• Seamus Coleman. Alessandro Florenzi is my preferred option at right back so Coleman will be sacrificed for the greater good. Had plenty of interest in the Irishman, no doubt due to the difficulty of signing a 90+ rated fullback in T100.

• Blaise Matuidi. The Frenchman has been ever present for Juventus this season as they battle Napoli for the Serie A title. With a 93 rating ideally he’d be one to keep, but with centre midfield being the weakest area in terms of depth, he’ll have to go in the hope of getting a couple of lower rated centre mid’s in his place. He won’t be flogged to the first bidder however as his value as a 93 can’t be understated.

• Alberto Moreno. Repaying the faith shown to him by Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, keeping new signing Robertson and old faithful Milner at bay. I’m a United fan though. Nuff said.

• Ever Banega. Similarly to Matuidi, ideally I’d keep the industrious Argentine currently at high flying Valencia, but a shortage of options means he’ll likely find his way out of the door.

• Frank Acheampong. Had plenty of interest in the versatile Ghanian. He recently admitted he signed for Tianjin out of protest at Anderlecht twice blocking his move to work with Marco Silva, first at Hull, and then at Watford. Any move to get away from the Belgians and then move on to the Premier League. A strong and fast player, don’t be surprised to see him in England before too long after finally getting away from his Anderlecht jail.

• Guido Carrillo. The Argentine is on the verge of signing for Crystal Palace after enduring a Monegasque nightmare. Playing for a side that operates with a lone striker always makes it difficult to shine, however when the first choice is Falcao, it’s made a little harder.He'll likely leave for youth.

• Willian. The Brazilian maestro has found his chances somewhat limited as Conte looks to tweak his style that won the league last season. Amazingly he’s still played in every game though and is consistently linked with a Mourinho reunion at Manchester United. He’ll likely leave as part of a deal for a younger winger of a slightly lower rating.

• Pedro. See above. Only in Spanish.

• Kalidou Koulibaly – a solid CB who’s defensive displays have been the bedrock of a high flying Napoli for a couple of seasons now.

• Inigo Martinez – another sold CB who could see a move to Manchester City in the coming window after Liverpool won the race for VVD.

• Alesandro Florenzi – a part time Roma captain and classy right back, who’s versatility allows him to make a difference all over the pitch.

• Gonzalo Higuain – the perfect foil to Paulo Dybala. The Argentine has consistently been once of footballs most prolific strikers. Wenger must be kicking himself.

• Marko Pjaca has just agreed a loan deal to Schalke that will should see him showcase the talent that tempted Juventus into spending £20 million on the Croatian.

• 18 year old Josh Tymon is starting to get minutes at a struggling Stoke side, a lad with bundles of potential, he’ll be looking to ensure that he doesn’t fold under the pressure at left back.

• Adrien Bongiovanni will be looking to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ex team mates Mbappe, Martial and Lemar and make the step from youth to senior football at Monaco. 5 goals and 5 assists in 10 games for the youth team gained the attention of Jardim and he recently made his first team debut.

• Frenkie De Jong and Abel Ruiz I’ve already mentioned.

• Adalberto Penaranda – First choice CF out on loan at Malaga due to having his work permit turned down. Yet to score, however this lad has been mentioned by FA coaches as the best player England faced in the U20 World Cup.

• Alen Halilovic – The ex Barcelona attacking midfielder has spent the start of the season on the sidelines after injuring his ankle, but is scheduled for a return to the pitch in the next week or so. Barcelona have taken a Denis Suarez/Gerard Deulofeu approach with Halilovic’s development, opting to sell him to ensure game time yet including an attractive €10 million buy back clause.

• Kasper Dolberg – The man in demand. Scouted endless times by United, Barcelona and Real Madrid so far this season (both United and Real apparently having bids turned down already), along with De Ligt, he’s the most likely player to get the next big move from Ajax's fabled academy. Billed as one of the biggest talents of his generation, he scored 23 goals in 47 games as he led Ajax to the Europa League final last season. 

 

It’s that time of year again, when we traditionally look back at the year that has gone, and look forward to the year that is coming.

Looking at the Youth Cup, I’d like to reflect on Season 6’s competition, and plan for Season 7.

We can simply run the Youth Cup (and Shield) as before, which I’m quite happy to do, but we can also talk about any things we could do to make to make it more fun, this time around - or in the future.

The Youth Cup just isn’t fun(ny) any more!

One of the most common complaints I’ve heard – and share - is that the Youth Cup isn’t competitive enough. And if it isn’t competitive enough, it is fun, and if it isn’t fun… that’s a good reason not to want to play.

I mean, who - apart from Hertha Berlin boss Mark Stewart - enjoys a good beating at the hands of eleven cocky young men every Saturday night?

So that got me to thinking about what we could do to make it more fun for everyone else?

As things stand, the Youth Cup is run a bit like the Champions League or World Cup with a qualifying group stage followed by knockout rounds. These two stages are both seeded, i.e., the better teams are favoured against the weaker teams. The reason for doing this is to increase the chances of the better teams reaching the final stages and winning the tournament.

Which is why Beddows has never won it. Conspiracy, or what?

Even if it’s not a conspiracy, it’s not really fair. OK, as Mark explained to me, it rewards those teams that put the time and effort into recruiting the best youth players. But some of the complaints about lack of competition have come from the clubs with the best players.

Giving the likes of Mark a good thrashing every weekend can get tiresome. Which is why the big boys want someone who can stand up to them occasionally and give as good as they get.

So instead of aping real life - where some of the most tediously boring football is played in group stages of tournaments - how about we group together teams of similar strength so that every game will be more competitive and fun?

We can still seed and favour the stronger teams for the knockout stages, so that they get their reward for being the biggest and best. Those who are not so good will still get to play for the Shield, but what about the rest, the also rans?

Introducing… The Youth Spoon!

How about a new trophy for the teams ’too weak to compete’ to compete for?

How about the Youth Spoon?

I have already negotiated with Sao Paulo gaffer Nick Wheels over naming and sponsorship rights (Spoon Liberation Army), and Nick assures me that Victor ‘Big Barbs’ Ibarbo would love nothing more than to give it to the winners (I think his actual words were something along the lines of, “It’ll be right up her back passage”).

How would this work?

Last season we had 60 teams entered into the Youth Cup. All the groups were seeded, the big teams won all their games, the little teams lost all theirs, and the big teams duly went on to win the Cup and Shield (well they would have done if Juventus capo DP hadn’t bottled the final and Sevilla chief satsuma David Senior hadn’t rudely nicked all those wins against better teams and put a nasty dent in the trophy which I still haven’t been able to get rid of).

If we had a similar number of teams this season (and we’re just over half way there already), we could have 10 groups of six playing 10 matches home and away in total, same as last season. However, instead of grouping the teams with the best and worst teams together in the same group, we would put all the best teams in one group and all the worst teams in another.

Every group would contain six teams that are all fairly evenly matched in terms of average rating of their top eleven youth players (including goalkeeper), rather than a range of teams from the best to the worst.

In terms of qualifying for the knockout stages, we’d have to do it slightly differently and give more places to the groups with the strongest teams, I think. But remember there will still be a Youth Shield knockout stage for those teams not good enough for the Cup itself, and now a Youth Spoon for some (if not all) of those not good enough for the Shield.

If we had the same number of teams with the same average ratings as last season (ten groups of six), then we’d have, say, the top five from the two strongest groups qualify for the Youth Cup knockout rounds, along with the top two from the next three strongest groups.

The sides finishing bottom in the two strongest groups would qualify for the Youth Shield knockouts along with the third and fourth placed teams in the next three strongest groups, the top two in each of the next three groups, and the first placed sides in the two weakest groups.

That leaves the bottom two in groups three to five, the third and fourth placed sides in groups six to eight, and the second and third placed teams in the two weakest groups qualifying for the Youth Spoon knockouts.

That still leaves twelve teams (out of sixty) who don’t qualify for any of the knockouts at all, but that’s still only one in five. Whereas this season 21 teams (just over a third) failed to qualify.

Maybe that all seems a bit too much and a bit too complicated? I think it’s doable if that’s what people want, and it should mean more meaningful and evenly-matched games, and more interest for the best and worst teams, as well as everyone in the middle. Plus, it’s another trophy to win!

A little unTop 100 orientated BUT before Xmas I wrote a generic email to about 100 European clubs, bundesliga teams, french ligue 1 sides, some random countries to like Hungary, Finland, Azerbijan etc. I wrote asking for free stuff bascially for my under9 team.

And low and behold today in the post - quite surprisingly a big box arrived all the way from Hungary and it was addressed to me! :)

Free gifts! :)

Happy days - lesson in life - if you don't ask you will definitely never ever get...  :)

The jackets with Top 100 written on them are here and are finally at the printers - that is a story and a half for another time.

Augsburg's Man In Charge Has Gone Crazy

It was a New Year's eve, Augsburg have just celebrated their best ever finish, 8th place, but it was a rocky season with plenty of ups and downs. Here we hear the thoughts and voice of Anic as he reflects on the season behind us.

First things first, Anic has slipped a secret of success in an uncontrolable emotional outbirst a couple of days before the Christmas. The key to success was 'crying in the corner of the shower'. The newspapers have all jumped on the bandwagon of this new discovery and have called Anic a tactical genius, some went as far in the right direction of 'the best of his era'. JK Rowling has already started writing another book and a sequel to the Hewy Pothah franchise, titled 'Magician Anic', with several big companies battling for movie rights. Rowling is believed to have called her previous work of art an insignificant little piece of *censure* in comparison to the work of this great man.

The Interview

In an interview for 'Augsburger Allgemeine', among many other things, Anic been asked to simplify the theory for the rest of the managers not so lucky to carry the wisdom of the greatest manager to have entered the Top 100 in season 4 or later.

"When you get in there (the shower) after a poor match that your squad forced you to watch, and I'm talking about Kardec in particular, by the way glad you're gone you cunt (directed to Kardec), you need to rethink the whole game of football that I as a manager of course redefined when I entered this GW and made it a lot better. You have to let go and just think, as the tears go down your face. Think about your players, new tactics, what can you do to improve, think about the very existence of the world and is this all actually real. Well, of course it may seem that what I'm doing at Augsburg is a dream, but no it's not! Back on topic, when you wake up in the morning, you'll feel as a new man, you'll feel a lot better. Whole new thoughts will come inside your head, you will see all the possibilities to do with the squad you were assigned and hate so much and put up a new tactics that will make you a legend. For example, I've come up with a new tactics in a crucial time of the season that made me famous here at Augsburg, and I'm even being humble in this interview."

Anic has also looked back on some of the more controversial parts of the season. There would often be offsides called for his sides and yellow/red cards awarded for absolutely nothing.

"Yes, that's true, it was very weird how it all looked back then. We defied the odds and were in top 4. The authorities couldn't allow it and that's what I think happened here. A new manager like myself could simply not take all the fame and be proclaimed the best there ever was in the whole universe and mankind."

The words coming out would have seemed as the usual malarkey that was coming out of the mouth of Beddows the whole past season and we imagine since the very existence of the GW, but unlike Milan, Augsburg have actually had reasons to suspect the world turning against them.

"It's weird, definitely is. I have no idea why this occured so many times. I may sound like a certain somebody who I will not name and shame in this interview, but Beddows would complain all the time without a reason as his players were butchers, and Balotteli was rightly so suspended so many times. But for my players, we're just an innocent club trying to make it in the lowest tier of the GW."

Anic was then asked if he fears he has developed the 'Mourinho Syndrome' so early already in his time at this GW.

"What's that? Oh, you mean when I'm blaming the refs and authorities for my squads poor results and matches? First of all, Mourinho is a no-one in these parts, I'm sure he couldn't even make it in. We call it the 'Beddows Symphony' here and to answer the question, no. We have a valid reason to complain, as the mistakes were blatantly obvious throughout the season."

Anic has been asked about recent visit to the German capital Berlin, and has been seen going into a megastore. Shopping for players maybe?

"Oh, no. I've visited my good friend Mark Stewart and congratulated him on another brilliant season and winning the Division 4. There is absolutely no reason to think that my secret meeting with Muto in the finest Italian restaurant, was me trying to persuade him to come play for us. Oops, let it slip that one heh. Anyways, about the megastore, there are finest showers and shower curtains, all kinds of bathroom materials in the capital, so I went there to check it out so we can prepare for the new season in style, and to get the best stuff before our competition those now that the whole world knows my tactical masterpiece behind the results this season. I need all the best equipment to battle for promotion that will make me the best manager to ever step a foot after season 4 in this GW once done next season."

When asked about transfers, Anic has hinted on some surprising changes to his squad.

"Seri could potentially leave. I wouldn't mind keeping him though, he's been really good this season. Not having his stats high but he's played very well defensively and playmaking altogether. There are also few loans coming in most likely. Other transfers aren't likely as nobody really wants these players, which is even better anyways. It will for sure make me the greatest manager around these parts when I succeed with this squad."

Reflecting on manager merry-go-round, Anic has been asked to give his opinion on some of the moves around.

"Andre leaving Monaco was surprising, who wouldn't want to live in a tax-free province with parties every night and beautiful ladies everywhere? In my opinion, a wrong move for him but glad he's back at Hellas to fix them back up again. Not surprised at Beddows going to Madrid to be honest, his failure at Milan was covered up by his constant moaning about referees and authorities which few of the manager even believed in, sothat  he can then take over Madrid as the valid manager for the job. Mission acomplished as already seen. But truth be told, I envy all his trophies won at Milan, like the Mickey Mouse trophy #1, and especially the Mickey Mouse trophy #3 (in a sarcastic tone, after which both the interview and Anic laughed out loud). Happy to see James move to Dortmund as well, absolutely deserved. Not happy that we couldn't agree a deal on Seri back when he was at Standard. The new manager is a tough cookie to deal with (No offense to Mike, I know that it's actually me who is tough to negotiate with ;) )! Mike will great at Standard and will get them to D3 in no time I'm sure! Alex leaving to City is also deserved, this season proved who was the best manager in Milan in my humble and all knowing opinion. There are other good choices and moves, it's been a really good season on the general level."

On hopes for next season, Anic has said what we all were thinking.

"Alchohol and hookers. Oh sorry, I was on the phone. Anyways, I'd love to get promoted. If we get some good loanees in and better officials in this lowest tier of the GW, we might even do this miracle! Battling for title is also something I'd love to do, but unfortunately the policy for the new managers in the GW stand, no outstanding success for the next 4 seasons. The next season is my 4th, so lets see if we can tackle the officials."

Reflecting on the situations in Brazil, Anic responded in great fashion.

"Spoon Army should be the way of life everywhere, it's just amazing what Nick is achieveing there, redefining the whole country, you go gurl!"

There are plenty of more questions and answers in the interview, but we are not allowed to disclose them due to censures and all that bullpoop that the TV and newspapers policies forbidd. Hope you enjoyed the interview with soon to be one of the best managers on the flat Earth! Long live Junior Seba! Happy New Year!