Can we do Europe??

GOALKEEPERS
M. HAHNEMANN
S. GIVEN
J. MUCHA
A. DAVIES

DEFENDERS
CENTRE BACKS
S. DISTIN
S. DUFFY
E. DIER
A. NSIALA

RIGHT BACKS
C. GUNTER
P. NEVILLE

LEFT BACKS
L. BAINES
L. GARBUTT
J. BIDWELL

MIDFIELDERS
CENTRE MIDFIELDERS
L. OSMAN
J. WALLACE
P. B. DIOP
J. HEITINGA (USUALLY PLAYS CB)
D. GIBSON
J. RODWELL

RIGHT MIDFIELDERS
S. COLEMAN
F. ORENUGA
A. FORSHAW

LEFT MIDFIELDERS
J. MCFADDEN
M. GUEYE

ATTACK
J. BAXTER
J. BECKFORD
D. STRACQUALURSI
N. JELAVIC
A. VELLIOS
H. HOPE
C. McALENY
JOAO SILVA

So, March what can I say, this month is a vital part of the season run-in. If you are on a good run, you need to keep momentum going in March to push you higher in the table, but if you aren't on a good run (like us), you really have to stop the rot and with it, the demise down the table towards relegation to the Championship.

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Everton (FA CUP QTR) - Beckford
Everton 1-2 Tottenham Hotspurs - Vellios
Everton 2-0 Nottingham Forest (FA CUP QTR REPLAY) - Vellios, Wallace
Everton 0-2 Arsenal
Swansea City 0-2 Everton - Gueye (2)
Everton 1-1 WBA - Jelavic

SUMMARY
As I said earlier, this month is about halting the rot when you are in a position like ours, I hope that with the progression through the cup, and the 4 points gained, we have done this and can push on through the final 2 months of the Premier League season. We are still in 14th position (we can't seem to get higher than this position), on 31 points. However, the teams behind us have been picking up more points than us faster than i've ever seen teams at the bottom gain points before. We are still 4 places above Swansea in 18th place, but we are now just 4 points ahead of them. One final point to end on, is that we have gained £360,000 for getting through to the Semi Finals of the FA Cup, and rest assured, we'll try to win this cup now, as this seems like being out only passage into Europe next season. Europa League here we come!!!

Anyway, my first season as Everton FC manager is over, and can I say how nerve wracking it became towards the very end. Having played 37 matches, we were lying 17th overall and only 1 point clear of Bolton and Swansea (18th and 19th respectively), and we had in-form Newcastle United away at St. James Park. We had to get all 3 points to confirm our Premier League status for next year.

As it happens, we went to St. James and got absolutely battered, if it wasn't for Marcus Hahnemann in goal, we could (and should) have been 6-0 down at half-time. At half-time, my team received a rollocking off me, (especially as Swansea were beating Man United, so we'd have been relegated), and we came out like a train on speed! We quickly took the lead, and before Newcastle had time to ask what had happened, we made it 2-0. That's how it stayed, and we survived in the Premier League, and actually finished in 14th place, 4 points clear of the relegation zone.

The 3 teams that went down were Bolton Wanderers, Swansea City and Norwich City. And the 3 teams that replaced them in the Premier League are Birmingham City, Crystal Palace and West Ham United. Personally, i'm delighted to see Birmingham back, as this means the West Midlands (where i'm from), has 4 teams back in the Premiership.

On a final note of the season, we had the FA Cup final to contest (also against Newcastle), at Wembley Stadium. Newcastle, having finished 5th, had already qualified for the Europa Cup, and (as I informed my players not very politely before kick-off), this was our chance to qualify too, and contest Europe. We came out very slowly, and if it wasn't before Captain Fantastic (Leon Osman), we'd have gone into half-time level. He scored in the 40th and the 43rd mins of the game to put us 2-0 up. We went on to dominate the second period, and ran out comfortable 4-1 winners, which not only guarantees our place in Europe, but it also completes the 1st step to winning every trophy (FA CUP CHAMPIONS)!!!

END OF SEASON REPORT

Not a bad season for Everton, especially since I sold many of my assets at the start of the season, and we looked to be going down from then, but the players stepped up to the mark, and finished the year with a very credible 14th place finish, 4 points clear of playing Championship football next season. Another positive to have come out of the season, is that I have won my 1st trophy in English football as Everton manager, the FA Cup.

TEAM TROPHIES

FA CUP CHAMPIONS 2012.

Season 2 has come around far to quickly for my liking, but, as ever lets attempt to do as well as we can here at Everton, and with a bit of luck, things might go my way this year.

PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES
Everton 1-3 AS Roma - Jelavic
Evian Thonon 2-0 Everton
Everton 3-0 Real Murcia - Coleman (2), Baines (PEN)

COMPETITIVE FIXTURE
Everton 3-1 Manchester United (Wembley) - Pandev (44), Misimovic (63), Beckford (74)

So, as you can see, a pretty up and down start. Thankfully, I'm not to bothered about the friendlies at the start of the campaign, as I was tinkering around with tactics and line-ups to see what may suit us best in the league and in Europe this campaign. What I was extremely impressed with, though, was the fact that at the start of my 2nd season in charge, i've won my second trophy, the community shield!! I hope this form will continue, and we won't become a cup-team.

No sooner did the second season start, the transfer window has slammed shut. Thankfully, I had managed to do some business (not as much as I wanted, may I add) before the 12pm deadline.

PLAYERS OUT
J. WALLACE - Ipswich - £1.1m
J. BAXTER - Derby County - £2.3m
A. FORSHAW - Lens - £525,000
M. GUEYE - Villarreal - £6m
J. MUCHA - LOSC Lille - £1.1m
D. STRAQUALURSI - VVV Venlo - £800,000
JAOA SILVA - Racing Santander - £1.9m
J. RODWELL - Sunderland - £23m

PLAYERS IN
I. EVATT - Blackpool - £1m
A. MARIAPPA - Watford - £4.5m
W. ZAHA - Crystal Palace - £8m
Z. MISIMOVIC - Dinamo Moscow - £15.5m
S. SALIHOVIC - Hoffenheim - £9m
DAVID VILLA - FC Barcelona - £23.5m
M. HAHNEMANN - FREE AGENT - 0.00 (CONTRACT EXPIRED LAST SEASON, AND HE DIDN'T RETIRE, SO I SIGNED HIM UP AGAIN).
A. WILLIAMS - Swansea City - £5.5m
L. DIARRA - Real Madrid - £7m
D. FORLAN - Inter Milan - £6.5m
G. PANDEV - Inter Milan - £6.5m

Just another quick note, the top 10 most expensive transfers in this window were:-
10. David Villa - FC Barcelona to Everton - £23.5m
9. J. Farfan - Schalke 04 to Liverpool - £24m
8. M. Balotelli - Manchester City to Schalke 04 - £24.5m
7. J. Vidal - Juventus to Tottenham Hotspurs - £25.5m
6. B. Schweinsteiger - Real Madrid to Manchester City - £27.5m
5. T. Kroos - Bayern Munich to Arsenal - £31.5m
4. Z. Ibrahimovic - AC Milan to Chelsea - £33.5m
3. A. Ramsey - Arsenal to Fulham - £38m
2. J. Wilshere - Arsenal to Manchester City - £46.5m
1. M. Gotze - Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal - £62m

But, this being August, there was Premier League football to be played alongside the Transfer Window, we had three games this month. I hoped that it wasn't going to be a repeat of last seasons start (1 point from 5 games), and we could start as we meant to go on.

Newcastle United 2-1 Everton - Forlan
Everton 2-0 Crystal Palace - Pandev, David Villa
Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Everton - Forlan

SUMMARY

So, this month wasn't as bad as last season, we have managed to secure 4 points from our first 3 league games, and this has left us 9th in the table. The football we play has taken a huge stride forwards since our new players have arrived, and this has been reflected in our results. I have gone back to playing the 4-4-1-1 formation, and I feel that our team is benefiting from Goran Pandev's abilities behind the main striker. Next month will be tricky as, not only do we have Premier League games, we have League Cup and Europa League games as well.

EUROPEAN GROUP

The group that I will contest my first Europa League in was also announced this month. We were ranked 3rd seeds (probably due to how low we finished last year), and we were grouped alongside;

1. PSV Eindhoven (Holland)
2. AEK Athens (Greece)
3. Everton (England)
4. Shamrock Rovers (Republic of Ireland)

We should make it through the group stage, but as always in Europe, nothing is straightforward and we shall be looking forward to the fight.

September has finished and what a hectic month it has been. We've had league games, cup games and european games to contend with but, I suppose this is what success is all about (not that we've had too much of that recently)!!

Chelsea 1-0 Everton
Everton 3-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers - David Villa, Misimovic, Baines
Everton 2-0 AEK Athems - Jelavic, Beckford
Liverpool 5-0 Everton
Manchester City 2-0 Everton (LEAGUE CUP)
Everton 0-0 Queens Park Rangers
Shamrock Rovers 0-6 Everton - Jelavic (2), Gibson, Vellios (3)

SUMMARY
Another 4 points gained in the league to leave us lying 11th on 8 points. We had an extremely poor display against Liverpool, how the fans won't be pleased, but we were out thought, out battled, out classed by a superior team to ours. Then to follow that up with a defeat against Manchester City in the League Cup was so frustrating. But then came our best performance since I arrived, the 6-0 thumping of Shamrock, (a particular shock considering we haven't scored more than 3 since I took over)!! We are topping the group with 6 points and a healthy +8 goal difference. We still need to keep focused, however, in order to make sure of qualification, and attempt to improve our league form to qualify for Europe through that means.

So, October is over, and I guess now is the time for managers to look forward to the January Transfer Window opening (2 months remaining now). But before that happens, we have still got a busy program of fixtures to contend with, and hopefully get points from to avoid the drop.

West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Everton - Forlan (2)
Everton 1-2 Manchester City - Forlan
Fulham 3-1 Everton - Coleman
Everton 3-1 PSV Eindhoven - Forlan (2), Diarra
Everton 2-0 Aston Villa - Forlan, Coleman
Birmingham City 1-1 Everton - David Villa

SUMMARY
5 points picked up this month in the Premier league, and another 3 points in the Europa League. We are gaining form all the time, but if it wasn't for Diego Forlan, we wouldn't be picking up the points we deserve. We are now in 12th place in the Premier League with 13 points. West Ham United are in 18th place and they are on 9 points, so we are only 4 points clear of the relegation spots (where we ended last season)!! In the Europa League though, it's a different story, from 3 matches played, we are undefeated and have 9 points.

EUROPA LEAGUE TABLE
1. Everton - 9pts +10
2. PSV Eindhoven - 6pts +1
3. AEK Athens - 3pts -1
4. Shamrock Rovers - 0pts -10

I cannot believe you got david villa, This is amazing!

Thinking of going Everton now lol:D

jee whizz how did you get david villa? and afford his wages and transfer fee and lass diarra? and even misimovic?

An interesting story ...

Congrats on winning the FA Cup which appears to have been despite not because of your transfer activity. This however was reflected in your lowly league position.

Congrats also on managing to bring in much better players second season. However your 11th position again is at odds with your squad. I humbly believe that you still have a problematic squad (too many players, some who are below par and unbalanced - eg look at your GK situation ie you simply have too many). Plus you still continue to sell class players such as Rodwell (not sure whether his direct replacement - LASS DIARRA- is actually better). Id concentrate on selling players and trimming the squad while at the same time increasing the quality of it.

#46787 patrick1 : jee whizz how did you get david villa? and afford his wages and transfer fee and lass diarra? and even misimovic?

At the start of this season, I must add, I was given a £30m war chest. Selling Jack Rodwell for £23m only helped this, hence why I managed to sign the players i did.

#46789 MANUMAD : An interesting story ...

Congrats on winning the FA Cup which appears to have been despite not because of your transfer activity. This however was reflected in your lowly league position.

Congrats also on managing to bring in much better players second season. However your 11th position again is at odds with your squad. I humbly believe that you still have a problematic squad (too many players, some who are below par and unbalanced - eg look at your GK situation ie you simply have too many). Plus you still continue to sell class players such as Rodwell (not sure whether his direct replacement - LASS DIARRA- is actually better). Id concentrate on selling players and trimming the squad while at the same time increasing the quality of it.

Thanks mate, it was a tricky trophy to win, considering some of the teams we played along the way (ie. Man City in the Semis). If i'm honest, selling Jack Rodwell (i believe), was a great idea, especially as we got £23m for him, and his replacement Lassana (who I think is much better), only cost me £7.5m

Thanks for the advice with the squad trimming, and I completely agree, my goalkeeper situation is a bit of a problem. Also, increasing the squad quality does need improving, as I'm finding myself playing untested players in important Premier League games (after europa ones).