retired_acivin

v Port Vale, League cup quarter final, away
This League cup quarter final saw Dons visiting League 1 side, Port Vale. As far as result goes, this was going to be an easy fixture. Still, in order to register a good score, the strongest Dons team was put out, with Cesar leading, Stevens and Esposito behind him.

In the end, it was a one sided affair, with Cesar scoring 2 goals, and Stevens 1, all in the first half. The score could have been bettered, but still, it was the combined effort of the team, which meant that we qualified for the next round in the league cup.

Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- Port Vale0-3 AFC Wimbledon --------------------------------------------------------- | Stevens (5)| Cesar (33, 40)--------------------------------------------------------- </pre>



v Chelsea, away
Chelsea were placed 14th in the league, just a couple of positions below their predicted finish. Still, they were not an easy opponent, and I tried a different formation, trying out the Cesar-Baudry combo.

Dominguez, playing on the left wing, delivered with a goal in the 10th minute. Unfortunately, the Chelsea central defender score from a header in the 69th minute to finish the game at 1-1, securing us only 1 point in this away fixture.

Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- Chelsea1-1 AFC Wimbledon --------------------------------------------------------- Bevan (69) | Dominguez (10)--------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

retired_acivin

v West Ham, home
For this game, I was banned from the sidelines due to excessive complaining about referees in the previous game. Either way, I was sure that we could win today. Baudry was set to open, with Endo coming back to play right back.

Stevens scored early from a corner, delivered by Susko. Even though Dons dominated the possession, not many shots were attempted. However, Hammers almost converted soon after the beginning of first half. However, they failed; and Baudry planted another goal at the other end.

And the game crashed!

I decided to reload and go on holiday, just in case the game crashes again. Fortunately, I was banned for the match anyways, so I barely had any control over the match, except for making selections in the beginning, which I kept the same before going on holiday.

Fortunately, this time around, we won 3-2, with Vieira scoring 2 penalties, and wining the MoM award.
Meanwhile, we stretched our unbeaten run in the league to 31 games.

Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- AFC Wimbledon 3-2 West Ham --------------------------------------------------------- Fabbrini (21) |Lee (23) Vieira (pen 66, pen 90) |Lowe (89) --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

retired_acivin

Players Report, Part 5
The Right midfield

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Morale | Form | Apps | Gls | Ast | Con | Av Rat| Value | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Lrn | Gianluca Esposito | AM RC | Very Good | 10-7-7-9-9 | 7 (2) | 1 | 3 | 100% | 7.22 | £4M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | José Barragán | AM RC | Superb | 7-8-7-7-7 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 95% | 7.17 | £12.25M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Tut | Javier Pérez | AM R | Very Good | 6-6-7-7-7 | 3 | - | 1 | 95% | 7.00 | £5.75M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Lrn | Cédric Collot | AM R | Very Good | 6-6-7-6-7 | 1 (4) | - | 1 | 95% | 6.40 | £4.3M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ilias Venetidis | M RC | Very Good | 8-9-7-7-7 | - | - | - | 99% | - | £1.2M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Esposito: He was obtained after a part-exchange with Fiorentina, and has been in a good form since. Having played in 13 games, 3 of them as a substitute; he has assisted in 3 goals, with an average rating of 7.15. Moreover, he is only 21, so has got a lot of time and potential to develop.

Jose Barragan: The 25 year old Spanish international has been with Dons for past 4 seasons, and was obtained for free from Athletico. An exceptionally talented player, he cemented his place in the first team in his very first season, playing 25 games in total. So far, he has represented Dons 122 times, also scoring 9 goals in the process.

Javier Perez: Considered a wonder kid at the age of 20, he was a useful addition to the Dons squad. However, his ability has been highly underused at the moment. He has only played in 50 games for the Dons, and has secured 8 assists only. Hopefully, he has a much brighter future, having already debuted for Spain.

Cedric Collot: A highly determined winger, his signature was recently secured from Auxerre. He has only played 1 game so far, and does not feature in the plan heavily, considering there are much better players available in the team.

Venetidis: He has been with Dons for over 3 seasons now, but has failed to make an appearance. He has already debuted for Greece so far, and spent a 6-month loan period at Championship club Oldham. Hopefully, he will hold a better position in the team, in the near future that is.


End of December, 2024

retired_acivin

January, 2025
Various awards

Vieira had been awarded the December’s player of the month for the EPL. On further inspection, I noticed that he had played 3 of the last 4 league games, scoring 2 goals and achieving a combined rating of 8. Although what bothers me is Carlos’ report:

Although Vieira is an established player; he does not think he’s good enough to hold down a regular first team place. The central defender has been on good form and his recent performances have shown a desire o play well. Carlos thinks that we should do our best to help the player stay on top of his game over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, we were waiting to play Stoke on t he New Year’s day.


v Stoke, away
Deschamps was given a game, playing at right-back . Other than that, there weren’t many changes, with the team looking strong as ever.

The game itself was rather dull, with De La Cruz retaliating in the 81st minute, to a goal by Forbes in 78th. Mark Lea was awarded the MoM, for his contribution in the defense.
It seems that our Premier League campaign has been going downhill since the past few games. The strategy will have to be re-thought, and hopefully, we can get back on the winning run again.

Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- Stoke 1-1 AFC Wimbledon --------------------------------------------------------- Forbes (78)| De La Cruz (81) --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

retired_acivin

v S****hrope, FA cup 3rd round, away
League 1 side S****hrope were playing host to Premier League side AFC Wimbledon today. Personally, I saw this game as a cake walk; still, I was not ready to take any risks. However, I was tempted to give my younger players a try. (People have been complaining about my indecisiveness for a while now!)

Even though we dominated the game, the goals came a bit slowly, considering what we expected. Cesar was injured in the 13th minute, and so, he was replaced by Baudry, who went on to score 2 goals. Vieira added another with a 30 yard free-kick. S****horpe failed to ruffle the net even once, and we finished with a convincing scoerline.

Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- S****hrope 0-3 AFC Wimbledon --------------------------------------------------------- | Baudry (19, 37)| Vieira (85) --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>


v Stoke, League cup semi-final Leg 1, home
Stoke were lying at the 8th position in the league, and everyone including the media agreed that for the hosts, this would be an easy enough game. Our main aspiration for this particular match was to restrain Stoke from scoring, in order to prevent their away goal advantage. Baudry was given a start in order to capitalize on his previous outstanding form.

Unfortunately, the game finished without troubling the scorers. Although where credit is due, the Stoke defence kept the Dons’ strikers at bay, hardly giving them any space or chance to score. In the end, 0-0 was not the scoreline I was looking for, but I guess we would have to perform better in the away leg.

Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- AFC Wimbledon 0-0 Stoke --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>