Back to the Premier League, the away game at Newcastle was coming up next. We started the game well, kept Newcastle under pressure but failed to convert the chances into goals. Rafael Sobis finally shoved one in a few minutes before the break and then Guilherme caught them on a counter attack and doubled the lead. Newcastle switched to a 4-2-4 set up after the interval so we had to be careful in defense. We had chances on counter attacks though, one of them went all the way as Young curled in a perfect cross leaving Sobis with an easy goal ahead of him. Then we contained Newcastle’s attacks well but we didn’t have any more chances to score. The result was quite pleasing though.
We had a chance to rest a few players in the next game, the Carling Cup 3rd round match with Championship side Norwich. I chose to send in some of the youngsters from the reserves squad and they looked quite determined to do well right away. Italian right winger Stephan El Shaarawy made a fantastic debut, he gave Norwich‘s defenders quite a few headaches before scoring with a powerful effort from inside the penalty area. A few minutes later he produced another goal, his cross was headed in by Ibrahimovic who scored his first goal for the club. Marcelo Moreno made it 3-0 before the break by finishing a team move. It was a good first half and the result was already secured, the second half was rather poor.
Young right winger Stephan El Shaarawy was elected Man of the Match, so I guess he deserves a screen shot. He was touted as one of the best talents in Italy a few years ago, was bought by Manchester United from Genoa but then failed to break into the first team setup at Old Trafford. He was loaned out for a few seasons and now he’s in our reserves squad, waiting for his chance. If he’ll continue to show that type of determination I think that he’ll get more and more chances to play in the first team.
We had one more league game to play in September but it wasn’t just any game, Manchester United were coming at Meadow Lane. They had a bad start to the season, they had only two wins out of 6 games! We started the game well, dominating the midfield but we missed a couple of good chances. We managed to score before the break eventually, right winger Nicola Bonetti cut infield and surprised the opposition defenders, he finished the move with a placed shot to give us a lead. We doubled the lead right after the break, Ashley Young started a team move and after another two passes the ball went to Guilherme who coolly placed it in. Manchester United were more offensive after the goal but we defended well, Ochoa had lots of fun with stopping Rooney‘s countless shots from distance.
The four straight wins bounced us to the top of the Premier League table, tied with Liverpool at 17 points. It seems that I managed to find the right balance between discipline and creativity in the new version of my 4-4-2 tactic.
The month was not over yet though, we had one more game to play in the Champions League group, at home with Brondby. They got beaten quite heavily in their first game, CSKA thrashed them 4-1. We got off to a good start, Guilherme gave us the lead with a fine shot from the edge of the area, straight into the top corner. A few minutes later we conceded an useless penalty kick, something happened inside the penalty area during a free kick from out wide, the cross went high over the bar but the referee spotted something. The team didn’t suffer too much though, we continued to play well and Demba Ba gave us the lead again with a fine header. I sent in Ibrahimovic for Ba at half time and the Swede made an instant impact but it was an easy goal set up by Ashley Young. Guilherme completed the fine evening with a splendid volley from inside the area. Milan won 2-1 at Moscow, so I guess we’ll have to fight with the Russians for the second place.
Next month will be a bit more relaxed, only 5 games to play but there will be two important ones in the middle with CSKA and Chelsea. I’ll also have an official game to play with England, at home with Estonia if I remember correctly.
That’s how it was folks, a solid month for my Notts County that saw us bouncing back up the table. The new version of the tactic seems to produce enough movement in attack to overcome the opponents but also a fairly solid defensive approach. Thanks for reading, looking forward to commenting on it together.
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TheZiggy
26 февраля, 2010 at 16:25
I think that’s a great month, managing to snatch a draw at the San Siro, and good wins over Arsenal and Man United. The slight change to the tactic seems to have had a very good effect, and you still look pretty solid at the back.
One thing I’ve taken to doing in my current season is having Ochoa’s distribution set to defender collect, and he currently has the highest pass completion in the Premiership and the Champions League, and seems to have stopped us giving away the ball so much. It also helps that Cardozo and Gilardino are good at challenging for the ball when he does make a long clearance, which we’d been lacking before. It had always been dangerous before, because Lung jr would at times put his defenders under pressure, whereas Ochoa almost always picks the right option.
Johnny Karp
26 февраля, 2010 at 17:41
@TheZiggy
Thanks mate. You are right about Ochoa, he seems to have the ability to always pick the right solution. I also have the distribution set to defender collect, it’s much better than blasting the ball up the pitch because we don’t have tall players and secondly I don’t like that type of football, I like the team to build the attack with consecutive passes.
@Lye
Thanks for the comment, I guess Liverpool and Chelsea will be challenging but it’s still to early to say. Now the England squad:
Goalkeepers: Ben Foster, Joe Hart, Robert Green
Right backs: Glen Johnson, Michael Mancienne
Left backs: Joe Barton, Joe Mattock
Centre backs: David Wheater, Ryan Shawcross, Joleon Lescott, Curtis Davies
Right wingers: Sam Hinshelwood, Aaron Lennon
Left wingers: Ashley Young, James Milner, Kieran Gibbs
Central midfielders: Steven Gerrard, Fabian Delph, Tom Huddlestone, Jack Rodwell, Jonjo Shelvey
Strikers: Wayne Rooney, David Welbeck, Theo Walcott, Nathan Delfouneso
These are the players that I picked for those two games, some of them might not be in there for the next games though.
Lye
26 февраля, 2010 at 17:26
Hi mate, to come back from San Siro with a point is certainly not an easy task and your players did really well. You are cruising here back in the league seeing of Arsenal and Man Utd fairly easy. I wonder who will pose the challenge to you this season.
What a debut win over Spain and a good start to the European Championship. Just curious what players did you select for your England Squad?
Calum
26 февраля, 2010 at 17:58
A fantastic month Johnny. Your quite simple but genious tactical change has helped your team a lot as you are now scoring a bit more freely again now. Great start with England too :D
Well done and I hope you can keep up the great form for the next few months :)
paine
26 февраля, 2010 at 19:00
A strange match vs. Milan, from the stats I saw, you controlled the game (possession) but only 2 of your (few) shots reached the target.
It seems that defensively both teams worked very well.
On the other side you obliged them to many not so dangerous, I think, long shots, apart form the Paloschi one.
That result however will give your team lots of confidence, good work as usual.
Johnny Karp
26 февраля, 2010 at 19:05
@Paine
Indeed, both teams worked very well in defense and midfield but overall Milan showed more cutting edge. They were restricted to long shots most of the times though but from what I remember they broke through twice — the first time Huntelaar scored and the second time Ochoa stopped Paloschi with a fine save.
Rob
26 февраля, 2010 at 21:10
Well done gd month :). I am also managing Notts Co and i am currently in the championship and my game has pretty much gone exactly like yours, back to back wins of league 2 and league 1 but i always seem to concede more goals i almost always go 1 or 2 nil up but i can never seem to keep a clean sheet i almost always win 2-1 or 3-1 i have kasper schmeical as my goalie and my defence is ovidiu dananae, shelton martis, marc muniesa and jeremy helan who i got on loan from man city. any advice? cheers.
cory berman
26 февраля, 2010 at 22:24
are yo gonna publish the new tactics that are serving you so well? congrats on a really good month!!
Bilal Ahmad
27 февраля, 2010 at 01:19
Johnny another fantastic month! Wow I am very impressed your on top of the Premiership with Liverpool. Your playing really good with England aswell and looking alright in the Champions League! What a great month! Chelsea and CSKA Moscow are definately going to be hard however I believe you will give them a game. El Shaarawy is one of the quality youngsters that I found on the game I hope he does well for you and breaks into the first team.
Sears
27 февраля, 2010 at 01:27
Splendid month Johnny..Huge improvment on August!..You seem to be crusing in the league and look to win it out easy!You’v defeted 2 of your main rivals allready and that will get the confindence going! Very good point you earned against Milan in the San Siro.Looking forward 2 your next post!
Kevin Mayo
27 февраля, 2010 at 01:40
Hi johnny
Just got in (6.30pm EST) and finished reading your latest installment on the subway.Excellent start to your international career and I was over the moon to see that you gave my boy Hinshelwood his first cap. I can see him being a major star in the 2018 World Cup. Anyways great to see you at the top of the Premier League with two fantastic results over major contendors. You’ve certainly thrown down the guantlet to all other challengers and you will be a force to be feared this season. Glad to see that your tactic tweak paid off for you.
Johnny Karp
27 февраля, 2010 at 11:26
@Rob
Thanks for the comment and well done with Notts County. Actually I remember that my defense was almost the same at some point with Dananae, Martis, Muniesa and Mulgrew on the left flank. Maybe you should pay more attention to the tactical changes that your opponent makes during the game, that could be a cause.
@Cory Berman
Thanks mate, you can download the new version of the tactic from here
@Bilal
Thanks mate. I had my eyes on El Shaarawy for a few seasons now but I was never quite convinced of his potential. Now I was able to get him for a reasonable price, so I brought him in. He’s 21 years old already but maybe he can make some progress.
@Sears
Thanks a lot for your enthusiastic comment and support :)
@Kevin
Thanks, I see Hinshelwood becoming a star too. He’s 20 years old now and once Steven Gerrard will hand up his boots I think that he will have no rivals for the playmaker role in the England team. Or maybe I’ll employ him as a right winger, I haven’t figured that out yet.