Stoke City Story -

[Zidave]

Yeah not great but I am within wage budget and didn't spend all my transfer budget either.
I have £4m coming in January from a sale and will look to sell 2 more players depending on injuries.
A top 6 finish and European footy will help next year.
I expected to sell 1 or 2 players in the summer (not through choice) but never happened.

 

[S.J]

great signing with sandro is alot of money though mate, but i guess if its over 48months its not to bad.
lacina traore is also a great player

 

[Mr.T]

:O at the finances watch out for a 10 point deduction. also play lacina traore as a teriquista...deadly...

 

[Zidave]

:O at the finances watch out for a 10 point deduction. also play lacina traore as a teriquista...deadly...

Seriously? I get well back into credit in the summer so I don't think administration is a possibility is it? They will probably convert into a bank loan or something and I will offload in January to bring it back.

Normally play Traore as a target man.He is good but not deadly. Will try that tho Milevskyi and Munian are both on top form!

 

[Zidave]

October & November

Man City

Took an early lead through the prolific Tuncay.The game was going well until an outrageously offside Gareth Bale equaliser. Cant say anything for fear of another ban. Lost our way and were soon losing 3-1 and didnt look like scoring a 3rd to equalise.

Wolves

Another 2 goals from Tuncay from the tip of the diamond in a rivals victory against the Wolves. We did a couple of their players over too for good measure!!

Everton

We had not got a point in the last 4 games against The Toffees so it was very pleasing to take all 3 points away from Goodison. Don't care whether it was a dubious penalty for once we got a decision our way.

Leicester - Carling Cup

The victory was never in doubt despite the narrow 1-0 scoreline. Tuncay again. Started with a strong team before resting 3 players in the 2nd half.

West Brom

Like Spurs v Hull the other week I came up against a super human keeper in the form of Scott Carson who saved everything thrown at him. A bollocking at half time seemed to have turned the game in our favour but couldn't hold on for all 3 points. Disappointing...

Reading

Easy away victory against the newly promoted whipping boys.Another 2 for Tuncay.

Boro

Another double from Tuncay as we extended our good run in a decent run of fixtures.

West Ham

5th v 4th suggested a hard away trip to the east end but we dominated the 1st half scoring 2 goals just before half time. Tuncay is on fire at the moment and Muniain scored top end a 543 minute drought in front of goal.

Pompey - Carling Cup

A semi final opportunity beckoned and we raced to a 3-0 lead early in the 2nd half. Took off Diego Renan and Tuncay for a rest and chaos ensued. They got back to 3-3 had a dubious Dave Nugent goal disallowed and we got a 94 minute winner through Milevskyi in another goal fest between the 2 teams at Fratton Park.
Far too stressful for me but we are through to a semi final against Wolves so a good chance of making the final.

Arsenal

Suffered a cup hangover at home to Arsenal. Unusually didn't score and were undone by a snap Van Persie shot from the edge of the area and a Walcott break away.


So we are sitting in 4th in early December and in a cup semi final.
Hopefully our dream of European qualification is possible as our form has been good.
Champions League would be an incredible achievement and the teams below us are so unreliable that it could be a possibility.

Finances a struggle so will not be signing any players in January. Will look to offload 3 or 4. Davies and Higginbottom already leaving which will generate £4.5m cash...

 

[Zidave]

December

Bolton

I have noticed a pattern between us getting red cards, goals disallowed and dubious offside goals against us with Mark Clattenburg reffing my games!
Then again Mancienne deserved his red and we went to pieces after and conceded 3 in 20 mins. Not good to lose 2 in a row.

Man Utd

Phew. 3 points against a team currently beneath us! Our poor run over and back scoring goals again.Another double from Tuncay who is averaging a goal a game.

Liverpool

Despite their poor form didn't expect a victory at Anfield and after missing a penalty to go level in the 2nd half my fears looked as if they would come true. However, Milevskyi's miss spurred him on and he scored 2 quickfire goals to ensure all the points.

Villa

4 straight defeats previously so got my players to get stuck in!! Despite knobbling Young and Bendtner early in the game it took until the last 10 minutes for substitutes Canales and Traore to score the winning goals.

Watford

All the goals in the 1st half as I rested players for the FA Cup game 3 days later. They only scored form a 30 yard free kick in an easy win to end a good 2011 for Stoke City.

Hull - FA Cup

A difficult game with weary players who had 1 eye on the semi of the Carling Cup.
Was a poor game in shocking conditions and was pleasing to see Soares score the winner in the last 5 minutes.
Soares has found opportunities difficult to come by and hopefully this will cheer the reserve up.

So we are 4th in the league, 2 points off top and in the semi of the Carling Cup.
A good end to the year.
Just need to sort out my finances now...

 

[Zidave]

End of Season Review

Fantastic season as Stoke over achieved in their aim of European football next season as we qualified for the Champions League qualifiers.
At one stage we were 2nd 3 points off Chelsea with 6 games to go.
A tough end of season run of fixtures and the disappointment of 2 semi final defeats meant the season tailed off to finish 4th.

I now need to bolster the squad early prior to the Qualifiers to get into the Champions League proper!!!

Is anyone still following this???

 

[furaiz]

Yup!

Stoke city are local to me so..

 

[Zidave]

Pre Season Friendlies

Pleased with pre season preparations with only a disappointing result in the inaugural Stoke Euro Cup to celebrate Stoke's impending participation in the Champions League (hopefully proper)

It was early in pre-season and my team of knackered 1st teamers and reserves failed to cope with a strong Fiorentina team.

Transfers

I have been given an unaffordable £26m in exchange for a conservative ambition of qualifying for Europe through the league. However, with some form of Euro run to manage and a squad that was a bit thin towards the end of last season I decided to strengthen.
The loan signing of Keita from Barcelona in January last season showed up Whelan as a bit of a weak link in midfield.

Therefore my big summer signing is Bernardo from Cruzerio who I have had my eye on for a couple of years for a fee of £11m. He will provide creativity from both open play and set pieces.

My scout who had consistently struggled to find any suitable talent in Spain ?!? finally managed to recommend a regen with a ridiculously low minimum fee clause.

I am pleased to welcome Da Silva who will provide good cover to Ansaldi at left back and eventually replace him as I doubt he will sign a new contract.

Based on the number of injuries my main strikers got last season I decided to strengthen the forward line with Alibec from Inter on a Season Long loan for £2m and his highly rated team mate James Rodriguez joins for £1.8m for the season.

With my improving youngsters I now feel I have a squad to challenge on 4 possible fronts this season.

Champions League Qualifier

This is possibly Stoke's biggest game ever, certainly since the League Cup Victory in 1972 or the Johnstone's Paint Victory in 2000.
We have drawn Getafe who finished 4th in the Spanish League last season so will be a very tough opponent.
They have an experienced squad and I will be looking for a good result to take to the Coliseum Alfonso Perez.

 

[Zidave]

August

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE COMES TO THE BRITANNIA

West Brom

Any concerns that a squad depleted due to The Olympics and injury and with one eye on the Getafe game were quickly alleviated in a 1st half where we totally swept aside West Brom.
A new forward 3 in the absence of Muniain through injury all scored in the 1st half.

Getafe

Another excellent start as Tuncay opened the scoring after 9 minutes.
2 further goals before Getafe replied will surely mean the 2nd leg should be a formality if we avoid conceding early.

Arsenal

Would have taken a draw before the game, we were only held after an ill fated substitution bringing on Miles Addison in the anchor man role. He had a stinker.
A shocking Milevskyi miss in the last 5 minutes meant we were unlucky to only gain a point at The Emirates.

Getafe

Another lightening start and another 3-1 scoreline in a game we totally dominated.
There were no nerves from the young squad.
Alibec scored a stunning break away goal in the 1st minute and a 30 yard screamer from Playmaker Bernardo put the tie safe in the 1st 5 minutes.

Champions League Draw

A trip to Monaco in the sun in late August is always nice and I was pleased with the draw we came away with.
Lyon will be tough but I feel Anderlecht and CSKA are beatable.
The £6m Prize Money is also very welcome as my finances are back in the red...

 

[Zidave]

September

Bolton

September started badly after a bright start to the season with an away defeat against a surprisingly good Bolton team. I hope we don't lose focus in games after Champions League action in midweek.
With a tough next game against Man United I was not looking forward to potentially losing 2 of the 1st 4 games.

Man United

My fears were not founded as we totally crushed United at home.
This is probably the best performance & result since I took over.
Bernardo opened the scoring from the penalty spot after a rash Titus Bramble challenge in the box.
Yes, Titus is playing for United!!!
Bernardo doubled the lead with a trademark 25 yard screamer. He then set up Tuncay who is becoming a real threat from corners.
The returning Muniain scored his 1st of the season to wrap up a dominant performance.

Anderlecht

Stoke's 1st game in the Champions League Group stages couldn't have gone better.
The 1st half hour was dull with few chances.
A more adventurous tactic instruction paid dividends.
Renan latched onto a great through ball from Tuncay to score the 1st.
Tuncay added a 2nd to make the half time score more comfortable.
Muniain added a 3rd just after the break allowing Stoke to shut up shop but we did concede.
A great 1st result and £700k paid into the bank.

Sunderland

A rampant Stoke team subjected newly promoted Sunderland to a 6th straight defeat.
The game was effectively over after 20 minutes.
Loan star Alibec scored after 5 minutes and Wonderkid Munian added a quick 2nd.
Another Tuncay header from a corner wrapped up the points.

Ipswich

A winnable Carling Cup game so I rested a few key players.
A terrible 1st half so I brought on Milevskyi after his recent injury and he scored immediately.
We conceded near the end of the game so we went into extra time.
We dominated extra time and Traore and James Rodriguez made the game safe and a 4th round home tie against West Ham, our next league opponents.

West Ham

A comfortable 2-0 win.
Tuncay scored another header from a Bernardo corner.
Glenn Whelan scored his 1st of the season deflecting a Bernardo free kick.

A great month despite the loss against Bolton.
The team is playing really well and with a decent run of fixtures in October I am hopeful of getting back into the top 4.

 

[Zidave]

October

Highlight of the month was virtual qualification to the knock out stages of the Champions League after 3 victories out of 3.
Knocked out of the Carling Cup was a disappointing end to the month, especially after leading 3-1.

CSKA

Will definitely be looking to buy Akinfeev after his man of the match performance kept the score down to a 2-0 victory.

Birmingham

Chucked away a 2-0 half time lead after an Muniain inspired 1st half display.
Disappointing defending in the 2nd half against a winless Birmingham team.

QPR

A brace from both strikers Muniain and Milevskyi put us well on the way to what shoudl have been an easy victory.
Joe Hart got robbed outside the area to make it 4-2 and we has a nervous stoppage time after a deep cross was missed by Hart to make it 4-3.
A game our keeper will want to forget.

Lyon

Milevskyi made an immediate impact after coming on for the injured Alibec.
Lyon pulled it back to 1-1 but Milevskyi cooly slotted home an 84th minute penalty to maintain our perfect start to Champions League football.

Everton

We were 2nd best in this game until the last 15 minutes when we could have snatched victory.
However, I am pleased with a point and Muniain maintained his goal a game average in the league.

West Ham - Carling Cup

3-1 hope at half time but Zola inspired a 2nd half comeback and we were poor in defence.
Shawcross had a particularly poor game but this was his 1st poor game in years.

Muniain is also averaging 7.82 in the league and must be a contender for player of the season on current form and is still only 19.

 

[Dan]

Wow mate you are doing great! Beating Lyon?

Absolutely smashing mate!

I am impressed!!!

 

[Zidave]

Wow mate you are doing great! Beating Lyon?

Absolutely smashing mate!

I am impressed!!!

Thanks mate.
The way we are playing at the moment I actually expected to beat them.
I see you have Muniain in your Liverpool save, he is immense for me always scores and takes his chances!!!

 

[Zidave]

I have been away for 2 weeks so I have managed to play whilst flying but not updated so this is a review of the season in 3 parts.

November & December

Champions League qualification secured in a comfortable 2-0 home win against Anderlecht but defeat away to Lyon by 2-0 meant I would have finished 2nd in the group even if I had beaten CSKA away. I played a weaker team as I had a tough Christmas period coming up and it looked like the race to 4th would be extremely tough!!!

Still happy to qualify until I drew Real Madrid in the 2nd round which will be a real test for my young team.

League form generally good but we had a blip in November losing 2 out of 3 games against perennial bogey team Wolves (like Stoke massively overperforming in the league)
We played better after that winning the games I expected to win.

The biggest disappointment was leading 4-1 at Anfield at Half Time and being lucky to escape with a draw at the end. Whatever Rafa said at half time really inspired them.Maybe he should do that in real life.

Still, safely in the top 4 at Christmas with an injury free squad & a real chance of qualifying for the Champions League. Looking at the perilous financial state this is required more than ever.

 

[Zidave]

January & February 2013

League

7 wins & 4 draws has virtually guaranteed Champions League qualification for another season which is a tremendous achievement and is much needed financially.

The only disappointing result was the 0-0 draw at home to Bolton.
This came after our 3rd round exit in the FA Cup to Spurs and I noticed that we do struggle for a game or two after a defeat.

We got our own back on Liverpool after the 4-4 draw by coming from behind to beat them 2-1.

The rest of the results were all very pleasing. We easily beat the weaker teams in the middle of the period and played excellently against a dogged Everton in the 1-1 draw in February.

We are level on points with Man City and Chelsea in the battle for 2nd as United are 8 points clear. Still, they were 14 in January and have started to wobble a bit as they sold a few of their old defenders in January.

FA Cup

Played badly away to Spurs and if you do that, you lose!! Enough said.
Extremely disappointed as I felt this was a winnable competition etc and would have been nice to have gone for the trophy.

Injuries

Lost my main man Tuncay for the majority of the season, Traore for 4 months and Diego Renan for 2 months.
My squad has enough strength in depth to cope,but can't afford anymore injuries.
Maybe the cup defeat was a blessing in disguise.

Champions League

The 2nd most exciting event in the Winter was the arrival of Real Madrid in the Champions League.
We played the 1st leg at home and we were a goal down within a minute. Higuain scored after 50 seconds.
We more than matched them for the next 76 until Ronaldo put the match, and probably the tie, out of reach.
Still, encouraging that we were not totally thrashed by 1 of the top sides in Europe.

Transfers

Carl Dickinson was the only notable transfer in January departing for a far too rich Notts County for £1.7m.
Didn't bring anyone in but was amazed to see quite a few targets in the Autumn for potential Bosmans in the summer.
I started to butter them up in the press & praise their form and got a better than expected response.

I managed to lure Mbia away from Marseille immediately and he will give good cover for Arismendi.
However, I was amazed when I beat off interest for Defour from West Ham and he agreed to join Stoke.
My ambitious plans to lure Gourcuff from Bordeaux were immediately rebuffed but no other team came in for him. 3 contract offers and I finally got my man.
I am totally amazed and can't wait til next season now.
He will replace Tuncay who is out of contract at the end of the season. He will be 31 and FM2010 is not kind to us elderlies...

 

[Zidave]

March and April

Champions League

Our debut in the Champions League ended at the 1st knockout stage with a very credible away draw at the Bernabeu.
The damage was done in the 1st leg but a 1-1 draw bodes well for next year (if we qualify) & shows we can mix it with the top teams.
A Bernardo penalty just before half time gave us hope of pulling off a remarkable come back but Benzema settled any Real Madrid nerves with 15 minutes to go.

Premiership

Back to securing Champions League football next year and hopefully finishing in the top 3 to avoid the lottery of a qualifier.

A pleasing home victory against local rivals and bogey team Wolves followed.It was a tight game with little attacking threat from the home team but goals in each half from loan signings Rodriguez and Alibec gave us all 3 points.

A hard fought victory against a determined Blackburn team with Rodriguez showing the end of season form that will hopefully secure a permanent move to the Britannia in the summer.
Steven Reid looked to have secured a share of the points with a 2nd 30 yard screamer of the game.
Milevskyi, however, wrapped up the win with a typically placed finish with 5 minutes left showing that you don't have to blast the ball.
This set up a top 2 showdown with Man City at the Britannia next.

We went a goal down to a Luis Suarez goal against Man City who started the game brightly.
However, we totally dominated the game after that and were deserved 3-1 winners which took Stoke to the summit of the Premier League for the 1st time under my tenure.
5 games left could Stoke really do the impossible and lift the Premiership trophy?

The league is ridicously tight with 4 teams separated by only 2 points...

 

[Zidave]

Next 3 games

I believed these were all winnable and this would be required as we had a tough last 2 games.
We never perform against Villa and Chelsea at home would be a potential title decider.

Newcastle Away

Totally battered them and after creating 5 clear cut chances it is amazing we didn't score.
Shawcross had a miserable day at the office conceding a penalty and was at fault for the 1st goal as well.
This has dealt a huge blow to our championship chances and may lead to us finishing outside the top 3 which would be a shame after the season we have had.

Middlesbrough home

We had to forget our last game against north eastern opposition and concentrate on ensuring 3 points.
Again, we dominated and created chance after chance.
A half time bollocking with some thrown tea cups and hairdryers generated the desired response and Rodriguez and Alibec duly stepped up to secure the 3 points and keep us in the hunt.

Pompey Home

4 goal James Rodriguez stole the show in a breath taking display of attacking football.
Pompey couldn't cope with our fluid attacking football and it was pleasing to see Tuncay return and score after his injury lay off.
Would this be too late to secure a new contract at the Britannia?

So we are top with 2 games left and the fans are dreaming of their biggest cup success since 1972.

I have finished the season but did this on the plane back from Milan and can't find the screenies of the last 2 games so will post as soon as I can locate?!?

 

[Kozak92]

Nice to see Tuncay get a Prem before he departs

Would you mind posting his goal stats for each season?

 

[Zidave]

Tuncay Sanli

As requested, he has played as an attacking midfielder at the tip of the diamond and has been solid for the 4 seasons now.
With James Rodriguez rise to prominence, Gourcuff's arrival and with Verratti and Canales in the squad I can't really find a place for him now which is a shame as he is lethal in front of goal.
However, players tend to get worse after age 31 so maybe it's time for a fresh start for him.