Season 1 - Did We Complete The Job? (Season Finale)

We have 7 games remaining to decide if our first season in charge is a success or not, and with 2nd-6th all in the mix, there's always a chance we can either make it happen or throw it away. Will our away form early in the season cost us? Will the home form save us? These 7 games will answer it all. Afterwards we will do a little season review of the other trophies that have been won, including the top 5 European leagues so we're aware of what's going on abroad too. We will also look at our own team awards and stats, potential future plans for ins and outs for transfers as well as the rest of the manager changes through the second half of the season. So lets get in to it with the final 7 games of the season, now is your time to make your prediction on where we will finish in the league.

The Matches

West Ham 0 - 2 Newcastle

We get off to a good start, where despite a slow opening 20 minutes of the game we turned this into a comfortable win. We really ramped up the pressure on the 25th minute where the chances starting coming thick and fast, and we got our breakthrough on the 31st minute when Hall's corner was met by Botman to give us the lead. He almost added second from the same routine just before half time but it hit the bar and went out for a goal kick. Despite all the chances falling our way, we were unable to take any until the 94th minute when Bueno plays the ball into Barnes in the box, and he curls it into the far corner to double our lead. The perfect start to our run in for the season, with a good performance and all 3 points gained.

Newcastle 5 - 1 Brentford

This time round the slow start was completely erased, and the match was completely settled in the first half. A shame that we stepped off the mark in the second half but at the same time it was good to save some energy for the remaining games of the season too with the game already being finished. We started in the 3rd minute when Barnes crosses the ball deep, Gordon won his header and played it back across goal for Wilson to tap in and give us the early lead. This was followed up with Wirtz getting space in the box, and again cutting it across for the second tap in of the game for Wilson. The third came from Hall playing the ball down the line for Gordon who cuts the ball back to the edge of the area, where Wirtz is in plenty of space again and is able to finish into the bottom corner. The fourth was almost a complete replica of the third, only when Gordon tried to cut it back the Brentford defender tried to get a foot on it to intercept and directed it into his own goal anyway. Then just as half time was about to come, Gordon flicked the ball over the defence from the half way line and Wilson ran on to it, kept himself onside and slotted the ball underneath the keeper to round of his hat trick. In the second half they got their goal back from a corner early in the half, but both teams were content in just letting this one end.

Wolves 0 - 1 Newcastle

Before this game we suddenly ramped up a bit of an injury list from training injuries, so we ended up starting with Kuol up front and no centre backs on the bench. As a result this was a much closer game, however we did still create the better chances and came out deserved winners. The goal came in the 4th minute, with Hall releasing Le Bris into the box down the left side, who's cross was tapped home buy Kuol. There was a few other half chances throughout the first 45 minutes but no major chances for either team. In the second half, we started with Kuol releasing Wirtz through on a great counter attacking move, but unfortunately the timing of the pass was just too late and the goal gets disallowed for offside. After this Wolves create the better of the chances and really push for an equaliser, but some great blocks by Garcia and saves by Pope keep our 1 goal lead. In the 95th minute we play the ball smartly out wide to Tripper with lots of space, who whips in a lovely cross and Isak scores from the edge of the box, but once again the offside decision goes against us and the game finishes 1-0.

Newcastle 2 - 0 Man U

When we looked at the fixtures we had remaining, this was looking like the toughest opponent with United in 7th place and still pushing for a European place themselves although not the Champions League. However the game went completely one sided and we were in control from start to finish with this one. We got the breakthrough when Hall crossed it in from the left side, which caused chaos amongst the United defence and eventually the ball came through to the back post where Wirtz was unmarked and had an open goal to place it into for 1-0. The second came midway through the second half, when Kuol uses his pace to get through but ends up a bit deep and wide, he lays the ball back to Murphy who plays it over once more to Bruno on the edge of the box who finishes into the bottom corner to double our lead. What made this result even better, was that Man City and Spurs both drop points giving us a 6 point gap down to 5th place with just 3 games remaining.

Everton 1 - 2 Newcastle

Considering just a point would pretty much seal Champions League football, we had a very poor first half despite getting a goal ourselves, but was able to turn the momentum round in the second half and created a lot more before getting a close fought win. We actually took the lead, when Tonali finds Wirtz on the edge of the box who continues his amazing form, turns his defender and slots in to the bottom corner for the lead. They then start creating plenty of dangerous changes, and the first major one gets an incredible block by Garcia from close range to keep it 1-0 for now. However shortly after this they got the ball out wide with Lindstrom, who cut the ball across the box to find Broja to tap home the equaliser which had been coming. Murphy seemed to be having an absolute stinker as it was him that kept giving the ball away to release them for their dangerous attacks so we brought him off at half time. In the second half we came out quickly to turn this round, and Tripper played a deep cross to the back post which Gordon was there to win his header and direct it past the keeper to make it 2-1. We stopped them creating anything in this half as well and we were unlucky not to add more to our tally as the chances kept falling to us but Pickford was having a great game for them. However with a 2-1 win, Champions League football is now confirmed for us next season.

Newcastle 2 - 1 Crystal Palace

I'm not sure if it was because Champions League football had been secured and the team were slightly off it, but we had a slow start again and had to grow back into the game to take over control. Seems strange that we can completely control it against Man U, but then teams like Everton and Palace seem to have major spells where we aren't at it at all. Palace took advantage when a low cross into the box found Nketiah to beat Pope to make it 1-0, and it wasn't long after that when they played along ball over the top on the counter which Nketiah ran onto to make it 2-0, but fortunately he was offside for the second. That must have been the wake up call as we started creating everything then and they couldn't get a sniff of the ball. Just before half time Wirtz found Joelinton on the edge of the box but his effort hit the post and we go in at the break 1-0 down. In the second half we continued our creativity, and got our equaliser when Hall's corner was headed in by Joelinton at the near post. The winner came from Trippier's free kick finding Isak who headed it home for his first goal in a while and hopefully putting an end to some of his poor scoring form at the end of this season. However our win was another 3 points on the board, and thanks to more results going in our favour elsewhere, we have now secured second in the league making the final game of the season an absolute dead rubber.

Ipswich 1 - 1 Newcastle

Due to us having nothing to play for in this game, we rotated the team quite heavily, with a lot of our youngsters and backups getting the start, as well as Botman and Livramento who were both recovering from injuries. We were made to suffer for our changes however, as Delap scored a close range header in the 1st minute but this was disallowed for offside. You would think that would wake the team up a bit, but instead they remained poor to begin with, and Ipswich took the lead in the 4th minute when a corner was headed home by Morsy. Not much else happened in the first half and we were able to get some strong words into the team who weren't playing well at all. This didn't change much as they got a free kick, which was crossed into Delap who won his header, but Greaves had flicked it on from Delap's header which was also offside. We made a bunch of changes to bring on some of the usual starters which made a different, and we got our equaliser when Bruno played the ball through the defence, where Isak ran on to it and scored off the inside of the post. Then just as the final whistle is waiting to go we think we have stolen another win only to be thwarted by the offside decision again. The game finished 1-1 and we have finished 2nd in the league!

The Leagues

Premier League

As we expected, Liverpool did see it out to win the title, but we got an unexpected 2nd place finished. We were also joined in the Champions League spots by Aston Villa and Man City in the end. The three teams to be relegated were Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich meaning the promoted teams have gone straight back down. They will be replaced next season by Burnley, Leeds and Norwich coming up from the Championship.

La Liga

I can't say there was too much of a surprise with La Liga, as the expected big 3 took the top 3 places, but with Real Madrid winning it this year. Valencia will be the 4th team to join the Champions League from Spain next season. However a slight surprise would be Las Palmas finishing 7th and gaining themselves a European place next season ahead of teams such as Real Sociedad, Villarreal and Real Betis.

Bundesliga

Unfortunately the European leagues don't look like they're throwing up too many surprises, with as expected Bayern Munich winning the league very comfortably ahead of Dortmund this year. Their Champions League spaces are then taken up by Freiburg and Bayern Leverkusen. Frankfurt probably the most disappointing team in the division only finishing 10th despite a fair few exciting players within their squad.

Serie A

You'll have to forgive the names of the Italian teams changing, since the licence ran out they've resorted to Blu-Neri for Inter Milan, Cascavit for AC Milan, Parthenope for Napoli and a few other changes. Quite an exciting title race was had over in Italy as both Milan clubs and Juventus were in the running, but it's Inter Milan who secure it with Lazio taking 4th to round out their Champions League spots. Napoli and Fiorentina however both miss out on European football completely which is a bit of a shock.

Ligue 1

Over in France they had quite the expected league, with PSG taking the title comfortable away from everyone else, and then Marseille and Lyon finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Their other Champions League space is always up for grabs and this year it's Monaco who have secured it. I wonder out of these leagues who will be the first of the major team to lose their spot of dominance throughout the years.

Season Wrap Up

I think it's safe to say we've had a far better season than we expected with finishing 2nd. We also made it to the semi final of the Carabao Cup and the quarter final of the FA Cup, so decent cup runs as well. Next season we will have Champions League to add to our schedule so we may need to look at strengthening the squad some more, giving us a few stronger options in back up. Our under 21's did win a trophy however, beating Spurs 3-0 in the Premier Division Cup final where Cross-Adair scored twice and Ferreira adding the third for a cup win for our youth team. In terms of the stats, Isak was our top goalscorer with 16 goals in all competitions, Wirtz had the most assists with 11 and the highest average rating with a 7.3 over the course of the season. Isak did get the most man of the matches however with 6 so it looks like it's those 2 that are stand outs for our team this year.

In the domestic trophies there was surprising winners. In the Carabao Cup, it was Spurs who beat Liverpool in the final for their first trophy of the save. They followed it up by winning the FA Cup as well, beating Villa on Penalties in the final to do the domestic double.

European trophies had a few surprising winners too! Starting with the Europa Conference League, RC Lens from France were able to beat Fiorentina from Italy in the final on penalties for the first European trophy. Next was the Europa League, where after extra time, Spurs were able to beat Ajax and complete a treble of trophies in the first season. That is something I thought I would never say even on a game! Then finally the Champions League, which was won by Arsenal, beating Man City in the final for their first ever European trophy.

Manager Movements

In terms of the managers that were changed, there wasn't actually too many in the second half of the season. Leicester did finally appoint there replacement by bringing in Henning Berg. Then at the end of the season Chelsea decided to part ways with Enzo Maresca and they left John Terry in charge for the last month of the season whilst waiting to decide who their full time replacement will be. Then finally on the back of losing the Champions League and finishing 4th, Man City have sacked Pep! Still no sign on who will be his replacement but we will confirm that at the start of the next season.

Plans for Next Season

I feel like we will need to do a fair amount of changes again, just to improve the depth of the squad and also improve the options we have long term. In terms of players I'm looking to move on I believe it'll be Odysseas, Schar, Burn, Willock, Murphy, Wilson, Osula and Hayden, with question marks over Trippier, Joelinton and Hackett as he's getting some interest so if a good offer came in we could potentially move there. In terms of positions I'm looking to bring players in, I'm looking at quite a lot of positions but mainly to give me more options in them. I'm looking for a right back, 2 centre backs, a striker, a right winger, a keeper and obviously a left back should Hackett move on. A lot of these positions will be down to due to me selling players so needing to improve those secondary players, but I'm thinking a starting right back and a starting right winger may be in order.

In terms of competitions, I'd obviously love to say I'm going to compete for the league, but I think securing Champions League football will be the priority next season whilst I make the changes to the squad to make it more to my liking. I would like to try win at least one of the domestic cups and have a good showing in the Champions League making it to the knockout rounds preferably.

So what do you think? How would you rate our first season and what would you like to see happen next year?

Next Time

A bit of special will be next, with the dates going back to summer of 2024 despite the squads being updated means we have the Euros to follow. So I will do a complete Euros post, where it will show the groups, then each knock out round as well as top scorers and performers within the competition. Do you think Spain will win it like they did in real life? Or can England go a step further this time?