Season 32 Week 21 processing...

Welcome to week 21, Domestic Cup Finals week.

The reset is underway...

A big week with the season coming to a close. Some teams still have a lot to play for and others are prepping for next season.

Barcelona - very much in the latter camp getting what feels like a very young team bedded down for next season. The big debate is who partners Fabian Ruiz in the DY roles. Valverde provides a solid, hard working option but Pedri has a bit more fantasy around him and can really make things happen. There is some big news on the transfer front this week with Jose Giminez leaving for rivals Real and Theo Hernandez coming in at LB to play alongside brother Lucas who is currently the left sided CB. This week sees the Catalan Derby with Espanyol the visitors to the Nou Camp. Barca are in good form with 'King' Karim Benzema leading the line looking particularly menacing. The only changes are due to injury with Pedri coming in at DR and Pedro Porro making a rare appearance at RB.

Nacional - A very different situation in Montevideo. Nacional are hot on the heals of leaders Danubio trailling by a single point. Both teams are in incredible form with Danubio winning 19 out of 20 so far and Nacional unbeaten but having had 2 draws with Penerol. Danubio also sit on 99 goals scored with Nacional breaking the 100 barrier last week. Both teams have winnable home games this turn and it should make of a great finale next week when they should effectively play off for the title. The hugely experienced world class talent that is James Rodriguez arrives at Nacional this week in preparation for the future.
However ...... it's also Cup final week in Uruguay and Nacional play ..... Danubio. The titans of the Uruguayan game face off for the first time in these last 2 weeks with the domestic Cup up for grabs. Danubio have a heavy Brazilian influence while Nacional rely on the key Argentine trio of midfield enforcer Guido Rodriguez, the dynamic Zaracho and attacking wondered Almada.A clash of styles as well as cultures as the TM focused FAS tactic of Danubio faces off against the width of Nacional's wing halves.

Hannover have a dramatic promotion race with Wolfsburg and the 2 sides are both in magnificent form. Wolfsburg hammering 3rd placed Frankfurt 4-1 away from home last week to knock them down to 4th and out of the title race. Hannover have been consistently and quietly picking  up points but have a tough game against 5th placed Hamburg this week while Wolfsburg host 3rd placed Bremen. Hannover welcome Danes Yussuf Poulsen and Daniel Wass back into the starting 11 due to injuries but both have been regulars this season so the transition should be seamless.
No big transfer news as the recruitment team are hard at work in conjunction with the manager working on a new CB and CF in the close season to bring more competition for the step up to the Bundesliga and the challenge of facing giants of the German and global game like Schalke and Leverkusen.

Rennes - already promoted and focused on next season Rennes are still playing for the honour of having a 100% League season. After a difficult transition into a wingback based ISF tactic things have settled down in the last couple of weeks with the evergreen Antoine Griezmann showing his class at ST alongside Thuram and Ben Yedder. Each promotion will bring a new challenge but a settled Rennes side might be one to watch in Cup competitions next season.
With Hernandez leaving Rennes have brought in Marc Cucurella to fill the open LK role and his marauding runs down the left flank should provide an excellent supply line for the front 3. There may be several departures over the upcoming weeks as the manager wants  to incorporate more under 21s into his reserve team in preparation for future seasons. 

Good luck to everyone in their respective Cup finals. There are some absolute crackers across the Leagues.

Thanks Rob, a cracking good read as usual. Data entry has started...

No orders from Newcastle, looks like the assistant manager will be selecting the team for the League Cup final game against Bournemouth. Everybody else arrived safely...

WATFORD

Last weeks draw effectively knocked the reigning champions out of the race this season, which is a strange feeling for the Watford manager. However, the manager is positive in his approach to the remaining games of the season. With the manager trying something a little bit more familiar, TIB. Partey returns to the side at BW, Shaw in at LB. Grealish drops a little deeper to DL, Barnes occupies DR and KDB slots in at TM. In a traditional 442. To try spread the play a little more and create some more chances while remaining more solid with DY's working at both ends. State of the Art Med Research Centre is being built and furnished in the off season to help prevent injuries next season. As for transfer news, Germany International Antonio Rudiger is swapped with Caglar Soyuncu to add a little more height and experience to the backline of Watford.

GENK

Genk are trying to keep things simple of the EOS. With only change see Charles De Ketelaere come into the side after impressing the manager with his performances in training as of late and Nkunku switches to RW to allow Mahrez to rest ahead of the CUP game Vs Anderlecht. Mario Hermoso, moves to Botafogo, Amadou Onana moves to Leverkusen to rack up some first team minutes and Paul Onuachu hits the transfer list to allow a route to the first 18 for Brian Brobbey. 
CUP Final Vs Anderlecht, the could be a double whammy for Genk.... Win the final and drain the Anderlecht teams stamina ahead of the league game Vs Mechelen.. and with enough squad rotations for Genk.. Capitalise in the league. Or could Lose the final and Anderlecht sprint to the league title... What a big week to define Genk's season.. 

LEVERKUSEN

Leverkusen has surprised the managers own expectations on what would be achieved this season. So is looking forward to strengthening the squad and seeing what the mixture of experience and youth can offer for the next couple of weeks before next season. Only change this weeks see's Son Heung-Min return to the starting lineup after seeing a specialist. Jamal Musiala is given the Fullreview treatment, as many see him as a candidate for POTS. Robert Andrich and Hugo Ekiteke make there trials permanent after impressing. Brunn-Larson, Mkitaryan and Gunnarsson all depart this week to raise monies and reduce the squad size to keep investing in the right players. 
CUP Final Vs Schalke...  Is there any stopping the champions of Europe... the Bundesliga... One can hope they partied a little to hard and there excursions cause some fatigue at the critical moment ha. 

BOTAFOGO

Botafogo managed to claim the prestigious Copa Libertadores last week which has been paraded around Rio and parties have lasted long into the night. The squad is startign to finally take shape after a long time trying to find some key positions over the last half of the season. Mario Hermoso coming in a CL is a key signing with many believing he can flourish in the CL role for seasons to come. Leonardo makes way this week aand going to enjoy himself within a team with less physical demands on the 37 year old. Nuno Tavares makes a appearance at LB due to injury to ever present Grimaldo. 2 Games left of the league... 5 points off the top. 

Good luck to all this week!

Paul Hemmings wrote:

No orders from Newcastle, looks like the assistant manager will be selecting the team for the League Cup final game against Bournemouth. Everybody else arrived safely...

Sorry to hear that, hopefully Mark is ok.  

Paul, will the assistant manager pick the teams for the week with stamina in mind or does he just pick the strongest 11 available?

Assistant Managers only make changes where they need to, so no changes to the league side from last week but changes needed to be made to a depleted cup side. Best players are selected and stamina is not considered.

Schalke

Fresh from their Champs Lge and Bundesliga win, Schalke have had no time to celebrate as they were straight into preparations for the german cup final against Leverkusen. With Sane injured and Goretzka not quite ready to return, Baumgartner comes into the side with Jovic preferred to Ferran as he seems to dovetail with Mbappe a bit better...FAP v PEB should match up favourably.

The manager has been deep in thought trying to work out which tactics worked and which didn't by analysing the CL final against Real. Having started the match playing FAL against PEB, which has paid dividends in other big matches this season, Schalke held their own but found themselves 2-0 down after 70mins! At that point, the tactics were changed to FAP and Schalke scored 3 goals within the next 10mins! Then parked the bus to seal the win. On reflection, the manager had played a standard 433 using FAL, which was a mistake. Previous uses of FAL had employed WBKs, in a 352 formation, but the threat of Reals fast wingers had tempered the schalke managers attacking instincts. The switch to FAP (using 433) corrected the balance of the side.

The league match again Karlsruhe gives Schalke the chance to avenge their shock defeat in W18.
This time, the manager has tightened up his defence! FAS v FLY (532). Rodri comes in, giving Kimmich a rest and Kulusevski gets his chance replacing the injured Sane.

Friendly games have kicked off...

Cup Final results

Argentina
Independente 4 Argentinos 3

Belgium
Genk 6 Anderlecht 0

Brazil
Fluminense 2 Vasco 1

Eire
Cherry 1 Derry 2

England
Villa 0 Plymouth 1

France
Nantes 6 Lyon 1

Germany
Schalke 3 Leverkusen 2

Holland
Twente 6 Vitesse 0

Italy
Parma 0 AC Milan 4

Scotland
Morton 1 Celtic 2

Slovakia
Ruzomberok 4 Petrzalka 0

Spain
Real Madrid 5 Valencia 2

Uruguay
Nacional 2 Danubio 1

USA
Washington 1 Chicago 0

Congratulations to all the winners.

League games will kickoff Wednesday morning at 1000 hours...

CHELSEA

Chelsea travel to Arsenal hoping a win can cement a 4th place finish , Perreira will need to be stopped wether Bakayoko is capable is a different story , Mason Mount has impressed the manager enough that he takes over the captains armband from Kurt Zouma this week , Zouma and Lindelof is really a centre back partnership the manager would like to replace eventually but there isnt many quality players available and if there is competition for signatures would be fierce.

Off the field the contractors are in to expand the capacity of Stmaford Bridge along with a new Leisure Centre and the manager is trying a new formation out in friendlies.

EMELEC


An away trip to unmanaged Quito this week sees Emelec needing a win as they currently trail Barselona by 1 point with games running out and not a good time for Charlie Colkett and Leonardo Campana to be on the treatment table , Hamed Traore comes in for Colkett and has played well so far when having to deputise in his absence.

BATE


Bate travel away to 4th place Minsk with a slender 2 point lead over Dynamo Brest in 2nd place after last weeks 2-0 defeat against Dnepr, The manager will be hoping Broja can find his shooting boots which seem to have gone a bit shot shy in the last few games , Rumours that Broja will be heading back to Chelsea to be part of the managers squad next season , Surely he will be keen to prove he has what it takes to compete in The Premier League

Shirts sales should rise slightly as a club shop is going up this week and 5,000 new seat are being built to increase much needed revenue at the just over 18,000 stadium.


Good luck to everyone and congratulations to the cup winners.