Notts County August 2010 — League One

Hello my friends, thanks a lot for your support! After the troublesome transfers period my Notts County were prepared to face the new challenge, getting promotion from League One! We had a good squad and I was quite confident at the start of the season. With the new better players I had in the squad I also needed to tweak my tactics in order to get the most out of their talent. But let’s get to the results, I know that’s what you want :)

The first game of the season was away at fellow newly promoted side Crewe, a team that we defeated three times last season. Left winger Paul Parvulescu scored his first goal for the club just 10 minutes after the first whistle but and error from Kasper Schmeichel gave Crewe the perfect chance to get back on level terms only five minutes later. We continued to play well and Parvulescu was on fire, he scored again and continuously challenged Crewe‘s right flank. It was a good display, a good start of the season.

The next game was a tough one, away at Blackpool in the Carling Cup. Blackpool were playing in League One two but they just got relegated from Championship last season. We had a very good first half and new signings Pekhart and Pinzi gave us a deserved 2-0 lead at the break. The second half was a complete nightmare, I couldn’t recognize my team… We were a bit unlucky too, Blackpool scored the 2-2 goal a few seconds before the final whistle, so the game went into extra time. Our star striker Francois Zoko nearly gave us the win but the defense didn’t help him, we conceded another two goals so it went down to the penalty shootout. Guess who converted the last penalty… Kasper Schmeichel! It was such a crazy game, I was happy it was finally over!

The players were exhausted after the unbelievable Carling Cup game, I had to change a lot in the first eleven for the next game, away at Leyton Orient, a team that finished 11th in League One last season. The first half was fairly even but right before the break my striker, Adam Szalai, got sent off because he picked up two yellow cards in 44 minutes! The decision was pretty harsh, he was given two yellows for pretty harmless fouls. We played pretty well even with only 10 men on the pitch, Tinga gave us the lead but it ended 1-1 eventually.

The next game was at home with Watford, a team that got relegated from Coca-Cola Championship last season. Striker Tomas Pekhart made the game easy for us, he scored twice in the first seven minutes! We played pretty well throughout the game but I was upset because we conceded two goals again, I still had to work on the defensive setup.

Left back Charlie Mulgrew finished things off with a superb free kick shot, his left foot will do some damage this season, I’m counting on that ;)

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Next up, a home game with fellow newly promoted side Shrewsbury, they finished 2nd last season in League Two. I was very pleased with my team’s performance, Shrewsbury scored after a harsh penalty kick decision but I was sure that we were going to win the game. Adam Szalai scored his first goal for the club and he could have scored a lot more, we created lots of chances.

The next game was another tough one in the Carling Cup, at home with a better opponent, Championship side Reading. We played very well in the first half and could have scored more than one goal before the break. Unfortunately Reading scored from a corner kick right after the break and we were forced to chase another goal. Francois Zoko saved us again with a magnificent goal, it was a very good result for our team.

The last league game of the month was away at Southend, a mid table team. We controlled the game without too many problems, Southend just couldn’t breathe in midfield. Sburlea and Pekhart were unstoppable upfront and the team looked very good overall, solid and confident.

Four wins and one draw in August and we were right on top of the table, not bad.

The last game of the month was away at League Two side Grimsby in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, an easy game. We did just enough to score twice in the first half and then kept things under control easily.

The new version of the tactic was taking shape, a much more aggressive attitude in midfield and a much higher defensive line are just two of the tweaks I made. I will probably post a new article about the new tactic soon.

We’ll have another mission impossible game next month, away at Ipswich in the Carling Cup. But that’s not my main concern…

We have to continue to play consistently in League One and confirm our position on top of the table. Despite the good start I don’t expect things to be easy, there are quite a few solid teams in League One and I’m pretty sure that we’ll have a lot of problems with them in the games to come.

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