FA Cup Results 2021
After the shameful Carling Cup exit I was looking forward to a much better FA Cup run but that wasn’t going to happen. We had problems right from the start as Championship side Southampton nearly knocked us out, then we won a thrilling replay against Man City and finally beat bogey team Everton. That took us to the quarter finals where we managed to get into yet another replay and that time it went quite badly. I can’t really explain what happened against Aston Villa in that game, maybe it was just bad luck, but the facts are as follows: Aston Villa had six shots (four on target) and scored four goals! Moreover, the assists on three of those four goals came from… Vauxhall players! Maybe some of my lads bet on a defeat or on a high scoring match, that’s the only reasonable explanation I could find… Then again, that might not be too reasonable…
Champions League Results 2021
The first knock-out round saw us taking a good advantage in the first leg against Fiorentina, we beat them 3-0 away so I thought that we were already safe and decided to rest all my important players in the second leg. That proved a close call though as Fiorentina beat us 2-0 and nearly pushed the tie into extra time. The quarter final tie against Lyon was a lot more difficult even though we recorded a good 2-0 win in the first leg. The second leg was extremely difficult, especially since we were forced to play with 10 men for around 40 minutes, but luckily we held out to qualify on away goals. Then we met Barcelona for the very first time in the semi final (that’s right, we had never met them before) and we had a good first leg again as we beat them 2-1 at Camp Nou. This time we didn’t take anything for granted in the second leg and pulled of an amazing performance, we had more than 60% possession against the possession masters themselves and won the game 5-1!
Everybody was expecting a re-match of last season’s final between us and Arsenal but the Gunners were at the wrong end of an upset in the semi final as they got beaten by Tottenham! The Spurs were preparing for the very first Champions League final in the club’s history so we had a slight experience advantage since this was going to be our third consecutive final. However, our past record against Tottenham was fairly even as we won seven games compared to their six.
Vauxhall vs Tottenham (Champions League Final)
Venue: Türk Telecom Arena, Istanbul
Attendance: 52,695
Starting line up: Luis Guilherme — Gary Warner, Phil Jones, Danny Wilson, Pierre Touya — Leandro Velasco, Robert Ackermann, Marcos Fernandez, Tiago — Zé Carlos, Parana
Team Talk: For the fans!
I was expecting to have a slight fitness advantage too as the Spurs had played the FA Cup final three days before the game (won against Birmingham), but my hopes were not verified on the pitch as Tottenham enjoyed a much better start to the game. In fact, they took the lead after just seven minutes when a simple move outplayed my defence and veteran Gareth Bale finished it off with a powerful finish. There was no reaction from my boys after the goal and it was Tottenham who came close again minutes later on a corner kick. We started to regain our feet midway through the first half, the game seemed to be shifting in our favour but the Spurs were defending with great determination. It was that determination that probably cost them two minutes before the break, Zé Carlos received a good through pass and was clean through inside the penalty area when Bassong made a desperate tackle on our striker… he got the ball but he only managed to push it past his own goalkeeper! It was all square at the break and our confidence was restored after a not so great first half.
Half time score: 1-1
Half time team talk: For the fans!
Half time substitutions: Da Silva for Ackermann, Lucas Cuello for Ze Carlos
The two substitutions I made at the break were forced by fitness problems but I was still quite confident as both Da Silva and Lucas Cuello were in pretty good form. We continued to dominate after the interval but we were unable to create more than a few half-chances before the hour mark when I made my final substitution: Indio for Fernandez in the middle of the pitch. We were dominating more and more clearly and the opportunities to shoot from inside the penalty area were quite numerous but Spurs keeper David De Gea seemed unbeatable. The game had just entered its final 10 minutes when we finally managed to score: Tiago made one of his trademark runs down the left flank before drilling a low cross into the six-yard box where Velasco had no second thoughts as he volleyed home! Tottenham immediately switched to a 3-4-3 tactic so I replied by changing our strategy to counter. I was expecting a fierce finale but that wasn’t the case, we kept possession very well and the game was played in Tottenham‘s half of the pitch for most of the last 10 minutes of the game with my players expertly moving the ball around.
Full time team talk: Congratulations!
Man of the match: Tiago
Flop of the match: Zé Carlos
Video Highlights
Click here to watch the highlights.
Match Stats
Indio was undoubtedly our best player this season, the central midfielder provided no less than 25 assists and he totally deserved the high average rating. Parana and Zé Carlos did a fantastic job again as they scored 29 goals apiece (Parana would surely have scored more but he was injured for more than 2 months) while Robert Ackermann had his best season yet with 10 goals and 17 assists. Left back Pierre Touya also had a very good season while the new pair of centre backs did a remarkable job thanks to their talent and experience. There were three big disappointments this season though: goalkeeper Luis Guilherme (I will probably look for a replacement come July), central midfielder Marcos Fernandez and Leandro Velasco. Velasco is forgiven though after scoring the decisive goal in the Champions League final :)
You could say that it was a successful season overall as we won another four trophies (UEFA Super Cup, Club World Championship, Premier League, Champions League) but I want to do much better than this and win everything that there is to win next season. In fact, that is my main goal at the moment and this story will continue until I will manage to perform that clean sweep in a season.
Argentina
The last time I presented my Argentina career we had managed to win the Copa America, that was in 2019. Then we started the qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup and, as you can see, that started very well in 2019 as we won the first four games.
2020 was almost as pleasing as we won five competitive matches but unfortunately we lost the most important of them all, away at Brazil.
We recorded another two wins so far this year so we will probably qualify for the World Cup with ease.
In fact, we have already secured the play-off spot but that is not what I’m aiming for, I want to nick Brazil off that top spot!
That’s it for now folks, thanks a lot for reading this update. Your comments and requests are welcome again, as always, but this time you’ll have to speed it up a bit if you want a quick reply because I will be leaving tomorrow night (Sunday) to spend a week in Greece with my wife. I promised myself that wouldn’t even touch a computer during this vacation so you won’t see me around for a whole week starting Monday :)
Lye
6 августа, 2011 at 15:10
Hi Johnny,
Well done again. Sometimes it’s just bad luck in cup games. It’s a one off game and Aston Villa just won it on that day. Great win over Tottenham for your consecutive champions league trophy. Looking forward to see you sweep all competitions next season.
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2011 at 15:21
Thanks Lye, we shouldn’t have allowed Aston Villa to win that game, we basically handed the game to them… Anyway, it’s good that we won the CL again.
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 15:24
Hi Johnny,
Well done on winning the Champions League and Premier League again. I wouldn’t dwell on the League Cup exit since that competitions for lesser teams anyway and as for the FA Cup loss Villa had a great season so maybe they deserved to win something…
Anyway all in all another good season, good luck for the next!
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2011 at 15:26
Thanks Dan. Aston Villa didn’t win the FA Cup though, they didn’t win anything in fact despite having a very good season.
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 15:31
Whoops! That’s what speed reading does for you, sorry about that, I was in a rush! ;)
Still good season for you and Villa :D
Darren Smith
6 августа, 2011 at 16:21
Well done Johnny, you had a great season but I can relate to your disappointments in other comps. You have developed a similar squad to mine and I’m confident you will lift the clean sweep someday very soon. The new winger looks very impressive also, lots of money spent but I think Gilson is well worth it and should show so next year. We’ll speak before but I bet you’re getting excited about your holiday!
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2011 at 16:28
Thanks Darren, I hope that Gilson will be an important part of that eventual clean sweep ;) You are right, I am quite excited about that holiday, most probably I’ll be emailing you tomorrow with more details ;)
Laxeyman
6 августа, 2011 at 17:08
Great season Johnny, even Mourinho can’t think he’s better than you now ;) Well done on the league win, and congrats on the CL victory, and hopefully you can retain these, as well as grabbing the League Cup and FA Cup next season. Looking forward to your pre season, and have a good holiday :)
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2011 at 19:37
Thanks Laxeyman, I bet Mourinho would be saying that the referees helped us :)
Sibo
6 августа, 2011 at 17:58
Well done on a brilliant season Johnny, great results in the CL and Premier League and I’m really pleased for you that you won them. :D As Laxeyman says, hopefully you can retain them. :D
I hope you enjoy your holiday, and I look forward to your pre-season when you get back! :D
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2011 at 19:38
Thanks Sibo, I hope I’ll have a good pre-season after the holiday, my mind will be fresh so the transfers might be better ;)
Sayam Khan
6 августа, 2011 at 19:53
Hi Johnny, Firstly let me start off with Gilson, Who I think is an excellent player but the price is quiet high! init? Then again, you have to pay that much for quality players! eh? Now, excellent title win, you may have had some less points this time round, but who cares! lool
Unlucky in the FA Cup final, your players were match fixing! OMG! Lool. Well done in the CL.
Have a good holiday!
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2011 at 21:05
Thanks Sayam. The price for Gilson was quite high indeed but I don’t really care about the money, I wanted this player and I paid the asking price. However, I wouldn’t have paid above 35 mil, that was my last offer as Juventus requested 40 or 45 at some point.
Kevin Mayo
6 августа, 2011 at 20:40
Hi Johnny
Your new Brazilian kid loks awesome so i’m looking forward to seeing how he performs. Too bad about the defeat against an up and coming Villa side but otherwise a superb double in retaining both the EPL and Champions League trophies. Have a great time in Greece!!!
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2011 at 21:05
Thanks Kevin, I hope I will have a good time and then enjoy some great performances from Gilson on my return :)
Ana Garcia
7 августа, 2011 at 14:02
Great season Johnny,
Gilson does look amazing and he should help you defend your titles for next season.
Well done with Argentina, hopefully you can get revenge against Brazil!
Enjoy your holiday, hope you have a great time!!
Good luck also! :)
Johnny Karp
7 августа, 2011 at 17:20
Thanks Ana, I hope to have a great time against Brazil after the holiday ;)
Mariano
7 августа, 2011 at 18:40
Well done Johnny, amazing season and achivements!
If you manage to win everything next season which is going to be your next story?
Are you planing to manage U Craiova as it seems there will be no Craiova in FM2012?
Have a great time in Greece!
Johnny Karp
15 августа, 2011 at 14:20
Thanks Mariano, I just got back from Greece and it was wonderful. I haven’t thought about the next story to be honest, I guess I’ll do that once I come closer to ending the Vauxhall one.
Sears
8 августа, 2011 at 15:05
Superb season and enjoy your holiday!
Johnny Karp
15 августа, 2011 at 14:19
Thanks!