Notts County February 2013

Here we go again my friends, welcome to a new episode of my Notts County Football Manager 2010 story! After a busy month of January we were able to hold on to the 6th place and advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup. February was expected to be a lot more difficult though, we had to face Arsenal and Manchester City (twice)!

Before telling you all about the matches I thought about sharing something with you. I was curious to see which are the managers that I’m competing with in the Premier League and I have to say that there are a few surprising names on the list. Mark Hughes is still in charge of The Citizens, Rafa Benitez is still the boss at Anfield Road while former Bulgarian international Krasimir Balakov is managing Tottenham! Oh, and Roberto Mancini at Arsenal, how about that…

Alright, let’s get on with the games. The first match of the month was at home with 8th placed Sunderland, a team that we managed to beat convincingly away from home, 3-1 in October. Sergio Romero was suspended after being sent off in the last league game, so Ben Amos was back between the posts. We got off to a great start thanks to Guilherme, he sent in a torpedo from 20 yards out right away. Things got a bit complicated after left back Alberto Morgado elbowed an opponent in the face, he was sent off and eventually got banned for 4 games! I had to take out Zigoni and send in a defender but the team reacted well and solved the game before half time. Right winger Nicola Bonetti had a great day, he cut inside from the right flank quite often to compensate the missing striker and he managed to score twice. We played well in the second half too and Ben Amos put the cherry on the cake by saving a penalty kick.

Next up, a very tough away game, Arsenal were expected to beat us. They were just above us in 5th place and I still remember that they beat us 1-0 at Meadow Lane in September. We started the game well, the situation looked pretty even. Arsenal managed to make the difference though, first with a corner kick header and then by taking advantage of an error in our defense. They were 2-0 up after an even first half, that was frustrating. My players failed to react in the second half, Arsenal dominated the game by winning the ball in midfield almost every time. Diaby was deservedly sent off, he deserved to go to the dressing room even earlier, but my boys looked demoralized and couldn’t take advantage of the situation.

The next game was the FA Cup clash with Manchester City, we were the underdogs again. Adebayor was injured but they still had Tevez and Robinho upfront. We started the game well, a triangle of passes between Zigoni, Biglia and Guilherme left the Brazilian one on one with the keeper and he didn’t miss. Manchester City put us under pressure after the goal and Kalou managed to capitalize on that twice, my right back was unable to keep him under control. Tinga scored to make things level again but Robinho shattered our illusions just before half time. We tried to react in the second half but missed our chances. Luisao scored from a corner kick and then Tevez finished off one of the many counter attack chances that they had in the second half. It was a painful defeat but I guess nobody expected us to cause the upset. We put up a brave fight but the opponents proved to be much better than us.

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

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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