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.
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 :)