Patrick Vieira - from Midfielder to Manager

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End of season review

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So a 12th placed finish with 43 points is pretty pleasing to say where the club were when I took over.

We finished comfortably clear of the relegation zone as Sunderland went down, finishing 3rd bottom, with just 30 points, one of the lowest point tally's in Premier League history.

What's really promising is that we were only 6 points off finishing 8th! If the club had had even a half decent start to the season then we'd certainly have finished in the top half. If nothing else it gives me loads of encouragement for next season!

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Ayoze Perez easily finished the season as our top goalscorer with 16 goals.

This is quite an impressive goal return to say he hadn't found the net once before I took over in December!

Moussa Sissoko had the highest rating out of all the squad with 7.26. He also won the most man of the match awards with 4. He's been brilliant since I've taken over and we really owe a lot to him for our finish. I just hope we can keep hold of him!

Georginio Wijnaldum registered the most assists with a total of 8. The three players if mentioned here are so vital to us if we want to improve next season.

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We don't get a mention on the 'season summary' sadly, we would have done if there was a 'turnaround of the season' but sadly there isn't.

Big mention has to go to Tottenham who finished 2nd and finished up as being Man City's main challengers.

Man City obviously had a brilliant season by winning the league title by 7 points. Sergio Aguero won the top goalscorer, David Silva made more assists and Gael Clichy had the highest rating throughout the whole league.

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Sergio Aguero finished as top scorer with an incredible 33 goals. Harry Kane, Lukaku and Jamie Vardy were all tied in second but were miles behind with 18 goals.​
 
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So with the end of season one just behind us, I was eager to know what kind of budget I would be given for the upcoming season ...

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Pretty **** happy with that!

After only giving me about £300k in January I was expecting a tiny budget this season. £37million should really enable us to challenge for the top 6/7 places, providing we can keep the best players at the club.
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The next day I was in the office, my assistant reminded me that Steven Taylor's contract is expiring at the end of this season so I immediately begun negotiations as I didn't really want to lose him.

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Taylor signed a 2 year extension to be back-up. I was doubting whether to offer him an extension but said he only wanted £16k per week I was pretty happy to keep him around the place and act as back-up.

He's been at Newcastle his whole career and is one of our very few English players which swung it for me really. I hope not to have to rely on him too much though.

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The same day I received an early offer for Vernon Anita ...

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I would be open to selling Anita with Wijnaldum, Sissoko and now Dele Alli all in-front of him.

However, I'd want a much higher offer than this though.

offer rejected.
​

One offer then became two, this time Watford offering for fellow midfielder, Jack Colback ...

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Much like Anita, I'd be happy to sell Anita but I'd want a better offer than this to let him go.

Only £1.2 million being paid up-front doesn't really mean that I can replace him.

I negotiated with Watford though and eventually agreed on the following ...

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We eventually settled on £3 million which is all to be paid up-front.

I'm a little sad to see Colback leave but he just isn't good enough if we want to be improving and challenging in the top half of the league.

offer accepted.
​

It didn't take him long as he immediately packed his bags and left for Watford.

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​
 
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After seeing the back of Jack Colback, I decided my next job would be to try and get ride of some of the other fringe players ...

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Both Malaga and Genoa offer £500k up front for Papiss Cisse.

The fee isn't huge and won't really make a difference to my budget but at least it gets rid of his £45k per week wages and free's up a slot in the squad.

He eventually moved to Genoa.
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The next player to move out was Riviere who moved to Championship side, Wolves for £1.8 million.

Again the fee isn't huge but free's up some more wages and another place in the squad for someone far better.
​

That was all we managed to do in terms of offering players out. Only £5.3 million brought in so far but with a transfer budget of £37 million to be added to that, we should have more than enough to play with.​
 
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With all my attention being on the outgoing transfers so far, I decided to concentrate on trying to fill their place and bring in the replacements.

We started with an offer for a young English striker ...

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An offer of £3.6 million was eventually agreed between us and Bournemouth for front-man Callum Wilson.

He sadly couldn't keep Bournemouth in the Premiership last season but still managed to score an impressive 11 Premier League goals which isn't a bad return for a struggling side.

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11 goals in the league and 14 in total doesn't look too bad for a striker whos still only 24 in his first season at this level.

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His stats aren't bad with his pace probably being his biggest asset. His finishing isn't bad though and with half decent composure he should be able to bang a few in for us.

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A contract was quickly offered and accepted with him earning £40k a week based on a 'rotation' role.

I'm pleased this has gone through and really pleased with the price we've paid.

Riviere and Cisse were both **** but they still had to be replaced.

He'll probably only act as back-up to Ayoze Perez but he'll get his chance. It's up to him if he can take it.​
 
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Despite Callum Wilson just signing, I still felt another striker was needed.

We currently only have Perez, Wilson and Mitrovic as the current strikers and I don't really think Mitrovic will be up to much this season.

Therefore, I pursued another striker ...

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This would be huge!

Man City accepted an offer of over £12 million for outcast Wilfried Bony!

Bony has struggle to make his mark at Man City since joining from Swansea, competing with Sergio Aguero doesn't help of course.

I still feel he can do a job for us though.

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A huge transfer this, and one I didn't imagine I'd be making quite this early.

A £12.75 million transfer fee as well as £90k per week wages were agreed with the big Ivorian.

He should fit in really well with us and offer real competition for Ayoze Perez who wasn't really challenged last season.

It offers us a great option if we want to go 4-4-2 as well.​
 
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We then received another offer, this time for a player I'd not actually met yet ...

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Marseille make a non-negotiable offer of £5.75 million for Remy Cabella.

Not a lot I can do here as it matches the agreed buy out clause in the loan deal. I've offered him a new contract in the hope he'll turn them down.

The loan deal was put in place before I arrived.

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Cabella looks a decent player so I've offered him a new contract in the hope he accepts that and turns down the move to France.
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Thankfully this did the trick ...

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He signs a new 5 year contract with us on £60k per week.

I'm pretty happy with this as he looks a good player and looks better than Thauvin for the left wing position.

Because he had a good season in France (8 goals in 30 games) his value has now rocketed up to £21 million so even if we end up selling him we should get more than the £5.75 Marseille offered.​
 
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With the Cabella situation resolved, I came into the office the following day to some bad news ...

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Daryl Janmaat leaves for Leverkusen for £13 million all of which is to be paid up-front.

I'm sad to see Janmaat leave but £13 million gives us plenty to replace him and look for other recruits.

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I replaced Janmaat immediately with English full back, Carl Jenkinson.

I was keen to bring some English lads in this summer as we were fielding a side without one at times last season.

Jenkinson looks to be a similar quality to Janmaat but is younger so could overtake him over time.

For only £3 million I think it's a bit of a bargain! It means £10 million is left over from the Janmaat sale which we can use.
 
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Later on that day I was disturbed by Ayoze Perez wanting to see me ... I wasn't looking forward to this chat, I had a good idea what was coming!

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Just as I'd imagined, Ayoze Perez came to see me to discuss a possible move to Athetico Madrid.

I really don't want to lose Perez so I promised him some further transfers to try and match his ambition of playing in the champions league.

Despite who we bring in though, I still think we're a way short of finishing in the top 4!

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Well that didn't take long!

Athletico come straight in with an offer for Ayoze Perez worth over £14 million in total. Although only £8.25 million will be paid up-front.

I risked upsetting Perez by rejecting the offer.

I really feel Perez is vital for us if we want to challenge the top 6 or 7 places in the league.​
 
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With my promise to Ayoze Perez in mind, I went on a bit of a spending spree ...

First up was another player from Bournemouth who will join former teammate, Callum Wilson who joined earlier in the summer.

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Tyrone Mings becomes the latest addition to the squad. Again, I feel this is a bit of a bargain, only £1.5 million for a very young and English defender who really can improve into a decent player.

It looks an even bigger bargain when you think Bournemouth bought him for over £7 million last year.

His preferred position is left back but he can also fill in a center half is required.
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#2

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Loftus-Cheek was the next player to join!

Another young english player with bags of potential to improve with. He hasn't played much football in his career due to the quality in the Chelsea side he has to compete with.

Only £1.9 million again seems cheap to me. He won't be a starter for me but should add competition for places.
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#3

Then came the big one ...

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Another hugely expensive signing, Nathan Redmond signs for £14.25 million which could rise to £17.5 million based on his future appearances and goal record.

Redmond had a good season for Norwich last season and won their player of the year award as the club finished above us in the league.

Big money but big quality, he'll challenge with Sissoko and Cabella for the wide areas and could allow Sissoko to play centrally.
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#4

We then signed 2 youngsters which were agreed by the youth development manager ...

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2 youngsters who will probably be loaned out to gain experience but both have decent potential.

I was a bit disappointed with the signing of Juan Juan (great name by the way) as his transfer fee was £2.1 million, thats more than we've paid for Loftus-Cheek and Mings!!

Lets's hope they both reach their potential.
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#5

The last signing of pre-season came just a couple of days before season started ...

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Aleksander Kolarov becomes the latest signing to add more real quality to the squad.

We've now got plenty of quality for left back with Kolarov, Mings and Haidara.

Kolarov will really add quality and be number one left back.
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That was our transfer dealings done with the season to start in a couple of days time.​
 
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With the season only 24 hours away, it was time to go through the fixtures for the coming season ...

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We start with a tough trip to Goodison Park to face Everton in the opening day of the season which is bound to be tough!

We drew twice with them towards the end of last season, once in the league and once in the FA Cup.

We then have what looks like a much easier game at home to West Brom.

Arsenal away completes the first month which caps off a difficult start.​
 
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August 2016

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The first month went about as well as we'd expected.

We started with a 1-1 draw against Everton in which we were lucky to be 2nd best! Everton absolutely battered us and will be really disappointed not to win. The biggest plus point for me was that Nathan Redmond scored on his debut to rescue a point.

We then recorded our first win of the season with a 2-1 home win over West Brom. This was a much better performance that the week before as we dominated from start to finish and deserved a more flattering scoreline. Ayoze Perez and Thauvin both netting their first of the season.

The next game saw us in cup action against League One, Oldham. We really didn't give them a chance as we were far superior throughout. Perez and Thauvin both grabbed their second goal in a week as we raced into a 2-0 lead. Callum Wilson then added a third to ensure we went through into the next round where we drew Derby away from home.

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The month ended in disappointing fashion though as we lost 2-1 against a very good Arsenal side. Ruben Loftus-Cheek marked his first league start by netting his first goal to put us level but the quality of Arsenal shone through as they won fairly comfortably.
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Early days, I know, but we find ourselves about where we expected to be.​

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It was one in and one out for us during transfer deadline day ...

First up the outgoing ...

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Cheick Tiote leaves for Real Sociedad for a fee of £3 million.

This was a pretty easy offer for me to accept. We're currently blessed in the midfield area and Tiote is well down in the pecking order behind Wijnaldum, Sissoko, Anita and Dele Alli.

With a further £3 million to spend, I made one last signing in the hope of pushing us forward ...

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Dejan Lovren signing on loan for the full season.

I'm pretty happy with this as central defence is probably our weakest position. Lovren will most likely partner Coloccini at center half, replacing Mbemba who's being played out of position since I've got here.​
 
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September 2016

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September started well enough with a good 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace. Dejan Lovren came in and made his debut which seemed to secure the defence up with our first clean sheet of the season. Cabella missed an early penalty before Moussa Sissoko scored the only goal of the game.

We then played Stoke in another home game where we played them off the park in brilliant 4-1 win. Stoke couldn't get near us as Ayoze Perez scored an early opener before Bony and Redmond added. Shaqiri got one back for Stoke but Callum Wilson scored the 4th to put the game beyond doubt.

The came the big shock of the season! A 3-1 defeat to Derby County in the League Cup! Derby were better than us on the day as we put out a much weaker side to concentrate on the league. We had 3 goals disallowed, all ruled out for offside but Derby played well on the break and deserved their win.

The final game of the month came at away at Swansea in a fairly disappointing 1-1 draw. It shows how far we've come this season that we're disappointed with a draw at the Liberty stadium. Moussa Sissoko scored the opener before Gomis leveled.
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We move up in the league into 7th place with 11 points from the opening 6 games.


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We also got further recognition in this month as Dele Alli came third in the young player of the month award ...

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He finished behind Sterling and Bentelab who bot had goals to their name. Alli has been brilliant since he's joined and one of our best players and first name on the team sheet. Some accomplishment for a 20 year old.

I also got some praise for our good league form ...

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Finishing second in the manager of the month award behind Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho. A win, instead of the 1-1 draw, against Swansea would probably have won me this!​
 
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October 2016

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An unbeaten month which we really should be happy with.

We started with a tight 1-0 away win against Sheffield Wednesday. Wednesday were 3rd bottom at the time and one had one win all season, so it was a game we should have won. Wilfried Bony with a rare goal.

Then a really good draw at Old Trafford came. We actually played pretty well here and took the lead through Wijnaldum before Schweinsteiger equalised midway through the second half. The draw here now means we're unbeaten in 5 games.

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The Norwich game was a big disappointment for me! The result looks even worse as Norwich were reduced to 10 men before half time. Wilfied Bony once again fails to find the net as he starts to turn his move here into a real disappointment.

A 3-1 home win against Fulham made up for it as Moussa Sissoko got the opener before Ayoze Perez stole the show with a brilliant brace. This ensured we finished the month unbeaten and go 7 games in total.
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We move up one position from last month and into 6th.

The league is still early days but we've got to be happy being 6th with 19 points after just 10 games. The big question now is whether we can keep this up.​
 
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November 2016

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November was a really short month where we only played 3 games, we recorded 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat.

The first game was a trip to Anfield where we managed to secure a 0-0 draw against Liverpool. I'm pretty happy with this, Liverpool were 3rd coming into kick off so it was always going to be tough. We didn't create much but defended brilliantly, especially when you take into account that Dejan Lovren was ineligible for the game. Lovren has been superb since he joined and has the highest average rating of the whole squad (7.46) but Mbemba came in and did really well today.

The one an only home game of the month was an emphatic 5-2 win over a struggling Wolves side. Moussa Sissoko and Callum Wilson both with a brace each before Nathan Redmond struck the 5th. We looked a bit vulnerable at the back which we haven't done for a while which is a little concerning. Callum Wilson was brilliant though going forward, he's now overtaken Wilfried Bony as being the 2nd choice striker (behind Ayoze Perez).

The final game of the month was a real disappointment. A 3-0 away defeat to a far superior Tottenham side. Nacer Chadli (2) and Saido Berahino with the goals to win for Spurs. We just didn't show up and deserved nothing out of the game.
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With it being such a short month, we didn't move in the league and remained 6th. We're over halfway to matching the tally of last season already, with another 25 games still to play.​
 
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December 2016

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A pretty pleasing month in what was a very busy period.

We started with a brilliant 4-1 home win over Leicester, it was a great win with loads of goals. The game was pretty even but our finishing was first class, especially from Perez and the late goal from Wilson. Perez grabbed his 7th of the season. We now have the joint best home record in the league with 6 wins and 1 draw.

We then got a decent point against Southampton. Callum Wilson with a great strike for the opener as he's proving to be a great buy so far. Ayoze Perez scored late to rescue a point against 4th placed Southampton.

The next game was a huge disappointment! What made it even worse is that Charlie Austin got all 4 goals after turning us down last season! Redmond got a hattrick but also gave away a penalty at 2-2 and missed a sitter while being 2-0 up. This is a game we really should have won.

A defeat at the Etihad made it 2 in a row for the first time this season. Kevin De Bruyne got the only goal of the game in a match where we never really showed up.

We then got back to winning ways with a good win over West Ham. Callum Wilson came off the bench to bet the winner. Wilson has now scored 7 goals in 7 starts (8 appearances as a sub). He's really pushing for a start and is now in front of Bony who's been so disappointing since his big money move.

A 0-0 draw against Chelsea was also pretty pleasing, 2 clean sheets in a row is always pleasing. We didn't play great and created very little but we were solid at the back and gave very little away. This maintains our unbeaten home record this season which now stretches to 10 games (7 wins).

The 1-0 win against Everton made it 3 clean sheets in a row! Ayoze Perez with the deciding goal. I'm really pleased with this result as Everton were 3rd at the time and flying.
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We actually drop down the league table a little bit at the end of December and find ourselves back into 8th position. Having said that, we're only 2 points off the top 4 so all could change in what's going to be an equally busy January.


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In a fairly up and down month, Dele Alli's performances stayed consitanly brilliant over the month ...

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He pipped Hector Bellerin and Adnan Januzaj for the award with an average rating of 7.57 over 7 games in December. The only slight negative in his game is his goalscoring. He's failed to score this season in nearly 20 games now.​
 
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January 2017

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Another busy month where we can be pretty happy with ourselves, in the league we can anyway.

We started the month with a decent 1-1 draw against 2nd placed Arsenal which extends our unbeaten home record to 12 games.


We then won a very straight forward cup tie against Luton. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed that the scoreline wasn't more flattering. We raced into a 2 goal lead before Luton got one back. They were never in the game though as we didn't even get out of first gear.

West Brom away was the first disappointing result of the month. The way we played though wasn't acceptable and in the end I was pretty pleased we'd rescued a point. Dejan Lovren with the late equaliser with just minutes to go.

We got back to winning ways with a good 3-1 win against Crystal Palace. Thauvin, Wijnaldum and Cabella with the goals which seal the first league win of the month.

We finished league action for the month in emphatic fashion, thumping Swansea 5-1 in a truly brilliant performance. The only disappointment here was that we conceeded yet again thanks to a late freekick by Sigurdsson. Ayoze Perez hit a first half hattrick which takes his tally to 12 league goals this season, already beating last season's total.


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For the first time this season we finish the month in the top 4! Albeit we're 2 points clear of Tottenham who have 2 games in hand ... well you have to believe don't you. With just 14 games to go we'll have a real job on to keep this position to the end.​
 
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We left it late in the transfer window but we eventually signed Dortmund defender, Neven Subotic.

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He signs on loan for the remainder of the season but can also be bought for £6.5 million at any stage.

This should be a really good signing! He'll challenge with Coloccini for you will partner Lovren at central defence.

Without a clean sheet in 7 games i really felt we needed to improve this in this area.
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And then with just 6 hours left of deadline day, we received this from Southampton ...

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A deal worth over £11 million for goalkeeper, Tim Krul.

I was really tempted to accept this offer because Krul's contract expires at the end of the season and I'm not convinced he's good enough for us if we're challenging for the top 6.

After thinking about it for ages I decided to accept the offer in the fear that he'll go for free in the summer.

I rushed into finding a replacement and stumbled upon this ...

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We managed to sign Asmir Begovic on loan from Chelsea as a replacement.

I'm pretty happy with this, he looks better than Krul anyway and we managed to bring in £11 million.

I don't know if we'll be able to sign him permanently in the summer or not but he'll certainly do us a job until the end of the season.
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With Begovic signed I allowed Tim Krul to leave for Southampton. I feel we've replaced him well and actually improved on him.​
 
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February 2017

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What a brilliant month! 4 wins from 4 including 3 clean sheets ... doesn't get much better than that for us.

In truth, I full expected to win the first 3 games as they were against much lower opposition but the final game of the month against Man Utd has to be our of our best results of the season.

Neven Subotic wasn't fit enough to feature against Sheffield Wednesday but I threw him in against Stoke and played him for the remainder of the month, we kept clean sheets in all 3 games he played!!

We defender so well against Man Utd and kept it goalless right up until injury time, then Callum Wilson struck the winner with seconds to go after coming on a substitute.

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Our good form was rewarded in the form of me winning my first manager of the month award!

4 wins from 4 and the only team to have a 100% record for February meant there was always ever going to be one winner.

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The form of Moussa Sissoko was also awarded.

4 goals from 4 games and an average rating of 8.35 from midfield means the others just didn't come close to him. Deigo Costa came second and although he scored one more goal was some way behind Sissoko!
 
Champions League qualification on the cards!!

Great going in the League. A bit unfortunate about the cup exits though.
 
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