Season 1 - New Arrivals And FFP

We have made it to January, and we've got that huge budget of £137m that the board have made available to us to spend, so we're going to get some new additions into the team this month. Unfortunately as we started getting players in, we realised we were failing financial fair play for European competitions which would have meant a season ban from the tournament, so we ended up having to be careful with the signings we made and looking to sell a few players to balance the books. Fortunately the board at the end of the month found a new sponsorship deal for European TV which sorted this right out for us, as well as boosting our profile in Europe so this should help make the club more attractive to players in the future as well. During this month we've also got a Carabao Cup semi final to deal with and the start of our FA cup campaign to see if we can be competitive in that as well.

New Signings

So let's start with what we were looking forward to this month, getting in some new faces and moving on some players again. In terms of sales, Martin Dubravka has left us for £4,700,000 to Al-Ain, Jamaal Lascelles went for £2,500,000 to Sheffield United, Jay Turner-Cooke has gone to Blackburn for £175,000 and finally Sean Longstaff has gone out on loan with a mandatory £20,000,000 fee to Al-Shabab. Now to go onto the players coming in.

We start with Final Cross-Adair, who joined us from Preston for £3,000,000 to fill the role of the young striker we wanted. He will be backup to Isak and Wilson this year, and certainly one for the future more than right now but adds a bit of depth to the position as well as being a useful player for cup runs when playing the lower league teams. He will mainly be playing for our under 21's this season but there's a lot of potential in this guy.

Next we wanted a young goalkeeper to be our long term prospect for going into the number 1 position. We have picked up Mycael for £4,000,000 from Athletica Paranaense in Brazil and with his level of quality already was why we were happy to let Dubravka go in this window as well. He will be our bench keeper this season behind Pope for the league and Odysseas in the cups, but will be getting game time in the under 21's and stepping in should any injuries happen. Or if Pope continues to perform badly I will throw him in the occasional game to try push Pope into performing better knowing he can be dropped.

Probably our biggest signing of the window, we wanted a young centre back who could play on the right of our defence to be the long term partner to Botman. Eric Garcia was transfer listed by Barcelona so we snapped him up and brought him back to England after his initial stint with Man City. He cost us £18,500,000 so really not too much for a potential starting centre back for the next 10 years. He comes in with the knowledge of the big teams as well which should help us with the mentality of our players who are in and around him and looks an extremely solid partner to Botman for the foreseeable future.

Our final position that we said we wanted to cover at the start of the year was a young defensive midfielder to be backup to Tonali, and we found Pascal Klemens for £9,250,000 from Hertha Berlin. He is already at a decent standard so can jump into the team straight away when needed, but has the potential to be at Tonali's level in the future too which makes him a perfect fit for what we wanted in that position. Really looking forward to seeing how he develops.

Up next we were able to bring in a young attacking midfielder, which now finalises our three young options in our midfield. We picked up Manu Bueno for £3,000,000 from Sevilla and looks an exciting prospect for us. Developing him next to Miley with Klemens behind is looking like the initial plan with these three, and in future should be a really good balance like we currently have with Wirtz, Bruno and Tonali. The benefit to this signing means we now have three players at different levels of their careers for our midfield positions so we're able to rotate and use depending on fitness levels and opposition much more comfortably.

Finally we have brought in Ylies Aradj on loan from Toulouse to help us out at left back, as Hackett has picked up a 2-3 month injury leaving us with only Hall as the natural left back. I did want to sign a left back when it happened but this was when financial fair play was flagged so a loan move was much more sensible and doable, and on the plus side it doesn't block the path of Hackett when he comes back from injury too. Ylies is already a half decent wing back so knows the position well, and should develop nice and quickly over this half of the season for us to be helpful when Hall needs a rest.

We did have one slight concern happen, when Bayern Munich offered £60,000,000 for Botman and he needed convincing to stay. Luckily the reason he wanted to join them was due to getting Champions League football which is what we're aiming for, so we've promised him that's what we're going to get this season. Unfortunately if we miss out, we will be losing Botman as well in the summer so that may be something we need to plan for.

Moving forward with the transfers for next season, I am thinking a new goalkeeper due to Pope's performances this season, I also think a new centre back or two to play behind Garcia and Botman and sell Burn and Schar just to freshen up the age of that defence. Another potential option is right back with Trippier getting on and maybe a right winger depending on performances of Barnes over the course of the second half of the season, but that one isn't as urgent as Barnes is still good enough for us currently and we have Kuol coming through.

The Matches

Newcastle 3 - 0 Chelsea

We continued our improved form with a comfortable win over Chelsea at the start of the month. Garcia made his debut and despite having a bit of a slow start, we took control as the half went on and went into half time as the better of the two teams. In the second half we continued to be the better team and this is where we got our goals to win the game. The first one came from Bruno winning the ball in midfield, then hitting a lovely ball over the top of their defence which Isak ran on to and put in the far bottom corner to make it 1-0. Next Isak turns his defender who was far too tight on him, knocked the ball out wide for Kuol who was able to use the space and finish from close range to make 2-0. Then in the 90th minute we sealed the win with Botman heading home a Hall corner to make it 3-0.

Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 1 Newcastle (FA Cup Third Round)

With it being the early round we used a much rotated team, with Mycael, Klemens, Bueno and Cross-Adair all making their debuts from the starting line up. However this didn't really change the flow of the game at all and we remained the stronger of the two teams quite comfortably despite using a lot of youth for it. We created a fair amount of chances in the first half but was unable to take the lead, but in the second half we found some joy. The press worked and forced their defence into a bad back pass which Cross-Adair latched on to and finished past the keeper to get his debut goal. He then added a second later on but unfortunately was caught offside and it was disallowed, but overall a very good debut for the youngster. We then drew Northampton at home for the next round.

Liverpool 6 - 0 Newcastle (Carabao Cup Semi Final 1st Leg )

Disaster struck. We've been bad away from home at the start of the season, and Liverpool were the only team to beat us at home so we know they're a good team, but our defence and keeper was embarrassing for this game. It started with some poor defending at the back post for the opener, the second came from a corner which we defended the initial effort but the block fell straight to Endo to tap home the second. Then just as the half is coming to an end we give away a penalty as Pope brought down Nunez and then they score that which makes it 3-0 at half time. This is a two legged tie so all we need to do is get a goal back and keep it tight so we have a chance at home, but instead Mac Allister is able to get free around the penalty spot to volley home a fourth. At this point we subbed Pope off, but that wasn't able to change the tide of the game. A simple ball down the left wing was cut across to Nunez who is wide open and he scores a fifth, and then finally Elliott cuts in from the wing and curls one into the top corner to make it 6-0 and essentially tie over. We need to bounce back from this pretty quickly as this is a ridiculous scoreline that could derail our momentum in the league that we've currently built up.

Newcastle 2 - 0 Aston Villa

Fortunately we were able to bounce back, although it wasn't the most comfortable of games and we had to grow back into it to finally get the result we needed. The first half was very quiet with Villa edging it in terms of being the better team, and the second half started similarly but on one of our few breaks forward we managed to get Bruno into the box, who was brought down and we won a penalty. Isak stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to give us the lead, and from that point we took over the game. The second came a few moments later as Livramento made a break down the right and hit a low cross into the six yard box for Isak to tap home his second of the game and get us the 3 points.

Newcastle 0 - 0 Liverpool (Carabao Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg)

Now to show if we had learnt from the first leg and could we do anything to make it a more respectable aggregate score. We started brightly with instantly creating a chance from kick off, but Barnes blasted the ball over with the final effort. Five minutes later they then created their first dangerous chance which Mycael made a crucial save to keep it 0-0. The first half was lively but no goals scored by either team. In the second half we thought we had the breakthrough, as Wirtz slid the ball through the defence for Wilson to run on to and slot home, but he had made his move too early and it was disallowed for offside. There wasn't too many chances after that and the game just played out to a 0-0 draw, but a much better performance from us this time round but still not enough to get the win.

Newcastle 3 - 0 Northampton Town (FA Cup Fourth Round)

We used quite a rotated team again for this game, but once again got the result we wanted and deserved from the game. We started with Schar taking a free kick, which Miley wins his header to put it back across the box for Wilson to run on to and score our first. Despite creating plenty of chances, with the combination of Miley and Bueno really running the midfield game we looked like we were going in only 1-0 at half time. However we got a corner right at the end which Dan Burn was pushed when jumping for his header, the referee seen it and we were awarded the penalty. Wilson stepped up and smashed it into the top corner giving the keeper no chance and we go in with a 2-0 lead at the break. The second half continued in the same way, and Bueno played the pass through the defence, which Wilson ran on to and slotted home to get his hat trick on the day and our 3-0 lead. A very nice comfortable win and the new signings really showing what they're capable of already. We get Leicester at home for the next round.

Southampton 0 - 1 Newcastle

With the final game of the month against a struggling Southampton team, we were feeling confident about a good win coming our way. However when we are starting to look at Pope and his form throughout the season, we came up against a keeper trying to single-handedly win points for his team. Ramsdale is a keeper I thought Newcastle should have gone for in real life when he was leaving Arsenal, so I am interested in looking at him as a replacement in the game, and this performance has only boosted his standings in my potential wanted list. He started the game by making excellent saves to deny Gordon and Barnes within the first 10 minutes, he did finally get beaten after Wirtz released Isak who chipped it over him, but Isak had gone too early and the goal was disallowed. More and more chances coming and being stopped in the first half, and we had to wait until the second half to finally get the only goal of the game. A terrible back pass by the defence gives the ball to Isak whilst Ramsdale is stranded in no mans land, and Isak promptly passes the ball into the open net to make it 1-0. Joelinton then gets hacked down by a two footed challenge and Southampton go down to 10 men due to a straight red card. We then ramp up the pressure on them to try get a second, but Ramsdale is equal to everything we throw at them and somehow the game only ends 1-0.

The League

With not too many league games taking place this month, there hasn't been too much movement however we have got ourselves above Man City and into third now. Southampton drop to the bottom of the league but it's looking like the bottom 4 teams battling it out for the 1 survival place currently, although some poor form could see Everton, Fulham and Ipswich pulled back into it. Liverpool seem to be walking away with the league this year, already having a 12 point lead over second place so will take some capitulation for them to lose that.

Manager Movements

So at the half way point of the season the league has started to see some managerial casualties. Obviously Eddie Howe was replaced when we took over at Newcastle. However he has found a new job at Brighton who sacked Fabian Hurzeler due to being bottom of the league. Leicester have parted ways with Van Nistlerooy due to their league position as well, but haven't managed to find a replacement just yet and still have the caretaker manager in charge. Man U have replaced Ruben Amorim with Ernesto Valverde so have obviously decided that the stick to 3-4-3 formation regardless of players isn't enough to keep him in a job like they have done in real life. Finally Southampton replaced Ivan Juric after they fell to the bottom of the league, and have got in Sean Dyche to try save another relegation threatened team in his career.

Next Time

So with our squad set for the rest of the season it's time for a real push on now to the try seal this Champions League football we're after. We've got some tough fixtures including all three of the teams in the top four with us, where we face Arsenal and Liverpool away and Man City at home. Liverpool away can't go as badly as it did in the cup surely! We've also got the next round of the FA cup and hopefully we can keep moving forward in that too.