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11-03-2005, 01:12 PM
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#151 |
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College Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Beantown
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Great news, looks like you can build up some TS
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Boston Bashers - III.14 - (8347) |
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11-03-2005, 01:18 PM
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#152 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
LOL  I'll tell you what I told my wife at 9 this morning, "now you go sleep, good night, err, afternoon, err sleep" FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-04-2005, 10:06 AM
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#153 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 1st, 2007
The board is still delighted with my performance as manager of the club, although the still think the team should be holding a higher position in the EPL. The supporters are now very pleased with my management of the club, down from their previous delighted state. In the build-up to our Premier Division clash on Sunday, Cardiff manager Ian Holloway has told me through the media that he truly hopes the best team win. Holloway commented that I was a good manager and I deserved every success with The Rs. I don't know to what level you all follow English Championship level football, but Ian Holloway has Q.P.R. as one of his favourite team and for a good reason. He was the manager of the club before I took over (and still is in real life )Following his comment, Danny Shittu, Freddy Guarín, and Abubakari Yakubu are all happy I'm getting the praise I deserve while Jon Dahl Tomasson believes the team cannot fail to perform whilst under my guidance. Seeing how Holloway is having a very tough time with his Cardiff side, currently in 20th place after promoting from the Championship, I use the age old double sided compliment and tell him that although others might think otherwise, I have full faith in Holloway's ability, i.e. some say you're crap but I don't think so... I'm not so sure I like how it comes out in the news though, especially the part that read "Speaking on a radio phone-in, under-achieving manager Steve Gougeon has said..." GRRRR, underachieving my ass...  FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-04-2005, 12:37 PM
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#154 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 2, 2007
League Match #14: we play cardiff on their pitch. They are currently in 20th place after promoting from the Championship and we are 6-4 favourites to win this game. Simply looking at the pregame lineup, you are probably going "Dear God what's with all the unhappy players?!?!", well here's the lowdown... Many of them believe the team is underachieving, that's the case for Finnan, Ball, Fernandes, Lucarelli, Locatelli, and van der Gun. On top of that, Locatelli also would like a more important role with the team. Hersi and Sánchez both would like clarification on their role with the team and Donnelly feels that he should be a 1st team regular. Well, we better start winning games soon, or I could end up in trouble... I rest Bonaventure Kalou for this game. We're going into a very rough stretch over the next 3-4 weeks. After today's game, we play Blackburn in 3 days, then Newcastle three days later and then a stretch of games every 3 or 4 days. Look at this, we'll have played: 4 games in 10 days; 5 games in 13 days; 6 games in 17 days; 7 games in 20 days and finally 8 games in 24 days before we finally get some sort of a break... terpkristin, stay away from my players!!!  Cardiff must be an accross town rival that I didn't know about because this game is on TV. Both keepers are their team's respective key men, Simon Jentzsch for us and Magnus Hedman for them. For prediction, they say that both Cardiff and Q.P.R. have been poor of late and that they can't see this being a thriller by any stretch of the imagination and a draw seems the most likely result. I'm almost offended that they don't give us more respect. We'll see if they are justified to do so... The guys are well determined to show the TV analysts how wrong they are and after a bit of pressure early on, it's a short corner from Fabrice Fernandes, then swiftly centered to the 6 yard box and then headed in by Pascal Cygan which gives us a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute. We add to our lead 5 minutes later when Tomas Locatelli finds Cristiano Lucarelli with a short pass on our end of the field. Lucarelli then launched a crazy crosspass, 45 yards away to Peter Lovenkrands who puts it in off the post. Up 2-0! We don't give them much room to move the ball near our goal and thus they have to patiently thread it until they finally try a center. Scott Donnelly is a bit overeager and he pushes an opponent inside our penalty area. PENALTY!!! They score to take one back, now up 2-1. In the 43rd minute, another Locatelli to Lucarelli connection out right is at the source of another Lovenkrands goal. Lucarelli tried to shoot from an angle but their keeper blocked it, only he didn't control the rebound and Lovenkrands was perfectly placed to bury it. Up 3-1! That is the halftime score and we're outshooting them 11(7) to 2(2). They are controlling the ball kinda well on their half but we converted our chances... We develop what I'd call a "pinball" play in the 75th minute when Raúl Sánchez crossed the ball from the byline, backward to Scott Donelly who played it a bit further back to Youssouf Hersi who buries it with a vicious top corner shot. Up 4-1!!! Final score: Q.P.R. 4, Cardiff 1 We outshot them 17(12) to 3(3). A convincing win, even though against an arguably lesser opponent. Scott Donnelly was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9 in a very impressive game. If you remember, I was saying of him that he was not making things happen when in the game, well he had two assists today, completing 36 of 42 passes in the process. Gotta say that many players had great form rating with every starter but Jentzsch and Lucarelli rating at 8, in addition of Hersi who also rated at 8 off the bench. We move up to 7th place and the team board was delighted with the win.
I've not checked player by player, but it still seems that every unhappy player is still just as unhappy... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-04-2005, 12:37 PM
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#155 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 3, 2007
Pascal Cygan and Scott Donnelly have both been selected to the EPL Team of the Week. It's a first for Scott Donnelly, at any level he's played since coming through our youth system. The FA Cup draw for the 4rd round is today. There are 64 teams left and we draw a conference team, Southend United that we will play on their pitch on January 5, 2008. I can only assume they are a conference side, since I'm only simming down to the League One level. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-04-2005, 12:39 PM
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#156 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 5, 2007
League Match #15: we play Blackburn on their pitch. They are currently in 10th place and we're 6-4 favourites to win this game. They are without both their starting wingers for this game. Their right winger is suspended and their star left winger, Morton Gamst Pederson is injured. Their goalkeeper also seems to be in a pretty bad form funk... It's a tight first half until we silence the crowd in the 37th minute. Steve Finnan played a 45 yard pass forward, ahead of Peter Lovenkrands who had to run to the byline to stop it from going out. He closed down on goal but had no angle to try a shot so he centered it backward to Bonaventure Kalou who scored his 5th goal of the season! They get right back at us just before the end of the half when Jon Dahl Tomasson, usually quite safe with the ball, loses the ball near our penalty area. A couple passes later, the ball was in the back of the net and the game was tied 1-1... That is the halftime score and we're outshooting them 7(3) to 5(3). Danny Shittu is having a rough game, only rating at 5 after one half of play. Shittu keeps struggling at the start of the second half and at one point even rated at 4. That was the last straw and in the 58th minute, I pull him out and put Abubakari Yakubu in his place. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Blackburn 1 We did put some more pressure as they pulled back slightly and we ended outshooting them 13(6) to 11(4). I'm a bit frustrated by the draw and even more by the bland performance by all of our players. Still, it's an away draw and one point on the road is sometimes the best you can get. Christian Wilhelmsson took a knock into injury time and ended the game with his condition down to 54%. He may not be okay to start our next game. We remain in 7th place with 6th place still reachable. Well, 5th place would be, but Arsenal are in 6th with three games on hand over us, so I'd have to assume they'll win some of them... Shocking news following the game. Because of some bad results, Valencia have sacked Rafa Benitez.  FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-04-2005, 03:18 PM
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#157 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 8, 2007
League Match #16: we play Newcastle at Loftus Road. They are currently in 9th place, only 2 points under us. They are 5-4 favourites to win this game. I'm sitting Bonaventure Kalou in this game and also Christian Wilhelmsson, whose condition has not improved enough to make him a useful starter. Fabio Rochemback starts in Freddy Guarín's place although I keep Guarín on the bench in case Roch decides to shit on us... Newcastle show a 3-4-1-2 formation to start the game. They are pressuring us early on but Abubakari Yakubu helps us get out of trouble and on the scoreboard in the 7th minute when he launchesa long pass along the right sideline, ahead of Scott Donnelly. It's a footrace between him and a defender but he gets to the ball first. He's almost to the byline when he centers it backward to Jon Dahl Tomassson, standing unmarked on the near corner of the 6 yard box. Tomasson puts it past the keeper with a half volley kick in a narrow angle. Up 1-0! They get a free kick just outside our area and, from 25 yards out, the ball is kicked straight over our wall and to the back of the net. A 1-1 tie is what we have at halftime. While they've tried more shots than us, 7 to 5, we've put more on target, 4 to 2. And our four must have been quality shots, since their keeper, Shay Given, had to make at least three great saves and is rated at 9 at the half. We regain the lead in the 77th minute when Jon Dahl Tomasson scores a crazy goal. Peter Lovenkrands tried a center from deep near the sideline and that center almost looked like a shot on goal, aimed at the far post. Thing is, it got deflected by a defender and the ball dropped to Tomasson's feet, leaving Given completely out of position and an empty net in front of Tomasson. Up 2-1! Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Newcastle 1 We held on and got a sweet win! We outshot them 11(7) to 10(2) on the game, effectively keeping them far from our goal in the second half. Shay Given was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9. If not for him, we could have scored quite a few more goals... Scott Donnelly had another strong showing, rating at 8 and assisting on another goal. He started out on the right wing but was moved over to the AMC spot in the 60th minute where he kept playing pretty well... Jon Dahl Tomasson also rated at 8 with two goals. Fábio Rochemback strained his neck and will miss 5 days. We move up to 5th place with the win!
Arsenal is still only 2 points under us with three games on hand, but I'm pretty happy now. I see that the players are also happier now. In fact all the players that believed the team was underachieving has revised their position. Güiza still says he's lost confidence in my ability. Hrm, he's still got two years to go on his contract, but maybe I could resign him and see if he likes me better with a bigger contract The board is now pleased that the team's Premier Division performance is exceeding their expectation. Woah, when in 11th, they thought the team should be holding a higher position and now in 5th, they are happy it's exceeding their expectations... I guess they expect us to finish from 6th to 10th... The margin is kinda thin... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-04-2005, 03:22 PM
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#158 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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With this latest update, I'm now completely caught up, meaning I've reported everything that's been played so far. I'd been behind for the last two weeks or so and will certainly get behind again starting tonight...
So, how do you all like the read?  FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-04-2005, 03:27 PM
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#159 |
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College Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Beantown
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It's excellent. Great format
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Boston Bashers - III.14 - (8347) |
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11-04-2005, 03:28 PM
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#160 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
thanks, always nice to hear FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-04-2005, 03:36 PM
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#161 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Berkley, MI
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As always, your dynasty is something I look forward to reading through out my work day. Keep up the good work!!!
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11-07-2005, 10:12 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 12, 2007
EUFA Cup group stage, Match #4: we play Spanish side Real Sociedad on their pitch. They're currently in 2nd place in the Spain Primera Divisíon and are evens favourites to win this game. This last game of the group stage is basically meaningless for us, as Lazio and Pasching are tied, three points below us and they play each other today, meaning they can't both reach us so we're qualified. Because of that and the fact that we're going through a rough patch of schedule, I'm starting many subs and some unhappy players looking for more playing time in this game... I even give a rare start to Generoso Rossi! This game is on TV and goalkeeper Petr Cech and defender Abubakari Yakubu are presented as both team's key men. They say that this game is a close call but that they have to go with Real Sociedad today. According to them, Q.P.R. will give it everything but Real Sociedad should come out victorious in the end... Real Sociedad show a 4-4-2 formation with heavy push from the wings. They strike early, as early as the 8th minute, as they center a ball to the penalty spot. It's converted easily and we're down 0-1. We're not really getting outclassed in this first half but some guys seem to be a bit overwhelmed by the trip to Spain. It's the case of Jonathan Burton and Tomas Locatelli who are both rating at 5 as we go down 0-2 following another superb center, this time to the 6 yard box. 0-2 is the halftime score but shots are fairly equal, 8(3) for us, 8(5) for them... Burton and Locatelli have both come back to their senses and are rated at 7 at the half. Rossi is rated at 8 despite letting in two goals... They score a fluke goal in the 70th minute to go ahead by three. It's just that kind of game where not much is happening right for our team. I guess it's the right time for it to happen though... It got even uglier as they took a long shot try from 25 yards out and converted it into a 0-4 goal... Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Real Sociedad 4 Ugh... There's no way it should have been this bad as they only outshot us 10(6) to 9(3), meaning we had our chances... This loss is a hit on team morale overall as only Hersi and Guarín rated higher than 6, and I'm wondering if I didn't understimate the effect that playing it as a friendly could have on the team as a whole... At least some key players got a much needed rest out of it... Güiza sprained his wrist and will miss one week. We're qualified for the 1st Knockout Round of the EUFA cup and we end the group stage in 2nd place of our group. Lazio won 2-0 over Pasching and are the third qualified team. Here's the final group table:
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-07-2005, 10:17 AM
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#163 |
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College Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Beantown
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Won't there be an increase in morale when it is announced that your team qualified for the next round?
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Boston Bashers - III.14 - (8347) |
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11-07-2005, 10:19 AM
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#164 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Would make sense, although it seems only the match result (in the game at least) and how the player did in that match matters to them. For example, players who didn't play, like Wilhelmsson and Lucarelli, didn't suffer any drop in their morale...
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-07-2005, 12:34 PM
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#165 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 14, 2007
This is weird, I received an email telling me that the draw for the 1st Knockout round of the EUFA Cup had happened, but was not allowed to watch it unfold... Anyway, we've drawn a tough one as we'll play Dutch side Feyenoord in a two leg series to be played on February 14 and 21. They are currently in 1st place of the Dutch Premier Division and just got kicked out of the Champions League after failing to qualify out of the Group Stage. Showing you how much I'm learning at every stage, I didn't know that teams out of the Champions League were entering the EUFA Cup once outsed from the Champions League... Anyway, they were playing in a four team group with Manchester United, Real Madrid, anc CSKA Moscow. Here's how the group table stood once the Champions League group stage was done:
Of interest to us, since I can relate to the teams, they lost 1-3 at home and then beat Man U 2-0 away and they lost twice to Real Madrid, 1-3 at home, and 0-1 away. These results kind of tell me that it won't be easy, but they are indeed beatable... Then, as the weird stuff continues, I get to watch the draw for the 2nd Knockout round happen... HUH! Anyway, the winner of our two leg series will play the winner between Rapid, a club from Romania, and Benfica, from Portugal, whom we've played in a friendly. Benfica are also just out of the Champions League... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-07-2005, 12:37 PM
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#166 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 15, 2007
League Match #17: we play Wolves on their pitch. They're currently in 19th place and struggling to avoid the drop, having scored only 7 goals in 17 games so far this season. We are even favourites to win this game. I go back to a more standard lineup for us and try something with Bonaventure Kalou as I give him free role. It's a fairly even game early on but we finally crack their defense in the 35th minute, after Fabrice Fernandes and Cristiano Lucarelli had exchanged some passes, Lucarelli gound Bonaventure Kalou on the penalty spot, leaving Kalou with an easy ball to convert. Up 1-0! That's the halftime score and while we're ahead, they are outshooting us, 6(3) to 4(2). The second half goes better for us although it still takes another 30 minutes before we clinch it. In the 75th minute, after puuting tons of pressure, the ball is cleared weakly to Christian Wilhelmsson who bends one from some way out for his first ever goal as a Ranger and we're up 2-0! Steve Finnan is sent off to an early shower in the 87th minute, collecting his second yellow of the game after holding an opponent's shirt. I move Freddy Guarín to right full back to end the game... Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Wolves 0 Albeit against a relegation battling team, it's still a sweet win!!! We outshot them on target, which is what counts in the end, 12(7) for us, 13(5) for them. Bonaventure Kalou was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9 and a goal. He also had 7 key passes. Simon Jentzsch, Michael Ball, Christian Wilhelmsson, and Freddy Guarín all had good games, all rating at 8. Following his sending off, Steve Finnan has been banned for one competitive match in England. We move up to 4th place with the win, tied on points with 5th place Fulham with the same number of games, but with one game on hand over both 6th place Charlton and 7th place Liverpool.
Following the team's 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, the team chairman Bill Power declared himself extremely pleased with the result. The Rs were reckoned to have little chance of breaking into the top six before the season began, yet Steve Gougeon's men now find themselves described as potential title challengers by some sections of the media. With so many games still to go it remains to be seen whether they can do it but the fans are increasingly optimistic after this excellent recent form. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-07-2005, 12:38 PM
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#167 | |||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 16, 2007
The groups have been drawn for the African Cup of Nations, of which Ivory Coast are the defending champions. The Cup will be hosted by Ghana and we've been drawn with Senegal, Angola, and Morocco. According to the rules of this stage, eache team plays each other once with the top two teams qualifying for the Quarter Final. Of these three other team, Morocco seems to be the weakest, as they didn't qualify out of the group stage in 2006, while both Senegal and Angola did qualify. As a mean of comparison, Here are the current world rankings of the four teams in this group:
Well, Morocco may not be as easy a prey as first thought, that or Angola had an easy group the last time around. This will be a rough group after all... December 17, 2007 Jon Dahl Tomasson twisted his knee in training and will miss 2 weeks. Bonaventure Kalou has been selected on the EPL Team of the Week. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-07-2005, 12:51 PM
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#168 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 19, 2007
League Match #18: we play Charlton at Loftus Road. They are currently in 6th place, breathing down our neck. We are even favourites to win this game. They do have a ton and a half of injuries though... With the recent injury to Jon Dahl Tomasson and Güiza still out, this will be Raúl Sánchez's chance to shine. I also give the start to Scott Donelly. The 20yo has done really well in spot duty lately and it would be great if he could alternate with Christian Wilhelmsson on the right wing. I also see that he's now described as a flamboyant midfielder, thus giving me four flamboyant players with the three others being Bonaventure Kalou, Christian Wilhelmsson and Güiza. The term "flamboyant" does sound a bit girlie, but I like these kind of players, as they tend to make things happen and get the crowd going. Steve Finnan is banned for this game. The first half goes scoreless, but it's not because we're not trying. We're outshooting them 9(3) to nothing. Dang, they're playing for the 0-0 draw... grrr... Let's just hope that the 64% of possession we had in the first half will translate into some quality chances... Chances! Boy do we get some! Only 6 minutes into the second half, part-timers Scott Donnelly and Raúl Sánchez connect on a sweet center from Donnelly to Sánchez on the move. He buries it on a superb volley kick! Up 1-0! Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Charlton 0 Well, we did outshoot them 23(11) to 3(1) but could not get more than one past Jerzy Dudek who rated at 9 and was selected Man of the Match. Because of his amazing saves, the team never got really hot and Donnelly was our only player to rated higher than 7.We're on fire and move up to 3rd place with the win!!!
Even though Arsenal has a game on hand over us, the feeling is still pretty neat As you'd expect, the board is delighted with this win over our rivals. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-07-2005, 03:19 PM
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#169 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 21, 2007
Q.P.R. youngster Scott Donnelly has made a public apology to his manager for telling the media that he was disillusioned at not being picked for teh first team. Donnelly admitted that he should respect any decisions that his manager makes and realises that complaining publicly is not going to improve his chance of selection. Scott's a good kid. I liked him in my previous career, although he never developped the way he's developped in the last couple of months. Take a look at his profile:  While not overly fast, he makes it up with good crossing, passing, dribbling and first touch skills. I also see that his contract is running up at the end of June 2008. Maybe the time has come to offer some contract renewals... I start with Donnelly. He's looking for a 3 year contract with wages around $26,500 per week and a signing on fee of $600k. My assistant tells me he believes Donnelly is a talented youngsters and he recommends we offer him a contract in the region of $16,000 per week. I go about halfway between demands and recommendation and I offer Donnelly a 3 year contract worth $19k per week with a signing on fee of $400k. Taking a quick look around, here are the main players with contracts ending in June, and my decisions on whether I'm offering them new contracts or not: Tomas Locatelli: I will wait on offering the 31yo a new contract. He's kinda stuck in depth chart at the AMC spot, behind Bonaventure Kalou and Youssouf Hersi, and is not always the best on the left wing... Martin Rowlands: I won't offer him a contract as I will concentrate on getting Donnelly signed instead, looking ahead to the future... Generoso Rossi: he burned me a couple times too much, no thanks... Grzegorz Rasiak: the guys can't make it to the first team, I'd even prefer starting Raúl Sánchez over him and Sánchez is signed up through next season... Fabrice Fernandes: with the great season he's having, I'd be hard pressed to let him go for free. He'slooking for a two year contract with wages around $55k per week with a signing on fee of $650k. My assistant believes that while he is currently a member of the first team squad, we could easily replace him and he recommends that we restrict any offer to $36.5k per week. Replace him, maybe, easily, not so sure. He fits our bill pretty well and I'm willing to increase his current pay rate of $30k to $40 with a signing on fee of $400k... Cristiano Lucarelli: well, of all the guys listed here, he's the one who's done the best this season, I mean, he's always around the goal, always a threat to score, or set up someone to score. He's looking for a big contract, up from $41k per week to $66k per week, with a signing on fee of $460k. Agains my assistant believes we could replace him easily, although he's recommends lesser restriction, telling me I could go as high as $68k for the powerful striker. I offer him a two year deal worth $53k per week with a signing on fee of $360k... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-07-2005, 03:26 PM
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#170 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 22, 2007
League Match #19: we play relegation battlers Leeds at Loftus Road. They are currently in 16th place, fighting real hard to avoid the drop. We are 6-4 favourites to win this game. They show a 4-3-2-1 formations to start this game, that's three MCs and two AMCs with outward arrows. The first half ends in a bland 0-0 tie. GRRR, we're again blanking them in shots while us put 3 of 6 shots on target. Their keeper is having a good game so far, rating at 8, although they are keeping a ton of players in their penalty area and we have a hard time getting the ball near him... Look at this screenshot taken in the 42nd minute. It wasn't right after a corner kick, more like a couple minutes after one. Finnan (#7) is already supporting the attack and Ball (#3) is going forward to pick up a loose ball...  This feeling of not being able to get the ball to the goal is reinforced early in the second half as we have to resort to some pinball action to finally get on the scoreboard. In the 49th minute, Youssouf Hersi's shot is blocked and the ball is scramble weakly. Damiano Zenoni heads it over to Fabrice Fernandes who's able to thread it through about half a dozen pair of feet to make it 1-0! Don't ask me why, but they played the ensuing kickof like the U9 team of my son and they kicked it deep to their right wing, our left. Michael Ball got to the ball first, with ample time to find Fernandes on the left wing. The ball then moved swiftly from Fernandes, then to Christian Wilhelmsson, then to Cristiano Lucarelli who struck the ball with real venom, a powerful strike that no keeper could have stopped. Up 2-0 after 51 minute! The guys played with confidence following that goal and added another in the 58th minute when Wilhelmsson crossed it from wing to wing to Fernandes who found Peter Lovenkrands' run into their penalty area. He beats the keeper for his 5th goal of the season. Final Score: Q.P.R. 3, Leeds 0 Woah, we outshot them 17(10) to 1(0) and won possession big time! Fabrice Fernandes was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 10. He had a goal and 11 runs past opponents in the game. Christian Wilhelmsson didn't score but he had a monster of a game with an assist and 18 runs past opponents... Ball, Zenoni and Lucarelli all rated at 8.We're stil in 3rd place but a 1-0 win of Aston Villa over Chelsea now makes 2nd place a reachable goal with a simple win of the game we have on hand over Chelsea...
WEEHEE!!! I'm now described as a talented manager, no more of that crappy underachieving stuff! Even better, Güiza has regained his confidence in my ability To be 3rd at the halfway point of the season is simply awesome, but to have my sights on 2nd place is out of this world!!! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-07-2005, 03:47 PM
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#171 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 23, 2007
Cristiano Lucarelli rejects our first offer but is willing to negotiate. He's now looking for a two year contract worth around $70k per week with a signing on fee of $480. Interesting, my assistant now believes he's a useful member of our first team squad and he recommends we offer him a contract in the region of $72k per week. Hrm... I offer him $63k per week with a signing on fee of $500k. Scott Donnelly has put pen to paper on a deal that will keep him at Loftus Road for the next 3 seasons. Same goes for Fabrice Fernandes who has agreed to a lucrative two year deal worth $2.6M. Merry Christmas guys! December 24, 2007 Christian Wilhelmsson has been selected to the EPL Team of the week. December 25, 2007 Lucarelli has rejected our latest offer but he's still willing to negotiate. His demands have not changed and my weekly wages offered won't change either as I try something. I offer him a higher signing on fee, at $650k, and a minimum release fee clause at $11M. December 26, 2007 GRRR, DAMN GAMEDAY INJURIES!!!! Fabrice Fernandes dislocated his jaw eating his cereals this morning and he will miss three weeks. We play Birmingham later on today...FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 07:00 AM
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#172 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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n00b
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Madrid, Spain
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Quote:
I believe the third team in each group in CL moves to UEFA Cup. I recall this in place from 2-3 seasons ago. Oh, and keep on writing, I keep on reading K.
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We need change, we need it fast Before rock's just part of the past 'Cause lately it all sounds the same to me... Joey Ramone (1951-2001) |
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11-08-2005, 07:53 AM
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#173 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
yeah, third place to EUFA Cup would make sense, kind of like consolation price... Don't worry, I still got some to report but the digidownload release of WWSM2006 will make it difficult to stay focused, although I'd really like to see if I can get IVory Coast to the World Cup... Thanks for reading! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 08:02 AM
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#174 | |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Quote:
As an aside, without connecting him to this thread/dynasty, I bought Wilhelmsson in my initial career in '06. He starts his career at Anderlecht, right? That amused me a bit. |
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11-08-2005, 10:07 AM
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#175 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 26, 2007
League Match #20: we play Birmingham on their pitch. They are currently 15th and just lost two in a row against relegation battlers, first 3-4 to Leeds, then 0-1 to Portmsouth. We are 6-4 favourites to win this game. We have some early chances but they're the ones to take the lead first, in the 14th minute, after they converted a centered ball from the right. Down 0-1. Ugh, the early chances we had have all but disappeared and they take a two goal lead in the 42nd minute after Simon Jentzsch had stopped one shot the upcoming shot off the rebound got deflected by Michael Ball. Down 0-2 on some very sloppy defensive play. That's the halftime score and they are outshooting us 7(4) to 5(2). The second half turns out to be one of the ugliest half I've seen my team play in a long while. We didn't get one chance of scoring until about 5 minutes were left in the game... Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Birmingham 2 They outshot us 15(7) to 7(3) and as I said, our two chances came in the last 5 minutes. Ugly, ugly, ugly... If not for Jentzsch's solid performance, rating at 8, it probably could have been much worse. We drop to 4th place with the loss... Following the game, Cristiano Lucarelli's agent tells me that he's rejected our latest offer but that he's again willing to negotiate. He's now looking for a two year deal worth around $78k per week and my assistant says he's a useful member of our first team squad and he recommends offering a contract in the region of $80k... I offer him $70k per week with his required signing on fee of $500k and a minimum release fee set to $12M. That's up $7000 per week from our previous offer... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 10:10 AM
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#176 | ||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Yeah, I think they got rid of it in 2006, or it's automatically driven. You know, I wouldn't be bothered with gameday injuries so much if there wasn't a damned checkbox that says "train on gameday" and that I intentionally leave unchecked... oh well... Quote:
I'd have to check as I got him off Crystal Palace and I don't remember where he'd been playing before. He should be on the Sweden national team though, right? He's a dang fine player... Good luck with him FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 10:16 AM
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#177 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 27, 2007
That last one was good enough... Cristiano Lucarelli is said to be happy after putting pen to paper on a lucrative two year deal worth $5.4M. At the rate at which he is scoring goals, he could shatter Güiza's season goal record of one season ago with upward of 20 goals... Q.P.R.'s midfielder Cedric van der Gun has told the Club's website that he wants to stay loyal to The Rs but is finding it very hard to accept that he is not in the manager's first team plans. The 28yo attacking midfielder has said that he is looking to manager Steve Gougeon to either play him regularly or risk losing him. It's kind of weird. CvdG is kind of right there, on the edge, but Kalou has been so good, and Hersi is our future, so it's hard to demote either of them... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 12:40 PM
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#178 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 29, 2007
League Match #21: we play Portsmouth on their pitch. They find themselves in the drop zone currently, in 18th place. We are 4-5 favourites to win this game. Their left winger is suspended and one of their starting striker will miss this game due to injury. It's time for us to rebound from a bad game. And rebound we do! Michael Ball comes forward to take a free kick and he bends it nicely from 30 yards out. The keeper can't do a thing about this nicely placed ball and we're up 1-0 on Ball's first ever goal as a Ranger. They tie it in the 34th minute after they centered a long ball to an unmarked man in our penalty area. We get right back at them though and two minutes later, it's Bonaventure Kalou who starts an attack. As he runs forward, he's got two of our guys in an offside position but he holds up the ball until he spots Scott Donnelly on his right. Donnelly is onside and runs under the perfectly passed ball from Kalou. Donnelly then centered it nicely to Cristiano Lucarelli who heads it in for the 2-1 goal. That's the halftime score and shots are very close, 7(4) for us, 8(3) for them. The guys are making me nervous though, as I feel that they are letting them move freely with the ball too much... They let it happen again only 5 minutes into the half. After one of our shot was blocked, we let them march the whole field without so much of a challenge and they tie it again, 2-2. Most of the rest of the half is both teams exchanging scoring chances, until we get into the last three minutes. In th 87th minute, we do the whole "marching down the field" thing to them, as Pascal Cygan cleared a ball from our area to Kalou who spotted Güiza just ahead of their line of defenders. Güiza uses his speed to beat his defender and he scores with a precise strike. Up 3-2! But it's not over and in the 89th minute, their keeper plays a goal kick long, to nobody in particular. Damiano Zenoni is there to tip it to the left to Tomas Locatelli who bores on goal unchallenged. He too scores on a precise strike. Locatelli is claiming his stake for a first team spot with his first goal of the season!!! Up 4-2! Final Score: Q.P.R. 4, Portsmouth 2 We ended up outshooting them 15(8) to 14(5), taking over in a wild second half. Bonaventure Kalou was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 10. He completed 49 of 56 passes, 10 of them key passes, creating one goal. Yakubu, Ball, Cygan, Shittu, Zenoni, and Lucarelli all got hot in the second half and rated at 8 on the game. We remain in 4th place with the win, now one point from 3rd place Licerpool with a game on hand, and 5 points from 2nd place Chelsea with also a game on hand over them.
The board was very pleased with the win. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 12:42 PM
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#179 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 31, 2007
Today's the day that a ton and a half of contracts become unprotected. Among ours, Tomas Locatelli who would be willing to renew his contract with us at the same wage level, but I'll wait a little. Grzegorz Rasiak, Martin Rowlands, and Generoso Rossi are three that I probably won't renew... Among the players on my shortlist, I receive notice that Ivory Coast national teamer Didier Deguy Zokora's contract is to expire in six months. He's a 27yo D/DM C that would make a decent backup for Freddy Guarín, and even at centreback if needed. Remember that Fábio Rochemback will be moving to Lille on January 1st. Zokora has been transfer listed to his request by his current club, French side St. Etienne. Valued at $3.2M, they are asking $1.3M for him. I could approach to sign him, asking for the move to be immediate and pay a $3.2M compensation to St. Etienne, but I can also try to lowball them into selling him to us. I go with the lowball route and offer them $750k for him.January 1st, 2008 The board and fans are back to being delighted about my management of the club. Scott Donnelly has been selected as the EPL Young Player of the Month. The 20yo attacking midfielder has turned in a number of eye catching performances for The Rs in the past month. Look at this, he played in 7 of our 9 league matches in December, collecting form ratings of 9, 8, 7, 8, 7, 7, and 7. I came in 2nd place for Manager of the Month. Fábio Rochemback leaves for Lille. Good riddance for me, but the supporters are upset that I let go of the influential player. Thing is, he wasn't having a very positive influence... I only got 75% of the $1.5M transfer though and that leaves us with a hair over $10M to spend in transfer budget. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 12:44 PM
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#180 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 1, 2008
League Match #22: we play Manchester City at Loftus Road. They are currently in 8th place and we're 6-4 favourites to win this game. We start this game on fire and before it is 10 minutes old, we're ahead by two! First off, in the 3rd minute, it's Güiza with his 5th goal of the season after their keeper exchanged a couple of dangerous passes with one of their defender that ended in Peter Lovenkrands intercepting the ball only to feed it to Güiza who blasted it to the top corner. Then in the 9th minute, it's Freddy Guarín's turn to hit the back of the net as he bends one nicely through a crowd from the edge of the area. Their keeper touched it but it wasn'T enough to keep it from crossing the line. 2-0 is the halftime score and while we're outshooting them 5(3) to 2(0), we really cooled off toward the end of the half... Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Manchester City 0 We quietly controlled the second half and ended outshooting them 9(5) to 7(1). Christian Wilhelmsson was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 8 and 9 runs past opponents and an assist. Freddy Guarín also rated at 8 with one goal. We're still in 4th place after the win but 2nd place is now reachable with a win on the game we have on hand over Chelsea
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 12:46 PM
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#181 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 2, 2008
Sheffield Wednesday offer a contract to Generoso Rossi. Looking at players we could buy or sign, I see centreback Robert Huth from Chelsea... I may put in a bid for him... January 3, 2008 Our bid for Didier Deguy Zokora has been rejected. I offer them $1M. Hrm, a crazy thought goes through my head as I see Robin Van Persie on the Chelsea roster. He's valued at $10M and guess what, we got just that... Crazy bid, I offer them $10M + 25% of future sale. January 5, 2008 In preparation of our FA Cup against Conference side Southend, I have been approached by a journalist from the Daily Mirror with the following question: "A lot of people regard today's game against Southend as a 'David vs Goliath' encounter. Do you agree that your team should win comfortably?" As much as I wanna say that we will crush them, I show some restrain and reply that I think this game could be tough but that I am confident that we have enough quality to overpower Southend. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-08-2005, 01:03 PM
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#182 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 5, 2008
FA Cup, 3rd round: we play Southend. I have no clue where they stand, as they are below League One, the lowest league I sim in my game. We are 1-6 favourites to win this game. I'm resting many players since we play Arsenal on January 9. I give the start to Dean Morgan as he has now become the new backup to Simon Jentzsch. Raúl Sánchez catches their keeper napping in the 11th minute, scoring from 30 yards out and making it 1-0. In the 29th minute, Güiza is tripped while trying to go up for a header in their 6 yard box... PENALTY!!! Damiano Zenoni scores to make it 2-0. Just before the end of the half, Abubakari Yakubu is playing way forward, almost to the byline, when he centers it for Güiza. Güiza is so well placed and unmarked that he scores in an empty net... 3-0 is the halftime score and we're outshooting them 9(6) to 3(1). We're easily in control... We had one last goal in the 76th minute when Christian Wilhelmsson picked up a nice pass from Youssouf Hersi and dribbled it forward until he spots Raúl Sánchez who converts the pass into his second goal of the game, 5th of the season. Up 4-0! Final Score: Q.P.R. 4, Southend 0 We outshot them 16(9) to 4(1) on the game. Raúl Sánchez rated at 9 and was selected as Man of the Match with his two goals. Youssouf Hersi also rated at 9 while many other rated at 8. We've been given $90k for the win and we're through to the 4th round. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 06:06 AM
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#183 | ||
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Quote:
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11-09-2005, 07:50 AM
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#184 | ||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Had never realized about the Swedes although I must say the Dutch have always had a good place in my heart (see Youssouf Hersi for one )Quote:
hehehe, but I gotta say, it was against Southend... I'll have some cuter comments for you in a few updates FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 10:04 AM
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#185 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 6, 2008
As I fully expected, our bid for Robin Van Persie has been rejected by Chelsea. I had bid everything we had, no sense in trying any further. Generoso Rossi has agreed to a deal with Sheffield Wednesday and will join them on July 1st. Looking at the team information screen, a little thing catches my eye. You know where you see them prediction like "Relegation Battlers", and I use this one since it's the only one I've ever seen relating to our team, until today. What I see there today shocks me to say the least, we are now refered to as "Title Chasers"!!! WOW! I guess the pundits have been really, REALLY impressed with our recent run of good form. January 7, 2008 The draw for the 4th round of the FA Cup happens today. We will play Championship side Doncaster on their pitch on January 19. They are currently in 20th place in the Championship, struggling to avoid relegation to League One. St. Etienne wants to negotiate over Didier Deguy Zokora. They now want $280k now and $1.55M over the nex 18 months for a total of $1.83M. They still have him listed at $1.3M... I offer them $400k now and $750k over the next 18 months for a total of $1.15M. They get back to me right after lunch and still want a lot more money that what they've got him listed for. They now want $600k up front and $1.2M over the next 12 months for $1.8M total. I'm a bit stubborn, and he would mostly fill a depth need so I offer them $600k now and $600k over the next 12 months for $1.2M... baby steps... January 8, 2008 Huhoh, Empoli offered a contract to Zokora, grrr... I up my latest offer to $600k now and $700k over 12 months for $1.3M total, what they still have him listed for. Grrr, later in the day, it's Lille's turn to offer Zokora a contract. Frigging morons over at St. Etienne get back to me a couple hours later and they still want $1.85M ($800k now, $1.05 over 6 months) and they will lose him for nothing if they don't wake up and smell the coffee soon. I offer them $1.5M, all of it up front. As I said, Zokora would come to Loftus Road mostly to be a backup to Freddy Guarín so I don't want to burn all of my $10M remaining in transfer budget on him... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 12:39 PM
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#186 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 9, 2008
League Match #23: we play Arsenal on their pitch. They are currently in 7th but they're also only 5 point under us with a game on hand over us. They are 4-5 favourites to win this game. We start a well rested "A" squad for this game which is more than I can say about Arsenal. They show an ambitious 4-4-2 with heavy push from the wings. We take an early lead following an excellent counter-attack in the 4th minute. Danny Shittu first cleared the ball from our penalty area to Bonaventure Kalou in the middle of our half of the field. At that very moment, Jon Dahl Tomasson started a run in between their two centrebacks where Kalou was able to swing him a 40 yard pass to which he ran. He then faked the keeper out of his shorts to score a beauty of a goal. Tomasson really did beat the offside trap by no more than a hair!!! Up 1-0! While this goal was great, we're not doing as well right after it. We're not winning challenges, not winning tackles, losing the ball on runs, that kind of things and this, against a team like Arsenal, usually leads to bad things, like them getting back in the game in the 9th minute. At that moment and for a good part of the first half, we have three players rated at 5 in Peter Lovenkrands, Freddy Guarín and Cristiano Lucarelli. We're not talking the most inexperience of our players either!!! 1-1 is the halftime score and we got back in the game with a couple of tactic tweaks. They are outshooting us 7(4) to 6(4) but we're very much in this game, even winning possession with 55%. I see that the condition of our players is much, much better than Arsenal's. An idea occurs to me and I decide to up the tempo from our usual slow tempo play to a much faster movement of the ball. I hope with this that we will be getting to the ball first thus tireing the Gunners even more... And this move pays off in the 53rd minute, as Peter Lovenkrands plays a short center from the left sideline to Kalou. Kalou runs unchallenged into their penalty area until he blasts the ball towards the top corner. It's a fantastic goal that puts us ahead 2-1!!! I pull Tomasson at that moment and put in Pascal Cygan as a 5th defender as we go to a 5-1-2-1-1 formation. In the 61st minute, another Lovenkrand-Kalou connection leads to our 3rd goal when Kalou spots Cristiano Lucarelli in an onside position in between their centrebacks. The pass is timed perfectly with Lucarelli's run and he scores his 15th of the season to make it 3-1!!! We're amazingly opportunistic in this second half and again it starts with a series of exchanges between Lovenkrands and Kalou until Lovenkrands takes the ball to the sideline only to center it to Lucarelli who heads it in for his second goal of the game and a 4-1 lead for us!!! This was only our 3rd shot on target of the second half and all three went for goals! Final Score: Q.P.R. 4, Arsenal 1 WEEHEE!!!! They outshot us 16 to 11 overall, but we got them with shots on target, 9 to 7, and most importantly, converted chances Overall a great performance from everyone, as if they started believeing in their chances once we scored that second goal. Bonaventure Kalou was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 10. He connected on 41 of his 47 passes, 5 of them key passes and two of them creating goals. He also scored a goal. Cristiano Lucarelli rated at 9 with two goals and just about everybody else rated at 8. Simon Jentzsch felt down for some reason and only rated at 6. Then, I go WOW! With this win, we have moved up to 2nd place in the EPL!!!
Even better, Man U lost their game today... Looking at the table, I see we are the second best in both most goals scored and least goals conceded. I guess Man U is really the one we have to shoot for now As you'd expected, the team board is delighted with the win over our rivals. Following the game, I get another responce from St. Etienne over Didier Deguy Zokora. They now want upward of $2M for him, split into $800k now and $1.25M over 6 months. I go back to my basic offer of $1.3M total, split $650k now, 650k over 6 months... They get back to me a couple hours later and boy, I don't know what's in the water over there, but they've simply gone crazy. They now want $2.55M for Zokora, $1.65M now and $900k over 6 months... They now have him listed at $1.25M damn idiots... I offer them $1.25M up front with 20% of the next sale... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 12:44 PM
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#187 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 10, 2008
St. Etienne now want $1.9M ($400k now, $1.5M over 18 months) for Zokora. Sigh... I offer them $1.35M up front and again 20% of the next sale. I will keep on trying until somebody else sign him, prrrrt January 11, 2008 And it seems like it's a lost battle anyway, as St. Etienne really think it will be better to let him go for nothing at the end of the season than to get some money now. They now want $1.95M for him ($550k now, $1.4M over 12 months). I offer them $200k now and $1.15M over 12 months with now 25% of the next sale... Seeing how this avenue seems to be going down the drain, I take another look at 23yo centreback Robert Huth from Chelsea. He'd be a very interesting addition to our squad and I decide to declare my interest in bringing him on board... January 12, 2008 Some games are played in the EPL and with Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Southampton (a good thing for us actually) and Liverpool's 2-1 win over Birmingham, we slip to 4th place. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 12:48 PM
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#188 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Nice! [Moving up to 2nd.]
I say you move onto someone else. If you want to stay IC, there's always Kolo! [Gotta pimp my boy, Kolo. Beyond being a good player and a Gooner, based on the interviews I've read of him and various impressions, he just sounds like an all-around cool dude.] By the way, have you checked out your guy Lucarelli in '06? He's just slightly studly. |
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11-09-2005, 12:59 PM
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#189 | |||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Thanks, very happy with it! Quote:
Yeah, thing with Zokora is that he appeared like a cheap dude that could fill some situationnal depth. I still have Damiano Zenoni who can play at DMC if need be though and that is another reason why I've played the heehaaw with St. Etienne on this... Kolo, I would really like to get him but I got $10M in transfer budget left and he's valued at $13M now. I have not even tried to put in a bid as I doubt that Arsenal would let him go for that low amount. Quote:
I haven't checked much in terms of players in 2006, well have not done much with it in terms of about anything actually I guess Lucarelli may become one of my must-have like some players you've seen both in here and in my previous career.Interestingly enough, some players that were HUGE with my previous career, namely Marcus Kelly and Clemens Fritz, just don't have any appeal to me this time around. Kelly has not developped as nicely with Rushden this time around and Fritz has something like 5 in stamina now. He had what, 7 or 8 in my last career and was becoming to be only good enough to come and play in the second half of games, although he was lethal in that role... Thanks for reading and commenting FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 03:17 PM
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#190 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 13, 2008
St. Etienne now want $380k now plus $1.5M over twelve months and I reply with an offer of $380k now with $950k over 12 months. It's getting silly now... The silliness stops now though as I get the news that Zokora has agreed a deal with Lille and will move there on July 1st. Among other news, according to reports, Chelsea have given up the battle to keep strong centre-back Robert Huth and are prepared to let the player leave the club. Football365.com claims the 23yo central defender is attracting the interest of Queens Park Rangers and it is thought he will be allowed to leave Stamford Bridge if Blues' boss José Mourinho is offered a fair price. My thinking is that a fair price for Chelsea may be a bit to rich for my taste, we'll see... With his team soon to face title challengers Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham boss Martin Jol has told Football365.com that he doesn't think Steve Gougeon's side will be good enough to end the season as champions. Jol did concede that, given a few quality signings, Queens Park Rangers might be a contender next season. Woah, that's nice to hear! Following that comment, Danny Shittu, Christian Wilhelmsson, and Cristiano Lucarelli are all determined to prove Jol wrong and help the team win the title. Now you're talking! As a response, I decide to cool the ward of words with our rivals, saying I didn't wish to get into a lengthy debate with Jol, adding that everyone appreciates that Q.P.R. and Tottenham Hotspur are rivals, so there is no need to talk about it at great length. I finished by saying that all the talking can be done on the pitch when the teams get to meet. On the Ivory Coast side of the news, I have to decide our squad for the upcoming African Cup of Nations, in which we will play our first match in 8 days. Looking at the list of fixtures, I see that, while I'll be in a plane going back and forth between Ghana and whenever Q.P.R. will be play, I won't miss one Q.P.R. game. Ivory Coast is set to play on the 21st, 24th, and 28th in group play while Q.P.R. will play on the 19th, the 26th and the 30th. At first, I'm kind of alarmed that I can't do any call-ups to the Ivory Coast squad, until I realize that I have 26 players selected and the max for the African Cup of Nations is 22... I'm finally able to call up left fullback Arthur Boka and striker Eli Kroupi after removing fours scrubs. I decide to make a first bid for 23yo centreback Robert Huth. He is valued at $5.2M, so I decide to start the bidding at $6.2M. I receive a scout report regarding a 15yo MC currently in Swansea's youth system. My scout tells me that by signing him, I'd be signing a possible star of the future... hrm, interesting... January 14, 2008 Bonaventure Kalou has been selected to the EPL Team of the Week. Our initial bid for Robert Huth has been rejected without any negotiation possible. I try another go at it with an offer of $7.2M. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 03:19 PM
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#191 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 14, 2008
League Match #24: we play Tottenham on their pitch. They are currently in 13th place. We are 6-4 favourites to win this game but woah, the African Cup of Nations has already taken a toll on us as Abubakari Yakubu, Danny Shittu, and Bonaventure Kalou have all left for to go play for their respective countries, even though the Cup only start on January 19th... I start Pascal Cygan at centreback, that's a no brainer, but the second spot is hard to fill. Jonathan Burton is really low in condition so I decide to give the start to Steve Singh. This game is on TV and they present Josebe Etxeberria and Cristiano Lucarelli as both team's respective key men. They add that Lucarelli has scored 16 goals in the 27 games he's played in so far. They're also saying that they just can't separate the two side and that this game will go down as a draw. Lucarelli adds another one to his total in the 35th minute. After getting a nice pass from Youssouf Hersi, he found himself one-on-one with their keeper, whom he faked with a nice dribble. Up 1-0! That is the halftime score and we're outshooting them 5(2) to 3(1). With 55%, I feel fairly well in control of this game. While we don't allow them much more room to manoeuver in the second half, we did fire on their keeper quite a bit more, without him letting one in... Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Tottenham 0 We outshot them 18(10) to 7(2) on the game, a testament to our unrelented second half efforts. Their keeper was in fine form though, getting selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9. We're back to 2nd place with the win, a win over our rivals that has our board absolutely delighted! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 03:20 PM
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#192 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 15, 2008
HRM... Chelsea star Robert Huth has dismissed reports linking him with a possible move to Q.P.R., claiming that he is happy to stay with Chelsea... That news is followed with a reply from Chelsea on our latest bid for Huth. They are rejecting again. What the heck, I bid the house and offer them all $10M left in my transfer budget. An extra centreback would be nice right now... January 16, 2008 Well shit, our latest bid for Huth has been rejected with now possiblity of negotiating... Back to the drawing board... January 19, 2008 I had spotted Arsenal's 22yo centreback Philippe Senderos a little while ago and I see that he seems to really be coming on his own this season. He is valued at $6M and I offer rival Arsenal $8M with 20% of the next sale for the young centreback... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 03:21 PM
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#193 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 19, 2008
FA Cup, 4th round: we play Doncaster on their pitch. They are currently in 22nd place in the Championship, two spots lower than where they were at the time of the draw for this round. We are 1-2 favourites to win this game. They're showing a left fullback who's suspended for this game and a central midfielder who's away with Morocco in the African Cup of Nations. Incidentally, Ivory Coast play Morocco in their opening match in the Cup... I decide to play some reserve, resting some of our starters for our next big game against Liverpool on the 26th. I still leave Simon Jentzsch in the nets. We take a very early lead in the 4th minute after Youssouf Hersi had played a wonderful pass for Raúl Sánchez who then used his great finishing skill to beat the keeper. Up 1-0! We double our lead in the 28th minute, after Fabrice Fernandez had fed a nice ball to Güiza on the corner of their penalty area. Güiza used his acceleration to beat two centrebacks before launching a vicious strike to make it 2-0! That is the halftime score and we're outshooting them 14(7) to 2(1). Sánchez's condition has dipped to 64% and I replace him with Jon Dahl Tomasson. Dang, we've looked lost since the start of the half and they use this to finally find a hole in our defense in the 66th minute. They make it a closer game with a nice finish. Still up, 2-1. They miss a perfect chance in the 71st minute, putting it over the net from close range. We're playing sloppy football at the moment... We finally put it away in the 90th minute, after Christian Wilhelmsson and Jon Dahl Tomasson criss-crossed a couple times, ending with a nice pass from Wilhelmsson to Tomasson in the penalty box. Tomasson puts it in off the post for his 10th of the season. Final Score: Q.P.R. 3, Doncaster 1 I don't know how to convey that, even though we outshot them 23(12) to 7(3) on the game, it was a heck of a tight game. Seriously, they seemed to always be in a position to make a kill move, but we always found new ways to stop them around the edge of our penalty area. Maybe I'm not giving my defenders enough credit... Fabrice Fernandes got selected as Man of the Match in his return to action, with a rating of 9. He had an assist and 5 runs past opponents. Among others, Simon Jentzsch and Güiza also both rated at 9 while 5 others rated at 8. I was especially happy to have started Jentzsch for this game. We've been given $130k for the win and we're through to the 5th round. This win was our 6th win in a row, setting a new record for wins in a row for Q.P.R. We've not lost a game since December 9, 2007. I get some news from Arsenal and they seem open to negotiate a transfer fee regarding Philippe Senderos. The thing is, they are looking for $3.2M now and $7.2M over the next 12 months for a total of $10.4M. BASTAGES!!! I have $10.01M in transfer budget... Trying to shave off that $400k over our budget, I offer them $3.2M now and $6.8M over the next 12 months.They get back to me a couple hours later and grrr. They want a bit more than before, now asking $3.4M now and $7.2M over the next 12 months. sigh... I stick to my limit and offer them $3.4M now and $6.6M over the next 12 months (the magical $10M limit) but I add a 15% of next sale clause to the deal. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-09-2005, 03:31 PM
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#194 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 20, 2008
Against all odds, our bid for Philippe Senderos has been accepted!!! Looking to offer him a contract, I see that he's looking for a 3 yeard contract with wages around $61k in addition to a signing fee of $550k. Even though my assistant believe that Sendero would become a useful member of the team and he recommends that we offer him a contract in the region of $73k per week, I find that a bit rich for my taste for a 22 year old kid. I go a bit on the cheap side and offer him $45k per week with an improved signing on fee of $650k. It would still be a great increase from his current weekly wage of $13,000... I get a good laugh from a tiny news clip saying that Lille have sack their manager. The same manager that paid us $1.5M for underachieving Fábio Rochemback... I say underachieving because since getting to Lille, Rochemback has played three games and all three have gone for form rating of 6... In preparation for Ivory Coast's opening match in the African Cup of Nations against Morocco tomorrow, an ex-Ivory Coast star, whose name has been withheld, has admitted that he is worried about Ivory Coast's chances of beating Morocco at Gyandu Park on Monday. The former international commented that getting the better of Morocco would be a difficult task and that he was interested to see how I would approach the African Cup of Nations match... January 21, 2008 Freddy Guarín, Michael Ball, and Youssouf Hersi all got selected to the EPL Team of the Week. Who said we had players off for a certain Cup of African something, huh? The draw for the 5th round of the FA Cup happens today. We will play Nottingham Forest at Loftus Road on February 27. They are currently 15th in the EPL... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... Last edited by FrogMan : 11-09-2005 at 03:32 PM. |
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11-09-2005, 09:12 PM
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#195 | |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Quote:
That's all that matters now. |
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11-10-2005, 08:16 AM
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#196 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Hey, there's something good for everyone in here, even when I crush your favorite team 4-1 on their pitch... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-10-2005, 10:19 AM
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#197 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 21, 2008
African Cup of Nations, Group Stage, Match #1: Ivory Coast play Morocco. They are ranked 51st in the world while we are ranked 49th yet they are 6-4 favourites to win this game... It's gotta have something to do with the credibility of being managed by a French speaking white guy from way up north Subs rules for this game are 7 subs/3 used. We are really hurting at left win with both backups, Kanga Gauthier Akalé and Marc-Eric Gueï, injured at the moment. If Cedric Konan needs a rest at some point, I'll have to move Emmanuel Eboué or Arthur Boka around and bring in Yago... Didier Deguy Zokora is also injured although he is only 2 days away from being completely healthy so I keep him on our bench. Emerse Fae gets the start at DMC. Morocco show a 5-3-2 formation with two wingbacks to start the game. The game starts rough for us as we're getting dispossessed from the ball just about anytime we try a run forward, but we lucky in the 34th minute as Salomon Kalou tries a pass/shot forward to Didier Drogba. The keeper is moving toward it only to see the ball be deflected by a defender and slowly go in. What a lucky goal, but we'll take it. Up 1-0! We're ahead 1-0 at the half, but they are outshooting us (10(4) to 6(1). We are winning possession with 58% but they're the ones getting the chances. That always makes me worried about possible comebacks although I must say that our keeper, Gérard Amoukou Gnanhouan, is keeping us in the game so far, rating at 8 at the half. Arouna Koné needed to be attended to by the physiotherapist early in the game and his condition is only at 62% at the half. I replace him with Aruna. We're doing a wee bit better in the second half, although they are still getting more chances than us, we're only more opportunistic, especially in the 69th minute as Didier Drogba and Bonaventure Kalou went with a nice one-two combination that left Drogba entering the penalty area with only the keeper to beat. He found a gap to shoot in low and scores the 2-0 goal! Final Score: Ivory Coast 2, Morocco 0 An outstanding win to start the Cup!!! They did outshot us 17(8) to 15(3) on the game though. A local newspaper claimed that the difference between the sides was the superior finishing from the Ivory Coast Strikers. I'd have to agree with that assessment. Bonaventure Kalou was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9. He completed 35 of his 38 attempted pass, 8 of them key passes and created our two goals. His brother Salomon and goalkeeper Gnanhouan also both rated at 9. Centreback Abdoulaye Meïté also had a good game, rating at 8. He won 9 of 12 headers in the game, 4 of them key headers. In our group, Senegal won 2-0 over Angola two days ago and here's what the group table looks like after every team has played a game:
We play Angola on the 24th. That was a costly win though, as I learn after the game that left fullback/backup left winger Arthur Boka hurt his shoulder in the game anbd will miss 5 days. It's a shame since he's the one who moved up to take Cedric Konan's place late in the game and I found that he did pretty well... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-10-2005, 12:43 PM
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#198 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 22, 2008
Philippe Senderos' agent tells us that his client has rejected our first contract offer. The player feels he is deserving of a batter basic salary. Senderos's agent has indicated that his client would be happy to proceed with further negotiations. I can't say I didn't expect that as our first offer was a bit low compared to his demands. The 22yo centreback still wants $61k per week and I have an idea. I offer him what he wants, but I drop his request for a 15% annual wage raise. That request would have pushed the initial weekly wage of $61k upward of $80k in two seasons. If I can have him agree to a flat wage of $61k per week over the 3 years of the contract, I think I could live with that. January 24, 2008 Awww crap...  Emmanuel Eboué strained his calf in training (training?!) and he will miss two weeks. This is gonna make it that much harder for us in tomorrows game as it kills what little room we had to cover the left winger spot and will probably force me to start centreback Cheik Ismaël Tioté on the left fullback spot...Another ex-Ivory Coast star as come out of the closeout without being named and he's worried about Ivory Coast's chances of beating Angola at El Wak Sports tomorrow. The former international commented that getting the better of Angola would be a difficult task and he was interested to see how I would approach the African Cup of Nations match. Among other comments in the media, Bonaventure Kalou has said he believes the match against Angola will depend on who can perform on the day. Kalou told a local newspaper in the build-up to the match that he expected both teams to create chances and, with nothing much between the two sides, it could come down to who gets the tactics right on the day. I'm getting a feeling that without really saying it out loud, Kalou is telling the world that I could be the difference maker in this game... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-10-2005, 01:01 PM
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#199 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 24, 2008
African Cup of Nations, Group Stage, Match #2: Ivory Coast play Angola. They are ranked 62nd in the world and just lost 0-2 to Senegal, a nation with which we drew 2-2 back in 2007, in a monumental chokejob on our part. We are evens favourites to win this game. I need to shuffle our lineup a bit with the recent injuries and as I said before, I'm starting centreback Cheik Ismaël Tioté at left fullback and will have to use central attacking midfielder in case Cedric Konan ever need to come off the field... In the 24th minute, Didier Drogba steals the ball from their left fullback and runs with it to the byline. There, he launches a weird looking long cross pass that I get the feeling is kind of too long, until I see where it's going. Cedric Konan gets it an has a clear line to goal. He tries a shot from long range which is partially blocked by their keeper, but the ball still slowly rolls behind the goal line. Up 1-0 on Konan's first ever goal for Ivory Coast! That was one boring first half though and it ends on that score. We're outshooting them 3(3) to nothing, talk about mucho midfield play... The second half is noth really the same although it won't be until there's less than 10 minutes to go before we add to our lead. In the 82nd minute, another cross from Drogba to the far post is the start of a score. It's received by Yaya (now playing left wing) near the post, where he knocks it back to Aruna on the edge of the 6yard box. It's an easy goal for Aruna who heads it in for the 2-0 goal. And again in the 87th minute, Drogba is the source of another scoring play. This time, it's the pressure that he puts on their left fullback that forces him to clear the ball toward the centreback. The pass is weak and it's intercepted by Gilles Donald Yapi Yapo (in for Bonaventure Kalou) and he scores with one of his typical placed finish. Final Score: Ivory Coast 3, Angola 0 Well, we outshot them 10(8) to 5(1) and hopefully this will silence that ex-international star that we keep hearing from. Many journalists after the game commented that Ivory Coast's better use of the ball proved the vital factor in the win.Aruna was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 8, but 5 others also rated at 8, including three of our back four. Tioté rated at 7, not bad for a guy playing out of position... The best news of all is that no new injuries have been suffered today! With this win and the goal differential that we have, we've basicall clinched a qualification to the quarter final. Here's the table as it stands after our second match:
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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11-10-2005, 03:21 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 25, 2008
Following yesterday's game, Lecce's Cedric Konan has revealed his joy at collecting his first goal for Ivory Coast. The 25yo forward told journalists at the post-match press conference that it was a great feeling to score for your country and he couldn't wait to pul on a Ivory Coast shirt again. One game in our group was played today and Morocco won 2-1 over Senegal, keeping their chance of qualifying for the Quarter Final alive. With the Group table as it stands now and the remaining games (Ivory Coast/Senegal, Angola/Morocco), it's still a pretty open race. Take a look at this:
It would take some pretty wild scoring matches but we could even be taken out of qualification with a big loss to Senegal combined to a big win by Morocco over Angola... Count on me not to let the big loss happen though Back to Loftus Road, where I'll be managing the team against Liverpool tomorrow, I receive the news that Philippe Senderos has agreed to a deal to come play for us!!! As you'll see in his profile below, the 22yo is already an accomplished centreback...  He couldn't get to Loftus Road at a better time too. With Danny Shittu and Abubakari Yakubu away on international duty, he will step right in our starting lineup for tomorrow's match against Liverpool. With Pascal Cygan at centreback, it'll make two former Gunners in the middle of our defense ( to tk and daedalus)I mentionned before that I had the feeling he was coming on his own and here's why I get that feeling. Look at his stats over the last few seasons first:
From age 19 to 21, i.e. the three seasons prior to the current one, he played sparingly and had trouble getting good form ratings while this season, he's been much better. Look at his stats on the season:
All in all, I think his acquisition is a real positive move and will helps us even in the midfield, where I could play Abubakari Yakubu if the need to give Freddy Guarín a breather happens. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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