Anyway, the second leg against Juventus was the most important thing. With Defour suspended I had no choice but to employ Tinga and Hinshelwood as central midfielders, not exactly my favorite setup. I thought about this game a lot before playing it and I chose to start with a counter strategy instead of attacking, Juventus‘ offensive power was far too good to ignore. I thought that the main thing would be not to concede and then try to strike on the break. The first 10 minutes of the game were quite painful, Juventus were pushing forward with great determination but we defended pretty well. Then we took control of the game in midfield but couldn’t break through their defense, we were unable to produce more than a shot on target. I was hoping for more after the interval but Juventus gave us no chance, they were moving the ball around with great ability and Ochoa had to show a couple of good saves to keep a clean sheet. Our attacking moves didn’t go far, we were always stopped somewhere at 25 — 30 yards from Buffon‘s goal. We were out of the competition but I’m pretty much at peace with the result, we couldn’t have done more.
The last three games of the season went pretty well, we beat Manchester City again and then won the Nottingham Derby.
The Nottingham Derby will not be played again next season, Forest got relegated due to that defeat so our fans had another reason to rejoice. We finished the season with 95 points and with considerable daylight back to the other contenders.
Rafael Sobis was our best player again as you can see from the player stats sorted by average rating. Guilherme showed consistency again by scoring 26 goals, I am quite pleased with my Brazilians.
On with the squad analysis then. Akinfeev will definitely be my goalkeeper for a few more seasons, he is great. Ochoa will be sold, I hope to get a tidy sum for him.
I’m pleased with all four full backs, there will be no changes there. There will surely be a new central defender to bring some competition for Nordtveit and Kjaer. Caceres is unhappy, he wants to leave and I will most likely let him go, he wasn’t very consistent this season.
There will be no major changes for the winger role, Young, Bonetti, Hinshelwood and Agnaldo will remain at the club. Rodney Sneijder will probably be allowed to leave, he served the club well for a long time but he can no longer help us at this level.
Most of the transfer work will occur for the central midfielders, that’s where we had most problems this season. Tinga and Smallwood can’t provide backup for the very important games so they will surely leave. Kevin Thomson had huge injury problems throughout the season and considering that he’s already 31 years old I guess his future will be better elsewhere. Biglia and Defour will stay, they are very important for the team. I already made a deal for a new central midfielder, he’s a regen Spanish youngster from Real Madrid and he will join us for free in July. He has great technical skills and also great creativity, I hope that he will find a way to adapt quickly.
I will look to buy another central midfielder and I have already identified a target: Stoke‘s Jonjo Shelvey. I gave him the chance to make his debut for England and he played very well so far. Stoke just got relegated so I hope they will let him go for a reasonable price.
As for the strikers, Ibrahimovic will be sold although he did pretty well this season. He wants to play more but I’m afraid his stamina doesn’t allow that so I’ll give him a chance to play elsewhere. The other four strikers will surely stay but if I’ll have enough money I will try to buy another one and maybe sell Demba Ba. I’m looking for either a superstar striker or a wonderkid that could grow while providing backup for Rafael Sobis and Guilherme.
I hope to get a much bigger transfer budget than last season, it was 30 million pounds back then. The club’s finances look pretty good at the moment so I guess they will give me enough to build a team that could lift the Champions League trophy next season. That’s about it folks, thanks for reading. Any transfer suggestions would be highly appreciated ;)
- If you like the story subscribe to the RSS feed, the future episodes will come to you fast as lightning!
- You can also subscribe to the Email Newsletter, the new posts will be sent directly to your inbox!
- Want to stay in touch? Download and install our community toolbar, it works on Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari!
sam warren
11 марта, 2010 at 21:02
Well done with retaining the Premier League title but that was unfortunate that you didn’t win the Champions League. Hopefully you will have a better stab at it next season. Carlos Abad looks like one hell of a signing and one that could be amazing in the future.
I am undecided with my blog wether to keep on going month by month or just wait a few days to post the rest of the season. This is because I think more people will be interested in seeing me play in the Premiersip than in the Championship.
Keep up the good work
warren
Laxeyman
11 марта, 2010 at 21:09
Well done on retaining the title, Johnny. Unlucky in the Champions League, but your guys tried their best. You may not need Shelvey though, that regen looks amazing! I am looking forward to reading about your transfers, and well done for another successfull season.
Kevin Mayo
11 марта, 2010 at 21:26
Hi Johnny
Congratulaitons on winning the league for a second time. I was convinced you would win the Champions League as well though better luck next season. Your regen signing looks immense.
Johnny Karp
11 марта, 2010 at 21:28
@Sam Warren
Thanks for the comment mate. About your blog, you should go for the setup you feel more comfortable with. I went for the month by month thing because I wanted to give the readers a more detailed account of what’s happening with the story but I used a two posts per season setup in the early days.
@Laxeyman
Thanks. The Spanish kid looks good indeed but I need two good CMs alongside Biglia and Defour, I feel that I need great backup to challenge for both title and Champions League next season.
Johnny Karp
11 марта, 2010 at 21:29
@Kevin
Thanks for the comment, I was unsure about the Champions League and eventually Juventus proved that we were not ready for that yet. I’ll try to make it next season.
Calum
11 марта, 2010 at 21:39
Unlucky Johnny in the Champions League. I hope you can lift it for the first time next year.
Good Luck! :D
ravenie
11 марта, 2010 at 22:08
I started with Southampton and I realised that my strikers are awful compared to yours, I have 2 on loan strikers Papa Waigo and the legendary Maceo Rigters :| and Lambert and Saganowski. Its going to be a long way to even get promoted with -7 points and 3 games played.
Johnny Karp
11 марта, 2010 at 22:43
@Calum
Thanks mate. I forgot to add that Juventus won the Champions league by beating Chelsea in the final.
@Ravenie
You have a tough challenge ahead of you but you also have good players to work with. Papa Waigo is a good prospect and I think he will bang in a few goals for you.
Lye
12 марта, 2010 at 03:18
Well done mate, good job on retaining the title. Your team will rule the premier league, guess your transfer dealing will focus on bringing players who can help you quest the champions league trophy.
As usual i will be anticipating your transfer new as the players you brought in always excite us.I already excited by your capture of Carlos Abad :)
Johnny Karp
12 марта, 2010 at 10:00
Thanks Lye, I hope to have a good transfer budget because the players I want to bring are quite expensive.
Sears
12 марта, 2010 at 20:32
Well done Johnny.Yet another succesfull season!Looking forward to your summer transfer’s…They’ll be vital for next season’s Champions League if you are to win it!Hope you you have a good transfer budget to work yet.Good luck!
Johnny Karp
12 марта, 2010 at 21:58
Thanks Sears. I just got the transfer budget for the new season, it’s quite hefty: 77 million pounds. I think I’ll be able to bring in a few quality players for that money.
cory berman
13 марта, 2010 at 21:49
may i make some transfer suggestions? that super star striker: 1. alberto paloshi 2. segio aguero 3. yannis tafer 4. edin dzeko all world class stikers espicially aguero. although you have ur sights set on shelvey maybe you could upgrade that to Diego. You have to have someone special and experienced in your team that has what it takes to win the champions league and he did last year. anyway hope you make some good investments for your team and good luck for a surely succesful year next year. spend that 77 million plus money from selling players wisel!.(Ps please make a gig money world class signing!!!!!!!!!!)
Johnny Karp
13 марта, 2010 at 22:11
@Cory
Thanks for all the suggestions mate. Those four strikers are on my shortlist, I’m currently trying to push for Dezko but his club doesn’t want to let him go. Paloschi didn’t work either, Milan want a whole lot for him. About Diego, I admire his abilities a lot but I’m afraid he won’t fit into my system, I don’t employ an attacking midfielder (his favorite role) and I doubt that he can sustain the workload my CMs have to do each game. I’m looking for hard working midfielders with high team work and creativity. I’m also trying to make a surprise move for Rooney, the chances aren’t too big but it’s worth a try.
cory berman
14 марта, 2010 at 12:00
rooney sounds very exciting yet he is gonna cost an awful lot of money. sorry about diego another suggestion for your system maybe jack rodwell a hard working mid fielder who will surely fit into ur system at a not to hefty price tag. thanks for listening to my suggestions
Johnny Karp
14 марта, 2010 at 12:17
Thanks Cory. Rodwell is one of the midfielders that I employ in the England squad, I like him a lot. He’s not for sale though, I tried :) Anyway, it’s all over now, I’m currently writing the new post about the transfers, should be published in a half hour or so.
cory berman
14 марта, 2010 at 19:08
cool