FM10 - From the Bottom Up

[Alf]

Grats on the title for Ipswitch. Espaceially fitting for the club 150th anniversary. Great way to celebreate that !

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

I think your plan sounds like a good one. If he's of the quality to play with the senior team, I'd go for it, provided between reserves and senior club play you can get him 30+ starts.

Yeah I think that'll work. I'm not very good at getting two young guys both some playing time at the same position (at DC last year with Gareth Williams and Pablo Olvera, I pretty much decided I liked Williams better and shut out Olvera, not really on purpose), but I should be able to get a guy 30 starts between the senior team and the reserves.



Thanks to everyone else for the comments on winning the league title I thought I might lose some momentum after that, but I want to try at least once more for a Champions League title before I move over to FM12.

[Radii]

I set up my friendlies and look to replace my fitness coach that got hired away.

-- We set a new attendance record last year. Our stadium is capped at 40k, last year our average attendance was 38,913, woohoo!

-- Like last year we're expected to sell around 30,000 season tickets.


Title Odds

Man City are the favorites this year at 5:2. We get some respect here and are the #2 contenders at 8:1. Chelsea 12:1, Huddersfield 16:1, Arsenal 20:1, Man Utd 20:1.


European Championship

I lost some writeup on this in the post I screwed up last night, lets quickly roll through the results:

Quarterfinals

Holland 2 : 0 Croatia
Belgium 2 : 1 Turkey
Germany 3 : 2 Italy
England 2 : 0 Spain


Semifinals

Holland 1 : 0 England
Belgium 2 : 1 Germany

Finals

Holland 3 : 1 Belgium


Holland have two of the world's best strikers, Arsenal star Hans Nooij scored two goals in the finals while Man City star Jeroen Mihci got the goal in the semifinals that beat England.


-- Our exciting young midfielder Brian Leather will be mentored by our best MC, Brett Connolly, I hope more than anything else that pairing works out and Leather sees his mental attributes jump quickly, most specifically his determination.

Depth Chart

I didn't do the writeup on salaries and all this year, instead I'll just do a quick review of our depth chart. Our starters are obviously extremely strong at every position so I'll focus as much on overall depth and youth potential.


GK: Bogdanovs/Lines/Aaron/Ralph

Bogdanovs is 31 and we'll see how long he can stay around. Obviously we're thrilled at his play.

Rob Lines is at this point a throwaway backup and in fact I could probably just sell him off at this point like I do with most of my younger keepers.

Aaron is the more promising of our two younger keepers, 3* potential. He'll turn 18 just after New Year's. If we do sell Lines Aaron would take over as our option should Bogdanovs get hurt.

Paul Ralph turns 17 in July, unlikely to go anywhere but maybe we can develop him and sell him for a bit of profit.


DL: Kirkland/Hughes/Heywood/Berg

Kirkland just turned 29, he's only rated as a 2 1/2* player right now but he hasn't really declined any, he's never had the best technical attributes but he always performs well.

Hughes is unhappy and wants a new challenge, I really like him as a backup for both DL and ML. I may set out to get him more playing time this year to see if I can keep him happy.

Heywood seems the odd man out after we signed Clive Hayward last year. Heywood is rated well but he ends up at 3rd string DL/3rd string DR. He's valued at $7 Million as well and its probably time to let him go as well.

Jurgen Berg came to us from Murcia last year, he has some strong stats but would need to develop really well to become anything. He does have potential to be as good as Kirkland. He's 17 and has one more year with the U18's.


DC: Connor/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Williams/Olvera/Black

Kieran Connor is a superstar, no question about it.

Otmar Mattle is nowhere close to Connor's level, he's 31 now and will likely compete with our new DC for playing time once he comes in.

Carlos Aldrovandi is fading noticibly, he'll turn 33 this year and this may be his last year with the squad.

Gareth Williams is pretty promising, he performed well in limited action last year. He's only 20 and has a determination of 18, Marking of 17 and he's solid in the air. He'll almost certainly be with us for a long time

Pablo Olvera is probably going to get loaned out to a Championship team this year. He's really not bad, but I just have a preference for Gareth Williams when I want to get younger guys out on the pitch and it'll stunt Olvera's development.

Graham Black is 17 and has better potential than anyone but Connor.


DR: Hayward/Jackson/Heywood

Clive Hayward is about to turn 31 but he's still going really strong.

Clive Jackson is 28, I need to get him more playing time this year, just like Jack Hughes, to try to keep him happy.

Anthony Heywood is the odd man out.

We don't have any youth players here (though Gareth Williams and Graham Black can play the position they are both clearly primarily DC's).


ML: Crespo/Ros/Hughes

Juan Pablo Crespo turns 28 soon, he's rated well and will likely take over as the starter from David Ros this year, he's rated as twice the player of Ros, at least.

David Ros turns 23 this year and really his ratings don't impress me much, but he gave us great results last year and I'm comfortable running him out there at any time.

Jack Hughes gives us injury coverage here but will get more playing time at DL.


MC: Connolly/Smith/Mills/Jean/Leather/Bartlett

Brett Connolly is about to turn 24, he scouts out as a 4 1/2* player now, he's really been one of the best surprises for us, I never expected this at all from him when I signed him.

Craig Smith also turns 24 this year, only rated as a 2* guy compared to Connolly but we have a long history of very solid play from Smith and he's pretty much an everyday starter at this point.

Steven Mills is our reliable veteran, he just turned 31 but hasn't really declined much. Mills was incredibly productive for us last year and will play a lot again this year.

Jean has settled in as clearly the #4 guy but that still warrants a reasonable amount of playing time, he got in 21 league matches last year.

Brian Leather is our youth pull, I'm excited to see what he can do.

Neil Bartlett is only listed as a reminder than its time to get rid of him. He isn't bad but we just haven't had enough injury problems to make time for him, he's unhappy and its just time to see him off.


MR: Gordon/Garcia Mut

Neil Gordon is 32 and is declining noticibly, but he still played really really well for us last year.

Ruben Garcia Mut was an acceptable backup for us last year but he isn't a long term solution.

We have a 20 year old MR coming in from Greece for the start of the new season as well that may steal a lot of playing time from Garcia Mut if he gives us any sort of results at all.


ST: Di Giuseppe/Bryan/Darcy/Constantino/Marney/Mitchell

Yuri Di Giuseppe is one of the best players in the world.

Chris Bryan is still only 25 and has been a really solid 2nd option for us for many years now.

Eoin Darcy is 24 and actually rates better than Bryan in many ways, both of them easily get their share of playing time and I really like both Bryan and Darcy.

Constantino may finally be done for real this year, though I'll probably still keep him on until he retires. He's really dropped off a lot though.

Ernie Marney came up through the youth program but he has a really long way to go, he's probably not going to make it with us.

Liam Mitchell is our "other" youth pull this year, we won't hear anything from him for awhile. He has moderate potential at best.



Whew, that was a lot of typing, probably more useful to me than anyone. I have Neil Bartlett, Anthony Heywood and Rob Lines on the transfer block. We've got the roster space and salary space but I'm more concerned about keeping people happy and preventing any discord in the locker room.

[Radii]

I go through my scouting reports and things are tough this year. I basically have four players that catch my eye. Two of them are left midfielders, two are strikers. Both strikers play for Olympique Lyonnais. The ML's play for Everton and Newcastle. All of them are likely going to be incredibly expensive *if* I can sign them at all. I'm happy with my squad but these seem to be the spots I could maybe upgrade.


Transfer Out

Neil Bartlett signs with AC Milan, we make $3.8 Million on the deal.


July Update

-- July will just be friendlies and spending frenzy for us.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. The "amazing increase in stature" is the highlight. The club is disappointed with my signing of youth DL Jurgen Berg... that's random and very old. Ok!


New Signings

Welcome 20 y/o AMR Dobrin Ivanov to Ipswich. We bought him for $6 Million from Greek side Panathinaikos last season.

Physical: 14 pace/15 accel/16 jumping/13 sta, everything 11+

Mental: Determination 12/Off the ball 13/16 teamwork/13 work rate/16 anticipation. Not spectacular but solid, most ratings 11-13.

Technical: 15 dribbling/13 crossing/13 passing/12 tacklilng/10 marking. Decent on both sides of the ball. At age 20 there's room for a bit more improvement and that's what gets me a little excited here.

Ivanov is better as an AMR than MR so I set him to improve his midfield play as part of his training.



Next up is 23 y/o DRC Denny Junaedi who we signed from Turkish champion Besiktas for $23 million. I discussed him in depth when we made the signing back in May, our coaches vary on him from 2 1/2* to 4* talent. He'll see significant playing time this year and has a legit chance to take the second starting DC job away from Mattle.



Transfer Out

Rob Lines is sold to Aston Villa for $1.5 Million.


Welp, Darcy and Bryan are going to be a little upset, but our fans are going to be thrilled. Next post will be a big one... but not until after I watch the end of the Florida/Louisville game. SUSPENSE

[Radii]

So there were four players I was tracking and any one of them would likely cost me enough that there was zero chance I could land more than one. I end up going hard after Newcastle ML Jay Chapman and Olympique Lyonnais ST Clive Chapman, both starters for England during the European Championship recently. the Newcastle ML would cost me $70 Million, the Striker $80 Million PLUS $9 Million after 30 league goals. After a couple offers Olympique Lyonnais asked for $130 Million for Chapman and I talked them down to the $80+ number.

both guys are obviously world class but in the end I had to take the striker. So, what did I get?



Yea... that works. Similar dribbling/first touch/finishing to Di Giuseppe. Not quite as strong or fast physically, but unrivaled when it comes to creativity and flair.

I actually feel bad for Chris Bryan and Eoin Darcy, both players I am fairly attached to, both will continue to get playing time but obviously it will be diminished heavily with this signing. I've been pretty openly jealous of the amazing striker combination at Arsenal with Hans Nooij and Bugra Yildirim, an unstoppable duo that has led Arsenal to many EPL titles and success in Europe. Hopefully a few seasons from now the rest of England and Europe will look to Ipswich's combination of Yuri Di Giuseppe and Clive Chapman with the same level of admiration.

[Radii]

Transfer Out

DR Anthony Heywood signs with Lazio and we make $13 Million on the deal. Heywood is a good player but its clear at this point that we're going to go with Clive Hayward until he falls apart and then will use our budget one year to pick up some youth at DR to keep going. So getting $13 Million makes a lot of sense here.


Friendly #1

We host Scottish side Motherwell. We get first half goals from Smith and Di Giuseppe and win 2:0. Leather 6.7, Chapman 6.6, Ivanov 6.8, Junaedi 5.9 for our noteworthy new players.

Ipswich 2 : 0 Motherwell

Injury Update

DC Gareth Williams is out for 2-3 weeks with an injury picked up in training. I hate July injuries, it makes it so tough to get into match shape once the season starts.


-- Inter ask me about Di Giuseppe, I say he's not available. Holding my breath until the end of August begins now.


Friendly #2

We host League 1 side Millwall. First half goals come from Connolly, Crespo and Chapman. A second half goal comes from Chris Bryan.

Ipswich 4 : 0 Millwall



-- Arsenal's manager has mentioned his interest in Kieran Connor a couple times. Connor responds and says Arsenal is a pretty attractive place. Yeah, you aren't going there buddy.

Friendly #3

We step up the level of competition here, we're playing French side AS Monaco. Scoreless first half, Di Giuseppe has a goal called back due to an offsides. No score in the second half either with backups in.

Ipswich 0 : 0 AS Monaco


That takes us to July 25th. We have two more friendlies and the Community Shield to finish getting guys warmed up for the regular season. Its pretty quick getting through July if you spend your entire transfer budget before July 4th!

[Simbo Klice]

Hans Nooij and Bugra Yildirim still have cooler names, though. I saw you just said that Nooij was Dutch, what's Yildirim?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Simbo Klice

Hans Nooij and Bugra Yildirim still have cooler names, though. I saw you just said that Nooij was Dutch, what's Yildirim?

He's Turkish (I say, without the game open... I'll doublecheck next time I play to be sure)

[MIJB#19]

Yildirim is definately a Turkish name. :P
Nooij should be pronounced, well, as the short version of Nistelrooij, I suppose.


Anyway, congrats on the EPL title and on the new signings, Radii!

[Radii]

Contract Update

We don't have nearly as many contracts expiring this year as normal.

DL Stuart Kirkland - Makes $71,000, wants a bonus for an extra year at the same rate. I try to bump it to an extra two years.

ML Juan Pablo Crespo - Makes $75,000/wk. Wants $77,000/wk and a bonus for another year. Again I try to make it 2 years.

MC Steven Mills - Mills just turned 31, I assume I'll want him around one more year but I am going to wait til December just to make sure there isn't a career killing dropoff that starts now.

DR Clive Jackson - Currently unhappy and not willing to talk contract. We'll get him more PT this year and hopefully he'll stay.

MR Neil Gordon - Gordon turns 33 in February, he is declining seriously at this point. I hold off on an offer here as well. I could see keeping him another year but playing him a lot less, but we'll re-visit in December.

DC Otmar Mattle - Turns 32 this year as well but not declining at the rate Aldrovandi is and he's a DC, and we could use a vet DC while we sort out these young guys, so I give Mattle a 1 year extension.

DC Carlos Aldrovandi - Turns 33 this year and is fading a lot, and his play was noticeably down last year. Will re-visit in December but leaning towards not bringing him back at this point.

ST Constantino - Constantino makes $41k right now, he'll take $35k to stay another year. He turns 34 before the end of the season, but at this point I'm keeping him til he retires so this is automatic.



-- I bump up the League bonus and Continental bonuses for the squad, I want a better outcome this year in the Champions League.

-- Inter offer me $21.5M for Eoin Darcy. Somewhat tempting considering that Darcy's role is going to be diminished but I can't bring myself to do it. I love Darcy and we are one injury away from him getting significant PT.

-- Roma and Cagliari have bit Brett Connolly up to $23 Million, no chance in hell.


Friendly #4

We travel to Shrewsbury. Di Giuseppe scores in the first half, Bryan scores in the second half. Our new MR Ivanov scores on a header, and we give up a super late goal. Steven Mills gets hurt in the second half.

Shrewsbury 1 : 3 Ipswich


Injury Update

-- Mills is hurt and will miss about 4-5 days.

-- New DC Denny Junaedi is hurt in training and will miss about a week.

August Update

-- We have one more friendly, the Community Shield, then league matches against Southampton, West Ham, Huddersfield, and Chelsea this month.

-- 18 year old DC Graham Black is singled out for training well, Marking (12), Anticipation (12), Decisions (14), Off the Ball (14), and Teamwork (11) have all improved recently.

-- Neil Gordon is again singled out as training poorly.


Ipswich Captains

Stuart Kirkland has been our captain for years and will stay that way. Darcy was vice captain but I feel like his playing time is going to drop and we'll get less use out of that. Brett Connolly and Di Giuseppe both have 16 influence... but Di Giuseppe was captain a few matches last year when Kirkland didn't play and it seemed like it might cause issues based on the notes from my assistant during those games. So I go ahead and make Connolly vice captain.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Our increase in stature is the high, the signing of young defender Berg is the negative.

-- We lost $92 Million last month (LOL).

Friendly #5

We travel to Barcelona for our final friendly. We give up a penalty in the 3rd minute and they go ahead. That's the only goal. They push hard and Bogdanovs makes tons of great saves.

Barcelona 1 : 0 Ipswich


-- We lose our Set Pieces coach to Roma.

August 6th, 2028

Community Shield

Arsenal vs Ipswich

We mostly treat this as a friendly. We're 13:8 to win, Arsenal 6:4.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Connor/Aldrovandi/Hayward
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman/Bryan

Di Giuseppe is away with the Italian team in the Olympics.

42': Chapman is hurt, but can stay in.

HALF: They shoot 10 times to our 6 with 3 shots on target to our 1. We're still treating this pretty much like a friendly, i'm just breezing through this game. I bring Darcy in for Chapman, don't want to aggravate any injury he may have.

49': Midfielder Gamliel with a header from pretty close range to give Arsenal the lead. 0-1

70': Jean in for Connolly, Hughes in for Crespo.

We aren't able to get a goal, that's it.

Arsenal 1 : 0 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Stuart Kirkland (7.4)
Notables: Bogdanovs (7.1)

Kirkland is man of the match in defeat.



Injury Update

Our new star striker Clive Chapman is out 4-5 days, season opener is 6 days, he may well not be ready for that one.

[Radii]

-- Di Giuseppe may miss our openner as well, he's still off with the Italian Olympic team, where he just scored 4 goals in a 5-2 win over Egypt

August 12th, 2028

Southampton @ Ipswich

Southampton just missed qualifying for Europe last year, finishing 8th. Of course, we are pretty heavy favorites for our opener, 4:5 to get a win. We're 11-5-5 lifetime against Southampton including two convincing wins last season.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Darcy/Bryan

Di Giuseppe is still out with the olympic team and Chapman is not quite full strength after getting hurt in our last friendly. He is available as a sub. Standard mindset today.

20': Gordon with a corner, put in the 6 yard box, Mattle wins the header and drives it into the back of the net! DC Otmar Mattle with the first goal of the season for Ipswich. 1-0

41': Gordon with a free kick from ~25 yards out, its by the wall but the keeper makes a diving save to keep it out of the left corner of the goal.

HALF: We shoot 8 times but only 2 are on target, many headers that are just way off and Darcy had a good look in the area that he put a mile high and wide both. They have 5 shots, I didn't see any in highlights and all 5 were blocked. No changes at the half.

46': They kick off and go up the field and get a clear cut chance right away, Connor just totally lost a man behind him or something... but Bogdanovs makes the clutch save.

67': After 3 attempts to clear fail for Southampton finally a Connolly header into the area is volleyed from Gordon to Bryan, Bryan is at a very tough angle wide right, he shoots for the left post, hits it and it bounces in! 2-0

70': Connolly is hurt, can stay in but we'll pull him ASAP.

75': Jean in for Connolly

79': Garcia Mut in for Gordon


Ipswich 2 : 0 Southampton

Much better than our memorably awful start to last season, a solid, workmanlike victory.

Man of the Match: Chris Bryan (8.1)
Goals: Bryan, Mattle (8.1)
Assists: Gordon 2 (7.7)
Notables: Hayward (7.3), Kirkland (7.6), Connor (7.2)



Injury Update

Yuri Di Giuseppe has a break in his arm after a awkward fall against Brazil in the quarterfinals of the Olympics... he's out for 3 weeks. Crap!

[Radii]

-- About 3/4 of our tickets are available as season tickets, and we've sold them all for the second year in a row. 30,625 is the final season ticket count.


August 15th, 2028

Ipswich @ West Ham

We're 4:5 favorites here today on the road against a West Ham team that has spent 4 of the last 5 years in the Championship. They just promoted up again last year after winning the playoffs.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Junaedi/Hayward
M: Ros/Smith/Connolly/Garcia Mut
F: Chapman/Bryan

3 days rest today and people are still getting back into form going into the season. Junaedi and Chapman both get their first starts for us, Ros and Garcia Mut are also in. Standard mindset.

13': Smith ahead to Bryan, he puts it into the area for Chapman who has a clear cut chance, he shoots near post but the keeper dives to stop it.

19': Smith with a deep through ball into the area that Bryan runs on to, the keeper is rushing out, Bryan sidesteps the keeper and walks it into the net! 1-0

26': Clive Chapman goes down injured and is forced to leave the match immediately... uggggh. Darcy is in.

39': Smith ahead to Darcy who is 20 yards out, he turns and seems to have a man draped all over him, but he has enough room to get off a rocket of a shot that bends into the right side of the goal! 2-0

HALF: Its all Ipswich. 9 shots, 4 on target, 3 clear cut chances. They haven't taken a shot yet. Junaedi is having a tough time in his first match with a 5.6 rating but hopefully we're fine with the early lead we've built.

68': Great play all around from Kirkland winning the ball in midfield, sending it long to Darcy, Darcy heading it down for Ros who volleys it to Smith who plays a through ball to Garcia Mut who beats the keeper, really every step in that goal was pretty... and offsides. Doh!

79': Ivanov in for Garcia Mut, Williams in for Mattle.

West Ham 0 : 2 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Eoin Darcy (8.3)
Goals: Darcy, Bryan (8.1)
Assists: Smith 2 (7.6)
Notables: Hayward (7.3), Kirkland (7.3), Connolly (7.0)

We got most of our new players some playing time today and all did fine. Junaedi a 6.8 after a poor first half, I'll take it. The Chapman injury is obviously the big concern though.


Injury Update

New hopeful superstar striker Clive Chapman broke multiple ribs in the match today. He's going to miss 3-4 weeks. So we're going to be playing the next month without Di Giuseppe or Bryan... great.

[Radii]

New Signing

Welcome 21 y/o DL Lucas to Ipswich. La Liga side Murcia offered Lucas out to other squads for $4.7 Million and it seemed like a decent opportunity for us. Lucas is ok, not great, very likely a career backup at best. But I've been getting offers for Jack Hughes throughout the month of August and he's really unhappy that I'm turning them down. So basically, I'm taking this chance to bring in a guy who is younger and will hopefully be happier in a backup role, and should make some money as well.

Physical: pace 18/accel 17/agility 17, everything 13+

Mental: Determination 13/Teamwork 16/Work Rate 16/Anticipation 13/Concentration 12

Technical: Marking 14/Tackling 17/Heading 11/Passing 12

Lucas is a much better athlete than Hughes with great speed. Hughes was stronger mentally (18 determination to 13 mostly). Lucas is better marking his man and tackling, while Hughes was more well rounded. Hughes isn't gone just yet, but since I've been getting offers and the purpose here is to bring in Lucas and sell Hughes, I expect I'll get a deal done very soon.


-- I set Lucas available for the reserves since he's not match fit. I press Continue, tab away for a moment, tab back in. "Lucas suspended for one match" - He picked up two yellows and was sent off days after arriving in England and joining the club. Way to make a first impression.


Transfer Out

Well it doesn't take long at all. 28 year old ML/DL Jack Hughes is going to Real Madrid for $10 Million. It always makes me second guess myself when these great teams come after players like this, but he's 28, he's not as good at Kirkland or Crespo and he wants to be starting, so that's that. Hughes has 201 league matches in his career, 6 goals and 19 assists and a 6.94 average rating. 181 of those games were with Ipswich, 30 of them were while loaned out a couple years in his younger days. We wish him well.

August 20th, 2028

Huddersfield @ Ipswich

We're even money favorites against Huddersfield today. Obviously they finished second last year in the EPL behind us and have had a rather impressive rise of their own over the last 6-8 years. We are 11-10-12 lifetime against them. Last year we won on the road and played to a draw at home. Our results have actually been especially bad against them lately, 1-3-4 over the last 4 years.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Jackson
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Darcy/Bryan

Jackson gets a start today at DR.

18': Long buildup, there are tons of men forward, Gordon has it out right, passes to Connolly in the right side of the area, he strikes it with his first touch and its low and strong and into the back of the net! 1-0

32': Connor a yellow.

HALF: We are up 1-0 at the half, each team has 5 shots but we have 3 on target and they only have 1. We'll keep it up going into the second half.

56': Connolly puts it into the area for Bryan, he controls it well and scores on a clear cut chance! Connolly has made a number of good passes into the area today and it finally pays off with an assist here. 2-0

80': Connolly to Bryan again, Bryan scores and we take a big lead! 3-0

80': Back to a 4-1-4-1 to put this away safely. Garcia Mut in for Gordon, Mills in for Connolly, our youth pull Brian Leather in for Bryan, he plays DMC the rest of the way.

Ipswich 3 : 0 Huddersfield

A great start to the season without our two stars. Darcy and Bryan are really good though so it wasn't like we expected to lose just b/c Di Giuseppe is out.

Man of the Match: Chris Bryan (8.8)
Goals: Bryan 2, Connolly (8.4)
Assists: Connolly 2, Gordon (7.3)
Notables: Jackson (7.4), Connor (7.5), Crespo (7.0), Smith (7.1)


We're only 3 matches in (2 matches for some). Arsenal is the only other team left without a loss or a draw, they are 2-0-0 and we are 3-0-0. We are the only team in the league left who is yet to allow any goals.

[Radii]

-- Welcome Jozy Altidore to Ipswich! Har. He's 38 years old now and he's a 4* set pieces coach.

League Cup 3rd Round

I was hoping for an easy match or two for a little more playing time for my newer/younger players. @Chelsea, not so much.

Injury Update

Eoin Darcy suffers a groin strain in training today... he's out 2-3 weeks. guuuuuuuh.


-- We receive $10.187M for making it to the Champions League group stage.


Champions League Group Draw

1 seeds: Inter, At. Madrid, Man City, OM, Barcelona, Olympique Lyonnais, Ipswich, Real Madrid

WOOHOO, we're a 1 seed.

Group G

1 seed: Ipswich
2 seed: Roma (the top rated two seed)
3 seed: Rangers
4 seed: Leverkusen

Leverkusen are the top rated 4 seed as well. We don't have an easy group by any stretch but I feel like its the 3 seed that's the wild card in the group stage. We're a lot happier playing Rangers instead of Benfica or AC Milan in the 3 seed spot.

Group A is Barcelona, Huddersfield, Benfica and Slovan Bratislava (a slovakian team). That's a really tough group for Huddersfield. Chelsea is matched up with Real Madrid and Dinamo Moscow. Man City with Feyenoord and Spartak Moscow.


1000 matches

-- "Current Manager Richard Dixon is set to crack the 1000 game mark as head coach when the Tractor Boys take on Chelsea at Ancelotti Arena on Saturday. Members of the media are acclaiming Dixon's achievement, declaring him a true connoisseur of the beautiful game"

-- Side note, seeing the word "connoisseur" sent me spinning into youtube looking up Zapp Brannigan Futurama highlights for like 15 minutes.reason.

August 25th, 2028

Ipswich @ Chelsea

My 1000th match is against Chelsea on the road, whee. They are slim 5:4 favorites for this one. We're 9-5-11 lifetime against Chelsea. Last year we beat them at home and played to a scoreless draw on the road.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
DMC: Leather
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Bryan

Pretty easy decision today to go with a 4-1-4-1, Brian Leather gets his first start, not ideal to be making it against Chelsea at their house but he's the guy I want getting these starts, hopefully we don't give up 5 goals and destroy his confidence. We'll counterattack.

2': Bad start here, a run down the right, a cross to the far side of the 6 yard box, Bogdanovs dives out for it but doesn't get to the ball and their midfielder Hristov heads it into the open net. 0-1

12': Lots of Chelsea highlights, they have 4 shots and 70% of the possession early.

19': We get our first shot after some frantic play in the midfield to win the ball, Gordon gets it up ahead to Bryan who gets a shot off in a decent spot but its saved.

26': Oh wow. Kieran Connor with a straight red on a foul out near midfield. What the hell. Gareth Williams in for DMC Leather, 4-4-1. Sigh.

38': They get a goal on a rebound but its very clearly offsides and called as such.

HALF: We're only down a goal at the half but playing so many minutes with 10 men is going to be tough. They have 11 shots to our 4 and are in full control it seems. Smith 6.0, Crespo 6.2, Connor 6.2, some rough play out there.

71': Ros in for Crespo, Garcia Mut in for Gordon.

94': In the final minute of extra time Chelsea has a free kick, they play a cross into the penalty area and Craig Smith goes down hard in the crowd, he's hurt...

Chelsea 1 : 0 Ipswich

Not terribly upset about the result itself, but the connor red card has me pretty pissed off.

Kirkland gives us a 7.2 in the loss, Smith a 6.0, Crespo 6.2, Bogdanovs 6.3. Gareth Williams a 6.5 and Brian Leather a 6.5.

-- I give Connor a warning for his dangerous play. I rarely fine people so i stick with what my players have come to expect from me really.

Injury Update

Craig Smith has a strained groin and is out 2-3 weeks. I guess at this point I should just be happy that it wasn't Bryan that got hurt.

[Radii]

-- We have a rather long international break to start out September which will help greatly with our injury problems.

September Update

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Our increase in stature is the highlight. They didn't like our loss to Chelsea.

-- We made $10.7M last month.

-- Aldrovandi is noted for declining again this month. Poor guy is falling apart.

-- Youth GK Aaron, who played a lot for Spain in the Olympics, is noted for training well. Reflexes (14) and Determination (13) are up.

-- I'm 3rd in Manager of the Month voting for August.


New Signing + Transfer Window closes

We had the cash left to make one more signing after selling Jack Hughes. Welcome 16 y/o DC Angel to Ipswich. We had to pay Murcia $2.2 Million to bring him over. His skills need to round out but there are some promising numbers here. Sta 14/Jumping 15/Balance 14 help hold down the back, he's not the fastest guy (pace 10/accel 12) but that's a little more ok at DC. Determination 18 is something I always love to see. Concentration, Positioning, Teamwork are all 12-15. Technically he's got a decent foundation to build on with 14 marking/11 tackling and 12 heading. We'll see if he can improve this year and next with the U18 squad.

-- And with that the transfer window closes. We made our trademark huge signing with Clive Chapman but we also had more turnover than usual this season bringing in Chapman, MR Ivanov, DC Junaedi, DL Lucas plus our youth guy in Angel, while selling off Heywood, Hughes, Bartlett and Lines. Chapman and Junaedi I have high hopes for, otherwise all these moves were made to get us slightly younger and to avoid potential morale problems with unsettled players that probably weren't going to get the playing time they desired.


Suspension

-- Kieran Connor will miss our next two domestic matches after the straight red card he picked up against Chelsea.


-- Connolly gets an assist in an Australian World Cup Qualifier win. The final group stage just began for this region and Australia is in a group with South Korea, China, Uzbekistan and North Korea with the top two making the world cup. Hopefully we'll get to see Connolly in the 2030 World Cup.

-- Europe started out with a bunch of friendlies. Notably for us our new MR Dobrin Ivanov got his first ever senior cap for Bulgaria. New DC Denny Junaedi is a regular for Indonesia, he is 23 y/o and has 33 caps for his country.

-- Clive Jackson announces his intention to leave Ipswich using the Bosman Rule when his contract ends this year.

-- Yuri Di Giuseppe resumes full training. He won't be ready for our next match but I do get him immediately into a reserve match to get warmed back up.

-- Eoin Darcy resumes full training a couple days later.

-- Junaedi, Bogdanovs and Gareth Williams all played in world cup qualifiers for the losing sides (Indonesia/Latvia/Wales), all teams not expected to go far. Kirkland and Connor played well for England in a 0:0 draw against Serbia. Connolly had 3 assists for Australia in a 5-2 win over Uzbekistan.


September 9th, 2028

Everton @ Ipswich

We're 4:5 favorites over Everton today at home. We're 9-6-6 lifetime against Everton, winning at home and tying them on the road last season.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Junaedi/Hayward
M: Crespo/Leather/Connolly/Gordon
F: Bryan/Constantino

Another start today for Brian Leather. Junaedi starts for the suspended Connor. Constantino up front. Standard mindset today, Darcy is available off the bench.

6': Leather gets the ball to Constantino in the area, not a clear cut chance by any stretch, but a nice pass worth nothing. Constantino gets a shot off but puts it way wide.

17': they get a long run down the right and a cross to the far post, a strong low header that Bogdanovs drops quickly for to save, whew.

43': Connolly is hurt... can stay in, ugh.

HALF: We get 6 shots but only manage to put one on target. They shoot 4 times with two on target. Stats are mostly even, we don't really look great but we're going to stick with what we're doing for now.

61': Leather to Bryan who gets a strong shot off that's saved.

69': Darcy in for Constantion, Jean in for Connolly.

69': Jean scores on a rebound after a corner kick/shot but there was an offsides and it doesn't count, doh!

86': Jean into the area for Bryan who is uncovered, but he doesn't control it as well as he could and ends up right in front of the keeper, unable to get a shot by him. Saved.

Ipswich 0 : 0 Everton

A bit of a frustrating draw but we had a lot of fitness issues in this one and I'm not too terribly unhappy.

Man of the Match: Stuart Kirkland (7.5)
Notables: Hayward (7.2)

Junaedi 6.6, Leather 6.7.

[Radii]

Champions League Odds

Inter at 5:2 are the favorites to win the tournament this year. Atletico Madrid 7:1, OM 7:1. Ipswich, Roma and Barcelona are all 8:1. Lots more respect for us this year. Note that Roma are given the same odds that we, they're the 2 seed in our group. Disgusting.

-- Looking at some Champions Leauge matches that take place before ours, Huddersfield beat Benfica, the team that knocked us out last year, to open their group. Man City struggle to a 1:1 draw with greek side Olympiakos.

-- Brazilian MC Jean has now lived in England for 5 years and has become an EU National.

September 13th, 2028

European Champions Cup Group G

Leverkusen @ Ipswich

We're even money favorites at home for our first Champions League match, we continue to get more healthy and hope to get off to a good start here.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Jean/Connolly/Ivanov
F: Di Giuseppe/Darcy

Chapman is back to full training but not ready to start. Di Giuseppe finally plays his first match for Ipswich this season, with the Olympics and then an injury holding him back. Everyone on Ipswich is injury free now but Smith's fitness is low and Mills and Garcia Mut are not match fit, we're working through it, should be fine for today but we do really need to get off to a strong start here, our next match is @Roma.

Standard mindset today.

7': They get forward and there's a pass into the area, deflected by one of our defenders but not cleared, their MR gets to it and has a clear cut chance but Bogdanovs reacts very well to save it.

18': Crespo a cross, Darcy heads it over, that's our first shot, Leverkusen seems a little more threatening so far.

44': Some pretty play from our guys, Connolly with a nice interception as they try a clearance, passes to Hayward, up to Ivanov, he plays it low into the area, Darcy controls it well and shoots near post, by the keeper!! They had a man on Darcy that took the blame for missing an interception, but that was a nice finish by Darcy once he got it. 1-0

HALF: They shoot 5 times to our 4, Leverkusen pushed us pretty well early and got some threatening situations but couldn't get a goal. We feel pretty good now with the lead.

57': After a fight over a loose ball in midfield that we control thanks to a Darcy header, Crespo sends a long ball to Di Giuseppe, he controls it well, gets behind his man and finishes nicely, Di Giuseppe is on the board in his first match for us this year! 2-0

65': Crespo with a nice ball into the area for Darcy, Darcy with an easy finish to put this away! 3-0

65': Leather in for Darcy, we go to a 4-1-4-1 with Leather at DMC. Garcia Mut in for Ivanov.

70': Connolly to Di Giuseppe 30 yards out, Di Giuseppe beats his man and shoots from just outside the edge of the box and scores! 4-0

Ipswich 4 : 0 Leverkusen

A very solid result, exactly what we needed.

Man of the Match: Yuri Di Giuseppe (9.0)
Goals: Di Giuseppe 2, Darcy 2 (8.8)
Assists: Crespo 2 (8.5), Connolly (7.7), Ivanov (7.3)
Notables: Bogdanovs (8.5), Hayward (7.7), Kirkland (7.7), Connor (7.6), Mattle (7.8), Jean (7.2)

Leather with a 6.9 rating in 25 minutes off the bench.

Roma travels to Rangers and crushes them 5:1 in the other match in our group.

-- Chelsea struggles on the road at Belgium side Club Brugge, 0:0 there. Ajax beats OM 2:0 at home in what is probably the biggest upset in the tournament so far.

-- We receive $1.148M.

[Radii]

September 16th, 2028

Ipswich (3-1-1, 4th) @ Tottenham(0-2-3, 19th)

Tottenham once again are struggling greatly early season. We're 4:6 favorites on the road today as a result.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Junaedi/Hayward
M: Ros/Mills/Connolly/Gordon
F: Di Giuseppe/Bryan

Mills gets his first start today, he got stuck lacking match fitness for awhile. Ros gets a start at ML, Junaedi starts for Connor who is serving the last of his suspension for domestic matches today. Chapman is available off the bench.

Standard mindset on the road today.

8': They have a corner, we clear it out and Connolly plays a long ball ahead, Di Giuseppe gets a couple steps on his man and is on the ball 40 yards out, he pushes it well ahead and races to it, getting into the area, clear cut chance and a nice finish! 1-0

12': Ros a yellow

15': Junaedi a yellow

19': we switch to counterattacking with an early lead on the road here.

28': Gordon is injured but can stay in.

32': Ros with a nice pass ahead to Di Giuseppe, he controls it well 25 yards out, avoids a tackle and gets into the area and scores! 2-0

38': Gordon to Connolly after a throwin in our offensive end, Connolly with a bending shot from 25 yards out, it hits the right post and bounces away, so close.

HALF: Hello Yuri Di Giuseppe, we missed you in august. They outshoot us 9-6, with 4 on target compared to our 3, but Di Giuseppe is just too strong. Garcia Mut in for Gordon at the half.

54': Di Giuseppe is hurt, but can stay in.

56': Chapman in for Di Giuseppe, no reason for him to stay on with a potential injury.

74': After a throwin, Chapman to Bryan who is shockingly uncovered in the area, he gets a very easy goal. 3-0

78': Connolly with a brilliant long pass into the area for Bryan who controls it perfectly and scores. 4-0

87': After we clear a ball out of our end Bryan passes to Chapman, he's at the midfield line, his man goes in hard for a tackle and Chapman keeps control of the ball, sprinting ahead, the keeper begins to rush out, Chapman pulls up from about 25 yards away and blasts a shot by the keeper, his first league goal for Ipswich! 5-0

Tottenham 0 : 5 Ipswich

Everything completely fell apart for Tottenham today.

Man of the Match: Dmitrijs Bogdanovs (9.2) -- No clear cut chances for Tottenham but 5 shots on target and a few fine diving stops by Bogdanovs.
Goals: Bryan 2 (9.1), Di Giuseppe 2 (8.7), Chapman (7.8)
Assists: Connolly 2 (9.1), Ros (8.6), Chapman
Notables: Hayward (7.9), Kirkland (8.4), Junaedi (7.4), Mattle (7.7), Mills (7.7)



Injury Update

Yuri Di Giuseppe turns his knee in this one and he's going to miss 2 more weeks.

Neil Gordon has a bruised rib and will miss 4-5 days.


Next up is our league cup match @Chelsea that we won't take seriously and will lose badly with younger guys.

[Radii]

September 19th, 2028

League Cup 3rd Round

Ipswich (4-1-1, 3rd) @ Chelsea (4-2-0, 1st)

Its the league cup so the standings are irrelevant for this one. I don't want to throw my kids to the wolves, but I want to wear out my starters here either. Lets see what we can do.

GK: Aaron
D: Lucas/Black/Williams/Jackson
M: Ros/Leather/Smith/Ivanov
F: Marney/Constantino

Don't recognize the names? It's ok. Reserves and U18's mostly. I tell the team there's no pressure. We'll counterattack.

13': Smith to Ivanov and he's in the area with a clear cut chance in the area but its saved.

15': Ivanov a yellow.

38': They have a corner, taken to the near man who shoots far post... I swear it looks to me like clive jackson is walking off the line so the ball won't hit him and the ball goes in the net. 0-1

HALF: They put all the pressure on us but we do a pretty good job and still have a chance here. No changes at the half.

47': Leather into the area for Constantino who has a clear cut chance... but its a weak shot right at the keeper.

55': Their ST Duggan beats our defense and has a clear cut chance, but Aaron makes a solid save.

56': After a throwin ST Duggan feeds their other ST Hansen who shoots from 20 yards out and its in. 0-2

70': Ivanov is hurt but can stay in.

77': constantino with a run down the right, cross to the far post, Ros is there and heads it... but saved.

80': Mills in for Smith.

Chelsea 2 : 0 Ipswich

Hopefully we don't hurt anyone's confidence here.


Injury Update

MR Ivanov is out for about 10 days with an injured elbow.


Out of the League Cup. Yawn.

[Radii]

September 23rd, 2028

Ipswich (4-1-1, 3rd) @ Sheffield Utd (2-2-2, 10th)

We are even money favorites on the road today. We're 10-4-15 lifetime against Sheffield Utd, but we've shut them out the last 4 matches in a row.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman/Bryan

Di Giuseppe hurt but Chapman is good to go. Standard mindset on the road.

11': Kirkland a yellow.

22': Their star ST Colin Wells receives a pass 20 yards out, but a bit wide left, he cuts inside, gets by Hayward, finds some space and shoots and Bogdanovs doesn't have a chance to sotp that one. 0-1

35': Hayward with a really bad pass out of the back, intercepted, passed up to Wells, Connor takes the blame here for a missed interception and he scores easily in the area. 0-2

40': We'll attack.

HALF: One of the worst halftime rating screens I've ever seen. Hayward 5.8, Kirkland 5.9, Connor 5.0, Mattle 5.9, Gordon 5.8, Crespo 6.0, Connolly 5.9, Smith 6.1............ I fuss at the team and at a lot of these guys individually.

49': One of their defenders who picked up a yellow in the first half brings down Bryan as Bryan tries to go by him, that's a second yellow and we get to play the rest of the way a man up... lets see if we can take advantage!

51': Connolly to Bryan for an easy goal but its just as easily and obviously offsides, Bryan broke way too early.

60': We steal the ball on a throwin in their offensive end, Bryan up to Chapman, he loses it (and seemed to be fouled) but Crespo picks up the loose ball and charges down the left side, crosses into the area and Bryan heads it in!! We've got a shot now. 1-2

68': Williams in for Connor, Garcia Mut in for Gordon, the only two guys who haven't really seen their poor ratings go up in the second half.

74': Garcia Mut finds Chapman in the area, he beats his man and shoots but puts it over. Nice move to create the shot though. He's having trouble settling in according to my assistant and it is pretty apparent.

92': Williams is hurt.

We can't get the tying goal.

Sheffield Utd 2 : 1 Ipswich

We just had nothing that first half, I don't know where that came from.

Goal: Bryan (7.9)
Assist: Crespo (6.8)

Connor left with a 5.2, Gordon a 5.7, I yell at both of them postgame and tell the team as a whole that I'm pretty upset about this performance. We travel to Roma for a Champions League match next and we'd better be ready.

[Radii]

September 26th, 2028

European Champions Cup Group G

Ipswich (1-0-0) @ Roma (1-0-0)

Roma are 5:4 favorites at their place today and we'll look to play defensive. We have quite a history with Roma. In 2023/24 we were paired with them in the same Euro Cup group and they beat us twice. In that same season we met them in the Euro Cup Quarterfinals, winning that series with a home win and road draw. In the 24/25 season we met them in the 1st knockout round of the Champions League and beat them 3:2 at home and on the road in a very exciting series. That makes us 3-1-2 lifetime against them going into this one.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
DMC: Jean
M: Crespo/Mills/Connolly/Gordon
F: Darcy

4-1-4-1 today, Darcy is our most rested striker and gets the start. In our last match I could see Connolly having issues hitting Chapman in the right spots, it just looked like examples of the "trouble fitting in" issues that happen soon after signing a new player... I don't want to deal with that here today if we do get some counterattacks, so Chapman sits.

We will of course counterattack here. Its raining rather hard today.

33': They have 6 shots to our 2 but all of theirs are from long range.

43': Gordon is hurt. Probably coming out at the half.

HALF: They shoot 10 times to our 2, controlling 58% of the possession but 9 of their shots are from long range. The one shot they had in the area was scary as hell, a header that Bogdanovs barely saved. We haven't put one on target yet and one of our two are from long range. Garcia Mut comes in for Gordon at the half.

57': Bryan in for Darcy.

75': Jean a yellow.

79': Smith in for Jean, Smith will play DMC.

We get out of this one scoreless and happy.

Roma 0 : 0 Ipswich

We don't take a single shot in the second half despite seeing a lot more offensive highlights than we did in the first half. Roma shoot 17 times total but 14 end up from long range, no threats in the second half worth noting at all.

Man of the Match: Clive Hayward (7.3)
Notables: Bogdanovs (7.1), Kirkland (7.1), Connor (7.0)

Everyone else in the 6.8-6.9 range.


-- Leverkusen beat Rangers 2:0 in the other match in our group.

-- We get $574K for the draw.

1. Roma 1-1-0 - 4 pts
2. Ipswich 1-1-0 - 4 pts
3. Leverkusen 1-0-1 - 3 pts
4. Rangers 0-0-2 - 0 pts

Roma are ahead based on total goals scored (5-1 to our 4-0).

-- Elsewhere in the Champions League Chelsea plays Real Madrid to a draw at home, while Moncao beat Atletico Madrid in a bit of a surprise. Huddersfield beat Slovan Bratslava 1:0 on the road, Man City daws with Feyenoord on the road. Huddersfield are in an extremely strong position in possibly the toughest group (with Barcelona and Benfica). Barca and Huddersfield have 6 points, benfica 0. Man City are struggling a bit in 3rd early with two draws. The same goes for Chelsea, 3rd early on.

[Radii]

-- Yuri Di Giuseppe once again resumes full training for us. He's played a grand total of two matches for us so far (and has 4 goals with an 8.85 avg rating).

September 30th, 2028

Sunderland (2-1-4, 14th) @ Ipswich (4-1-2, 3rd)

We are 4:5 favorites at home today. We're 7-1-8 lifetime against Sunderland, the home team has won 6 of the last 7 meetings with one draw at their place.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Smith/Mills/Gordon
F: Chapman/Bryan

Mills starts with Jean hurt and Connolly a bit tired. Chapman/Bryan up front. I was tempted to start Leather at MC but we haven't won in 3 matches and Chapman's morale is sinking a little, I'd like to try to boost that back up. Standard mindset at home.


9': Bogdnaovs takes a free kick long, Bryan heads it into the area and Chapman is there to try to head it in but its right at the keeper.

32': We have 6 shots but most not seen in highlights, about 15 minutes just flew by.

45': We have another free kick in our end, taken long down the right side, their defender tries to head it back to his keeper but it ends up not being strong enough, the ball goes free near the penalty area and Bryan is the first to it, he sets up his shot and easily scores! 1-0

HALF: Not the greatest half ever but we take a lead into the locker room. We have 8 shots to their 1 and a 62/38 possession edge. If we can keep that up we'll be in good shape here.

68': the only highlights we've seen this half are 3 Sunderland corners, finally on this one they get a cross into the 6 yard box and a header by Bogdanovs. 1-1

70': Attacking.

86': Smith is hurt and must leave the match immediately... Connolly is in.

90': Ros in for an exhausted Crespo.

92': we have a free kick out right and have lots of men forward, they clear out our cross but Connor wins the ball on the clearance attempt, he passes to Connolly, Connolly ahead to Kirkland in the area and Kirkland calmly finishes as if he were a striker!! 2-1

Ipswich 2 : 1 Sunderland

Its not a great win by any stretch but it is a win.

Man of the Match: Chris Bryan (7.7)
Goals: Bryan, Kirkland (7.6)
Assists: Connolly (6.9)
Notables: Connor (7.0)

-- Smith is only out 3-4 days with the injury he picked up today.

[Radii]

October Update

-- Another World Cup Qualifying Break at the start of October. We play on the 14th, 17th, 21st, and 28th. Very light month.

-- MR Ivanov and GK Aaron are singled out as having trained well this month. Ivanov showed gains in Finishing (11), Long Shots (13), Marking (11), Creativity (14) and Off the Ball (14). Aaron Decisions (15), Handling (17), Throwing (16), Concentration (11), Decisions (17). Very nice for both!

-- The board is very pelased with my leadership. Growth in stature a plus. The fans are "understandably extremely disappointed at Ipswich's League Cup defeate against Chelsea and hope you can make amends"...

-- We lost $2.79M last month.

-- We have 18 players called up for international duty, 4 players for U19 and U21 teams, 14 for Wold Cup Qualifying including FOUR for England, Chapman, Connor, Crespo and Gordon.

-- Brian Leather gets an assist two straight U19 matches for England.

-- Di Giuseppe scores a goal for Italy in world cup qualifying. Many of our other players play well but that was the only goal/assist.

Injury Update

Eoin Darcy hurts his back in weight training and he's out a month. Crazy injury issues this year.


October 14th, 2028

Man City (4-3-1, 4th) @ Ipswich (5-1-2, 2nd)

We're slim 6:4 favorites at home. We're 10-8-13 lifetime against Man City. We swept them in league play last year but lost to them in the FA Cup.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Smith/Mills/Gordon
F: Chapman/Di Giuseppe

I think this is the first time we've put Chapman and Di Giuseppe out there together in a non-friendly. Standard mindset.

5': Smith a yellow.

7': After a free kick Man City's AMC van der Poel blasts a shot from 25 yards away and Bogdanovs isn't ready for it and its in. 0-1

9': Connor a yellow.

12': Man City star midfielder Byron Williams "catches Smith with an elbow" and its a straight red card for him! We're up a man.

16': We control it on offense, Crespo with a pass into the area for Chapman, he hits it with his first touch and its in the net! Solid goal! 1-1

39': Another still getting used to the club moment, Chapman keeps sneaking offsides as Smith is looking to pass it to him, their timing just isn't there.

41': Chapman a run down the left side, a low cross and Di Giuseppe heads it in!! 2-1

41': During our last offensive possession Connolly was on the ground pain the entire time. He's hurt and his fitness is shot to hell.

HALF: We shoot 5 times each, we have 3 on target to 2 for them. 56/44 possession edge and obviously things turned heavily in our favor after the Man City red card. Mills in for the injured Connolly at the half.

48': Gordon to Di Giuseppe in the right side of the area, he runs by two defenders and has a good look but puts it a bit wide.

80': Chapman takes a bit of a knock, not a lasting injury but his fitness takes a little hit. I bring in Leather for Chapman and go 4-1-4-1.

84': Smith is hurt...

Ipswich 2 : 1 Man City

I dunno how this would have turned out without the Man City red card but we get a big win in the end.

One of their defenders is man of the match.

Goals: Di Giuseppe (7.6), Chapman (7.5)
Assists: Chapman, Crespo (7.0)
Notables: Kirkland (7.6), Mattle (7.0), Gordon (7.5)


Injury Update

-- Craig Smith is out about 10 days.

[Alf]

Anything you can do to lower the amount of injuries ? Training intensity ? More rest ? Less training ? Add physios ?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Alf

Anything you can do to lower the amount of injuries ? Training intensity ? More rest ? Less training ? Add physios ?

I had already doublechecked my physios to make sure I hadn't lost one (or more) and forgot to replace them. I still have 3 very good physios, the max Ipswich will allow.

I use a canned set of training schedules and don't want to change those, but I rarely remember to go in and adjust them as players age. I don't expect it'll make much of a difference since most of these guys getting hurt are in their early 20s anyway, but I am going through and updating players from the "developing" to "1st team" or "1st team" to "veteran" set as needed.

[Radii]

October 17th, 2028

European Champions Cup Group G

Rangers (0-0-2, 4th) @ Ipswich (1-1-0, 2nd)

We are massive 1:2 favorites at home, making Rangers 9:2 to get a win here. We need to make sure we get a win here and not get complacent. We've never played these guys outside of friendlies.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Williams/Hayward
M: Ros/Leather/Connolly/Ivanov
F: Di Giuseppe/Constantino

We do start a lot of young guys today, Williams/Leather/Ivanov, Constantino starts up front. Standard mindset today.


2': Ros takes a corner to the near post, Aldrovandi doesn't get to it and it floats through the 6 yard box, deflects off of one of their defenders in the box and falls to the feet of Aldrovandi, he volleys it home! 1-0

18': Connolly with a through ball, Ivanov runs onto it and puts it in, barely onsides but it counts! 2-0

43': Leather tries a ball into the area but its blocked by a defender... but not cleared and the loose ball is recovered by Di Giuseppe, he makes a move and finds a little space 18 yards out, shooting and beating the keeper! 3-0

HALF: We're looking great here. Mills in for Connolly, no need to tire him out here. Lucas in for Kirkland as well.

52': A very poor clearance by Rangers, Mills heads it back in, Di Giuseppe runs down to the end line, passes it through the 6 yard box, Ros is there on the other side of the goal and pokes it in! 4-0

66': Bryan in for Di Giuseppe

We put this away easily.

Ipswich 4 : 0 Rangers

Man of the Match: Yuri Di Giuseppe (9.0)
Goals: Di Giuseppe, Ros (8.2), Ivanov (8.8), Aldrovandi (8.2)
Assists: Di Giuseppe, Leather (8.0), Connolly (7.1)
Notables: Bogdanovs (7.1), Hayward (7.7), Williams (7.6)

Solid stuff all around.

Roma and Leverkusen in a barn-burner in Germany, 4-3 Roma.

1. Ipswich 2-1-0 - 7 pts
2. Roma 2-1-0 - 7 pts
3. Leverkusen 1-0-2 - 3 pts
4. Rangers 0-0-3 - 0 pts

We're +8, Roma +5 goal differential.


-- Chelsea finally win a Champions League match 2:0 over Dinamo Moscow.

-- Huddersfield beat Barcelona 2:0 at home, wow.

-- Man City 3:1 over Spartak Moscow.


-- Huddersfield are 3-0-0 and winning a group with Barcelona and Benfica in it. They could clinch advancement in their next game with a win.

-- Man City and Chelsea both get into 2nd place in their groups with wins.

[Radii]

October 21st, 2028

Ipswich (6-1-2, 2nd) @ Nottingham Forest (3-1-4, 14th)

We're 4:5 favorites on the road today. We're 15-5-9 lifetiem against them with history going back into the Championship. We're 8-2-0 in the last 10 against them.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Junaedi/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Mills/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman/Di Giuseppe

Standard mindset on the road.

7': Chapman and Di Giuseppe win headers after a goal kick to win possession deep in their end, Di Giuseppe passes to Crespo coming in from the left, Crespo places a nice shot low near post and it beats the keeper! 1-0

15': Holy crap where did this come from! Di Giuseppe with a pass into the left side of the area, Crespo crushes it with his first touch into the upper right corner of hte net, beautiful! 2-0

19': They get a through ball into the area and our defense completely falls apart, they get their man open at the penalty spot, but Bogdanovs makes the save on the clear cut chance... I think their striker failed there a lot more than Bogdanovs made a brilliant play.

34': Di Giuseppe to Chapman and their defense is playing very high up, Chapman is open with all the time in the world, but he pulls up and shoots from 20 yards out and puts it way over. He could have done way better.

HALF: We look so good out there today, Di Giuseppe and Crespo lead the pack clearly though. We have 12 shots with 8 on target, they have 4 shots.

71': First highlight of the 2nd half... 25 minutes just flew by. Here we threaten a couple times but don't ever get a shot off.

74': Garcia Mut in for Gordon, Jackson in for Hayward.

Easy enough!

Nottingham Forest 0 : 2 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Yuri Di Giuseppe (9.0)
Goals: Crespo (8.9)
assists: Di Giuseppe 2
Notables: Bogdanovs (7.3), Hayward (7.1), Kirkland (7.7), Connor (7.6), Connolly (7.1), Mills (7.3)

A game we expect to win, but still very solid play today all around. Crespo with some great finishing that I don't feel like I've ever seen out of him before. Maybe making the England squad has lit a fire under him or something.

[Simbo Klice]

I think some of the other EPL coaches invested in voodoo dolls during the offseason. Egads!

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Radii

I had already doublechecked my physios to make sure I hadn't lost one (or more) and forgot to replace them. I still have 3 very good physios, the max Ipswich will allow.

3 seems to be very low. That's how many I have right now in my SD Galway dynasty and they are a very poor club. Have you pestered the board for more?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

3 seems to be very low. That's how many I have right now in my SD Galway dynasty and they are a very poor club. Have you pestered the board for more?

I don't see how I would do that? Staff stuff isn't part of the board requests at least.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Radii

I don't see how I would do that? Staff stuff isn't part of the board requests at least.

Oh I didn't realize that wasn't in FM10 as FM12 is the first version I've played.

[Radii]

-- We're 10 matches into the season now. Chelsea are 2 points ahead of us and in 1st, we still sit in 2nd. Blackburn are 6-3-1 and in 3rd, we play them next and will find out if they're really that good or not. Their only loss is a 0-1 loss at home vs Chelsea.

October 28th, 2028

Ipswich (7-1-2, 2nd) @ Blackburn (6-3-1, 3rd)

If Blackburn turns out to be for real this becomes a surprisingly important match. We're 6:4 to win, they are 13:8, essentially even. We're 7-9-4 lifetime against Blackburn. Last year we played them two draws both matches. We actually haven't lost to them in our last 13 meetings but 8 of those are draws.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Mills/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman/Di Giuseppe

Standard mindset on the road today.


3': Mattle is hurt and forced to leave the match, Junaedi is in.

5': Through ball for them to MR Gustavsson and he gets a clear cut chance and an early goal... ugh. 0-1

22': Di Giuseppe with a through ball to Crespo for a clear cut chance but he isn't able to finish, saved.

39': Chapman passes to Di Giuseppe in a crowded penalty area, Di Giuseppe fires, hits the right crossbar, the ball ricochets to the left and stops inches in front of the goal where they clear it. ugggggh.

42': We'll attack for the last few minutes of the half.

HALF: Its an ugly half for us, an early injury, allowing a pretty ugly goal and then not being able to do crap the rest of the half. Connor 5.7, Junaedi 5.8 pretty much tell the story. We're going to come out attacking in the second half to try to wake up out of this funk.

62': Ros in for Crespo who isn't having a very good game.

70': Throwin in their end, passed to Chapman, he's heavily covered, makes a move into the area and he's brought down, its a penalty! Gordon steps up for the penalty... and its saved.. I dunno when the hell Di Giuseppe stopped being the top of the picks for penalties, and it might cost me a point or three, I'll fix that after the match.

78': they try to clear out a corner of ours but we recover and keep the pressure on, Hayward passes to Di Giuseppe who is 20 yards out, the penalty area is crowded but Di Giuseppe just flat out beats two defenders to create a clear cut chance and he scores! 1-1

Blackburn 1 : 1 Ipswich

Well it once again feels like we just didn't play all that well today but if Blackburn is a legit top team, a draw on the road is alright and we'll take it.

Man of the Match: Yuri Di Giuseppe (8.0)
Goal: Di Giuseppe
Assist: Hayward (7.8)

No one else above 7, and Gordon and Crespo both had 5.7 ratings.


Injury Update

DC Otmar Mattle has an ACL injury and he's out 5-6 weeks.

[Radii]

-- I fix my penalty takers to make sure Di Giuseppe is first.

November Update

-- We play on the 1st, 4th, 11th, 18th, 21st, and 26th. The 1st and 21st are champions league matches.

-- Neil Gordon is noted for declining in training in the last month.

-- Di Giuseppe is 2nd in young player of the month voting in the EPL.

-- I'm second in manager of the month voting in the EPL behind Liverpool's manager.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership, getting the best out of Di Giuseppe is the highlight, our league cup loss is the negative.

-- We lost $6 Million last month.

November 1st, 2028

European Champions Cup Group G

Ipswich (2-1-0, 1st) @ Rangers (0-0-3, 4th)

We crushed Rangers 4-0 at home a couple weeks ago and are 4:5 favorites at their place. With a win and some help we could clinch advancement today.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Lucas/Williams/Connor/Haywood
M: Ros/Smith/Connolly/Ivanov
F: Chapman/Bryan

Some backups today in a match we're heavily favored in, Lucas at DL, Williams DC, Ivanov MR and Bryan gets a start today. Standard mindset on the road. Lots of rain today.

15': Throwin for Rangers in their offensive end, a cross goes to MC Clark and he volleys it from 18 yards and its a rocket right on target, incredible shot there and a goal. 0-1

21': We get it back quickly, throwin in our offensive end, a pass into the area for Chapman, he lays it of to Ros in the 6 yard box who pokes it in! 1-1

29': Wow our defense is just not doing well. A through ball into the area by Rangers and we just don't react at all, easy goal for their ML. 1-2

46': A counterattack, we win a ball in our end, the outlet to smith, he passes to Chapman who is inside the midfield circle but he does it all himself, he just outruns the only defender who has a chance at him, gets into the area and scores! 2-2

HALF: Gareth Williams is getting abused out there, 5.5 rating for him. Everyone else is 6.4+. I bring Junaedi in for Williams at the half and hope that's all it takes to turn this into a win in the second half.

54': HUGE error by Rangers. Connolly intercepts a pass and tries to start a counterattack, but it get passed ahead to Bryan and he has the ball taken away.. this is 45 yards away from the goal. Their DL tries ot pass it back to one of their DC's but Chapman is right there, he takes the ball away and charges into the area and scores!!! Great play by Chapman and a horrible error by the Rangers defense. 3-2

57': Smith to Bryan 30 yards from goal. Bryan turns by his man and sprints into the area, he gets a clear cut chance before anyone can close down and he scores. 4-2

75': Leather in for Connolly, Jackson in for Hayward.

80': Ros with a long run down the left, a cross into the area, Bryan wins the header and gets it by the keeper! 5-2

Rangers 2 : 5 Ipswich

It was a slow start but we come around and get the win we need.

Man of the Match: Clive Chapman (9.1)
Goals: Chapman 2, Bryan 2 (8.8), Ros (8.9)
Assists: Smith 2 (9.0), Ros
Notables: Lucas (7.1), Connor (7.2), Ivanov (7.2)

We need to get him starts but Gareth Williams just really struggled today, 5.5 rating at the half when he came out. Its ok bud next game will be better.


-- Roma beats Leverkusen 2:0.

-- We get 1.148M from the win.

-- We have officially qualified for the knockout rounds of the champions league

1. Ipswich 3-1-0 - 10 pts
2. Roma 3-1-0 - 10 pts
3. Leverkusen 1-0-3 - 3 pts
4. Rangers 0-0-4 - 0 pts

The group winner is still to be decided.

-- Chelsea get another win and they haven't clinched advancement but they've put themselves in a very strong position, they are fine now.

-- Same for Man City.

-- Barcelona with a crushing 5:1 win over Huddersfield. Group A is easily the most exciting group now, Barcelona and Huddersfield both have 9 points, Benfica has 6 points.

[Radii]

November 4th, 2028

Aston Villa (2-4-5, 16th) @ Ipswich (7-2-2, 2nd)

We are huge 4:7 favorites today over a struggling Aston Villa. We're 6-8-8 lifetime against them. We haven't lost to them in our last 7 meetings, but last year we did play them to two draws.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Junaedi/Connor/Haywood
M: Crespo/Mills/Leather/Gordon
F: Chapman/Di Giuseppe

Brian Leather gets a start in the midfield today but mostly starters are back for us today. Standard mindset at home.

7': A really long run up the middle by ST Danny Clark, he draws both our DC's, makes his way into the right side of the area, passes to their other ST Ho-Sang and he scores... what a start. 0-1

27': Di Giuseppe a yellow.

31': Throwin deep in their end, thrown short by Gordon, passed back to Gordon, Gordon crosses into the 6 yard box and Di Giuseppe heads it in! 1-1

34': Throwin near midfield, we work it forward, the ball is tackled away from Crespo at the edge of the box, it goes free and Brian Leather picks it up about 25 yards out dead center, he comes forward, shoots from 20 yards away and its by the keeper and that's a goal!!!! The first ever Ipswich goal for 16 year old youth pull Leather. 2-1

HALF: We get to the half after that, yet another poor start, we shoot 11 times to their 3, controlling 57% of the possession, it seems like we woke up and took total control after allowing that early goal. We'll keep pushing going into the second half hopefully.

46': We kick off, Leather ahead to Chapman, he lays it off for Di Giuseppe who gets into the area and has a clear cut chance but he's just a foot or two from the keeper and can't get by him.

52': They clear out a corner attempt of ours but we recover the ball at midfield. Its passed back to kirkland who is 40 yards from our own goal.. he doesn't control it well though and their ST Ho-Sang charges and takes it away, there is no one behind him at all and he has a free run into the area and scores. Kirkland deservedly takes the blame for that goal. 2-2

75': Williams in for Junaedi who is playing terrible. Ros in for Crespo.

80': We attack.

87': We fight over possession in the midfield, won by Mills, passed up to Chapman who cuts out wide left and makes a long run, a cross into the area, Di Giuseppe heads it in, goal! 3-2

87': Counterattack, please hold this lead.


Ipswich 3 : 2 Aston Villa

We dominate 89 minutes of the match but have two moments of complete and utter failure that allow Aston Villa two goals. We luckily play well enough to get 3 goals and the win anyway.

Their scorer Tyrone Ho-Sang is man of the match.

Goals: Di Giuseppe 2 (8.7), Leather (7.3)
Assists: Chapman (8.1), Gordon (7.8)

Denny Junaedi with a 5.3 at DC today, our defense is suffering a bit lately, we need someone to step up.

[Radii]

-- At 16 years, 298 days old Brian Leather becomes the youngest goalscorer in Ipswich History

November 11th, 2028

Ipswich (8-2-2, 2nd) @ QPR (5-1-6, 11th)

Again we are huge 4:7 favorites, this time on the road though. We seem to be struggling early and I'm going to play a counterattacking strategy early on even as heavy favorites until we get warmed up. We're 11-7-5 lifetime against QPR. Last year the home team won each meeting.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Junaedi/Connor/Haywood
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman/Di Giuseppe

We'll open counterattacking.

40': After 40 boring minutes we'll go back to a standard mindset.

HALF: We shoot 4 times, just 1 on target. They only shoot once. We staved off the bad start and lets see if we can push an advantage in the second half.

54': They have a free kick from inches outside the area, its by the wall but Bogdanovs makes a diving save.

We watch a highlight that goes nowhere around 60 minutes in and then there's nothing at all until the 93rd minute where we get a free kick but can't do anything with it.

QPR 0 : 0 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Stuart Kirkland (7.7)
Notables: Bogdanovs (7.3), Gordon (7.1), Crespo (7.1)

Pretty disappointing, we actually end up shooting 10 times but I only see maybe 2 of them in highlights. Very boring game.

-- We fall to 3rd after our draw here, Liverpool jump over us into 2nd, but we're still only 4 points behind Chelsea for 1st.

[Radii]

November 18th, 2028

Watford (1-3-9, 19th) @ Ipswich (8-3-2, 3rd)

We are ridiculous 1:6 favorites today and its probably warranted against a Watford team that hasn't won in a really long time.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Williams/Connor/Haywood
M: Ros/Smith/Mills/Ivanov
F: Chapman/Bryan

Standard mindset today, I'm afraid to attack with Gareth Williams in the back but this is obviously a game where I want to get him some time.

30': We have 2 shots to their 0, Watford in a 4-1-4-1 and turtling it up.

36': Free kick for us out right, Gordon passes it into the area, it comes back to Gordon, he crosses into the area, Connor is there, wins a header and scores! 1-0

HALF: A pretty boring game but it seems like we're in good shape to get the 3 points. We end up with 7 shots, 2 on target, they haven't taken a single shot yet.

56': After clearing out a corner we get a breakaway 2v2, Chapman pulls out wide, waits for help, into the area for Ros, a clear cut chance... but saved.

58': Another clear cut chance, this one for Smith, is saved.

73': Leather in for Mills.

75': Counterattack, Watford is going to press for a goal, lets just play it safe since we've got some kids out there.

80': Leather with a pass into the left side of the area for Ros, great control by Ros to cut inside and beat his man, he gets a clear cut chance from 10 yards out and scores! 2-0

Ipswich 2 : 0 Watford

Nice win over a team we need to beat every time.

Man of the Match: Kieran Connor (8.5)
Goals: Connor, Ros (7.8)
Assists: Gordon (7.4), Leather (6.9)
Notables: Hayward (7.2), Kirkland (7.7)


-- Liverpool is upset by Sunderland and that moves us back into 2nd.

[Radii]

November 21st, 2028

European Champions Cup Group G

Ipswich (3-1-0, 1st) @ Leverkusen (1-0-3, 3rd)

We've already qualified here but want to win our group and we're tied with Roma. Leverkusen are 6:4m we're 13:8 to win.


GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Connor/Haywood
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Ivanov
F: Bryan/Di Giuseppe

We'll counterattack to start.

20': We're in control early but we're just missing headers, I've seen Ivanov and Di Giuseppe just put headers off the bar and over in highlights so far.

40': Change to a standard mindset.

47': Connolly with a steal in our offensive end setting up a 3 on 2 situation with their two DC's, passed to Bryan, over to Di Giuseppe, he shoots... and hits the crossbar.

HALF: I'm convinced the goal we're shooting at is about 6 inches lower than regulation. I've seen no less than 4 shots hit the crossbar in highlights. We shoot 11 times to their 4 and control 62% of the possession. The problem is that we just aren't on target... just 1 shot on target all match. We'll keep the pressure on and hope we'll break through in the 2nd half.

48': They have a corner, taken short, a pass goes into the 6 yard box and we can't intercept it, midfielder Delana is there and pokes it in... 0-1

50': There's a run down the right by Leverkusen, a cross into the area, a header over Hayward by ST Romer, and he wins it and scores, uhoh. 0-2

52': A long ball ahead to Bryan on a counter attack, he gets out behind the defense and controls it, into the area, clear cut chance... right at the keeper.

55': Smith wins a ball in the midfield and passes ahead to Di Giuseppe, he's got space and makes a run into the area, he gets a shot off before the defense can close down, our second clear cut chance in 3 minutes... and he hits the post.

68': Di Giuseppe is hurt, can stay in, but why risk it.

73': Leather in for Smith, Chapman in for Di Giuseppe

74': We win a ball in our end and pass it out quickly to try to counter, Ivanov with a long ball ahead to Chapman, Chapman gets behind the defense, controls the ball beautifully with his first touch, moments later he's in the area and finally someone that can put a shot on target, goal! 1-2

78': through ball from Connolly to Ivanov, he shoots and hits the right post.

85': We control it after winning possession and once again look to attack quickly, Leather with a long ball from behind midfield, the announcers say its intended for Bryan but its Chapman that shows the burst of speed to get behind his man and to control the ball, another clear cut chance and he finishes!! 2-2

92': Chapman with a rocket of a shot from 20 yards out that hits the crossbar and comes back down into play, sooooo close.


Leverkusen 2 : 2 Ipswich

Maybe this is a lesson that if you're getting a bunch of shots but just not finding the target, maybe just switch out a striker and see if the other guy is having a better day, I dunno.

Man of the Match: Clive Chapman (8.5)
Goals: Chapman 2
Assists: Leather (6.9), Ivanov (7.7)
Notables: Kirkland (7.1), Cerspo (7.1)

Di Giuseppe with 6 shots, only one on target, not that great in the air, ending the day with a 5.8 rating.


-- Roma crushes Rangers 4:0 as expected.

1. Roma 4-1-0 - 13 pts
2. Ipswich 3-2-0 - 11 pts
3. Leverkusen 1-1-3 - 4 pts
4. Rangers 0-0-5 - 0 pts

Our last match is at home vs Roma. Win and we win the group, any other result and we finish second.


-- Elsewhere, AS Monaco has won their group knocking Atletico Madrid to second, both are through though.

-- Chelsea plays to a draw against the 4 seed in their group and as a result haven't clinched advancement. It still seems quite likely but its not a sure thing.

-- Benfica beats Huddersfield in what has become the most interesting group. Barcelona 12 pts, Huddersfield 9 pts, Benfica 9 pts, Slovan Bratislava 0 pts. The good news for the English side is that Huddersfield hosts Slovan Bratislava in the last game and is thus a heavy favorite to advance still.

-- Man City is through to the next round.

[Radii]

November 26th, 2028

Ipswich (9-3-2, 2nd) @ Liverpool (9-2-3, 3rd)

A key road match, we're 1 point ahead of Liverpool with a goal differential that's just 1 better. We are 6:4 favorites, they are 13:8 dogs, basically even. We're 8-6-7 lifetime against them, winning on the road and drawing at home last year. The road win last year is the only one in 10 meetings though.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Junaedi/Connor/Haywood
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman/Di Giuseppe

Liverpool are led by emerging superstar 25 y/o Jimmy Hatton, he scored 18 goals last year... this year he has 15 goals in 14 league matches.

8': Beautiful quick attack by Ipswich, a long run by Gordon beating one man and drawing a second, passing inside to Di Giuseppe a good 35+ yards out, he passes ahead for Chapman and its a perfect pass, Chapman receives it, shoots and scores on a clear cut chance! 1-0

13': A second clear cut chance on another pass from Di Giuseppe to Chapman, this one from a bit further out and the keeper makes a diving stop.

43': We kill lots of time nicely here, they have a free kick in our offensive end, we clear it out though and counter, a pass to Chapman near midfield, he sends it up field for Di Giuseppe, he has a man tight on him though and around the 20 yard mark the ball is tackled away, good try.

HALF: Liverpool take 8 shots but 5 are from long range. We shoot 5 times, 4 on target. 55% possession edge for us and we're ahead in most stats, they are tackling a bit better. We continue to counter.

71': We've done a good job killing clock in the second half as well but they are trying to push harder. I bring on Brian Leather for Di Giuseppe, he'll play DMC, 4-1-4-1 to try to secure this one.

75': Ros for Crespo, Garcia Mut for Gordon, both for fatigue reasons, Gordon isn't having the best day ever either.

83': Lots and lots of Liverpool attacks, here we clear out a corner, but they cross it back in and we give up a second corner. They get a shot off this one but its saved.

87': Liverpool free kick 25 yards out, just high.

91': What a beauty, Chapman clearly settling in now. Leather passes to Connolly 25 yards out, his first touch is a pass into the area for Chapman, Chapman with a perfect break on his man to get to it first, and he shoots and scores! A very quick strike with great precision on all passes. 2-0

93': They get one back as their star ST Hatton gets it 20 yards out, cuts by both our DC's to get an open look and scores. 2-1

Liverpool 1 : 2 Ipswich

Really, really good road win over a top 4 team.

Man of the Match: Clive Chapman (8.8)
Goals: Chapman 2
Assists: Di Giuseppe (7.3), Connolly (7.0)
Notables: Hayward (7.0), Kirkland (7.2), Connor (7.0)


Chelsea continue their near perfect play. A quick standings update after 15 matches:

1. Chelsea - 37 pts
2. Ipswich - 33 pts
3. Blackburn - 32 pts
4. Man Utd - 31 pts (1 less played)
5. Liverpool - 29 pts
6. Man City - 27 pts
7. Arsenal - 23 pts
8. Newcastle - 22 pts (1 less played)
9. West Ham - 22 pts
10. Everton - 19 pts

Chelsea are 11-4-0, the last team without a loss. Blackburn and Man Utd only have 1 loss, while we have 2.

[Radii]

FA Cup 3rd Round Draw

We get a good draw to start this thing out, we'll be hosting L1 side Rochdale. This'll be on December 30th

Injury Update

Backup DC Gareth Williams pulls a hamstring in training and is out 2-3 weeks.


December Update

-- We play on the 3rd, 6th, 16th, 20th, 23rd, 26th and 30th. 6th is our last Champions League group match, 30th is FA Cup.

-- Neil Gordon seems to be listed monthly for training poorly.

-- Yuri Di Giuseppe is 3rd in young player of the month voting.

-- I am 2nd in Manager of the Month voting behind Chelsea's boss.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Our increase in stature is the positive. Our signing of DL Lucas is the negative.

-- We lost $6 Million last month.

December 3rd, 2028

Ipswich (10-3-2, 2nd) @ Man Utd (9-4-1, 4th)

We're 2 points ahead of Man Utd but they have a match in hand. @Liverpool, @Man Utd back to back. They are 5:4 favorites here. The lifetime series is dead even, 9-11-9. The road team hasn't won in the last 11 meetings, though 6 of them have been draws. This isn't counting two matches at neutral sites (FA Cup Final and a Community Shield).

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Junaedi/Connor/Haywood
DMC: Smith
M: Crespo/Mills/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman

Chapman feels like the hot hand lately, the only reason I'm starting him instead of Di Giuseppe in this 4-1-4-1 formation. Smith at DMC, we'll counterattack.

10': We intercept a throwin near midfield, a couple passes and Crespo has it in the left side of the area with space, a clear cut chance... but tipped wide by the keeper. We get a shot off after the corner but fail to score.

12': Goal kick Man Utd, though some very very poor passing by their defense sees Chapman intercept a pass, drawing the defense and hitting Mills who has a clear cut chance from 18 yards out... saved.

23': A 3rd clear cut chance after some ball movement, mills into the area for Chapman, he's at a pretty tough angle wide left, but he shoots.. and the ball hits the left post and goes clear.

25': They shoot for the first time, we're intercepting tons of passes and feel like we're in full control here, but without a goal...

33': They shoot from 30 yards out, Bogdanovs forced to make a diving save, we clear the corner.

43': After a throwin deep in their end, and a few passes, Mills finds Gordon completely unmarked in the area, a clear cut chance from just about the penalty spot... but right at the keeper.

HALF: We shoot 10 times with 5 on target, they shoot 3 times. We have FOUR clear cut chances, though most of them are by weaker scorers and Man Utd does have a world class keeper. Watching the highlights it feels like Man Utd is struggling a lot with our defense, we are seeing countless bad passes and interceptions to start off our attacking moves.

62': Garcia Mut in for Gordon.

66': Backup midfielder Broers shoots from 25 yards out after a throwin for Man Utd.... the ball deflects off an attacker in the area and goes in. Really bad luck for us there. 0-1

74': Di Giuseppe in for Smith and back ot a 4-4-2 now that we trail.

85': Leather in for an exhausted Mills.

92': Chapman is hurt and his fitness drops terribly... we'll see after the match.

Man Utd 1 : 0 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Dmitrijs Bogdanovs (8.3)
Notables: Kirkland (7.2), Connor (7.0), Crespo (7.0), Connolly (7.1), Chapman (8.1)

Not a terrible loss or anything but we were so dominant in the first 25 minutes coming away with no goals is pretty disappointing. We could ahve done better here.

Injury Update

Clive Chapman suffered a groin strain going after a loose ball in extra time today. He's going to miss 2-3 weeks.

[Radii]

December 6th, 2028

European Champions Cup Group G

Roma (4-1-0) @ Ipsiwch (3-2-0)

We're fairly slim 5:4 favorites at home, Roma are 7:4 to win today. Both teams advance to the knockout rounds no matter the result, but we trail them by 2 points going into the match today, if we want to win the group we need a victory at home. We're going on 3 days rest but after this we don't play for another week+ so our guys will get some good rest.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Junaedi/Connor/Haywood
M: Ros/Smith/Connolly/Ivanov
F: Di Giuseppe/Bryan

Ros/Ivanov start for Crespo/Gordon today, and Di Giuseppe/bryan up front with Chapman hurt. Standard mindset at home.


7': Di Giuseppe to Bryan, he gets by his man and its not a clear cut chance but a rather good look in the area.. .but saved.

28': We have 5 shots to their 1 and seem to be getting pretty decent chances so far.

31': Connolly to Di Giuseppe, again in the area with space, not a clear cut chance but a good look... but saved.

HALF: Denny Junaedi got hurt towards the end of the half, Aldrovandi is coming in for him. We are outplaying them like crazy, 9 shots to 1, but they are doing a good job of bending but not breaking. They just need a draw to win the group, remember? Not going to attack just yet, but it may happen still.

54': Nice play after a goal kick, Bryan heads it back to Ivanov, passed to Smith, Smith into the area for Bryan, he rockets a shot in from the right side.. the keeper just gets a finger to it and saves.

60': Darcy in for Bryan, Mills in for a very tired Connolly.

68': We'll attack.

77': A hectic series that saw us clear a corner, get out on the break but a bad cross from Di Giuseppe let Roma get going, it looked like they were close to a breakaway themselves but Connor makes a great open field tackle out near midfield, passes it up ahead, it goes to Darcy, their defense isn't reset properly yet and Darcy passes to Di Giuseppe who is completely free in the area, Di Giuseppe shoots and beats the keeper! 1-0

77': We'll counter the rest of the way.

90': Darcy is hurt in a collision going for a header.

94': Ivanov to Smith, Smith plays a nice long ball up ahead, Di Giuseppe has it 20 yards out with a little space, he shoots and its a very precise shot that beats the keeper! 2-0

Ipswich 2 : 0 Roma

Their keeper actually earns man of the match honors.

Goals: Di Giuseppe 2 (8.8)
Assists: Darcy (7.1), Smith (8.3)
Notables: Hayward (7.3), Kirkland (7.4), Connor (7.1), Ivanov (7.7), Ros (7.2)

Dobrin Ivanov was the highest rated player until about the 85th minute, he was very strong and consistent today, 7 interceptions, 8/14 on headers, good passing, really strong play.

-- We get $1.148M for winning

Leverkusen beat Rangers, but that game was irrelevant:

1. Ipswich 4-2-0 - 14 pts
2. Roma 4-1-1 - 13 pts
3. Leverkusen 2-1-3 - 7 pts
4. Rangers 0-0-6 - 0 pts

-- Heartbreak for Huddersfield, they beat Slovan Bratislava, but at the same time Benfica gets a road win over Barcelona. Not a single draw in the group, all three teams end up 4-0-2 with Slovan Bratislava 0-0-6. 3 way tie with 12 points each, but Barcelona has a +10 differential, Benfica +3, Huddersfield 0. Huddersfield start 3-0-0 in group play but fail to advance.

-- Man City win their group, Chelsea pull out the 2nd place finish in theirs, so 3 teams from England advance.

[Radii]

-- In a coaches meeting our star youth pull Brian Leather is singled out for passing and concentration improvements. I also see Decision making going up recently, go go new kid! At the same time otmar Mattle's strength has declined.

Champions Cup 1st Knockout Round Draw

We are rated 4th in Europe based on recent performance and won our group in the Champions League. Unfortunately for two teams, the #2 and #3 teams in Europe finished 2nd in their groups. That'd be OM and Atletico Madrid. We draw France's OM in the first knockout round, a semifinal quality matchup in the first knockout round.

Chelsea plays Barcelona, Man City vs Cagliari for the other English teams.

December 16th, 2028

Sheffield Wednesday (1-4-12, 20th) @ Ipswich (10-3-3, 5th)

Everyone around us in the standings has an extra match played, a win would put us back in second. We are huge 1:6 favorites over a struggling Sheffield Wednesday.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Connor/Haywood
M: Crespo/Leather/Connolly/Ivanov
F: Di Giuseppe/Bryan

Leather, Ivanov get starts today. Standard mindset.

8': Lots of early pressure, after they clear a corner out of the area, Crespo recovers it and shoots from 20 yards out and its by the keeper! 1-0

13': Di Giuseppe receives a pass in the area, he's brought down and its a penalty! Di Giuseppe takes it and scores easily. 2-0

25': Young MR Ivanov is hurt and must leave the match. Garcia Mut is in.

32': Throwin deep in our offensive end, thrown long to Garcia Mut by Hayward, Garcia Mut lays i t off to Crespo in the area, he shoots and scores! 3-0

HALF: Seems like an easy one. Darcy comes in for Di Giuseppe, we play Arsenal later in the week, we may as well get Di giuseppe some rest.

48': Garcia Mut with a cross to Darcy, Darcy is un marked inside the 6 yard box but somehow heads it wide.

50': Kirkland a cross, Garcia Mut a header and he scores! 4-0

82': Connor a yellow.

Ipswich 4 : 0 Sheffield Wednesday

Man of the Match: Juan Pablo Crespo (9.3)
Goals: Crespo 2, Di Gisueppe (6.9), Garcia Mut (8.7)
Assists: Kirkland (8.4), Garcia Mut - Apparently two goals considered unassisted.
Notables: Hayward (7.6), Connor (7.2), Aldrovandi (7.3), Connolly (7.1), Leather (7.3)

Easy win over a bad team.

-- Ivanov is only out 2-3 days.

[Radii]

-- Clive Chapman resumes full training but won't be ready quite yet for the Arsenal match.

December 20th, 2028

Arsenal (6-7-4, 8th) @ Ipswich (11-3-3, 3rd)

We're slim 6:4 favorites over Arsenal, they appear to be in their second straight year of struggling to qualify for Europe at all. This is our first league meeting this year so far, we're 10-3-17 lifetime and lost the Community Shield to them back in August.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Connor/Haywood
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Di Giuseppe/Bryan

Standard mindset to kick it off at home.

13': We have a throwin at midfield, thrown long down to Di Giusepe, he passes to Crespo, tackled away but Crespo chases it down, passes to Smith who makes a run to the 20 yard like before shooting from there and its a beauty of a shot that beats the keeper!! 1-0

18': Gordon a yellow.

26': Clear cut chance for Arsenal's Bugra Yildirim but its a poor shot right at the keeper.

43': We win a ball near midfield, passed up to Bryan, he heads it down for Connolly who immediately sends it long and Bryan beats the defense, he gets on the ball with no one close, has a clear cut chance... but hits the right post and the ball goes free.

45': They push to attack and get a shot off but its blocked, we clear it long, Crespo has it and sends it up to Di Giuseppe, he is on the run down the left, cuts inside... the DC on that side is injured and quite slowed and Di GIuseppe takes advantage, into the area and he scores! 2-0

47': Arsenal defender Wolfgang Niemeyer got a yellow earlier in the match and here at the very end of the first half he's given another, red card!!

HALF: 2-0 lead and Arsenal is down a man the rest of the way. I decide to bring Brian Leather in for Bryan at the half, 4-1-4-1 and counterattacking the rest of the way. Maybe I should just pour on the pressure with the man advantage but it seems like it should be easy to sit on a win here, and that's my plan. I also bring in Mills for Smith, Smith was hurt in the first half, no long term injury possible but his fitness took a fairly big hit.

71': Free kick wide right deep in their offensive end, Gordon with a short cross, Aldrovandi heads it and its in! 3-0

90': Connolly is hurt, we'll check on him shortly.

Ipswich 3 : 0 Arsenal

Man of the Match: Juan Pablo Crespo (9.0)
Goals: Di Giuseppe (8.3), Smith (7.7), Aldrovandi (7.9)
Assists: Crespo 2, Gordon (7.6)
Notables: Bogdanovs (7.2), Hayward (7.7), Kirkland (7.5), Connor (7.0)

Everything went our way today, they only shot once in the second half. No long term injury for Connolly either.

[Radii]

December 23rd, 2028

Ipswich (12-3-3, 2nd) @ Newcastle (8-2-8, 8th)

We're 5:4 favorites on the road today. This match will take us to the midpoint of the season. We're 14-0-11 lifetime against newcastle, we've dominated them in recent years, 3-0-1 in our last four road matches.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Junaedi/Connor/Haywood
DMC: Jean
M: Ros/Smith/Mills/Ivanov
F: Di Giuseppe

We'll counterattack from the start and play a 4-1-4-1 on the road.

3': They attack early, Bogdanovs blocks a long shot but can't hold it, ML Chapman follows up and its a clear cut chance but Bogdanovs lays out for it and saves it, whew, almost a terrible start.

30': We're holding them off nicely, here they earn a corner and Bogdanovs makes a nice diving save on a shot, the second corner is headed behind, the third corner is headed wide.

37': Di Giuseppe with an amazing shot and goal that doesn't count due to an offsides.

41': The highlight opens with Di Giuseppe against 3 defenders wide right, 35-40 yards from goal, he passes it to Smith in the center, a quick ball into the area for Ros who is charging in from the left, he shoots and scores!! 1-0

43': We win possession in our end, after a couple passes Kirkland sends it long down the left side, Ros runs onto it nicely, crossing it in low from the left side, Ivanov is there with a header, and its a driving header by the keeper!!! 2-0

HALF: Mostly boring first half until the 40 minute mark when David Ros took over the game, scoring a goal and creating a goal in 3 minutes! They have 9 shots to our 5, possession is about even, they have the only clear cut chance of the match, but Bogdanovs has a great 8+ rating at the half for making some solid saves and we got two great goals. We'll continue to counter.

60': Garcia Mut in for a tired Ivanov.

72': We have a corner, taken short to Junaedi and he's tackled... penalty!!! Di Giuseppe takes the penalty.. and its saved, doh!

73': Leather in for a tired Mills, Leather DMC, Jean moves up to MC.

82': After a through ball their ST Meade has a clear cut chance from near point blank range... in fact maybe he was too close to Bogdanovs, its saved!

Newcastle 0 : 2 Ipswich

Really solid road win!

Man of the Match: David Ros (8.7)
Goals: Ros, Ivanov (7.9)
Assists: Ros, Smith (7.1)
Notables: Bogdanovs (8.3), Hayward (7.7), Kirkland (7.3), Connor (7.2), Junaedi (7.0)

We're at the halfway point of the season, every team in the league sits at 19 matches now, we're in 2nd behind a Chelsea team that still hasn't lost.

[Radii]

Midseason Update

1. Chelsea - 47 pts
2. Ipswich - 42 pts
3. Blackburn - 40 pts
4. Man City - 39 pts
5. Man Utd - 38 pts
6. Liverpool - 35 pts
7. Sunderland - 27 pts
8. Everton - 26 pts
9. Newcastle - 26 pts
10. Arsenal - 25 pts
11. West Ham - 25 pts
12. Sheffield Utd - 23 pts
13. Aston Villa - 21 pts
14. QPR - 21 pts
15. Huddersfield - 20 pts
16. Tottenham - 19 pts
17. Southampton - 18 pts
18. Nottingham Forest - 14 pts
19. Watford - 13 pts
20. Sheffield Wednesday - 7 pts

I guess Blackburn is for real. Note Huddersfield in 15th, Tottnenham 16th, Arsenal 10th...

Chelsea is 14-5-0 with 28 goals and only 8 allowed, +20 differential. We're 13-3-3 with 36 goals and 10 allowed, +26 differential. Those are the top two in the league.


Goals

1. Jimmy Hatton - Liverpool - 21
2. Colin Wells - Sheffield Utd - 14
3. Stuart Wray - Man Utd - 13
4. Jeroen Michi - Man City - 12
5. Bugra Yildirim - Arsenal - 10
...
9. Chris Bryan - 8
9. Yuri Di Giuseppe - 8
27. Clive Chapman - 4
27. Juan Pablo Crespo - 4


Chapman has 4 goals in Champions League play as well (8 total in 15 matches) and has had two injuries, I'm perfectly happy with him despite the number here.

Assists

1. Bob Van Schijndel - Man Utd - 12
2. Simon Greenhouse - Sunderland - 9
2. John Smith - Liverpool - 9
4. Christian Velder - Blackburn -7
Many Tied - 6

Neil Gordon and Brett Connolly are among those with 6 assists.

16. Juan Pablo Crespo - 4


Average Rating

1. Colin Wells - Sheffield Utd - 7.88
2. Yuri Di Giuseppe - Ipswich - 7.69
3. Stuart Wray - Man Utd - 7.60
4. Chris Bryan - Ipswich - 7.56
4. Jimmy Hatton - Liverpool - 7.56
...
9. Stuart Kirkland - 7.47
21. Clive Chapman - 7.22
24. Clive Hayward - 7.21
31. Juan Pablo Crespo - 7.15
33. Dmitrijs Bogdanovs - 7.14
38. Brett Connolly - 7.12
64. Kieran Connor - 6.99
97. Craig Smith - 6.91

[Radii]

Contract Updates

We re-up many scouts and coaches.

-- Neil Gordon will take $45,000 to stay an extra year. He's fading fast but I have an attachment to him and I keep him around.

-- Steven Mills wants $58,000/wk to stay for an extra year, that is down $18k/wk and he's been a solid player for us when needed, he hasn't declined all that much.

-- Carlos Aldrovandi is fading fast but I'm worried that not enough of my young DC's are working out and that Aldrovandi may still have a place on the team while I sort it out, so I re-up him at $53,000/wk as well.

-- Kirkland wants $66,000/wk, why didn't I sign him already? Of course.

-- DR Clive Jackson is done, he isn't happy, I'll deal with DR in the offseason.

December 26th, 2028

Ipswich (13-3-3, 2nd) @ Southampton (5-3-11, 17th)

We're 4:5 favorites on the road today against a struggling Southampton team that we beat 2:0 at home early in the year.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman/Darcy

Chapman back from injury, Darcy in b/c he hasn't played enough. Standard mindset on the road.

18': Connolly with a nice pass between two defenders to Clive Chapman who blasts a shot from 18 yards out and puts it in the upper right corner of the net! 1-0

21': Gordon with a run down the right, a cross into a crowded area, Chapman with a driving header that beats the keeper! 2-0

HALF: We look really good at the half, we have 7 shots to their 5, but they only have 1 on target and we've been the more dangerous team by leaps and bounds. No change at the half.

51': They have a free kick from 30 yards out and its a beauty, bent around the left side of the wall and into the net, dang. 2-1

61': Smith with a through ball into the area, picked up by Chapman and he has a clear cut chance.. but barely saved and turned wide. Corner goes nowhere.

63': Connolly with a ball into the area, Darcy is the first one there, three defenders tracking him but he has enough time to get a shot off and its in! 3-1

72': Lucas in for Kirkland, Leather in for Connolly.

73': Gordon a yellow.

89': They have a throwin, thrown short and immediately crossed into the area, Bogdanovs goes out for it but Aldrovandi was going up for a header at the same time and neither of them get the ball clear out of the area, it falls free in the 6 yard box and they have a man there to poke it in. 3-2


Southampton 2 : 3 Ipswich

Their keeper is man of the match.

Goals: Chapman 2 (9.0), Darcy (7.2)
Assists: Connolly 2 (8.1), Gordon (7.3)
Notables: Kirkland (7.0)

Aldrovandi took all the heat for their second goal and his rating tanked to a 5.0 for it.

[Radii]

December 30th, 2028

FA Cup 3rd Round

Rochdale (L1) @ Ipswich (EPL)

We're 1:10 favorites in our first FA Cup match today.

GK: Aaron
D: Lucas/Williams/Mattle/Jackson
M: Ros/Mills/Leather/Garcia Mut
F: Bryan/Constantino

Tons and tons of backups today. Standard mindset today.

25': very very boring so far, we have a few headers over the bar and they have 1 off target shot.

45': Mills puts a ball into the area, Constantino was breaking back onside when the pass went in so the ball just kinda sat there for a bit as Constantino breaks in the right direction, the defense reacts very poorly/not at all, Constantino is first there and scores! 1-0

HALF: A yawner so far but we have 10 shots to their 1 and they don't seem to have a threat.

49': After a long press on offense Jackson crosses one into the area from the right, David Ros is unmarked, heads it cleanly and its in! 2-0

58': They have a through ball into the area and ST Patterson puts it in easily, looks like Jackson's vault to me but no one's rating seems ot tank necessarily right away. 2-1

68': Jackson wins a ball for us in midfield to stop a Rochdale move, he gets it to Constantino who passes into the area for Ros, Ros pulls up and shoots from 15 yards out and scores! 3-1

Ipswich 3 : 1 Rochdale

Man of the Match: David Ros (9.2)
Goals: Ros 2, Constantino (8.2)
Assists: Constantinio, Mills (7.3), Jackson (8.0)
Notables: Lucas (7.2), Mattle (7.0), Garcia Mut (7.3)

David Ros continues to far outplay his ratings against good teams and bad equally.

[Radii]

International Job

I'm making this a separate post instead of including it in the rest of the end of year/end of month notes. The United States job opened up and I decided to apply for it. I've avoided an international job for a long time, but chose to this time for a couple reasons:

1) the USA has fallen a long way, I'd like to bring them back up a bit if possible.

2) I keep looking for an endpoint to this dynasty, I'm not bored with Ipswich don't get me wrong, but I have so much money and it seems like I can at any point go spend $100 Million on a new star striker or keeper and keep this going indefinitely. I haven't won all the things yet, but it feels like its only a matter of time, so the idea of calling it quits at any given point (Constantino's retirement, the end of this year, after we win a Champions League title, etc) and moving to FM12 is a possibility. So screw it, lets take an international job and see if chasing a world cup is entertaining enough to keep this going an extra season or two more than it might otherwise.


I have never run an international team, if I find it boring I'll just stop doing it and watch the US team burn.

I also haven't gotten the job yet, I assume they'll have me, we'll see

[Radii]

-- I am hired to be the US Manager, the United States has fallen to 57th in the World.

-- The final phase of North American World Cup Qualifying is about to start. The world cup will be in Mexico next year and that gives the US a qualifying edge since Mexico isn't in the group. Canada, costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica and the USA with 3 automatic qualifiers and a 4th that gets a playoff against a South American squad.

-- As the transfer window opens in January offers come in immediately for Ros, Connolly and Ivanov, all young players that we like.

Year End Awards

-- Inter Midfielder Cesar Aguerre played 30 matches in the last year, 6 goals/15 assists with an 8.32 rating, he wins World Footballer of the Year. Yuri Di Giuseppe played 34 matches, 29 goals/9 assists/7.75 rating, he's second.

-- Yuri Di Giuseppe is a starting striker on the World Team of the Year, the only player from an English squad on the team.

-- Barcelona's Jose Ignacio Uriz is striker of the year with 34 goals in 43 matches. Inter's Andriy Kostyshyn is 2nd, while Di Giuseppe is 3rd.

-- AS Monaco's Mario Masella is the European Goalkeeper of the year, Chelsea's Lassina Bolou is 2nd, Bogdanovs is 3rd.

January Update

-- We play on the 7th, 13th, 17th, 23rd, 28th, 31st

-- Juan Pablo Crespo is 2nd in player of the month voting, Clive Chapman is 3rd.

-- I'm Second in Manager of the Month voting.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Our signing of Dobrin Ivanov is a highlight, no negative. We lost $6.91M last month.


FA Cup 4th Round Draw

-- After playing the likes of Man City in early rounds the last few years we're happy to get another League 1 side in the draw, we will be hosting Oxford.

January 7th, 2028

Chelsea (15-6-0, 1st, EPL) @ Ipswich (14-3-3, 2nd, EPL)

We're 5:4 favorites today and this is clearly a huge match for us. Chelsea played Sunderland to a draw earlier in the week and we didn't play. This puts us 6 points behind them with one match in hand. A win here puts us in a position to tie them for 1st place.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
M: Ros/Smith/Connolly/Gordon
F: Chapman/Di Giuseppe

Standard mindset today.

3': Chapman a yellow

9': We build up on offense, Hayward is out to the right, passes it to Connolly who is 25 yards out a little rihgt of center, he blasts a shot from there right away... and its in the right side of the net! 1-0

28': Connor a yellow.

32': Chapman with a run down the left side after a throwin, he crosses it into the 6 yard box, the keeper dives out for it and doesn't get there, Di Giuseppe heads it and its a goal!! 2-0

HALF: An absolute dominant half. We have 10 shots to their 2, 4 of ours on target, 57/43 possession edge, we're just crushing it out there today. We drop back into a counterattacking mode to start the second half.

68': We clear a cross out of the area but its passed back in quickly, a through ball to ST Thomas and he finds a small hole in the defense and scores. 2-1

71': Leather in for Di Giuseppe, Garcia Mut in for Gordon, back to a 4-1-4-1.

73': Goal kick for us, Bogdanovs sends it all the way into the opposition penalty area, Di Giuseppe controls it beautifully at the 18 yard line, he's behind the defense, makes a move on the keeper and scores easily!!! 3-1

With our defensive formation we shut this down easily.

Ipswich 3 : 1 Chelsea

Man of the Match: Yuri Di Giuseppe (8.8)
Goals: Di Giuseppe 2, Connolly (7.5)
Assists: Chapman (7.2), Bogdanovs (7.5), Hayward (7.5)
Notables: Kirkland (7.5), Connor (7.2), Gordon (7.4)


-- We now only trail Chelsea by 3 points, with a huge goal differential edge, and a match in hand. That was the first loss of the season for Chelsea.

[Radii]

-- Brett Connolly wants a new contract, he made $47,500/wk and it would have run out next season, but he asks me for $100,000/wk for 3 additional years. I'm turning down $20 Million offers for him and am well under my wage budget, so of course I offer him.

-- Sheffield Utd beats Chelsea 3:2 on a day that there are just 5 matches, a few days before we play Tottenham. Maybe our victory over them will send them on a tailspin.

January 13th, 2028

Tottenham (6-5-11, 16th) @ Ipswich (15-3-3, 2nd, EPL)

We are massive 1:2 favorites at home today, Tottenham are 9:2 to get a win here today. We destroyed them 5:0 at their place earlier in the year.

GK: Bogdanovs
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Connor/Hayward
M: Crespo/Smith/Leather/Ivanov
F: Chapman/Constantino

Leather and Constantino start today. Standard mindset.

20': We have 5 early shots but nothing threatening yet.

27': They go straight upfield, a through ball to ST Amoako, he's behind Mattle and scores easily... wow that was offsides, Kirkland complains about it and I don't see how its possible that it wasn't. 0-1

40': Lets attack.

HALF: Bryan in for Constantino. We shoot 9 times to their 5 but they are getting the better chances so far. We'll press and attack harder.

51': Leather ahead to Bryan after some buildup, Bryan blows by his man, shoots from 15 yards out and blasts it by the keeper! 1-1

63': Leather with a pass to Chapman, he turns by his man and has a clear cut chance, but the keeper saves it. Corner is cleared away.

25 minutes go by with nothing and we end up with an extremely disappointing draw.

Ipswich 1 : 1 Tottenham

Man of the Match: Brian Leather (7.2)
Goal: Bryan (7.2)
Assist: Leather
Notables: Bogdanovs (7.2), Kirkland (7.0), Smith (7.0), Chapman (7.1)

Happy to see Brian Leather earn man of the match.

Chelsea plays to a draw today. We have two matches in hand on many teams right now for reasons I don't quite understand, 3 points behind Chelsea and 1 point behind Blackburn with one match in hand, so as long as this kinda poor performance is an anomaly we're in a spectacular position right now.

-- There's a news story about the Tottenham goal being controversial and I don't usually care about that stuff but it *really* seemed in real time that their guy was offside... I look at the replay and slow it down to the slowest speed possible, use the coaches clicker to go back and forth... the dude was offside. We got freaking robbed.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Radii

International Job
2) I keep looking for an endpoint to this dynasty, I'm not bored with Ipswich don't get me wrong, but I have so much money and it seems like I can at any point go spend $100 Million on a new star striker or keeper and keep this going indefinitely. I haven't won all the things yet, but it feels like its only a matter of time, so the idea of calling it quits at any given point (Constantino's retirement, the end of this year, after we win a Champions League title, etc) and moving to FM12 is a possibility. So screw it, lets take an international job and see if chasing a world cup is entertaining enough to keep this going an extra season or two more than it might otherwise.

Funny because I had a similar thought process one World Cup cycle earlier. I've basically done everything with Man City I could want to achieve (except have a perfect EPL season, twice finishing with 1 loss and just 2 draws) and so when the US was in danger of not qualifying for the World Cup, I took over the team and think that the world cup with be my stopping point with 11, though I think at this point I'm going to skip 12 and just wait for 13.

[ntndeacon]

USA! USA!