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#396006 Oh when the Saints go marching in...
Manno
Form is slowly turning around. Not overly happy with the draw against Palace, but it was a real bore draw. No issues defensively, we just struggled to break them down. This brought me back to using a tactic with wingers to try and get play moving forward in the wide areas. It brought me success with a good solid 2-0 win over bottom of the table Brighton. To be fair to them, they did have a player sent off after 4 minutes but that usually makes it harder for my teams! I felt I am finally seeing the potential of Ben Pearson after that display. He capped off a very good performance in his ball winning midfield role with a well taken goal. Malcom grabbed an assist for Gabbiadini's goal which is nice because Malcom really needs to improve considering his potential. Hopefully this can be the start for Gabbiadini as well. Christmas fixtures coming in thick and fast now.
Transfer update - Ryan Bertrand and Fraser Forster have both asked to leave the club. I've accepted both requests and will look to move them on in January.
#395995 Oh when the Saints go marching in...
Manno
So after a very underwhelming and essentially frustrating season I made some big moves in the transfer market to try and combat it. There may be a few strange decisions in here but those that left really deserved to leave.
Lets start with the outgoing players. Boufal left for £6 million, which was a fee I had to take in the end but really wanted more. I tried so many times to try and get him to work in my system but he was very poor so I let him leave. Pied was injured all season and then with the incoming Orban and the fact Van Dijk wanted to stay it left him surplus to requirements and brought in a tidy £2.4 million. Charlie Austin was a strange one, he was very inconsistent in the first season and when a £10 million fee came in I had to take it. Considering Gabiadinni scored 27 goals in the first season and the fact I have some younger strikers to bed in to first team football I felt it was the right move. Hojbjerg really disappointed me. He has the potential to be a world class midfielder but after not getting enough game time in the first season he demanded a transfer and I had no choice, but I felt for a player with his potential I deserved more than £10 million.
Onto the incomings. As I said it was a big window for me as I needed to strengthen a lot to be competing for Europe. The first incoming was Rafa Soares, who comes in to replace Ryan Bertrand at left back. Bertrand promised so much but his performances at left back were below par and he struggled offensively, so I brought in Soares to take over and maybe urge Bertrand on to perform better. Peralata was a steal for just over £1 million. The 21 year old has the potential to become a world class striker and I'm hoping to get him integrated into first team action this season. Malcom is a big risk at £20 million but at a 3 star rating already he has the potential to be one of the best wingers in the world and a winger was something I was sorely missing in the first season. Torriera is an exciting 21 year old deep lying playmaker. He was an expensive purchase but I think it was needed to add a boost of creativity in to the midfield. He has the potential to be a very good player. Alexander-Arnold has come in to try and push Cedric on and provide some competition for him, I'm hoping it gives Cedric the motivation to step up a gear. Ben Pearson comes in as a fairly cheap defensively minded midfield option. He's likely to play a rotation role this season. Batshuayi was a late minute loan but I couldn't turn down the chance to bring him in and bolster my striking options.
We've certainly started the season a lot better than last year, which has provided me with a lot of confidence. We're currently sat in 10th position, which is 5 points off the European spots. It was looking a lot better before the 3 loss streak I am currently on. I've been left frustrated by the fact we can play really well one week but then we struggle against smaller teams where we really shouldn't be dropping points. The big plus for me is that we are performing much better against the bigger team, including the excellent win over Chelsea.
In terms of individual performances it's been a mixed start. I've mixed up my tactics a lot and I'm now playing with no wingers which means I can't utilise Malcom, although he hasn't put in any real performance so far this season which is very frustrating. Top performers so far have been Virgil van Dijk and Cedric in defence and then Milinkovic Savic has carried on his excellent form. There is no clear goalscorer at the moment, Gabbiadini has 5 goals and 3 assists in 14 games which is disappointing considering his previous season. This does give me a chance to try and get Peralta a go in the team.
From now on my updates will be shorter and more of me giving a current view on the situation rather than a look back.
#395983 Oh when the Saints go marching in...
Manno
Anyway... onto the good stuff! So I've gone with Southampton as I saw them as an interesting project and the fact I lived right next to the ground for two years whilst at university! I'm midway into my second season so I will give you updates as to what has happened up until now.
As you will see, my first season in charge was a very frustrating one for me. I struggled horrendously in the Premier League and domestic competitions but managed to do rather well in the Europe League. The initial aim was to stay in the top half of the league and I only just held on to my job in the middle part of the season. This is how we ended up and I've included my signings from the first season.
On the whole it was a very disappointing campaign. It was one of those seasons where I just knew I would get nothing from games against the big guns and when it came to playing the smaller teams we were very dominant but we were also very open to a collapse that would cost us. I was very happy with the Europa League campaign and we should have got through against Nice but we really didn't take our chances.
In terms of the transfers, I will show you the most important ones. I won't include Grujic because he was simply a loan deal, but did a great job. I brought in Willi Orban to take up the berth next to Virgil Van Dijk at CB and he's proved to be a very good addition to the team. Milinkovic Savic is my most important signing and has taken up the role as my key midfielder in the box to box role and even grabbed himself 10 goals in his first season at the club. Rajkovic has come in to take over from Fraser Forster and did so towards the end of the season, he's got a lot to learn but the early signs are promising. Finally, Burkardt is one for the future but looks to be an excellent signing.
#343778 The Anfield Story
Manno
So in terms of my squad for the upcoming season we can start with my transfers. I have only made 3 summer signings, but they each set me back a fair amount.
After Liverpool's failed attempts in real life to sign Zielinski and Dahoud I decided to scout them and then managed to negotiate a fee to bring them to the club. Central midfielders are key to me and these two both have the potential to grow and become solid first team players. I'm likely to loan one of them out for the season and keep the other on the bench and play in a rotation format, but that still needs to be finalised. My final signing was that of Garcia from Bremen II. He is a 19 year old left back who comes in as quite highly regarded for the future. We currently have Alberto Moreno as our first choice left back but I will be hoping to get him some game time on his first season at Anfield where possible.
In terms of outgoing transfers there was a lot of them. We managed to recoup around £40 million from the transfers themselves, meaning we actually made money in the transfer market.
There were 5 permanent transfers and the rest were all loan deals. Those going out on loan have done so with the idea of returning and being reassessed at the end of the season. Those moving on were Lazar Markovic, who didn't really fit the bill and I was quite happy to get an £11 million fee for him at this stage. Martin Skrtel has also left us and moves on to Fiorentina for a £4.5 million fee. Balotelli also didn't feature in my plans and we were able to part ways with him and he joined PSG for £5 million. The highest transfer fee on the outgoings was that of Lucas who joined Valencia for £15 million. He didn't really fit in to my plans in central midfield, especially with the two new additions in that position, it made sense. Finally, Joe Allen departed for £5 million, despite me rating him as a player, he wasn't going to get the game time he wanted and so it was right to let him go.
As I am writing this having started the season, I will show you the results and then what the team looks like currently.
The opening game of the new season saw us travel to Leicester City. A tricky first fixture in truth but a comfortable one in the end thanks to Sadio Mane and his first two goals for the club. We followed this up with another away fixture, this time at Tottenham, but the scoreline was the same as Danny Ings and Coutinho fired us to a 2-1 victory. Not an ideal first home fixture as we suffered a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace in a game where Roberton Firmino fired us in to the lead before Frazer Campbell scored the winner in the 89th minute. I named a strong side to face Nottingham Forest in the Capital One Cup and a solid all round performance saw us progress as 4-1 victors. The final game of August saw us visit Sunderland and a composed performance saw us home with goals from Danny Ings and Roberto Firmino.
September was a faltering month for us, although it wasn't that bad, I would have expected better. We started with Watford at home and a rather drab performance ended in a 1-1 draw with Danny Ings once again getting on the score sheet. I'm not sure what it is about the smaller teams but we just can't perform against them and it showed as we lost 2-1 to newly promoted Middlesbrough. We did have some positives as we progressed to the next round of the Capital One Cup after defeating Blackburn 3-2. The month ended on a positive with a good 2-2 draw against Chelsea at Anfield.
October was a month of 2 halves. We started positively by beating Hull 4-1 away from home and keeping up with the top 4. We then welcomed Southampton to Anfield and we dispatched them 4-1 with a good team performance. Manchester City were too good for us as we fell to a 2-1 defeat at the Etihad. The month ended on a downer as we got knocked out of the Capital One Cup at the hands of Tottenham who scraped over the line in a 3-2 loss.
November was a lot more positive for us. We now have just the Premier League and the FA Cup to focus on after being dumped out of the Capital One Cup. Sadio Mane inspired us to a derby day victory over Everton with a 3-1 scoreline at Anfield. We then had to travel to Arsenal where we received our first real embarrassing result of the season. We were outplayed in all departments and didn't turn up. We then welcomed West Brom and turned them over 4-0 before travelling to Burnely and taking them down 3-0.
#289848 Going Beyond Impossible
Manno
History:
Brechin City - June 2012 until December 2012 --- Sacked
US Gavorrano - December 2012 Until Current
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Last Updated: Tuesday 17th July 2012 - 14:19
Brechin City Appoint Part Time Manager
Scottish Second Division side Brechin City have appointed 25 year old Louis Mancini as their part time manager after a month of searching ahead of the new season.
Louis Mancini was unveiled as the new part time boss this afternoon in a press conference at the Scottish Clubs ground. Brechin have been without a boss for a month and have given Mancini time to get the squad in shape before the new season starts. Chairman Ken Ferguson revealed that the English born manager has been given a 1 year contract at the club.Mancini is taking his first venture into management after passing and completing his UEFA Badges over the summer. Mancini has a very basic footballing background and failed to break through the ranks into semi-professional football after many unsuccessful trials and had turned to the side of managing aged just 25.
Brechin City currently play in the Scottish Second Division in which they have won on three separate occasions in 1983, 1990 and 2005. However the Scottish club have failed to make it any higher than the First Division and will be hoping their new manager can take them to the new heights they desire.
More information can be found on the clubs website.