EPL-Online 08 - Clan Thread

[TopToffee]

Good evening (possibly) and welcome to the EPL-Online Clan Thread for FM2008.

The clan began on 31st Jan 2008, and will play on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, each session starting at 8pm.

Hopefully in this thread, Clan members will post session (and season) updates, and we can get a good bit of banter going.

The (starting) managers, and their teams are as follows:

(no Champions League teams can be selected off the bat - but players can take over those sides if appointed)

Jamie "TopToffee" Mellor - Everton

Sasu "Saske" Mattila - Aston Villa

Adam "adamc81" Coggins - Portsmouth

Rob "rob110481" Berrisford - Man City

Stevie "HillSkill1979" Hill - Spurs

Best of luck fellas... just a little less luck than me hopefully.

[TopToffee]

Good evening (possibly) and welcome to the EPL-Online Clan Thread for FM2008.

The clan began on 31st Jan 2008, and will play on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, each session starting at 8pm.

Hopefully in this thread, Clan members will post session (and season) updates, and we can get a good bit of banter going.

The (starting) managers, and their teams are as follows:

(no Champions League teams can be selected off the bat - but players can take over those sides if appointed)

Jamie "TopToffee" Mellor - Everton

Sasu "Saske" Mattila - Aston Villa

Adam "adamc81" Coggins - Portsmouth

Rob "rob110481" Berrisford - Man City

Stevie "HillSkill1979" Hill - Spurs

Best of luck fellas... just a little less luck than me hopefully.

[TopToffee]

Resources

[Hillskill1979]

First big thanx to Jamie for getting this league going after the last one fizzled out. Also big thumbs up for updating all EPL transfers. Updates were made upto the day we started so deals done within the final 4-5 hours of the window werent included (considering the mess that is the Benjani & Defoe deal its probably for the best)

As Spurs I probably benefitted the most from the updates but the off shot of this was my transfer budget was 5.5 mil, not quite enough to make that big impact signing. i told the board i was gonna win the league and this went up to 6.5mil ! Oh dear ! im gonna be under pressure no doubt !

To throw another spanner in the worx my Dad was in London and decided to meet for dinner on thursday evening. This meant i arrived one hour late for the start of the game. So with a belly full of sushi and half cut from the Saki I entered the fray and attempted to get what i considered "Prority" signings.

So now that Woodgate and Hutton have been added to the squad this made Chimbonda and Kaboul surplus they were promptly sold for face value to clubs outside of the League (i forget the clubs now)

First of all i want to add some depth to the squad which at Spurs is extremely Strikeforce heavy. Decisions will be made over the course of the season about who will stay see if some offers come in.

Belluschi, Menez, Briand, Stancu and Torje were all targets and all seemed to have already been signed by Portsmouth ! Adam "honest harry" Coggins is obviously a demon in the transfer market and knows a player or two !

Iriome, Bicflavi and Benzerga have been brought in as squad players and hopefully to make a bigger impact next season. I personally dont rate Robinson so he has been put up for sale, a few clubs have show and interest and Costil and Vilar have been brought in as first team keepers.

Lulinha has also been signed which represents a bit of a coup, having already been turned down a WP for Pompey (at least i think it was) i managed to get one on appeal. He will be arriving in time for next season.

After already having a wealth of talent upfront i couldn't resist unsettling Kevin Doyle who i rate as a top EPL striker and he has now been added to the squad However this has done nothing to balance the squad !

[Saske]

Taking over a team with so many highly promising young players like Aston Villa is always a pleasure. During the pre-season, my aim was to bolster up the squad with even more young talent. With pound signs flashing in my eyes, I made the potential mistake of promising the board continental qualification through league finish.

The bigger transfer kitty allowed me to snap up two highly promising players: 21- year old attacking midfielder Matías Fernández (£13m) and 22- year old winger Jefferson Farfán (£7.5m). Unfortunately, I made the mistake of ignoring the poor situation of Villa's defence.

After realizing that my only options on right back were Olof Mellberg and the promising, but terribly young Jordan Collins, I set out to find as good as a right back I could buy with what was left on my transfer kitty. The options, however, were scarce.

I ended up buying Chelsea's out-of-favour Paulo Ferreira and Arsenal's unproven Justin Hoyte. Can't say I'm too happy about either of these two signings. Justin Hoyte especially isn't worth the £4.5m I paid for him. I blame Rob and his attempts at loaning him for forcing me to seal the deal as quickly as possibly, before realizing what I was about to do

I spent rest of the season tweaking my tactics and training schedules and soon it was time for the first three matches of the season against Blackburn (H), Wigan (A) and Man Utd (H).

Aston Villa v Blackburn - 1-0

The first match of the season saw a rather pathetic performance from the Villa squad. Real goal chances were rare and the winning goal came from a penalty.

Wigan v Aston Villa - 0-0

Again, both sides goal chances were kept to a minimum and the game ended in a draw. We were given a chance to win the game in the last few minutes when we were awarded a penalty, but Farfán missed from the spot. At least my defence is working for once.

Aston Villa - Man Utd - 0-0

The players were clearly starting to adapt to the tactic and Agbonlahor and Young used their pace to create some great chances. Keeping Man Utd from scoring is always a great feat.

That's it for now. Hoping to see more goals next session.

[TopToffee]

Having taken over from the legend that is David Moyes, I knew the pressure to deliver was going to be on at Everton. Moyes has assembled a cracking squad of players, built around one truly world class midfielder in Mikel Arteta, ably supported by the likes of Yakubu, Tim Cahill and the indomitable Joleon Lescott in defence.

We also have a couple of cracking players in on loan currently, in Manuel Fernandes and Steven Pienaar... and my first priority was securing at least on of these guys on a permanent basis... something which HOPEFULLY shouldn't be too tough, given the players' dislike for the current situations at their "parent" clubs...

With that in mind, I put in an offer for Fernandes, and was eventually able to negotiate a deal which saw me pay only £2m upfront, with the rest of the £8.5m total fee payable over the next 2 years. Offers were also made Man Utd's transfer listed young keeper Ben Foster, Diego Capel of Sevilla and wantaway Lyon striker Fred.

Over the next fortnight, all these players signed in, while Victor Anichebe was shipped off to West Brom for a potential £4m fee (£3.7m upfront).

Then came the call which started the ball rolling of perhaps the biggest Premiership deal of the preseason. Fellow new manager Rob Berrisford of Manchester City got in touch with me, and sounded me out on the possibility of a swap deal, sending Joseph Yobo to Eastlands, along with Andy Johnson, in exchange for.... Micah Richards.

I considered the deal. AJ was probably NOT going to get a whole lot of playing time this season, with Yakubu and the soon to arrive Fred vying for the loan striking role, just ahead of Tim Cahill in a 4-4-1-1 formation.

Joseph Yobo however was another matter. A defensive stalwart for Everton over the last 5 years, he was to be half of my first choice centre back pairing (along with Joleon Lescott). He was also set to be my vice captain. No doubt, if I went through with this deal, Joey would be a great loss.

However.... Micah Richards had shown himself to be a player of exceptional quality. Still only 19, and already very near to a first choice for England. Excelling at both right back and in central defence, I finally decided that he could fill the void left by Yobo's departure. I called Rob back, and let him know that the deal was on.

That however, was hardly the end of it. Neither of my players (especially Yobo) were ENTIRELY keen on making the trip up the East Lancs road.... and quite some haggling was required before they eventually put pen to paper with City. Micah on the other hand seemed more willing, quickly agreeing to a 4 year deal which would put him amongst our top earners. Finally, the deal was concluded on 4th August.

My (probably) final piece of transfer business for the summer was the signing of Lorik Cana from Marseille, to take over from the ageing Lee Carsley in central midfield.

Our first choice side for the season would look as follows:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Howard

Neville Richards Lescott Baines

Arteta Fernandes Cana Pienaar

Cahill

|

Yakubu* V

* = Fred and Yakubu very close for the first choice strikers spot - position will be picked on form.</pre>

The Season Begins

vs. Reading @ Goodison, 11/08/07

We lined up in a 4-4-1-1,the side looking fairly close to first choice... with the exception of Cana (who had not yet completed his move from Marseille) not featuring, and Jagielka taking his place in the first XI. Yakubu started upfront.

The match itself was a fairly straightforward affair, with Yakubu opening the scoring after 24mins of the first half. A surging run from Leighton Baines ended in a rasping shot which Hahnemann in the Reading goal could only parry into the path of the big Nigerian to notch his first goal, on his Everton debut.

The second, and decisive goal came with 23mins remaining in the match. A thumped clearance by goalkeeper Tim Howard was completely misjudged by the Reading defence (with Ibrahima Sonko particularly at fault) and Tim Cahill was left through on goal, calmly slotting past Hahnemann to give us the three points.

Notes: Diego Capel was VERY effective after coming on as a halftime substitute, seemingly beating his man down the left almost at will. Yellow cards were picked up by Cahill and Richards, who otherwise enjoyed a solid debut.

vs. Sunderland @ Stadium of Light, 15/08/07

I made two changes from our last match. Capel's second half performance earned him a starting role, and Fred came in for Yakubu, to make his first start in and Everton shirt.

Unfortunately, these changes did not appear to work too well. We were comfortably the better team throughout the game, but seemed unable to fashion a goal. On the hour mark, I replaced Fred with Yakubu (the Brazilian seemed to still be getting used to the pace of the English game, and had tired noticably).

The effect was obvious. Yak led the line with much more aggression, and his work was rewarded 4mins from time. Tim Cahill beat his man to a header and flicked the ball on to Yak, who rounded the last defender and powered a shot past the stranded Craig Gordon.

Sunderland had only had a couple of shots on goal all match, and one goal was almost certainly enough, but more was to come. On 90mins, I replaced Capel and Fernandes withPienaar and Osman, and deep into stoppage time, Cahill's chipped pass found Yakubu near the corner flag. He turned his marker and cut the ball back, finding Leon Osman in the box, and the diminutive midfielder lashed a volley into the top corner, giving a more accurate look to the scoreline.

Notes: Yak's influence off the bench was plain too see, and indeed was such that he was given the Man of the Match award by Sky, despite only being on the field for 30mins. He'll definitely be starting the next match. Capel at the moment seems to have more influence off the bench. Richards seems to be quickly growing into his role at the heart of defence.

vs. Blackburn @ Goodison, 18/08/07

Lorik Cana came in for his debut, with Jagielka dropping to the bench. Other than that, the team lines up exactly as for the Reading match on the opening day.

Another day, another 2-0 win for Everton, it seems. Blackburn somehow managed to hold out until halftime, despite us raining shots down on their goal. Brad Friedel was having a GREAT game for the visitors. Unfortunately for the side from Lancashire, the half time break was as long as their resistance lasted.

Immediately after the interval, Steven Pienaar received the ball on the left from Lescott, and the little South African's flicked pass found Tim Cahill. The Aussie powered and bustled his way past two Blackburn defenders, and finished low past Friedel to notch his 25th Everton goal.

Worse was to come for Blackburn, as Leon Osman once more made a quick impact off the bench. He'd only been on the field for 5mins when, with quarter of an hour remaining, Mikel Arteta was dispossessed in the penalty area and the ball broke to Leon on the edge of the box. With defenders rushing out at him, he didn't have time to control the ball, and instead curled a half volley with the inside of his boot, which evaded Friedel and nestled in the top corner, putting the match beyond doubt.

Notes: Cahill picked up the MOTM award, and Howard put in a good performance in goal, when called upon. Leon Osman is pushing Manuel Fernandes HARD for a starting role. Micah Richards picked up a yellow card.

UP NEXT

Wigan (A)

Man Utd (H)

Aston Villa (A)

[rob110481]

so i take over mancity has sven was sacked after a month in charge was caught doing something inappropiatly with ulrika in the changing rooms got sacked on the spot so i get the job say thanks to sven for the transfers he brought in

so the transfer market i know i needed a striker or 2 so i raided portsmouth as nugent was on the transfer list so snapped him up for 2m will get back to other striker later

then i went to portsmouth again to bring back an old boy got distin also for 2m

then went to barcelona and got the wonderkid thiago on free transfer

also on free was s.petrov from villa very surprising that sasu wanted rid of them so i jumped at the chance

then came my biggest transfer of the summer got luka modric for 12.5m very high transfer but dinamo were playing hard ball so i paid the asking price

then 2 loans charlie adam from rangers and michael woods from chelsea

then the biggest transfer deal of the summer i had an offer for micah richards from jamie which was a straight swap for johnson and yobo gave it alot of thought and decided to go with the deal so accepted then the big clubs got wind of it and started bidding arsenal,milan both bid 12.5 and the chairman accepted both there deals but micah chose everton and i got aj and yobo very good business to me anyway

then i sold joe hart to stoke for 1.5m and gelson fernandes for 875k plus justin hoyte from villa who had only just bought hoyte for 4.5m i tried to get him on loan but he chose villa

then i tried an audacious bid to loan bojan from barcelona was the front runner for signature but deportivo came in and got him on loan

the sseason started and i got derby away won 3-2 and aj got a hattrick which made jamie think if he made the right deal

bolton at home i won 1-0 with martin petrovs first goal for club

newcastle home lost my first game 3-1 elano got his first goal to take a first half advantage but newcastle were superb in second half with martins getting 2 and an owen penalty

birmingham away won 3-0 aj getting 2 and modric with his first goal for club a good way to get back to winning

gillingham home this fixture gave me chance to make alot of changes in fact 9 changes only aj and martin petrov played last and came a comfortable 3-0 win with aj 2 and castillo came from bench to finish match on to 3rd round

chelsea home brought back all rested players had a few good chances even a penalty turned down but lost 1-0 to a joe cole goal

liverpool away my best result so far winning 4-2 with aj hattrick and michael johnson from 45 yards in between were goals from gerrard and crouch but fully outplayed them at anfield

arsenal home didn't think i could beat the other result but di winning 2-0 with aj and castillo goals in first half after castillos goal came a red card for eduardo for an elbow on yobo saw out the second half but got a bit worried as elano got sent off for 2 yellows but won

southend away league cup 3rd round made alot of changes again kept aj and modric in again won 2-0 with adam gettin his first goal since loan move and castillo rounded off from the bench after aj got injured have not saw extent of injury yet fingers crossed he will be ok thats where the session finished

league 5th won 5 lost 2 drew 0

league cup so far in fourth round no draw been made yet

summary:really pleased with start of season hoping for european place and end of the season but think aj has to stay fit will have to see

[adamc81]

First up I would like to thank Jamie for setting up the game and the thread, and the banners - yep you've been busy! Your still not going to get an easy 6 points off of me though! A great first post from the rest of my fellow managers, congrats.

Well I took over Pompey as they are something a little different to what I normally manage, a club with a good setup a bit of money but not really of a high reputation which was something I could build on and thought it would be an interesting challenge. On my appointment I scanned the squad and realised it needed a pretty big facelift if I were to be a serious player a couple of seasons in. An ageing defence, a pretty solid if unspectacular midfield and with only really Utaka and Kranjcer looking like a goal threat as Defoe was just too darn late in signing for Portsmouth to be registered with me on deadline day. That coupled with Matty Taylor gone I would say it hadnt been a great database update for me.

After discussions with the board I decided that a top half finish would be a realistic goal. My Media prediciton is to finish 9th but I think 7th or 8th should be attainable with a good run.

I was given just over £10mil by the board to achieve my expectations, after looking at the bank balance I thought they were being a little stingy and asked for some more cash. Thank the Russians, my transfer budget jumped up to some £30mil.

Like a kid in a candyshop i went a little wild. Snapping up United youth coaches, scouts and basically changing my whole staff apart from Tony Adams. I really didnt have many prospects or even much of a reserve team so went about boosting squad numbers by signing Stancu, Corradini, Mihelic, Torje, Andronic, Radu, Assulin, Barbosa and Piatti. These guys all went in the reserves and hopefully with my new coaching setup and training methods coupled with a few matches from time to time can turn into big players for me, or at least make a tidy profit on them.

All of those signings really didnt cost me alot, under £5mil which i was pretty happy about. My first Big signing was Van Der Vaart for £10mil. Never played with him before as im more of a Matias Fernandez person but my club rep wasn't high enough to get him. I managed to sign Samba from Blackburn for £1mil which paved the way for Distin to move to Man City for £2mil. I decided to cash in on the likes of Davies and Nugent who I didnt feel fit in with my style of play. My main hopes for the season rest on my record signing Jimmy Briand for just under £11mil and Jeremy Menez for around £10mil. Im hoping these 2 french wonders are going to do the business for me. The last of my cash was spent on Vailatti who will provide cover in all area's of midfield.

I change my tactics from game to game but I largely go for a 4-5-1 away and a 4-1-2-1 at home but sometimes spring a suprise with 3 at the back or a 3 in attack.

Pre-season did not go particualarly well with only one win in 4 matches, but i'm blaming Tony Adams for that.

My first 2 games were Liverpool at home and Arsenal away, so not the best of starts. Thankfully the Arsenal game got postoned to the following week due to the Champions League.

Portsmouth 0 - 0 Liverpool

It was a great performance from my team, and I pretty much controled the game with 15 shots to Liverpools 6. Van Der Vaart missed a whole host of chances im hoping its just the settling in period. Samba and Campbell were rock solid at the back so was happy with the start.

I didnt have a midweek game and so fell a little off the pace from my fellow managers who have all enjoyed great starts.

Portsmouth 3 -2 Reading

Well this was quite a game. A deserved win in end having lead 3 times but Reading gave me a scare. Reading produced the best football move that I have ever seen with an 80 yard counter attacking between 5 players all one touch passing in the 88th minute at 3-2, luckily they hit the bar but it was like watching Brazil and left me thanking the heavens. 3 of my new signings all scored cracking goals, a blaster from, Briand, a lob from Menez and a free kick from late sub Vailatti.

So the start looks promising, but with Tony Adams taking charge on Sundays play I dont think i'll be in such a good position when I return especially with him taking charge at Arsenal in my next match, fingers crossed though.

[rob110481]

think tony adams did a good job for you adam u r in top ten i think

[TopToffee]

vs. Wigan @ JJB Stadium, 25/08/07

started with exactly the same side that comfortably dispatched Blackburn in the previous match.

Unfortunately this match was markedly different. Despite having twice as many shots as City, they were mostly limited to long range efforts - Fernandes especially seemed to leave his shooting boots at home. I was undone by a near post Emile Heskey after 35 minutes, and in spite of pressing hard in the second half, I was unable to get back into the game.

Notes: A poor performance all round to be honest. Phil Neville picked up a caution.

Transfer Deadline

Transfer Deadline day was a VERY busy one at Goodison Park. Several loan deals were completed both in and out of the club. On the outgoing side, Dan Gosling, Anderson Silva, Andy van der Meyde, James Hall, John Ruddy, James Vaughan, Steven Morrison and Aidan Downes were all sent to various feeder clubs.

Looking to further strengthen the squad with a few loan deals, I shopped around Europe for players who were not needed in the immediate future by their clubs. I was pleasantly surprised when I received positive responses to my enquiries about Yoann Gourcuff (Milan), Hedwiges Maduro (Valencia) and Julio Baptista (R.Madrid). All three players signed on for the remainder of the season.

vs. Man Utd @ Goodison, 01/09/07

Once again, I started the same XI, hoping they would make up for the loss to Wigan. Maduro took a spot on the bench.

We definitely had the best of the game, and deserved at LEAST a point from this one. Unfortunately, my strikers just couldn't score to save their lives today... only 20% of our shots were on target. Sadly, Man Utd were not NEARLY so profligate, and Michael Carrick smashed in a 25 yard piledriver on the half hour mark, and this was enough to sentence me to a second successive defeat.

Notes: Baines and Richards both picked up yellow cards. A fairly bad performance all round, especially from the forwards.

vs. Aston Villa @ Villa Park, 15/09/07

And so to the first human vs human clash of the season, as I took on Saske's Aston Villa side away from home. Since his appointment, Saske has brought in several quality players, including Matías Fernandez and Jefferson Farfán. In spite of this, I was confident that if my players performed to their abilities, we would have more than enough to get a result here.

UNFORTUNATELY, playing to their abilities has NOT been something my players have been big on of late, and sadly, so it once again proved. Despite having 12% more possession than the home side, 4 more shots, and 5 more corners, we were yet again unable to score a goal.

Conversely, at the other end, we looked FAR too easy to break down, and Villa barely had to get out of 2nd gear to secure a 2-0 win.

Notes: Mikel Arteta picked up an early knock, which I think lessened his effectiveness in the match, while Tim Cahill had a VERY bad game - only 1 of his 6 shots being on target.

vs. Fredrikstad @ Goodison Park, (UEFA Cup), 19/09/07

Well THIS game certainly came at a good time. With the majority of my team SERIOUSLY lacking in form and goals seemingly impossible to come by, a home match against a team of Norwegian minnows was just what the doctor ordered. I made a couple of changes to the starting XI, Diego Capel in place of Pienaar, and Fred coming in for Yakubu.

The Brazilian was finally starting to look more like the £9m+ transfer that he is, and he opened the scoring after 18mins. A jinking run down the left from Capel ended in a great cross into the box, which Fred met with a thumping header into the bottom corner of former Arsenal keeper Rami Shaaban's goal.

The advantage was doubled 6mins later when Mikel Arteta received the ball from Phil Neville on the edge of the box before playing a neat one-two with Manuel Fernandes and slotting home his first goal of the season. And, the scoring was completed on the stroke of halftime by Fernandes himself. Arteta played a short corner to Phil Neville, who crossed to the Portuguese international in the box. Fernandes hit the ball first time, lashing a vicious shot into the top corner, past the rooted Shaaban.

With the job done at half time, we took our foot off the gas a little in the second period, but perhaps still should have added to our tally. The number of chances we're needing to score is definitely worrying me a little. I did give a debut off the bench to Julio Baptista, but his performance was fairly muted as he works to get used to our style of play.

Notes: Fred picked up a slight knock in the first half, but was fine later in the evening. Manuel Fernandes grabbed the man of the match award, with one goal and one assist in a productive first 45mins.

vs. Fulham @ Goodison Park, 22/09/07

Yakubu came back into the starting XI for Fred, while Capel kept his place in midfield.

We have several excellent finishers at this club, but this match was FURTHER evidence that they all seem to have more or less forgotten this particular skill for the moment. We amassed TWENTY shots in this match, and yet it only wound up 1-0, thanks to a 58th minute goal from Yakubu.

Arteta hammered a curling, dipping freekick towards goal from 30 yards out, and the ball rattled the crossbar. Thankfully, it rebounded to the Nigerian, who returned the ball with interest, smashing it in off the upright, leaving the otherwise excellent Antti Niemi helpless.

Fulham gave us a nasty scare in the 89th minute, but Brian McBride fired his side's only on target shot of the match straight at his international team mate Tim Howard.

Notes: Goalscorer Yakubu was named man of the match. No players were booked for Everton, but Lorik Cana had to be substituted on the stroke of halftime, being replaced by Hedwiges Maduro. Thankfully Cana's injury was not as serious as first thought, and he will be fit for the next match.

vs. Charlton @ Goodison Park, (Carling Cup), 26/09/07

Fred once again came into the side for this match against Championship side Charlton, as did Phil Jagielka, playing at centreback while Micah Richards shifted out to right back.

I'd expected this to be a straightforward home win, but it proved to be anything but. Indeed, Andy Gray opened the scoring after just 5 mins, put through by Zeng Zhi, and slotting calmly into the bottom corner.

It took us 32 more minutes to hit back, Fred receiving the ball just inside the box from Mikel Arteta, skillfully turning Jonathan Fortune and firing home with aplomb. Five minutes later and it seemed that Charlton's early challenge was over, an outswinging Arteta delivery from a right side corner met at the near post by Joleon Lescott, who planted his header into the net.

With the score at 2-1 going in for half time, surely we would go on and win this one comfortably? Well, it seems Charlton (and particularly Gray) had other ideas. With 25 mins left to play, Darren Ambrose slipped the ball to Gray on the edge of the box. There were suspicions of offside, but no flag as the striker's first touch took him away from Jagielka, and his second rifled the ball past the diving Tim Howard to square the game.

I sent Yakubu and Osman on for the misfiring Fernandes and Cahill, and in spite of wave after wave of Everton attacks, the score remained at 2-2 at the end of 90mins. For extra time, I brought on Steven Pienaar for the tired Diego Capel. Still we surged forwards, and still we couldn't find an opening... the score still tied at the end of the first 15mins of added time.

9mins of the second period ticked by, and the match looked to be heading to penalties, when a long ball from Jagielka was met by the head of the substitute Pienaar, who nodded it down to Leighton Baines. The young left back surged to the byline, and swung in a wicked cross. Fred stole a yard on his tiring marker and thumped home a close range header to give us the lead.

Two minutes later, and things got even better. Lorik Cana received the ball in midfield and looked up, spotting Fred peeling off the seemingly exhausted Fortune, and played a slide rule pass through to him. The Brazilian controlled with his first touch, and nonchalantly slotted hime with his second, ending the contest.

Amazingly there was still time for the impressive Gray to also complete his hattrick, getting onto a long ball which left him free of the Everton defence and chipping the onrushing Howard, the ball striking the foot of the post and bouncing in. A dramatic cup tie - great for the neutral, though I was less happy with our continued wastefulness infront of goal.

Notes: One yellow card (Lorik Cana). Obviously an excellent performance from Fred - hopefully this will be a start of a good goalscoring run for him. Lescott put in a good showing in his first match as Everton captain.

UP NEXT

Newcastle (A)

Fredrikstad (A) - UEFA Cup

Tottenham (A)

Portsmouth (H)

[TopToffee]

End of the Transfer Window

The transfer window closed during the last session. Here are some of the highlights:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Name From To Fee

Maxwell Inter Lyon £16.75

Matías Fernández Villarreal Aston Villa £13m

Luka Modric Dinamo Man City £12.5m

Andrea Barzagli Palermo Juventus £11.5m

Jimmy Briand Rennes Portsmouth £11m

Vincent Kompany HSV West Ham £10.25m

Rafael van der Vaart HSV Portsmouth £10m

Jérémy Ménez Monaco Portsmouth £10m

Steward Downing Middlesbrough West Ham £9.75m

Fred Lyon Everton £9.75m

Kevin Doyle Reading Tottenham £9.25m

Manuel Fernandes Valencia Everton £8.5m

Jefferson Farfán PSV Aston Villa £7.5m

Andy Johnson Everton Man City p/ex

Joseph Yobo Everton Man City p/ex

Micah Richards Man City Everton p/ex

</pre>

[Saske]

After the largely disappointing start of the season, I was determined to build up on the teams decent performance against Man Utd and getting Villa to top half of the table where it belongs.

Unfortunately, long-term injuries for Agbonlahor, Young, Fernandez and Farfan forced me to use slow wingers such as Routledge and Maloney. This made my tactic, which relies heavily on counter-attacks, much less effective.

One more transfer was made before the transfer window closed. Justin Hoyte, in addition to a 875k fee, was exchanged to Man City's young defensive midfielder Gelson Fernandes. This gives me the chance to use a dmc, which I prefer, instead of playing three centre backs.

Results:

Newcastle 5 - 1 Aston Villa

Disaster. Martins and Owen gave my defenders no mercy. Even though we had some great chances, Newcastle was the more dominant team on the field and fully deserved their win.

Chesterfield 0 - 3 Aston Villa

Carling Cup 2nd Round win against Chesterfield was a much needed morale boost for the squad. The match in itself didn't provide any surprises.

Fulham 1 - 0 Aston Villa

The undeserved 1-0 loss against Fulham hurt a lot more than the beating we took against Newcastle. Our chances to score were abundant and how none of my players managed to tuck one in, I'll never understand. Fulham's goal came unsurprisingly from a cross, perfectly exploiting Ferreira's lack of pace.

Aston Villa 2 - 0 Everton

My first match against a human controlled team was against Everton. Despite their good position in the league, they had had two losses in a row which made me cautiously optimistic. The match was a tight affair, but it was Ashley Young who broke the stalemate, giving us a much needed victory.

Tottenham 2 - 4 Aston Villa

After the tough match against Everton, we had to face another strong opposition managed by our very own Stevo. There were lots and lots of great chances for both sides, but Tottenham and especially Darren Bent were fortunately very wasteful. Ashley Young, however, was not and managed to score two goals and all in all made a fool out of Spurs' poor right back.

Crystal Palace 0 - 3 Aston Villa

Crystal Palace couldn't do much against our line-up consisting of second string and first team players.

Young once again managed to outrun the oppositions defence and score from a tight angle. I really need someone that can match his speed so that he'll have someone to pass or cross the ball to. Agbonlahor and Farfan can't get fit soon enough because Carew just isn't up for the job.

Next up is a match against Adam's Portsmouth. Hopefully my good luck against human managers continues.

[Dunga99]

Great start to the clan lads

I'm sure I played in EPL Challenge with you a couple of years back Jamie, anyway good luck .

[rob110481]

are we playin tonight

[TopToffee]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dunga99:

Great start to the clan lads

I'm sure I played in EPL Challenge with you a couple of years back Jamie, anyway good luck . </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

yeah, that was a good game... sadly r/l at the time kinda got in the way and I had to pull out...

[TopToffee]

Game's up now people

[rob110481]

my session 3 round up

before i start to the matches i tried to do a deal with spurs for paul robinson who was on the transfer list got my bid accepted but so did reading and he chose reading which surprised me a bit

Reading v Man City

i decided to give castillo a bit of a rest so i gave youngster daniel sturridge a debut

from the first whistle to the last reading were by far the best team and they took a 1-0 lead into half time should of been more but isaksson was solid for me in goal

i decided for a change sturridge dd not get into game so castillo came on don't think sturridge is ready will loan him out in jan

man city came back in the game but not brilliant was the worst performance so far this season i was hoping it was not gonna continue

Final Score Reading 1-0 Man city

Man city v Sunderland

only change for this match was castillo for sturridge and nugent got a place on bench

we were back on form should have scored alot of goals this match and chance upon chance but aj scored in the first half with a confident finish so went in at half time 1-0

the second half was just the same more chances then aj got a slight knock so i subbed him for nugent and he got his first goal for city from a good cross by modric

just before the final whistle modric picked up a knee injury and after match found out he will be out for 3 weeks

also had goal disaalowed from a corner it would have been yobos first goal for club

Final Score Man city 2-0 Sunderland

Then came the international break which gave chance for injured players to recover aj was ready for next match but mdric still out

Blackburn v Man city

a couple of changes geovanni was in for injured modric and woods was in for elano he came back from internationals tired so put him on the bench

the game started brightly for us aj was clean through and was brought down by kishvanishvili he was last man and was rightly sent off after 2 mins

aj then was clean through again and slotted home after 10 mins bit of a poor first half after that

second half geovanni got injured and he will be out for 2months so elano replaced him

then aj scored again from a rebound after petrovs shot was brilliantly saved by friedal but it fell to aj and he was not gonna miss

this result put me second 1 point behind man utd

Final score Blackburn 0-2 Man city

Man city v Wigan

because of modric and geovanni injuries i brought up etuhu from reserves to make his first start

great start to match and aj again with another goal after 6 mins had a load of chances in first half but came in only 1-0 also michael johnson came off injured he will be out for month

second half and we dominated all half again petrov converted a penalty after he was fouled in box

then elano scored straight after on 61 mins

a very good performance by us and aj was superb

Final Score Man city 3-0 Wigan

Carling Cup Norwich v Man City

last two rounds i made alot of changes decided not too this time was a full strength side was worried about bein knocked out

first goal came when castillo scored on 14 then aj scored on 43 and thats all that happened in first half norwich were putting up a good fight

second half was tight with chances for both sides but castillo slotted home the third his second to put in a man of match performance

Summary

was really pleased with tonights session i am joint top with chelsea but chelsea have a better goal difference and i am in quarter final of league cup

League posistion: 2nd

Top scorer: andrew johnson:16

my defence has started to gel got 4 clean sheets in a row

next up

man utd (a)

Villa (h)

see you all thursday

[TopToffee]

They say it's not easy being green. Well, I can tell you, it's not all that easy being Blue at the moment either.

Carling Cup Draw

The Carling Cup 4th Round draw took place, and I was given a Home tie against Stevie Hill's Tottenham side.

vs. Newcastle @ St James Park, 29/09/07

I made one change from the previous game, bringing in Ben Foster for Tim Howard, who had picked up a slight knock in training the day before the match.

We started at a good tempo during the opening minutes of this match, seemingly in control. However, it looked like being another of those (currently all to frequent) days, when Alan Smith got free of Phil Jagielka on 9mins and fired past the debuting Foster with Newcastle's first shot of the match.

I was very irritated at going behind, but I was pleased with my team's response. We were really hammering on the door, and it seemed almost a certainty that we'd get back into the match sooner rather than later, and indeed, so we did. Just after the half hour mark, Diego Capel swung the ball across from the left to the right wing, landing perfectly at the feet of Mikel Arteta. The tricky Spaniard jinked past José Enrique, and flighted a perfectly weighted cross into the box. Tim Cahill, arriving late into the area, planted his head past the stranded Shay Given, and into the bottom corner.

The sides went in at half time level, and both emerged unchanged after the break. Once more, we were on top, and our dominance was rewarded on 63mins when Capel slipped the ball to the advancing Cahill, and the Aussie switched the ball onto his right foot, before firing it low past Given.

Now in the lead, it looked like we would claim a valuable 3 points, until after 76mins, N'Zogbia went down in the box under a non-existant challenge from Joleon Lescott. Nobody in blue could believe it as, rather than booking the Frenchman for diving, the referee pointed to the spot. Sure enough, given our recent run of luck (and, it must be admitted, form) the detestable Joey Barton stepped up and converted the penalty, giving the barcodes a deeply undeserved share of the points.

Notes: Cahill was exceptional today (MOTM), and Arteta and Capel also had good games. Fred still seems to be having trouble adjusting to the English game.

vs. Fredrikstad @ Fredrikstad Stadion, (UEFA Cup), 03/10/07

I decided to try out a different formation today, with both Fred and Yakubu upfront, Tim Cahill just behind and Fernandes holding the midfield. Cana dropped to the bench.

Another dominating performance from the lads... this one finally matched by a convincing win. Yakubu opened the scoring after 14mins, meeting Tim Cahills cross-cum-shot at the near post, and deftly turning it home.

The score remained tight until a 5mins period in the second half. First, on 72mins, a long, raking pass from Diego Capel found Arteta wide on the right. His excellent first touch helped him to cut inside, and his second sent the ball flying into the Fredrikstad goal.

The tie now standing at 5-0 on aggregate, it was all over as a contest of course, but nonetheless, 4mins later, Manuel Fernandes found Micah Richards, marauding down the right. The young Englishman powered his way past a defender and put in a good cross which Yakubu met with his head and guided into the top corner, completing the victory.

Notes: A solid, if unspectacular victory. Yakubu picked up the MOTM honours with his brace of goals, while there were good performances from Richards, Lescott, Arteta, Capel and Cahill. The side also picked up 4 yellow cards, which, while slightly worrying, at least indicates their commitment to the cause.

vs. Tottenham @ White Hart Lane, 06/10/07

Cana came back into the side for the misfiring Fred before this match against Stevie Hill's Spurs side.

I don't know what to say about this one. How we didn't come away with 3 points is a mystery to me. How we ended up LOSING the match ranks up there with Lord Lucan's disappearance. Looking at the stats after the match, we had more than TWICE the number of shots that the home team had, along with more possession, more corners and a higher Pass Completion rate.

By the time Darren Bent scored twice in the last 10mins to win the game, both Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill had somehow contrived to miss (literally) OPEN goals, and Yakubu, Cahill (again) and Fernandes had all passed up gilt-edged opportunities. Any time your top players are passing up these sorts of chances, you're going to have a tough time winning, and we weren't aided today by the unknown Benoit Costil in the Spurs goal choosing today to try to prove that he really is a top class goalkeeper.

Notes: Pretty much everyone in a blue shirt had a poor day today, with the exception of Diego Capel, whose runs down the left were a constant threat. His crosses also set up SEVERAL exceptional goalscoring chances for Yakubu and Cahill. Sadly, they were left unconverted.

UEFA Cup Group Stage Draw

I was given a tough group in today's draw, and would have to face Levski and Austria Wien at home, and Ajax and Trabzonspor away. Winning my home games was going to be CRUCIAL if I wanted to get out of this group.

vs. Portsmouth @ Goodison Park, 20/10/07

I reverted to my usual formation today, with Tim Cahill playing just behind Yakubu. Phil Neville returned to the side in place of the suspended Micah Richards (5 yellows).

A second successive game against Human opposition, and I was DETERMINED not to let it go the same way as the previous match. I very much impressed this point on my players before they took to the field.

Thankfully, such a collapse never seemed likely from the 4th minute when Sol Campbell climbed all over Yakubu in the box, and the referee pointed to the spot. Yak stepped up himself and calmly slotted home.

The lead was doubled just before the half hour mark, when Mikel Arteta's freekick struck the Pompey wall and fell to Capel, who curled his left footed shot on the turn past a despairing David James.

The score remained at 2-0 throughout the majority of the game, with our defence never looking TOO troubled by the Pompey attack (which had lost new signing van der Vaart to injury after 10mins, but still boasted plenty of Russian-bought quality). For our part, we never looked TOO likely to add another, content to just ride out a comfortable victory.

The game sparked back into life during the last 10mins. On 81, a Diego Capel cross found an unmarked Mikel Arteta on the near post, and one of the smallest men on the pitch was able to rise, unchallenged and nod home to ensure victory. Pompey did notch a consolation after 84mins, the ball pinballing around on the edge of the Everton box, before falling at the feet of £11m signing Jimmy Briand, who was able to slot the ball past the out of position Foster.

Notes: Jagielka, Arteta, Capel and Yakubu all had good games today. MOTM went to David James, who kept the score from being to embarrassing for Pompey. Tim Cahill picked up a slight knock, but should be fine for the next match.

vs. Ajax @ Amsterdam ArenA, (UEFA Cup), 24/10/07

Micah Richards returns to the centre of defence, Jagielka drops to the bench. Tim Cahill doesn't quite overcome his knock, and Julio Baptista starts in his place.

I'm starting to feel like Gerard Houllier in his Liverpool days. Every time it seems like we've turned a corner, we get dragged back. This match (the toughest in our group) started well, Yakubu giving us the lead on 9mins. From a corner, the ball fell to Leighton Baines on the edge of the box, and he absolutely HAMMERED a shot at goal, which Stekelenburg could only parry into the path of the Yak, and he fired home into the unguarded net.

We looked eminently comfortable at the back, and seemed to be cutting open the Ajax defence almost at will. Once again however, the finishing just wasn't there, and in a 5min spell just before halftime, we were made to pay. First, Kenneth Perez's 30yard freekick took a BIG deflection off Mikel Arteta in the Everton wall, and flew past the stranded Ben Foster. Then on the stroke of halftime, Richards was harshly (according to the commentators) adjudged to have tripped Perez in the box, and Emanuelson planted the resulting spot kick into the top corner.

The second half went much the same as the first, but without the goals. Once more we dominated, but just couldn't find the final touches around goal, and the score ended 2-1.

Notes: Capel and Yakubu had good games. Yellows for Cana and Richards. Fred STILL looked off the pace as a second half substitute.

vs. Middlesborough @ Riverside Stadium, 27/10/07

Tim Cahill came back in after recovering from his slight injury, replacing Julio Baptista in the starting lineup.

*sigh*... I'm starting to sound like a stuck record, but I'm getting realllly fed up with absolutely dominating matches and not coming out the winner. Here again, despite falling behind to a 17th minute Julio Arca goal, my Everton side absolutely pummelled the Boro goal.

Incredibly, it took us until the 78th minute to finally get the equaliser, Leighton Baines swinging in a free kick left footed, and Mikel Arteta lashing a splendid volley into the top corner. After the goal, we pressed and pressed, but just couldn't find a second goal to give us a deserved 3pts.

Notes: The team's performance wasn't great today, only MOTM Mikel Arteta coming out with any REAL credit. Although personally, I would have given the award to Oswaldo Sánchez in the Boro goal. Yello cards for Phil Neville and Manuel Fernandes.

vs. Tottenham @ Goodison, (Carling Cup), 31/10/07

I shifted to a straight 4-4-2 for this match, Fred coming in, in place of Tim Cahill, who dropped to the bench.

Wow.

What a game this ended up being. And if we're honest, no one would have seen it coming after the first half. For large periods (by their manager's own admission), Tottenham couldn't even get a foot on the ball. The scoring was opened after just two minutes, with Diego Capel jinking past two Spurs defenders and firing in past Costil from a seemingly impossible angle. During the remainder of the opening period, Everton (with Fred a major culprit) somehow contrived not to add a second (or third, or fourth), and, as has been the pattern lately, Everton were punished for their profligacy just before halftime.

Issiar Dia received the ball wide on the right and broke towards goal. As the Everton defenders rushed to get back, he cut into the penalty area and shot, JUST as Joleon Lescott slid in to make the block. The ball cannoned off Lescott's leg, looped up in the air, over the stranded Foster, and trickled over the line to level the scores.

The second half started fairly slowly, until 15mins in, until Lennon received the ball on the Spurs right and cut the ball back to Jenas who had momentarily evaded his marker. The young Englishman struck the ball first time from close range, giving Foster no chance, and putting Spurs into the lead.

I couldn't believe it. Surely this couldn't happen against Spurs again? I made two substitutions, replacing the out of sorts Fernandes and the (once more) wasteful Fred with Tim Cahill and young James Vaughan (making his first appearance of the season).

We pushed and pushed, but it seemed like the breakthrough just wasn't going to come. Wave after wave of Everton attacks foundered on the massed ranks of white shirts looking to hold onto their lead. Until.... FINALLY, with just over 5mins left on the clock, Micah Richards found Arteta on the right. The Spaniard tricked his way past Gareth Bale, and swung in a low cross. James Vaughan, full of energy and aggression since coming on, flung his body horizontally, his head going for the ball where some players would hesitate to put their feet... getting to the ball just ahead of the outstretched boot of Ledley King, and planting his diving header into the bottom corner.

Goodison erupted. Could this be the turning of the tide? Though both sides pushed for a winner in the last 5 minutes, the score remained 2-2, and we headed into extra time.

There were many sets of tired legs out there, and it was starting to show. Mikel Arteta once more received the ball on the right wing, 5mins into added time, and once more squared up to Bale. Both players looked shattered, but the little Spaniard's guile and trickery allowed him to, with an economy of movement rarely seen since Stanley Matthews, turn Bale and cut the ball back to Cahill on the edge of the Spurs box. The Aussie took one touch to control, and fired a low, hard shot into the bottom corner, giving Costil no chance.

The bit firmly between their teeth now, Everton pushed and pressed to put the tie beyond doubt, and on the stroke of half time in extra time, it looked like they might have done it. Vaughan and the excellent Diego Capel exchanged passes on the left, and Capel swung the ball into the six yard box. Yakubu momentarily lost Jonathan Woodgate, and planted his header into the top corner, wheeling away to celebrate with his teammates as Everton looked to have secured their place in the Quarter Finals.

In the second period of extra time, Spurs started to come back into the game a little more, with Malbranque particularly influential, and Foster had to make a couple of smart saves to keep him and Defoe out. But with Costil also kept busy at the other end, it seemed like it might be too little too late for Spurs, and this was confirmed with 9mins remaining, when two Everton substitutes combined, Tim Cahill nodding the ball down to James Vaughan, about 45 yards out. Vaughan's surging run and tight control took him past both Zokora and King and just inside the box where he let fly with a rapier like shot, which flew into the back of the Spurs net before Costil could even react, sealing the 5-2 victory.

Notes: James Vaughan picked up the MOTM award, scoring two and having a hand in another. A special mention should go to Benoit Costil in the Spurs goal, both Stevie and I agreed that we've never seen a keeper get an "8" rating before, after conceding 5 goals. Good performances also from Neville, Foster, Arteta, Capel, Yakubu, Maduro and Cahill. Hoping for an easier draw in the next round

UP NEXT

West Ham (H)

Derby (A)

Bolton (H)

Levski (H) - UEFA Cup

Man City (A)

Trabzonspor (A) - UEFA Cup

[adamc81]

Well after missing Sundays session and leaving Mr Adams in charge I didnt fancy my chances of being in a good position.

In fairness Mr Adams did a solid job for me, probably a few points less than I would have liked but sitting in 10th I couldnt really complain apart from the fact Jimmy Briand had not been used at all.

Aston Villa 2 - 0 Portsmouth

It was a close game and good performance from my guys, in the end Villa were worthy winners and had just a little too much for my side, though I felt the scoreline was a little harsh, 1-0 would have been a fair reflection. Utaka was also rightly sent off and banned for 3 matches.

Portsmouth 3 - 1 Fulham

Thankfully I returned to winning ways with a comprehensive display against Fulham. 2 Baros goals followed by a strike from Menez put Pomepy in complete control by half time. Despite the team talk of not getting complacent thats exactly what happened allowing Fulham to grab a consolation goal near the end.

Everton 3 -1 Portsmouth

Well what to say about this game, was pretty much a disaster from the off. Samba still away on international duty and Radu injured, Primus stepped up to form an ageing backline with Campbell.

Within 4 minutes the ref gave a disgraceful decision accusing Campbell of climbing over Yakubu, we were both insensed. 5 minutes later and my playmaker was stretched off and out for a month.

A deflected free kick then fell straight to the feet of Capel, bang 2 nil. After reshuffling the formation I was hit with another injury to top scorer Vailatti who was victim to more hard Everton tackling, whilst he could carry on it wasnt worth the risk of a serious injury.

More formation changes and a stern half time team talk didnt do the business for me and Everton began the second half in dominating fashion without really testing James apart from at distance, but were in complete control.

I changed to an attacking 4-3-3 but i got sucker punched and it was game over. Briand got a late consolation but it was a deserved win by Everton, severly helped by the referee I might add. The after match press conference wasnt pretty but the FA remained silent of my critiscm of the ref.

Portsmouth 3 - 1 Tottenham

A much changed team, with Van Der Vaart and Vailatti out injured i gave a debut to Torje but boosted by the return of Samba i went for a more defensive formation against the free attacking Spurs by playing just one up.

The formation worked a treat with excellant ball retention. Pompey controlled the game with plenty of one touch passes allowing the midfielders to find and creat space for the ever Lively Briand who produced 2 stunning finishes. 3-0 at half time did not flatter Pompey who had given there best performance of the season.

The 2nd half was a much more even affair as Spurs poured forward in a new attacking formation but Jimmy Briand was ever dangerous on the counter attacking missing a couple of chance to grab his hat trick.

With 10 mins remaining Spurs got a break through by Ledley King from a corner kick. It was all hands to the pump as Spurs attacked in waves. Both teams had good chances to add to the scoreline but it finished 3-1

Special mention must go to debutant Torje, he created and scored a goal and will be seeing more first team action in the coming weeks.

Portsmouth 1 - 2 Chelsea (Carling Cup)

With Chelsea being top of the pile I decided to send out a few of my reserves and youngsters and to my suprise they gave a good account of them selves pushing the first team of Chelsea all of the way.

I feared the worst when Chelsea went 1 up in 5 mintues and then 2 up in 20 minutes, both goals from the clinical Ballack. But within 6 mintues Stancu provided a cool finish on his debut to peg Chelsea back and give Pompey renewed confidence.

In the second half with the sound of the Pompey chimes my team was peppering the Chelsea goal with the ever lively Stancu and Torje causing problems. Chelea were always dangerous on the break and were unfortunate not to go further a head when first Lampard and then Drogba hit the woodwork. In the end Chelsea deserved the win and left me wondering whether i should have played the first team.

On the plus side though it showed I have alot of promising players to come in like Stancu, Radu, Mihelic, Piatti and Assulin.

So a mixed bag for my update, next im up north with away games at Boro and Newcastle although VDV is still injured Utaka is back from suspendion.

[Saske]

At the end of the second session, Villa was 11th in the league. Our aims are much higher and I was hoping to extend our ongoing 4 match winning streak. However, like Jamie's Everton, we had some problems converting chances into goals.

This session also saw full of my first choice squad fit for the first time:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Carson

Ferreira - Davies - Knight - Barry

Fernandes

Fernandez - Reo-Coker

Agbonlahor Young

Farfan

</pre>

Results:

Aston Villa 2 - 0 Portsmouth

Tony Adams took charge of Adam's Portsmouth for this match, which ended up being quite even. We broke the deadlock when Manuel Fernandez placed the ball into he back of the net from a penalty kick. Portsmouth didn't give up and kept having a steady stream of decent chances. What turned the tide into our favour was Utaka's nasty challenge and the consequent sending off.

At the latter part of the second half, Zat Knight proved that all that time training set-pieces wasn't for nothing, by shaking off his marker and beautifully heading Ashley Young's corner kick past Portsmouth's keeper.

Middlesbrough 0 - 2 Aston Villa

Boro gave a surprisingly tame performance on their home field, giving Young, Fernandez and finally injury-free Agbonlahor lots of space to roam around. Young didn't waste this opportunity and gave a man of the match- performance by scoring the first and providing the beautiful cross that led to the second goal.

Jefferson Farfan was once again very wasteful and ended the match without scoring. It seems that his homesickness is the cause and I can only hope that he gets over it as soon as possible.

Aston Villa 0 - 0 West Ham

This was bound to happen after six straight wins. The match was dominated by us while West Ham didn't have a single decent scoring opportunity. We on the other had plenty, but Robert Green on West Ham's goal had one of those matches where nothing could get past him. Frustrating match that I was hoping would be the last one of its kind for a good while.

Derby 1 - 0 Aston Villa

Derby put up a good fight, but in no way deserved to get anything out of this match, let alone win it.

We also played a Carling Cup- match before the session ended, but it's all a bit fuzzy due to the blinding rage that the loss against Derby caused. I'm pretty sure that we won.

League standing: 6th

[TopToffee]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Saske:

We broke the deadlock when Manuel Fernandez placed the ball into he back of the net from a penalty kick. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

heyy!! i never said you could borrow him!!!

PS. think you might mean Matías

[Saske]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TopToffee:

heyy!! i never said you could borrow him!!!

PS. think you might mean Matías </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ack. With all these Fernandez's and Fernandes's I was bound to get it wrong sooner or later

[rob110481]

jamie can you send me my next fixtures for tonights session wanna do a few predictions if thats ok

[rob110481]

my predictions for tonights session

v man utd

this will be my hardest game so far just hope i can get away with a draw

my prediction utd to win 2-0 hope i am not right lol

v aston villa

this will be my first match against a human manager hope home advantage counts for this

my predictionthink i will win but it will be tight me to win 3-2

v fulham

this should be my easiest match of tonight (hope i have not spoke too soon lol) my in form strike force should get a few goals tonight

my prediction should win 3-1

v everton

another human manager this time jamie just hope his strikers miss chances like before but am a bit worried the strikers might click

my prediction

this will be very tight will go 1-1

v tottenham another tough trip away hoping for a draw

my prediction

should get draw 2-2

should have a carling cup match within this time

i can't predict cause we have not had draw yet

hoping for a good session

[TopToffee]

The game's up lads... get yourselves on msn

[Saske]

I have a bad habit of punching my forehead when things aren't going exactly as I planned on FM. I'm afraid that during this session, I might've caused myself some serious brain damage.

Results:

Aston Villa 2 - 1 Bolton

We managed to win, but in an unconvincing fashion. We were very much dominating side on the field, but due to lackluster passing, we failed to create good scoring chances. We were fortunate enough to get a penalty kick during the latter part of second half, which gave us the win.

Man City 2 - 1 Aston Villa

Deserved to get something out of this even match. Luke Moore used this rare opportunity starting up front to stake his claim for a first team spot by scoring with a beautiful long range shot after only 6 minutes.

Unfortunately, the early goal gave Man City lots of time to search for a leveller. The unevitable happened on second half when Andrew Johnson took advantage of Mellberg's blunder and made it 1-1. Soon after Nugent made it 2-1 and we were beaten.

Aston Villa 3 - 2 Birmingham

Utterly horrible defending almost cost us the match, but we were saved by Oubina, who headed a corner kick into his own net.

Chelsea 2 - 0 Aston Villa

An even match that unsurprisingly ended with Chelsea as victors.

Aston Villa 2 - 1 West Ham

Only bright spot of the session came when we put up a dominating performance against West Ham and got through to the semi-final of the League Cup.

Aston Villa 4 - 0 Liverpool

Humiliating loss in which Sorensen managed to earn himself the elusive rating of 4. We had our chances, but once again failed to convert them into goals. Horrible.

Arsenal 1 - 0 Aston Villa

And to top it all of, a surprisingly dominant performance from the squad, which was ruined by man of the match Jens Lehmann's jumps and blocks and whatever.

By the end of the session we had scored only 18 goals in 17 league matches, which with an attacking tactic like ours is just horrible. Farfan is looking more and more useless every day, Agbonlahor & Young aren't making the forward runs that they're supposed to and my full backs stand by idly to admire the beautiful footwork of the wingers they should be stopping.

Things are looking pretty grim and I need some great results soon if I don't want to get the sack. Fortunately we have four easy games coming up next, which should be enough to bump us at least back into top 10.

League standing: 11th

[Saske]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Saske:

Aston Villa 4 - 0 Liverpool </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

0 - 4, not 4 - 0

Now to do everything I can to get this nights session out of my mind

[TopToffee]

Listen, Saske, you're going to be confronted by the instinct to drink alone. Trust that instinct. Manage the pain. Don't try to be a hero

[adamc81]

I started the session in 12th but was only a couple of points behind 7th so was hoping to make progress up the table.

Middlesbrough 0 - 3 Portsmouth

In an even affair it turned out to be a one sided result with some clinical finishing that had been lacking throughout the season so far. A beautiful run and shot by Briand followed by a powerful strike from the edge of the area by Utaka left me 2 up at half time. Samba headed home late from a corner to give a misleading scoreline. The only down point of the match was an injury to Utaka who is out for a month joining VDV and Menez on the sidelines.

Portsmouth 0 - 2 West Ham

There wasnt a part of this match that wasnt disappointing. Largely outplayed the defence looked hopeless and the midfield without the creatives influnece of Menez and VDV completely void of ideas. Briand and Baros tried gainly upront but never had a clear opportunity. It was clear that the likes of Mendez and Diop are not up to the task and were placed on the transfer list at the final whistle.

Derby 1 - 0 Portsmouth

I thought I was a little hasty in putting some players up for sale but after this performance, I reduced there asking price! A pretty boring game only sprang to life in the 83rd minute when Campbell brought down a player at a corner - the 3rd penalty given agaisnt him this season - McEverly duly dispatched it.

Portsmouth 3 - 1 Bolton

A much improved display was needed, and thankfully some of my big players stepped up to the plate with Briand's runs causing havoc and the ever lively Torje showing his potential. The opening goal from Torje was a peach, played in by Muntari he arrowed a drive from the corner of the area into the bottom left corner.

Briand and Baros both showed great composure scoring in there 1 on 1 situations and only a consolation strike from Bolton after the big boys were taken off took the gloss from a great performance.

Man City 2 -2 Portsmouth

With VDV, Menez and Utaka out, and recieving the blow that Diarra, a mainstay of the midfield would be out for 4 months i wasnt too optimistic about this match. City had there own problems with the goalscoring phenominom Johnson sidelined.

I felt I had something to prove against a City team at the top of the league, I did not want Portsmouth seen as being a pushover.

In a great game of attacking football the odds ended even, to my disappointment. After a bright start, the first 20 mins were all Portsmouth and thankfully Briand made the break through.

Just before half time and against the run of play, Mpzena grabbed an equaliser, it was sloppy defending by Radu.

The 2nd half started much the same way as the first, but City somehow took the lead, I admit there were a few swears at this point. Dominating City on there own patch the defence had thrown the game away. City grew in confidence and were beginning to show some nice attacking moves and looking dangerous. With the last throw of the dice Pompey went 3 up top and when a shot from Briand rebounded and fell to Baros with the goal gaping in the last minute, it was the least I deserved.

Credit to Man City, they had Johnson out and received 3 injuries during the game. Im not so sure my bench could have come up with the goals had my strikers got injured.

I finished the session in 10place, with games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool coming up, I dont think Christmas is going to be a productive period.

[TopToffee]

I'm sure the lads will join me in welcoming our newest member, and the recently appointed manager of Newcastle United, Gareth "gdawg69" Clarke, to the clan.

Gareth played his first couple of matches last night, and got off to a good start, with 2 wins from 2, if memory serves.

Best of luck mate, and here's your banner:

[Gdawg69]

Well firtst up I want to say thanks to all the guys for having me...an online beginner and all, i know i held a few peeps up last night lol....and a special thanks to jamie for helping me through all this, and setting up the whole thing.

Well, Newcastle is my team, never wwent them before, and will no doubt provide me with a great challenge

[Gdawg69]

...a challenge that i will hgopefully rise to.

I actually picked newcastle up in a good state, sittin in the top 6. With the team doing so well and hardly any signings, the chairmen gave me a cool 20 million to spend in january....only thing is, most of my targets have been signed by rival teams. The current squad should be sufficient to get me through the first season, with a few midfield additions hopefully to come in in january.

My aim for the season, bearing in mind i always have high expectations no matter who my team is, is a top 4 finish, and a champions league slot.

I had my first two games in last nights session, and 100% start.

first up...

Newcastle V. West Ham

In my first game in charge i face the over acheiving West Ham, sittin one place above me in the league. It took me a while to sort through my squad but i went for a change in the midfield, starting duff instead of N'zogbia. It paid dividends as the two wingers Duff and Mellor had fantastic games. A 4-1 comfortable win was the result, and i was impressed with Mellor and Martins in particular. The defense got caught napping a couple of times and i will have to keep a close eye on things in teh future.

Next up....

Blackburn V. Newcastle

A tricky away tie, and games i never really convince in. Never the less i stuck with the majority of the same team, with the exception of the centre midfield, where i brung in Nicky butt from injury to partner Smith in midfield. To be honest the scoreline could have been abit more comfortable than at first glance, as the on form Martins ran riot. every time he picked up the ball he looked like scoring...he could be a real player for me this year, and with owen no slouch in the box, goals could get me that 4th or 3rd spot i so desperately want. Another game another win...roll on sunday.

The next 3 fisxtures in December look rather comfortable, 3 home ties

Newcastle V. Derby

Newcastle V. Wigan

Newcastle V. Bolton

hewever that start of january looks tough with an away tie to Manchester Utd, and two succeeding games against the Human managers of Manchester City and Aston Villa. take it easy on the newcomer guys ;-)

[TopToffee]

Aims are top 4 huh?

of course, you DO have the advantage of actually STARTING in 4th... lol

[Saske]

Welcome to the clan mate! Sigh.. should've signed Martins while I still had the chance.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gdawg69:

..and two succeeding games against the Human managers of Manchester City and Aston Villa. take it easy on the newcomer guys ;-) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Mercy is for the weak! However, there's a pretty decent chance that you'll be facing only one human manager

[Gdawg69]

hiy lol, its a challenge keeping a team of over rated, overpaid players in the top 4....would you like to swap me teams? ;-)

[Gdawg69]

p.s they were 5th when i picked them up, maybe i should just retire a winner!!! lol

[rob110481]

right this session was ok not spectacular plenty of games i should of lost giving away too many chances to teams just glad isaksson was in form

v Man Utd (a)

without a few players for this match missing michael johnson in midfield

this was a poor performance v man u never got in game and it started bad corlucka own goal gave man u lead in first half they could have had alot more

then the 2nd half carried on the same and rooney added to utd lead

got some injuries in this match woods, m. petrov had to come off and aj picked up a slight knock and he came off

final score 2-0 loss

v A. villa (h)

with petrov missing for some time brought in loanee adam and decided to change right backs put hoyte in for onuoha

this was one of them games i gave awaw too many chances just thankful villa missed them and on 5 minutes luke moore hit a screamer past isaksson un stopable thought i would get a hammering at home they just piled on the chances was very thankful to get in at half time 1-0 down

second half was better started to create chances and aj scored on 66 mins slotted home cooly and the match carried on a few chances for either team but nugent came on for castillo and made a great impact into the final minute of normal time and nugent scored

was so pleased with the result very lucky

final score 2-1 win

v fulham (a)

a really poor match just a midfield battle thats about it apart from a great goal by etuhu which won goal of the month and woods hitting bar saw the game out comfortably

final score 1-0 win

v everton (h)

same has the villa match everton had so many chances over double to what i had should have won this match but my teams mental resolve helped me get this win

and one of my only break aways in the match saw a very good team move down the right with aj etuhu ans s. petrov exchanging passes and s.petrov rounded off the move finishing brilliant

then after so many more everton chances they finally broke through and vaughn scored thought that would make everton start to convert the chances but they didn't

after the restart aj was clean through and finished calmly on 49 then on 83 aj again finished brilliantly showing everton what they are missing

i think if aj was still at everton i could have lost at least by 6

final score 3-1 win

v tottenham away

another match against human manager but steve mysteriously disappeared for this session so his ass man took over not much to say about match very poor

final score 0-0

v arsenal (a) carling cup

i got the worst draw so i picked as full strength as i could and amazingly arsenal made loads of changes no fabregas gallas toure clichy sagna van persie gilberto adebayor rosicky

i thought i might have a chance to get something but it was not to be arsenals second team were just too good bendtner scored from corner and rhys murphy scored late on i can't remember any chances for me really poor and the worst thing was aj coming off injured

later on found he will be missing for 2 weeks

final score 2-0 loss

v portsmouth (h)

another match where i should have lost can't remember portsmouths goal scorers but they it finished 2-2 but i'm sure if aj played i could have finished the very few chances i had but mpenza scored for me his first this season and castillo scored near to end to be 2-1 up thought i snatched another win but in stoppage time portsmouth scored and the game finished

final score 2-2

so not my best session but only suffering 1 league defeat was not too bad going out of carling cup q/f aj missing a couple of games for start of new session just hope i can get by

league pos 3rd

[TopToffee]

After the frustration of the last session, I was really hoping that I could start turning things around tonight. I'd ended the previous session in 9th place, which REALLY isn't good enough, considering the squad that I have available to me. I really needed to string a few results together, starting with a home tie against the Hammers.

vs. West Ham @ Goodison Park, 03/11/07

Ben Foster had been conceding too many goals for my liking, and was dropped, with Tim Howard regaining his place in the starting XI. I also decided to change things up a little bit, and moved from a 4-4-2 formation to more of a 4-5-1/4-3-3...

The match started exceptionally well, just 4 mins on the clock when James Vaughan fed Tim Cahill, and the Aussie held off a challenge from Kompany to calmly slot the ball past Rob Green between the West Ham sticks. FINALLY it looked like things were starting to turn around for us!

And matters looked even brighter just before the half hour mark, when Cahill's flick-on found Arteta, and Green could only parry the Spaniard's stinging shot into the path of Yakubu, who gratefully finished into the empty net.

We continued to apply pressure, and could easily have been 3 or even 4 goals to the good by halftime, but Green was starting to find some of the form that has pushed him towards the England squad, and the score remained unchanged at the break.

The second half started much the same, Rob Green making a string of impressive stops to deny Capel, Yakubu and Manuel Fernandes, with West Ham posing little threat going forwards. Unfortunately, as has been the case of late, the Hammers' first attempt on target was enough to get them their first goal, Vincent Kompany rising on 59mins to meet a Downing corner and heading home to bring his side within one.

The goal visibly shook our players, the unfortunate results of recent weeks seemingly returning to haunt them. I made a change, bringing on the more defensively minded Lorik Cana in place of Manuel Fernandes, and this seemed to do the trick. The presence of the defensive Midfielder gave Tim Cahill license to roam forwards almost at will, and he could quite easily have completed a hattrick within the next 20mins. Green was now in inspired form, seeming to erect a one man barricade to thwart the Everton attacks.

And then, it happened. Deep into injury time, and with the exertions of tonight and the epic cup tie a few days earlier telling on my players, I looked on as Dean Ashton got himself on the end of a Solano cross, and fired past Tim Howard.

You could have heard a pin drop around Goodison, save for the tiny band of Londoners who had made the journey north. I couldn't believe it. I sat with my head in my hands, trying to fathom how we had dropped 2 points from this game. There was barely time to kick off again before the referee blew for full time and my players trudged from the field, dejected.

Notes: Good performances from Cahill and Yakubu, but Robert Green (9) took the man of the match award. Deep suspicions of offside about the West Ham equaliser, but I decided to keep my own counsel, for fears of punishment from the FA.

Carling Cup Draw

The draw for the Quarter Finals of the Carling Cup was made today, and we were given COMFORTABLY the best draw available, at home vs Wolves. I was pretty confident on hearing this, that we would reach the Semis.

Full Draw:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Aston Villa vs West Ham

Everton vs Wolves

Chelsea vs Man Utd

Arsenal vs Man City</pre>

vs. Derby @ Pride Park, 10/11/07

I kept faith with the same 11 who started the previous match (though SLIGHTLY altered the formation), going into this match against a Derby side MASSIVELY overperforming in the Premiership.

This game was a slow burner, both teams having a couple of chances in a quiet first half, before the match sprung to life in the second. With my encouragement ringing in their ears, and Steven Pienaar coming on for a below par Yakubu (with Vaughan moving from AMR to SC), we set about Derby, and should have been a couple of goals up before finally taking the lead just after the hour mark.

James Vaughan, relishing his role up top as the lone striker (but greatly supported by Capel, Pienaar and Cahill) picked up the ball just inside the Derby half, turning McEveley neatly and slipping a little reverse ball to Cahill, who set himself before chipping the onrushing Bywater with quite some verve, giving us a deserved lead.

12 minutes later, however, and Derby were level somewhat fortuitously. A David Jones corner deflected off Steven Pienaar and fell to Emanuel Villa inside the box. The Argentine striker turned and finished well past Howard to level the scores.

This parity did not last long though. Four minutes later, James Vaughan once again playing the role of provider, this time for Arteta. The England U-21 striker picked the ball up deep from a Micah Richards header, commiting three Derby players with a burst of pace before slipping the ball through to the overlapping Spaniard, who advanced 1 on 1 with Bywater, waited for the keeper to make a move, and fired a precise low shot into the far corner.

There were opportunities for Vaughan and Cahill in the last 13mins, but the score remained at 2-1, and we left Derby with a valuable 3 points.

Notes: Vaughan takes MOTM honours with his two assists, while there were good performances from Capel, Cana and Cahill. Vaughan will be hoping to keep his place upfront in the next match.

vs. Bolton @ Goodison Park, 24/11/07

In spite of his good performance in the last match, Vaughan resumed his position on the right wing, and Yakubu was given another chance up top.

Sadly, our trouble in converting our shots on goal into points continued in this match, with another inspired display from an opposition keeper - this time Jussi Jaaskelainen, who pulled off no less that ten EXCEPTIONAL saves to keep us at bay, and a disappointing, dull game ended 0-0, with Bolton failing to test Tim Howard on even ONE occasion.

Notes: James Vaughan picked up a slight knock, but should hopefully be fine for our next match, while Phil Neville was yellow carded. Jaaskelainen (8) was named MOTM.

TRANSFER NEWS

During this week, I noticed that two players who I rate highly, Matteo Ferrari and Javier Mascherano (both out of contract in the summer, and refusing to sign new deals) had been transfer listed by their clubs, and for BARGAIN prices. Though my transfer kitty was looking rather shallow, I had a lot of space under our wage cap, so after consulting with the chairman and chief executive, some of this money was freed up and bids were made.

Towards the end of the week, personal terms were agreed with both players, and both would sign in on January 1st, Mascherano in particular representing something of a coup as I beat fellow human manager Sasu Mattila to the signing.

vs. Levski @ Goodison Park (UEFA Cup), 28/11/07

To try to solve the scoring problems we had against Bolton, I dropped Yakubu to the bench, and moved James Vaughan upfront, with Pienaar taking his spot on the right wing.

Fellow manager Adam Coggins was in the crowd for this one, to cast an eye over potential transfer target Phil Jagielka (who came on just before the hour mark for an injured Phil Neville). Over a stiff drink after the match, we both agreed that we had never seen such a one sided match end in a 0-0 scoreline. It was unfathomable. We dominated possession, had 11 corners to their 1, and completed 86% of our passes. To say nothing of the fact that we had 27 shots (15 on target) to their... NONE. Not ONE shot either on or off target. And yet, SOMEHOW we couldn't win. We couldn't even SCORE! I needed to figure these problems out, and ASAP.

Notes. A poor performance from the whole team, with the exception of Mikel Arteta, who was awarded the man of the match award for the sheer number of goalscoring opportunities his play created. Though it perhaps SHOULD have gone to the Levski keeper (8), for SOMEHOW keeping us at bay.

vs Man City @ Eastlands, 01/12/07

Up next, Rob's high flying Manchester City, and I was ANYTHING but confident going into the game, with our goalscoring problems in full flow.

However, perhaps my worries we unfounded. We came out of the blocks fast, fashioning several scoring opportunities and having the lion's share of possession. Yakubu in particular should have given us the lead, but somehow contrived to drag a shot wide of an open goal (something Mikel Arteta was guilty of shortly after).

And of course, shortly after, on 33mins, the inevitable, and horribly familiar happened. Man City broke down the field after another of our attacks, Andy Johnson feeding Elano on the edge of the D, and the Brazilian's first time pass found Nery Castillo, who fired into the bottom corner. Once more, our control of a match had come to nothing, and we were losing.

This time however, the lead did not last long... only 5mins infact before Yakubu's pinpoint cross found the head of James Vaughan, and he rose above former teammate Joseph Yobo to head home the equaliser. It was by no means more than we deserved, and we had chances before halftime to go in a goal up, but once more, didn't take them.

While Man City could certainly argue that they might have been worthy of a level scoreline at half time, they could have no such pretentions about the second period, and yet somehow, that 45 ended up worse for us than the first. For long periods we were in total control. HOWEVER, this has happened plenty this season, and the script usually goes much as it did in this match. We limited the home team to THREE attacks in the entire second half, but somehow, they managed to score from two of those. At the other end, Isaksson was repeatedly called into action, and apparently drew upon the spirits of Gordon Banks, Peter Schmeichel and Dino Zoff to turn in a display of incredible goalkeeping excellence. So what else is new?

Notes: Once more a MOTM performance from an opposing keeper (this time Isaksson[9]), while only James Vaughan (inspite of us constructing over 25 chances on goal) could be anything close to proud of his performance for us. Yellows for Arteta and Baines. My players were roundly b*llocked after the match - I'm getting REALLY tired of their wastefulness infront of goal.

FA Cup Draw:

The FA Cup 3rd round draw took place, and Wolves will be making two trips to Goodison this season, as we were drawn together for a rematch of the forthcoming Carling Cup Quarter Final.

The tie of the round is undoubtedly Chelsea being drawn against Man Utd at Stamford Bridge. Man City will play Wigan in the only other all Premiership tie.

vs. Trabzonspor @ Huseyin Avni Aker (UEFA Cup), 05/12/07

I made a couple of changes from the team that performed reasonably well but at the end of the day still lost against City, bringing in Manuel Fernandes for Cahill, dropping Yakubu to the bench, moving Vaughan up front and bringing Osman back into the first team at AMR. The players were sent out onto the field with the in no way uncertain message that I wouldn't accept the lack of ruthlessness to continue.

HALLELUJAH!!! Finally, a match that actually went the way the statistics suggest it should! We started well, applying pressure to the Trabzonspor goal, but had to wait until the 35th minute for the breakthrough. Micah richards won the ball right in the corner, in Trabzonspor's half, and swung in a cross. Little Diego Capel pulled off his marker and rose to head home the opening goal.

The second half was more of the same, our attacks seemed to come in waves, and it was only a matter of time (in theory!) before we got the 2nd. On 51 minutes, Diego Capel fed Vaughan wide on the left, and the young striker cut inside, firing a fizzing shot towards goal. The Trabzonspor keeper could only block it into the path of Leon Osman, and he fired in his 3rd of the campaign.

The match was over as a contest, but a convincing result was important to us, and with 11 mins left on the clock, it became moreso. Leighton Baines swung in a cross from the left, after good interplay between Arteta and Fernandes, and Yakubu - only on the field for 5mins - stole away from his marker to glance home an excellent header. The sense of relief which washed over me as we finally notched a decent victory was palpable, and there was still time for Diego Capel to win a penalty which Mikel Arteta converted to complete the rout.

Notes: A fine performance all round, but Capel JUST inched the MOTM award, having both set up and scored a goal. Special mention to James Vaughan. The young lad led the line admirably, and put in a LOT of running before finally tiring and being replaced for the last 17mins.

vs. Birmingham @ Goodison Park, 08/12/07

The lads were buzzing in training following the excellent UEFA Cup win, and unsurprisingly I stuck with the same side for the home tie against Brum.

Another excellent performance, and a good win. I noticed that we seemed to be getting a much higher % of our shots on target of late, and this was translating into results. We took the lead on 37mins, and it was that man Leon Osman once again. Lorik Cana received a throw in from Baines and played a first time ball into the path of Osman. The diminutive midfielder slipped past the challenge of Ridgewell and cooly slotted the ball into the far corner.

We had two goals dubiously ruled out for offside before finally making the game safe in the last 10mins. Once again, James Vaughan had run himself into the ground for the team, and was replaced on 74mins by The Yak. And with a little over 8mins left on the clock, Baines swung in a cross and Yak rose above the hapless Ridgewell to glance in a carbon copy of his goal against Trabzonspor, securing the win.

Notes: Good performances from Baines, Cana and Osman, and the Yak once again chips in with a goal from the bench. Leon Osman picks up MOTM.

vs. Wolves @ Goodison Park (Carling Cup), 12/12/07

Same XI started for a third match in succession. What's this? Consistency??

This match didn't end up NEARLY as straightforward as it should have been, and it was the second half before we secured the win we needed to advance. First, on 63 minutes, Lorik Cana rose at the back post to head home a Manuel Fernandes corner, notching his first goal for the club. We pressed and pressed for a second goal, and it FINALLY came with three minutes left in the match. Another set piece, indeed another corner - this time Capel swinging the ball in and Osman diving headlong to nod in at the backpost, for his third goal in as many games.

Notes: Leon Osman continues his excellent vein of goalscoring form, and is named man of the match. Cana also with a good performance. Mikel Arteta looked well below par today, and I'll be hoping his form picks up in the next match vs Chelsea.

Carling Cup Draw

The Draw for the Carling Cup Semi Final is as follows. (Ties to be played over 2 legs)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Arsenal vs Aston Villa

Man Utd vs Everton</pre>

Tough tie in the Semi Final. Will need a couple of GREAT performances to secure a trip to Wembley.

vs. Chelsea @ Stamford Bridge, 15/12/07

Huge game, probably my toughest test of the season so far. I told the lads that the pressure was off today in terms of a result - just to go out there and give the best showing they could. Some of them seemed to noticably relax at this, and I hoped it would pay off. The starting XI had just one change, Phil Neville coming at RWB for Micah Richards.

WHAT a start we got in this match! Just 4mins had ticked by when Diego Capel collected the ball from Arteta on the left corner of the Chelsea box. He skillfully cut inside Michael Essien and hammered a shot into the top corner, giving even Petr Cech NO chance whatsoever. We had the lead at Stamford Bridge!!!

I must confess that I thought it could be backs to the wall from there on out, but my players were doing me proud, matching Chelsea stride for stride. We had a couple of good chances to put ourselve 2, maybe even 3 goals up - Osman and Cana particularly should have done better. And then, of course, on 34mins, Chelsea provided a reminder of the thread they pose. From a corner on our right Malouda completely fooled our defence by swinging the ball to the near post, where Shaun Wright-Phillips was relatively unmarked, and the diminutive winger flicked his header inside our far post, levelling the scores.

It was desperately harsh on our players, who had had the better of the game so far, and I urged them not to let their heads drop. This seemed to work, and they dialled their efforts up another notch. Lescott and Jagielka were absolute rocks in the centre of defence, with Lorik Cana snapping at Chelsea's heels just infront of them, and on the stroke of halftime, we got our reward.

After a neat interchange of 4 or 5 passes between the triumvirate of Cana, Arteta and Fernandes, the Portuguese international's pinpoint through ball found James Vaughan racing through on goal. The youngster showed great strength to shrug off a challenge from Carvalho, and his first touch deftly took him round the onrushing Cech. An ENORMOUS roar went up from the away end as Vaughn stroked the ball into the unguarded Chelsea net.

In the second half, we had to sustain the inevitable periods of Chelsea pressure, with Lescott in particular a colossus, earning his paycheck and then some. We hit Chelsea on the break time and again, but were unable to end any of these counterpunches with a goal. As time counted down, we backed of Chelsea, content to let them play infront of us, and every player putting his body on the line to stop them getting any further than that. I watched as the referee checked his watch - the whistles from the away end so loud that I did not even hear the real one blow as Chris Foy called time on proceedings, and we recorded a FANTASTIC victory.

Notes: Great performances today from Jagielka, Lescott, Vaughan, Arteta and man of the match Diego Capel. An away win against Chelsea - a GREAT way to end a much more promising session. Fingers crossed for more of the same next time out, and a sustained climb up the league table.

League Position: 7th

UP NEXT:

Austria Wien (H) - UEFA Cup

Liverpool (H)

Arsenal (A)

Reading (A)

Sunderland (H)

[TopToffee]

League Table - 16/12/07

Team Stats

Player Stats

[rob110481]

i notice you did not mention who scoed the two man city goals in the second half lol

[TopToffee]

couldn't remember... some luckbox or other

We're on tonight lads, 8pm as usual

[rob110481]

i will remind you its a certain player who you let go to me first name starts with a and surname j lol will be on at 8

[Gdawg69]

Rob, will you drop big AJ for our game please...you wont need him...honest!!

[TopToffee]

The game's up now... first continue @8pm

[rob110481]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gdawg69:

Rob, will you drop big AJ for our game please...you wont need him...honest!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

you are in luck he will be injured for your game

[rob110481]

to start off we started the session at 8 played through 3 games i won all 3 comfortably but the game crashed at jamies end just before it was gonna save so we had to start back from where we were

first of all transfers i have joao carlos coming in but having trouble with his work permit so will have to loan him to my feeder club to rectify that.

also i have vagner love he came for 2m and i beat stiff competition from newcastle spurs and others

and i managed to arrang my budgets so i have another 7m to get a dm and am in talks with huddlestone, hettinga so will have to see what happens.also done a deal for tomas sivok but he will come in july

v middlesbrough (a)

well i won this one pre crash 3-1 so i used same team as that trying something new with formations lets see how it goes, started without aj, etuhu from injuries and castillo his suspended

i controlled the match all the way through and broke the deadlock with modric he skipped past a couple of defenders and blasted the ball in top corner. then my team went to sleep cause aliadiere tapped in a rebound 3 minutes later.

second half was the same attack after attack and elano bagged a brace his goals came three minutes apart and both were cool finishes low in the corner both times think he enjoyed his new role for todays game up front.

nugent rounded off the win with a close range tap in and thats how it finished

final score:4-1 win

v west ham (h)

the busy christmas period was taking toll on my fitness so had to make a few changes

the game was even in first half with chances ever side but west ham opened the scoring from bellamy who skipped past my defenders like they were not there and scored so thats it finished at half time

second half i took over and created loads of chances and straight after the restart elano scored think he has caught the scoring bug since his stint as striker last game he was back at his normal right wing posistion

loads of chances couldn't convert any so it ended.

final score:1-1

v derby (h)

another game where i dominated all match just couldn't find goals luckily one came from geovanni in 32 min more chances came and 2 injuries for aj and m. petrov

second half loads of the same moe chances then came last few mins and derbys one attack resulted in a goal from pearson i was gutted

final score 1-1

v bolton (a)

afetr last matches draw i lost 3rd place to newcastle but i knew i could turn it around cause they had tough trip to old trafford

new boy vagner love made his debut

this match was really poor dogged down in midfield all match one bright spark was elano and geovanni who linked up nicely and geovanni scored again thats 2 in 2 now for the man who is trying to prove a point cause i am trying to sell him in this window might have to change my mind

final score 1-0 win

SUMMARY

this session saw a rivalry start with me and newcastle boss gareth who was annoyed at losing vagner love to me so he trie dto unsettle my injured player boijnov and he came back unsettled i was not happy and i knew owen was unsettled previously by romas interest so i tried to make it worse which back fired he did not want to leave newcastle for me

looking forward to trip up there after my fa cup match against wigan not a bad session un defeated in the 4 games just hope tonights session carries on but i know 3 hard games v arsenal chelsea and liverpool are on the horizon

[Gdawg69]

I REPEAT, i did not unsettle bojinov, i didn't declare interest, and i never stated any admiration for him, i merely put him on my shortlist as he was in your reserves, and i was unaware he was in your plans. There was another team interested in bojinov and they declared interest, but because i was the bigger team interested in him, he stated my name.

What you done was completely unfair.

[TopToffee]

It's a sombre day here at EPL-Online. Our friend and colleague Stevo Hill has shipped off to the great dugout in the Sky. He was removed from his position as Spurs manager last night by the MASSIVELY impatient Daniel Levy, amid rumours of Hill playing around with Levy's wife.

We couldn't possibly comment. Although apparently Dimitar Berbatov had similar complaints.

However, shortly after Hill's disappearance, the mysterious Stephano Hilleri took over at Championship side QPR.

Speaking in a suspiciously fake sounding Italian accent, "Hilleri" remaked, "Ahhh yes... obviously the chairman has put up a huge amount of Lira, no Euros, no no Pounds for transfers, and I look forward to the challenge of spending that money wisely, and taking QPR into the Premiership."

Best of luck...... Stephano

[Hillskill1979]

Ciao !

So I got the boot at Spurs. in a team that boasts Bent, Berbatov, Defoe, Keane and also Doyle (who was my signing) it was left to Jenas to score the goals ! Using a tried and tested tactic i was surprised at the amount of missed chances. With the squad fairly short of class everywhere else i struggled to sign anyone who was gonna make that much needed contribution. With Woodgate and Hutton signing the transfer budget was 6mil ! i was torn between adding depth to the squad or a big signing.

So anyway.....looking forward. I have re-incarnated myself as Stefano Hilleri (see what i did there )

As an Italian it mad sense for me to be part of the revoloution going down in west London and it most certainly would be televised.

With a transfer budget of 90mil i find myself two weeks from the transfer window and suddenly extremely excited about the weeks ahead.

With essentially an average looking squad of championship players the goal here is of course promotion. Sitting in 19th(there or there abouts) we have a long way to go.

While its tempting to go and start bidding for everyone i think i will start by maybe a few loan signings just to add to what i have. No sense in trying to play a completely different starting XI and watch us plummet down the table !

On a side note, the man city VS newcastle match is gonna be unmissable lol !

[TopToffee]

Yeah, so, the crash last night was MORE than a little annoying - apart from anything else, I lost a 4-1 win against Liverpool, which cost Rafa Benitez his job... I've only just stopped crying enough now to write a report

TRANSFER NEWS

Chelsea came in with a too-good-to-refuse offer of just over £19m (yes, NINETEEN) for Yakubu just before my European match. They obviously haven't been watching him during the season! This was quite literally an offer I couldn't turn down, given his patchy form, and The Yak was given permission to miss the UEFA Cup match to travel down to London for talks. Personal terms were quickly agreed, and Yakubu will move to Chelsea on January 1st. God I love Roman Abramovich. With my share in the Russian billions burning a hole in my pocket, I quickly went to work looking for a replacement.

vs. Austria Wien @ Goodison Park (UEFA Cup), 19/12/07

Fred started upfront, Fred started upfront in this one, James Vaughan only fit for a place on the bench after picking up a slight knock in the previous match.

This turned out to be a pretty straightforward win,and we comfortably controlled the match from start to finish. It took us til the second half however to actually open the scoring, Steven Pienaar squaring the ball to Mikel Arteta on the edge of the box 4mins after the restart, and the Spaniard curled an exquisite right foot finish into the top corner, giving the goalkeeper no chance.

Five minutes later Manuel Fernandes decided to show that anything Mikel could do, he could do.... at least as well. Pienaar again made a nuisance of himself in the box, and the Wien defence could only half clear the ball. Fernandes ran onto the loose 25 yards from goal, and crashed a screamer of a shot in off the near post, the goalkeeper rooted to the spot, sealing the win.

NOTES: Lorik Cana picked up a knock and will miss a game or two. Fernandes picked up man of the match honours with a very good performance. To be honest, we never needed to get out of 2nd gear to win this one.

vs. Liverpool @ Goodison Park, 22/12/07

Hedwiges Maduro came in for the injured Lorik Cana in this one. Otherwise the team remained unchanged.

REALLY disappointing result here. We dominated our opponents from across the park, going ahead in the 26th minute when Diego Capel burst down the left, cut inside Jamie Carragher and fired in from a tight angle. After the goal, we continued to control the game, but couldn't find the second goal to kill off the match - Pepe Reina in inspired form in goal for Liverpool.

Into the second, and things seemed to get even better for us, when 9mins in, Steven Gerrard saw red for a second bookable offence. Unfortunately, just 3mins after that, Liverpool hit us on the break and Voronin scored to level the match. The last half hour saw wave after wave of Everton attacks, but we just couldn't find a way through the massed ranks of red shirts. Definitely 2 points dropped here.

NOTES: Good performances from Baines and Capel, though Reina was comfortably the man of the match. Yellows for Arteta, Fernandes and Richards.

TRANSFER NEWS

Opened talks with Atletico Madrid about their wantaway forward Sergio Aguero. Despite the player having stated his wish to leave the club, the board were playing hardball on the price, wanting almost £30m for the young star. While obviously I didn't have this sort of money upfront, I managed to negotiate a deal for the fee to be payed over 2 years, and I was given permission to talk to the player. Personal terms didn't prove a problem, and he put pen to paper, subject to a work permit being granted. We would hear on the 27th December.

UEFA Cup Draw

The first knockout round would see us meet Shakhtar Donetsk over 2 legs, the first to be played at Goodison on 13th February. If we got through that tie, in the second knockout round we would face the Winner of Tottenham-Bordeaux. A potential All-English tie then. It's just a shame that Stevo won't be there to partake in it

vs. Arsenal @ The Emirates Stadium, 26/12/07

The side remained unchanged from the derby, with Lorik Cana still not fit to return.

Unfortunately I was unable to give Evertonians the belated Christmas present they deserve here, in spite of having the better of the game - particularly in the second half. We were unable to find the net, and were undone by an 18th minute Mathieu Flamini strike.

NOTES: Pretty low quality performance from my lads, no one really standing out. Jens Lehmann in the Arsenal goal picked up the Man of the Match award. (imagine my shock.)

TRANSFER NEWS

NOT good news at all today, as Aguero's application for a work permit was turned down. We immediately lodged an appeal - I believe this kid is going to be a world star sooner rather than later, and surely we want him playing on our shores?? The result of the appeal would come through on January 2nd.

vs. Reading @ The Madejski Stadium

Lorik Cana failed a late fitness test before the match, and Hedwiges Maduro would make his third consecutive start.

Two first half goals won this one for us. On 22mins, a wonderfully disguised through ball from Mikel Arteta found Diego Capel in the box, and he was able to fire in his 6th goal of the season. Then, on the stroke of halftime, Fred FINALLY scored, after over 10 goalless hours, getting his head on the end of Capel's outswinging cross and planting the ball past Marcus Hahnemann.

NOTES: Good performances from Baines, Lescott, Fred and man of the match Diego Capel. Maduro not really showing enough in these three starts, and his loan will be terminated, with Mascherano coming in on 1st Jan.

TRANSFER NEWS

New signings Javier Mascherano and Matteo Ferrari were officially unveiled today, and both went straight into the side to face Sunderland. Yakubu has left the club to join Chelsea, and Nuno Valente signed with Derby County for £325k, while Hedwiges Maduro's loan was cancelled, and he returned to Valencia.

vs. Sunderland @ Goodison Park, 01/01/08

Mascherano came in for Maduro (Cana makes the bench), and Matteo Ferrari starts in central defence.

A comfortable, convincing win here. Leon Osman started the scoring after 26mins, Javier Mascherano doing well to win the ball from Chopra, and laying it back to Ferrari. The Italian looked up and saw Osman free, and played a pinpoint ball over the top which Leon controlled expertly and fired past Darren Ward in the Sunderland goal.

Ten minutes later, Fred got on the scoresheet for a second successive game, flicking home a nearpost header from a Diego Capel corner. Nine minutes into the second half and the result was put beyond any doubt when Ward could only parry Cahill's stinging shot into the path of Fred, and the Brazilian finished into an empty net for his third goal in two games.

NOTES: A good team performance, especially from Baines, Lescott, the debuting Ferrari, Capel, Osman and Cahill. Special mention must go to man of the match Fred, who put in his best performance since joining the club in the Summer. Hopefully he's finally found his shooting boots. On the down side, Mikel Arteta had to leave the field with an injury which will keep him out for up to a month. The pressure will be on Fernandes to deputise.

TRANSFER NEWS

GREAT news today as Sergio Aguero's work permit was granted on appeal, and he signed on, smashing the club's transfer record (all be it over 2 years). Unfortunately, Aguero is currently suffering from a damaged calf muscle, and will be out for up to a month, which is a terrible shame, as unleashing him on Wolves would have been a lot of fun.

League Position: 7th

UP NEXT

Wolves (H) - FA Cup

Man Utd (A) - Carling Cup Semi L1

Blackburn (A)

Wigan (H)

Man Utd (H) - Carling Cup Semi L2

Man Utd (A)