FM2005: Liverpool 04/05

[MikeVick7]

Well, here I am again. I'm going to attempt to do another Football Manager dynasty. This is a weird time of the year for me. Usually at this time I am engrossed in NCAA 2006, but for some reason this year I just can't get into it like I have for the past nine years. Not to say that it's a bad game, although my favorite part of it, online play, appears to be a bit too arcadish this year, and playing the games myself just doesn't seem too appealing to me at the moment. Maybe once the college football season starts I will catch the fever, but until that moment, I'm going to dive back into the other other football.

When trying to come up with a team, I weighed all the possibilities. Starting in the Premiership, taking a conference team up through the ranks, maybe even going over to Spain or Italy. But after taking a few days to come up with something, nothing was catching my fancy. So being that I don't have a favorite team, I decided to play a dynasty with a guy that has quickly become my favorite player, Steven Gerrard.

So off to Liverpool it is. No earning my respect as a young upstart in League Two, just trying to keep Liverpool as one of the top teams in England. And who knows, maybe I'll able to mirror their success in the Champions League this season.

Here's my last attempt at a dynasty here at FOFC. It was with the Blackpool Seasiders. So while you're waiting for this to get off the ground, you can enjoy those fabulous memories.

[MikeVick7]

August 2004

So let's get up to speed with the current state of the club:

We've just completed the pre-season friendlies. We started off in the Czech Republic against Slavia Prague and then had a four game tour against some clubs in Denmark. We finally capped things off back in England against Championship side Sunderland. Here are the results:

Slavia Prague 1-2 L
Hostebro 3-0 W
Vejle 2-0 W
AGF 1-2 L
FC Midtjylland 1-1 D
Sunderland 2-1 W

We escaped the pre-season with no injuries, although we do have three players that had long-term injuries before I came on board.

Forward Vladimir Smicer is out for 6 months with damaged knee cartilage
Midfielder David Mannix is out for 5 months with a damaged knee cap
Winger Antonio Nunez is out for 2 months with damagd knee cartilage

What's up with our guys and their knees?

We also have several players that are out on loan:

First Team
W Anthony Le Tallec on loan at St Etienne until 1/27/05
M Bruno Cheyrou on loan at Marseille until 6/30/05
DM Salif Diao on loan at Birmingham until 6/15/04
GK Patrice Luzi on loan at Blackpool until 10/23/04

Reserve Team
F El-Hadji Diouf on loan at Bolton until 6/30/05
M Darren Potter on loan at Bouremouth until 10/23/04
DM Alou Diarra on loan at Lens until 6/30/05
FB Stephen Warnock on loan at Coventry until 10/23/04
FB Gregory Vignal on loan at Rangers until 6/30/05
CB Zak Whitbread on loan at Darlington until 10/15/04
D David Raven on loan at Cambridge until 10/23/04
D Jon Otsemobor on loan at Bristol C until 10/17/04
DB Carl Medjani on loan at Lorient until 6/30/05

So a lengthy list. All of the 3 month loans were accepted by myself since jumping on board. All of the other half year or full year loans were already in place.

Team Capsule
League Position:	20-1 odds to win league
Record:	0-0-0
Active Tournament(s):	Champions League
Wage Total:	£534,552
Wage Budget:	£775,000
Transfer Budget Available	£4,594,752
Transfer Budget:	£4,594,752
Balance:	£7,679,584

Status: Professional
Reputation: Continental
Favoured Personnel: Ian Rush, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard
Finances: Secure
Stadium: Anfield, Liverpool
Stadium Capacity: 45,362 all-seater with under-soil heating
Training Ground: Top facilities plus youth academy
Continental Competition: Champions Cup
Media Prediction: 20-1 to win the Premiership

1 August 2004
- The draw for the 3rd round of the Champions League was held today and we have drawn the Israel Premier League winner Maccabi Haifa and the first leg will be played on August 11th at Anfield.

4 August 2004
- The odds have been released from Ukbetting.com for the upcoming EPL season. Man Utd has been made the odds-on favorite at 6-4. The rest of the main contenders are Arsenal at 7-4, Chelsea 7-4, Newcastle 20-1, Liverpool 20-1 and Aston Villa 33-1.
- Reserve Teamer Lee Peltier has agreed to join Swansea of League Two on the 3-month loan. Peltier, 17-year old central defender joins the long list of current Reds on loan. He seems pumped to get some first team experience at such a young age. His loan will expire on 11/3/04.

5 August 2004
- We had to register 25 players for the 3rd round of the Champions League today. I'll get into the players on the squad in my next post.
- Grimsby of League Two have sent a loan offer for young middie Robbie Foy. We've decided to accept their offer.

7 August 2004
- Wrexham of League One also has put in a loan bid for Robbie Foy. I'm guessing Foy will chose them over Grimsby.

8 August 2004
- Arsenal and Man Utd kick off the 2004 season with the Community Shield match. Arsenal, behind two goals from the veteran Dennis Bergkamp, hold off Man Utd 3-2.

[MikeVick7]

8 August 2004
- Gainsborough from Conference North has put in a loan bid for 19-year old forward Mark Smyth. I'm a little reluctant to send any of our guys to anything below League Two. We decline the offer.

11 August 2004
- The English media is all over me on game day as a journalist from The People has approached me with the question: "Today sees your first competitive game as your Liverpool team take on M. Haifa. The fans haven't given you the best of receptions so far and are doubting your ability to manage the club. Are you feeling the pressure?" I, wanting to give my club a confidence boost, answer with I have total confidene in my ability to cope with the job.
- We get another loan offer today for Mark Smyth from another conference club, Vauxhall Motors. Again, we have to say no.

Ok, it's time to get the season underway. Before we go out to Anfield, here's a brief look at my club. Because I don't have the patience, nor the complete knowledge to fully comment on all my players yet, I'll just give a brief comment on each player.

Starting Lineup:
F Milan Baros - Baros is one of three players that could start for us up front. He plays with great flair and is equally as great off the ball. Great ball skills as well.
F Fernando Morientes - With the latest patch from SI, we get the advantage of having Fernando for the whole year. Fernando is not a big guy but has superb heading skills and gives us instant presence in the air.

ML Harry Kewell - This Australian will lineup across the field from Garcia on the left side and has the wheels to be an effective winger for us.
MR Luis Garcia - Garcia is not a winger by trade, but has good winger skills, so he will be out there until we can find a true winger for the right side.
M Xabi Alonso - I'm excited about this 22 year old. Probably the 2nd most valuable player on the team behind midfield-mate Gerrard. Just great skills all-around and can relieve Gerrard of some of his defensive duties.
M Steven Gerrard - The Captain. In real life this guy had a rocky off-season but has decided to stay with the Reds. I'm just pumped to have his services for this dynasty.

DL John Arne Riise - About the only decent fullback that we have. That's one area that I want to address along with another winger. This Norweigan will hopefully hold down his spot on the back for a long time.
DR Mauricio Pellegrino - One of the few veterans on this team, well at least in the starting lineup. The 32 year old is listed at DC according to the suggestion from my Asst Man, but I'm gonna put him at on the right side as I want Carragher to lineup in the middle with Hyypia.
DC Jamie Carragher - This guy really came alive for Liverpool in real life this year. Unfortunately, he is not as much of a stud as he became in real life, but he is still very solid in defense for us.
DC Sami Hyypia - Sami is the rock in defense for us. He's getting a little long in the tooth at 31, but he's a presence that is sorely needed.

GK Chris Kirkland - Kirkland is interchangeable with veteran Jerzy Dudek. But Kirkland is the future for us at goal at the young age of 23. We're going to stick him in back to get some needed tournament experience. Kirkland is very athletic with great handling and rushing out skills.

Notable Subs:
GK Jerzy Dudek - Our veteran at keeper. Will see a lot of playing time this year and is still fairly young by keeper standards.
F Djibirl Cisse - This is the 3rd forward for us that is easily interchangeable with the two that are starting today. His athletic ability is up there with the best on the team. Fastest player on the team too.
DM Dietmar Hamann - A veteran player that could start for us as well if he wasn't behind Alonso and Gerrard. The German will see a fair share of time this year anyway.
F Florent Sinama-Pongolle - This is a player that, due to my experience in playing this game, evolves into a very solid striker. At just 19, I'm going to do my best to keep this guy in Liverpool for a long time.

Champions League Round 3
Preview
Well these guys are no slouches. Now, I don't think they have the talent to compete with us, but we're just not gonna walk in and own the place. I'm a little comforted with playing my first game at home. Nothing worse then going on foreign soil and getting beat by so unknown squad right off the bat. I'm keeping things pretty conservative in this one going with a standard 4-4-2.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Baros / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Gerrard / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Carragher / Hyypia / Pellegrino
Keeper -	Kirkland
Final Score:	Liverpool	3	-	1	Maccabi Haifa
1st Half Notes
Man, I forgot how cool this 2D gameplay feature was…haha. Anyway, I was fairly happy with the 1st half. Fernando Morientes' air skills dominated things as he scored 27 minutes into it after Harry Kewell crossed one in from the left side and Morientes headed it in on his debut. The one negative of the 1st half was that Gerrard went down with an injury at the 38 minute mark. He was replaced by Hamann. Details of the injury after the match. 1-0 at the half.
2nd Half Notes
The 2nd half was a tale of two cities as it was the subs who gave us a 2-0 lead with Hamann feeding Djibril Cisse with a pass and Cisse scored his first goal of the year. Then we gave up a late goal at the 86 minute mark as a defensive breakdown allowed Yossi Uzan to score to cut the lead to 2-1. I was a little worried at that point since this was our home half of the home and home. But we snuck one in late as Luis Garcia froze the right wingback just outside the box and then went one on one with the keeper and scored at the in extra time to give us a two goal cushion after the first leg.
Goals -	Fernando Morientes 27, Djibril Cisse 66, Yossi Uzan 86, Luis Garcia 90
Man of the Match -	Harry Kewell
Conditions -	71 degrees
Venue -	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	39275

+ Physio Report +

We get lucky as Gerrard is only out for a week with a strained wrist. :::Wiping off our collective brows:::

12 August 2004
- Another conference team, Ashton United, have offered a loan to Mark Smyth. Hmm, maybe Smyth is conference team material? We'll accept the offer and see if he wants to go.

15 August 2004
- This Smyth guy is a hot commodity in the English Conference world. Now Redditch of Conference North have put in a loan bid.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Here we go, our first league match of the season and it's against our rivals, Everton. Everton was destined for relegation at the beginning of the season in real life but had an unreal season and finished 4th in the Premiership. We're listed as the favorites in this one, but w/o a healthy Gerrard our chances look a little dimmer. While the SI patch helped us as far as Morientes goes, it also hurt Everton as their midfielder Thomas Graveson is already out in Spain playing for Real Madrid. We're going to attack early and then adjust if we give up too many chances. Jerzy Dudek will be called on in goal for his experience and Dietmar Hamann will take Steven Gerrard's place in the starting 11.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Baros / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Hamann / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Carragher / Hyypia / Pellegrino
Keeper -	Dudek
Final Score:	Everton	0	-	0	Liverpool
1st Half Notes
It was a stalemate in the first half with both teams getting an equal number of chances. I chose an attacking style and it somewhat paid off as we controlled possession, but we couldn't put one past the veteran Nigel Martyn.
2nd Half Notes
The 2nd half played out much like the 1st did. Both teams with a few decent chances but neither side could get one in. I finally conceded to going to a counter attacking style in the last 15 minutes but that could only muster one decent chance by Cisse. I guess w/o Gerrard and being that Everton are our cross-town rivals, I'll take a 0-0 draw.
Goals -	None
Man of the Match -	Xabi Alonso
Conditions -	Dry 71
Venue -	Goodison Park, Liverpool
Attendance -	40247

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Chelsea	1	1	0	0	4	0	4	3
2		Arsenal	1	1	0	0	4	1	3	3
3		Blackburn	1	1	0	0	3	0	3	3
4		Man Utd	1	1	0	0	2	0	2	3
5		Portsmouth	1	1	0	0	2	0	2	3
6		Norwich	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	3
7		Birmingham	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
8		Man City	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
9		Southampton	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
10		West Brom	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
11		Everton	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
12		Liverpool	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
13		Middlesbrough	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
14		Tottenham	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
15		Charlton	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1	0
16		Crystal Palace	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2	0
17		Newcastle	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2	0
18		Bolton	1	0	0	1	1	4	-3	0
19		Fulham	1	0	0	1	0	3	-3	0
20		Aston Villa	1	0	0	1	0	4	-4	0

[MikeVick7]

17 August 2004
- Forward Mark Smyth has accepted the loan offer from Redditch. He'll now be sent off for a 3 month time frame.

18 August 2004
- Wycombe have made an offer for reserve team keeper Paul Harrison. Man, I think our entire reserve team could be loaned out if we wanted to. We accept their offer.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
We're just two games into the season and we are trying to piece together a lineup already. Steven Gerrard could be used as a sub today and depending on the score in the 2nd half, will probably see the field. We are also without Sami Hyypia, who is playing for Finland in a World Cup qualifier, and Riise is banged up as well. He is also available as a sub if needed. The back line is definitely pieced together as Josemi and Pellegrino start at fullback and Carragher and Biscan team up at centre back. Portsmouth come into this game 1-0-0 after their opening win over Crystal Palace.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Baros / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Hamann / Garcia
Defense -	Pellegrino / Carragher / Biscan / Josemi
Keeper -	Dudek
Final Score:	Liverpool	0	-	1	Portsmouth
1st Half Notes
We controlled the first half, but still couldn't put one in the net. Both Cisse and Baros had great chances that were pushed aside by Ashdown. The negative in the half was seeing Morientes going down with an injury. Update after the game. 0-0 at the half.
2nd Half Notes
Oh boy. I think I've lost my edge as a soccer tactician. We were victimized by a Lomana LuaLua header off of a corner in the 65th minute and yet again failed to score a goal as we lose a home game to an inferior squad.
Goals -	Lomana LuaLua 65
Man of the Match -	Jamie Ashdown
Conditions -	Dry 46
Venue -	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	40428

+ Physio Report +

Fernando Morientes will be lost for two weeks with a twisted ankle.

- In Sami Hyypia's qualifier, he impressed as Finland beat Romania 1-0.

21 August 2004

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Back on the road tonight as we take on Southampton. Our starting 11 looks more like a starting 11 as we get Hyypia back, along with Riise and Gerrard. With Morientes injured and Baros ineffective in his first three matches we're going to insert the speedy Sinama-Pongolle in the lineup along with Djibril Cisse. The Portsmouth manager mouthed off after our match on Wednesday and a few of the boys took exception to it. So we might see an inspired club tonight. Counter attacking is the look we're going after in this one.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Sinama-Pongolle / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Pellegrino
Keeper -	Kirkland
Final Score:	Southampton	2	-	2	Liverpool
1st Half Notes
We came out like gangbusters in the first half. The speedy youngster Sinama-Pongolle scored off a feed from Cisse in the 14th minute and then Cisse got his 2nd goal of the season just five minutes later to make it 2-0. We gave up some possession in this one with the counter-attack but are holding our own defensively.
2nd Half Notes
Classic 2nd half meltdown. We give up a goal just 9 minutes in and then experience the back-breaking penalty shot by Peter Crouch that tied it up with 7 minutes to go. I think we just allowed too many chances and allowed Southampton too much possession in their half. Still looking for that first league win.
Goals -	Florent Sinama-Pongolle 14, Djibril Cisse 19, Marian Pahars 59, Peter Crouch pen83
Man of the Match -	Harry Kewell
Conditions -	Dry 48F
Venue -	St Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Attendance -	32186

22 August 2004

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Man Utd	3	3	0	0	7	1	6	9
2		Arsenal	3	3	0	0	7	2	5	9
3		Norwich	3	3	0	0	4	0	4	9
4		Man City	3	2	1	0	7	2	5	7
5		Chelsea	3	2	0	1	6	2	4	6
6		Portsmouth	3	2	0	1	3	2	1	6
7		Birmingham	2	1	1	0	5	3	2	4
8		Middlesbrough	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
9		Blackburn	2	1	0	1	3	1	2	3
10		Charlton	2	1	0	1	2	1	1	3
11		Southampton	3	0	3	0	5	5	0	3
12		Newcastle	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3
13		West Brom	3	0	2	1	3	4	-1	2
14		Liverpool	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1	2
15		Tottenham	2	0	1	1	1	3	-2	1
16		Everton	3	0	1	2	0	3	-3	1
17		Fulham	2	0	1	1	1	4	-3	1
18		Crystal Palace	3	0	1	2	1	7	-6	1
19		Bolton	3	0	0	3	1	8	-7	0
20		Aston Villa	3	0	0	3	1	8	-7	0

[MikeVick7]

23 August 2004
- Sami Hyypia and Harry Kewell were selected to the English Permier Team of the Week.
- Reserve keeper Paul Harrison has agreed to join Wycombe on a 3 month loan.

24 August 2004
- The transfer deadline is in one week. We only have £4.5 million pounds to do something with, so I'm not sure if we could find a defender that would make a huge impact. Maybe we could find some well needed depth however.
- After combing the transfer list for a possible addition at right back we put an inquiry to Chelsea for 20 year old Glen Johnson. And we also leaked out to the press our interest in Inter fullback Willy Sagnol.

25 August 2004
- Both inquires were pretty much swept aside by both clubs. Ok, so neither guy was transfer listed. It was worth a shot. Plus, no reason to panic just three games into the season.

Champions League Round 3
Preview
2nd leg of the Champions League is tonight as we head out to Haifa, Israel of all places. We won the first game at Anfield 3-1, so far our only win of the year, and now with our moral a bit down, we'll need to scrap for a win. Even though a draw would advance us through, we need a pick me up now! Baros is back in the lineup up front next to Cisse and Alonso will get a rest on the bench unless needed in the 2nd half. Dudek back in goal.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Hamann / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Dudek
Final Score:	M. Haifa	1	-	1	Liverpool
1st Half Notes
M. Haifa is dedicated to being a pesky team. We get an early penalty kick for a score by Luis Garcia. But then Haifa strikes back to even it up before half at 1-1. So much for Alonso getting the game off as Harry Kewell had to leave the game due to an injury 2 minutes before half.
2nd Half Notes
So what did I talk about before the match as an outcome we couldn't have? A draw. And that's what we played to tonight. No one scored in the 2nd half in what turned out to be another downer for us. We did outshoot them 7-5 on the night. And we do advance to the group stage with the 4-2 advantage on aggregate.
Goals -	Luis Garcia pen6, Roberto Colautti 25
Man of the Match -	Goncalves
Conditions -	Dry 64F
Venue -	Kiryat Eliezer, Haifa
Attendance -	13922

+ Physio Report +

John Arne Riise - bruised shin (5 days)
Dietmar Hamann - twisted anke (2 weeks)

- And as stated in the game notes, we did advance to the group stage in the Champions League. We'll be in Group G and be paired with Paris, Valencia nd GAK. Group matches will start on 9/15/04.
- We were also given £2.7 mill pounds for our advancement to said group stage.

28 August 2004

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
I've never liked going up against Blackburn. They always play the role of a pesky team that always seems to beat you at the wrong time. Like in the late stages of a FA Cup or Carling Cup tournament. Just sneaky. And now I don't like the prospects of facing them when we're off to just a terrible start. Right now, we're just looking to play the guys with the highest moral. How sad is that?
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Sinama-Pongolle / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Pellegrino / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Dudek
Final Score:	Blackburn	0	-	3	Liverpool
1st Half Notes
We were surprisingly effective in the 1st half. We managed 4 shots on goal and actually got one to go on a counter attack by Sinama-Pongolle. Blackburn had 3 shots on goal themselves but none of which were to effective.
2nd Half Notes
We finally hit on all cylinders in this one. Milan Baros came off the bench at the 60 minute mark and scored two goals within 5 minutes of one another to ice our first league victory of the season. Both teams had 7 shots on goal but our defense was solid in getting the win.
Goals -	Florent Sinama-Pongolle 3, Milan Baros 82, 87
Man of the Match -	Sami Hyypia
Conditions -	Dry 46F
Venue -	Ewood Park, Blackburn
Attendance -	31339

After the match, Liverpool chairman David Moores could finally celebrate as he gave props to the squad for the win.

29 August 2004

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	5	5	0	0	14	5	9	15
2		Norwich	5	3	1	1	4	3	1	10
3		Man City	5	2	3	0	9	4	5	9
4		Newcastle	4	3	0	1	6	2	4	9
5		Man Utd	4	3	0	1	9	6	3	9
6		Chelsea	4	2	1	1	8	4	4	7
7		Middlesbrough	4	2	1	1	7	4	3	7
8		Charlton	4	2	1	1	5	3	2	7
9		Tottenham	4	2	1	1	7	6	1	7
10		Everton	5	2	1	2	4	3	1	7
11		Blackburn	4	2	0	2	4	4	0	6
12		Portsmouth	5	2	0	3	3	6	-3	6
13		Birmingham	3	1	2	0	5	3	2	5
14		Liverpool	4	1	2	1	5	3	2	5
15		Southampton	5	0	4	1	5	7	-2	4
16		Bolton	5	1	0	4	3	10	-7	3
17		West Brom	5	0	2	3	6	9	-3	2
18		Fulham	4	0	2	2	4	9	-5	2
19		Crystal Palace	4	0	1	3	1	8	-7	1
20		Aston Villa	5	0	0	5	1	11	-10	0

[MikeVick7]

30 August 2004
- Jerzy Dudek and Sami Hyypia were selected to the English Premier Team of the Week. That's two in row for Sami.


We have a home game in two days against Middlesrough and then a nice early season week and a half break before we're back in Anfield to take on Birmingham. Last night's victory over Blackburn was huge for the team morale, but I'm really not too worried since we're still building up our team cohesion. I'm am a little worried about our depth however. I'm not sure if there's time to pick up an extra player before Wednesday but now I'm thinkin we need a back-up winger instead of a wingback.

Using the handy-dandy FM Scout we find an Italian midfielder in Andrea Gasbarroni. Gasbarroni is just 23 and has some decent talent. But what we're looking for is speed and crossing ability and he has it. He plays for Sampdoria in Italy and his sale price is listed at £2.4 mill pounds.

- We get a quick reply from Sampdoria as they have agreed to the sale price. Now we have to work things out with Gasbarroni and his agent. We offer him a 3-year deal worth £13,250 per week.

31 August 2004
- Good news for the Reds as Gasbarroni has agreed to the 3-year deal. Hopefully, the fact that he doesn't speak english will not discourage him right away.
- We have four U21 players that have been called up for U21 European Championship Qualifying matches.
John Paul Kelly - Republic of Ireland
Florent Sinama-Pongolle - France
Scott Carson - England
Paul Willis - Northern Ireland
- Chelsea make yet another big transfer purchase, bringing in Spanish forward Albert Luque for £18.25 million. It seems like they buy this guy every time I start a new career.

[MikeVick7]

September 2004

Team Capsule
League Position:	14th
Record:	1-2-1
Active Tournament(s):	Group G Champions League
Wage Total:	£549,299
Wage Budget:	£775,000
Transfer Budget Available	£2,185,701
Transfer Budget:	£4,594,752
Balance:	£9,794,545

1 September 2004
- The transfer deadline has come and went. It will be re-opened on January 1st. As you see up above we have a little under half of our transfer budget left for this year.
- Confidence Update: The directors are still sure that they made the right choice in appointment me as manager.
- Ruud Van Nistelrooy was named as the Premier Player of the Month. Our Sami Hyypia came in 2nd.
- We had to register again for the group phase in the Champions League and we were able to squeeze Andreas Gasbarroni onto the roster. Andrea suffered a groin strain last week so he will not be available to us until next weekend's game.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
We've never been so glad to see our home park. Now keep in mind we've only lost one game so far this year but it's been a struggle to get the offense going. Now we have a winnable game against Middlesbrough and then a week and a half off to work out the early season kinks. I'm thinkin Baros finally got on track after his two goals in the last match.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Pellegrino / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
Final Score:	Liverpool	3	-	0	Middlesbrough
1st Half Notes
Excellent first half of ball for us. We outshot them 4-1 and we were able to get 2 of those 4 shots past Mark Schwarzer. Djibril Cisse scored his 3rd of the year to put us up 1-0. Then Steven Gerrard notched his first goal of the season as he scorched one past Schwarzer 32 mins in. The only negative is Harry Kewell had to be replaced due to injury. John Arne Riise, back from injury took his place at left wing.
2nd Half Notes
The 2nd half went about as well as the 1st. We played a little more defensively and didn't allow too many more chances for Middlesbrough. Steven Gerrard found Luis Garcia on the right side for Garcia's 3rd goal of the season to seal it for us. Now we just have to worry about Kewell's injury.
Goals -	Djibril Cisse 9, Steven Gerrard 32, Luis Garcia 83
Man of the Match -	Steven Gerrard
Conditions -	Dry 51
Venue -	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	43583

+ Physio Report +

We get lucky as Kewell will only be out for a week with a twisted knee. With our break, he will not miss any games.

3 September 2004
International Roundup:
Florent Sinama-Pongolle scored two goals for France U21's in their 2-0 win. And John Paul Kelly and Paul Willis played well for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively.

4 September 2004
International Roundup for 2006 World Cup Qualifiers
Poland - Jerzy Dudek impressed in net in a 2-0 win.
Republic of Ireland - Steve Finnan scored a goal in a 3-0 win.
Mail - Djimi Traore impressed everyone with his play in back.
England - Steven Gerrard played well in a 2-0 win over Austria.
Finland - Sami Hyypia scored a goal in a 5-1 drubbing of Andorra.
Senegal - El-Hadji Diouf had a subpar game in a 2-1 loss to The Congo.

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	5	5	0	0	14	5	9	15
2		Newcastle	5	4	0	1	8	2	6	12
3		Man Utd	5	4	0	1	10	6	4	12
4		Tottenham	5	3	1	1	8	6	2	10
5		Norwich	5	3	1	1	4	3	1	10
6		Man City	5	2	3	0	9	4	5	9
7		Birmingham	4	2	2	0	9	4	5	8
8		Liverpool	5	2	2	1	8	3	5	8
9		Chelsea	5	2	1	2	8	5	3	7
10		Everton	5	2	1	2	4	3	1	7
11		Middlesbrough	5	2	1	2	7	7	0	7
12		Charlton	5	2	1	2	5	5	0	7
13		Blackburn	5	2	0	3	4	5	-1	6
14		Portsmouth	5	2	0	3	3	6	-3	6
15		Southampton	5	0	4	1	5	7	-2	4
16		Bolton	5	1	0	4	3	10	-7	3
17		West Brom	5	0	2	3	6	9	-3	2
18		Fulham	4	0	2	2	4	9	-5	2
19		Crystal Palace	5	0	1	4	2	12	-10	1
20		Aston Villa	5	0	0	5	1	11	-10	0

[MikeVick7]

6 September 2004
- Chris Kirkland, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard were all selected to the English Premier Team of the Week.

7 September 2004
- Another loan offer has come our way as Sheff Wed of League One has offered U21 International keeper Scott Carson a 3-month loan. We accept.
- Florent Sinama-Pongolle continues to rip it up for the French U21's as he scored two more goals in their 4-0 win over Faroe Islands. Paul Willis and John Paul Kelly also saw action in their matches.

8 September 2004
International Roundup for 2006 World Cup Qualifiers
Croatia - Igor Biscan came on as a sub in their 2-1 win over Sweden.
Finland - Sami Hyypia played magnificient in a 4-0 win over Armenia.
Czech Republic - Milan Baros came off the bench and scored a goal in a win.
Republic of Ireland - Steve Finnan had an assist in a win over Switzerland.
England - Steven Gerrard created a goal in a 2-2 draw against Jerzy Dudek's Poland squad.
Spain - Xabi Alonso came on as a sub in Spain's loss to Herzegovina.

9 September 2004
- Gravesend of Conf North has offered a 3 month loan to 18 yr old defender James Smith. We accept.

10 September 2004
- Oddschecker.com has come out with their odds on the Champions League. Real Madrid have been made 5-1 favorites, follwed by Milan at 8-1, Man Utd 9-1, Juventus 10-1, Barcelona at 10-1 and Arsenal at 12-1. We're hanging in there at 16-1.

11 September 2004

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Back-to-back 3-0 wins will do wonders for a team's confidence. Now we had a little break as a team and we're back at home to play Birmingham. John Arne Riise is back in at DL and Josemi will get the call over Pellegrino ar DR just because his attitude is superb.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Another good opening half for us. Luis Garcia found the head of Milan Baros early on to give us a 1-0 lead and that lead held up through the rest of the half. Baros picked up a minor injury before the goal but it looks like he'll be able to make if through the first 60 if needed.
2nd Half Notes
I'm wondering if the little break didn’t hurt us a bit? We controlled the action in most of this game but didn't have too many great offensive chances. Andreas Gasbarroni saw his first action in a Liverpool uniform. But despite the flat effort we'll gladly take the win.
Final Score:	Liverpool	1	-	0	Birmingham
Goals -	Milan Baros 21
Man of the Match -	Kenny Cunningham
Conditions -	Dry 46F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	45332

+ Physio Report +

Milan Baros, despite scoring a goal, suffered a strained neck and will be out for about 5 days.

12 September 2004
- Both reserve teamers Scott Carson and James Smith have agreed to go on loan to Sheff Wed and Gravesend respectively.

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	6	6	0	0	18	5	13	18
2		Newcastle	6	5	0	1	11	4	7	15
3		Man Utd	6	4	1	1	11	7	4	13
4		Liverpool	6	3	2	1	9	3	6	11
5		Everton	6	3	1	2	6	3	3	10
6		Tottenham	5	3	1	1	8	6	2	10
7		Norwich	6	3	1	2	4	5	-1	10
8		Man City	5	2	3	0	9	4	5	9
9		Blackburn	6	3	0	3	6	5	1	9
10		Portsmouth	6	3	0	3	5	7	-2	9
11		Birmingham	5	2	2	1	9	5	4	8
12		Chelsea	6	2	1	3	8	7	1	7
13		Middlesbrough	6	2	1	3	9	10	-1	7
14		Charlton	6	2	1	3	5	9	-4	7
15		Southampton	6	0	5	1	5	7	-2	5
16		Fulham	5	1	2	2	6	9	-3	5
17		Bolton	6	1	1	4	3	10	-7	4
18		West Brom	6	0	3	3	7	10	-3	3
19		Crystal Palace	6	0	1	5	2	14	-12	1
20		Aston Villa	6	0	0	6	2	13	-11	0

[MikeVick7]

14 September 2004
- The Group Stage of the Champions League started today with some surprising results for Arsenal and Man Utd.

Arsenal 2-2 Shakhtar
Dinamo Buc 2-2 Man Utd

Odds on favorite Real Madrid beat defending champion Porto 2-0.

15 September 2004
- Winger Antonio Nunez is finally ready to resume training. He was sidelined for 3 months following a knee injury. He'll add some much needed depth at midfield for us.

Champions League Group Stage
Preview
We've got our normal starting lineup in place tonight with the exception of Baros who is still a bit banged up. So we'll throw the youngster Sinama-Pongolle out there, who's speed works well with our counter attack. Paris has comparable talent to us but we are still slight favorites on the road.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Sinama-Pongolle / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Well I got caught doing some reading in the SI Forums before the game, looking at some old tactical threads, so before the game I tweaked the formation a bit. I threw Alonso back in a DM spot and then moved my wingers in closer to Gerrard to match my narrow style. Well it lead to 15 shots by the Reds but I also gave up 10 to Paris. We got on the board first as Sinama-Pongolle put back a deflection but then Lorik Cana scored off a deflected free kick to even it up a 1-1.
2nd Half Notes
Well the visual sight of us playing with the tweaks was pleasurable but we still couldn’t muster more than one goal in this one. Lotta long shots for both teams but just 7 SOG's for both teams. I do enjoy that we passed for 80% against a decent team on the road however. We'll take the draw on the road against probably the toughest team in our group.
Final Score:	Paris	1	-	1	Liverpool
Goals -	Florent Sinama-Pongolle 28, Lorik Cana 31
Man of the Match -	GK Jerome Alonzo
Conditions -	Dry 50F
Venue	Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance -	48473

- We were awarded £110,000 for our efforts in the Champions League match.

18 September 2004

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
We definitely welcome back Fernando Morientes to the starting lineup for this away game against Fulham. I liked the way the tactic worked in the last game for the most part. I'm gonna leave it untouched for this game to see what we can do. I do expect a little better success against Fulham as compared to Paris.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Baros / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Well I take that back. Fulham was very ready to play in the first half. Neither team scored and we were actually outshot by the opponent. I think I'm actually going to have to push the d-line up a little bit in the 2nd half as Fulham is camping out a bit too much in our end.
2nd Half Notes
Oh we almost grinded this one out. We got a goal from Harry Kewell with just 13 minutes left. But Fulham put on the pressure late and got a goal from Brian McBride in extra time. I thought I made some decent adjustments during the 2nd half but they still need some tweaking. I also made Gerrard a little more offensive in this game as compared to normal, and it actually paid off as he went from a 6 rating in the Paris game to a 9 in this one.
Final Score:	Fulham	1	-	1	Liverpool
Goals -	Harry Kewell 77, Brian McBride 90
Man of the Match -	Steven Gerrard
Conditions -	Dry 48F
Venue	Craven Cotage, London
Attendance -	21964

19 September 2004

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	7	7	0	0	20	5	15	21
2		Man City	7	4	3	0	15	6	9	15
3		Newcastle	6	5	0	1	11	4	7	15
4		Man Utd	7	4	1	2	11	9	2	13
5		Tottenham	7	4	1	2	12	10	2	13
6		Liverpool	7	3	3	1	10	4	6	12
7		Birmingham	7	3	3	1	14	8	6	12
8		Chelsea	7	3	1	3	10	7	3	10
9		Everton	7	3	1	3	6	5	1	10
10		Charlton	7	3	1	3	7	9	-2	10
11		Norwich	7	3	1	3	4	7	-3	10
12		Blackburn	6	3	0	3	6	5	1	9
13		Portsmouth	7	3	0	4	5	9	-4	9
14		Middlesbrough	6	2	1	3	9	10	-1	7
15		Fulham	7	1	4	2	10	13	-3	7
16		Southampton	6	0	5	1	5	7	-2	5
17		Bolton	6	1	1	4	3	10	-7	4
18		West Brom	7	0	3	4	8	13	-5	3
19		Crystal Palace	7	0	1	6	3	17	-14	1
20		Aston Villa	6	0	0	6	2	13	-11	0

[MikeVick7]

20 September 2004
- Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard were named to the English Premier Team of the Week.

21 September 2004
- Fullback Steve Finnan pulled me into a private meeting this week and told me that he expects more playing time. I've only been able to squeeze him into two Champions League matches so far as he is the 4th fullback in a 3 fullback rotation. We may have to put him on the block if his unhappiness continues.

We have this week off while we prepare for our first real competitive EPL match versus Tottenham. The game's at home so hopefully that will aid us while still trying to work on the new tactic out. Meanwhile, not sure if you're noticing this in the league tables, but Arsenal is flying out of the gate winning their first seven games. Not that you should be surprised but Thierry Henry is on fire scoring 11 goals in 9 games so far this season. 10 of those goals coming from league games.

24 September 2004
- The draw for the Carling Cup is held today as we drew Championship side Coventry on the road. The game will be played at Highfield Road on October 27th.

25 September 2004

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
This should be a good test for us today. Tottenham has won it's last two games while we've tied our last two and haven't managed to score more than one goal in our last three. Steve Finnan is at least on the bench today. He might see the field yet. No changes in the lineup from last week against Fulham.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Baros / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
A very defensive first half with little highlights even in extended highlight mode. We managed one SOG and held the Spurs to none.
2nd Half Notes
Man, what a 2nd half explosion. Both teams played to a boring stalemate in the first half but we finally broke through in a big way in the 2nd. We got a goal right off the bat as Milan Baros scored just 2 mins in. Then in the span of 7 minutes late in the half we got three goals, including one from Andrea Gasbarroni, his first, after receiving a beautiful ball that was headed on to him in the box from Gerrard.
Final Score:	Tottenham	0	-	4	Liverpool
Goals -	Milan Baros 47, Milan Baros 77, Djibril Cisse 80, Andrea Gasbarroni 84
Man of the Match -	Milan Baros
Conditions -	Dry 51F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	42257

The board's happy with this one. Hey, wouldn't you be if your side put up four goals.

26 September 2004

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	8	8	0	0	22	5	17	24
2		Man City	8	5	3	0	17	7	10	18
3		Man Utd	8	5	1	2	13	9	4	16
4		Liverpool	8	4	3	1	14	4	10	15
5		Birmingham	8	4	3	1	16	8	8	15
6		Newcastle	7	5	0	2	11	6	5	15
7		Chelsea	8	4	1	3	13	7	6	13
8		Tottenham	8	4	1	3	12	14	-2	13
9		Blackburn	7	3	1	3	7	6	1	10
10		Everton	8	3	1	4	6	7	-1	10
11		Charlton	7	3	1	3	7	9	-2	10
12		Fulham	8	2	4	2	13	15	-2	10
13		Norwich	8	3	1	4	6	10	-4	10
14		Portsmouth	8	3	0	5	5	11	-6	9
15		Middlesbrough	7	2	2	3	10	11	-1	8
16		Southampton	7	0	5	2	5	10	-5	5
17		Bolton	7	1	2	4	4	11	-7	5
18		West Brom	7	0	3	4	8	13	-5	3
19		Aston Villa	7	0	1	6	3	14	-11	1
20		Crystal Palace	8	0	1	7	4	19	-15	1

[MikeVick7]

27 September 2004
- Harry Kewell and Milan Baros were selected to the English Premier Team of the Week. Both scored goals in our only league game this week.

28 September 2004

Champions League Group Stage
Preview
In our 2nd game of the Champions League Group Stage we get Austrian league champions Grazer AK. The best thing about this team is that they play at Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium. Classic. Well hopefully Arnold won't be on the field tonight, but even if he is I think we can afford to play some of the guys who don't get a lot of action. Ok, I decided to go with a lot of changes, hopefully it won't cost me.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Sinama-Pongolle / Cisse
Midfield -	Gasbarroni / Hamann / Gerrard / Garcia
Defense -	Traore / Biscan / Pellegrino / Finnan
Keeper -	Dudek
1st Half Notes
Once again, I underestimate these champions group opponents and play too many backups. And then by doing that I arrive at a 1-1 halftime score. Cisse scored on a fierce bender early but then the disgruntled Mauricio Pellegrino fouled a GAK player inside the box and they even the score with a penalty kick. Luis Garcia had a chance to put us back up with our own penalty kick but it was stopped.
2nd Half Notes
This game was in doubt until the final three minutes. We were forced to bring in Harry Kewell, Fernando Morientes and Xabi Alonso in the 2nd half and it wasn't until Alonso decided to take over did the game finally swing to our favor. In the 87th minute he took a Kewell pass and curved one in from outside the box for his first goal for us. Then in extra time the GAK keeper was caught up helping on a corner when Alonso stole the corner from inside the box, dribbled to just before the midfield stripe and lobbed one in from 75 yards away. Piece of cake, right?
Final Score:	Grazer AK	1	-	3	Liverpool
Goals -	Djibril Cisse 2, Roland Math pen9, Xabi Alonso 87, 90
Man of the Match -	Xabi Alonso
Conditions -	Dry 46F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	39237

And with the victory we were given the full share of the purse this time of £220,000.

[daedalus]

I've never liked going up against Blackburn. They always play the role of a pesky team that always seems to beat you at the wrong time. Like in the late stages of a FA Cup or Carling Cup tournament. Just sneaky.

Ugh. So true. They always bite me in the ass, too, regardless of how well or poorly they're doing in the league.

I threw Alonso back in a DM spot and then moved my wingers in closer to Gerrard to match my narrow style.

Did you mean you moved the wingers inside so that you have 3 inner midfielders or that you arrow'ed them inside?

In the 87th minute he took a Kewell pass and curved one in from outside the box for his first goal for us. Then in extra time the GAK keeper was caught up helping on a corner when Alonso stole the corner from inside the box, dribbled to just before the midfield stripe and lobbed one in from 75 yards away. Piece of cake, right?

Nice finish!

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

Go Gunners!

Sorry.

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by daedalus

Did you mean you moved the wingers inside so that you have 3 inner midfielders or that you arrow'ed them inside?

Yeah I moved the wingers inside so that I have 3 inner mids. Since I play narrow I figured that would help me a bit defensively and then I have diagonal arrows going out to the AML/AMR positions for when we have the ball.

I'm not sure if this is gonna help me at all since I've only had it set up this way for the last two games now.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

Yeah I moved the wingers inside so that I have 3 inner mids. Since I play narrow I figured that would help me a bit defensively and then I have diagonal arrows going out to the AML/AMR positions for when we have the ball.

I'm not sure if this is gonna help me at all since I've only had it set up this way for the last two games now.

Good luck in your Livepool career. I got canned as Liverpool coach after winning a treble, so be sure to win the Premiership to keep everyone happy!

Nice formatting btw - what are you using to capture/print your summaries?

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Good luck in your Livepool career. I got canned as Liverpool coach after winning a treble, so be sure to win the Premiership to keep everyone happy!

Nice formatting btw - what are you using to capture/print your summaries?

Oh great. Winning the Premiership has been my achilles heel in all of my other dynasties. I'll keep that in mind.

And thanks for the formatting props. I actually just set up the game report and league table in Excel and then directly copy and paste them into the text box here. The only downside of that is that I have to use IE in order for them to paste properly. It doesn't work with Firefox unfortunately.

[MikeVick7]

October 2004

Team Capsule
League Position:	4th
League Record	4-3-1
Active Tournament(s):	Group G Champions League
Wage Total:	£547,113
Wage Budget:	£775,000
Transfer Budget Available	£2,185,701
Transfer Budget:	£4,594,752
Balance:	£9,017,346

1 October 2004
- Aston Villa's Gareth Barry has been named Premier Player of the month.
- And hey, I was named Premier Manager of the Month in just my 2nd month with the club. Sweet!

Before I go into my game versus Man City, I just wanted to post a link to an article that I found today that talked about what maybe the key success to some of the top teams in the world today. The article focuses on the Brazilian National Team and Chelsea. It talks about how the counter-attack, or the transition of defense to offense, is what these clubs do so well and why they are so effective.

Anyway on to 2 October 2004

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Man City is off to a hot start this year as they have yet to lose a game. Their 5-4-0 record has them sitting right behind the incredibly hot Arsenal squad. We have a little bit of a hot streak ourselves as we have not lost a game in our last 9 combined matches. With Harry Kewell on the mend we shift Garcia over to the left, Hamann plays in the middle and Gerrard will be shipped out to the right. This should be a good one.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Cisse / Baros
Midfield -	Garcia / Alonso / Hamann / Gerrard
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
The first half was spent with me foolishly trying to run a counter-attack in wet conditions. We had a lot of oppoturnities but couldn't get anything to go past David James. Man City get a goal American Claudio Reyna on a long drive from outside the box at the 23 minute mark.
2nd Half Notes
Is there anything worse that losing on a penalty kick? We tied the game in the 62nd minute from a goal by Cisse, but then we get screwed as Riise fouls Reyna in the penalty box in the 85th minute, Carragher gets the double yellow for arguing the call and then Trevor Sinclair knocks home the winner as Man City continues their early season hot streak.
Final Score:	Man City	2	-	1	Liverpool
Goals -	Claudio Reyna 23, Djibril Cisse 62, Trevor Sinclair pen85
Man of the Match -	Kizito Musampa
Conditions -	Wet 50F
Venue	City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester
Attendance -	47985

- And as expected Jamie Carragher will receive a automatic one match ban after being sent off due to a red card in our match.

3 October 2004

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	9	9	0	0	24	5	19	27
2		Man City	9	6	3	0	19	8	11	21
3		Birmingham	9	5	3	1	19	9	10	18
4		Newcastle	8	6	0	2	14	6	8	18
5		Man Utd	9	5	2	2	15	11	4	17
6		Tottenham	9	5	1	3	14	14	0	16
7		Liverpool	9	4	3	2	15	6	9	15
8		Chelsea	9	4	2	3	14	8	6	14
9		Everton	9	4	1	4	8	7	1	13
10		Charlton	9	4	1	4	9	12	-3	13
11		Blackburn	8	3	2	3	9	8	1	11
12		Fulham	9	2	4	3	13	18	-5	10
13		Norwich	9	3	1	5	6	12	-6	10
14		Portsmouth	9	3	1	5	7	13	-6	10
15		Middlesbrough	8	2	3	3	11	12	-1	9
16		Southampton	9	0	5	4	5	14	-9	5
17		Bolton	8	1	2	5	5	14	-9	5
18		Aston Villa	9	1	2	6	7	16	-9	5
19		Crystal Palace	9	1	1	7	7	20	-13	4
20		West Brom	9	0	3	6	10	18	-8	3

[MikeVick7]

4 October 2004

- Josemi was selected as the lone representative to the EPL Team of the Week. His first such honor.

5 October 2004
- Two of our young guys were called up for international duty in the U21 Championship Qualifying Group Stage, Florent Sinama-Pongolle for France and John Paul Kelly for the Republic of Ireland.

6 October 2004

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Crystal Palace is definitely struggling this season as they are just 1-1-7 so far. We're back at Anfield for this one, we have 10 days off after this game so we just gotta come out and dominate. Morientes will start up front alongside Cisse and Pellegrino will start in place of the suspended Carragher. Dudek will get the start in goal today as Kirkland is feeling a bit dejected after the loss to Man City.
Starting Line-up: 4-4-2
Strikers -	Cisse / Morientes
Midfield -	Garcia / Hamann / Alonso / Gerrard
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Pellegrino / Josemi
Keeper -	Dudek
1st Half Notes
We definitely dominated possession in the half and we did get on the board as Luis Garcia found Cisse in the box for yet another goal for him. But then the old man Pellegrino got beat on a header off of a corner by Dougie Freedman just 10 minutes later. So we go into half 1-1.
2nd Half Notes
Different story in the 2nd half for us. We finally shook off whatever was ailing us in the first half and stormed to three goals to win 4-1. Gerrard started things off as he got a garbage goal off of a Cisse miss. Then Gerrard scored just 6 minutes later after getting a nice feed on a break. Then Gerrard's replacement Gasbarroni crossed in a nice little ball from the right side which found the head of Cisse again for his 2nd goal. Cisse received a "10" rating for the match and was named MoM.
Final Score:	Liverpool	4	-	1	Crystal Palace
Goals -	Djibril Cisse 27, Dougie Freedman 37, Steven Gerrard 55, 61, Djbril Cisse 81
Man of the Match -	Djbril Cisse
Conditions -	Dry 46F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	41067

- After the match on Wednesday we get a message that Gerrard has been called up to the England National Team to replace Frank Lampard. Hmm...thought he was already on the team??
- And the chairman, David Moores, is loving me after that dismantling of Palace.

8 October 2004
- We had a lot of participation in the France/Republic of Ireland U21 match on Friday. Winger Anthony Le Tallec, who is on loan at St Etienne, scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for France. Sinama-Pongolle, Darren Potter and Kelly also played in the match.

9 October 2004
- 13 players were called up for international duty in the group stage of World Cup qualifying.

International Roundup
Poland - Jerzy Dudek was impressive in goal in a 2-1 win over Austria.
Czech Republic - Milan Baros did well but was substituted for in a 3-0 win.
Republic of Ireland - Steve Finnan played well in a 1-1 draw with France.
Norway - John Arne Riise had a subpar performance in a 0-1 loss to Scotland.
Senegal & Mali - Both Djimi Traore and El-Hadji Diouf played in this 2-2 tie.
Finland - Sami Hyypia got an assist in a 3-1 win over Armenia.

And England continues to struggle as the draw with Wales 1-1.

10 October 2004

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	10	10	0	0	27	5	22	30
2		Man City	10	7	3	0	21	8	13	24
3		Man Utd	10	6	2	2	21	11	10	20
4		Birmingham	10	5	4	1	21	11	10	19
5		Tottenham	10	6	1	3	15	14	1	19
6		Liverpool	10	5	3	2	19	7	12	18
7		Newcastle	9	6	0	3	14	7	7	18
8		Chelsea	10	4	2	4	14	9	5	14
9		Blackburn	9	4	2	3	10	8	2	14
10		Everton	10	4	2	4	8	7	1	14
11		Charlton	10	4	2	4	10	13	-3	14
12		Portsmouth	10	3	2	5	8	14	-6	11
13		Fulham	10	2	4	4	13	19	-6	10
14		Norwich	10	3	1	6	6	14	-8	10
15		Middlesbrough	9	2	3	4	11	15	-4	9
16		Bolton	9	2	2	5	6	14	-8	8
17		Aston Villa	10	1	3	6	9	18	-9	6
18		Southampton	10	0	5	5	5	20	-15	5
19		West Brom	10	0	4	6	10	18	-8	4
20		Crystal Palace	10	1	1	8	8	24	-16	4

[MikeVick7]

11 Ocotober 2004
- Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Djibril Cisse all were named to the EPL Team of the Week.

12 Ocotober 2004
U19 International Roundup
- Northern Ireland - keeper Paul Willis played terrible in a 1-2 loss to Lithuania

U21 International Roundup
- France - Sinama-Pongolle scored yet another goal from France in a 2-0 win over Cyprus.
- Nothern Ireland - Darren Potter and John Paul Kelly played decently in a 2-0 win over Faroe Islands.

13 October 2004
International Roundup
Republic of Ireland - Steven Finnan scored a goal in a 3-0 win over Faroe Islands.
England - Steven Gerrard started for England in their 5-0 drubbing of Azerbaijan.
Finland - Sami Hyypia was magnificient in his match even though his team lost to Holland 0-2.

Being that I have so many guys on national teams, I'm just going to report on who excels. I'm tired of typing

15 October 2004
- Promising young American defender Zak Whitbread is back from loan at Darlington of League 2. He said he enjoyed his stay. He played in 10 matches and had a 7.40 rating.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Last game we played the worst team in the league Crystal Palace and this week we played the 2nd worst team in West Brom. We, despite the loss to a hot Man City team, are on a bit of a roll. Harry Kewell is back for this one so Garcia will move back to the right side and Gerrard will take his place back in the middle. Carragher is back as well after serving his one game suspension.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Cisse / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Gerrard / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Finnan
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Play was a bit sluggish in the first half as we had a hard time penetrating the 4-5-1 that West Brom has thrown out there. But leave it to our hot hand Cisse he rocketed a shot off of a West Brom defender for our only goal. We also held West Brom w/o a shot on goal. Gerrard did not impress back in the MC spot.
2nd Half Notes
The 2nd half wasn't the greatest thing to look at either. But we were solid defensively and we added another goal, this time a long shot from Xabi Alonso following a feed from Cisse. We held West Brom to no shots on goal.
Final Score:	Liverpool	2	-	0	West Brom
Goals -	Djibril Cisse 42, Xabi Alonso 52
Man of the Match -	Riccardo Scimeca
Conditions -	Dry 51F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	45336

17 October 2004
- Due to Aston Villa's putrid start they have fired manager David O'Leary. He is the first manager to get the axe so far this year. Villa is just 1-3-6.
- On the U19 International scene...
Northern Ireland - GK Paul Willis was impressive in a 0-0 draw with Ukraine.
- Highly sought after defender in the loan world, Jon Ostemobor, was sad to leave Bristol C today. He appeared in 13 matches, notching 1 assist and had a 7.23 avg rating.

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	10	10	0	0	27	5	22	30
2		Man City	10	7	3	0	21	8	13	24
3		Tottenham	11	7	1	3	16	14	2	22
4		Liverpool	11	6	3	2	21	7	14	21
5		Man Utd	10	6	2	2	21	11	10	20
6		Birmingham	10	5	4	1	21	11	10	19
7		Newcastle	9	6	0	3	14	7	7	18
8		Everton	11	4	3	4	9	8	1	15
9		Chelsea	10	4	2	4	14	9	5	14
10		Blackburn	9	4	2	3	10	8	2	14
11		Charlton	11	4	2	5	13	18	-5	14
12		Portsmouth	11	3	3	5	9	15	-6	12
13		Fulham	11	2	5	4	13	19	-6	11
14		Norwich	10	3	1	6	6	14	-8	10
15		Middlesbrough	9	2	3	4	11	15	-4	9
16		Bolton	10	2	2	6	6	15	-9	8
17		Southampton	11	1	5	5	10	23	-13	8
18		Aston Villa	11	1	4	6	9	18	-9	7
19		West Brom	11	0	4	7	10	20	-10	4
20		Crystal Palace	10	1	1	8	8	24	-16	4

[MikeVick7]

18 October 2004
- Young midfielder David Mannix is has resumed light training following his knee injury. He won't be available for another 2 months however.
- Jamie Carragher and Djibril Cisse were selected to the EPL Team of the Week. That's back to back weeks for Cisse.

19 October 2004

Champions League Group Stage
Preview
When I talked earlier about Paris being our toughest competition in the Group Stage, I lied, it's Valencia. Currently sitting 5th in the Spanish First Division. We haven't had a tough match since a couple weeks ago against Man City, so I'm not sure how we'll play in this one. All of our players have superb morale so we should be on top of our game.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Cisse / Sinama-Pongolle
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Gerrard / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Valencia just outclassed us in the first half. They controlled possession and got a goal just 14 minutes in from Ruben Baraja. Then Josemi is called for a pesky penalty in the box just 4 minutes later and veteran striker Christian Vieri buried the penalty. The counter game is just not working too well right now. I think we're too slow and our defenders can't pass well enough to get it going.
2nd Half Notes
2nd half wasn't much better. Valencia just sat on the ball and we didn't have any good chances. Back to the practice field with our road tactic.
Final Score:	Valencia	2	-	0	Liverpool
Goals -	Ruben Baraja 14, Christian Vieri pen 18
Man of the Match -	Vincente
Conditions -	Dry 59F
Venue	Mestalla, Valencia
Attendance -	54891

After the 3rd matches of the group stage Man Utd find themselves outside of of a transfer spot in Group B behind Lyon and Ajax. Group A is just brutal with Real Madrid, Arsenal and Porto all going at it for 2 spots. As hot as Arsenal has been in league play they have just managed 3 draws in 3 matches.

23 October 2004
- Stephen Warnock returned from his loan at Coventry where he indicated that he enjoyed his stay.
- Patrice Luzi returned from his loan at Blackpool where he said he didn't learn much. He appeared in goal for 9 games, recording 4 clean sheets and a 7.67 avg rating.
- David Raven enjoyed his spell at Cambridge. The defender actually scored 3 goals in 11 matches and had a 7.45 rating.
- David Potter also enjoyed his stay at Bournemouth notching one assist in 11 matches.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
We come back to the EPL and take on another team that's struggling in Norwich. We're trying to regroup from our 0-2 thrashing by Valencia. Chris Kirkland continues to pout after losses in which he plays so due to his pouting he will give way to the always chipper Jerzy Dudek. Fernando Morientes is back up front as we decide to play the tactic we employ at home.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Cisse / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Gerrard / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Dudek
1st Half Notes
We dominate in just about every category in the first half except the scoreboard where we trail 1-0. Again we fall victim to a header resulting from a cross. That shouldn't be happening. Gotta pick up the pace in the 2nd half and do a little bit more pressing. We also lost Josemi due to injury.
2nd Half Notes
Late sub Milan Baros salvaged a point for us at the 85 minute mark with a rocket shot from just left of the goal mouth. We outshot Norwich 15-3 and yet couldn't come up with more than one goal. A depressing way to go to bed.
Final Score:	Norwich	1	-	1	Liverpool
Goals -	Matthias Svensson 40, Milan Baros 85
Man of the Match -	Harry Kewell
Conditions -	Dry 51F
Venue	Carrow Road, Norwich
Attendance -	24303

+ Physio Report +

- Josemi strained his neck and will be out for 5 days.
- Luis Garcia damaged his foot while playing the entire match. He will miss about 2 weeks.

24 October 2004

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	11	11	0	0	31	5	26	33
2		Tottenham	12	8	1	3	18	14	4	25
3		Man City	11	7	3	1	21	11	10	24
4		Man Utd	11	7	2	2	24	11	13	23
5		Liverpool	12	6	4	2	22	8	14	22
6		Newcastle	10	7	0	3	17	7	10	21
7		Birmingham	11	5	4	2	21	15	6	19
8		Charlton	12	5	2	5	17	19	-2	17
9		Everton	12	4	4	4	11	10	1	16
10		Chelsea	11	4	3	4	15	10	5	15
11		Blackburn	10	4	2	4	10	11	-1	14
12		Fulham	12	2	6	4	14	20	-6	12
13		Norwich	12	3	3	6	8	16	-8	12
14		Portsmouth	12	3	3	6	9	19	-10	12
15		Bolton	11	3	2	6	9	15	-6	11
16		Middlesbrough	10	2	3	5	12	19	-7	9
17		Southampton	12	1	6	5	12	25	-13	9
18		West Brom	12	1	4	7	14	20	-6	7
19		Aston Villa	12	1	4	7	9	20	-11	7
20		Crystal Palace	12	1	2	9	9	28	-19	5

[ice4277]

Good luck with this dynasty. I think your biggest challenge as it progresses will be to catch Arsenal. I'm currently in the 2010-11 season and they have won the Premier League every year

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by ice4277

Good luck with this dynasty. I think your biggest challenge as it progresses will be to catch Arsenal. I'm currently in the 2010-11 season and they have won the Premier League every year

Every year? Good lord. I've never experienced that kind of domination. But with only three or four teams that could win it every year, I guess I'm not totally shocked.

[MikeVick7]

27 October 2004
- Reserve team defender Jon Otsemobor, after just getting back from loan in League One, now has two loan offers from Championship side clubs Watford and Burnley.

Carling Cup Round Three
Preview
We now get into our first FA Cup game and it's on the road against Coventry who currently sit 17th in the Championship League right now. We're coming off a tie against Norwich on Saturday, so hopefully my guys are a little peeved. We're on the road so I don't want to mix it up too much, but I think we'll have this one covered.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Sinama-Pongolle / Baros
Midfield -	Kewell / Hamann / Gerrard / Gasbarroni
Defense -	Riise / Biscan / Pellegrino / Finnan
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Played fairly solid in the 1st half with about a lot of back-ups in the game. We outshot Coventry 8-4 in the half with 5 of those shots on goal for us. And we managed to knock one home as Gasbaronni found the head of Steven Gerrard to put us up 1-0 at the half. Sinama-Pongolle picked up a slight injury, he'll be taken out at the 60 minute mark.
2nd Half Notes
That game definitely wasn't spectacular but we got the job done in workman-like fashion. Sinama-Pongolle caught the home team sleeping as he used his speed to score a goal just 5 minutes into the half and that’s all we needed. SOG's were 7-2 in our favor.
Final Score:	Coventry	0	-	2	Liverpool
Goals -	Steven Gerrard 27, Florent Sinama-Pongolle 51
Man of the Match -	Harry Kewell
Conditions	Dry 50F
Venue	Highfield Road, Coventry
Attendance -	23586

For the victory we were given a whole £30,000. Don't spend it all in one place guys!!

29 October 2005
- Newcastle manager Graeme Souness decides that he likes the way I work it and hopes that the best team wins on Saturday. He also said that I was a good manager. I'll shoot him back some love. He seems like a likeable guy.

30 October 2005
- Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp apears to be throwing in the towel already. His side currently sits in 14th place in the Premiership but he is already stating that the club should get ready for Championship football next season. Nice confidence Harry!
- The draw for the 4th round of the Carling Cup was held today and we get the pleasure of hosting Manchester United in the sweet 16. But, luckily we have them at home. The game will be held in 11 days on November 10th. Chelsea lost to Fulham in the last round. Their struggles continue.
- Our 3rd keeper Patrice Luzi (24) is garnering a bunch of attention from some lower clubs here in England. He is currently transfer listed and could be let go at the 1st of the year. The clubs that are currently interested are Bradford City, Brentford, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Hull, Ipswich, Leicester, Luton, Nottm Forest and Port Vale.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
I feel pretty good about today's match, don't ask me why, I just do. We've got good team morale and everyone is healthy for right now, except for Garcia who is out for another week. So Gasbarroni gets another start today. I'm also growing a little impatient with Morientes as he has not caught on yet, but I like to have a striker with good heading skills in my lineup, so I'll remain patient for a little while longer. Newcastle comes into this match right behind us in 6th in the league standings so it should be a close one. I feel confident however, since this is at Anfield.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Cisse / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Gerrard / Gasbarroni
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Man, we really had a lot of chances in the first half but couldn't put anything past Shay Given. We had 8 shots with 6 of them on goal. Meanwhile, we held Newcastle to just one shot and that wasn't even on goal. Cisse is a little off his game all of a sudden, he might get pulled early for Baros at the 60 minute mark.
2nd Half Notes
Man, definitely a frustrating game there. We poured on 12 shots and held Newcastle to just 3 and we come away with a 0-0 draw. Riise went down with an injury late in the half to make things worse. Ugghh.
Final Score:	Liverpool	0	-	0	Newcastle
Goals -	None
Man of the Match -	Harry Kewell
Conditions	Dry 42F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	45352

+ Physio Report +

It looks like John Arne Riise damaged his shoulder in the match on Saturday and will be out for about 5 days.

31 October 2004

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	12	12	0	0	36	5	31	36
2		Tottenham	13	9	1	3	19	14	5	28
3		Man City	12	8	3	1	23	11	12	27
4		Man Utd	12	8	2	2	26	11	15	26
5		Liverpool	13	6	5	2	22	8	14	23
6		Newcastle	11	7	1	3	17	7	10	22
7		Birmingham	12	5	4	3	21	17	4	19
8		Charlton	13	5	3	5	17	19	-2	18
9		Everton	12	4	4	4	11	10	1	16
10		Chelsea	12	4	3	5	15	11	4	15
11		Blackburn	11	4	3	4	10	11	-1	15
12		Bolton	12	4	2	6	12	16	-4	14
13		Norwich	13	3	4	6	9	17	-8	13
14		Fulham	13	2	6	5	14	25	-11	12
15		Southampton	13	2	6	5	14	25	-11	12
16		Portsmouth	13	3	3	7	9	21	-12	12
17		Middlesbrough	10	2	3	5	12	19	-7	9
18		West Brom	13	1	5	7	15	21	-6	8
19		Aston Villa	13	1	4	8	9	22	-13	7
20		Crystal Palace	13	1	2	10	10	31	-21	5

[MikeVick7]

November 2004

Team Capsule
League Position:	5th
League Record	6-5-2
Active Tournament(s):	Group G Champions League
Wage Total:	£558,927
Wage Budget:	£775,000
Transfer Budget Available	£4,990,270
Transfer Budget:	£7,399,321
Balance:	£8,756,597

Don't you hate when your chairman raises your transfer budget and doesn't tell you about it? Not that I'm complaining.

1 November
- Arsenal's Robert Pires won the EPL Player of the Month award. Arsenal is just on fire in league play right now.
- Our left winger Harry Kewell was named to the EPL Team of the Week.
- Jon Otsemobor has chosen Watford for his next place of loanship. He'll be gone for 3 months.
- Ahh, and I spoke too soon, as I finally got the email that the board has decided to raise the transfer funds from £2.8M to £5M.
- Macclesfield of League Two have made a loan offer to one of our U18 players Mark Roberts. Roberts just signed a pro contract a little while ago so we'll let him venture off.

2 November
- In Champions League play, Arsenal received a big blow by losing big to Real Madrid 4-1. They are now in the 3rd spot after 4 games. And Man Utd jumped from 3rd to 1st with their win over Ajax 2-0.

3 November
- Defender Lee Peltier finished his loan at Swansea of League Two where he scored one goal in 14 games. He also had a 7.36 avg rating.

Champions League Group Stage
Preview
This is a pivotal game for us. If we win, we pretty much lock up a spot to advance to the knock-out stage of the tournament. If we lose, then we'll have to really suck it up against the weaker Paris and GAK. Valencia embarrassed us at their place in our last game 0-2 and we need a little revenge. Baros gets the start today and Cisse's slide continues.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Gerrard / Gasbarroni
Defense -	Finnan / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Well played first half. We struck early as Kewell lobbed a short pass into the box and Milan Baros half-volleyed it into the back of the net for his 7th goal of the season. Valencia took control of the middle portion of the half but I made an adjustment to push up my d-line just a bit and that seemed to cut some of that possession down a bit. We won a paltry 16% of our tackles in the first half. Yuck.
2nd Half Notes
Another frustrating 2nd half. We give up a garbage goal to a guy simply named Mista early in the half and both teams just ran up and down the pitch for the rest of the match. We'll definitely need to pick up some wing help when the January transfer window opens up for business.
Final Score:	Liverpool	1	-	1	Valencia
Goals -	Milan Baros 11, Mista 53
Man of the Match -	Vincente
Conditions	Dry 41F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	45264

With the loss we now sit in 3rd place in Group G behind GAK of all teams. We have a home game vs Paris left and next up we go on the road to Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadia to play probably our biggest game of the season against GAK.

We shared the £220,000 pot with Valencia for the draw.

4 November
- Our youngster, Mark Roberts, has decided to go to Macclesfield on loan for 3 months.

6 November

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
It's safe to say that I'd like a win today. Bolton is at home and sits 12th in the table so far but the oddsmakers are making us a huge favorite. Due to Harry Kewell sucking wind, we had to shuffle the midfield around as you see below. Alonso has been moved up to MC and Gerrard shuffled out to MR. We're going to try Baros paired up with Cisse to see if that can spark some life up front today.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Gasbarroni / Hamann / Alonso / Gerrard
Defense -	Finnan / Hyypia / Carragher / Pellegrino
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Man I feel like a tactical genius…ha. Bolton was abusing left FB Pellegrino in the first 30 minutes of this game with repeated attacks right at him. He picked up a yellow card and then gave up a goal to Vaz Te as Bolton took a 0-1 lead. Then I made an early sub and put Josemi back in and put him on hard tackling. So 4 mins later he steals a pass on the right side, feeds Cisse who goes on a break and feeds a wide open Baros in the box for a goal to tie it up at 1-1.
2nd Half Notes
Gutsy 2nd half for us today. We play back and forth until the 82nd minute. Then Kewell, who subbed in late, found Alonso in the box and he powered one past the Bolton keeper to make it 2-1. Then Morientes, who continues to look tenative out there, shot one on goal that bounced off a Bolton defender for our 3rd goal as we win going away 3-1.
Final Score:	Bolton	1	-	3	Liverpool
Goals -	Ricardo Vaz Te 24, Milan Baros 39, Xabi Alonso 82, Fernando Morientes 90
Man of the Match -	Djibril Cisse
Conditions	Dry 46F
Venue	Reebok Stadium, Bolton
Attendance -	27482

- We get our first agent approaching us trying to sell his player. In my experience these are always for good Championship League level players that never are quite good enough to find a place on your squad. Seol Ki-Hyeon is a decent player, but not for our squad.

7 November

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	13	13	0	0	38	5	33	39
2		Man Utd	13	9	2	2	29	12	17	29
3		Newcastle	13	9	1	3	23	8	15	28
4		Tottenham	14	9	1	4	19	16	3	28
5		Man City	13	8	3	2	23	13	10	27
6		Liverpool	14	7	5	2	25	9	16	26
7		Charlton	14	6	3	5	21	20	1	21
8		Birmingham	13	5	4	4	22	21	1	19
9		Chelsea	13	5	3	5	17	11	6	18
10		Everton	14	4	6	4	13	12	1	18
11		Blackburn	13	4	4	5	12	14	-2	16
12		Southampton	14	3	6	5	16	26	-10	15
13		Bolton	13	4	2	7	13	19	-6	14
14		Norwich	14	3	4	7	9	21	-12	13
15		Portsmouth	14	3	4	7	11	23	-12	13
16		Fulham	14	2	6	6	15	28	-13	12
17		Middlesbrough	12	2	5	5	15	22	-7	11
18		Aston Villa	14	2	4	8	11	23	-12	10
19		West Brom	14	1	5	8	16	23	-7	8
20		Crystal Palace	14	1	2	11	11	33	-22	5

[MikeVick7]

8 November
- Josemi, Dietmarr Hamann and Steven Gerrard were all named to the EPL Team of the Week.
- Wolves have made a 3-month loan offer to fullback Stephen Warnock. Warnock played for championship side Coventry earlier this year and now may be going back to the league once again.
- Earlier this season, Steve Finnan announced his displeasure with not seeing the pitch much, but I've found some playing time for him lately and his mood has done a 180.
- U19 International Ryan Wilkie was called up for duty to play for the Scotland U19's.

9 November
- Well great, Alex Ferguson decides to have a little war of words with me in the press before our Carling Cup game on Wednesday. All I can do is praise his performance so far this year. I'm lonely Liverpool manager, he's Alex Ferguson, what can I do?
- Now Sunderland has thrown their hat in the ring for Stephen Warnock's services.
- Brentford, one of the suitors for keeper Patrice Luzi's services in the next transfer window has now offered a 3-month loan for him. Being that we're within 3 months of the window I'm gonna keep him here and start to offer him in the transfer market.

10 November
- 11 players were called up for International duty for friendlies on November 13.

Carling Cup 4th Round
Preview
It hurt to find out this week that Steven Gerrard wouldn't be able to start in the game tonight versus Man Utd. He stubbed his toe in training this week and will only be able to come off the bench as a sub in the 2nd half. So we shuffle the lineup a bit and put Alonso at MC and we welcome back Luis Garcia after a 2 week absence as he's back at MR. Riise is also back in time for this match at DL.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Hamann / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Great first half, although we didn't score. But we played well and were very effective defensively. Arne Riise has done a good job blanketing Ronaldo so far and we've limited Man Utd to just two shots and one shot on goal. We had six shots overall and three on goal. I had Cisse's long shots set on often in the first half, because he does have a great long shot rating, but he went long shot crazy and I had to pull in the reigns as many of his shots killed our possession.
2nd Half Notes
What a 2nd half! Our first goal came on feed from Alonso to Cisse just outside the box and he juked Rio Ferdinand and then powered one by Roy Carroll to make it 1-0. Then just one minute later, one of his long shots actually squirmed by Carroll to make it 2-0. At that point, Man Utd's confidence was gone. Six minutes later Xabi Alonso scored on a free kick to make it 3-0. Then finally Morientes score on a goal at the 89 minute mark to complete our best half of the season. And best game for that matter.
Final Score:	Liverpool	4	-	0	Man Utd
Goals -	Djibril Cisse 65, 66, Xabi Alonso 72, Fernando Morientes 89
Man of the Match -	Djibril Cisse
Conditions	Dry 37F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	45357

- We earned £75,000 for our win over Man Utd on Tuesday.

+ Physio Report +

Now onto the semi-bad news after the win.
- John Arne Riise will be out for another 2 weeks with a calf strain.
- Sami Hyypia is in need of a rest. Not a good time for the big man to need a blow. It's a good thing that we have 10 days to rest. I'll have Hyypia taken off training for the next few days.

12 November
- Young midfielder Robbie Foy said that he enjoyed his stay at Wrexham of League One. He appeared in 12 games, had 4 assists and a 7.25 rating.
- Before the game this week, I had offered Patrice Luzi to Chesterfield, Bradford City and Brentford and all three turned down the £300,000 offer.

13 November
- We get another lucky draw in the Carling Cup quarterfinal as we get another home game and this time it's against Southampton. The game will be held on December 1st.
- Young Stephen Warnock has selected Sunderland as his next place to play on loan for 3 months.

14 November
- No EPL games were played since last week.

[MikeVick7]

16 November
- There's trouble over in Middlesbrough as their striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was disciplined two week's wages for him skipping training.
- Had another private meeting with one of my players this week. Djimi Traore thought that he should see more first team football. He's 5th on the depth chart for centre backs so we may have to look at moving the 24 year old.
- Mark Smyth's loan with Redditch of Conf North ended today. Redditch appeared in 10 games overall, mostly as a sub and had a paltry 6.90 avg rating.

19 November
- Huddersfield of League one have made a loan offer to 17 yr old defender Lee Peltier. League One for a 17 yr old, very impressive. I'm excited about this one.

20 November

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Villa is one of the surprise teams of the year and not in a good way. Villa is just 2-4-8 on the season and they have already fired their manager David O'Leary. We're on top form right now and hope this will be a good tune-up before the match against Paris back at Anfield in a few days. Hyypia is still a bit fatigued and will not start today's game.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Hamann / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
The stat board says that we only have 2 total shots, cause it seemed like we were in more control than that. Out of our two shots, one was on goal and we made that count. Luis Garcia, of all people, headed one in towards the end of the half to make it 1-0. Aston Villa managed just one shot and it wasn't on goal. We also won 100% of our tackles in the half.
2nd Half Notes
The best way to describe Aston Villa is lifeless. They don't get a shot on goal and they only compete 59% of their passes. Plus we dominate possession 68% to 40%. We added one goal in the 71st minute as Morientes got on the board again. This time with a straight on power shot that rose above the head of a diving Villa Keeper.
Final Score:	Liverpool	2	-	0	Aston Villa
Goals -	Luis Garcia 14, Fernando Morietnes 71
Man of the Match -	Steve Finnan
Conditions	Dry 42F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	44427

Also on Saturday, Birmingham beat Arsenal in the Carling Cup 3-0. So I believe we are the favorite team of the 8 left.

21 November

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	13	13	0	0	38	5	33	39
2		Tottenham	15	10	1	4	22	17	5	31
3		Liverpool	15	8	5	2	27	9	18	29
4		Man Utd	14	9	2	3	30	15	15	29
5		Newcastle	13	9	1	3	23	8	15	28
6		Man City	13	8	3	2	23	13	10	27
7		Chelsea	14	6	3	5	19	11	8	21
8		Charlton	15	6	3	6	21	23	-2	21
9		Birmingham	13	5	4	4	22	21	1	19
10		Blackburn	14	5	4	5	14	14	0	19
11		Everton	14	4	6	4	13	12	1	18
12		Bolton	14	5	2	7	14	19	-5	17
13		Fulham	15	3	6	6	18	28	-10	15
14		Southampton	15	3	6	6	18	31	-13	15
15		Middlesbrough	13	3	5	5	20	24	-4	14
16		Norwich	15	3	4	8	9	22	-13	13
17		Portsmouth	15	3	4	8	11	25	-14	13
18		Aston Villa	15	2	4	9	11	25	-14	10
19		West Brom	14	1	5	8	16	23	-7	8
20		Crystal Palace	15	1	2	12	11	35	-24	5

[MikeVick7]

22 November
- 19 yr old keeper Paul Harrison enjoyed his stay at Wycombe in League Two. He didn't have the best stay as he appeared in 15 games and conceded 30 goals. Ouch.

23 November
- It was announced today that the Carling Cup match with Southampton will be televised. Our game with Villa just started a run of seven games in a row that will be on TV, that includes the 12/1 matchup with Southampton as well.

Champions League Group Stage
Preview
With all the exciting games that have gone down over the last month, this would definitely have to be the biggest to date. I know I said that about Man Utd, but this trumps that. We pretty much have to win tonight's game vs Paris if we want a chance to advance to the knockout stage of the Champions League. Paris has been somewhat inept in their last six games as they have not scored more than one goal and just scoring 5 total in those 6 games. We, on the other hand, are undefeated in our last 6.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Gerrard / Garcia
Defense -	Finnan / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
This one was over before the opening whistle blew. Djibril Cisse looked like a man among boys in the half as he had his hattrick within the first 36 minutes of game time. The first half extended highlights looked like a espn sportscenter. It was brutal. We peppered their keeper with 9 shots on goal, while holding them to just one. This should cement a spot in the next round.
2nd Half Notes
Well the 2nd half just got downright silly. We added 4 more goals to make it a 7-0 finally. Cisse added his 4th. Luis Garcia added 2 and even Jamie Carragher scored his first goal of the season on a corner. I think that was also our first goal scored on a corner this year as a team. Also, four of our players received 10 ratings.
Final Score:	Liverpool	7	-	0	Paris
Goals -	Djibril Cisse 14, 17, 37, 60, Luis Garcia 71, Jamie Carragher 79, Luis Garcia 82
Man of the Match -	Djibril Cisse
Conditions	Dry 39F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	40299

- We received £220,000 for our efforts on Tuesday night.

And despite our efforts, we still either have to win or draw in our next match against GAK, after they beat Valencia tonight as well.

24 November
- Good news as 17 yr old Lee Peltier has agreed to join League One's Huddersfield Town on a 3 month loan.
- Arsenal sits in 2nd spot in Group A after their match but they still have to win their or draw their final match to move on. And Man Utd has wrapped up a spot with their win tonight as well.

26 November
- Plymouth of the Championship League have offered a 3-month loan to MC Darren Potter. Again, we accept.

28 November
- Slow week news-wise. Our next game is tonight at Chelsea. So being that I had such a good night of simming, I think I'm gonna have to wait and play this game tomorrow night. Even though Chelsea is struggling right now, they're still Chelsea. More to come tomorrow night.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Chelsea has been real average so far this season as they currently sit 7th in the EPL standings. Part of their ineptitude can be attributed to their injuries. Right now, they have Luque, Makelele, Carvalho and Drogba all out with injuries, which only makes me smile. Still this game is at Stamford Bridge so that evens the playing field a bit. We, on the other hand, are coming off our biggest win of the year and everyone is healthy. Let's see if you can close out a succesful November with a win over the giants.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Gerrard / Garcia
Defense -	Finnan / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Our great run of form continues as we pounce on Chelsea with two goals in the first 45 mins. All it took was :16 for us to get on the board as we kicked off, Kewell made a quick pass to Cisse, who once again juked one of the better central defenders, John Terry, and blazed one past Peter Cech. Then we also got a goal from Kewell off of a deflected Cisse pass. Chelsea really turned the pressure on in the last five minutes but could not come up with anything.
2nd Half Notes
We couldn't have wished for a better 2nd half. Chelsea continued their pressure early into the half as is resulted in a Kezman goal just five minutes into it. But as the half progressed we started to regain possession and then when Morientes subbed in at the 60 minute mark, he decided to take over. He scored goals at the 75 and 90 minute mark to ice this one for us. A HUGE win on the road.
Final Score:	Chelsea	1	-	4	Liverpool
Goals -	Djibril Cisse 1, Harry Kewell 20, Mateja Kezman 50, Fernando Morientes 75, 90
Man of the Match -	Harry Kewell
Conditions	Wet 41F
Venue	Stamford Bridge, London
Attendance -	42444

Upper management is definitely pumped about this win. Basically, when you take advantage of a good team when they are down, you have to step up.

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	14	14	0	0	41	6	35	42
2		Newcastle	15	11	1	3	27	10	17	34
3		Tottenham	16	11	1	4	24	17	7	34
4		Liverpool	16	9	5	2	31	10	21	32
5		Man Utd	15	10	2	3	31	15	16	32
6		Man City	14	8	3	3	23	14	9	27
7		Birmingham	15	7	4	4	26	22	4	25
8		Blackburn	15	6	4	5	17	15	2	22
9		Chelsea	15	6	3	6	20	15	5	21
10		Charlton	16	6	3	7	21	25	-4	21
11		Everton	16	4	7	5	14	15	-1	19
12		Middlesbrough	14	4	5	5	22	24	-2	17
13		Bolton	15	5	2	8	15	21	-6	17
14		Fulham	16	3	7	6	19	29	-10	16
15		Southampton	16	3	6	7	19	34	-15	15
16		Norwich	16	3	5	8	9	22	-13	14
17		Portsmouth	16	3	4	9	12	27	-15	13
18		Aston Villa	16	2	5	9	11	25	-14	11
19		West Brom	16	1	5	10	17	27	-10	8
20		Crystal Palace	16	1	2	13	12	38	-26	5

[MikeVick7]

29 November
- Josemi and Harry Kewel were selected to the EPL Team of the Week.

30 November
- We had four additional matches picked up for TV coverage.
Man City on February 6
at Newcastle on April 2
Bolton on April 9
Chelsea on April 24

- Reserve team midfielder Darren Potter has agreed to join Plymouth on a 3-month loan.

[MikeVick7]

December 2004

Team Capsule
League Position:	4th
League Record	9-5-2
Active Tournament(s):	Group G Champions League
Wage Total:	£554,642
Wage Budget:	£775,000
Transfer Budget Available	£4,990,270
Transfer Budget:	£7,399,321
Balance:	£8,598,603

1 December
- Newcastle United's 25 yr old winger Mauro Esposito was named the EPL Player of the Month.
- I finished 2nd in the voting for EPL Manager of the Month.

Carling Cup Quarterfinal
Preview
I really don't want to play a lot of subs because that is always a good way to get burned late in a tournament game like this, but since we have a ton of games in the month of December, this is one of the few opportunities to rest some of my guys. So I really need to play a few other guys today. But we are at home and on a huge role. We've won five in a row now and are undefeated in our last nine. Southampton has only won three league games this year and the only time we've played them we drew 2-2 back in September.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Sinama-Pongolle / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Hamann / Alonso / Gasbarroni
Defense -	Riise / Pellegrino / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Dudek
1st Half Notes
Really, I'm just putting the guys out on the field now and they're just doing their thing. We put three on the board in the first half. Morientes scored two and Andrea Gasbarroni added a goal himself as we dominated play. We had 13 shots to their one and the one shot wasn't even on goal.
2nd Half Notes
Most of the 2nd half was spent running up and down the pitch. Sinama-Pongolle added a late goal as he headed in a Gasbarroni cross. Sinama-Pongolle, Morientes and Gasbarroni all received 10's for their performance in the match.
Final Score:	Liverpool	4	-	0	Southampton
Goals -	Fernando Morientes 33, Andrea Gasbarroni 35, Fernando Morientes 45, Florent Sinama-Pongolle 89
Man of the Match -	Florent Sinama-Pongolle
Conditions	Wet 41F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	40057

Remember what I said Blackburn earlier in this dynasty, and how pesky they can be? Wel they gave Arsenal their first loss of the season 3-1. Finally!

- For the Carling Cup win we earned £200,000.

3 December
Brentford has offered another 3-month loan to Patrice Luzi. Interest for him in the transfer market has picked up again, so we're gonna send out feelers to all clubs interested.

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

Every year? Good lord. I've never experienced that kind of domination. But with only three or four teams that could win it every year, I guess I'm not totally shocked.

Yeah I had never seen anything like that either. It seems like it will be a different story in 2011 though, they are going through a string of indifferent form and Chelsea is on fire, though its only January so we'll see.

[daedalus]

We give up a garbage goal to a guy simply named Mista

There are worse things in footie than giving up a goal to a Spanish international. Emile Heskey could have scored on you or something.

We'll definitely need to pick up some wing help when the January transfer window opens up for business.

But you play a narrow formation, no?

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by daedalus

But you play a narrow formation, no?

That is true and I really have tweaked my tactic since making that initial statement. Now I'm really looking for 3 inner mids altogether as opposed to one inner mid and two wingers. I was trying everything with my tactic when I was struggling and now that I've stumbled upon something that works, I now need an inner mid instead of a winger.

Hopefully I'll be able to get through the month of December tonight and will be able to start searching for a possible transfer pickup.

[MikeVick7]

4 December

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
We've had a lot of big games lately, Man Utd in the Carling Cup, Paris in the Champions League and now 1st place Arsenal in a big EPL tussle. The only striker that's been hotter than Cisse this year is of course, Thierry Henry. Henry has 17 goals in 21 games so far this season. Meanwhile, Cisse has 16 goals in 26 games. We're able to put our starting 11, minus Alsonso, out on the home pitch tonight, so we're feeling pretty good about our chances.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Hamann / Garcia
Defense -	Finnan / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
About as exciting as a scoreless half gets. Both teams had moments of dominating possession and good attacks but the two best defenses in the EPL really showed up in the first half. We ended up with a 8-4 shot advantage and 4-1 SOG advantage. But those usual break-thru's that Cisse or Baros get just were shut off by Sol Campbell and company.
2nd Half Notes
Wow. Arsenal's legit. Like real legit. Their rock solid defense continued to hold us down in the 2nd half as theyfound a couple leaks in our's. Just :30 into the half Henry found Bergkamp on a cross to make it 1-0. Then Robert Pires scored on a free kick at the 70 minute mark. Gilberto found him lingering at the top of the box and Pires just turned and shot to ice the game. Is this where we concede the title in classic English fashion?
Final Score:	Liverpool	0	-	2	Arsenal
Goals -	Dennis Bergkamp 46, Robert Pires 70
Man of the Match -	Jens Lehmann
Conditions	Dry 44F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	45333

- After the match the draw for the semi's of the Carling Cup were held. We drew Charlton and the first leg will be played at The Valley on January 12th. Charlton currently sits 10th in the EPL table.

5 December
- We get another offer from an agent today. Jimmy Bullard a 26 yr old attacking mid from Wolves had his agent send us a video. After looking at Bullards scouting report, we threw the video in the garbage.
- League One's Peterborough have made a loan offer to 19 yr old winger Robbie Foy. Foy just got back from Wrexham in League One. We accept the offer.
- Knowing that we wanted to dump 3rd keeper Patrice Luzi, we cut our offer in half to £150,000 and three teams bite. Hull, Coventry and Doncaster. Coventry, the only Championship side to send an offer is only offering £41,000 and then 50% of their next sale. This does not seem all that great. I guess the League One teams will have to battle for the Frenchman.

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	16	15	0	1	44	9	35	45
2		Newcastle	16	12	1	3	29	10	19	37
3		Tottenham	17	12	1	4	26	17	9	37
4		Man Utd	16	11	2	3	35	15	20	35
5		Liverpool	17	9	5	3	31	12	19	32
6		Man City	15	8	4	3	26	17	9	28
7		Blackburn	17	8	4	5	24	16	8	28
8		Chelsea	17	8	3	6	26	17	9	27
9		Birmingham	17	7	5	5	28	26	2	26
10		Charlton	17	6	4	7	24	28	-4	22
11		Bolton	16	6	2	8	18	21	-3	20
12		Everton	17	4	7	6	14	17	-3	19
13		Fulham	17	4	7	6	22	29	-7	19
14		Middlesbrough	15	4	5	6	22	28	-6	17
15		Southampton	17	3	7	7	20	35	-15	16
16		Norwich	17	3	5	9	10	25	-15	14
17		Portsmouth	17	3	4	10	12	30	-18	13
18		Aston Villa	17	2	5	10	11	27	-16	11
19		West Brom	17	1	5	11	17	30	-13	8
20		Crystal Palace	17	1	2	14	12	42	-30	5

[MikeVick7]

6 December
- Jamie Carragher was selected to the EPL Team of the Week.
- The draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup was held today as well. We received a rather kind draw as we get to play at home against League Two side Boston Utd. The game will be played on January 8th.

8 December

Champions League Group Stage
Preview
Well this is it. It's not "quite" do or die, because a draw will advance us to the knockout stage, granted Valencia take care of Paris tonight. But, this is a team that we should beat and coming off the beating we took at the hands of Arsenal, I'm hoping the boys respond postively. The last time we played, we played a fair amount of backups and had to rely on two late goals to pull ahead for the win 3-1 at Anfield. It's the starting 11 on the pitch as we are not messing around.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Gerrard / Alonso/ Garcia
Defense -	Finnan / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
Man, we're not lookin like the same team that's been on the pitch for the last 10 games. Tenative, slow and crappy is how I would describe our performance. We had five shots on goal but only one had any chance of going in, a Milan Baros breakaway that was saved brilliantly by Alfred Weber. Defensively, we're not being aggressive enough as we've allowed four shots on goal ourselves.
2nd Half Notes
Wow. Just flat out embarrassing. We give up two goals in the 2nd half, including a shot from 30 yards out that confused Chris Kirkland so much that he didn't even make an attempt to save it. I just have no words for this loss. We really never even gave them a run for their money in this one. Our Champions League ends in a most disappointing fashion.
Final Score:	GAK	2	-	0	Liverpool
Goals -	Alexander Koch 47, Jugen Hartl 85
Man of the Match -	Alexander Koch
Conditions	Dry 37F
Venue	Arnold-Schwarzenegger-Stadion, Graz
Attendance -	15394

10 December
- To welcome us back to jolly ol' England, we find out that Patrice Luzi had rejected the offers from Hull and Doncaster. Well I guess it's off to the reserve team you go so you can at least get some game action in.
- Robbie Foy, however, has accepted the loan offer to go play for Peterborough for 3 months.

11 December
- We get approached by another agent. This time it's the agent for striker Nathan Ellington. Ellington is young at 23, but again, is more of a Championship type player.
- Southend, of League Two, want defender David Raven on loan for 3 months. Raven shined for Cambridge in his earlier loan this year to L2 where he scored 3 goals.
- Keeper Scott Carson just completed his loan with Sheff Wed of L1. Carson thought it was a complete waste of time and didn't learn much. He appeared in 12 games, gave up 11 goals and had five clean sheets.

12 December

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Well damn, we get our butts kicked by an Austrian team on Thursday and now we gotta go to Old Trafford and take on a Man Utd team that's pissed because we man-handled them earlier this season? I'm still at a little bit of a loss after our performance against GAK. We just were so lifeless and just laid down to an inferior team. And the prize money that we missed out on by not advancing to the next round really could hurt us with the transfer windown opening up in 19 days.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Cisse / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Hamann / Gerrard / Gasbarroni
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Dudek
1st Half Notes
The slide continues. Now we actually didn't play too badly in the first half. Shots on goal were pretty even but we did give up a corner kick goal as Rio Ferdinand headed one home past Jerzy Dudek. Two injuries were suffered in the half. Ferdinand for Man Utd and Gasbarroni for us.
2nd Half Notes
Yup, paybacks are a bitch. After having our way with Man Utd about a month ago, they take care of business at home by slaughtering us 3-0. Rooney and Alan Smith added goals in the 2nd half to give us our 3rd loss in a row.
Final Score:	Man Utd	3	-	0	Liverpool
Goals -	Rio Ferdinand 31, Wayne Rooney 49, Alan Smith 75
Man of the Match -	Ryan Giggs
Conditions	Showers 46F
Venue	Old Trafford, Manchester
Attendance -	67839

- With Luis Garcia receiving a yellow card in the match on Sunday, he reached his limit of 5 cards and will have to sit out the next domestic match.

+ Physio Report +

And a big blow here as we find out that Andrea Gasbarroni will be missing in action for a month with strained knee ligaments. There goes our depth at midfield. We'll see if you can limp, literally, to the transfer window.

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	17	16	0	1	46	9	37	48
2		Newcastle	18	13	1	4	31	13	18	40
3		Tottenham	18	13	1	4	28	18	10	40
4		Man Utd	17	12	2	3	38	15	23	38
5		Liverpool	18	9	5	4	31	15	16	32
6		Blackburn	18	9	4	5	27	16	11	31
7		Chelsea	18	9	3	6	28	17	11	30
8		Man City	17	8	4	5	28	22	6	28
9		Birmingham	18	7	6	5	28	26	2	27
10		Everton	18	5	7	6	17	18	-1	22
11		Charlton	17	6	4	7	24	28	-4	22
12		Fulham	18	5	7	6	25	30	-5	22
13		Bolton	17	6	3	8	20	23	-3	21
14		Middlesbrough	16	4	6	6	22	28	-6	18
15		Southampton	18	3	7	8	21	38	-17	16
16		Norwich	18	3	5	10	10	27	-17	14
17		Portsmouth	18	3	4	11	13	32	-19	13
18		Aston Villa	18	2	6	10	13	29	-16	12
19		West Brom	18	1	5	12	17	33	-16	8
20		Crystal Palace	17	1	2	14	12	42	-30	5

[MikeVick7]

Midway Report

With half of the EPL season over with, I thought it was a nice time to size things up for a moment.

It's clear that Arsenal are the class of the EPL in this first season. They are 16-0-1 and 8 points clear with a game in hand as they have only played 17 games. Newcastle surprisingly sits in 2nd place right now and the Spurs are somewhat of a surprising 3rd. We're hanging tough in 5th right now with 32 points, but we will have to make up some major ground if we want to get back into the Champions League next year. The biggest disappointment so far has no doubtedly been Chelsea. They've had their fair share of injuries but a team with this much depth should have been a little more competitive. Right now they are 9-3-6 and sit in 7th place in the table.

To start the 2nd half of the season we get Charlton and Everton at Anfield so hopefully we can right the ship and get back into our groove that we had just four games ago.

Now here are some screenshots of the roster rundown, league table and scoring leaders:

[MikeVick7]

13 December
- Stockport of L1 want Patrice Luzi for a 3 month loan. Again, I'm still going to make an effort to sell him during next month's transfer window. Plus, Luzi turned down the transfer offer of two L1 sides earlier this month.

14 December
- Defender David Raven is ready to head out back to L2 and join Southend for 3 months.

Searching through the transfer list, it appears that we may have the guy that would fit the best for us right now. Scott Parker, currently on the Chelsea Reserve team, is currently transfer listed for £3.6M. Right now our budget is £5M, so that would fit perfectly. Parker's a 24yr old MC and would fit in well with Gerrard Kewell and Alonso. We send out our scout.

15 December
- Scout Terry Berry, yes Terry Berry, was able to scout Scott Parker during a Chelsea Reserves vs Crystal Palace match and was impressed. We're going public with our interests.

16 December
- After announcing during the off week that we have interest in Parker, we've now contacted Chelsea to see if their price of £3.6M is still good.

17 December
- Well now that we've bowed out of the Champions League early, we are now entered into the UEFA Cup (I didn't know that) and our first knockout round opponent will be Dortmund, who currently sit 6th in the German First Division. The first game will be on February 17th at Westfalenstadion.
- And the winner of our Cup ties will face either AEK or Anderlecht in round two.
- Chelsea gets back to us and their current offer of £3.6M for Parker is still on the table. We think this is a steal so we're going to pounce all over it.

18 December
- It's finally game day as we get set to take on Charlton. But before we do, we have to start thinking about renewing some contracts before they become unprotected once January 1st rolls around.

The players whose contracts are up in 2005 are:

Dietmar Hamann (31)
Vladimir Smicer (31)
Igor Biscan (26)
Milan Baros (23)
Sami Hyypia (31)
Antonio Nunez (25)
John Arne Riise (25)
Djimi Traore (24)
Mauricio Pellegrino (33)

The one that sticks out right away is Baros, he is a must to lock up. Then we look at Riise. And Hyypia for a year or two. And then possibly Hamann but we do have Alou Diarra coming back to us for next year at back-up DM, so Hamann could be expendable. Diarra is currently on a year loan with Lens. We'll make some contract offers after the game.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Ok, we've had a week off to think about all of our problems and try and get them worked out. Now we've got a two game homestand and it's a perfect time to get back on track. We're missing Garcia to suspension and Gasbarroni to injury, so our midfield is a bit thin. So they may be asked to go the distance unless we actually score some goals and get a lead.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Hamann / Alonso / Gerrard
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
At this point, we're taking whatever we can get. We continued to struggle with the way we're doing things out there, but we were finally able to end our three match scoreless streak. And it came thanks to a cheap penalty kick. Wooo!!! Milan Baros was able to put one by Dean Kiely to make it 1-0 at the half.
2nd Half Notes
Finally! Losing streak stopped. We really put the clamps on the Charlton attack in the 2nd half and added one more goal from Fernando Morientes. We're still a work in progress but I think the win will get us back on track.
Final Score:	Liverpool	2	-	0	Charlton
Goals -	Milan Baros pen40, Fernando Morientes 71
Man of the Match -	Jerzy Dudek
Conditions	Dry 37F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	40661

- The troops are getting a little tired as our physio says that Steven Gerrard has now joined Sami Hyypia as players are need some rest. We can definitely give Sami a little more rest and then if we land Parker, Gerrard can rest a little more in the new year.

19 December

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	19	17	1	1	48	9	39	52
2	Tottenham	19	14	1	4	30	18	12	43
3	Man Utd	18	13	2	3	41	17	24	41
4	Newcastle	19	13	2	4	31	13	18	41
5	Liverpool	19	10	5	4	33	15	18	35
6	Blackburn	19	9	4	6	27	18	9	31
7	Man City	19	9	4	6	32	25	7	31
8	Chelsea	19	9	3	7	28	19	9	30
9	Birmingham	19	8	6	5	30	26	4	30
10	Everton	19	6	7	6	20	19	1	25
11	Bolton	18	7	3	8	22	23	-1	24
12	Fulham	19	5	7	7	26	32	-6	22
13	Charlton	19	6	4	9	25	32	-7	22
14	Middlesbrough	17	5	6	6	24	29	-5	21
15	Southampton	19	3	7	9	21	40	-19	16
16	Aston Villa	19	3	6	10	14	29	-15	15
17	Norwich	19	3	5	11	12	30	-18	14
18	Portsmouth	19	3	4	12	14	36	-22	13
19	West Brom	19	1	5	13	17	34	-17	8
20	Crystal Palace	19	2	2	15	15	46	-31	8

[MikeVick7]

20 December
- Milan Baros was named to the EPL Team of the Week

21 December
- Now Everton manager, David Moyes, is talking some smack about me in the press. They need to have more smartass options for replies in this game. I'm stuck with choosing the most smartass available. The one where despite what everyone else thinks, I have full faith in his ability.

22 December
- Before the game tonight, we are gonna try and hammer out some contract negotiations. The first one we go after is striker Milan Baros. We're going to throw out a 3-year deal worth £35,000 per week which is a £12,000/week raise. We're also throwing in a £800,000 signing fee.

- Next up is fullback John Arne Riise. Riise is being offered a 4-year deal with £25,500 per week. He wants 28,500 and the Asst Man is recommending 20,000, so we meet in the middle. We're also throwing in a £300,000 signing fee.

- The final contract extension we're going to offer is to centre back Sami Hyypia. Sami is 31 right now but we think he has another year in him after this. So we offer him £30,000 per week, which is what he is currently being paid. Plus we're throwing in a £300,000 signing fee.

- I'm still pondering what we're going to do with 31-yr old DMC Dietmar Hamann.

Barclays Premiership League Match
Preview
Another match on our road back up to the top. I think I maybe taking some chances in resting both Gerrard and Hyypia today, but really Gerrard has not been someone that we can't live w/o so far this year. Alonso is great at playing either MC or DMC and Hamann is just a good solid DM, so I think we'll be ok. We welcome back Garcia after his one game suspension.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Morientos
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Hamann / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Biscan / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
A pretty tight first half for both teams. There were just five total shots and three on goal. The three on goal were all by us. Garcia took a knock early but it looks like he'll be able to last until the 60 minute mark when we can put in Gerrard.
2nd Half Notes
This one looked pretty dim with 10 minutes left in the match. Tim Cahill scored a goal out of nowhere with 15 minutes left, but that was equalized by another brilliant strike from the very hot and cold Cisse. We put on some really good pressure in the final 10 minutes but we were only able to salvage a draw out of this rivalry.
Final Score:	Liverpool	1	-	1	Everton
Goals -	Tim Cahill 75, Djibril Cise 82
Man of the Match -	Harry Kewell
Conditions	Dry 37F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	45344

- Great news, after our semi-depressing draw with Everton, Chelsea has accepted our offer for Scott Parker, now we sit down at the table with him. The offer that we put down on paper is a 4-year deal worth £30,000 per week and a £500,000 signing fee.

23 December
- More good news today as striker Milan Baros, fullback John Arne Riise and centreback Sami Hyypia have agreed to the contract extensions that we offered earlier this week.

+ Physio Report +

- Ugghh, and now the bad news, Steven Gerrard has suffered a broken collarbone in training today. He is expected to miss up to 2 months. It looks like we may need to find yet another midfielder during the transfer period.

26 December

Barclays Premiership League Match
26 December 2004
Preview
We lost to these guys early in the season 0-1, so even though they are now towards the bottom of the table we can't take them lightly at all. Especially since we are on the road where we haven't been all that great this year. With the depressing news of Gerrard out for the next two months, we have to press on and really hope that Parker signs in the next few days so he can come on over once January rolls in.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Morientes
Midfield -	Kewell / Hamann / Alonso / Garcia
Defense -	Finnan / Hyypia / Carragher / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
The first half, it was not good. We played evenly with Portsmouth, but that's the problem, we should be dominating play. Gary O'Neil scores on a header just 4 minutes into this one to give Portsmouth the early advantage. I'm going to have to do something at halftime to give us a spark. Morientes picked up a knock in the half but was able to continue.
2nd Half Notes
We get a big time break early in the 2nd half as the Portsmouth keeper Lobont kicked a free kick right to Milan Baros. Baros proceeded to deflect it over his head and beat him back to the box and knock it in an empty net to draw us even at 1-1. But that's how the match ended as we pick up our 7th draw of the league season.
Final Score:	Portsmouth	1	-	1	Liverpool
Goals -	Gary O'Neil 4, Milan Baros 55
Man of the Match -	Linvoy Primus
Conditions	Dry 57F
Venue	Fratton Park, Portsmouth
Attendance -	20284
Post Game Notes: Fernando Morientes sufered a chest injury and is expected to miss five days and Sami Hyypia and Xabi Alonso are in need of a blow.

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	21	19	1	1	54	9	45	58
2		Tottenham	21	16	1	4	36	19	17	49
3		Man Utd	20	15	2	3	49	17	32	47
4		Newcastle	21	14	2	5	32	17	15	44
5		Liverpool	21	10	7	4	35	17	18	37
6		Birmingham	21	10	6	5	35	26	9	36
7		Man City	21	10	5	6	37	28	9	35
8		Chelsea	21	10	3	8	31	21	10	33
9		Blackburn	21	9	4	8	30	23	7	31
10		Everton	21	7	8	6	23	20	3	29
11		Fulham	21	6	7	8	29	36	-7	25
12		Charlton	21	7	4	10	26	33	-7	25
13		Bolton	20	7	3	10	22	29	-7	24
14		Middlesbrough	19	5	7	7	25	34	-9	22
15		Southampton	21	4	7	10	26	44	-18	19
16		Aston Villa	21	4	6	11	15	33	-18	18
17		Norwich	21	3	5	13	12	33	-21	14
18		Portsmouth	21	3	5	13	15	40	-25	14
19		Crystal Palace	21	3	2	16	18	49	-31	11
20		West Brom	21	1	5	15	18	40	-22	8

[MikeVick7]

Red's News: 28 December - 31 December

- Harry Kewell was named to the EPL Team of the Week his 5th such honor.

- In a bit of a shock, Man Utd has agreed to a £16.5M transfer fee to sell Rio Ferdinand to Barcelona. Man, this is a big blow to their defense

- And as we expected, midfielder Scott Parker has agreed to terms and will join us on January 1st. Niiice.

- Totenham and Newcastle suffered losses and Arsenal drew in Tuesday's games this week.

- Valencia have show interest in plucking Ronaldo away from Man Utd. The price tag looks to be somewhere around £16.5M. If Man Utd goes along with Ferdinand. Yikes.

+ Physio Report +

Steven Gerrard - broken collarbone - 1 month

Vladimir Smicer - damaged knee cartilage - 1 month

Andrea Gasbarroni - strained knee ligaments - 3 weeks

Fernando Morientes - chest injury - 3 days

Barclays Premiership League Match
28 December 2004
Preview
With this game just two days from our last one, we have a lot of guys that are still recovering. So this lineup is a potpourri of players. Looking up and down the lineup, only Cisse and Josemi are the regular starters that are in their regular positions. Luckily, we have two things going for us. We're playing at home and we're playing against Southampton. Check out the lineup below and let the unknown take over.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Sinama-Pongolle / Cisse
Midfield -	Riise / Hamann / Alonso / Partridge
Defense -	Finnan / Biscan / Pellegrino / Josemi
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
We were pretty much controlling the play out there but we really didn't do much with it. We had five shots and just two on goal and believe me, those didn't put the fear of God in anyone. We're definitely playing like a bunch of guys out of position but we still gotta shot.
2nd Half Notes
That was the definition of grinding out a win. We were able to squeak one goal past Southampton and it was by a player who hasn't scored all season, Mauricio Pellegrino. I don't even know how we got 10 SOG's, or that we held Southampton to 1 SOG. With all of the backups that were suited up for that one, we are real thankful to grab a win.
Final Score:	Liverpool	1	-	0	Southampton
Goals -	Mauricio Pellegrino 52
Man of the Match -	Anti Niemi
Conditions	Dry 44F
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance -	42979
Post Game Notes: Xabi Alonso is still in need of a rest.

[MikeVick7]

January 2005

Team Capsule
League Position:	5th
League Record	11-7-4
Active Tournament(s):	UEFA Cup 1st Knockout Round
Wage Total:	£574,890
Wage Budget:	£775,000
Transfer Budget Available	£4,990,270
Transfer Budget:	£7,399,321
Balance:	£9,379,694

Red's News: 1 January - 2 January

- The transfer window has opened for the month of January

- The board is still pleased with my performance as manager

- Thierry Henry has won the World Footballer of the Year award

- Henry also won the World Player of the Year award

- And why not give him the European Footballer of the Year award as well

- Juventus' Gianluigi Buffon has won the European Goalkeeper of the Year award

- Valencia's Roberto Fabian Ayala has won the European Defender of the Year award

- Manchester United's Ryan Giggs has won the European Midfielder of the Year award

- And of course Thierry Henry has won the European Striker of the Year award

- Wayne Rooney has been named the EPL Player of the Month award

- And hey, our own Harry Kewell has won the Oceania Player of the Year award. And he gave me a shot out in a local newspaper saying that I was the key reason as to why he won the award. What a stud.

- The transfer for Scott Parker goes through and we kiss £3.6M goodbye.

- Charlton have made an offer of £750,000 for Djimi Traore. I'm not planning on resigning Traore and was fully expecting him to leave on a free transfer at the end of the season. But if Charlton wants him now, then we'll gladly accept their bid.

- While possibly saying goodbye to one player, we just resigned young DM Alou Diarra to a new 2-year deal worth £10,000 per week.

+ Physio Report +

Steven Gerrard - broken collarbone - 1 month

Vladimir Smicer - damaged knee cartilage - 3 weeks

Andrea Gasbarroni - strained knee ligaments - 2 weeks

Barclays Premiership League Match
01 January 2005
Preview
Well, Scott Parker made it to Middlesbrough just in time to suit up and start in today's match against Middlesbrough. I'm putting out my bestest, most healthiest lineup today as we're on the road. We have a game back at Anfield in two days and I'm just hoping to piece together another lineup for that one on Monday. Tonight's lineup also features Oceania Player of the Year Harry Kewell...ha.
Starting Line-up: 4-1-3-2
Strikers -	Baros / Cisse
Midfield -	Kewell / Alonso / Parker / Garcia
Defense -	Riise / Hyypia / Carragher / Finnan
Keeper -	Kirkland
1st Half Notes
I'm not sure what has happened to us, but ever since the 2nd half of the Arsenal game we've just been a shell of our former self. We fall victim to a header from Mark Viduka to make the halftime score 1-0 in favor of Middlesbrough. Only two SOG's for us in the half. Cisse also had to be replaced about halfway through as he sustained some kind of injury. It doesn't look too serious however.
2nd Half Notes
This is how we like to play. Play like crap, play like crap, oh couple of good passes and we score! Then we play like crap and play like crap and just play good enough so we don't lose, but we don't win either. Anotherr draw.
Final Score:	Middlesbrough	1	-	1	Liverpool
Goals -	Mark Viduka 34, Florent Sinama-Pongolle 54
Man of the Match -	Stewart Downing
Conditions	Dry 42F
Venue	The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
Attendance -	35066
Post Game Notes: Hyypia, Kewell and Alonso are all in need of a rest.

Barclays Premiership Table
Pos	P/R	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Arsenal	23	20	2	1	60	12	48	62
2		Tottenham	23	17	1	5	39	22	17	52
3		Man Utd	22	16	3	3	52	17	35	51
4		Newcastle	23	14	2	7	32	21	11	44
5		Birmingham	23	12	6	5	38	26	12	42
6		Liverpool	23	11	8	4	37	18	19	41
7		Man City	23	11	5	7	42	30	12	38
8		Chelsea	23	10	5	8	33	23	10	35
9		Everton	23	8	9	6	25	20	5	33
10		Blackburn	23	9	5	9	33	31	2	32
11		Fulham	23	7	7	9	33	39	-6	28
12		Charlton	23	7	6	10	29	36	-7	27
13		Bolton	22	7	5	10	23	30	-7	26
14		Middlesbrough	21	6	8	7	29	36	-7	26
15		Southampton	23	5	7	11	28	46	-18	22
16		Aston Villa	23	4	7	12	17	38	-21	19
17		Portsmouth	23	4	6	13	18	41	-23	18
18		Norwich	23	3	6	14	14	36	-22	15
19		Crystal Palace	23	3	3	17	22	55	-33	12
20		West Brom	23	1	5	17	19	46	-27	8