Reviving sleeping giants: AS Saint-Étienne

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October 2019: destined for the Europa League again?

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Absolute shame to be losing Dioussé, who's recently started to come into form. We lose 2-1 away from home in Manchester, realistically enough, which leaves us in 3rd in the group, 6 points behind Sporting who won against Copenhagen. If we win against the Danish side, we would be 3 points closer to Sporting and it would take something special to beat them in their own stadium and get the edge on head-to-head but you never know!

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Considering Marseille's form, I was really worried about this game but boy was a I wrong! What a win! Incredible 5-0 victory against one of the best teams in the league, all thanks to Bentancur as we continue to grow our reputation as THE club to go to on loan if you want to turn into one of the best players in Europe... First Cabella, then Lo Celso and Jordan Lukaku, and now Bentancur. We reduced Marseille to just 2 shots all game and had 10 times that amount and it's a fantastic victory and as I said before, if we keep going like this, this really could be our year!

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We had a game in hand over PSG and won that against Angers, just about! Thanks again to Bentancur who pulled out a 92nd minute winner as we get another 3 points, another clean sheet, and go back to the top of Ligue 1! Brad Smith is slowly starting to look like an incredible signing as he starts to fit into the side and I can only hope he'll keep improving now.

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We've gotten way too many red cars in the last couple games, but at the same time we're scoring a lot and not conceding either! Combe scores 2 to take his tally to 10 goals in 14 games this season, a pretty incredible return for a 16-year old who was supposed to be our backup striker if you ask me! In fact, he's so good he became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Champions League! He's definitely a player who clearly has talent and who we'll have to try our very hardest to hold on to.

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Another clean sheet! That makes it 3 in our last 3 games now which means our starting goalkeeper Lunin now has 6 in 11 games in Ligue 1 this season, the best of any keeper in the league! What a signing he's turning out to be and look at that, Bentancur with 2 goals yet again, making it 6 goals in his last 3 games for the club... What a ridiculous return! Let's not ignore Combe though, who's the second top goalscorer in the league with 9 goals just behind Cavani who's on 11!

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We're still top of the league, which is an incredible feeling, especially after over 10 games! It feels like it would've been amazing to be top of the league after just 2 or 3 games before PSG caught up with us but we're doing really well and are still ahead of them by 2 points, which means the next time we face them it really will be a title decider. We face Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Le Havre next in the league. We faced Le Havre in a cup competition last season and beat them easily so I'm expecting 3 points from this one, but the Bordeaux and Strasbourg games could be a little bit tougher. As for the Champions League, we have a chance to get some more points against Copenhagen before facing Sporting away from home later in the month, which we need to win as well to have a chance at a First Knockout round spot...
 
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November 2019: champion d'automne?!

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For those of you who don't know, "champion d'automne" when translated literally just means "fall champion" as in fall the season. It's a term used a lot in France when we reach halfway through the season (19 games) and even though it's not an official title, most sports channels and pundits and news sources use it. Well as of right now, we're on course for being the "champion d'automne" for the season! Bentancur gets the player of the month for October - obviously - with Combe coming in close second and who would have thought this little youngster would be this incredible huh? Do we have the next Mbappé in our team?!

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This Bordeaux game was probably our toughest one of the month in the league and I guess when our strikers and wingers don't wanna score, why not rely on our fullbacks! Smith has been absolutely incredible in all the games he's played so far this season and it's fantastic to even think we got him for under €1 million. Once again, PSG played before us so we had a game in hand and this win puts us right back on top of the league.

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Llorente gets rewarded for the absolutely insane work he's been doing with us since he joined last season, with his value rising from like €5 million then to over €40 million now! According to the club reports, he's not even at his prime yet so imagine what kind of a player he could become for us if stays as loyal as he has been so far already!

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After City and Sporting's draw in the last match day, we were still 4 points behind the Portuguese side in our group and we needed City to win easily whilst we also got a good result for a chance in the next round, but Sporting actually beat them 2-1 at home! Not very reassuring to be honest with you, considering we're playing them next, but regardless we'll need to be at our best to maybe go through to the next round. Boy what a story that would be huh?

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Our form continues in the league and despite a bore 0-0 draw (which we should've turned into a win by the way, look at the shots! 21 to 1!), PSG drew as well which means we're somehow still top of the table! I really can't believe what I'm seeing so far this season but hey I'm not going to complain and we'll just keep performing and not conceding any goals I hope!

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We've had a nice 2/3 months of just league football and European football, but now the real work starts. Cup football starting means we'll have a lot more games and we'll need to probably rotate players around a lot to avoid injuries. Anyway, our first cup game of the season will be against Nantes, who have always performed pretty well against me so far but I'm hoping to change that and easily beat them at home in December.

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And another clean sheet! Brad Smith is 100% winning player of the month for this month, he's been absolutely insane so far and has scored the most goals out of anyone in the team this month! That 3-0 win puts us 5 POINTS clear at the top of the league after Monaco managed to beat PSG in the south of France and help us towards, if our form continues, a potential 11th league title? This could be incredible.

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Well, that doesn't make our task any easier... City won 5-1 against Copenhagen, meaning only a win by 2 goals or more would get us through to the next round and you've guessed it, our next game is against Manchester City at home. Although I want to believe in us, I really don't feel confident we'll be able to do that... Our good results against Copenhagen mean we'll at least get Europa League football but that's not what we wanted at all. We deserved a win from this match against Sporting but weren't clinical enough, just like when they beat us back in September, and we now have a huge task ahead of us.

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Let me tell you exactly what'll happen in the next couple of months in Ligue 1. We'll lose to PSG in late December and they'll mount a comeback and eventually win the title yet again, for the 9th time in their history. Marseille will keep dropping until they sack their current manager to make it 3 managers in the last 3 years, from then they'll start winning again and get in the European spots. We'll go on a bad run and Monaco will overtake us, before we make an insane comeback and get 2nd, yet again. Well, that's what happened in the last 2 years at least! Let's hope it's not the case again this year. Nantes, Nice and Lorient could be tricky games to play, especially with 2 away from home, but I'm confident we'll get a good result. Our huge game is against Manchester City at home and we can't take anything other than a 2-0 win to go through, so that'll be very, very tough. Then another cup game against Nantes and league games against PSG and Caen. There's the potential for us to go away for Christmas and New Year's either very happy or very disappointed, let's hope it's the first option...
 
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December 2019: never-ending drama

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No surprise there as Smith gets the player of the month for November, he's been absolutely immense in the last couple of games and I can't wait to see him perform for the next couple of games as well.

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We couldn't keep a clean sheet against Nantes but get the 3 points yet again and I believe that's 4 games in a row where Brad Smith gets the man of the match award! He's absolutely unstoppable right now and definitely one of the reasons we're doing so well defensively, not conceding and just winning all of our games! Absolutely incredible stuff from the Australian 25-year old.

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Another clean sheet and another win! What is happening this season is just absolutely out of this world, this is actually insane. Brad Smith gets man of the match AGAIN as we score 3 easy goals to get the win over Nice and continue cruising at the top of the league. Oh and just when I thought finally our spell of constant injuries is over, our best player or one of our best players in Malcom is out for 3 months. This is heartbreaking for the 22-year old, but also for us because he's been so crucial to the team and the way we've been playing. Just horrible news, also ahead of the Manchester City game where we'll need our best team.

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Karsdorp was supposed to leave last summer but no clubs ended up coming in for him and he decided he was happy to stay at the club and after some great performances, he's been given a new contract. To think we signed him for just €6.5 million last summer, what a bargain!

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Another game where we struggled a little bit and couldn't keep a clean sheet but Ben Arfa came up big as he's replacing Malcom in the league with one of our 2 goals, which is good to see. I'm looking forward to more performances from him to be honest considering Malcom will be out for so long... Oh and ANOTHER terrible injury for one of our key players in Dioussé, which is just great isn't it...

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Well then! The board expects us to reach the semi-finals of the Coupe de France and it might be a little more complicated than it looks as we'll have to get past Monaco in the 9th round to have a chance at that! At the same time, if we beat them, that's one of the better teams out of the way!

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What!!! I thought we needed a 2-0 win to go through but after looking over the rules for group stage qualification, I've just seen that it goes results between the two teams (Manchester City won against us and we won against them so 1-1 on that) then goal difference? which they're beating us in so I'm not too sure how we're ahead of them, then goals scored (we've both scored 11) then away goals scored (we've scored 6 and they scored 4). It means we qualify for the First Knockout round so I'll take it for sure but I'm confused as to how we're even in there! Combe was the one to score the goal that got us in the next round so he's already slowly becoming a club legend! Incredible stuff.

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After an amazing performance against Manchester City, we were playing against Caen in the league and absolutely smashed them 3-0. Another clean sheet for our Ukrainian keeper Lunin, and another great performance from Bakayoko as well who had gone a little quiet in the last couple games. This win really sets us up for the "champions d'automne title" if you can call it a title, and that is something that just hasn't happened in a ridiculous amount of time. I believe most of the time or the last couple of years at least, whoever is 1st halfway through the season goes on and wins the league, so could this be our year???

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Well then... All this hard work in the group stages to get one of the best teams in Europe in the next round, having to face Unai Emery again who got the better of me so many times when we faced each other in the past. PSG on the other hand, got Sporting CP in their tie and Monaco got Manchester United, so it doesn't seem like we'll be the French team going the furthest in Europe this season since PSG should ease past Sporting...

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Another fantastic performance, this time not in the league but in the Coupe de la Ligue as we go through to the quarter-finals of the competition for the 3rd year in a row. The last two seasons, we've gotten knocked out in the semi-finals. We'll face Guingamp in January to make it through to that next round potentially and as much as I want to say it should be a tough game, we should also be winning it for sure.

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Well how about that to finish the year on a high note!!! A 1-0 win against PSG means another clean sheet for us and also means we are now 10 POINTS clear at the top of the table at the halfway point of the season. Bentancur was the one who scored the winner and the Saint-Étienne loan effect continues! Pavard, who's back from his horrendous injury for a month or so back, was the player of the match tonight and what a win this is. I really am starting to think this year is our year.

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I'm seriously starting to think that Ruffier was the issue in this team all along, despite finishing as one of the best goalkeepers in both seasons I managed before he left for Celtic. The big difference between last season and this season at this point, is that we're not conceding any goals! We have the best goal difference in the league by a 5-goal margin, the best attack by a 1-goal margin (just ahead of PSG who've scored 45 goals), and the best defence by a 3-goal margin (we've conceded 13 in 19, Monaco have conceded 16). What a first half to the season it's been and what a tough month that awaits us after the break in January. Monaco and Guingamp in the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue respectively, and then Montpellier, Lyon and Guingamp in the league. Really could be a tough month for us but I'm confident we'll get as many points as possible in those games! Oh and also, one part of my theory from previous updates came true! Marseille are still down in 11th, and their current manager got sacked. No replacement as of yet, but most likely whoever comes in starts a crazy comeback and they'll finish just outside the top 5 or something like that... Anyways, see you in 2020!
 
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January 2020: a lot of work ahead

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Would you look at that! He's only been here for less than 6 months?! What a season he's had so far and hopefully this kind of form will continue, what is it with left-backs and Saint-Étienne? Lukaku was so good last year as well but I think this is on another level from Brad Smith, what a player he is.

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He's also not even been here for 6 months! To be fair, Henri has been the best youngster I've seen probably ever (sidenote, I've seriously never seen a youngster in any FM I've played do this well at this stage of the season...). I hope he continues his incredible season and scores even more and more goals in the next of the season now.

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Ronaldo wins the Ballon D'Or again! The last time Messi was actually anywhere near it was in 2016 so a year before the start year of FM18! Griezmann comes in second and at 28 years old, he looks like he could potentially win it before the end of his career. The big surprise there is Belotti who finishes third after his €54 million move to Manchester City last season. Very interesting indeed. Could he have Henri Combe one day up there? Probably a little too early to say!

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After a surprise appearance last season from Szczesny as the goalkeeper of the year, we get back more realistic winners with Courtois winning it in the end, De Gea in second and Ter Stegen in 3rd.

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This award was for footballer of the year, I'm not too sure what it is in real life but Lozano of all people is the one who wins it after his €21.5 million move to Manchester City also last season. Last year's winner Eden Hazard comes in 2nd with De Bruyne in 3rd.

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No real surprises in the team of the year to be honest, maybe Bonucci and Danilo are probably the weirdest ones in there, especially considering Bonucci's Milan got knocked out by us in the round of 16 of the Europa League but oh well. Cavani being in there is also interesting after he had a "poor" season last year, still scoring 36 goals in 48 games though.

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No going back now! I've told the board I can win the league and they gave me €9 million to go and achieve that. Dioussé heard that Leipzig are interested in him though and said he wanted to leave 100% and that nothing would keep him here so, maybe we can raise a bit more money from that and get a new signing in? We'll see.

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Not the start to 2020 we would've wanted... The board wanted a semi-final but we exit in the 9th round instead. To be honest, I fielded a much weaker team than usual thinking yeah they'll still be able to get a result but I guess not. Shame for us but we've got a league title to play for and I don't think the board will be too bothered by this competition.

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Very annoying to lose Bentancur for a month but we're in the Coupe de la Ligue semi-finals! I didn't make the mistake of fielding a weak team tonight against Guingamp and we still just about won, although they never really troubled us so we're into the semi-finals and we have a chance at some silverware!

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After Combe's incredible success, I sent some more scouts to the lower divisions in France to find some talent and this guy right here, Chabod, apparently would be a quality signing so we got him for just €1.4 million. He apparently has a lot of potential but for now can only play as an centre attacking midfielder so we're training him to be able to play as a central-midfielder which will be a lot more useful in the team.

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There we go then... Dioussé said he absolutely wanted to leave for Leipzig and we managed to get €18 million back for him, which means we now have €27 million in the bank to make a signing or two. If we do, I don't think I'm signing a replacement midfielder. Jeando Fuchs, the youngster we signed back in my first season in charge, hasn't been given a chance to really play that much this season but he's got a LOT of potential so he'll fit right in the team now.

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This was the first game we were playing without Dioussé and it went incredibly well! Montpellier have been the surprise team this season managing a really good start to the season, but we destroyed them and Karsdorp scored his second goal of the season to give us the 3-0 win. We stay on top of the league about 10 points clear and continue our amazing form, with our next game being against Lyon.

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Théophile-Catherine is another player who's not really been playing this season and considering he's already 30 years old and with Mandi who can play as a right-back if need be, I decided to let him go. Crystal Palace made a very decent €5 million offer and I just accepted it and he's gone, meaning we now have €32 million to spend on a new player if we decide to!

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Well, we did make a signing! We have one of the most promising centre-backs in the world in Benjamin Pavard who's French, so who better to partner with him than another incredibly talented and promising French centre-back in Clément Lenglet! We had to pay his €28 million release clause to get him but considering the talent he has, I very happily did that. We've spent a LOT of money this season for sure, but it's for a historic season yet again, as we might go on and win the league now. Some of you might wonder why we signed another centre-back and the reason is this; Perrin wants to leave the club and is probably going to retire soon anyway, Subotic is also getting old and Mandi is great but would be a good backup to have if we had a better centre-back. I wanted to invest in more French talent and when I saw Lenglet would be interested in a transfer and he would only cost us €28 million and with Bayern also closely monitoring, it had to be a good sign and so I got him. He'll be a fantastic player to have and guess what, his first game is against Lyon in the Rhône derby!

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Yes! Another clean sheet for Lunin who now has 14 clean sheets in 21 Ligue 1 games this season, let's just say we don't miss Ruffier at all! Pléa came on to score the winner in the 88th minute as we secure yet another victory, keeping us at the top of the league by quite a margin and now making it 8 wins in a row in the league, an incredible run which surely will get us to the club's first Ligue 1 title since 1981.

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What a win in the Coupe de la Ligue semi-final! Once again, I put out our best team for this cup game since the reserves did so badly against Monaco and what a decision that was! An emphatic 6-0 win which puts us in the final of the Coupe de la Ligue, which we'll play against our nemesis, PSG. They're the only ones who stand in the way of a first Coupe de la Ligue victory for the club since 2013, to make it the 2nd in the club's history. Can we do it? I guess we'll need to wait for the final to see now...

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With a game in hand, we're still 7 points clear of PSG meaning if we win that game, we'll go back to being 10 points clear at the top of the league, after 22 games. This is absolutely incredible and we'll have to keep our form going for the next 16 games of the season. February has got to be the month with the most games I think I've ever seen, with one Champions League game at home against Bayern and 7 LEAGUE GAMES in the same month. We have some tough games against Monaco and Marseille in there, but otherwise we should be winning the other games with ease and without conceding as well. Also, I called it, Marseille are starting to make their comeback and now find themselves in 9th; watch them finish in 6th or 5th now.
 
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February 2020: a small hiccup

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Thiago Maia is a terrific player, but he really has a big issue with discipline. Yet another red card for him which makes it, I don't even know anymore, maybe 3 or 4 for the season? He really needs to stop fouling so much in games because at some point, it'll cost us greatly. Lenglet is clearly fitting in perfectly though, as we get another clean sheet and our great defensive work continues.

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Our run of 9 games won in a row comes to an end as we draw 2-2 with Monaco away from home. Henri Combe gets the man of the match as he scores again in the league and despite getting just a point instead of 3, we're still a couple points clear at the top of the table and we've gotten the PSG, Lyon and now Monaco games out of the way so we've already played the toughest teams we could for this second half of the season other than Marseille!

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We struggled a little to get that win there but we win yet again and are on a 22-game unbeaten streak, which is definitely title winning form if you ask me! Munir, who's now been playing consistently since he's come back from his injury, gets a man of the match that he deserves but he definitely needs to be doing better, we look like a different and weaker team without Malcom in there...

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Brad Smith scores his 8th of the season, and 8th in the league, to get us a point against Marseille which they definitely didn't deserve. It's nice to see Llorente performing like he did early on in the season again as he gets a man of the match award but we're clearly showing signs of slowing down, which isn't ideal considering PSG aren't.

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What a win! Smith got man of the match against Marseille and gets it again today against Bayern! Going into the second leg with a 1-0 lead at home, nothing is done for sure but we definitely do have a chance of going through now and that's incredible news! Combe was the one to give us the lead after just 13 minutes, what a season it's been for him. The return leg is in March so we'll have to wait a while now before we play them again but we'll have to be ready in Munich!

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Finally back to our winning and not conceding ways in the league, thanks to Lenglet who gets another man of the match award. Combe and Pléa are the players combining to get us the win tonight which we entirely deserved and we continue our unbeaten run. We're slowly getting closer and closer to the end of the season and this could be an insane end to it if we keep playing like this.

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A close win for us here, especially considering we got a red card really early on in the 14th minute. It wasn't Maia this time, thank God, but Smith of all people! We'll definitely miss him in our next game against Lille but I think we should be able to get a result without him. Bakayoko is getting the man of the match award here and there which is also nice to see, as we hopefully keep cruising to my first league title with Saint-Étienne!

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Well how's that happened then?! Thiago Maia AGAIN got a red card, which takes his tally for the season to 4 red cards in 20 Ligue 1 games... That's a red card every 5 games, which is just ridiculous from him and he needs to stop otherwise I'll just stop playing him. We were leading 2-0 by the 67th minute and then just crumbled completely because of Lille's man advantage which saw us concede 4 goals in 20 minutes. It's absolutely unacceptable to lose like that and I made sure the players understood my disappointment. Let's just move on from this and hope for better results next month now.

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It was only our second defeat of the season in the league when we lost to Lille, but I'm still disappointed especially because PSG are just putting more and more pressure on us. If we win our game in hand, we'll be 8 points clear though which is still incredible as we'll be facing Guingamp, Bordeaux, Le Havre and Strasbourg next month, with 3 of those teams in the top half of the table. There's potential for points to be lost there and I definitely don't want that to happen. Oh and of course, there's the Bayern return leg in Munich. Going into it with a 1-0 advantage, we'll need to do incredibly well to go through to the next round but who knows, we did that in the Europa League before!
 
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March 2020: almost there!

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We finally get Malcom back in the team after his 3-month injury and would you look at that! Already he's crushing it. Boy did we miss him! He gets a goal as Fuchs gets the second and we get another clean sheet and another win to take us closer and closer to the Ligue 1 title. Could it seriously happen this season?!

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And another fantastic victory! Fuchs scores for the second game in a row as he's really starting to pick up form and it's amazing to see. Llorente gets his 8th goal of the season, 7 in the league. Once again we're slowly just getting closer and closer to that Ligue 1 title which is insane for me to be thinking about. Up next however, we have our game against Bayern at the Allianz Arena and the lads will need to be 200% ready for that game, even though we're going into it with a 1-0 lead.

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Oh wow we've actually done it! I said we needed to hold on thinking we just needed a draw or something but we've gone and won 2-1 away from home against Bayern! Bakayoko scored in the first minute to get us the away goal and Malcom got the 2nd in the 54th to make it 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate! What an incredible victory! Who would've thought that after barely making it out of our group we'd knock out Bayern to get to the quarter-finals! Speaking of, we're playing Barcelona, who outplayed us completely both times we played them last season but we're a much better team now and they're seemingly a weaker team, as they're only in 3rd in La Liga and Ousmane Dembélé recently left the club as well. They did sign Mohamed Salah and Ruben Neves though and have Ancelotti in charge, so this'll be no easy task...

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We're even closer to the league title now and it feels even more real after it's been confirmed that we've qualified for next season's Champions League by guaranteeing a top 4 spot! We get another clean sheet against Le Havre and score 3 goals but now have to deal with Munir's injury, which isn't great. It does mean Pléa will get a chance to play at right-wing with Malcom going on the left and Combe up top which just sounds like a deadly combination to me.

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Combe, who was on a mere €4,000 a week before this contract renewal, now will be earning €12,500 a week which is a absolutely nothing for a player who's contributed so much to our success this season. What a player he is already and is going to be in the future!

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A bit of a hiccup in our league title race, but 1-1 against Strasbourg is not a good result to get, especially considering again we dominated the game! Bakayoko got us the goal in the 45th minute thankfully but we're just 6 points clear of PSG right now, which is definitely not a safe gap to have with the French giants...

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We're just 6 points clear of PSG and they actually have a better goal difference than us now, so we wouldn't have that going for us if they catch up to us. It's a little worrying, but I know the players will handle the pressure and go on and win the title if they can. It's all down to us after all and we just need to do better in our Nantes, Nice and Lorient games. Who would've thought though that at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium we'd see Barcelona play there! Lionel Messi playing in Saint-Étienne! Regardless, we're not going to be all nice about it because it's a place in the Champions League semi-final on the line! We also have the Coupe de la Ligue final against PSG, our first game of the month, which I'm really hoping we'll win. Let's see what we can do! It's now or never.
 
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April 2020: the most realistic football game ever

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Huge disappointment for the players, the board, the fans and myself. We thought finally we'd be able to steal a title off of PSG but Dolberg and Guedes, who scored the winner in the 93rd minute, didn't want to give us that. It really is a huge disappointment but the board expected us to finish in the semi-final so a final is better than nothing but we would've wanted to win the whole thing. We still have the Ligue 1 and Champions League but hey, against Barcelona we might as well say goodbye to that.

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What on Earth is going on!!! We just won 5-2 against Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final! This is incredible! Bentancur is our hero for this leg and Barcelona will have it all to do when we go to the Camp Nou. I mean come on, we won 1-0 against Bayern and went to Munich with a 1-goal lead and it was enough, surely a 3 goal lead will get us through right? I mean... right?

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Jesus Christ... Where was that form all season when we needed to score goals??? Malcom gets 2 goals and 2 assists as we edge closer and closer to the title and this win actually now makes our goal difference better than PSG's so we'll have that advantage as well! What a ridiculous game for us and although I would've liked it if we didn't concede, we scored 8, so let's not complain too much. Up next, the Barcelona second leg...

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(You've got to be kidding me... This game is the most realistic game ever! Roma couldn't do it against Liverpool in real life, but Barcelona did it to us in this game and Salah was even a part of it!)

Absolutely heartbreaking for the lads and I. We went into this game with a 3-goal lead and managed to bottle it. I guess this is where Barcelona's experience shows and to be honest, the pressure of 96,000 fans rooting for their team probably didn't help our case. I can't say anything about this game other than congratulations Barcelona, we'll be rooting for you in the latter stages and well, we did our best. Getting out in the quarter-finals is better than I would've ever expected and I'm still incredibly proud of this team. We have to focus on one thing and one thing only now: Ligue 1.

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The media is calling it, a two-way battle for the title. We have 3 of our last 5 games against teams in bottom 4 of the table, whilst PSG have to play Marseille and Bordeaux. Will we finish the season on a high and win the title that we absolutely deserve after such an incredible season?! We'll find out now won't be.

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Just 4 games to go, still 6 points ahead! Marseille lost 5-0 to PSG somehow and continue their terrible season, but that didn't put us off and we won 2-0 against Nice, thanks to Combe who's just been immense all season. We're getting closer and closer now and if it stays like this, we can win the title in just 3 games.

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PSG have lost! Angers somehow went and beat them 2-0 at home and we're now 9 POINTS clear at the top of the table!!! Despite our Champions League and Coupe de la Ligue disappointment, this could be the most successful season in Saint-Étienne's last 30 years or so! A win in our next match against bottom of the league SM Caen away from home!!! Can we do it?!

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Caen are already relegated and have nothing to lose. If we win just one game out of the next 3, we will be Ligue 1 champions for the first time since 1981. This could be the end of the most historic season for Saint-Étienne since, well, last year when we won the Europa League! I forgot to mention we got knocked out of the Champions League as did PSG, so they also really need this title. If we win it this year, we would need 2 more titles in a row to complete part 1 of the story's challenges, which would be amazing. Next up will be the May update, where you'll find out if we have won the league or not!!!

 
After catching up on the last day or 2 of updates this could not be any worse of a moment to be left at. Talk about a cliff hanger lol. But 1 point from 3 games for the title... you should resign if you don’t win the title at this point. You got it in the bag. Great story, and great progress!!
 
Smashing it! Making it look easy mate. Any chance of a stat screenshot for Combe? Seems to have had a monumental season, let alone for a 17-year-old.
 
Wow, he's phenomenal. Are you playing him as an Advanced Forward? I personally love a good Complete Forward, so I'd be working on his Balance and Passing first and foremost. He's sensational for a 17-year-old though. What a find.
 
Sammuthegreat said:
Wow, he's phenomenal. Are you playing him as an Advanced Forward? I personally love a good Complete Forward, so I'd be working on his Balance and Passing first and foremost. He's sensational for a 17-year-old though. What a find.
Click to expand...
All down to my scouts to be honest, there seems to be a lot of really good talent coming from AJ Auxerre down in Ligue 2 (which is where Combe is from). I use him as a CF support in a 4-1-2-2-1 DM wide so with 2 wingers next to him and it seems to be working wonders, especially with Malcom down on one side!
 
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May 2020: history made once again!

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Bentancur gets his second player of the month award of the year with Combe finishing in 3rd as we now set our eyes on the Ligue 1 trophy, surely ours with just 1 point needed from our next game to win it.

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We've done it! Saint-Étienne fans will remember this day forever as we win the club's first title since the 1980/81 season and get them their 11th title! What a way to win it as well, 6-0 away against Caen with 2 goals from Bentancur. We deserved nothing less from this season. By matchday 12, we were top of the league and stayed there until the end of the season. No one ever came close to us and this has been the best season of my life. What a year! This is not only so good for the club but so good for the players too, who will really feel like they made such a great choice by choosing to play for this club. This also means we'll be able to bring in very high calibre players now and hopefully go and win the title for a second year in a row and slowly knock PSG off their throne. We still have 2 games to play but it'll just be for fun now, what a season!

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As I said, the last two games were more casual games since we'd already won the title, but the lads still stayed very professional and we get 2 wins in our last games, to make it 31 wins from 38 games this season, a club record. What an incredible season it's been, I can't wait for the next one already to challenge for the title again and hopefully go on and sign some incredible players for the future and for now.

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Losing just twice this season, once to PSG early on and Lille about a month back, was a club record. We had the best defence in the league, conceding just 24 goals in 38 games, which just goes to show how good of a signing Lunin has been and I hope at the club awards he gets recognised for that form. Despite Combe's fantastic season, Lunin is still my Manager's Player of the Year for sure. He kept 24 clean sheets in 38 games! Ruffier kept 20 last season, and that was in all competitions! Malcom was out injured for 3 months but still somehow ended up as the player with most assists, Combe coming in right behind him as well. Smith was one of the best players of the season along Tiémoué, who stayed quiet throughout the season and didn't get as much recognition and praise as the likes of Malcom and Combe but what a season he's had as well. With 93 goals scored, 24 conceded, and 98 points, this really is a historic season for the club and what a year it's been, seriously. If we can emulate that next year again, I will feel like the proudest manager ever.

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Well then, my whole "Bakayoko didn't get any praise" argument is clearly out the window! He's voted the fan's player of the season as Lunin, as expected, gets the signing of the season award. Bentancur gets young player of the season, which I would argue should've probably gone to Combe, but he knows he's done well anyway, he doesn't need an award for that. The best goal of the season goes to Malcom for our first game of this Champions League season, which could've been something truly amazing if we hadn't bottled our 5-2 lead against Barcelona. Lenglet, despite having an incredible 6 months, doesn't get in the team of the year as Subotic gets in ahead of him, and Munir is in there as well despite not necessarily playing the best but I'll take it!

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Well we clearly had a good month in May! All three players nominated are Saint-Étienne players and I can tell you right now, this isn't the only award we've won this year!

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Well, I warned you didn't I! We have SEVEN of our players in the Ligue 1 Stars Team of the Competition and 5 in the 11 of the season, so we clearly did something right! Malcom and Combe share the most assists this season and Lunin wins the Star Goalkeeper and Most Promising Player awards, which is definitely 100% deserved. Malcom and Smith come 2nd and 3rd in the Star of the Season award respectively, once again absolutely deserved, as we officially end this season on an absolute high. What a year it's been and the only way it could have really been better was with a better Champions League performance (and a manager of the year award for myself to be honest, but it went to the Strasbourg manager instead...) but the quarter-finals are still an incredibly impressive achievement and I really cannot wait for next season. We only have €20 million to spend right now, so I'll be waiting a little bit to see if the board decides to make any changes to that later on and in the meantime, I'll closely look at Euro 2020 which is happening this summer and who knows, maybe I can get myself a job as a national team manager, it would be pretty entertaining!
 
amazing season! congrats. love the detail, a real good read. cheers, KIU!
 
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June/July 2020: transfer galore!

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Before we get into our pre-season tour information and results, there've been so many moves in the team that I needed to separate transfers and pre-season. We received a big blow when Mandi decided to leave for our rivals Monaco on a free, despite being one of our best players in the last couple of seasons. I have to say I totally forgot his contract was expiring and to lose him is a big blow, but we have a player who's been put on the transfer list who could absolutely replace Mandi and probably do an even better job than him there!

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The first money we spent this summer was on a young Belgian player who can play as a left-winger, which we'll need since we're a little short in that position. He looks like an absolute gem as a 17-year old and despite the high fee we'll end up having paid for him, it could all be worth it if he performs like Combe did last season.

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What a career he's had! He made 365 appearances for the club and spent his entire career there and he was key to our success in the last couple of seasons. I've hired him as the under-19's assistant manager which should be nice to keep him around the club for the next couple of years.

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Munir had a decent season last year, but I want to give a chance to some of the youngsters we've signed and he won't get any playing time and also doesn't seem like he'll get so much better in the next couple years, so he's off to Celta Vigo for €10 million, which is a nice fee for us to get considering we signed him for free.

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Another youngster that my scout found in South America and what a player he looks like as well. At 18 years old, he's got plenty of time to grow at the club and really get better and better and hopefully stay here for a number of years and it should be great having him play every now and then next season.

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Well, this is the big replacement for Mandi I was talking about! He's not only big because he's a former Bayern player and a very promising centre-back, but he's literally massive at 194cm and weighing 91kgs... He's a fantastic signing for us, especially for just €20 million up front, and will absolutely make our title defence even better now and I can't wait to see him play with a Saint-Étienne shirt on.

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Our fans' player of the season is gone. When he heard that Manchester City was interested in him, he demanded to leave immediately and when we received the offer for €64 million for him, I couldn't really refuse. After spending the first €30 million of our budget (€20 million initially and €10 million from the Munir sale) on 3 arrivals, we now get €60 million to spend on a new player, which is incredible. We'll miss Tiémoué for sure, considering how good he was for us, but hopefully Maia and Llorente will rise up and play even better to make up for his departure!

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Much like Bakayoko's situation, Karsdorp said he wanted to leave when he heard that Leipzig wanted to sign him and so now, we find ourselves with €85 million to spend, which is pretty incredible! The obvious signings that are needed right now though are a new right-back and maybe new centre-midfielder if we feel we need one.

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Well there's our big right-back signing! We'll pay €20 million upfront for the former Dortmund right-back and he can also play centre-back and left-back which is offering us a lot of versatility in defence. With about €65 million left to spend, we have a lot of money to potentially bring in a new star player but we'll see.

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Right after Euro 2020, which ended on a dramatic note as Portugal won 1-0 against France in the final (yes, an exact repeat of the 2016 final somehow), a number of national team jobs became available including Belgium, Spain, Germany and Italy and even though Belgium would've probably been a more interesting challenge, I decided to sign with the Spanish national team and make this story a little bit more interesting!

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That's our second non-European signing as my scout came back from the same South America assignment as before to suggest me Johan and am I glad we signed him! He had a release clause under €1 million and with such incredible stats, it really was a no brainer for me. We sign him and I can put him straight in the starting 11 for our first official game of the season against Monaco in the Trophée des Champions!
 
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July 2020: pre-season results
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View attachment 55389View attachment 55388Our pre-season trip will be taking us a little everywhere over Europe, starting off in Bulgaria to then go to Cyprus, London, L'Aquila in Italy and finish off at home, in Saint-Étienne. We have one or two big games against the likes of Milan and Tottenham that could really help us figure out if we're ready for Europe or not, considering Tottenham will be in the Europa League and Milan in the Champions League.

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Our first game against Ludogorets saw Pierce do really well on his unofficial debut as we win 2-0 and get an easy victory. Süle was one of the scorers as well which was nice to see and yeah, a great way to get our pre-season off to a good start!

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Malcom and Pierce both had a great game as we absolutely smashed APOEL and won 3-0, with the shots ratio being 36 to 1... It's another great win for us, especially with some reserve players in the side, as we get a clean sheet and continue our good pre-season games. Up next, Tottenham!

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Well wow, wasn't expecting that! Tottenham are a very good side at home but haven't looked the same since Pochettino left back in 2018. We win 3-0 easily with a brace from Pierce who continues his great form in pre-season! With our next game all the way south in Italy now, we have no time to rest and explore London and have to be on our way!

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Italy was absolutely beautiful, and that performance from us was the same! A 6-0 win means we've now scored 14 goals in our last 4 games and didn't concede a single one, so if we can that form in the league and Champions League we could have an amazing season! Up next, the final pre-season game against Milan at home.

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Pléa was fantastic in a game where we once again dominated easily and get another clean sheet to boat as well, meaning we've scored 17 goals and didn't concede a single one in our pre-season games. Considering so many of our reserve players ended up getting game time as well, it feels great to get those kinds of results.

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Our games for August are looking alright, with Reims first who just got promoted for the second time in 3 years after getting relegated 2 seasons ago, Sochaux who also just got promoted and Montpellier who finished 7th last season and clearly had a good season. We also have an opportunity at a Trophée des Champions trophy as well if we beat Monaco on the 1st August which should be a good test against a big team ahead of the upcoming season.
 
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August 2020: from transfer galore to injury galore

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Well then, not exactly the start to our season that we wanted... Monaco were superb, fair play to them, and I guess just like the last 2 seasons we need the players to gel together and start playing together more often but this was just unacceptable in my opinion. We now have Ligue 1 games to worry about for our title defence which is my main focus, so let's hope it goes better in the league.

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With Fuchs probably going out on loan and Pierce most likely a backup, we needed to get a player who could be of first-team quality straight away, which is why we went and got Gomes. For just over €6 million, he's a bargain and despite his high wage, I really feel like he should be able to do a great job in this team.

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Maia, one of our main players for the upcoming season, is now for a month... Really not the start to the season we wanted but hopefully the players we have in the team right now can step up and play well despite Maia's absence.

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Lunin, after a great season last year, 100% deserved a new contract to keep him at the club for even longer. This contract should keep him at the club until 2025, provided we start playing better in the Champions League and really compete for that trophy in order to convince him and any other players to stay here!

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A decent opening match for our title defence as we win 3-2 against Reims in a game we should have probably conceded less goals in and scored more, but we get the 3 points which is the main takeaway from the game with Combe already starting the season off really well.

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With Maia's injury and his proneness to suspensions, I figured we needed probably one last player who could come in and do a job, and who better than Matuidi, who played for Saint-Étienne for 4 years a while back and has spent the last few seasons with Juventus? He brings in European experience as well as experience at this club, and that should really make it better for everyone to start performing!

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Now THAT's more like the Saint-Étienne side who won the league last season! A fantastic victory for us to get so early on in the season and our great defending already comes into place. Malcom and Combe both get month-long injuries, which is a shame, but with the international break from the end of August until mid-September, it means they won't actually miss so many games and our backups can try to step up for the team instead.

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We're still a huge way off the PSG and Monaco salaries per annum and as a result, we can afford to give our best players new contracts. PSG are spending about €300 million a year on wages, Monaco about €200 million and with these new big money signings who are asking for higher wages, we're now at €75 million, same as Lyon. We're predicted to finish 3rd in the league as well, weirdly enough, but that doesn't matter. The point is Pavard got a new contract which is fantastic and will keep him at the club for a little while longer.

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We can now say the same about Clément! He's mostly been playing left-back ahead of Brad Smith this season since he's a natural at both centre-back and left-back and we have Pavard and Süle as our centre-back partnership right now, but this contract is mostly to reward his amazing few months last season.

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The Champions League group stage draw came out and well, let's just say we weren't given a very nice one. We know we can beat Milan since we beat them 3-0 in pre-season, but Leverkusen (who finished 4th in the Bundesliga last season) and Barcelona (who knocked us out of the CL quarter-finals last season despite us having a 5-2 lead) will be very tough games and I have a feeling we'll be struggling just like last season in the Champions League. Let's hope we won't be, but it's not looking great for us.

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Our last game of the month was against Montpellier, who did really well last season, so it was a little worrying for me but we ended up once again crushing them, and Pierce is really making me question my decision to sign both André Gomes and Matuidi now with his performances. He's been incredible since the start of the year and is showing no signs of slowing down!

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Despite our horrendous game against Monaco for the Trophée des Champions, we've been doing very well in Ligue 1 and are 3 for 3 after 3 games, with the best goal difference in the league level with Monaco. Speaking of the league, next month's games against Ajaccio will definitely be the easiest one but our games against Angers, Bordeaux and Lyon will be a lot tougher and we'll need a lot of hard work to get a good result in those! The game against Milan will give us a great opportunity to kickstart our CL campaign well and we'll finish off the month with the game against Barcelona at the Camp Nou, which will at least get the worst part of this group stage round out of the way! Anyways, I have to be on my way to Spain now, to meet up with the national team and play our two friendlies against Serbia and England!
 
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September 2020: my first games in charge!

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Many people were surprised about my selection for the 2 games against Serbia and England to be honest, and there might be a bit of club bias in there, but I genuinely believe that Jonny for example, played a lot better than Carvajal so far and deserved a spot in the team instead. Regardless, I guess the two games we'll play this month will be a good indication of the kind of players I'll need in this team to succeed, so let's see how we did shall we?!

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A great win for my first game in charge of the Spanish national team, as we smash Serbia 3-0 in this friendly to go into the England game full of confidence. These are very meaningless games at the moment, so I'm looking forward to actual big games starting next year with the World Cup qualification games but still, we'll need to do a good job in these next few games.

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A fantastic victory for my first proper big game as Spain manager, as we smash England away at Wembley and come away with the 3 points in the European International League Division A. Our next few games now will be in October when we face Austria in the same competition then Hungary in a friendly, which should be once again a great way to build some confidence and score some goals and make these Spanish fans happy! Back to Saint-Étienne I go now!
 
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September 2020: the start of an unbeaten season?!

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As I said back in August, Pierce was really, really good throughout the month and deservedly wins the player of the month award, ahead of Cavani who even at 33 years old is still killing it in Ligue 1. Lenglet, who's been playing at left-back for most of the season, continues his great form as well and it's great to see that he can perform so well as a centre-back and as a left-back.

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A fantastic win for us once again, as Süle scores his first league goal of the season. With Malcom still out injured, Ben Arfa started the game ahead of him and he ended up getting injured! It's a shame but again, we have some youngsters signed over the summer and Malcom coming back from injury who can do a job. Monaco are on an incredible run themselves and are yet to concede a goal I believe, which makes me feel a little better about our loss to them earlier this season in the Trophée des Champions.

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A great start to our Champions League campaign as we'll now need to prepare for the Barcelona game at the Camp Nou. Salazar took some time to get used to the team and the way we played but ever since he's starting to fit in, he's been incredible. The clean sheets continue for us as well which is incredible and I hope these kinds of performances continue for even longer!

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It really feels great to have Malcom back, I still can't believe we managed to sign him from Bordeaux for just €16.5 million about 2 years ago! He's been one of our most important players for the last couple of seasons and hopefully he stays here for even longer to continue that sort of form. Lenglet getting injured is a bit of a problem but with Brad Smith on the bench eager to start some games and perform, we should be alright. Our next game is the Rhône derby against Lyon, and it should be a great one given their amazing form and ours!

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Well we really waited up until the last minute for that one! Lyon deserved absolutely nothing from the game and I'm sure they would've taken a 0-0 draw but Salazar, for his very first Rhône derby, was the hero as he scored in the 93rd minute. Smith, who started the game instead of Lenglet due to his injury, was the man of the match which is just amazing, to think we have so much quality and depth is just really good to see for a manager. We're still unbeaten in the league and have conceded just 2 goals since the start of the season, and those were in our opening game!

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Despite conceding a goal, it's always great to be the manager who's in charge of the team scoring 6 goals in a game! Salazar is really starting up a good scoring run with some great form as Süle is also becoming one of our top goalscorers now! A 6-1 win means we stay top of the league and despite conceding 3 goals so far to Monaco's 1, we still have the best attack in the league which helps our goal difference.

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Let's be honest, it could've been a lot worse! I'll take that result to be honest. Jonny getting sent off isn't helping our Champions League campaign overall, but at least we already have 3 points against Milan. Speaking of Milan, they've lost to Leverkusen 3-1 which means the German side are top of the group now, with Barcelona in 2nd and us just behind, a point behind in 3rd.

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I don't know what it is, but Marseille just seemed to be cursed. They always start off their season so badly, before sacking their manager and getting a new one in who makes it a little bit better for them, before they start playing terribly again the next year. They sit in 17th and it's not like they were ever a big competitor for the title to be honest, but it's good for us that one of the better (not anymore though) sides in the league is all the way down in 17th. Monaco and us have won 7 games in a row now and are both unbeaten, with PSG close behind. The Guingamp, Nice and Troyes games should be easy 3 points for each game, but the PSG game will really feel like a title decider. Thankfully, we're at home so we'll have the fans' support which will help hugely. The game against Leverkusen is crucial as well, and I really think that if we get a good result against them we should be able to go through to the next round.
 
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