Walsall Finishes in 5th Place in EPL 2021/2022

after last year surprising 4th place finish which bagged Walsall a place in the Champions League, we could only muster enough point to finish 5th this year thus missing out on Champions League game for next year.

Our best player American Striker Jesus Noriega missed about half of the games because of 2 long stint on the injury list and this probably cost us our Champions League status.

French Striker Odsonne Edouard who had a superb award winning year and regressed greatly and only bagged 8 PL goals in compare to last year 25 goals.

Young Spanish phenom Guillermo Arastey who is currently on Loan at Walsall from Villarreal, had a very good year scoring 9 PL goals on 19 PL appearances. He had 15 goals in all competition while making32 appearances. One of my main priority for the summer is to try to buy him from Villarreal.

Season Review

Mourinho-led Manchester United recaptured the Premiere League title after losing to Tottenham last year. That 3 PL titles in 4 years. Harry Kane of Tottenham scored the most goals  bagging 28 PL goals.

Eden Hazard won both the PFA and FWA player of the year...New Tottenham signee Kylian Mbappe won the FWA young player of the year.

Walsall Competition Review

Walsall finished 5th in the Premiere League, managed to make it out of the Champions League group stage but got knocked out of the first round elimination by Milan A.C.

EFL Cup: Walsall got knocked out in the quarter final by Manchester City.

FA Cup: Walsall made it to the finals but lost to Tottenham there.

2021/22 Premiere League Season Update

With half of the 2021/22 finished, Walsall currently occupies the 7th spot on the Premiere League table, but things looked much worse a month ago where we were ranked much lower with a terrible patch of bad result. At the moment, we're on a 4 game winning streak in the Premiere League.

Key performer Jesus Noriega is currently injured and will be out for an additional 3 weeks. Noriega.
Noriega leads the team in goals through all competition with 9. Second behind him is Zach Clough with 8 goals across all competition.

Odsonne Edouard is having a terrible year this year after winning the top 3 Premiere League Award last year.  "English Player, player of The Year" and "Player of the year" and Young Player of the year" were awards captured by Edouard but so far, with more than half the season gone, he's only managed 3 Premiere League goals. Last year, Eduard ended up with 25.

Premiere League Player Statistics.

Champions League Update

After getting out of the group stage which had Napoli as the strongest opponent, Walsall knock out round will see us match up against A.C Milan, the Italian Champions.

New 2020/21 Arrival - Cameron Carter-Vickers

Having finished in the top 4 in the league which guaranteed Champions League matches, this year target will be to again reach top 4 status. For this, Walsall needed to improve on defense since we gave up 62 goals. That was the 4th worst record.

So far, as of 6th August 2021, my only signing has been ex- Tottenham youngster Cameron Carter-Vickers, the central-back. Has very good potential but wasn't getting enough game was the league-winning Totttenham.

Stating this paying 33M pound with adds-on that could push the price to 40M pound, was clearly a gross-overpay for a young guy with good potential. I'm hoping Cameron will play well enough to justify this massive transfer fee. I purchased him because he was British and needed a young guy with good potential, so he was 1 of very few who fit my criteria I was looking for.

Cameron is on the shorter side of what I'd expect from a central back, but he makes up for that with quickness, pace and comfort ability on the ball.

2021/22 Transfer Window

Kylian Mbappe the ex-Monaco player was the highest transfer-buy this season. He will be going to the English-League Champion, Tottenham.

Walsall Qualifies for Champions Leagues

After winning the final match of the season against the David Moyes's managed Sunderland, Walsall was able to guaranty itself Champions league matches for next season. This would also make it easier for Walsall to keep their top players, specially right full-back Almamy Toure.

End of Season Award Winners: Odsonne Edouard

French striker and Walsall new signee Edouard was the biggest award winner for the 2020/2021 end of season ward winners, winning the Premiere league Player of the year, the Player's player of the year. The latter is based on a vote by all Premiere League players.

Team Of The Year

Not sure why Jesus Noriega did not make it into the team of the year but Edouard and Toure did make it in.

Walsall F.C 2021 end of season statistics

EFL CUP FInal Defeat Against Watford

After making the first major CUP Final appearance, Walsall unfortunately couldn't win it to lift their first title. Jesus Noriega managed to score but also missed a penalty in the first half.

6th In Premiere League

Premiere League Stats Leaders

Jesus Noriega, Odsonne Edouard and Almamy Toure are the 3 Walsall players topping the league statistic tables. Toure is the best rated player in the league while Edouard and Noriega are 2nd and 3rd in goals in the league.

EFL CUP Final Walsall VS Liverpool

After beating Hull City on the 2 legged semi final, Walsall will face Liverpool in the EFL Cup Final on March 28th 2021 in Wembley. This will be my first big chance to win a cup since getting promoted to the Premiere League 3 years ago.

2020/21 Premiere League Standing - Walsall on the rise

After 24 Premiere League game played into the 2020/21 season, Walsall is currently in 6th place, 1 spot away from continental football for next year.

Standout Performers: Noriega and Eduard

Brought from PSG for $25M Pound, French striker Osdonne Eduardo hasn't disappointed at all and has been very impressive, leading the team in PL goals with 15 while seeding third in PL goals behind Harry Kane and Nadiem Amiri.

Jesus Noriega has been the other standout performer contributing to Walsall early season success, bagging 13 PL goals and 6 assist. Overall, he has 21 goals and 7 assist.