Luton Town - The Path To Power

Some good signings, but no English people!

2014-07-28 12:15#186876 tallery1164 : Some good signings, but no English people!

Not many good English youths floating around, especially not for cheap

Good signings, and a good pre-season too!
Just call them players 'Bob', much easier to pronounce
Actually, how about Beth?

I am aware that a lot of you are perhaps uncertain as to how my current squad looks like, after a number of transfer windows which were very briefly explained. So now I am going to give you a brief overview of my senior squad.

No. Name - Age - Position - CA/PA
5's = 5 Star Players

Goalkeepers

22. Jarno de Nooijer - 24 - GK - 83/86

23. Roberto D'Ascia - 24 - GK - 72/74

Defenders

Right Backs
2. Kyle Walker - 32 - DR - 77/77

20. Arnaud Benard - 24 - DR - 74/77

Central Defenders
4. Vuk Alavanja - 22 - DC - 81/87

5. Leonardo Raverta - 23 - DC - 81/85

27. Craig Dawson (C) - 32 - DC - 76/76

16. Daniele Morbidoni - 24 - DC - 75/80

Left Backs
28. Ben Bruce - 21 - DL - 82/88

3. Jake Bidwell - 29 - DL - 73/73

Midfielders

Defensive Midfielders
26. Joe McLaughlin (VC) - 23 - DM - 80/83

21. Danny Tol - 22 - DM (MC)- 78/81

Central Midfielders
15. Dmitry Simonov - 24 - MC (AMC/L) - 80/84

6. Ben Pearson - 27 - MC (DM) - 78/79

14. Jonjo Shelvey - 30 - MC (AMC) - 78/78

Attacking Midfielders
11. Emerson Cardoso - 22 - AMC/R (MC) 86/91

7. Maximilian Meyer - 26 - AMC/R/L - 85/86

10. Kim Morgan - 22 - AMC (MC/ST) - 85/89

Strikers

17. Moussa Dembelé - 26 - ST - 81/82

30. Edafe Amuneke - 20 - ST - 78/84

24. Luciano Panzeri - 23 - ST (AML) - 77/80

Hot Prospects

Defenders
40. Fermín Barasoain - 17 - DC - 68/87

00. Alexis Christofi - 17 - DL - 64/82

00. Csaba Gombkötõ - 16 - DC - 60/79

Midfielders
00. Stefano Oliva - 16 - MC (AMC) - 66/88

00. Pierrick Bernard - 15 - AMR/L - 63/86

Strikers
29. Artem Ryabov - 18 - ST (AMR/L) - 70/85

44. Damien Evrard - 16 - ST - 64/82

00. Zarko Radulovic - 17 - ST - 62/79

00. Þórður Þórðarson - 17 - ST - 59/78

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So you can see all of our senior players and our hot prospects for the future. Starting with the senior squad, our strength is quite clearly in attacking midfield, where the three best players in our team play. Luckily, our entire midfield is very flexible and can fit in to any shape or form. We do need to improve our defence, as Walker is getting old and the back-up for each position is less than adequate. Kyle Walker, Craig Dawson, Jake Bidwell and Ben Pearson will all see their contracts expire at the end of the season and I have no plans of renewing them as I feel their wages can be better spent on higher-class players. Jonjo Shelvey and Daniele Morbidoni are two other players who I am looking to replace, as they are both on high wages without the ability to back it up. Replacement for these six players will need to come in next season, although we do have three replacements lined up in our youth team (defenders). Despite scoring 37 goals in all competitions last season, Moussa Dembelé is not the world-class striker which we have been missing since the departure of Angel Correa and that is an area which I should look to address. While his back-up do look average, they are in fact very good goalscorers, Panzeri scored 14 league goals last season as back-up to Dembelé. Hopefully we can bring in players to match our ambitions.

In terms of youth, we have some very promising players coming through our ranks. You may notice a lack of English youths but we do have some decent English youth players. However, they are nothing to shout about and I didn't wish to clog this update with more and more screenshots. So, a season pre-view is next and then we begin our battle for trophies once more!

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Previous Update: Pre-Season
Next Update: Kyle Walker's Mission Statement

Friday 12th August 2022

Luton Town's right back Kyle Walker solemnly believes that his side will recover from losing the league to Manchester United. The thirty-two year old Englishman was a key part of the Luton Town side which scored ninety points last term, although that was not enough to earn a second ever Premier League title as the Red Devils managed an outstanding ninety-five points.

Kyle Walker: "We were heart-broken not to have won the league last season. To have improved as much as we have, even getting more points than the season before when we did win the league, and to not have anything to show for it is devastating. Myself, skipper Craig (Dawson) and Jonjo (Shelvey) are all in our thirties now and we really wanted another trophy to add to our personal accolades. We won the Community Shield last season but we wanted more.

It doesn't take a football genius to know that Luton play the best, most attractive football in the country and possibly the world. On top of that, we have superb young players coming through like Kim Morgan, Ben Bruce and a new 'Samba Sensation' who has come to our club from Brazil in Emerson. With players of their quality and hunger, we can accomplish anything. Everybody improves every single day and we are all really well united and we work for each other.

It's the man in the dug-out who we really have to thank. Fergie (Ryan Ferguson) is a tremendous coach and he gets the best out of all of us. We were all a little deflated when Correa left for my old club Tottenham but we pulled together and became stronger than ever, thanks to our gaffer. He has us believing in ourselves and each other and we all have a similar mission in our mind; to win trophies. If we keep improving as much as we have and keep believing in ourselves and stay united, we can bring back the Premier League and maybe even more."


Luton's title-challenge begins in our first Sky Sports Super Sunday when they play Everton at Goodison Park at 13:30. Their first home game comes the following week against Norwich City before rounding up the month of August with a trip to Cardiff City. There is no such thing as an easy game, although Luton and Ryan Ferguson could not have asked for a better set of opening fixtures to build some confidence and momentum around the Hatters camp. While they are not favourites to win the league title by a long-shot, Luton Town have proven their critics wrong on many occasions, will this be another?

Title Odds:

1. Manchester City - 5/4
2. Mancheser United - 5/4
3. Tottenham Hotsupr - 5/2
4. Chelsea - 5/2
5. Luton Town - 3/1
6. Arsenal - 6/1

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Previous Update: Squad Overview
Next Update: Season Ten - August Update

Great couple of updates!
You have a very strong squad, so hopefully you can win some silverware

2014-07-28 15:12#186905 pompeyblue : Great couple of updates!
You have a very strong squad, so hopefully you can win some silverware

If we can get some form going, anything is possible

First time I've read this story but I bloody love it! What a job you've done mate!

2014-07-28 16:41#186912 MCox93 : First time I've read this story but I bloody love it! What a job you've done mate!

Thanks mate

I'm confident you can win trophies with a squad as good as that! Good luck, love this story

Good god, your squad is especially good and that English left back, wow

Results

After our three opening games of the season, all in the league, we had three wins. Our games against Everton and Norwich were challenging as it took us seventy minutes in both games to break the deadlock. However, once we scored, we couldn't be stopped. We got three very solid wins over three teams looking to break in to the top half of the league this season. Dembelé and Meyer scored six of our seven goals and have been in fantastic form so far. I'm delighted with our three wins and our three clean sheets in particular. Jarno de Nooijer had his hands full at times as he was forced in to several excellent stops in order to keep the opposition at bay. A great month and a perfect start to the season, in my opinion.

Player Of The Month

Our entire team was in fantastic form over the course of August and it was a challenge to pick out a star individual. However, it was Maximilian Meyer who stood out, in my opinion. The twenty-six year old German attacking midfielder continued his impressive pre-season form by firing in three goals this month, including the Premier League's Goal of the Month. He may be wanted by big clubs all across Europe but hopefully we can hold on to this sensational player.

Maximilian Meyer's Season Stats
Appearances: 3
Goals: 3
Assists: 0
MotM Awards: 1

Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 0

Pass Completion Ratio: 78%
Dribbles Per Game: 2.67
Fouls Committed: 2
Fouls Against: 8

Average Rating: 8.03

Barclays Premier League

We are won of three clubs to have scored a perfect three wins from three games. Manchester United and Arsenal top us in the league by Goal Difference and Goals For, respectively, and the title race is beginning to shape up, even at this early stage. Disappointing starts to the season see Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea already distanced from the leading trio, as they are currently in mid-table positions. Everton, Crystal Palace and Swansea City make up the bottom three, without a single point between them.

UEFA Champions League

Unfortunately we were fourth seeds for the draw as this was just our second season in Europe and we were due a difficult group. However, I do not think that anybody predicted a group of PSG, Atlético Madrid, Inter and Luton Town. PSG and Inter are both league champions while Atlético finished second in Liga BBVA last term. This is without a doubt the 'Group of Death' and we will be lucky to even finish with a single point. To have drawn one of these teams is unfortunate but to have drawn all three is a nightmare. Hopefully we can perform well and cause an upset or two.

September Fixtures

We begin our Champions League campaign next month with an away trip to Atlético Madrid and a showdown with PSG at Kenilworth Road. On top of that, we play Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup. Our three league games are not the worst, as we face West Ham, Sunderland and Leicester. September will be a difficult month, with the two European matches being the center of our attention. I am not to concerned about the Capital One Cup game, as my focus will be on the league and in Europe. Hopefully we can perform to the best of our abilities next month and pull off a couple of upsets.

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Previous Update: Kyle Walker's Mission Statement
Next Update: Carra Not Impressed By Luton Forward

ooh, touch CL group, but you can get through!

Eep, that's a tough UCL draw!

Good start to the league season, good to see Maxmilian firing on all cylinders.

Ouch, that Champions League draw
Still a good start to the new campaign, and as always I love the update!