2021
PSG - Future transfers
2 deals agreed with Barcelona for Season 17 as we have already completed our work for this season.
Tom KRAUSS and Aarón MARTÍN
Mullan lands Espanyol hot seat.
After 4 seasons of real struggle at Napoli, Mullan has finally landed the job he craved, by getting the opportunity to takeover at 8th Place Division 1 side Espanyol. Espanyol have punched above their weight a little under their former manager to establish themselves in Division 1.
There can be no excuses from the new Manager on this gig, this is not the mess that Napoli were in when he took that hot seat with the team rooted at the bottom of the table 20 points from safety.
So what about Espanyol?
Mullan takes the reigns with 14 of the 47 players in the squad the wrong side of 30. With there a clear missing second tier of players to succeed the likes of Busquets, Di Maria, Bonucci, Alba, Trippier, Herrera, Paulinho, Aspas, Matip, Handonovic, Caceres, and Alonso.
"We assessed things pretty quickly, and the things shouting at straight away was there was no out and out goalscorer and its a very ageing squad. The choice, was simple, we stick and watch players retire or downgrade, or we try and trade with the saleable assets, which in Espanyol's case was Koke, Maguire and Traore We've chosen the latter option although our first two deals saw younger players leave and two more over 30's arrive. Aguero arriving is massive. Rated 93 and a proven goalscorer, he is worth 2 or 3 places up the table if you can feed him.
Fernandinho was next to join, he is rated 91 and maybe 36, but it was his ability to play both centre back and centre midfield which attracted us to going for him. We knew if we can get him in to cover for a season or two, it would open up the option of selling Maguire if we can get a really good trade. We gave Moncayola, for him which probably raised an eyebrow or too, given he is due a decent rise and therefore was a big asset to the club. Sometimes its about the calculated gamble and joined up thinking.
We followed that up by arguably one of the most intense negotiations i've had in 12 years of SM, with Standard Liege who wanted to aquire, Koke, Maguire and Trippier. At one point the discussions had up to 9 players swapping clubs. Throughout 24 hours of back and forwards, different players from Liege being thrown in the mix, it got got to near midnight last night and the deal was dead. Our valuation could not be met, and other clubs were now in for our players. By lunchtime today Koke and Maguire seemed destined to join another club as talks were at an advanced stage. Then out of the blue, Liege put a final offer on the table of Brozovic, Ndidi and Fekir, which met our valuation ,criteria of positions and age and the deal was struck. We are pleased to get these three players in, and despite losing our best centre back and highest rated player in Koke, this gives us a little more depth.
Another on off deal was Di Maria, we pretty much agreed a deal with Celta Vigo, and I wasted a lot of time on this, With Raphinia and a youngster joining. They offered the deal with a choice of 3 youngsters, we picked one. They then asked could they decide the youngster which they chose Alberto. We agreed to Alberto, and then after agreeing the deal they backed out. I've never backed out of an agreed deal before, and have been stung during rating changes over night, where i've took my eye off the ball and walked straight into a player which has just got downgraded. More annoyingly we had two other clubs in for Di Maria, who we had to say no to, and then they agreed deals with other clubs for their players. We live, we learn, we move on.
This evening we opted to let Herrera go to Olympiacos which i think long term is a good one for us. We lose a solid 90 rated midfielder, but grab two South Americans with lots of promise . I'm excited we've bagged Enzo Fernandez in particular, whilst also joining is Facundo Torres. We want to try and build a solid base of young players in our under 21's with the emphasis on probability of improvement. These two certainly fill that Criteria.
I'm not expecting any more outgoings now in terms of major deals. We are still talking to a couple of clubs regarding Trippier, but I think thats us pretty much done until the end of the season. We've a few injury/fitness issues at present, which is not the best preparation for tomorrows game with Man City. Aguero is likely to miss out starting against his former club as he is not fully fit, whilst we will also be without Di Maria, Busquets, Bonucci and Aspas. Right there is pretty much our best players all missing. Its probably going to mean a big formation change to try and put a competitive side out.
Regarding the future, I'm looking forwards to testing myself against the some of the best managers in top 100. Its interesting, in the last 48 hours I've talked and held negotiations with a total different spectrum of managers, who i never could at Napoli due to not having a single player any of the better teams wanted. Its a gamble to break up a team mid season, results historically fall off. However i'm happy with our business and hooefully at some point we can improve on the clubs previous best achievements.
MID SEASON REVIEW
SEASON 16
On paper, we have a first 11 average of 89 still and should finish mid table of 8th - 13th.
It is my intention to stay at United and get them back into the first division where they belong. This season I will aim to be mid table and assess what we need for a push for promotion in season 17. It will be interesting to see what rises the players will get and whether we can push for the play offs this season.
With a third of the season completed, we find ourselves in 5th position with W6, D2, L5 and 20 points, and are currently in the play offs, over performing on our seasons expectations. We had a slow start to the season with a single win in our first four games, but things picked up a bit and we slowly climbed up the league.
We are now at the half way point with 19 games completed and we are in 6th position with W8, D5, L6, and 29 points. It’s nice to remain in a play off spot, but this is a very tight division. We are only 5 points off top spot, 2 points from an automatic promotion place and 8 points off relegation. We have only lost one of our last nine matches and need to continue this vein of form. We are still over performing on our seasons target and have progressed to the Youth Shield knock out stages.
I am tinkering with the youth team at the moment and looking for opportunities, but will only consider exchanging first team players if players are offered that are on my gold short list.
Napoli half season review
Napoli went into season 16 one of the rank outsiders for promotion with odds of 28-1 given for a unlikely promotion. Mullan was busy over the summer bringing in veterans Moutinho, Vidal, Costa and Matic to try and add some spine and experience to a very below standard squad. Bamford was sold on a pre agreed deal to Partizan, but would be available for the teams start.
Napoli were quick out the traps racking up 5 wins on the spin to take a maximum 15 points from 15 available, giving the manager his 10 game point target after just 5 matches. It surprised many, some of whifh had been derogatory in their comments about the teams summer business.
Napoli exited the cup in the first round against River plate, then tasted their first defeat of the season against newly relegated Hamburg. 1 defeat in the next 5 games had the Italian side very much in the promotion race after 11 games.
Napoli progressed to the last 16 of the shield however a run of just 1 win in 8 games has seen the side slip to mid table. Injuries and suspensions have played a big part in the sides worrying slide down the table, plus the earlier agreed departure of Bamford who started the season in scoring form for Napoli.
The manager has today rolled the ultimate dice, by surprisingly agreeing to sell arguably the clubs best two players. Moutinho although 35 has been the one stand out performer when he has been fit or not suspended. With 3 goals, 6 assist and a solid 7.5 season rating, his departure could see the team go on a steep decline unless someone else can fill that void. "I really did not want to part with Moutinho, he has been key to our team and I felt letting him and Stindl go for a highly promising young player may not be my wisest move. We negotiated most of sunday over Kiao Jorge, where the buying club wanted Stindl first and foremost and it was a case of who went with him. We had hoped that Matic would be the one, but the deal at 6pm was pretty much dead, with Celta Vigo unwilling to move on their valuation which was for us to add Moutinho. We were again scratching around to field a strong side against Sassaulo, with a number of players not fit enough to start, it meant a formation change to a 4-4-2 diamond which in the end probably cost us the match. When making the tactical change, I sort of decided in my mind, if we lost the match, then we would reignite the Jorge deal and give Celta their asking price. My rationale? With Moutinho 35, it was probably the last chance i'd have of securing a top young player, before he becomes unsellable.
We have not had to re-evaluate our season target, which is to improve on last seasons 50 points, although the loss of two of our starting 11, is going to make us much weaker and we need to try and battle our way now to around 21 points from the remaining 57 to ensure we dont go down. I'm hopeful we can get 24 points which will give us some improvement on last season.
Looking long term, we now have 19 under-21 players. With Kaio Jorge very much the jewel in that crown. We are going to need some luck with the updates amd real life transfers, hoping some of these young players get the opportunity to move to one of the bigger leagues. First team wise we have 5 players over 30, which from a squad of 50 is excellent progress. From the outside looking in, many will struggle to see where the progress will come from. Our team is not littered with big name players, or indeed household name players. The squad player ratings are very low, and most would need to google 85% of our squad to work out who they actually are. We've done a lot of scouting and really widened our net in our search for obscure young players who have half a chance of perhaps becoming a decent asset. Some are closer to rises than others, but they will all rise at some point, to what level, well thats the million dollar question. I've always said this team is nowhere near ready for Division 2, and to stay in division 3 is a big achievement. We are on a slow rebuilding path, with many incomings and outgoings as we look to build long term foundations. We've a big squad, but one i'm not looking to part with any more players at this stage. I want to see how this squad develops now, it will either become one of my greatest sm achievements or will completely bomb out.
"We've 19 games now and all to play for, we've lost players before and comeback stronger for it. Others will now step up, get their opportunity and try and cement their place in the team. I'm not affraid to chuck some of these kids in the team and despite being rated just 82, i'm sure the likes of Jorge will play a some part in these 19 games"
Top 100 TV - Season 16 - Episode 3
Watch as Beddows, Mclean and Walter Gogh discuss their seasons the youth cup, transfers and the merits of doing them or not and importantly their own picks for "Thomas Tuchels" and "Ronald Koemans"
Sampdoria - Season so far? Have they hit a block in the road?
Sampdoria can't really complain about their first season back in Division 4. Flying at the start but 1 win in the last 6 really makes it tough.
Beating Juventus in the cup and having a favorable draw in the 4th Round gives us some decisions to make but staying up was the priority can I really be disappointed with the start?
Lucas Lima and Andrea Petagna started season on fire but have dropped off lately which is concerning. We feel the signing of Pepe has been key and are hopeful the good form of Webster, Zappa and Maehle in real life will see all of them get rises in rating in the coming months helping us to push on next season and push for a potential title.
In midfield Gonalons is leaving us in exchange for Ekdal in a deal with Swansea in the coming weeks as soon as one or both of us are out of the cup. Lemina is emerging as a real leader in real life in a very young and exciting Nice team and Thorsby will only improve. Can Shelvey keep his 88? Who knows?
Ratings wise out greatest worry is in that forward line. Time will tell. But great start for Sampdoria overall!
Youth Cup Round up
We have arrived at the end of another exciting group stage of Youth Cup football!
Of the 48 entries all teams that finished 1st - 3rd have advanced and will have some shot at glory. Firstly the groups - Outstanding group stages from Hamburg, Juventus, PSV and Galatasaray. Group 11 looked the tightest and Aston Villa can consider themselves very unlucky as they go out on goal difference! '
Above is how the groups then worked out. We will now break off into the Youth Cup and Youth Shield. Remember there are free agent prizes for this as well!
Those in green were the TOP 8 group winners. They will advance directly to Youth Cup round 2. They will have a home draw in a 1 legged knock out tie.
Those in red were the runners up PLUS the 4 weakest group winners. They will go to Youth Cup round one. The draw will ensure the group winners get a HOME TIE - with the runners up not seeded in any way. The winners will advance to Youth Cup Round 2 with an away tie - the losers will advance to Youth Shield round two and will have a HOME tie there.
Those in BLUE advance directly to Youth Shield Round 2 - but will have an away tie v the losers of the Youth Cup Round 1 matches. Those in YELLOW will go into Youth Shield Round 1 - an open draw with the winners advancing to an AWAY tie in Youth Shield Round 2.
Dates for games are below - PLEASE note Saturday 30th October is FREE - so feel free to arrange some YOUTH FRIENDLIES!
Any questions
Napoli on the slide
Another close game and another defeat as Napoli extended their winless run in the league to 6 games. Its a far cry from their explosive start which saw the Italians win their opening 5 fixtures.
"we have hit a blip on this road, and most sides have them. However despite us being now statistically the least in form team in division 3, we are still up there in the play off zone. Injuries to key players like Costa and Wood have cost us over the last few games, whilst tonights sending off of Moutinho is going to further hurt us with him to miss the next three games. I'm slightly concerned as goals have dried up a little, and we are losing flip of a coin games. However no one side in division 3 is tearing it up, and I expect us to go on another mini run of good results before too long"