Ok, we do Journeyman

GreekExpress: It has been tight indeed. Boca Juniors and we are just a bit better then the rest. Luclily Boca Juniors dropped some points after we beat them. We will be playing Corinthians in the Copa Sudamericana






December was collection month. We scooped up all prices there where. First there was the league, we kept winning adn Boca Juniors started to drop some points.






Then there was the Copa Sudamericana. We nailed the first leg and the second leg we where also better.





And the club world championship. In the Semi finals we where drawn against Mexican squad Américana. We scored within 10 minutes from a trow-in. And it was automatic after that, claiming an easy 3-0 victory in the end. Next up Real Madrid. This match started of evenly with some chances on both sides from set pieces. But a second yellow card for André Ayew chanced the face of the game. We where on top after it and scored on the 50th minute. Real Madrid pegged back immidiatly but we kept pushing forward. In the 93th minute we got the reward we deserved Helcinho bringing glory to the club.

Wowww....officially, the best team in the world!!

GreekExpress: Yes!!!!!!! Altho it helped that Real Madrid didn't play Özil; Christiano Ronaldo; Modric or Benzema and they got a first halve red card




First some end of year spoils:









Then I sold Gaspar Iñiguez for 5Mil and replaced him with Schumacher on a free transfer.

The friendlies didn't bring any shocking results and we go into the second season halve with great confidence.

I think I have cracked this country, we are steamrolling through the league at the moment winning all games I played this month. Also did I win both matches in the Copa Libertadores poule phase. And I never had the feeling we would lose a match this far. Only the São Paulo game was tight that could have ended in a draw. Sebastián Santos was instrumental this month, scoring 10 goals in 8 matches, and has taken the starting striker position from Lautaro Chávez.



So with basicly everthing won what there is to win in Argentina, I will be looking to move to an other club now definatly. But I will wait till a good club become available.

doing amazing mate !!

George: Thanks mate it is going above expectation.






Our perfect run came to an end against Independiente Rivadavia with an unlucky draw, but in general I still feel we are unbeatable at the moment. I can swap in and out players at will without the results suffering. We have a hefty couson at the top, and looks like we can win an other title. We are also on course for the next round in the Copa Libertadores, but the main thing I want is the Copa Argentina as it is still missing on my palmares.

You do look unbeatable at the moment!! Any plans on where you want to move next? England or Spain?

GreekExpress: I have nothing planned yet, but I will only go for a team with a future both for prices and financial. And I will take any job in Spain; England; Italy or Germany if I like the prospect.






We still moving along strongly. We got the important win over Boca Juniors in the league. To bad we slipped up against Belgrano, we had pleanty chances but just didn't score. In the Copa Argentina we proceded easily against Godoy Cruz, and in the Copa Libertadores we didn't play our best. Drawing againgst Santos and losing against São Paulo. But the big win against Barcelona put us back on top of the group.





The first job came my way, Athletic Bilbao. With a decent wage budget and a good transfer budget and an amazing salary. But when working at Athletic you can only buy local players so that makes the oppertunities slim to get improvements outside there own youth set-up. And as I already build River Plate from there own youth set-up I didn't feel this was the oppertunity I was looking for so I turned it down and and hoping for something better.

I like Athletic Bilbao!!! But it would be a different challenge with all these player restrictions, so I understand
2 more points needed to win the league...that was like a walk in the park! Are you looking for a European challenge: to build a team like you did with River or more of a big name so you can create a dynasty??

GreekExpress: The form the team displayed made winning the league look easy. My next goals are winning a major league in Europe and claim the Chapions-Leauge title. I don't mind if I have to build a team up to do it, but the team must have the potential and backing to make it possible without turning it into a long term project.






What to tell about this season, after winning the Copa Sudamericana; Club World Championship and the season first halve title. We added the Copa Argentina and season final halve title aswell. And we qualified for the Copa Libertadores semi-finals aswell. So basicly we won all competition we entered. To top it off the second of my youngster turned international with Lautaro Chávez getting his first cap.

great work on the Quadruple !!!

George: Thanks, it was a great achivement to accomplish.






My pre-season was build around the (semi)final of the Copa Libertadores. With last years experiance in mind we went about most carefull and had a fully fit squad at the kick-off. It payed off as we hammered Boca Juniors away from home with a vintage 2nd halve preformance. At home we didn't spent much energy and where helped by an own goal. Thus securing our passage to the finals. We took a two goal advantage in our home leg against Corinthians setting us up nicely to win the Copa Libertadores for the second year running. We managed to hold on to our lead away from home dispite getting a red card.



But probalby the most important part of the pre-season is the selling of the first of the youngsters. Lautaro Chávez wanted to get out, and since I had good cover I decided to sell him. Sporting Lisbon bought him for 19.75 Mil. Altho it sad to see him leave he brought in good money.



And with winning the Copa Libertadores I moved to the number one spot in the hall of fame. Making me the best manager in the world!



As we also got a good offer for Pablo (2 Mil) I parted with him again as we have enough talent for the midfield positions. Again three players moved to the first team from my youth set-up: Oscar Roldán as extra centre back. Last year I only player with 1 back-up he will be the second back-up. Roberto Elizondo will be the replacement for Pablo. And finaly the Chávez replacement will be Emiliano Molinari. This will make the season squad look like this:

Chavez looks like he will be awesome!

t-mase: Lautaro Chávez was a wonderfull talent. I signed him at the age of 16 for 750k and sold him with a profit of 19 Mil. So I don't have to complain. The decision to sell him was made "easy" because I still got great talent to play in the front.
Sebastián Santos; Gino Benitez; Helcinho. And even behinde these I got some comming talents.






This month (+ a couple of days) brought me the next price. Winning the Recopa for the second year running. In the league we had two slip ups. So we have to battle to come out on top again. We are 3 points behinde with a game in hand but its realy close at the top at the moment.





For my future I am eye balling a Chelsea or Wigan move. Chelsea is doing badly in the Premier league and Roberto di Mateo is under presure. Nothing to say about the Chelsea job, they still have a top squad and good funding. So it shouldn't be hard to build a contending team there. The Wigan job will probably come up earlier, but they have been relegated to the npower Championship and struggling there. The positive side is they have a smaal but decent squad and funds to build on it. So the Wigan job would be more challeging the the Chelsea job.

Chavez looks like a world class player!! The team continues to look strong and with lots of good players to come from the academy.

Have you applied for the Chelsea or Wigan job yet or waiting for them to become available?

GreekExpress: I am waiting for one of the job to open up. Probably will go with the first one that comes. But will consider any job with good financial prospect, and decent chance to get Champions-League spot within the next couple of years. Current Job status






An other good month in the league, to bad Boca Juniors also had a good month so we still 3 points behinde with a game in hand. Only last game we screwed up in the Copa Sudamericana leaving us in a tough spot. Inbetween I reached 200 games at River Plate.

Guess it's between Wigan, Duisburg or Bochum for now - Getafe and Bolton could be interesting projects too. Not sure about the financial situation of these teams though and it would take a couple of years at least, until you can talk about Champions League football.

Boca is looking strong - guess the derby between the two of you will decide the champion.

Still doing great mate good luck finding the right job !

GreekExpress: Yes, I was thinking about the Wigan or Duisburg job. But this month will unfolded a different senario. It looks indeed between us and Boca Juniors again with the derby as decider.

George: We running strongly for over a year now. A new job won't be to hard to find as I am the best manager in the world. It just waiting what will open up.





Two sloppy results in the league, but we did manage to preceed in the Copa Sudamericana. But the team probably felt my reign was running to its end. And indeed it was time for me to leave Argentina behinde. I had a smashing time at River Plate winning the league 3 times, including 2 total league victories. And no less then 8 cups, including 2 Copa Libertadores and a Team World Championship.



Ofcourse there where options open when I left the River job. Lazio Roma just sacked there manager and it looked an very appealing job. So I put in my application. But just before Lazio would make there decision, Liverpool came knocking on the door. And that was just to good to turn down.







So after some short negociations I am now manager of Liverpool. Ofcourse the team is already more then decent but I have planned out a lot of chances. Selling out of lot of the older long serving members and bring in some new young faces. More of this will be revealed after the next month when the transfer window is open again.



What I did this month is clearing out of lot of the current staff members and installing my own staff. Bringing in Zé Roberto, René Gómez and Sergio Comba with whom I worked at River Plate. Bisciotti and Neville where free and I bought Nista and Haber to complete my first team coaches.





With the coaching team in place we can now work on getting to the transfer window savely and then reorginize the squad and after that the youth department.



The first matches started of decent and lifted us some places in the league. As we stand now I feel Eupean Qualification should be doable and with some luck and good results we might even challange for the 4th spot. But I have also to consider the rebuilding that I will do in Januari, so that might hurt the results a bit.

good luck at Liverpool mate ! Good start.

Good luck - not far form the 4th place. Any thoughts about your tactics?

George: Thanks, the start was hopefull indeed. And it should be as I promised Euro qualification through the league this season, so we have to start moving up.




First there where some spoils from my time at River Plate. My good results and preformances where not forgotten and I got the Manager of the Year title.





We got to the last month before the reshape very well. Since I took over at Liverpool we haven't lost yet, altho there where to many draw to move through the league table quickly. But we are still moving up. Now lets hope the new signings will settle and we can challange for the Euro Qualification spots.



Now lets see about the reshaping. First the list of players I decided to let go. Most of them just didn't have enough skills for the wage the got, other just didn't have enough skills.



A big list of players I brought in, including one I took away from River Plate. I had three players in mind I would liked to take with me. But One didn't had intrest to join me and for the other one I already had enough good players in the squad. So I spend a massive 60.9 Mil and brought in a 37.5 Mil. So I still got 24.4 Mil to spend which I am going to use to bolster my youth set-up.



My team will be playing the same tactic as I did at River Plate. My squad looks like this now, I feel I got a decent balance between current and future ability and young and experienced players.



This is the whole team break down, first named will be the starting player second the first back-up:

GK: Reina; Christopher
DR: Roper; Coleman
DC(r): Black; Zouma
DC(l): Burgess; Paolini
DL: Santon; Robinson
DM: Leiva; Frydenlund
MC: Peterson; Cork
MC(AP): Ward-Prowse; Pospech
AMR: Benites; Russo
AML: Sterling; Borini
SC: Rees; Suárez

Sorry I missed your comment, it must have placed while I was writing up my transfers and team.

I will be deploying the same tactic as I did when I was at river, Especialy as there where already good players for that tactic. Only had to bolster midfield playmaker position.

Altho I do hope to reach 4th, I just aim at Euro-Qualification to start with.

A very good month. The new players are fitting in nicely and the results are very good. Especialy the win over ManC in the FA cup was very pleasing. To bad Gino Benitez got injured so I haven't see him play enough yet. The other bad thing is we got a very good offer for Lucas Leiva, and i felt incline to accept because he had only one year on his contract and was already 31 years old. So I sold him for 15 Mil to PSG. I replaced him with Justin Durand which I bought for 5 Mil from Anderlecht.

Sorry I forgot the Februari update, so now the two months together.






We started of Februari with a good draw against the leader, just to trow away to points next match with a bad draw against QPR. But we picked up again with a good win over Newcastle. In the FA-cup Sunderland wasn't any problem at all. We had drawn Celtic for the Euro-League and it urned out a harder nutt the expected, we got a 1-1 away from home and a close 1-0 win at home. Inbetween was an easy win over Stoke. Leicester was the next win in the league. But we are having a hard time scoring so we depend heavy on our defence. But the defence is doing excelent so eventho we aren't scoring at will, we still rake in the points. Southampton gave us real scare in the FA-cup, but late equalizer by Luis Suárez gave us a replay. Next in the Euro-league was a tough opponent in AS Roma, but winning twice 2-1 made it look easy. And inbetween we hammered Norwich. So since my start as manager of Liverpool I am still unbeaten. And it show in the league, we rocketed up the table and are in real contention for the Champions-League spots now.

great couple of months mate in the champions league places !

Fantastic performance so far! In with a shout for a Champions League spot and at the quarter-finals of the Europa League and probably at the semi-final of the FA Cup. It would be great if you won one or both cups and got that Champions League place.

George: Yeah we have been unbeaten since I took over. So we are moving up in the league and getting further and further in the FA-cup and Euro-League.






We started off the month with e confincing 4-0 win over Southampton in the FA-cup 6th round replay. But the next match ended my undefeated run at Liverpool. A very bad loss against Birmingham, endangering my Champions-League spot. Gladbach was no match for us, wining both legs. 2-0 at home and 1-2 away. Giving us a Semi-Final against Bayern München. Unfortunatly inbtween the Euro matches Wayne Rooney beat us 2-3 in the FA-cup Semi-Final. Next up was the all important league match against Chelsea. We went up early in the match, but we couldn't hang on till the end, 1-1 was a fair result and kept us in contention. It took us an hour to get going against Cardiff, but when the first one touched the nets the next ones came quickly. Last match of the month was against our rivals Everton. Two set pieces where decisive in this match. Putting us joint 3-5th in the league with Chelsea and Arsenal, but we have a game in hand. I have 3 home matches in the last 4, so that is good. But we still have to play Man City, and the others are also no push overs. And there is still the Euro-Leauge matches against Bayern München. So I hope to hang on till the end of the season.

The month didn't start as we hoped. Away in München we had no chance against a better Bayern, I had some hope we could atleast score ones so we had something to play for at home. But it wasn't to be. Next opponent Manchester City was also to good for us and an othe 0-2 loss. The return against Bayern didn't brought us the needed wonder so we dropped out of the Euro-League. After the loss against City a win was needed against Sunderland to keep us in the Champions-League spots. But not having scored for 3 matches, it didn't look good. This match we also had a hard time finding the net. But Sion Rees broke the deadlock just before the final whistle, ending our goal drought. With the team back to scoring ways we cruised past Ttottingham scoring 4 goals from corners to complete a 5-0 win. With the 3th place secured we could free wheel the last match and try to place the crowd. we got a good 3-1 win but it could/should have been more.

unlucky losing in the semi and your unbeaten record but great work in the champions league !