The harsh life of football management

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Pre-season, signings and results…

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It’s quite clear what the aims are this season, the arrival of Ademilson and Paredes vocalised the ambition of the club, soon even more deadwood were to be shown the door, the likes of Etherington, Situ, Kwak Tae-Hwi, Donnelly, Jones, Davies and Routledge now all gone, this would see a chance to employ a new era in the clubs history, a chance to rebuild. Unlike before at Norwich experienced heads will be held onto, Britton and Hernandez both asked to leave but will not be let go. Having said all that the targets of choice were all of a youthful age. Phojo a young right back from Monaco comes in on loan to provide back up to Rangel, now 31. Mbaye Niang on loan from Milan adds to an already strong front line of Ademilson and Graham, not to mention more experienced striker Acquafresca signing on a free, the attack is showing a more Latin vibe. Will Hughes and Simao rejoin myself after moving from Norwich for £4m and £1m, both rejected from Bruce’s Norwich side and allowed leave. Another Italian joined after being released by his former club Genoa, Mattia Perin, just as well as the young goalkeeper will come in while Michael Vorm, injured in pre-season just before the kick off to the new season, Vorm faces up to 3 months sidelined with a hip injury. Boyata joins on loan from Man City, £18k per month will be the fee, a permanent deal can be made for £1.4m. And the last new signing was the reason Routledge was allowed join Watford for £1.7m, Gael Kakuta for £1.3m his replacement from Chelsea, Kakuta probably best known for his transfer to Chelsea from RC Lens which lead to tapping up controversy.


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Fresh start for Kakuta


Pre-season went well as the favoured 4411 was ditched for a 433, the side does seem to be struggling to score but are holding the ball very well and therefore controlling the games, in the final third the front three are not combining as desired. The season kicked of with a derby game, the South Whales derby versus Cardiff in Cardiff. Whittingham put Cardiff ahead after just 4 minutes, the game was a furious affair with plenty of bookings, the occasion got to the Welsh full back Neil Taylor who was shown red after a second yellow, it got worse for Swansea as Ki Sung-Yeung and Pablo Hernandez came off the field on stretchers, both would miss several weeks of action due to the injuries sustained. Ademilson grabbed his first goal and Swansea’s first point of the league campaign in a game that cost them more than just two pints dropped. The next four fixtures would see consecutive 1-0 victories for the Swans, However not to win by more against Yeovil in the League Cup was disappointing, but winning 1-0 is hardly a bad habit, Hughes and Niang picking up their first goals for the club during the run of form.


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First of many one hopes


The victory in the League Cup 2nd round resulted in an interesting 3rd round tie, Norwich City away, a return to Carrow Road, a spicy occasion and a must win on a personal level. The last game saw Swansea travelling to take on Chalton, goals in both halves from Ki Sung-Yeung saw his side go 2-0, with ten minutes left, a comfortable lead and control of the game, changes were made to the marking system as I looked to experiment, It back fired, two late goals from Charlton made it 2-2 much to my embarrassment. Sitting in 5th in the table after five games, not bad, unbeaten, not bad, but should be 1st I feel, two dropped points against Cardiff was understandable but the game at Charlton they were needlessly thrown away. The side look good in all areas bar attack, the lone striker is failing to get in scoring positions, Kakuta is aimlessly giving away the ball by shooting from all angles wasting possession, big names will return soon and over time the attack will be sorted out. It looks like a potentially good season for the Swans and a return could be on the cards first time of asking, well it need be if I don’t want to be stuck in the job center again. Thanks for reading, on another note, the German, French and Belgian leagues have been added incase of another sacking, please like, rate and comment.
 
The only way is up…

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Fifteen games now played in the league as starts to shape up, sitting in 2nd, only one loss, and a great defensive record. However this is not enough, yes were controlling possession, yes were conceding very few, but the attack is resembling a front three of Torres triplets, too often is the ball punted from range to end up wasting the build up play. Things will be changed as slowly the 433 tactic has been adapted and the early signs are encouraging. Perin has flourished while covering for Vorm, 15 games in the league and nine clean sheets, Vorm now may see himself for sale during the next window as his £36k per week pay package soars in comparison to the squad, if he is no longer need it may be better to bring in a cheaper back up of maybe youthful or highly experienced level under a much lower pay and see the money saved reinvested into the clubs structure. There was very sad news as Will Hughes broke his leg, this came at a time were he was becoming a vital member, a devastating start to his career at Swansea.

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So how is Ademilson doing? Terrible, he is having problems settling in Whales, the tactics aren’t utilising him and his goal tally shows that. So what going to be done? Simple, still a slow tempo but more direct passing, as the players always looked for the short option before their vision for the killer ball was gone, it was like putting blinkers on your player maker, your killing the vision. With these changes I expected to see more attacking play, more goals from the front three, and Swansea on top of the table. Now for the League cup, we were beaten by the evil Norwich to my anger, it was close but Helenius towered above to ****** any crosses floated towards him, game ended a 3-1 loss. We were on a ten match unbeaten run till the loss to Derby but still I felt the tactic wasn't working, it was not something for the future and to develop a squad with. The board has raised the transfer budget as the club is still flushed with cash from there time in the premiership, firstly to £5m, and later to £9m, no players at the moment seemed needed, unless players to replace the likes of Hernandez, Britton, Graham and Michu come up as the four have been poor and a starting to decline. Next time how the tactic gets on and the half way point review.


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The redevelopment…

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At the halfway point its all going smoothly, sitting on top of the table as I planned and implementing a new style of play to utilise the front three. So lets see the proof, Ademilson before the redevelopment of the attack was struggling to hit the back of the net, let alone get on the end of chances, now he proudly has 16 league goals, Kadrii has been superb in supplying assists and has signed a new contract since his old one only kept him at Swansea till the end of the season. Generally goals are coming more freely and look more likely with chances created regularly, but most pleasing is the assists are coming from everyone.

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Yes everything is coming along nicely, except for a few dropped points and a complete defensive turn around of 9 clean sheets in the first 15 games, to only 2 in the fourteen games since. A new marking system has lead to more break aways for Swansea but the opposition are finding gaps in the backline and making them pay, This has caused major frustration and countless tweaks to the back four and anchor man, the antidote has not been found yet but with my need for clean sheets I will spend the hours needed to find it.

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Before as mentioned there were plans to sell Vorm, any deal now looks unlikely as he picked up another injury and will be injured for the whole window it seems. A youngster was signed as new back up to now number one Perin, Tomas Bures, a seventeen year old Czech goalkeeper signing from Slovacko for £275k, a steal for a player of immense potential. Two players have already left, Ashley Richards joined for £450k and Spaniard Michu has now official signed for high flying Wolves for £3m, Wolves sitting 4th in the BPL entering the new year. Michu failed to impact my tactics in a positive manner, most times would shoot from every seen angle at goal and it rarely hit the target and when it did was a tame effort.

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The money entering the club has been reinvested wisely, new plans to improve the training facilities have been announced. Also a new sponsorship deal was signed with the club, with even more sources of finances the clubs are still making a loss each month, these loss have ranged between £500k and £3.3m a month. The balance is healthy, a figure of just of £32m must bring a smile to board members faces, they have even risen the budgets again, these budgets will be used cautiously as it may be smarter to save and spend next season when a higher rep of player can be enticed to the club. Mario Suarez could be returning under my management on loan again, this will be to cover Simao who has been every present this season as he ventures off to the Africa Cup of Nation, other players linked with a move to the Swans are Diakite.


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Till next time thanks for reading. Please like, rate and comment. If you want more detail, changes to layout and changes of style please let me know, all suggestions will be taken on board.
 
On a run…

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So with the season almost of over and only ten games remaining it’s starting to get exciting. The goals are flying in with Ademilson on fire. Swansea look more or less secured for promotion and now should be fighting for the title, the Swans are still leaking goals in at the back but slight improvements have been made. The FA Cup draws have been kind so far, in the three games played we have faced no Premier League sides. In both the 4th round and 5th round we spent the majority of the match with ten men, discipline has become a problem as the players have been showing violent streak of late, lucky to scrape by Forest and against Leicester if it wasn’t for Ademilson it would have been the end of the run, so into the quarters we go.


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The chance of progression will be though, facing QPR currently 4th in the top league.


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As predicted Mario Suarez joined on loan and looks as silky as ever, Frimpong arrived also on loan to bolster the midfield and help with the 6 home-grown player rule for league games. Lastly and only permanent signing, Ondrej Mazuch from Dnipro for £2.5m, his contract was due to run out at the end of the season but I wanted him now, luckily with the current finances I could afford to, a top defender.

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More money has been invested to the infrastructure to my delight, this time the youth facilities to my delight.


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Every cloud…

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So we did it, Swansea will be in the Premier League next season, bouncing back first time of asking and winning the league in the process. In a way the sacking from Norwich was the best thing to happen, before I played not to lose, now my more attacking style, aka playing to win is working and with flair, now I just need to try combine some elements of the old solid defence. Really everything but the title would have been a disappointment this season, the club has money and the squad of a Premiership side. I did rush the reports this season as it was a blip of a season one to just finish to prepare for next season, it was however a great learning curve and I feel a top 10 finish will be possible straight away.



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The Premier League finished as follows and will be who we join and replace, Norwich with a European Placing after a League Cup victory, in a way nice to see the side I built doing well as they age.


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So what about the FA Cup, in the 6th round the home game against QPR ended 4-1 to the Swans, an emphatic win with I was deservedly proud of and gave me great excitement for next season. We would travel to Wembley to face Newcastle, a tight and tense affair. The game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, and remained so after extra time, Perin was the hero, saving three penalties during the shoot-out to face Man United in the final, even saving a penalty during the 90 minutes.

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RVP injured and Vidic suspended I felt maybe it would be are hands on the trophy but it was not to be, a strong united side coming away 2-0 winners to do the double, but as they say every cloud has its sliver lining as after the game it was announced that Swansea had qualified for the Europa League through their cup run.


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Player Stats for Season 2014-2015

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Y’all ready for this…

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So the new season is just around the corner, its that time again to say how pre season went and talk about the ins/outs at the club. The squad is now starting to shape into how I would like it, it feels like the strongest squad I’ve had as a whole. Players that were the major players before I got here have left and been replaced, anybody would was ageing and didn't wow me last season was show the door for new blood.

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The free transfers have been fantastic, Tom Cleverley, Yasssine Benzia, Fernenia, Faraoni. The big surprised move was Fernando Torres on loan from Chelsea for just 10% of his wages and a fee of £26k per month to pay, now 31 he can still play to a high level but also give advice to the younger players of Benzia, Ademilson and Babacar of which I will be looking to make a front three of. I felt being a Welsh side I wanted some more welsh players in my side, I splashed out £6m for Collison, a player of attributes needed that could play in a number of roles, Wijnaldum has rejoined me as Bruce had transfer listed the Dutchman, besides from Bassong and Helenius , Bruce is looking to built a more British style team, the old basic and boring 442 type, I fear the drop could be for them soon under his management judging by his dealings in the market. Mohammed Abu can be made permanent for £2m, he looks to be the perfect fit at the DM spot and a bid may be made in January.


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Pre-season went well with a 100% win record, Benzia, Faraoni, Vico and Abu shining. Europa League draw was kind and will surely qualify, the month of august looks like a nice return, maybe will do monthly updates, what you guys think?


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August 2015

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So we started away to Fulham, I was unsure what to expect really, the pre season lead me to believe anything could be possible this season, but this was the real test. A narrow 1-0 win for us, in truth Fulham were the better side, we got lucky. Collison impressing on his debut with a delicious finish to win the game, top corner magic. Now for the Europa League qualifier, a big win was expected and was what we got, 5-0, what was interesting was seeing how we faired against a 352 set up.

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Already looking a good signing


The second league game now, versus Hull, and the first home game of the season. Before the game the player in the last position we wanted an injury got one, Taylor out for 5 weeks, Cherubin a multi purpose defender was moved onto the left. 12 minutes into the game Cherubin comes off injured and will miss 3 weeks. Despite not having any more left backs on the bench (let alone in the squad) a comfortable 2-0 was the scoreline, Vico running the show. The return Europa League tie, an easy 3-0, should have been more, their keeper was on top form making 13 saves out of the 16 on target.

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The last game of the month was away to follow new boys Wigan, 2-1 it ended, not as close as the scoreline suggests but it did take a late Torres goal, volleying home a Rangel (now in the left back spot) cross. The victory see us end the month on top of the league a great start. I do realise they were relatively easy games, the following month is also quite kind, facing Derby (away) and Norwich (home) in the league and Huddersfield (home) in the League Cup. No more players joined this window and all the new signings have made their debuts.

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The big games next month will be Man Utd (home) in the league and Feyenoord (home) in the Europa League, the group stage draw wasn’t near as forgiving as the playoff draw, it seems like the stage’s group of death, with Feyenoord, Standard, CSKA Moscow and ourselves, oh well all we can do is try.


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Please like, rate and comment.
 
My game froze and i lost a few months of games up to the Christmas, I may carry on but as of now the idea of doing it all again is off putting and frustrating I may start a new game for the time being as a break from the annoyance of replaying games is due, perhaps turning a Irish side into a superpower or any other ideas you suggest, what you guys think?
 
Maybe an irish side starting in the Conference, like this post if u think is a good idea
 
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