Best post in this thread

and yeah lol wtf is up with Barnshaw retiring??
Anyways I'll do a Nick-like update of my Strasbourg game...
In my last update I said
After 19 games in season 3, we're currently 8th on 34 points. That's not too much of a problem, considering the 2nd placed team is only on 38 points and we're on 4 match winning streak, in which we've scored 13 goals and conceded 1.
Well we went on a bit of a run for the next 19 games and actually finished the season in 2nd place, only 2 points behind Monaco. We had a game against them with only 5 games left but they beat us 3-1 and stayed ahead the whole time. One of the players I had just signed in the last update was a goalkeeper called Emiliano Vivano, who was playing in the Brescia reserves for one of the worst teams in Serie A. He completely dominated, averaging 1.0 more than my last keeper... and was probably the reason we won so many games.
With the 2nd place finish that guaranteed us qualification for the Champions League, which is a huge deal. I wanted to trim the squad down and rely more on my youth players that I had been developing since I first took over. I sold Arouna Kone and Rick Kruys for a combined 21 million and used the money to bring Anatoliy Tymoschuk... probably the Ukraine's second best player, and a replacement for Massimo Mutarelli who I decided to release even though he was doing really well.
I also decided to pick up some re-enforcements, since I didn't want to be left with shit players in case of injuries. I signed Leece winger Vyacheslav Hleb, he can play in the midfield or up front so I figured he'd be good off the bench. I also picked up a brilliant 18 year old French goalkeeper called Samir Kouakbi who's not quite as good as Viviano but also won't let me down if he has to fill in. I signed a bunch of youth players to try and strengthen the junior ranks, but the major signings were yet to come.
With a huge transfer budget and some holes in the team, I went out and got the following...
Julien Cetout (2.5 million) DC, DM, 20 years old
- Looks full of potential, he's a bench player for now.
Whoshington (1.8 million) SC, 18 years old
- Could've been a World Class striker at 15 in the game, but I had to wait a few years before I could buy him.
Mirko Vucinic (16.5 million) SC, 25 years old
- My first major signing as Strasbourg manager. Vucinic is an Italian international who was co-owned by Juventus and Inter Milan. Cost a fortune but well worth it.
Didier Zokora (9.25 million) DC, DM, 27 years old
- Defendi was a weak link in the defense and I've been trying to sign Zokora since day 1. Cost a fair bit but I finally got him.
Nicky Hunt (7.25 million) DR, 25 years old
- I needed a right side defender and Hunt looked the best choice. Admittedly he's been absolutely garbage since I got him and I'm looking to sell him as soon as possible.
Hatem Ben Arfa (11 million) AMLRC, 21 years old
- Someone I've wanted all along, Lyon finally cracked and sold him to me. He's been fairly average but he's too young and too good to just give up on.
So we're currently 11 games into the season, as it stands we've won 9, drawn 2 and lost 0. We're sitting 1st in the league by 8 points and looking good so far. Ryan Babel is playing in Deportivo, hope the bastard breaks a leg or something.
Our first venture into the Champions League came against Benfica. Somehow we managed to draw a group with Benfica, Ajax and Chelsea. So we're pretty much fucked, or so I thought. We came out and blasted Benfica off the park, winning 3-0. Not as lucky against Chelsea though, they beat us 1-0 on a Frank Lampard penalty. Cheats, we had them the whole game.
Anyways as a comparison, here's my line-up now compared to my first season...
2005: (15 wins, 8 draws, 15 losses, 8th place)
GK: Nicolas Puydebois (now at Sunderland)
DL: Arthur Boka (now at Lens)
DR: Moncef Zerka (now at Rouen)
DC: Fabian McCarthy (still with Strasbourg, transfer listed)
DC: Cedric Kante (now at Vitesse)
MR: Pascal Johansen (now at Le Mans)
ML: Stefan Por Poroarson (now at Colchester)
MC: Carlos Martins (now at Modena)
MC: Alexander Farnerud (now at Besiktas)
SC: Mikael Pagis (retired)
SC: Amara Diane (now at GiL Vicente)
2008: (9 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses, 1st place)
GK: Emiliano Viviano
DL: Giorgio Chiellini
DR: Nicky Hunt
DC: Didier Zokora
DC: Vagner Leonardelli
MR: Vyacheslav Hleb
ML: Everton
MC: Anatoliy Tymoschuk
MC: Hatem Ben Arfa
SC: Sergey Kisliy
SC: Mirko Vucinic
If these two teams played each other I think the 2008 side would win really easily. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they beat them 5 or 6-0. The team's exponentially better, and the young guys coming through look great aswell.