FM 06: Peterborough United - Return of The Posh

[Butter]

Ipswich offers me $3.3 million + 10% of next sale for Georgi Sarmov. I counter with $4 million + 20% of next sale. Sarmov’s agent notes that his client wants to be able to discuss terms with Ipswich. I say “screw you, buddy, I’m in charge here, and you’ll play out your contract if I say”. Or something to that effect.

Jan. 10, Match 29 @ #21 Leeds
Leeds with a somewhat rare 5-3-2 formation… with a sweeper, 2 wing-backs pushing into midfield, and 3 central midfielders. We stick with attacking tactics out of the diamond today. Pays off in the 2nd minute, as Gigliotti sends a super through ball to Toure-Maman, who slots it home to give us a quick lead. Hagman with a giveaway as he attempts to pass back to Mirtoroghi… and Cuellar with some bad positioning on the goal as he lets it in on the short side. In the 2nd half, Borbely is sent off in the 68th for a last ditch tackle… but luckily it was just outside the box, so we dodge the goal. We switch to a defensive 4-4-1 for the remainder and just try to hold the point. We actually control play for the last 10 minutes, and are able to hang on for the draw.
Draw, 1-1, drop to 5th

I offer Emil Samuelsson out for loan, as his form hasn’t impressed me at the senior level… 6 appearances, a 6.57 avR. 10 teams offer to take me up on his loan out, and 3 more teams offer to buy him for $300k + 30% of next sale. Samuelsson actually ends up going on loan to QPR… so it should be interesting to see if he gets any time in the lineup there. Hopefully he will, but I have a knack for loaning out players to teams who end up not really using them.

Norwich offer me $1.7M and 30% of next sale for Michael Cia. His training at AMC is coming along nicely, so I turn them down flat. Once he gets trained there, I think he’s going to settle in for a long, long time.

I exchange some words through the media with Northampton’s manager… our rival tells us they’re looking forward to keeping us from being promoted… I tell the media that Northampton’s manager is a magician… as in “poof, watch his team disappear from the Championship!”

Jan. 17, Match 30 v. #23 Northampton
In the 16th minute, Gigliotti buries a free kick from the edge of the area… his 19th of the year puts us ahead early. Gigliotti scores again in the 32nd, after a nice pass from Cia. The Frenchman’s 20th of the year leads the club. Northampton get one back just prior to the break after Pieter Collen gave it away in defense, then failed to close down the attacker after the steal. In the 53rd minute, we pass the ball crisply around the perimeter of the area, then Rob Edwards with a pinpoint pass to a cutting Michael Cia, who turns, shoots, and scores! Cia’s first ever Posh goal puts us back up by 2. We add one more for good measure in the 89th, as substitute Sebastien Renouard takes Tommy Spurr’s pass and slots it home from 10 yards out. Renouard was completely unmarked on his 1st Posh goal.
Win, 4-1, up to 4th place – 2 pts. behind Derby and Crystal Palace for 1st

Sheffield United earn a draw on Sunday, and all 3 teams ahead of us now sit on 55 points, while we hold 53.

Jan. 24, FA Cup Fourth Round v. Tranmere Rovers (9th in League Two)
Hakon Opdal starts in goal today, and our striker tandem is Keith Barker and Chris Dagnall. Tranmere play us surprisingly even in the first half… Opdal with 2 nice saves to keep us in it. Perisset with 2 close-in misses cost us goals in the first half. We bring on 3 subs with about 15 minutes to play to try and prevent a replay. In the 84th, we get our wish, as Collen sends a great long ball to Hagman, who is played onside by a defender on the other side of the field… Hagman attacks the keeper and squeezes it between him and the post for the winning goal. Opdal was decent in goal, but he only had to make those 2 saves all match long, so it wasn’t too hard for him.
Win, 1-0, advance to Fifth Round

Manchester United and Chelsea both lose to Championship opponents, while Manchester City loses to League One Bournemouth.

The Draw for the Fifth Round is held… and we are the next to last team drawn, which means we get a home game… against Fulham. Fulham, the same team that knocked us out of the League Cup just over 3 months ago. We’ll play Fulham on February 25th at our place this time.

Jan. 27, Match 31 @ #7 Cardiff
We come out in the defensive version of our 4-4-2 diamond today. Cardiff with a great job of weathering 2 terrific chances of ours in the opening 10 minutes… but then a lapse on a 21st minute corner kick allows Balazs Borbely to head in Sebastien Renouard’s corner. Borbely’s first Posh goal. 6 minutes later, Hagman with a great breakaway, but he unselfishly centers for Gigliotti, who converts an easy tap-in to make it 2-0. Just seconds before the halftime whistle, the rear guard opens up and allows a 20 yard shot... and Cuellar can’t get to it, allowing Cardiff to go in just a goal behind instead of two. We restore our advantage just 2 minutes into the 2nd half, as Spurr intercepts a free kick by Cardiff, then sends Gigliotti in free on the keeper… and he just doesn’t miss those. In the 52nd, Cuellar with a world-class save on a breakaway pass that was centered to an unmarked attacker… he slid over and made the fingertip save. Then, to keep our momentum, we put another good attack together, which ends when Cia is tackled from behind in the box… the penalty is given, and Gigliotti converts it to nab a hat-trick. As we do in all blowouts, we remove Gigliotti and Hagman as soon as it is apparent that we’re going to win. Can’t have them getting injured now, can we? A terrific performance all around, as Gigliotti picks up a 10, while Renouard, Spurr, and Godemeche nab ratings of 9.
Win, 4-1, up to 1st

We only move into 1st temporarily, as a number of other games kick-off later than ours. But when the dust settles, we slide into first as all 3 teams that were ahead of us only manage to draw. The standings are getting ever more crowded, as 4 teams now sit on 56 points, with 2 more on 55. We hold the best GD among those with 56, with a +24… but West Ham lurks a point back with a +30.

A big match rounds out the month:

Jan. 31, Match 32 v. #3 Blackburn
Rovers just dominate us in the first half… but neither team really gets much on goal. I try to encourage the team at halftime… this would be a huge win for us. In the 60th, our extra bit of quality shines through as Diallo caps a great series of crisp passing with a beautiful short cross over the defense, right onto the leg of Simon Hagman who volleys his 20th of the season into the back of the net. Mirtoroghi, Borbely, and Cuellar with some nice defensive work late… Mirtoroghi in particular foiled a 3-on-2 with a superb tackle inside the area. We take an important 3 points!
Win, 1-0, remain 1st, ahead of Sheffield United by +4 GD

We finish the month on a 3 game winning streak in the league… and we still haven’t lost in the league since late October. Our January record is 3-1-0, with 2 FA Cup wins as well.

[Butter]

February ‘09
Cash balance: $1,710,643

Michael Cia is named Young Player of the Month for January. He had 1 goal and 1 assist while averaging a 7.33 in 3 league starts this month. I somehow manage to finish only 3rd in the Manager of the Month voting.

I have noticed that I am losing a boatload of money this season. But if we can get promoted, it’ll all be worth it. But we have lost over $2.3 million this season, largely due to declining attendance combined with a rising wage budget.

As our next match is on Sunday, we get kicked all the way down to 4th after the Saturday action… needing another win to climb back into 1st, and a draw will put us 2nd.

Feb. 8, Match 33 @ #9 Nottingham Forest
We control play during the first 15 minutes… but Forest string together some impressive attacking in the next 20 minutes. Luckily for us, Cuellar is up to the task, and saves our hides more than once. The 2nd half is a bit less eventful early… but in the 74th, Forest’s superior skill today shows through, as Cuellar struggles to reach a loose ball then watches it get powered in behind him. For the first time in 3 ½ months, we have to push into attack to try and equalize. We get one decent chance late, as Diallo has a shot saved on a breakaway… then substitute Keith Barker’s follow-up attempt is charged down for a corner. That’s it, we take our first loss since Dec. 6th.
Loss, 1-0, remain 4th

The league is just cut-throat this year. Pretty rough that we worked so hard to get to the top, only to have our first loss in ten league games cause us to fall all the way to 4th. I would love to avoid the playoffs again this year, but with this competition, it’s going to be very difficult to get into the top 2 and stay there. Just hope we can avoid an extended drought following this loss.

Feb. 10, Match 34 @ #8 Stoke
Michael Cia shows why he is so coveted in this one. In the 9th minute, Toure-Maman with a nice pass to him, then he dribbles around a defender, then strikes home a tough-angled shot. His 2nd of the year gives us the lead. 2 minutes later, Chris Eagles’ cross finds Cia unmarked in the middle of the box, and he heads it past the Stoke keeper for a 2-0 lead. We keep up the pressure, and in the 20th, Balazs Borbely’s lofted ball from the sideline drops to the far post where Chris Eagles heads it home. Eagles has had a rough year this campaign, but is snapping out of it today. As the clock approaches halftime, Cia’s shot deflects straight to Keith Barker, who has an easy 5 yarder and buries it. Barker’s 1st league goal of the season, in a rare start for him as we give Hagman a rest. Eagles picks up in the 2nd half right where he left off, striking home a 20+ yard free kick to make it 5-0. In the 51st, Eagles’ free kick deflects off the wall, but right to Keith Barker who pokes it past the keeper. Toure-Maman makes it 7-0 with a great shot from the left side of the box that just sneaks in past the keeper. Then, my laziness at subbing out Gigliotti bites me, as Dwayne de Rosario chops him down and sends him off… hopefully it’s a minor injury. Toure-Maman, Cia, and Mlinaric (at DM) all pick up 10’s in this match. Keith Barker signals that maybe he’s ready to be a senior backup today, as he was in the right place at the right time more than once. The Stoke keeper and 4 of their field players end with ratings of 3…. Maybe the worst team effort I’ve ever seen.
Win, 7-0, up to 2nd

West Ham with a game-in-hand on the field now, but our win vaults us back into the top 2 for the time being… our GD shoots up to +31 with this performance, 2nd best in the league to the Hammers’ +32.

Gigliotti is not noted as having a long-term problem after the game, so I assume he’ll be just fine to go once his fitness recovers.

Feb. 14, Match 35 v. #18 QPR
Today’s match marks the return of Honore Kabongo to the Posh lineup… he is making just his 6th appearance of the season, and his first since his broken leg in late August. We control the first half pretty well, but fail to put any serious pressure on the Ranger keeper. Barker comes in for Kabongo at halftime, so as not to push him too hard. The 2nd half goes by with few chances for either side, and it ends in a boring 0-0 scoreline.
Draw, 0-0, remain 2nd

Both Sheffield United and West Ham have games to make up now, and both sit less than 3 points behind us… so wins by them will knock us out of the top 2.

It’s time… yes, that time. Time to take a look back at our Posh past and ask the question:

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

You may remember Trevor Benjamin, and how he helped us climb from League Two into League One with his 18 goals in my first year as coach. What happened to Trevor since? Well, he’s currently on his 13th team in 9 years… and his first outside England. Benjamin had 2 good years for Crewe in League One the past 2 seasons, scoring 21 goals and tallying 17 assists in 85 appearances. But he transferred over to Portuguese League club Nacional da Madeira, where he currently is helping that club achieve 6th place in the top-flight of Portuguese football. Benjamin is now 30 years old, and has scored 8 goals with 1 assist for Madeira this season.

What about Mark Arber, the defender we so callously sold in the middle of that striving for League One? Well, Swansea is ruing the day they paid us $140k for him, as after 1 good season in 2006/07, he has been in the reserves, watching his skills drop precipitously while running out the clock on his career. This 31 year old was key in getting us out of the red… but Swansea are struggling to stay in the Championship this year, no thanks to Arber.

And finally, what of Mark Tyler the Posh’s #1 goalkeeper and possibly it’s most beloved player when I took over? Tyler had been with the Posh his entire career, since 1994 when I came on board in 2005. Sadly for Mark, I had to get rid of his high salary… and sold him to Derby. Mark struggled with Derby, and played just 5 games in the Championship before transferring to League Two Barnet on a free in the summer of 2006. At Barnet, he currently toils in the reserves… after enjoying a decent 2007/08 season that saw him allow just 13 goals in 15 starts. Tyler still lists Peterborough as his favorite club… and possibly a coaching spot will be waiting on this wily veteran once his playing career is over… which may not be too far off, considering he is rehabbing a broken leg right now.

And as we say goodbye to Mark Tyler, so too do we bid adieu to this 2008/09 edition of… WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

[Butter]

The FA Cup Sixth Round draw is held, and if we can make it past Fulham, we’ll face a winnable game on the road at either Swansea or Reading to make the semifinals.

Feb. 21, Match 36 v. #1 Crystal Palace
Another match-up against the league leader can help us stay in the top 2… or could send us back into the playoff places. Our midfield is very active early on, and does a good job of closing down the Eagles all over the pitch… but our offense can’t get on track. It’s 0-0 at halftime. This game needs a goal to loosen it up… preferably a Posh goal. Mirtoroghi picks up a minor knock early in the 2nd half, but we get him to play on. We get a couple of minor chances in the 2nd half, but it’s a pretty boring game.
Draw, 0-0, drop to 3rd

West Ham jumps us into 2nd with a win, as the top 6 continue to be separated by just 3 points. A win would’ve been awfully nice, but I’m almost used to not being at the top at this point… why start now?

Mirtoroghi has a bruised rib, and will miss about 10 days of action.

League Cup Final
Liverpool 4:1 Manchester City

Feb. 25, FA Cup Fifth Round v. Fulham (#10 in EPL)
We come out in our 4-4-2 defensive diamond tactic. And just like every time we’ve played a stronger team than us, they get on the board quickly and easily… Moritz Volz with a nice cross in for Guinean striker Souleymane Youla, and he strikes it home in the 3rd minute. Youla strikes again in the 13th minute, as our defense appears to stand completely still while allowing the striker to run through them. We get a glimmer of hope in the 21st, as Renouard takes a long range shot… and it deflects off a Fulham defender in front and slips in. Youla scores again in the 39th to net a first half hat-trick, as Borbely looks powerless against him. We’re down 3-1 at halftime, and looking pretty scared. We actually come out looking much better in the 2nd half, but none of our chances can find the net… we push more into attack by the 70th minute. Doesn’t help, and we again squander a decent chance at cup glory. Every time we play an EPL team, we play horribly. Fulham get the pleasure of beating us out of both cups this year.
Loss, 3-1, out of FA Cup

We thoroughly struggled to contain a top class striker today. Very embarrassing display, although it didn’t help that 3 of our top 4 defenders, Mirtoroghi, Edwards, and Spurr are all out with injuries.

Feb. 28, Match 37 @ #17 Coventry
We still owe Coventry for knocking us out of the playoffs last season. We beat them 3-1 earlier this season. Hakon Opdal gets the start for the shell-shocked Ivan Cuellar today. We also start Jansen and Mamadou Diallo at striker, as Hagman has also completely lost confidence. We dominate the first half, but the Coventry keeper does a fine job to keep things scoreless at the interval. Considering our morale, I’m more than happy to finagle a point from this one. Another scoreless draw, as our defense showed up and played well today.
Draw, 0-0, remain 3rd – 3 pts. behind West Ham and Crystal Palace

A fairly disappointing February comes to a close, and we finish it 1-3-1 with an FA Cup loss as well. All 3 draws were scoreless.

[Butter]

March ‘09
Cash balance: $1,335,110

Andrej Mlinaric wins Young Player of the Month of February, thanks to his 7.67 avR in 3 starts with 1 assist.

March 3, Match 38 v. #12 West Bromwich Albion
Opdal with another start in goal for the sulking Ivan Cuellar. Dagnall and Gigliotti start up front. WBA with some good attacking football early, but our defense stays well-positioned and limits them to long, tough-angle shots. In the 27th we get our chance, as Toure-Maman is tackled down illegally inside the area… Gigliotti to take the penalty, and he makes it to break our 3+ game league scoreless streak. That seems to give Gigliotti a taste for scoring, as in the 35th, a Renouard corner is headed on target by Borbely… it is chested away by a Baggies’ defender, but Gigliotti is there to finish it. Gigliotti out at halftime with a minor injury. We bring Cuellar and Hagman on late to try and improve their morale. They don’t do much, but we are able to get back on track with a nice, if unspectacular home win.
Win, 2-0, remain 3rd – 1 pt. behind West Ham and Crystal Palace

Both the Hammers and the Eagles draw today, so we close the gap on the top 2 to 1… here are the standings as we approach the stretch run:

1. West Ham – 69 pts., +35 goal differential
2. Crystal Palace – 69, +26
3. Peterborough Utd. – 68, +33
4. Blackburn R. – 68, +23
5. Sheffield Utd. – 68, +22
6. Derby Co. – 64, +26
7. Cardiff – 63, +6
8. Nott’m Forest – 62, +2
9. Hull – 60, +3

Opdal with 2 straight decent performances. We have 8 games left, with 4 coming against the bottom 7… can we kick it into gear and get into the top 2?

With 9 games left in the season, our reserve team has won the Group 4 reserves league again. They are 25-5-0 this season, with a 32 point lead.

March 7, Match 39 v. #22 Oldham Athletic
Another snoozer of a game, as opponents seem to be content to lay back and let us pass ourselves silly around the edges of the area, but we’re failing to put much pressure on opponents out of this formation. We switch to the 4-2-3-1 with about 10 minutes left, and get 3 good chances, but can’t get any of them in past the Oldham keeper, who is named Man of the Match with a 9 rating.
Draw, 0-0, drop to 5th – 3 pts. out of 2nd place

Our recent poor form with the diamond tactic suggests that perhaps it’s time to switch tactics again? I’m wary to do so, since we haven’t been losing… but we need to start winning some games if we want to avoid the playoffs again. Upon further reflection, I think we’ve just been struggling to score because Hagman has been off his game. He’s not scored since January 31st, a scoreless streak of 6 games.

March 14, Match 40 @ #11 Watford
We come out in the 4-4-2 defensive diamond again. Cuellar is back in the lineup, as is Simon Hagman. In the 15th minute, an early cross by N’Daw finds Gigliotti rising above 3 defenders and heading it home for his 26th goal of the season. Watford equalize in the 28th, as an attempted through ball is deflected right to the intended target, and Cuellar can’t stop the shot. Hagman’s tough luck continues, as he hits the crossbar in the 32nd minute with a close-in shot. In the 48th, our halftime substitution of Mlinaric for Toure-Maman pays off, as Mlinaric gets free on a breakaway and taken down in the box… the Watford defender is red-carded, and Rob Edwards converts the PK to make it 2-1 Posh. Watford actually seem to play better after losing a man, but our quality takes over late… in the 87th, we get that final counter-attack to finish things off, as Diallo’s superb pass to Sarmov finds him in space at 15 yards, and the Bulgarian knocks it home for his 8th goal of the season. Mamadou Diallo picks up a 9 and MoM honors.
Win, 3-1, remain 5th – 3 pts. from 1st

Next up, a big road match with Hull. Hull are trying desperately to keep up with the top 6, and are just 1 point behind Derby for 6th right now. Hull have traditionally been a team that we have trouble scoring on… but hopefully that last match will help us stay on track for this next one. We need a winning streak to finish out the season.

Michael Cia pulls a hamstring in practice, so we’ll be without our budding star for nearly a month.

Our final match in March is pushed back 3 days to April due to international call-ups… so we finish a slow March with a 2-1-0 record.

After the rest of the league plays in some matches over the weekend, we come out on the other end with a 5 point deficit to make up on the top 2 of Crystal Palace and Blackburn… a win in our next match will set us up to 4th, just 2 points behind. Gleefully, we watch as rivals Northampton are already relegated from the Championship.

Peterborough offer O’Sixty-Nine new contract
You have been offered a 3 year contract on $275,000 per year by the Peterborough board.

Peterborough board indicate that they would be able to offer you a transfer budget in the region of $1.3M to fund the purchase of new players. The current wage bill stands at approximately $6,000,000 per year, which the board consider a healthy level for a club of this size.

The board are keen to give you as much flexibility as possible however and have offered you several alternative budgets to choose from.

There are only 2 choices of wage and transfer budgets… I can go with the one stated above, or a wage budget of $6.5M, which would drop the transfer budget to $900k… that’s what I choose. I also throw in a clause to improve the training facilities. They refuse to upgrade the training facilities, so I agree to the financial terms, and sign a new 3 year deal through 2012.

Ivan Cuellar expresses his happiness that I have been retained.

April ‘09
Cash balance: $805,452

April 1, Match 41 @ #7 Hull
We need wins. Badly. Sadly, we start out quite poorly, conceding a goal inside the first quarter-hour thanks to some bad marking by Rob Edwards, and a good shot by the Tigers’ attacker. Hull quickly back into a defensive shell after their goal, as 1-0 is their desired scoreline. We get the goal back in the 27th, as Spurr’s cross is volleyed on target by Diallo… his shot is stopped, but Gigliotti finishes off the rebound to make it 1-1. Hull score quickly, though, striking back in the 30th, as Borbely fails to clear a cross in, allowing another easy shot for the Tigers. It looks like we’re headed for another gutting late season swoon, as Tommy Spurr gives up a PK in the 86th… when Hull converts, I know we’ve got lots of work ahead of us to climb back into the top 2.
Loss, 3-1, remain 5th

I lambaste the team in the post-game locker room. I also release critical mid-week comments about Simon Hagman and Ivan Cuellar, both of whom seem to be tanking at the worst possible time. The fans get behind my comments about the pair, but neither one of them seems fazed by the comments in the locker room.

April 4, Match 42 v. #4 Sheffield United
We’re sticking with the ol’ 4-4-2 attacking diamond. Gigliotti and Diallo start up front today. We get a great start in the 3rd minute, as Godemeche’s nice low pass finds Eagles unmarked near the spot… and he slots it home. Even better news in the 32nd, as Diallo’s cross is headed on by Gigliotti, and Toure-Maman squats at the back post and taps it in. Then in the 40th, David Gigliotti with a 25 yard free kick that he buries in the upper left corner for his 28th goal of the season. We bring Hagman on at halftime, and switch to a defensive set-up. We do what we need to, and back down for a 3-0 win.
Win, 3-0, up to 4th place – 2 pts. out of 2nd

Hopefully that win will give us momentum for our final 4 matches… 3 of which are against patently inferior clubs. Anything less than 3 straight wins heading into our final match against Derby will be a massive disappointment.

With 4 games left, here are the standings:
1. Blackburn R. – 80, +30
2. West Ham – 79, +42
3. Crystal Palace – 77, +27
4. Peterborough Utd. – 75, +36
5. Sheffield Utd. – 75, +24
6. Derby Co. – 70, +26
7. Cardiff – 70, +7
8. Hull – 69, +8

Georgi Sarmov suffers a mild pulled hamstring in training, but it is still likely that he will miss the remainder of the regular season. Tough break there, as Sarmov has been one of the most consistent midfielders we have.

April 11, Match 43 @ #17 Reading
We come out in our 4-4-2 defending diamond. Hagman picks up a minor knock very early in this match, and it’ll cause him to come out at halftime. Halftime zips by without much fanfare, and it’s a drab 0-0 game at halftime. Keith Barker comes on for Hagman at the break, and looks very lively. He nearly heads in a corner that the Reading keeper makes a great save on, then Gigliotti with a horrific miss as Barker crossed to him all alone inside 5 yards, but the Frenchman put it right into the keeper’s stomach. Just when things were looking lost, Barker again with a nice play, breaking free of the defense, then centering to Gigliotti who doesn’t miss this time! 1-0 Posh in the 71st! We switch to a 5-4-1 late, and make the goal hold up! A huge road win for us.
Win, 1-0, remain 4th

Standings:
1. West Ham – 82, +43
2. Crystal Palace – 80, +30
3. Blackburn R. – 80, +29
4. Peterborough – 78, +37
5. Sheffield Utd. – 76, +24

Godemeche comes out of the match with a damaged foot that will keep him out 2-4 weeks. He has been our primary DM, so this is a big blow.

April 13, Match 44 v. #16 Plymouth Argyle
We switch things up a bit, and come out in our more aggressive 4-2-3-1 for this short turnaround match. Our players are in such good shape, that most regulars are still able to start in this one. Guirane N’Daw heads a corner kick off the bar in the 8th minute. In the 18th minute, Ivan Cuellar with an errant forward pass… and the alert attacker sends the ball straight back at goal from 40 yards, and scores over the flailing Cuellar. 1-0, Argyle. We have several good chances towards the end of the half, but the Argyle keeper makes 2 great saves, and a Gigliotti goal is ruled out for offsides. We switch to an aggressive 4-4-2 diamond with 15 minutes to go, and it pays off immediately, as Diallo gets a breakaway, dribbles 50 yards and slots one home with 14 minutes to play. We bring Hagman on with 5 minutes to go and finish in a 3-4-3… but ultimately it makes no difference as we finish even.
Draw, 1-1, remain 4th

Standings:
1. West Ham – 85, +44
2. Crystal Palace – 83, +31
3. Blackburn R. – 83, +30
4. Peterborough – 79, +37
5. Sheffield United – 79, +25

With 2 games left, we have virtually no shot at reaching the top 2, as all Blackburn or Palace have to do is win 1 more to put it out of reach for us… and we can’t catch West Ham’s goal difference.

Another disappointing April this is turning out to be.

Emil Samuelsson returns from his loan to QPR… he finishes with a 7.13 avR in 8 appearances, including a goal with the Championship club.

April 18, Match 45 @ #24 Swansea
We come out in our attacking 4-4-2 diamond formation. We come out and dominate, and in the 26th finally get our breakthrough, as Gigliotti buries a straight on 20 yard free kick… his 30th goal of the season. 7 minutes later, he does it again from almost the same spot… this time it deflects slightly off the wall but still goes in. And in the 41st, a wonderful, glorious sight… Renouard with a nice ball ahead, and Simon Hagman is there, and finishes it inside the near post! His first goal in over 2 months puts us up 3 at halftime. We decide to keep our attack up, just in case West Ham have any trouble… maybe we win this baby 6-0 and pass West Ham on GD or something crazy. We don’t score any more goals, but we don’t allow any either… and it finishes 3-0.
Win, 3-0, remain 4th

Sadly for us, we’re eliminated from the race for the top 2, as Blackburn win today and have 86 points… while we sit on just 82 with 1 game to play. Playoffs again for us, as we clinch a berth today.

[Butter]

So, I take the approach of not getting anyone injured in the last match… but at the same time, I don’t want to lose and take poor morale into the very important 3 game season to come. This year, we must at least make the finals. If we make the finals, I can completely understand not winning them… winning a one-off game for all the marbles is the height of pressure… the likes of which most of my youngsters have never seen.

Gigliotti has hit a new Peterborough record, scoring 31 league goals this season.

I had considered switching tactics a bit late in the season, but our performance against Argyle with the 4-2-3-1 has made me reconsider and keep the 4-4-2 diamond… we have not lost many since we were 13th in late October. And even though we couldn’t quite get up to the top 2, I have to hope that this formation will hold up for us in the coming pressure games.

April 26, Match 46 v. #6 Derby County
We keep Gigliotti and Hagman off the sub lists for this one. Barker and Dagnall up front. Dagnall has been in on a season long loan, and has not scored a goal in 14 appearances at striker. Derby need a win to make the playoffs… otherwise, they need some help from some other teams to remain in 6th place. A dull first half ends scoreless, with few shots either way. The 2nd half is about the same, and it ends 0-0. Not an unexpected result.
Draw, 0-0, remain 4th

Looks like we’ll be playing Sheffield United in the playoffs… they got creamed in their final match, 5-2 to Cardiff. Derby end up holding on for 6th, beating out Stoke on GD, as Hull lose their final match and fail to achieve one of the top 6 spots.

Chelsea win their 5th straight Premier League title.

We will face Sheffield United in round 1 of the playoffs on May 2nd.

Our April is ultimately unsatisfying for the 2nd straight season, as we’re left to fight for our promotion lives with 3 other tough teams. We finish April 3-2-1.

[John Galt]

Good luck in the playoffs!

[Butter]

May ‘09
Cash balance: $476,212

We’ve lost over $3 million this season… quite remarkable when you think about it. The board made it happen, giving me a $7 million wage budget. If we hadn’t sold good ol’ Aime Lavie back in July for $2M, I hate to imagine where we’d be right now.

May 2, Championship Playoff Semifinal Leg 1 @ Sheffield United
We split our 2 meetings with the Blades this year, losing 3-1 at Bramall Lane, and winning 3-0 at London Road less than a month ago. Sebastien Renouard with a nice play in the 25th, stealing an attempted sideways pass between defenders, he fires a quick shot on goal and scores. We dominate the rest of the half, but still only go in ahead 1-0. Toure-Maman with a nice cross to Renouard, and he makes it 2-0 in the 54th minute. We control the last half hour, and nearly score again a couple of times. Nice, easy win.
Win, 2-0

Sadly for us, David Gigliotti came up lame in that last match, and he’ll miss our final (2) playoff match(es) with a pulled hamstring. HUGE loss… Toure-Maman also sprained his ankle, and he’ll likely be unavailable for the remainder of the playoffs as well.

Georgi Sarmov resumes full training, so he should be available to us if we were to make the final.

Championship Playoff Semifinal First Leg
Cardiff 1:1 Blackburn

Apparently, Derby did NOT sneak into the playoffs as I had thought… but Cardiff did, by virtue of beating Stoke on the final day of play.

May 5, Championship Playoff Semifinal Leg 2 v. Sheffield United
We stick with the defensive 4-4-2 diamond, to try and capitalize on what should be a desperate Blade offense. Simon Hagman puts us up 1-0 in this fixture on a breakaway off a corner kick… he makes the keeper look silly as he beat him to his left. Keith Barker makes it 2-0 in the 22nd off a nice through ball from Michael Cia. The Blades barely get a look at goal all game long, and Keith Barker makes it 3-0 in this one in 2nd half stoppage time on a long distance chip over a vastly out of position keeper, and we advance easily to the Final.
Win, 3-0, Peterborough advance 5-0 on aggregate

Championship Playoff Semifinal Second Leg
Blackburn 0:2 Cardiff (Cardiff advance 3-1 on aggregate)

We split a pair of games home and home with Cardiff this season. As tight as my teams have played in big games in the past, it’ll be a tough task to score even 1 goal without Gigliotti in the lineup… so I think this one may well go down to extra time, and PK’s even. But we shall see in 11 days.

[SirFozzie]

11 days is plenty of rest at least.

[Butter]

UEFA Cup Final
Villarreal 1:0 Borussia Dortmund

FA Cup Final
Ipswich 0:1 Liverpool

UEFA Champions League Final
Chelsea 1:2 Liverpool
-Chelsea make it 2 losses in the Champions League Final in 3 years, while Liverpool convert the Cup double.

May 17, Championship Playoff Final v. Cardiff, from Wembley Stadium – London
Lineup:
-----------Jansen-------- Hagman------
--------------------Eagles-----------------
Renouard ----------------------- Diallo
-----------------Godemeche--------------
N’Daw--Borbely--Mirtoroghi--Collen
--------------------Cuellar-----------------

We come out in our defensive tactics. Things don’t start well, as in the 4th minute, Giovanni van Bronckhorst buries a 25 yard free kick past Cuellar. The rest of the half is dreadful, but in the 1st extra minute, Simon Hagman with a terrific mazey run, beating 2 men, then slotting a shot home inside the far post. I encourage the team at halftime, as we’re lucky to be even with the Bluebirds after the first 45. In the 2nd half, we control play a bit more, and get the go ahead goal in the 67th. It’s Renouard with a great ball ahead of Eagles, and the Man U loaner slots it home! We back down to a 4-5-1… N’Daw and Mirtoroghi do a great job of clearing and heading numerous balls away. Van Bronckhorst has a good chance late, but Cuellar gets the save… and when the clock strikes 93:00, the whistle sounds. The Blue and White fans in the stadium let their flags fly, as Peterborough United have been promoted to the English Premier League!
Win, 2-1, win promotion to EPL


2008-09 final standings:


Final stats:


End of season contract status:


End of season player values & ages:


Reserve team values & ages:

[John Galt]

Congrats! I look forward to reading the next season.

[SirFozzie]

Grats, you posh scum you

[flere-imsaho]

WOOHOO!!!

[Butter]

Final statistics:
Avg. attendance: 8,385 (23rd, 1st: West Ham, 33,655)
Goals scored/conceded: 90/44 (2nd/2nd)

Average rating
1. Balazs Borbely – 7.53
6t. Rasoul Mirtoroghi – 7.33
6t. Nicolas Godemeche – 7.33
13. Mamadou Diallo – 7.30
21t. David Gigliotti – 7.25

Goals
1. David Gigliotti – 31
12t. Simon Hagman – 21

Assists
No Posh player in top 25.

Man of Match
5t. Rasoul Mirtoroghi – 7

End of season squad review

Goalkeepers
We need an upgrade at this position. Desperately. We will be looking at keepers during the offseason. On paper, Opdal appears to have the skills necessary to perform at the highest level. On the field, he plays like shit. Cuellar doesn’t have the one v. one skill or the anticipation we’re going to need at the next level. He kept 24 shutouts in 44 starts… but even so, a lot of times that was thanks to our back 4, not to any great acrobatics he performed. Mark Cousins still hasn’t improved his handling enough to be a #1, despite intensive training in keeper skills. None of our other reserves is ready, nor have they played on the senior squad this year.

Players out: None
Players in: None

Outlook: Opdal will probably be handed the starting role UNLESS we can find someone to sign once we get our TV money for the 09/10 season. Cousins will probably line up as our #2/3, and we’ll look to sell Cuellar.

Defense
Our defense was terrific this season. We conceded the 2nd fewest goals in the league, despite having a fairly mediocre man minding the nets. Borbely and Mirtoroghi were the best 2 center-backs in the league. They both fell off a bit towards the end of the season thanks to overwork, but when they were on, they turned in man of the match performances time and again. Both Tommy Spurr and Guirane N’Daw manned the left well, and Rob Edwards and Pieter Collen manned the right equally admirably. I was not nervous playing any of these 6 players this season. Malek Ait-Alia saw very limited action, but actually played well when called upon.

Players out: Malek Ait-Alia
Players in: None

Outlook: Hard to say what our outlook will be at the back 4 positions… all 6 of the above mentioned players look like they SHOULD be able to perform at the next level. Rob Edwards was shaky early on, and Pieter Collen had his nervy moments, but overall we should be set here. It would be nice if David Van Den Broeck played in games like he practices, because he looks like an all-world defender on paper. But we could probably use another left/right sider (hopefully an all-in-one type) to solidify our depth in the back.

Midfield
Our midfield flagged late in the season. Georgi Sarmov started out like gangbusters, and finished with the 3rd most goals on the team (8), but suffered from some unsettling in mid-season when he was getting bid upon quite publicly. Nicolas Godemeche was masterful at DM this season, providing 6 assists out of the back. Mlinaric suffered a bit of growing pains this year, averaging just a 6.76… but we are trying to convert him to a DM, just to have more flexibility on the squad. Michael Cia has some eye-popping performances out of AM, and his conversion there seems to be going smoothly. He could be absolutely dominant there within 2 years. David Perisset didn’t get as much time as I would’ve liked, but he looks to be a more than adequate player at the next level. Chris Eagles’ performance dropped from last season, as he was forced to play more at MR than at AMR, which is his natural spot. Mamadou Diallo flourished at MR late in the season, and looks to be a fixture there for years to come. Cherif Toure-Maman was disappointing at left wing, with just 3 assists… he saw his playing time being eaten away at by the younger, more promising Sebastien Renouard, who needs more training at ML. But he can play all 3 forward midfield spots, and proved adept at any at times. He also disappeared at times.

Players out: Cherif Toure-Maman (?)
Players in: None

Outlook: Our main 4 next season will probably look like this to start the year: Godemeche (DM), Renouard/Mlinaric (ML), Sarmov/Diallo (MR), Cia (AM). But I will be on the lookout for improvements that can be made, and will not hesitate to pull the trigger on some deals in August if we come out of the gates struggling. Reservist Emil Samuelsson also is improving by leaps and bounds, and will play some at DM, ML, and MR next year when we can.

Striker
David Gigliotti exceeded all expectations to become probably the best player in the league this year. Simon Hagman suffered a bit of a drought in mid-season, but still finished with over 20 goals for the 2nd straight year. Not bad for a $2,000 bargain basement special, eh? Our other strikers were pretty bad, though. Loaner Chris Dagnall appeared in 16 games, but didn’t score. Matt Jansen showed flashes, but his avR of under 6.5 shows that the flashes were few and far between. Honore Kabongo spent most of the season injured, while Keith Barker spent most of the season in the reserves, until being brought up and netting 4 goals in his final 7 appearances of the season.

Players out: None
Players in: 18 year old Markus Schulz (Kaiserslautern U-18’s), 18 year old Franco Romano (Serie B side Salernitana)

Outlook: Both players in are long-term projects, so we’re counting on Gigliotti and Hagman to keep up their quality play at the next level. But we definitely need some depth. I’m shopping around both Barker and Jansen now… Jansen because I feel he’s on the downside of his career, and Barker because he is probably at his peak value right now, and I don’t expect him to contribute much in the future. Barker is only 22, but his fitness rating is a “5”… I just don’t see him ever staying healthy enough to be a reliable contributor. Florian Da Costa is improving from the reserves, but he still has a-ways to go before we can rely on him. We probably need at least one if not two more good strikers… although we do have Mamadou Diallo who can also work as striker when needed.

It should be an interesting couple of months run-up to the new season. So let’s get started!

[Butter]

Thanks for the support, guys. I'm hopeful for next season, but I will be thankful just not to be relegated.

[Butter]

Balazs Borbely and Nicolas Godemeche are named to the Players’ Championship Select Team of the Year, while Rasoul Mirtoroghi was named as an alternate. Surprisingly, David Gigliotti is nowhere to be seen on the list.

I finish 2nd in Manager of the Year voting to West Ham’s Alan Pardew.

I get a number of teams bidding on Keith Barker, but decide to accept a few offers after bumping the price up to $2 million. Barker agrees to terms with Everton, and we sign him away for $2M, the deal set to take place on July 1st.

June ‘09
Cash balance: -$238,067

We go back in the red now, but hold out hope for better times to come, as we wait for our TV money to come in.

Unsurprisingly, David Gigliotti is voted Fans’ Player of the Year.

Peterborough have received $26,500,000 for Premier League TV rights for the forthcoming season.

The board have announced plans to enlarge the stadium by 1,050 seats. It is expected that this expansion will take only a short time to complete.

The Peterborough board have indicated that your transfer budget for this year will be in the region of $7.5M.

Both the board and the supporters expect the team to fight bravely against relegation this season.

I notice our wage budget has also been given a boost, from $7M to $13.75M.

Aston Villa inquire about David Gigliotti… I give them a price of $15M. They withdraw their offer.

I notice in the news ticker that John Harkes has been named manager of DC United.

[Butter]

We spend the end of June firming up our pre-season friendly schedule, which is quite impressive considering that we’re a Premiership newbie. We’ve got a number of name teams coming to London Road… I’ll let you be surprised when they come.

We look over a number of lists attempting to make some offers to players… then we get an impressive offer from Lecce for Michael Cia. They offer us $4M + 25% of next sale for the 20 year old promising Italian midfielder. I want to pull the trigger quite badly, but something inside me says not to do it, so I turn the offer down.

We make our first important acquisition of the offseason, signing 18 year old midfield starlet Alexandre N’Diaye for a $1.7M (+20% of next sale) fee to French Second Division club Laval. N’Diaye is a French DM/MR who already has terrific attributes all around. He has 16’s or above in the following categories: first touch, long shots, passing, technique, anticipation, composure, influence, positioning, work rate, pace, and stamina. And he is in double digits in all other categories. N’Diaye should fit right in with our youth movement.

July ‘09
Cash balance: $21,804,502

Laval fans are angry at the sale of Alexandre N’Diaye to us. I, however, am quite pleased with it.

We decide to cut Cherif Toure-Maman and Malek Ait-Alia. We also welcome previously signed young strikers Franco Romano and Markus Schulz on free transfers to open the month.

July 3, Friendly #1 v. Northampton
We kick-off the pre-season with old rivals Northampton from League One. A boring scoreless draw, as the huge crowd of 838 files out mostly disappointed.
Draw, 0-0

We make our first major name signing of the pre-season, as 26 year old Scottish striker Garry O’Connor signs with the Posh on a free transfer after leaving the Middlesbrough Reserves. O’Connor is a fine finisher of the ball, and is very strong and quick… his main problem is he is not eye-popping in any one category. He signs for $800k per year for just 2 seasons. He can shoot with either foot, which is important in our 2 striker offense.

We continue to struggle to find any goalkeepers to come in for either Opdal or Cuellar. This is not going well. We’re going to get shredded with those 2 back there.

We offer Lee Whittington and Danny Reed around… Rotherham bite for Danny Reed, and $500,000 later, we’ve sold the 22 year old striker. Reed appeared in 7 career senior matches for the Posh, never scoring a goal since coming over on a free from Middlesbrough’s reserve squad. Reed looked to be a career reservist for us, so this helps us out a lot.

We are able to make a loan deal to shore up our goalkeeper issues, as French squad Lille loan us 21 year old Cameroonian keeper Claude N’Deffi for the entire season. N’Deffi is a bit weak on one-v-ones, but is a nice looking keeper aside from that. He has a 16 or above in most goalkeeping areas, and is a good decision maker. The best part is we’re paying 100% of N’Deffi’s wages for this deal… just $28,000.

July 9, Friendly #2 v. Rangers
Just 4 minutes in, Garry O’Connor wastes no time getting on the board against a Scottish club. Then 15 minutes in, Diallo with a nice pass to Gigliotti, who heads it home for a 2-0 lead. 5 minutes later, David Perisset with an incredible 30 yard shot that bends home past the ‘Gers keeper. Then in the 33rd, Gigliotti has a shot stopped, but O’Connor sends the rebound home for a 4-0 lead. In the 2nd half, Florian Da Costa scores a rebound of a Rachid Tiberkanine shot to make it 5-0 in the 68th. Rasoul Mirtoroghi in mid-season form in this one, claiming a 10 rating.
Win, 5-0

We come VERY close to selling Rasoul Mirtoroghi, as Bolton offered us $3.1M, 20% of next sale, and a decent looking replacement DC named Sashi Chalwe. Sadly, I couldn’t come to terms with Chalwe, who wanted over $1.5M per season, and the deal fell through.

Georgi Sarmov cries to the press about his pay deal being too low, despite it being at $275k per season, which is about middle of the road in my current pay structure. I agree to re-negotiation, but he wants something like $1.2M per season… which would make him the highest paid player on the team. That’s not going to happen. I offer him something more like $600k, but it looks like these negotiations could drag out.

July 14, Friendly #3 v. Galatasaray (TV)
In the 30th, Simon Hagman puts home a rebound of a long Michael Cia shot to put us ahead. In the 49th, Honore Kabongo’s corner kick is headed in by Pieter Collen for a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, we yield a PK in the 59th, but Cuellar saves the poorly taken spot kick. Diallo hits a nice shot from 15 yards out to make it 3-0 just 4 minutes later, and the rout is on. Michael Cia picks up a 10, as we again dominate what I would consider a “mid-major” squad from outside England.
Win, 3-0

Andrej Mlinaric is the latest Posh youngster to complain about his pay deal. I assure him that we will be open to renegotiating his deal as well.

Georgi Sarmov finally agrees to a $725k per year deal through 2012, that included a $450k signing bonus.

Mlinaric signs a couple of days later for $650k base salary to start per season through 2012, including a 15% per year pay rise.

July 19, Friendly #4 v. Juventus (TV)
We stick with the defensive 4-4-2 diamond that’s been working so well for us this pre-season. An action-packed first half sees Juve get 15 shots, 6 on target… but N’Deffi is up to the task. We get 3 shots on target ourselves out of our 6 attempts… and actually control possession, 54-46 against the Juve first team, with David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira, and Gianluca Zambrotta being the most notable names, with Gianluigi Buffon in goal for the Italian champs. Finally in the 53rd, Fabrizio Miccoli with a fine 20 yard strike that curls just inside the far post. That opens the floodgates, as Fernando Torres knocks home a 15 yard strike 4 minutes later to put us down 2-0. In the 88th, an impressive move starts with Godemeche’s pass to O’Connor, who one-touches onto the run of Rachid Tiberkanine, who finishes past Buffon to make the final look a bit more respectable. Impressive run by Tiberkanine puts him in the back of my mind now.
Loss, 2-1

Looking at the roster, I think we might need another left winger. We have Mlinaric and Renouard, neither one of whose natural position is the ML spot. Renouard is the more skilled of the 2 players there, but Mlinaric is still young, and could eventually grow into a monster there. Eventually. For now, we may need a player to get us through this season. I hit the loan wire. Perhaps Emil Samuelsson can play some there as well when he returns to full health. I would play Matt Jansen there, but he has always played best up front… so has Honore Kabongo. Both of whom are going to struggle to find playing time this season anyway.

July 25, Friendly #5 v. Villarreal (TV)
In the 36th, Neri Cardozo hits a great 25 yard shot past Opdal to put the Spanish side up 1-0. David Perisset nearly gets it back for us in the 50th, sliding a 15 yard shot inches wide. But 10 minutes later, it’s Perisset again, this time he volleys home a short Rob Edwards cross to tie the match at 1. Perisset strikes again in the 68th… again it’s Rob Edwards crossing in… Perisset is unmarked near the spot and finishes inside the left post. We end badly, though, as in the 87th, Balazs Borbely brings down Diego Forlan in the box, yielding the penalty. Juan Roman Riquelme converts it, and it’s 2-2. With less than a minute of stoppage time remaining, Georgi Sarmov’s point blank header is stopped… but it leads to a counter-attack that ends with a nice chip over Opdal and in for a 3-2 Villarreal win. I congratulate the team on a fine effort, in a game we should’ve won.
Loss, 3-2

We pick up another season long loaner, as 20 year old Southampton reserve ML Kenneth Lodemel agrees to a season long loan deal with the Posh. Lodemel has some great technical numbers, rating a 20 in crossing, first touch, and technique, and has good pace and acceleration down the left. The Norwegian does suffer injuries a bit too often, but I’m willing to take that risk with a player of this potential quality. Plus, he only costs us $60k, so I’m not risking much financially here.

July 31, Friendly #6 v. CSKA Moscow (TV)
Sarmov comes out due to injury in the 3rd minute. In the 18th, Renouard with a great run down the right… he sends in an uncontested ball to the top of the six where Gigliotti heads it in for a 1-0 Posh lead. David Van Den Broeck leaves with an injury in the 25th minute. Not much goes on the rest of the game, and we take the win. Lodemel was impressive down the left in his debut.
Win, 1-0

Thus endeth a fairly impressive pre-season. We did well in our friendlies against tough competition. We also made $1.37M in gate receipts, and $500k in TV revenue by bringing in top quality opponents. We did pay out about $500k in fees to bring those teams here, but we made it up by a wide margin, and will end up turning a profit for the month.

Next up, we get a quick indoctrination into Premier level football as we must travel to St. James’ Park to take on Newcastle United.

[Butter]

August ‘09
Cash balance: $22,183,336

The board free up another $6M in transfer funds, giving us about $10.6M to play with if we so choose heading into the season. I’m loathe to use it right now, but will if we start out with 5 straight losses or something.

Depth chart
GK: Claude N’Deffi, Hakon Opdal, Ivan Cuellar (R), Mark Cousins (R)
DL: Tommy Spurr, Guirane N’Daw, Andrej Mlinaric
DC: Rasoul Mirtoroghi, Balazs Borbely, Pieter Collen, Spurr, Rob Edwards, N’Daw
DR: Edwards, Collen, David Van Den Broeck
DM: Alexandre N’Diaye, Nicolas Godemeche, Julien Camara, Mlinaric
ML: Kenneth Lodemel, Sebastien Renouard, Mlinaric, Emil Samuelsson, N’Daw, Jansen, Kabongo
MR: Georgi Sarmov, Mamadou Diallo, N’Diaye, Renouard, Samuelsson
AM: Michael Cia, David Perisset, Rachid Tiberkanine, Renouard, Jansen
ST: David Gigliotti, Simon Hagman, Garry O’Connor, Florian Da Costa, Diallo, Jansen, Kabongo, Renouard

We have 9 players on the opening day senior roster that are 21 years old or younger. We have 3 players who are 29 years old or older, and only one over 30 (Matt Jansen).

I’m pleased to note that we’ve only brought in 5 new players to the squad from last season to get it ready for EPL play. We have a strong squad, and one that will only grow better over time.

Charity Shield
Chelsea 3:2 Liverpool

We make one last loan pickup, as 25 year old AM/F Trond Olsen agrees to join us from the Tottenham Reserves. Olsen has absolutely blazing pace, and top notch ball skills. He lacks only in determination and maybe strength… but he should be a fine addition to the squad at $300k for a season long loan deal. He can play at ML, AMC, and at striker if needed. A very good looking player that will help us try to dump both Jansen and Kabongo.

English Premier League odds
Chelsea – 6:4
Liverpool, Arsenal – 7:4
Manchester Utd. – 3:1
Newcastle, Tottenham – 33:1
.
.
.
Peterborough Utd. – 1,000:1

The odds seem to suggest that we’ll be lucky to stay up. The papers ask me if I will be looking to bolster my squad in order to survive. I reply with “definitely not, I believe we’ve got the players with the ability to keep us up.” Following those comments, Hagman, Godemeche, and Borbely are pleased that I have faith in the squad and want to repay it with good play… while Mamadou Diallo is merely pleased he won’t have to fight too hard to remain in the first team. Nice.

I switched everyone too early last season off of pre-season training, and it led to a rash of early season injuries and poor play. I wait until 3 days before the season this year before switching everybody to their specific area of training.

I notice just prior to the season opener, that Michael Cia’s main position is now listed as AMC. So, our training has finally paid off.

Aug. 8, Match 1 @ Newcastle United
Opening match lineup:
GK: N’Deffi
D: Spurr, Mirtoroghi, Borbely, Edwards
M: N’Diaye (DM), Olsen (ML), Renouard (MR), Cia (AM)
S: Hagman, Gigliotti
Subs: GK Opdal, D/M N’Daw, ST O’Connor, AM/ST Diallo, M Lodemel

Things don’t start well, as in the 16th minute Emre finds Michael Owen in behind the defense… and Owen buries it. Owen makes it 2-0 in the 30th, as Emre again plays in a great ball that catches Mirtoroghi out of position. I berate the team a bit at halftime, calling them “clueless”. We switch to attacking 4-4-2 diamond tactics out of the locker room. We put a bit more pressure on in the late going, as Gigliotti’s 20 yard free kick in the 68th, and his close in header in the 72nd are both saved by the Magpie keeper. The referee blows this one to a close… we didn’t actually play that badly, finishing 50-50 in possession, and down 13/8 in shots taken. Just hard to open up on the road against a favorite to qualify for Europe.
Loss, 2-0, begin in 18th

After getting more transfer funds opened up to us, we finally pull the trigger on the biggest transfer in club history. We pay Blackburn Rovers $5 million for 29 year old Portuguese keeper Carlos Fernandes. Fernandes will make $950k per season through 2012, along with a $650k signing bonus. Fernandes has a 16 or higher in all goalkeeping attributes except rushing out (14) and punching (9). He also rates a 20 for decision making, and a 16 in positioning. His pace lacks a bit, but he is finally that big #1 keeper that we need at this level.

It’s going to be hard to watch this team this year. I have a bad feeling about this season, even though I really feel that this is a team that can finish in the top half of the table.

Tough blow just 2 days before our next match, as Rasoul Mirtoroghi comes up with a groin strain that will see him miss 2-4 weeks of action.

We agree to loan out 20 year old midfielder Emil Samuelsson to Brighton for 5 months. Samuelsson was set to be in for a long, boring season on the bench, so this is a good move for him.

Aug. 15, Match 2 v. #9 Ipswich
Carlos Fernandes gets the start in goal today. A fairly boring first half ends with a bang, as David Gigliotti buries a 20 yard free kick in the 1st stoppage minute to give us a halftime lead. We switch to a 5-4-1 with about 25 minutes left… and 3 minutes later, we dodge a bullet, as Ipswich bury a wide open rebound… in the side netting. 7 minutes from full time, Andrej Mlinaric with a super cross to Mamadou Diallo, and Diallo’s powerful header finds the back of the net, and gives us the insurance we need.
Win, 2-0, up to 10th

It’s noted that our gate receipts of $675k from a crowd of 13,334 is a record take for one match at London Road.

Worrying from our first 2 matches is the inactivity of Simon Hagman. He’s barely had a shot on goal through 2 starts, and I’ve subbed him out in both matches.

We’re dropped to 11th after a Tuesday win allows Preston to pass us in the table. But we can pass them right back with a win on Wednesday.

Aug. 19, Match 3 @ #17 Middlesbrough
Gigliotti sits this one out in favor of Garry O’Connor. Middlesbrough control play early, but Fernandes with one particularly good save on a Yakubu shot keeps us level. In the 30th, Cia with a great ball down the left for Olsen… Trond Olsen cuts it inside, then fires a hard 20 yard shot… it rings off the post, and Hagman is there to pick up the pieces! 1-0, Posh on Hagman’s first of the season. In the 40th, Collen lofts a long ball to Cia, who heads it straight onto Hagman’s perfect run… Hagman in between 2 defenders, and he slots it home! 2-0 Posh at halftime, on 2 nice bits of midfield play from Michael Cia. Boro look determined in the 2nd half, and score just 3 minutes in, as Rochemback’s nice pass gets Diego Mejia an open shot. In the 62nd, Yakubu with a nice shot past Fernandes to make it 2-2, after Edwards had deflected an initial long shot. In the 79th, Renouard’s corner is headed out by Boro… but Spurr gets it back to Renouard, who finds an open Florian Da Costa on the edge of the six, and he scores! Da Costa’s 1st ever senior Posh goal puts us up 3-2 with 10 minutes to go! We back into a 4-5-1 and try to run out the clock… but in the first stoppage minute, Boro with a great chance… a free kick goes right inside the six… Fernandes makes one stop, the rebound is hit hard, but Edwards with the clearance off the line saves the game! Carlos Fernandes is showing his value through just 2 matches.
Win, 3-2, up to 3rd place

Any road win in the EPL is a good one, but not getting our heads down after allowing Boro back in the match from 2 down is a special feat. Da Costa is finally showing why he was a good signing, as his quality grows every match.

Reserve keeper Mark Cousins agrees to go on loan to Bradford City.

The Second Round League Cup Draw is made, and we’ll begin that competition on the road against Championship outfit Wolves.

We drop to 4th after Saturday action sees Newcastle pass us in the table.

Aug. 23, Match 4 v. Preston North End (TV)
USA international player Clint Dempsey starts in midfield for Preston. Terrible start, as Borbely misses a tackle on the edge of the box, allowing a walk-in on Fernandes… he stops the first shot, but is helpless on the follow up as Preston lead after just 65 seconds. Preston are playing like they’re on an unstoppable mission early, but we buckle down and hold them off. In the 30th minute, Borbely’s long ball is headed down by Hagman, and Gigliotti wins the race with the keeper and pokes it home to even it up at 1-1. Mlinaric is forced off just before halftime with an injury. Frankly, we don’t deserve even a point from this one, but after a slow first half, that’s just what we get.
Draw, 1-1, up to 3rd

Mlinaric should not miss significant time, as he’s diagnosed with a dead leg that will only take around 7 days to heal.

We now get 2 weeks off before our next match, a road trip to the South Coast to play Portsmouth.

We’re dropped back to 7th place as all teams finish up their first 4 games before the weekend of Aug. 29th, which is a FIFA International weekend.

We’ve gone 2-1-0 since a worrying opening day loss at Newcastle to sit in the top half as the first month of play comes to a close.

[flere-imsaho]

After watching you loan in so many players in the previous seasons, it's neat to see you start to loan them out at this point.

[Butter]

September ‘09
Cash balance: $17,541,062

Alexandre N’Diaye picks up the Young Player of the Month award for his 7.33 average rating in 3 starts during August.

Sept. 9, Match 5 @ #15 Portsmouth
In the 10th minute, Michael Cia steals a square pass between defenders, gets past the back line and slots it home. We control the remainder of the half… and get a PK awarded as Borbely is hauled down during a corner kick… but sadly, Rob Edwards can’t convert it. In the 73rd, the few traveling fans who could make it are sent into rapture, as Lodemel, Cia, and Gigliotti work a play so sublime that I can scarcely describe it… except to say that Gigliotti ended the play by beating 2 men flat-footed, and slotting home a 20 yarder. Brilliant work, and we lead 2-0 with 15 minutes to play. We switch to a 4-5-1 in the final 15 minutes and win another well-fought match. Gigliotti picks up a 10 for his effort.
Win, 2-0, up to 3rd

We appear to be shaping up as another Wigan Athletic from the 2005/06 season… a team that was nearly universally tabbed for relegation, but sitting in the top 3 for a good part of the early season.

Sept. 12, Match 6 v. #6 Manchester City
Man City completely dominate all facets of the game in the first half, but Carlos Fernandes stops 6 shots to help us go in 0-0 at the half. In the 54th minute Man City continue their domination, as Park Joo-Young sneaks a 20 yarder in off the post, just past Fernandes. We strike back in the 59th, as Trond Olsen takes a throw-in, then crosses up the by-line, and Gigliotti heads it in from a yard out for a 1-1 game. Both teams with good chances in stoppage time, but Man of the Match Carlos Fernandes saved this game for us.
Draw, 1-1, drop to 5th

Our attendance of 16,331 and gate receipts of $825k from the previous match are both club records. The capacity at London Road is 16,364, so we were 33 short of capacity.

I urge the board to improve our training facilities, and they agree to do so. Our facilities right now are listed as “good”.

Sept. 16, League Cup Second Round @ Wolves (13th in Championship)
Claude N’Deffi in goal, and Trond Olsen and Florian Da Costa up front for this match. Wolves dominate the match early, and get the breakthrough in the 23rd, as a mass of players in front seems to part and allow an easy 12 yard chance for the Wanderers… they convert it to go ahead 1-0. An uninspiring first half from the lads… but we start out a bit livelier in the 2nd half, forcing a couple of saves from the Wolverhampton keeper. In the 2nd half, we suffer for not having either Gigliotti or Hagman on the field, as we botch at least 3 chances that they would’ve finished in their sleep. An unimpressive performance all around.
Loss, 1-0

Sept. 20, Match 7 @ #17 Birmingham City (TV)
Horrific start, as Fernandes’ long ball isn’t very long, and is won easily by the Blues’ midfield, leading to a quick attack down the middle and a goal for David Bentley. Birmingham strike again on a counter attack from a Gigliotti free kick… Jermaine Pennant streaks down the field, then centers for Pedro Mendes who shoots low and past Fernandes in the 22nd minute. We play better after the restart, as Lodemel’s short ball into the box finds Olsen cutting towards goal, and he finishes at a sharp angle past the keeper to cut it to 2-1 with 25 minutes to play. We make some offensive substitutions that don’t appear to amount to much. Then with 2:10 played of the added 2 minutes, and the crowd already jeering for the final whistle, Spurr sends a nice ball down the left touch line for Gigliotti… the Frenchman sends a hopeful ball to the near post… a Blues’ defender and the keeper converge, but the ball bobbles free, and Florian Da Costa sticks his nose in and buries it!!! An equalizer at the absolute death, and we pick up a point, as the whistles rain down upon our match official.
Draw, 2-2, up to 4th place

We’ve still managed to lose just one game since the season’s start, and that was our first game. We’re currently on a six match unbeaten run to sit 4th in the table with 12 points. Arsenal have 2 games-in-hand, and are really the only team behind us who could pass us based on games not played… so realistically, we’re 5th right now. A great start for the young Posh.

Of course, we’ve managed all of this without playing Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, or Tottenham. If we get any points from those giants, I’ll be most impressed.

Sept. 26, Match 8 v. #15 Fulham
O’Connor and Gigliotti up front today. O’Connor is forced out in the 30th with an undisclosed injury. Trond Olsen comes on for him. After a boring first half, we apply consistent pressure for about 5 minutes towards the end of the half, and are rewarded as Michael Cia centers for Trond Olsen, and the Norwegian loaner buries it for a 1-0 halftime lead. Fulham come out smoking, as they cut right through the defense and score in the 47th minute. We get a couple of sniffs at goal late, but don’t do anything with them, as Gigliotti has a pedestrian game by his standards.
Draw, 1-1, drop to 5th

This was our final match for 2 weeks, as more international matches will interrupt our season schedule. We finish September 1-3-0, with a Cup loss. I give the lads all 3 days rest from training as a reward for such a positive start. Couldn’t imagine getting off to a much better beginning to our Premiership lives. Now, can we build on it, or will the big 4 sink us in November and December? That question and more to be answered as the Posh continue to climb the English ladder!

[Butter]

October ‘09
Cash balance: $15,783,132

Michael Cia is named EPL Young Player of the Month of September, for his 7 average rating in 4 appearances, including 1 goal and 1 assist.

We have our match with Arsenal postponed until late November, which means we’ll have had over 3 weeks off by the time we return to action. I give the lads another 3 days off with about 10 days left until our next match.

We’re dropped back to 8th by the time we take the field again, against underachieving Liverpool.

Oct. 17, Match 9 v. #10 Liverpool
We actually look pretty dangerous in the first 10 minutes, but in the 11th, Xabi Alonso with a great ball to Cristiano Ronaldo, who beats Rob Edwards easily and slots it past Carlos Fernandes to put the Reds up 1-0. Liverpool effectively shut us down in the early going of the 2nd half, forcing us to up the tempo and try to push forward a bit more. We switch to a 3-4-3 for the final 10 minutes, but Liverpool with far too much quality on the ball for us to threaten late.
Loss, 1-0, drop to 9th

Chelsea are 8 points clear of 2nd, looking for their 6th consecutive EPL title.

We slip to 10th after the Sunday matches, and our march to the bottom has begun.

Oct. 25, Match 10 v. #18 Southampton (TV)
We come out in an attacking 4-4-2 for one of the few times this season. We start well, getting a good attack into the Saints’ box, but it ends with Hagman having it tackled away at 12 yards. In the 18th minute, Mirtoroghi sends a great ball down the right touch line, where Gigliotti has 20 yards of space in every direction… he attacks goal and shoots from a tough angle… his shot is parried away, but Michael Cia is there to finish the rebound! Cia leaves with injury in the 43rd minute. Just before halftime, a poorly cleared free kick is latched onto by Julio Arca, who is able to just sneak it inside the post. 30 seconds after halftime, some nice passing finds Gigliotti in between 2 men in the arc… he turns, shoots, and scores neatly past the keeper. Gigliotti’s 5th of the year puts us up 2-1. With 15 minutes to go, David Gigliotti with a marvelous individual effort, dribbling 20 yards, then shooting from just outside the corner of the area, and bending it into the top right corner of the goal for a 3-1 lead. The Saints with a nice counter-attack in the 85th that ends in a goal, but we finish it off in the 87th, as Sebastien Renouard finishes a Diallo shot that was deflected to put us back up by 2. Simon Hagman played well in this one, putting a shot on goal and picking up an assist.
Win, 4-2, up to 8th

Terrible news for us after the game, as we find out that Michael Cia hurt his Achilles tendon during the match, and will miss 2-3 months of action. Cia was one of our best midfielders so far this season, with 2 goals and 2 assists in 7 starts. Sebastien Renouard and Trond Olsen will pick up the slack for him.

Carlos Fernandes picks up some bad shrimp in mid-week, apparently… the bout of food poisoning may well keep him out of our next match.

Oct. 31, Match 11 @ #2 Bolton Wanderers
Claude N’Deffi will start in goal for us in this one, as Fernandes is still out with food poisoning. Bolton get off to a quick start, as El-Hadji Diouf puts in a great cross, and Frederic Thomas finishes it for Bolton. In the 15th, Hagman with a great steal of a backwards pass, but he can’t get his shot past Tim Howard, the Bolton keeper. We play Bolton fairly even for a while, creating a chance here and there, but they put it away in the 75th, scoring off a nice free kick and header in from 20 yards. Howard with a great game in goal, and N’Deffi didn’t do too bad either considering Bolton had 14 shots on target.
Loss, 2-0, remain 8th

Chelsea beat Man City 7-0 over the weekend.

A short October comes to an end, and we finish it 1-0-2, having rough times against 2 top 5 squads in Liverpool and Bolton.

November ‘09
Cash balance: $15,095,369

Alexander N’Diaye finishes 3rd in the EPL Young Player of the Month voting.

We make a major signing thanks to some nifty scouting by our new Portuguese scout we poached from Corinthians in Brazil. 20 year old Colombian AMLC Sherman Andres Cardenas signs a long-term deal with the Posh, for a $1.7M fee to his club team, Bucaramanga. Cardenas has 35 U-21 caps with 5 goals. His skill and mental attributes are EPL quality. He has 18’s or above in the following areas: crossing, first touch, long shots, passing, technique, creativity, and positioning… also rating 16-17 in many other key areas. He has no discernible weakness, so we’ll be thrilled to get him into London Road on January 1st.

More International matches and cup play puts off our next match another 14 days.

I begin to browse for more right sided defenders. Collen and Edwards just aren’t getting it done… perhaps I should give Van Den Broeck a prolonged stretch. Edwards is rating just below a 6.3, while Collen is right at 6.6. Spurr and Borbely are performing decently, both right around a 7 rating, but Mirtoroghi has struggled this year with a 6.67. Our defense just hasn’t played as well as I had hoped this season, but things would be much, much worse without Carlos Fernandes. He rates a 7.22 in goal, and has been outstanding, allowing few soft goals.

Everton sack David Moyes.

Nov. 15, Match 12 v. #16 West Ham United (TV)
Mirtoroghi yields a penalty in the 8th minute, and the Hammers convert to take a quick lead. The Hammers strike again in the 16th minute, off a well taken free kick that was played short, and fired in from 10 yards out. Sebastien Renouard is forced out with injury in the 26th minute. Rob Edwards yields a penalty in the 30th minute, and WHU lead 3-0 after the first half hour. Not a good game for our attacking 4-4-2…. Remind me never to use it again.
Loss, 3-0, remain 9th

Sebastien Renouard is due to be out 3-5 weeks with a broken arm.

Nov. 21, Match 13 @ #20 Crystal Palace
After suffering through some dominant Eagles’ play, we suffer through some bad midfield passing, as Gigliotti’s attempted header to the back 4 falls right to Andy Johnson, and he finishes an easy chance. We somehow manage to survive wave after wave of Palace attacks, and Gigliotti actually blows 2 attacks of our own. After ripping the team at halftime, they come right out and allow a 2nd Palace goal in the 52nd minute, as Fernandes lets in a 30 yard shot. The let-down continues, as Andy Johnson just skips by Collen and Borbely, then curls in a nice 15 yard strike to make it 3-0.
Loss, 3-0, remain 9th

Somehow, we continue to cling to 9th place thanks to our strong start. But we’re pretty awful right now. 3 straight shutout losses by multiple goals will kill your momentum.

Palace with just their 2nd win of the season in 14 tries. An embarrassing result for us, and with a couple more losses, we may well find ourselves back in the danger area of 16th-18th place. We’re just 4 points clear of 18th place Southampton right now… and we drop to 11th following the Sunday matches.

I’m once again getting the itch to tinker with my roster. We do have that amazing looking young left-winger coming in in January, but we need some more defenders. I may have to part with some more cash, or one of our current loaners to try and shore up the defense.

Nov. 28, Match 14 v. #6 Manchester United
Probably not the best time for us to face the Red Devils right now. I decide to shuffle the lineup a bit, bringing up Rachid Tiberkanine from the reserves to start at AM. In the 11th minute, Balazs Borbely yields our 3rd penalty in 3 matches… Ruud van Nistelrooy buries it, and again we’re behind. Fernandes saves a Rooney shot in the 21st, but Salomon Kalou buries the rebound to make it 2-0. We actually didn’t look all that bad in this match, but we are struggling majorly to put anything resembling a scoring chance together.
Loss, 2-0, drop to 12th

We’re now just 2 points from the drop zone, as Southampton win to climb out of the bottom 3. It’s now Preston at 14 points… then us sitting on 16 points, with 5 teams between us and them.

We finish November about as badly as you can imagine… We go 0-0-3 for the month, and lose 3 matches by a combined score of 8-0. And our December schedule is not encouraging:

@ Aston Villa
@ Arsenal
v. Chelsea
@ Tottenham
v. Everton
v. Newcastle

Pray for me.

[flere-imsaho]

/pray

[dixieflatline]

The board (FOFC) expects you to fight bravely against relegation.

[Butter]

We get a crappy draw for the FA Cup, drawing a home game against EPL side Birmingham. This game will take place on January 2nd, 2010.

December ‘09
Cash balance: $14,464,764

We’re dropping $500k - $1M a month right now, thanks to the fewer home games afforded by the EPL schedule. We’ve played 6 games in the last 2 months. The schedule always picks up in December, though, and with 6 matches on the docket this December, that should help ease our money loss.

I have some tough choices coming up in free agency. Simon Hagman is one of 2 Posh senior teamers whose contract is up at season’s end. Hagman is willing to stay, but is requesting a contract of just over $1M per season. Frankly, he doesn’t deserve that right now, and if we go down there’s no way we can afford that. But, I don’t want him to sign elsewhere in January, so this is a very tough call. Hagman has only scored 2 goals this season, and both came in the same match early in the season.

Former rising star Lee Whittington’s time with the Posh comes to an end. Whittington signs with Notts Co., and we receive $80k, plus 50% of his next sale price. Whittington came over from Rotherham in 2005/06 for a $7k transfer fee. He scored 11 goals and had 4 assists in 58 appearances over 3 seasons… but has not made a senior appearance since early 2008, and averaged only a 6.53 in all senior apps.

We have dropped to 15th in the table after some more mid-week play.

New striker Garry O’Connor is peeved at his lack of playing time… which I can understand, especially considering our recent form. I resolve to play the Scotsman a bit more, especially considering our current lack of production.

Dec. 5, Match 15 @ #9 Aston Villa
We continue to use the 4-4-2 defensive, counter-attacking diamond, despite my gut instinct to switch it up. I want to switch it up, but I really think we’re on the verge of breaking out of this slump. I’m proven partially right in the 4th minute… we get a scoring chance, as Garry O’Connor is yanked down by Olof Mellberg in the box. Mellberg gets a yellow card, and Rob Edwards finally scores, giving us our first goal since October. Sadly, in the 8th minute, Javier Saviola is shoved down by Balazs Borbely in the box, giving the Villans a PK chance. Saviola takes it himself, but Fernandes saves it! Diallo in for an injured Sarmov at halftime. Unfortunately, in the 55th Aston Villa equalize as Wilfred Bouma buries a 20 yard free kick. The rest of the second half is pretty lively, but neither team can bulge the net, so we finish 1-1. I’ll take this!
Draw, 1-1, drop to 16th

We drop to within 1 point of 18th place, as Preston wins and jumps out of the zone… also Everton manage a win to pass us in the table. But at least we finally got a positive result and scored a goal. O’Connor had a good match, rating an 8 up front, while Balazs Borbely picked up the MoM award, with his 9 rating in his best performance of the season. Rob Edwards also pulled out his finest performance of the year by far in this match…. Which is welcome, considering I signed him to a big fat new contract a few months back, and he had been rewarding me with a 6.11 avR.

I notice now that my assistant manager is recommending I sell Andrej Mlinaric, suggesting that the 20 year old has hit his ceiling. Very interesting. I really think he’s got a bit more room to improve, so I ignore his suggestion for now.

Dec. 9, Match 16 @ #6 Arsenal
We start Diallo and Hagman up front today. Not that I imagine it will matter much, as we’re 7-1 to win this game. Fernandes with a fine save on a point blank Henry shot early. But the good feelings don’t last, as in the 10th minute Ashley Cole crosses for an unmarked Valon Behrami, who scores easily. N’Diaye hooks up with Diallo in the 17th minute, but Diallo’s 6 yard header is parried away nicely. Diallo fails to convert a breakaway in the 22nd minute, and we’re looking like a realistic threat in this match. And in the 40th, the hard work pays off… Senderos closes down Hagman on a breakaway… the ball is slide-tackled to Mlinaric, who crosses short to Diallo… Diallo’s header is poked away, but Hagman beats Senderos to the rebound and taps it in! 1-1 late in the first half. Arsenal push forward a bit more, and it takes just 4 more minutes for Ivan Klasnic to cross in for Henry, and he finishes past Fernandes to make it 2-1 at halftime. Henry makes it 3-1 in the 59th, after some silky smooth passing between Jermain Defoe and Ashley Cole. We refuse to give up, though, as Diallo wins a ball near the edge of the box, and is able to turn, shoot, and score. Back to 3-2 with slightly under 30 minutes left. Diallo with another breakaway in the 65th minute, but his shot is stopped… Hagman with a great cross for Diallo in the 67th, but his header is stopped! The Arsenal keeper is having a fine 2nd half. Then Henry puts it away in the 79th minute, notching his hat-trick with a fine individual effort to get around 2 defenders. Arsenal aren’t done, as Francesc Fabregas bends in a 25 yarder with 6 minutes to go.
Loss, 5-2, drop to 17th

We actually played Arsenal even for much of the match, but Henry is on a different plane. We have no one to match up with him.

Can’t imagine things are going to improve against Chelsea next. We are playing better though… but unless I can sign 5 world class players in 3 days, I have no shot against the Blues.

Dec. 12, Match 17 v. #1 Chelsea
Chelsea have actually faltered a bit, and currently sit level on points with Bolton of all teams. O’Connor and Gigliotti start up front today. In the 2nd minute, Tiberkanine slides a nice ball behind the defense into space for O’Connor, and the Scotsman lobs the keeper from 15 yards and scores! What a start, as O’Connor picks up his first Posh goal. I check through the lineup and notice that Chelsea are starting a U-18 striker, Andy Collins. Gudjohnsen is tired from their last match, while Bojinov and Podolski are injured… so Chelsea are functioning with one striker right now. We play Chelsea even after that… and they are definitely struggling due to a lack of a goal scorer. All those star studded names just have no one to play balls into. I urge the team to keep up their good play at halftime. The excitement begins to build at London Road, as the crowd really starts to feel that we have a chance to beat the champions. In the 69th minute, it turns to pandemonium, as Tommy Spurr crosses short, where sub. stiker Mamadou Diallo heads it in off the post! 2-0 Posh with 20 minutes to go! With 8 minutes left, our back line is in disarray as Chelsea get a 3 on 3… but Essien completely misses half the net with his 12 yard attempt. Sarmov and Gigliotti actually get good chances late, but both are turned away. After 3 added minutes, the final whistle goes, and we take a stunning win! Carlos Fernandes is named man of the match thanks to 6 quality saves. Borbely and Godemeche pick up 9’s as well.
Win, 2-0, up to 10th

The bottom half of the table is so bunched, that we rocket from 17th to 10th with our win. Chelsea drop all the way to 3rd with the loss, and Bolton now lead the league.

Maybe we’re not as bad as I thought. We seemed to have snapped out of our funk, and today’s win is clearly the highlight of our first half of the EPL season… even with 2 more games to officially hit the halfway mark, I am confident in saying that.

[flere-imsaho]

Nice, nice work on beating Chelsea!

[Butter]

Everyone’s in the Christmas spirit at London Road since our win over Chelsea. Nearly everyone’s morale has shot up from okay or poor to very good or superb. And with the win over a big boy, there is renewed hope at a top half finish, and even some whisperings amongst the fans of a long cup run this season. I have to play down that talk by reminding everyone that Chelsea was without a key component of their offense, and looked much the worse for it. One pleasing development from that match, though, was the re-emergence of Nicolas Godemeche as a key DM. One troubling recent development is the defense’s newfound habit of giving away PK’s in games.

Through mid-week matches, we slip back to 12th.

Dec. 19, Match 18 @ #6 Tottenham Hotspur
Gigliotti and Diallo pair up front today. Our good form seems to be carrying into this match, as we’re playing Spurs even through the first 30 minutes. In the 35th, N’Daw with a midfield interception… he finds Lodemel, who passes up to Diallo… Diallo’s first touch is a low pass to Gigliotti, who hammers a first-time shot past the Spurs keeper for a 1-0 lead! Great quick, crisp passing, and we take the lead. Rachid Tiberkanine comes off with injury just prior to halftime, and we sub in Sebastien Renouard in his first game since breaking his arm last month. In the 2nd extra minute of the first half, David Gigliotti hits a sublime 30 yard free kick that freezes Arenas, the Spurs keeper, and it goes in! We take a surprising 2-0 lead into halftime. Spurs bring on Paul Robinson, their regular keeper to begin the 2nd half. Fernandes with a masterful save on a 20 yard free kick in the 51st to keep Spurs scoreless. We back into a 4-5-1 with 30 minutes to go to try and hold our 2-0 lead. It works, as Spurs barely sniff the net in the final half hour, and we take another surprising win. Guirane N’Daw wins MoM, but Rasoul Mirtoroghi also picks up a 9, in his finest performance of the season.
Win, 2-0, up to 9th

Mamadou Diallo is staking his claim for regular play at a striker role, assisting on the first Gigliotti goal. He has been playing very well up front at this level. My worry over re-signing Simon Hagman continues. I think I’m going to have to give him what he wants… because if he does bust out, he will be a wonder to behold. And he has not played badly so far this season, just not as well as he has in the past.

Chelsea with a statement to Bolton, beating them 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to reclaim 1st place.

We sign 17 year old Spanish striker Jose Manuel Perez to a 4 year deal worth about $50k per season, along with sending a $75k fee to his German club team, Furth. We’ll also owe Furth 20% of his next sale price. Perez has blazing pace for a youngster, and a very positive work ethic. He is also above a 10 in most categories, which is rare in a striker so young… thus, the price we paid for him. Should be a good addition to the reserves, and we’ll look to loan him out right away after he arrives on January 1.

Dec. 26, Match 19 v. #17 Everton
A full Boxing Day slate of Premiership games finds us hosting a troubled Everton side. In the 13th minute, we get a good chance… Sarmov’s 20 yard shot is parried away… Hagman’s follow up is stopped, but a 2nd rebound is knocked in by Simon Hagman! 1-0 to the Posh. I notice that Everton is playing with 4 midfielders in a tight diamond down the center of the pitch with no true wingers, so I instruct our players to play a bit more narrowly than normal. In the 26th, Hagman flashes to the ball inside the box, and Alexandre N’Diaye finds him… Hagman fires one in from 18 yards, and scores! Hagman’s 5th of the season puts us up 2-0. Carlos Fernandes picks up a minor knock in goal, and we remove him as a precaution. In the 40th minute, Hagman wins a ball down the left… he cuts it inside, goes up the touch line, and curls a remarkable strike over the keeper and inside the far post! A definite candidate for goal of the month, and Hagman has a first half hat-trick! We switch to a 4-5-1 for the 2nd half, and remove Hagman… he gets a standing ovation for his 3 goal performance. Sub. GK Claude N’Deffi with a fine save on a point blank rebound from Li Tie after Cahill had hit the post with a free kick. Finally, Everton get on the board in the 71st, with a very nice curling strike from the left side of the box. But it’s too little, too late as we take another win. Simon Hagman picks up a 10 rating, and Nicolas Godemeche notches his 2nd consecutive 9.
Win, 3-1, up to 8th

So, we get back to 8th place at the halfway mark of the season. All teams below us are also on 19 games played. We’re on 26 points for the season, 7 points clear of the relegation zone, and only 1 point behind 6th place Tottenham. 6th place is virtually guaranteed of European football next season… and even as low as 9th place has a shot at it via the Inter-Toto Cup. Yes, I have allowed myself to begin to dream about such things.

After the last match, I decide to offer Hagman a new contract just prior to Bosman season opening up. I want him to be a lifer. Our defense is also looking much more impressive these days, which is leading to good chances on the counter-attack. Mirtoroghi and N’Diaye had assists in that last match. N’Diaye is turning into quite a player… he is one of the highest valued on the squad, at $7.75M… and looking at his attributes, it’s no wondering why. He’s only 19, but is already one of the top DM’s in the league. He has a chance to be the best player in the EPL before his career is over if he continues to improve.

Hagman agrees to our terms, coming down a bit on price. He’ll make $1M a season through 2013, plus a $250k signing bonus and a $2,000 per goal bonus.

Dec. 29, Match 20 v. #5 Newcastle
We have a chance here to avenge our embarrassing opening day loss to the Magpies. O’Connor and Gigliotti start up front today. Alexandre N’Diaye picks up an injury in the 5th minute, and is forced out. Renouard yields a PK after taking a Newcastle attacker down during a corner kick. Newcastle convert the penalty, and we trail 1-0 early. Good comeback, though, in the 19th… Lodemel with a long cross to the back post, where Diallo settles it, beats his man, drives it in low and sneaks it through the keeper’s legs to make it 1-1. Renouard is also pulled prior to halftime, rating a 4. Shortly after halftime, the defense fails to pickup a streaking Xisco through the center of defense, and he scores a simple goal past Fernandes to make it 2-1 Newcastle. In the 67th, we level the match again, as Nicolas Godemeche’s shot is sent into the goal by a Newcastle defender. Scored an own goal, it’s 2-2. Fernandes saves a 20+ yard free kick by Newcastle in the 80th… then 5 minutes later we get our own 20+ yard free kick attempt… it’s Garry O’Connor hitting it, and the keeper gets a finger on it but can’t keep it out! 3-2 Posh with 5 minutes to go! 2 minutes later, Newcastle get a breakaway… at the 25 yard mark, Mirtoroghi just pulls the man down. It’s a red card, but they fire the free kick high and wide. Our defense is able to hold them off the rest of the way, and Mirtoroghi’s red card saved us 2 points. Carlos Fernandes picks up MoM honors, as he makes 14 saves in this match. Newcastle had an astonishing 32 shots, including 16 on target, but still manage to lose.
Win, 3-2, up to 7th

Luckily for us, N’Diaye is just suffering from a dead leg, and will only miss a couple days’ training.

A wonderfully surprising December finishes up for us. I expected the worst, but frankly couldn’t have expected much better than we got. We finish the month 4-1-1 with a killer schedule.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Nice, nice work on beating Chelsea!

Muchas gracias.

[Butter]

January 2010
Cash balance: $12,370,257

Nicolas Godemeche deservedly wins the Player of the Month award, finishing with an 8 average rating in 4 appearances, including an assist. The accolades continue, as loaner Kenneth Lodemel wins the Young Player of the Month award, finishing with a 7.25 avR in 4 appearances in the month, including an assist. Unsurprisingly, I win the Manager of the Month award as well. Gigliotti’s free kick goal against Spurs on 12/19 is voted #3 in Goal of the Month voting.

With the worry of going down essentially out of the way, we can focus on improving the squad for next season.

20 year old Sherman Andres Cardenas arrives from Colombia. He will plug-in immediately at left wing. We also welcome 17 year old Spanish striker Jose Manuel Perez, who will be immediately offered for loan. Perez is a bright looking young player.

The board adds $8M to our transfer budget, giving us $12M in transfer funds to work with now.

Jan. 2, FA Cup Third Round v. Birmingham
Cardenas makes his Posh debut in this one. Hagman and Da Costa start up front. Cardenas pays instant dividends in the 35th… Collen’s long diagonal ball comes to Cardenas… he places a pinpoint header onto Hagman’s run, and he’s left with an easy finish inside 15 yards. 1-0, Posh. Pedro Mendes picks up his 2nd yellow for the Blues in the 57th minute, so we’ll play the rest of the match up a man. In the 67th, Diallo heads a ball forward to Tiberkanine… his pace pushes him past the back line and onto the ball… he tries to make a move and has the ball poked away, but Hagman runs onto the loose ball and powers in a 15 yarder! 2-0, Posh. We back into a 4-5-1 and pull Hagman out of the game. We’re able to kill off the rest of the match, and take a fairly leisurely 2-0 win. Hagman’s 9 earns him MoM, and Rob Edwards with a strong game at DC for the suspended Mirtoroghi earns an 8.
Win, 2-0, advance to Fourth Round

Our coaches all agree that David Perisset has neared his ceiling… so we decide to part with the 23 year old Frenchman, who at MC, had really become a man without a position, and had become a bit too old to teach a new one. Stoke agree to our $700k asking price, and Perisset soon agrees to a deal with the Championship side. Perisset was a promising youngster when brought over on a free transfer at the age of 18. Through five seasons, he scored 2 goals and had 2 assists in 38 appearances with the senior club… he averaged a 6.76, but failed to show any improvement this season, and with glut of midfielders on our roster became surplus to requirements at London Road. He is a good player, though, and I am a bit sorry to see him go, but think it best to have sold him while he still held some value.

We make 2 good defensive Bosman signings. First, a player we’ve had our eye on for years, 25 year old defender Jan Tigorev agrees to a deal with the Posh. Tigorev can play all 3 defensive positions, and rates a 20 in marking, positioning and concentration. He is stout physically, and a very smart player. He is Belarusian, but has 30+ caps for the national team, so has no problem getting a work permit. We also sign 25 year old Czech central defender Martin Latka to a large deal. Latka is superb in the air, and a very good man marker. He is currently on loan from Arsenal to Germinal Beerschot in the Belgian first division, and is performing very well there. Latka is a very fit player, and shows few weaknesses.

We get a favorable draw for the Fourth Round of the FA Cup, as we’ll play Championship side Millwall at London Road on January 23rd.

Jan. 6, Match 21 @ #20 Ipswich Town
O’Connor and Gigliotti up front for this one. A boring first half ends badly for us, as Theo Walcott finds Louis Saha in space… Saha successfully chips Fernandes, and we go in to the locker room behind 1-0. We bring on Hagman for the lackadaisical Garry O’Connor in the 2nd half, and push up to attacking tactics. This backfires big time, as Theo Walcott scores off the 2nd half kickoff in just 15 seconds to put the Tractor Boys up 2-0. We look far from threatening in this match, as our good form finally comes to an end.
Loss, 2-0, remain 7th

Promising 17 year old Spanish defender Carlos Rodriguez spurns several Spanish teams to sign with the Posh. Rodriguez will cost less than $50k per season for 4 years, but could pay big dividends in the end. He needs work on both the technical and mental aspects of the game, but is an awesome physical specimen. He does have good qualities already, and his heading and marking skills are above most 17 year olds, but he does need some work. He will join us on July 1st.

Jan. 10, Match 22 v. #14 Middlesbrough
Hagman and Gigliotti reunite up front today. In the 6th minute, Sarmov with a long diagonal ball that Cardenas heads down into Hagman’s path, and the Swede buries a nice 12 yard shot to give us an early lead. In the 26th minute, Fabio Rochemback launches a 25 yard strike that deflects off Borbely and in to level the match. Cardenas continues to show what kind of player he is, as Sarmov collects a Hagman shot, then centers into a mass of players… Cardenas wins the ball, then fires a shot from inside 10 yards past the keeper to put us back ahead. In the 2nd half, both teams with some nice attacks, and in the 75th we go a man up as O’Connor is taken down ahead of the pack. We back into a 5-4-1 with 10 minutes to go after Boro squander 2 glorious chances inside 12 yards. We’re able to put the game away. Cardenas rates an 8, as do the entire back 4.
Win, 2-1, remain 7th

We are level on points with Liverpool, but they hold 3 games in hand on us, plus have a +14 goal differential to our -3. We are now 4 points clear of 8th place Tottenham, though, and are trying to settle into the top half.

Emil Samuelsson returns from loan, and tells me it was a positive experience. He scored 4 goals and averaged a 6.83 in 23 appearances for League One Brighton.

Jan. 16, Match 23 @ #17 Preston
Trond Olsen returns to the lineup today after being out for 2 months with a strained knee ligament. Tommy Spurr also returns to the Posh lineup at DL after missing over a month with an injured foot. O’Connor and Gigliotti start at striker today. In the 11th minute, Fernandes with a rare misplay, as a long ball just bounces through him in the arc, and the Preston attacker runs onto it and scores into an unprotected goal. Again we’re playing like garbage on the road against a worse team… Preston buries a 20 yard free kick to go up 2-0 in the 38th minute. We push the attack in the 2nd half, but never really threaten. Another disappointing loss.
Loss, 2-0, drop to 8th

Cardenas is off to an impressive start (besides this match), with 1 goal and 2 assists in his first 3 games with us. Looks like that is going to be a top quality signing. Seeing as our needs for left wingers and attacking midfielders has gone down with Cardenas’ acquisition, I decide to terminate the $300k loan deal for Trond Olsen. Olsen had 2 goals and 2 assists in 13 appearances, averaging a 6.77 in those matches.

Reserve GK Mark Cousins returns from his loan to League One Bradford… he allowed 26 goals in 22 starts, and kept 4 clean sheets. Not a great showing, but not terrible either.

Jan. 23, FA Cup Fourth Round v. Millwall
We start out attacking today, with O’Connor and Da Costa as our 2 strikers. In typically bad Cup form fashion, we allow the Lions to score in the 18th minute after our defense just splits open for 2 strikers down the middle. We bring Michael Cia on at halftime for his first action since his serious Achilles injury in late October. We get 2 pretty good chances in the 2nd half, but Cardenas whistles a shot inches wide in the 82nd for our last gasp. A bad loss here.
Loss, 1-0, out of FA Cup

We must be about the streakiest team in England. Just when I think this team is going to start playing well consistently, we lose 3 of 4 including one to a Championship team… at home. Just a terrible effort all around, and not even Simon Hagman’s 2nd half appearance could salvage much of a scoring chance. Starting to seriously consider selling Garry O’Connor, as he has been almost non-existent all season.

[Butter]

Emil Samuelsson heads out on loan again, this time to Stoke, #10 in the Championship league. It will be interesting to see how he does at a step up from his previous loan. His skill is increasing, so it looks like he should do well… but loans are funny, so you never know.

We grab an immediate transfer that should help our defense now. We went through a dance to get this kid for over 2 weeks, during which time the asking price increased from $300k to $1M. But in the end, we got our man. 19 year old Belgian DR Dimitri Daeseleire agrees to a deal with the Posh. Daeseleire has wonderful attacking skills for a back 4 player, and can also man mark with the best of them. He is almost better suited to play in midfield, and I decide to train him there in addition to him taking on some defensive duties immediately. Daeseleire signs for $200k per season through 2012. His signing means the end of the road for David Van Den Broeck.

I notice now that Alexandre N’Diaye is “feeling the pressure of public expectation”. Sadly, that usually means that the player needs some time off, which is too bad considering that N’Diaye has been very good this season.

Claude N’Deffi, Guirane N’Daw, and Mamadou Diallo are all now out for a few weeks due to the African Cup of Nations.

Jan. 27, Match 24 v. #17 Portsmouth
Daeseleire starts at DR today… Cia returns to the starting lineup at AM, while Gigliotti and Hagman pair in the box. The Portsmouth keeper pulls up lame inside the first minute on the waterlogged pitch. Unsurprisingly, Pompey score first, as new signing Gabriel Agbonlahor scores on a nice volley from a cross in the 27th minute. We get it right back in the 33rd, as Hagman is taken down in the box after he got by 2 defenders… Edwards scores the spot kick, and it’s 1-1. In the 39th, Borbely heads clear a corner kick right to Hagman… he sends a great ball to Gigliotti, who fends off his man while making a lovely diagonal run… and Gigliotti powers it past the keeper to make it 2-1. In the 45th, Spurr sends Gigliotti through again… he tiptoes around the last man with some fancy footwork… his shot is stopped, but the rebound falls right back at his feet, and he buries it! 3-1 Posh at halftime on Gigliotti’s 10th goal of the season. The rout continues in the 55th, as Gigliotti’s free kick drops into the center of the six, where Borbely half-volleys it home. Borbely with a rare goal to make it 4-1. Not much action the rest of the way, and that’s how it ends. Gigliotti rates a 10. Daeseleire picks up an 8 in his Posh debut.
Win, 4-1, up to 7th

Carlos Fernandes came up lame late in this one, and will likely miss our next match with a badly bruised shin. With N’Deffi also away playing for his country, that leaves us the same choice we had last year: Cousins, Opdal, or Cuellar? I think I’m going to go with Cousins, and one of the other reserves as his backup.

The Bosman period continues to be slow for us, as frankly we really don’t need many improvements. We have signed 2 defenders that should help us out, and brought another one over during this transfer window. Aside from that, our midfield and strikers are proving more than capable of playing with England’s best so far, as evidenced by our #4 standing in goals scored, behind only Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea, #’s 3-2-1 in the table respectively.

Jan. 30, Match 25 @ #8 Manchester City
O’Connor and Gigliotti partner up top today. Cousins starts in goal. He puts together a marvelous first half to keep it 0-0, but not as marvelous as it would’ve been if he’d stop giving up rebounds. Tommy Spurr gives up a penalty in the 52nd by pulling down Darius Vassell. The Citizens convert, and we trail 1-0. We switch to a 4-5-1, as O’Connor leaves with injury. Just minutes later, Man City score again, on a cross and header that Spurr fails to mark properly. Rough day at the office for Tommy Spurr. But in the 68th, Dimitri Daeseleire with a sublime cross to Gigliotti, who makes space, and heads it in from 8 yards out to cut it to 2-1. In the 74th, Cia works a great combination with Gigliotti, who finds space inside 15 yards, but his shot is saved. We look very good late, but can’t get the equalizer. Can’t be too disappointed, as we did come alive in the 2nd half. Cousins with a very good game in net, rating a 9 and stopping 10 shots… he’s making me think he needs to be our #2 next season.
Loss, 2-1, drop to 8th

Man City pass us in the table with their win.

In typically fragile Mark Cousins fashion, he goes down with a damaged elbow in our last match, and will miss 1-3 weeks. So now we’re down to keeper #4, which looks to be Morten Bredal-Thorsen, as I look to the future rather than play Opdal and Cuellar who are both gone this summer.

That finishes up an up and down January for us. We finish with a 2-0-3 league record, and go 1-0-1 in the FA Cup.

February ‘10
Cash balance: $11,350,846

Feb. 6, Match 26 v. #13 Birmingham City
Fernandes is back healthy, and in goal. N’Deffi has returned from Africa to be our #2. Gigliotti and Hagman are our only 2 healthy strikers, as Da Costa and O’Connor are out injured, and Diallo is still playing for the Mali national team. Gigliotti is forced off with injury in the 9th minute, so we switch to a 4-5-1 again, with Renouard and Cia at AM roles. In the 13th, Tommy Spurr nearly heads a cross into our goal, but the post saves us. In the 25th, Daeseleire shows his attacking quality from the back, sending in a 40 yard ball through to Hagman, who takes it, turns, and scores. Hagman’s 10th goal of the season gives us a 1-0 lead. Birmingham get it back 4 minutes later, as Renouard deflects an attempted cross right to a charging Blues’ attacker, and he slots it home. We’re forced into using 2 DM’s later as Renouard comes out with an injury, and that effectively bottles up the rest of the match.
Draw, 1-1, remain 8th

Bad news for us, as David Gigliotti suffered a badly sprained ankle during this match that will keep him out 4-6 weeks. Renouard will miss 1-2 weeks with a concussion.

This may well see us deploy the old 4-2-3-1 we have used in the past, or more likely some variation of the 4-5-1.

The press approaches me about his loss, and I admit that he’ll be a huge loss. Two days later, the assistant manager tells me what a good mood Gigliotti has been in… thanks to my comments to the media.

We make another Bosman signing, as 21 year old Romanian AM/F Claudiu Stan signs a deal with the Posh. He signs for $325k per season through 2013, and will be leaving Nantes where he is performing well this season (5 goals in 11 starts and 7 sub. Appearances). Stan is a very good finisher, and is very fast. His weakness is that he is an average passer, and not a great jumper. But, he will not be called on to play every match, and should be a good change of pace up front for us.

Feb. 21, Match 27 @ #11 Fulham (TV)
Mamadou Diallo and Guirane N’Daw are back for the Cup of Nations, and both start today. 17 year old Jose Manuel Perez is on the bench as a sub. Striker choice. The defense does a terrible job of closing down Moritz Volz… he dribbles for about 35 yards, then sends a short chip to Michael Brown, who volleys it home. In the 11th minute, Fulham strike again off a corner kick, and we trail 2-0 quickly. What is it about Fulham??? We cannot beat them. This will take our record to 0-1-4 against them. I rip the team a new one at halftime, and in the 54th we pull one back… Cardenas with a nice cross to the far post, and Hagman with a nifty chip over the keeper from close in makes it 2-1. We bring Perez on in the 71st for Diallo, and move to a 3-5-2. It makes no difference, as we fail to notch any more good chances.
Loss, 2-1, drop to 9th

Our European dreams are fading away, as we’ve hit a seriously bad patch of away form, and have a rough schedule to finish the season.

League Cup Final
Manchester United 3:0 Arsenal

French Ligue Un team Guingamp approach me to take their managerial position. They offer me $1.6M per year for 2 years to try and keep the squad out of relegation. They currently sit 18th in Ligue Un. It sounds like a decent position, but I’m in it for the long haul at Peterborough. I decline.

Feb. 27, Match 28 v. #3 Arsenal
Jose Manuel Perez gets a start today alongside Hagman up front. In the 12th minute, Klasnic with a nice ball for Jonathan Soriano… his initial effort is stopped, but the follow up beats Fernandes to give Arsenal the early lead. Arsenal go up 2-0 as Klasnic scores on a header keyed by a free kick. Both Perez and Hagman are struggling… Perez has failed to get 3 good chances on target, while Hagman is completely non-existent throughout the first half. The commentary notes that Perez “doesn’t look confident at all”. In the 52nd minute, Lodemel’s cross finds Hagman… his header is stopped… the rebound is stopped, and Perez’s 2nd follow-up attempt is also saved! Great keeper play by the Gunners. Hagman earns a PK in the 64th minute, but Rob Edwards and his 20 penalty kick rating hit it right at the keeper. I notice that Perez is winning a lot of headers, so I make him the target man. We switch to an aggressive 3-5-2 with 15 minutes to play, but don’t get much out of it. Perez rates a 6, and put only 1 of his 6 shots on target.
Loss, 2-0, drop to 10th

That wraps up an abbreviated February, which we finish at 0-1-2. 1 point from 9 won’t get it done. We have 10 matches left, and I figure we need around 58 points to get to Europe… currently, we have 36 points, so that would be 7 wins and a draw at the least. It would be surprising, but we’ve gotten hot before.

[Butter]

March ‘10
Cash balance: $10,678,921

Southampton fire their manager, and the media comes to me to gage my interest in the position. I tell them that I am not interested, which pleases the board.

March 6, Match 29 @ #3 Liverpool
Former Posh loaner Besian Idrizaj gets Liverpool started in this one, as he buries a 25+ yard strike to put them up 1-0 after 12 minutes. The Reds are just outclassing us in the 24th, as Cristiano Ronaldo sends in a 40 yard long ball, and James Keene latches onto it and scores. Jose Manuel Perez is playing well in this one, actually outplaying Hagman. Both teams play negatively in the 2nd half, and it ends 2-0.
Loss, 2-0, remain 10th

Alexandre N’Diaye is developing very quickly. The 19 year old Frenchman is turning into just an amazing looking player. Sherman Andres Cardenas has also improved in just the 2 short months that he’s been at London Road. I think Cardenas might be better suited for the AM role, though, rather than the ML role… which is a problem for me, as I really need an ML more than I need an AM.

One of my scouts is in France, and he is turning up quality player after quality player. It pains me to keep my checkbook closed to not bid on some of these guys.

New signing Claudiu Stan suffers a season-ending hip injury with Nantes… better this year than next, I suppose.

March 13, Match 30 @ #13 Southampton
I continue to give Perez a chance to shine, as he is more than deserving of some time out there, especially when used as a target man, as he has terrific heading ability. In the 15th minute, we finally put together a good chance… N’Diaye plays it wide to Perez, who passes through 2 players to Hagman… Hagman with a first touch shot slips it underneath the keeper and in to give us the early lead. After suffering through nearly 1 minute more of stoppage time than was listed, Southampton line up a 20 yard free kick and bury it past Fernandes. 1-1 at halftime. We nearly strike straight off the 2nd half kickoff, as Sarmov plays a great ball over the top to Hagman, but his first time shot is parried away. The Saints hold the better of play until we hit stoppage time… in the first minute of extra time, Collen has the ball down the right touch line… he crosses long to the far post, where Perez rises above his man… and heads it in from 10 yards!!! The 17 year old Spaniard with the late dramatics, and we’ll collect all 3 points here today! A star is born at London Road, as the road fans are absolutely beside themselves with joy at our late goal. Jose Manuel Perez is named man of the match, and deservedly so for his 1 goal, 1 assist effort that nets him a 9 rating.
Win, 2-1, up to 10th

We currently sit 3 points behind 7th place Fulham…. That is where we need to get if we expect to play in Europe next season. It’s still going to be an uphill climb, but maybe we’re on the verge of another streak after a win like this.

I am still giddy over the performance of Jose Manuel Perez. It’s always a joy when one of your young hopefuls comes on and plays like a star for the first time. Hopefully I’ll be able to play him more down the stretch, and he can build on this performance. The best part of this, of course, is that he’s only 17.

I do worry, however, about building a team that is too young. I want this squad to be able to stay together, but ultimately, in order to grow, I may need to bring in a wily veteran or two to help show them the ropes next season. I am definitely going to be on the lookout for some older talent to pick up as the next season draws closer… some players who have had long-term success, and are ready to finish out their career being a mentor. Simon Hagman was definitely helped by the presence of Paolo Di Canio early in his career, and I think many of our young players would benefit from the presence of a similar type mentor right now.

Sadly, we’re bumped to 11th as Aston Villa win on Sunday. We now sit 4 points behind 7th place Tottenham, as they notch a win as well.

Simon Hagman now leads the team in goals (12) and assists (5) since David Gigliotti has been out for several weeks now.

Hertha Berlin approach me to try and get me to pull them off the bottom of the Bundesliga table. They’re 4 points from safety with only 2 months to play… but I again decline the offer.

March 20, Match 31 v. #3 Bolton Wanderers (TV)
Perez and Hagman pair up again today. USA international Eddie Johnson starts as the lone striker up front for Bolton. He has 10 goals in 21 apps. for the Wanderers this season. The first goal comes out of nowhere… in the 34th minute, we put together a nice build-up that seems to come to an end when the Bolton keeper comes about 10 yards out and punches a cross away… but Alexandre N’Diaye does well to get to it, then lofts a terrific lob over Tim Howard and into the back of the net from 35 yards away! N’Diaye’s first ever Posh goal, and we take the lead. It’s short-lived, though, as Bolton score off a set piece header in the 38th. In the 2nd half, both teams waste early chances. But in the 71st, Djimi Traore’s high boot in the box gives us a PK… and Cardenas converts it to make it 2-1 with 20 minutes to go. Hagman picks up a minor knock, so we switch to a 5-4-1 with 10 minutes to play. Bolton lay siege to our goal in the final few minutes… but we keep them honest by sending long balls up to Perez, a couple of which turn into dangerous chances. In the end, we take the 2-1 win, another impressive showing by our youngsters. Cardenas wins MoM in midfield, as I set him as the playmaker, and he played very well.
Win, 2-1, up to 9th

Looks again like we’ve hit a good patch… not sure how to keep these good patches from turning into bad patches, so I just resolve to enjoy them while they last. We’re up to 42 points, and likely need to get results from 5 more matches to finish very near 7th place. With Chelsea’s Saturday win, we’re officially eliminated from the title picture (not surprisingly). Aston Villa’s Sunday win over Birmingham also means we’re bumped down to 10th place.

Dinamo Kiev have made a surprising run into the UEFA Champions League Final 8, joining Villarreal, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Juventus, Chelsea, Werder Bremen, and Arsenal there.

Aston Villa have also made a surprising European run of their own, meeting up with Marseille in the Quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup.

March 27, Match 32 @ #12 West Ham United
Perez and Hagman pair one last time, as David Gigliotti is nearly match fit. Great start for us, as West Ham misplay a backpass, and Jose Manuel Perez is there to collect the ball, and slide it in past the keeper in the 4th minute. 1-0 Posh in a hurry. We’re reduced to 10 men in the 30th minute, as Borbely is red carded for pulling down the Hammers’ attacker on a breakaway… 2 minutes later, West Ham score and make it 1-1 after we pull Perez in favor of a defender. Just before halftime, Collen knocks a ball long, and Hagman latches onto it… and scores past the keeper. 2-1 Posh at halftime. We make it 3-1 somehow in the 64th, as Cardenas’ cross finds Hagman’s foot. West Ham push back, though, and make it 3-2 in the 68th as they exploit our weakness in the center of defense with Borbely’s absence. Nigel Reo-Coker nets the equalizer in the 78th, after he collects a deflected shot and beats Fernandes. And West Ham complete the comeback in the 90th minute, as our back 4 fall asleep, allowing Dean Ashton an open shot at goal from 10 yards, and he finishes it.
Loss, 4-3, remain 10th

We were so close to actually winning that match, and somehow found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Disappointing loss. But those things will happen when you lose a man that early. Frankly, I thought we’d lose it earlier than that. If we finish just out of the European running, this is the match that will have done us in.

We finish up March with a 2-0-2 record. Only 6 more matches to play, and we’re 4 points behind 7th place Tottenham Hotspur with 3 other teams in between us. I am not optimistic, considering that Man U. and Chelsea remain on the schedule.

[Butter]

April ‘10
Cash balance: $9,479,026

Perez finishes 2nd in Young Player of the Month voting.

Hagman suffers a heel injury in practice, and he’ll miss 1-2 weeks of action… just as Gigliotti is ready to return to the pitch.

April 3, Match 33 v. #18 Crystal Palace
We’re dragging back out the ol’ 4-2-3-1 today. Gigliotti the lone striker in this attack minded set. Palace struggle to produce much of anything, and Gigliotti looks rusty with Diallo getting most of the chances, but failing to connect on any in a scoreless first half. In the 67th, we finally get the breakthrough, as Michael Cia’s corner kick drops right into the six, where N’Diaye charges onto it and heads it home. We get the insurance goal in the 80th, as off a scramble from a Posh corner kick, Pieter Collen’s shot is deflected in. Collen with his 1st Posh goal to put us ahead 2-0. Perez misses a sitter after a give-and-go with Cia in stoppage time that would’ve put the exclamation mark on it, but as it is this is a pretty convincing win. Palace only had one good chance, and Fernandes dealt with it easily. Godemeche and N’Diaye partnered well as the 2 holding midfielders today, Godemeche earning MoM honors.
Win, 2-0, remain 11th

We’re now 2 points behind 7th place Aston Villa, but they have 2 games in hand on us and sit on 47 points… while we hold on with 45 points. 8th place is still a realistic possibility which could see us into the Inter-Toto Cup.

April 5, Match 34 @ #5 Manchester United
Perez and Diallo up front today as our only 2 fit strikers. We switch back to the 4-4-2 defensive diamond. Perez set as target man for Diallo. In the 10th minute, Wayne Rooney finishes a nice Febian Brandy cross to put the Red Devils in front. 4 minutes later, it’s Rooney again scoring a masterful curling shot from 15 yards out… Rooney’s 15th of the year puts us down 2-0 early. We switch to attacking tactics, but Van Nistelrooy makes us pay for that in the 56th, scoring off a nifty pass from Rio Ferdinand. We don’t mount much of a challenge, and lose rather badly.
Loss, 3-0, remain 11th

I suppose mid-table is not too bad for us, considering we were favorites for relegation this year. Doesn’t look like we’re going to make a final push.

April 10, Match 35 v. #7 Aston Villa
Trying the 4-2-3-1 again, with Gigliotti alone up front. Saviola nearly puts Villa up in the 4th minute, but Fernandes with a terrific save to keep it even. Villa are playing Saviola and Baros up front, and this is going to be one tough game. In the 23rd, Renouard with a good steal in midfield… he passes to Cia, who finds Gigliotti. Gigliotti leaves one man flat-footed, and fires a 20 yard shot into the back of the net! Nice play by the Frenchman to put us ahead. We make it 2-0 in the 30th, as Renouard’s free kick finds Gigliotti at the near post, where he heads it past the keeper and in. Carlos Fernandes earns MoM with a spectacular 10 rating, saving all 9 Villa shots. This was a must-win, and we got a result.
Win, 2-0, up to 10th

We now sit 2 points behind Fulham and Manchester City for 7th place, but both Villa and Fulham hold games in hand. Man City’s mid-week win puts us back to 11th place. Aston Villa hammer Preston in mid-week also to jump into 7th and put us 3 points back of 7th now. Villa have 51 points, with Fulham and Man City holding 50 and Tottenham and us having 48.

Our next match at Chelsea is probably not going to be close. We need a result, but so do they, having slipped to 2nd place, 3 points behind Liverpool, and trailing in GD by 13. There’s all that, then also the revenge factor of us having beaten them earlier this season. I have a feeling we’re going to get HAMMERED.

April 17, Match 36 @ #2 Chelsea
Hagman and Gigliotti, back together up front at last. Chelsea have Valeri Bojinov as their lone striker up front. Brilliant stuff in the 17th minute, as Hagman loses the ball in midfield, and immediately Chelsea send in a long cross for Bojinov, who heads it in from 8 yards. Chelsea make it 2-0 in the 23rd off a free kick and volley in. We try to up our attack in the 2nd half, but just end up opening the door for more Chelsea counter-attacks. Luckily, we’re able to keep it from getting embarrassing.
Loss, 2-0, remain 11th

That pretty much flushes any shot we had at finishing as high as 8th. We’ll be lucky to get back to 9th at this point.

2 more games for us…

Nicolas Godemeche pulls up with a torn hamstring during training… this serious injury could cause him to miss part of next season as well.

Emil Samuelsson returns from his loan to Stoke… Samuelsson finishes with 1 goal and a 6.80 avR in just 5 appearances for the Championship side.

Prior to our next match, I send Claude N’Deffi back to Lille, terminating his loan. He played in 4 games for us, allowing 6 goals. I’m sure he’ll be complaining to his father club about what a crappy loan it was.

April 24, Match 37 v. #10 Tottenham Hotspur
We still have a long shot chance of finishing 9th, if Fulham stumble and we win our last 2, it could happen. As such, we don’t start the kids just yet… although I do get Emil Samuelsson in today at right wing. Spurs go down to 10 men early, as in the 5th minute, as one of their defenders feels the need to shirt tug Michael Cia and Simon Hagman early on. Even being down a man, Spurs score first, as Nelson Valdez sends a nice ball to the spot, where Peter Crouch slots it in past Fernandes. We level the match in the 27th, as Hagman’s great first time pass finds Gigliotti in front of goal, and he slides the ball in past the keeper. Spurs do a good job in the 2nd half of holding us back, and we’re forced into a 3-4-3 with 10 minutes left to try and net the game winner... it’s reserve striker Franco Romano who is called upon to enter the match as our 3rd striker. Hagman appears to have done it in the 81st, but his goal is waved off for offsides. Our late attacking play allows a Spurs striker to walk through 3 defenders and slot home the game winner in the 87th minute.
Loss, 2-1, remain 11th

We are now eliminated from finishing higher then 11th, unless we can make up 8 in the goal differential department in our final match. Oh well, we had some good runs this season, we just need to work on being more consistent.

Portsmouth beat Southampton 6-0 in a late attempt to avoid relegation. With one game left, Ipswich is the only team certain of dropping. Everton and Portsmouth are 19th and 18th, but Crystal Palace and Preston still could drop as well.

Also with 2 games left to play, it appears that Liverpool is going to break Chelsea’s stranglehold on the title. They have a 3 point lead, and Chelsea have just one game to play. Liverpool host Everton in mid-week, but the Toffees win it 2-1 to keep everyone in suspense for one more week. The win also pulls Everton out of the relegation zone, and puts Crystal Palace in danger.

For our last game, we decide to throw some kids out there to try and avoid serious injury to any of our big names.

To make matters worse for us, we get Everton in our final game… the Toffees will be desperate for a win to avoid the drop, as that is the only result that will guarantee them to stay up… so maybe our attacking 4-2-3-1 will do the trick. We shall see.

We can’t realistically finish any better or worse than 11th at this point, so we’re locked in to our table finish.

May ‘10
Cash balance: $9,485,669

As May hits, the board are “absolutely thrilled with the level of commitment you continue to show the club”.

We terminate the loan of Kenneth Lodemel prior to our last match. He was decent in midfield this year, with 3 assists in 19 appearances, averaging a 6.74.

May 2, Match 38 @ #17 Everton
We start reserves Nathan Bennett (DM), Franco Romano (MR), Emil Samuelsson (ML), and Markus Schulz (ST) in this one, along with rare appearances for GK Mark Cousins, AM Rachid Tiberkanine, and ST Jose Manuel Perez. We go with the 442 counter attack today, with Perez as the target man. In the 8th minute, Romano’s cross is poked away by Shay Given, but Emil Samuelsson is right there to tap it in! 1-0, Posh, and Emil Samuelsson with the nice play here. Everton level the match in the 16th minute, as our defense is just getting shredded. Borbely is shown a red for a takedown in the box in the 24th… and we go down 2-1 as Everton convert the PK. We’re forced into a 4-4-1 thanks to the red card. Our back 4 look lost out there, and yield another goal just before halftime. I yell at the kids at halftime, and we look much better in the 2nd half, especially late. In stoppage time, Franco Romano buries a 25 yard free kick to make it 3-2, but that’s how it ends. Everton celebrate their relegation avoidance, but we played much better in the 2nd half. Romano picks up a 9 at MR, while Samuelsson rated an 8 at ML.
Loss, 3-2, finish 11th

Portsmouth complete a narrow escape with a 2-0 home win over Manchester City. Preston lose against Arsenal, while Crystal Palace’s draw can’t help them out of the drop zone. They both will join Ipswich in the Championship next season, while Wigan and Cardiff win promotion to the EPL, with Charlton, Sheffield Utd., Nott’m Forest, and Blackburn all fighting for the final spot via the playoffs.

Liverpool celebrate their first EPL title since 1990 with their 1-0 win at Newcastle.

We pick up $11.5M for our final position in the EPL. That pretty much wipes out our losses for this season.

Final standings


Player stats


And in case you’re wondering why I’m so high on certain of my players, here’s why:

17 year old striker Jose Manuel Perez

19 year old DM Alexandre N’Diaye

21 year old AM Michael Cia

20 year old AM Sherman Andres Cardenas

[Butter]

2009/10 Final statistics:
Avg. attendance: 15,936 (20th, 1st: Man Utd., 71,052)
Goals scored/conceded: 52/62 (6th/19th)

Average rating:
1. Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa) – 7.46
18. Carlos Fernandes – 7.21

Goals
1. Thierry Henry (Arsenal) – 22
13t. David Gigliotti – 14
17t. Simon Hagman – 12

Assists
1. Thierry Henry – 11
No Posh in top 25

End of season squad review

Goalkeepers
Carlos Fernandes came in and settled this position for us. Sure, we were the 2nd worst at allowing goals this year, but it was often because Fernandes was facing 10+ shots a game. He did as well as he could to keep the losses to a minimum, but our backline was largely to blame for most of the problems.

Players out: Hakon Opdal (reserve), Ivan Cuellar (R)
Players in: None

Outlook for ‘10/’11: Fernandes is aging, but many keepers hit their peak in their early 30’s. Fernandes is only getting better. As for our #2 situation, it is likely that Mark Cousins will be our #2 next year, as he performed well in a couple of EPL matches he played in this season. Hard to believe Cousins is still so young, at only 22. Seems like he’s been around forever.

Defense
Terrible, terrible season. Balazs Borbely, normally our rock, spent most of the 2nd half of the year picking up red cards. He had 2 in the 2nd half of the year, and gave up at least that many more PK’s. Our right back position remains in flux, as new signing Dimitri Daeseleire seemed nervous after his first couple of matches. Pieter Collen had some flashes of greatness, but was usually being beaten pretty badly by crosses from the left. Tommy Spurr started out well, but also faded late in the season. Guirane N’Daw is a very flexible player, and finished stronger than he started. Rasoul Mirtoroghi had a rough go of it as well… he didn’t yield many penalties, but he just flat got beat down the middle by missing tackles more times than I care to remember. Lastly, Rob Edwards had a disasterous start to the season, but once I plugged him into his more natural center back role, he settled down and had a pretty decent finish, rating a 7.0 over his last 12 apps.

Players out: David Van Den Broeck (R), Evander Sno (R)
Players in: 17 year old Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez (Rayo), 25 year old DC Martin Latka (Arsenal reserves), 26 year old DRLC Jan Tigorev (Ajaccio reserves)

Outlook: Tigorev and Latka should help deepen our defenses, and allow Mirtoroghi and Borbely to fight it out for the other remaining DC spot opposite Latka, while Tigorev will play on the left most likely, as we give Daeseleire another chance to win the DR spot. Collen, Edwards, and N’Daw should give us a nice amount of depth, and will give us more chances to keep everyone fresh all season long, which should improve our performance. Still, I’m not sold on Tigorev and Latka as the cure, so we shall keep our eye out for more defenders who could help.

Midfield
The midfield continues to look up. Cardenas came in from Colombia and gave great effort every time he was on the field. Alexandre N’Diaye needs to become more consistent, but that should come in time. Nicolas Godemeche was super at DM, performing well over what his ability would suggest. Michael Cia was hurt for a large part of the season, and lacked the flash he showed prior to his injury after his return in January. Andrej Mlinaric probably needs to play more in order to be effective, as he was often used as a substitute because of his versatility. Georgi Sarmov’s production dropped way off in the step up to Premiership play, and his long shots never found the net. Sebastien Renouard was also a disappointment, but your rating does tend to be lower when you appear more as a substitute, which Renouard did because of his flexibility. Lastly, Rachid Tiberkanine found his way into the senior squad more than I had expected, but was never really a threat after his first couple of appearances. We still have high hopes for reserves DM Julien Camara, MRLC Emil Samuelsson, AMR Franco Romano, and DM/MR Nathan Bennett. Samuelsson had his first senior goal late in the season, as did Franco Romano as both impressed.

Players out: Rachid Tiberkanine
Players in: None

Outlook: Likely we will be looking to sell both Renouard and Sarmov, as both were less than impressive this season. Sarmov is likely to be supplanted in the lineup by Nathan Bennett, who has similar characteristics but is 5 years younger, or Emil Samuelsson who was impressive in the lineup late in the season. Renouard still has a place on our team, but I’m just not convinced that he can win it, so am inclined to look elsewhere while allowing Michael Cia more time at AM to develop. Likely, our starting midfield diamond next season will be N’Diaye (DM), Cardenas (ML), Samuelsson (MR), Cia (AM). But we will keep an eye out for any players that look to be an upgrade, or that could backup our main 4 capably.

Striker
David Gigliotti and Simon Hagman both had good but not great seasons. Gigliotti started out like gangbusters, rating nearly an 8 over the first couple of months, but dropped way off after that. Hagman picked it up mid-season, but wasn’t quite as explosive as he’d been in the lower leagues. Garry O’Connor was a huge bust, scoring only 2 goals and spending much of the season injured or pouting. Mamadou Diallo had a solid if unspectacular season, but will be given plenty of chances next season to prove his worth in his contract year. Florian Da Costa seemed overmatched, and didn’t see the field as much as I wanted. But newcomer Jose Manuel Perez looked dangerous, and at age 17, will be looked at as a rising star in our organization… not sure if I’m going to play him as much next season, but I haven’t decided yet.

Players out: Matt Jansen (R), Honore Kabongo (R)
Players in: 21 year old Romanian Claudiu Stan (Nantes)

Outlook: Stan will be a cheap, solid backup to our main 2… but frankly, looking at the guy, I’m trying to figure out why I signed him. He has no attributes above a 15, and looks fairly mediocre. Oh well. Oops. O’Connor is going to be shopped around, as I knew I shouldn’t have signed him from the first. Perez will likely be counted on more than I’d like as a 2nd teamer, along with Diallo. Da Costa is in his contract year, so maybe that will motivate him a bit. We need better quality at our striker position to avoid a big dropoff when Hagman and/or Gigliotti are out of the lineup for whatever reason. This will be a major area to be addressed during the offseason.

[flere-imsaho]

It's amazing how Everton always manage to stay up, isn't it?

[Butter]

Remainder of May ‘10

Carlos Fernandes is voted first choice keeper on the Players’ Select Team of the Year. David Gigliotti comes in 2nd in voting for the English Footballer of the Year.

UEFA Cup Final
Barcelona 3:1 Benfica

FA Cup Final
Liverpool 0:0 Aston Villa (Villa win 4:2 on PK’s)

UEFA Champions League Final
Ajax 2:1 Villarreal
-Ajax are the Champions of Europe for the first time since 1995.

We make a couple of youngster signings… first 17 year old AMRC Tom Rose signs a deal, spurning Portsmouth’s offer. Rose needs some time to develop, but is above average for a 17 year old. Our 2nd one requires us to dust off the checkbook… 17 year old Julien Desmenez of the Strasbourg U-18 squad signs with us… but for a fee of $1.2M + 20% of next sale. Desmenez looks like a strong keeper in the making. He is very smart, has good strength and speed for a keeper, and best of all, his technical abilities are far and away better than any 17 year old keeper I’ve yet seen. Desmenez will take 2-3 years to blossom, but once he does I’m hoping he will be the heir apparent to Carlos Fernandes.

Blackburn win the Championship Playoffs, and win promotion to the EPL next season along with Wigan and Cardiff.

June ‘10
Cash balance: $18,816,777

We have to start seriously looking at our coaches, as several coaches/scouts/physios are up for renewal. It ends up costing us nearly $1M in transfer fees, but after we’re done, we have significantly upgraded our staff, and added a world class scout from Chelsea.

Hakon Opdal agrees to a deal with Spanish club Ceuta, who have just won promotion to the first division there. Opdal played in 33 games in 3 seasons with the Posh, allowing 37 goals in 33 apps., while keeping 12 clean sheets. His avR ends up right around 6.75.

David Gigliotti is voted Fans’ Player of the Year.

We pick up our $26.5M for TV rights for the upcoming season.

Here’s a first: “Due to strong local opposition, the local council have denied the club planning permission for the proposed ground improvements.” Which means, we can’t expand the stadium. Crap.

We do however finish our improvements to our training facilities, which are now listed as “top facilities plus youth academy”.

A waste of money comes to my attention, as the board plans to payout $4.9M in dividends to shareholders.

We do pick up a nice new sponsorship deal for the EPL, worth $4.3M per season for 4 years. Our previous deal was worth slightly less than $250k per year.

The board offers me a boatload of possible budget options, but I settle on one: a $24.5M wage budget, along with a $20.5M transfer budget. This puts our wages currently at less than 50% of allowable. Which is basically a green light for me to sign a big name striker or defender, if I can find one willing to come over to us.

[Butter]

I am going on vacation, but I just want everyone to know that I plan to return to this dynasty during the last week of June. Thanks for reading, and hopefully the Posh will soon be able to lift a trophy of some sort. Maybe I'll buy one and bring it to pre-season training so we can get some practice lifting in.

While I'm gone, if anyone has any suggestions or questions, please feel free to note them here, and I'll get to them when I get back.

[SirFozzie]

Unacceptable.... the FM Goons will be to your house shortly to chain you to your desk.

(kidding, KUTGW)

[Butter]

Posh players in the World Cup
June 9: Sherman Andres Cardenas scored for Colombia in a 2-0 win over Russia.
June 13: Guirane N’Daw helps hold the Brazilians to a 0-0 draw with Senegal, while Mamadou Diallo rated an 8 in a 2-1 Mali win over Honduras.
June 15: Cardenas rates a 7 in a 3-0 Colombia win over Bahrain.
June 20: Diallo rates a 7 as Mali draw Argentina 0-0… while N’Daw rates a 7 in midfield as Sweden hammer Senegal 3-0.
June 22: Cardenas rates a 7 before being subbed off in the 72nd minute of a 1-0 loss to England.
June 24: N’Daw picks up a 7 in Senegal’s 4-2 win over Canada.
June 25: Diallo picks up a 7 before being subbed off in the 75th minute of a 2-1 win over the Czechs.
June 26: Cardenas with a poor 6 before being taken off in the 77th minute of a 2-0 loss to Holland in the 2nd round.
June 28:N’Daw picks up a 7 before being subbed off for offense in the 77th minute of a PK loss to Turkey in the 2nd round.
June 29: Mamadou Diallo with a lackluster 6 before being subbed off in the 71st minute of a blowout 4-0 loss to Germany in the 2nd round.

Group results:
Group A: England 7, Colombia 6, Russia 3, Bahrain 1
Group B: Holland 9, Australia 6, Paraguay 3, Denmark 0
Group C: Croatia 6, Wales 6, South Africa 4, USA 1
Group D: France 7, Ukraine 4, Cameroon 3, UAE 3
Group E: Turkey 7, Spain 6, Morocco 4, Jordan 0
Group F: Sweden 7, Senegal 4, Brazil 3 (!!), Canada 1
Group G: Germany 7, Uruguay 6, Greece 4, Syria 0
Group H: Argentina 7, Mali 7, Czech Rep. 3, Honduras 0

2nd round:
England 2:0 Australia
Colombia 0:2 Holland
Croatia 0:1 Ukraine
France 1:2 Wales
Senegal 3:3 Turkey (TUR adv. 3-1 on PK’s)
Spain 3:2 Sweden
Mali 0:4 Germany
Argentina 2:0 Uruguay

Quarterfinals:
Holland 1:1 Ukraine (NED adv. 4-2 on PK’s)
England 2:1 Wales
Spain 2:2 Germany (GER adv. 3-1 on PK’s)
Turkey 1:0 Argentina

Semifinals
England 2:0 Germany
Holland 0:2 Turkey

3rd place:
Holland 0:3 Germany

Final
England 3:0 Turkey
-England storms to an easy 2nd consecutive World Cup victory over helpless Turkey. Turkey was undone in the 20th minute after having a man sent off for a last ditch challenge that resulted in a Gareth Barry PK conversion to put the Lions up 1-0. Defoe scored just before halftime, and Wayne Rooney iced it in the 55th to give England the easy win in Johannesburg, South Africa.

DC Evander Sno agrees to a deal with NEC of the Dutch first division. Sno had a so-so run with us, appearing in 28 games, and averaging a 6.64 over 3 seasons before spending the last 2 seasons in the reserves.

July ‘10
Cash balance: $37,194,233

We welcome in several new players at the opening of the transfer window.

-21 year old Romanian AM/F Claudiu Stan.
-25 year old Czech DC Martin Latka.
-26 year old Belarusian D Jan Tigorev.
-17 year old French GK Julien Desmenez.
-17 year old Spanish DC Carlos Rodriguez.
-17 year old English AM Tom Rose.

Latka and Tigorev will be expected to contribute now, while Desmenez could well win the #2 keeper job, if Cousins looks off his game.

We sign David Gigliotti to a new contract worth about $5.75M spread over 3 more seasons. Gigliotti had complained about his current pay deal, but this will see him through to his 28th birthday with the Posh.

July 4, Friendly #1 v. AC Milan
We come out in an attacking posture, and Emil Samuelsson with a nice pass to Hagman in the 8th minute, and Hagman wastes no time getting us on the board. Milan equalize in the 41st minute, after Pirlo sends a great pass in to Marco Borriello, and he finishes past the keeper. Michael Cia gets it back just 2 minutes later, after a nice find from Diallo gets Cia an open 12 yarder. We get another in the 51st minute, as Samuelsson’s cross to the back post finds Cardenas alone, and he buries it from 12 yards out. Samuelsson with 2 assists, as he tries to emerge as our top option at right wing. Desmenez with a fine job in goal, making 5 saves.
Win, 3-1

We bring in American ex-patriate Giuseppe Rossi on trial for 2 weeks after Man U. released him over the summer.

The media touts me as the successer at Cologne, but I dismiss the speculation out of hand. However, the Holland national team job has just opened up…

July 14, Friendly #2 v. Bayern Munich (TV)
Bayern’s midfield 3 of Leo Messi, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Michael Ballack are a bit intimidating, but we’ll see how we hold up. We start Giuseppe Rossi up front. Munich dominate in the first half, but it ends scoreless. Rossi and Stan look completely lost up front, but they haven’t gotten any service either. Fernandes makes 11 saves, and we net 0 on target shots, but still manage a draw.
Draw, 0-0

Honore Kabongo signs a new contract with League One Walsall. Kabongo was never the player I had hoped, but still had 7 goals and 7 assists in 53 senior apps. with the Posh. His avR was also a not completely horrid 6.75.

July 18, Friendly #3 @ Olympique Lyonnais
We give Rossi another shot in the lineup, alongside Gigliotti for our lone pre-season road trip. In the 7th minute, Rasoul Mirtoroghi manages to head a Lyon cross into our net for a 1-0 Lyon lead. Cousins poor handling hurts us again, as he fails to corral a shot in the 25th minute, allowing a rebound goal to put us behind 2-0. Hagman gets a consolation goal in the 81st minute… but again, the emerging star is young keeper Julien Desmenez… as he rates an 8 in the 2nd half against another perennial European power, making at least 2 eye-opening saves.
Loss, 2-1

Rossi has pretty much played himself out of a contract offer with us, mustering just one shot on goal in 120+ minutes of action over 2 games.

After much negotiating, and 3 separate attempts over the past 8 months, we finally sign a huge playmaker. 25 year old Brazilian AM/F Fernandinho comes over from Ukrainian side Shakhtar for a $15M fee. Fernandinho has an above average work rate for a Brazilian player, and has deadly finishing skill. His speed is top notch as well, as are most of his mental attributes. Fernandinho is just the player we need to complete perhaps the most deadly top 3 strikers in British football, with Gigliotti, Hagman, and Fernandinho all top quality finishers. Fernandinho signs a $2.3M per season contract through 2013.

Fernandinho gives us the flexibility of playing him withdrawn along with Gigliotti and Hagman up front, or putting him in as a striker, and putting Cia in the match.

With Fernandinho’s acquisition, it makes Garry O’Connor and Sebastien Renouard quite expendable.

Hopefully, our major acquisition during this pre-season can boost us up into competition for a European spot next season. Both the board and the fans expect us to finish well away from the bottom this year.

We have 6 matches picked for TV in the first 4 months of the season, which is about 4 more than we had in the first half of last season. A good sign, I think.

Rachid Tiberkanine signs a nice contract with Italian lower level club Catania. Tiberkanine never developed as I had hoped, finishing his 4 years with the Posh with 6 goals and 7 assists in 52 appearances, rating a 6.62 over that period.

July 26, Friendly #4 v. Celtic
Fernandinho with his first start today, at AM. He helps out immediately, as he assists on a Gigliotti goal in the 10th minute. Gigliotti creates a goal for Hagman in the 23rd to make it 2-0. Godemeche leaves with an injury in the 26th. Cardenas sends Gigliotti through in the 45th, and the Frenchman makes it 3-0 at halftime. Gigliotti makes it 3 in the 52nd, as he side-foots in a corner kick from 4 yards out. Fernandinho and Gigliotti both leave the field with 10’s at around the 60 minute mark. Markus Schulz with a powerful strike from inside 10 yards, as Camara’s volley was heading wide, but Schulz volleys the errant volley home. Franco Romano makes it 6-0 in the 90th with a surprising 25 yard strike straight into the upper 90.
Win, 6-0

Cardenas, Gigliotti, Hagman, and Fernandinho all appeared in mid-season form in that last match. If we can apply the attacking tactics effectively at home, and deploy the counter-attack well on the road, we should be in contention for one of the top 7 spots this year.

Ipswich offer us $2M for O’Connor, but as it turns out, they can’t afford that high of a fee. We do have a couple of other takers, however.

August ‘10
Cash balance: $21,858,693

Friendly #5, v. Peterborough U-18’s
Romano buries a header for the senior squad in the 21st minute off a nice cross from Collen. Desmenez makes a major mistake for the U-18’s in the 25th minute, trying to dribble out of trouble outside of the box, he’s dispossessed by Romano, who crosses to Stan in front of the goal, and he finishes. Collen is a pest on the right side of the U-18 defense, as he gets forward again in the 40th, and sends a pinpoint cross to N’Diaye, who heads it home. None of the U-18’s are looking all that good here, especially Desmenez. Although, if the seniors weren’t dominating the U-18’s, there would be something seriously wrong.
Win, 3-0

We finally get Reading to take Garry O’Connor off our hands for a structured deal worth a total of $1.7M. O’Connor became disgruntled last season when he wasn’t called up to the first team as often as he would’ve liked… but his 2 goal, 1 assist output over 14 appearances didn’t recommend more time for the Scottish striker.

As much as I’d like to get young striker Jose Manuel Perez some time with the senior club this season, I think loaning him out would probably be best for his development. I offer a number of players out for loan, but can't find any takers.

[flere-imsaho]

Yay! It Returns!!!

[dixieflatline]

Good luck this upcoming season.

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Yay! It Returns!!!

"

[Butter]

I almost lost this thing earlier today. I hadn't backed up to a "safety" save file in over 2 seasons, and I had to shut-down mid-save. Luckily, when I reopened it, the game was unaffected, it just reverted to the previous save. Which is fine. Better to lose 2 weeks of progress than 2 years. I would've had to scrap then. I will be keeping my safety procedures a bit more strict now, even though it does take 5 minutes to save the game at this point.

[Butter]

Aug. 6, Friendly #6 v. Anderlecht
In the 12th minute, Fernandinho’s straight on shot is stopped, but Hagman cleans up the rebound to put us ahead. Gigliotti is taken out with injury in the 34th minute. Right before halftime, Anderlecht level the match with a nice ball through 2 defenders, and an even better shot from a tight angle. Not much goes on in the 2nd half, and we take a draw.
Draw, 1-1

Bad news, as Gigliotti has suffered a broken arm. Looks like he’ll miss about a month or possibly a bit more. Not a good way to finish the pre-season. Looks like either Da Costa or Perez will have to stay here instead of being loaned out so that they can fill in for Gigliotti during August.

Our first match is a graciously awarded home game against the team we lost our last game to from last season: Everton.

Charity Shield
Aston Villa 1:1 Liverpool (Reds win 5-4 on PK’s)

Finally, I start getting a bunch of loan offers for my talented youngsters. Young strikers Jose Manuel Perez and Florian Da Costa, along with midfielders Nathan Bennett, Markus Gustafsson, and Emil Samuelsson all get offers for loans from various teams. I decide to hold onto Perez and let the others go off on loan.

Premiership Title Odds
Liverpool – 6:4
Chelsea – 7:4
Man Utd. – 5:2
Arsenal – 3:1
Aston Villa, Newcastle – 33:1
.
Peterborough Utd. – 100:1

Down significantly from 1,000:1 of last year, but still, we are considered contenders for a upper half finish but no more.

Gustafsson agrees to a loan with League One Tranmere Rovers. Bennett joins Championship club Ipswich. Da Costa will play 5 months with League One Brentford. Finally, Samuelsson agrees to a 2nd loan stint with Championship club Stoke.

Here is how our depth chart looks just prior to opening league action:
GK: Carlos Fernandes, Julien Desmenez, Mark Cousins (R)
DL: Jan Tigorev, Tommy Spurr, Guirane N’Daw, Andrej Mlinaric
DC: Balazs Borbely, Martin Latka, Rasoul Mirtoroghi, Rob Edwards
DR: Dimitri Daeseleire, Pieter Collen, Jan Tigorev, Rob Edwards
DM: Alexandre N’Diaye, Nicolas Godemeche, Mlinaric, N’Daw
ML: Sherman Andres Cardenas, Mlinaric, Sebastien Renouard, N’Daw
MR: Georgi Sarmov, Mamadou Diallo (injured), Renouard
AM: Fernandinho, Michael Cia, Cardenas, Renouard
ST: David Gigliotti, Simon Hagman, Claudiu Stan, Fernandinho, Diallo, Renouard

Aug. 14, Match 1 v. Everton
Back into the mixer we go. Mirtoroghi must start at DC for Borbely today, as he’s got a suspension that’s carried over from the end of last season. We also start Jose Manuel Perez up front alongside Simon Hagman. The ageless wonder, Shay Given, continues to patrol the nets for Everton. Fernandinho makes his mark early, as Hagman is dispossessed coming up the right side of the box… the ball slips right to Fernandinho, who slides home a very well placed 25 yard shot past Given. Everton’s attack looks utterly punchless, and we hold the 1-0 lead through the 66th minute… in the 66th, Fernandes comes way out of goal, and sends a long ball onto the run of Perez… he weaves past 2 men, shoots high and hard at a tight angle and scores! Perez with a “magical goal” (says the play-by-play), and we lead 2-0. Everton played well in the 2nd half, but their finishing was awful.
Win, 2-0, begin in 5th

More bad news out of this game… Simon Hagman pulled a hamstring, which will keep him out 3-4 weeks, while Cardenas suffered a thigh strain which will see him out 2-3 weeks. We’ll be missing 3 of our top players for pretty much the entire month of August.

Next up for us, a real test, as we’ll travel to Old Trafford and test out our counter-attack.

We have one more transfer in the works… and it’s another big one. We’ve been working on it for over a month now, but have had it scuttled by the Fernandinho transfer (which caused insufficient funds). We’re almost there at last… but just a few more days while the contract details are ironed out….

Looks like Perez and Fernandinho will now become our main 2 strikers, while Stan and Renouard will back them up. Might have to bring Da Costa back from loan as well if these 2 can’t cut it, or if we suffer more injuries.

Aug. 18, Match 2 @ #11 Manchester United
Perez and Fernandinho to start together up front today, while Mlinaric is on the left and Renouard on the right. After suffering through a couple of tough Red Devil attacks, we get on the board first as Fernandinho strikes home a free kick from just outside the box in the 29th minute. Rooney hits the post in the 32nd, and the rebound is cleared… but in the 42nd, Patrice Evra is able to score off a corner kick to level the match. I think our goal may have just made them angry. We hang with Man U. pretty well, and I decide to switch to a 4-5-1, moving Fernandinho back to AM alongside Cia, and making him the playmaker, while removing Pererz and bringing on reserve Franco Romano as the lone striker. Romano’s speed is needed in this match more than Stan’s quality, I think. Then in the 81st minute, we get a break-out… 3-on-3, and Wes Brown takes substitute Franco Romano down in the box… it’s a penalty!!! Martin Latka to take it… SAVED! Oh, the agony! In the 85th, we get another nice chance, as a long ball by Latka finds Fernandinho ahead of the pack… he lays it off to Cia, who slips it to an open Romano… and he hits it in off the post!!! 2-1 Posh with 5 minutes to play! Mlinaric nearly makes it 3-1 in stoppage time, but his open shot is saved. The final whistle goes, and we take an improbable win at Old Trafford, with 3 of our stars missing! Alexandre N’Diaye is named man of the match, with 1 assist, but also a great defensive performance, winning all 10 attempted tackles, and making 7 pass interceptions.
Win, 2-1, remain 5th

Apparently, several teams have decided to get off to flying starts, including all 4 teams ahead of us, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Fulham all starting out with 2 wins.

I notice while checking the board’s confidence that the supporters are “delighted” with the purchase of Fernandinho. And why shouldn’t they be pleased? He’s scored 2 goals in 2 matches, and has been generally lively in midfield and at striker.

Aug. 21, Match 3 v. #13 Portsmouth
We again go with a 4-5-1 today, but of an attacking variety this time with Cia and Fernandinho supporting Claudiu Stan up front. It pays off quickly, as Spurr’s throw in to Mlinaric finds its way to Cia, who cuts it back for Stan… Stan with a powerful shot at the far post, and he bangs it in to give us a 1-0 lead after 5 ½ minutes. Pompey keep up their attack through halftime, but we are able to weather it and take the lead to the showers. A bad giveaway near the goal sees a wide open shot by Roland Lamah bulging the back of the net. Stan was totally careless there on his pass to N’Diaye, and we paid for it. Perez misses a 5 yard chance in the 71st minute, and our defense totally lacks communication… as Tigorev chases down a long ball, but his pass to Mirtoroghi zips by the Iranian who had turned his back, allowing Robbie Keane to nip in and score another ridiculously easy one. We gave this game away, as a couple of new players totally destroyed our gameplan. It’s almost as if we were owed a loss for our surprising win at Manchester United.
Loss, 2-1, drop to 6th

Manchester Utd. continue a rough start, losing 5-1 at Newcastle… and they now sit 16th in the table.

U-18 defender Carlos Rodriguez moves on loan to Burnley for 5 months. Rodriguez is developing well, and hopefully Burnley will actually use the young Spaniard to help us figure out how to place him when he comes back.

Aug. 25, Match 4 @ #20 Southampton
The Saints have lost 3 straight to open the season. We come out in our attacking 4-4-2 to try and take advantage of the Saints’ flagging confidence. We start Romano and Perez up front, and give Fernandinho a day off. In the 29th minute, a Saint defender comes up with a quick 2nd yellow card, and we go a man up. 10 minutes later, a masterful long ball by Daeseleire finds Sarmov on the dead run… he runs 20 more yards, then cranks back his right foot and rips a goal past the powerless keeper to give us a 1-0 lead. Late in the 2nd half, Southampton go 2 men down, as a defender just kicks Michael Cia for no reason to get his 2nd yellow. We back into a 4-5-1 to try and guarantee the win, and we do just that. Perez and Cia both miss very good chances late, but we hold on for the win. A rare 1-0 win where all of our players rate 8’s at the end… Daeseleire and N’Daw (playing at ML) pick up 9’s in the win.
Win, 1-0, up to 4th

[Butter]

Jan Tigorev picks up a groin strain in our last match, and he’ll miss 2-3 weeks.

Using some newly acquired tactical knowledge, I fiddle with the tactics on our 2 main formations… the 4-4-2 diamond (or 4-1-2-1-2 if you prefer). I try to refine our tactics so that we keep good spacing around the field, and maximize our chances going forward…. Also, I try to make it so that we keep more men in good defensive position during away games. We’ll see how this works, but I have kept the “old” tactics in reserve in case these flame out.

Finally, our 2nd major signing is complete! 28 year old Croatian “attacking fullback” Darijo Srna agrees to a 2 year deal with the Posh, after we pay Spanish 2nd division club Alaves a structured $6.5M fee to bring the Croatian over. Srna can play both wing positions equally well, and is a high energy player and a veteran… something we need on a team with a large percentage of youngsters. Srna is very fast, and an excellent set piece taker and crosser of the ball. He is very aggressive, and team oriented. He also likes to run right at players and create with the ball going forward. Just what we need at right wing to complement the more finesse play of Cardenas on the left wing! Srna is a top notch player, and we are lucky to gain his signature.

That deal does take our remaining transfer budget to around $250,000, though. Hopefully, we’ve spent wisely.

European Super Cup
Barcelona 3:2 Ajax, in extra time

The Second Round League Cup Draw is made, and we’ll get Champ. Side West Bromwich Albion at home on Sept. 22nd.

Aug. 28, Match 5 v. #19 Middlesbrough
Srna debuts at MR today… we also put Fernandinho and Stan up front together, with Fernandinho in a more holding forward role. N’Daw is forced into action at ML again, while Cia mans the AM role. A rough first half for us, as we struggle to keep the ball out of Boro’s hands… Stewart Downing dominates the midfield, but luckily we’re able to keep it 0-0 at haltime. Perez on for Stan at halftime, who is struggling with an injury, and not performing well. Srna is also not playing particularly well in midfield. We look much crisper to open the 2nd half, and our short passing scheme pays off… Daeseleire hits a quick ball to Cia, who one-touches it wide to Srna… Srna with an early cross to Perez at the near post, but his header is saved… though Fernandinho is there to tap in the rebound! 1-0 after 51 minutes. We switch to defensive tactics in the 71st, but in the 75th some dawdling on the ball allows a steal, a quick pass, and a nice strike inside the right post to allow Boro to even the match. After the goal, Boro are more than happy to stay back and take the point. Boro in truth dominated the match, but we’ll take a draw here.
Draw, 1-1, drop to 5th

Srna with an uninspiring debut during which he was removed with 20 minutes left, carrying a card and a 6 rating… though he did essentially create our only goal with a nice early ball. He’ll improve as he settles into our quick, short passing system more and more. Naturally, the media approaches me about him, and I tell the media that I’m sure he will be a great signing despite his debut. Srna now notes that he is concerned I am expecting too much of him. Duh, doofwad! I did pay $6.5M for your Croatian ass… now get to crossin’!

Southampton are struggling at the open of the season, having scored 1 goal and allowed 12 in 5 consecutive losses to open their season.

So we close out our first month of our 2nd season in the Prem, and finishing 3-1-1 and lying 5th is not bad considering we had a road win against Man U. in there… in fact, we should’ve gone 5-0-0, IMO. Work is still to be done.

September ‘10
Cash balance: $16,894,163

Alexander N’Diaye wins the Young Player of the Month award… he rated a 7.6 for 5 starts, picking up 1 MoM award, and notching an assist. Jose Manuel Perez’s goal against Everton on Aug. 14th is voted the 3rd best goal of the month.

We drop to 6th after some mid-week action. With everyone level on 5 GP, we sit just 1 point out of first, as Chelsea, Spurs, and Liverpool sit on 11, while Arsenal, Villa, and us are on 10 points… we have the worst combined GD/goals scored of the bunch, at +3/7 goals.

Good news for our injury riddled corps, as we’ll get about 10 days off to recover thanks to a FIFA International Weekend on the first weekend of September. Hagman and Cardenas have already returned to full training, with Gigliotti sure to be close behind. Once they all get back, I think we’ll have a pretty feared squad.

[Butter]

We have a TV match upcoming against relegation battlers Wigan, then we’ll host Chelsea in a major early season clash for our European hopes. We beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when we got hot around Christmas-time last year, but I can’t see the Blues being surprised by us 2 years running.

All 3 of our U-21’s playing in the U-21 Euro. Qualifying scored for their countries in games of September 7th… Emil Samuelsson for Sweden, Jose Manuel Perez for Spain, and Franco Romano for Italy.

New acquisition Darijo Srna strains his neck during a challenge in Croatia’s Euro 2012 Qualifier against Northern Ireland… he’ll miss 1-2 weeks.

Sept. 12, Match 6 @ #17 Wigan
Wigan has scored once in 5 starts, but have 2 draws to show for it. As such, we come out in an attacking mindset for this match. Cardenas returns to ML for this match, but Hagman and Gigliotti aren’t quite ready to return. N’Diaye starts at MR, with Nicolas Godemeche getting the nod at DM. Stan and Perez pair up front. Fernandinho picks up a breakaway in the 20th, but his low shot is fingertipped wide. Wigan pick up some nice chances late in the half, but it goes to break at 0-0. Hagman returns to action for Perez in the 69th minute. He nearly nets the game winner in the 89th minute, as he’s set free by Fernandinho, but his shot is saved. Then, horror in the 3rd added minute, as the defense parts and allows an easy cross and header for the Latics to win the game in the final seconds. Tough loss.
Loss, 1-0, drop to 8th

Balazs Borbely picks up an injury during weight training, but he should miss just 1-2 weeks. Jan Tigorev and David Gigliotti return to full training the following day, however, as it appears we’re nearing a return to full strength.

Another close loss during a match where we give up a late goal. We are a lot more competitive in most matches than we were last year, so that’s good news. Bad news is we’ve played a lot of weak teams so far and don’t have a whole lot to show for it. The rough part of the schedule still lies ahead… although at this point I consider my team at least an even match for the mid-table contenders of the world like Manchester City and Bolton.

Sept. 18, Match 7 v. #2 Chelsea
Beautiful passing by the Blues, as Frank Lampard sends a great diagonal ball into the near post, where Carlos Vela finishes past Fernandes in the 25th. But just 2 minutes later, Simon Hagman with a nice play, dribbling past 2 defenders, then sending an early ball in to the near post, where Perez half-volleys it past the keeper. Chelsea continues to lay siege to our goal, and in the 42nd, Valeri Bojinov with a classic 25 yard screamer that curls into the top left corner. 2-1 Blues at halftime. Cia moves in at AM at halftime, moving Fernandinho up front alongside Hagman. We come out attacking, and in the 48th minute, we level the match… Sarmov’s long range effort is deflected, but right to Hagman at 12 yards, and he finishes strong into the upper 90. Latka is forced out with injury in the 52nd minute. In the 65th, we make another nice move, as Cia’s close in shot is deflected wide, but Hagman is there to clean it up! Hagman’s 2nd of the match puts us ahead 3-2. We back into our defensive tactics with over 20 minutes to go, and try to hold on to the win. Nifty play by Fernandinho in the 73rd minute… Cardenas finds Fernandinho in space in the box… but instead of trying the tight anled shot, he lays it off for Sarmov, who buries an open 20 yarder! 4-2 Posh with 15 minutes to play! We make it 5-2 in the 75th, as Fernandinho again sends a brilliant square ball across the box, right onto the charging run of Michael Cia. We fall asleep on a long throw in the 84th, and allow Damien Duff an open 6 yarder, which he buries. Simon Hagman picks up a straight red in injury time for what is termed a flagrant elbow to John Terry… but soon after that the match ends, and we take a 5-3 win. Fernandinho was just magical at that 2nd striker slot in the 2nd half. Very nice win at home, though, scoring 5 goals against Chelsea is no small feat! N’Diaye picks up MoM honors with a 9 rating and an assist… Fernandinho with 2 assists, while Michael Cia may well make me move to a 4-5-1 or put Fernandinho in at our new “holding striker” role in a 4-4-2, as Cia picks up 1 goal and 1 assist in just 45 minutes of play.
Win, 5-3, up to 5th

Terrific win against the giants there. Chelsea had only yielded 4 goals in their previous 6 matches before our 5 goal outburst today. I think the lads may be getting the hang of these new tactics. The new attacking tactics are keeping our fullbacks from going too far forward, and are employing the right wing and the DM to help out in defense, while allowing the left wing, the AM, and one of the two strikers to create chances on the other side of the pitch. Meanwhile, Hagman and Gigliotti should be positioned well to clean up as the strikers opposite the holding striker will be loosed to make searching runs often, and given the ball to run at defenders with. This is Hagman’s forte, and Gigliotti’s talents should be utilized as well. Fernandinho’s ability to lay off perfect balls to oncoming attackers was on display in the 2nd half vs. Chelsea in the holding striker role, and I think he may well have to play there much more in the coming weeks, while giving Cia a chance to shine at AM. Cia may well be poised to have the breakout season I’ve been waiting for from him for 3 seasons.

[Butter]

Michael Cia and Rasoul Mirtoroghi both pick up minor training injuries, but both will miss 1-2 weeks of action.

Sept. 22, Carling Cup Second Round v. West Bromwich Albion
We switch to our more “basic” 4-4-2 set for the benefit of several youngsters getting the start today. Franco Romano and Perez start up front, with Stan playing at AM, and Julien Camara getting the nod at DM. Julien Desmenez also gets the start at GK today. In the 21st minute, Romano and Perez get ahead of the pack… Romano with a grea square ball across the face of goal, but instead of putting the shot into an open area, he hits it right at the keeper and blows a wonderful chance. We come out looking good in the 2nd half, as Desmenez’s long ball bounces past a WBA defender right to Romano, who then passes ahead to Perez… and the Spaniard slots it home! Perez makes it 2 in the 60th, as Claudiu Stan hits a brilliant through ball to Perez, who is played onside by an opposite defender… he approaches the keeper and scores a terrific chip shot over his flailing arms. We switch to defensive tactics late, and move to a 4-5-1, with Romano just moving back a bit towards midfield. Desmenez with a couple of fine saves in the late going to preserve the shutout… including a PK stop in the 89th after Guirane N’Daw was called for barging over his man on a cross into the area. Desmenez picks up the MoM award, earning a 9 for his 6 quality saves.
Win, 2-0, advance to Carling Cup Third Round

Jan Tigorev picks up another injury, damaging his heel in training just after returning from his last injury. This time, he’ll miss another 1-2 weeks. These minor injuries are killing us early in the season.

Simon Hagman has been assessed an additional 2 match ban by the FA for his sending off against Chelsea last week… so, he’ll miss 2 more matches thanks to his elbow to the head of John Terry.

October 27th will see us travel to Wales to take on Premiership newbies Cardiff in Round 3 of the Carling Cup.

Sept. 27, Match 8 @ #8 Aston Villa (TV)
We head to Birmingham for a battle for 6th place with Aston Villa on Monday night “football”. The winner here will leap 6th place Fulham in the table. Gigliotti makes his first start of the year today, alongside Jose Perez. We suffer through a lackluster first half, especially from Perez… who gets lifted for Stan to begin the 2nd half. Steven Davis heads in a nice cross from Steven Reid in the 48th minute to get Villa on the board. Fernandinho and Gigliotti both have good chances turned aside, then in the 75th, Villa pick up a 2nd goal, as Saviola’s nice header down finds Marco Baroni in space, and he buries a 10 yard shot. And then it gets a bit embarrassing, as Javier Saviola buries a 30 yard strike, as our backed off defense backfires a bit. Our switch to an attacking system to get back in the game instead found us giving up 2 more goals, so we fall 3-0 to the pre-season title contenders. We keep fighting, though, which is a very good sign, but still can’t score late.
Loss, 3-0, drop to 8th

A 3-0 win actually would’ve seen us into 5th, as that’s where Villa end up after this match, passing surprising Cardiff.

Not a great month, but we’re still hanging in the top 10, which is about where the experts predicted.

October ‘10
Cash balance: $14,925,776

We drop to 9th in mid-week. I notice that Jose Manuel Perez is now our top goal-scorer, with 4 in our first 2 months.

Oct. 3, Match 9 v. #4 Arsenal
Fernandinho and Perez pair up front today, with Cia starting at AM, and Srna trying to get on track at MR. We decide to come out in a defensive set against the giants. Arsenal dominate the first half, but we’re able to weather it and head into the break scoreless. Sadly, Martin Latka gives Arsenal a penalty as he shoves down Reyes over the ball in the 54th minute. Thierry Henry converts the PK to put Arsenal up 1-0. 5 minutes later, Cardenas finally seems involved in a match… he and Fernandinho play back and forth down the left, and finally Fernandinho buries a tough angled 20+ yarder from the top corner of the area, reminiscent of the 2006 World Cup opening goal. 4 minutes later, Fabregas finds himself in space inside the area, and he beats Fernandes to the post. 2-1 Arsenal with 25 minutes to play, as we switch to attacking tactics. We push hard for the equalizer, but it’s just not in the cards for us today.
Loss, 2-1, drop to 11th

We drop a notch further after Everton totally destroys Wigan in mid-week.

Simon Hagman suffers from food poisoning, but hopefully the FIFA International schedule should favor us in getting him back at last to pair with Gigliotti.

Rob Edwards (Wales) and Claudiu Stan (Romania) are the 2 Posh international players to score for their national teams during European Qualifying on the second weekend of October.

A couple of days later, Emil Samuelsson (Sweden) and J.M. Perez (Spain) both score for their U-21 sides… with Perez netting 2 goals for Spain.

Oct. 16, Match 10 @ #2 Liverpool
Fernandinho and Gigliotti start up front today. A fast-paced first half ends scoreless… Gigliotti comes out with fatigue problems, on comes Claudiu Stan. Just when it looks like we might be able to some away with a point, we have a defensive lapse, as Borbely’s poor clearance comes right to a Red attacker… he knocks it ahead to Sissoko, who is now 2-v-2… and Sissoko sends a ball across the goal mouth for a waiting James Shaw. That’s 18 year old Shaw’s first senior goal, and it’s a killer.
Loss, 1-0, remain 12th

Another tough stretch we’re experiencing here.

Oct. 24, Match 11 v. #16 Manchester City
We start Julien Desmenez in goal for a depressed Carlos Fernandes. Though finally, we start our first choice attack team… N’Diaye, Cardenas, Srna, Fernandinho, Gigliotti, and Hagman in an attacking formation. Let’s see where that gets us. We don’t do much, then Gigliotti leaves with an injury in the 38th minute. In the 51st minute, Balazs Borbely gets caught out chasing a ball into the corner… but Darius Vassell wins it, then crosses into the middle, where young striker Steven Mason tries a bicycle kick… and connects. A great goal for them… not so much for the home fans, as we go down 1-0 again. We switch to a 3-4-3 with 15 minutes to go. Just when things are looking bleak, we get a foul call just outside the box, as Hagman is brought down… and in the 88th minute, Cardenas buries the 20 yard free kick to level the match! That’s how it ends, but I’ll take the point after 3 straight losses.
Draw, 1-1, up to 11th

Gigliotti suffered only a mild concussion in this match, and he’ll miss just about a week.

Andrej Mlinaric picks up a back strain via weight training, and it’s at this point I decide to cut down on everyone’s strength training a tad… we’ve had far too many strength training injuries lately to consider it a coincidence.

Oct. 27, Carling Cup Third Round @ Cardiff
Mamadou Diallo gets his first action of the season today. Srna continues to try to get on track at MR… he’s averaging a 6.17 since coming over in August. Desmenez is whistled for a penalty for pushing over a Cardiff attacker on a cross in the 6th minute… he can’t stop the spot kick, and we’re quickly behind. We get paybacks in the 25th, as Renouard beats his man badly down the left, and is tackled from behind … so we get our own PK which Rob Edwards converts to level the match. Diallo appears to have scored in the 30th, but it’s disallowed for offsides. In the 36th, our backline again seems to fall asleep, and Cardiff knock in an easy shot from 6 yards to make it 2-1. We flail about for 40 minutes, and bring on Fernandinho and Cardenas to spark us late. In the 76th, Renouard’s cross to the back post finds Srna, and his header deflects off a Cardiff defender and in to level the match… scored an own goal, we are tied at 2. And in the 89th, Cardiff get the winner, as Daeseleire is jinked on the left, leaving an open cross to the back post which we fail to stop. Another frustrating late loss, as we fail to generate any chances late.
Loss, 3-2, out of Carling Cup

I’m going to try one last tweak to our new tactics, and that is to use man marking… we have a number of man markers who should be able to get the job done… so we’ll try that, and we may begin to use the offside trap on the road.

I issue a performance warning to Darijo Srna, which he feels is “unfair”. Well, how about you try not sucking so much, pretty boy?

Other than starting to rip into my players, I’m not sure what to do at this point if our defensive tweaks don’t work except to shift back to our more “simplistic” tactics. We’re not scoring much, and we’re not defending well. That equals losses… and if the slide continues, we’ll find ourselves in the relegation zone again, and my job will be on the line.

We drop to 14th after some mid-week matches.

Oct. 31, Match 12 @ #19 Blackburn Rovers
We come out in an attacking formation here today. We apply some good pressure, but our back line gets beat in the 45th minute, as Srna gives the ball away, allowing a ball through the back 4… the striker looked offside, but the flag stays down, and we trail 1-0 at halftime. We try to tinker some more after the break, but we look completely lost. Another close and frustrating defeat.
Loss, 1-0, remain 14th

Daeseleire and N’Diaye both are suffering from fairly serious injuries following the match that will see them both out around a month.

A terrible month of October that finds us plummeting down the table. We finish 0-1-3 in league, and also lose a cup match.

November ‘10
Cash balance: $12,944,926

I thought with the new tactics, that we would be able to compete on a higher level… but in fact, they’ve caused us to regress… so, we switch reluctantly back to our more basic 4-4-2 diamond formations, with instructions that are a bit less confusing for our younger players.

Nov. 6, Match 13 @ #5 Newcastle
We come out in defensive tactics against the strong opponents. Hagman and Gigliotti pair for just the 2nd time this season. Albert Luque buries a 16 yard strike off an indirect free kick play in the 7th minute, and again we trail. Newcastle score again in the 17th, and we’re just getting blitzed. We switch to attacking tactics to attempt to get back in the match… and in the 26th, we appear to score… but Hagman was offsides when he broke free on the other end. Even when we make a good play, we’re either offside, or some spectacular play derails our efforts, as in the 42nd minute, when Gigliotti’s great 25 yard curler is acrobatically saved by the Magpie keeper. Fernandinho with a fine play in the 54th, but his shot is again turned aside. Cardenas breaks loose into the box in the 57th, but his shot is inches wide. We end up with so many closely missed chances in the second half, it actually makes me slightly physically ill as the clock winds down, and we’re dealt yet another defeat. Again, our problem continues to be off target chances. We had 14 shots, and only put 4 on target. We missed just the wrong side of either post at least 4 times.
Loss, 2-0, drop to 15th

Surprisingly, the board and the fans are still being fairly patient with me. I will have to take a couple of days to think this over… how can I break the team out of this slump? How can I get the best out of Cardenas, Fernandinho, Srna, Hagman, and Gigliotti, like I was getting the first few weeks of the season?

[Butter]

Seems like at least Darijo Srna is starting to play up to his ability, earning a mention in the Team of the Week following our latest defeat.

We continue to sit 14th following our first 13 games… and we started out so well this season too. We have a lot of work to do to get back into the top 7. Since opening 3-1-1, we’ve gone 1-1-6… and have a cup loss as well. Luckily for me, the natives are not yet getting restless… but another month or two of this, and I expect that not only will we be flirting with relegation, but I’ll be holding on and praying to save my job.

Bad bad news for us from the international front, as Carlos Fernandes injured some knee cartilage in a friendly against Slovenia, and will miss 4-6 weeks of action. Looks like 17 year old keeper Julien Desmenez will suffer through a trial by fire here in the next few weeks. I have no faith in Mark Cousins, the other option, and the other reserve keepers are all seemingly interchangeable.

Sherman Andres Cardenas finally starts whining about his current pay deal… and even the assistant manager agrees that he is undervalued at $475k per season. He wants $1.6M + 15% rise per year, and I start out offering $1.2M + 10% rise per year, with a $550k signing bonus compared to the wanted $750k. Although, truly, I would pay his price if it came down to it… I do have to try and save money somehow. Cardenas agrees to my terms, and I save $1M just with one stroke of the pen.

Nov. 20, Match 14 v. #8 Cardiff
We look pretty lively early on, and it pays off in the 22nd minute… Srna’s corner kick is missed by the Cardiff defense… Gigliotti’s side volley is blocked, but the ball falls right to Simon Hagman who finishes the set piece with a goal. Cardiff fight back, but Desmenez is able to keep it at 1-0 through halftime. We switch to a 4-5-1 at halftime, as Hagman is a bit tired already. In the 59th, we fail to head away a cross and pay for it, as Desmenez can’t stop the hard volley… it’s 1-1 with a half hour to go. We stick with the 4-5-1, and put Diallo in at lone striker for Gigliotti, who has been absent today. With 8 minutes to play, Cardenas’ cross is headed away… right to Rob Edwards at 35 yards. Edwards chips it back into the middle, and Michael Cia dives onto it and scores!! Cia with a fabulous strike to put us back ahead late in the match. We switch to defensive tactics late, and get a nice counter-attack in the 87th… Fernandinho is onside, and tripped up in the box. The referee gives us the PK chance, and Rob Edwards completes a fine match with the conversion. We make it 4-1 in stoppage time, as Srna’s masterful cross from way outside connects with Diallo’s head, and he buries it. 14 shots for us, with 11 on target, while Desmenez does well to stop 6 of 7 Bluebird shots. Srna with 2 assists, and Edwards picks up a 9 with 1 goal and 1 assist from right back.
Win, 4-1, remain 14th

We now sit 3 points out of 9th, but several teams ahead of us have games in hand on us. We’re 10 points out of 2nd place… but Chelsea look like they’re running away with it again, sitting in first with 33 points (to our 17, and 2nd place Liverpool’s 27).

At last, though, we have a match where we look good. Everyone was involved, and our 2nd half was just superb.

Monday Night football features the South Coast derby between Southampton and Portsmouth… the 2-2 result extends Southampton’s season opening winless streak to 14… they sit last by a good margin, with 3 points from 14 matches at 0-3-11.

Nov. 27, Match 15 @ #17 West Ham United (TV)
West Ham United have given up around 2 goals a match… so we decide to start out in defensive tactics, but may switch that quickly. Alexander N’Diaye returns from injury to start at DM today. A boring first half ends scoreless… we switch to an attacking style, but have to bring Hagman off for Gigliotti at the break due to a minor injury. Gigliotti and Stan completely blow a couple of golden chances midway through the half. We bring Cia on for Stan with about 20 minutes to play, but our offense just isn’t in sync on the road here. It is somewhat satisfying to have dominated the match, but not when we don’t win. Probably should’ve played it more aggressively from the outset.
Draw, 0-0, remain 14th

We played OK in this match, but I’m certainly pleased not to have given up a late winner.

A slow month again for fixtures, but we finish an improved 1-1-1.

December ‘10
Cash balance: $9,806,852

We dupe 3 teams into offering around $750k for Sebastien Renouard as we approach the re-opening of the transfer window. Renouard’s contract is up at the end of the season, so all of these teams could just wait and sign him for free for next season… but perhaps it is worth it to them to bring him in. He appears to be a talented player, but he has never clicked at any position for us.

Glad that Darijo Srna is beginning to click for us at MR, because I really didn’t need another right back… especially with Dimitri Daeseleire readying to return to match action.

Dec. 5, Match 16 v. #12 Bolton
Bolton is suffering a bit of letdown at the moment. We start Fernandinho and Gigliotti up front, as we try to get Gigliotti his first goal of the season. Mirtoroghi leaves with injury midway through the first half, and Srna picks up a knock towards halftime. A boring first half ends scoreless. We burn through all of our subs by the 65th minute, which I don’t like to do. But the subs pay off quickly, as Cardenas sends in a low cross for new entry Hagman, and Simon buries a brilliant volley with his first touch of the game to put us ahead. We back into defensive tactics with about 10 minutes to play. We knock the ball around a bit, and take the win in what the pbp called “a poor match”.
Win, 1-0, up to 12th

We’ve started our ascent of the table yet again. David Gigliotti continues to be disturbingly absent from the scoresheet, though.

The Third Round FA Cup Draw is held, and we’ll travel to Bournemouth to face the League One Cherries in early January.

Sebastien Renouard agrees to a deal with Coventry City, and we’ll be paid $650k over 24 months by the Championship side, along with $725k if he scores 20 league goals for them… AND we’ll get 40% of his next transfer fee, if any. This transfer will take place on January 1.

Jose Manuel Perez scores a hat trick in a reserve game that ends in a 5-5 draw. We were down 5-2, but Perez and Markus Schulz combined for 3 goals in the final 15 minutes to draw the match. It may be about time to bring Perez back up to the big club.

[Butter]

Dec. 11, Match 17 @ #10 Fulham
Fernandinho and Hagman get the start up front again, as Gigliotti’s season has been rough so far… he’s averaging a 6.29 through 7 appearances with no goals. Great curling 25 yard shot from Michael Brown in the 12th minute puts Fulham on top. Desmenez had no shot whatsoever there. In the 20th, we get the goal back as Cardenas buries a 25 yard free kick. Fernandinho and Srna come off with minor injuries midway through the 2nd half. In the 80th minute, Fulham get back on top, as a missed interception leads to a cross and header in. But 3 minutes later, David Gigliotti finally gets on the board, thanks to a good spot from Michael Cia. Gigliotti nails a 20 yarder into the top right corner for his first of the year to tie the match and earn us a draw. Cia picks up man of the match for his good midfield play.
Draw, 1-1, remain 12th

We sit 5 points behind 6th and 7th place now… and 8 points behind 4th. We also sit an uncomfortable 8 points above the drop. We need another nice winning streak to bump us back into the top half, or else we’ll be finishing mid-table again. At least we seem to have grasped my new tactics finally, and have played reasonably well with our backup keeper mostly on display during the last several matches.

Carlos Fernandes finally returns to full training, and should be ready to return to the field right around Christmas.

Tottenham pops up in the news as mentioning that they’d love to sign away Michael Cia. I issue a hands off warning.

Dec. 18, Match 18 v. #16 Birmingham
In the 17th, Balazs Borbely with an unlikely ball… he hits a 50 yard long ball ahead of the pack, and Fernandinho breaks into perfect position and heads it in past a stunned Blues’ keeper. 1-0 Posh, as Borbely made possibly the best pass I’ve seen all season. Then 8 minutes later, Fernandinho strikes a 30 yard free kick straight into the upper 90 past the helpless keeper. Birmingham play a bit better towards the end of the half, but we decide to play defensively to open the 2nd half. Birmingham assail our goal multiple times early in the half, but then our counter-attack starts wearing them down, and they have to close up a bit. In the 88th, Birmingham finally breaks through… a cross comes in, and Desmenez comes at it wrong, allowing an attacker to sneak under him and poke it into an open net to make it 2-1. Luckily for us, the referee blows for full time after just 2 minutes of stoppage time, and we take the win.
Win, 2-1, up to 10th

Nicolas Godemeche has started seeing more time in central defense of late… he has been performing well there, and his passing skill is very welcome when we’re running the attacking version of our diamond formation. In that last match, Guirane N’Daw and Dimitri Daeseleire also started along our back 4, giving us 3 of 4 defenders who could push forward when needed… and also Borbely, who actually created one of the two goals with a great long ball.

After a 17 game winless streak, amazingly Southampton decides to break that string at Stamford Bridge by beating Chelsea 1-0 and allowing Arsenal to gain the EPL lead by 1 point, as they draw Man U. 2-2 at Emirates Stadium.

We drop to 11th after more mid-week action.

In Carling Cup action, Preston and Sunderland surprise Liverpool and Chelsea respectively by winning on the road against the Premiership giants. The other 2 sides remaining in the competition are Millwall and the only remaining EPL team, Bolton.

Dec. 26, Match 19 @ #6 Tottenham Hotspur
Carlos Fernandes makes his return to the net today. We dominate play in the first 10 minutes, but in the 15th it is Tottenham scoring first, as Bent receives a pass at the near post, then passes towards the far post, where Peter Crouch knocks in a 2 yard strike. Just 3 minutes later, we fall behind 2-0, as Fernandes misplays a cross, allowing Yaya Toure to head it in behind him. Darren Bent makes it embarrassing in the 33rd, as Borbely fails on a challenge, allowing Bent to bury a 5 yarder. We get one back in the 35th, as Fernandninho’s cross is blocked away, but Cia collects it at 8 yards, and scores past the prone keeper. I rip into the team at halftime, and we stick with attacking tactics to open the 2nd half. We look much more dangerous early in the 2nd half, but it’s Spurs finding the net again in the 57th, as Fernandes completely butchers a 30 yard Toure shot, allowing it in when he should’ve had it easily. Neither team threatens much for the remainder, and we get shown our place by the contenders.
Loss, 4-1, drop to 12th

Dec. 28, Match 20 @ #10 Everton
We switch things up today, and try a 5-3-2 counter-attacking formation, with nearly everything set on “normal” or “mixed”. Edwards is the sweeper, while N’Daw and Srna are the wing-backs… we have N’Diaye, Godemeche, and Sarmov in midfield with Hagman and Gigliotti up front. Sadly, we get caught with our pants down in the 33rd after a long stretch of boring-ness… as Tim Cahill dribbles 45 yards and finishes past Desmenez to put the Toffees ahead. Cahill opens the 2nd half with a nice header goal to make it 2-0 Everton. But we strike back in the 50th minute, as Srna’s long cross finds Hagman, and he has his initial effort stopped, but Given can’t get a glove on the rebound as Hagman’s 5th of the year makes it 2-1. In the 73rd minute, Fernandinho (on for Gigliotti) gets a long ball from Desmenez, dribbles past a defender, then scores a low shot to the far post to make it 2-2. Fabulous individual goal by Fernandinho. In the 88th minute, an attempted long ball by N’Diaye deflects off an Everton midfielder, and right to one of their strikers, who is in perfect position between the last 2 defenders, and he buries a 15 yard shot to give Everton the game winner. Very unlucky series of events there.
Loss, 3-2, drop to 13th

A disappointing way to finish out the year… 2 straight losses. I thought the team would be much improved this season, but that has been far from the case. We’re really about the same, and might actually be slightly worse considering that offensively, our production is WAY down. We have absolutely no business being on the field with the giants right now, and have struggled with any match on the road this season.

18 year old midfielder Tom Rose returns from his loan to Bristol Rovers… he rated a 6.60 in 15 apps. for the Championship side, including 4 assists. Not bad. A couple weeks later, he’s off again, this time to Coventry.

January 2011
Cash balance: $9,236,313

With the re-opening of the transfer window comes the departure of 25 year old midfielder Sebastien Renouard. Renouard appeared in 58 matches over 2 ½ seasons with the Posh, scoring 4 goals and netting 10 assists… his avR, though, was only around 6.8, which is not that great. He was very versatile, but never played all that well off the bench, which is where most of his value lies.

Jan. 1, Match 21 v. #4 Manchester United
In the 6th minute, Rio Ferdinand heads in a Park Ji-Sung corner to make it 1-0 ManU rather quickly. It’s 2-0 in the 21st, as Darren Fletcher buries a curling 30 yard shot. Hagman makes it 2-1 in the 25th, as he breaks loose on the counter attack and slots it home past Petr Cech. And it’s 2-2 after 32 minutes, as Cardenas steals a clearance, knocks it ahead to Fernandinho, who spots Cia on the full run… he slides it across to him, and Cia buries a low shot to level the match. We switch to attacking tactics after halftime to try and catch ManU by surprise. In the 72nd minute, we get the go ahead goal, as Srna’s cross finds Hagman… his volley is tipped wide, but Fernandinho is there to finish it! We back into our defensive tactics with 2 defensive midfielders (Hagman leaving with injury), and are able to hold them off the rest of the way. Fernandinho and Hagman both with 1 goal and 1 assist.
Win, 3-2, up to 11th

That’s a nice way to start the New Year!

Guirane N’Daw and Mamadou Diallo are out of action for a few weeks now as they’ve returned to Africa to join their national teams for the African Nations Cup.

Finally, we sell off goalkeeper Mark Cousins. The 23 year old has been with us for a long time, but just hasn’t developed in the areas of most need, namely handling and fitness. Cousins joined us for $8k from Colchester in 2006. Over parts of 6 seasons, he appeared in 20 senior matches for the Posh, allowing 30 goals while averaging right around a 6.5. We get $525k from Charlton Athletic for him ($180k of which goes to Colchester to fulfill a 35% clause with his transfer), along with 40% of any potential sale that may happen in the future.

Jan. 3, Match 22 @ #12 Portsmouth
We call up Jose Perez to start alongside Gigliotti up front against Pompey. Perez draws a yellow card from a Pompey defender just 8 seconds in. In the 6th minute, Michael Cia with a stunning 30 yard strike after an attempted cross was headed away from Gigliotti. We are just completely dominating the match, then in the 33rd, he comes out a little early for a cross, and is caught out of position as an attacker heads it in. Perez nearly makes it 2-1 in the 35th, but he’s ruled offside. Portsmouth nearly make it 2-1 in the 39th, but their long range shot hits the post and bounces clear. In 1st half stoppage time, Sarmov’s corner falls to Perez in the six… his header is cleared… right into their own net! An own goal gives us a 2-1 halftime lead. We switch to a 4-5-1 with 2 DM’s to open the 2nd half, as we go with Perez alone up front. He’s had a great game. Sadly, in the 50th, Tommy Spurr concedes a PK thanks to a shove on a corner kick. But luckily for us it was not well-taken, and Fernandes saves it! Cardenas and Sarmov both pick up injuries and are forced off in the 60th minute. Borbely with a bad square ball in the 67th, and Portsmouth convert a 2-on-1 into a goal to make it 2-2. We switch back to attacking tactics in the late stages to try and nab all 3 points back. Sadly, the attempt backfires, as young striker Simon Bird buries a marvelous goal from 20+ yards out to put Pompey ahead 3-2 with under 8 minutes to go. 4 minutes of stoppage time are indicated, and we get a promising chance in the first of those 4… Fernandinho attempts to send a ball low into traffic, but the whistle blows, and the referee points to the spot! Perez is judged to have been pushed over! Rob Edwards steps up, and buries it! 3-3 with 2 minutes left! Perez gets a breakaway in the final seconds, but the Portsmouth keeper does well to keep it out. We’ll take the 3-3 result. We had 15 shots on target in this match, many of which fell to Man of the Match J.M. Perez. Perez with 2 assists and 5 shots on target… one of those assists on the final PK goal.
Draw, 3-3, remain 11th

We seem every match to be just on the cusp of breaking through, then some stupid play knocks us back into reality again. We have to figure out a way to eliminate these mental breakdowns.

After this match, it is going to be very hard to keep Jose Perez out of the lineup. Every time he’s in, he seems to create chances.

Sadly for us, Cardenas’ injury is fairly serious, and he’ll miss 1-2 months with 2 broken ribs.

We make our first Bosman signing of the winter, as 18 year old French midfielder Damien Lacroix signs a long term deal with the Posh. Lacroix can play all 6 midfield/attacking midfield spots, and can play striker. He has good speed, and very good ball control. He needs a bit of work before becoming a regular contributor, but should prove to be a quality signing for us after snubbing Paris SG for us.

We field 3 offers for Michael Cia, with the best being Man City’s straight up offer of $4M for the Italian. Cia has 5 goals and 4 assists this year, and is finally developing into a star… can’t sell him now. Sadly, he is now unhappy that I refused to let him negotiate with Manchester City. I can’t let you go, buddy! Not for $4M, anyway. I offer him around for $9M.

Our next major signing is 24 year old Spanish central defender Pique who’ll join us from Manchester United. He’s currently on loan at Anderlecht, and is averaging near a 7.20 for them, including a 7.00 in the Champions League.

Jan. 8, FA Cup Third Round @ Bournemouth (#22 in League One)
We waste no time getting on the board, as a long ball by Spurr is headed down by Perez right onto the run of Claudiu Stan… and Stan slots it home inside the post for a 1-0 lead after just 2 minutes. We make it 2-0 in the 33rd, as Gigliotti beats his man, then winds around another on his way to nailing a powerful strike from 10 yards. Gigliotti puts the exclamation point on it in the 90th minute, scoring a PK after Sarmov was pushed down in the box with just seconds to play. Gigliotti naturally is named the MoM for his 2 goal effort.
Win, 3-0, through to FA Cup Fourth Round

Our third Bosman signing is 25 year old Bolivian AM/F Jose Luis Ortiz who will join us from Hertha Berlin. Ortiz is a masterful finisher who is superb at creating his own shots and controlling the ball. He falls off a bit in the passing aspect, but should be a fine choice as a late sub in games, or as a spot starter against weaker defenses to take advantage of his skill.

We get some offers for Cia from Blackburn, Man City, and Chievo (Serie A). They average around $5.5M + 30% of next sale. I counter with $7M + 30% on all 3 offers. Only Chievo matches my request, which for them is $3M up front, then $4M over 12 months. I decide to think on it for another couple of days.

We draw Wigan for our Fourth Round FA Cup match… on the road again.

Markus Gustafsson returns from his loan to Tranmere… where he did not appear in any matches. Thanks a lot, dicks.

Florian Da Costa also returns from his loan to Brentford, where he scored 4 goals in 14 appearances (12 off the bench). He averaged a 6.64, which is not that bad for a purely bench player. Nathan Bennett returns from Ipswich, where he averaged a 6.22 in 9 appearances (2 starts). Emil Samuelsson returns from Stoke, where he sccored 2 goals in 19 appearances, averaging a 6.47 in that time. Not very impressive.

Chelsea pays $97,000,000 to Liverpool for 25 year old winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

Jan. 16, Match 23 v. #20 Southampton
We start Emil Samuelsson at MR today, putting Srna at ML for the injured S.A. Cardenas. The Saints come out looking very confident. A more skillful team would’ve had us down at least 1-0 after the first 10 minutes. In the 27th, though, Fernandinho sends in a nice cross from the byline… Hagman settles it, but has it tackled away by Thomas Gravesen… it falls right to N’Daw, who scores into an unguarded net from over 25 yards away to make it 1-0. Sadly, Saints equalize in the 30th minute, as Godemeche fails to challenge a cross and header in, and Fernandes can’t stop it. We go to shorter, quicker passing as Southampton is closing us down immediately all over the field. We control the early part of the half, then let in a soft goal, as our back line can’t close down a long ball effort, the run of the attacker beats our back 4, and Fernandes is chipped successfully to make it 2-1. Luckily for us, we go up a man in the 64th, as Perez and Fernandinho are sent through… Perez’s great square ball to Fernandinho ends in a PK, as Fernandinho is up-ended by a last ditch tackle. We go up a man, and level the match at 2-2 as Darijo Srna converts the penalty. We push further ahead into attack and try to net the winner, but instead we end up giving up a counter-attack goal and lose to 10-man Southampton. Borbely failed to react quickly enough on the game-winner, and we drop a crushing 3-2 defeat to the last place team here today. They played with a lot of spirit, but I lash out at the team in the locker room.
Loss, 3-2, remain 11th

Southampton remain dead last, but are within 4 points of safety now with a recent run of good form. Since opening the season with a 17 match winless streak, the Saints have won 3 of 6.

I seriously doubt that we’ll be able to make up 10+ points in the table in our final 15 matches. We’ll have to get VERY hot VERY quickly. It’s just been a disappointing season. It’s very difficult to find the right defenders to keep your scoresheet clean in this league. And for us, it’s just not happening. We’re not keeping control of the ball as much as we need to, and we’re not getting the play from the center-backs that we need to be successful. We’ve not had problems down the wings as much this season, it has been more a problem of bad passing leading to goals, or the 2 DC’s failing to make that last interception or header away or tackle to save the keeper from having to make the spectacular save over and over again.

[Butter]

I make the tough decision to switch keepers. I’m going to go with Julien Desmenez for the remainder of the season. Seeing as the season is fairly well lost for Europe, why not get some of these youngsters in there? Jose Perez is going to get some more time as well.

Jan. 22, Match 24 @ #10 Middlesbrough
We open in a defensive 4-5-1 today, with Fernandinho and Cia pairing at AM in support of Jose Perez at the lone striker spot. In the 22nd minute, we open the scoring… Srna steals the ball from a defender, and breaks free down the center… he attacks the keeper, but has his shot stopped… Perez is there in support though, and taps in the rebound for a 1-0 Posh lead. In the 29th minute, Cia sends Fernandinho onside… he is free down the left, and crosses to a wide open Perez… who is pulled down! There’s the whistle! PK opportunity for Rob Edwards… saved. But the rebound falls right back to him, and he puts it in! 2-0 Posh after a half hour. In the 32nd minute, Desmenez’s goal kick finds Perez just across midfield… he wins the header and puts Cia through! Cia’s shot… is tipped wide, but again right into the path of Perez, and he poaches his 2nd goal of the match!!! Perez is again having a masterful game. He just keeps playing brilliantly… and he’s a young 18. With 5 minutes left in the half, Fernandinho’s free kick towards Perez is hit nicely… and Perez is yanked down again! Another PK, and this time Rob Edwards converts it on the first try. 4-0 at halftime! We bring Stan and Sarmov on to play the 2 AM roles, and save our 2 big stars (Cia and Fernandinho). The goals keep coming in the 48th, as Edwards sends in an early cross, Perez controls it, then fires a shot at the far post and scores! Perez with a hat-trick, and he has an assist as well. Nearly the entire starting XI for Boro rates a 3 or a 4… and their keeper got a 5. Meanwhile, Perez picks up a well-deserved 10.
Win, 5-0, up to 10th place

That’s a performance they’ll be talking about for years to come with this kid… I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a striker control the game as Perez did in this one. He was involved on every goal, and just created havoc of unprecedented proportions in Boro’s back line. Wow.

Well, I guess I have to stick with that 4-5-1 now, don’t I? Plus, how long until Gigliotti and Hagman are bugging me about not playing over the 18 year old? Problem is, Gigliotti has been awful this season… so much so that I’ve seriously thought about selling him. Hagman has been good, but not THAT good.

For the first time, we get a player back who says they enjoyed their loan spell… Carlos Rodriguez, the young defender, returns from Burnley with a smile on his face. Rodriguez started 21 matches for Burnley at DC, averaging a 6.81, including 2 MoM awards. The time away did seem to help his development. Rodriguez has a bright future… he is lightning quick, and already a very good header… just needs to work on his positioning and anticipation a bit more to become a legitimate senior squad contender.

Middlesbrough offer me around $10M plus 20% of next sale for Alexandre N’Diaye. I counter with $15M + 30%. Middlesbrough is on a spending spree, as they bring in 2 other players just before month end for over $11M each. Boro withdraw their offer.

Jan. 29, FA Cup Fourth Round @ #18 Wigan
Hagman runs out as the lone striker today. Stan and Cia pair at AM. We start Fernandes at GK as well to keep the 31 year old sharp. Hagman with a poor first half, as he botched a number of chances in and around the box. Wigan appear much more determined to open the 2nd half, and they beat our trap in the 64th, and score a nice 18 yard low shot. We increase the attack greatly with each passing minute, and play wide open the last 10, but to no avail.
Loss, 1-0, out of FA Cup

The month ends promisingly in the league, but disappointingly in the cup.

February ‘11
Cash balance: $6,254,971

Jose Manuel Perez wins the Young Player of the Month award for January thanks to 3 goals and 3 assists while averaging an 8.00 in 3 league games during the month of January. Alexandre N’Diaye finishes 2nd in the voting, thanks to a 7.67 avR in 3 starts, including an assist against Manchester United.

Feb. 2, Match 25 v. #18 Wigan
We come out in the attacking style of the 4-5-1 that hammered Boro, complete with Cia, Fernandinho, and Perez up front. In the 13th minute, Fernandinho scores… for Wigan, as he heads in a corner kick accidentally. We switch back to the 4-5-1 defensive, and after 3 minutes of that, Perez steals a backpass, then buries a fine 15 yard shot just inside the post to level the match at 1. During 1st half stoppage time, we get a free kick near midfield… 3 passes later, Andrej Mlinaric is free down the left flank, and his nice cross into the center finds Perez, who heads it in. 2 more goals for Perez, just another day at the office for him. In the 72nd minute, Stein Huysegems is set free after a long clearance from our corner kick leaves him alone… he dribbles 45 yards, then buries a low shot to Desmenez’s right to equalize for Wigan. After that, Wigan is more than happy to dribble out the clock.
Draw, 2-2, remain 10th

18 year old defender Carlos Rodriguez heads out on a 2 month loan to Leicester.

Feb. 5, Match 26 @ #3 Chelsea
A fun opening 10 minutes here with wide open play… in the 12th, Fernandinho with a masterful long ball to Perez, who outruns the defense to the ball, then chips the keeper from 25 yards out to score his 10th of the season. Chelsea level it in the 19th, as Cristiano Ronaldo sends in a great cross from halfway up field, finding Valeri Bojinov who heads it home. Ronaldo scores himself in the 31st, taking a first time shot from inside the arc, and curling it into the upper right corner. We level it in the 41st, as defender Ricardo Fernandes’ attempted clearance of a corner bounces off Ronaldo into the goal. 2-2 at halftime of a marvelous game. Michael Essien makes it 3-2 in the 58th, as he takes advantage of our switch at halftime away from the offside trap and to a high closing down style. We switch to a 4-4-2 with Hagman on for a slightly injured Fernandinho in the 68th minute. Desmenez picks up a knock late in the match as well, which is terrible news. Finally, after a long stretch of dominance, Chelsea net their 4th, as John Terry heads in a Ferreira corner kick. Tigorev elbows Joe Cole in the box, giving Chelsea a PK, which Lukas Podolski converts to make it 5-2. Perez is removed with an injury in the 88th minute.
Loss, 5-2, drop to 13th

Chelsea don’t let us take 3 of 4 from them over 2 seasons. But winning 2 of 4 is a pretty good feat, and we were in this one until Jose Mourinho decided to actually COACH. Arrogant bastard.

Desmenez will miss 6-8 days with a badly injured jaw. We may be in dire straits for our next match, but after that we have 2 weeks off before our next match.

Feb. 12, Match 27 v. #8 Aston Villa
Gigliotti starts up front today, while reserve GK Morten Bredal-Thorsen gets the start in goal. Mlinaric is injured in the 30th minute, and we have no replacement at ML… so we switch to a 5-3-2. N’Daw and Srna play the wing backs, while Fernandinho joins Gigliotti up front. In first half stoppage time, we get the breakthrough… as some nifty quick passing finds Cia splitting the last 2 defenders, and he powers one past the Villa keeper to put us up 1-0. Villa have 2 goals called back for offside in the early stages of the 2nd half… then we get an insurance goal in the 54th, as Fernandinho buries a 25 yard free kick to give us a 2-0 lead. We switch to a compact 5-4-1 with 10 minutes to go, and Villa promptly break that down and score thanks to a rebound from a Morten Gamst Pedersen shot… Milan Baros finished it to give Villa some hope. The nightmare occurs as Villa sends a long ball over the top, which finds Gamst Pedersen ahead of the pack… he slides the ball to Baros, and Bredal-Thorsen just isn’t going to stop that. 1 minute from time, Aston Villa earn a red card as Srna hauls down a defender ahead of the pack… off the free kick, Gamst Pedersen finds a charging striker, and he heads it home. We go from 2-0 up with under 15 minutes to play to 3-2 losers. What a nightmare of a tactics switch I made.
Loss, 3-2, remain 13th

Unbelievable that we lost that game. I’m still in shock. It’s like a microcosm of what is wrong with this team. Of course, I think if we had either of our top 2 keepers, this is all a moot point.

In other alarming news, Gigliotti continues to stink it up. He may not be our guy to take us to the promised land if he keeps playing like this.

We need 5 more wins from 11 matches in order to equal our point total from last year. Seems unlikely to say the least at this point. We need to shore up our defense, period. That is the major factor holding us back, and it’s been holding us back for 2 years now.

We decide to let Andrej Mlinaric join Leeds United on loan for 2 months, during which they’ll pick up his entire $750k per year salary… which equals out to $125k in salary we won’t have to pay for that time period. Not insignificant, considering the rate at which we’ve lost money this season (over $1.5M per month).

Feb. 27, Match 28 @ #1 Arsenal (TV)
Sherman Andres Cardenas returns to the lineup today. We spend the first 30 minutes fighting off the Gunners, but in the 32nd, Theo Walcott’s cross is nodded down by Darren Murphy right to Thierry Henry for an easy finish. But in the 42nd, we equalize as Michael Cia’s nice first touch finds Fernandinho, and he rifles a 15 yard shot past the keeper for his 10th goal of the season. And just prior to halfime, we get a 2nd goal, as Toure gets stripped of the ball by Cardenas… Cardenas with 2 in support, but he scores a fabulous chip himself to make it 2-1 at halftime. In the 67th, Jermain Defoe picks up his 2nd yellow card of the match, so we go up a man with over 20 minutes to play. Then in the 80th, Cardenas sends a nice pass diagonally to Perez in space… Perez is tripped, and it’s a penalty! Cardenas to take it himself… and he scores! 2 goals for Cardenas on his return, as he shows us what we’ve been missing! 3-1 Posh with 10 minutes to go. The pbp notes that “Arsenal are losing their discipline”. Arsenal fail to press us for the final minutes, and we take a surprisingly easy 3-1 win, our first over Arsenal since our ascent to the EPL. Fernandinho earns MoM honors, but several players pick up 9’s, including Perez and Cardenas on his return.
Win, 3-1, up to 11th

We’re 12 points from 7th place, so once again it looks like European football will be out for us next year. This team is so maddening… one week, we lose to the bottom-dwellers, the next we dominate Manchester United or Arsenal on the road. Not sure how to level this team out, but Cardenas’ return to the lineup can’t but help us.

Carling Cup Final
Preston North End 4:0 Bolton

We finish up February 1-1-2, scoring at least 2 goals in each match, but yielding 2 or more in 3 of 4 as well.

March ‘11
Cash balance: $5,086,306

March 5, Match 29 v. #4 Liverpool
A fairly boring first half ends scoreless, which is surprising considering that our recent matches against the big 4 have been shootouts of the 3-2 variety. In the 49th minute, we get a good chance, as we nick a counter opportunity… Cia sends in a cross from the right… it’s headed away, but Srna with a 25 yard volley scores past an out of position Pepe Reina to make it 1-0 Posh. In the 52nd, Besian Idrizaj hits the post for Liverpool from 25 yards. We take Srna out in the 78th to avoid Rob Styles from giving him a 2nd yellow. We back into a compact 4-5-1 late, moving Fernandinho and Cia back to stay behind the ball… and it works. Finally, we win a close one. Rob Edwards picks up MoM honors in this match, for his 11 pass interceptions.
Win, 1-0, up to 11th

We’re within 1 point of overtaking Middlesbrough for 10th place. Of course, every time I think we’re going to go on a run, we fall flat on our face. Let’s hope that’s not the case here, and we can finish in the top half this time around.

[Butter]

Looks like this dynasty is going to switch away from a work-week time frame to a nights and weekends time frame. I'm taking my save game home with me from work today, gonna make sure that it works, then I'm going to delete the existing save game here at work and continue this dynasty from home.

My job is moving to Cincinnati in the next few weeks, and I don't want this dynasty to be interrupted by me coming in to work one day and finding my computer moved, or gone, or all the files taken off of it (which has happened before... one day I came in and they told me to get ready for my new computer, which gave me about 30 minutes to move all of my files... which was quite harrowing, to be honest). Plus, I am not sure what my desk situation is going to be at my new job, so I might not have the privacy I need any more to make playing this game possible there. But I definitely want to keep this dynasty going for the LOOOONG term (hopefully up until FM 2007 comes out).

Thanks for reading, I hope you guys are having as much fun reading it as I am writing it.

[John Galt]

I'm still enjoying it. I just hope your frustration with the team doesn't cause you to abandon them.

[dixieflatline]

Yes still enjoying it. You give exactly the right ammount of info on each game.