P.S. I have decided to try a new layout to my posts. I am doing this so I can focus on tactics during matches instead of writing. Please post some feedback.
With three games to play, Wolves qualified for promotion. With Reading already having won the league almost 5 matches ago, this was great, with the pressure off, and other teams were now battling it out for the third and final place in the Premier League. There will be a major reshuffle of the squad for next season, with certain players already guaranteed a spot in my plans, however the others will have to work for it.
So, in order to wrap up this season, the final match for us was at Ashton Gate, Bristol. Finishing second was a great achievement for a side destined to be borderline playoff contenders. Below are the fixtures/results list for the season, as well as the table. I have begun searching for players to bolster my Premier League squad. With the exciting prospect of a large transfer budget, I hope to entice a large number of highly skilled players to help us stay in the Premier League. A number of deals for high-profile players were made, but fell through at the last minute. Two confirmed signings are Marek Cech from West Brom, Lucas Neil from the recently relegated West Ham, Glauber, the Brazilian defender from Manchester City, Miroslav Stoch, after being dropped from Chelsea, Dan Spence, after being sacked from Reading, Dean Ashton from West Ham, and James McFadden from Birmingham. On a staff level, Terry Connor, Wolves former Assistant Manager was sacked by me, on the grounds of poor advice during the season. A number of his calls and judgement were quite poor, including press conferences. His replacement was former Manchester United First Team Coach (who we signed him from) Rene Meulensteen, who has experience managing Brondby, Al-Sadd in Qatar, and Al-Gharrafa also in Qatar. He is a World Class staff member and is a welcomed addition to my backroom personnel.
Here is a quick SLIDE containing our new staff and players.
Obviously, my player of the year has to be striker Ebanks-Blake. He is just so speedy, which works perfectly to the way I manage. His trademark blasting of the ball is just brilliant to watch, and he gets us out of so much danger. He will no doubt be a definite starter for next season. Within the first 20 league matches, he had already blitzed the goal scoring record, and at the end of the season, finished at a whopping 47 goals.
In terms of awards, I finally received the Manager of the Month award. 4 out of 5 league victories. Hurrah for me :)
The seasonal awards were given out, first up, the Goal of the Season. The award was won by Guillaume Beuzelin of Coventry against Blackpool (April 18th). The goal was a first time shot from way outside the area to equalize for Coventry on the 78th minute. Coming in second place, was Pablo Counago of Ipswich, against QPR (October 4th). With the score at 2-0 down for Ipswich, A cross outside the area found Counago, who took a first time shot to the top corner of the net. In third place, was our very own Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, against Sheff Wed (December 6th). Scores at 1-1, Ebanks-Blake takes the ball from the Wolves half, dribbles past 2 defenders, before rounding the keeper and scoring.
The Manager of the Year award was handed out to none other than Steve Tilson of Reading. Taking control of Reading half-way through the season, he kept the team's momentum flowing, in winning the league. Coming in second is yours truly, after taking the Wolves through to promotion, and not losing to Reading in the whole campaign. In third was Dave Jones of Ipswich, who took the team 12 places above what was predicted, to win the playoffs and secure promotion to the premier division, the first time the club's been in the division since 2001/2002.
The Players' Select this year is made up of 8 clubs. No real surprises in this team, apart from Matt Jarvis of Wolves, who had a shocking season, considering his chances.
Finishing up the awards section is Top Goalscorer, which went to none other than Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, who scored a whopping 47 goals. Second to that was Kevin Doyle of Reading, who scored 34, and in third was Jason Scotland, who scored 25 to help Swansea achieve a very impressive 11th. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's large amount of goals has beaten the previous record of 31 goals by 16, which was set in 1998/1999 by Lee Hughes of (then) West Brom.
Fixtures/Results
Table
Notable Matches
The friendly against Melbourne Victory was a match that was quite one-sided, but a valiant effort from the home side reduced the scoreline to lower than what the stats reflected. The experience of the Wolves squad showed in the end, 3-0 winners.
The match against Ipswich was supposed to be a draw, however the Wolves showed exactly how to play football. They managed to win despite having less shots, and the scoreline was absolutely brilliant. The man-of the match award should've been awarded to the Ipswich keeper, who, whenever he cleared the ball, had to be on guard as another attack was on the way.
So, to end this post, this season has been one of big scorelines, so I leave you now with a montage of our biggest scorelines.
Posts
Well done Turner, 104 goals scored are a massive achievement, even in the championship.
ReplyDeleteI think that for next year you should start building from the defense, I'm not so confident that Glauber could improve it, you need a stronger DC, try to buy Reginiussen or Demidov, not too expensive but very reliable!