Back to the Premier League, the last game of the month was an important one, at home with 5th placed Chelsea. The Blues were among the title contenders but they were not too convincing until that point. The first minutes of the game was fairly even, we were having difficulties in getting past their hard working midfield. We rarely did that and when we did we were denied by a fantastic Petr Cech between the sticks. Rafael Sobis did succeed eventually, he put one out of the keeper’s reach 30 minutes into the game. Chelsea had a good opportunity to equalize before the break, they broke through after a counter attack move but Ochoa denied them with a fine save. I replaced Demba Ba with Zlatan Ibrahimovic at half time and the team looked pretty solid after the interval, we were dominating the game. Ibrahimovic was looking eager to score and he did that eventually, Bonetti served him with a perfect low cross and the legendary striker placed it past Cech. Chelsea were trying to put us under pressure but we were defending well and trying to speculate the gaps on counter attacks. We finally succeeded 5 minutes from time, Ibrahimovic doubled his tally with a fine lob from the edge of the area. It was a very good second half and an excellent Ibrahimovic, he still has what it takes to bring even the toughest defenders to their knees.
We are now three points clear of the chasing pack, I’m quite pleased about that. Chelsea and Arsenal have games in hand though, they might join Man City and Aston Villa behind us. Manchester United are unrecognizable, they were our main contenders last season and now they are struggling in the middle of the table.
There was one more game to play before the end of the month, the Carling Cup fourth round match with Burnley. They are always tricky to beat because they defend well and also know how to strike on counter attacks. I decided to rest most of the first team regulars though, it was a risk but I felt that I had to take it. I sent in the usual substitutes but I was still confident that we could beat Burnley. We started the game well, dominating the match but also missing a few good chances as Demba Ba smashed the best of them against the post. On the other had Burnley were quite dangerous on the break, Romero denied them twice with a couple of fine saves. We finally scored just before the break, Ibrahimovic set up Demba Ba with a nice through ball, the Senegalese powered it into the net. We were in control after the interval and Demba Ba doubled our lead after picking up a fine pass from Smallwood. Burnley scored a late goal to make the last minutes more exciting, then Demba Ba stupidly picking up a second yellow card. It could have gone awfully wrong though, a shot from distance hit the crossbar above Romero‘s head a few seconds before the final whistle (which I was quite relived to hear).
Next month will be decisive for our Champions League campaign, we’ll have two tough matches to play: away at CSKA Moscow and at Meadow Lane with A.C. Milan. We’ll have to face Liverpool at Anfield right after the Milan game, it’s going to be quite entertaining. I’ll also have another friendly game to play with England, a challenging one away from home with Portugal.
That’s how it was my friends, nothing but wins for my Notts County in October. That makes me hope for another great season but there’s still a long way to go and lots of things that can go wrong.
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Sears
27 февраля, 2010 at 19:36
Exceelent month Johnny..whay tactic do you use that you control all the posession in your matches?
cory berman
27 февраля, 2010 at 19:50
nice wins you sell romero at the end of thye season and get in more money ochea looks very solid
Johnny Karp
27 февраля, 2010 at 20:07
@Cory Berman
Thanks for the comment. Actually I’m thinking about selling Romero in January and maybe buying a new centre back with that money. We’ll see.
@Sears
Thanks mate. You can find the latest tactic in the downloads page, it’s the 4-4-2 version 3.8
TheZiggy
27 февраля, 2010 at 20:45
A great month there to set yourself clear at the top of the table. The win over Chelsea was very sweet.
It’s interesting you mention about the clear cut chances, because I’ve noticed some oddities too. There’s also some oddities about what counts as a shot or not, and sometimes what is considered a long shot.
Just encountered something I’m really surprised about though. Kjær has shocked me by saying he needs to go to a bigger club to win major trophies. If find that illogical given we won the Premier League and Champions League last season, and won the European Super Cup this, and about to head to the Club World Cup, and looking good for winning the Premiership again. What more does he want to win?
Sears
27 февраля, 2010 at 20:54
Johnny.When its downloaded it won’t allow me to go into it..Just wondering,will you be writing a post about it?
Johnny Karp
27 февраля, 2010 at 21:29
@Sears
If you’re talking about the tactic you don’t need to open the file, just put it into the My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2010/tactics folder and select it in your game.
@TheZiggy
Thanks for the comment. I’m facing the same «wants to move to a bigger club» thing with a few players but the situation is not the same, I didn’t win the Champions League yet. I guess he wants to win the Intergalactic Cup, sell him to FC Mars :) Seriously now, I guess the club’s reputation isn’t among the best yet although you won all those trophies, that’s why it happens. It still isn’t quite right though.
TheZiggy
27 февраля, 2010 at 22:07
Johnny, can’t find FC Mars in the game :P :D
Our reputation sits at 100%, so I guess we must need 110%. Fortunately he reacted well to my reponse, so went from having good morale to superb, so it looks like I’ve resolved the issue for now, but it still doesn’t seem quite right. I know Barcelona are one of the magical teams to play for, so I could understand him being interested. This looks like an area of the game that needs further development, so the players reactions are little more realistic when a big club starts to show interest in a player. It can get frustrating when clubs start unsettling lots of your star players.
Johnny Karp
27 февраля, 2010 at 22:16
@TheZiggy
I remember that Real Madrid made offers for my best three centre backs before our game in the UEFA Super Cup. The result? Kjaer, Nordtveit and Caceres were all unsettled before the game, Caceres is still upset while the other two are OK now.
Kevin
27 февраля, 2010 at 22:16
Hi Johnny
What a great month for you, maybe the best yet? Ashley Young seems to be featuring quite a bit in your write ups so I guess that was money well spent in the transfer window. Hinshelwood gets his first goal for England. Yeah!! Nice to see you top of the table as well.
Johnny Karp
27 февраля, 2010 at 22:53
@Kevin
Thanks mate, I was quite happy to see Sam Hinshelwood scoring his first goal for the nation, it was a proud moment for both of us. Young is beginning to show what I expected him to, I guess he repaid around 5 of those 30 million I paid for him. I’m expecting more from him.
@Laxeyman
Welcome back mate and thanks for the comment. How was the trip, did you have fun skiing?
Laxeyman
27 февраля, 2010 at 22:24
Hi Johnny, it looks like you’ve had a really good start this season! Hopefully you can secure another Premier League title, and maybe the Champions League! Good luck.
Laxeyman
27 февраля, 2010 at 23:05
Thanks Johnny, I had a great time skiing, always do. Young should be a good buy he has scored some fantastic goals for England for me, hopefully he can do it for you with both Notts Co and England.
TheZiggy
27 февраля, 2010 at 23:15
Having Real Madrid make offers for your centre backs just before European Super Cup sounds a bit over the top. I wonder how often a team makes a bid for a player in a team they are about to play in real life? I’d say that this was a little bit too aggressive, because I also believe the way that it tends to instantly unsettle a player is not completely realistic either. Some players will handle the situation very well, without it having any noticable effect upon their performances.
Sears
28 февраля, 2010 at 01:06
Thanks Johnny.. Oh ya by the way,How are Hoffenheim doing in your game?I remembered I managed them in fm 09 and they were predicted last and in my….5th season I won the title then my computer broke and when I got it back my game was gone!! Your player,Demba Ba plays for them at the start of the game!
Lye
28 февраля, 2010 at 07:07
Hi mate well done on another month of excellent results, unbeaten so far great work there. It will be crucial for the next 2 months and your unbeaten record will always come under threat in the half way mark. Hope your good form can last as long as you can. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
28 февраля, 2010 at 13:14
@Lye
Thanks mate, I guess we’ll slip up sooner or later. I hope it will be later :)
@Sears
I didn’t see Hoffenheim in the European competitions, I guess they are not doing too well. But it’s a team that I like in real life.
Calum
1 марта, 2010 at 21:56
Great month Johnny. All the hard work you have put in over the last few years on this blog is now paying off I think :)
I hope you can win as many trophies as possible this year Johnny! :D
Good luck
Johnny Karp
1 марта, 2010 at 22:45
Thanks Calum, check out the new post, fresh and hot out of the oven :)