I'll start with the most positive thing, that we finished runners-up in the Championship to claim automatic promotion to the Premiership for the 2010/2011 season. To just stay in the Premiership the next season will be quite a challenge. Hopefully with a few judicious signings I can achieve this. Anything higher than 17th place would be a huge bonus. Acheiving promotion was above expectations, and fully expected even gaining a playoff place would be quite a challenge.
Having looked at the home and away stats, it makes for some very interesting reading. Out of the 95 points we gained, 47 were from home matches and 48 from away matches. We did however only lose 2 home games and 5 when in away matches. Our home stats of 13 wins, 8 draws and 2 losses are probably about what I was hoping for, placing us 5th with our home record. Our away record 15 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses was way above expectations and rated 1st for away form. I'm quite stunned that we achieved so many wins away from home, and can only think this was probably due to teams taking a few more risks when they played at home, giving us a few more opportunities to gain a victory.
Our cup activity was not quite so good, with us making it to the 3rd round of the League Cup, going out to Spurs in a tight match, in which we really should have at least taken it to extra time. That performance gives me some hope we won't be completely played off the field next season.
However the FA Cup proved to be very poor, going out to Plymouth in our first match in the 3rd round. This was below board expectations.
Team Statistics
Our top five goalscorers for the season were:
- 24 - Jay Simpson - Striker on loan from Arsenal
- 22 - Angelo Balanta - Striker
- 11 - Martin Rowlands - Midfielder
- 9 - Alejandro Faurlin - Midfielder
- 5 - Hogan Ephraim - Left Winger
Our top five players for providing assists were:
- 15 - Jay Simpson
- 13 - Wayne Routledge - Right Winger
- 10 - Hogan Ephraim
- 8 - Angelo Balanta
- 6 - Alejandro Faurlin, Martin Rowlands and Andwele Slory
- 7.19 - Jay Simpson
- 7.16 - Damion Stewart - Central Defender
- 7.13 - Hogan Ephraim
- 7.11 - Martin Rowlands
- 7.11 - Cedric Varrault - Left Back
My main strike force of Simpson and Balanta, who started the majority of games together played well off each other and received good service from the wings and many good throughballs.
Cedric Varrault was named as the fans player of the year, and can't fault their judgement on that. He performed well in almost every game he played achieving a rating of over 7 in each of his last 10 matches.
Signings
Definitely my signing of the season was Cedric Varrault for just £300K. He has ended the season valued at £2.1M, and looks like he will be a decent player for our next season in the premiership.
Laure at right back was a good signing for £550K and has ended the season valued at £1.3M. He is not as good as Varrault, and I will probably want to use him as backup if I can find a better right back for the next season.
Jason Steele turned out to be a great signing, bought for £190K, as backup to Radek Cerny. Not long after Cerny received an injury, and apart from 2 games when Steele was away on international duty, he was ever present after that. Steele was considered to not be as good a keeper when I first bought him, but the potential to be better, and that is exactly how things have ended. However as soon as a I first played Steele, I knew he would be a first choice thereafter. Although he is not as good at rushing off the line as Cerny and poorer reflexes, he does have better handling, aerial ability and ball distribution skills. It is these ball distribution skills that have made the difference.
In the first few games of the season we would often come under pressure very quickly after Cerny cleared the ball forward, as players would find his pass hard to control, and if it was passed back to him, he would tend to panic, leading to either giving the ball away in bad positions or conceding throw-ins in our half. Steele's distribution is a lot better with the players taking control of the ball most of the time, and even when passed back, his clearances rarely put us under immediate pressure again. Cerny's injury may have been one of the most important things to happen. My change of goalkeeping coach at the start of the season was also key, as Steele has improved quickly to now be rated better then Cerny, and will be a decent backup keeper in the Premiership as and when I sign a keeper to replace Cerny, who no longer deserves a place in my team.
Andwele Slory was a good signing in the January window, and is one of the top rated players in the side. He is a left winger, but also rated as our best striker. He possesses the qualities required to play in the premiership.
Alexander Kacaniklic, a young left winger I signed from Liverpool has trained well in the reserves, and next season may well be ready to be backup for the first team.
Loan players
With Clement Grenier I decided not to buy him using the option we had, as the price seemed step, even though I can see he has undoubted quality that will come through in a couple of years. After he returned to his club, I scouted him again and just had a £250K offer accepted, which is much better than £1.8M.
Adel Taarabt proved to be decent in spells for us, but after his injury lay off I never seemed to be able to get him back to full fitness and showing the promise he has, so I have declined to make an offer for him. In a previous post I already commented that I attempt to buy Jay Simpson, but he has no interest in joining us.
The future
For the new season, the main priority for the squad will be to clear out some of the poorer players, hopefully transfer or at least on loan, and bring in a Premiership rated keeper, a better right back, a couple of central defenders, and a striker or two. The midfield is not quite such a high priority, but will need to be looked at if the transfer budget allows that; though a stronger ball winning midfielder would strengthen us a lot.
Ultimately I would like to move to a 4-5-1 formation with a DMC, 2 MC's, AML, AMR and ST formation. However, this probably isn't possible for next season, but hopefully if we stay in the Premiership I'll be able to do so for the following one.
2 comments:
Brilliant blog!!! You are doing very well, sad though that you couldn't sign Simpson. Sounded like he had some season with you.
Many thanks. My season went much better than I dared to hope for before I started. It is a shame about Simpson, and I hope I can find another striker or two, as Slory my best left winger is also my strongest striker. lol
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