Welcome back to the Party at the Palace. If you haven't caught any of the previous posts, you can start from the beginning here.
Right, let's get to the start of the new episode.
After our mini rebuild during the preseason we have had a really positive first half of the season. We found ourselves sat in 7th place with every chance of competing for the European places.
Just a few midseason updates.
It was rumoured throughout the first half of the season that there was a takeover in the works and in January it was finally completed.
I got the usual message saying that no investment would be made at this time, but I did notice this.
Nice loan taken out against the club. Hopefully won't affect the future transfer business. Not that we need any this January after our work in the summer.
January 2024
We are going straight into the action as there was very little opportunity in the transfer market after the moves we made in the summer.
It's another full month, just like December we face 6 games in 30 days with some very winnable fixtures in there.
Exactly the same series of results as December as we win 2, Draw 2, Lose 2.
Really good wins at home to Leicester and Middlesbrough, were backed up with another very good draw against Chelsea and a late recovery against Everton.
The losses against Brentford and the reverse fixture with Leicester (Twice in a month) aren't as bad as it looks as Brentford are flying high up the top of the league and Leicester are a very good side.
February & March 2024
We roll into February and March with a real mixed bag of results behind us. We haven't managed to get much of a run going since much earlier in the season.
To make ourselves serious contenders for European places we need to put a decent run of results together.
A lot better, a loss to Arsenal and a draw at home to City is the only blemish on this month.
The front line really providing the goods with 13 goals in 6 matches. Edouard once again showing his worth to the team with 6 of those goals.
Youth Intake
As always, we use the month of March to welcome the latest youth players to come through the academy.
Let's check in on the best of the bunch.
Well its not stacked but we do have one player to keep an eye on.
Rhian Oshin, doesn't look too bad at all. I will try and keep you updated on his progress.
April 2024
With a marked improvement in form last month, we were sticking to the task of sneaking into Europe. We need to be almost perfect for the next few months as we have some big teams chasing us down, one being Man United.
If we have a poor month, we will need other results of go our way in the last month of the season to stand a chance.
Its such a frustrating month. Drawing to West Ham at hime when taking the lead so early was really poor. Especially as they have had a rally poor season.
That set us up perfectly for the loss to United, which meant they caught up to us with a game in hand.
We then fought hard for the victory against Fulham who are fighting for survival only to put in a stinker against an overachieving Wolves with Raul Jiminez getting all 4 goals. That is probably the nail in the coffin of the European dream.
May 2024
This is it, the final month of the season and we need perfection.
It was always a tall ask especially with that run in. The win at already relegated West Brom was a walk over we just conceded late, after making changes.
We were 3-1 down against Newcastle when we finally showed some fight and turned it around to give ourselves a glimmer of hope.
But Liverpool and Tottenham were too good as we fell short of lofty goal.
Final League Table
We miss out on 7th by 3 points in the end. Securing ourselves 8th spot in the table. Thats a jump of 5 places on last season and shows a huge improvement.
For the second season in a row Edouard misses out on the Golden boot to Haaland. He got a lot closer this year but you've got to feel for him.
Domestic Cups
I was pretty confident about our changes of a decent cup run this year after our relative success last year. As always you need some luck in the draws.
Losing to Liverpool and Wolves is disappointing especially the Wolves game being at home. But we go again next year for some silverware.
As always, in the season ending episodes I will leave you with the Seas Review. It's a strong showing in the league which we will look to improve on next season.
Thank you as always for reading and we will see you for Season 3 of this FM23 Beta save.
Cheers
Panda
Season Review
