Notts County May 2016 — The Grand Finale

Hello dear friends, the big moment is just around the corner! As you know from the previous post my Notts County were going to play the Champions League final against Juventus after knocking out Atletico Madrid in the semi final. We already won the Premier League title but that looked like a minor achievement compared to the perspective of grabbing the coveted Champions League trophy.

So, the last three league games were not important anymore but I treated them like good training games before the final battle. We managed to win two of them and draw at Old Trafford but I was extremely pleased with the last performance at Meadow Lane. It was a spectacular game and I guess the fans deserved that after supporting us all season long.

We finished the Premier League with 99 points and 100 goals scored, I couldn’t have wished for more. We totally dominated the competition and maybe the only regret is that we failed to go unbeaten all the way.

Six of my players were picked in the Premier League team of the season, I guess that explains why we dominated the league.

Before the Champions League final we had yet another final to play, the FA Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley. I was very confident before the game and the team gave me reasons to be satisfied right from the start, they were playing very well and eventually we took the lead. Fabian Delph was the man of the moment, he fired in a splendid shot from 35 yards out, it went in off the crossbar! Liverpool were still under pressure and six minutes later Sam Hinshelwood was brought down inside the penalty area. Joe Barton stepped up and coolly converted the penalty kick, 2-0. Livepool produced a good reaction after the break and Babel missed a good chance to reduce the handicap. Then we took control of the game but just when things seemed too quiet to be true Agnaldo easily lost a ball in midfield and Ryan Babel punished us instantly. Liverpool piled on the pressure in the last minutes of the game but we survived the four minutes of added time to lift the FA Cup for the second time in a row.

And now, the big game. I was pleased to have my best eleven available, just one absence: Hinshelwood was suspended. On the other hand Juventus were missing goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (injured) and for some reason Diego was not in the starting eleven but on the bench. Their team still looked pretty scary though. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

Kick off time, my blood pressure was rising… The game was pretty quiet though, a pointless and sterile battle in midfield.

23rd minute — Ashley Young picked up the ball and made a blitz run down the left flank, got into the box and fired it with his right foot… It went past the keeper but just over the crossbar!

24th minute — Carlos Vela unmarked in our penalty area, took the shot but it went straight into Akinfeev‘s arms.

33rd minute — Andrea Romano had a good opportunity, a free kick from the edge of the area. He scored a few of those this season but this time it went just a few inches wide of the post!

36th minute — another great run from Carlos Vela, passed it to Jo inside the box but striker’s shot was quite poor, a few yards wide.

41st minute — defensive midfielder Mbia held back Bonetti and got booked.

That was the first half, nothing too spectacular. Both teams were afraid of losing the game so they were pretty cautious. My blood pressure was still up…

51st minute — Giorgio Chiellini headed a free kick towards our goal, Akinfeev jumped and tipped it over. Chiellini headed the following corner kick but this time it went over the bar.

57th minute — Diego came of the bench to replace Ederson, now I had more reasons to worry…

64th minute — I made two substitutions. I took off Stefan van Dijk and sent in Gergely Varga, van Dijk was booked and I didn’t want to take any chances. I also took out right winger Bonetti, he didn’t play too well, and sent in Steven Defour. Defour took Delph‘s place in the middle of the pitch while Delph was moved on the right wing.

78th minute — Mbia tripped Rafael Sobis, that had to be a second yellow! And it was, Mbia was sent off!

82nd minute — Fabian Delph was tripped just outside the box on the right flank. Romano took the free kick, it was deflected off the wall and bounced straight to Steven Defour outside the area. He cushioned the ball and fired it… Get in! Get in! Get in!

And guess what, that was his first goal of the season! I switched the strategy to counter just to be safe but Juventus were unable to cause any problems, the trophy was ours! It wasn’t a spectacular game, it was pretty tense but that doesn’t really matter, we’ll produce a show next year! We won with only one shot on target, it was a hard fought game, Italian style.

Ashley Young was the man of the match, his runs were absolutely essential for the team.

So there you go, a quadruple!

Here are this season’s player stats, sorted by average rating. The two new signings, Zapata and Romano, were essential for our progress, they added quality to the team. I’m too happy and tired now to point out the players that will have to leave the club at the end of the season, I’m grateful to all of them for this fantastic year.

My idea right now is to strengthen the team for the next season with a really big name signing if I’ll have enough funds. My first choice would be Lionel Messi, second choice would be Cesc Fabregas. What do you think about this possibility? Anyway, next season will be my last at the helm of The Magpies, I’ll see it through hoping to win the FIFA Club World Cup, the only trophy that we didn’t win so far.

I’m happy that I managed to end this season and write this post because I will be leaving on yet another field trip tomorrow morning. It will be a rather long one, between two and three weeks. I will surely miss all of you, I might not be able to reply to your comments and emails in a timely manner. I will try to stay in touch and read your stories but I can’t promise anything because I will be quite busy working all day long.

Thanks for reading and for your support, see you next season!

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