lukegraham1991

GAME DAY 36 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS LIVERPOOL Somewhat of a beating in this one, which was expected given the stakes and our recent form - plus the negative of the game being played at Anfield. Up next we have a huge one with Brentford at Wembley in the semi-final of the FA Cup. After that the league run in looks like this: Aston Villa (A) Arsenal (H) Man Utd (H) Bournemouth (A) Tottenham (H) West Ham (A) Not the easiest run in and we still aren't top half of the league. Notable poor performances: Rafael Santos Borre: 6.1, Alex Iwobi: 6.2, Vitaliy Mykolenko: 6.2, Dwight McNeil: 6.3, Josip Sutalo: 6.4 & Idrissa Gueye: 6.4. Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 7.5 & Jordan Pickford: 7.0.

GAME DAY 35 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS SOUTHAMPTON There we have it! Our first win after 5 games without getting all 3 points in the Premier League. A solid all around team performance against a team struggling against relegation but we can only beat what's put in front of us and clean sheets will only help things. We face Liverpool next who are currently 4 points behind league leaders Man City. We've already caused them an upset in the FA Cup but this one is at Anfield in the league which I know will be a difficult ask to come away with anything. League update below after 31 league games have been played by ourselves. The next one will be the final league update when it comes - hopefully we can claw our way back into the top half come the end of the season! Notable poor performances: Neal Maupay: 6.4. Standout performances: Josip Sutalo: 8.3 & Alex Iwobi: 8.3.

GAME DAY 34 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS BRENTFORD After drawing this one, this now makes it 5 games without a win in the Premier League. 4 draws and 1 loss - which could be a lot worse, but is still worrying that we can't either hold onto a lead, or put the opposition to bed by scoring more goals when we're on top. Notable poor performances: Rafael Santos Borre: 6.5. Standout performances: Nathan Patterson: 7.3 & Dwight McNeil: 7.1.

GAME DAY 33 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS CRYSTAL PALACE This performance has got to be one of the worst of the season, very little shots on goal, even less of those shots actually hit the target with an xG or 0.29. Every highlight seemed to be Palace absolutely dominating possession and creating chances. Deserved loss in this one unfortunately. Notable poor performances: Ben Godfrey: 6.2, Jarrad Branthwaite: 6.2, Dwight McNeil: 6.2, Idrissa Gueye: 6.3, Nathan Patterson: 6.4 & Rafael Santos Borre: 6.4. Standout performances: James Tarkowski: 7.0.

GAME DAY 32 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS FULHAM A really questionable performance in this one, sharing the spoils with a 19th placed Fulham fighting for their lives who haven't won since late December. We were lucky to come away with a draw in the end with a late goal from Branthwaite. Notable poor performances: Moussa Wague: 6.3, Josip Sutalo: 6.3, Jordan Pickford: 6.4, Vitaliy Mykolenko: 6.4, Rafael Santos Borre: 6.4 & Neal Maupay: 6.4. Standout performances: Jarrad Branthwaite: 8.5.

FA CUP SEMI-FINAL DRAW We get a Wembley tie against Brentford for the semi-final draw of the FA Cup. This could be a huge chance for us to reach a cup final in our first season in charge!

GAME DAY 31 - FA CUP - AWAY VS MIDDLESBROUGH We had a kind draw for the FA Cup Quarter Final after knocking Liverpool out in the last round. I made a few changes to our starting lineup to give some lads some minutes against lower league opposition in a big game but not too many as I want to win this to advance to the semi's. We started well, with an early goal. But shortly after that, our goal scorer and in form striker Calvert-Lewin had to come off due to an injury which has now been confirmed as shin splints with a 4 week lay off. We went 2-1 down through youngster Cameron Archer scoring a brace - the second coming early in extra time - but substitute and still the top scorer for the club this season Santos Borre equalised in the 105th minute. We kept banging the drum for the winner but extra time ended all level, so we went on to another penalty shoot out - JAMES GARNER SCORING THE WINNING PENALTY AGAIN!!! WE ADVANCE TO THE SEMI-FINAL OF THE FA CUP! Notable poor performances: Tom Davies: 6.3 & Dwight McNeil: 6.3. Standout performances: Rafael Santos Borre: 7.8, Nathan Patterson: 7.7, James Garner: 7.5 & Jordan Pickford: 7.5.

GAME DAY 30 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS LEEDS UNITED Another game where a red card spoils what should have been a nailed on win. We even scored a second goal without a reply but being down to 10 men for more than two thirds of the game was too much to ask unfortunately, with Gnonto scoring in the last minute of injury time. Notable poor performances: Nicolas Dominguez: 6.3. Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.6.

GAME DAY 29 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS Back to Premier League action with this home tie against Wolves. Taking a lead before the half after Ashley Young did very well to beat his man and deliver a ball to Santos Borre in a position that made it very difficult to miss. Really poor defending shortly after gave Ruben Neves of all people a free shot on goal completely unchallenged to score (shockingly) his first goal of the season to equalise. Despite our best effort to go more attacking, bringing a second striker on late in the game, a Neal Maupay goal got chalked off for offside and when that happened I think I knew we would only be taking a point maximum from this one. Notable poor performances: Nathan Patterson: 6.4. Standout performances: Ashley Young: 8.2.

GAME DAY 28 - FA CUP - HOME VS LIVERPOOL Huge tie for us in the 5th round of the FA Cup in a derby game against Liverpool. Going one nil down early I thought we would be in for a long and rough day at the office but Calvert-Lewin immediately responded with a goal of his own. Ben Godfrey then nodding in from a freekick perked us up somewhat going into the half time break with the narrow lead. Only got Jota to score with just over 20 minutes remaining of the game, and after that we were keeping the opposition at bay until the final whistle. Both teams had chances cleared off the line late on, Moukoko HAD to score his after rounding the keeper but a timid effort with no pace or power was cleared - a header from Nunez late on was cleared off our own line late on. Penalty shoot out began and with our top scorer Santos Borre missing the opener, I couldn't have expected to win given our penalty taking ratings vs Liverpool's but we pulled it off with James Garner slotting home the winner!!!!! Notable poor performances: Youssoufa Moukoko: 6.3. Standout performances: Ben Godrey: 8.1, Demarai Gray: 7.9 & Jordan Pickford: 7.7.

GAME DAY 27 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS NOTTINGHAM FOREST We signed off February with a comfortable win and a clean sheet against relegation strugglers Nottingham Forest. Dominic Calvert-Lewin doing his best to give me a headache now that Santos-Borre is back in the fold after his ban netting a brace to keep fellow striker on the bench. I've also added the current league table after 25 games - another win with our game in hand puts us back to 10th place which is a minimum aim for me this season. Notable poor performances: Idrissa Gueye: 6.5. Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 8.4.

GAME DAY 26 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS BRIGHTON After losing the last two games to top opponents to 2-0 scorelines in each, I was hoping to travel to Brighton with somewhat of a point to prove. As usual we defended well, but again couldn't score - seems to be the story of our season - no consistency in attack. This result makes it 3 games without scoring again which is becoming a problem now for us and our aims to even make a top half finish. Notable poor performances: Alex Iwobi: 6.4 & Rafael Santos Borre: 6.4. Standout performances: Jordan Pickford: 7.3, Demarai Gray: 7.1, Josip Sutalo: 7.1 & Ben Godfrey: 7.0.

GAME DAY 25 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS CHELSEA Another really poor performance against Chelsea who are working hard to get themselves back into european places at the moment. Probably should have ended 1-0 but a defensive error late on gifted them a second. Notable poor performances: Dwight McNeil: 6.2, Nathan Patterson: 6.3, Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 6.3, Jordan Pickford: 6.4 & Josip Sutalo: 6.4. Standout performances: Alex Iwobi: 7.0.

GAME DAY 24 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS MANCHESTER CITY Not much to say on this one unfortunately, if you play poorly against a team like Man City, you lose! Kept things tight in the first half but couldn't kick on from there to push for the points. Notable poor performances: Mason Holgate: 6.3, Josip Sutalo: 6.4, Idrissa Gueye: 6.4 & Demarai Gray: 6.4. Standout performances: N/A

LEAGUE TABLE - 21 GAMES PLAYED Just a quick update on the league table after we've now played 21 games of the season.

GAME DAY 23 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS NEWCASTLE UNITED Brilliant home win vs 5th placed Newcastle United in this one. Calvert-Lewin continuing to impress and as you can see below, a solid all around team performance! Hoping the Wague injury is short term as Patterson is already out at the moment but we can always pop Mason Holgate in at RB if we need to. Notable poor performances: Dwight McNeil: 6.3. Standout performances: Demarai Gray: 7.9, Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 7.8 & Josip Sutalo: 7.6.

TRANSFER - ASHLEY YOUNG I saw that Ashley Young was available on a free transfer. His 80k wage put me off initially but I made the offer to see what his demands were and he went from his 80k per week deal at Villa to sign for us on 25k on a short term deal. Vast amounts of experience and professionalism - a number of positions he can play - this was a no brainer for me given a lot of injury issues we've had throughout the season so far.

GAME DAY 22 - FA CUP - AWAY VS BURNLEY This result was exactly what we needed given recent circumstances. Changes were rang in as we made 11 changes to the starting 11 to give people some game time in a game we were probably expected to win, but if we went out of this cup it wouldn't have been the end of the world right now. Calvert-Lewin & Maupay both chipping in with the goals in Santos-Borre's absence through the first of his 3 game ban. We gave debuts to Rune Jarstein & Josip Sutalo as well as getting Andros Townsend into the starting lineup for the first time this season due to a long term injury. Notable poor performances: Ruben Vinagre: 6.5. Standout performances: Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 9.0 & Mason Holgate: 8.3.

TRANSFER - JOSIP SUTALO Nearing the end of the January transfer window there was an opportunity to put our hand in the ring for Sutalo & it was an option I couldn't let slip through our fingers. Most of the transfer fee will be paid over installments which helps us out while we continue to get our finances sorted as a club but this signing will be the first spark to force ourselves up the league table in the coming years. We had to include a buy out clause from any champions league clubs but I'm hoping to be in europe ourselves in the coming seasons so will hopefully be able to offer the player a new deal and get rid of this before it becomes a problem. Worst case scenario though, we more than double our investment.

GAME DAY 21 - PREMIER LEAGUE - AWAY VS LEICESTER CITY Really poor performance in this one, even before the red card we weren't doing much but once that happened, we had no chance. Santos Borre is our main goal threat but is also somewhat of a liability when things aren't going our way (and sometimes when they are!) as he's prone to getting sent off - this being his second red card of the season & now we're without our top scorer for 3 games meaning Calvert-Lewin or Neal Maupay need to be relied on to lead the front line. Notable poor performances: Rafael Santos Borre: 6.3 & James Tarkowski: 6.3. Standout performances: Jordan Pickford: 7.3 & Amadou Onana: 7.1.

GAME DAY 20 - FA CUP - AWAY VS SOUTHAMPTON A tough game here where we were taken deep into extra time at St Mary's Stadium but for a late Neal Maupay dart across the box to finish neatly and secure the win in the 119th minute for us to advance to the 4th round of the FA Cup where we already know we will take on Burnley in a few games time. A solid overall performance by the boys here though which was rewarded with that late goal from Maupay who came off the bench specifically for extra time. Notable poor performances: Idrissa Gueye: 6.4 & Demarai Gray: 6.4. Standout performances: Neal Maupay: 7.6, Nathan Patterson: 7.6, Jordan Pickford: 7.4 & Alex Iwobi: 7.4.

GAME DAY 19 - PREMIER LEAGUE - HOME VS BRIGHTON A home tie against Brighton next as we look to get 3 points under our belts. Nice to see a different goal scorer on the sheet for once with Demarai Gray scoring a direct freekick to win the game!! Notable poor performances: Alex Iwobi: 6.4. Standout performances: Demarai Gray: 8.0

RETIREMENT FOR GARETH BALE This was always the plan, we knew he was only a short term signing and despite looking for him to reconsider, the Welsh legend has now retired. He only made 9 substitute appearances and chipped in with one goal during his time with the toffees. This will now free up around 40-50k in wages and someone who didn't feature very much is off the books.

TRANSFER OUT - TERRACCIANO Another one of the youngsters we have on the books from recently signing - we've loaned out to get more first team football. Once again, we signed this lad for 1.8M this month and hope to improve the player to come back and fight for the RB position or we get his value up at least and make some money off his talents.

GAME DAY 18 - FA CUP - HOME VS SOUTHAMPTON Today we took on Southampton in the third round of the FA Cup. We could have hoped for a better draw early in this cup competition again, similar to the Carabao Cup - however, if we want to win a trophy then we need to beat these types of teams and better regardless. Only scoring from a penalty was disappointing - once again, Santos Borre stepping up to slot one home. But that wasn't enough as we had to deal with an onslaught of crosses from Southampton late in the game and that paid off for them with Caleta-Car nodding home late on. Notable poor performances: Jarrad Branthwaite: 6.5 & Mason Holgate: 6.5. Standout performances: Rafael Santos Borre: 7.1 & Alex Iwobi: 7.1.