The bad thing was that we had to face the same team again after a few days… They were in 4th place in the Premier League and they were desperately trying to climb up the table in order to defend the title that they won last season. Right back Gergely Varga got injured right before the game, I guess he was afraid of facing Kalou again. The injury was quite bad, he will be out for two months! The team looked good though, we dominated the first half but missed a couple of good chances. I was hoping for more of that in the second half but disaster struck right away. Experienced Eric Abidal sent a terrible back pass, Tevez intercepted it and scored. The team looked unrecognizable from that moment on, Manchester City were playing all alone on the pitch. We didn’t take any shots in the second half and I was quite surprised that The Citizens didn’t humiliate us again.
The last game of the month was away at 18th placed Birmingham, a team that we managed to beat 5-2 at Meadow Lane back in October. I was expecting a difficult match because my boys didn’t have much confidence left after the disastrous run in the last three games. I guess I wasn’t very confident either, I chose to start the game with the strategy set to «counter» instead of our usual «attacking» approach. I was not pleased with how we looked in the first half but the score line looked good. Birmingham took the lead by taking advantage of an error from Djourou but then we turned the game around in a few minutes after two counter attack moves. Birmingham dominated the second half but they were unable to create clear chances. It looked like we were going to hold on to the one goal lead but Birmingham scored with an absolutely incredible shot from 40 yards out! I switched back to the «attacking» strategy and it finally paid off, Agnaldo hit the post with a fine shot from the edge of the penalty area but Bonetti was there to push it in on the rebound! There’s only one conclusion to be drawn after the game, I will stick to the attacking style from now on, at least we’ll produce good entertainment even when losing.
Meanwhile Blackburn sacked Alan Shearer, they were hopelessly at the bottom of the table. We are still in 6th place but Liverpool have two games in hand. If they will win both matches they will be only five points behind us, not too comfortable…
We have 9 more games to play and the schedule show that we’ll have only three of them each month. March doesn’t look impossible although two of the three games are away from home.
That’s how it was, I guess Liverpool will be threatening our sixth place after playing the two games that they have in hand. I hope that we’ll be able to slowly build up our confidence again, otherwise the Europa League spot might be just a dream at the end of the season. Thanks for reading, see you in the «comments box» :)
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Kevin Mayo
27 января, 2010 at 14:37
Hi Johnny
I think that’s one of your most toughest months since I started following your «career», especially playing Man City back to back. At least you ended the it with a win and still hold onto a European place and next months schedule looks a bit easier.I see the dreaded long shot reared it’s ugly head. Sad to see Shearer getting the sack.I met him in Toronto 2 years ago but for all of 20 seconds:)
paine
27 января, 2010 at 15:44
Of course your team is not ready to defeat the big guns yet, but an Europa league spot could be a very good achievement for now.
At least who said you cheated should be happy enough after these last fixtures.
Good luck!
TheZiggy
27 января, 2010 at 16:01
Arsenal and Man City are always tough teams to face if you defence has some weaknesses. City do at least usually give chances to score against them. I think you’re right to continue with the attacking strategy with your team, because although you will leak goals, you have a better chance of scoring too. Trying to sit back you’re likely to concede still and not score as many, and not be anywhere near as entertaining. Hopefully you get things back on track properly to secure that EURO Cup spot. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
27 января, 2010 at 16:24
Thanks for the comments my friends!
@TheZiggy
I decided to continue with the attacking strategy, at least we’ll have some fun. The 7th place could also qualify for the Europa League but it depends on the cup winners.
@Paine
I feel that the team hasn’t the mental strength to beat this type of opponents, most times we make mistakes and crumble after that. About the cheating, it’s a closed argument for me. I know that I’ll never do that and I also know that I can’t change some people’s opinions, so I’ll continue to enjoy the game and the blog as much as I can.
@Kevin
It was a beautiful long shot actually, I liked it but I would have loved it if it wasn’t into our net. I feel bad about Shearer too, I liked him a lot as a player.
Lye
27 января, 2010 at 16:46
Hi mate, too bad about the 2 losses to Arsenal and Man City. I think there are still some improvements to be made before you can really challenge the big guns. But i believe you should be able to achieve the play-off place.
Next month you will be facing 3 teams that you have a big chance of winning. If you won all of them, the teams behind you will have a hard time chasing you. Good luck.
Oh i noticed that Kieron Dyer is the manager of Fulham, a trouble maker becoming a manager. Seems like he is doing quite well with Fulham.
Johnny Karp
27 января, 2010 at 17:04
Thanks for the comment Lye. It will be difficult to win all three of them but I’d be happy with two. I’m curious to see what will Liverpool do in those two extra games that they have to play. One of them is against Arsenal, maybe they won’t be able to win it…
Martin
27 января, 2010 at 19:20
Like Someone Said Before On One Of Your Previous Posts, These Little Blips Always Come Up Sometimes In The Game, And It Was Against Very Good Opponents
Johnny Karp
27 января, 2010 at 19:23
You are right Martin, I hope we’ll recover in time to hold on to that 6th place.
Laxeyman
27 января, 2010 at 19:47
Unlucky about those results Johnny, but they were good teams that you lost to. Man City always seem to create so many chances, but their defence is a bit dodgy. It will be interesting to see how Liverpool do. There are torn loyalties for me as I am a Liverpool fan but I want you to do well! Good luck anyway.
Johnny Karp
27 января, 2010 at 21:12
Thanks Laxeyman. I guess bad luck had nothing to do with it, we made some errors in those games and paid the price. I don’t have anything against Liverpool though, I like them in real life although I support Arsenal and the Blyth Spartans :)