The Amorim system has helped us onwards and upwards as we never looked like losing or even drawing. Against the big rivals like AEK, Panathanaikos and all we are handling ourselves very well which is always important and we managed to qualify for the Championship Group which is a very large difference to the other leagues.
See the league in Greece puts the top 6 in the league into the Championship Group and the remaining teams will be put in the Relegation Group. In the Championship Group the league winner plus the continental spots are decided. And in the Relegation Group the last two teams are relegated to the second division.
We have been solid at the back along with being a decent enough threat from set pieces. After seeing the drawbacks up front bar Yazici who was our top scorer we made some signings for January and some free transfers for the summer too.
But first
How did we do in the Conference League?
Well we managed to go through the league games unbeaten and with all wins. Our only competition seems to be Lazio who also have the same record as us and we were only in the top spot because of 1 extra point on the Goal Difference. The matches went like so:
First was a very dominant win against Malmo
Then another dominant win which could have been more against Hacken
A game that infuriated me for so long but we got the win in the end was against Dnipro of all teams
Took a long time but in the end it was some stoppage time fun with us scoring a damn goal each which made me laugh a bit but we took the points in the end.
Then a match I was slightly worried by but in the end didn’t have much of a reason to worry was APOEL.
Around this time I was supremely frustrated at Dia and I seriously didn’t have enough options left. I wish I kept Taremi around but what’s done is done. So the 32 year old winger who I kept around as a backup for him was in a good vein of form for a while before I realized he didn’t want to renew. So I will be releasing him and I have found someone who will be a decent option. I will show the future summer signings soon.
Then it was a big one against Lille which was scaring me but a wonder goal from Amadou Onana(The good Onana really 😉) gave us the points
Could have been so much more if our shooting was better 😅
Then finally it was a demolition job of Maribor to seal top spot for us
For the signings in January that I did,
Chust was someone I brought in because I was annoyed at Vallejo’s injury proneness and he was slightly better.
Then it was freaking 18th in the IRL Ballon D’Or who was transfer listed by Napoli for just 1.6M so I decided to go for him. It was none other than Scott Mctominay for the second AM spot next to Yazici. Just the fact that he is freaking 6 foot 4 makes him the perfect lamp post in our corners but sadly he got injured in January and he’ll only be back in March
Then a replacement for Chiquinho who was decent-ish but didn’t look like he was going to develop so once he was set to go back to Portugal I brought in Barrios from Atheltico for roughly 5.5M who has a better ability at the very least even if his potential isn’t too huge.
Carboni was someone I had in mind to bring in and given I didn’t have a decent enough backup for Onyemaechi so I brought him in and he’s a fairly good backup option with some good potential.
Then it was a surprise which wound up being good for us when Kumbulla was available on a free. We gave him a trial and he looked much better than Bonifazi so I offered the contract as he was finishing the trial with us and he is just a good option from corners and is a good tall presence at the back.
As for the signings I have planned for the summer and have been confirmed here we are:
The defender was just someone who has a decent bit of potential who could help us in the UEFA Competition registration. Then Gabi Rodrigues was someone who will replace Tameze after his contract will expire soon and I was noticing that he was slightly declining too. And of course Amine Harit who will replace Pep Biel who is seriously taking a hefty wage of 20k a week for his ability which will only wane so he will be released for this guy.
And then the Egyptian Striker was someone who I need desperately to replace Dia because he was just not that great. Plainly because of the fact that Yazici is our top goalscorer and Dia is fairly behind that count. He is tall and is good in the air and is fairly good physically too.
So the most recent lineup looks like this:
Given my only other option is a homegrown 16 year old striker, Dia has to stay for now. And of course Mctominary and Vezo got injured recently with them only coming back on March and February respectively.
As for Newcastle who I thought were our main competition in the Conference League
They had a clanger. Conte had them near the top 8 spots but in the Premier League they were so close to relegation so he got sacked and they managed to bring themselves up in the UECL but in the end they just missed out by Goal Difference so they will go through the Knock out playoffs before the Round of 16.
At this moment of time I really see Lazio as our main competition because they have the same record as us only separated by GD again.