Taking Southampton North!

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Injury News...


Sindelar’s injury is minor, so he should be back for the Liverpool game, though slightly short of fitness.


English Premier League - Game 38 - Liverpool FC (Home)

Prins is back from injury and starts in order to gain some sharpness. Sindelar starts for the same reason. It’s more or less a first choice lineup, minus injuries, and so we should beat Liverpool today, dangerous as they are. It doesn’t matter too much if we don’t though.

In the 21st minute we came forwards on the counter, and whilst Romagnoli managed to block Sindelar’s effort, the rebound fell to Prins, who fired home!

Asensio picked out Sindelar in the 36th minute with a great pass, but Mignolet tipped his effort wide.

In the 47th minute Jurcik was tackled as he brought down Asensio’s free kick, and Laporte struck the loose ball onto the post!

In the 54th minute Chambers was released down the right by Asensio, and he whipped in a cross for Sindelar to power a header past Mignolet.

In the 68th minute Henderson slammed a volley into the roof of the net from a corner to put Liverpool back in it.

Bertrand hacked Asensio down in the 71st minute, and the winger got up and swung in a free kick for Laporte to head into the top corner.

Jacobsen, Persson and Amrani replaced Sindelar, Vietto and Prins in the 73rd minute. Asensio dropped into midfield and Amrani went to the right wing.

Gitschier picked up a late knock, to my great concern, so I took him off quickly to play with 10 men.

A solid win, though Liverpool had even less to play for than us, so they may have been on holidays mentally already. Good to see Prins and Sindelar getting straight back into the swing of things. Hopefully Gitschier is okay, that’s my only concern.


POM: Calum Chambers (9.0, 0G, 1A)
 

Injury News...
Well f***. I could have given him injections, but I really don’t like the idea of doing that. Instead, we will be without our best player for the biggest game of this story.

Of minimal consolation to Gitschier will be his Footballer of the Year Award. Dimarco wins Young Player of the Year - I forgot the screenshot, but you can see it in the email list - despite being older than Gitschier, who also came third in the Golden Boot, an incredible feat for an attacking midfielder. The pair were named alongside Laporte and Asensio in the Team of the Year., whilst I am Manager of the Year.

We dismantled Bolton in our friendly ahead of the Champions League Final. My assistant took charge and Asensio was everywhere, scoring two and setting up three!
 

UEFA Champions League - Grand Final - S.L. Benfica (Neutral)


18 year old Marcel Prins is the man entrusted with filling the enormous shoes of Moritz Gitschier on the biggest stage of them all. Federico Dimarco has returned to training and takes a place on the bench today despite a lack of fitness. Both Sindelar and Vietto start, and Wellington is in midfield ahead of club captain Ward-Prowse. Benfica have a frightening lineup, and this is sure to be an epic match.

And 75 seconds in, we had a fight on our hands. Ze Gomes dribbled through the defence and Dragowski parried his effort, but Guedes blasted home the rebound from a tight angle! Not the start I had in mind.

Just a minute later a woeful back header from Laporte was intercepted by Ze Gomes, who raced through alone. Dragowski kept out his shot with a fingertip save.

The rest of the half then played out without incident.

I made our first substitution in the 59th minute, bringing on Rodriguez for Vietto and shifting Sindelar up front.

And it didn’t take long for Rodriguez to make an impact! In the 63rd minute Asensio picked him out with a free kick, and Samaris charged down his volley, but he smoked the rebound, on the half-volley, into the top right corner!!! Game on!!

In the 76th minute Benfica regained the lead as Gaitan met a Nunes cross at the back post and headed home with ease.

Dimarco and Candreva came off the bench to replaced Chambers and Prins straight away. Asensio moved behind the striker and Candreva to the wing, whilst Nishimura moved across to right back.

And it proved another masterstroke, as it was Federico Dimarco, playing his first football in over 3 months, who sent in an angle cross in the 81st minute for Sindelar to sweep home at the near post!!

Neither team could find a winner in the final 10 minutes.

Here are the match stats as we headed into Extra Time…

 
You tease......leaving it at that point!

I will have to sit at work not doing anything until I see the end of the match, slow day at the office it shall be!
 
naterr said:
You tease......leaving it at that point!

I will have to sit at work not doing anything until I see the end of the match, slow day at the office it shall be!
Click to expand...

Well I'm an advocate for workplace productivity, so I'd better post the rest :P
 
Welcome Back!

The first 15 minutes were very cagey, as neither team wanted to risk losing the match.

Aaaaand the second 15 followed suit, and so the match would be decided by a Penalty Shootout. Not a good thing by any means, as so far my team has a terrible shootout record.



Candreva was the first man to step up for Southampton…



Goal! His shot squeaked under Rico to give us the lead. Southampton 1-0 Benfica



Samaris for Benfica…



Goal! Dragowski dived the wrong way. Southampton 1-1 Benfica



Asensio to the spot for Southampton…



Goal! Just beats the dive of Rico. Southampton 2-1 Benfica



Ze Gomes now for Benfica…



SAVED!!! Dragowski dives to his left, and snatches the ball before it can find the bottom corner!! Southampton 2-1 Benfica



Sindelar to consolidate our lead…



Goal! Buries it high and to the keeper’s left. Rico not too far away with his dive once again, but far enough. Southampton 3-1 Benfica



Gaitan for Benfica…



Goal! Top right, as Dragowski dives the wrong way. Southampton 3-2 Benfica



Federico Dimarco for Saints…



Saved!! Rico sticks out his left hand and knocks it aside! Benfica are back in this. Southampton 3-2 Benfica



Gonçalo Guedes for Benfica…



Goal! Just out of reach for the diving Dragowski! Everything square once more. Southampton 3-3 Benfica



Laporte for Saints as the penalties are now sudden death…



Off the bar!!! Horrifying for Southampton and now Benfica with the chance to win it. Southampton 3-3 Benfica



Frederico Venâncio with the chance to be a hero for Benfica…



And he’s done it! Straight past the hand of a motionless Dragowski! Benfica are the Champions League winners!



We lost five games this season. Five out of fifty-eight. One in the Community Shield, one in the FA Cup and three in the league. But thanks to a pair of penalty shootout losses, we’ve ended the season with just one trophy.


POM: Masao Nishimura (8.2, 0G, 0A)


 
Ouch... Such a painful way to lose a final.
Really bad luck as you neither deserved to lose nor to go all the way to the penalties.

But oh well... Those things happen sometimes (cases like PSV, Steaua Bucarest or even Real Madrid's "undécima" pretty much prove that not always the best emerges victorious).

Hopefully you'll be able to grasp European glory next year and also seize the English supremacy you've seeked out for so long (those ever elusive cups).

Keep the good work up and your head high.
 
Nooooo. damnable penalties. Why couldn't they learn from Real Madrid that you miss the pens with your NT, not the ones for your club?
 
Zlatan Lumic said:
Ouch... Such a painful way to lose a final.
Really bad luck as you neither deserved to lose nor to go all the way to the penalties.

But oh well... Those things happen sometimes (cases like PSV, Steaua Bucarest or even Real Madrid's "undécima" pretty much prove that not always the best emerges victorious).

Hopefully you'll be able to grasp European glory next year and also seize the English supremacy you've seeked out for so long (those ever elusive cups).

Keep the good work up and your head high.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, it really was pretty heartbreaking. There's always next year, but it's more painful because Asensio will be gone now. We have a seriously poor penalty shootout record, we could have probably another 5 trophies at least if we'd managed to win a few more.

Hopefully next season we can win a Cup or two!

Death Ball said:
Nooooo. damnable penalties. Why couldn't they learn from Real Madrid that you miss the pens with your NT, not the ones for your club?
Click to expand...

I hate penalties, we never seem to win them. Cost us so many times now. Exactly, do it for their national teams, ideally against Sweden!

AldoKemp-1 said:
Unlucky mate, you always knew it would be tricky!
Click to expand...

You're right, I did, I never felt confident and it turns out I was right not to :/ Oh well, I guess there's always next year
 

The results from around Europe. Atletico ended up edging the La Liga title, but then were stunned in the Europa League Final by Ajax! Real Madrid had a poor season but still managed to qualify for the Champions League, and Castilla won the Liga Adelante so the future is bright for Los Blancos. Monaco reclaimed the Ligue 1 crown from P$G, winning on goal difference, whilst Stade Brestois had a painful season. Everton went down in the Premier League, but denied Derby Europa League qualification on the last day. No real surprises in Italy, as poor Frosinone were outclassed.
 
View attachment 142953

Sweden & International Update

View attachment 142952​

San Marino actually scored against us, from a cross! One of those fluke goals you see every now and then. They almost did it twice, but the second one hit the bar. We hit the bar from one too, meaning that there were almost three crosses-turned-goals in the one match!

Our match against Georgia was extremely dull, as you can see. Georgia have a good team but we should probably have edged it.

17 year old Deac makes his debut for Romania! Amazing achievement! He doesn’t break their record, which is held by his Southampton teammate Burtic, who debuted at 16!

Next up is some major transfer news. Three major departures and two replacement signings...​
 

Three major sales bring in a combined 141 million pounds as I look to slash the wage budget in the case of Süle and Vietto, and sell my excess winger in Jacobsen. All three of them had excellent years the season before last, but none of them were as effective last season, with each of them losing their place in the starting lineup. I have enough wingers, so Jacobsen makes way. Vietto and Süle were each on 110k per week, money which I didn’t need to be spending on a 2nd choice striker and a 4th choice centre back.

These are my two big signings. Galloway will be my fourth centre back, with the handy bonus of being able to cover left back, as well as being home grown. Stojnic, meanwhile, will compete with Sindelar and Tobias Andersson for the striker role. Whilst Galloway is a downgrade from Süle in terms of pure ability, I’m hoping that Stojnic can prove to be an upgrade on Vietto. Andersson has impressed me on loan and for Sweden, so will get his chance this season. Persson meanwhile needs more regular game time, so has gone on loan to Feyenoord Rotterdam, where he should tear up the Eredivisie - you’re welcome, Bashuijsmans!! :P

 
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