My FKMB star players

Welcome to Mlada Boleslav

Fotbalovy klub Mladá Boleslav was founded in 1902. The team managed to win promotion in the First Czech Republic Division for the first time in 2004 and had to fight against relegation very hard, finishing only 14th. In 2005/06 the finished runner-up in the league and qualityed for the UEFA Champions League (their best performance).

In 2006/07 season, FK Mladá Boleslav defeated Valerenga Oslo (3–1 and 2–2), then lost against Galatasaray Istanbul (2–5 away, 1–1 home), but surprisingly defeated Olympique Marseilles in 1st round of the UEFA Cup 4–3 (1st leg: 0–1, 2nd leg 4–2). At the Group Stage matches Mladá Boleslav got just 3 points of 4 matches (Panathinaikos 0–1, Hapoel Tel Aviv 1–1, Paris St. Germain 0–0, Rapid Bucharest 1–1), therefore being eliminated. FK Mladá Boleslav qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Cup after finishing 3rd in next league again on the 4th October 2007 beating Italian side Palermo on penalties 4–2 after a nail biting 1–1 aggregate scoreline, on the verge of being eliminated with the score reading 1–0 Palermo, (with their goal in the first leg still standing) in the 2nd leg, Tomáš Sedlacek popped the winner in the 2nd leg with only seconds to spare. In the next round Mladá Boleslav defeated Swedish IF Elfsborg 3–1, but lost tightly against Villareal 1–2, AEK Athens 0–1 and Fiorentina 1–2 and didn't qualify for 3rd round.

The major sponsor of the club is Auto Skoda.

Future summer plans

Begovic (Sørensen, Nash) – Zuiverloon (Ferronetti), Alex Sandro (Boyle, Dickinson), Shawcross (Faye, Higginbotham), Huth (A.Davies, Wilkinson, Shotton, Collins, Sonko) – N’Zonzi (Diao, Kouyate), Maresca (Pekalski, Soares, Cuvelier, Arismendi), Whelan (Whitehead, Enoh, Dessena, Tainio, Wilson), Paulo Henrique (Bakkal, Brahimi, Kevin, Tuncay Sanli) – Cristaldo (Bernardo), Jones (Necid, Kapetanos, Sidibe, Moult, Walters).

To leave in the summer could take 16.810.250 euros from the wage expenditure at the club from the whole of 34.500.652 euros.

League Cup Final 2011

This must be one the most important days in the heart of the Potters fans. Stoke City haven’t achieved something this important in decades. The most notable Stoke success happened in 1972, when they won the English League Cup at Wembley 2-0 against Chelsea.

Below we have the hard road of the two League Cup finalist. Stoke City had to play Shrewsbury (3-0 away), Watford (5-1 home), Middlesbrough (3-0), a gloating 4-2 victory over Arsenal at Emirates and a 6-1 win on aggregate against Aston Villa in the semi-finals. Liverpool had the chance to play one less match in the League Cup being seeded better that the Potters. They had an easy road winning against Wigan, Cardiff, Everton and Bristol City.

The odds are against Stoke City in the English League Cup Final, 8.00 odds to win.

Stoke form hasn't been very good in the last month, and Liverpool don't seem like a easy way to get back on track.

Potters new arrivals

Potters supporter plays down famous victory

After this first leg of the League Cup Semi Final, Stoke City are closer to reach the final, where they will play Bristol City or Liverpool.

Stoke City after boxing day

After taking a good look at all the players I managed to make a really good plan for the second part of the season. I’ve managed to select a pack of players that are deemed to the status of indispensable: Paulo Henrique, the Stoke City playmaker, a 10.000.000 € star player, the man who is behind many of the team’s goals (22 appearances, 7.32 average rating). Jonathan Cristaldo, the young Argentinean striker arrived at the club in the summer for 3.500.000 € is at the moment, without any doubt, the number one goalscorer for the Potters, bagging 19 goals in 24 appearances (7.53 average rating). Ryan Shawcross, the rock in the heart of the Stoke City defense, the youngster that has the captaincy power in his own hands (25 appearances, 7.18 average rating).

But let’s speak a little about the players that are in danger of being listed by the club. Thomas Sorensen, the Danish goalkeeper has been far from satisfying this year, spending just around half of the team games in the starting line-up, he is by far one of the players that will be sold (wage 1.100.000 €). Danny Higginbotham at the moment is a very useful player, being able to play both DC and DL, but even so, he is already 32 years-old and has a 1.000.000 € wage. Diego Camacho was conscious that his time spent at Stoke wasn’t going to be long, and is at the moment one of the players of the verge of departure, 34 years-old and 650.000 € wage. Finally we have veteran Michael Ball, the left back brought back to life at Stoke after one year of being a free agent. Unfortunately for both Ball and Stoke he was largely disappointing, finding himself more that on one occasion on the bench (31 years-old, 800.000 € wage).

The current Stoke City team for the fore coming matches should look like this in case there are no injuries:

Begovic (Sorensen) – Vandam (Zanni), Ball (Alex Sandro), Shawcross (Faye, Higginbotham), Huth (A.Davies, Wilkinson) – Diao (Kouyate, Diego Camacho), Maresca (Pekalski), Whelan (Whitehead, Wilson, Cuvelier), Paulo Henrique (Brahimi, Kevin) – Cristaldo (K.Jones), Necid (Sidibe, Kapetanos, Bernardo).

This would be the face of Stoke City if the four players earlier mentioned would be sold and all the loans would end without the club signing any of the players:

Begovic – Wilkinson, (no defender left), Shawcross (Faye), Huth (A.Davies) – Diao (Kouyate), Maresca (Pekalski), Whelan (Whitehead, Wilson, Cuvelier), Paulo Henrique (Tuncay Sanli, Brahimi, Kevin) – Cristaldo (Bernardo), Jones (Sidibe).

Here we have all the players at club (8.1.2011) and some of their most important information.

Stoke City, 14th place in the Premier League, a situatian that is very close the the objective established at the beggining of the season (a safe mid-table position).

Team & tactic analysis

Goalkeeper: The simple settings for a goalkeeper. A reasonably neutral setting which should see the ‘keeper patrol his penalty area. He will be asked to do little more than be a shot-stopper and to distribute the ball to his team mates to start attacks.

Full Back: Full backs are more restricted in their forward runs and dribbling, and look to move the ball on to the more creative players in front of them in the midfield. They will support wingers by offering a passing option in the final third, but will tend to stay behind them and look to cover any breaks that come down the wings from lost possession. Full backs tend to have more strength and tackling skills than wing backs, but need to be more mobile than centre backs. For this reason, they tend to be shorter and quicker than centre backs, but not as tricky and pacy as wingers or wing backs. The modern game, since the decline of out-and-out wingers has tended to favour the quicker and more attacking DR/L, but this does not mean that the position is anywhere near dead, and is very important in forming a good solid defensive line in games against attacking sides with lots of width.

Limited Defender: Some centre backs are not good for much else than simply being the big rock who intimidates the attack. This is not a problem if the player knows his role. Usually very strong, very tall and very aggressive, the limited defender is designed to win the ball and get it to safety: for this reason he tends to have limited skills in other areas. It might seem cruel to characterise some rather talented players as limited defenders. We are not making judgements on their rounded skill sets, more commenting on their primary function in their team’s defence.

Anchor Man: The other type of specialised DMC is the anchor man – a bigger, stronger, more defensive player with good marking, tackling and positional skills. He acts as the first line of defence, protecting the defensive line and harrying the opposition’s attacking midfielders. The anchor man is the much more traditional version of the DMC, also known as the “holding midfielder” or the “Makélélé position”.

Deep-Lying Playmaker: As with the DMC the regista will look to drop deeper to find the ball and to find space for himself before looking for the perfect pass to the opposition. In the MC position, he will be slightly further up the field, so may require a little more strength to cope with the reduced space afforded to him by the opposition midfield.

Ball-Winning Midfielder: The ball-winning midfielder is akin to the anchor man. His more advance position here means that he will also need to be useful with the ball at his feet. More rounded than the anchor man, the ball-winning midfielder has to be strong, a good tackler and good at positioning himself, but he will also need to be a half-decent passer of the ball to keep the team’s attacks alive. Very useful in attacking tactics or pressing tactics with a high defensive line where the team need to win the ball higher up the pitch and do something with it much quicker.

Advanced Playmaker: Very similar to the MC version of the advanced playmaker, except he will probably need even fewer defensive qualities. The AMC version will sit in the hole looking to receive the ball and spray it to whoever is in the best position. The AMC is probably the classic advanced playmaker. It was a position that Zinedine Zidane played so well in the late 90s/early 2000s, and it has been the position of many great players such as Riqelme, Didi and, more recently, Kaká and Modric. Allowed the space to roam around between the defence and the midfield, the advanced playmaker will certainly need other midfielders in support if the team is to retain shape and possession in the centre of the field.

Target Man: The target man is the big guy up front who can hold up the ball as well as flick it on to his strike partner. With excellent jumping, heading and strength, he is in the perfect place to deal with long balls coming from the goal keeper and the defence. He is also good at terrorising defences with his height when the ball comes in from crosses and corners. The target man does not need to be the best finisher in the world, nor does he need great technical ability. His size and strength are enough to disrupt the opposition long enough for his more creative teammates to score. As a lone forward, the target man would struggle. Without support, there would be nobody for him to create space for. However, as part of a strike partnership, especially with an advanced forward or a poacher, he can be very effective.

Poacher: The poacher is dying out in modern, top-level football, but there is still room for a man who “only” scores goals. The tendency has been for forwards to become more well-rounded; helping the midfield, being creative and moving around to create more space for other players. The poacher, however, does little of this. His job is to hang around the penalty area creating a yard of space at the last moment to pick up a through ball or cross and score goals. A good poacher can easily get 30 goals a season, but the whole team needs to be set up for him. He will absolutely need a strike partner, otherwise he will be totally isolated, and the midfield need to work the ball into the box to provide him with lots of opportunities to score. He needs to be incredibly composed, have great finishing, be brilliant off the ball and be very consistent.

Jonathan Cristaldo (born 5 March, 1989), nicknamed "Churry", scored for Stoke City this season 19 goals in 24 appearances.

Mid-season information

Finances of the team on the bank of Stoke-on-Trent are at the minimum limit of the Premier League. Unfortunately the money obtained from the sale of tickets are not as of the top Premier League teams, teams like Everton, Tottenham or Aston Villa, not even to mention the teams from the Big Four.

The highest wage at the club is by far the one of Paulo Henrique, one that is around € 3.000.000.

In my first 27 games with Stoke City I managed to achieve the following record: 11 games won, 4 games drawn, 12 games lost, 55 goals scored and 47 goals conceded.

Here are the latest transfers that I made at Stoke City in the first part of January (2011). The most important names that arrived at the club are Ivo Pekalski, Yacine Brahimi and Cheikou Kouyate. On the departure list we have experienced Eidur Gudjohnsen, Sanli Tuncay and Rory Delap.

First Stoke wins

My mighty potters

This seasons best transfer made by Stoke City is the wonderkid from Brazil, Paulo Henrique, who will sure make a big impact on the team. The tireless midfielder is at the moment one of the best players at the club.

Another talented youngster is Ryan Shawcross, who alongside Robert Huth will strive to maintain Thomas Sorensen's clean sheet.

Tomas Necid, the target man born in the Czech Republic, currently just on loan from CSKA Moscow. Stoke City can sign Necid for 5,250,000 euros.

Jonathan Cristaldo is the new kid on the Premier League block, all the way from Velez in Argentina. Let's hope his addition to the squad will be great.

And now, here are all the players in the Stoke City squad.

Kenwyne Jones has just arrived from Sunderland for a record of 9.250.000 euros.

Turkish player Tuncay Sanli will improve the Stoke reputation alongside Eidur Gudjohnsen in this year.

Between the posts Thomas Sorensen, probably the best goalkeeper at saving penalties.

The board is confident at the moment.

At last... all my transfers in the first transfer period.