Notts County January 2016

Hello folks, welcome back to the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story! As you know from the previous post we managed to stay unbeaten through the first half of the season, that gave me and the players a lot of confidence for the upcoming challenges. The season was far from over though, we had to keep up the pace to bring home the shiny silverware.

The first game of the new year was the FA Cup clash with Championship side Wigan Athletic. I chose to rest all the first team regulars, so I gave space to some youngsters from the reserves team. We didn’t produce a breathtaking display by any means but we managed to clinch the win in the second half, Guilherme did all the work and set up reserve winger Wilfried Robert for an easy finish. It was a landmark win though, our unbeaten run reached 30 games!

Next up, the eagerly awaited Carling Cup derby with Nottingham Forest. The first leg was at Meadow Lane, so I wanted to get a god advantage and make sure of getting through to the final. We were piling on the pressure right from the start and Nicola Bonetti finally broke the ice 16 minutes into the game, he cut infield from the right wing and fired it in off the post. Andrea Romano made it 2-0 before half time with another splendid free kick shot from 25 yards out. We were totally in control of the game and managed to score another one in the second half, Jonjo Shelvey played through for Rafael Sobis and the Brazilian striker dribbled past the keeper and pushed it in. I was satisfied with the advantage, the second leg was not a big problem anymore.

The first Premier League game of the year was away at 16th placed Ipswich. The first half saw a great spell of dominance from my lads and Rafael Sobis opened the scoring with his 20th goal of the season. The second goal was a lucky one, a corner kick turned into a flipper game inside the box and the ball ended up in the back of the net. Andrea Romano headed in a cross from Shelvey to make it 3-0. The second half was entirely different, Ipswich were pushing forward but they didn’t cause too much trouble for our goalkeeper.

The next game was a much more difficult one, away at Arsenal. We started the game well, we were pushing the Gunners back into their own box. Rafael Sobis did it again 25 minutes into the game, he picked up a through ball from Steven Defour and placed it perfectly past the keeper. We continued to play well but instead of doubling the lead we conceded, it was a swift move from Arsenal and my defense was surprised. The team reacted well though and Andrea Romano hit the post a couple of minutes later. We took the lead again 14 minutes from time, Jonjo Shelvey played a wonderful through ball for Hinshelwood and the wonderkid right winger slotted it into the top corner. Arsenal switched to a 4-2-4 setup for the last minutes but we kept them under control and even missed another good chance on a counter attack. It was a very important win for the title race, I was very pleased.

We had to confirm our good form in the next game, at home with surprising 10th placed Burnley. We got off to a good start as Sam Hinshelwood was brought down into the box, Joe Barton coolly converted the penalty kick. The game was fairly quiet until the last minutes of the first half: Burnley equalized when Jay Rodriguez beat Zapata in the air and headed the ball home but then Cristian Zapata recovered from the error and powered in a corner kick header. Then we dominated the second half but failed to convert that into more goals. We nearly got punished by a long shot in the last minutes of the game but the ball hit the crossbar and bounced clear.

Next up, the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final with Nottingham Forest. We already had a three goal advantage from the first leg so I chose to rest quite a few players and send in a few lads from the reserves along with some backup first team players. We found ourselves under a lot of pressure in the first half but survived it thanks to some wasteful finishing from Forest. Then we took control of the game in the second half and eventually won the game with a bit of luck. We were through to the final and we’ll get to battle with Manchester United for the trophy. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

A quick intermezzo now, the World Cup qualifying groups were drawn and my England were seeded 1st. We were handed quite a tough group though, Denmark and Slovakia are pretty strong teams while the other three can always cause problems. There’s still a long time until then, we have other things to worry about now.

Back to Notts County, the next game was the FA Cup clash with Tottenham. I was expecting a difficult game but the team played a fantastic match with Andrea Romano and Ashley Young running the show. It was a splendid display and we could easily have scored a few more goals. We’re through to the next round and we’ll get to play Newcastle for a place in the last eight.

The last game of the month was at home with Arsenal, we were confident after beating them 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium. We got off to a flier, Jonjo Shelvey fired one in from 25 yards out only two minutes into the game. Rafael Sobis made it 2-0 twenty minutes into the game with a spectacular volley from inside the box but the most beautiful goal was yet to come. It happened 11 minutes later and it was a quick and swift move, Arsenal style! You can see it illustrated in the picture below, the blue arrows trace the ball movement while the red arrow shows Ashley Young‘s movement off ball. It all happened in just a few seconds, those were all first time passes and Arsenal‘s defense was unable to understand what was going on.

Arsenal looked a bit better after half time but wingers Agnaldo (in for Young at half time) and Bonetti punished them on quick counter attacks, it was a spectacular win and a statement: don’t mess with Notts County this season! :)

We were still top of the table and the gap was widening: seven points with two games in hand.

We’ll have a busy and important February with the first game against Valencia and the Carling Cup final with Manchester United.

I hope that the players won’t get overconfident following the last high scoring wins, we have to keep our feet on the ground and keep on working until the last minute of the last game of the season. That’s about it my friends, over to you!

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