It Is A Three Horse Race (Nov 2013-Jan 2014)

Welcome to the Blue Side of Merseyside and our presence is growing larger and larger with every passing month and season.

Over the 3 months that is covered by this post sees history being made on and off the pitch.

1st Nov. 2013 Manager of the Month for October

Player of the Month

Young of the Month

We recorded wins over Tottenham in the Premier League and M. Tel-Aviv in the Champions League. We recorded our first loss of the season with 3-2 a defeat to Man Utd.

We look to bounce back by getting a result against Chelsea at home.

2 goals before the 10th minute the was nearly over before it could begin and Chelsea was being setup for a spanking by us. When I made my subs they were attacking and Chelsea’s were defensive trying to limit the damage but the damage was done in the first 8 minutes.

We had 2 draws against Napoli and PSG in the Champions League to secure our place in the First Knockout Round which the draw takes place on 20th Dec 2013.

1st Dec 2013 Young of the Month

The young guns of Everton have been impressive this season and starting to show that there is a bright Blue future on Merseyside.

2nd Dec 2013 The Ballon D’or Nominees have been revealed surprise surprise no Everton players at all and the usual suspects on the list.

8th Dec 2013 The provisional draw for the FA Cup 3rd Round.

11th Dec 2013 The Groups Stage of the Champions League

The only surprise is that Barcelona struggled a little to qualify.

Quarter Final of the Carling Cup. I gave my back up players a run out against Wigan.

I did not want this to go extra time but it did. In the 2nd half I brought on Magri, Cahill and Vittek to give the team more experience to a young and a more physical presence upfront.

20th Dec 2013 The First Knockout Round Draw for the Champions League.

Arsenal v Real Madrid and Barcelona v FC Bayern are the ties of the round. It is not going to be easy to defend the Champions League. I do fancy our chances to get to the Quarter Finals.

21st Dec 2013 The finalised

3rd Round Draw of the FA Cup.

Stoke v Bradford, Swindon v Tottenham, Man City v Man Utd and Newcastle v Gillingham are the ties of the round. I fear that many of the lower league teams will be knocked out of this round.

22nd Dec 2013 The FIFA Club World Cup

I took a 23 man squad which was full of players that would be at the club next season. Some of them started to show their class and are developing into decent players.

Golden Ball

Ross Barkley is fast becoming an established first team players with some mature performances from a young player. Sanogo was fantastic in the Final with 2 goals in 4-0 win over Boca.

27th Dec 2013 Inter make their move.

I would be getting £8k extra at Inter but I would be getting more at Everton when my contract gets renewed next. Also the transfer budget is bigger at Everton than it is at Inter. I rejected Inter has I have a young team coming through at Everton and I would like to see how far they can go when the more experienced players like Howard, Baines, Jelavic, Jagielka and Osman have left the club.

1st Jan 2014 The Transfer Window is now open.

Michy Batshuayi, Striker, signed from Standard for £900k.

He is going to be a very good back up for Sanogo. He has the right stats for a poacher with good speed, good finishing and composure. Hopefully he can score goals when he is selected or comes on from the bench.

Young Player of the Month

My young players are the best in the Premier League. I think Ross Barkley is not far off from breaking into the Full England Squad after making numerous England U21 squads.

Carling Cup Quarter Final Results. The Arsenal v Leicester game was postponed until the 1st Jan 2014.

Semi Final Draw.

This is going to be tough. I hope the 2nd Leg does not have to go to extra time.

4th Jan 2014 FA Cup 3rd Round.

No shocks this round. I was hoping for some FA Cup magic.

5th Jan 2014 FA Cup 4th Round Draw.

There are some potential giant killing games and we have the toughest game against Man City at the Etihad Stadium.

Since the the defeat by Man Utd we have won 8 League games on the bounce.

The stats were in favour of Fulham but football matches are not won on stats. In the 2nd half I made some chances to our tactics by going from short passes to direct pass with a quicker tempo and increasing the width also making Verratti our playmaker. This worked has Verratti got 2goals and 1 assist also Barkley got another goal.

Alexandr Susin, M/AM RL, signed from Spartak Moscow for £1.5m.

He can play on both wings with ease. He has a good foundation to build from and is already an Un21 International for Russia. He will be the back up for Gueye next season.

Pieter Isa, Central Attacking Midfielder, signed from FC Twente for £1.4m.

He is nearly ready for First Team action but I will be loaning him out over the next year or two to give him playing experience. Will Jonk thinks Isa will be good as or better than Verratti which is something to say since Verratti is a decent player at 21.

We lose Jelavic for months after tearing his hamstring during the Merseyside Derby which means his season is nearly over. Sanogo will have to step up and make the position his by scoring goals.

We are undefeated in the League since 9 Nov 2013 as we face West Ham at the Boleyn Ground.

After West Ham went 2-0 up in the 26th minute I decided to change how we are playing adopting the same tactics used in the game against Fulham. It worked again this time it was 3 goals in 8minutes just before halftime. Sanogo could have had a hat-trick or more in this game.

The full list of results.

It is great to see that we score in every game we have played in this period which takes some pressure of the the strikers has there goal scorers in the squad. We play Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final after we beat Man Utd over 2 legs in the Carling Cup Semi Final.

The Premier League Table after 23 games.

The relegation at the moment covers 11th to 18th and it could go to the last game of the season unlike the title race where 10 points cover the top3 and we are on course to defend our title.

January Transfers.

Arsenal decided to splash the cash on reviving their pursuit of Champions League football with signings of Yann M’Villa from Rennes for £36.5m, Mauricio Isla from Villareal for £16.5m and Ryan Shawcross from Stoke City for £14m. They sold Bacary Sagna for £12.25m to Lyon and Walter Montillo to Valencia for £8.75.

Fulham signed Cheick Tiote from Newcastle for £10m and they sold Christian Benitez to Liverpool for £12.5m.

Liverpool signed Andriy Yarmolenko from Dynamo Kiev for £10m and Steven Davies from Rangers for £8.5m. They sold their promising Left Back Jack Robinson to Wolves for £4.2m.

Man City signed Sebastian Corchia from Lille for £11.75 and Dave Williams from Southampton for £4.5m.

Southampton signed Fabian Orellana from Granada for £3.5m.

Spurs signed Martin Olsson from WBA for £9m.

Lyon signed Guillermo Burdisso from Ajax £85.m, Christian Bruls from Sporting CP for £6.25m and Xabi Prieton from Milan for£4.4m.

PSG signed Romain Hamouma Caen for £3.9m.

AC Milan signed Kevin Strootman from PSV for 6m and Rhodolfo from Sao Paulo for £9.25m.

Juventus signed Mathieu Debuchy from At. Mardrid for £14.5m.

Real Madrid signed Giuliano from Dnipro for £19.75m.

I have decided to keep Baines for his final season of his contract unless a club comes in with a big bid for him. I will be selling Gibson and Jelvica in the summer also will be releasing Prcic, Mehamba, Hennion and Mahaya from their contracts has I could not find any buyers for them during the window. I have extended Fellaini’s contract to 2018 with him getting the maximum wages (£118k a week) which covers his peak years and he will be 30 by the end of the 2017/18 season. It will take a bid of least £30m for me to think about selling him.

The next post will cover the final months of the season.

Until next time………