The rise of Fulham

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A much needed victory in the league after the loss to Southampton. Christensen linked wonderfully with Baselli in the midfield and carved open the Cardiff defense. Christensen's marauding runs into the opposition box troubled their defense and one such run produced a goal and gave us the lead in the 33rd minute. Woodrow and Roberts scored 2 in the space of three minutes just before the hour.
We dominated possession throughout the match and had the better opportunities. A well deserved victory!

And back to European Football:
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No goal glut today unlike our last meeting. Just a close 2-1 victory. With the next premier league game only 3 days away, I rested some key players for this game. Baselli, Balanta, Lustig, Roberts and Woodrow were not in the starting XI. Scottish striker Ross McCormack, who hasn't really shown much promise in the past year put forth a fantastic display. He headed home the first and was a thorn in the opposition defense for the 80 odd minutes he played. Christensen scored our second as he thumped the ball home after a forward run into the box.

A good victory after going down to an early goal. We are now at the top of our group , tied on points with AS Saint-Etienne.

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The 45 days I don't look forward to...

After 10 games played, we are 6th in the League - 2 points behind West Brom but with a game in hand.However, the upcoming set of fixtures has me worried.
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After Norwich (A) and Swansea (H), we face Arsenal (H), Man Utd (A) and Liverpool (A) in consecutive league games. After the Liverpool game, we face Aston Villa at Villa park and then we have the bid derby game against Chelsea at Craven Cottage. An extremely tough set of fixtures in the league.

We also make two trips to Old Trafford in 10 days to face them in two different competitions.

To make things even more complicated, we have five away games in a row in a space of two and a half weeks after the home game against The Gunners. I am already worried about fitness issues, injuries and some sub-par performances.

I am certainly not looking forward to these fixtures.
 
My assistant Giuseppe Baresi left for Italy to deal with some personal matters. But it didn't stop him from being on top of things. He kept updating me on critical things via e-mail and sometimes via phone, when the matter was a critical one.

He sent me an e-mail about our first team GK Marcus Bettinelli. Last year, I appointed Franck Raviot as the GK coach to work with first team GKs. Bettinelli looked promising but I had my doubts last year. However, Raviot has done a rather good job in making sure Marcus performs upto his potential. Raviot and Bettinelli are both happy with the training and the progress they're making. Baresi, after talks with Raviot suggested some future training regimes that would benefit Bettinelli. I agreed and told them to start right away.
There was another issue Baresi wanted to bring to my notice. This one was a much bigger issue and he told this over the phone. Woodrow wants to move to Arsenal. Oh god!

"****, ****, ****, why the **** do I have to deal with this again?", I mumbled under the voice. Baresi knew my feelings exactly and he told me that it's good to have a chat with Cauley. He suggested that I be cautious while talking to Woodrow, and not to burst into anger.

Woodrow came to my office, and he brought up the topic.

"Alright, Woodrow. This is not the first time you came to me about moving to a different club to play in Champions League. I will not even begin to try and convince you to stay as you seem to have your heart set on this.", I said trying to maintain my calm.

I continued, "Arsenal haven't approached me or the club about an offer. So, it's pointless talking about this. Just wait till the end of this season. If Arsenal still want you, we can talk again. Is that OK?".

"That sounds good. I certainly can wait until the end of this season.", he said and left the room.


 
Lippo255 said:
Oh no! :O
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I really don't wanna lose Woodrow but he was disappointed the last time when I said I wouldn't sell him to Newcastle. I would rather have him perform well this season without any concerns, and hope that Arsenal find some other striker to fulfill their needs.
 
Just after I told him that I'd accept a bid from Arsenal at the end of the season, Woodrow scores a hat-trick. Finnbogason had to be left out of the team today as he was struggling for match fitness. All the scoring pressure was on young Woodroe and he delivered, with a hat-trick in the first half. The first and third were shots from the edge of the area where as the second one was more of a poacher's goal as he scored from under 10 yards after latching onto a through ball by Ruiz, who was making his 125th appearance for the club.

The third goal was really good as it started with an interception by Balanta in our own half and within seconds, the ball found its way into the back of the opposite net. Swift passing and a very good counter attack. The third goal can be viewed below.
[video=dailymotion;x2kynbh]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2kynbh_fm-15-counter-attack-goal-vs-swansea_videogames[/video]​

This was a big win for us, especially after winning at Norwich. We now face Arsenal, Liverpool and United in the next 3 league games and this gives us much needed confidence.
 
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Two games in 3 days.

One step closer to qualification to the knock-outs. Since we had to play Arsenal only two days after this fixture, I rested a few players. Baselli, Kacaniklic, Lustig and Finnbogason didn't feature in the starting XI. Ruiz, who played just behind the lone striker Woodrow played several key passes to him. Woodrow came twice to scoring in the first half but both of them deflected off the cross-bar. However, he gave us the lead after the hour mark as he volleyed home a Roberts' cross.
Despite the scoreline being close, we dominated the game. A draw in our final group game vs. Metalist should be enough for a top spot in the group.
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With this game scheduled only 2 days after the Europa League fixture, a lot of players were not match fit coming into this game. Most notably, Woodrow, Christensen and Stafylidis had to start as substitutes.

The first half ended 1-1 after Dragovic canceled Robert's opener. Giroud gave Arsenal the lead after the hour mark. A lot of our attempts to equalize immediately after that failed as we squandered a good number of chances. However, with 10 minutes left, Kacaniklic headed the equalizer from a right wing cross by Lustig. I told the players to be cautious and to tighten up at the back since we usually have a habit of conceding immediately after scoring. No goals were scored after Kacaniklic's header and the game ended with the two teams grabbing a point each.​
 
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EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL GROUP GAME
Thanks to our high GD and a 2-0 head to head record against Saint-Etienne, we have very high chances of qualification going into this game . A draw would've helped us top the group but instead, we won. And convincingly.​



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A fantastic victory. Woodrow opened the scoring from the penalty spot after a dubious penalty call. Metalist equalized within 10 minutes of that. After that, it was all one-way traffic. Williams gave us back the lead and Woodrow doubled it just before the break. Roberts and Baselli then scored two in two minutes soon after the re-start. The stadium went into dead silence after that.

Metalist tried to score but it didn't help as it was Baselli who scored our 6th giving us a huge 5-goal lead. It was the best of the 7 goals scored in the game as Baselli scored a wonderful volley from the edge of the box after a clearance header by Metalist's defense fell to him.​
[video=dailymotion;x2l0d0o]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l0d0o_fm-15-baselli-goal-on-the-volley-vs-metalist_videogames[/video]

We top our group in Europa League with 5 wins and just one loss. We scored 21 goals in 6 games while conceding only 5 which has to be the highlight of our campaign so far.​
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Taking on the Premier League Red giants!

We travel to Old Trafford and Anfield for our next two games. This wasn't going to be easy and we had to put on our best performances for any chances of success.

vs. MANCHESTER UNITED
The recent congested fixtures is really taking its toll on the players. After facing Metalist in Kharkiv, Ukraine on 1st December, we travel to Old Trafford to face the mighty Man United on the 4th December. A lot of players weren't match fit but I had to field them in spite of that because this Premier League clash is a huge one.​

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I went with a defensive approach to this game. In all honesty, I was going for a draw. With a holding DM and a ball winning CM, four players were instructed to stay back for most of the game. It worked well in the first half as United didn't create any clear-cut chances.
4 mins into the second half, Di Maria's 30 yard curler was well saved by Bettinelli but it fell to Aboubakar making a forward run, and the striker passed the ball into the empty net. "**** it!", I thought. I brought on Finnbogason to support Woodrow at the front and try to score a goal. We couldn't find a way past though.
United sealed the deal in the 88th minute when Mata scored from a freekick with a beautiful 25 yard curler.

I was at the touchline, with hands in my coat pocket and looking at the bright blue sky. May be I was expecting it to miraculously rain goals for us since that's the only way we could get anything from that game. I congratulated Guardiola on the win and headed back to our dressing room.
vs. LIVERPOOL
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With excessive traveling and games, Woodrow got injured and will be out for 3 weeks. A huge blow to us. I was confident of Finnbogason getting the goals for us. After 2 matches in four days, we had a week's break to prepare for the Liverpool game.
A thriller, especially the second half. Liverpool carved us open quite a few times in the first half but Bettinelli held his nerve and pulled off a couple of magnificent saves. Just like the last game, we went into the break with the score at 0-0.
I was a bit harsh on the lads as they let Liverpool dominate us way too easily. I think Rodgers gave a similar team talk since both teams came out with a bang in the second half. Much more aggressive tackling and a greater number of shots were taken by both teams. Finnbogason broke the deadlock as he leapt above Sakho to connect with Kacaniklic's cross. It was a thumping header.

However, Sakho made amends soon as he launched a ball from deep inside their half to find Sturridge who just beat the offside trap and was clear. Sturridge put it away neatly, but Sakho was the architect. What a pass! Sterling gave Liverpool the lead as he sidefooted the ball into the net from 6 yards. Liverpool were coasting to victory.

Until....

Finnbogason dribbled past two Liverpool players before laying on a through ball to McCormack to slot it home. I jumped in joy and punched the air. With 3 minutes on the 90 left, the game was heading towards a draw. McCormack hit the post with a header in the 1st of the 4 mins of added time. That was the last significant action of the game. One point well-earned for us!


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After a morning of intense training, I headed back to my office to have a quick phone call. When I was exiting my office, Mark Taylor interrupted me in a hurry. "Please not an injury, please not an injury", I said to myself as the head physio wanting to talk to you urgently is never a good thing.

"Christensen...he's out..injured", he mumbled.

My palm met my forehead in disappointment. "Not Christensen. How long are we talking about? Days or weeks?".

"Umm, 3 to 4 months.", he said.

"Of course it is.", I replied without hiding my disappointment. "So, two of my top performers Woodrow and Christensen won't play against Man United in the League Cup. ****** perfect."

"Well, there is a good news too", he said in a bit more cheerful tone.

At this point, finding a penny laying on the ground would cheer me up. "What is it?", I asked positively.

"Jermaine Jones will join us in the training tomorrow. I ran a few final tests yesterday and all results look good. He'll be available for the United game".

"Well, I'll take that. That is actually a good news. He'll add much needed steel to our midfield. Thanks Mark. If that's all, I'll be off to the pitch to continue with the training. Just send me a formal report as usual."

"Will do, T.", he said, and the meeting concluded.


Christensen has been fantastic this season. Furthermore, he is really growing as a key player for our side. His stats are all really good and provides the much needed energy to our midfield.
 
Capital One Cup 2016-17: Quarter-Final

We make a trip to Old Trafford for the second time in 10 days. Three days ago, we were at Anfield where we scored an 87th minute equalizer to ****** a point. I was hoping that would propel the fellows to turn in an inspired performance.

The teams are all set. Woodrow and Christesen were out injured, and some players were struggling for match fitness (I know I sound like a broken record but all this travel in quick time has really drined my players' energy). Youngsters Adebayo and Jude Chapman started as substitutes.
I'll go straight to the exciting part of the game. The match went into extra time after remaining goalless at 90 minute mark. The scoreline stayed at 0-0 at the end of extra time despite Man United having the better chances. To make matters worse for us, Balanta got injured in the 104th minute of the game after I used all my 3 substitutions. We had to play the last quarter hour with 10 men. Our defense held tight and didn't concede despite being down to 10 men. And the match had to be decided on penalties. And the game entered a whole new dimension of thrill during that time.

I talked to the players and motivated them. I told them to forget about the 120 minutes that just happened and told them to focus on converting the spot kick.

Both teams scored their first 3 spot kicks, however Ruiz's effort went in after deflecting of the crossbar.

Emerson Hyndman, who took our 4th penalty missed it. He sent it just wide. Hyndman was dejected, and so was I. Schneiderlin scored for United and gave them the lead.

Amorebieta stepped up to take our fifth. He had to score to keep us in the game. And he scored the perfect penalty. Into the top corner and the keeper had no chance. But Herrera could win it for United. I couldn't even watch it anymore. But..
HERRERA MISSED! HE SENT IT HORRIBLY WIDE! WE WERE BACK IN IT!!! Emerson Hyndman seemed relieved.

And it's sudden death time.​

With the shootout tied at 4-4, players from both teams stepped up. The next 10 players scored for both teams. There were a lot of closecalls. Finnbogason's second spotkick went in off the cross bar. Luke Shaw, Rojo and Bettinelli's penalty kicks just beat the keeper.
Mata's spot kick was almost saved by Bettinelli. The ball deflected off of Bettinelli's gloves before crossing the line. Bettinelli felt like he should've saved it but it was struck with some power!

Score tied at 14-14, Lustig stepped up for us. Slotted into the bottom corner and Valdes had no chance. Herrera stepped up to level for United. AND BETTINELLI SAVES!!! FULHAM WIN.

I'll leave this except from the commentary to describe what followed.
Herrera for United. He has to score to keep United in the game. BETTINELLI SAVES! What a good save by the Fulham keeper, Herrera can't believe it. He missed both his spotkicks. United are out.

Fulham players are rejoicing. The Fulham fans go berserk and even their manager couldn't control his excitement. He runs towards his players and joins in the celebration. United fans couldn't believe it.

We have witnessed a thriller. Fulham win on penalties by 15-14. Yes, 15-14, you heard it right. What a game!!!
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Final scenes from Old Trafford

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Match Summary

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League Cup and EURO Cup draws

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CAPITAL ONE CUP SEMIFINAL DRAW​
So, we defeated Manchester United in the League Cup for the second season running. We are through to the semi-finals. Chelsea, Liverpool and Stoke are all through to the semi-finals after their victories.
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We got lucky as we avoided both Chelsea and Liverpool. We might have to face one of them if we make it to the finals.
A bit of history
In my three seasons as Fulham manager, I have faced Manchester United in the league cup thrice. In the last two years, the winner of the Man United vs. Fulham game went onto win the Capital One cup.
2014-15 (Third round) Fulham 1-4 Man Utd; Winners: Man Utd
2015-16 (Semi final) Fulham 4-2 Man Utd; Winners: Fulham
2016-17 (Quarter final) Fulham p0-0 Man Utd; Winners: ???
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UEFA EURO CUP SEMIFINAL DRAW
After topping our group, we were eagerly waiting for the Europa League draw. We got AS Roma. This is going to be a tough challenge. Roma are currently 5th in Serie A and have star players like Pjanic, De Rossi and Lavezzi. We need to play at our best in order to win the tie.​
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10 men vs 10 men

Our statistics this season say that we score close to 30% of our goals in the 16-30 minute mark. And we took the lead in the 17th minute. However, it wasn't a player of ours to score it. A Voser's cross from the right flank deflected off of Senderos' head and flew into Villa's net. An own goal by the Swiss defender and we took the lead. We went into the break with a well-deserved 1-0 lead.

Aston Villa brought on Agbonlahor at half time. I told my players to play deep and not to push high up because our defenders rank 18th in the league in the (average) pace category. Without Balanta, our lack of pace was extremely obvious. Gabby Agbonlahor beat our defenders with raw pace and slotted one past Bettinelli. This is what I was most worried about. And my concerns worsened as Amorebieta couldn't keep up with Agbonlahor and picked up his second yellow card after a foul on the striker. Down to 10 men! I had to sacrifice Ruiz's attacking creativity to bring on my substitute defender, Lustig.

Luckily though, Villa's Okore got himself sent-off 3 mins later balancing the game once again. I told our defense to play very deep. Villa's fast paced attackers still troubled us every now and then but it was US U-20 international Emerson Hyndman who put us ahead by scoring his first goal for the club in the 80th minute. Hyndman usually plays as a deep-lying playmaker but since Ruiz was substituted, I gave him the freedom to push forward. And it paid, as he found himself in acres of space when Kacaniklic drilled in a cross. A thumping finish gave us the 2-1 lead, which we held on to in the dying stages of the game.

One thing was obvious from the game. Our players, especially defenders and strikers are really bad when it comes to speed and acceleration. It never was a problem with our strikers because they still kept banging in the goals. Teams like Villa, however, tend to trouble us often with their pacy attack. I need to fix this.
 
Fulham vs. Chelsea
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The build-up to this game was intense, as always. This is one of the biggest rivalries for us. I am in my 3rd season as Fulham manager and I've never won against Chelsea - home or away. Jose Mourinho has always got the better of me up until this point.

Now, Chelsea do have the better team. And they bought a whole bunch of talented players and spent $167M in the transfer market last summer. This was going to be a tough game for us. I've read the recent Chelsea scout reports and we prepared well over the last couple of days in training. We focused on defending and especially ways to counter the Fabregas threat.

It was time for one final team talk. These kind of games are all for the fans and that's exactly what I told the boys. Parker, who is familiar with premier league rivalries rallied the players and they responded in a positive manner. I finally made my way to the pitch.
As the home team manager, I walked upto Jose Mourinho and wished him good luck and said a few words. He had a few choice words for me as well. I went to my technical area and waved to the fans.

The match:
Line-ups didn't offer much surprise except for Parker's inclusion in the starting XI. He was selected for one job - to keep Fabregas out of the game.

6' Fulham 0-1 Chelsea It took Chelseajust 6 minutes to take the lead and silence the crowd at Craven Cottage. Fabregas slipped past Parker and set-up Oscar for a wonderful chance. The Brazilian wasn't gonna miss.

15' Fulham 1-1 Chelsea Finnbogason scores for Fulham. Daniele Baselli's movement has been causing some defensive worries for Chelsea in the past 3 minutes or so. This time, he lobs one over Zouma's head to find Finnbogason who hammers it home with a lot of power.

26' Bettinelli saves! Parker is doing a fine job in marking Fabregas but Chelsea have way too many creative midfielders. Oscar dribbled past Stafylidis and put in a lovely cross into the box. Costa makes good contact but Bettinelli makes a fingertip save to his low right. Terrific save by the Fulham keeper.

35' Fulham 1-2 Chelsea **** it! Zouma scores from a Chelsea corner taken by Fabregas. It was bad defending by Fulham. Opposition centerbacks simply shouldn't be left unmarked during corners. That was really poor. The goal came at the worst time for Fulham as they were just starting to pass the ball around with confidence.

36' Penalty for Fulham! Alex Kacaniklic makes a brilliant run into the Chelsea box and is tripped by Azpilicueta. There was contact but Kacaniklic made the most of it and the ref gives the penalty. Chelsea players protesting the decision but the ref is having none of it. Finnbogason steps up and SCORES!!! Fulham 2-2 Chelsea What a game!

45+2' And that's half-time here at Craven Cottage. It's been a thrilling game so far!


56' Double save! Thibaut Courtois keeps Chelsea in the game. Baselli's shot from 25 yards was heading in the direction of the goal but Courtois makes a save at full stretch. The ball fell to Finnbogason who tries to score but Courtois uses his right foot to deny Fulham again. Fantastic goalkeeping.

64' Fulham 2-3 Chelsea Chelsea take the lead for the third time. Nemanja Matic won the ball from Baselli and found Costa with a neat pass. Costa dribbled past Parker and Balanta but is forced to pass sideways to Hazard due to Dan Burn's pressure. Hazard plays a neat one-two with Diego Costa and scores a fine goal.
Balanta is protesting here. He's appealing for an offside and is letting the ref know his thoughts. The ref is annoyed and gives Balanta a lecture.

79' Injury Diego Costa is left injured in the middle of the field and is forced off. Balanta's tackling proved too strong for the Spaniard to handle. Chelsea players think it was an unfair challenge but Balanta cleanly won the ball.

Fulham start playing long balls and are desperate to score. Baselli, Ruiz, Finnbogason are all pushing forward. But Chelsea are repelling these attacks with rather ease. Not looking good for Fulham here.

90+3' And it's all over! Atkinson blows the final whistle and Chelsea beat Fulham at Craven Cottage. A narrow victory, but 3 points for Chelsea. Fulham put in a very good performance despite the loss.


 
Christmas time Season review

The last month has been hectic, to say the least. We had to face the 'big four' clubs in our last 5 Premier League fixtures.
The travel made it even worse. We had to play in Old Trafford only 3 days after facing Metalist in Ukraine. There were a lot of tired legs in the squad and we lost a couple of key players over the course of the last month - Woodrow and Christensen.

Results:
Barclays Premier League: The results weren't too bad. We lost to League leaders Man Utd at Old Trafford in the league, and also lost to rivals Chelsea at home. We did managed to draw against Arsenal at Craven Cottage and Liverpool at Anfield. Not the best performance but considering the intense scheduling, I am content with it.
We did win against Aston Villa, so that makes it 5 points from 5 league games.

Europa League: We won convincingly in Ukraine against Metalist to top our Europa League group, where we face AS Roma in the first knockout round.

League Cup: The highlight was the penalty shootout victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford. A 15-14 victory in the shootout ensured we made it to our second League Cup semi-final in two seasons. We face Stoke City in the semi-finals.
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[TD]Premier League[/TD]
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[TD]League Cup[/TD]
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Upcoming fixtures:
Another hectic month to follow. Atleast we don't have to face the big four clubs in a hurry. Newcastle, Hull and Watford and Middlesbrough are all winnable games in the league, but we need to put in good performances.
We also face Middlesbrough in the FA Cup third round, which makes it two away games against them in 4 days. Should be interesting.
Facing Stoke City in the League Cup semi-final gives us a decent chance of going through to our second consecutive final.
We don't have to worry about the Europa League until the first week of February.
 
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Three in three!

A very dominant performance. A much needed victory after a patchy month or so when we faced the big four. It took us a while to get out passing game going but once we did, Newcastle simply couldn't keep up. Led by skipper Balanta, our defense was rock-solid. Ruiz and Hyndman pulled strings from the midfield, linking splendidly with striker Finnbogason on multiple occasions.

The first goal came from a corner when Balanta rose high and headed the ball towards the goal. The ball took a deflection before crossing the goal line. Kacaniklic added a second minutes after the opener to give us some breathing room. Ruiz completed the scoring after a nice flowing move that started from our defense. The goal can be viewed below.
[video=dailymotion;x2l6mv0]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l6mv0_fm-15-ruiz-goal-vs-newcastle_videogames[/video]
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Woodrow was back after being injured for 3 weeks and started on the bench. We took the lead through Williams who scored from the penalty spot after he was brought down by a rash tackle. Finnbogason doubled the lead with a beautiful header from Stafylidis' cross. 2-0 up at half time and we were looking really good.

But Watford halved our lead just before the hour mark. Felipe Caicedo found some space in the 6 yard box and connected with a low cross from our right. Around the 76th minute mark, we came close to extending our lead but Watford keeper pulled off 4 brilliant saves in 3 minutes to keep them alive in the game. That was some top notch goal keeping to keep us out.

I could almost sense a comeback after that moment of brilliance by their keeper but thankfully, we kept possession well towards the end and got the 3 points!
Top quality performance. We had 60% possession and completely shut down Hull in the midfield as Jermaine Jones was tirelessly putting pressure on them. Baselli's long passing was a joy to watch at times and it even brought a few applauses from a member of our coaching staff who used to be a master at it, Paul Scholes. He released Williams and Roberts on multiple occasions. When Roberts got the ball from Baselli in the 69th minute, he squared it to find Williams on the opposite post who tucked it away.

We were 1-0 ahead and never seemed like losing the game! 9 points from the last 3 games. With Liverpool and Man City slip in their corresponding games, we closed down the gap between us and 4th spot to 1 point.
 
Tying the defenders down

We played Watford on 31st Dec 2016 and Hull on 2nd Jan 2017. So, I hardly had enough time to celebrate the New Year. Same goes for the players. So, I gave them an extra day-off and I did the same. I was in my room at my home, leaned back on my chair and watched some TV. I was looking forward to a calm day but it all changed when I got a call from Mike Rigg, our director of football. I rarely take leave and my staff know not to disturb me unless its something important. I was a bit nervous before picking up my phone.

"Hey Mike. What's up? Anything important?", I asked him.

"Well, Hull City just made an offer for Dan Burn. I wanted to let you know", he replied.

Arsenal have been after Eder Alvarez Balanta for the entire season and they have even told the media about wanting my first choice left back Kostas Stafylidis. Now, Hull City are after Burn. This is getting ridiculous.

"Stall", I said in a very determined tone. "I want to deal this myself and I'll do exactly that tomorrow."

Next day: I rushed to the stadium early in the morning and hurried to my office. I took a look at the offer faxed over. It was a $6.5M bid. "Seriously?", I said to myself. Hull expect me to accept an offer of $6.5M for a 24 yr old center back, who my coaches think is a quality player? Ha, not happening.

I called Mike Rigg and told him to reject the bid. "Burn is too valuable a player for our club to lose this way. Furthermore, the bid is laughable", I told him.

Time for contract talks: Baresi, my asst. coach walked into my office. "Hey Mr. T. It's time we entered into contract discussions with Burn", he said.

"Absolutely" I responded, tapping my table, "Set-up a meeting with his agent right away and I'll start the talks. And while you are at that, also set-up meetings with Balanta and Stafylidis' agents. It's time to offer them new contracts too."

"Good idea", said Baresi as he left the room.

I sat down with the agents of the three players and after few negotiations, everything went down well.

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