The Chaaampioooons! (League) (Qualifying Round)

By: Daryl | March 19th, 2009

So as you may have heard via Rafinha, Newcastle are now a Champions League team. All I have to say about that is: YES! FINALLY!

We went into the last game of the season, two points behind 4th placed Man City. So we needed a win, and – fingers crossed – for them to lose.

Much like life, FM sometimes gives you helpful clues about what to do. Rusol and Belletti were still suffering the after affects of losing us the Europa League final. Rusol was undeniably depressed, so the obvious solution was to bench him for the final do or die game against Everton.

But Belletti was “determined to make up for his mistake”. And who was I stop him?

vs Everton (away)

- – - – - – - – - -Given – - – - – - – - –
Belletti – Taylor – Coloccini – Insomnia
- – - – - – - – Camacho – - – - – - – - – - – -
Marquinhos – - – - – - – - – - -Arshavin
- – - – - – - – Diego – - – - – - – -
- – - – Fleck – - – Lewandowski – - –

4-1-2-1-2, quick, direct passing, playing offside, with width

Elsewhere, Michael Johnson scored in the 29th minute of Spurs vs Man City, which was actually good news because he plays for Spurs now. So Spurs were 1-0 up at half-time.

We were 1-0 down though. So I made a few changes at the break (Arshavin was injured, Lewandowski rubbish) and went out for the second half in an all or nothing 4-1-3-2

vs Everton (away)

- – - – - – - – - -Given – - – - – - – - –
Belletti – Taylor – Coloccini – Enrique
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
- – - – - – - – Camacho – - – - – - – - – - – -
Marquinhos – - Diego – - – - – -Jonas
- – - – - – Fleck – - – The Pog – - –

4-1-2-1-2, quick, direct passing, playing offside, with width, defensive line pushed up high, close to all out attack

And my gamble paid off. Camacho banged one home in the 64th (and kissed his badge, so suck it Liverpool, Roma, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla, who are all expressing an interest). But I still needed a win to take advantage of Man City’s defeat.

And guess who scored it? Belletti was an absolute machine for this whole game, making interceptions and defensive headers galore. And in the 81st minute he came charging into the box to score the matchwinner, and more than redeem himself for losing us the Europa League final.

Which means the final league table looks like this:

Fergie hasn’t been fired. Yet.

Of course, I’m not actually in the Champions League proper. Not yet. There’s still a bit of qualifying to do. Remember what happened to Everton when they finally finished fourth. Shudder.

And is it weird that finishing fourth is actually a lot more exciting than winning a trophy?