Here is my little boy. His name is Kevan. A chubby little boy as he weighs 3.905kg.

I need to leave my beloved FM game for a while and i hope to get back as soon as i can. Meanwhile i will still be reading your stories and try my best to comment in it.

Cheers!

Lye

Liverpool Approach

I was offered to take over at Anfield during the close season. Definitely a resounding no from me but the huge transfer budget certainly raise a few eyebrows from me.

Season Expectation

In my last post, i mentioned my initial budget is 33 million. Due to massive spending in June when the transfer window opened up, i am left with 8 million with a minimum target of Euro Cup qualification. I am confident my team is capable of finishing in the top four, i choose a target of CL qualification and the transfer budget increased to 11 million. For the first time, we see our wage budget cross the 1 million mark. The departure of several players this month will free up even more wages for new players.

Transfer Out

Quite a long list of players who have left the club. Mostly are players whose contract has expired and would not fit into my plans this season. I reluctantly sold two loyal Hammer Mark Noble and Jack Collison to Bristol City and Birmingham respectively. They won’t be seeing much first team action these days and it’s very selfish of me to let them rot on the bench. I think they deserve better than this.

Transfer In

I spent every budget i have on nine players. Four of them are young regens but all capable to walk into the first team. The rest of them are real life players and you should be quite familiar with them if you read Johnny’s FMS Scouting Network authored by the marvelous Darren Smith. Some are wonderkids in their earlier days and i am quite excited by the addition of the new signings. Lets go through the players one by one. Honestly i think they are very good and i can’t leave anyone out of the introduction.

I missed out on Carlos Fierro when he was 16. I had to pay his club Chivas 13.5 million to get him as he is much established now at the age of 20. Fierro did well for Darren’s Malaga and i hope he will do the same for me. His partnership with Yaya Sanogo should be a deadly one if both of them are on fire.

I am a big fan of strong center back Kyriakos Papadopoulos. He is unsettled inSchalke with him falling out of favor with the management. There are a number of clubs fighting for his signature and i am glad he decided to join us at a fee of 11.25 millions. Whatever attributes you need for a center back, he has it. Probably his only weakness is his jumping  and heading not as high as the rest of defensive attributes.

Gaston Ramirez was signed to give us some solid option on the left midfield area where Miralem Sulejmani is the only quality player we have. He joined Galatasaray from Bologna and has since flourished into a quality player. I paid 9.5 million for his signature and he will be the first choice ahead of Sulejmani. All round attributes which you have nothing to complain. I believe he will be a great signing.

Swedish International Albin Ekdal joined us from Juventus for 6 million and his addition gives us more bite and steel in the central of the park. Strong mental attributes and he surely doesn’t lack on the physical and technical side. Could form a steel partnership with Sami Khedira in the middle.

Jamie Ness joined us for nothing from Rangers when his contract expired. A useful squad player. Great eye for passing and very creative. I guess i can easily get a profit if i sell him in one or two season’s time.

Nicolas Gimenez is a wonderkid who refused a new contract from Malaga and i got him in the summer on a free. He just picked up his first cap for Argentina recently. That shows how highly he is regarded in his native land. Will be a squad player for now but he can grow to be a club legend in future.

Another young Argentinian regen joining us for 2 million from Racing Club is Rolando Noguera. He plays at right back and will push Jordan Spence down to third choice. He will play deputy to Thanos Petsos. Superb pace, strong defensive attributes and determined young lad. Will push for a starting place if he develops well.

The only Englsh player who is joining us is Simon Marsh. I signed him from Burnley for 1.4 million. A current youth international who will get his fair chances to develop. I have the home-grown rules in mind when i bid for him. He is 18 and has a PA of four stars to grow into a leading Premiership striker.

Last but not least, Czech youth international Jan Zboncak was signed for a mere fee of 55k. A backup player in case Miralem Sulejmani or Gaston Ramirez gets an injury.

Friendly Results

Pretty mixed results there as we were able to draw against Barcelona and Real Madrid but suffered defeat against SLB and Torino. I guess the new signings need time to blend into the squad.

Premiership Odds

We are the fifth favorite to lift the title. Not surprisingly as we are still few places behind in the reputation ranking but we can spring some surprise by defying the odds.

Approach From USA and Chile

In June, i had two offers from USA and Chile both wanted me to be their manager. Not satisfied with the West Ham job, i decided to accept the Chile job managing Alexis Sanchez and co for the world cup qualifying matches.

I always feel the South American qualifying is one of the hardest as Argentina and Brazil are virtually too good for the rest. The minimum of the Chile FA is to qualify for the World Cup which i think is achievable with the talent Chile possesses.

A new deal for me

With one year left in my contract, the Chairman moves swiftly to tie me to West Ham FC to an extension of another three years. My contract will run out in June 2019.

Upcoming Games

We will immediately face some tough opposition when the season starts. Two London rivals await us in August and the two Manchester teams and Liverpool next in September and October. I am not worry and i can’t wait to start now.

There are some off-field activity going on with new kit sponsorship and upgrading of the training and youth facilities. All efforts are channel to make West Ham the biggest club in the world. After coming so close last season, have we finally found the final puzzle and win our first Premiership title under my rule? We will wait and see. Well, friends, that conclude my pre-season report. Thanks for reading and the support. As usual, i will be waiting for your comments. Care to make any predictions? See you soon.

FA Cup

Emirates Stadium is a difficult place as we faced Arsenal in this FA cup 6th round fixture. We were put on back footed for large periods as Arsenal controlled the game and dominated the proceedings. Shawcross was unable to stop Nicklas Bendtner from scoring off a Gervinho cross in 23 minutes. Despite having fewer shots, we equalized 10 minutes later after Ryan Shawcross headed towards goal and James Tomkins stuck out his foot to divert the ball in before Szczesny could collect the ball. Arsenal found the winner five minutes after the break with a stunning free kick from Douglas Costa. The Brazilian was a handful to the defenders with his precise passing throughout the game and his goal broke the Hammers fans’ heart as we were knocked out of the FA cup after the final whistle.

Premiership

March

First game of the month was against lowly place team Wolves and we left it very late with a narrow win. Younes Belhanda scored the decisive goal eight minutes from time to save us some embarrassment. Next was a difficult outing against Man City and they were just too good for us, creating 27 shots in total but we put up a strong defensive performance for 89 minutes and their winning goal arrived in the last minute which was hard to take. We returned to winning ways against West Brom who was lying in the bottom half. A Yaya Sanogo brace and a Bressan goal gave us a 3-0 win.

vs Man Utd

Last game of the month saw the visit of Man Utd to The Boleyn Ground. A full house crowd was here to support the team. We started well and took initiative with Man Utd doing most of the defensive work. Man Utd took the lead six minutes from the break after Darren Fletcher made a run from deep to beat Luis Guilherme. Our equalizer came 10 minutes after the break with Miralem Sulejmani hitting a low shot after receiving the ball from the edge of the box. The game seemed destined for  a draw as both teams wasted a few chances. However football was nothing short of drama, a corner result in Sulejmani hitting a shot. Ryan Shawcross tried to put the ball in but it gone wide to the far post, hit Chris Smalling and went in. We won and the whole stadium erupted.

April

First game of the month was against mid-table team Newcastle. They are a decent team but this was a one sided affair for us. The goals came rather easily for us as we were very clinical in front of goal. Yaya Sanogo score a goal in each half and we consolidated the result with a strong second half performance with Jack Collison and Khouma Babacar scoring the other goals.

vs Merseyside Teams

Next two games were against Merseyside teams Liverpool and Everton. We took an early lead in Anfield after Sami Khedira gave us the lead two minutes into the game but Lucas Leiva scored a long shot eight minutes later for their equalizer. The rest of the game was exciting with Liverpool playing better than us. They couldn’t get past Luis Guilherme as he was a rock for us in goal.

We welcome high flying Everton at home, our last game in April. Bressan helped us to a good start with a goal in 17 minutes but that sparked Everton into life as Landon Donovan found himself in good position to beat Luis Guilherme not once or twice but three times in the first half. Suddenly we found ourselves 1-3 down and young Argentinian Andres Llama reduce the deficit with a rebound shot to the top corner two minutes from time. We made it level four minutes after the break as some fine work on the right by Yaya Sanogo saw Miralem Sulejmani converted in close range. From that onwards it’s all about us and we completed the comeback four minutes deep into injury time. A mistake by Everton defender inside the box saw Younes Belhanda released the ball fast to Khouma Babacar in the penalty area and the substitute beat Tim Howard from close range. Phew, what a game!

May

There was no tough opposition for us in May and we won all the league game in the last month of the season. From March to May saw us winning 10, drew 1 and the only defeat came against Man City. Is that enough for us to win the Premiership title?

Final Table

No, we had not done enough to win the title. In normal case, 87 points should see us winning the title but Man City put up a more consistent performance throughout the season. Liverpool faded off in the last few months and dropped to 4th place with us and Arsenal overtook them.

Champions League

vs Standard Liege Leg 2

I left you in February after we beat Standard Liege 2-1 away in Belgium. The return leg in Upton Park saw us dominated the game with 42 shots created but only one goal to show our dominance to the frustration of the home fans. We won 3-1 on aggregate and the draw was kind to us. Our opponent in the quarter final is CSKA Moscow.

Champions League Quarter Final

We can’t take them for granted as they have plenty of Russian international in the squad with the biggest name being goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev and midfielder Alan Dzagoev. We were away in the first leg but we showed no fear as we went for the offensive and were rewarded with four goals. Though CSKA Moscow pulled two goals back but the confidence of progressing was there with us playing at home.

No dispute in the second leg. We showed we were the superior side and two youngsters Andres Llama and Shahed Kemp provided the goals to win the tie 2-0. The 6-2 aggregate win saw us presented with the chance to feature in the Champions League final for the first time in 120 year club history. The team stood our way in the semi-final was Real Madrid who had to rely on penalty to beat OM.

Champions League Semi-Final

We beat them before in the group stage and we know we can do it again. Still, we played a safe game away in Spain as we defended very deep and limited their space. As a result, we managed to contain them until the closing period and even took the lead six minutes from full time from Yaya Sanogo with a counter attack. I guessed the players must too happy and they failed to track Benzema’s run as the Real Madrid equalizer came two minutes later. A 1-0 win was good but i guess a 1-1 draw was not a bad result for us.

Few days later, we prepared to take on Real Madrid for the 2nd leg of CL semi-final fixture. We got into trouble midway in the first half when Mark Noble received his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card. It was disappointing as we were able to match them early on. We switching to defensive hoping to grind out a goalless draw and the players did just that. Real Madrid was limited to long shots and few was on target. The match ended 0-0 and we were through to the Champions League final. Our final opponent is MAN CITY…They beat Porto 3-1 on aggregate in the other semi-final.

Our record against them is awful. We failed to beat them for the past 7 meetings. They are the Premiership and League Cup Champions this season. We wanted to stop them from winning a treble. Lets take a look on the team sheet.

Champions League Final

They have a team which is envied by many managers. They had Neymar out injured for this fixture. They still had Tevez, Milner and Dzeko to call upon on the substitute’s bench when needed. The first half was a total disaster for us as Joe Mattock was made a clown by Samir Nasri. He gave Man City the lead in 14 minutes and Arturo Vidal made it 2-0 four minutes before the break. In real life, we know how awesome these players are, so i probably developed a negative thinking to play defensively.

I switched our play to fluid and control strategy in the second half and we actually outplayed Man City for 45 minutes. Disappointingly, Yaya Sanogo had to come off in 63 minutes after picking up a knock and we found Joe Hart unbeatable. He put in a man of the match performance to deny us from getting anything out of this game.

Well, we lost and became bridesmaid to Man City twice this season but we will come back stronger next season.

Players Rating

I couldn’t fault the players effort even when we won nothing this season. Some of them are still young and they have lots to learn. Yaya Sanogo who is the fans’ player of the year is out top scorer with 26 goals. If not for his injuries in the early season, he would have scored more. Khouma Babacar has done well in his debut season in West Ham shirt as he not only contributed 15 goals, his biggest asset is providing chances for his team mates. As usual captain Shawcross is as reliable as he is every season since he joined us from Stoke. He has the highest average rating of 7.52.

Some of the goals we conceded are pretty soft goals but ironically we have the best defensive record in the Premiership. This season is dominated by the teams from Manchester. Man Utd was rather poor in the Premiership but they won the FA Cup and the Euro Cup. Next season will be the year to break the dominance of the Manchester teams. I forgot to take the screenshot but my initial budgets show i have 33 million to spend on new players. I have already identify a few targets i want to sign.

Overall i guess it’s not a bad season for us and we have improved one position to 2nd in the Premiership. Hopefully next season will be the year for us. This concludes my 2014/15 season ends report. Thanks a lot for reading and i hope to hear your thoughts in the comment box.

Need Help  You may have noticed my competitions result is broken. This is due to the filters i have. We are playing in the Premiership for few seasons now but the filters still showing Championship and there is no Champions League. Is this a bug or due to settings? Does anybody have any idea? Thanks in advance.

We were left with 22 million transfer funds and the board offered every single amount for players purchase and 50k for wage budget in the new transfer window. The board expects a minimum of CL qualification and i decide to choose it as the target.

There are some transfer activity going on in January. First i offloaded Nicolas Lodeiro to Sao Paulo for 6 million pounds. He is a good player and definitely have not realize his potential but he is too injury prone.

His various injuries has limited his appearances for us since joining us in 2012/13 season. I feel it’s a benefit for both parties as we get some money and he may be having better luck elsewhere.

New Hammers

Young Ukrainian Vadym Medvedev’s transfer was pre-arranged when his contract was up.  1.5 million was parted to get this talented young left-back. At 18, he is looking like he is ready for Premiership football and a player to look forward to in the future West Ham team.

Rafael joined us from Santos on a free and he is another quality goalkeeper. Suddenly i found myself with three quality goalkeepers and i will be having a hard time keeping them happy. Rafael, Luis Guilherme and Francesco Bardi will have to battle it out for the number 1 though my preferred choice remains Luis Guilherme.

Sami Khedira was having a difficult time in Real Madrid and was transfer listed. The industrious midfielder joined us for 6 million and will go straight into the first team. His physical and mental attributes is second to none in the squad. He is not fast but has an intelligent mind. I am glad to welcome him to the club.

There is not much quality backup on the right-back position and Thanos Petsos was signed to provide some competition to Jordan Spence. Definitely not world class but good enough to play in the Premiership. Besides that, he is still young at 23 and could see some improvement with some games under his belt.

January Results

There are six games to be played in January with two FA Cup games and four league games. There are not many tough teams except for our fierce rival Tottenham.

We have a 100% record in the first month of 2015. Yaya Sanogo found his scoring boots after returning from injury and he had nine goals to his name in six games. We began the month with a FA cup 3rd round meeting and after going behind to Wigan in 1st minute, we went on and showed them what we made of thrashing them 6-2.

Birmingham, Blackburn and Bolton posed no problems for us as we won three in a row before meeting Tottenham in White Hart Lane. Yaya Sanogo set up a perfect stage for us when he scored a brace under 13 minutes. Tottenham then saw Joleon Lescott sent off in 36 minutes with a straight red card. From that onwards, Tottenham found it hard to revive anything from the game.

Last game of the month saw Yaya Sanogo turning in another magnificent performance when he single handedly overran Sunderland in the FA cup 4th round and fellow Premiership Peterborough will be the team we will be facing in the next round.

Injuries: We don’t have any major injuries except for Jack Collison who is still 1-2 weeks from returning to the training ground.

Manager of the Month: No surprise here as we have a 100% record as i collected my first manager of the month award.

February Results

It was a big contrast to the results in January as we recorded three draws in a row for our first three games. We dropped two points in the opening game against Fulham as we failed to find the finishing touch.

The next two games saw us unable to take full points from Arsenal and Chelsea in front of our cheering fans. We played better than them in both games but the players were unable to produce the goods in these big games.

Next was the FA cup 5th round match against Peterborough. I changed the entire first team and sent in the second fringe players and they did enough to win the game as a Peterborough own goal won us the match one minute from time. Our 6th round opponent was a difficult one as we faced Arsenal in the Emirates Stadium.

Last game of the month was against Standard Leige in the Champions League 1st knockout round. We were away to Belgium in the first leg. Standard Leige suffered two early blows as they had to make two substitutions early in the game. We took the lead in 31 minutes through Yaya Sanogo in close range as they failed to clear a cross from Miralem Sulejmani. They scored a shock equalizer one minute later as we conceded a freak goal. An attempted cross caught Francesco Bardi out of guard and it flied to the far side of the net. It was all square in the first half. Six minutes after the break, we went ahead and Yaya Sanogo scored his second goal of the game. Standard Leige was unable to find any breakthrough and we put ourselves in a comfortable position for the return leg.

Full Results

Table

It is not looking good for us in the Premiership. Even though we retain the 3rd place position but we are nine points away from Liverpool. Both Liverpool and Man City are running in great form and never drop too many points like we do. The task of winning our first league title looks slim as i don’t believe they would drop too many point in the remaining fixtures.

Players Rating

After some average performances in the first few game after his injury, Yaya Sanogo breaks into the top two position again with some strong performances. I like to commend Luis Guilherme as he seems to finally settle in The Boleyn Ground and starting to demonstrate what he is capable of.

Remaining Games

We are not throwing the towel yet for the title race as we are still in with a chance. The players need to improve their performances and keep on fighting. We look good to progress in the CL but it needs a lot of effort from the team in the Emirates Stadium for the FA cup 6th round match next month. Will our promising season turn up empty handed? Stay tune and find out in my next report. Meanwhile thanks for reading and i look forward to your comments below.

November

We started the month against the bottom team Wolves. It should be an easy game for us but the players showed a bit of complacency there allowing Wolves to take the lead through a penalty in 13 minutes. We clawed back with Liviu Ganea scoring the equalizer in 31 minutes and raced to 3-1 lead with an own goal plus a goal from Marc Muniesa. Wolves then made us worked hard for three points as they made it 2-3 through Kevin Doyle. Not very convincing performance from us.

Champions League vs AC Milan

Our next game saw us traveled to Milan for the Champions League match against AC Milan. We were destined for a miserable night when we conceded a penalty just two minutes into the game. Credit to the players, the nature of the game was changed after a deflected shot from Liviu Ganea saw us getting the equalizer and we were ahead before half time whistle after Marc Muniesa was pushed inside the box during a corner. Two minutes after the break, the Milan fans were looking in grim faces after Miralem Sulejmani hit a fierce shot past the goalkeeper from a Liviu Ganea through ball. There was time for Milan to mount a comeback but defensively we were solid and returned home with an upset.

There are two matches left but we have done enough to qualify for the next stage along Real Madrid as AC Milan and Feyenoord have no chance of catching us with them seven and eight points behind us.

Last two games

Real Madrid was clearly complacent when they visited Boleyn Ground and we overtook them as the group leader after goals from Younes Belhanda and Khouma Babacar. Our last CL game saw us traveled to Holland to take on Feyenoord who was the weakest in the group. We dominated the game there but could only won by a single goal scored by Mark Noble.

Table

With five wins and a defeat, we won the group ahead of Real Madrid and i had to admit i was a bit surprised. It was great effort from the team and we can now look forward to the first knockout round. The draw was done in 19 December and we had a very good draw as our opponent is Belgian club Standard Liege. I though we have a very good chance of progressing to the next round. The first leg will commence in February and we can now switch our attention to our league results.

After the Milan game, we immediately need to face Man Utd in the league. They played a very attacking line-up with 3-4-3 formation. We packed the midfield area and opted for a counter strategy. As a result, we were able to frustrate Man Utd and went home with a point.

Next two games against two north eastern side Sunderland and Newcastle. We were better than them in all areas and controlled the game with more possession and shots. We won 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.

vs Liverpool

Last game of the month was against the leader Liverpool. We were having a great run of form in November and our morale was at an all time high after beating AC Milan and Real Madrid. Even though Liverpool had more possession but we showed good finishing touches in this game. Younes Belhanda gave us the lead when he pounced on the rebound after Reina had saved twice from Miralem Sulejmani. Sulejmani then doubled our lead after Liverpool lost possession in the middle of the park. We scored a 3-0 win with substitute Connor Wickham teased and beat Reina from a counter attack 10 minute from full time. It was a solid win against the leader.

Injuries: We don’t have too many injuries except for Nicolas Lodeiro and Khouma Babacar who will be out for 2-3 weeks.

December

vs Everton

First match of the month was a trip to Goodison Park to face Everton. Our past meeting against them was a happy one but we were facing a spirited Everton side today. An own goal from James Tomkins in 33 minutes saw us chased for the result in large periods. They defended the game with their back four forming a wall and we suffered a defeat at the start of the month.

We played Feyenoord after the Everton match. Next few games was an easy run-in for us as we faced most of the bottom half teams. We won all and conceded none. Young Brazilian Adryan finally opened his account for the club with his first goal. This month also saw the return of Yaya Sanogo from injury and he seems struggling as he needs time to return to full fitness.

Injuries: We don’t have any concern for injuries this month as all players are fit for selection.

Full Results

Table

We have been running in good form but that is only enough for us to improve two places and go up to 3rd position. Liverpool is still the leader with 44 points and Man City and us are not too far behind.

Players Rating

Ryan SHawcross is still the best player for us while the injury to Yaya Sanogo has seen his ratings drop tremendously. Miralem Sulejmani has secretly work his way up and put in some reliable performances. He has been very consistent since joining us in 2013. I am a bit disappointed with Belhanda as his ability should prove better than his rating has shown. Hopefully he will start performing or his place will be lost.

Schalke Approach

I was approached by a German club instead of a England club as Schalke wanted me as their manager. Of course it was turned down by me as i have yet to finish my job with West Ham.

We are still on course to win our first title as we are keeping close and tight on the top after half a season gone. Next week will see the opening of the transfer window which will see two pre-arranged signings joining us. I am happy with the progress so far especially able to top the CL group in such a tough opposition. Sorry to keep you waiting for this updates. Thanks for your patience and reading. I hope the next report will not take such a long time. Meanwhile i am looking forward to your comments below. See you soon.

August

vs Birmingham

We began the new season with a meeting against newly promoted team Birmingham. We were the real favorites but Birmingham did very well to keep us at bay in the first 45 minutes. Atila Turan then did a mess of his debut appearance when he fouled a Birmingham player inside the box and was sent off in 54 minutes. Birmingham converted their spot kick and we were a goal down. We had a quick equalizer two minutes later after new boy Thanasis Karagounis hit a fierce shot from the edge of the box after receiving a ball from Jordan Spence. Another new boy Ivo Pekalski marked his arrival with a beautiful goal which saw the ball flied to the top corner in 60 minutes. Karagounis was impressive on the right and he fed Yaya Sanogo for our third goal eight minutes later.   That summed up the win even when we were fighting with 10 men. A great comeback by the team.

vs Blackburn

Next game against Blackburn at home was much easier as we took control of the game and raced to a two goal lead in the first half. Midfielders Bressan and Miralem Sulejmani were the scorers and we had a 100% record after two games.

European Super Cup

We had a chance to win our first trophy in this season’s European Super Cup. Sevilla who won the Champions League last season was our opponent. It was an epic final as both team show great desire to go forward and never attempt to hold back. 90 minutes of football was unable to separate both sides and Sevilla had the killer ball in the net with 10 minutes of extra time left. Luis Guilherme who won the man of the match was unable to stop the goal. I was happy with the performance even though we were the loser.

September

September saw us started against Bolton and won 4-0 comfortably. Bolton did not play too badly but our finishing was great. Thanasis Karagounis maintained his impressive start in West Ham shirt as he gave us the lead with his second goal of the season. Yaya Sanogo continued to be the key player for us this season as he hit a hat-trick in this game.

Next was the first big match for us against our fierce rivals Tottenham. We had an awful first half as we conceded two goals easily. We could hear the jeers when we were heading to the dressing room. The players received some hair-dryer treatment and came out as a different team in the second half. Six minutes after the break, it was Thanasis Karagounis who pulled a goal back for us after a tackle on Yaya Sanogo saw the loose ball fell to him inside the box. Khouma Babacar score his first goal and our equalizer in 71 minutes after he was put through by Yaya Sanogo. Sanogo had a chance to win the game for us in the dying minutes but he narrowly put the ball wide. We had our first injury casualty after Younes Belhanda suffered a dead leg but luckily he will be back after few days rest. Next game will be a Champions League game. Lets see who we faced in the group stage.

Champions League draw

I never expect us to be drawn in a tough group consist of Real Madrid, AC Milan and Feyenoord. It needs big effort from us to qualify to the next stage.

vs Real Madrid

We were taught a football lesson by Cristiano Ronaldo and co in Bernabeu. Ronaldo was too difficult to handle for our defenders and his brace under 14 minutes signalled we would have a difficult outing. Ryan Shawcross had to come off early after he damaged his elbow in 13 minutes. Yaya Sanogo pulled a goal back in 31 minutes but another two Real Madrid goals in the second half meant we had a lot of catch up against the elites in Europe. The injury to Ryan Shawcross was not too serious as he will miss action for 1-2 weeks.

Our first league defeat came at the hands of Arsenal as we were totally outplayed in Emirates Stadium. The pace of Theo Walcott caused us a lot of trouble as we went down 2-0 to them.

We met Tottenham again but this time it was in the League Cup competition. I made a couple of changes and sent in some reserve players in this game. We were doing most of the chasing as we had to come back from behind to force the game into extra time. Mark Noble gave us the lead three minutes into extra time but Tottenham equalized again seven minutes later. Jordan Spence then got himself sent off and Tottenham took advantage to find the winner one minute before the end. A disappointing result for the fans. The disappointment was further added after Nicolas Lodeiro and Yaya Sanogo both suffered an injury. Both will be out for 1-2 weeks.

Next was against Fulham who scared us as they took the lead in 10 minutes. It was poor marking by the central defenders. Younes Belhanda then scored a brilliant solo goal in 30 minutes after the Fulham goalkeeper unable to stop his low shot. As we were busy searching for the winner, our discipline record came under the spotlight after Liviu Ganea committed a vicious tackle and was ushered down the tunnel. We were lucky to claim the win after a mistake from their goalkeeper saw Connor Wickham smashed in his first goal for the club seven minutes from time.

October

vs Feyenoord

October saw a lot of tough games coming up. We will be meeting Feyenoord and AC Milan while Chelsea and Man City waiting for us in the league. We started the month by entertaining Feyenoord at home and won 2-0 easily as we had total domination. Feyenoord was forced to defend in large periods as they created only four shots for the whole game.

It seemed our meeting against our fierce rivals always turned to be a disaster this season. Chelsea narrowly edged us 2-1 in Stamford Bridge with the Torres winner arrived one minute from full time. We returned to winning ways against weaker team West Brom as Thanasis Karagounis’s 4th goal of the season and a Babacar brace saw us running 3-0 winners.

Starting from the West Brom game, i modify my formation and push the two wide midfielders further up to the wingers position in order for Belhanda and Sulejmani to provide more ammunition for the strikers.

vs AC Milan

I was wary of the threat posed by AC Milan as they have Pato, Robinho and Ibrahimovic up front. Hoever they seemed to have some off days as you can see from the shots created, we were the better team. Our finishing was rather poor and it took Miralem Sulejmani to turn in a rebound after their goalkeeper saved a shot from Khouma Babacar to send us behind Real Madrid in the group. Yaya Sanogo suffered another injury after returning and this time he will miss action for 3-4 weeks.

Group D

Not too bad after three games played. We are one point behind Real Madrid and four points ahead of AC Milan. We need to perform well away to AC Milan and Feyenoord in order for us to qualify as i believe Real Madrid is probably too strong for us.

vs Man City

We had one more game to play. Title favorites Man City is coming to The Bolyen Ground. Their football were like from the other planet and Neymar was a handful for us. He justified his huge price tag with a goal, a 25 yard shot that eluded Luis Guilherme. Two goals in three minutes(Aguero was the other scorer) condemned us to our third defeat of the season and a dent to our title hopes.

Full Results

Table

After three months into the season, we are currently lying in 5th position. Not too bad but it could be better. Liverpool has a dream start as they won eight and lost only one. Man City is still the team to beat as they are still unbeaten while our fierce rivals Tottenham is also enjoying their season.

Players rating

Ryan Shawcross and Yaya Sanogo are our Mr Consistent. Both of them are still reliable as before, too bad on Sanogo’s injury. The rest of the players need to step up and play better. We do have the talent but they must show it on the field.

New signing performances

I have to admit i am disappointed with the performances of my new signings. Only Thanasis Karagounis manage to impress. I will give them more time to show me what they can do. Hopefully they can repay my faith.

Honestly i expect us to do better. I thought we are a match against the big teams but there is big match shyness in the players. We have done well against the weaker teams but we can’t put in poor performances against the giants. We need vast improvements if we are to win the title. This is a pretty long report and thanks for following all the way to the end. I will conclude my report here and love to hear your comments about our results. See you soon.

Season Expectation

The board is very generous offering me 33.5 million and an extra 84k wage for new players and expecting us to achieve Euro cup qualification. I opt for Champions Cup qualification due to last season’s success and the final transfer budget increased to 42 million and 775k for wages. After the budget was set, it’s time for the transfer dealings.

My target this season is to lower the average age and released players who are older and hadn’t seen much first team action. The position that i am looking at is a better strike partner for Yaya Sanogo. Goalkeepers, full backs and left midfielder are positions i want to strengthen too. First lets see who is leaving.

Transfer Out

A total of eleven players were either sold or released. If you notice, i sold both my goalkeepers Robert Green and Jan Lastuvka. My home strategy has a higher defensive line and i want a goalkeeper who is younger and faster. We recouped 18.5 million and a portion of it is allocated to the transfer funds. Besides that, we have a larger wage budget to play with.

Transfer In

Some of the players you might be familiar with. A couple of them are regen players. 10 new players joined us this season and 34.5 million were spent. We still have almost 20 million but due to the wage constrain, i am more than happy to keep the money in the bank. Now lets take a look at the new players.

Position Strengthen

Goalkeeper

My new first choice goalkeeper. I am sure you are familiar with Luis Guilherme if you follow Johnny’s Vauxhall story in FM11. Great handling, one on one, kicking and reflexes. Beside that, he is fast and suitable for me to employ him as a sweeper goalkeeper. I paid 9.5 million for him from his old club Atletico Paranaense.

Francesco Bardi joined us for nothing after he was released from Livorno. He will be the backup for Luis Guilherme. Will not see too many games but could be a decent deputy. He could be sold next season as i had arranged a transfer for another goalkeeper who will be joining us in January. His name is Rafael, a countryman of Luis Guilherme.

Full Back

I signed another young player in Atila Turan who plays at left back. He was signed for 6.25 million from Sporting(Por). His biggest asset is his pace and look dangerous in going forward but need to improve his defensive attributes if he wants to be world class. His only weakness is his jumping.

Defensive Midfielder

Mark Noble is the only player who looks capable in defensive duty in the middle of the park. I have plenty of option for attacking minded midfielder. That’s why i bought Ivo Pekalski from Celtic for 6.25 million. He is only 23 and a current Swedish international. According to my coach report, he doesn’t seem to have any weakness and could be a leading Premier League player. Lets see when the season starts.

Winger

I mentioned i wanted to sign a left winger but i end up signing two right wingers. Younes Belhanda has no reliable backup and he is comfortable in both wings so signing two right wingers doesn’t seem too bad. These two players joined for free when their contract expired. Thanasis Karagounis, a current Greek international is the better of the two. Good pace and he has pretty good technical attributes, could push for a starting place. Joachim Mununga will provide the backup. Excellent pace and strong mental attributes. He could be useful for us in some stages.

Strikers

I signed two but not one striker partner for Yaya Sanogo. Both Connor Wickham and Khouma Babacar play best in a target man role while Yaya Sanogo excel in a poacher role. All three of them are 21 years old and it could mean years of tormenting opposition defences if they can work well together. Connor Wickham was signed from Sunderland for 7.5 million while Khouma Babacar joined us from Fiorentina for 4.8 million. From what i see, Babacar could gain an upper hand over Wickham for a starting place. What do you think?

The other two players are young strikers, 19 year old Ukrainian striker Eugene Khudayev and 16 year old French striker Marco Antolini.

Most Expensive Transfer

This season saw three of the most expensive transfers in my game history. Both the Manchester clubs and Liverpool have spent big on one player each. Neymar became the most expensive player when he joined Man City. I am having headache when i think of their attacking line-up consist of Neymar, Aguero, Ganso and Tevez. Hopefully they will not work well together. Elsewhere, Edinson Cavani joined Man Utd for 42.5 million and Gareth Bale ditched White Hart Lane to Anfield for 42 million.

Friendly Games

We didn’t have a pleasant friendly as we had four wins, one draw and two losses. The defeat against Stoke and Cardiff was down to poor finishing and giving away of penalty. We created plenty of chance but could not take them. I am not so concerned about the losses as i have confidence we will step in first gear once the season kicks off.

Title Odds

We are the sixth favorites to lift the Premiership title. The media also make the same prediction that we will finish in 6th position. I guess if we play well, anything can happen. Definitely i am looking to retain the Champions League spot at a minimum.

Coming Games

These are the fixtures for our first few months. I no longer fear anybody. We just need to play our normal game and push for our first Premiership title. We have a chance to win our first trophy in the European Super Cup against Sevilla who was the winner of the Champions League last season.

I forgot to mention our stadium expansion plan has completed and we now can cater for 40,500 fans. This conclude my pre-season report. Thanks for reading this update and i look forward to your comments.

April

Euro Cup Quarter Final leg 1

There are a total of eight games coming up for us in April spanning three competitions. First game of the month saw us entertained Dutch giants Ajax in The Boleyn Ground. We couldn’t take advantage with the fans cheering behind us and went behind in 19th minute. Despite creating more chances, we needed an own goal from Ajax for a draw.

Euro Cup Quarter Final Leg 2

The return leg saw both teams evenly match. There was a lot of chances created but the finishing from both teams was poor. There was no goals in the first half but we saw a breakthrough in 66th minute after Lorenzo Crisetig headed back the goalkeeper’s kick to the path of Yaya Sanogo who place a shot into the net of Ajax goal. We went through to the semi-final with that goal as our defence was impressive in this game. The Euro Cup saw four teams left and three were English clubs. We were drawn against Newcastle and Chelsea will face SLB(Portugal) in the other semi-final.

vs Liverpool

In between the Euro cup games against Ajax, our first league game was a difficult one. We were at home to face Liverpool. They convincingly beat us 3-1 in Anfield in December but this time round we managed to hold them at bay but we were also unable to break down their defence. It ended as a goalless draw.

Next two games was disappointing for us. We had to come back from two goals down to draw 2-2 against West Brom and we were no match for Man Utd in Old Trafford going two goals down.

FA Cup Semi-Final

We had to be content with a draw with West Brom few days ago. We face them again in this FA Cup semi final. They took a shock lead in 8th minute but their happiness lasted until 39th minute when they were down to 10 men. From that onward, we went offensive and Ryan Shawcross headed in the equalizer to make it 1-1 in the first half. We took control of proceedings after the break and a Miralem Sulejmani brace and a goal by new signing Andreas Llama gave us a huge win and set up a meeting with Man City in the final.

Euro Cup Semi Final Leg 1

Jack Collison put us in a disadvantage position when he was sent off 7 minutes into the game for a straight red card. Our heads were not down and Newcastle was finding it hard to break us down. Newcastle had a chance to go ahead in 11 minutes but the spot kick was saved by Robert Green. Instead Yaya Sanogo gave us the lead after the break in 57 minutes but Newcastle found the equalizer thirteen minutes later. We did well to force a draw but disappointed we didn’t take advantage of the home game to put us in a driving position.

vs Portsmouth

Last game of the month saw us face 16 place Portsmouth and i had to send in most reserves because of fatigue. As a results, we found ourselves two goals down under 15 minutes. Gianni Bruno pulled a goal back for us in 30 minutes and Liviu Ganea made it 2-2 six minutes later. Liviu Ganea put in his best performance of the season when he scored another two goals in the second half to win 4-2 for us.

May

Euro Cup Semi Final Leg 2

We had to fight for a place in the Euro Cup final against Newcastle in May. Newcastle exerted a lot of pressure early from the start.They went ahead in 37 minutes with a Leon Best goal and we were rather poor in the first half. Strong words were needed in the dressing room and we came out as a different team after the break. We got the equalizer in 59 minutes after Newcastle was judged to pull Yaya Sanogo’s shirt. Miralem Sulejmani smashed in the spot kick and it was 1-1. We had the advantage eleven minutes later after Ryan Shawcross headed us in front and put us closer to the final. Newcastle needed to score two goals with 20 minutes left. They didn’t really threaten except Jan Lastuvka had to make a save in 73 minutes. The whistle ended and we were through to the Euro Cup final. In the other semi final, Chelsea edged SLB and the final will be play in Porto. Before the two cup finals, lets switch our attention to the Premiership and see where we finish.

There was three games left and we were lying in 3rd place.

Remaining Premiership Games

There was a loss of form in the last three games which saw us winning one and lost two. Some of the players were simply too tired. We were poor against Wolves and Newcastle but produced an outstanding performance to see off Arsenal. After finishing all the games, where did we stand?

Table

We finished in 3rd position behind the two Manchester clubs. Along with Liverpool, we will play in the Champions League next season. Three London clubs, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal will play in the Euro Cup. There was agony for Southampton, Burnley and Swansea as they were relegated to the Championship. We still have two more games left. FA cup and Euro cup finals. Lets take a look.

FA Cup Final

It was a big day for us and a chance for us to win some silverware this season. The FA cup final in Wembley against Man City. We had a very poor record against Man City. We had yet to score a win against them. Things didn’t look good for us when Younes Belhanda had to come off 8 minutes into the game. Dzeko gave Man City the lead in 25 minutes and their lead was doubled two minutes from time after Tevez found himself unmarked to slide the ball in at the far post. The players were told not to give up and they put in a better performance in the second half. Yaya Sanogo scored a brilliant solo goal in 62 minutes to give us a glimpse of life. While we were searching for the equalizer, Augero killed the game off after a rash tackle from Ritchie De Laet completely missed he beat Jan Lastuvka one on one. We lost to the better team and could only claim runner-up.

Euro Cup Final

 This could be our biggest game this season. The Euro cup final against Chelsea in Portugal. We had a dream start 3 minutes into the game after Nicolas Lodeiro received the ball from the edge of the box, cut inside and unleashed a left footed shot past Petr Cech. Yaya Sanogo made it 2-0 in 31 minutes after receiving a through ball from Gianni Bruno. A corner saw the ball cleared as far to the edge of the box and Daniel Sturridge hit an unstoppable shot to the bottom corner in 39 minutes. One minute later a long ball pass into space for Yaya Sanogo to come out top again against Petr Cech. We held a comfortable 3-1 lead in the first half. Second half saw the Yaya Sanogo show continued as he hit two more in 60 minutes and 74 minutes respectively. The 60 minutes goal was a brilliance where he dribbled for over half the length of the field before firing the ball past Petr Cech. The game was as good as over with a 5-1 lead. Fernando Torres scored another goal for Chelsea in 77 minutes but it was too late for them. We were the Euro Cup champions.

The fans were clearly happy and my name was sang though i thought they would have a hard time pronouncing .

The board didn’t show any surprise and they were rather confident of the team capable of winning something.

Players Rating

I would say our season was down to the effort of the whole team. Two key players who stand out are Ryan Shawcross and Yaya Sanogo. I was especially delighted with Sanogo’s progress. His 41 goals in all competition carried us through this season. Liviu Ganea and Miralem Sulejmani also played a key part contributing 18 and 14 goals individually.

Awards

Yaya Sanogo not only win our fans over(He was the fans player of the year). He also won the English players young player of the year.

After the season ended, Yaya Sanogo saw his international breakthrough when he won his first cap for France against Argentina. What a season this turned out for him!

Man City did the double yet Jose Mourinho was not selected as the manager of the year. It was me who won the prestigious award.

New Sponsorship and Stadium Expansion

This season saw the club renew our new kit sponsorship deal that saw our revenue increase two times the amount.

The board also announced plans to expand the stadium by another 5098 seats for 6.75 million. This saw the stadium capacity increased to 40,500 seats.

We fell short to the title this season due to some poor form and performance from the reserve players. This was still a successful season for us. Qualified for the Champions League, finish as FA cup runner-up and winning the Euro cup. Next season will be exciting for us as we will be featuring in the Champions League. There will be some squad overhaul to help us better challenge for the Premiership title. This conclude my 2013/14 season report. Thanks for reading and i will see you in my pre-season report. If i miss any screenshot you may want to see, please let me know in the comment box.