Blyth Spartans — September and October 2015

Here we go again, sorry for the interruption, my internet service provider had some difficulties lately. Anyway, back to my Blyth Spartans, the new kids on the block around Europe, the team that everybody keeps an eye on since the unexpected triumph in the Premier League. We had a great start in the new season but I knew that it would all be in vain if we couldn’t keep up the pace.

The first test in September was at home with Middlesbrough, a solid team. We played pretty well in the first half but my strikers seemed a bit overconfident, they played around with the chances and missed a lot. Centre back Tiberiu Radulescu saved us again with a double although we played with only 10 men since Siligardi was taken off injured in the second half.

We couldn’t afford that kind of play in the next game though, we had mighty AC Milan coming to visit! Right back Damien Grange brought us the lead with a great shot but we had to suffer until half time, Milan were pushing forward and Asenjo kept a clean sheet with a couple of great saves. We controlled the game better in the second half, we scored again from a corner kick and kept Milan away from our penalty area. That was until the 83rd minute when they clawed one back. They missed another chance immediately after that but we managed to survive… It was a great win against a great opponent.

Next up, a difficult away game at West Ham, they were coming from a great run of three straight wins. We had some problems with their skillful strikers but ultimately managed to prevail with a double from Tomas Necid.

I had the opportunity to give some players a rest for the next game, away at Championship side Cardiff in the Carling Cup. Although we dominated the game I was disappointed because we didn’t create enough upfront. We should have won this comfortably but we didn’t play well at all. Anyway, we got through the next round but I was a bit concerned.

The players wanted to show me that it was just an accident and they played their hearts out in the next league game, at home with Wolves. It wasn’t as easy as it might look though, Wolves defended very well and we scored the first goal in the 68th minute! My players were unleashed in the last 20 minutes of the game and taught Wolves a nice lesson!

We had 5 straight wins in the league at the end of September, not bad at all :)

The last game of the month was away in Sweden against Helsingborg in the Champions League group phase. Real Madrid defeated them 5-0 at Santiago Bernabeu, so we had no choice but to win the game. We played pretty well, dominated the game, but got a bit complacent after leading 2-0. We could have won it by a bigger margin but I guess the three points were enough.

October was going to be a lot more difficult though, Manchester City, Arsenal, Real Madrid…

The first game was a huge test for us against the 2nd placed team in the Premier League, Manchester City. The first half hour was perfect, we dominated the game and took the lead with a fine goal by Daniel Aquino. Manchester City dominated the second half and made the score level again. The bad thing was that we were down to 9 men by the 78th minute, striker Pablo got sent off and Tom Chapple got injured… I hoped to hang on to the draw but Aquino and Nicao made a perfect counter attack and got us back in the lead! We fought on in the last minutes and got the win, a very important one.

There were good news after the match too, the next game (away at Arsenal) was moved to November due to international call ups. So we had a little break before going at Goodison Park to meet Everton. It was a quiet game, Nicao did his job again and scored in the first half. He picked up a knock and I was forced to send centre back Gabor Baranyai as a striker… Everything went OK until the last 10 minutes when Everton went all out attack and caused us some trouble. Baranyai did a good job as a striker and scored to get us a two goal lead and although Everton tried hard they couldn’t get more than a consolation goal.

Next up, Real Madrid! I hoped to see a good match but it seemed to go wrong, Radulescu got sent off right away and Real Madrid took the lead. Despite that we played pretty well and scored to make it all square before the break. I was forced to make all the three substitutions at half time because some of my players picked up knocks and I wanted to have a good energy level for the last 45 minutes. That was a gamble and I lost it, two of my players got injured in the second half and we played in 9 men, then with only 8 men in the last 10 minutes! But we won it, one of our counter attacks was stopped with a foul and Daniel Aquino banged in the penalty kick! Real Madrid had only 3 shots on goal although they had a better ball possession, we managed to force them into taking a lot of shots from distance. With this result we were sure to be a force in Europe, no question about that!

With 9 points from 3 games we were in a good position to qualify for the first knockout round but we still had to get some points at San Siro and Santiago Bernabeu…

We had a good level of confidence so the last three Premier League games of the month were fairly easy for us, we won all three of them without conceding! The most difficult was at Newcastle but we only had trouble with them in the last 20 minutes…

Ten games and ten wins, how about that… And Sunderland in 2nd place, we seem to have an unusual contender here.

November will be a lot more difficult though, with the two big away games in the Champions League and with a tremendous trio in the Premier League: Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham!

It will be difficult to keep up the straight wins but the first three months of the season definitely proved that we have a very strong team and if anybody might want to beat us they would have to give their very best to do that! :)