A swift return to Top 100 was announced last Friday with Lee Reynolds back in the world taking on the reigns at Bordeaux. Bordeaux is famous for it's fine wines and the football club likes appointing fine English managers.

Ash Lupton lead the unfancied team to the Division 5 title last season and was coveted by a number of clubs before Valencia made the necessary approach to take him to Spain. Club owner Gerard Lopez was now in need of a new manager in what would be a very tough season in Division 4. After the success of Lupton he looked over the channel and turned to England yet again. With Reynolds past experience in Top 100 and the building blocks being built in Top 120 at Leeds, Lopez mind was made up.

A hastily arranged press conference took place on Friday with Reynolds unveiled to the waiting press. The conference was short and brief with Reynolds stating "he wanted to meet the players and cast an eye over the training session in preparation for the trip to PSV".

Sunday's first game under Reynolds ended in a 2-2 draw with surprise inclusion Cody Gakpo the bright young talent in the squad grabbing a late equaliser. "I saw some real positives, Corboda lead the well, Gakpo was a constant threat and Goulart playing off the front showed great intelligence. Defensively some work is required, we gave away a sloppy free kick for the first and the cross for the second goal should be cut out", Reynolds gave in his interview after the game.

2 new signings have been added Russian international Zelimkhan Bakaev joining from Santa Clara and 18 year old Victor Lind coming in from Midtjylland described as one for the future.

With Fiorentina next in the first round of the Top 100 Cup tomorrow followed by Fenerbahce at home in the league on Thursday the games come thick and fast.

Palmeiras (1) vs Eintracht Frankfurt (8)

Saturday 11th September 2021

League leaders Palmeiras welcome struggling Eintracht Frankfurt to the Allianz Parque on Sunday hoping to maintain their unbeaten start to Division four in the T120 Championship.

Manager Pip has been the pick of the managers this season picking up some fantastic results against some of the early favorites with a blend of top young talent and wise heads.

Palmeiras have the best defence in the league conceding the single goal and that was on Wednesday with their draw at home to Nice. At the other end of the field, they've been a free scoring side, netting on 12 occasions in their 6 games, with leading scorer, 18 year old wonder kid, Yéremi Pino hoping to add to his 5 in 6 tally.

"Not being able to access team sheets before the game is not acceptable"

Martin unhappy with admin issues prior to the match with Rangers

Eintracht Frankfurt on the other hand have had a mixed start to the season; they're picking up a reputation of being draw specialists with 3 draws in their 6 games this season, but worryingly only a single win. This is something which is worrying manager Carl Martin.

"In our games this season we've been unlucky." claimed Martin, "against Leipzig we dominated the ball but couldn't find the finishing touch and the same could be said against Crevena"

Some fans have been questioning why last time out Martin played the reserves and not his best 11, resulting in their heaviest defeat, 2 - 0 against Rangers. Martin was quick to deflect the criticism,
"On match day we had a team in mind, but something out of our control occurred that meant I couldn't change the team sheet, let's call it an admin issue, we've made our feelings clear with the authorities that being able to access team sheets before the game is not acceptable!"

"we're hoping he'll be able to add something extra to the team"

Frankfurt's expecting

Frankfurt will be looking however to try and beat the league leaders tomorrow, they announced earlier today the signing of 22 year old Brahim Díaz from Real Madrid for a club record £8 million.

"We're delighted to welcome Brahim to the club, we'll need to check to see how fit he is as he's not played any football this season, but we're hoping he'll be able to add something extra to the team."

Martin: "It'll be an incredibly tough game, they're unbeaten and have bags of talent"

Frankfurt manager isn't optimistic

Martin was finally questioned on his teams chances tomorrow night and while he hoped the team could get something out of the match he wasn't in a confident mood.

"Listen, it'll be an incredibly tough game, they're unbeaten and have bags of talent, but so do we, I know they boys will give 100% and in football, you never know!"

Fourth season on Independiente bench already started. This year there’s no alternatives: another sack will mean a goodbye to Independiente. In consideration of that, all the transfers have been focused to improve the first team rating, even at the cost to lose some quality in the near future. With no new deals on the horizon the team should be this. The goalkeeper will be our captain (and the only player with Kjaer who was in the 50s before my arrival) José Sà, who can make some progress this season due to his transfer to Wolves irl. On the rightback Russian international and Zenit starter Vyacheslav Karavaev, who has already gained a +1 since i bought him. On the leftback Murru is the starter, i would like to do something as LB but there are not so many good players available in that position. In the centre 2 newcomers: CALDARA and MUSTAFI will give us experience and rating; they come through hard seasons in real life but Shkodran is a world champion and Mattia is still quite young to become a good player. The 3 midfielders (at least at the beginning) will be Manuel Lanzini who can become important for West Ham as playmaker, the only one loanee Loftus-Cheek (88 rated, the best i could have find on the market) and the last comer (and probably the more talented) EXEQUIEL PALACIOS, who plays his first games with Argentina. Now the forwards. On the left Fraser is the starter, maybe not a top talent and put in a second role at Newcastle but always ready to do his job. On the right RUBEN VARGAS, 23 years old and studying to be a regular for Switzerland. As central forward our best player at the moment: Odsonne Edouard has a lot of experience and goals scored but he is only 23; not convinced at all with his summer move to Palace but he can play regular and improve in the most competitive league. As backups, some players who could find some place, maybe after the rating reviews. As CBs Anel Ahmehodzic, linked to some big teams this summer but still at Malmoe and Ben Gibson, promoted to Premier as Norwich captain. Ghana international Jeffrey Schlupp could play as LB and CM, he will be very useful. Reynoso Bentaleb and Aebischer are ready to steal a place to Loftus-Cheek next season, let’s see what they will show. Same thing for the forwards: long-injured Nsame need some time to restart to score, he has been a goal-machine through this years but he need to recover well. Helder Costa can relaunch his career at Valencia, but there’s no time to wait. In the end, Uriel Antuna is expected to return to Europe, last chance for him in Independiente. If you liked this article (very hard to write it in english and probably with a lot of mistakes), it will follow a new one about the terrible little guys of Independiente youth team.

Taking on Juventus with a 30.5 average aged first team was always going to require transition for longevity of the club, even if that meant a little sacrifice along the way although sitting as the 2nd most successful trophy hauling side over 15 seasons isn't all too bad.

The club, now those seasons later, sit in a far more manageable position on all-fronts, as previously overviewed; [smtop100.blog/2021/08/2...](https://smtop100.blog/2021/08/26/juventus-building-what-was-already-built/) with a squad that can compete in all competitions, season on season, but perhaps now might actually be a little short of winning any competitions, bar perhaps the Youth Cup, going from the S15 showing; D1 - 2nd, Cup 4th Round, Shield QF, WCC; QF, Youth Cup; Final.

But, in 'Paying Forward' perhaps now The "Young Lady" is only counting down time until a realistic haul of competition wins comes in spades, however a few bumps along the road are going to always cause issues.

In recent seasons, Juventus have sacrificed big current ratings for the long term big talents, slowly trading up the youth pile until a projected 'moment' where player ratings align collectively in the squad to enable a more realistic challenge in the League, or perhaps another run at the cup & shield. Juve have almost been in this position before & similar issues are bound to bubble to the surface again, of course here I refer to Juve' perhaps more constant issue than rival clubs, 'concerns'.

A few seasons back, around S12/13, Juve needed to sell 2-3 players in the 91-95 bracket due to the depth of numbers in the area, meaning no matter the rotation, concerns would keep levelling for players & eventually deals for the sales of Bruno Fernandes, Leroy Sane & Ferland Mendy were sanctioned as the club went again towards another waiting period. Of course, that cruel bitch, hindsight, could suggest the move would have been to take the plunge on the likes of a Robert Lewandowski, at that time at Chelsea & push on with a few 94+ ratings that would close the consistent 0.7-1.2 rating difference of strongest 11s to the title challenging pair of Barcelona & Chelsea in the past 5 seasons.

Instead, Foden was the chosen one, a player still not breaking into a star studded real life Man City team, but a player like no-other I'd seen in person since watching Kaka at the San Siro in 2006. In addition, Jadon Sancho was already on the books, a fellow Man City academy watched player now tearing it up in Dortmund, but more was needed. Bukayo Saka was yet to break through & still seen as a talent with an unlikely chance to prove his ability in the Arsenal first team & Benoit Badiashile had just been acquired from FC Porto in the Bruno Fernandes deal, another raw French CB but with the perfect build & left footed diag to undoubtedly ensure his continued rise to new heights.

Some time later & the depth in the squad at the 90-93 level has significantly dropped, the last of the two concern adding players, Paulo Dybala & Sergej Milinkovic-Savic used to bring in two of the worlds best young talents in Jamal Musiala & Pedri Gonzalez, adding to Gio Reyna & Florian Wirtz whom joined in the period between for vast depths in numbers of players used for their hopeful reaching of their potential.

In paying forward, the chance now presents itself for the high end of the squad by age & big ratings to be caught by some of the worlds best talented youngsters in a mesh of ratings peaking simultaneously. As the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Jan Oblak, Marquinhos & Joshua Kimmich hit peak ratings at ages on the 30 border, the youth of Foden, Saka, Pedri, Musiala, Reyna & Wirtz can breach 20-23 years & 89-93 ratings in theory giving a rounded squad a push to challenge the consistent top 2 of the past 5 or so seasons in Chelsea & Barca.

Naturally problems will again come in the form of concerns, but maybe this time a transfer for two up the chain of ratings & ages at the sacrifice of one of the worlds best talents may make the difference, instead of the long term approach of past whereby a Bruno Fernandes was sacrificed over a Phil Foden. Juventus additional failure to date will also be that of not being able to tie down two of footballs biggest young CFs in Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland, both of Hellas Verona, whom have turned down themselves bids detailing 3+ 92+ players on multiple occasions. The time may come where the abundance of attacking midfield talent can pay forward to the next manager with that elusive CF talent if Romelu Lukaku cannot maintain & push on for the 95+ ratings required of the D1s title winning sides of past.

To the benefit of Juve however, may come the time where the ageing squad of Barcelona is no longer able to refresh in both rating & competitive age, leaving the door open for Juve to climb through. In theory the transition of Chelsea to go again however, likely earmarks them as the longer term threat to any pushes from Juve to get over the line in the league under DP. Only time will tell & plenty more change will come to all competitors in D1 & beyond in the cups, but one thing is for sure, trophies should follow for the "Young Lady" in time, the depth of talent in the squad must surely see that come to fruition if managed well & timed right.

[challonge.com/t100s16yc](https://challonge.com/t100s16yc)

Find in the link with the correct dates your fixtures for the Youth Cup - please arrange as friendlies asap.