porto away from home in our first Champions League game.

Porto are by far the biggest challenge in the group but still one we should come through given our early form.


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We make just one change today as Daan Nijkamp comes in to make his first start for the club. He's seriously impressed me in his brief appearances so far so I'm keen to see what he can do for a full 90 minutes.




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What a disappointing result as we suffer our 1st defeat of the season.

We were shocking today and deserved absolutely nothing from the game!

I think we slightly underestimated Porto today as they looked much better than I had expected.

Vincent Aboubakar got the only goal of the game late on after getting 1v1 with Balanta as he took the ball past him and finished past Butland.


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​



MAN OF THE MATCH - Vincent Aboubakar

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A match winning performance and was a constant threat mainly due to his strength and size.

Goals - 1
Assists - 0
Rating - 8.5​
 
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After our first defeat of the season in the really disappointing game in the Champions League against Porto, we had to get back to winning ways in the league here against West Brom.


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We make a couple of changes here as Oxlade-Chamberlain comes back into the side after recovering from injury. Robert Lewandowski also came back into the side as we need to bounce back from the disappointment against Porto last time out.

​


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That's more like it. We still weren't brilliant but got the points which is all that matters.

Robert Lewandowski scored both goals in a very good individual performance. His first was a well taken header after Sanchez had got to the byline and put in a good cross.

His second was very similar but this time Hector Bellerin putting in the cross from pretty much the same position.


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​


MAN OF THE MATCH - Robert Lewandowski

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A good performance from the Pole here as he comes back into the side after missing out on the poor Porto game. He took both goals very well which won us the game.

Goals - 2
Assists - 0
Rating - 8.5​
 
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