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Old 07-20-2014, 10:42 PM   #494
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada




The stats shown above take into account all competitions with our senior team and include everyone who played at least one game for the big club this past season.

GK

-- Our goalkeeper transition continues, as Manuel Perez started about a third of our games last year after getting into about a quarter of our games the year before. He’s still struggling to learn the English language but his play on the pitch has been superlative. Perez is notably our first player with a “Worldwide” reputation. Ingo Wilke continues to perform well beyond his "skill level" and was sensational again in 2023-24. Our all-time leader in games played will start seeing less playing time next year as we will work to split the playing time at the very least between our two top keepers. Mathis Imbert got into a couple of games this year but is unquestionably transfer fodder, as we’re in good hands with Wilke and Perez.

D

-- Our main starters all returned for a third consecutive year and that familiarity is a big reason why we played so tightly at the back this season. On the outside, Salim Loucif doesn’t wow you with the offence but his leadership was superb in his first year as our captain and he’s a tireless defender. On the other side, Renato Gaucho continues to improve both his offence and defence and he even pitched in with a couple of goals this year. Rafinha is a 20 year old Wonderkid who will continue to see ample playing time at both fullback positions and even some at left midfield. He’s a very versatile player and I imagine he’ll be a transfer target for many big clubs. Youngsters Carlos Guzman and Steve Reed are average depth players but both played well when called upon.

-- Our central defence didn’t miss a beat this year and despite a couple of injury concerns, Rayane Hamon had his finest season yet for our club, scoring six times and playing great defence. It’s amazing that Claudio Contreras is only 21 years old, as it seems he’s been here forever but he continues to improve at a great clip and scored 7 times himself in addition to providing a towering presence on the backend. His speed is now above average for the position and at 6’ 6” tall, he’s quite the imposing presence. We added the very impressive Saber Nasri in the July transfer window and he lived up to his advance billing, with five goals and four assists in 29 starts (38 total games) - he’s got fantastic speed and fits beautifully with Hamon and Contreras to give us three very high quality central defenders. Young Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, is being carefully nurtured and his production was absolutely phenomenal this year, albeit against weaker opposition. Still, five goals in only 13 appearances at DC is truly incredible and he will get more opportunities next year. Adam Betts is an unheralded U18 prospect who played well for the youth team and got a senior team start at the end of the season when we had already clinched the Premier League title. I will consider offering him a contract extension but he is a luxury, at best.

M

-- After a down year in 2022-23, Arsene Bamba exploded this season, scoring 14 times and adding 19 assists from his left midfield position. He’s a beast cutting in from the left side and he was unquestionably our most influential midfielder all year. On the other side, we got another disappointing season from supposed starter Gianluca Bolis, as he only scored 4 times all year, adding 9 assists. His playing time was scaled way back due to solid and productive play from Graham Allan. Allan wasn’t quite as productive as the year before but still outproduced his counterpart with six goals and nine assists. Our board stepped in and sold backup left midfielder Helder Cruz in January and young Felix Hernandez was given playing time in a few senior team games and was very impressive. We’ll keep an eye out on him! Lyubomir Kunchev continues to play well when called upon.

-- Neil Cairney was never going to live up to the ridiculous numbers he put up in 2022-23 but he was still excellent for us this year and was awarded as the Players’ Young Player of the Year in the Premier League, a nice honour. One of our big offseason signings was Brazilian midfielder Jose and he took the starting midfielder role opposite Cairney and was a playmaker extraordinaire, racking up 26 assists and a couple of goals as well. I’m guessing he’ll be a target this offseason by some of the bigger clubs. What can I say about Andrea Rocca? The veteran has been with us for a long time and even after giving up a starting role in midfield, he played very well all year and actually got stronger as the year went on, ending up with 28 starts, four goals and 13 helpers - simply superb production! He’s always outperformed his ratings and he’ll continue to play an important role for us next year. We once again took Inter midfielder Gian Marco Fanfoni on loan for the season but after breaking his leg late in 2022/23, he took a long time to regain his form this year. He was outplayed by our own Emmerson Harvey and saw a big decline in production. Fanfoni is back in Italy and I didn’t exercise his buy-out clause, although I will give strong consideration to bringing him back again on loan next year. Harvey continues to develop nicely for us and scored a couple of big goals this year as well - he’ll get more opportunities to shine next season. Rafael Ramirez was a spare part and a Reserve team constant until we loaned him out in January to Dynamo Kiev, where he played quite well.

S

-- We broke the bank in July, finally buying Paul Moses from Manchester United for £19 million after having him here two seasons in a row on loan. We saw great flashes from Moses in those two years with our club but no one could have expected him to produce quite like he did upon becoming a full-time starter. 47 starts (50 total games), 59 goals and 13 assists. 16 Man of Match awards. Multiple records broken - Moses was the most electrifying player in the world of football in 2023-24, was given English Footballer of the Year and will likely be a main contender for World honours at the end of 2024. He’s been able to stay healthy so far and if that continues, I am guessing he will become a legend of the game and perhaps one of the greatest English born players of all time. There is nothing he doesn’t do well and HE’S ONLY 20 YEARS OLD! He’s unquestionably our superstar player and we’ll do everything we can to hold onto him for as long as possible. Chiquinho hit a horrendous slump in the last two months of the season and despite that, he still produced decent numbers close to last year. 23 goals and 12 assists and his average rating was within a decimal point of last year’s total. When he struggled, we got great performances from Zoltan Bardi, perhaps our most unheralded player. Bardi got hot at the end of the year, right when we needed it and he ended with a very respectable 12 goals and 7 assists in only 16 starts. Shanon Andrea has unquestionably lost a step or two and was a non-factor after January, having trouble even scoring for the reserves. We got one spectacular Champions League game from Andy Broomes, where he scored a hat trick in 30 minutes but only contributed one other goal all year. He didn’t get a lot of opportunities but the 21 year old owns blazing speed and is well suited to being a fine backup player. Norberto Vazquez has some potential but it will likely be realized with another team, as he’ll face long odds to ever break onto our roster.

RESERVE TEAM PLAYERS

-- With squad rotation a constant this year due to fixture congestion, all of our reserve team players at least got into a game for our senior team, hence they are mentioned above.

LOAN PLAYERS

-- We had seven players out on loan for the season. DR Hans Briers was sent to Coventry in the Championship, where they finished dead last. Briers was terrible in his 19 starts and won’t amount to anything here. Someone who may pan out here is Rwanda international Mwemere Mutesa, who spent a fine year with AS Saint-Etienne in France, where he started 33 league games (1 goal) and 8 Champions League games (1 goal and 1 assist). He was one of their best performers and will be given a long look with us next year. AMR Marcel Quade spent the year with Savona in Italian Serie B, a mid table club there. He was okay (2 goals in 15 starts) but won’t amount to anything with our club. Shaun Spall got into a spat with me about playing time and I loaned him out to Norwich for the year. They were obviously relegated from the Premier League and Spall was a constant in their lineup, scoring four goals and adding 5 assists. He was good for them but won’t play another game for our club - Norwich have the ability to buy him out and I hope they follow through with that. We already mentioned Rafael Ramirez, who spent half the season on loan with Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine. He was quite good for them, scoring twice and adding four assists in 11 starts. He’s got some intriguing potential. Striker Giorgos Gesios has been loaned out two years in a row and still has a year left on his contract with us. He played with Hoffenheim in Germany this year, helping them finish in third place. He’s constantly injured and only started 12 games, scoring six times. I’ll be trying to sell him again in July. Finally, there is striker Orlando Scolari, who spent the year with Girondins Bordeaux in France, leading the club with 22 goals in 35 starts. Scolari is only 22 years old and has intriguing size and speed - I may give him a look next year but we’ll see.

U18 PLAYERS

-- Norberto Vazquez played only one senior game but was our leading scorer for the U18s, notching 33 goals in 24 non-competitive starts. He’s currently a 1.0/3.0 prospect. Felix Hernandez got three senior team games, notching an impressive three points and he was simply superb for the U18s as well, with 10 goals and 25 assists in 34 non-competitive starts. Hernandez is a 1.0/3.5 prospect. We have a few other okay prospects but nothing really worth noting.

Last edited by NoSkillz : 07-20-2014 at 10:58 PM.
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