Motlhen

Dec 2024 An amazing turnaround. The team remembered how to score and, apart from a bad loss to Liverpool, we've done brilliantly to pull ourselves back into European contention. We're also through to the Carabao Cup semi-final against Southampton. Winning this competition would get us into Europe too so I am delighted to be facing a Championship side over two legs for a place at Wembley versus either Newcastle or Arsenal.

Nov 2024 In a month where I thought we could win every game, we've come away with only one win where we scraped past bottom-of-the-table Ipswich. We've only scored an average of 1 goal per game for the last 8 games and when we concede as many as we do it's not enough. We've slipped into the bottom half of the table and the pre-season aim of finishing in a European spot seems very far off now. The board have given me £15m more to spend in January as well as set up an affiliate in Northern Ireland. Youth Intake Preview

Oct 2024 Another humbling defeat at the start of the month. Only managing to score once in each game is a minor worry - hopefully we can find our shooting boots again. Transfer In To help improve at the back, I've brought in Koulibaly on a free transfer. Improvements The board have agreed to do a clean sweep of improvements:

Sep 2024 Arsenal humbled us - but apart from that result we have been in great form. The only clean sheet this season was on Restes' debut in the Carabao Cup - defensively we need to be stronger.

Aug 2024 After the opening day loss to Manchester United, we bounced back with a great turnaround win against Newcastle, with Bardghji grabbing his first goal and Ferguson getting a brace. It was a fantastic performance and we deserved to win after battling hard the whole game. Then I sent out a rotated squad against Bristol City in the Carabao Cup - which we comfortably won - with Bardghji coming off the bench to grab his 2nd goal! Transfer Out I sold Gross for £10M. He was a great player for Brighton, but his physical decline cannot be ignored and we needed to generate the funds to bring in a right back. Transfer In Emre Can comes in with experience and versatility. He cost us £9M which in our circumstance, I think was a very good deal. I'll be getting the scouts to search for a long-term replacement, but we'll still get a good few years out of Can first.

History Season 1, Club 1 Season 2, Club 2 Ongoing

Depth at Right Back Veltman has forced a move away due to being home sick which leaves us with a problem at right back. Currently I am thinking that March is our best wing back and I do not rate Lamptey going forward, let alone in defence. We need to bring someone else in.

Our first Premier League match we lined up like this. Estupinan and March in the full-back and wing-back positions are the areas I'm worried that we aren't playing to our strengths. I considered tweaking the formation - mirroring it to switch the full-back and wing-back roles to opposite sides - but for now I will stick to this. Our first game was away at Old Trafford and after a bright start, we weren't really in the game.

Transfers Out I sold Kozlowski as I feel that £10M is a decent price for him and it will cover the price of my main target in the same position. Transfers In AMC Bardghji is typically a winger. But I plan to use him similarly to how I used Asensio at PSG. Comparing the two, they are remarkably close considering the 10-year age difference. I also managed to sign Orkun Kokcu from PSG on loan after he impressed me and had fallen out of favour with the new manager (Pep). Goalkeeper Restes is touted as a gk with amazing potential. He will battle with Verbruggen for the backup spot this season. As the number 1 spot will be going to Szczesny. We managed to sign the veteran for £5.5M with Juventus also paying half of his wages.

Squad I arrived and immediately rejected the ongoing bid for Estupinan. We are receiving a lot of bids for players, including some hefty bids for van Hecke. I quickly sorted out my 1st & 2nd XI to identify where we need to strengthen (and where we can't afford to be weaker). It's immediately clear to me that we need a goalkeeper. And the other position I would like to strengthen is AMC as Joao Pedro is more of a winger or forward and I do not see a long-term future for Pascal Gross. We have a big bank & transfer balance.

De Zerbi left to go to Barcelona during the Euros so I applied for the Brighton job. None of the potential World Cup candidate jobs (Portugal, Netherlands & Belgium) became available. From the list of European Championship candidates, the only job that became available was England, but with 4 years until the next Euros, I thought my focus would be too far in the future and as the Brighton job was my favourite of the potential Premier league jobs, I decided to go for it. They finished in 10th last season and 4 points off of a European place. The board want another top-half finish, but I will be aiming to get into Europe this first season.

Euro 2024 Italy & Croatia both finish bottom of their groups on zero points! England got knocked out by semi-finalists Ireland. France the eventual winners, with Dembele and Mbappe joined on the scoresheet by MotM Ngolo Kante who got 2 goals to help France to a 3rd European Championship title.

After winning the Champions League, my next aim is to win one of the next 3 competitions with the highest reputation with a team that has not won it before. That means the World Cup with the likes of Belgium, Netherlands or Portugal. The Euros with England, Belgium or Switzerland. The Premier League with West Ham, Brighton, Brentford or Crystal Palace. Crazily, Ronald Koeman has kept his job as Netherlands coach despite them not making it to the Euros, which are happening now in-game. I will wait to see what opportunities the inevitable manager movements that happen after the Euros finish.

What an incredible final. Two heavyweights going full gung-ho, separated by the finest of margins. Vini Jr had a 89th minute leveller chalked off for the slimmest of offsides where Camavinga was blocking Navas' view and it meant we held on to the lead in a topsy-turvy game to claim the quadruple! I've broken the duck in style for PSG.

May 2024 We've completed the domestic treble with an outstanding result against Marseille. Form and morale couldn't be better as we win the league by 30 points! Ancelotti has tried to unsettle Zaire-Emery, who's recent performances have earned him a starting spot in the final. However we have been hit with a major injury meaning 37 year old Keylor Navas comes in as a replacement. This is how we line up:

We've made it to the final! What a tense game that was... & to have my one-and-only signing score the goal that takes us there is perfect. We scuppered chance after chance. I feared it wouldn't be our day. But our superior fitness levels showed in extra time as we were all over Arsenal and Kokcu's 110th minute goal was a deserved winner. We're facing off against Real - one of only 3 teams that have beaten us this season. I was hoping Napoli could snatch a suprise win at home after only losing 1-0 in Madrid, but Madrid had other ideas and we face a daunting task. Real Madrid's Fixtures One game stands in the way of breaking PSG's UCL duck on my first attempt.

Apr 2024 Our form has been incredible. Considering I am using our 2nd team for the league games, it has been impressive that the winning run has not come to an end (domestically at least). I hope it continues as we aim to reach the UCL final and have the final of the French Cup too.

For the first half it was the first time I have felt that we were completely dominated. We couldn't get hold of the ball and Arsenal had plenty of opportunities to score more. But Marquinhos managed to level just before half time and when we came back out for the 2nd half the game was more balanced and sets us up for a huge home game. Mbappe again suffered a bad injury and will be out of the second leg.

A cagey game opened up once they had a man sent off. We've got Arsenal in the semi-finals.

Barcola started and grabbed a goal before going off injured for Ramos who got a second. We should have scored a few more with a huge 4.03 xG and may come to rue those missed opportunities as we conceded a late wonder strike to halve our advantage going into the home leg.

Mar 2024 We have won the league with 7 games to go! Rennes have gone off form completely, including conceding 2 injury time goals against Ligue 2 Rodez to get knocked out of the French Cup. This means that we can have a total focus on the Champions League. I will definitely be rotating the squad in both the Cup and the League to make sure we have the best squad fully fit and available for our European games. We already have a stacked injury list so keeping the players available fit will be integral to having the best chance of progressing.

That was a hard fought game which we very much deserved to win & eventually we got the 2 goals necessary to go through. We're going to face another German team in the Quarters. If we make it through that, then we will play the winners of Man City v Arsenal.

Youth Intake Day A rather unremarkable intake for a team with maxed-out facilities.

Feb 2024 We've been in scintillating form, apart from the big UCL game. 3-1 against 2nd-placed Rennes means that the gap in the league is up to 15 points with 11 games to go and our goal difference is bordering on the absurd. We're also through the French Cup quarter final where we are facing one of two Ligue 2 sides that have made it to the semis, so I would expect another shot at some silverware. The Dortmund return fixture will make or break our season.

Kimpembe is close to being ready to play again, Ramos could be reregistered and new signing Kokcu are the 3 additions to our UCL squad for the knockout stages. This was a hard loss to take. We didn't deserve to lose at all - we just couldn't convert our chances. And to top it off Mbappe is out for the next 2 months so will miss the home leg & more!