Patrick Vieira - from Midfielder to Manager

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League cup action here which must be the competition which we pay the least attention to thie season. However, Man City look to be our main challengers for the league so far with them winning all 5 Premier League games this season.

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We make a couple of changes to give some fringe players a bit of a chance. Anthony Martial, Juan Mata, Kieran Gibbs and Ainsley Maitland-Niles came into the side and given an opportunity to impress.

​


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Really disappointed with this!

I'm not disappointed to be out the League Cup but I am disappointed that we've lost to City and given then another mental edge.

Substitute Robin Quaison got the only goal of the game when he played a 1-2 with Enes Ünal and ran off the back of Marc Bartra who failed to track the run properly. He then finished past Butland from fairly close range.
We weren't at our best today and didn't deserve to qualify for the 4th round based on that performance.


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​


MAN OF THE MATCH - Nicolás Otamendi (Man City)

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A brilliant performance from the center back today who really kept Martial out of the game. He's played nearly 100 games for City now and looks to have struck a great partnership with John Stones.

Goals -0
Assists - 0
Rating - 8.5
​
 
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Back to league action now as we need to bounce back from the disappointing defeat against City in the league cup. We also need a win to hold on to top spot.

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We got the job done but without impressing.

We were fairly poor in a very even game with only a handful of chances for either side.

Robert Lewandowski hit the only goal of the game early on when he finished from short range from a cross by Bellerin. Bellerin made a brilliant run to the byline and whipped in a great cross with pace.

We'll seriously need to improve going forward but at least we got the 3 points we desperately needed today.


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​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Hector Bellerin

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He played well today and combined well with Oxlade-Chamberlain as well as dealing with any Palace attack down that side of the pitch.

Goals - 0
Assists - 1
Rating - 8.5​
 
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September 2019

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A short month here due to an interntional break at the start of the month.

It was a very up and down month for us really with us showing good form in the league but losing both other cup games.

The defeats against Porto and Man City were really disappointing and were possibly down to us making too many changes.

We have to be happy with our league form though, especially keeping 3 clean sheets in the 3 league games played.


With 3 wins from 3 in the league, it means we hang onto to top spot ...

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7 games gone and we must be pleased with us picking up 6 wins and a draw.

We're still 3 points ahead of Man City as our nearest challengers but they do still have a game in hand which could see them draw level with us.


With us winning all league games this month, I was once again talked about for the 'Manager of the month' award' ...

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Sadly though, Luis Enrique at Man Utd beat us to the award.

There wasn't really anything to chose from the two of us with us both winning all 3 league games and both kept 3 clean sheets as well.


Our form looks to be able to continue after looking at the fixtures for next month ...

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Fulham, Southampton and Watford are very winnable games in the league coming up next month.

We also have the opportunity to kick on in the Champions League as we play both Legia Warszawa and Olympiakos both at home. If we win both of them then we'll have the chance to put some real pressure on Porto.​
 
Good job in this season so far. Had to ask cause Simoene are in Man C Luis Enrique in ManU. Who are the managers in other big teams? If you dont want go to look every big team I would like to know Liverpool and Real Madrid managers at least :)
 
Thanks mate :) There's been quite a few managerial changes tbh, I've listed the biggest ones below:

Real Madrid - Rafa Benítez
Barcelona - Gerardo Martino
Athletico - Laurent Blanc
Bayern - Carlo Ancelotti
Dortmund - Thomas Tuchel
Chelsea - José Mourinho
Liverpool - Paco Jémez
Everton - Zinedine Zidane
PSG - Josep Guardiola
Juventus - Massimiliano Allegri
 
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The first game of the month see's us in Champions League action again as we take on group minnows Legia Warszawa of Poland.

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We again made a couple of changes as we face the weakest group opponents. Daan Nijkamp comes in for this 2nd start of the season, Éder Álvarez Balanta fills in at left back with both Gibbs and Willems both injured.


​


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How disappointing!

How we didn't score here I'll never know. We did enough to win it but our finishing was quite poor as we wasted several chances.

Arturo Vidal was show red late on after being shown his second yellow of the day following a late foul which looked to be more down to frustration than anything else.


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​


MAN OF THE MATCH - Hector Bellerin

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He was our biggest attacking threat which probably says a lot about our performance. He put in a couple of good crosses but the forwards just couldn't finish them off.

Goals - 0
Assists - 0
Rating - 8.7

The other results in the group wen't like this ...

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With yet another slip up, we find ourselves bottom of the group after 2 games.

This really isn't how I expected the group table to go! We've seriously got to improve if we want to qualify for the knockout rounds.​
 
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Back to league action here as we take on a mid table Fulham side.

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Alexis Sanchez and Ainsley Maitland-Niles come back into the side. Sanchez coming back in after being rested for the last couple of weeks. Jetro Willems also makes his return to the side which allows Balanta to move back to center half.

​

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Back to winning ways here!

Alexis Sanchez scored the only goal of the game in yet another close call following a few poor performances recently.

His goal came about as he ran off the shoulder of full back Kieran Trippier and Robert Lewandowski found his run brilliantly. Sanchez then controlled and finished brilliantly to put us 1 up within 5 minutes.

Although the score line was edgey here we actually played the some of the best football we've played for a while and thoroughly deserved the win.

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​


MAN OF THE MATCH - Alexis Sánchez

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Another good performance from the Chilean today as he went on to win the game for us. He took the ball on and finished really well to score the only goal of the game.

Goals - 1
Assists - 0
Rating - 8.5​
 
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With Man City losing to their rivals United earlier on in the day, we now had a chance to go 5 clear at the top of the table with a win against a struggling Southampton side.

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Our form in general has been very up and down but in the league we've been brilliant, winning 8 and drawing 1 of the first 9 games of the season, including 5 wins on the bounce.
​



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A good win here in difficult circumstances which means we go 5 clear at the top.

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring after just 20 minutes when he fired the ball past former Arsenal 'keeper, Wojciech Szczesny. Hector Bellerin went on another brilliant run down the right hand side and put in a cross which Lewandowski fired in at the near post.

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Soutampton equalised on the hour mark though when Jetro Willems was beated by Demarai Gray on their right wing, he then put in a cross which Samu Castillejo finished at the far post.

Southampton were then given further encouragement when Jetro Willems was shown his second yellow card and received his marching orders. He struggled all game with Demarai Gray running rings around him.

With time ticking on though, I brought on Daan Nijkamp who made an immediate impact by scoring, what turned out to be, the winner. He beat 2 defenders inside the penalty area and finished low into the far corner to make it 2-1.


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​


MAN OF THE MATCH - Hector Bellerin

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Another man of the match award for Bellerin here with another impressive performance here. This is his 7th man of the match award of the season, he's getting close to the level that Zappacosta set at Ac Milan.

Goals - 0
Assists - 1
Rating - 9.0
​
 
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Back to the Champions League now and an absolute must win game here as we find ourselves bottom of group D, a win here would really change things though.

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We make just one change as Aaron Ramsey comes in for the suspended Arturo Vidal. Ramsey has been brilliant this season but I'm asking him to play a more defensive role.

​

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It was Ramsey himself who opened the scoring in spectacular fashion. The ball came in from an Alexis Sanchez cross which Aaron Ramsey converted with a brilliant overhead kick from around 8 yards out.

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Sanchez then got himself on the scoresheet with a well taken goal from the edge of the area. This really gave the team confidence and got rid of some of the nerves in what is possible the biggest game of the season so far.

Bellerin then got his assist which we've been used to seeing recently, he got to the byline to cross in at the near post. Robert Lewandowski finished off from close range.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles then finished off the rout after Daan Nijkamp had an effort saved with the rebound falling straight to Maitland-Niles who rolled the ball into the empty net.


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​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Alexis Sanchez

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A match winning performance here from probably our most experienced player on the pitch. The second goal he scored was vital as it put to bed any nerved we had pre-match.

Goals - 1
Assists - 1
Rating - 9.0



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Porto continued their good form in the other fixture, beating Legia 2-0 to maintain their grip on top spot ...

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After being bottom of the group after 2 games, one win has suddenly jumped us up into second spot.

We're going to seriously struggle to catch Porto though who already have a 5 point lead on us.

​
 
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We face a really challenging game here against a very good Watford side who started the season very well but have suffered a couple of defeats recently. They're still clinging onto 5th place though and challenging the top 4 at this early stage.

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We make two changes for the tough trip to Vicarage Road with Kieran Gibbs coming in at left back following a suspension to Jetro Willems as Arturo Vidal came in after serving his one match ban.
​


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2 Points dropped but we can't be too down with a well earned point here.

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring just after the half hour mark and in the process scored his 9th league goal of the season. Ainsley Maitland-Niles did brilliantly to get to the byline and crossed in well for Lewandowski to head home unmaked.

Jhon Córdoba then levelled early in the second half when he controlled a cross in by Mirallas inside the penalty area and took the ball past Bartra. He then finished past Butland from short range.

We were the better side here today but probably didn't do quite enough to take away all 3 points against a decent Watford side.

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​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Ainsley Maitland-Niles

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Was a real threat today down the right hand side and proved this by putting in the cross for Lewandowski to score.

Goals - 0
Assists - 1
Rating - 8.3​
 
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October 2019

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Another decent month for us during October.

Unbeaten in all 5 games including 3 wins and 2 draws. The two draws were disappointing, especially the draw against Legia which could really affect our hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

We only played 3 league games this month with 2 wins and a draw, against a very decent Watford side.


With 7 points picked up out of a possible 9 we maintained our spot at the top of the league ...

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Man City really dropped off this month after suffering big losses to both Man Utd and Liverpool.

Because of City's drop in form, Man Utd become our nearest challengers but are still 5 points behind. Last season's champions, Chelsea are even further behind in 3rd spot, 6 points behind.


For the first time this season I wasn't nominated for the manager of the month award. However one of the young players was selected for some praise ...

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Young striker, Daan Nijkamp came second in the young player of the month award despite only making 2 sub appearances in the league, scoring once.

Jeff Reine-Adelaide won the award. The young lad is on loand from us at Southampton.

He's made 5 starts in the league and recorded an average rating of 7.83 and scored 3 goals

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He looks a good player and is in great form for Southampton.

This loan deal is probably just what he needs though as he'd probably struggle to get in our side with both Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain both infront of him in the pecking order.​
 
PaperClipFMer said:
Thanks mate :) There's been quite a few managerial changes tbh, I've listed the biggest ones below:

Real Madrid - Rafa Benítez
Barcelona - Gerardo Martino
Athletico - Laurent Blanc
Bayern - Carlo Ancelotti
Dortmund - Thomas Tuchel
Chelsea - José Mourinho
Liverpool - Paco Jémez
Everton - Zinedine Zidane
PSG - Josep Guardiola
Juventus - Massimiliano Allegri
Click to expand...

Well I did believe that Benitez could be good coach for Real in short to medium term if FM thinks that was right xD But interesting changes..
 
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November 2019


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A brilliant month for us during December which saw us win all 6 games.

We had impressive wins over Stoke, Everton and Sheff Wed with a seriously impressive win over title challengers Man City.

Most pleasing were the 2 Champions League wins against Olympiakos and Porto which means we qualified for the knockout rounds in second place, behind Porto, with a game to spare.

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4 wins from 4 in the league means we also keep top spot ...

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With us beating our nearerst challengers Man City, we move 10 points clear at the top of the league, although City do have a game in hand.

I'm really happy to stay unbeaten after 14 games.

Even though it's still early days, you'd have to say that it would cause a huge upset for us not to win the league now from this position.​
 
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December 2019

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Another pretty good month which see's us unbeaten yet again.

We won our final Champions League group game but sadly we couldn't overtake Porto who went on to finish top.

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In the end we qualified with some ease, finishing 7 points clear of Olympiakos.

After qualifying, we were anxious to see who we'd face in the 1st knockout round ...

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Well that couldn't really have gone much worse!

Spanish champions, Real Madrid will meet us in the 1st knockout round. They're currently 2nd in La Liga but only 1 point behind Barcelona in top spot.

With us finishing second int the group, we were always going to struggle in the knockout round. Benfica, Athletico and PSG would have been more favourable ties though.

​

Back to league action though and we managed 4 wins from 6 games during this month.

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Once again we're top of the league which is a position we've held since day one now.

The draw against Newcastle was pretty disappointing but did follow a 6-2 thrashing of Swansea.

Despite the two draws this month, our lead at the top stretched to 12 points. This is mainly down to the amount of games City have to play though. They have a huge 4 games in hand over us but are an enormous 17 points behind already!

Chelsea become our nearest challengers but are still 12 behind and have played an extra game.
​


We did have one bit of bad news this month though ...

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Our main striker, Robert Lewandowski was ruled out for around 3 months with a broken ankle.

He's been in brilliant form this season but it does at least give either Anthony Martial or Daan Nijkaamp an opportunity to impress.​
 
Good work mate, just caught up!

Knew I would be seeing this a lot

MAN OF THE MATCH - Hector Bellerin

;)
 
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January 2020

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Another seriously impressive month for us as we start the new year in great form.

The first couple of games were fairly straight forward as we dispatched Leicester and Scunthorpe as well as a really good performance and win over a decent Wolves side.

We then could only manage a 1-1 draw against Man Utd at the Emirates which isn't a bad result given that they're challenging for a top 4 spot.

We then finished the month with 2 more impressive wins, against Liverpool in the league and Chelsea in the FA Cup 4th round.

This win over Chelsea meant we were drawn against Man Utd in the next round ...

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​


January wasn't all about results though as we also had to deal with the January transfer window with a few of the fringe players wanting moves away ...

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First up Emre Can signed for Italian champions, Juventus for a fee just falling short of the £20 million mark.

Can just wasn't getting enough game time and was never going to replace Vidal in his favour defensive midfield role. The money wasn't bad either which offsets our summer spending a little.

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Per Mertesacker agreed to leave the club at the end of the season with Hamburg agreeing to sign him once his contract expires at the end of the season.

Just like with Emre Can, Mertesacker was down the pecking order and just wasn't getting the game time he needed.

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Cazorla was the final player to leave in this window, also agreeing to move at the end of the season on a free transfer.

He agrees to join Mallorca in the summer.

​


Even though these 3 didn't get an awful lot of game time I still wanted to replace them.

I spent hours trawling through scout reports and looking on the transfer lists for suitable replacements. In the end I decided there wasn't anyone available that would improve our side (without getting involved in another huge transfer fee).

So I decided to withdraw a couple of the lads we've got out on loan ...

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First of all we withdrew Gedion Zelalem from his loan stint at Valenica.

He's impressed in Spain as Valencia challenge for a Champions League spot. He scored 4 goals in 17 games playing an attacking midfield role.

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His stats look pretty good and should be able to compete for a starting spot already.


The second player we recalled is one I've already mentioned last month ...

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Jeff Reine-Adelaide rejoins us from his loan stint at Southampton after seriously impressing there.

He's already won the young player of the month award 3 times this season and his performances for Southampton have without doubt deserved his recall.

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Just with Gedion Zelalem, Reine-Adelaide's stats suggest he could be starting straight away.
​


We also recalled Vlad Dragomir from his loan spell at Bayern Munich ... however, because I'm an idiot, I forgot to screenshot this so you'll have to take my word for it ;)
​
 
Unfortunately, I've lost this save game due to my laptop dying. Thereofre, The Patrick Vieira story has also died!!


Thanks for everyone who viewed and liked this story, I really enjoyed writing it and am gutted that it has to end so early.


For everyone that did enjoy it, please check out my new story on Salford City as I try and take them into the football league for the first time:

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2016-manager-stories/354552-salford-city.html
 
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