Notts County Story: April 2014 — The Roller Coaster

We had no time to celebrate the emphatic away win, the next game was only three days later and it was quite difficult too: away at 3rd placed Chelsea. The last game between the two sided ended with a comfortable win for the Blues, 3-2 in the Carling Cup in January. Last but not least, the second leg of the Europa League semi final was scheduled two days later… I chose to field a full strength squad against Chelsea and then send in the usual substitutes to preserve the lead against CSKA, I guess I had no other option. Manchester United were still winning, the last one was 2-0 with Everton. Chelsea started the game well, they were keeping us under pressure. Luckily we scored against the run of play, a counter attack saw Guilherme beat the offside trap and score with one of his trademark placed shots. Sergio Romero was kept busy until half time but he saved everything that came at him. We got off to a bad start in the second half, Chelsea‘s first move finished with a goal. A few minutes later defender Simon Kjaer made a stupid mistake, gave the ball away and Chelsea scored again. My team failed to react, the players looked exhausted and Chelsea controlled the game with ease. Manchester United were back in 1st spot with two points ahead of us but we still had a couple of games in hand. The players were awfully tired though, I was afraid of losing the next games due to fatigue.

The Chelsea game was on Sunday, our next game was… on Tuesday! I had no choice but to field the usual substitutes hoping that they would do well and preserve the lead that we took in the away game. The league game against Arsenal was coming up on Wednesday, that’s right, 24 hours after the CSKA game. The lads did pretty well in the first half, created a few chances but Moreno and Sburlea missed all of them. CSKA had a few chances too and they went 1-0 up thanks to superior finishing but I was fairly confident at half time, we didn’t look like losing 3-0. The Russians went all out attack after the break, they changed the formation to 4-2-4. We withstood the pressure quite well and even had a couple of chances on counter attacks. It looked like it was going to end with a narrow defeat but CSKA scored out of the blue, a fluke cross beat Luis Guilherme and went in! Two minutes later Vagner Love had a great chance but his shot hit the post and then was cleared off the line! The three minutes of added time felt like three hours, the referee finally blew his whistle, a huge sigh of relief was heard from the stands. We were through to the final but it was a close shave, all the hard work could have gone to waste in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Twenty four hours passed in a hurry and we were back at Meadow Lane, Arsenal were coming to face us. They were in 9th place but they were still in the Europa League, their semi final game was scheduled on… Thursday, 24 hours after the Notts County game! Arsenal drew 1-1 at home with Palermo in the first leg, I was hoping that they would rest their players for the tough European second leg. I had eleven tired players in the first eleven and seven exhausted lads on the bench, I was also hoping for no forced substitutions… Arsenal fielded a full strength squad though, Cesc Fabregas included! I couldn’t understand their choice but let’s move on. The first 10 minutes were fairly even, each of the two sides missed a chance to score. Then Demba Ba stepped up and rifled in a fabulous shot from 25 yards out, his 20th goal of the season. Three minutes later, it happened: Guilherme picked up a knock and I was forced to send in an exhausted Marcelo Moreno to replace him. Arsenal looked more lively in the last minutes of the first half and they managed to get back on level terms with a corner kick header. I had no substitutions to make at half time, the players on the bench were as tired as the ones that started the game. The second half began beautifully though, Steven Defour sent in a missile from 25 yards to give us the lead! At that point I was hoping to survive and claim the victory as Arsenal seemed a bit tired too. They had a great chance right away as Diaby hit the post with a corner kick header. Demba Ba missed a huge chance on a counter attack and then Arsenal equalized, Uruguayan winger Albin scored with a fabulous shot from 30 yards out! (he did score a few like that for the national team too, I can’t complain). The final minutes saw the two teams trying to knock each other out like two boxers in the 12th round but both teams were too tired to land any punches. The really bad news was that Guilherme‘s injury was more than serious, he will be out for no less than three months! It’s quite a big blow, I lost my two main goalscorers…

That was one of our games in hand, so we were now one point behind Manchester United with a game in hand. By the way, Arsenal lost 2-0 at Palermo the next day.

So, it’s all going down to the wire… I think it will all be decided by the next game, Notts County versus Manchester United at Meadow Lane. If the Red Devils will win it then I think it will be over as their last game is at home with Fulham, they should win it easily. On the other hand, if we will lose the title in the last games that could have a detrimental effect on the morale and we could lose the other two trophies too.

Well, that’s how it was folks, the toughest month I’ve ever experienced in my career. I am relieved it’s over but I’m also concerned because we’ll only have a few days to rest before the Manchester United game and the players are exhausted. At this point I think that Man Utd are the favorites for the title, they are having a great run and, most important, their players are in better shape than mine. Last but not least, my two best strikers are injured and won’t be setting foot on the pitch until next season. We still have a chance though and I intend to fight until the last second of the last game.

A final note before moving on to your comments, I will probably be away all day tomorrow because I have to make a trip away from home, I hope to be back in the evening and play those last games of the season. And another thing, I just checked the word count and this post has exactly 3000 words, I could be named the Tolstoi of Football Manager :)

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