The Eagles Shall Rise ~ Crystal Palace (FIFA 18 Dynasty)

[Number999]

2019 League Cup Final ~ Crystal Palace vs Watford

A season ago, you had a bout between two extremely elite sides in Tottenham and Chelsea in the Carabao Cup Final. Ultimately, Spurs prevailed with a 1-0 victory. Now this season you have two clubs that are far smaller in stature, but will still be gunning for that ultimate prize. Now, how did each of them get here? The Eagles first took care of Gillingham in Round #2 by a score of 2-1, then Crystal Palace defeated Brentford 3-1 in Round #3, took care of Blackburn Rovers 3-2 in the Round of 16, defeated Chelsea in the Quarter-Finals by a margin of 2-0, and then in the Semi-Finals overcame Liverpool on aggregate with a final scoreline of 4-3, thanks to Christian Benteke's hat-trick in the 2nd leg. Watford started off their tournament run by taking down Coventry City in Round #3 in a clean 3-0 victory, then in the Round of 16 they had to defeat Cardiff City 1-0, then facing Fleetwood Town in the Quarter-Finals by a smashing scoreline of 4-1, and finally taking down Stoke City in the Semi-Finals by an aggregate scoreline of 3-1.

Clearly, Crystal Palace have had a far more difficult path to traverse in order to get to this point. Nonetheless, while they took down Chelsea and Liverpool what happened to the other giants of the Premier League? Well, Spurs lost in Round #2 in shocking fashion to Fleetwood Town which blew up their chance at winning back-to-back league Cups. Then Arsenal in Round #2 as well fell to Notts County in a 1-0 embarrassment of a defeat! Round #3 saw both Manchester's fall with United falling to Chelsea in a 1-0 matchup, while City were far greater humiliated with a crushing 4-0 defeat to AFC Bournemouth. From there, the only giants remaining were Crystal Palace. Most un-bias on-lookers would say that the Eagles deserve the title based on the competition they've had to face, but it's a Final, and anything can happen. One wrong foul and one red card later and Watford would end up in the drivers seat. LeClair is putting out his best possible lineup with the exception of Benteke who can't played due to injury, and Watford is doing the same with their lineup. We shall see what happens.

The first 20 or so minutes of this match truthfully weren't all that exciting. It felt like both sides didn't want to fall behind early so that they wouldn't be chasing the rest of the way. Eventually though, Crystal Palace did generate the first legit opportunity in the 24th minute. Jeffrey Schlupp had acres of space up the top wing and was able to get into Watford's box. With no one coming to chase him down, he had time to send in a cross to the middle of the box, initially it seemed like the ball was intended for Luka Milivojevic but the ball went past him and landed to Ben Brereton! He charged up a powerful header that made it's way towards goal, Watford centerback Alessio Romagnoli failed to lift up and deflect it and it ENDED UP IN THE BACK OF THE NET! Pau Lopez could not get there in time as the Watford keeper and just like that Crystal Palace now led 1-0! A fantastic header from range, who knew that a speedster like Brereton had that sort of ability to head the ball?

At the end of the 1st half, Watford had only generated 1 shot and none of them had been target. They were playing pathetically from an attacking perspective, and knowing Lucien LeClair that meant they were playing right into his strategy. That would prove true with the sequence of events that followed in the 59th minute. Alexander Sørloth passed the ball to Wilfried Zaha who was at the bottom of the box matched up with Jaume Costa, Watford's leftback. With one quick twitch fake shot, Zaha got past Costa and had a tough angle shot against Pau Lopez, he fired, it deflected off Lopez's knee but BRERETON WAS THERE FOR THE REBOUND WITH A SLIDING SHOT! 2-0! 2-0! Alessio Romagnoli let Brereton get in behind him for the opportunity and just like the Eagles have doubled their lead as they look well on their way to winning the League Cup! Hell, Brereton nearly added the full-on hat trick with a shot from range in the 64th minute that surely would have made him a hero even more than he was right now. To think that he was barely good enough to get any time a year ago!

But now it seemed quite evident that Watford's mentality had changed. Now down by 2 goals, they went attacking. A big save was required from Axel Werner in the 76th minute as Fedor Smolov got around Issa Diop and had a CLEAR shot on goal that should have gone in, but Werner got a palm to the ball, had it hit off the crossbar, and then had it go out for a corner. Off of that corner, Roberto Pereyra whipped in a ball and after a deflection the ball landed at Fedor Smolov's feet. He shot, it was deflected by Diop, Werner dove for it, and the man who many so many defensive errors for Watford now avenged himself slightly by knocking the ball into the net past Ryan Sessegnon. Alessio Romagnoli had scored and now Crystal Palace's lead was 2-1. Watford did their best to pressure and try to snag a stunning equalizer, but all those players forward cost them. In the 86th minute, Ismaïla Sarr who had been subbed on for Samuel Grandsir found a streaking Pedro Pereira down the bottom wing. He gave him a through ball, Jaume Costa could not get back in time for the tackle, and Pereira buried the shot to clinch a 3rd goal. From there it was all fun and games for Crystal Palace as they had defeated Watford, 3-1! Both sides saluted each other after the match ended to show some sportsmanship.

It's not the Europa League, Premier League Title, or anything larger but it's the first true piece of silverware for Lucien LeClair and his tenure at Crystal Palace. The League Cup. A tournament that was not handed to them at all considering they had to get through both Chelsea and Liverpool, and then fend off an upset against Watford in the Final. Ben Brereton earned MOTM honors with a sensational 9.6 rating, though Jeffrey Schlupp also put in one hell of a shift with a 9.1 rating himself. Watford did not attack nearly enough early and that cost them having any shot in this match. When you look at the final stats, Palace had 60% possession and passed the ball with 87% accuracy, also collecting 11 shots with 3 on target. Watford had 40% possession, 80% pass accuracy, and 7 shots with just 3 on target. With a more offensive first half, maybe this match plays out slightly differently. Regardless, Crystal Palace are your victors! Congratulations to all of our squad for getting us to this point, and now it's time to turn out full attention to the last 1/3 of our 2018/2019 Premier League schedule!

Crystal Palace ~ 2019 League Cup Winners

Spoiler

[Number999]

Crystal Palace stun Spurs, falter vs Manchester United

(Match #26 of PL) vs Tottenham: It's a second bout of the Top 2 teams in the Premier League. Spurs are in 1st place with 53 points and a +23 goal differential, while Crystal Palace are in 2nd with 49 points and a +16 goal differential. Beyond them are Chelsea and Manchester United, and then you have to even further to get a whole cluster of teams. You know Spurs are going to be gunning for a revenge matchup given the way we beat them earlier in the year at White Hart Lane. Also, this match is only one day after the Final against Watford so many of our starters are probably gassed. In other words, don't expect much for the Eagles. In the 1st half, Spurs seemed unusually passive despite having Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, and Heung Min Son all up front. Eventually, a gaff made by Victor Wanyama and Adrien Rabiot led to an opening by Ismaïla Sarr who SCORED in the 17th minute! Surely, it couldn't be... right? Some subs were made in the 60th and 70th minutes as Tottenham desperately looked for an equalizer, but it NEVER came! PALACE 1-0! Do you want to talk about a stunning victory!?!? This was a match where the likes of Fernando Braga, Juan Foyth, Erdal Rakip, etc... all started and we somehow still managed to beat the league leaders? Maybe going out of the Europa League was the fire this team needed under it's ***. Humongous result lads! These 6 points taken from Spurs may just decide the title winner this season!

(Match #27 of PL) vs Manchester United(PLAYED 2 of 2): So yeah since the Final took place in the month of March, this will be my second game played this month. Palace are now just 1 point behind Spurs to lead all of the Premier League, while Manchester United are down in 4th place with 47 points. Honestly separation has been made and really there's a Top 4 to focus in on with Spurs, Palace, Chelsea, and United. In other words, this is a big match... let's give it all we've got. It was Manchester United who generated the better of all the chances early on. Marcus Rashford was tearing though Palace's defense that consisted of Pereira, Sakho, Diop, and Schlupp. Axel Werner was standing on his head with big 1 on 1 saves in the 9th and 17th minutes respectively. The first real threat by Palace did not come until the 38th minute, when a cross by Ismaïla Sarr found Wilfried Zaha on the far post, yet a diving desperate reaction save by David de Gea prevented Palace from scoring. Just 2 minutes later though, de Gea would make his one mistake of the afternoon. Sarr whipped in a hard cross that was close enough that de Gea went to punch it out but he MISSED and Ben Brereton was right there for a HARD header just like the one he scored vs Watford to put Palace up 1-0 with an open net goal! The sides would go to the break with the Eagles leading 1-0.

It feels like in these sorts of matches that Palace never relinquish their lead after going up early, but this match was different. The pace of someone like Marcus Rashford was something that Palace simply weren't prepared for, versus if someone like Romelu Lukaku had started. In the 48th minute, Jesse Lingard timed a PERFECT through-ball to Marcus Rashford that Issa Diop simply could not get to in-time with Rashford in the box. From there he settled it and before Werner could save it it floated into the back of the net for an equalizer to knot things up at 1-1. Palace's offense on the other hand was relatively stagnant, and that goal from earlier came off of a corner. Perhaps it's fatigue setting in or United's defense is just that impressive but still. In the 69th minute Rashford had a header that he missed, but he made up for it with what he did in the 73rd. Rashford was streaking FREE away from goal, and Werner playing like Manuel Neuer came all the way out from the box to intercept, he got it, but it fell straight to Anthony Martial! Martial, around Werner, passes it back to Rashford, he shoots... DIOP WITH THE CLEARANC-OH BUT HE MISSES IT AND IT'S IN THE BACK OF THE NET! A huge gaff by Diop... he could have punted that one out but he just meekly sputtered it into the net. From there, Palace collapsed. In the 79th minute, Jesse Lingard scored after Diop missed an interception as United won 3-1. Issa Diop was shockingly poor today, and it likely means Diego Reyes is gonna get a few starts ahead of him for the next few matches. We blew a chance at really distancing ourselves from 3rd and 4th place, and now we've just taken a big step back.

(Match #28 of PL) @ Burnley: Remember how earlier in the season it was Watford making headway in the Premier League other than Crystal Palace? Well, the names have now shifted and it is Burnley who are presently 6th in the league and they are tied with 5th placed Stoke City in points! 41 in all, Burnley are looking to fend off the likes of a gauntlet of teams that are placed 5th through 11th. Every team either has 41 or 39 points total. in the 41-point bracket you have Stoke, Burnley, and Watford. While in the 39-point bracket you have Everton, Leicester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal! Christian Benteke is also back fully healthy so let's hope we can do some damage on the road in the final match of March for us. There's no way to really put this one other than the fact it was unbelievably dull for the first 60 minutes or so. The first notable action came with Sørloth being subbed on for Benteke. After a series of subs in the 70th minute, the first goal did come via Wilfried Zaha in the 76th! A late winner potentially!??! Sadly not, as Ashley Barnes would come on as a substitute and net an 80th minute equalizer as the match wrapped up as a 1-1 draw. Not a phenomenal result but not the poorest one in the world either, just 2 months left of Premier League football remaining for this campaign.

[Number999]

With 10 matches in EPL left, Eagles must finish strong

Crystal Palace find themselves in an interesting place with just barely over 1/4 of the 2018/2019 Premier League schedule left to go. All other competitions for the Eagles have either seen the as the victors(League Cup) or bounced out far ahead of time that they no longer need to worry themselves about their outcomes(FA Cup, Europa League) With just 9 matches remaining this season Crystal Palace have seen themselves build off their campaign a year ago and now currently sit in the Top 3. They are amongst the likes of the giants in the Premier League, and even far out-performed those with a budget near 4x greater than their own. Lucien LeClair has instituted this mentality since Day 1 by bringing in unselfish youthful products that have blossomed under his tenure. Yet now it's time for the rubber to meet the road as Palace look for a shot at clinching Champions League positioning. Yes, that's right. That absurd thinking from a few seasons ago can become reality, but let's look at the Top 5 to get a better understanding of just where the Eagles stand.

Premier League Top 5:
#1. Spurs | 57 points (+23)
#2. United | 53 points (+20)
#3. Palace | 53 points (+15)
#4. Chelsea | 51 points (+21)
#5. Leicester | 42 points (+10)

WOAH WHAT THE HELL? Leicester City are back at the top? Hold your horses, what happens after the Top 4 this year in the Premier League is absolutely crazy. While Leicester are 5th on goal differential, there are THREE teams behind them with the same number of points at 42 in Liverpool, Arsenal, and Burnley. Yeah those are two monstrous clubs, including Arsenal who have stormed all the way back from being in the relegation zone at the 18-game mark. Even after that, you have TWO clubs at 41 points in Stoke City and Watford, and even behind that you have another TWO clubs sitting in at 39 points that can jump into the fray with back-to-back wins in the form of Everton and Southampton. Right now Leicester look like they've seen some shadow of 2015/2016 form but in reality two bad weeks and they can see themselves drop back to the bottom half of the table. It's going to be a total and complete slaughter for this middle portion the rest of the way.

Even still, you can now tell the clear difference between the ability of the Top 4 clubs this season compared to the entire rest of the league. Crystal Palace are currently 11 points ahead of that curve, a solid 3-match or so advantage even if they weren't to attain any meaningful results. That'd also assume the clubs below them won all their matches. Basically the rule of thumb is very simple for Lucien LeClair, while we'd like to imagine us hoisting the Premier League Title for the first time ever and finishing above 3rd which is their best finish ever that happened all the way back in the 1990/1991 English Football Season... we also have to be realistic. Spurs and United are clubs that have beefed up their clubs for 5+ years while LeClair is only now closing in on the finish of his second season. It's a completely different infrastructure. So, let's temper our expectations and just say, PLEASE hold on to a Top 4 position and it can be considered a simply phenomenal Premier League campaign considering it's his second year. Let's take a final look at out 10 remaining matches.

Crystal Palace Schedule:
vs Watford
@ Everton
vs Cardiff City
@ Leicester City
@ Wolverhampton
vs Swansea City
@ Arsenal
vs Stoke City
@ Liverpool
vs Aston Villa

As you can see, we play none of the remaining 4 teams that are at the top of the Premier League ladder. In Spurs, we took all 6 points away from them. Against Manchester United, we split 3/3, and against Chelsea we once again split 3/3 so we truthfully did the best against some of our most brutal competition. We'll have to deal with a number of clubs middling about in that #5-#12 section of hell but also we need to take advantage of the matches against clubs in the relegation zone. We can't drop points to a club like Cardiff City to Wolverhampton, especially because who knows if Arsenal continues this tear and fights their all their way back to the top with this ridiculous run of form. OR hell, Liverpool have been hovering around the #6-#9 spot all season and maybe they go on a run now and get revenge on how we finished them off a season ago. The point is, Crystal Palace need to pour everything they have in their system into these last 10 matches. If they do, their results and benefits from it could be outstanding! Let's get on with the month of April matches and see if we can do the improbable.

[Number999]

Crystal Palace surge through April, 10 out of 12 points!

(Match #29 of PL) vs Watford: So just a little under a month since we defeated Watford in the 2019 League Cup Final, they now get another crack to play against us and get some form of revenge. They are one of the many teams caught in the cluster of the Premier League competition, we've really gotta come out here and give them our best crack so as to avoid slippage in these last 2 months of the season. After a relatively boring first 30 minutes, this match lived up to the hype! In the 41st minute it was Roberto Pereyra netting a penalty and scoring one past Axel Werner which put the Eagles in a hole, but they responded quickly thanks to a goal by Yves Bissouma in the 41st! While he hasn't been scoring boatloads as of late, he's still been one of our MVPs for this entire campaign. Still after the half break, Pereyra would come out in the 50th minute and net a SECOND goal which put Watford in the drivers seat! They would do their best to hold on, but it wouldn't be enough, as Bissouma collected a BRACE with a goal in the 79th! Two goals from the Mali man! The match ended a 2-2 draw but man was it a thrilling affair. In fact, with this match, I don't know if you can believe this or not but Bissouma had become our LEADING goal-scorer of this season! That's frigging insane!

(Match #30 of PL) @ Everton(PLAYED 1 of 2): Earlier in the season, LeClair trotted out a weaker side against Everton and what resulted was a thrilling 3-3 clash that ended in a draw. What will be the outcome this time around? Early on, Everton actually had two gigantic misses in the 1st half. Davy Klaasen got through against Mamadou Sakho and had a decent angle on Werner but he decided to finesse it and it just floated across the outside netting on the left hand side. Gylfi Sigurdsson on decent free kick range also had one sail over the top of the net in the 25th minute. The biggest moment happened in the 27th, when on a corner Zaha whipped in a ball to Benteke, he was going for it, but Everton's own midfielder Idrissa Gueye hit it into his own net before Jordan Pickford could react! Own goal! That own goal would seemingly haunt Everton as their offense never got very attacking beyond that point in the 1st half. Pickford made a huge save on a Zaha shot in the 45th minute where he tried to aim far post. In the final 20 minutes of the match, Everton re-gained their mojo and hit the post TWICE. First in the 72nd, courtesy of Henry Onyekuru who nearly put the equalize home with a header across goal but he hit it too hard, it bounced back out, and Werner scooped up the ball. Then in the 84th minute, Michael Keane came up attacking, took a shot from range, and had it bang off the post as it went out for a corner, luck was not on Everton's side today. Eventually in the 90th minute, their attacking play-style buried them when subbed on Samuel Grandsir got a free 1 on 1 goal against Pickford to ice the match, 2-0 Crystal Palace! Everton ended the match with 0 shots on target not ever really challenging Werner. Yves Bissouma earned MOTM honors with a 8.80 rating, and damn if this isn't a nice win after back-to-back draws against Burnley and Watford.

(Match #31 of PL) vs Cardiff City: As of right now, Cardiff City are set to go right back down to the Championship with just 25 points through 30 matches, needing 28 points to reach the level of the 17th place team compared to their 19th seeding. We ended up drawing 2-2 with them away earlier this year, let's avenge that with a victory here. Crystal Palace didn't seem very active on the offensive end despite the fact that by comparison, they were Real Madrid to Cardiff City's total and utter ineptitude. The only goal of this match came in the 22nd minute courtesy of Wilfried Zaha who got into the box and slotted a nifty shot right past Neil Etheridge. 1-0 Eagles is all we needed. Honestly, Cardiff didn't press much more than that in the final 40 or so minutes. Perhaos I'm wrong and they just faltered against a Top 2 side in the Premier League but man does it seem like they know they're going to be relegated and they don't have the mental fortitude to move past that.

(Match #32 of PL) @ Leicester City(PLAYED 2 of 2): So remember that post I made about how Leicester City were in 5th place and how they could easily fall? Well, now they're in 9th with 45 points so what I've said has proven a fair amount true. Meanwhile, we remain in 2nd with Spurs ahead of us by 4 points with 64 on the season, United are 1 point behind us with 59, and Chelsea are just 2 points behind us with 58. In other words, we're still in this hotly contested race and need to keep on winning. This match turned out to be one with no contest whatsoever. Crystal Palace had motivation that Leicester City could not match, even at King Power Stadium. The first goal came in the 12th minute via Alexander Sørloth who was fed a perfect ball by Benteke, and Sørloth did the rest by out-pacing Leicester centerback Yohan Benalouane to the ball before putting one past Schmeichel. Just 5 minutes later, Benteke fired a thunderbolt on goal that bounced off the post, in came SWOOPING in Yves Bissouma who headed it home before Leicester defenders could clear it, and it was a 2-0 match just like that. Schmeichel was forced to make save after save as the Eagles pestered Leicester with 17 shots in total, 9 being on target. Eventually a 3rd came through in the 50th when another perfectly timed ball from Bissouma fed Sørloth who beat Benalouane AGAIN for his 2nd goal and put Palace up 3-0. After taking their foot of the gas, the Eagles did concede a goal late via an error by Axel Werner which allowed a goal to Kelechi Iheanacho, but a 3-1 victory for Palace is still quite satisfactory. It should come as no surprise that Bissouma earns MOTM honors with 1 goal and 1 assist for a 9.5 rating, he's been outstanding for 2 months now.

So Crystal Palace have wrapped up their matches in April by collecting 10 out of a possible 12 points. That's pretty damn fantastic. Unfortunatly for them, other teams in the Premier League and specifically the Top 4 have kept pace with their pace. Spurs are still in 1st with 67, Palace in 2nd with 63, and then you have two giants looking to gobble up the under-dogs in United with 62 and Chelsea with 61. It's not going to be easy for the Eagles to just keep on winning. While they do play some lower tier sides at the start of May, those two huge matchups against Arsenal and Liverpool who sit 5th and 6th at the moment will be far from easy. Everything comes down to this last month... let's hope we can come through for our supporters and have a hell of a finish to this campaign! The final month of our 2019/2019 Premier League Season is next!

[Number999]

Palace, Spurs, each bottle title race | Finish 3rd in EPL!

(Match #33 of PL) @ Wolverhampton: The Wanderers managed to topple Crystal Palace earlier this season back in November, with a 2-1 victory thanks to a Ruben Neves match winner. Now Palace will find Wolverhampton more desperate than ever as they currently sit in 17th place with 30 points but a -25 goal differential, compared to that of Swansea City who are in 18th place with 29 points and a -16 goal differential. We play them back-to-back weeks... let's be fair and beat them both! Alexander Sørloth wasted no time to continue over his brilliant performance where he scored a brace vs Leicester City, as he netted a goal in just the 7th minute against John Ruddy! The Wanderers did their best to try and get a goal back without conceding a 2nd, but that goal eventually failed in the 2nd half when our MVP, Yves Bissouma, scored in the 66th minute from range! Wolverhampton desperately tried to come back with a goal scored by Bright Enobakhare off the bench as a sub in the 82nd minute but there would be no late rally to salvage a point as Palace got revenge and won 2-1! Fortunately for the Wanderers, Swansea City fell to Liverpool in a loss so it's not like they climbed back over them in the standings. Meanwhile, in a HUGE match between 2 of the Top 4 giants, a Spurs/United matchup ended in a 0-0 draw which means Palace are only 2 points behind Spurs now!

(Match #34 of PL) vs Swansea City: Swansea City find themselves in a very similar place that Wolverhampton did a week ago when they played against the Eagles. Except for Swansea, they haven't been in the Championship since the 2010/2011 season, and they'd like to avoid going back there just one more time. Chelsea thrashed Arsenal in a 3-1 victory which means they're in 1st place with 70 points right now, but both we and Spurs have 2 games in-hand which mean we still control our own destiny, we just NEED a result here..... and just like vs Wolverhampton, WE BLODY GOT IT! Wilfried Zaha started off the scoring in the 8th minute and that really crushed Swansea City's spirit in an away match at Selhurst Park. In the 64th minute, Ben Brereton had been subbed on for Christian Benteke and Jordi Amat committed a foul. Brereton did not hesistate as he buried the penalty right past Lukas Fabianski to lead Palace to a 2-0 victory! Just as the Eagles were marching onwards part Swansea City, Spurs were doing the same against West Brom as they defeated them 2-0 by the same margin. We're still just 2 points behind them, and Spurs have re-taken the lead over Chelsea by 1-point with a game still in hand. Ah man... but now we've got to deal with Arsenal!

(Match #35 of PL) @ Arsenal(PLAYED 1 of 2): Alright so we have some HUGE developments ahead of this match. First of all, Spurs MAY HAVE BOTTLED IT! THEY LOST 1-2 TO SOUTHAMPTON! That's a huge result for us, which means we now control our own destiny. We can jump them with a win here against Arsenal. Still, Chelsea remain a threat since they got a 2-1 win away at Stoke, and they have 36 matches played with 73 points. Surely those two sides must be cracking... they have huge Champions League matches to worry about vs Barcelona and Atletico(both Spurs/Chelsea), they can't keep focusing on the league, this is opportunity, let's take advantage of it! Oh and since I forgot to mention it, Arsenal are in 8th with 54 points. The first legit action of this match happened in the 19th minute. Kingsley Coman had the ball in the bottom half of the field just below the box. He was matched up with Jeffrey Schlupp, Schlupp goes for the tackle but Coman FAKE SHOTS in, HE'S IN THE BOX, Mamadou Sakho presses up to help, HE EVADES HIM, he sends in a toe pass to Marco Reus and on one touch he BURIES IT PAST AXEL WERNER! 1-0 ARSENAL! A simply ridiculous run by Kingsley Coman into the box, you can already tell this match at Emirates Stadium will have a far different feel than the one played earlier in the year.

The entire match from here on out saw Crystal Palace try to chase back against Arsenal. They had fallen behind, and a loss would be devastating since it meant that Chelsea or Tottenham could win the league controlling their own destiny. They needed a result. Axel Werner had to make a huge save on a volley from Reus in the 45th minute, and then the break happened. In the 2nd half, Palace looked rejuvenated. David Ospina had a huge save in the 59th minute on a shot by Bissouma but it was aimed directly at him. Then in the 63rd, Ismaïla Sarr mis-fired on a long finesse shot from range. In the 69th, Ospina saved a near-post attempt by Samuel Grandsir who was subbed on for Sarr. In the 84th, he saved a header deflection from Sørloth ridiculousy close that honestly should have gone in!... but then it finally happened! Wilfried Zaha on the corner from that header, whips in the cross, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and Plattenhardt try to step up on Sørloth, THEY CAN'T, HEADED NEAR POST AND IT'S IIIIIN!!!! OSPINA COULDN'T GET TO IT THIS TIME! 1-1 MATCH! In fact, that's how the final result would end, a 1-1 draw amongst Arsenal and Crystal Palace. We piled on the pressure in the 2nd half and Arsenal nearly held on, they only had 2 shots on target all day but boy did they make them scary. We take a point away at Arsenal and hell now, we focus on Stoke City!

(Match #36 of PL) vs Stoke City: Woo buddy do you wanna talk about some monster matchups. We have a home match against Stoke, who are 10th in the table with 51 points and a +2 goal differential. Meanwhile, Spurs who are 1 point ahead of us with the same number of games have to face Manchester City. Unluckily, thanks to our draw vs Arsenal we are now a full 3 points behind Chelsea and they have a +36 goal differential compared to our +23. So we REALLY need a victory here... they play the day after we do vs West Brom at home, so let's get 3 points here lads. GAH.... FREAKING STOKE CITY! BLOODY BORING *** FOOTBALL BASTARDS. NOTHING HAPPENED THIS MATCH. LEGIT, it was a yellow card by Diego Reyes int he 26th minute and a Joe Allen yellow card in the 46th minute. NOTHING ELSE. Fortunatly, Spurs LOST 0-2 to Manchester City, and since we at least got a 0-0 draw out of this, we are now level on points. The bad news? Chelsea are in the lead with 73 points us and Spurs have 71(though they have +25 goal differential while we have +23 so they're ahead) and now Manchester United are trying to comeback with 70 points and they have a +29 goal differential. Now it's time for us to see the result.... OOH CHELSEA DEFEAT WEST BROM! 4-0! THEY NOW HAVE 76 POINTS! That means in order for us to somehow take the Premier League Title, we need to win both our matches and have Chelsea lose their final match of the season against... West Ham United. ****.

(Match #37 of PL) @ Liverpool(PLAYED 2 of 2): It appears as though Crystal Palace have let their title odds slip through their fingers with draws in their last two matches. The one away at Arsenal at the very least was acceptable, but that draw vs Stoke at home? Dammit. To get an idea of just how hot Chelsea have been, the last match they DIDN'T WIN in the Premier League was all the way back on April 4th... they drew 1-1 vs Everton. Since then they've defeated Manchester United, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton, Watford, Arsenal, Stoke City, and West Brom. 7 x 3 = 21 consecutive points they haven't dropped. Insane by Conte and their squad, well, at the very least Liverpool are in 7th place and have 59 points... let's do our best to win and keep our slim hopes of a miracle title alive! We've already proved we're very capable of handling them considering the 2nd leg of the Semi-Finals in the Carabao Cup and the fact we defeated them 2-1 back in November. In the first few matches at Anfield, Alexander Sørloth had a finesse shot in the 4th minute that floated wide and Axel Werner needed to make a huge save on a Roberto Firmino attempt at the near-post on a corner header, both were stopped.

But that would not be enough from Crystal Palace, as they would shoot themselves in the foot with Pedro Pereira bringing down Sadio Mane in the box in the 38th minute for a penalty. Pereira felt he got the ball, he missed, and Mane went down. Roberto Firmino stepped up and chipped it to the right side to put Liverpool up 1-0. AFter the half break, Palace saw some rejuvenation when Jean Thierry Lazare Amani fired a LAZER into the back of Liverpool's net that got past Loris Karius. Just inside the box, there's a reason Lucien LeClair signed this kid away from KAS Eupen with how amazing that strike was. As the Eagles pushed for a 2nd goal to keep their slim Premier League Title hopes alive, Liverpool capitalized. Naby Keita found a wide open Sadio Mane down in the box after Pedro Pereira had got lost marking him. Easily and cleanly he buried a shot right past Axel Werner. Crystal Palace went down kicking and screaming away from home, but they could never find an equalizer. 2-1 Liverpool. It's a devastating defeat away from home that effectively puts an end to any chance we had at the Premier League title. Then again, many would argue we blew that with the home draw against Stoke City. Plus, what are the odds that Chelsea were gonna drop points to West Ham anyway? If it's any consolation, Spurs ALSO lost to Everton 1-2 so they BOTTLED IT EVEN HARDER THAN US!

(Match #38 of PL) vs Aston Villa: Manchester United are now 2nd place in the Premier League with 73 points, Chelsea are first with 76. Spurs are ahead of us with 71 as we too have 71 but they have a better goal differential by +2. In order for United to pull off the impossible and win the title, they would need to have Chelsea lose to West Ham, beat Liverpool, and THEN have the current +9 differential between their two points(40 to 31) closed in such a way that United could surpass them. Not gonna happen. We hope Spurs lose to Arsenal in their final home match. Let's just give our supporters something to cheer about in our final match of one hell of an up and down campaign, please. Yohan Cabaye will be starting in his farewell match so let's give him a proper sendoff! Ahh.... this has gotta be a joke... Cabaye got HURT in the 2nd minute of this match thanks to a challenge made by Jack Grealish. So that wasn't too great. Still, Palace did net the first goal courtesy of Ismaïla Sarr in the 29th minute, and Cabaye was able to continue playing. Zaha scored a goal in the 50th, as did Kim Seung Joon for the opposing team. Cabaye was subbed off so he could get a proper ovation by the supporters and he was damn near in tears at the sight of it all. Zaha added a 2nd for a brace in the 86th minute as Crystal Palace ended their season on a high note, 3-1 victory for the Eagles! OH and news is just coming in on the other results! Spurs BOTTLED it against Arsenal and lost 0-2 so we finish over them! Chelsea took care of West Ham, and finally United drew with Liverpool so they finished 2nd on goal difference, ultimately we finish 3rd!

[Number999]

2018/2019 Crystal Palace ~ Seasonal Recap

Premier League: 3rd
Europa League: Round of 32
FA Cup: Round 3
League Cup: Winners

Recap: It's funny how one season raising expectations can lead to a wildly different viewpoint of how the following season is perceived. A year ago, all of Lucien LeClair's efforts were devoted to the Premier League with minor dedication to the other league cups. Going from 14th to 6th was an outstanding achievement and got LeClair widespread praise for leading Crystal Palace to a Europa League position. Now, some would argue that despite winning the League Cup, he faltered in Europa League by being arguably the 2nd best team in English football and falling to a below-top-tier French side in Marseille, as well as bottling a chance at the title that Tottenham also squandered. Still, there are those defending LeClair in the media stating that it's not like Palace would be anywhere close to these feats without LeClair. You can't want him out and tear him to shreds because of mistakes he made in his 2nd season of managing. By all normal metrics, this was a phenomenal season for Crystal Palace that will go down in the history books. Appreciate that, and know that even for LeClair this is far from the peak which he hopes to achieve.

League Cup: Last season, Crystal Palace exited the Carabao Cup in Round #3 with an exit to Chelsea in a match that wasn't much of a contest. This season, they played Gillingham in Round #2 and survived against them in extra time, and then they went right back in Round #3 and played Brentford and won 3-1 which meant they advanced to the Round of 16. By comparison, United this year had to play Chelsea in Round #3 and lost, so that should give you a bit of perspective on who they had to face. In the Round of 16, Palace survived a contest against bottom of the Championship Blackburn Rovers, 3-2 and then they had to face the big boys. Chelsea in the Quarter-Finals was far from an easy matchup, yet they won 2-0. Then in the Semi-Finals they had to face by far the toughest club remaining in Liverpool, they lost the opening leg 1-2 but fought back thanks to a Christian Benteke hat-trick in the 2nd leg along with a late winner to win 3-1. In the Final, they took down Watford to win their first ever real piece of silverware with Lucien LeClair at the helm. It's not exactly the Premier League or Champions League title, but it's pretty damn swanky to say this is Crystal Palace's first legitimate piece of silverware since... 1991? Yeah, pretty nice indeed.

FA Cup: A year ago, Crystal Palace saw themselves fly all the way to the Quarter-Finals before befalling to the hands of Manchester United. Truthfully, it's not the worst way to go out considering United won the league title and FA Cup that season as well as finishing Runner-Ups in the Champions League Final. How did the tournament go this year for Crystal Palace? They quite simply didn't make it a priority. In the first round they played which was Round #3, they got defeated by Arsenal who were playing at home by a scoreline of 2-1. We just didn't make the tournament much of a priority considering at the time we were still in the League Cup, had Europa League to deal with, and were amongst the tops of the whole Premier League. Arsenal at the time were also struggling greatly so while there was a slight chance we could advance based on that, it just didn't happen. If it's any consolation, Arsenal lost in the very next round to Manchester United so it was doubtful we woulda made it very far anyway. In the FA Cup Final is Manchester United and Spurs, but we'll cover the winner of that one in a bit.

Europa League: Easily the tournament that leaves Lucien LeClair the most tortured and heart-broken. LeClair went in to all of this expecting this to be his clubs first big splash on an international stage. Hell, the board demanded a SEMI-FINALS appearance from LeClair. That's asking for a lot considering the competition, but the board believed so devoutly in the talent he had brought in that it was feasible. Crystal Palace ended up in Group A, where they had to face FC Basel, FC Krasnodar, and Aalborg BK. Not the easiest group, but it certainly wasn't like there was a giant we couldn't compete with. We opened up with a big win vs Basel in front of our home fans, and then blew it a bit with a draw to Aalborg, and a loss to FC Krasnodar. Thankfully we bounced back by thrashing Aalborg BK 4-0 in our how match, and also defeating FC Basel in a nail-biter in Switzerland to clinch our advancements to the Knockout Stage. We could not the best of them in Match #6 and thus finished Runners-Up in the group, a result that would prove costly since they got to play Feyenoord while we had to play Marseille. In the opening home leg vs Marseille, we were CLEARLY not aggessive enough and it finished a 0-0 draw, we needed at least on goal, and we didn't get it. In the 2nd leg in France, Marseille played yet another defensive match but they got a goal off of a penalty and that was that. We were out of the Europa League before things really got exciting. Damn. Something to build on for next year but... oh wait... we didn't make the Europa League!

Premier League: Because we ended up finishing 3rd in the Premier League which means we qualify for the Champions League! Yeah, so right away you look at a club jumping from 6th in the league a year ago to 3rd you'd say that's some pretty damn solid improvement. Inevitably, there will be the claims that we blew it by getting those back-to-back draws vs Arsenal and Stoke City at the end as well as that away loss to Liverpool, but what can you do? Those are all respectable sides. We got the 3 points against Aston Villa, Swansea City, and Wolverhampton. Chelsea just got on a ridiculous hot-streak that neither us or Spurs could keep pace with. They didn't lose a match in the Premier League from April 2nd and onwards. They beat everybody else the rest of the way. I think it's fair to wonder if we could have done a little bit better, but even switching that Stoke City result wouldn't have been enough. If you wanna blame anybody, blame Spurs. They were on top for basically the ENTIRE season and then they stumbled at the end and pathetically finished in 4th place, behind even us! At the end of the day, Crystal Palace tie(and arguably surpass) their best ever finish in the top flight of English Football. You could even argue we're second since we finished with the same number of points as Manchester United. We give props to Chelsea for their ridiculous run, while also acknowledging we got here in this sort of level of contention one year earlier than we expected. Now next season? We're gonna be gunning for this title HARD.

Crystal Palace 2018/2019 Matches:

Spoiler

July 2018:
(Pre-Season) vs SC Braga (W 4-1)
(Pre-Season) vs RC Deportivo (W 2-1) (PLAYED)
(Pre-Season) vs Sporting CP (W 3-0)
(Pre-Season) vs Deportivo Alaves (W 3-1) (PLAYED)
(Pre-Season) vs SC Braga (W 2-1, Final)

August 2018:
(EPL) vs Arsenal (W 2-0) (PLAYED)
(EPL) @ Swansea City (W 2-1) (PLAYED)
(Cup) @ Gillingham (W 2-1)

September 2018:
(EPL) vs West Ham (D 2-2)
(EPL) @ Aston Villa (W 3-0) (PLAYED)
(Europa) vs FC Basel (W 3-2) (PLAYED)
(EPL) vs Leicester City (D 1-1)
(Cup) vs Brentford (W 3-1)
(EPL) @ Cardiff City (D 2-2)

October 2018:
(Europa) @ Aalborg BK (D 1-1)
(EPL) vs Burnley (W 2-1)
(EPL) @ Manchester United (W 1-0) (PLAYED)
(Europa) vs FC Krasnodar (L 1-2)
(EPL) vs Everton (D 3-3) (PLAYED)
(Cup) @ Blackburn (W 3-2)

November 2018:
(EPL) @ Watford (W 1-0)
(Europa) vs Aalborg BK (W 4-0)
(EPL) vs Wolverhampton (L 1-2)
(EPL) vs Liverpool (W 2-1) (PLAYED)
(Europa) @ FC Basel (W 1-0) (PLAYED)

December 2018:
(EPL) @ Chelsea (L 1-4)
(Cup) @ Chelsea (W 2-0) (PLAYED)
(EPL) vs Huddersfield (W 2-1)
(Europa) @ FC Krasnodar (D 2-2)
(EPL) @ Tottenham (W 2-1) (PLAYED)
(EPL) vs Manchester City (W 4-1)
(EPL) @ Southampton (W 2-1)
(EPL) vs West Brom (L 0-1)

January 2019:
(EPL) @ Stoke City (D 1-1)
(EPL) @ West Ham (D 1-1)
(FA) @ Arsenal (L 1-2)
(Cup) @ Liverpool (L 1-2)
(EPL) @ West Brom (W 4-0)
(EPL) vs Southampton (D 1-1)
(Cup) vs Liverpool (W 3-1) (PLAYED)

February 2019:
(EPL) @ Huddersfield (W 2-1)
(EPL) vs Chelsea (W 2-1) (PLAYED)
(EPL) @ Manchester City (L 1-2)
(Europa) vs Marseille (D 0-0) (PLAYED)
(Europa) @ Marseille (L 0-1)

March 2019:
(Cup) vs Watford (W 3-1, Final) (PLAYED)
(EPL) vs Tottenham (W 1-0)
(EPL) vs Manchester United (L 1-3) (PLAYED)
(EPL) @ Burnley (D 1-1)

April 2019:
(EPL) vs Watford (D 2-2)
(EPL) @ Everton (W 2-0) (PLAYED)
(EPL) vs Cardiff City (W 1-0)
(EPL) @ Leicester City (W 3-1) (PLAYED)

May 2019:
(EPL) @ Wolverhampton (W 2-1)
(EPL) vs Swansea City (W 2-0)
(EPL) @ Arsenal (D 1-1) (PLAYED)
(EPL) vs Stoke City (D 0-0)
(EPL) @ Liverpool (L 1-2) (PLAYED)
(EPL) vs Aston Villa (W 3-1)

[Number999]

2018/2019 Crystal Palace ~ Player Stats & Attributes

The 2018/2019 Premier League Season as well as Crystal Palace's all other competitions have come to an end. After having broken down the season and seeing how we've done, it is now time to turn around and look at how each individual produced for us. Below, we have various color barometers that give my own individual take on top of their overall, how much they've either increased or decreased, and finally their stats which provide on paper what they did on the pitch this season. Some names may be surprising, or may feature players that did better statistically yet got a worse grade from me, and that can be impacted by the fact of how much I expected a player to produce. If I make a huge signing expecting how to change the face of our midfield, and he produces the same number of assists as another other guy, he's going to get a worse rating because I believed I was buying an improvement, not a lateral move. So that's really all there is to it, let's get into the stats and find our who saw the most growth on top of everything else!

Green = Great performance this year.
Navy = Above average performance this year.
Black = Average performance this year.
Dark Red = Below average performance this year.
Red = Awful performance this year.

Goalkeepers:
Axel Werner (78 OVR | +2 increase), 59 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 14 clean sheets, 6.70 rating
Godwin Lawal (58 OVR | +3 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Dion-Curtis Henry (57 OVR | +2 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Kingsley Dosou (54 OVR | +5 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Denis Nwapa (54 OVR | +0 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
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Left Backs:
Jeffrey Schlupp (75 OVR | +1 increase), 51 games, 0 goals, 2 assists, 11 clean sheets, 6.90 rating
Fernando Braga (65 OVR | +4 increase), 6 games, 1 goal, 0 assists, 2 clean sheets, 7.50 rating
Antoine Paillard (55 OVR | +2 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
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Right Backs:
Ryan Sessegnon (75 OVR | +3 increase), 40 games, 2 goals, 1 assist, 9 clean sheets, 6.90 rating
Pedro Pereira (73 OVR | +2 increase), 27 games, 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 clean sheets, 6.80 rating
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Center Backs:
Diego Reyes (79 OVR | +1 increase), 34 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 9 clean sheets, 6.60 rating
Mamadou Sakho (82 OVR | +0 increase), 29 games, 1 goal, 0 assists, 6 clean sheets, 6.80 rating
Juan Foyth (75 OVR | +5 increase), 22 games, 0 goals, 1 assist, 6 clean sheets, 6.60 rating
Issa Diop (80 OVR | +1 increase), 21 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 4 clean sheets, 7.00 rating
Paweł Dawidowicz (71 OVR | +2 increase), 5 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 6.20 rating
Jarosław Jach (70 OVR | +1 increase), 3 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 6.30 rating
Samuel Bada (70 OVR | +7 increase), 1 game, 0 goals, 0 assists, 1 clean sheet, 8.50 rating
Moses Ojomoh (65 OVR | +3 increase), 1 game, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 4.90 rating
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Center Defensive Midfielders:
Jaïro Riedewald (80 OVR | +1 increase), 30 games, 0 goals, 2 assists, 5 clean sheets, 6.70 rating
Luka Milivojevic (79 OVR | +1 increase), 34 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 10 clean sheets, 6.90 rating
Austen Mamoepa (53 OVR | +0 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
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Center Midfielders:
Yves Bissouma (83 OVR | +2 increase), 54 games, 17 goals, 10 assists, 10 clean sheets, 7.20 rating
Yohan Cabaye (75 OVR | -2 decrease), 17 games, 0 goals, 4 assists, 1 clean sheet, 7.00 rating
Erdal Rakip (75 OVR | +2 increase), 10 games, 0 goals, 2 assists, 1 clean sheet, 7.20 rating
Jean Lazare Amani (73 OVR | +0 increase), 5 games, 2 goals, 0 assists, 1 clean sheet, 8.10 rating
+Luke Dreher (65 OVR | +3 increase), 2 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 5.30 rating
+Jordan Mutch (69 OVR | +0 increase), 1 game, 0 goals, 1 assist, 0 clean sheets, 6.70 rating
Stephane Alphand (61 OVR | +0 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Godwin Okoye (55 OVR | +4 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Simon Ekoku (51 OVR | +7 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
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Left Midfielders/Attackers:
Ismaïla Sarr (82 OVR | +6 increase), 38 games, 11 goals, 7 assists, 6 clean sheets, 7.10 rating
Andros Townsend (79 OVR | +0 increase), 28 games, 2 goals, 1 assist, 4 clean sheets, 6.70 rating
Levi Lumeka (60 OVR | +3 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Kingsley Adekune (55 OVR | +5 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
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Right Midfielders/Attackers:
Wilfried Zaha (85 OVR | +1 increase), 47 games, 18 goals, 10 assists, 11 clean sheets, 7.20 rating
Samuel Grandsir (81 OVR | +4 increase), 40 games, 13 goals, 4 assists, 7 clean sheets, 7.00 rating
Gabrielzinho (71 OVR | +1 increase), 6 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 5.90 rating
+Sada Thoub (66 OVR | +1 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Ezekiel Dosou (61 OVR | +0 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Camilo Paulino (60 OVR | +2 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Jason Lokilo (60 OVR | +1 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
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Center Attacking Midfielder:
+Nya Kirby (65 OVR | +4 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Ulrich Bapoh (63 OVR | +1 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
Arnaud Cartier (61 OVR | +3 increase), 0 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 clean sheets, 0.00 rating
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Strikers:
Christian Benteke (81 OVR | +0 increase), 48 games, 13 goals, 8 assists, 12 clean sheets, 7.20 rating
Alexander Sørloth (80 OVR | +1 increase), 47 games, 16 goals, 9 assists, 13 clean sheets, 7.50 rating
Ben Brereton (81 OVR | +10 increase), 37 games, 9 goals, 4 assists, 6 clean sheets, 6.90 rating
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Those are all of the 2018/2019 Crystal Palace individual player stats.

So let's start from the defense and work our way on up. You have to give credit to Axel Werner who managed every game in goal for us this season without ever getting too gassed. The 23-year old Argentinian has been an admirable performer for us, and a steal of a purchase from Atletico Madrid. Though there is some belief Lucien LeClair could eventually look to upgrade. In at right back, we had to deal with a fair amount of injuries that both Sessegnon and Pereira had to deal with, but they each recovered nicely. I'm quite happy with both of their efforts personally. Center back was a mess this year for us because of the sheer amount of injuries. Diego Reyes was adequate his first season here, but nothing special. When Sakho was healthy pre-injury, he was outstanding. Juan Foyth did a decent job of stepping in and Issa Diop fulfilled his role, but none of them blew me out of the water. Dawidowicz received below average from me because him and Foyth were supposed to be equals, yet they're not even in the same class now. One man to of course keep an eye on moving forward is Samuel Bada, he grew greatly and has potential superstar status as well as the fact he's a tank of Nigerian standing in at 6'7" at just 18-years old! I also want to give a brief nod to Jeffrey Schlupp. He is one of a few players from the old Crystal Palace who has really been appreciated by LeClair for his tenacity and effort, there's a reason he made the 3rd most appearances out of any player at our entire club this season.

In the midfield in defense, both Riedewald and Milivojevic were impressive. Riedewald continues to see growth in his ability and while he made less appearances, that was in large part due to the fact that he was injured. Milivojevic also deserves credit because he was apart of an unusually high amount of clean sheets despite lesser appearances. But at the end of the day... we have to give a nod to our MVP for the second consecutive season, Yves Bissouma. 54 matches... it's crazy to think when we made the purchase of him a few seasons ago, that not even LeClair thought he would become THIS. An elite play-making midfielder combined with his defensive prowess? Gobsmacking. Hopefully he continues to blossom under LeClair's tutelage. Elsewhere in the midfield, you had Yohan Cabaye finish his final season with Crystal Palace in limited match appearances, thanks to so many games played by Riedewald and Milivojevic. He still had 4 assists despite all that, maybe we should have played him more. I forgot to mention this earlier, but Erdal Rakip had his $6,700,000 release clause triggered by Huddersfield and he decided not to re-sign since we couldn't offer him an ideal role. He played well, but with the arrival of Jean Thierry Lazare Amani who excelled in his mere 5 appearances, I'm more excited for him than anything else. Also shoutout to Simon Ekoku for having tied-2nd most growth of anybody this season!

Finally, we shift to our attackers. Wilfried Zaha with another season where he leads us in OVR and goals. He's a brilliant player and the face of this entire organization, and I couldn't choose between him and Bissouma. Ismaïla Sarr really grew on me as the season progressed and we saw him shine in specific moments, he'll be the full-time starter for next season almost guaranteed. Samuel Grandsir had a magnificent preseason with 7 goals in 5 matches in the tournament, but didn't really care that all the way into the season with just 6 goals + 3 assists in the remaining 35 matches. Still, he makes for a great rotation 3rd winger. Andros Townsend was HUGELY disappointing, one because he didn't produce well, and two because he's PISSED about how his role has diminished. Reality is, he went from our 2nd best winger when LeClair got here to our 4th best. He's looking to be sold next transfer window, we'll likely comply with his requests. Finally up front at striker you had an interesting decision being me. Christian Benteke was NOT given MVP Status, he did suffer an injury that kept him out of the Europa League competition and you saw how much that hurt us. But I felt like Sarr earned being up here over him. Alexander Sørloth produced a better match rating, more goals, and more assists. Ben Brereton is our Best Grower with a ridiculous +10 to his overall, I'm not sure how much longer he's gonna be happy with his rotation off the bench role rotating but we'll wait and see with him. the one argument I'd be willing to hear out is that Benteke scored a hat-trick in 2nd leg of Semi-Finals vs Liverpool, and then Brereton scored 2 in the Final when Benteke was out... that was our one piece of silverware, what did Sørloth do? Fair argument.

[Number999]

Top Scorers, Assists, and Clean Sheets in 2018/2019

This will be a total overlook and review of the domestic trophies in England, including the Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup known now as the Carabao Cup. In here we'll be able to look at each tournament individually and see how things played out, as well as how individuals fared. For example, this season we can that there was a bit of a shocker for who won the Golden Boot with it being Manchester City's Leroy Sane! It's kind of a stunner due to the fact that Man City were genuinely awful by their standards, and yet without Sane it's kind of scary to imagine where they could have fallen. Anyway, getting off-track, here are the statistics and results of all domestic affairs below!

English Premier League:
English Premier League Winner: Chelsea
English Premier League Runner-Up: Manchester United
Top Goal Scorer of the EPL: Leroy Sane (22, Manchester City)
Top Assist-Man of the EPL: Eden Hazard (8, Chelsea)
Most Clean Sheets in the EPL: David de Gea (12, Manchester United)
Most Yellow Cards in the EPL: Ruben Neves (7, Wolverhampton)
Most Red Cards in the EPL: Erik Pieters (2, Stoke City)
Below are the Top 10's of the other statistics:

Spoiler

Full League Picture:

Top Goal-Scorers:
#1. Leroy Sane (22, Manchester City)
#2. Eden Hazard (19, Chelsea)
#3. Heung Min Son (17, Spurs)
#4. Roberto Pereyra (15, Watford)
#5. Sadio Mane (15, Liverpool)
#6. Wilfried Zaha (14, Crystal Palace)
#7. Jesse Lingard (13, Manchester United)
#8. Mohamed Salah (12, Liverpool)
#9. Dele Alli (12, Spurs)
#10. Yves Bissouma (12, Crystal Palace)

Top Assist-Men:
#1. Eden Hazard (8, Chelsea)
#2. Chris Wood (8, Burnley)
#3. Wilfried Zaha (8, Crystal Palace)
#4. Manuel Lanzini (7, West Ham)
#5. Kevin de Bruyne (7, Manchester City)
#6. Gabriel Jesus (7, Manchester City)
#7. Yves Bissouma (7, Crystal Palace)
#8. Andy Carroll (6, West Ham)
#9. Mohamed Salah (6, Liverpool)
#10. Saido Berahino (6, Stoke City)

Top Clean-Sheet Men:
#1. David de Gea (12, Manchester United)
#2. Kasper Schmeichel (11, Leicester City)
#3. Thibaut Courtois (11, Chelsea)
#4. Fraser Forster (10, Southampton)
#5. Pau Lopez (10, Watford)
#6. Hugo Lloris (9, Spurs)
#7. Adrian (9, West Ham)
#8. Axel Werner (9, Crystal Palace)
#9. Tom Heaton (8, Burnley)
#10. Loris Karius (8, Liverpool)

The Emirates FA Cup:
Emirates FA Cup Winner: Manchester United
Emirates FA Cup Runner-Up: Spurs
Top Goal Scorer of the FA Cup: Eden Hazard (5, Chelsea)
Top Assist-Man of the FA Cup: Igor Vetokele (3, Charlton Athletic)
Most Clean Sheets in the FA Cup: Hugo Lloris (3, Spurs)
Most Yellow Cards in the FA Cup: Laurent Koscielny (2, Arsenal)
Most Red Cards in the FA Cup: Idrissa Gueye (1, Everton)
Below are the Top 10's of the other statistics:

Spoiler

Full Tournament Picture:

Top Goal-Scorers:
#1. Eden Hazard (5, Chelsea)
#2. Martin Braithwaite (4, Middlesbrough)
#3. Harry Kane (4, Spurs)
#4. Mikael Mandron (4, Colchester United)
#5. Gaëtan Laborde (4, Stoke City)
#6. Adam Le Fondre (3, Bolton)
#7. Chris Dagnall (3, Crewe Alexandra)
#8. Christian Eriksen (3, Spurs)
#9. Romelu Lukaku (3, Manchester United)
#10. Heung Min Son (3, Spurs)

Top Assist-Men:
#1. Igor Vetokele (3, Charlton Athletic)
#2. Jack Marriott (3, Peteborough)
#3. John Mousinho (2, Oxford United)
#4. Jonathan Kodjia (2, Aston Villa)
#5. Xherdan Shaqiri (2, Stoke City)
#6. Josh McEachran (2, Brentford)
#7. Saido Berahino (2, Stoke City)
#8. Mikael Mandron (2, Colchester United)
#9. Kurtis Guthrie (2, Colchester United)
#10. Dele Alli (2, Spurs)

Top Clean-Sheet Men:
#1. Hugo Lloris (3, Spurs)
#2. Robbin Ruiter (3, Sunderland)
#3. John Ruddy (2, Wolverhampton)
#4. Darren Randolph (2, Middlesbrough)
#5. Thibaut Courtois (2, Chelsea)
#6. David de Gea (2, Manchester United)
#7. Liam O'Brien (2, Coventry City)
#8. Jack Butland (2, Stoke City)
#9. Loris Karius (2, Liverpool)
#10. Simon Mignolet (1, Liverpool)

The League Cup:
Capital One Cup Winner: Crystal Palace
Capital One Cup Runner-Up: Watford
Top Goal Scorer of the Cup Cup: Alexander Sørloth (4, Crystal Palace)
Top Assist-Man of the Cup: Conor McAleny (5, Fleetwood Town)
Most Clean Sheets in the Cup: Adam Smith (3, Bristol Rovers)
Most Yellow Cards in the Cup: Moritz Bauer (2, Stoke City)
Most Red Cards in the Cup: Jamie Vardy (1, Leicester City)
Below are the Top 10's of the other statistics:

Spoiler

Full Tournament Picture

Top Goal-Scorers:
#1. Alexander Sørloth (4, Crystal Palace)
#2. Roberto Pereyra (4, Watford)
#3. Christian Benteke (3, Crystal Palace)
#4. Wilfried Zaha (3, Crystal Palace)
#5. Xhedran Shaqiri (3, Stoke City)
#6. Pablo Chavarria (3, Brentford)
#7. Benik Afobe (3, AFC Bouremouth)
#8. Sadio Mane (3, Liverpool)
#9. Mohamed Salah (3, Liverpool)
#10. Ellis Harrison (3, Bristol Rovers)

Top Assist-Men:
#1. Conor McAleny (5, Fleetwood Town)
#2. Jermaine Defoe (2, AFC Bournemouth)
#3. Wayne Rooney (2, Everton)
#4. Christian Benteke (2, Crystal Palace)
#5. Wilfried Zaha (2, Crystal Palace)
#6. Samuel Grandsir (2, Crystal Palace)
#7. Ismaïla Sarr (2, Crystal Palace)
#8. Marvin Zeegelaar (2, Watford)
#9. Abdoulaye Doucouré (2, Watford)
#10. Mame Diouf (2, AFC Bournemouth)

Top Clean-Sheet Men:
#1. Adam Smith (3, Bristol Rovers)
#2. Lee Burge (2, Coventry City)
#3. Jordan Pickford (2, Everton)
#4. Pau Lopez (2, Watford)
#5. Heurelho Gomes (1, Watford)
#6. Eduardo Carvalho (1, Chelsea)
#7. Asmir Begovic (1, AFC Bournemouth)
#8. Thibaut Courtois (1, Chelsea)
#9. Jack Butland (1, Stoke City)
#10. Loris Karius (1, Liverpool)

Recap: Let's start at the very top... Spurs/Crystal Palace blew their chance at a Premier League Title. Chelsea meanwhile never stopped winning and stole it from right beneath their noses. Spurs ended their season with losses to Southampton, Manchester City, Everton, and Arsenal. They didn't take a single point from those possible twelve, that's just downright ridiculous. Bottlers. In terms of stats, it was fascinating to see how well Leroy Sane did. It's crazy to me that Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City were all outside of the mix while both Palace and Watford finished in the Top 5. Over in the FA Cup you had Manchester United defend their reign, now winning back-to-back FA Cups last season defeating Ipswich Town and this season taking down Spurs. Well done by them, and also well done by Igor Vetokele who had an outstanding tournament. Finally in the League Cup you had a non-giant winning in the form of Crystal Palace! A final that featured Watford, our guys really did a number on the tournament and it was fantastic to see us take home a trophy. But now it's time to check out what happened in the other 4 leagues! Let's find out who came out on top in La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1!