Season 8 - Cup Success!

So a newly settled and happy squad commence the season in familiar fashion. League forms OK, marginally better than last year, and 4th is the spot occupied by Christmas. A bit of a worry is the distinct lack of goals. An early season injury crisis sees me sign 2 center backs on loan, and they both become permanent additions after impressing, Patrick de Jong (DRC) in January and Jerome Robin (SW/DC) at the end of the season.

Cup-wise, I'm laughing. The UEFA Cup and the Italian Cup don't throw any difficult obstacles my way before the mid-way point of the season and I progress sans problems.

Zvonomir Deranja returns to Hadjuk in January, he's a good player, but I have so much competition up front that he's not getting a go. I make 3.6 million, and he was a top dude, so I can't complain.

The second half of the season sees my league form become ever patchier and it quickly becomes evident that although I'm not gonna drop out of the top 6, Champions League football is yet again out of my grasp.

Still, I have the cups. Roma in the Semi's of the Italian Cup is a toughie, but I overcome 2-2 on away goals. The UEFA Cup throws me Arsenal in the 4th Round. A tough one, but a hard fought and entertaining 4-3 aggregate win is deserved. I play Guida up front for the first time, and he makes the difference.

After these ties, the rest of my season becomes a huge struggle. League form remains crap, and now my cup form goes to the dogs. I beat St. Pauli on away goals and Rennes 3-2 in unconvincing victories against none too impressive opposition. I'm fortunate to claim a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the Italian Cup final against Inter. Very fortunate.

A sequence of 7 games without a win convinces me to change my style in order to try and claim a cup to salvage my season. It's risky, but I start using my all out attack formation at the start of games. And it works, I come from behind to defeat Rennes, destroy Juventus in the league 3-0 and even beat Roma in the league 3-2.

Then my first taste of a big trophy. The Italian Cup is claimed with a 5-2 aggregate win after an impressive second leg performance. A few games later, the UEFA Cup is added with a far less interesting 1-0 win against Club Brugge, Fans Player of the Year Bruno scoring the winner. To Madeira ends the season well to be my top scorer, but 16 isn't a great haul. I have to figure out how to score more goals next year.

I finish 5th for the 3rd year in a row, and I'm not happy. My squad is really good and I have excellent strikers. But they won't bloody score. I'm kinda stumped.

My BIG gripe this season is the ridiculous number of red cards I get. I now appeal all of them because SO many are getting overturned because the refs are useless. Nelson Akwari got 3 red cards (again) but this time ALL OF THEM had their bans retracted because of poor decisions. It doesn't bloody help me win! Especially the game against AC Milan where I committed 7 fouls and had 3 players sent off. I still only lost 2-0 and both goals were penalties. Grrr...