Crazy, crazy season for Excelsior in Season 4
Erdivisie
After the surprise win in season 2, and the heartbreak of season 3, there was no nailbiting this time around. We beat
Ajax 8-0 before the break to well and truly kill them off. All of our loans meant we had a great squad size for the games coming think and fast in the Qatar WC season.
We were able to rotate
Kean, Osimhen and
Brewster from January onwards.
Vitesse fell away, and a late charge by rivals
Feyenoord never really threatened. We ended up wrapping it up with 4 games to go and vengeance was complete. 110 GS and 25 GA in an entertaining title win.
Dutch Cup
We had an easy run to the semi final with only one Erdivisie team in 4 games. We then beat
Ajax, who had a woeful season,
4-0 in the semi final.
Vitesse were the finalists and it was a gritty repeat of our league game.
2-0 the final score and a double was complete.
Champions League
After last seasons’ adventure, we had a tough time because of the World Cup. We had 10 tough games just to get through to the knockouts. Beating
Sporting and
Anderlecht over two legs before negotiating a group of death,
Liverpool,
Atletico and
Inter. We shocked the group by beating
Liverpool home and away (
1-0 and
0-2) to win the group against all odds.
We were able to slide past a tough
Shakhtar team in the last 16,
2-2 away before winning
2-0 at home in two very even games. From here on in, with our lead in the league, we were able to rest our eleven for the games.
Leipzig were very similar to our former opponents. Very tough and winning both games on stats, but, most importantly, we won on goals. A last minute
Oxlade-Chamberlain (arguably our best player in the competition) was enough to take a
1-1 home from Germany. We were outplayed at home, but took our chances,
2-0.
We got a MONSTER version of
PSG in the semi final. Mbappe, Neymar, Felix, Van Dijk, a crazy eleven and they were all over us away from home. I just had to sit and hope. We lost and conceded 22 chances, but
Brewster scores a goal out of nothing and we survived with a
2-1 loss. In the home leg, we had an inspired
Kean to thank, as we thumped them
4-0 for the best result and performance in the club’s history.
We couldn’t believe it, in the final with nothing to lose and a fully rested squad. Nerves at a maximum, could we actually do this?
Kean was inspired again, a club legend, as we flew into a
3-0 lead before disaster struck.
Morilla, our resident hothead, with a straight red. He seems to lose the plot in big games.
City turned it on from then on, as I desperately made subs and tried to run out the clock. Thankfully, the whistle blew at
3-2 and we escaped. A run and sequence of events that may never happen again.
Excelsior are European Champions!!
Summer Plans
Despite selling a few players, we only got given
15m for the summer, and I had to use that to seal
Brewsters permanent return to the club. 25 goals since coming in in January to take his total to 92 for the club in under 3 seasons (
Kean has 96).
Dani Ceballos also comes in on a free transfer.
I have decided I am going to keep the 3 strikers and rotate them. It means we always have a chance in games. I think it’s worth it even it it means risking it in other areas. Beforehand, if one didn’t play, we were noticeably worse, so it’s great to have all 3 signed up permanently.
Oxlade-Chamberlain and
Valverde were crucial loans that meant our midfield could compete against anyone. We will lose the pair now. Our midfield isn’t in a good way and we have to hope some decent loans show up now.
We also need to sign a few Dutch players urgently for our CL registration, and I can’t find any viable targets. Either far too expensive, or not good enough.
With no money left, there is a lot to do to make sure this wasn’t just one perfect storm. Delighted though