The Russian Revolution

By: Daryl | November 22nd, 2008

So I sacrificed my wage budget to push my transfer budget to the max for transfer deadline day and raised it to a respectable £11m. Then I spent every last penny on a pair of Russians to solve my target man and attacking mid problems:

Pavel Pogrebnyak (click for screenshot) – the 24 year old target man cost me £4.5m from Zenit, who had him pegged as a backup player. Fools. The Geordie fans didn’t show any excitement, but I think they soon will. He’s 6′2″ with outstanding jumping, heading, finishing, strength and determination. Perfect for a big man/fast man combo with Oba Martins. He can even play a bit, with technique and passing of 14. Only worrisome number is his composure of 9. But let’s try and pretend that’s not there.

Here’s a nice YouTube vid of the real life man swearing to the camera and then scoring a ton of goals for Zenit:

And here’s the young man who’ll hopefully be lubricating my team with his creative juices, if that’s not too creepy a metaphor for you:

Alan Dzagoev – 18 year old attacking mid with stats that scream future world beater. Back in the real world, Chris even pegged him as a name to remember not so long ago. CSKA Moscow drove a hard bargain, but we eventually settled on £6.75m plus a 25% future sell on fee. But it was all a trick because I’m never selling him. Ever. Thanks to Chris for the tip on this one.

Hopefully these guys will come good fast, for two reasons. First, the board already feel I “should be performing slightly better” (no arguments here) and second, I’ll arguably win or lose the fans in the next two games:

Sunderland (Away)
Middlesbrough (Home)

Back to back North-East derbies and both of them on TV.