I seem to recognize your face - Newport County

I knew we'd have a tough time keeping Badirou, but I didn't realize it would be this tough. I had been trying to renegotiate a contract all season but Badirou's agent wouldn't budge on financial terms that we simply couldn't match as a Championship team. I was hoping no offers would materialize until the summer when we would hopefully be in the Premier League and have the budget to retain his services. Now we will play out the season knowing we will need a new starting poacher next year.

Unlukcy losing him Joannes Keep fighting on! You have a whole season left!

2013-01-04 10:56#75353 The FM Rookie : Unlukcy losing him Joannes Keep fighting on! You have a whole season left!

I wish I could've kept him because I think he'll do well in the Premier League, but as it stands we'll look to bring in a new starting poacher when we get promoted.

January 2016

vs Leeds

We started off the year with a strong attacking presence, but we were wasteful. 21 shots, 11 on target, only 2 goals scored. Once again, Adam Birchall notches a goal in a spot start. He has scored 12 goals in comparison to Badirou’s team-leading 17; and Birchall’s 70th league goal scored makes him the team’s career leader! This puts our unbeaten streak at four games now.

vs Southampton

So many wasted opportunities once again! 13 shots, 11 on target, 2 goals??? Maybe Badirou is starting to mentally check out with his eyes on a new team? I might start playing Birchall more to see if it can kick-start our attack. Our unbeaten streak is at five games, although we’ve only won two of those games.

vs Sheff Utd

Just what the doctor ordered on several fronts. First, we had a convincing win that makes our unbeaten streak look much nicer. Second, we looked much more clinical on the attack, notching 3 goals out of the 4 shots we put on target. And lastly, Adam Birchall looked good as he will return as our starting poacher for the time being. We are now unbeaten in six games and have won three of those six.

vs Wigan

Our defense put on a great performance here and deserve all the credit for preserving this draw. We couldn’t maintain possession for much of the game, let alone threaten for a goal. That led to Wigan pressuring Alan Julian all day long and he did a great job all day long to keep a clean sheet. Our unbeaten streak is now at seven games.

vs Birmingham

Once again we had a hard time with possession, but unlike against Wigan we were able to make good on the few attempts we took. 8 shots, 4 on target, 2 goals scored. For a while it looked like we would settle for another draw but Cristian Battocchio had other plans. He subbed in with less than 15 minutes left in the game and only took one minute to score the eventual game-winner. Our unbeaten streak is now at eight games with four wins in that time.

Capital One Cup – Semifinals, Leg 1

We almost pulled a gigantic upset here against Arsenal, but in the end our weary troops weren’t able to pull this one out. This was likely our most realistic chance at beating Arsenal, too. They didn’t seem very interested in the game and we had some decent chances in the first half. By the second half, however, the difference in talent was just too much for us to overcome. Now we’ll head off to the Emirates and play for pride, as I doubt a 2 goal upset is in the cards.

Capital One Cup – Semifinals, Leg 2

This game got out to a horrible start. One minute in and we are caught napping! We were staring at a 2 goal deficit by halftime and never mounted much of a threat to Arsenal. We had a fantastic run, however, stunning many naysayers as we marched all the way to the semifinals.

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FA Cup - Round 3

Fitting that after receiving news that Abiola Badirou will be leaving on a free this summer, he scores a game winner. Bittersweet. We handled Middlesbrough on the road with another vintage defensive performance. We gave up 21 shots, 6 on target and allowed no goals. We took 5 shots, put 3 on target, and 1 into the net. See you in the fourth round!

FA Cup - Round 4

After getting eliminated from the Capital One Cup by Arsenal, we turned our focus to the FA Cup. Scunthorpe was our next opponent and we handled them pretty easily. We only managed one goal but we kept a clean sheet and Scunthorpe didn’t look too threatening throughout most of the game. Our next opponents will be a Premier League team – the winner between Blackburn and Man City.

League Table

I think this was my most frustrating month to date. Think about that after only losing two games across all competitions this month, with both of those losses coming at the hands of Arsenal. What frustrates me is that while we won four games, we also drew three. And in a game against Southampton, we really should be winning. Our lead over West Brom is down to one point and we no longer have a game in hand. We lead 3rd place Blackpool by fifteen points for the final auto promotion spot. In February we will face off against West Brom (2), Charlton (23), and Middlesbrough (15).After playing 17 games in two months, we only have to play three games this month and that’s a welcome change. We’ve been dealing with some nagging injuries lately and this should give the team a chance to recover. With 14 games to go, our magic number is 41.

Transfers

Jaturong Sritaro is our most speculative signing to date, mainly because we couldn’t scout him prior to bringing him on board. He looked like a promising trequart, though, and after signing him our scouts give him a 4.5 star PA rating.



Stuart Warwick is a 3.5 PA wide midfielder that can also play winger. I’ve started training my 4231 tactic for future use and players like this give me options in case we decide to change up from the 442.



I’m not going to lie; I’m excited by this signing. Saul comes in and immediately starts at right fullback and has a 5 PA rating. He was a product of Barca’s youth system but never became a fixture beyond the B squad. I’m more than happy to bring him in!



Narentron Noywech is another long-distance signing. He was brought in primarily to help Sritaro feel more at home. Both players speak Thai, and Noywech also speaks English. On the pitch, Noywech looks like a decent winger type. 3.5 PA means he might develop into someone we can rotate on the right wing.

Total money spent this month - zero

Total money spent this season– 12k

February 2016

vs West Brom

This was a heavyweight battle between two teams trying to win the league crown and it certainly delivered. We took a narrow 1-0 lead into halftime then were stunned 10 minutes after the reset. We had a piece of poor defending and West Brom took advantage to level the game. Abiola Badirou slotted home with about 10 minutes left in the game and we took home a very crucial 3 points against the 2nd place team. Our unbeaten streak is now at nine games with five wins in that time. Our magic number is 35 with 13 games to go.

vs Charlton

After our last two games and this month’s light schedule of games I was worried that we face a bit of a letdown in this matchup. Sure enough we gave up a goal two minutes into the match and we were down 0-1 at halftime. I ripped into the team for a lackluster performance to that point and the boys came out with quite the response. We exchanged goals all the way until the final minutes when Adam Birchall slotted home the winning goal seconds before injury time. Our unbeaten streak is now at ten games with six wins in that time. Our magic number is 29 with 12 games to go.

vs Middlesbrough

We had plenty of time to rest up for this game and had almost all of our starters back. Of course we found a way to struggle, especially on the attack. We looked strong defensively, however, and ground out a 1-0 victory thanks to a Badirou goal just after the hour mark. Our unbeaten streak is now at eleven games with seven wins in that time. Our magic number is 26 with 11 games to go.

FA Cup - Round 5

Holy. Freaking. Crap! A scalp for the ages! And this one wasn’t even as close as the final score suggests. We continued to tap into our home field magic by stunning City with three goals in the first 18 minutes of the game. We went into halftime beyond confident with a 3-0 lead. City scored first after the restart, but we were quickly able to restore our three goal lead. City then replied with a quick goal of their own to get within two. The fireworks finally settled down a bit and City managed to get within one goal with about 15 minutes left, but we hung in there with some strong defense in the end to pull this gigantic upset. Here’s a link to the goal highlights - http://youtu.be/mzHNwqcYe1Y

League Table

After last month’s frustrations, I think this has to be one of my most satisfying months to date. The scalp of Man City in the FA Cup alone stands out, but we also won all three of our league games. This run of form has our overall unbeaten streak at seven games with six wins in that time frame. Our lead over West Brom is a more comfortable seven points now. We lead 3rd place QPR by nineteen points for the final auto promotion spot. The home stretch begins and in March we will face off against Huddersfield (7), Sheff Wed (9), Hull (17), Ipswich (21), West Brom (FA Cup), Brighton (13), and Wigan (6). Last month’s relaxed schedule sets us up nicely for this month’s seven games. We’re looking to be at full strength for the final eleven games of the season and our magic number is down to 26.

Transfers

No new faces this month.

Total money spent this month - zero
Total money spent this season– 12k

Looks like u'll be going up this year

Woohoo! The big League beckons joannes! All the best!

March 2016

vs Huddersfield

This was an evenly played game with neither team dominating for long stretches. The end result was a boring but efficient win for us. Huddersfield seemed to be frustrated throughout the game, amassing 12 fouls, 3 yellow cards, and a red card late in the match. Our unbeaten streak is now at twelve games and we have notched six consecutive wins.

vs Sheff Wed

This was another fairly even game on the stat sheet, although Sheff Wed took a few more chances than we did. The defense did well to keep another clean sheet, though, and our attack made the best of the few chances that we created; with the game winner coming only minutes before the end of the game. Our unbeaten streak is now at thirteen games and we have notched seven consecutive wins. Our magic number is 19 with 9 games to go.

vs Hull

This game was a subtle reminder that we still have to show up offensively. Riding a high of seven straight wins I think we were too confident that the winning goal would just happen. Instead we only managed 8 shots and 1 on target. We held strong defensively to salvage a scoreless draw but we were lucky that Hull didn’t poke one through. Our unbeaten streak continues to fourteen games and our magic number is 15 with 8 games to go.

vs Ipswich

One shot, one kill. Ipswich took us to task all game long but we scored the only goal of the game. Tom Boyle smashed home a goal just before the half hour mark and that’s all we needed. This was another great performance by our defense that allowed only 6 shots on target out of 33 taken. Our unbeaten streak continues to fifteen games and our magic number is 12 with 7 games to go.

vs Brighton

We’re promoted! We gave up the lion’s share of shots and possession, but we turn two of our seven on target shots into goals. In fact, we deserved at least one or two more goals on great efforts that were turned away. Our unbeaten streak continues to sixteen games and our magic number is 9 with 6 games to go.

vs Wigan

One game after securing promotion to the Premier League, we got hit with a bit of bad luck against Wigan. Credit to Wigan for putting pressure on our defense throughout the game with 9 shots on target out of 14 taken, but we were strangely wasteful in front of the net. We took 15 shots but only managed to put 4 on target and that led to a scoreless loss. Our magic number remains at 9 with 5 games to go.

FA Cup - Round 6

After last round’s fantastic scalp of Man City, there’s no way to see this game as anything but a crushing letdown. Our bad habit of playing poorly on offense carried over from league play and a fellow league opponent took advantage and booted us out of the FA Cup. This game was especially frustrating because West Brom scored early and we couldn’t do anything all game long.

League Table

We accomplished our primary mission this month by securing promotion to the Premier League. That means we’ve had successive promotions, taking us from the BSP to the Premier League in four seasons! The second mission will be to retain the top spot on the table and make it four consecutive league crowns that we have won. This month saw us very unceremoniously eliminated from the FA Cup only one round after the upset of a lifetime vs Man City. The final games are upon us in April as we face off against QPR (4), Cardiff (18), Blackpool (9), Nottm Forest (17), and Peterborough (11). With our magic number down to 9, we need three wins out of five to clinch the crown.

Transfers

No new faces this month.

Total money spent this month - zero
Total money spent this season– 12k

April 2016

vs QPR

This came as a bit of relief. After a couple of lackluster performances I was beginning to think that the team had switched off even though we still had one goal left to accomplish. This convincing win got us closer to winning the league and we did it in convincing fashion. After falling behind early in the match we responded with two goals of our own to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. We finished off the scoring with a goal just after the hour mark to cruise home with a comfortable win. Our magic number remains at 6 with 4 games to go.

vs Cardiff

Did nerves get the best of both teams in this rivalry clash? Maybe so. That would help explain the less than clinical finishing that both teams exhibited all game long. Both sides were almost even in terms of shots, shots on goal, possession, and goals scored. Our magic number is now down to 3 with 3 games to go thanks to a West Brom draw.

vs Blackpool

With a BANG! That’s exactly how we stamped our league title, scoring three goals before the halftime whistle. Adam Birchall continued to reward my faith in him with a brace and he recently put pen to paper on a new contract for next year (as a backup plan).

vs Nottm Forest

Back to basics in this matchup. Nottm Forest had plenty of chances but couldn’t find a way onto the scoreboard. Meanwhile we made the most of the few attempts we did take, and walk away with a 1-0 victory.

vs Peterborough

We end our season on a whimper. In a game where we put 8 shots on goal, we really should have been able to slot home one or two. And in a game where we only allowed 4 shots on goal you wouldn’t have thought that we’d allow one through. But that’s football and that’s exactly how this game turned out – the opposite of how many thought it would have.