kinggazzaman - Comments

Yeah, staying up was always the main aim, it's going to be a slow build. Some of the players I signed wanted promises about where we'd finish, and were asking for top half finishes in like the 2021/22 season. So we've got a couple of seasons to build first.

Vanarama National League North - Midway Round Up

So here we are, halfway through the season. After a pretty shaky start we needed to pick up some points.

Before we look at the results, I wanted to show you guys a player I've bought in. There's been a fair few ins and outs during the season with some players joining in the summer being released because they just haven't been getting the game time I expected.

So here he is, I tried to sign him and he signed a new deal with Chorley, so I went in for him again and this time got my man on a free with no compensation.



A young stiker who went straight into the starting eleven.

Onto the results...



A much better run of results than the first quarter of the season. The reason for this is I decided I would look for a tactic online. I've never been too good at designing my own tactics so maybe I'll wait until the full release and it's not a matter of trying to survive and keep my job. Anyway, I'm using Oathbreaker's tactic which can be found here

It also helped that there were some huge games against teams in the bottom 3, Blyth and Halifax are both struggling and picking up 6 points from those two games really has put us in a much better position in the league...



As I said before 45 points is my target so a rough aim of around 10 points per game. The standard has been poor so I don't think I'll need as many as 45 points it would require a pretty huge increase in performance from the bottom three for them to get near that mark. My target still stands though and we're a good chunk of the way there. We're certainly hitting that 1.0 points per game average I'm looking for.

Now the reason I showed you Elliot Murray earlier is pretty simple. He's been a complete game changer for me



You can see how important he's been for me, he's played in all 6 games since joining and has scored 5 goals in that time and popped up with an assist. I'm absolutely certain he's won us points on his own and if we stay up he'll have gone a long way to contributing towards that.

Now seeing as we're at the halfway point I'm going to show you some interesting stats so far.



Here's the individual player stats, nothing really to see here apart from Murray getting himself on the board for top goalscorer, now of course around half of these came from his time at playoff contenders Chorley, but it's still nice to have a player in and around the scoreboards.



Again, nothing really of note on the team stats either, other than the fact that we're one of the top sides at hitting the target in the division. It just goes to show that either every goalkeeper plays a blinder against us, or we hit it right at them. I have a feeling it's the latter. Something we need to change, but at least we're hitting the target anyway.

Squad Dynamics is new this year and it's something I was a little worried about starting this save with absoluetely no previous experience or coaching badges, would this cause there to be issues with the team.



Looks like my fears were for nothing, it seems as though everything is okay at the moment. It's not anything special don't get me wrong and there isn't any overwhelming support for me but I'm sure that will grow if we manage to put a decent run of form together over the next quarter and put ourselves in a good position to avoid the drop.

Final thing is the next 10 games that I'll be playing before my final mid season update of this coming season.



Some strong sides in there but there's also a handful of teams that are around the same area as me in the league. All I'm looking to do is get 10 points in the bag, anything else is a bonus.

See you then, and hopefully we're one step closer to playing National League North Football in 2019/20

Buildbase FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round

So we enter this with no expectation from the board, and no real expectation from me. The league is the most important thing this season. I don't think the prize money is all that and we don't really stand a chance of winning yet anyway.

So we were drew against Curzon Ashton, one of our local rivals, in an attempt to make it into the first round proper. How did we get on?





I don't think that the score necessarily reflects the performance, bottom line is that they took their chances, and we didn't. We still played well and I'm not too disappointed with the result. Just means we can focus absolutely everything we have on staying in the division. We're approaching the halfway point in the league, and I'll update you once I've played 21 games.

Emirates FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round

The tie against Chester was certainly a difficult one, especially when you look at our away form so far this season. But, we've beaten good sides already this season so you never know.



We managed to force a replay for the second round running, this time though we needed to come from behind and were more than pleased with the result. Akeem Hinds was telling me he wanted more first team football and to come off the bench and put us into the hat for the next round at least means that he deserves to start the replay.



As you can see they were the better side and perhaps we were a little lucky to find outselves still in the tie at this stage, certainly if I was Chester manager I'd be disappointed not to have sealed the tie at home.

So onto the replay, this time, at our house...



This wasn't the result we were looking for, especially after taking the lead with a really nice finish. Fair play to Chester their two goals were both excellent goals, the first was a shot on the turn inside the 18 yard box, and the second was a goal from about 30 yards out. I think we gave both players a little too much time and space to score their goals, but other than having close down much more turned on I don't really know what else I can do to stop that from happening.



Again though, they were the better side and we probably didn't create enough chances to warrant winning the game. We need to be better at the back, yes, that's true but we also need to create more going forward. This has gotten a lot better in the last few games, but I'm hoping we can finally get a win in the league. That's pretty much our sole focus from now on. I'm not really too bothered about the FA Trophy, and I have no expectation on it from the board. Time to put the disappointment behind us and accept what the real priority has been all along. Staying in the National League North. We need to start picking up points pretty soon. We're still behind schedule.

Vanarama National League North - 10 Game Round Up

So you got to see the first two games of the season, which featured a great result against relegated Halifax. But how did we get on over the next 8 league games.

The answer...



...not great. We had a decent run at the start picking up some valuable points and then the fanastic win against unbeaten York City who sat in 2nd place in the table. However, since then things haven't really gone to plan. A run of 4 defeats in the league has put us in a litle bit of trouble.



As you can see it puts us in the drop zone. This is pretty disappointing especially as there are games during our run without a point that I think we really could have won. Spennymoore is one of them. We went 1-0 up in that game via the penalty spot, but threw the game away. I made a tactical error in that game and decided to switch to attacking when they equalised in search of the winner, however they managed to catch us on the break twice and put the game beyond doubt. Hopefully I won't come to regret that at the end of the season.

Our next run of games is pretty tough, over the next 10 matches we're playing against pretty much the top half of the table. So we need to be able to pick up some points along the way. I'm aiming to pick up 10 points every 10 games in order to survive in the division. As you can see, we're behind schedule, so we need to start picking up points fast.


The next time I'll update is the FA Cup clash against Chester

Emirates FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

We were drawn against Nantwich, we'd have to overcome them in order to reach the expected level of us this season. That is to reach the 3rd Qualifying Round. So how did we get on...

Nantwich 0-0 Warrington



Well, that didn't go to plan. I was looking to come away with the win and expected to get a good result against a lower ranked team than us. However, we didn't lose away from home which you'll see soon has been a problem for us so far this year. Anyway, a playoff it is, and that came up in the next game...


Warrington 2-1 Nantwich



So job done in the end, and both goals were pretty similar. Long balls from deep over the top of the defence. Hines runs onto the ball and finishes well. He could have had a hattrick but fluffed an earlier chance. It was perhaps closer than I might have wanted, but the important thing was the end result and we march on to the next round. What was particularly pleasing about this was that Hine had gone on a pretty long run without scoring and he managed to bag himself a brace and the MOTM award for his troubles.



Worth noting perhaps that he's due to retire at the end of the season. I'll bear that in mind and perhaps ask him to reconsider depending on how well he performs for the remainder of the season.

So how about the draw for the next round. Ideally I'd like to make the first round proper, but that is probably asking a bit much from us in the first season. Especially given our tough ask away from home in the next round.



Chester are a good side, relegated from the National League last season, and I expect them to be pretty strong at home. A Cheshire derby none-the-less. Hopefully we can at least force a replay.

We've just started the season, so I wanted to share the tactic that I'll be kicking things off with.

I'm not really used to managing in the lower leagues, and I'm certainly not used to creating my own tactic (I usually use downloaded ones) so this is new for me. I wanted to keep it simple, choose the formation and the players. Then play those players in their best roles to begin with and then make any tweaks depending on what happens.



As you can see I'm playing a simple 4-4-2 with each of my Starting XI playing in their strongest roles. The things that strike me as potential areas for change is the left back. Jake Green is my best left back by a considerable margin, it makes sense to play him as his strongest role. An Inverted Wing Back but I'm not sure how that'll affect the rest of the defence. I may just swap him over and play him in a slightly less preferred Full Back/Defensive Full Back. Also the strikers, I don't know if that pairing of defensive forward and target man will work but only time will tell. Again, I'm just playing them in their best role. If any other players come on I'll probably be playing them in their strongest roles as well.

In terms of corner routines, after our first two games of the season I came up with a plan. Swing it into either the far post (in-swinger) or the near post (out swinger) and put the best header of the ball to attack the ball at the post. We'll see how that goes, it can't be any worse than the corner routine by default because none of the players are moving and we achieve nothing (I think that's a beta issue though)

After the last post I wasn't quite finished in the transfer market, and I've bought in a couple more players. One loan, and one permanent signing. Here they are...



Again, a pretty solid looking central midfielder who may or may not start and will probably again play in his preferred role of a DLP. On loan from promoted Southport he'll certainly add something to the side



Next is a young striker on a free from Shrewsbury, looks decent and looks like he will be making it into the first team pretty soon. We have a nice selection of attackers and as long as I can keep them all happy this can only be a good thing. I want competition for places, particularly going forward. The aim for this season is staying up, and we'll need goals to do that. We can build from there.


Anyway, the season kicked off with a really tough game at home against FC Halifax. A side relegation from the National League last season we couldn't really ask for a tougher start to the campaign (unless Salford perhaps). I didn't really expect to get anything from this game, maybe snatch a draw. What happened really shocked me...



We managed to steal the win in what must have been a hugely entertaining to and fro game. We came from 0-1 down to being 2-1 in front, they then equalised by we put our foot on the gas pulled out a 4-2 advantage and managed to hold on to grab a vital win to start the season.

Next up we had a local clash against rivals Curzon Ashton another team tipped to be fighting the drop this season. Away from home I was really looking to not drop any points. Unfortunately that wasn't to be, despite coming from behind to equalise we let them in late on to put the game to bed and we lose ground to a relegation rival. Although, it's still way way too early to be reading anything into these results, but it bought us back down to Earth with a bump.



That will do for now, like I said it's too early to read anything into it at the moment but we're scoring goals but conceding too many too. It'll be a bumpy road, and I'll be looking to check back in around 10 games into the season when the league table has started to take shape a little more. By then we will have also dipped our toes into FA Cup action for the very first time.

Staffing Overhaul

When I arrived at the club we had no staff members so the very first thing I did was to go and find myself a staff team.

I think it was pretty successful. It was difficult to bring in great coaches but at least we are around, if not above average in each of the coaching aspects. With the best physios and scouts in the league. Great start



I think perhaps the most important staff member I bought in was my Assistant Manager, he has pretty good stats for this level and because he's young perhaps his stats will develop over time as well.



Transfers In

As you can imagine there were a fair few players coming in, we had a really small squad with absolutely no depth at all. So I needed to get on and change that straight away.



As you can see there's a fair few so I'll post them all below in categories.

Goalkeepers



First one is Charlie Phillips, a young goalkeeper courtesy of my Director of Football, he'll be a good backup option for us. We only had one of the young U23 goalkeepers so needed to add depth here and Phillips gives us that depth. I don't really expect him to see much first team football though. A non-contract option is a good deal for us.



Next up was Jordan Porter, a signing I made myself. This is going to be my number one option between the sticks. He's nothing special but is the best option I have. He has some pretty decent physical stats for this level and a spattering of good technical. Luckily I won't be playing out from the back very much so he won't need to use his feed, with that first touch stat of 1

Defenders

We added a lot of defenders to the squad, I think the key to playing at this level is to play like Stoke. Kick the hell out of the opponents and try and steal a goal or two at the other end. I wanted to have a decent amount of defenders and I think all of these guys will add something to my team.











We were really lacking any sort of quality at the left back position so I really needed to bring some people in there. I've done that, and bought a back up in as well so it solved that problem. I've also bought in a couple of centre backs whose sole job will be to get rid of the ball at the back.

Midfielders





Two decent options that add some decent depth in the centre of midfield. I don't really know what my strongest midfield combination is yet, and these two could certainly push their way into my plans. This window was all about building a squad, and these two are certainly worthy of being in my squad.

Strikers

We had enough strikers to have a pretty good strong eleven. Still, we needed to add here again, so I went out and tried to find myself a goalscorer.



The first guy I bought in was young English striker Akeem Hinds. He is pretty pacey, and can head and finish well enough for this level. Hopefully he'll be able to bag us some goals. As long as he does that I can't have any real complaints.



Now, Dean Ebbe, again nothing special really about him. Decent physical statistics and can finish. They're the most important things hopefully as a target man he won't need to use his feet to get himself out of trouble too many times. Only time will tell but I think these are two pretty decent options for this standard of football to go with the rest of my attacking players.

So one final post before I get cracking. I've had a look around the club, and there are a few things that strike me. Firstly I've just come out of the board meeting. I'll be earning £425 a week, with a nice little £1,800 bonus for avoiding relegation. Now that's all pretty trivial, although I like to play the game to be realistic, so I like to try and get myself on good wages and so on.

Anyway, the next thing I did once I signed on the dotted line was go and meet the rest of the staff. So I sent out an 'All Staff' email, and went to the clubhouse to wait for everyone to arrive.

I sat for about 15 minutes, with a pint of lager from the bar. Waiting for my staff to arrive before I checked my email again. One reply, from the chairman,

"Hi Gareth,

Sorry, we forgot to mention this in the board meeting we just had.

You're the only member of staff at the club currently, it's up to you to decide who you hire. Just run it by us first, and we'll sort the contracts out with them.

Best,

Tony"



Great, so I'm going to need to sort that out first. That's on my to do list...

Next, it's time to meet the players. They should be arriving for team meeting pretty soon. I don my nice new club suit, and wait...



Well, I was expecting a few more lads to turn up. Noticeably we don't have a goalkeeper. That could be problematic. I'll need to address that, item number 2 on the to do list.

One last check of the emails before I pack up the office to finish my first day in charge, and there's one sitting there from the chairman, again..

"Hi Gareth,

As we discussed in our meeting earlier today please find below our expectations for the season:

Vanarama National League North - Fight Bravely Against Relegation

Emirates FA Cup - Reach Third Qualifying Round

Buildbase FA Trophy - No Expectations

In order to achieve this we will provide you with the following finances:

Transfer Budget - £0
Wage Budget - £4,505pw (Currently Spending £2,844pw)

Best of Luck,

Tony"

So here we go, a nice long term save to get stuck into.

Warrington Town, newly promoted into the Vanarama National League North. Under my tenure, they will win the Champions League.



The only thing this club has ever won is the league last season to get promoted into the National League North.



We have no experience, no badges. Dire stats, let's hope the players at this level can gel and we can forge something special here in Cheshire.





This will be a long road, so lets get started

German Super Cup and Transfer Update

An injury to Timo Werner meant that Isak would be leading the line in the Super Cup and our seventh meeting with Bayern Munich.

There were no issues as we ran away to victory to lift the Super Cup for the third year running, and are still unbeaten against Bayern during my tenure.



An interesting news item popped up following this game





At the start of the third season here we've entered the Hall of Fame for the nation. My target for this season is to exceed what Guardiola managed in his three seasons in Germany. Another season like last season domestically and we can certainly do that!

Transfer Update

So, I had said we were done when it came to transfers. Although, I had also warned that PSG were sniffing around, and that materialised into a £73M bid for Ousmane Dembele which is why he wasn't involved in the Super Cup because he had completed his move to the French giants. A nice amount of cash into the bank account and a clause in there so we can buy him back for £140M if he develops even further that I feel the need to break the world record for him. I'd also receive 30% of the profit, so if I paid the £146M we would get £21.9M back on the deal.



In other transfer news my biggest flop of a signing looks set to leave the club. Atletico Madrid have made a deal with me worth a potential £34M for Kevin Volland, who only scored 5 times in 27 appearances in the season and a half he spent at the club. We purchased him for £25M, so at worse we make a loss of £7M, if things go well we make a tidy profit on a failed signing that we can reinvest into other areas of the club.

I'm now working on signing a replacement for Dembélé but we only have a week until the window closes so we need to start moving. I've identified Gabriel Jesus as my number one target but we'll have to see if a deal can be made

German Cup First Round

Greuther Furth

This should be pretty comfortable, they struggled in the league last season in the 2.Bundesliga.

Going to give some players a chance to impress me, and reward those who played well against Lyon last time out. My starting XI for this tie is:

GK - P. Rajkovic
RB - F. Passlack
CB - T. Baumgartl
CB - M. Lemos
LB - R. Gurreiro
CM - C. Soler
CM - J. Weigl
CM - F. Kessié
AMR - H. Ziyech
AML - C. Pulisic
ST - A. Isak



It was a dominant display, especially from Alexander Isak netting himself a 4 minute hattrick which pretty much killed the game off before half time. Werner has just signed a hefty new deal and Isak now has 5 goals in two games. He will certainly be getting some good number of minutes.

A comfortable game, although against lower opposition we gave some fringe players some good minutes and they showed why they're ready to challenge for the first team.

Second Round Draw

We were lucky, and were given another second division side in Heidenheim. This is the first time in this save that I've been given a second tier side past the first round.

European Super Cup

So this didn't get off to the start we wanted. We went down to a Jose Gimenez own goal after only 6 minutes, and then later on conceded another, this time Memphis Depay. We went into half time two down, and aggressive team talk and some substitutions later and after 80 minutes Christian Pulisic set up Ousmane Dembélé to half the deficit before Franck Kessié drew us level with only 2 minutes to play.

That's how the 90 minutes finished and onto Extra Time. After merely seconds Alexander Isak (who replaced Timo Werner at half time) put us in front. That didn't last long and Lyon were back level 90 seconds later through Mariano. That's how the scores were after 120 minutes so it was onto the dread of a penalty shootout

Both teams scored their first penalties, but Kessié missed the second kick so Lyon took a 2-1 lead. Before Rajkovic made himself a hero and saved the next two meaning that we took a 3-2 lead. Dembélé then had a chance to win the game for us but missed his spot kick meaning we went to sudden death. Rajkovic saved, and Toljan scored his kick meaning we lifted the trophy.

A good test against strong opposition ahead of the season and there are both pleasing things and things we can work on. We start our German Cup defence next, before a Klassiker in the German Super Cup then finally we head into our league campaign against Bielefeld at home.

So the 2018 World Cup came and went and England got knocked out at the group stage, so Southgate got binned.

Time to make England a global giant too

Transfer Update

Like I said in the last update we had done some business with a number of newgens. The majority of those have already joined the club and then there are two South Americans who will be joining at the end of this coming season, and the end of the next season too.

I'll start with our two big money signings who have been bought for the first team

Jeremy Toljan - Full Back - £34M from Hoffenheim



The reason behind this signing was two-fold. Firstly, I felt we were weak at fullback, with only having Guerrero at left back, pair that with the fact he's one of the stronger central midfielders in the squad and by not having any other option at left back meant we were limited in terms of flexibility. Also, Passlack broke into the side last season but Piszczek is declining and we needed another option at Right Back. Toljan provides us with a lot of options now in the full back position. A position where before we were incredibly limited to only one or two players. This was the area I had identified to strengthen and was pleased to do so, the deal may look expensive but there are no additional clauses in the deal. It's just a £34M payment and that's all, which considering teams always try to put add-ons into the deal so I'm happy to not have those.

He's physically and mentally impressive, no outstanding attributes but will certainly fit into the squad nicely.

Andre Gomes - Centre Midfield - £35M from Barcelona



Last season there were long periods of time where Hakim Ziyech was playing in central midfield. Considering he is much more natural as an attacking winger it was limited his play. We had a midfield three of Kessié, Weigl and Soler but outside of that there wasn't a lot of depth. Dahoud wasn't of the same quality and Locatelli isn't ready for the first team yet and I'll be loaning him out this season

Andre Gomes will come into this side and will be one of the key players in that trio of central midfielders. I think it's going to be super important for long seasons to have world class players and strength in depth. That's what having Gomes as a starter will mean for us. We now have the depth in every single position which will certainly bode well when it comes to the Champions League. I think we were lucky last season and I can now start to take this team to the next level.

Now it's time to take a look at the newgens...

Cléber - Goalkeeper - £2M from 1860 Munich



He looks a quality young goalkeeper, and I think I'll probably loan him out domestically this season. I want him to be playing football and between Areola and Rajkovic he won't be getting into this team. Hopefully he can develop into a quality keeper who can be a first choice keeper here at Dortmund for years to come.

Paupol Kinsombi - Central Midfielder - £1.8M from Nurnburg



Again, this guy looks a quality find. He looks like he could do a job for at least a second division side so I will be looking to loan him out. The only issue I could see here is the quality I already have in his position. I don't know if he'll be able to break into it unless there are some departures. However, one thing I am confident about is that we can develop him and make a tidy profit on him at the very least.

Pedro Marinho - Full Back - £250K from Vit. Guimaraes



A good young player available cheap. i don't think there are any risks involved with this deal. Like I've said before I feel we lack depth in the fullback position, especially if Piszczek decides to call it a day within a couple of seasons. Some good years of development both elsewhere and with our training facilities and this guy could really develop nicely.

Mark Stretch - Winger - Free (£675K Compensation) from Freiburg



He looks really good physically and has some really good mental stats. Considering I got him on a free transfer I think there's a really good chance he could develop into a quality attacking player. Again, the same problem as Kinsombe where we have a lot of depth in the positions he occupies. Again, like Marinho a risk free deal that could have a really big pay off, whether that comes on the pitch, or in the finance office who knows.

Juan Ignacio Piva - Central Midfielder - £1.1M from Rosario Central



Of all the newgens I've bought in I think this guys is the best. I think he could do a job in the Bundesliga and I think I'll try and loan him out to another team in the Bundesliga with an option to recall him if I ever feel as though I'm lacking depth if we get to the winter break. I think in a couple of seasons he will be a starter, especially if players like Julian Weigl keep talking about leaving to join Bayern.

So all of these guys are already in the squad and I'll be surprised if any of these don't go out on loan. I think the only one who could be on the fringes of the squad now is Piva but he'll 100% play more if he goes out on loan. Maybe someone like Aue who have just been promoted to the Bundesliga will come into him.

These are the two guys who haven't joined the club yet, but will be in the coming seasons

Leonardo Fanesi - Central Midfielder - £5M from Colón (Joins 1/7/2019)



Sandro - Centre Back - £900K from Sao Paulo (Joins 1/7/2020)



These guys will have to stay in South America for a while longer in order to continue their development and hopefully Colón and Sao Paulo don't hinder them. Only time will tell


There is a little bit of news regarding players leaving, Bayern Munich wanted to sign both Julian Weigl and Timo Werner and both players came to me and said they wanted to leave. Both were on Rotation contracts and wanted to be considered Key Players (which they are) so I gave them a new contract and they're both now happy to stay. On the flip side Ousmane Dembélé wants to leave to go to PSG, I don't want to lose him and think he's one of the best (if not the best) player in the squad. He has a release clause of £72M I think, and if that gets activated then I'll be happy to pocket that and look for a replacement, or just promote someone like Barbosa or try and get Pulisic to play on the right.

It's going to be an interesting transfer window, but I'm pretty sure that all the transfers in are done. Unless someone like Dembélé leaves

Champions League Final

Here. We. Go



Two strong teams, we could have had a stronger squad out there of course with Gimenez being cup-tied. Soler was away on international duty, and Kessié was forced to drop into centre back, and Werner was still out injured. Luckily we had Ziyech back from his hernia and ready to fight for the big one. The thing that stands out to me here was the quality of the United defence, to me it doesn't seem too strong and we were looking to exploit that



We didn't get off to the start we wanted when Lukaku put them 1-0 up, but we kept the deficit down and came out fighting after half time. Some changes were made including the introduction of Maximillian Phillip (who wouldn't have been in the squad if we were at full strength) he went on to equalise. Then come of the hour, come of the man. Hakim Ziyech fresh from injury to smash home the winner with 15 minutes of the game to play.

Borussia Dortmund are European Champions for the first time since 1997 and for the first time in our history we're treble winners.

It's going to be a big summer and I've already agreed deals for a haul of quality newgens who I'll introduce during the course of the offseason

German Cup Final



Pretty comfortable, it was the least tough opposition of all the semi finalists I think so drawing them I was always confident of lifting the trophy. Especially given our long unbeaten run against domestic opposition. We will have to go all the way back to December 2016 where we lost again Koln who have just been promoted back the the Bundesliga.

Champions League final next and that's the big one...

Bundesliga Review

So, we're at the end of the 2017/18 season. Last time I spoke about this we were level on points with Bayern and unbeaten heading into the winter break. How did the second half of the season go? Lets take a look...



So, we ended the season unbeaten. An incredible achievement and not something that I'd ever expected or targeted at the start of the season, even way back at the winter break it was going to be a tough ask. But we started well and carried that momentum all the way through meaning...



We wrapped up the title with 2 games to go, a couple of late slip ups from Bayern meant that we cantered away and won the league by a good margin.



Not only were we 10 points clear of Bayern in the end, but we set club records for most points, and games won.


Here's how the season ended in terms of results



Some huge results, particularly back to back wins over Leipzig and Leverkusen. The 3-3 draw with Bayern will be remembered after Marco Reus put them 1-0, we bought it back and went 3-1 up (that included a Reus own goal), then they went and scored 2 goals in quick succession. We held on and didn't lose any points to them. We were 5 points clear by this point.

The season ended and the awards started rolling in, here's how my players did...



Felix Passlack is the dark horse of this season, before the winter break he hadn't really featured in the team. He first played in the 6-0 win against Freiburg because of an injury to Lukasz Piszczek then for a period of time up until the game against Schalke the right back position was shared pretty equally between them but then Passlack made that position his own and became one of the standout players in my defence. After spending last season on loan at Stuttgart in the 2.Bundesliga which was initially meant to be a 2 year loan I recalled him last summer because I was expecting him to play a part in the first team and he certainly did so, who knows maybe he could have kept Stuttgart up!






Nothing too special here, Werner came second with 21 goals in the Bundesliga this season. I do think he could have pushed Lewandowski closer if he hadn't spent as long injured as he did. Not that this matters, but he scored more in both the league, and all competitions that Aubameyang did last season. Nice to see I made a good decision in the transfer market.





I've put these two awards together because the top 3 were exactly the same in each. Hakim Ziyech my signing to replace Marco Reus last summer cost me £15M, there was a lot of talk about other teams looking to activate his release clause of £35M. Fortunately we've just entered contract negotiations and he's getting a hefty pay increase, he'll be earning £150K a week but there's no release clause and I'd love to see him take this form on and maybe challenge for a Balon d'Or in the coming season. There's certainly a wealth of talent when it comes to my attacking trio with Dembele, Ziyech and Schurrle all having good seasons. Pulisic is coming back from a loan in the Turkish Superliga and I'm hoping he'll be able to put his stamp on the team too.
Here's Ziyech's stats



Finally, time for my awards



Nice to get some recognition, also won the standard Manager of the Year award too.

Team Awards

We had several players named in the Team of the Season



These same players were also named in the Player's Team of the Season






I want to just show some of the players who really stood out this season. You've already seen Ziyech and Passlack but there's a few more, and they're not the obvious Dembele and Werner

Franck Kessié



9 goals from 14 appearances in the league for the January deadline day signing, was a unit in the centre of midfield and played well when called upon in the centre of defence when needed in the Champions League knockout stages because of Jose Gimenez being cup-tied. He really impressed me and could be a real contender for Hakim Ziyech's African Player of the Year award come December if he can keep this form up. £32.5M well spent.

Jose Gimenez



You'd hope that a club record signing would be in this list at the end of the season. He was in the goals, and was a rock at the back in the domestic games. I'm looking forward to having him available for the Champions League next season and I'm sure Dortmund fans have already forgotten Elvedi (who hasn't made a single start for Bayern).

Omer Toprak



A rock at the back all season and the captain played a blinder and was super consistent. Really stepped up when needed, especially with the defensive departures in January and having to be the only proper centre half in the Champions League knockout stages. Hopefully we can keep this defensive performance going into next season and add to that 54 match unbeaten league run.



So that's it, we retain the Bundesliga and attention will turn to the cup finals. Can we win a Treble?

Champions League Semi Final

Here we go, time for the chance for revenge against Real Madrid who sent us packing last season. The first leg was at home...

First Leg



This was a nerve wracking 90 minutes. A really poor 10 minutes in the first half allowed Real Madrid to storm to an early 3-0 lead. At this point I started to think the Champions League dream was over for another year. We pulled one back before half time though and there was a flash of hope left.

Roll on the second half and Guerrero cuts their advantage down to a single goal, before Werner wiped it out entirely. A 3-3 home result isn't ideal, we'll need to go to the Bernabeu and get a win, because I can't see another 3-3 draw, nor do I want to.


Second Leg

Wow, this was one hell of a game.



Going 1-0 down early on again and thinking it'll be difficult to claw it back although I was hopeful. This hope paid off when Kovacic was sent for an early bath, and even more when Ronaldo was penalised and we were given a penalty which Passlack converted.

Fast forward a few minutes and Ronaldo has chance to make amends from the spot, but Areola to the rescue saving the penalty and keeping the score at 1-1. Less than 60 seconds later we went up the other end of the pitch and young Spaniard Carlos Soler (who arrived on a free at the start of last season) finished well to put us 2-1 up. We held on and secured our place in the Champions League final.

We're fighting on all fronts, but this is going to be a tough tough final...



Jose Mourinho's United easily brushed Arsenal aside. We have 90 minutes to cement a legacy and secure Dortmund's second Champions League, and the first in 20 years. Oh and the small matter of the clubs first ever treble is still on

German Cup Semi Final

It was time for our first semi final revenge. This time was Bayer Leverkusen in the semi finals of the German Cup. After knocking us out in the Third Round last year and making it all the way to the final it was set to be a tough test, but one I was confident of coming through.

With injuries to key players Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech it was a chance for Alexander Isak to step up and lead the line (he will be doing so against Real Madrid too)



Lead the line he did, best player on the pitch in a dominant 3-0 victory sent us safety into the final.

Elsewhere, in the other semi-final Hamburg came out victorious against last years winners RB Leipzig

The final will be the last game of the domestic season on May 19th

Champions League Quarter Final

So here it is, the point we reached last season before being eliminated by Real Madrid. This time around we have the current Spanish champions, Barcelona.

First Leg

So the first leg was away at the Nou Camp



I said I wanted to keep the tie close going into the second leg and we did just that. One problem we are facing is the lack of eligible centre backs to play following the January departures of Elvedi and Bartra. Giminez is only eligible to play in domestic games because he's cup tied by virtue of playing for Atletico. It didn't seem to have such a big impact here and we took the game nicely into the home tie.

Second Leg

I changed up the tactics going into this game, playing a more defensive game trying to keep things close.

It worked



A late late winner from Ousmane Dembélé sends us straight into the semi final for the first time (in this save), I was by that point pleased to be going through on away goals but to go through with a win is even better.

The only sides left in the competition are Man Utd, Arsenal and Real Madrid. Arsenal was the draw I was hoping for

Semi Final Draw



We didn't get what I was hoping for, we got a rematch against the side which knocked us out convincingly last season. A chance to be reunited with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and a chance for revenge

Champions League Last 16


As I showed earlier we were drawn against Benfica in the first knockout round of the champions league we had the away tie first. I usually prefer to be at home first and then we'll have an advantage with the away goals rule to finish the tie off with. However, that wasn't the case this time so we have to deal with that

First Leg



A good result away from home, happy with the away goal. I know that with our home form we can finish the tie off nicely at Signal Iduna Park and progress.

Second Leg

and that is exactly what we did. The tie came to Dortmund and we saw off Benfica with a tense 1-0 win at home




Quarter Final Draw

We had to wait a couple of weeks before we knew who we'd face in the last 8. Both Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig were knocked out in the last round so we are the only remaining German outfit



Last season we were given a really tough draw with Real Madrid where we were knocked out. This season we yet again, draw the La Liga champions in the last 8.

It'll be a tough round and with the first leg being at the Nou Camp we need to still be in the tie when we return to Germany. With a Klassiker derby falling inbetween the two legs it's going to be a week that can make or break our season

German Cup Quarter Final

This was much much more comfortable than I ever imagined it would be...



A completely dominant performance right from the off with some really impressive performances from our new boys. Kessié getting on the scoresheet for the second game in succession, and Giminez netting twice, one of which was a belter



Elsewhere there were wins for Hamburg, Leipzig and Leverkusen (as predicted)

Time for the draw



A grudge match from last seasons cup, Leverkusen knocked us out 1-0 in the third round of the cup last season, time to ruin their season for them

Well, transfer deadline day was certainly eventful. I don't usually do much business during the winter window I find it can ruin any momentum we had going into it.,

However, I knew Barcelona were interested in Marc Bartra going in and I'd promised he could go. We had a ready made replacement in Elvedi who could slot straight in and it wouldn't really be a big issue. So this happened...



Not an issue, until



In his contract was a release clause of £32.5M, I offered a new deal but he wanted to go to Bayern and there was nothing I could do. My replacement was gone, so I needed to act quickly. I went into the market and I did find a replacement, although with a longer period I would scout and work harder for a deal that was better value.



I looked into signing Jonathan Tah (who has now moved to Real Sociedad), Niklas Sule, Jesus Vallejo and Andreas Christiansen but all their current clubs wanted lots of money and some hefty sell on clauses. Spending a big £57M fee to secure a quality replacement and quickly.

Now that wasn't all the drama.

Gotze wanted out, I wasn't playing him so it made sense to cash in whilst he still had some value.



Not as much as I really think he's worth, I wanted nearer £15M but it's better than nothing and he isn't going to be a problem in any European competitions anytime soon.

The other out that's worth mentioning is this, Emre Mor wasn't getting game time and wanted to leave. I wasn't sure if he was going to be getting any game time soon and Southampton came in with a bid for him. I let him go, but I have a buy back fee in the deal so that if he becomes the player he can be over in the Premier League then I can bring him back for a cool £15M



I bought in one more player, this was a bit of a tense thing as this was still deadline day. I was looking at midfielders and saw that Saúl had a release clause in his contract. It was a hefty £59M but he is a quality player that could really help us make that step up in Europe.



We made an offer, and agreed personal terms...



or so I thought, he agreed a new deal and his release clause was now £79M. That deal was off.

I had another player I have been looking at for a while. So I decided to swoop. We only had 3 hours to pull this deal off



With an hour to spare we bring in Kessié from AC Milan, another quality player and with the quality we already have in our midfield it can give us the freedom to move Ziyech (who has just won African Player of the Year and African Promising Player of the Year) onto the wings where he feels more comfortable.
A midfield trio I'm likely to play of Soler, Weigl and Kessié has an average age of 21 and can be a solid quality midfield for years to come.

The transfer window is now over, and focus will soon turn to Benfica in the Champions League

Yeah it'll be a tough ask to beat them, but hopefully someone can do me a favour.

Benfica are certainly beatable, and some of the big hitters have drawn each other so some of those will be avoided in the quarter finals

Winter Break Domestic Update

It's Christmaaaaaaaas! (As a famous Wizzard once said) which means we are roughly halfway through the season and the players are off on their holidays for a few weeks and this i the perfect time for an update.

German Cup

Let's start with the DFB Pokal as there was a Klassieker Derby in the Third Round (we got knocked out here by Leverkusen last season, so there's vengeance on the cards).



Lovely job, a third minute goal from Andre Schurrle and some great defensive efforts for the remaining time and we have eliminated perhaps our biggest rival for this competition.

The goal seemed to come in a way that we score from so often, although usually it's Dembélé and Werner combining. This time, it was still created by Dembélé but it was Schurrle at the back post to slot it home and give us the lead. Let's have a closer look...



As you can see Dembélé has gotten down to the bi-line and puts the ball right over into the danger area, usually he's a little wider than he is here, which is probably why the ball has gone through to Schurrle at the back post and missed Werner in the middle. Schurrle runs in, gets in front of his man and there's a really simple finish for him on the edge of the six yard box. We're scoring like this so often that when I see Dembélé get into this positions and Werner is in the box I'm confident we can have a good chance.

Anyway, the draw, with Bayern out I make us one of the favourites to go all the way now. Leverkusen and Leipzig can still prove problematic but like with the Champions League we'll need to beat the best anyway. Besides, I want revenge on Leverkusen.



Here's the full quarter final draw, as you can see we've avoided the other high flyers in the league, although Frankfurt were playing Champions League football this season I think we have what it takes to beat them. We showed that by beating them 2-0 earlier on in the season. So hopefully we can reach the last 4. I'm hoping for some shocks, but can't really see any happening. I fully expect the last 4 to be Us, Hamburg, Leipzig and Leverkusen.

Bundesliga

Onto the big one...





Here's where we're sitting at the moment, 2nd on goal difference behind Bayern. There are two games really where I'm disappointed with the result. Firstly that 2-2 draw with Bielefeld early on in the season, and then that 1-1 draw recently with Hoffenheim. If we'd beaten those two sides like we perhaps should have we'd have a nice lead going into the second half of the season, as it is we're behind on goal difference and Bayern don't seem to be slowing down.

My best result no doubt was the win against Bayern, it's the first time I've beaten them in a Bundesliga fixture and it came through an incredible Hakim Ziyech freekick from around 25 yards out. We had taken a 2 point lead at the top but threw that away against Hoffenheim. All to play for after Christmas



As you can see, we've spent pretty much the entire season chasing, got one sniff at leading and decided it wasn't for us. Still, we're fighting on all 3 fronts so far and we'll carry on fighting until the last game of the season against Hertha on May 5th

Player Stats



This doesn't quite highlight just how good Ziyech has been for us, you can see he is top player overall in the division and is the teams top scorer here too with 11 goals (Werner is close behind with 10), however he's spent a couple of weeks injured meaning other people have had time to catch him up.

In other news Dembélé has 9 assists and it shows how hard Bayern are going to be to beat when they have only conceded 5 goals all season so far.

Team Stats



We look a lot more dominant here, and it shows how much we can play as a team without just relying on goals coming from one place *cough Lewandowski cough*.

Perhaps the most striking is just how well we can keep the ball and our passing statistic at 83% completed with 8542 completed passes puts us almost 700 passes ahead of Bayern. Now I know titles aren't won with passing the ball but it's pleasing nonetheless.

Also, may I point you down towards the bottom of the screenshot, and show you the 37 games unbeaten. You have to go back over a year to the 10th December 2016 where we lost 2-0 against Koln (who have been relegated, so that was so worth it). However, noone cares if you're 37 games unbeaten if they run over the course of two seasons. We need to stay unbeaten this whole season to cement our legacy. Bayern went 53 games without losing, so we need another 17 games before we break their record too. There are, coincidentally, 17 games left this season. The race is on

So there we have it, we're fighting on all 3 fronts at the midseason break. The next time I'll write will be an update on the DFB Pokal against Frankfurt

Champions League Group Stage Review

The Champions League group stage is over. I certainly believe that we were drawn into the group of death facing Chelsea, Lyon and Panathinaikos.

Here is how the table ended up...



So here we go then, topped the group. Perhaps the most impressive result was the 2-0 victory at Signal Iduna Park against Chelsea. You can see some of the results there, but in case you want to see them all they are:

BVB 3-1 Panathinaikos
Lyon 1-2 BVB
Chelsea 0-0 BVB
BVB 2-0 Chelsea
Panathinaikos 1-4 BVB
BVB 1-1 Lyon

So we've topped the group, we've beaten one of the top English sides and we're into the draw for the next round - it went like this...



It will certainly be a tough game, but with other teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG and Atletico Madrid all coming second in their groups we've certainly got a kinder draw that we might otherwise have got.

Here's the rest of the draw



Some stellar ties there, with some big names sure to crash out. I've also got my eye on the winner of that Shakhtar vs Leipzig tie, think that would give us the best chance of reaching the semi finals. Although, we'll have to beat the best to win the competition anyway. Bring it on I say.


I'll be adding a domestic update on the next post

We're approaching the winter break so I'll do a Champions League and Bundesliga update soon, but here's a little spoiler. Always nice to get mail like this

Scoring would be overstating it, he's got 5 in 24 appearances

Thanks, Dan! If there's anything you want to see or want me to write about let me know and I'll do my best.