Your Football Career - Roleplaying game #2 (Azzini's perspective)

My career in YFC

Here's a new series from my keyboard! I'm going to blog about my player and this career in the Your Football Career role playing game. My player's name is Antonio Azzini. He is a 35 year old striker who's currently on a loan at the Greek club Episkopi FC managed by Jeffrey Bertelsen who managed to get Episkopi back in the best league in YFC after they having a hard time with different managers over the years. Azzini is actually bound on a contract with his favorite club, Juve Caserta who's an Italian club that have made some great results in the league. But over the years they haven't been able to play at a level that would get them back in their former position as the strongest team in the league.

Azzini hasn't been able to get enough time on the pitch at his position as a striker and therefore he was seeking out on a loan deal for a club that would give him that. Episkopi was able and willing to give him what he wanted.

At the moment Episkopi are placed fourth in the league after a 3-1 win against Ultimatum who's their direct opponent in getting the fourth place. Azzini scored and assisted in that match and became man of the match. Actually Azzini have been playing really well after getting to play regularly. 

With such a great half of a season up until now Azzini has got lot of stuff to think about for the next season. He's still on a contract with Juve Caserta where it all started for him bum Azzini would like to keep playing and not sit on the bench. So will he be staying or will he be seeking another last transfer deal before retiring?

We will see!

- Balslev

If you find it interesting then you can join the game, just follow the link below:

Your Football Career 

EL: Liverpool vs Sevilla

The great finale!

Now it's finally time for this great match! My favorite team, Liverpool FC is back in a European final fighting for a rare trophy taking Liverpool's last many years in thought. I will try to write this thought's of the match as neutral as possible but I will admit that it's going to be hard. 

Jordan Henderson was playing again after his injury - in the match against West Brom. He could pretty much be the most important player on the pitch besides Emre Can who was incredible in the match against Villarreal - completely destroying his opponents on the midfield. 

I'm going to write mostly about my thought's on Liverpool's starting 11 and how I see the result could be.

Liverpool has been resting their star players keeping the ready for this important match which can make this season a great one indeed! Therefore I'm pretty sure we will see a team well rested before this match - ready to give it everything they've got.

I'm a hundred percent sure that Mignolet will be the one playing as our goalkeeper. He has been playing pretty much every match and he is the best keeper we've got at the moment.. sad but true. 

On the right back we will find Nathaniel Clyne who's just been chosen to his national squad. He's probably the best right back in the league at least in the top three. 

On the left side we will find Moreno who's been incredible offensive but has lacked some level in the defense although he's getting better.

I pretty sure we will be finding Kolo Toure and Dejan Lovren in the defense. They've both been doing great lately. The complement each other so great on the pitch. Kolo showing us his second youth. 

In the midfield I think we will find Jordan Henderson, Emre Can, James Milner, Coutinho and Lallana. A really powerful midfield. This might be the most important part of our squad considering the pressure we would like to put on Sevilla. 

In front we will see either Sturridge, Origi or Firmino. Which one I really can't say. 

Firmino might be the outsider this time because of the midfield we can play with.

Origi would be playing for sure if he was more fit - for now I cant imagine he will start the match and therefore Sturridge might the one.

With that conclusion this will be the team I think Jurgen Klopp will be sending on the pitch from start:

Mignolet

Clyne - Lovren - Toure - Moreno

Can - Henderson

Milner - Lallana - Coutinho

Sturridge

This match can go both ways. If Sevilla can play through Liverpool's pressure then they will be deathly with especially Kevin Gameiro as their striker. 

But if Liverpool manage to intercept Sevilla's attacks and pressure them back on their half they will be able to destroy Sevilla.

My quess to a result will be 3-1 for Liverpool. They have been doing great in the biggest matches and when they get to play the way they want - they are fantastic!

England 26 man squad - who will be removed?

National squad - England


 Roy Hodgson, the manager of England's national squad has chosen the 26 man squad where three players will be discarded. Who will be the three? Here's my opinion on both the three who will be discarded but also the overall strength of the squad.

First of all I will be looking at the goalkeepers.
It's clear to everyone that Joe Hart will be one of the first players who will be sat on the pitch. He's the best keeper they have and also one of the best in the world when he's on top of his game.
Fraser and Tom will be two fine substitutes. None of these will be discarded.

 Goalkeepers

Joe Hart

Fraser Forster

Tom Heaton 

On the backs we find some great players all over. Clyne and Walker will be fighting hard to be the man that will play. They are both really great and have been playing a great part in their clubs season.

On the left side we find Ryan Bertrand and Danny Rose. I think Danny Rose is better than Ryan and would, if it was me, be the one playing. None of these will be discarded.

Backs

Nathaniel Clyne

Kyle Walker

Ryan Bertrand

Danny Rose

The defenders in the team are as any other we've been through at this point found in the Premier League. Gary Cahill is the most experienced of the four and therefor I think he will be playing a big part for England. By his side I think we will find Smalling who's been doing great for Manchester United in this season. John Stones and Eric Dier are both great but will be found the weakest.  None of these will be discarded.

Defenders

Gary Cahill

Chris Smalling

John Stones

Eric Dier

Now for the midfielders. Here we will find the first players I think will be discarded from the final squad. It's overall some great players. This is the place where we will find a lot of hard work from the players to be chosen in the starting line up. I've had some hard times finding out who will be discarded but I've come to the conclusion that Fabian Delph will be discarded. He hasn't been playing well and is in my opinion one of the weakest links in this squad. 

Jack Wilshere will be the next player that will be discarded. He hasn't been playing much because on injury problems. The other players in the squad has been playing continuously which give them a big advantage.   

Midfielders

Dele Alli

Ross Barkley

Fabian Delph

Danny Drinkwater

Jordan Henderson

Adam Lallana

James Milner

Raheem Sterling

Andros Townsend

Jack Wilshere

And at last but not least it's time for the strikers. Here we will find the last player who will be discarded. Harry Kane is of course part of this squad. He is alongside Vardy the most dangerous striker in Premier League. Kane and Vardy has had a fantastic season! Rooney will always be a part of a squad like this while he is just in a fine shape only because of his name and influence. 

Daniel Sturridge is synonym with goals. He can make a goal out of nothing which makes him a fantastic player and of cause gives him a spot in this squad.

Rashford might be a brilliant talent and have been doing great for Manchester United but it's really overkill giving him a spot in this squad. He is not as great at the other players and he would be taking up a spot from a better player despite his great talent. 

Strikers

Harry Kane

Marcus Rashford

Wayne Rooney

Daniel Sturridge

Jamie Vardy

Overall it's a fantastic squad Roy Hodgson is about to take with him!

If they can reach a level where their way of playing is at it's top they can get really far in the tournament! They have got everything but a targetman in this squad which gives them many good possibilities. 

They will be one of my favorites. 

- Balslev

FM16 #9 (LFC)

Keeping up the good results! #9 

Many things have happened since last I updated you on this FM blog matter. I've been preparing for my exam which made it difficult to get anything else done. But now I'm back ready to give you all some updates.

Premier League

The first five matches we were going to take part in was against Everton, Watford, Crystal Palace, a though one against Chelsea and then Stoke. 

We have had a great season this far and therefore my expectations was high for us keeping the good results coming. 

Everton 0 - 2 Liverpool (Kane, OG Baines)

Watford 1 - 3 Liverpool (Lallana, Matip, Kane)

Liverpool 2 - 0 Crystal Palace (Coutinho, Kane)

 Liverpool 2 - 1 Chelsea (Kane, Kane)

Liverpool 1 - 1 Stoke (Embolo) 

Some great matches where I got 13 points out of 15 possible. Kane continued being in great shape scoring a lot of goals. Sadly we couldn't keep the row of victories only getting a draw against Stoke. Rossiter did get another red card after 90 minutes against Stoke. We was in front up until 86 minute where Milik scored. 

Next up we had some big matches in front of us. Manchester City at Etihad and Tottenham at White Hart Lane. 

Liverpool 3 - 1 Cardiff (Clyne, Kane, Ojo)

Burnley 0 - 1 Liverpool (Kane)

Manchester City 1 - 2 Liverpool (Silva, Ibe)

 Tottenham 1 - 1 Liverpool (Ibe)

Liverpool 1 - 0 West Brom (Sakho)

Another five great games where we only stumbled a little bit against Spurs only getting one point.  Jordon Ibe scored after 20 minutes but then only six minutes later we gave them a penalty where Son Heung-Min scored. 

Norwich 2 - 2 Liverpool (Kane, Kane)

Liverpool 1 - 1 Newcastle (Coutinho)

Leicester 1 - 2 Liverpool (Firmino, Coutinho)

Sheff Wed 0 - 0 Liverpool

Liverpool 3 - 0 Swansea (Sakho, Kane, Kane)

We only won two of these five matches which wasn't good enough. Especially the lack of points against Sheff Wed disappointed me! Kane had three games without scoring but then got back against Swansea with two great goals!

FA Cup

In the FA Cup we was put up against Huddersfield. A team we had to win against! We played with some reserves but not many. We have had a longer break from matches at this time and therefore I would want them to get some minutes on the pitch. 

We won 3-0 after goals by Coutinho, Firmino and Henderson. Huddersfield couldn't do anything about it and we had a fine match.

Next up we met Norwich at their homeground. After only 12 minutes they were in front 2-0. Jay Rodriguez was outstanding! He scored again after 40 minutes. Milner reducing this one minute later - and Benteke another minute later.

Two minutes later Embolo showed up in front of goal scoring and equalizing! 3-3.

After 73 minutes Wolfswinkel nailed it with a great 4-3 goal and making us loose. 

Champions League

As you know we were put up against Monaco in the Champions League. It was a test for us but a test I was sure that we could manage! We had to move on from this and getting to the next round. 

After four minutes Harry Kane scored and got us the lead. Jordon Ibe with a goal after 27 minutes made this a great game with two awaygoals this early in the game. 

Moutinho reduced after 32 minutes

2-1 was the final result. I was happy with a win and two awaygoals. 

In the return match Harry Kane got injured and was taking of the pitch after a few minutes giving Embolo the chance to play. After 59 minutes the score was 0-0 but then Joe Gomez got sent of the pitch after getting the seond yellow card. Now it got really intense! 

We made some changes playing with Saul in the defense. In the 91 minute Monace finally scored a goal - but that wasn't enough for them and therefore we qualified for the next round!

FM16 #8 (LFC)

First third of the season #8

I've had some mixed results in the friendly matches just like last season. 

The first match where there was something to play for was Euro Super Cup against the winners of Champions League - Juventus. Unfortunately we lost 3-2.

Let's get a recap of the first four matches in the Premier League.

We met Stoke, Burnley, Cardiff and Manchester City. I was playing without Rulli and Emre Can who was playing in the U23 OL.

Stoke 0 - 2 Liverpool (Kane, Ibe)

Liverpool 5 - 0 Burnley (Gomez, Grujic, Kane, Coutinho, Benteke)

Cardiff 0 - 3 Liverpool (Kane, Coutinho, Ibe)

Liverpool 2 - Man City (Kane, Henderson)

So as you can see we started out great in this season - not missing Sturridge as the striker. Kane has been incredible at this point scoring in every match. Ibe has claimed the AMR position as his own. Lallana has had, a hard time finding his level from last season. The same can be said about Firmino who's fighting with Silva about the AMC position.

Next couple of Premier League matches was against West Brom, Tottenham, Norwich, Newcastle and Leicester..

After a fantastic start I hoped for even more points in the coming matches.

West Brom 3 - 2 Liverpool (Kane, Kane)

Liverpool 1 -1 Tottenham (Kane)

Liverpool 2 - 0 Norwich (Kane, Firmino)

Newcastle 1 - 3 Liverpool (Benteke, Benteke, Ibe)

Liverpool 4 - 1 Leicester (Coutinho, Kane, Kane, Kane)

As you can see Kane's been fantastic! The only game he hasn't been scoring in was against Newcastle. But at this point Benteke was complaining about the lack of matches so I played him in front and used Kane as a shadow striker right behind him. 

We lost against West Brom. We just couldn't hold them away from our goal. Tottenham was a hard match in which we got a fair result. 

The last Premier League matches in this update was against Swansea, Sheff Wed, Man Utd, West Ham, Aston Villa and Arsenal.

Swansea 1 - 1 Liverpool (Silva)

Liverpool 3 -1 Sheff Wed (Kane, Kane, Matip)

Liverpool 2 - 1 Man Utd (Matip, Coutinho)

West Ham 1 - 1 Liverpool (Henderson)

Aston Villa 1 - 2 Liverpool (Henderson, Kane)

Liverpool 0 - 0 Arsenal

Champions League Group Stage

I've gotten myself a pretty easy group. I was facing Besiktas, Dortmund and Porto. Dortmund should be the biggest and greatest opponent even though Porto has done well.

Liverpool 0 - 0 Besiktas

Dortmund 1 - 1 Liverpool (Kane)

Porto 0 - 1 Liverpool (Ojo)

 Liverpool 3 - 2 Porto (Kane, Kane, Kane)

Besiktas 2 -1 Liverpool (Benteke)

Liverpool 1 - 0 Dortmund (Coutinho)

Therefore I won my group and was put up against AS Monaco in the 1st Knockout Round.

And now for a little wonder from Kane:

FM16 #7 (LFC)

Transfer window #7

Right from when we was in the winter transfer window when I saw Isco was put on sale I wanted him to join Liverpool. Therefore he was my main priority in this window where I had the money to get him. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one wanting him. Pep Guardiola and City wanted him to giving him a great contract - obviously better than one i offered him because the chose them instead of me.

I still wanted a great AMC but I wasn't willing to pay too much for him. I saw David Silva was put on sale and therefore I did go for him! I bought him for only 12.25 mio pound (Yes I've changed to pound now). Besides him I've got Geronimo Rulli free from Sociedad and also Saúl from Atletico free. Besides them Joël Matip has joined the club.

With those guys on my team I wasn't planning on doing that many changes besides selling some of the players that wasn't about to play.

Andrija Zivkovic was sent on loan to Toulouse so that he could get some matches. I wouldn't be able to give him enough in the next season - especially after seeing that I couldn't give him many games in this season.

Mario Balotelli had returned from Milan but was sold immediately for 19.75 mio pound too Bayern. 

Divock Origi was sent out on a loan again. This time for Leverkusen. I already had Sturridge, Ings and Benteke - so not many games for him. 

I've sold Martin Skrtel after getting Joel Matip. 11 mio pounds was the price. He's leaving for Fiorentina. Lucas Leiva is joining Real Madrid for 17.5 mio pound. Andre Wisdom going to Watford for 3.6 mio pound. Adam Bogdan also sold to Watford for 4 mio pound. 

Last of these expected sales was Luis Alberto who's going to Celta for 6.75 mio pounds.

Now for something that I wasn't planning on doing. I hoped for them both to be a this club but after bids from other clubs both of them told me that they wanted to leave so that they could win the Champions League which they didn't think was possible at Liverpool.

First of Daniel Sturridge was sold for 33 mio pounds to Bayern. Then Lazar Markovic was sold to Bayern for 20 mio pounds and 20% of the next sale. 

Now I needed to get a new striker to close the gap after loosing Sturridge. I was now going for either Icardi or Harry Kane. At the end I ended up with Kane for 31 mio pounds.
Beside him I bought Embolo for 11.25 mio pounds. I'm expecting to loan him to a club so that he can play a lot of matches.

The squad then looked like this:

Liverpool vs Villarreal

It's time for the second leg of the semifinal between Liverpool FC and Villarreal.
The first match was pretty close so there shouldn't have been a winner, but there was and that winner was Villarreal who scored a late goal after a fantastic contra! Liverpool had the most chances and kept Villarreal away from their goal up until the 90th minute where Villarreal finally got what they came for - the victory.

It was a pretty even match as I said. Both teams played only not to lose it. We saw two nervous teams playing against each other. Liverpool played without Sturridge at the top - instead they played Firmino who's better in the defense and more willing to run both ways.
Villarreal played with a more structured midfield and not that creative. It was clear to see that both teams wanted to go away from the match with the hope of still being able to qualify for next round. Sad, but true.

Villarreal have just beaten Valencia as a warm up before this clash. Liverpool have just lost to Swansea.. So all signs are saying that Villarreal is in a better shape right now and might take this.
On the other hand we've seen Liverpool came back from worse in this season - just taking a look at the famous match against Dortmund shows a sign of something great going on in the city of Beatles.

I'm still betting my money on a win for Liverpool. They have what's needed to do this. On their best days they can destroy any team in the world - but at a bad day they will have a hard time against most opponents. Their lack of stability still shows and that might be deciding.

My guess is that Liverpool will win this match and go to the final. Who they will be put up against? Read my other post about Sevilla vs Shakhtar.

- Balslev

FM16 #6 (LFC)

The top is much better than the bottom, so much better #6

With only one month left of the season the race was intensified. I had West Ham away in my next match and I knew that with a win I was almost guarantied Champions League next season. Unfortunately we lost 3-2 even though Ibe was fighting the best he could the two goals he scored wasn't enough. Emmenike destroyed our defense. 

Next up was Manchester United in the second leg in the Europe League. Jesse Lingaard scored right before the half time forcing us to score if we wanted to qualify for next round. Ibe did score only three minutes after half time making it 1-1 which was the final result! Now we could look forward to playing the final against Dortmund! 

With a win in the next Premier League match i was home safe and sure too get the fourth place. We met Southampton. After some crazy minutes it was 2-2 after 20 minutes. Emre scored after 30 and Joe with a goal after 81. Sadio Mané made it exciting after 85 minutes. But we won. 4-3. Our main goal of the season was achieved. 

The next two matches I was hoping to win so that we could challenge the third place but we lost both of them to Crystal Palace and Leicester.

The league table: 

In the next season Sheff Wed, Cardiff and Burnley will be playing in the Premier League.

With those matches we wasn't in the best shape before meeting Dortmund in the final.

None the less we needed to play the game! 

The line ups looked like this:

The result looked like this:

A great win made this season perfect! Now we needed to prepare for the next season!

Sevilla vs Shakhtar

Their first match was exciting! We got four goals! Sevilla therefore got two away goals which gives them a huge advantage! They will now be able to just stand and wait for Shakhtar to do something wrong, and make mistakes on the pitch and then they can take advantage of it.

Shakhtar might be the best of these two teams but Sevilla do has something great going on these last couple of years in this tournament! If someone knows how to win it - it's Sevilla.

It's going to be an interesting match with a lot of goals in Sevilla - I'm quiet sure of it actually. Shakhtar will be forced to get a away goal and Sevilla will do anything to stop them and therefore we can expect them to place a lot of players in front of their own goal and counter Shakhtar!

Considering everything I think that we will see Sevilla get a win at home and will therefore be able to buy the ticket to the final. They're just to good to throw this away at this point and we will see them for another time in the final playing for the win!

- Balslev

FM16 #5 (LFC)

Bye bye FA, hello Champions League?? #5

Now it's time for another update. I've been playing lots of matches in different tournaments. We started in the FA Cup against Manchester United which I was about to meet a couple of times in the following weeks. In this match we had a 1-1 result in our bag from the first leg. We knew at this time that we would face Blackburn in the next round with a victory. Lallana was in great in shape at this point and showed it again after only 29 minutes. 1-0!
From this point we controlled the game and created lot's of chances - but none of them gave us a goal. Suddenly Man Utd began to fight back. They took Dempay, Lingaard and Martial onto the pitch which gave them lot's of pace up front. This gave them lot's of opportunities and out of nowhere Martial was sent behind my defenders and he outran them easily. With just Migonlet to beat he didn't have a had time scoring. 1-1 after 79 minutes. Looked like the first leg.
But then in the 91 minute Daniel Sturridge showed up in the box after some fumbling between their defender and he scored! We won!


With this win we was put up against Blackburn in the 6th round. The first leg was pretty boring. We showed up with a couple of reserves. Not many chances was created. In the second half the only "highlight" was done - and this was by Rossiter who managed to get sent off after 91 minutes.

In the second leg we saw the same pattern. 0-0 after 90 minutes and therefore we needed extra time. After 118 minutes Blackburn finally did it. They scored with Elliott Bennett. We lost. We wouldn't win this cup this year, sadly.

Premier League

In the Premier League we started out with Bournemouth in this month which we defeated 2-1 with a late goal (94 minute) by Christian Benteke. At this point Danny Ings was injured so he didn't play much so the striker position was between Benteke and Sturridge - by now Sturridge was ahead of Ben.

Manchester United and Tottenham was next up in the League. Two though opponents but none the less two matches that would bring us in a great position in the league if we got some points. 

First of we met Man Utd at Anfield. After only 26 minutes we have scored 4 goals with Lallana, Lovren and Benteke times two as the goalscorers. Shortly after Martial reduced this. Mata with a late goal which made the final result 4-2. Very pleasing although the two Manchester goals should have been avoided. 

The next match against Tottenham gave us another 3 points after winning 2-0 with goals by Hendo and Firmino.

In the following four matches we met Everton, Newcastle, Aston Villa and last but not least Watford who I fought with about the fourth place in the league at this point - therefore I would do anything for the players to be ready against them.

The first three matches gave us five points - winning against Everton, and two draws against Newcastle and Aston Villa. 

With those played we were about to meet Watford.

EURO Cup

After defeating Lokomotiv Moscow we were put up against Athletic which in my opinion was an affordable opponent. We started with a match at Anfield. I played Benteke in front because of Sturridge being out with an injury. This should actually show itself being a great choice because after only 4 minutes Benteke scored! Only 21 minutes later he was at the right place again! 2-0. Emre Can scored after 79 minutes making this match really great for us! Now we only had to keep Athletic away from our goal. But in the last minute Athletic scored an, for them, important away goal making it a 3-1.

In the return we scored after 2 minutes with a goal by Jordon Ibe who was playing a lot of matches at this point.  Markel Susaeta equalized after 39 minutes. 1-1 then became the final result and we qualified for the next round. 

We now was about to draw our next opponent. I really hoped for some pretty "easy" matches even though I knew there was no such things at this point in the tournament but I must admit I was expecting or hoping for a clash with Chelsea... But so it was and we met them at Anfield in the first leg.

Cesc Fabregas scored the first goal giving them an away goal. A really bad start for us. But Ibe scored the equalizing goal after 55 minutes which became the final result. Not the greatest but I was sure that we would be able to score at the Bridge - and I was right! Diego Costa scored the first goal in the second leg but then Firmino equalized making this very interesting! 

Daniel Sturridge then scored making it 2-1 and giving us a great advantage! After 90 minutes it was still 2-1 and we was going on into the semi finals where we was about to meet Manchester United... yea again.

Again we were starting at Anfield. The main subject for me was too keep them away from scoring and then hopefully score ourself.

After 56 minutes Sakho was sent off after making an dangerous tackle on Wayne Rooney. I needed to make some serious changes now to keep United away. We was successful in keeping them away but we didn't get to score ourself - making this a 0-0 and very interesting for the next match.

Real Madrid vs Manchester City (CHL)

After a boring 0-0 at Etihad we now need to see two teams trying to actually win. It's going to be very interesting! Real Madrid know how to do this. They've done it lot's of times before. Manchester City is new at this even though they've wanted to be here for some time.
Manchester City should have won at home - now they will have a hard time at Bernabeu.

Real Madrid seems to be the favorite in this match. I think most have the idea that Real will be in the final the 28th of May. But I'm sure that Manchester City will not let Real Madrid do it without a fight!

I think it's two teams that is quite interesting set up against each other. Real Madrid has got a great offense that can and will score against anyone who's not 110% ready. But their defense could be better. They are used to being able to crush their opponent with a great offense who just need to score more than they concede. Manchester City are more structured in their way of playing - maybe because of them playing in another kind of league. They should be better qualified for keeping Real Madrid away from their goal.

City also has got a dangerous offense. Sergio Kun Aguero could play for any team in the world and no wonder why! He's a great striker with the ability to score from nothing! With David Silva behind him there's a fantastic assist maker.

But beating Real Madrid you need to be better than City is at the moment and therefore I think Ronaldo and co. will completely destroy City at their home ground where the expectations are enormous!

We will see Real Madrid in the final. But who will they be put up against? Read my other post about Bayern vs Atletico.

- Balslev

Leicester Barclays Premier League winner!

Leicester is Champions!

We've finally found the champions of England! Who would have thought that Leicester was going to win the Premier League! The team that only two years ago was playing around in the Championship?

They've done great throughout the season and now they can call them self champions.

Even though they didn't manage to win against Manchester United they won the league today because of Spurs loosing point against Chelsea just some minutes ago! 

Ranieri has done what no one though possible! Ranieri who's always number two now is number one!

Kante, Schmeichel, Mahrez, Vardy and all the other guys have done so well getting a lot of points we never thought possible. They has been playing a lot fewer matches than the other in the top - but that want be taking anything from their work. It's amazing!

I will in one of the following days give my opinion of what will be with Leicester in the next season.

- Balslev

FM16 #4 (LFC)

We still have faith #4

I was leaving you guys last with two draws in a row. I needed to get a taste of winning again. It was now January 1th and we were up against Stoke which we got a draw against last time. Now we needed a win more than ever to maintain over position in the top.

Lallana made sure we got that win with the winning goal after 26 minutes. Sadly Coutinho got injured in the same match.

Next up we had Exeter in the FA Cup were we won 2-1 with goals by Joe Allen and Jordon Ibe. Rossiter, Zivkovic, Brad Smith and Joe Gomez were all in the starting lineup.
After this match we lost 3-2 to Manchester City. Aguero was deadly as always and killed us on the pitch.

Arsenal at Emirates was our next opponent. We got a draw which was OK considering loosing Clyne and Sturridge to injuries pretty early in the match.
Sheff United was next. We med them in the FA Cup. Sheyi Ojo, Brad Smith and Flanagan was in the starting lineup. Ojo gave it his everything and was worth putting in the lineup. He scored and became man of the match. 3-0 was the result.

Now we were heading to Stamford Bridge. It was a rainy day and we wasn't able to take anything with us home to Anfield. We lost 2-0 after Hazard showing us how it's done.
Sunderland next at Anfield gave us one point. Again very disappointing.

We were nearing the Euro Cup 1st knockout round match against Lokomotiv - but first we needed to win against West Brom in PL. We did! 1-0. Goal by Dejan Lovren who's lately been complaining about the lack of matches.

We started at Lokomotiv Moscows home ground. Therefore we gave it everything to get at least one goal! Luckily for us we got two goals and won 2-1! This gave us a great starting point.
Manchester United was next in the FA Cup - we scored after only 5 minutes but sadly Martial equalized in the last minute.
After that we welcomed Lokomotiv at Anfield. We won this 2-0 and qualified for the next Round where we were put up against Athletic.

Finally it was time for some more Premier League. We met Norwich. Dejan scored after 19 minutes but Norwich equalized after 68 minutes and this was the result...

Shortly after we met Man Utd in the return in the FA Cup. We won 2-1 could look forward to face Blackburn in the 6th round.

Bayern Munich vs Atl Madrid (CHL)

It's time for the return game between FC Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid. The first match was won by Atletico Madrid which gave them a great starting point. Atletico smells blood at the moment. They were really close to this title not long ago but stumbled at the end against Real Madrid in the final. Now they are almost there again - back in the final with the opportunity to meet Real Madrid again and make it better!

As i wrote before the first match between the two - Atletico Madrid will be able to win this if they do as they usually do - fight for the team, the fans and their manager. If they show that they want it even more than Bayern they will be purchasing the ticket to Stadio Giuseppe Meazza at 28th of May. 

Atletico seems like they now what to do and like they have the ability to actually do it.
But will the 1-0 victory be enough? If someone is able to turn a match from a defeat to a victory it's Bayern. They've done it before and they can do it again against Atletico I'm sure of it!

Bayern Munich probably has the greatest team with Barcelona in the world at the moment. This might be a controversial statement but nonetheless it's my opinion even though Barcelona is out of the competition loosing to Atletico. Barcelona wasn't in a good shape at that time and Atletico did everything right.

Bayern can and will defeat Atletico. They're just too good to be defeated over to matches at this point. 

My guess is that Bayern will go onto the final. Against who? Read my other post about City and Real.

- Balslev

FM16 #3 (LFC)

Going for the top #3

Another two months has been and finally we've found some stability in our way for play. I've found my starting eleven although we rotate a lot because of the many great players in the squad. 

I'm playing an untraditional 4-2-3-1 with a midfielder played on the defensive position as the anchor man. We've got an attacking mentality - we are way better in our offense than our defensive if you only look on the players we've got. Therefore we would like to pressure the opponent at their half of the pitch and get the ball back quickly. I'm playing Sturridge in front. Coutinho at AML as an inside forward. Lallana on the AMR also as an inside forward. Firmino play's as the advanced playmaker on the attacking midfield. When rotating i play Sturridge on the AMR and Benteke in front - and with Danny Ings as the shadow striker right behind Benteke.

The first match in November was against Villarreal to whom we lost last time. With a win we were really close to qualify for the next round in the Euro Cup. Jordan scored after only nine minutes giving us a great start. Firmino got a penalty after 60 minutes. Firmino himself took the penalty and scored. With four minutes left Villarreal scored and pressured us for the last minutes. We held them back and won the game.

Next up we got a draw in the Premier League against Tottenham and won against Everton.

Back in the Euro Cup we was about to play against Rapid Wien who I though was the weakest opponent. We lost but qualified for the next round. The last game would determine if we would win the group or not.

Newcastle was next. We won 2-1 after being behind early in the game. This was followed up by a Capital One Cup match against Manchester City. We played a lot of reserves and lost. I wasn't sad about loosing this match - now we were able to focus on Premier League and the Euro Cup.

In the next match we were up against Aston Villa at Villa Park. We won this with Sturridge scoring two important goals. 

Now we had to play the last game of the group stage in the Euro Cup. We were put up against Bordeaux who had nothing to play for. We won this 2-0 with goals by Lallana and Benteke. 

With this win we won the group and was looking forward to see who would be our next opponent.

We continued our winning streak against West Ham with a 3-0. Goals by Lallana, Sturridge and Ings.

Southampton resisted in the following match. We only got one point getting a 1-1 result. Southampton equalized in the last minute. 

After that we played against Swansea. Sturridge scored after five minutes and Firmino scored after nine minutes. Moreno gave us a third goal after 42 minutes. At half time we made some substitutions. We took off Sturridge and Jordon Ibe and put on Andrija Zivkovic and Danny Ings.

Going out unto the second half we where sure this was already a win. But Swansea had other ideas! Paloschi scored almost right after the referee starting the half. He did i again only nine minutes later!

We've totally lost control of the match a this point. I took off Lucas Leiva and put on Joe Allen so that we could take the ball and hold it. We made it and won 3-2.

The following two matches we got a draw against both Leicester and Swansea.

All in all some great months where we both won our Euro Cup group and played ourself further up in the league. In the Euro Cup we were put up against Lokomovic Moscow starting at their home ground.

Saturday Prediction (30/4) - Followup

Followup on my predictions

As you might have read my predictions for this round looked like this - if you want to read my arguments on why I thought this would be the results - then follow this link: Saturday predictions

Newcastle 2 vs 1 Crystal Palace

Stoke 0 vs 2 Sunderland

Everton 0 vs 0 Bournemouth

Watford 2 vs 1 Aston Villa

West Bromwich 1 vs 1 West Ham

Arsenal 3 vs 0 Norwich

If you've seen the games or just the results then you'll know that I wasn't spot on... at all. 

The actual results of today looks like this:

Newcastle 1 vs 0 Crystal Palace

Stoke 1 vs 1 Sunderland

Everton 2 vs 1 Bournemouth

Watford 3 vs 2 Aston Villa

West Bromwich 0 vs 3 West Ham

Arsenal 1 vs 0 Norwich 

I got three out of six match winners correct but I didn't gey any results right. 

Newcastle got the victory they needed but they are still fighting for surviving. Crystal Palace still seems pretty much secure despite their defeat. 

Sunderland didn't get the win against Stoke - but still got a point. Sunderland's still got a match more to come than Newcastle. If they win that match they'll be in front of Newcastle in the league. 

Everton actually won against Bournemouth. They have been terrible lately but pulled out of the match against Bournemouth with a win and might finally be back on track.

Watford won as I expected. The game went on pretty much as I would have guessed but just a couple more goals than I thought. 

West Ham literally destroyed West Brom. I did not see that coming! Even though West Ham has been great this season I thought West Brom would have given them some more troubles, but apparently not.

Last but not least Arsenal won as they should against Norwich. Norwich is in the relegation zone but will climb the ladder with a win next round.

All in all an interesting round where nothing is certain yet! 

Stay tuned for more predictions! :)

- Balslev