FM10 - From the Bottom Up

[Brian Swartz]

Dang -- you are smokin' right now!!

[BYU 14]

Wow, great run you are on....

Still no news on the takeover?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Still no news on the takeover?

Nope, when I go look at the board room the Chairman Status is "Simon Clegg is looking to leave the club as soon as possible". Since the last takeover fell through I haven't seen any new updates at all.

[Radii]

Transfer Out

It feels like we're having a selloff here! Michael McKerr has only seen one match this season and he too is unhappy with me. I wasn't going to re-sign him when his contract expired this year and Reading offered $130,000. I accept and he's off to Reading. McKerr came to Ipswich from Brighton in the 15/16 season for $110,000. In 9 seasons with Ipswich he played ~140 matches, scored 2 goals and made 4 assists. He was always content to be a backup, started a couple years more often due to injuries and had a solid average rating in the 6.80 range for his career for us.



January 13th, 2024

Ipswich(13-2-4, 1st) @ Tottenham(13th)

We are 5:4 favorites to win at their place. We beat Tottenham 2:1 at home earlier in the year, our first ever win against the Spurs. We're 1-3-7 lifetime against them.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Mattle/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Jean/Mills/Gordon
F: Darcy/Bryan

Small changes today, mostly in the midfield (Jean/Mills MC), Darcy up front today.

We'll counterattack today at their place.

18': We attack for a good long while here, finally getting into the area as Darcy puts it to the right for gordon, Gordon tries to cross it back for Darcy or Bryan, it hits a defender but that works out, it deflects over to Adagsmar who is wide open and he scores! 1-0

25': Free kick, Gordon sends it into the area from out right, Adagsmar heads it but not to goal, just into the 6 yard box. Darcy is there and heads it in... but he was offsides. No goal.

37': Another throwin deep in their end, after a pass there's a cross from Bryan to the far post, Kirkland is there... but heads it over.

HALF: They end up with 8 shots but only 2 on target and 5 from long range. We've got 4 shots, 2 on target and two clear cut chances with the one goal. We're playing well here, possession is crazy in our favor at 63/37.

49': Throwin for them in our end, after a header to clear a cross, they recover, a through ball for ST Mangan and he is open very close and scores. 1-1

55': Some nice passing by us in tight areas, ending up with Mills finding Bryan in the penalty area, its not a clear cut chance but its not a bad look either, the keeper just saves it. Corner goes nowhere though.

71': Smith in for Jean.

83': Throwin for them in our end. After the throw an immediate cross, header by defender Chukwu, won over Mattle, and he hits it hard and into the net. 1-2

First time we've given away a lead like that this year I think, but it is Tottenham and it is at their place. I debated attacking, I also debated going all out on defense to try to preserve the 1:1 tie. In the end I did nothing and they found a second goal late.

Tottenham 2 : 1 Ipswich

Goal: Adagsmar (7.5)
Assist: Gordon (7.8)
Notable: Kirkland (7.0)

No one is bad or anything today. They did a great job limiting our chances in the second half and did just enough to win.

[Radii]

January 17th, 2024

FA Cup Third Round Replay

Fulham (CH) @ Ipswich (EPL)

We're 1:2 favorites today and need to get this done.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Welsh/Mattle/Jackson
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Smith/Hutchinson
F: Darcy/Bryan

Kirkland and Heywood are off today, Hughes/Jackson at DL/DR. Clifford and Smith in the midfield, Hutchinson gives Gordon a rest. Attack from the outset today.

2': Spectacular stuff, we attack early, lose the ball on our end and allow a counter and a clear cut chance just immediately. Capitani makes a great save.

8': We have a corner, they head it away but we recover. Out to the right for Jackson, a cross into the area... Darcy wins a header but its off the crossbar and over for a goal kick.

27': Nice buildup on offense, Darcy to Smith, Smith plays a perfect pass into the area for Hutchinson, he is able to tap it by the keeper and score easily. "A superb assist by Smith" says the commentary! 1-0

31': Hughes a yellow.

33': Well it ends with a header over the bar for them, but Hughes loses the ball in midfield to allow an attack to start, then he misses a tackle in the left corner to allow the cross to come in...

48': Hughes is hurt.

HALF: We end up with 9 shots but only 1 on target. They shoot 7 times, 2 on target. Each team with one clear cut chance. They've got more of the possession. They're passing slightly better, tackling slightly better. These things shouldn't happen against a Championship level team.

52': Hutchinson is hurt but can stay in.

56': Hughes wins a 50/50 ball for us in midfield, passes to Smith, Smith lobs a ball into the area for Adagsmar, its our second clear cut chance... but he puts it wide.

83': No highlights til the 83rd minute, that's good for us. Bryan with a header over.

87': Khan for Bryan, Jean in for Clifford.

We hang on to win.

Ipswich 1 : 0 Fulham

Man of the Match: Craig Smith (8.1)
Goal: Hutchinson (7.5)
Assist: Smith
Notables: Capitani (7.1), Jackson (7.l5), Mattle (7.3), Darcy (7.1)

Just squeaking by teams we should crush here. But we're through, and we're rewarded with a match vs Chelsea in about 10 days in the next round.

-- We get $110k for this win.

[Radii]

== Constantino resumes full training. Hallelujah.

-- Aldrovandi is not unhappy anymore, whew.

January 20th, 2024

Nottingham Forest(7-7-8, 15th) @ Ipswich(13-2-5, 4th)

We're down to 4th but still have 1 or 2 matches less than 1st(Arsenal) and 3rd (Everton). We're big 4:6 favorites today, they're 7:2 to win. We crushed them 3:1 back on September and are 8-3-9 lifetime against them (lots of that in the Championship).


GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Mattle/Heywood
M: Crespo/Jean/Mills/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Constantino may not play 90 but damn sure he's starting. Jean has been someone who seems to stagnate the offense but I'm not giving up on him at least until say next January. Spent too damn much on the kid and he isn't *bad*... just not good.

We are attacking.

23': Buildup on offense after winning a ball in midfield, Crespo intercepts a pass, dribbles forward and towards the center of the pitch, spots Khan and sends it to him in the left side of the area, Khan with a difficult strike at a 45 degree angle out left and a defender closing down, he hits it well and drills it by the keeper! 1-0

38': We earn a corner, Gordon sends it to the far post, Aldrovandi wins ihs header... but its high.

HALF: boring so far. we have 4 shots, 66% of the possession and are dominating passing, tackling and in the air. They haven't taken a shot yet and have a paltry 34% of the possession. We need to get another goal out of this.

58': Crespo is hurt, but can stay in.

61': Crespo a yellow.

64': They get two shots off a corner, one blocked and the other saved by Capitani.

74': Hughes in for Crespo, Welsh in for Aldrovandi.

75': We have a free kick in their end. They head out the cross that comes in but Mattle makes a great tackle as they try to send it ahead for the offense, he passes to Constantino who is 35 yards out defending, a pass to Mills, a through ball to the left side for Hughes, he shoots basically from the same spot that Khan scored from, and Hughes scores too, he puts it by a diving keeper!! 2-0

80': There's a foul 20 yards out on defender Cass... he had a yellow before that wasn't mentioned, and that's a red! Gordon with the free kick but its into the wall and is cleared. Up two goals and a man now though.

84': We're hanging out in their end, Mills out wide to Heywood, a low cross to the 6 yard box, a defender tries to clear but Khan is on top of the defender and blocks the clearance, poking it into the net, that's his second goal! 3-0


Ipswich 3 : 0 Nottingham Forest

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (8.8)
Goals: Khan 2, Hughes (7.4)
Assists: Mills (7.8), Crespo (6.9)
Notables: Heywood (7.4), Kirkland (7.5), Aldrovandi (7.2), Mattle (7.3), Gordon (7.4)

Solid defense and we find a way to score today! Constantino's name is only mentioned ocne today but just put him on the field and we score.

[Radii]

I typed up so much here its worth its own post:

Bosman Signing

Bosman signing vs New Signing, for those not as familier, the Bosman Rule is basically free agency for European players, its the reason I can sign a guy in January who hasn't been re-signed by his own team and has an expiring contract and have him join me during the offseason. This one could be an important one.

Celtic wins the Scottish division literally every year (like 12 years in a row). They play in the Champions League every year, at least in the group stage, once making the quarterfinals and often making the knockout rounds. So if the starting goalkeeper from Celtic wants to leave for a new challenge, and my scouts say he's better than Capitani and would be an important first team player, I have to go get him, right?

26 y/o GK Dmitrijs Bogdanovs - $0 to Celtic - $64,000/wk - will join the club June 1st. He's been with Celtic since he was 18 with ratings over 7 the last 4 years, pitching 10+ shutouts every season for them. Don't let the name scare you, he speaks fluent English.

Physical: Strength 18, Stamina 14, Jumping 16, Balance 13, Agility 12
Mental: Anticipation 14, Bravery 17, Composure 16, Concentration 17, Determination 14, Positioning 16, Decisions 13
Goalkeeping: Aerial Ability 18, Command of Area 13, Communication 15, Handlingn 17, kicking 16, One on Ones 19, Reflexes 16, Rushing Out 12

Command of Area: Bogdanvos +2
Communication: Bogdanvos +1
Kicking: Bogdanvos +3
One on One's: Bogdanvos +3
Rushing Out: Bogdanvos +8
Punching: Capitani +2

Anticipation: Bogdanvos +2
Bravery: Bogdanvos +6
Composure: Bogdanvos +6
Concentration: Capitani +1
Decisions: Bogdanvos +4
Determination: Capitani +1
Positioning: Bogdanvos +3

Jumping: Capitani +2
Stamina: Capitani +2
Strenght: Capitani +1

In the key areas of Aerial Ability, Handling and Reflexes they're both exactly the same. So ratings wise, it would appear I'm getting a guy who might be significantly better. I feel its worth looking at that closely (and already had before I made the offer but worth laying out here) b/c shaking things up at such a critical position after 4 very successful years with Capitani is a scary thing to me.

Mason and Rogers just aren't that hyped by my scouts, don't seem to be nearly as good and I have avoided rotating them in with the first team this year. Perhaps now I sell the both and next season split Bogdanvos and Capitani evenly while continuing to develop my young GK Rob Lines.

[Radii]

-- Bartlett resumes full training.

-- hahahah yes yes! Man City makes the League Cup Finals against Man Utd. That match conflicts with the Ipswich/Man City match on March 3rd. Its kicked back to March 13th.

New Signing

I have a soft spot for guys who can take up one spot on my sub list and play 3 positions, makes life easier.

25 y/o M LRC Dariusz Chrzanowski - $2M to Tottenham - $33,000/wk - Chrzanowski had gotten fed up there. They bought him from Palermo for $7.5M 4 years ago and have never played him more than 15 matches in a season. two years ago he played 14 matches, scored 3 goals, made 2 assists and had a 6.85 rating. This year 6.7 rating in 5 matches. My scouts rate him as a 2 1/2 * MR, 2* MC, 2* ML. His right foot is strong and his left is reasonable (compared to a lot of guys with "strong" right feet and "weak" left, IE the shooting guard who can only go right in basketball).

Physical: Pace 14/Accel 12/Sta 16/Balance 17/Agi 12/Str 12
Mental: Determination 13/Teamwork 16/Work Rate 16/Off the Ball 14/Anticipation 16. Other ratings 9-11
Technical: First Touch 16/Dribbling 16/Crossing 15/Passing 12/Technique 14/Heading 11/Finishing 10

I like his numbers a good bit. I don't see him starting often at all but he's cover for those nasty times when Gordon and Hutchinson both get hurt at the same time, he's also a little insurance after selling Donnelly and Bejoui. He's a guy I can list as a sub and not have to worry about cover for both Crespo AND Gordon if they're both full strength, allowing me to make two extra strikers available depending one what role I want, or a guy I want to get time to if we're winning and a starter who I might want to bring in if we're losing, etc.

I love good utility guys I guess is what I'm saying and I feel like that's what I've got here.

Loan Out

-- I list Michael Rogers to sell, no immediate bites but Exeter will offer me $400,000 to loan him for the rest of the year and pay his salary. I'll take it.

January 20th, 2024

FA Cup Fourth Round

Chelsea (9th, EPL) @ Ipswich(2nd, EPL)

Basically even today at Portman Road. Chelsea are 6:4 favorites, we're 13:8. We've had a full week off to get ready for this one. We beat Chelsea 1:0 at our place back in November and are now 4-4-6 lifetime against them.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Mattle/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Smith/Mills/Gordon
F: Bryan/Constantino

We're fully healthy right now except for the fact that Bartlett is still not quite fully fit after his injury. I believe this is the strongest 11 players we're capable of fielding. I think Smith is better than Clifford at this point in MC, Adagsmar having a slightly better year than Crespo.

Standard mindset today.

8': Great play between Constantino and Bryan after we win a ball in our end.. except for the last pass Bryan was a step offsides... I guess, the ref says so at least.

18': Free kick out left for us, Gordon sends it in, headed away... we recover, passed right back to Gordon. Gordon gets into the area, down near hte end line, he tries a little cross through the area, the ball is deflected by a defender and it falls dead in the 6 yard box, Constantino pounces, and puts it in!! 1-0

22': Oh man. They get a through ball and what seems a sure goal. Heywood comes in though and makes a great slide tackle to stop the attempt, Kirkland gets the ball, plays it to midfield where Bryan picks it up. Their defender comes charging at Bryan, Bryan skips by a tackle though and has a free run for about 15 yards, they close down on him and its played ahead to Constantino. Constantino into the area, he has a clear cut chance and beats their keeper!!! 2 shots for us, two goals! 2-0

43': Mills a yellow.

HALF: We flew to the half after those two goals which is great for us. We only allow Chelsea 5 shots, Heywood made a hell of a play to save a goal there for us. they only have 52% of the possession, they're tackling well but we're winning 70% of our headers and passing as well as them. We are just playing great right now. We'll drop to a counter attacking mindset to slow things down some this half.

51': Aldrovandi with a yellow.

56': We build up on offense, a pass to Constantino 25 yards out, Bryan holds his man, Constantino beats his and gets a clear cut chance after a run into the area... this one is saved though.

63': They get one back as Aldrovandi misses a header on a pass into the area after a failed clearance. Their ST Al-Inezi gets a very easy goal. 2-1

84': We have it on offense after a good while with no highlights, Smith passes back and forth with the defense a couple times, then plays a perfect ball 20 yards ahead to Constantino, he turns by his man, blasts a shot from 20 yards out and it beats the keeper!!! A hat trick and vintage Constantino today!! 3-1

91': I'm about to go crazy as Constantino scores a 4th goal but he's deemed offsides on this one and its probably right. That's two goals disallowed (the other for Bryan).

Ipswich 3 : 1 Chelsea

Spectacular performance today!

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.5)
Goals: Constantino 3
Assists: Bryan (9.0), Smith (8.3), Gordon (7.2)
Notables: Kirkland (7.4), Aldrovandi (7.0), Mattle (7.2), Mills (7.1)

Capitani and Heywood 6.9 today, Adagsmar 6.8.


we're through to the next round and it didn't require a damn replay or anything!

-- $150,000 for the win today.

[Radii]

-- We reject Genoa bidding $17.5M for Aldrovandi and Man Utd bidding $16 Million for Constantino. Its very very rare that anyone bids on Constantino.

FA Cup 5th Round Draw

Round of 16 here. 5 Champtionship teams and one League 2 team left, we get a team that's in the EPL but that we seem destined to never play, Man City. On the Road. Ick.


-- Its beautiful. Man City vs Ipswich league match has been rearranged due to FA Cup match Man City vs Ipswich. We're now scheduled to play Man City on February 17th, March 9th and March 13th.


Transfer Out

-- We have 2 GKs in our youth system. GK Jamie Schulz has 2* to 2 1/2* potential. Rob Lines has 3* - 4* potential. Newcastle comes bidding for Schulz. He's only valued at $14,000 and that's all I get for him, but I also get a clause stating that I will receive 40% of Schulz's next sale. With Lines deserving as much time on the field as he can stand for his development, I'm thrilled to have this out to try to make some nice money on Schulz. Maybe he'll develop and sell for a few million and I'll rake it in for doing nothing.



January 30th, 2024

Ipswich(14-2-5, 2nd) @ Bristol City(3-5-15, 17th)

Bristol City are going to finish in the last 4. 16th place has double the points (28 compared to 14). Just a question of who gets relegated out of Bristol City, Exeter, West Brom and Cardiff. Right Now Bristol City is safe by 1 point. We beat them 2:0 at our place earlier in the year and are 5-8-6 lifetime with almost all of that being in the Championship. 3-0-0 in the EPL the last season and a half. We're big 4:7 favorites here.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Mattle/Heywood
M: Crespo/Jean/Mills/Hutchinson
F: Khan/Constantino

Changes in the midfield, only Mills stays in today from last match. Khan up front today with Constantino. Standard mindset on the road.

25': They have a corner, Mills wins it and plays it out to Khan at midfield, he crosses ahead to Constantino, Constantino with a run down the left side, cross into the area, Khan has a clear cut chance here... but heads it right at the keeper.

27': They have 4 shots to our 2 here early on.

28': Free kick out right very near the area, poor cross is cleared.

33': A ball ahead for Constantino, quickly into the area, a clear cut chance for him but saved. Corner goes nowhere.

42': Mills ahead to Khan, he turns by his man and gets a solid shot from 18 yards... right at the keeper.

44': Jean with a pass ahead to Constantino, he cuts inside and gets a good shot off.. right at the keeper. Oh i so wanted Jean to get his first assist there, it was a good pass!

HALF: They do have 6 shots, 3 on target but only one was a real threat. We have 7 shots, 5 on target and 3 were clear cut chances. With Khan and Constantino up front its amazing there hasn't been a goal yet here with these chances.

55': We win a ball in defense, Mattle ahead to Hutchinson, ahead to Khan at midfield. He sends it wide to Crespo and gets it back going forward. Khan into the area, gets his shot... and beats the keeper! 1-0

67': Darcy in for Constantino who got knocked around a bit and his fitness is down. Chrzanowski is in for Mills and that's going to take awhile to get right.

79': They get forward down the left, a cross comes in, Kirkland loses a header 18 yards out, the header hits Mattle and falls free in the area, they get a man to it first and he puts it into the net to tie it up... ugh. 1-1

80': Attack.

89': They have a free kick from 30 yards out. Taken by MC Bertrand, bent around the wall... capitani dives but can't stop it, it is absolutely perfectly into the upper left corner of the net. 1-2

WOW.

Bristol City 2 : 1 Ipswich

What a freaking disaster. Horrible.

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (7.9)
Goal: Khan
Assist: Crespo (7.6)

Most others 6.7-6.9. Capitani 6.5, Jean 6.5. That's just an unmitigated disaster of a finish to drop us back into 4th. A point I could accept, but not the loss.

[bbgunn]

Don't worry about that loss. It's Bristol City, after all. :P

[Radii]

Takeover Story

-- Basically a non story but I figure anything on this is worth highlighting while its going on. Today we just get news that we already know, the chairman Simon Clegg wants to step aside sooner rather than later. There's no specific news, but maybe this starts another round of takeover rumors to come. We shall see.

February Update

-- I go review January real quick b/c that last loss left things on SUCH a sour note that I can't even remember if we were any good at all last month. Ok, 3-0-2 in league play and one of the losses was Tottenham, plus we are still alive in the FA Cup. Not as bad as it felt, we just played our way out of 2nd in that last 10 minutes against Bristol City.

-- We play on the 3rd, 10th, 13th, 17th, 20th, 26th and 29th in February. 17th = FA Cup (Man City), 20th and 29th = Euro Cup First Knockout Round (Murcia).

-- Eoin Darcy is once again listed as having trained well this month. Dribbling 17, Penalty Taking 11, Anticipation 16, Off the ball 17. He's being tutored by Constantino right now and it seems to be paying off big time.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. The play we're getting from Constantino is the highlight. Our league cup loss nearly two months ago now is the only disappointment.

-- We made $10.7M last month. We sold players for $19.8M and bought players for $7.3M.

February 3rd, 2024

Ipswich(14-2-6, 4th) @ Huddersfield(7-7-10, 16th)

Huddersfield are still struggling mightily in 16th place, but they're 11 points ahead of Bristol City in 17th so they're fine. We need to keep winning here, I want a Champions League spot next year! Huddersfield are 6:4 favorites at their place, we're 13:8 to get a win, basically even.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Mattle/Jackson
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Smith/Gordon
F: Darcy/Constantino

Changes in the midfield again, and Darcy up front.

Counter attacking on the road.

17': Yellow for defender Adams.

25': We have it attacking as the highlight opens. Gordon is out wide of the area, runs towards the corner, turns around and passes to Smith who has a look from 18 yards out, Smith blasts it near post by the keeper from a little ways out right of the goal!!! Great strike from Smith!! 1-0

35': Gordon takes a corner kick, Aldrovandi wins it, but its just high.

45': Mattle a yellow.

HALF: Very few highlights, I covered half of them! A spectacular shot by Craig Smith is the difference. We have to hold this lead today. I remain counterattacking for now. We shoot 4 times, they shoot 2. 60/40 possession for us though, dominant control there, 86% tackling too, passing and heading is fine.

46': midfielder Tunnicliffe a yellow.

72': Hughes in for Adagsmar, Jean in for Darcy, back to a 4-1-4-1 (Clifford DMC, Jean MC).

76': They shoot from long range, Capitani barely gets to the shot laying out to his left. He turns it behind, and we clear the corner.

We kill the final 15 minutes easily.

Huddersfield 0 : 1 Ipswich

I'm quite pleased with this after our last road match a few days ago.

Man of the Match: Craig Smith (7.6)
Goal: Smith
Assist: Gordon (7.3)
Notables: Capitani (7.3), Jackson (7.2), Kirkland (7.2), Aldrovandi (7.3), Mattle (7.0), Adagsmar (7.0)

6.8-6.9 for the offense.


-- 15 matches to go for us, varying amounts for the teams around us, we're up to 3rd with our win today and first is still well in sight.

[Radii]

February 10th, 2024

Cardiff(2-6-17, 20th) @ Ipswich(15-2-6, 4th)

A couple other teams winning while we had a week off sees us in 4th again. We are dreaded "easy win" favorites today, crazy 1:4 odds on us. Cardiff are 9:1. We play a top 5 team in Everton in 3 days. We need to win this but would love to see some lesser used players shine.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Bartlett/Mattle/Jackson
M: Ros/Jean/Smith/Hutchinson
F: Darcy/Bryan

In the back I only rest Aldrovandi. Midfield I start Hutchinson and Jean and call up David Ros from the U18's to get his first ever start at ML today. Darcy and Bryan up front.

We'll attack.

18': First highlight of the match, a throwin taken to Jackson, immediate cross, Ros is in the area, wins his header... and its just over. Oh what a start to a career that would have been.

21': They have a horrible horrible turnover in their end, giving the ball away to Hutchinson, a quick pass ahead to Bryan, he's all alone and finishes a clear cut chance with ease! 1-0

25': A long series of headers in midfield finally sees us winning the ball, played down the left for Ros, he gets a cross in, Bryan wins it but its just over.

39': Yellow for Kirkland.

44': Free kick near midfield, taken left for Kirkland, he gets a cross in, Darcy with a smashing header, low, the keeper has to react quickly but blocks it with his legs.

HALF: Solid so far. 9 shots, 4 on target, to 3 shots from them with just 1 on target. We dominate every stat and again here today hopefully will tack on some more goals.

48': We build up down the left, Jean plays a cross in, but they head it out. Hutchinson hustles to the loose ball, a quick pass to Bryan and a quick shot and goal! 2-0

54': yellow for midfielder Temperino.

65': Welsh in for Mattle, Hughes in for Kirkland, both to rest for next match.

83': Jackson a yellow.

87': A strong counter attack, we win it in their end, ahead to Darcy, to Bryan, Bryan with a long run, dodging a tackle, he passes to Darcy charging up the middle and Darcy is in the area and blasts a shot into the right side of the net! 3-0

Ipswich 3 : 0 Cardiff

Couldn't have planned it better.

Man of the Match: Chris Bryan (9.3)
Goals: Bryan 2, Darcy (8.4)
Assists: Hutchinson 2 (8.8), Bryan
Notables: Jackson (8.1), Kirkland (7.2), Ros (7.0)

17 y/o ML David Ros with a 7.0 in his first professional match, solid!


Sheffield Utd lose and that bumps us legitimately into 3rd. Arsenal haven't lost in a long time, a win over #2 Man City today has them building a bit of a lead.

[Radii]

-- Jackson, Hutchinson and Bryan are named to the EPL team of the week.

February 13th, 2024

Everton(12-7-7, 6th) @ Ipswich(16-2-6, 3rd)

A key match against another team challenging for a continental spot. We're really big 4:6 favorites, they're 7:2 to win. We're 3-5-4 lifetime against them but our match at their place back in October was one of our worst of the season, a 3:1 loss. They led by 2 at the half and our goal came in the 89th minute.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Mattle/Jackson
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Mills/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Back to a much stronger first team lineup, Clifford/Mills at MC, Khan/Constantino up front. Everton run a 4-1-4-1 with star ST Brian Kelly up front.

Standard mindset today.

1': We drive straight down the field, Gordon with a cross but its headed away, we recover, Jackson to Mills, Mills into the right side of the area, Gordon is cutting to the goal, receives the pass and drills a shot near post by the keeper! 47 seconds in!! 1-0

5': Gordon gets all the way down the right, a cross in, the keeper punches it but it falls for Khan, a clear cut chance on a header... but the keeper recovers quicker than I would have expected and the header is a bit weak, its saved.

19': A few passes around the middle of the pitch, Clifford ends up passing to Constantino 20 yards out, he turns by his man, into the area, and places a shot very nicely to the far post, just barely inside the left post and in the goal!! 2-0

38': Gordon with a free kick well wide right, a cross in is headed back for a corner. Corner is taken to the far post, Aldrovandi is there but heads it too high.

HALF: A very strong half for Ipswich! We control 57% of the possession and manage 8 shots, 3 on target for 2 goals. They shoot 3 times, 2 on target but I only saw one of them I think. We are doing a great job today, we often struggle to find openings in a good 4-1-4-1 formation, but today Clifford and Mills both are spotting every hole in the defense and making great passes.

71': Darcy for Constantino, Jean for Mills, Chrzanowski in for Gordon, all to rest for the next match.

We finish strong.

Ipswich 2 : 0 Everton

Man of the Match: Neil Gordon (7.8)
Goals: Gordon, Constantino (7.0)
Assists: Mills (7.7), Clifford (7.5)
Notables: Capitani (7.0), Jackson (7.3), Kirkland (7.5), Aldrovandi (7.0), Mattle (7.2)

Adagsmar 6.8, Khan 6.7, the only starters not over 7.0.


Constantino had 10 league goals at the midpoint of the season. 6 league matches later he finally gets #11. With a small injury in there too it seems like a long time. That's pretty much luck though I think, he's gotten a good number of cup/continental goals too and has 19 total goals on the season.


Most teams are already down to just 11 matches to play, we are flying through this season!

1. Arsenal - 60 pts
2. Man City - 55 pts (1 less played)
3. Ipswich - 53 pts (2 less played)
4. Man Utd - 47 pts (1 less played)
5. Sheffield Utd - 47 pts
6. Liverpool - 44 pts
7. Tottenham - 43 pts
8. Everton - 43 pts
9. Blackburn - 41 pts
10. Chelsea - 40 pts
11. Aston Villa - 40 pts


Long way to go but look at that 10 point lead we have on the 8th place team. We are in a commanding spot to lock up continental play, we're in shockingly good position to make the champions league and if we were able to win both games in hand we have we'd only be 1 point behind Arsenal in the title race!

With all that said, 3 of our next 4 matches have nothing to do with league play. @ Man City next and then our series vs Murcia in the Euro Cup.

[Radii]

-- Hutchinson is injured in training and is going to miss 3 weeks.

February 17th, 2024

FA Cup Fifth Round

Ipswich @ Man City


We finally play Man City, but never fear, not in the league, just in the FA Cup. We are 2-4-8 lifetime against Man City, but an even 1-2-1 the previous two years. They are #2 and we are #3 in the EPL right now, but Man City only has one loss all season to a team that isn't Arsenal, and that was back on September 3rd. They are even money favorites today, we're 11:5 to get a win.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Bartlett/Mattle/Heywood
DM: Jean
M: Crespo/Clifford/Smith/Jackson
F: Bryan

Unfortunately we played a league match I really wanted to win 3 days ago and play in the Euro Cup in 3 days... I'm not starting my best here. Constantino, Mills, Gordon and Kirkland all sit. I do play a 4-1-4-1 and will make an effort to defend hard and try to earn a replay out of this.

26': We've watched each team take a corner so far and head a shot over.

42': Crespo a yellow.

46': Throwin in their end, its thrown to Hughes out left, a pass into the left corner of the area for Chris Bryan, Bryan turns towards the goal, finds an opening and shoots from 18 yards out, its high towards the far post, the keeper has no chance at all, and it hits the upper right corner perfectly!! A superb precision strike!! 1-0

HALF: Couldn't ask for more than that. We only see 4 highlights all half, 3 of them show us on offense and we find a goal at the end of the half. Man City has 6 shots to our 3, but they aren't threats at all. They do have 62% of the possession and are passing really well, we're just keeping them from putting too much pressure on. It'll be difficult I'm sure but lets see if we can hold out for another half.

72': A weak cross/header effort for man city is saved.

84': a corner/header, way over for Man City.

85': They attack hard, we win it in their end and Chris Bryan gets a complete breakaway, a long ball up from Hughes, Bryan is ahead of everyone, into the area, the only clear cut chance of the match for anyone so far... but the keeper saves the day and keeps them in the game, damn!

90': We intercept a really poor through ball and send it long, they push back ahead and shoot waaaaay high from 30 yards out. They seem frustrated.

That's it!!!!!

Man City 0 : 1 Ipswich

A beautiful effort today!!

Man of the Match: Chris Bryan (8.3)
Goal: Bryan
Assist: Hughes (7.2)
Notables: Heywood (7.1), Bartlett (7.2), Mattle (7.4), Jackson (7.2), Crespo (7.1)

We didn't have a bad team out there by any stretch but we were missing a number of our top stars and playmakers but this group stepped up big time.

-- We receive $297,000 for winning this round.

[Radii]

FA Cup 6th Round Draw

Stevenage in League 2 just upset Derby in the Championship to make the quarterfinals of the FA Cup. We luck out here, we're going on the road yet again but we're going to be playing League 2 Stevenage.

-- Victory! The Stevenage vs Ipswich FA Cup match on March 9th conflicts with Man City vs Ipswich league match. The league match has been backed up to March 20th.

February 20th, 2024

EURO Cup First Knockout Round First Leg

Murcia (6th, La Liga) @ Ipswich(3rd, EPL)


We've been looking forward to this match for a a solid 7 weeks now. Its an even one, we are 6:4 favorites, they are 13:8 to win here.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Mills/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Clifford may struggle to go 90 but smith and Jean are both available as subs. Khan/Constantino up front with both Darcy and Bryan available off the bench.

Freddy Adu starts at MR for them. They have two star strikers, Arvydas Sidlauskas, 16 goals in 26 matches across multiple competitions and Jonathan Hughes with 19 goals in 30 matches. Standard mindset at home.

1': Oh my god. We start with it, Adagsmar with a deep run down the left side, a cross to the near post, Khan receives it and appears to have a poor first touch, he tries to basically dribble it into the net. Their keeper goes down diving for it, Khan ends up poking it off the left post, it bounces off the post, hits the keeper and rolls towards the goal. One of their defenders charges over and clears it off the line as its about to roll in. Holy crap!!~

6': We build up on offense, Constantino to Mills, Mills with a through ball into the area for Khan, their DC Raul makes a horrible mistake, missing an easy interception, it leaves Khan wide open and he doesn't miss this one, a strong finish and we take the lead! 1-0

11': We win the ball in defense and move forward down the right side, Gordon has it near midfield and plays a ball ahead for Constantino, he gets by his man and into the area, its a really tough angle out right, but Constantino shoots far post, beats the keeper and it hits the left side of the net!! 2-0

21': Their man Hughes gets forward, Heywood and Aldrovandi are both there, Aldrovandi tries a slide tackle and misses, a shot goes in.. saved by Capitani but the rebound to Hughes and he scores. 2-1

HALF: We watch a couple more highlights, blocked shots from long range, crosses cleared, that kind of thing really. And we're at the end of a very exciting first half. They have 6 shots, all 6 on target, Capitani has had to work a lot here, only 1 clear cut chance though. We have 9 shots, 3 on target. We have 55% of the possession. They are tackling better and winning in the air. I'm definitely worried that their play is a little more sound and that we're at risk of giving up a goal or two here. We're relying on something explosive from Constantino most likely. I feel like this could really go either way.

54': Adagsmar with a steal and a great long run by two men down the left side but all we get is a corner out of it, which they clear.

62': Yellows for defender Lynch and MC Lopez in short order for Murcia.

80': Bryan in for Khan, Jean in for Clifford, defend the rest of the way.

And we don't give up anything else. We don't really see any great chances to extend our lead but at the same time we only see one highlight of them shooting all half.

Ipswich 2 : 1 Murcia

Man of the Match: Constantino (7.7)
Goals: Constantino, Khan (6.9)
Assists: Mills (7.0), Gordon (7.0)
Notables: Heywood (7.0), Kirkland (7.2), Adagsmar (7.1)

Everyone else 6.8-6.9. Solid win! We only allowed 4 total shots in the second half and two were off target. We played a much stronger half and kept our lead.


-- We travel to Aston Villa for a league match in 6 days, then 3 days later are off to Spain for our return match against Murcia. We may go into that one like we did against Man City in our defensive shell that seems to be very successful.

[Radii]

As always you probably want to full screen it but this is our first minute almost goal:

[Radii]

-- For the first time ever I'm approached by an international team. Cameroon has asked me to take over their senior squad. I politely decline, but neato!

Takover Story

High-flying Ipswich Town has now begun the process of appointing a new chairman. The favorite for the job appears to be director Adam Banks, who would face the daunting task of trying to clear the club's debts.


Oh come on! I went back and found the post where I first took over at Ipswich:

-- Franchise Value $15.5M (loan debt $36M)

We now have a franchise value of $119M and a loan debt of $20M. "Daunting task of clearing the club's debts" my ass. Anyway, we'll keep an eye out on the takeover speculation.


February 26th, 2024

Ipswich (17-2-6, 3rd) @ Aston Villa(12-4-11, 11th)

Aston Villa are 5:4 favorites at their place today, we're 7:4 to win. We are 2-5-6 lifetime against Aston Villa, we beat them 2:0 at our place this year but historically have not done well, even as they've fallen a little the last 2 seasons.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Jean/Smith/Chrzanowski
F: Khan/Bryan

Again today we rest a few starters as we want them full strength for Murcia. Jean/Smith/Chrzanowski start for Clifford/Mills/Gordon in the midfield, and Bryan in for Constantino.

We'll counterattack.


8': Craig Smith goes down hurt, his man Clark gets by, turns on the jets and blows by Aldrovandi/Mattle, into the area and scores on a powerful shot from 15 yards out. 0-1

8': So after giving up the goal the match stops as Smith is hurt badly and forced to leave the match immediately. Clifford is in.

34': Chris Bryan is hurt and forced to leave the match immediately. Holy shit. Darcy is in.

40': What the hell is going on today... both of their strikers are hurt too.

45': A corner for them, Jean with a tackle to win the ball int he area... but its a foul, penalty given. Yellow card for Jean, MC Victor takes the penalty and scores. 0-2

HALF: We only allow 4 shots all half but of course 2 are very easy goals for them. We only shoot twice, both are way off target. We'll attack in the second half and see if we can't get something back and make a match out of it.

70': Its our first offensive highlight of the half, and our first shot on target, Clifford with a strong strike from 20 yards out but they make the save.

We only shoot 6 times all match and lose in embarrassing fashion.

Aston Villa 2 : 0 Ipswich

So Jean puts up a 4.9 rating today. Awesome. A lot of guys are under 6 at the half (Kirkland/Aldrovandi/Chrzanowski) but they all recover and play a respectable second half.


Injury Update

Craig Smith is only out 2-3 days.

Chris Bryan has a torn groin muscle and is out 5-6 weeks. Damn.

[Radii]

February 29th, 2024

Euro Cup First Knockout Round - Second Leg

Ipswich (2) @ (1) Murcia

We travel to Murcia with a 1 goal lead but we know its tenuous. They are even money favorites today, we are 11:5 to draw or win.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Jackson
DM: Clifford
M: Crespo/Jean/Mills/Gordon
F: Constantino

I debate this for a bit. Smith got hurt (even though he's able to play his fitness is shot), Chrzanowski is exhausted following his first start, Jean had a poor game last time out. Do I want to use my 4-1-4-1 or a standard 4-4-2. In the end I want to start out defensive. Clifford DMC, Jean/Mills. I make Smith, Chrzanowski and U18 David Ros all available if we need to keep this formation. I also have Khan and Darcy available if I need to make changes up front. Hughes and Heywood give me defensive options. We're going to run this and defend hard hopefully.

16': They get the first shot on target today and the first highlight, its a shot from 30 yards out by midfielder Vega but its scary and Capitani has to dive to turn it behind for a corner. We clear the corner.

24': We earn a corner of our own here, Gordon takes it near post but they head it away easily.

26': Another corner for us as we can't find a way to get a ball in to Constantino and end up with a cross blocked. They clear it easily. We head this one back forward though and start up our offense. We control it for a good long while but our only option to attack seems to be a run down the right from Gordon and a cross to Constantino but their defense is crowded.

HALF: After about 4 minutes of watching us pass the ball around 20 minutes fly by without a highlight and we're in the locker room tied at 0. They shoot 5 time, 1 on target. We shoot 5 times, all off target. Possession is even, they are passing better but we're tackling really well. Both teams are doing a fair job in the air today. I see no reason to change anything. I expect us to face some pressure but our defense is good and I hope Clifford/Jean/mills can hold the middle and not let anything easy develop for them.

55': Best effort I've seen for Ipswich, Gordon a corner, Aldrovandi a header, wide left, a solid strike and not too high, just not quite on target.

68': Their ST Hughes... has just been given a straight red card. I dunno why. He and Mills go for a 50/50 ball, they win it, Mills goes down and its deemed worthy of a red. We're up a man!

72': They get a shot from 20 yards out that Capitani has to stop, we clear after that.

73': We counter after our clearance, Constantino receives a pass and makes a long run down the left, holds the ball for awhile, he passes to the 6 yard box after we get some men forward, Mills is there, the keeper dives for the ball, can't get it, mills scoots around him and scores..... but Mills was offside. Damn!!! That was close.

92': They take a very very weak shot from 25 yards out, easy catch for Capitani.

93': We earn a corner, just about a minute to go so we stall like crazy. They head it out but its called after that before anything else can happen!!!

Murcia (1) 0 : 0 (2) Ipswich

This is a feeling I haven't really had with any of my teams before. If we need to sit back and defend, we can do so *very* well against extremely good teams.

Man of the Match: Stuart Kirkland (7.2)
Notables: Jackson (7.0), Aldrovandi (7.2), Crespo (7.1)

Everyone is solid, 6.8-6.9, outside of that.

We advance to the second knockout round!!


-- We receive $287,000 for continuing to play in the Euro Cup.

-- We draw German side Borussia Dortmund in the next round. They're currently 2nd in the German First Division.

-- Elsewhere, Man Utd beat Dutch side Excelsior. Man City beat German side Hoffenheim, and Huddersfield beat Belgium side Standard.

-- I happen to catch Celtic's name. They crush Dutch side Aris 4:1. Our incoming goalkeeper Bogdanovs puts up a 7.3 rating in their win.

[BYU 14]

Damn on the takeover.....If they sack you make sure you get another EPL job and own them!!

[Radii]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Damn on the takeover.....If they sack you make sure you get another EPL job and own them!!

Its a different name than the one that already had a new head coach in mind, so hopefully there's none of that crap this time

[Radii]

-- Ipswich vs Man City on March 14th has been rescheduled for March 27th due to a Euro Cup Conflict.

-- Man City vs Ipswich on March 21st has been rescheduled for April 3rd due to a Euro Cup Conflict. teehee.

-- Man Utd vs Ipswich on March 6th is rescheduled for April 17th due to international callups.

March Update

We play on the 9th, 13th, 16th, 19th, 23rd, 27th, and 30th. Busy month. FA Cup is the 9th. Euro Cup is the 13th and 19th. Going into Early April we could potentially have the following run: Dortmund, Newcastle, Dotrmund, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Man City. If cup runs continue that may well change but this deep it wouldn't likely get much easier.

-- Peter Flores, one of my "decent player" youth pulls is singled out for training well. That's nice and he could turn into a little something with a lot more improvement still. 10 Anticipation, 11 Concentration, 14 Positioning and 13 Accel. All went up recently.

-- Craig Smith is also mentioned as training well. Marking (15), Tackling (11), Anticipation (14), Composure (14), Teamwork (14), Work Rate (17), and Stamina (15) all have gone up. This kid is going to be amazing.

-- Chris Bryan is 3rd in player of the month voting in the EPL.

-- Craig Smith is 2nd in young player of the month voting. Chris Bryan 3rd.

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

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. The positive atmosphere in the clubhouse is the highlight. The league cup performance is the only thing to complain about.

-- We lost $185,000 last month.


-- Man Utd beats Man City to win the league cup. Both teams will finish top 7 almost certainly so that should have no impact on the continental spots for next year.



March 9th, 2024

FA Cup Sixth Round (Quarterfinals)

Ipswich (3rd, EPL) @ Stevenage (5th, L2)

Surely this is where Stevenage's FA Cup run ends. We are 1:6 favorites, they are 10:1. We do play Dortmund in Germany in 4 days so we'll be resting some guys.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Welsh/Bartlett/Heywood
M: Ros/Clifford/Jean/Jackson
F: Darcy/Khan

Basically I'm trying to rest everyone I want to play next up against Dortmund.

Commentary only here.

14': Corner for us, Darcy takes it, sent to the far post, Bartlett is there and heads it into the net for the first goal. 1-0

26': Their keeper comes way out right to clear a ball away instead of allowing a corner. Its a poor clearance, Darcy centers it, Khan strikes it and the keeper isn't back in his net yet, easy finish. 2-0

37': Jean to Darcy, darcy into the area for Khan, easy finish. 3-0

44': Corner kick, taken to the near man Welsh, he runs around for a bit, passes to Darcy and drills a shot. 4-0

HALF: Whee.

64': Ros to MC, Crespo in for Clifford and at ML.

Stevenage 0 : 4 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Eoin Darcy (9.3)
Goals: Khan 2 (8.8), Darcy, Bartlett (8.7)
Assists: Darcy 3, Welsh (8.1)
Notables: Capitani (7.7), Heywood (7.7), Hughes (7.5), Jackson (7.7), Ros (7.1), Jean (7.1)


-- We receive $594,000 for winning this round.

-- We'll advance to the semifinals of the FA Cup for the 2nd year in a row.

[Radii]

FA Cup Semifinal Draw

-- Huddersfield are the odd man out here, they're in 16th in the EPL right now. The other 3 teams are #1 (Arsenal), #3 (Ipswich) and #4 (Man Utd). Huddersfield vs Man Utd. Arsenal vs Ipswich. Arsenal beat us in the semifinals last year.


Injury Update

-- DC Aldrovandi is going to miss the next 2 weeks. That's going to keep him out of both of our Euro Cup matches.

Takeover News

-- Reports are coming in that there has been a breakthrough in the Ipswich Town Talks. discussions between chairman Simon Clegg and director Adam Banks are going well and there could be an announcement in the next few days.

-- Oh ok I see now. So this isn't a purchase or whatever by a different group. Our staff lists Simon Clegg as Chairman and then two "Directors", Rob McNally and Adam Banks. So this would be a transfer of the Chairman position to one of the current Directors. Presumably there would be less fallout/changes from that?

March 13th, 2024

Euro Cup Second Knockout Round - First Leg

Ipswich (3rd, EPL) @ Dortmund (2nd, GER)

Dortmund are only 5:4 favorites at their house today. One of their young stars, MC Jorge Bordon (valued at $15M) is out today. Their leading scorer is ST Phil Bilcharski.. a Canadian, he's got 14 league goals in 22 matches and 3 goals in Europe in 8 matches.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Bartlett/Heywood
M: Crespo/Smith/Mills/Gordon
F: Darcy/Constantino

We believe we can beat these guys and don't want to turtle it away in defense on the road, so we stick with our 4-4-2 and run Darcy/Constantino up front, Smith/Mills at MC. Bartlett starts for the injured Aldrovandi.

They run a narrow 4-4-2 diamond (DMC/2 MC/AMC/2 ST). Their other ST is Henning Winkler, a 21 y/o with 9 goals in 19 matches this year. We counterattack today.

14': defender Ding Yang with a yellow for them.

16': Yellow for midfielder Vogel.

21': Gordon with a long run down the right, a cross into the area, Constantino wins the header but it hits the crossbar, and Darcy is offsides trying to go after the rebound.

39': Yellow for defender Hoxha

40': Yellow for Heywood.

45': corner for us, taken to the 6 yard box, Darcy wins the header, but sends it over.

HALF: A very very quick half. We have 56% of the possession but only two shots, neither on target. They shoot 6 times, 2 are on target but neither threaten at all. I'm not unhappy with how we've done so far but would like to get a few more chances in this half. We can score on these guys.

46': Bartlett a yellow.

54': Crespo a yellow for a dive.

56': AM Noble into the right side of the area, we track two defenders to him, a sliding tackle is missed, but a shot is blocked. The ball falls back to one of their mids, passed to the other side of the area for Bilcharski and he has a clear cut chance and gets an easy goal. 0-1

71': Mills wins a ball in defense and sends it long, Constantino is first to the ball, a defender is racing to him... a slide tackle and Constantino goes down. Their DMC Janisch is given a straight red, 100% deserved. So we have a man advantage to try to catch up here. Mills is hurt on the play as well.

71': We're going to attack with the advantage the rest of the way.

72': Gordon takes the free kick short, passed to Darcy and he shoots from 20 yards out, its on target but the keeper is able to make the save.

73': Clifford in for the injured Mills.

75': We're passing it around, Crespo tries a cross that is headed away. Smith sends it back into the area for Khan, he's tackled rather hard, and its a penalty!! Constantino takes the PK and scores!! 1-1

83': We have a throwin in midfield, taken to Constantino, a long run down the right, cross into the area, Crespo heads it off the crossbar... its up into the air... Smith heads the rebound, just over. Damn!

The match ends quickly after that, we keep attacking but can't get anything done but hey its a draw on the road!

Dortmund 1 : 1 Ipswich

Their AMC Noble is man of the match today.

Goal: Constantino (6.8)
Assist: Khan (6.9)
Notables: Crespo (7.1)

The entire rest of the team is in the 6.8-6.9 range.

Injury Update

Steven Mills is going to miss the second leg here, he's got a twisted knee and is out for 2 weeks.


Next up is a road match at Newcastle before we host Dortmund to see who gets through to the Quarterfinals.

[Radii]

-- Newcastle notify a number of clubs that D RL Silvio Vitali is for sale. He's extremely unhappy and wants to leave Newcastle. I went after him in the offseason and had no luck. He's one of the best defenders in the world, an unbelievably rare 4 1/2* guy according to my primary English Scout who had me sending out feelers earlier. Two problems: They want $26.5 Million for him (which I'd pay in a heartbeat if I had). Also, my scout tells me that Vitali probably wants a salary of around $350,000/wk. OH. Ok, good luck at Arsenal or Man Utd, or hey you're Italian maybe you get out of the EPL, that'd be nice.

-- I forget if I mentioned it before but Hutchinson has resumed full training.

March 16th, 2024

Ipswich (17-2-7, 3rd) @ Newcastle (11-7-11, 12th)

Newcastle are even money favorites to beat us at their house today. If that takes into account our desire to beat Dortmund in 3 days that's probably fair. We are 7-0-9 lifetime against Newcastle. We won 3 in a row last year including a league cup match, but lost at home 1:0 back in November to them. Gordon Donnelly plays for Newcastle now and seems unsettled there, a 6.4 rating in 9 league matches, seems to not like his coach and "considering his options" once again.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Mattle/Bartlett/Heywood
M: Crespo/Jean/Chrzanowski/Hutchinson
F: Kershaw/Khan

Definite issue with fitness today after fairly short rest and another important match in 3 days and our best defender, best midfielder and one of our best scorers hurt. Darcy/Kerhsaw and Jean/Chrzanowski are not pairings that make me very optimistic. We'll defend today.

14': Hutchinson is out. He's hurt and can't keep playing. Chrzanowski to MR, Clifford MC.

34': Hughes is hurt.

41': They build up down the left, a cross in from DL Vitali, they get a man by Hughes and a volley offers a clear cut chance, but Capitani is positioned perfectly and scoops it up.

HALF: The injuries were more interesting than the play in the first half. Newcastle shoot 9 times, but 7 are from long range and Capitani bailed us out on the one good look they got. We have 3 shots, all off target.

51': They attack down the left, one quick pass to a MC, a quick ball out right and their man gets by Hughes again and has a second clear cut chance, this time he finishes well and they score. 0-1

60': Khan in for Kershaw.

70': We'll attack.

88': A promising attack ends with a ball into the area for Chrzanowski, a shot comes in, but its saved by the keeper. Good look, he could have finished that one.

94': I've been waiting all year for Jean to do something, anything positive to get a little momentum, here Heywood heads a ball that they were trying to clear, Jean picks it up 30 yards out, turns, comes forward just a little and fires... its a solid strike, its by the keeper... and it hits the right post, bounces almost 90 degrees left... 88 degrees maybe... just enough to roll across the face of the goal just in play, and cleared by a defender. Damnnnnn.

We get swept by Newcastle.

Newcastle 1 : 0 Ipswich

Their keeper is for some reason man of the match. We didn't exactly threaten much.

Bartlett put up a 7.0 rating. Everyone else was decent at best. Donnelly had a 6.7 for Newcastle and came out at the half.


Injury Update

DL Jack Hughes is out for 9-11 days with a gashed leg.

MR Daryl Hutchinson is out 6-7 weeks with strained knee ligaments. Hey may not play again this year.


We still have 11 matches to go and even though we lost our last two league matches we're still in an amazing position:

1. Arsenal - 9 left - 64 pts
2. Man City - 11 left - 56 pts
3. Ipswich - 11 left - 53 pts
4. Man Utd - 11 left - 48 pts
5. Sheffield Utd - 9 left - 48 pts
6. Liverpool - 9 left - 47 pts
7. Tottenham - 9 left - 46 pts
8. Everton - 8 left - 46 pts
9. Chelsea - 8 left - 44 pts
10. Blackburn - 8 left - 44 pts

Aston Villa and Newcastle are at 43 points. So the difference between 12th and 4th is still only 5 points.

[Radii]

Takeover Complete

-- Adam Banks has successfully completed his takeover of Ipswich Town, replacing former chairman Simon Clegg. According to the BBC Sport Website, the former director is said to be relishing the prospect of taking the club forward.

-- I receive a personal message from the new chairman. I am thanked for my patience during this stressful time. Banks informs me that there are no plans to provide the club with any investment at this stage.

We don't need any investments. We need you to keep letting us spend everything we bring in, keep doing that, and its all good.

-- There is a new level of staff in place. Instead of two directors, we now have a Managing Director (Alan Brown), Director of Football (Mark Boden), and two Directors (Chris White and Gary Reid).


March 19th, 2024

Euro Cup Second Knockout Round - 2nd Leg

Dortmund (1) @ (1) Ipswich

They were 5:4 favorites at their house, we are 5:4 favorites today at Portman Road. We have our injuries but they have suspensions and injuries to match. The red card they picked up last match plus one of their defender's yellow cards earned a match suspension.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Bartlett/Jackson
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Smith/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Our midfield is clearly much stronger, Khan/Constantino up front, hopefully this is what we need to go out and get a win. Standard mindset today.

10': They get forward, a cross comes in from the left corner, headed away out to the side, they head it back in, this time one of their guys wins the header and its a clear cut chance from 6 yards out, but its a weak header and Capitani makes the save.

21': Clifford ahead to Constantino but they defend well, he pulls back and passes back to Jackson, ahead to Smith, Smith spots the opening, through ball into the area, Constantino is there and has a clear cut chance, tries to shoot far post... but their keeper makes the save.

30': Adagsmar and Khan pass back and forth down the left side, Adagsmar earns us a corner, but they head it away.

38': After a throwin in their half we hold possession for a good while, finally getting Gordon the ball out right, he breaks past his man and plays a cross to the far side of the area, Adagsmar is there all alone and its a clear cut chance, but his header is terrible and way over. Poor, Poor effort.

39': Free kick for them in their end, we win the ball, ahead to Adagmsar down the left, a pass ahead to Khan and he beats his man, attacks, and shoots from 18 yards out before his defender can catch up... he beats the keeper and its a goal!! 1-0

HALF: A solid half, possession is even, they shoot 6 times with 1 clear cut chance but we hold them scoreless. We shoot 5 times, 2 on target despite 3 clear cut chances and we have the 1 goal lead. Our passing could be better, otherwise things are looking really good everywhere. We just need to hold this lead now.

I decide to go into my 4-1-4-1 at the half here, hoping I'm not making a huge mistake. Jean is in for Khan. Jean MC, Clifford DMC. We counter attack.

64': First highlight of the second half. They have a free kick in their half and pass it ahead to build up on offense. We clear a ball out to the side and they try again. Smith makes a great tackle in open space near the midfield circle though and we counter attack. Smith to midfield, then passes to Constantino. He makes a little run down the right and passes back to Smith. Smith is at the edge of the box, he could try a shot, but instead pulls it out to the right side to let help arrive. He passes wide to Gordon, a cross to the far post, Adagsmar is there, wins his header, and its in the goal, by the keeper!!! We lead by 2 goals. 2-0

70': Defend time.

We easily kill the final 20 minutes and we're through to the quarterfinals!

Ipswich (3) 2 : 0 (1) Dortmund

Man of the Match: Adagsmar (9.0)
Goals: Adagsmar, Khan (6.9)
Assists: Adagsmar, Gordon (7.7)
Notables: Jackson (7.4), Kirkland (7.6), Matlte (8.3), Constantino (7.0)

Mattle wins 12 of 16 headers, 7 of them key headers. He's spectacular today.


-- We receive $430,000 for this round.


-- Its interesting right now as we have 5 senior squad players injured, at the moment we're giving priority to the continental competition and its got to be good for us to keep advancing through this tournament. But it means we aren't fielding full strength squads against Newcastle and (coming up) Arsenal in leauge play when we're sitting in 3rd with a chance to play in the Champions League next year but with not so much wiggle room that we can afford to give away games left and right. We've got a VERY tough stretch coming up against Arsenal/Chelsea/Man City and we may well be fighting for 4th by the time that's done. It may give us some much tougher decisions to make for the Quarterfinals.

[bbgunn]

Go Ipswich! (Except when you play Aston Villa...)

[Radii]

-- Our FA Cup Semifinal vs Arsenal is bumped back a week due to a conflict with an Arsenal match in the Champions League. This results in a league match with Man Utd being pushed back due to a conflict with the new FA Cup match.

Euro Cup Quarterfinal/Semifinal Draw

Man City vs Feyenoord (3rd, Dutch League)

vs

Ipswich vs Roma (1st, Serie A)


Man Utd vs Sporting CP (10th, Portugal)

vs

Stuttgart (3rd, GER) vs Celtic (1st, Scotland)


So we play Roma and the winner of our series plays the winner of Man City/Feyenoord.

If you'd asked me to rate the opposition I would ahve done it like this:

1. Roma
2. Man City
3. Feyenoord
4. Ipswich
5. Man Utd
6. Stuttgart
7. Sporting CP
8. Celtic


So it should go without saying that I am extremely unhappy with our draw. Roma was in our group back in group play and crushed us. Last round they beat Greek's top team Olympiakos 5:1 aggregate.

-- Looks like we're going to have to play Man City once in a few days, but: Man City vs Ipswich scheduled for April 4th is backed up to April 24th due to Euro Cup matches.


March 23rd, 2024

Arsenal (21-4-5, 1st) @ Ipswich (17-2-8, 3rd)

Arsenal are 4:5 favorites today. We've lost the last 3 times we've played Arsenal, but two of those were road matches and the other was at Wembley in the FA Cup Semis last year. The last time we played at Portman Road we won 2:1.


GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Bartlett/Heywood
M: Crespo/Jean/Smith/Gordon
F: Darcy/Constantino

Man City in 4 days, Chelsea 3 days after that, we rest some guys today but still try to field a strong lineup today. We'll counter attack today.

3': Constantino a yellow.

16': Ramsey a yellow for them.

23': We have 4 shots, 3 of them are by Gordon on free kicks wide or off the wall.

28': Bartlett a yellow.

32': We have 6 shots to their 3 so far but all we see are free kick fails. corner here, a second corner, that one is headed away. We recover but turn it over.

44': yellow for Dalle Valle for Arsenal.

HALF: "The referee blows the whistle. He's done everyone a favor by bringing the proceedings to an end". We shoot 8 times but 6 from long range and only 1 on target. They have 4 shots, just 1 on target there too. Just a boring half. We'll try harder to get the ball into the penalty box in the second half.

55': they are firing shots in left and right but Capitani is in perfect position every time.

55': Ramsey with a yellow for them in our end... that's his second and he's gone! We've got a man advantage the rest of the way.

56': Defender Hernandez a yellow just outside the area out left. Gordon with a ball into the 6 yard box but their keeper comes out to get it.

60': Bartlett is hurt, and forced out immediately. Welsh is in. Clifford is in for a tiring Smith here too.

65': Standard mindset.

90': No highlights for 25 minutes here then Gordon sends a free kick way off target.

91': Crespo with a through ball for Darcy and its our best chance all match, a clear cut chance... but the keeper makes the save, he can't finish. Only our second shot on target, and we should have scored there.

Ipswich 0 : 0 Arsenal

Can't complain about a draw, but after getting 35 minutes with a man up it would have been nice to steal a win.


-- Bartlett is out for 2 weeks.

-- We're about to get a ton of guys back, Mills, Hughes Aldrovandi within a week, but they'll all likely still miss Man City and Chelsea.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by bbgunn

Go Ipswich! (Except when you play Aston Villa...)

Just think, if Aston Villa had any faith in him Constantino would have been their striker for the last decade.

[Radii]

-- Aldrovandi resumes full training.

March 27th, 2024

Man City (18-8-3, 2nd) @ Ipswich (17-3-8, 3rd)

It had to happen eventually. This was originally scheduled for September and has been rescheduled god knows how many times. Its one of the more humorous things I've seen really. We get the home game first and it'd be nice to be able to find a way to win here. They're 8 points ahead of us with only 1 extra match played. Man Utd is only 3 points behind us now with the same number played. Man City are even money favorites today, we're 11:5 to win. We beat them 1-0 in the FA Cup at their place using our defensive formation

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Welsh/Heywood
DMC: Clifford
M: Hughes/Adagsmar/Smith/Jackson
F: Darcy

Khan/Constantino are available today but I start Darcy up front in the 4-1-4-1. Adagsmar is capable at MC and helps to rest players. Jackson gives Gordon a rest at MR as well. counter attacking today.

14': They earn a corner, taken to the far post, a header comes in and Capitani gets a hand to it and tips it over, whew. Second corner is headed behind. Third corner is headed over by midfielder Breno.

21': Free kick inches outside the box for them... it hits the wall and slows but stays on target, Capitani has to dive to turn it behind. We clear the corner.

31': We earn a corner after a throwin, a cross is blocked. Corner is headed away.

HALF: They have a 56/44 possession edge, 8 shots to our 2. We have done a good job forcing them to take long range shots, 5 of the 8 are long range and no clear cut chances. Other stats are very much even.

53': Clive Jackson is hurt.

55': free kick near midfield for us, we take it short and build up with a number of passes, Kirkland out left, to Hughes, to Adagsmar, he has to fight for the ball, wins it and pokes it between two defenders into the area for Darcy. Darcy runs onto it and shoots, not a clear cut chance but a solid look, and he strikes it by the keeper and in!! 1-0

72': Jean in for Hughes, Adagsmar out left. Chrzanowski in for Jackson.

89': They take a long range shot, deflected off a defender and behind for a corner. Welsh wins the header on the corner.

94': They try to build up on offense, Kirkland heads a ball away, but they recover, a ball is lobbed into the area, Welsh misses a header, their man Lukaku runs onto it as Capitani is rushing out. Lukaku jukes by our keeper as he tries to cover the ball and walks it into the net to tie it up in the final minute of added time. 1-1

Ipswich 1 : 1 Man City

Like our Arsenal match, its not at all a bad result, but we were so close to better.

Man of the Match: Stuart Kirkland (7.2)
Goal: Darcy (6.8)
Assist: Adagsmar (7.0)

Everyone else 6.6-6.9.


-- Clive Jackson is out 5-6 days.

-- Mills resumes full training on match day, hooray.

Lots of varying amounts of matches remain:

1. Arsenal - 7 left - 68 pts
2. Man City - 8 left - 63 pts
3. Ipswich - 9 left - 55 pts
4. Man Utd - 10 left - 51 pts
------------------------------
5. Sheffield Utd - 7 left - 51 pts
6. Tottenham - 7 left - 48 pts
7. Blackburn - 7 left - 47 pts
------------------------------
8. Liverpool - 7 left - 47 pts
9. Everton - 7 left - 46 pts
10. Aston Villa - 7 left - 46 pts
11. Newcastle - 7 left - 46 pts
12. Chelsea - 7 left - 44 pts


We play a desparate Chelsea next. We remain 4 points ahead of Man Utd and Sheffield Utd, Man U has a game in hand on us and we have two extra to stretch our lead over Sheffield.

[Radii]

March 30th, 2024

Ipswich (17-4-8, 3rd) @ Chelsea (12-8-11, 12th)

We've had spectacular results against Chelsea given their stature. They haven't beaten us in 5 matches (last win October 2022). We beat them 1:0 in league play in November and 3:1 in the FA cup in January. This is at their house though and they are desperate. They're in 12th but still only 3 points out of 7th so they can still get into Europe.


GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
DMC: Smith
M: Crespo/Jean/Chrzanowski/Gordon
F: Constantino

I'm making sure to rest Clifford/Mills today. Defensive today.

18': THERE IT IS!!!!!!!! We win a ball in defense, Gordon sends it down the right side for Constantino, he makes a run into the area, draws the defense, a pass across the face of the goal, and its a 23 million dollar goal, Jean is there and puts it into the net!!! His first ever goal for Ipswich. 1-0

25': They crowd the area on offense, a cross to the far post comes in from the right side, Neil Gordon takes the blame for missing a header as ST Al-Inezi heads it home. 1-1

47': Throwin deep in our end, taken short, a pass to Gordon, a cross through the area and Constantino is somehow completely free, he heads it into the net from near point blank range! 2-1

49': holy crap instant... a couple passes right up the middle, a pass to Al-Inezi in the area and he rockets a shot into the net. Aldrovandi takes the blame for that. Sheesh. 2-2

HALF: Well its been crazy exciting. But its all in their favor minus the two breaks for us. We have 2 shots, both clear cut chances from point blank range. They have 9 shots, 4 on target and two goals that no keeper could stop once the chances came. Right now I'm so happy Jean finally got a goal that I don't care about much else, but we could stand to defend better and hang on to a point here really. I go ahead and bring Mills on for Chrzanowski to try to help with that. He can go a half.

55': Throwin in their end, after a couple passes Gordon hits Jean in the area, he's got a tough shot from 18 yards

62': Their keeper picks up an errant pass of ours and sends it to midfield, a header forward to about 20 yards out... Capitani makes the decision to come out for the ball and its a terrible decision, we had a defender near and they had a striker near... Capitani is first to it but his pass is blocked, ST Thomas ipcks it up and passes it into the open net... so bad. 2-3

73': Darcy in for Clifford, back to a 4-4-2 and we'll try to attack.

We can't get anything going.

Chelsea 3 : 2 Ipswich

Goals: Jean (7.6), Constantino (7.4)
Assists: Constantino, Gordon (6.9)

Heywood 5.7, Aldrovandi took the blame for two of our goals and lost out on more headers than normal and finished with a godawful 4.3 rating.


Man U draw on the road at Aston Villa and only make up one point on us.

1. Arsenal - 6 left - 71 pts
2. Man City - 7 left - 63 pts
3. Ipswich - 8 left - 55 pts
4. Man Utd - 9 left - 52 pts
------------------------------
5. Sheffield Utd - 6 left - 51 pts
6. Blackburn - 6 left - 50 pts
7. Everton - 6 left - 49 pts
------------------------------
8. Tottenham - 6 left - 48 pts
9. Chelsea - 6 left - 47 pts
10. Liverpool - 7 left - 47 pts
11. Aston Villa - 6 left - 47 pts
12. Newcastle - 6 left - 46 pts


Euro Cup Quarterfinals start next, HOWEVER, our next two league matches, vs Blackburn, @ Sheffield Utd. We get a chance to really nail down a Champions League spot on our own if we can beat the teams in 5th and 6th looking in.

[Radii]

April Update

-- March saw us make the FA Cup Semis and the Euro Cup Quarters, so it was a good month. We also went 0-2-2 in EPL play, but the opposition was really tough, two draws at home, two 1 goal losses on the road. We remained in 3rd place despite it all.

-- We play on the 2nd, 6th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 20th, 24th, and 28th. 2nd and 11th are Euro Cup vs Roma. 17th is FA Cup vs Arsenal. 6th/14th/20th/24th/28th.. 5 league matches, three of them vs teams who would currently see Continental play. Not easy, but easier than last month.

-- Eoin Darcy continues to skyrocket. He's singled out for having improved in training. Finishing (15), First Touch (17), Passing (12), Tackling (9), Technique (14), Composure (17), Decisions (15). Darcy now has two technical attributes at 17 and FIVE mental attributes at 17. Amazingly, the future may shift from Chris Bryan to Eoin Darcy and fast. Bryan is a 2 1/2* or 3* player depending on which coach you ask right now. And his potential is basically that. Darcy is a 2* or 2 1/2* guy right now depending on who you ask... with 3 1/2* or 4* potential. If these guys don't demand an out to Arsenal or something in the next few seasons we are going to have some amazing scoring threats.

-- The board is delighted with my leadership. Our EPL performance is the highlight. Our league cup loss is still the only complaint.

-- We lost $488,000 last month. Our expenses are about to top last year. Last year we spent $151 Million. This year we're at $149 Million now. But that's ok. We're going to make way more too. We've only lost $5.5M, with the FA Cup semis and at least one Euro Cup match for revenue here. If we finish in 3rd place we will win $30 Million.

-- We haven't been selling out our Euro Cup Matches. Champions league or bust I guess. But 37,000 fans are expected for this one against Roma and we're going to make an awful lot off that.

April 2nd, 2024

Euro Cup Quarterfinals - First Leg

Roma (1st, Serie A) @ Ipswich (3rd, EPL)

We have to try to score here right? I want to just turtle, but we'll never advance doing that at home. We lost twice to these guys in group play, 4:0 at home, 1:0 on the road.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Mills/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Best lineup I can field today I believe. Clifford/Mills in midfield.

Rory Wright is probably the #1 striker in the world this year. He's played 43 matches between league and continental play. He has 33 goals/9 assists/10 Man of hte Match awards and a 7.89 rating. We'll see if we can slow him down.

We'll counter attack.

11': Wright with a through ball to their other ST Ceccanroni, he's got a clear cut chance, but Capitani dives and turns it aside. We give up two corners before clearing.

18': they build up slowly down the right, then a pass to Wright, he shoots from 20 yards out.. its off Capitani.. but into the net, a strong strike that we couldn't stop. 0-1

25': Oh god. Kirkland is hurt. He's out. Hughes is in.

38': Lets attack.

41': We build up down the left, switch field out right, mills with a ball into the right side of the area for Gordon, he shoots... its a clear cut chance, but the keeper saves it. We get a corner but can't do anything.

45': We build up again on offense, its the same as before, Mills with a through ball into the right side of the area for Neil Gordon. Gordon is behind his man, a clear cut chance, and this time he drives it into the goal under the diving keeper!! 1-1

HALF: They have a 52/48 possession edge, 7 shots with 4 on target. We have 3 shots, 2 on target. We're not doing terribly but their strikers are just so, so good. We're going to continue to attack. We can't sit back and try to take advantage of a mistake, we just lose. We'll have to outscore them if we want to advance.

48': Throwin in their end, passes around the midfield, up to Khan, bakc to Mills, a through ball into the area and Constantino breaks on it perfectly. He shoots from 15 yards and catches the keeper trying to rush out, its a goal!! 2-1

57': Clifford a yellow.

63': Mills is hurt, he can stay on but he's hurt bad I think.

73': Clifford wins a ball in defense and starts a break, ahead to Khan, Khan shrugs off a tackle really nicely, ahead to Constantino and he's got a break, he's into the area, its a clear cut chance... but he hits the right post.

77': Jean in for Khan, Smith in for mills, 4-1-4-1 and we'll try to hold our lead for 10 minutes.

We kill off the final minutes and beat one of the best teams in the world!!

Ipswich 2 : 1 Roma

Man of the Match: Steven Mills (9.0)
Goals: Constantino (7.4), Gordon (8.0)
Assists: Mills 2

Everyone else 6.8-6.9.


Injury Update

Kirkland probably won't play again this year. Strained Knee Ligaments, 6-7 weeks.

Mills is fine.


-- The last time we played Roma at home in Group Play we pulled in $2.4M at the gate. Today we made $2.5M. Our gate receipts this year have now hit $34.3 Million. Last year at the end of the season we were at $33.4M.

An incredible victory!

[Radii]

-- Chris Bryan resumes full training. He may be a week or two before he's fully ready, he'll play with the reserves to get going again.

April 6th, 2024

Blackburn (15-5-12, 6th) @ Ipswich(17-4-9, 3rd)

Blackburn are 5:4 favorites today at Portman Road. We take exception to that. We're 4-3-4 lifetime against them. We tied 2:2 at their place. 2-2-0 in our last 4 matches against them.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Mattle/Welsh/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Jean/Smith/Chrzanowski
F: Khan/Darcy

Not our best lineup here but we'll see what we can do. Standard mindset today.

17': they attack hard early, 5 shots to 0 already.

HALF: They had a few attacks not mentioned b/c I was a little distracted and didn't pause, but man I didn't miss much. they have 8 shots, just 2 on target. We didn't have a shot at the 40 minute mark, eventually taking 2 from long range and missing both. I bring Constantino in for Khan at the half and we will attack.

48': long clearance for Capitani, Darcy wins a header about 35 yards out and heads it down to Constantino, he beats his man and makes a run into the area, he's got a clear cut chance, shoots near post... but its saved.

54': Adagsmar is hurt.

63': Heywood has it out near midfield as we attack, ahead to Constantino 25 yards out, he puts a ball on the penalty spot, Darcy breaks on it and gets behind his man, shoots from there, and scores! 1-0

79': Back to a standard mindset.

We kill off the final 15 minutes and its not a pretty win but we need points and we get them.

Ipswich 1 : 0 Blackburn

Man of the Match: Michele Capitani (8.3)
Goal: Darcy (7.0)
Assist: Constantino (7.1)
Notables: Hughes (7.0), Welsh (7.2), Mattle (7.2)

Khan put up a 5.8 rating as he was subbed early. Adagsmar 6.2 but hurt for much of the second half. Everyone else 6.8-6.9.

Man Utd beats Man City. That pulls Man City a bit closer in 2nd... but keeps Man Utd really close behind us in 4th.

1. Arsenal - 74 pts - 5 to go
2. Man City - 63 pts - 6 to go
3. Ipswich - 58 pts - 7 to go
4. Man Utd - 55 pts - 8 to go
------------------------------
5. Sheffield Utd - 54 pts - 5 to go
6. Everton - 52 pts - 5 to go
7. Blackburn - 50 pts - 5 to go
------------------------------
8. Chelsea - 48 pts - 5 to go
9. Tottenham - 48 pts - 5 to go
10. Liverpool - 48 pts - 5 to go
11. Nottingham Forest - 48 pts - 5 to go
12. Aston Villa - 47 pts - 6 to go
13. Newcastle - 47 pts - 5 to go

13th and 7th are 3 points apart. Thank god we're competing for 4th and not 7th.

5 days til we play Roma, a little rest at least. Then we have a chance to seriously lock down the Champions League against #5 Sheffield Utd.

[SirFozzie]

Well, the Arse are going to win the league, but Champions league, 4 points and two games in hand on 5th place!

[Radii]

-- Bartlett resumes full training

April 11th, 2024

Euro Cup Quarterfinals - Second Leg

Ipswich (2) @ (1) Roma

Roma are even money favorites at their place today. We're up by a goal but a 1:0 loss would send us home on away goals. So do we have to try to attack and just keep the ball away from Rory Wright or do we play our 4-1-4-1 and try to pull out a scoreless draw.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Jackson
DMC: Clifford
M: Crespo/Smith/Mills/Gordon
F: Constantino

And there's your answer. I said awhile back that I thought we could play this defensive formation and have a chance to get a point from any team in the world. Lets do it. I've got subs ready to change to a 4-4-2 and attack like hell if we fall behind, but I think we can do this.

Defending.

20': A free kick for us is the first highlight. Gordon shoots about 8 yards wide.

21': They get a man open but like 25-30 yards out, a shot hits the left post and scares the hell out of me though.

22': Mills a yellow.

26': We slowly buildup on offense, Constantino has it 30 yards out, he pulls back like he's going to pass to a defender then turns and blows by his man, he cuts right inside of a second defender to get a fair look at the goal, but shoots wide. Not a clear cut chance or anything but a brilliant move to get anything at all.

36': We have a throwin at midfield, but they take it away almost immediately. We're back on defense and nothing seems to be happening. All of a sudden a long ball goes in from 40 yards away near the left sideline... towards the far edge of the 6 yard box, Crespo is back there, but loses out on a header and Rory Wright heads it into the goal and there goes our lead. 0-1

HALF: We manage 3 shots and put 1 on target, but we allow 9 shots, 6 on target. They have 6 from long range, and I guess I have my answer, at least for today. Their attackers are just too good for us to hold them off. We must go get a goal. Darcy is in for Clifford and he's moved up front with Constantino. About face, we attack.

51': they have a throwin in their own end, Smith wins a header to get us the ball. Passed ahead to Darcy, he's 20 yards out and tries a shot, but right at the keeper.

52': They clear a ball out of our end, Mattle and Wright go up for a header near the midfield stripe. "Mattle caught Wright with his elbow" ... its a straight red card. Welsh in for Darcy. 4-4-1 and we'll have to keep attacking but wow that blows.

60': Whoa there. We've got it at midfield, Crespo to Mills, Mills to Constantino about 25 yards out, Gordon cuts in from the right side, Constantino finds him, Gordon into the area, behind his man, he drills a shot low and into the right side of the net!!! 1-1 We've got a chance!!!

68': they have a corner, taken to the penalty spot, header... saved by Capitani but turned behind for another corner. This one Welsh heads away.

71': They get 3 men forward and end up with a clear cut chance from ST Ceccaroni... Capitani was rushing out for it and makes a perfect stop!!

77': Buildup from Roma after Smith turns it over with a bad pass, they get it to Wright, he gets by Aldrovandi, he's got their second clear cut chance of the match.. and its just flat out wide. Capitani was diving and might have stopped it anyway, but it just missed the target.

94': We don't see another attack for them until the final minute of added time... Aldrovandi wins a header here though and we get possession. They foul Constantino trying to win it back. We stall a bit, they get one last attack after the free kick, but Welsh intercepts a pass and clears it and the whistle blows.

I don't believe that we just went into Roma's stadium, went a man down and found the series winning goal with 10 men on the pitch!!!!!!!!

Roma (2) 1 : 1 (3) Ipswich

One of their defenders is man of the match.

Goal: Gordon (8.0)
Assist: Constantino (7.4)
Notable: Hughes (7.0)

Jackson a 6.2, everyone else 6.7-6.9. Surprised Capitani wasn't better, he stopped a lot of on target shots even if it was only a couple clear cut chances.


-- We receive $574,000 for this round.

-- Feyenoord beat Man City 2:1 aggregate. We will play in the semifinals vs Dutch side Feyenoord.

-- Man City vs Ipswich was scheduled for April 25th. Its been bumped back to May 9th since we're playing in the Euro Cup Semifinals then. Man City gets some extra rest, they can sit at home and watch us on TV that day.

-- Ipswich and Exeter and Ipswich vs Man Utd are also re-scheduled. But they are not bumped back, they're just re-adjusted around the second leg of the Feyenoord match.

-- We now have matches on the 14th, 17th (FA Cup), 20th, 25th (Euro Cup), 28th, 30th (Euro Cup), May 2nd, May 6th, May 9th, and May 12th. If we beat Sheffield Utd next (the 14th) we put some serious distance between us and 5th place in the EPL and we can be a little selective about our league matches. If we lose, every league match all of a sudden becomes unbelievably important and this becomes an absolute nightmare to manage.

[Radii]

-- My assistant tells me he didn't see Mattle's red card and has no advice on what I should do. All I saw was the two players standing near midfield about to go up for a header, then neither of them jump for it. So I shrug and appeal. My appeal is denied. Mattle will miss the next Continental match.

-- Huddersfield beat Man Utd in the first FA Cup Semifinal. That *should* qualify them for the Euro Cup despite their poor league play. The only reason it wouldn't is if Ipswich win the FA Cup and fall out of the top 4 in the EPL.

April 14th, 2024

Ipswich (18-4-9, 3rd) @ Sheffield Utd (16-6-11, 5th)

Sheffield Utd are 5:4 favorites today, we are 7:4 to get a win. We have two games in hand on them and a 4 point lead. They're in 5th, the final spot before Champions League qualification. A win would crush them and put us *very* close to the Champions League. We lost to them 2-0 back in December, I believe with a weak lineup coming off a match in the Euro Cup Group Stage.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Mattle/Bartlett/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Mills/Jackson
F: Khan/Darcy

We leave Constantino out of the lineup, always really dangerous but he couldn't go 90 if he started. I'll play him in the second half if I need to. Their top ST, Luca Vanelli is resting today too. Their other top man is Harry Kane, he's got 8 goals this year.

We counter today.

17': They get a corner but we head it away and counter attack. Khan with a long long run down the right. He passes back to Heywood who shoots from 20 yards out, not our best chance to score there but good effort, its wide.

19': Hughes with a yellow.

28': We build up on offense, lots of passing and some kinda poor spacing it seems. mills passes out right to Jackson, they win the ball and look to go forward, but Jackson presses, wins it back, a pass ahead to Khan, he blows by his man, into the area and drills a shot by the keeper, goal!!! 1-0

41': We move forward 10 minutes. They earn a corner... then a second... Mills heads that one out but they recover. Clifford makes the key interception and clear on this one.

HALF: A very strong half! 6 shots for us, 2 on target, 1 clear cut chance for the goal. They shoot twice, once on target. Possession about even, everything even but headers where they are better. We look really really good here so far.

53': Mills a yellow.

58': They attack on offense here, they're able to get the ball to ST Kane 20 yards out, he puts a ball ahead for their other striker, he has Mattle badly, badly beaten and has a clear cut chance from 10 yards out and isn't missing. 1-1

58': Jean in for Mills who is tiring quickly.

76': Chrzanowski in for Jackson.

85': We've had 3 attacks recently, but are shooting nowhere near the goal.

Nothin doing the rest of the way.

Sheffield Utd 1 : 1 Ipswich

Not a bad result at all. One of their defenders is man of the match.

Goal: Khan (7.3)
Assist: Jackson (7.1)
Notables: Hughes (7.0), Bartlett (7.1)

Clifford a 6.5, everyone else 6.7-6.9.


Things stay pretty tight but time is running out for Sheffield Utd and Everton, they're down to 4 left. 4 matches left here unless otherwise noted:

1. Arsenal - 77 pts
2. Man City - 66 pts (1 less played)
3. Ipswich - 59 pts (2 less played)
4. Man Utd - 55 pts (4 less played)
------------------------------------
5. Sheffield Utd - 55 pts
6. Everton - 55 pts
7. Blackburn - 51 pts
------------------------------------
8. Liverpool - 51 pts
9. Tottenham - 49 pts
10. Chelsea - 48 pts
11. Aston Villa - 48 pts
12. Nottingham Forest - 48 pts
13. Newcastle - 47 pts

[Radii]

April 17th, 2024

FA Cup Semifinals

Ipswich vs Arsenal

We sat in the same spot last season, in the FA Cup Semifinals at Wembley Stadium against Arsenal. This year they're 4:7 favorites, we're 4:1 to win. Last year we went up 1-0 22 minutes in, they tied it 1 minute later, went ahead in the 57th minute. Disaster struck as Constantino missed a penalty that would have tied it 71 minutes in and we went home.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Welsh/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Crespo/Smith/Mills/Gordon
F: Bryan/Constantino

Chris Bryan gets his first start back from injury today. He's fit and ready but may not go 90. Mills may not go 90 either but I want him out there at the start. We'll counterattack.

12': Capitani has it, passes out towards Mills, but its a poor pass... they intercept 25 yards out, a quick ball ahead to star ST Nooij and he has a quick strike and score. Devastating start. 0-1

18': We try to build up, they clear a cross but we win it back and get back at it. Gordon with a ball into the area for Mills, he tries a cross through the area, it deflects off a defender and falls to the ground. Constantino fights a defender for it, Constantino wins it and shoots and its a goal!! 1-1

25': They attack, through ball, attacker leaves our defense in the dust, goal. Again. Again Aldrovandi is crying about offsides. He's gonna get a card for bitching soon. [b]1-2[b] Welsh takes the blame for that one.

42': We're not good enough. Once they get it ahead to their strikers we can't do anything. If we stop them before they get forward, fine. But they get a 3rd goal here with simple passing between Aaron Ramsey and their two stud strikers, Bugra Yildirim and Hans Nooij. Nooij with a very easy goal here. 1-3

HALF: Our entire defense is sitting at 5.5 or 5.7. They are too good for us when they are at their best like this. They have 8 shots, 5 on target with 2 clear cut chances. We shoot 5 times. We sub Bartlett in for Welsh and will attack and maybe catch them complacent. We'll drop our defensive line even further back too to try to prevent their men from just walking behind our defense with well timed passes.

70': Clifford in for Mills.


We see one offensive highlight that ends in us actually getting a shot and its a long range crack from Smith that's high.

Arsenal 3 : 1 Ipswich

We are just not good enough on this stage against the best Arsenal has to offer, not by a long shot yet.

Goal: Constantino (7.3)
Assist: Mills (6.8)
Notable: Capitani (7.2)

Hughes 5.8, Welsh 5.5. Aldrovandi and Heywood recovered and gave a respectable second half performance.

Wait Wat?

The other Euro Cup Semi took forever to get scheduled. Now that it has our final match vs Man Utd has to be moved again... its moved from May 2nd to... April 26th. What the fuck? We now play on the 25th, 26th, 28th, and 30th. Why not move it to May 3rd and make them play on 1 day rest? Assholes.

Only a couple matches... Man U win one.

1. Arsenal - 77 pts
2. Man City - 66 pts (1 less played)
3. Ipswich - 59 pts (2 less played)
4. Man Utd - 58 pts (3 less played)
------------------------------------
5. Sheffield Utd - 55 pts
6. Everton - 55 pts
7. Blackburn - 51 pts
------------------------------------
8. Liverpool - 51 pts
9. Tottenham - 49 pts
10. Chelsea - 48 pts
11. Aston Villa - 48 pts
12. Nottingham Forest - 48 pts
13. Newcastle - 47 pts

[Radii]

-- DC Mattle gets two additional matches added to his suspension for his red card. That's 3 total. If we were to make the final he'd miss it.

April 20th, 2024

Southampton (16th) @ Ipswich (3rd)

We are huge 1:2 favorites today, they are 9:2 to get a win. We are 5-3-4 lifetime against Southampton and beat them 4:2 at their place earlier in the year.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Bartlett/Mattle/Jackson
M: Adagsmar/Jean/clifford/Chrzanowski
F: Khan/Darcy

We rest a bunch of guys today but hope we have enough strength to get a win here still. Standard mindset today.

10': Highlight opens with Khan charging down the left sideline, we've got two men in the area, Khan with a low hard cross into the 6 yard box, Chrzanowski is there, pokes it towards the right side of the net, the keeper was ready, dives, and somehow stops it... that didn't seem like a poor shot, just an incredible save.

HALF: really??? We watch them shoot from range and then the half ends. They shoot 6 times, but 4 from range and 1 on target. We have 1 shot... that was IT. I don't know how many changes I can try to make here with what's coming up. We're going to have to attack.

47': Of course. We turn it over in our end, they get a breakaway and a goal. Their man just simply outruns Mattle and scoots by him to get into the area to score. 0-1

56': Khan bails us out. Darcy tries a shot from 20 yards out after some buildup and its off Khan... back to our midfield. Jean passes ahead to Khan, Khan does all the work himself, he's got a man draped all over him, but finds his way into the area and drills a shot by the keeper!! Great goal! 1-1

69': Counter attack for us, Jean ahead to Darcy, further ahead to Khan, he's at the edge of the box ahead of his man, shoots, its a clear cut chance... but saved. Rebound to Darcy, the keeper hasn't fully recovered, huge opening, shoots, clear cut chance... right at the keeper. UGH!!!

90': Free kick near midfield, passed to Clifford, ahead to Darcy, another shot blocked, Khan recovers, Clifford is streaking in and there's an opening in the defense. Khan finds him, clear cut chance #4.. Clifford shoots but its saved, not a great job there. Corner goes nowhere.

That's it and we have to settle for a point and hope our opposition helped us today.

Ipswich 1 : 1 Southampton

Goal: Khan (7.6)
Assist: Jean (7.0)
Notables: Bartlett (7.5)

Hughes struggles with a 6.3 over at DL, he needs a rest and should get one next match.


Man Utd pulls off a huge victory over Arsenal and we fall to 4th. Everton wins, Sheffield Utd with a draw in a match they should have won. 3 matches left unless otherwise indicated.

1. Arsenal - 77 pts
2. Man City - 67 pts (1 less played)
3. Man Utd - 61 pts (3 less played)
4. Ipswich - 60 pts (2 less played)
------------------------------------
5. Everton - 58 pts
6. Sheffield Utd - 56 pts
7. Chelsea - 51 pts
------------------------------------
8. Blackburn - 51 pts (1 less played)
9. Liverpool - 51 pts (1 less played)
10. Tottenham - 50 pts
11. Aston Villa - 48 pts (1 less played)
12. Nottingham Forest - 48 pts (1 less played)


Now it gets a bit scary and we have such a crazy week ahead I have no idea what we're going to do. I'm afraid we just wilt on all stages. We'll see what we can manage though.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Radii

-
So Jean puts up a 4.9 rating today. Awesome.

Did you end up doing anything about this?

I'm excited for the end of the season. How are you going to balance out Euro vs EPL at the moment?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

Did you end up doing anything about this?

I did not. I'm a softy! I got the feeling from the highlights I was seeing (all season really not just that game) that he was trying, but often couldn't figure out what his teammates were doing, and I was willing to blame the language barrier. He'll get the ball, start to move forward, then pull back and just pass back to a defender instead of trying to make something happen with one of the forwards. So he never put up great ratings and if anything went wrong he sank real bad. I've been trying to baby him until something good happened for him and/or he learned English. He learned Ukranian in 2 years so I'm hopeful there. And finally in the last 4 or 5 matches he's gotten a goal and an assist and his morale finally started to climb back up. So I'm hopeful he'll still work out.

That brings up a good question though, is that low a rating something that should always be punished in some fashion or are there times to let it go? I've let occasional awful games like that go before w/o saying much as long as they don't happen more than once, unsure if that's a bad idea or not though!

I'm excited for the end of the season. How are you going to balance out Euro vs EPL at the moment?

hah, we'll find out when I start playing tonight b/c I have no freaking idea. I assume the season must end by a certain date which is why these games got pushed so close together. 4 games in 6 days...I know one of the league matches is Man U, I think the other is Exeter. I'll probably end up using a few U18 kids, putting two totally different lineups out there and use one for one leg of the Euro Cup + Exeter, and the other for Man Utd + the other Euro Cup leg. But as to how balanced the two lineups will be, I have no idea yet.

[Alf]

Can't you appeal the rescheduling of Man CIty and propose another time and date ?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Alf

Can't you appeal the rescheduling of Man CIty and propose another time and date ?

Hm I don't remember ever seeing that as an option anywhere, so I assumed not. Anyone else know anything on this?

[Radii]

I think this is the plan. The DC's will be rotated in some fashion b/c Mattle is suspended for the Euro Cup. Backups will be entirely made up of players not listed here, lots and lots of U18s.

@Feyenoord (4/25)/vs Exeter (4/28)

GK: Capitani
DL: Ormerod
DC: Aldrovandi/Welsh
DR: Heywood
ML: Adagsmar
MC: Clifford/Smith
MR: Chrzanowski
FC: Darcy/Bryan


@Man Utd (4/26)/vs Feyenoord (4/30)

GK: Mason
DL: Hughes
DC: Bartlett/Mattle
DR: Jackson
ML: Crespo
MC: Jean/Mills
MR: Gordon
FC: Khan/Constantino


Lets Roll!

[Radii]

April 25th, 2024

FA Cup Semifinals - First Leg

Ipswich (4th, EPL) @ Feyenoord (4th, Eredivisie)

We're 6:4 favorites at their place today, they are 13:8.

GK: Capitani
D: Ormerod/Welsh/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Smith/Clifford/Chrzanowski
F: Darcy/Bryan

We counterattack.

8': They have a throwin in our end, passed into the area for MC Fekih, he runs through the area, beats one of our defenders to get a clear cut chance and shoots near post and scores easily. 0-1

14': Aldrovandi is hurt.

17': Welsh a yellow.

24': Through ball from MC Fekih into the area for ST Willian, he's by the defense and has another very easy opportunity and scores. 0-2

25': Attack I think?

35': Throwin in their end for us, Adagsmar plays a cross into the area, Bryan with a header, its by the keeper... but hits the right post and they clear it.

43': Bryan a yellow.

HALF: Not the start we wanted at all. They have 59% of the possession, 10 shots, 9 on target, FOUR clear cut chances. We've only got 4 shots with 1 on target. We'll continue ot attack and hope we can find something.

50': They're pressing again, Capitani tries to clear a shot out, their MC Fekih heads it back in, ST Willian runs onto it again and gets behind Welsh and scores easily. 0-3

68': They score on a corner, ugggh. 0-4

81': Adagsmar just got his second yellow and that's a red.


Feyenoord 4 : 0 Ipswich


Well this looks likely to be the end of our first Continental season!

Heywood 5.1, Ormerod 5.8, Clifford 5.2, Darcy 5.5. Best players on the team with a 6.5 today.

[Radii]

-- so we'll just pretend that last match didn't happen and move right along into a super critical league match.

April 26th, 2024

Ipswich (18-6-9, 4th) @ Man Utd(17-10-5, 3rd)

Man U are 4:7 favorites at Old Trafford today. We haven't won anything in our last 5 matches, but luckily the losses haven't been in league play, if we can just right the ship soon and close strong. We beat them 2:0 at our place on opening day and haven't lost to them the last 6 times we've played, 3-3-0, winning the last 3 times at home and tying the last 3 times on the road.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Mattle/Bartlett/Jackson
M: Crespo/Jean/Mills/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

We counterattack.

15': Gordon with a long run down the right after a fight over teh ball in midfield, he crosses through the area but its headed out wide. Khan recovers it just outside the box to the left, he passes to Jean who is about 20 yards out slightly wide left, he holds a moment, then fires a shot, it rockets into the right side of the net, the keeper didn't stand a chance!!! An awesome goal. 1-0

30': A solid counter attacking chance for us, Constantino ahead to Khan on a break, but the defense closes down well and Khan goes out wide, eventually setting up a cross into the area, Mills wins a header but its high.

44': Jean a yellow.

HALF: So drastically different from our last match eh. Each team has 4 shots, 1 on target, 2 from long range. We just got the one spectacular strike by Jean. They have 61% of the possession and we will likely have to weather the storm in the second half, surely they'll attack hard.

53': Gordon with a free kick from 25 yards out, he strikes it powerfully, it hits the wall but keeps going, hitting the crossbar and bounding free. close!

75': They get a solid attack here, Mattle is beaten by one of their AM's, its a clear cut chance, but shot right at Capitani and he stops it.

76': Barnett (reserve DC, actually just came off loan) in for Khan. Bartlett up to DMC, Barnett DC. 4-1-4-1


Crazy how BAD we can be against Feyenoord and how strong we are here!

Man Utd 0 : 1 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Neil Gordon (7.7)
Goal: Jean (7.6)
Assist: Khan (6.8)
Notables: Jackson (7.1), Hughes (7.0), Mattle (7.1), Mills (7.0)

Everyone 6.7+. Jean's numbers on the season are going to be very average, but he's got 2 goals, an assist and 3 matches above 7.0 in the last 6 that he's played. Things are hopefully turning around for my 23 million dollar man.


Still 3 matches left for most teams, this was a makeup game of sorts for both us as Man Utd. We get the points and its HUGE.

1. Arsenal - 77 pts
2. Man City - 67 pts (1 less played)
3. Ipswich - 63 pts (1 less played)
4. Man Utd - 61 pts (2 less played)
------------------------------------
5. Everton - 58 pts
6. Sheffield Utd - 56 pts
8. Blackburn - 52 pts
------------------------------------
9. Liverpool - 52 pts
7. Chelsea - 51 pts
10. Tottenham - 50 pts
11. Aston Villa - 48 pts
12. Nottingham Forest - 48 pts

Blackburn, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest all tied in makeup games over the last few days. That drops Chelsea back to 9th, 1 point behind 7th.

That critical win for us pushes us 5 points ahead of Everton. Next up we play bottom feeder Exeter but we are freaking exhausted. We're so close to locking up a spot in the Champions League next year.

[SirFozzie]

You need five points in the next two games to clinch Champions League football next year.

You can do it!

[Radii]

-- There's a full slate of matches on the 27th (between our Man U and Exeter matches). Arsenal win and clinch the EPL Title. Man U tie Chelsea, Everton wins. We have 63 points, Man Utd 62 points, Everton 61 points. Everton only have 2 matches left, we have 4, Man Utd have 4.

April 28th, 2024

Exeter (6-9-20, 19th) @ Ipswich (19-6-9, 3rd)

We are huge 1:2 favorites today. After an embarrassing FA Cup defeat 2 years ago we've won the last 3 times we've played. But we're exhausted today and they are rested.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Jackson
M: Crespo/Jean/Mills/Gordon
F: Bryan/Constantino

I throw my set lineups out the window and just try to field a strong lineup today to win this match, whatever's left over will play in our last Euro Cup match. Standrd mindset today.

3': We get forward, Crespo to Constantino in the left side of the area, its crowded and he cuts out wide left, passes to Jean coming into the area, there are like 7 defenders in the area but none closed down on Jean, leaving him space to shoot, he does and avoids the crowd of players, gets it by the keeper and its a goal!! 1-0

13': Buildup again, Constantino sends it right to Mills, ahead to Gordon, over to Jean, he's 20 yards out, moves a bit out left, turns and shoots... and blows another shot by the keeper, holy crap!!! Making up for lost time buddy, welcome to England after all! 2-0

30': buildup down the left, Constantino has it, back to Mills, mills ahead to Bryan 20 yards away, Bryan passes into the area for Neil Gordon, he cuts to the goal, is behind his man when he receives the pass and drills it into the net!! 3-0

42': Kershaw in for Constantino, U18 David Ros in for Crespo.

HALF: 12 shots to 2, dominating in every way and it shows on the scoreboard.

66': Kershaw is hurt, MC Ramirez, the mid that I bought for $3 mil or so earlier in the year comes in for his first action with the senior squad.

We don't score anymore but don't allow anything at all.

Ipswich 3 : 0 Exeter

Man of the Match: Jean (9.0)
Goals: Jean 2, Gordon (8.8)
Assists: Bryan (7.1), Constantino (6.9), Gordon
Notables: Heywood (7.3), Hughes (7.5), Aldrovandi (7.5), Crespo (7.1)


TWO matches left unless otherwise noted

1. Arsenal - 80 pts
2. Man City - 70 pts (1 less played)
3. Ipswich - 66 pts (1 less played)
4. Man Utd - 62 pts (2 less played)
------------------------------------
5. Everton - 61 pts
6. Sheffield Utd - 56 pts (1 less played)
7. Blackburn - 55 pts
------------------------------------
8. Chelsea - 52 pts
9. Aston Villa - 52 pts
10. Liverpool - 52 pts (1 less played)
11. Newcastle - 51 pts (1 less played)

Taking Tottenham off the list, almost certainly they are out. Chelsea, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Newcastle all outside looking in with Tottenham done. Amazing.


As foz pointed out we needed 5 points to clinch the champions league. We've still got 3 matches left and just need to find 2 points.

[bbgunn]

It's in the bag! Relax, and the results will come.

[Radii]

-- Rob Kershaw is out for a couple weeks with the injury he picked up in our last match.

-- Gordon and Jean are named to the EPL team of the week.


April 30th, 2024

Euro Cup Semifinal - Second Leg

Feyenoord (4) @ (0) Ipswich

How bad is it? If we win this match 5:1, we're done. They would advance on away goals. We're actually huge 4:5 favorites today, they're 3:1 to win.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Welsh/Aldrovandi/Jackson
M: Crespo/Jean/Smith/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Some of these guys will struggle to play 90 minutes but we've got a week off after this. We'll pull guys like Gordon at half if we don't get like a 2:0 lead.

4': Jackson with a cross through the area, no one picks it up, Crespo recovers, tries another cross, it bounces off a defender, falls to Jean 18 yards out, he blasts a shot and its a goal!!! 1-0

18': We build up slowly on offense, Smith and Jean pass back and forth, Gordon advances a bit, passes to Smith, Smith ahead to Constantino and he does it himself, turns by his man 20 yards out, sprints into the area and drills a shot far post by the keeper! 2-0

35': WTF! They attack, we win the ball in their end, Capitani sends it to midfield, Jean immediately on to Khan, Khan with a through ball into the area, Constantino runs onto it, this is actually the first clear cut chance of the match here... and he beats the keeper!! Could this really happen!?? 3-0

38': Gordon with a cross, Crespo a header... just over.

42': Gordon with a corner kick for us, Constantino goes up for the header, he's fouled!!! Penalty! Constantino takes the PK, shoots into the right side of the net, its a goal!!!!! Holy crap what's going on here, that's a hat trick!!! 4-0


HALF: Seriously did someone turn on the CPU Catch Up Logic? We've evened the series at 4 goals apiece!! So here's the thing. If we give up a single goal we have to win by 5 or they win on away goals. If it stays 4:0 we would go to extra time and possibly penalties. But with this momentum... we have to continue to attack I would think?

50': Gordon tries a cross into the area, headed away, we recover and after a couple passes Craig Smith sends an inch perfect pass between their two central defenders, Matthew Khan gets a step behind the defense, shoots from 15 yards out, and drills it into the back of the net!!! 5-0

60': Gordon can't keep going, he's exhausted. Chrzanowski is in.

71': Khan with a shot from 18 yards out, wide.

73': Crespo a free kick 25 yards away, past the wall but wide right.

81': They earn a corner, Chrzanowksi with the key header to get it out of danger.

81': After we clear the danger Khan has it near midfield, he's tackled by defender Javier Perez. Perez already had a yellow that I probably failed to mention... he's given another yellow here and he's gone!!!

82': Bartlett in for a very very tired Aldrovandi

92': We clear a ball as they desparately attack, Constantino beats the last man and has a shot to sprint into the area. He's bumped as he goes by though and its a yellow for their defender. I seriously thought that should have been another red card for them. Free kick for us about 20 yards out. Jean is going to take it. Into the wall and cleared. We're passing it around after we recover possession and the final whistle is called.

I don't believe what just happened. I started a tiring lineup but one filled with my most exciting, highest morale, and explosive players, Jean got them going early and it just snowballed like crazy.

Ipswich (5) 5 : 0 (4) Feyenoord

I think we were supposed to do much, much better against them at their place and just totally shit the bed with a lineup that we have never used all season with a random 17 year old starting at DL b/c Kirkland is hurt and I didn't have enough depth to cover DL and DR without a youngster. I wasn't about to give up going into the game today, but I am STUNNED that this happened. Any other game and I wonder WTF is broken I think!

We were perfect today. They shot 14 times, we shot 10 times. 6 of our 10 shots from long range, only 2 clear cut chances. Our finishing was just spectacular.

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.6)
Goals: Constantino 3, Khan (8.6), Jean (8.2)
Assists: Smith 2 (9.0), Khan - two goals are unassisted (the penalty and Jean's first goal was a loose ball he picked up last played by a defender)
Notables: Capitani (7.4), Jackson (7.9), Hughes (7.8), Aldrovandi (7.8), Welsh (7.4), Gordon (7.3), Crespo (7.8)

-- We receive $1,004,000 for playing in this round.




TWO matches left unless otherwise noted

1. Arsenal - 80 pts
2. Man City - 70 pts (1 less played)
3. Ipswich - 66 pts (1 less played)
4. Man Utd - 63 pts (1 less played)
------------------------------------
5. Everton - 61 pts
6. Sheffield Utd - 57 pts
7. Blackburn - 55 pts
------------------------------------
8. Liverpool - 53 pts
9. Chelsea - 52 pts
10. Aston Villa - 52 pts
11. Newcastle - 52 pts

Man U, Sheffield Utd, Newcastle and Liverpool all play to draws over the last couple days. Sheffield Utd slightly safer in 6th place now and Liverpool up to 8th

[Radii]

Originally Posted by bbgunn

It's in the bag! Relax, and the results will come.

i know right. 4:0 down, NO PROBLEM (I know, I know, not what you meant).

[kingfc22]

Holy shit man! Keep it going!

[Radii]

-- We broke another Gate Receipts record in our last match, bringing in $2.6 Million for that match, which was our first Euro Cup sellout. that's $100k more than we made against roma in the quarterfinals.

-- Celtic and Man Utd are playing in the other semifinal, its not over yet.

May Update

-- May 6th @ Liverpool, 9th @ Man City, 12th vs West Brom, 15th Euro Cup Final.

-- Three players are noted for training well last month. One is our super exciting young midfielder Craig Smith. Passing (15), Aggression (10), Decisions (13), Influence (10), Off the Ball (16), Positioning (12), Accelleration (14), and Agility (13) all up. His decision making took an unheard of jump of 2 points from 11->13 in one month. I've never seen that before with any of my players. I don't watch so close to be able to say its *never* happened, just the first i've noticed. MLC Ernie Foster also noted for improvement, he's still just a "decent player" guy so I wont go a whole lot into him. Lastly DC Pablo Olvera, a player I bought this year from Hercules in the Spanish 2nd Division for $825,000. I only see his Agility going up recently but if he's singled out for training well maybe a lot of those numbesr are on the verge of going up or something. Olvera is pretty exciting, he turned 17 in January, my coaches feel he could play in the Championship right now and that he still has 3 1/2 * potential for the EPL.

-- Neil Gordon is #3 in the voting for EPL Player of the Month. Gordon mostly played in Euro Cup matches. He did play vs Man U and Exeter in league play, 8.8 and 7.7 ratings, 1 goal/1 assist.

-- I'm 3rd in Manager of the Month Voting for April.

April Match Recap

I've never seen anything like this. Here is what we did in April:

4/2 - vs Roma - 2:1 - W - Euro Cup Qtrs
4/6 - vs Blackburn - 1:0 - W - EPL
4/11 - @ Roma - 1:1 - D - Euro Cup Qtrs
4/14 - @ Sheff Utd - 1:1 - D - EPL
4/17 - vs Arsenal - 1:3 - L - FA Cup Semis
4/20 - vs Southampton - 1:1 - D - EPL
4/25 - @ Feyenoord - 0:4 - L - Erup Cup Semi
4/26 - @ Man Utd - 1:0 - W - EPL
4/28 - vs Exeter - 3:0 - W - EPL
4/30 - vs Feyenoord - 5:0 W - Euro Cup Semi

That's one fucked up month!

-- The board is delighted with my leadership. The EPL performance is the highlight. They are still crying about the league cup.

-- We made a profit of $5.7M last month. We brought in a ridiculous $10.4M at the gate last month. Our revenue is now more than it was all last season. That's heavily assisted by player sales at this point (we sold $20.5M in players this year, just $4.7M last year). When we get prize money for a top 4 finish in the league its going to blow away what we did last year. Mind you we've spent a good deal more too, but the prize money is going to allow us some insane profits this year. Right now we have made $181,000 on the season. Last year we were like $10M in the red when prize money came in.


-- Man Utd and Celtic played to a 0:0 draw at Old Trafford in England. They go back to Scotland, tie 1:1 and Man Utd advances on away goals. The final of the Euro Cup will be Ipswich vs Man Utd.


Sometimes its anti-climactic. There's a slate of league matches on May 4th, a couple days before we play Liverpool. Huddersfield play Everton to a 0:0 draw. The failure to gain 3 points by Everton is the same as us winning a match to seal the deal:

1. Arsenal - 80 pts - 2 left
2. Man City - 70 pts - 2 left
3. Ipswich - 66 pts - 3 left
4. Man Utd - 63 pts - 3 left
------------------------------------
5. Everton - 62 pts - 1 left
6. Sheffield Utd - 58 pts - 1 left
7. Blackburn - 55 pts - 2 left
------------------------------------
8. Newcastle - 55 pts - 1 left
9. Liverpool - 53 pts - 2 left
10. Chelsea - 52 pts - 1 left
11. Aston Villa - 52 pts - 1 left

We have 66 points, even if we lose our last 3 matches the best that Everton can do is 65 points.

Ipswich have clinched a spot in the European Champions Cup (aka Champions League) next season!!!!