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Post by Sonic on Apr 14, 2006 5:16:11 GMT
Well my prediction of the rest of the league coming back into the league competition kind of proved right. I've heard a few stories of this happening, especially when a team becomes all powerful. And it always happens in the middle of the season.
Still, there were some excellent results in there, and the one against Arsenal was coming, I guess, what with all the piffling about in other competitions, and the anger boiling. One dissapointment in the whole, with a positive, the avoidance of English competition in the LAC.
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Post by Moo on Apr 14, 2006 10:08:01 GMT
Howay Pedro, ye cunt!
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Post by coffers on Apr 14, 2006 18:49:26 GMT
Those dodgy results had been coming for a long time, even when we've been winning we haven't been doing that well. I have a feeling that Juve might just turn the tables in us this time around.
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Post by coffers on Apr 14, 2006 19:04:41 GMT
Pedro is getting some bad press at the moment, the fans are starting to call for his head.
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Post by coffers on Apr 14, 2006 19:46:27 GMT
The 1st leg of the LAC Quarter Final at Juventus could have gone a lot better than it did, but at least it was no worse than the equivalent Group Stage result. Trezuguet thumped in the one and only goal of the game on 21, Juve were lucky to hold onto the lead as we battered them for the whole game but couldn't get the ball in the net. The target for next season is to get a top quality striker. Vassell is ok but ins't quite good enough in some of the big games. So a 1-0 defeat means we are still in with a shout but need to make sure the Italian giants don't score a crucial away goal in the 2nd leg.
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Post by Sonic on Apr 18, 2006 6:47:36 GMT
Now you've got a task, to find the back of the net.
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Post by coffers on Apr 18, 2006 8:49:21 GMT
Following the debacle at Juventus we had a home game against Chelsea to take care of, given our recent form I thought we would be in for a long day, but I was wrong, despite struggling to score freely we didn't have much trouble with them. Centre Back Bonera scored his first Manchester City goal in the 28th minute, to give us the lead at the break. A second came 3 minutes into injury time, a header by Vertonghen, to cement a deserved victory, 2-0. Before we had another league game we had the little matter of the LAC QF 2nd leg to deal with. Juve came full of confidence and strutted about the pitch as if they owned it, but they obviously came to stop us from scoring rather than to increase their lead. Their plan was undone a little on 33 when Guarin leveled the tie from the spot on 33. But we found life difficult for the rest of the first half. A little bit of half time confidence boosting and a couple of changes up front seemed to liven us up and substitute Ekin put us in front for the first time on the tie on 58 minutes. Juve still slumbered and Papadopoulos put real daylight between us and Juve on 73 with a great strike. We won 3-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate. I'll take that. Unfortunately we got the draw we didn't want for the Semi Finals; bloody Arsenal the form team in the EPL and the ones that want our scalps the most. Arsenal will be at home in the first leg. Next we faced Everton away, which tends to be a difficult fixture for us no matter how badly the Toffees are playing. It proved difficult once again even though we scored first, from Charisteas, in the 33rd minute. Everton equalised on 39, Drogba nabbing the vital goal to secure a share of the points for the blue scousers. Drogba is another of those players my defence has real problems with. :moop: Still we didn't get beaten, which is something. A home fixture against Fat Sam and his Bolton ruffians was next on the list and, this time we raised ourselves to hammer his lot 4-0. Guarin opened on 45, next came Charisteas on 56, and then Belluschi on 63. Guarin finished the scoring with a 74th minute penalty. Middlesbrough at home was a fixture that we usually enjoy and this was no different; Vassell opened on 16, Guarin missed a penalty on 26. Middlesbrough fought well after that but were totally undone on 71 by a Belluschi pile-driver and then again on 76 when Charisteas headed in from close range. Won 3-0 to keep the pressure on Arsenal, who we play next at the Emirates Stadium in the 1st leg of the LAC Semi Final. The next game will be the fateful Champions Cup Semi Final 1st leg at Arsenal. For the record with 4 league games left to play the EPL looks like this:
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Post by Moo on Apr 18, 2006 8:56:57 GMT
It's close down at the bottom again. bah!
A nice update, even if it didn't all go to plan. The Gooners game in the LAC is a bummer, hopefully things will go well with that. GL and KUTGW!
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Post by coffers on Apr 18, 2006 10:26:13 GMT
D-Day dawned and we lined up defensively against Arsenal for the 1st leg of The Champions League Semi-Final. The Gooners were licking their lips at the prospect of beating us to a pulp, especially after Wenger had claimed that he intended Arsenal to be the dominant force in English football for years to come a few weeks ago when they beat us on our own patch. Many attempts to overcome the Gunners in previous matches had taught me that they would come out on top if I made any attempt to win, so I lined up a 4-2-3-1 formation, protecting the defence with 2 DMC's, I also set the back 4 to man mark specific players. It worked spectacularly well, although they dominated they couldn't get the ball in the net. We on the other hand also failed, but Guarin missed a penalty on 24 and managed to miss the rebound too. Vassell had a goal ruled out 10 minutes later for a dubious offside decision. We could have won it, but only managed a 0-0 draw. We now had to ensure that we won the return leg at our place.
Another Semi Final was on the horizon, a meeting with the Mackems in the FA Semi-Finals would be our next task to fulfil.
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Post by coffers on Apr 18, 2006 11:33:45 GMT
Though they played a plucky game, Sunderland were no match for the Citizens, going down 4-0 by the time the ref blew for full time. A double strike by Vassell in the first half on 7 and 22 plus a goal by Vertonghen after 35 minutes all but made the game safe for cITEH by the end of the first half. Charisteas added a fourth goal on 58 to complete the rout. Many City fans phoned up the Five Live radio phone-in, after the game, to comment on how impressed they were with the Mackems performance. I was very impressed with the way they allowed us to score four too. You have to laugh at the media comments sometimes: After beating Blackburn 3-1 Manchester United manager Mourinho claimed that the result proved he had the better side and that he believed that United would finish higher in the table than Blackburn. United at the time were 3rd with 68 points and Blackburn were 20th with 29 points. Both sides had 3 games left to play. Is Mourinhno the new Boony? Chelsea beat Bolton 2-0 in the other Semi-Final. Arsenal next.
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Post by coffers on Apr 18, 2006 12:14:46 GMT
As expected the 2nd leg of the Champions Cup Semi Final was a hard fought affair. I lined up with the same formation and tactics that had frustrated Arsenal in the first leg as no matter what happened we didn't want to concede a goal in this leg. The first half was tight and Arsenal had by far the better chances, but were rushed into shooting and thereby failed to make an impact. The drab first half ended goal-less and I for one was not bothered by the media comments. I asked the lads for one goal and it was only five minutes coming, Vassell broke down the right before crossing to the far post where De Guzman ghosted in to head in home. The ground erupted anyone would have thought we had won the game, but there was a long way to go yet, especially as Henry got ahead of our keeper to equalise on 58. That meant we had to win in normal time, Arsenal were ahead on away goals. Try as we might we struggled to string anything together, with 10 minutes left on the clock and time running out, instructions went out to attack and get the ball to the front line fast. Arsenal repelled everything, but on 87 Reyes under pressure headed a ball back to his defence, they missed it and substitute Charisteas nipped in and fired under the keeper. Once again there was pandemonium in the stands. That was it, everything and everyone was pulled to defend the lead and time wasting began like it's never been seen before. It worked well, but with 3 minutes injury time on the board Henry broke out of midfield and had a clear run on goal, as he bore down on the keeper, Guarin sacrificed his place in the final, 30 yards out he clattered Henry from behind. There was only one outcome, Guarin was off and Arsenal had one last chance at glory. Schmeichel saved and Man City were through to the Champions League final 2-1 on the night and on aggregate. Of course Guarin is a hero for his cynical act and he will miss the final, but for once I will not be giving him a rollocking. Inter Milan beat Porto in the other Semi-Final, 2-0 on aggregate. After the game I take a jibe at Wenger saying that he isn't fit to be a Premiership manager, basically he isn't up to the job of handling the pressures associated with it, he remained undecided about my abilities though others think that I'm incompetant. I just point to the fans who are singing 'Have you ever seen a gooner with a cup? Have you ever seen a gooner with a cup? Have you ever seen a gooner? Ever seen a Gooner? Ever seen a gooner with a cup?"
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Post by Moo on Apr 18, 2006 12:18:18 GMT
You're advocating dangerous tackles on a fellow professional? KUTGW! :thumb:
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Post by coffers on Apr 18, 2006 12:33:14 GMT
In this instance and as it was against Henry; Too Right!
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Post by coffers on Apr 18, 2006 15:25:26 GMT
Following on from the Arsenal game we had an away trip to relegation haunted Plymouth. As early as the 6th minute our Right Back, Onuoha, decided to emulate Guarin and hack down Qvist when through on goal, we were down to 10 men and this time had to survive 84 minutes more play. That proved to be fairly easy in the end, on 26, Papadopoulos took a pass from Croft in the area and slotted under the diving keeper. The 1-0 lead was held until the 50th minute when Vertonghen played Charisteas into the area, the Greek striker made it look easy as he put us 2-0 up. Guarin thumped in a 25 yard free kick to complete the 3-0 rout on 79. That should put a smile on Moo's face. Onuoha was warned about his sending off and he thought I was being harsh. Given the fact I didn't warn Guarin he might have a point, but the circumstaces were entirely different. :humb: Preston were our next visitors, they are managed by our former goalkeeping coach Tim Flowers, he used his knowledge of my methods to make a hard game for us. Needing a win to keep the pressure on Arsenal De Guzman gave us hope in the 18th minute strike from the edge of the area. Preston battled hard for an equaliser and it came on 52 minutes following a goalmouth scramble. Tactics were adjusted as were desperately looked for a winner. It came on 71, Freddy Guarin hitting an unstoppable 22 yard shot from the edge of the D. For a moment it had looked as if Preston would snatch a draw but Guarin's strike knocked the stuffing out of them. Won 2-1. Two games left to play now and an away trip to another relegation threatened team, Southampton, came only two days after the Preston game. It was our game in hand on Arsenal and if we won it, we would be crowned Champions. Things started badly when Ian Day put Southampton 1-0 up on 10 minutes. Charisteas equalised on 24 converting a deep cross from Onuoha at the back post, but Southampton had the lead again 3 minutes later when Saha got behind the defence and finished off a Phillips cross. We were struggling, but 5 minutes from the break a run from Charisteas unsighted/distracted the keeper as Vertonghen crossed, it also confused the Southampton defence, the keeper missed the cross and Scott Grant headed into his own net. 2-2 at the break. The players were told to sort themselves out. This they did, on 67 Charisteas tapped a low Belluschi cross into the empty net and 3 minutes later Ekin tapped in at the near post from a Belluschi cut back. Job done a 4-2 win and we are the Champions. Moocastle were also pleased as it kept them ahead of the stragglers, just. With a game to go the table looks thus: Tottenham are at home to Plymouth, Southampton are away to Fulham and Newcastle are at home to Chelsea. For the record our meaningless game is at home to Norwich.
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Post by coffers on Apr 18, 2006 19:52:59 GMT
As expected, with our league season effectively over, we turned in an almost dreadful display in the final game at home to Norwich. Our visitors worked hard but made little impact in the first period, we on the other hand were lazy bostords and made little impact. The first goal came from Dean Ashton on 52 minutes didn't come as a surprise. I juggled tactics continuously to try to get seem foothold in the game and it eventually happened when Whelan hit a 30 yard thunderbolt 74. It was the last meaningful thing to happen in the game which ended in a 1-1 draw. Down at the bottom Newcastle had to avoid defeat by Chelsea to stay up. If they lost, they had to rely on Southampton losing and Plymouth winning to stay up. As it turned out, Southampton lost 3-0 at Fulham, Spurs beat Plymouth 2-1 and Newcastle drew 1-1 at home to Chelsea, so the Mags would have been safe regardless of the other results. In the run up to the Cup Final, a number of awards are announced: In the team of the season the following Man City players got a starting place: D Agger (DC), G Whelan (MC), F Guarin (DMC) and J Vertonghen (DM/LC). Freddy Guarin won the English Footballer of the Year award and acknowledged my contribution to his achievements. As expected for winning the League the Manager of the Year ward headed in my direction. The FA Cup is next followed by the Champions Cup Final......
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Post by Sonic on Apr 19, 2006 0:17:17 GMT
Poof, and so is Guarin :checkit: Nice work on winning all and sundry, except the Final's as they're yet to be played
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Post by coffers on Apr 19, 2006 7:40:07 GMT
Poof, and so is Guarin For the record you can see Guarin's stats below, They have improved immensely since I bought him, so has his value: In fact his value has gone up £1M since the FA Cup Final, which is yet to be reported on.
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Post by Moo on Apr 19, 2006 10:39:29 GMT
Guarin is quality, I have him on my Toon save. He plays rotation for my DMC spot with Scott Parker and a Czech called Sivok, who is quality but whining on because he's not a regular. He'll be moved on, giving me a nice profit in the process.
Anyhoo, nice work persuading Pedro to keep us in the Premmie. I always liked you. :cab:
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Post by coffers on Apr 19, 2006 12:28:36 GMT
I had Guarin playing for Trotamundos when I played the Mexican league with CM03/04. He was a star then too.
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Post by coffers on Apr 19, 2006 13:17:43 GMT
FA Cup Final day arrived, the fans were all present and correct, the team turned out nicely dressed in the specially commissioned away strip, as Chelsea were deemed the home side for the encounter. It would be Freddy Guarin's last game of the season as he would be suspended for the Champions Cup Final. So both sides lined up for the start and both looked as if they meant business, except our defence didn't. They let Ronaldinho hit a 25 yard free kick around the wall after only 3 minutes, we'd barely woken up and we were 1-0 down already. Never mind, within 6 minutes we were level, Charisteas played a ball in from the left and De Guzman glanced a hearer past the bemused Cech. Yay for City. It was a tough game from that moment but we were starting to get the upper hand. On 30 Guarin outdid Ronaldinho and blasted a 30 yard free kick into the corner of the net. All I could see was a sea of sky blue and white jumping up and down in the stands. We started to lay siege on the Chelsea goal but no more goals came our way before the break. Unfortunately the defence went to sleep in first half injury time, Bridge thumped a ball across the edge of the area, 4 players were offside, the ref waved play on as it was hit back to the left, Bonijov centred again and Torres planted the ball into the net. Our hard worked lead was undone by incompetence on two parts. Three minutes into the second half, Essien raced clear of the defence, Schmeichel charged out to the edge of the area and in a panic to clear sliced the ball across the edge of the area for Ronaldinho to snap up an easy chance. Schmeichel was playing like a twat so was immediately hauled off, as was Robert Taylor at Right Back. As we struggled and battled to get back into the game tactics were switched and juggled. things started to look better with 25 minutes to go and we started piling on the pressure again. On 70, Glen Whelan blasted an equaliser from a free kick 22 yards out, Chelsea started to buckle as we piled forward for a winner. Unfortunately it didn't come. Extra Time came and dwindled away. We had Hubschman sent off after 115 minutes for a second bookable offence. There were no more goals in the match. 3-3 after extra time it went to penalties. Ronaldinho scored the first, Guarin equalised the shootout with our first. Chelsea went on to miss the next 3 penalties whereas we scored our next two, through Croft and Whelan to win the shootout 3-1. That was one tense final and all I could think about was; would we be too knackered for the Champions Cup Final in 4 days time? Everyone was delighted with our treble but it was time to prepare for one last match. The Champions Cup Final against Inter Milan, to be played just down the road at Old Trafford.
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Post by Moo on Apr 19, 2006 13:36:46 GMT
Woah!
[/Canoe]
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Post by coffers on Apr 19, 2006 15:20:42 GMT
Dateline: Wednesday 18th May 2011, Old Trafford, The European Champions Cup Final; whatever the outcome this would be the biggest day ever in the history of Manchester City. As the teams lined up Inter looked to be playing a 4-4-2 formation, I went for our favourite 4-1-3-2, but with a slight defensive emphasis and a slightly deep defensive line. I didn't want Adriano or Martins taking any advantage, if we pushed up too far. The back four were under strict instructions to man mark whoever was nearest to them. The game kicked off, the crowd roared and it soon became evident that the Citizens were definitely up for this one, as they tore into the Inter midfield. After only two minutes Barzaghi handled a Onuoha throw in in the area, we had a chance to strike early, Croft stepped up and hit t he penalty straight at the keeper, a chance wasted. Both sides had early half chances snuffed out but it was City that seemed to be getting the upper hand. With 12 minuets gone, Pipoca was forced backwards with the ball and under pressure he put it out for a city throw, Vertonghen played it down the line to De Guzman, the Canadian got to the byline and was hit by a perfect sliding tackle by Pipoca, as the ball bobbled along the line, De Guzman reacted first and hit the ball across the area where it was met by a diving Vassell. The ball flew into the net and the City fans erupted, amazingly we had an early 1-0 lead. Inter hit back straight from the kick-off but their attack broke down as a Martins header flew over the bar. On 17, De Guzman broke through clean on goal, his skill saw him glide past Barzaghi, as he raced into the area Walter Samuel tugged his shirt and was immediately Red carded. Croft stepped up and hit the penalty straight at the keeper again. Inter were still in it all be it down to 10 men. double On 19 Whelan limped off to be replaced by Flood after a heavy challenge by Stankovic. Would we be punished for our failure to take charge? There was still plenty of shirt tugging by the Italians but in less dangerous places, despite being down on numbers they were still fighting hard to get back on level terms. That unfortunately came on 24 minutes, the entire defence had inexplicably wandered up the pitch for one of our attacks and left Martins unattended on the half way line. A big hoof out of defence and Martins raced away to level. Bugger, we should have been 3-1 up and we now back to square one. Inter were starting to play a bit, so defenders were told to stay back, a bit of tactical adjustment and we started to attack again. on 34 a deep cross from Onuoha found the head of De Guzman and he put us back in the lead, which we easily kept up to the break. Inter started the second half with a resolve to score but a couple of missed half chances later and it looked as if they had shot their bolt, as we started to make our numerical advantage count again. A couple of times we got clean through on goal only for last ditch tackles to thwart us. Then on 74, Vassell played a 40 yard ball forward to De Guzman, as the Canadian raced past Barzaghi he was upended. Barzaghi walked the walk of shame and Inter were down to 9 men. The free kick came to nothing. Inter now had nothing to lose and went for the equaliser. That left holes for us to exploit, which we failed to do until the 91st minute, when Ekin going for goal was tackled by Chivu, the ball broke to Belluschi who hit it first time from the edge of the area and the game was over. There was barely enough time for Inter to kick off again before the ref blew for full time. We had won 3-1 but it should have been more. The post game plaudits were coming thick and fast: One media pundit elevated me to be one of the all time greats as far as English managers go. The fans were jubilant claiming I was one of the best managers around, the board were surprised at our achievement but delighted none-the-less. Joe Royle claimed I had done wonders fr the club and that they were lucky to have me. Some idiot claimed we'd done the double, whereas we had really done a Quadruple. The verdict on the game was that we had used our possession much better than Inter had used theirs. Vassell had set a new City goals record as his goal today was his 34th for the club this season, De Guzman set an assists record with 19 for the season. The money piling through the door from winning competitions was incredible and the board promised to expand the stadium. In fact the Hall of Fame as far as English Nationality managers was concerned showed me sitting in 7th place following the win. I reckon a successful season next year could possibly see me jump into 3rd place. I certainly expected to overtake Bobby Robson who is currently 6th. It was now time to look at contracts over the close season, and to see who my transfer targets would be. PS: We have £60M in the bank, enough to pay off our £40M bank loan and still have enough over.
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Post by Moo on Apr 19, 2006 16:47:37 GMT
w00t!!!
Fantastic effort there, sir. Of course, I don't believe you and I'll have to see a screenshot. :checkit:
And I think the outstanding loans/money in the bank thing is shite, BTW, you should be able to pay a lump sum if you think it would be beneficial to the club. Maybe that's a suggestion for Sping...
But anyway, KUTGW!! and a :thumb: to boot.
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Post by coffers on Apr 19, 2006 21:54:36 GMT
Some people, :humb: Oh, and for the record:
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Post by Sonic on Apr 20, 2006 0:34:26 GMT
Well finally, you've won the LAC, and in some style. It's not every day you get to bugger an Italian.
That FA Cup Final must have had your heart racing, as it seemed to go one way and then another.
Well done :thumb:
Oh, I forgot to mention, shoot your penalty taker!p
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