Notts County December 2013

Hello dear friends, welcome back to a new episode of the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story. First, I have a confession to make: I finished playing the month of December on Sunday but somehow I couldn’t get to writing the post because I didn’t have too much spare time. Even more, when I had some time I couldn’t find the right mood to sit down and write. Anyway, I’m going to give it a try now.

The first game of the month was away at Saint-Etienne in the Europa League group. We were already qualified, so I chose to send in more backup players than usual and rest some of the important players. We had a pretty poor first half, we were under pressure for most of the 45 minutes but somehow we managed to survive. We even took the lead a few minutes after the break, the ref gave us a penalty kick. The lads woke up after the goal and looked better on the pitch but Saint-Etienne got the equalizer with a long range shot. We were under pressure again and the defense cracked eventually, it was the first defeat of the season! I wasn’t too upset though, the team played a decent second half but missed far too many chances. The result was not very important anyway.

The next game surely was important, we were playing at home with Liverpool in the Premier League! It was the start of a grueling month for us, we had to make the most of it. The first half hour of the game saw my boys pushing forward with great determination, Liverpool were under siege but they survived thanks to a few great saves from Reina. They also had to thank the crossbar, it saved them on one occasion… We did manage to break the wall though, Rafael Sobis powered one in from inside the penalty area to give us the well deserved lead. Let me give you some quick statistics about Liverpool‘s first half: one shot (off target) and 33% ball possession! The second half was not very good, both teams were quite nervy and the fans got to see more yellow cards than shots on goal. Goalkeeper Sergio Romero got the clean sheet and a bonus, probably the easiest money he has made in his entire career.

Next up, the Nottingham Derby! Forest were down in 14th place but the league table doesn’t matter too much, a derby is always a derby. We got off to a nightmare start, Forest scored after only 6 minutes. The goal looked offside but that didn’t change the scoreboard. The players looked a bit confused, they were unable to connect our usual passing game. We did clinch the equalizer though, Bonetti swept in a cross from the right wing and Agnaldo was ready to head it in at the far post. Forest were looking better than us but Simon Kjaer found the absolutely perfect moment to score his first goal for the club, he banged in a corner kick header a few minutes before the break. A few minutes later our hopes turned into worries, left back Dodo sent one of the Forest players directly to the hospital with a horrendous tackle, he deserved to be sent off. I had to take out a striker and send in a left back, we were preparing for a tough second half. We were under a lot of pressure immediately after the break but it got a bit lighter when the referee sent off one of the opposition players. Forest kept on pushing forward though but Sergio Romero was like a wall, nothing went past him. Simon Kjaer seemed to have liked the taste of the first goal so he did it again just before the final whistle, again from a corner kick. The fans love him after this performance, he surely has a place in their hearts now.

We didn’t have any time to relax, the next game was at home with Chelsea, the title holders. The stadium expansion was completed a few days before the game, we had 30450 seats now and all of them were taken! Withe the fans cheering from the stands my boys looked better than Chelsea in the first half but Sobis missed a good chance, Chech saved a ball that everybody thought would go in. It was 0-0 at the break but we played well and the fans were hoping for a good second half. It started miserably though, Chelsea scored with their first shot on target, a superb header from Lampard to connect with a fine cross from Mikel. My players were not disheartened though, the fans were pushing them forward. Sobis was showing all sorts of tricks but he was lacking efficiency. That was until the 58th minute, he turned a defender at the edge of the area, everybody expected him to shoot but he picked a fine pass for Moreno inside the box. The Bolivian striker picked it up and struck it immediately, right into the back of the net! Chelsea reacted furiously and they missed a good chance right away. The game was pretty even after that event but the fans were still hoping for more. And they finally got it a few minutes before the final whistle: Moreno returned the favor to Sobis, the Brazilian had the ball inside the box and he put it right where Cech couldn’t reach it. Get in!

We were top of the table, finally!

And Ancelotti had a few kind words for us, that’s always pleasing…

We had the chance to relax after those three hard fought games, the last game of the Europa League group was totally unimportant. I rested most first team players and included a few reserves and under 18s in the starting line up. Even so, we dominated the game and despite going 1-0 down in the first half we won it eventually.

We finished top of the group, not bad for an European debut.

The draw pitched us against Belgian side Standard Liege in the first knockout round, it could have gone a lot worse. If we’ll manage to get past the Belgians we’ll play against the winner of the Lazio vs PSV tie (that is if I remember correctly but I think I do). Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

The short break was over, back to the Premier League for the most difficult game so far — away at Old Trafford. Manchester United were right behind us in second place, they were hoping to get the top spot back. Our only problem was that Lucas Biglia was suspended for reaching the yellow cards limit, we had to play without him. We got punished in the first minutes of the game again, the referee saw something wrong during a corner kick battle inside the box and he pointed to the spot! The team was getting used to letting in those early goals, the lads reacted well again. Our first chance came from Kevin Thomson, he took a shot from the edge of the area but it rattled the crossbar and bounced quite a few yards away. Sobis had a good chance too but his vicious shot was tipped over by the keeper. United had a couple of chances on counter attacks but Rooney missed them. I was hoping for more in the second half but the lads looked exhausted, our performance was less impressive and we were outplayed by the Red Devils throughout the last 45 minutes. Fortunately Rooney was largely wasteful, so we went home with a narrow defeat, the first Premier League defeat of the season.

We should have had two more games to play but one of them got postponed for some reason. So, the last game of the year was at home with last placed Reading, a team that we beat 3-1 in August. It was a good chance for us to forget the bitter taste of the defeat at Old Trafford and the players surely understood that. We were all over them right away and the Brazilian cooperation gave us the early lead: Agnaldo played a near post cross from the left and Guilherme headed it in. Then we managed to hit the woodwork twice before Guilherme passed one in to make it 2-0. The referee was impressed to, he awarded us a harsh penalty kick but Guilherme missed the chance to get a hat-trick! He earned it and a bit more in the second half, he banged home a double! My boys were playing around with Reading‘s defense and could have scored a lot more, it was an impressive performance. The bad news was that right back Gergely Varga picked up a knock, he will be out for three weeks.

Guess what, we were back in second place, one point behind Manchester United. But this time we had three games in hand, I guess we could get two points out of three games…

Now let’s have a look at the player stats for the first half of the season, they are sorted by average rating. The best performer was undoubtedly Rafael Sobis, he had a slow start but once he got going he banged in no less than 20 goals! As you can see, all of them played pretty well, only 3 players out of 25 have an average rating below 7! If you spot other interesting numbers in the stats please make them public in your comments ;)

2013 was over, we had a fantastic first half of the season! The team’s performances were brilliant in most matches but I have to admit that we didn’t have any injury problems so far, that helped us a lot. Now let’s take a look at January’s fixtures… That’s right, you can look again and count again, we have 9 games to play!

I guess I’ll have to give the players some coffee, otherwise I can’t see how they’ll be able to endure that rhythm. I will try to rotate the squad as much as possible because we probably won’t be able to bring in any new players, the board didn’t give me any more money for transfers. Anyway, we seem to have a Champions League spot almost secured and we also seem to have what it takes to challenge Manchester United‘s claim for the title. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next post, it will be about my year with the Uruguay national team, I hope you’re curious to find out if we managed to get the tickets for the World Cup or not.

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