My Crewe story - The Railwaymen on track to the top…

Premier Division
QPR – Crewe: 1 – 5
Goals: Lebourg(2), Goikoetxea, Novotny, Gro
Great win! Both starting strikers scored as well as subs Gro. Good competition!

League table end of September 2017

October 2017

Champion’s League Grp B
Crewe – Wisla: 2 – 1
Goals: Novotny(pen), Devlin

Premier Division
Crewe – Newcastle: 2 – 0
Goals: Novotny(2)
Novotny scored 2 second half goals in clinical fashion to give us the win. Both goals were assisted by Gro.

World Cup Quals (AFR) Final 1st leg
Ghana – Nigeria: 1 – 0
Nigeria need to win the return leg by at least two goals margin to qualify for the world cup!

Premier Division
Crewe – Liverpool: 5 – 1

Liverpool was on the receiving end of a big defeat at The Alexandra Stadium today. Svensson gave us the lead from a Hettich cross. Gernsoe doubled our lead when a Goikoetxea’s shot was blocked by the defense and the rebound fell to Gernsoe to volley into the net. Liverpool got one back but Devlin restored our 2 goal lead with a header from Gernsoe’s corner. Novotny scored the fourth from a defense splitting through ball by Gernsoe. Sub Gro scored the fifth after Goikoetxea’s shot was blocked by Reina and fell for Gro to shoot into an empty net with Reina off his line. Up to 4th behind surprise package Southampton, Man City and Man U.

Champion’s League Grp B
Crewe – Bayern Munich: 4 – 0

Bayern started brighter but it was more possession than goal threat. Once we had our first attack around the 18th minute mark, we started to get more possession and be more threatening. Catalano got his 2 goals by headers from Gernsoe’s corners. Svensson got a great goal from the right corner of the penalty area into the top corner with a curler. Goikoetxea then hit the woodwork. Goikoetxea finally scored when he received a pass from the right from O’Brien on the edge of the area, controlled the ball and hit a fierce shot into the tight top corner of the net. We are top of the group with maximum points.

Premier Division
West Ham – Crewe: 0 – 2
Goals: Gro, Devlin
Novotny got injured on the 19th minute and was replaced by Gro who made an instant impact by scoring 3 minutes later when the rebound from Goikoetxea’s shot fell to him and he hit a fierce shot into the net. Townsend scored the second after Devlin was brought down in the area following a corner.

Fortunately, it’s only a dead leg for Novotny who will be out for 2-3 days.

League Cup 3rd Rnd
Crewe – Ipswich: 3 – 1
Goals: Gernsoe, Goikoetxea, Singleton
We made it hard for ourselves by not scoring in the first half and Ipswich scored right after the restart to give us a mountain to climb. But Gernsoe restored parity 7 minutes later through a fine individual effort, taking the ball from near the halfway line, skipping past the challenge of a defender to be clear through, and sidestepping the keeper to score. With no more goals scored, we went into extra time, and Goikoetxea, who came on for the ineffectual Gro, scored after being released by Gernsoe on the 106th minute. Singleton made it safe on the 118th minute with his first club goal.


November 2017

Premier Division
Blackburn – Crewe: 1 – 2
We had a great start to the match when Gro scored in the 1st minute when Haddad played a great through ball to him to run onto and score. Blackburn equalized in similar fashion just after Goikoetxea was guilty of an embarrassing miss. We had to dug deep to win this one and were as well fortunate when Costa struck his penalty onto the bar after Konig fouled Toivonen in the area and was sent off for this foul on the 67th minute. Harsh though! Catalano got the winning goal on the 87th minute when he got his head to the floated ball from Svensson’s freekick on the left.
With Man U’s defeat later in the evening, we are now in 3rd though Utd have a game in hand. Man City won the battle of 1st and 2nd when they beat Southampton 1-0 thanks to Dzeko.

League standings:

Champion’s League Grp B
Bayern Munich – Crewe: 0 – 3

Gernsoe, playing as a striker and partnering Novotny, hit the post on the 5th minute. Oliveira denied Bayern a goal on the 11th minute with a great save. We had a valid goal by Gernsoe ruled out for offside at the start of the second half, but Gernsoe got the goal he deserved on the 56th minute when he met a Gommers’s cross inside the 6 yard area to score a poacher’s effort. Bayern had a player sent off on the 84th minute for an elbow on Gro and from the resulting freekick, Tirloni took the it and scored a curler to seal the win. Novotny put a gloss on the win when he met Townsend’s cross at the far post to score a tap-in. The score flatters us, but it was a well-deserved victory nonetheless!

Premier Division
Crewe – Arsenal: 2 – 3
Two goal down at half time, a Devlin own goal and a Pape Sall goal, I went ballistic during half time and we got back in the game right after the restart when Novotny scored within 40 seconds. Hettich got the equalizer with a half volley from a Svensson cross. But Ansaldi scored a free-kick 5 minutes later and we could not get a goal to force a draw that we probably deserved.

Premier Division
Fulham – Crewe: 0 – 1
Goal: Townsend

World Cup Quals (AFR) Final 2nd leg
Nigeria – Ghana: 4 – 0
Goals: Agu, Ighalo(3)
Nigeria has qualified for the World Cup 2018 in emphatic fashion beating rivals Ghana.

Premier Division
Crewe – Man City: 1 – 1
We simply failed to make our chances count. Novotny had a poor game as well today. Catalano gave us the lead from a corner but Aguero equalized from a smartly executed free-kick. We pilled the pressure on Man City but could not find the winning goal.

Champion’s League Grp B
Crewe – PSG: 2 – 1
Goals: Jonker, Townsend
Jonker by a powerful shot into the top corner from the edge of the area gave us the lead. Townsend doubled our advantage with a shot that went in off the post in first half added time. Abdoulaye Traore scored for PSG on the 71st minute. We had a good goal by Gro disallowed for offside late on.
We have qualified from the group stage.

League standings end of November 2017


African Nations Quals Grp D
Comoros – Nigeria: 1 – 4
Goals: Obi, Ujah, Ighalo(2)

December 2017

Premier Division
Birmingham – Crewe: 1 – 2
Goals: Gernsoe, Svensson
Birmingham scored just before half time and they deserved it. I rang the ears of the players at halftime. It produced the desired result as first Gernsoe scored, and then Svensson to give us the win.

League Cup Quarter Final
Crewe – Newcastle: 2 – 1
Goals: Haddad, Goikoetxea

Premier Division
Crewe – Southampton: 2 – 0
Goals: Tirloni, Goikoetxea

We will play Aston Villa in the League semis
We have drawn against Man City in the FA Cup 3rd round to be played at The Alexandra Stadium

Champion’s League Grp B
Wisla – Crewe: 2 – 1
Goals: Lebourg
With qualification and first place already in the bag following 5 previous wins, I gave a chance to my potential stars of the future, like Vince, Webster, Sumner, Singleton and Williams, to get some match experience. Though they played quite well, a full strength Wisla, was able to defeat them. It’s the experience that counts here.
Final standings


Premier Division
Ipswich – Crewe: 0 – 2
Goals: Andy King own goal, Catalano

Elsewhere, with Man City drawing 2-2 at home against Tottenham and Arsenal beating Man Utd 2-1 at the Emirate, the three of us would be level on points if I win my game in hand and Man Utd win their 2 games in hand.

We have been drawn against Juventus in the Champions Cup first knockout round.

Premier Division
Crewe – Watford: 2 – 0
Goals: Catalano(2)
Playing with 5 in midfield, Watford proved hard to break down. In the 20th minute, following a corner, we had a shot on the bar and then another shot cleared off the line. Ronning was sent off a two footed tackle from behind, making our task harder. I took off Goikoetxea to bring on O’Brien to take the place of red-carded Ronning. But, Catalano scored from a corner 3 minutes later to give us the lead. I changed strategy to counter right after the goal. In the second half, Catalano added a second from a Tirloni freekick. Tom Lees was sent off as the last defender for Watford on the 62nd minute for halting Novotny.

Premier Division
Wigan – Crewe: 1 – 1
Goal: Tirloni
We had a good goal by Catalano ruled out for offside on the 13th minute. Replays show Catalano was onside when the freekick was hit in the box. Wigan’s Di Santa scored on the 37th minute. Tirloni equalized from a direct freekick from all 35 metres out that curled in under the bar.

Man City defeated Man Utd, leaving us 2 points behind and 6 points ahead of the chasing pack.

Premier Division
Everton – Crewe: 1 – 1
Goal: Catalano
It was Catalano who equalized for us after Torje had given the lead to Everton in the first half. Though we had more chances and dominated the game, we could not find the winning goal.
Man City won away to Aston Villa to increase lead at the top to 4 points.

January 2018

Premier Division
Burnley – Crewe: 1 – 3
Goals: Gro, Lebourg, Gommers
Gro gave us the lead on the 16th minute with a powerful finish when put through on goal by Dekker. Lebourg increased our lead 7 minutes later when he bundled home Townsend’s corner. Burnley got a goal back just before half time. Gommers made sure the win was ours when he scored from Foster’s pass in the area.

Premier Division
Crewe – Tottenham: 1 – 0
Goal: Gro
Gro gave us the lead on the 21st minute. Tottenham could have equalized on the 91st minute, but Konig made a last ditch goal line clearance to keep the score in our favour.

FA Cup 3rd rnd
Crewe – Man City: 3 – 1

That was an important test of character. We went ahead through a great goal by Svensson but Man City leveled shortly after. Devlin gave us back the lead, but afterwards, Man City had a great spell where we had to dug deep and defend courageously our lead. Novotny sealed the win in added time with a shot high into the net.
Only bad thing is Gernsoe’s injury. He will most probably miss our next match, the league cup semifinal 1st leg against Aston Villa.

Man City and Arsenal are chasing my academy product and defensive lynchpin, Frankie Devlin and have offered me a package of 10.25 and 12.5 million respectively. Both were rejected!

Now, I got two offers for Gernsoe, from AC Milan and Sevilla, 12 and 14.5 million! But he’s going nowhere!

League Cup Semifinal 1st leg
Aston Villa – Crewe: 1 – 5
Goals: Gro, Tirloni, Novotny(2), Goikoetxea
Gro scored on the 35th minute when put clear by Singleton. Tirloni doubled the lead on the 55th minute with a great freekick from 30 metres out that flew in off the underside of the bar. Novotny got the third 4 minutes later when he collected a great through ball from Powell and hit a low shot to beat the keeper. Novotny got this second on the 65th minute when Haddad, from before the halfway line, spotted a lot of space ahead of Novotny and played a great ball over for Novotny to run onto, hold off his marker’s challenge and hit a shot in the botton left corner of the net. Agbonlahor got one back on the 72nd minute. Novotny hit the bar just after the restart. I removed Novotny right after since we have 2 Chelsea league matches in the next few days. Substitute Goikoetxea added a fifth on the 86th minute. What I’m happy about in this match is that youngsters and fringe players like Singleton, Vince, Powell came in and played well.

Premier Division
Chelsea – Crewe: 0 – 3
Goals: Svensson, Tirloni, Goikoetxea
Following a short Chelsea freekick in our half on the 14th minute, Svensson dispossessed De Jong and took the ball and ran towards the Chelsea goal, sidestepped Cech to score in the empty net. It was two 7 minutes later when Svensson’s corner fell for Tirloni to smash into the net. In the second half, Svensson missed the chance to make it three after he was put clear by Haddad, but shot straight at Cech. Substitute Goikoetxea scored from the penalty spot in added time after a hand ball in the area by Boeve.

Arsenal has increased their offer for Devlin to 18 million. Refused again!

Premier Division
Crewe – Chelsea: 5 – 0

Novotny gave us the lead on the 15th minute, receiving a pass from Hettich just outside the area, turning and hitting a left foot shot into the right corner of the net. It was two on the 21st minute when Devlin rose highest to meet Svensson’s corner. Devlin made it 3 on the 64th minute from another Svensson corner. It was four 3 minutes later when Oliveira’s punt upfield was headed by Novotny to Gro who made a return pass to Novotny who got clear, ran towards Chelsea’s area, sidestepped Cech to score his second of the afternoon. Subs Gommers added a fifth on the 84th minute from a Svensson cross. Can I possibly sell Devlin after another MoM performance like this one??!

Premier Division
Crewe – Man Utd: 2 – 1

Man Utd scored just before half time and I had to make it known to the players that I was not happy at all with the way they played in the first half and asked them to show more commitment to the cause. We were staring at defeat when on the 71st minute, Svensson sped down the right and sent in an inviting cross that Hettich slide into to make it 1 – 1. 6 minutes later, we were ahead through Catalano who stole in at the far post to send the ball from Tirloni’s cross from a freekick into the net. We are now 1 point off Man City.

We now wait for the result of the match between Man City and Liverpool. The pressure is on them to regain their 4 point lead.

Great! Liverpool have beaten Man City at the City of Manchester Stadium through a Viqueira own goal.

So, the league table is as follows

League Cup Semifinal 2nd leg
Crewe – Aston Villa: 1 – 1
Goal: Vince
Aston Villa scored through Agbonlahor but Vinve equalized straight away and though we had chances, the score did not change. We win 6 – 2 on aggregate.

We will play Man Utd in the League Cup final. They have overcome Chelsea in the semis.

February 2018

I am manager of the month for January after those great results!

FA Cup 4th rnd
Bolton – Crewe: 0 – 2
Goals: Gro(2)
Kaas was felled in the box on the 4th minute for a penalty that Gro converted. Gro got his second on the 42nd minute from a Gommers’s cross that he hit high into the net.

Premier Division
Crewe – QPR: 2 – 0
Goals: Svensson, Gro
I started Jonker on the left instead of Hettich today and repaid my faith in him with assists for both goals by Svensson and Gro, delivering two great crosses after outplaying the opposition’s right back. His game today deserved a goal which unfortunately did not come. Gro missed a penalty as well today, ballooning the ball high into the stands!
Man City is feeling the pressure I guess as they drew at home against Arsenal 1 – 1 to hand the top spot to my team.

Premier Division
Aston Villa – Crewe: 0 – 2
Goals: Catalano(2)
A good win, especially as we had to dug deep to get it against a more competitive Aston Villa side this time around. The goals came from corners with Catalano at the end heading into the net on both occasions.

Haha, it’s now in 2018 that Messi has become the record league goalscorer for Barcelona breaking Cesar previous record of 195 goals. It seems the real Messi is much more potent than his FM counterpart

Man City won their away game at Blackburn, so it is still a one point lead for me.

Premier Division
Newcastle – Crewe: 1 – 3
Goals: Novotny(3)
Novotny scored 2 goals in the space of two minutes on 28th, 29th minute to give us a comfortable halftime lead. Gernsoe hit the post in the second half. Newcastle reduced the lead through a deflection by Devlin into his own net. Novotny got his hat trick 3 minutes later from a Goikoetxea’s cross from the right.
Still a one point lead at the top with Man City winning at Fulham.

FA Cup 5th rnd
Crewe – Newport County: 6 – 0
Goals: Jonker(2), Townsend(pen), Vince(2), Powell
Gave fringe players a chance as well those needing match playing time and they did not disappoint. Newport served us an early warning with the first shot of the match but it served its purpose and we took it from there. Jonker was MoM but Powell ran him a close second for the honours.

Champion’s League 1st knockout rnd 1st leg
Juventus – Crewe: 0 – 2

In a highly competitive match, the first half was goalless though both sides had chances. In the second half, on the 63rd minute, Novotny collected a pass from Konig and turned towards goal losing his marker in the process, steadied himself and hit a shot that hit the post and bounced clear into the path of Svensson who volleyed home to give us the lead. 5 minutes later, on a long punt upfield by Oliveira, Novotny broke the offside trap and was through on goal and he drove in low for the second goal. We were in complete control by then and could have scored again but it did not come. Great match against a European top team

Great story man! Cant wait for the next update! A real achievement bringing a club like Crewe to the PL and winning several cups too!

March 2018

League Cup Final
Man Utd – Crewe: 1 – 2

Great win again over Man Utd. Utd took the game to extra time when they equalized. Our quality shown through in the end when Townsend sent in a great cross for Gommers to score to send the cup to Crewe for the second consecutive seasons.

African Nations Quals Grp D
Nigeria – Cape Verde: 3 – 1
Goals: Agu, Bala, Ujah

Premier Division
Liverpool – Crewe: 0 – 1

Though Liverpool were the better team, we remained strong at the back and managed to score before half time after a fine passing move and preserve our lead to seal the win. Once we scored I changed my tactics to counter-attacking so as not to commit too much going forward and risk being caught by Liverpool and it paid off.

Premier Division
Crewe – West Ham: 5 – 0
Goals: Svensson, Townsend, Lebourg, Gro(2)
An easy win in a completely one sided match

Premier Division
Crewe – Blackburn: 1 – 0
Goals: Singleton
Opted to field a pseudo-second team with Juventus at home in 3 days, though one which I felt could still win. Jonker was injured and replaced on the 14th minute by Gommers. Singleton opened the scoring with a low shot from 25 metres out into the bottom corner of the net after the ball was badly cleared. We had 2 goals ruled out for offside. Then Toivonen was dismissed for 2 yellow cards on the 60th minute making our task to victory easier. MoM is academy product Singleton… Is this the time when this little guy finally comes of age and starts to show his true potential? Only time will tell…

Champion’s League 1st knockout rnd 2nd leg
Crewe – Juventus: 4 – 0

Novotny opened the scoring when Hettich played a perfect pass for Novotny to run on to and beat the keeper with a low shot in the corner of the net. Novotny doubled the lead when he latched onto a great ball out of defense from Konig, held off the challenge of the right back, advanced on the onrushing keeper and slide the ball into the space left by the out of position keeper. Goikoetxea took advantage of a bad defensive tackle that sent the ball back into the opposition penalty area to intercept the ball and beat the keeper for the third. Goikoetxea got a second goal after a fine individual effort where he took the ball from around the halfway line, held off Chiellini’s challenge, cut inside the area and hit a thunderous shot into the top corner of the net. With the score comfortably in our favour, I opted to make a couple of changes to give game time to Dekker and Powell.

FA Cup 6th rnd
Crewe – Birmingham: 2 - 1
Goal: Townsend, Dekker
Again, I played a pseudo-second team with Arsenal away in four days. Our task was made easier when a Birmingham player was dismissed on the 5th minute for a two footed challenge from behind on Gro. Dekker scored his first goal for the club in great style with a cracking effort from outside the area into the top corner. Birmingham got one back late on but we held on.

We will play Aston Villa in the FA Cup

Premier Division
Arsenal – Crewe: 1 – 0
We lost in added time to a Perotti goal, but Arsenal should have scored before that especially after Svensson straight red on the 74th minute.
Fortunately, Man City only drew 1 – 1 at home against Ipswich.

We will play Man City in the Champions Cup quarter final. First leg is away at Manchester.
Other quarter final draws as follows:
Lyon – Celtic
FC Bayern – FCP
Real Madrid – Man Utd


African Nations Quals Grp D
Botswana – Nigeria: 0 - 5
Goals: Ideye(2), Ujah(3)

League table end of March

April 2018

Man City has drawn their match away at Watford 0 – 0

Champions Cup Quarter Final 1st leg
Man City – Crewe: 1 – 1

Man City went ahead on the 17th minute. Dzeko sent a through pass into our 6 yard box that Ronning should have cleared, but Nasri outmuscled him and scored. 5 minutes later, Ronning turned from zero to hero. From a short throw on the left of Man City’s penalty area, Konig found Hettich in space in the left corner of the area. He passed to Ronning in the middle in front of the area and the latter hit it into the top right corner to equalize and score his first goal for the club. Svensson should have scored just before halftime when Gernsoe played a great ball over the top to release him; instead he shot wide of the post.

Premier Division
Crewe – Birmingham: 0 – 0
I sent out a team I thought capable of winning with players rested for the Champions Cup return leg, but even though we dominated the game, we did not threaten the opposition keeper enough with only 2 shots on target from a total of 17.
Fortunately, Man City lost 2 – 0 at Everton, so we are still top level on point with City but with one game in hand.

Champions Cup Quarter Final 2nd leg
Crewe – Man City: 1 – 0

City threatened first but Oliveira claimed the ball at Aguero’s feet to prevent them from scoring. When Ronning was tripped on the right side of the pitch next to City’s area, Tirloni sent in a freekick at the far post where Catalano rose highest to power a downward header at goal and score. It appears as well that we were the fresher team out there which may have been an influence in the later stages of the game. We deserved to win and we did it.

The other semifinalists are
Lyon who beat Celtic 5 – 0 on aggregate
FC Porto who beat Bayern Munich 3 – 2 on aggregate
Man Utd who beat Real Madrid 6 – 2 on aggregate

Premier Division
Man City – Crewe: 1 – 1

I reverted to using 2 defensive midfielders in this match, in a formation 4-2-3-1. Gernsoe missed a great chance to put us ahead when clear on goal but Hart produced a great save though in my opinion, Gernsoe had the time to try to dribble around him and shot or sidestep and shot. Gernsoe had to be replaced due injury on the 37th minute and Haddad come on for him. Haddad made an instant impact when he released Novotny for the opening goal. Obi Mikel equalized 5 minutes from time on an incisive counter.

Premier Division
Southampton – Crewe: 1 – 1
Novotny missed an easy chance to score in the 2nd minute but redeemed himself 3 minutes later with a low shot into the opposite corner of the net when put through by Hettich. Johnny Russell equalized on the 21st minute after slack defending allowed him space. Hettich was sent off in the second half for 2 yellow cards though we had the chance to get the winning goal but subs Gommers missed. We are still top but with only a 1 point lead over Man City.

FA Cup semifinal
Crewe – Aston Villa: 2 – 1
Goals: Novotny, Djourou own goal

We will play Liverpool in the final after they beat Chelsea 2 – 1 to progress

Champions Cup Semi Final 1st leg
Lyon – Crewe: 1 – 0
We succumbed to a Hulk goal on the 45th minute and could not get a goal in the second half though we had chances. However, Hettich will be out for around 3-4 months with a torn calf muscle.

Premier Division
Crewe – Ipswich: 3 – 2
Goals: Jonker, Goikoetxea(2)
Ipswich went ahead on the 7th minute through Nikolay Petrov. Jonker equalized for us 5 minutes later from a Goikoetxea cross. Emil Larsen gave Ipswich the lead again on the 30th minute and it made me start to worry whether we will be suffering our second home defeat of the season(the first one was to Arsenal). I gave the players an earful at halftime and just after the restart, on the 46th minute, Goikoetxea equalized again when put through by Novotny. On the 67th minute, Goikoetxea popped up again to give us the lead for the first time in this match from a Devlin through ball and we managed to keep this lead this time around to win and keep up our title challenge.

Tottenham defeated Man City 3 – 0 at White Hart Lane

League table end of April 2018

May 2018

Champions Cup Semi Final 2nd leg
Crewe – Lyon: 1 – 1P

With Hettich out longterm and Gernsoe also out, I had to move Jonker to the left and Gommers as sub for him leaving me with a free slot in the middle. Haddad got a chance in the last few games but did not convince me, so this time; I took the gamble to give the slot to promising youngster Singleton. He vindicated my choice to start with him by providing the assist for Goikoetxea to equalize the tie. I thought Lyon had equalized in the 91st minute but Tirloni cleared off the line to my relief and force extra time. Lyon started extra time the brighter, but in second half of extra time, on the 110th minute, Gro missed to chance to win it when he shot wide when clear. Again 4 minutes later, Gro shot on the keeper Lloris and the match went to penalties.
Townsend missed; Morales scored
Novotny missed; Oliveira saved
Gro scored; Danilo scored
Catalano scored; Oliveira scored
Tirloni scored; Dabo scored
Lyon have beaten us to the Final , but it was a great run on our first participation!

FC Porto is the other finalist having beaten Man Utd 1 – 0 on aggregate

Premier Division
Watford – Crewe: 1 – 1
Goal: Haddad
With some tired players after the long match against Lyon, I chose to rest players and bring in others for this match. Watford scored first and with injury to Lebourg, I had to reshuffle the team. Haddad equalized and though we pressed on, we could not find the winning goal. We now have a 2 point lead over Man City.

Man City beat Chelsea 3 – 0 to regain top spot though having played one more game.

Premier Division
Crewe – Wigan: 1 – 0
It was one of those days. We dominated Wigan from start to finish but could not find the goal. It seemed someone was always in the way of the ball to prevent from crossing the line. Wigan had only 2 shots both off target. We had 32 shots, 11 on target, 59% possession and come the 85th minute, it was still 0 – 0. The goal came from an unlikely source. On the 88th minute, from a badly cleared corner, Svensson tried to bend one from outside the area and the ball hit Ryan Bennett and deflected into the net. Is that the luck of the champions???

Fantastic story unlucky losing to lyon on penalties.

Well, they had a world class keeper in Lloris...

FA Cup Final
Liverpool – Crewe: 1 – 2

I opted for a more defensive-minded formation in this match, 4-2-3-1, rather than the normal 4-4-2 so as to shield the defense against Liverpool’s slick pass and move attacks. I lost 2 players to injury in the first half, Novotny replaced by Gro, and Gommers who was playing through a slight injury; I preferred to replace him by Jonker. On the 61st minute, Gernsoe dribbled past several defenders and passed the ball to Gro, who held off Savic’s challenge and hit a powerful shot to score. It is Gro again on the 89th minute on a quick counter and served on a plate by Jonker to send the ball in the empty net with Reina off his line. Liverpool got one back but it was too late.
Novotny will be out for 2-3 months with a torn hamstring.

Man City has been held to a goalless draw against Man Utd at Old Trafford. So if we win our next match, we will be Champions!

Premier Division
Crewe – Fulham: 6 – 0

On a quick counter, Goikoetxea on the left switched the ball to the right flank to Ronning, who passed to Svensson in the area and he took one touch and hit the ball high into the net to score. It was 2 on the 15th minute when Svensson’s low cross was turned into his own net by Diallo. Goikoetxea got the 3rd on the 29th minute when put through by Ronning. It was 4 on the 38th minute when from Svensson’s cross, Goikoetxea shot was blocked by the keeper but the rebound fell to Gro who did not miss. Svensson got his second when released by Goikoetxea in the area. Late on we got the 6th when de Vrij deflected Jonker’s cross from the left into his own net.
We are the CHAMPIONS!!!

Premier Division
Crewe – Everton: 1 – 1
Goals: Vince
Vince broke the deadlock on the 76th minute when under pressure on the right from Svensson, Rodwell clearly badly into his own box where Gro headed down for Vince to rifle into the net. Rodwell made amends by leveling the score in added time.

Final league table for season 2017/2018