Notts County October 2014

Hello folks and welcome back! After getting my Notts County back on track last month with a few tactical tweaks I was looking forward to consolidating our position in October. We were top of the table at the end of September, tied with Liverpool, and we also had fairly good results in the first two Champions League games: 1-1 away at Milan and 4-1 at home with Brondby. My career with England started pretty well too, we beat world champions Spain at Wembley in a friendly game and then Malta away from home in the Euro Champs Qualifying group. Let’s see what happened in October…

The first game of the month was away at 10th placed West Ham, a team that always caused us more than a few problems. We were also facing a bit of an emergency in midfield, three of my five central midfielders were unavailable for the game. Everything was forgotten quickly though, Guilherme scored one only 28 seconds into the game to finish a team move, West Ham didn’t even get a chance to touch the ball between the opening whistle and the goal! Guilherme was running things on the pitch and a few minutes later he set up right winger Bonetti, the Italian finished off the move with a placed shot from inside the penalty area. We continued to keep West Ham under pressure until half time but didn’t manage to convert the chances. We played well in the second half too but a shot from distance gave West Ham a way back into the game. That way was blocked though, we kept them under control easily. The bad news was that Guilherme‘s injury was rather serious, he was going to be out between three and four weeks.

I had to take a break from Notts County after that game, England were going to play a new qualifying game, at Wembley with Estonia. It was a game that everybody expected us to win, no question about that. It started pretty well and I was sure that we were going to win it, the opponents were rather weak. John Terry scored the opening goal from a penalty kick, Theo Walcott was brought down by a tackle inside the box. A few minutes later Stoke player Jonjo Shelvey did it again, he scored with a fabulous 30 yarder, his second goal for England in two games! We didn’t have to try to hard to control the game, the opponents were unable to create anything. We missed quite a few chances until the final minutes when Sam Himshelwood took over: first he set up Rooney for an easy goal and then he scored one himself with a corner kick header, his first goal for England.

That was the last game of the year in the qualifying group, Switzerland seemed to be our only worthy opponents. The rest of the games will be played in 2015, we won’t afford to lose any points to the bottom three teams and then we’ll have to see off Switzerland at Wembley and maybe get a draw away from home. Anyway, there’s still a long time until then.

Back to the Premier League, our next game was away at struggling Blackburn, they were down in 17th place. We started the game pretty well but goalkeeper Paul Robinson denied us with a few fantastic saves, I guess he wanted me to call him up to the England squad :) We did score eventually when Biglia‘s free kick shot was deflected by Nordtveit, it was a lucky goal but we desperately needed it. Blackburn were crumbling down and a few minutes later Biglia picked Ashley Young‘s move behind the defense, the left winger finished with a placed shot. We continued to play well after the break but Blackburn scored, it was a missed header from Kjaer that gave them the chance. We got back in control after that mishap and Rafael Sobis doubled the lead with a fine curling shot from 25 yards out. A few minutes later Simon Kjaer repaired his mistake in defense with a winning corner kick header. I was surprised to see that Blackburn had two clear cut chances, I didn’t notice them during the game.

The next game was a more difficult one, CSKA Moscow were coming at Meadow Lane for the Champions League group game. We already knew their strength from last season, we knocked them out in the Europa League semi final and I remember that it wasn’t easy at all. In fact, the Russians put us under pressure in the first 15 minutes of the game but then we took control. Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was standing in our way again though, he was looking unbeatable. We finally broke the deadlock 10 minutes before the break when Demba Ba took advantage of a corner kick marking error, he was all alone a few yards from the goal and all he had to do was to push the ball into the net. We doubled the lead just before the break and it was all thanks to Ashley Young, he brought the ball inside from the left wing and laid it forward to Demba Ba with an exquisite pass, the Senegalese was left with an easy finish. The game was fairly even in the second half and CSKA deservedly scored one to finish a nice team move. We managed to keep them under control after the goal and they never looked capable of scoring another one.

It was an important lead that gave us a four point cushion over CSKA, a win in Moscow will give us the tickets for the next round. I hope we’ll be able to get that win and then battle with Milan for the top spot in the group table. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

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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