Making Tottenham Hotspur more than just a top 4 team

You are flying through the season!

Yeh I have a fast laptop and I'm only running the one nation and league as I intend to stick to the one club for a change and see how far I can take them the computer performance and speed are both 5 stars so it is relatively quick for me

January brings a hectic schedule and the opportunity to have a look at what players I can sign for free at the end of the season I have decided to choose these 3 players

Yaya Sanogo - ST
Carlos Sanchez - DM/CM
Julian Scheiber - ST

I will be sending Sanogo on loan next season to Cardiff who I have as a feeder club I will also be using Sanchez and Scheiber as back ups or I may give them some time out on loan depending on signings I make pre season

January

PL - Norwich (H) - Draw 1-1 (Adebayor)

FA - Brighton (A) - Won 3-0 (Defoe , Kranjcar , Huddlestone)

LC SF - West Ham (A) - Won 1-0 (Saha)

PL - Wigan (A) - Won 3-0 (Defoe x2 , Lennon)

PL - Manchester City (A) - Lost 3-0

PL - QPR (H) - Won 2-0 (Kranjcar , Bale)

LC SF - West Ham (H) - Draw 1-1 (Adebayor)

FA 4th - Wolves (A) - Draw 1-1 (Lennon)

PL - Bolton (A) - Draw 2-2 (Adebayor , Bale)

I end the month in 2nd just 5 points behind Manchester United and 4 points ahead of Swansea in 3rd place who I will meet in the League Cup final next month. I have been unlucky this month with injuries and for the games against Wolves and Bolton I had to field King at LB and Sandro at RB due to these injuries and lack of squad depth. Unfortunately I only managed a draw with Wolves in the F.A cup meaning the replay will be another fixture I will have to fit into this hectic schedule. I am really looking forward to the League Cup final and a chance of grabbing my 1st piece of silverware with the club however Swansea are on fire in the league sitting comfortably in 3rd with 2 games in hand over me and have already got the psychological edge by beating me 2-0 earlier in the season.

February

PL - Aston Villa (A) - Won 2-0 (Van Der Vaart , Subotic)

FA - 4TH REP - Wolves (H) - Won 3-0 (Adebayor x2 , Dawson)

PL - Liverpool (H) - Draw 1-1 (Reina O.G)

EC 1ST KO - Stade Rennais (A) - Draw 1-1 (Dawson)

FA 5TH - Nottingham Forest (H) - Won 2-0 (King , Van Der Vaart)

EC 1ST KO - Stade Rennais (H) - Won 6-2 (Van Der Vaart x2 , Defoe x2 , Subotic , Modric)

LC FINAL - Swansea (N) - Won 2-1 (Defoe , Gallas)

Wasn't a bad month for me overall I won my 1st piece of silverware and also progressed in the FA cup and Europa league knockout stages so I think now might be the time to request a new contract to assure the board and the fans that I am here for the long haul. I end the month in 3rd place 8 points adrift of leaders Manchester United and 2 points behind Manchester City in 2nd but I have a game in hand over them both. At the start of the season I told the board I thought I was capable of leading this team into the top 4 and I am quite confident still of achieving this now depending on next seasons transfer budget I may even push for a title challenge.

March

PL - Fulham (H) - Won 5-1 (Gallas x2 , Assou-Ekotto , Adebayor x2)

EC 2ND KO - Udinese (A) - Won 3-0 (Adebayor , Van Der Vaart , Kranjcar)

PL - Manchester United (A) - Lost 5-1 (Modric)

EC 2ND KO - Udinese (H) - Won 4-0 (Adebayor x2 , Van Der Vaart , Huddlestone)

FA 6TH - West Brom (A) - Draw 3-3 (Gallas , Van Der Vaart , Modric)

PL - Newcastle (H) - Draw 2-2 (Adebayor , Bale)

PL - Stoke (A) - Lost 2-1 (Bale)

EC QF - Dortmund (H) Won 4-2 (Defoe , Van Der Vaart , Modric , Gallas)

Not the best month for me especially in the league with an early hammering by leaders Manchester United a 2-2 draw against Newcastle after leading 2-0 and a late goal to lose 2-1 at Stoke. However I am happy with my progression in the Europa League and if I can hold onto the 1st leg lead I will be in the semi finals. Also I have a replay in the FA cup against West Brom and if I get through that I will face either Norwich or Arsenal in the semi finals. The only problem I am struggling with at the business end of the season is these games are coming thick and fast and as I am still involved in all competitions it may hinder me from getting the top 4 finish in the league what I set out to achieve in my 1st year in charge.

April

PL - Swansea (H) - Draw 2-2 (Modric , Taylor O.G)

EC QF - Dortmund (A) - Won 2-0 (Cissokho , Modric)

PL - Everton (H) - Won 2-0 (Bale , Adebayor)

FA 6TH REP - West Brom (H) - Won 3-0 (Van Der Vaart x2 , Adebayor)

FA SEMI - Arsenal (N) - Lost 1-0

PL - West Brom (A) - Won 2-1 (Adebayor x2)

EC SEMI - Bayern Munich (H) - Lost 4-0

PL - Arsenal (H) - Won 2-1 - (Defoe , Modric)

EC SEMI - Bayern (A) - Lost 4-1 (Bale)

PL - Chelsea (A) - Lost 3-2 (Defoe , Van Der Vaart)

This was a terrible month for my team and I don't even think I will be able to achieve a top 4 finish. Games were coming very fast and my team couldn't handle them and started to fall apart I played 4 games in 9 days so my players had no time to relax I was starting games with players in 68% condition due to injuries and suspensions. with just 4 more games to go 3 of them are away so I'm hoping my team can pull together and help us get Champions league football for next season.

May

PL - Manchester City (H) - Won 2-0 (Defoe , Subotic)

PL - Blackburn (A) - Won 2-1 (Bale , Subotic)

PL - Wolves (A) - Lost 3-1 (Bale)

PL - Sunderland (A) - Draw 1-1 (Defoe)

Well that's the end of my 1st season and I managed to finish 4th in the Premier league. I will be looking to strengthen my squad for next season as my squad depth wasn't the best and I struggled in the second half of the season with fitness and how fast the games were coming. I will be doing an end of season summary in my next post followed by a pre season summary when I set my expectations for next year.

End of season summary

P 38 W 21 D 8 L 9 F 70 A 30 GD +30 PTS 71

Leading scorers

Adebayor - 27
Van Der Vaart - 21
Defoe - 17
Bale - 12
Modric - 12

For the start of next season I will be looking to replace Brad Friedel as he is now 41 years old I may keep him on for 1 more year though as a back up. I will also be trying to sign Adebayor as he and Van Der Vaart seem to have a great partnership and work well together.

I'm not sure yet whether or not I will be telling the board I think I can maintain a title challenge as after christmas it started to get tough for me so I may go for a top 4 finish for one more season to be on the safe side. I am also not happy at losing 9 games overall so I will be looking to try and cut that down especially as I lost some games to teams I really should of been beating. I'm happy though with the majority of my squad and don't think there needs to be any drastic changes but as I will be releasing Nelsen , King and possibly Gallas I will be glad to have Bassong and Corluka back from their loan spells.

I will inform you all of my expectations , transfer budget , ins and outs and my hopes for next season in my pre season report to follow.

Nice Story I Don't Like Tottenham Though but still you did well for a first season

Thanks mate in the season I just had Newcastle finished 10th I persume you support them? If so have you got a story on here?

Pre season report 2012/13

I knew pre season would be mental this time round and Modric , Bale and Van Der Vaart are in huge demand as usual from a host of top clubs so I am going to maybe struggle to keep hold of them but I will be doing all I can to ensure they stay. I set my expectations as a top 4 finish again and only got £5 million to spend which is quite shocking however I'm hoping after I've released a few players I will have considerably more to spend. I am also going to have a good look in my reserves at the players who were out on loan last season and see if there are any decent youngsters who I can promote to the 1st team. Well after releasing a few players I made quite a lot of money through the sale of others which enabled me to strengthen my team here are the ins and outs.

Released

Ledley King
Ryan Nelsen
Carlo Cudicini
Louis Saha
Ben Alnwick
Jermaine Jenas

Bought

Yaya Sanogo ST - Free (AJ Auxerre)
Julian Shieber ST - Free (Stuttgart)
Carlos Sanchez DM/CM - Free (Valenciennes FC)
Emmanuel Adebayor ST - £5 million (Manchester City)
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen GK - £15 million (Gladbach) *Wonderkid
Phil Jagielka DC - £12.5 million (Everton)

Sold

Assou-Ekotto - £6 million (Lyon)
Steven Caulker - £2.7 million (Aston Villa)
Younes Kaboul - £8 million (Lyon)
Souleymane Coulibaly - £2 million (Liverpool)
William Gallas £725,000 (Aston Villa)
Andros Townsend - £3.2 million (Swansea)
Giovanni Dos Santos - £3.5 million (Newcastle)
Sandro - £10 million (Lyon)

Friendlies

FC Groningen (A) - Draw 1-1
Uruguay under 23's (H) - Lost 3-1
Stuttgart (H) - Draw 1-1
Leyton Orient (A) - Won 8-1
Oldham (A) - Draw 0-0
Atletico Madrid (H) - Won 4-3
San Jose (A) - Won 2-0
Parma (A) - Won 3-1

That's pre season out of the way and apart from Gareth Bale (1 month) who was injured on international duty with the GB Olympic squad the rest of my squad are fully fit and ready for action. Also during pre season the draw was made for the Champions league 4th qualifying round where I was drawn at home to Malaga roll on the new season and let's hope I can make the top 4 again.

Squad for the 2012/13 season

Goalkeepers
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen , Brad Friedel

Defenders
Kyle Walker , Vedran Corluka , Neven Subotic , Phil Jagielka , Michael Dawson , Aly Cissokho , Sebastien Bassong , Kyle Naughton

Midfielders
Gareth Bale , Scott Parker , Tom Huddlestone , Aaron Lennon , Luka Modric , Carlos Sanchez , Steven Pienaar , Rafael Van Der Vaart , Niko Kranjcar

Strikers
Emmanuel Adebayor , Yaya Sanogo , Jermaine Defoe , Julien Schieber

First 11 formation 4-4-1-1

Ter Stegen
Walker Subotic Jagielka Cissokho
Lennon Modric Parker Bale
Van Der Vaart
Adebayor

August

PL - Reading (A) - Won 3-0 (Kranjcar , Parker , Jagielka)

CL 4TH - Malaga (H) - Won 5-1 (Adebayor x2 , Lennon , Dawson , Mathijsen O.G)

PL - Leeds (H) - Won 4-0 (Van Der Vaart , Modric , Kranjcar)

CL 4TH - Malaga (A) - Won 5-1 (Kranjcar , Van Der Vaart , Defoe , Huddlestone , Sanogo)

A great start to the season and plenty of goals I am particulary pleased with the 10-2 aggregate win over Malaga which sees us take our place in the draw for the Champions league group stages. Also with us taking 6 points from 6 in the Premier League we're currently sat in 2nd and confidence is running high throughout the team and morale is also very good at the moment.

Group F
Real Madrid
Tottenham
Metalist
Ajax

A tough draw for me this we're up against Real Madrid one of the biggest clubs in the world who's team is rife with superstars so I don't expect to get a result in either match Vs them however at this moment I am confident we can progress from the group as runners up