Motlhen

2027/28 Season Despite being down near the bottom, we've improved our odds a lot since last season. I fancy our chances! Interesting to see Enfield FC so far down the season after relegation. Board Expectations Transfers In Kitscha has been on my radar for a while. He's a huge upgrade in goal and also will be working part-time as a scout too! Joe Payne also comes in as a solid option in central defence or left back. Youth Intake Mahama could be a decent replacement for Kitscha when he retires! Fixtures FA Vase FA Cup A solid showing in the FA Cup this season. League Despite the new signings, we never really got going this season. Losing home and away to Enfield FC hurt. Another season of regression in terms of league position. It's proving hard to find the level of consistency it takes to hit that top, automatic promotion spot. Squad O'Neill & Ramadan were brilliant. Hunter & Martin in midfield were sub-par & we struggled in defence but for Gordon.

World Cup 2022 Spain & Portugal didn't make it out of the group stage. Morocco & Wales made it to the quarters but it was Holland that went all the way to win an epic final!

Ortega is out for a considerable length of time. Scott Carson is now our backup goalie! The board have agreed to expand our stadium by 6,600 seats.

Nov 2022 Aa 95th min Haaland hattrick winner against Wolves makes it a perfect month. We've now got some time until fixtures restart as we await the Winter World Cup.

Our Carabao Cup tie against West Ham has increased significance as they have started incredibly in the league. We managed a brilliant, statement win! But it isn't any easier in the next round.

& Hazard will be joining the squad in time for R16 after we have agreed an optional fee with Real Madrid.

We've qualified in 2nd from our group and await the draw for the round of 16. A couple of shocks as Real Madrid & Dortmund don't make it out of their groups!

Oct 2022 A very busy month started with us throwing away a 2-0 lead at Palace. We've been great in the premier league aside from that result & a terrible loss at Nottingham Forest where we had 40+ shots to their 10. We've qualified from our UCL group with a game to spare, but it worries me that we couldn't beat Barcelona home or away.

Alex Sandro will be joining us in the new year!

I've been looking at short-term loan deals for players that could provide some squad depth with all our injuries. Hazard was one of the top players & we managed to agree a deal with Real Madrid. But I cancelled the deal as they insisted that if we win the Premier League we pay them £13M and sign Hazard permanently.

Sep 2022 We're favourites! This month we saw some fragility. After losing the Manchester derby, we were outclassed by Brighton who could've won the match by a lot more. We've started well in our UCL group & the huge win over Liverpool should hopefully get us back on the right trajectory.

In our next match, both before the half an hour mark against Napoli.. ..I'm not sure how many more injuries we can take!

The Manchester Derby We dominated every stat apart from the one that mattered. Rashford scored with one of United's few chances as the game opened up towards full time. To compound our misery, immediately from kick-off after scoring Rashford injured Haaland and we had a limping forward for the last 5 mins. Luckily Haaland's injury wasn't too bad in the end. But Gundogan's injury could really hurt us, especially as Silva is out again too.

A clean sweep of the PotM awards. But Arsenal pip us to the YPotM award. & Arteta was chosen for MotM. He was perceived to have a harder set of opening fixtures, so despite our GD being over double Arsenal's after 5 games, I have to settle for 2nd spot. (not bitter)

There are a few contracts for key players that I want to sort out. Walker is the highest priority considering our lack of depth at RWB, then Gundogan.

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Aug 22 We've had a few injuries to contend with. But they haven't stopped us from totally dominating our games so far. (Although Newcastle were winning 2-0 at HT.) Haaland has 13 goals in 6 games. Cheat code! Arsenal have matched our perfect record and we have the Manchester derby next. Liverpool had a rocky start, but just made a big statement by matching the league's biggest win record.

Favourites.

We have an incredible scouting range. ...but with room for more scouts we can even improve on it!

We've added Norwich as an affiliate. They join a looong list as our only English affiliate club.

Community Shield An early yellow for both Cancelo 5' & then Rodri 8'. ...we can't afford to go down to 10-men against this Liverpool side, these guys need to be careful. 11' A superb Bernardo Silva cross is met by the head of Grealish at the far post to thump us into a 1-0 lead! 14' The game is getting feisty! Cancelo with another wreckless challenge & he's very much on an orange card, just before a robust challenge ends Bernardo Silva's evening early. Cancelo could have counted himself lucky to be on the pitch... if I hadn't have decided to take him off already! An early double substitution: Cancelo <> Ake Bernardo Silva <> Foden 28' Salah breaks free from Ake cutting in to the box on his own but a limp shot rolls straight in to Ederson's gloves. Ederson lumps it forward, Gundogan feeds Foden who drives to the byline before cutting it back for Haaland to bag a debut goal! 33' Ake picks up a yellow card. Salah is causing all sorts of trouble down our left side. 45+1' Haaland stops Gundogan from making it 3-1 just before the break by accidentally blocking a strike from the edge of the area destined for the back of the net. Ruben Dias picks up another yellow card as Liverpool try to counter on the break. 64' We're comfortable at 11v11 and my priority is to keep it that way! Ruben Dias <> Akanji Ake <> Rico Lewis Yellow cards: Ake 69', Lewis 71' 80' Salah smashes the bar from a freekick from way out. It's the closest they've come. We're coasting! ..but I'm aware one goal could change that. ... 33 days in the job & already my first piece of silverware! We exploited a weak backline, but we really got away with facing an impotent Liverpool frontline today. Foden came off of the bench early to claim the MotM.

No real surprises in our lineup. But some big surprises from the Liverpool camp! Not only has VVD missed out due to injury, but Liverpool have had an injury crisis at GK. Of all 3 of their first team squad GKs, only 35yo Adrian is available. But Klopp has chosen to give youth a shot and chosen 18yo Harvey Davies between the sticks. ...if we weren't favourites before, we have to be now!

That was one hell of a pre-season, but our main rivals are up next in a match I'd absolutely love to win. Haaland is available, but he's lacking match sharpness. What better way to gain some by starting him!?

Akanji has immediately become my least favourite player after injuring Haaland with an act of violent conduct 5 minutes in to our intra-squad "friendly". Haaland still managed to get on the scoresheet beforehand. He should just about make it back for the start of the season, we'll see.

We have a ludicrous squad. This is my first & second XI: