Wilkommen to season five! Nick and RB Leipzig surpassed all expectations last season, finishing third in the Bundesliga. Can they improve on that this season while coping with European football as well?
You know the drill, cup draw first. Hopefully we can give the Frankfurters a good grilling…
Finishing third last season has also earned us a place in the much-coveted Liga Cup…
My patience has worn thin with Gazza’s regen. I had high hopes for him at the start, but it just hasn’t happened for him, and he heads home.
So this is the squad to start the season. I’ll still be on the lookout for new players as always, but am happy with what I’ve got for now.
The salary cap is now £8,778 a week based on 13.3% of Giggsy’s £66k, and the whole squad are comfortably inside that.
First up is that Liga Cup game with Schalke. Penksa gives us a second half lead, and despite the visitors going close a few times, we hold on to face cup winners Nürnberg in the semis.
At Nürnberg we go in for half time 3-1 up after a Nat King Goal hat trick. We manage two more in the second half, and it’s an emphatic and deserved win. Bayern await in the final.
I let Baby Riedle join Zwickau. He was free and never played, so £300k is good business.
It’s one a piece at full time in the final, and as soon as it goes to penalties I know we’re in trouble. I’ve not got much to choose from in terms of set piece maestros, and sure enough, Bayern deny us our first piece of silverware…
Gabbiadini (Wrighty) goes to the English Riviera on loan, where he scores and assists on his debut, so hopefully that’s a sign of good things to come from him…
B*llocks…
Our league campaign begins at Hamburg, who frustrate us in the first half as their keeper has a blinder to keep it goalless. They lead against the run of play, and finish us off with 20 minutes left. Big Dunc’s injury is a bad one…
After one season, Penksa decides that he’s too big for us now. Sit back down, sunshine…
After a bright start against Rostock, we’re finally rewarded through the iceman, who scores either side of half time. We’ve a third disallowed, but it matters not, and it’s our first win of the season.
It’s quite fitting that Kaiserslautern’s name contains the word “slauter” (close enough anyway), as that’s exactly what we do to them in their own back yard. Gravesen receives his marching orders, but we more than cope.
Rose and Jesse both start the cup game with Frankfurt, where a Penksa double puts us ahead. Gravesen puts them to bed, and despite Osthoff’s consolation, we’re through to face Fortuna Köln.
Bakero II joins Merida on loan…
Penksa is at it again against Karlsruhe and him, Ezquerro and Iceman II all find the net to not only make it four goals, but also four wins on the spin…
We’re dealt Napoli in the UEFA Cup. Not the easiest draw, but by no means un-winnable…
After a lukewarm performance, we’re lucky to escape with a point against Düsseldorf, so I’ll take it. We have baby Danny Blind to thank for keeping it goalless, and that’s now four league clean sheets in a row.
Nürnberg get revenge for us beating them in the Liga Cup. The Hulkster gives them the lead, and we spend the rest of the match attacking, but can only muster up two shots on target from twelve efforts…
Speaking of Liga Cup revenge… We’re going well against Bayern until Jaurès looks to have robbed us of two points. Luckily the Thai-phoon is goal-hungry today, and he shatters the travelling Bavarian hearts…
To our first foray into Europe… Napoli lead, but Leonídas equalises after some pinball wizardry. It’s a crazy second half, and we think we’ve won it after a rare Rose brace, only for the hosts to hit two late goals. The three away goals are handy though…
Before the Napoli game, I was getting a bit frustrated with Rose, and put a bid in for this guy to give us another option up top. We beat the mighty Helsingborg to the Danish U21 international’s signature for just £150k…
Next in the cup are Fortuna Köln. It’s a terrific first half, with a brace each for the iceman and Penksa. Clausen makes his debut in a quiet second half that sees no more goals, and we’re through to meet Uerdingen.
We look to be fighting back after a bad start at Schalke, but they get a second right on half time to knock the stuffing out of us. I make all three subs at half time but it has no effect, and it’s a disastrous day at the office…
Lauchlan has gone from strength to strength since leaving us, and he now joins Atletico for £5m, a far cry from the £95k I signed him for…
Those third-placed b*stards from Bochum condemn us to a third defeat in four matches. They lead after a goalless first half, and we have a goal disallowed in 88th minute to deny us what would have been a deserved point.
So all that fun and games leaves us ninth in the table. It’s frustrating as we started really well, but three defeats in four games has seen us slide. Long way to go yet though…
Do join me next week to see if we can put those three away goals to good use against Napoli, while hopefully climbing a few places in the league table. Tschüss!