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Gendo
Off-season 2017
Transfers Out:
For the first part of the transfer window, I was a seller. I didn't see Naismith, Barry, or Robles in my future plans for the club, since Vaclav Cerny, any other midfielder, and Jack Butland would respectively take their positions. Then after seeing Galloway coming back well developed from loan, and being 9 years younger, it was Darron Gibson's turn to hit the pavement. Aiden McGeady was pining for play time a lot last season, as he sat behind Deulofeu and Mirallas for the right winger role, and with who I loaned in, he still wasn't going to see the pitch in my system, so he was sold as well. And finally, Michael Keane was a bust. Fortunately I was able to turn a £4M profit on him as he goes to Hull (which may, in turn, bite me in the end).
Transfers In;
Halilovic and Traoré come in from Barcelona on loan as I want to trial them essentially for 5 months, seeing how they play and if I want to bring them in full time in the future. Bryan Cristante was basically brought in in case Hali doesn't work and Galloway's development stalls. Dosso is more for the future, and he was immediately loaned back out to Lille as a first teamer to help him develop. And finally, the prize of the transfer window, Kurt Zouma. He cost a pretty penny to get, but at the same time, Seamus Coleman, and Steve Caulker all picked up gruesome ligament injuries that would sideline them for at least 4 months. I needed someone to fill the gap, and Zouma was that someone.
Friendlies:
Not a bad run in the friendlies, the only low-light was the draw to Vanarama Conference side Barnet. Tim Howard, of course, got the run out in his Testimonial, as this could very well be his last season. Depending on how much they regress, this could be both Howard's and Phil Jagielka's last season in my side.
Merseyside Derby in the Community Shield! As I make final preparation for this, I'll leave you to wonder what the outcome of the match is going to be. Hoping for a win, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if we lost.
Gendo
Starting up the Premier League season, we took it straight to newly promoted side Leeds, hammering them 5-0 in the opener. Patrick Roberts continues his strong development, bagging a brace, while Lucas Boyé as making a statement for himself to earn more playtime this season. His brace certainly has me questioning my tactics, since I only have a one striker front right now. And Leighton Baines caps the scoring with a free kick free goal from 20 yards out.
Our next match pitted us against Man City, predicted to win the title this season, so a solid result here could set the tone for the rest of season. However, it just turned out to be a bore 0-0 draw in the end. Even though we had majority possession, the shots on target were pretty abysmal.
We did improve in the next match, I'd say, against Chelsea. And by improvement, I mean we Brazil'd them. So many people scored for us, it's absolutely fantastic to see that we have a strikeforce again, and against a full strength Chelsea squad at that! All goals for us from the top: Tielemans scored off a keeper parry while just remaining onside; Baines whips in a cross and Lukaku heads it in; Rotariu launches a shot and is deflected by Chalobah into the net (labeled an own goal); Traoré to Roberts to Lukaku for his brace as the keeper was still focused on Roberts; Tielemans attempts a shot but is deflected right to the feet of Traoré who strikes it near post for the score; after a kerfuffle around the left side of the net, the ball finds Traoré and he again puts it past the keeper near side for his brace; after some beautiful passing to get to Lukaku, the ball if forced off of him but right to Roberts, as he strikes it home for the score.
Phew, that was a lot to talk about. And while the season is still young, here is the table so far:
Cup nemeses Tottenham are our opponents in the Capital One Cup again, will the result this time be different?
And finally, our Champions League group draw was handed out right before the Chelsea match. We will take on Juventus, Galatasaray, and Copenhagen. Juve and Galatasaray we've faced before, and to some stunning success too, so I'm not too worried about advancing from this set of matches.
What a phenomenal start to our season! Already bagging a trophy and putting our offense prowess to the test. Will it continue into the Champions League as well as the Premier League? We'll find out! Thanks again for reading, and as always, I'll see you in the next post!
Dan
Gendo
September 2017
This'll be the first month that I'll employ the use of picture to show in depth how each match went.
It's definitely great to see the league form continue on as it is. Hit a little stumble against Galatasaray in the Champions League, as I feel we had them surely beaten. Just a bunch of mistimed errors had show us the boot in our opening match. We did get revenge on Tottenham again in a cup competition, which is always nice to see, however next up for us:
Oho, Chelsea, how I love to see you again. Will we see another Brazil? Probably not, but tune in to find out how the results play out. As always, thanks again for reading, sorry if this was a little rushed, but I promise to make up for it. See you in the next post!
SBR
Good to see you back mate.
Dan
DP91
Gendo
And thanks as always, Danaand DP91. The Galatasaray result was certainly not ideal, but that's only one match out of 6; I'll sure try to pick the form up later on.
K3V0
KEZ_7
Gendo
Thanks, KEZ_7! A good league start bodes well for the rest of the season.
October 2017
Continuing the great form in each competition. We were able to rectify the opening match downer by winning the next two Champions League matches in fairly strong fashion. The league play has been strong as well, but once again EFFING HULL shoots us down to hand us our first loss of the season. It's gotten bad, people. In 8 matches against them, I've only defeated them twice at best? They've become the trap team, a team I dread facing. I need to change that and fast. And finally, we took Chelsea down in the Capital One Cup 1/8 finals convincingly, save for a dumb penalty conceded.
So that loss to Hull dropped us down the table slightly. Second place this early in the season is still a good position to be in, though I am wary about Hull making an early push to the top of the table themselves.
Juve and I take the early advancement positions in the group, whereas I'm on top due to the head to head victory.
And finally, our opponent for the Capital One Cup quarter finals will be Manchester United. We've still yet to face them in the league, but if recent history is any indication, we should squeak by with a victory here.
Strolling along into November, still looking pretty in all competitions. Will that remain the same? Who knows, but let's find out! Thanks again for reading, and as always, I'll see you in the next post!
SBR
Dan
Gendo
Winning in Europe is always a plus, SBR, and it puts us that much closer to advancement and making more money.
November 2017
Argh. League form is starting to slip, with just 4 points over 3 matches. We met expected results against Swansea, but the shocking draw to Crystal Palace followed by the disappointing late loss to Manchester United......these are the types of matches we should be winning now. Even against Man U, I feel that we match up to them in terms of talent and tactics, but it's all about how you execute those to get the results. We are still in second place, but now are tied with Liverpool and are behind Man U by 4 points. I hope the gap doesn't grow much larger.
Meanwhile, in Europe, form is still at an all time high, as we dispatched Copenhagen and Galatasaray to gain advancement into the knockout rounds! We are still in first place, and with Juventus left, all we have to play for is final positioning, as teams like the old standards of Real Madrid, Barça, PSG, and Monaco wait in the wings.
Holiday season is upon us, and so are 9 matches from 1/12 up to and on the New Year, 1/1/2018. Who will we face in the knockout rounds in Europe? Will the league form turn around? I sure hope so. I'll be giving you all of that next time around. As always, thanks again for reading and I'll see you in the next post!
Dan
DP91
Gendo
It is typical that I get a team of this caliber in the cup, DP91. Just gotta deal with it.
December 2017
Plenty of matches during this holiday period, and for the most part, we handled the schedule fairly well. There were some hiccups along the way, such as the Capital One Cup loss on penalties, and the loss of concentration against Spurs in the league. But other than that, can't complain about how we've been playing. I can, however, moan about Man U's form, as they've won everything this past month, growing their lead against me. Third place at the new year with a game in hand on Spurs, I'll try to make something happen in the coming months.
We drew against Swansea in the 3rd FA Cup round. Not a bad draw, but they've played us hard in recent matches. Can't take them for granted.
As we drew with Juventus to win the group, we were placed in the seeded pot for the knockout rounds. And wouldn't you know it, we get to face Shakhtar again! We needed the second leg to take the victory in the Europa League, will we need to do that again in the Champions League?
Gendo
Transfers:
Due to general discomfort, causing a stir, and (in Fabian Schär's case) being just bad, it was time to let Schär and Nathan go their separate ways from the club. It's a shame, really, since Nathan was poised to be a solid AMC for me, but with that part of the pitch taken by Roberts, Barkley, and Halilovic, he was struggling to find game time. So Santos scooped him up as he flies back to his native Brazil. Schär has just been poor this season so far, as I thought with the torn ACL of Steve Caulker during pre season, he was going to be given a chance to shine. Sadly, he's made several bad mistakes, some that almost cost us matches, and with that in mind, I had no choice but to release him.
I did manage to bring in a solid replacement for him in the form of Jesús Vallejo from Arsenal. A kid I've been scouting since the start of this save, the 20 year old didn't find regular playing time for the Gunners, but at the same time, they weren't going to part with him so easily. I broke the bank to sign him, as he becomes the newest record signing for the club at £32.5 Million, passing Lukaku's transfer in. I do hope it'll be worth it, and only time will tell.
Patrick Roberts has once again won the Golden Boy award. Amassing a little less goals then his performance last season, he is the first person, going by the list, to have won the Golden Boy in back to back seasons. That's amazing for him, I'm glad I signed him!
And finally, midseason stats for the club. Lukaku is, once again, leading all goal scorers for the team with 16 goals in 23 appearances. Patrick Roberts leads the team in assists, handing off 14 of them so far. And highest average rating at the midway point goes to loanee Adama Traoré with a 7.81.
As always guys, thanks very much for reading, and I'll see you in the next post!
Dan
Gendo
January 2018
Premier League form still a little rocky even in January. The loss to Man City came after we were drilled down to 10 men, and even though we kept fighting an managed a goal late, they answered right back with their man advantage. Against Chelsea, it was a case of two superb goal keepers going at it, stopping a total of 19 shots. We did predictably make it to the 5th round of the FA Cup after solid wins against both Swansea and Oxford. Manhester United have still yet to lose in the league, and being 4 points up already with two games in hand, it's safe to say they'll still hold the lead after catching up in games played.
Awards:
FA Cup 5th Round
A great matchup for us next, as we take on Championship side Bournemouth.
Transfers:
He is the final list of transfers for the January window. Starting with the outs, Schär and Nathan were already covered. Felipe Gutiérrez had several teams interested in him, and I was looking to go in a different direction since his form started to dip, and being one of the most paid players on my squad, it was obvious to me that it was time to part ways with him. I'm glad that I doubled my profit selling him. Cédric was essentially the same thing, minus the salary I was paying him. Since Stones, Zouma, and now Seamus Coleman is back, I have several options at right back. Cédric was already on loan at Marseille to start the season, before injuries forced me to recall him, but now I saw my opportunity to sell him.
Now about the in's, Vallejo was already covered. Gastón Gil Romero was a player I've been looking at for the past couple of season, but just never found a reason to bring him in, as I was pretty deep at the midfield. With the departure of Guitérrez, now was the time to sign him, as he had very comparable stats, was 3 years younger, and didn't want as much money. Tielemans and Powell are still very much my first choices, but Gil Romero could see time with both of them, as I feel out who I want to start now.
Now you may be wondering why I brought in Gary Hooper on loan. The answer is simple: Boyé and Lukaku are injured for the next month, leaving me with only Kevin Mirallas at striker. Hooper, even at 30, is very competent at the role, and I hope for him to provide sufficient cover for the next month as the other guys heal up. Once they are back, Hooper more than likely is out.
With Man U rolling the league so far, my goals right now are to remain top 4, and make a strong run in the Champions League and FA Cup. Will that happen? Who knows, but let's find out. Thanks again for reading, and as always, I'll see you in the next post.
Gendo
Getting a little better now, after this undefeated month, but the pesky draws crept back into the forefront. Against Soton and last place Reading, that's just unacceptable. Especially the Reading match, where we needed to go all the way into injury time just to pull that one out. The FA Cup match went exactly as planned, no surprises there. However, one thing that was surprising was that I managed to pull an away victory over Shakhtar in the CL. 2-1 up coming back home is massive for my chances of advancement.
Overall, still 6 points back of Man U, who still have a game in hand. Clearly this is their year to take the league.
Final note: We drew Norwich at home in the quarterfinals. Another solid match in the Cup, and one that I feel we should be advancing from.
Still looking to the CL and FA Cup as motivation for the season, as Man U roll on. Come follow me and we'll see what happens next time. Thanks again for reading, and as always, I'll see you in the next post!
Dan
DP91
Gendo
Gil Romero has been courted by several teams last season, but he decided to stay at Estudiantes, DP91. I'm very fortunate to have picked him up for cheap, unlike trying to get him from an Arsenal that would ask for somewhere around £40 Million. And the FA Cup and CL are my focuses now, definitely.
March 2018
Another solid month outside of the Premier League, as we roll on in both the FA Cup and Champions League. Brilliant victories over Norwich and Shakhtar help me advance to the next rounds of the respective tournaments, however I did encounter a couple hiccups in the league. Namely the Crystal Palace and Manchester United matches. Going in, I knew Man U was going to be a tough play, them being the league leaders and all, but I was surprised to see us jump out to a quick 1-0 lead early on. But it all came tumbling down after Leighton Baines conceded a penalty. Not only did his bad tackle garner a yellow, but then his arguing with the ref constituted a second yellow sending off, leaving us in a bad way for the rest of the match. It wasn't surprising that the wheels just completely fell off the team after that, as Man U scored twice in the span of a minute (off the penalty, then stealing the ball quickly and scoring a one on one). Words couldn't describe how pissed I was. What was almost as maddening was the draw to Palace earlier in the month. Palace, a relegation zone team, and we only come up with a draw against them. We drew them in both our meetings, that's unacceptable. We should pick it up coming down the way, but the league is out of reach for good now.
(Pardon not showing the table, I forgot to screen cap it, and I've already saved over progress. All you need to know is Man U are 9 points clear with a game in hand.)
Awards:
FA Cup:
Another in a string of great draws, we face Blackburn in the semis of the FA Cup, with the winner moving on to face either Chelsea or Man U in the Final.
Champions League:
Meanwhile, in the quarter finals of the Champions League, we DO get to face off against Chelsea, in what could be a down to the wire match. Very excited for this and so are my team!
Alright, next month I may truncate the season if we advance out of the Champions League Quarters. If not, then I'll carry on as normal and go to the end of the month. Big question is: will I advance, and if I do, who will I face in the Semis? Can't wait to find out! Thanks again for reading and as always, I'll see you in the next post!
Gendo
Well, I said I was going to have a split month if I managed to advance in the Champions League, and looky here! We had an amazing start to the legs, defeating Chelsea 3-0 at home. However things turned south quick in the away leg, as Chelsea jumped out to a 4-0 lead at home. All we needed was a goal to advance on away goals, and it came in the form of a Lukaku goal from close range. We may have loss the battle, but the war was won, but barely, as we advance to the semi finals!
The Premier League so far this month was very ech. We could've beaten Liverpool, but the defense failed down the stretch, as we allowed them to have the victory. Fortunes did smile on use in the following match, though, as we demolished Tottenham to gain retribution for earlier in the season.
And now, what you've all been waiting for, the Champions League Semi final draw.....
Yeesh, now that is a tough draw. I'll be lucky to get a goal awayfrom home and then hope to make up for it at home. Winner plays Man City or Barcelona in the finals.
Gendo
Huh, OK then. That's a somewhat interest way to end the month. Wins in the Premier League, which are all but meaningless at this point as Man U have decidedly won the title, but two shocking results in the cup competitions. firstly, Blackburn, Championship side Blackburn defeated us in extra time to get into the FA Cup final against Man U. How in the blue hell did that happen? I got FM'd hard, as all 3 of their shots on target found their mark. I was bad enough that the defense struggledin the latter stages of the match, but then for the offense to not land a single shot on target in extra time was exceptionally frustrating. Oh well, that's a compeition I'd love to have back.
Meanwhile in the Champions League, we managed to secure a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford to start the semi finals. If it wasn't for a defensive breakdown late in the match, we would've strolled out of Manchester with a commanding (I guess) 1-0 lead going back to Goodison.
Man U are officially champions of the league, so now I gotta hit them where it hurts: right in the Champions League. Can I be able to pull out a miracle at home and advance to Everton's first ever Champions League final? Tune in next time to find out! Thanks again for reading, and as always, I'll see you in the next post!
Dan
Gendo
May 2018
THIS! This right here is the the clincher, the match that brings us on to the Champions League finals. And to do it in such stunning fashion too, with rarely used Ross Barkley coming on to capture a brace, as well as having Lukaku add to his total tally for the year. In most facets of the match, we had the advantage, but the one place where people would deem a key point, possession, we shockingly didn't have much of it. The goals were poaching efforts for the most part, playing off the Man U back line's mistakes. We need to come a long way better if we want to take on the final boss:
Finale of the Premier League, which for all intents and purposes, was to see out how we'd place. Overall, not too worried about results, just need to stay focused with the Champions League Final upcoming.
It's been a phenomenal season so far, not too many complaints: 2nd place in the league, and a berth in the Champions League final! See you all in the next post, where we'll be playing for all the marbles!
Gendo
It's all come down to this, the culmination of a grand season. Sure, it's had some bumps in the road along the way, but the end goal is now in sight: who will take home the ultimate prize in Europe and be crowned champion of the Champions League?
We come down the tunnel, face to face with the Spanish, and recently European, giants, with the likes of Luis Suarez, Messi, and Neymar. Young players ter Stegen, Deulofeu, and Sergi Samper have helped them get to this level in a relief role, but are still dangerous all the more. As my players look back, I know that my two Barcelona loanees in Adama Traoré and Adem Halilovic must be having a wave of emotions come over them; starting them against their parent clubs, how will they react on the pitch? And will Lukaku and Rotariu make space past the Barça defensive line to get shots on goal?
Opening whistle from San Siro:
Things were going quitewell on our side of the ball, holding possession for a good amount of time, only making crucial mistakes down in their third of the pitch. 10 minutes go by, and nothing comes of it, until:
A shot by Romelu Lukaku after a run into the box is parried away by the keeper ter Stegen, but it goes right to Rotariu's feet. He takes the shot as ter Stegen is still way off his line and into the open net for the score! 1-0 Everton, and the crowd is stunned!
Things got plenty chippy throughout the match, as the rest of the first half had several yellow cards thrown around as harsh tackle after harsh tackle was committed on both sides. We entered the locker room with the slim lead, and I tell my boys that they are doing great. Keeping it up would result in a coveted Champions League title.
The start of the second half signaled the commencement of the yellow card machine again, as three more players fly into challenges to get themsevles booked. I make no remark to change their ways, and press on. Barcelona are pushing into our side of the field around the 56th minute, when a through ball was cut out by John Stones and passed long forward to Lukaku. Up the right wing he runs, but soon finds he has no space. Halilovic is open to his right, and he makes the crucial pass....
The net was wide open to the left side, as ter Stegen tried to place himself in a more favorable position to that side. Halilovic instead shot to the right, and ter Stegen made a wild jump at it, but couldn't save the attempt. 2-0 Everton, and the fans from Merseyside are exhilarated and overjoyed at the almost inconceivable lead they had on Barcelona. The Barça boys were not thrilled at all, and neither was manager Luis Enrique. Barcelona became more and more violent as the match went on, until one bad challenge by Sergi Samper in the box led to a penalty kick for Everton! Lukaku stepped up for the attempt. Surely a successful conversion would put the match out of reach....
Lukaku aims right, ter Stegen jumps to the net's left, and it becomes 3-0 Everton with just 22 minutes left to play! Everyone in blue is jubilant at this point, as the fans and subs jump for joy with the score. All the Toffees had to do was withstand pressure from Barcelona now and claim their first ever Champions League title. Messi and Neymar combined to have 6 shots on target all match, but Jack Butland saved all of them, even having to make some acrobatic plays late to keep his clean sheet.
And that's it! Everton are your new Champions League winners! And what a joy it is to see, and exciting to behold! What started off as doubt all the way back to the Chelsea match has now culminated in confidence and celebration, and dreams of where we go from here.
End of season Awards:
End of season Stats:
Romelu Lukaku, once again, was the team's leading scorer throughout the season, but not that far behind was loanee Adama Traoré; I firmly believe he'll be a solid player one day, just not for Barcelona. Top assister was Dorin Rotariu with 19 total assists. And the team's best player by average was Traoré with a 7.74 average.
Well guys, I honestly don't know where to go from here. It's been a great ride, and I've done everything (well, almost everything) I've come to set out to do. I could always change my end goals to something more European-centric now that I've finally won a continental competition. The next logical trophies to win are the Super Cup and the Club World Cup, would I be lucky enough to win those at the first asking? I don't know, and frankly I don't know if I want to try for it. I've had my eye on the Susie Challenges for a while now, and I think I'll put this down for a little bit and try my hand at those.
Thanks so much for reading and your support, guys, it's been fun here, and somewhere down the line, as always, I'll see you in the next post!
Eric Portapotty
Congratulations