Die Königsblauen

Fantastic I do hope you keep Vucinic

well done on your first season winning the League and Champions League and German Cup

and hope you keep Vucinic

The month of August 2014:



The 2014 season kicks off with a tie in the German Cup away to third-leaguers Fürstenwalde. Without impressing anyone we win 5-1, just a comfortable win right there. The second round drew us away vs Hoffenheim, which obviously will be alot tougher.

Then it's time for the Bundesliga 2014/15 season to kick off and we're facing Bayer Leverkusen at home. Leverkusen ended in a disappointing place in the Bundesliga last season and lost the German Cup Final 3-0 vs us and Sami Hyypiä got the sack. His replacement is Felix Magath, and to be honest; I'm not so sure he's a trade-up from Hyypiä.

Anyways, we go out all attacking and we end up as clear-cut 3-0 winners in front of a fully packed VELTINS-Arena. Mirko Vucinic is the man of the match bagging two goals.

Then we head to Hamburg to face HSV away. We go in to the half-time break with the score being 0-0, but I tell the boys that I'm not very pleased with the performance up until then. It must've worked wonders, because in the second half there's only one team on the pitch. We score 4 goals, HSV 0 - a great win that sees us go top of the table on goal difference.

Then comes the biggest test so far this season; Bayern Münich away at Allianz ArenA:



Bayern had most of the chances in the first half, but thanks to a very good Ron-Robert Zieler, we held out until half-time. In the second we had our chances, but it ended 0-0. A point away at Bayern; I'd take that any day of the week.

We return home to face Hertha Berlin and after two goals from Xavi and Carlos Bacca, we win 2-0, and we're still joint leaders of the Bundesliga:



European Super Cup Final:

Napoli won last years EURO Cup after a 1-0 result vs Tottenham. Higuain, of course, scored the game winner and he bags one against us also:



Thanks to a late goal from Julian Draxler, we get the win. Another own-developed player; Maximilian Meyer scores the equalizer after Higuain gave Napoli the lead. Another trophy in our cabinet!

Champions League Draw:

According to this, we're handed an easy group. Somehow, I fail to share their confidence:







In my opinion, with the exception of Elfsborg, we couldn't have been handed a harder group. Liverpool and Juventus is going to be tough, but I'm going in with the same mentality as I had last year: Win at VELTINS-Arena, a draw away at least, and then we'll see where that takes us...

Transfers In & Out + Deadline Day:

Xavi accepted my offer of a contract and I signed him from FC Barcelona for £2.1M:



Another former Barcelona player found its way to Schalke as Mounir El Haddadi was signed for £1M. He hadn't signed a proffesional contract with FCB, and that allowed me to offer him a contract. I'm sending him on loan as soon as I can find a deal for him.



Then some young talent for the future was signed from Austria Vienna for a very low fee - he was also available because of not having signed a proffesional contract:





And because Lewis Holtby, one of my summer signings, is out injured with a torn hamstring for the next 2-3 months, I really need an AMC. The only options that I have within my squad are all youth-players and not ready to come in and play first team football over a long period of time. I have two players that I could've used out on loan, but I didn't want to recall them.

On deadline day I struck a deal with Atletico Madrid to loan Diego until the end of the season. I'm paying half his wage and £100k p/m to loan him:



On DLD I also had bids from Real Madrid on Christian Clemens who's currently valued at £10.75M. Real's offer was around £9M, but that's unacceptable. Clemens is staying put and so is Mirko Vucinic after Liverpool, who is interested in him, didn't come forward with a formal bid. Jöel Matip is also wanted abroad, by Juventus, Barcelona and Manchester City, but same story there; no official bids made. To tell you the truth, it'd be more likely to let Matip go than Vucinic. I've got plenty of cover on defense and players that can come in and make a difference for us.

Next time: Can we keep up our good form in the Bundesliga and the CL gets going

Love Bundesliga saves and yours is one of the best ive read in a while! KIU!

Thank you

Great transfers dealing Surprised to see Xavi signed for you.

Probably helped that I won the CL and that Barcelona still have Sergi Roberto at their squad. I'm thrilled with him signing with me, though. Even if it is at a hefty £275K p/w

Hopefully he will mentor couple youngsters

The month of September, 2014:



The first loss of the season comes on the first game of the month of September; Away at Borussia Mönchengladbach's Borussia Park.
We're literally run over in the first half and we're down 2-0 going into the half time break. Needless to say; I'm furious. The lads go out and get one goal back early in the 2nd, but Borussia MG gets their third not long after. A late consellation-goal from Carlos Bacca sees the game end at 3-2. We didn't play very well and it was a deserved loss.

We respond with a 2-0 home win vs Eintracht Frankfurt and a 1-0 away at Nürnberg.

That leaves the table in the Bundesliga looking like this:



Our fiercest rivals, Borussia Dortmund, are one point ahead of us in the standings. Their summer-aquicition of Mario Mandzukic has paid off big time as he's been very good for them. FC Bayern's already got three draws to their record this early on along with one loss and is placed in 4th. Freiburg, Borussia MG and newly promoted FC Köln are the biggest surprises early on of this season.

At the other end, appointing Felix Magath has proved to be disastrous for Bayer Leverkusen as they find themselves at the bottom of the Bundesliga. One of last years two biggest surprises in Nürnberg and Augsburg follow them. Nürnberg has been good and lost close matches, I'm sure they'll turn it around in time, but Augsburg hasn't been good at all. Nürnberg also have the EURO Cup to focus on.

Champions League:

Gameday one was played and we got off with a magnificent start at home vs Liverpool:



A superb hattrick by Mirko Vucinic and a goal from Christian Clemens sealed the deal. Especially delighted for Vucinic, who's started the season great. He's also wanted by Liverpool, so a hattrick against them should up the ante a bit on his part should they decide to come forward with a bid.

Juve's also off to a strong start as they beat the biggest underdogs of Group B, swedish side Elfsborg, 3-0 at home.

Transfers:

I've signed another youngster. He will join from Basel in January:





Player of the Month:

This time, there's actually two - both have been crucial for me and they're both strikers; Mirko Vucinic and Carlos Bacca.

I usually rotate my team by having one set of players play the BL-games and one set of players the CL-games. Bacca's been playing the BL-games, while Vucinic, although bagging a hattrick on gameday 1 of the BL; will be preferred in the CL. Both have been delivering and they're both equally deserving of this accolade



Next time: Will we be able to go top of the table again? And how will Schalke fare in the CL?

Incredible first season man! KIU! A very, very busy transfer season between 1st and 2nd!

Fantastic win over Liverpool. Not surprised to see your two strikers banging goals in,

The month of October, 2014:



A very good month for us indeed in the Bundesliga. It all kicks off vs surprising Mainz 05 at home and Bacca's reliable as he scores the 1-0 goal. Another from Allione sees us going out as 2-0 winners. A hard fought 1-0 win away to bottom-strugglers Augsburg away, and again it's Bacca with the winner.

Then it's newly promoted FC Köln who awaits at VELTINS-Arena and in front of 62.000, we do not disappoint. A fantastic performance sees us going into half-time 4-0 up after a goal from Diego and a natural hattrick from; can you guess it? Carlos Bacca, of course. He had a fantastic game. Diego Contento fould a Köln player inside the 16 yards box and they get a goal on penalty, but a Xavi freekick sees us going out as clear winners; 5-1 and a magnificent three-pointer before the season's biggest game so far; The Revierderby:



The first meeting of the season between the two German giants takes place at Signal-Iduna Park in front of 81.000. Borussia Dortmund has been excellent so far this season and is leading the Bundesliga one point ahead of us. They've even scored more goals than us, but we've conceded less. Before the game I end up in a war of words with Jürgen Klopp, but it gives me extra point with our fans, so I don't mind.

The table going into the game:



The game gets underway and as expected; Borussia Dortmund march straight on the attack and provide very heavy pressure against Ralf Fährmann who's in net for us as Ron-Robert Zieler is currently injured and has been for two weeks now. 11 minutes in and Marco Reus finds the net for Dortmund who goes up 1-0. Dortmund keeps on with their high pressure and it pays off another time after 35 minutes as Mario Mandzukic adds to the tally; 2-0 Dortmund.

Half time and I'm fuming and giving it to my players. It works, the second half isn't as loopsided as the first and slowly we keep clawing our way back into it. 60 minutes and Maximilian Meyer finds the net for us and 2-1. Then Bacca, who started the game, gets tackled hard by Hummels and although he could shake it off, I decide to rest him and throw on Marco Vucinic instead and tell him that I have complete faith in him making a difference for us, and surely enough; 87 minutes and Vucinic pops up just at the right time and bags the equalizer. A 2-2 draw in the Revierderby. Ralf Fährmann had a solid game for us despite conceding 2 goals and Dortmund had a very good first half, so I'm happy with the result, for sure.





That leaves the Bundesliga table for this month looking like this:



Dortmund still at the top, 1 point ahead of us and 4 plus goals better. Freiburg has been this years positive surprise, they're on third. Bayern Münich isn't what they once were, they're really struggling. On the last day of the month, they drew 0-0 at Allianz ArenA vs bottom team FC Augsburg. I wonder if Guardiola is safe...

Leverkusen is still struggling, but they've gotten another win since last time around and are now on qualification. Poor Nürnberg really needs to do something to get out of the swamp they're in.

Champions League, gameday 2 & 3:

Swedish outsiders Elfsborg awaits in Borås on gameday two and without too much efford we stroll to a 2-0 win away. I'm satisfied with that:



Gameday three sees the two group-favorites playing each other; Schalke 04 vs Juventus at VELTINS-Arena:



A superb win and 9 points after 3 games. Next round we'll be heading to Turin to face Juventus at Juventus Stadium. It will be a much tougher battle, especially with us having just been up against Dortmund in the Bundesliga just 4 days earlier, but a draw or a win in Italy will probably see us through to the first knockout stages.

Other News:

Mounir El-Haddadi, the new boy from FC Barcelona, is finding it hard to adjust to life in Gelsenkirchen and after having a private talk, we decided to send him on a one-week leave of absence to see if it helps or not:



Also; another youngster will be coming in come January 1st. This time, I've trusted my best scouts as 15 year old Kostas Kalyvas is bought from my affiliate club Energie Cottbus. A promising talent:





Next month: CL and the battle for top-spot in the Bundesliga is on...

Fantastic comeback against Dortmund

Kalyvas looks promising

Thanks, Johno!

Very happy with the comeback, but it was sort of a disaster; We had the possession, but only 3 shots. That's far from good enough... But, 2-2 in the Revierderby - I'm happy with that given how the game panned out

Oh dear But a point is better than losing and only a point behind them

You are my Solskjaer,
My Ole Solskjaer,
You make me happy,
When skies are grey.
And Alan Shearer,
Was f*ckin' dearer,
Please don't take,
My Solskjaer away.
Just caught up on this surprising signing in Solskjaer. In my save with Truro they have Conte. Great effort winning the treble, you have a quality squad!

Thank you, Joe

My goal is to build for the future and at the same time having a strong squad that can compete for trophies straight away. OGS for United is good so far; they're in 2nd place behind Arsenal - 1p divides them

Not bad target there Especially the club got high quality training/youth facilities

The month of November, 2014:



First game of the month is vs one of the pleasant surprises of this years Bundesliga so far; Freiburg at the VELTINS-Arena. A safe 2-0 win sees us go top of the Bundesliga again as Dortmund draw 1-1 away at Bayern Münich. The 2p lead we have on them, however, is scuzzled away in the next round at Hoffenheim. A Carlos Bacca goal (who else), sees us leading 0-1 until the 88th minute when my Japanese right-back dives unnecessary into a tackle within the box and they get the late equalizer on a penalty. Dortmund wins 1-0 away at Borussia Mönchengladbach, a very strong victory that was, and go top of the Bundesliga again, one point ahead of us.

The last league game of the month sees us play host to newly promoted FC Kaiserslautern. An excellent Carlos Bacca hattrick and two goals from Jonathan Tah helps us secure a massive 5-0 win in front of a packed arena. Dortmund wins their last game of the month as well and that leaves the table looking like this:



Thanks to that 5-0 win, we've gained on Dortmund in the goals-scored-dept. Only one goal and one point separates us now overall. Bayern and Borussia MG trails some way behind, both on 24 pts.

At the other half of the table FC Nürnberg ended up sacking Gaertjan Verbeek after losing 3-0 to HSV. Thorsten Fink has been put in charge at Grundig-Arena and it seems to have helped a littlebit as they beat fellow bottom-strugglers Augsburg 3-1 in his first game in charge. Leverkusen is still in limbo.

Champions League, gameday 4 & 5:

On gameday 4 we face off against Juventus in Turin. A late first-half goal from Carloz Tevez gives them the lead, and despite finding chances, we couldn't turn them into goals so Juve gets the 1-0 win. That win means we're equal on points in the group at 9 each, but we're in first because of a better goal difference.

Then we head off to Liverpool to face them at Anfield. A superb 3-1 win thanks to a in-form Augustin Allione who's outbattled Christian Clemens on form for the first choice on right wing, sees us secure qualification for the first knockout stages and we're still in first place of group B:





Other news:

Mounir El-Haddadi has returned to the club after his leave of absence and assures me he's commited to the club again:



After Ron-Robert Zieler's injury, Lars Unnerstal, my third goalkeeper also went down to injury and will be out for the next 4-5 weeks. I did a capital mistake that I wasn't even aware of; I had forgotten to register any of my U19 goalkeepers as I figured that they would be automatically available to the squad should they be called upon. That proved not to be the case, so I went out onto the free market and brought in Brad Friedel on a short-term deal; through this season at only £400 p/w and with the contracted role as backup to the first team:



He's not going to play for the first team unless it's absolutely necessary.

The completion of the expansion of the youth facilities is also done:



Should show results sooner rather than later, especially with all the talent this club has in their youth ranks...

Player of the Month:

It's really hard to overlook Carlos Bacca, he's been in superb form for the past two months, banging in goals in the Bundesliga. I'm still using Vucinic as starter for the CL-games, and Bacca gets to play in the Bundesliga. Closest player behind Bacca would have to be Augustin Allione. Like I mentioned above; he's outbattled Christian Clemens for the first choice on RW thanks to excellent form.



Next time: Winter break will be upon us, but Schalke is participating in the World Club Championship...

Brilliant month Epic win over Liverpool.

Not surprised to see Bacca banging goals in

Bacca's awesome. I love that guy! Vucinic hasn't been as good in the CL as he was at the beginning of the campaign, but I'm sure he'll get back into it.
Having two such awesome strikers really makes a huge difference...

Completely agree there Hopefully you can bring in another one

The month of December, 2014:



Only one game in the Bundesliga this month due to my participation in the World Club Championship. But first up is a German Cup match vs one of my local rivals; Bochum. A comfortable 2-0 win at home, which in all fairness should've been bigger, but thanks to a great goaltender of the day; 2-0 it is.

Then Eintracht Braunschweig away. A 2-1 win sees us go top of the table as Borussia Dortmund surprisingly lost 3-0 away to Eintracht Frankfurt. But they have two games on us since we're going to Marocco, and they reclaim that lead:



With two games in hand, we're two points behind our fierce rivals Borussia Dortmund for the top-spot in the Bundesliga. A solid goal-difference for both teams and it's safe to say that the title will stand between us and Dortmund this year. Bayern has won a few lately, but they're still some points, not to mention goals behind for them to snatch the #1.

Eintracht Frankfurt is this years positive surprise so far going into new years of 2015. After battling relegation last year; they hired Markus Babbel and not only did he save them from relegation; he's worked wonders on them and they find themselves on continental qualification going into the new year.

Bayer Leverkusen sacked Felix Magath and replaced him with Dieter Heckling, former Wolfsburg-man. Hoffenheim sacked their manager as well and have hired Murat Yakin from FC Basel as their new head man. Nürnberg has also seen a positive uprise since sacking Verbeek and hiring Thorsten Fink. They've battled their way out from relegation and can now look upwards on the table. They've also splashed their cash on bringing transfer-listed Edin Dzeko back to Germany from Man City for a fee of £6.25M. Should be interesting!

Champions League, gameday 6 and draw:

Before the last game of the group-stages, we were level with Juventus for the top-spot in Group B. We had better goal difference so we owned the no.1 spot.

We had Elfsborg at home, who was already out of the CL and continental chase, and Juve had Liverpool. Liverpool took the early lead and added another, but a superb and late comeback saw them go out as 3-2 winners. Us on the other hand, smashed the Swedish side and won comfortably:



That left the group looking like this:



And the CL-draw for the first knockout stages were up:



Shakthar Donetsk away is more than accomplishable. Arsenal vs PSG, Juve vs Barca and FC Bayern vs Chelsea is the biggest games of the draw.

Club World Championship, 2014:

In the first game we're drawn vs Cruz Azul from Mexico. We play a great game and go out as 2-0 winners:



That sees us going into the finals vs Gremio from Porto Alegre, Brazil. I have to admit, I hadn't this one pegged down as an easy game, but Carlos Bacca wanted it differently:



Club World Champions 2014: Schalke 04! What a great win!! And I'm not afraid to say it; I love Carlos Bacca!

To my surprise (a pleasant one, though), the Player Of The Tournament Award went to Jonathan Tah:



European Golden Boy Award 2014:



Great for Julian Draxler, he deserves it. Max Meyer was also in the discussion... Kudos to Schalke, I guess

Transfers In:

I've signed Farès Bahlouli from Olympique Lyon on Bosman, he will join July 1st 2015:





Player of the Month:

I was this close to naming Bacca again, but Augustin Allione has been magnificent lately; he deserves the award:



Next time: The month of January - The transfer window is open and BL-football is back on!

Brilliant December month Bahlouli looks a decent signing for you.

Allione He's banging goals for fun for my Lyon team \o/

He's a player for the future, for sure. Allione is wonderful! Every team needs Allione

I agree What role are you playing him as? I put him on winger - attack and he's simply unstoppable.

The same, actually

The month of January, 2015:



I had arranged some friendlies during the winter-break, so we left for Australia and The Emirates to face Perth Glory and Al-Ain. The game vs Perth wasn't good at all, but I decided to let a lot of the younger talent at Schalke-04 get the chance to impress, so I started with two 15 year olds, three 16 year olds and three 17 year olds. The game ended 1-1 after a late equalizer from Perth. Well, well - at least my youngsters got a chance.

Then to UAE and Al-Ain, where the more familiar faces was back in the starting XI and it helped as we thrashed them 4-1. Then; back to Germany to face Duisburg and our affiliate club Energie Cottbus, both away and both ended with solid wins. I rotated the squad as much as possible to let everyone get playing time, except for captain Benedikt Höwedes who's out injured and Jöel Matip who's off with his Cameroon-side for the African Nations.

Then it was time for the Bundesliga to kick off 2015 again, and we had a date with HSV at home; a game we won comfortably 3-1 after conceding the first to HSV. Christian Clemens, Alexander Esswein and Mirko Vucinic scored the goals to turn the game around and we went back on top of the BL in front of Dortmund who played the next day.

They won their encounter and it's still a two-horse race in the Bundesliga. Then came one of the season's biggest tests; At home vs Bayern Münich:



That Carlos Bacca leaves me short for words. He's amazing, best £7M I've ever spent, hands down!

Unfortunately for us Borussia Dortmund is also winning everything these days, but with us having some games in hand, I believe the biggest game of the 2014/15 season will take place at the VELTINS-Arena on the 21 of March when it's time for the final Revierderby of this season. With their loss to us, I don't think Bayern can mount a serious challenge and will battle it out for third instead.

That leaves the Bundesliga-table looking like this:



Three games in hand on Dortmund and three points back with one less goal scored. This is going to be a thriller, for sure, especially if both teams keeps on winning. Leverkusen is above the relegation-three for the first time this season. Apparently it helps changing managers in the Bundesliga as it's proven to be a lucky omen for every single relegation-battlers so far. HSV's had a terrible month and has lost 4 straight. They need to pick themselves up again if they want to stay out of the drop-zone.

Transfer Window:

I've sold two players:



Monaco gave me a fair offer, Utchida has been good so far this season, but I decided to accept their offer for two reasons; 1) He's a foreigner with foreign-status and 2) Sebastian Jung has been the first choice this season, he's been very good and even been the first choice on the German National side over Philipp Lahm.



Didn't intend to sell Savic at all, but United made a surprise bid. After some consideration I decided to accept it because we have a lot of young talent at Schalke who deserves a chance to develop with first team football at our club. Kaan Ayhan first and foremost; after having a season at Cottbus on loan last year, he's gotten some playing time under his belt and with Savic gone he's only gonna see more of that. Stefan Savic was superb for me, but I wish him the best of luck at Old Trafford!

But I had to bring in a right back to replace Utchida because the ones that I have at the club is too young at the moment, I can't expect two 15/16 year olds to go in and dominate behind Sebastian Jung, so I ended up splashing the cash on:





A new club-record, but I believe he'll be worth it, not just straight away, but in the long run. Now I have two very good and competitive RB's. Besides, Carvajal is only 22, he'll be around for quite some time, he's played in Germany before, knows the type of football and is likely to adapt sooner rather than later. I'm extatic with this purchase!

And the last piece of update; not exactly a transfer, but a contract extension and a very important one that is:



Carlos Bacca is worth every penny of what he's set to earn.

Next month: Can we keep up with Dortmund and CL-football is finally back!

Good win over Bayern

Great signing with Carvajal

The month of February, 2014, including the gameday of 1st of March:



This is the month from hell with a lot of games in a short space of time. I get to play the games I'm behind this month, but it will be a tough program for my players. Luckily for me; this is what I've prepared for; a big squad who can cope with these situations. Needless to say; I need a good month to keep tails with Dortmund who's been exceptional for the past two months. I get off to a great start beating Hertha Berlin away; 2-1.

Then another away game awaits at BayArena and Bayer Leverkusen. Another 2-1 win. Then two home games with a comfortable 3-0 win as a result; Borussia Mönchengladbach, who had beaten me earlier in the season, and Wolfsburg. Both games saw a superior Schalke-team and the win could've been bigger for sure.

Then a tough away game awaits at Eintracht Frankfurt, a team that most pundits has down as performing above ability. Not me, though. Babbel's done a fantastic job since taking over and they got a solid squad. And unfortunately for me, Eintracht, who's beaten Dortmund 3-0 at the same stadium earlier this year, is too much to handle:



We certainly had our chances, but Kevin Trapp was nothing but solid. Our second loss of the season.

Then it's time for the last of our games behind; Werder Bremen away:



Thank you, Carlos Bacca... We're back on top of the Bundesliga with the equal amount of goals scored as Dortmund, but with more points. Sweet!!

We celebrate going top of the table with destroying Nürnberg 5-0 at home in front of 60.000 people. Alexander Esswein bags a hattrick, having the best game of his Schalke-career, undoubtably.

On the 1st of March we face Mainz 05 away. Mainz 05 brought in Gabigol (Gabriel Barbosa) from Santos for a club-record fee and he's delivering the goods for them as Mainz sits comfortably on the top-half of the table. A Carlos Bacca goal and a great game from Ron-Robert Zieler in net proves to be the difference of the day as we win the game 1-0.

That leaves this months table looking like this:



Dortmund draws Wolfsburg away 1-1 on their final game of the month. That along with my games in hand means that I'm five points clear on the top of the table going into the month of March. I've also got 2 goals more scored.

Frankfurt's having one of their best seasons in a long long time and could potentially steal the 3rd spot from FC Bayern who's got two draws in their last two games; Frankfurt (1-1) at home and Nürnberg (0-0) away.

Augsburg's sacked their manager and hired Michael Laudrup and he's doing what every other newly appointed manager in the Bundesliga who takes over a relegation-threathened team does; he finds a way to win games. This means that Augsburg is on safe ground for the first time this season. FC Köln is the new bottom feeder. Hoffenheim and Murat Yakin seems to be the exception to the aforementioned rule; they struggle and is now up against it.

Champions League, First Knockout Stages, Game 1:



A comfortable 2-0 win at Donbass Arena vs Shakthar leaves me in control for the return leg. The downside? Benedikt Höwedes, my captain, got a straight red card after taking a professional foul at the score being 1-0 and 79 minutes played. Fortunately for me Augustin Allione managed to score another one 1 minute from full time.

Other News:

Because I ended up selling Stefan Savic to Manchester United, the idea has been to let the younger talent at Schalke get a shot at first-team football and in particularly Kaan Ayhan, he's been stellar so far. He had a loanspell at my affiliate-club Energie Cottbus last year, was in good form for them and this season I've refused to send him out on loan because I wanted to match him at the club:



With the injuries I've had on my central defenders since X-mas and with Jöel Matip being away on international duty in African Nations Cup, I was forced to bring back another of my youngsters from Cottbus. I bought Kenneth Hansen from Rosenborg last season for a cheap fee and his potential is undisputable, but my plan was all along to have him play in the 2.Bundesliga for Cottbus this season and then have him play in my first team, just like Kaan Ayhan.

But Hansen's played 4 games for the first team plus one cup-tie, and I'm gonna continue to use him for the rest of the season.



Players of the Month:

(Once again) How can it not be this guy?



While Mirko Vucinic is having a real goal-drought, Bacca can't seem to stop scoring. I'm actually contemplating transfer-listing Vucinic at the end of the season and bring in another face. Bacca's won the #1 spot as the team's lone striker.

This month he'll be joined by:



Bender's been exceptional in our midfield and I'm so glad I bought him from Leverkusen prior to the season. He's already been named alternate captain and he's the first name that hits the team-sheet when the midfield is up for grabs. Unfortunately for me, his partner in crime on the midfield Lucas Romero hasn't been as solid, so he's played with both Xavi and Marco Höger on the midfield this season. Bender's been solid, regardless of his midfield-partner.

Next month: Still a tough game-schedule and the return-leg of the Champions League