Notts County Story: April 2014 — The Roller Coaster

Hello dear friends, time for another update! I was so excited and eager to play again that I gave up on a few hours of sleep and got back to managing my beloved Notts County. We were still in with a chance to win the title at the end of March, we were three points ahead of second placed Manchester United with two games in hand. The problem was that we had at least nine games to play in April, an incredibly busy and difficult schedule. Fasten your seat belts, we were in for a roller coaster ride!

The first challenge was the Europa League quarter final with Olympique Marseille, a very good team that came from the Champions League. Their squad featured some great players like goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and creative attacking midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, it wasn’t going to be an easy battle for us. They knocked our Liverpool and Dinamo Kiev in the previous rounds and they also had the slight advantage of playing the first leg away from home. The first half was very entertaining, sparkling and bubbly like a glass of good champagne, both teams created a couple of chances but both keepers were in great shape. The second half was a bit different, my team looked better than OM but Steve Mandanda was absolutely fabulous, he made some miraculous saves to keep the score level. We were unable to beat him and he deservedly won the Man of the Match honor. Agnaldo picked up a yellow card so he was going to be out of the second leg but that was the least of my concerns, we had to score away from home to have a chance of getting through.

Until the trip to Marseille we had a league game to play and it wasn’t just another Premier League battle, it was the Nottingham Derby at Meadow Lane! Forest were down in 14th place and they probably remembered that we beat them 3-1 on their own ground back in December. Manchester United played their league game a day before us and they won it convincingly, 3-0 at Tottenham! The pressure was on us but Sam Hinshelwood relieved some of it right away, he finished a cross from Agnaldo with a soft touch on the volley. Just when Forest seemed capable of putting up a good reaction the referee punished them with a harsh penalty kick. Varga slotted it home and then we took control of the game. The match was even easier in the second half as Forest‘s left back got sent off after picking up two yellows for holding onto Hinshelwood‘s shirt, that’s the only way he found to stop my wonderkid. Forest were lucky just to survive until Nordtveit scored with a corner kick volley. Guilherme picked up his yellow card just a few seconds before the final whistle, the foul was completely unnecessary and stupid.

We didn’t have too much time to enjoy the nice derby win, the next game was only a few days later, away at Marseille for the second leg of the Europa League quarter final. We got off to a nice start, sent a couple of good shots on target right away but Mandanda was fantastic again. Then we got a bit lucky, eleven minutes into the game we had a free kick from 30 yards out. Biglia took the shot, it got deflected off the wall and the ball went high into the air and into the six yard box. Right winger Nicola Bonetti, the smallest guy on the pitch, was the quickest to react and he placed it in with a header! Marseille made an instant reply though, a fine shot from the edge of the area went past Romero but we were still leading on away goals. The pressure was rising in our penalty area so I decided to switch the strategy to counter hoping to survive their attacks and maybe get a chance to stab them on a counter attack. We survived until the break but the pressure got even higher after half time, we had our back against the wall as Marseille were pushing forward like maniacs. It got even worse when Demba Ba, employed as a left winger, got sent off after picking up the second yellow. I had to take out one of the two strikers, Rafael Sobis, and send in Sneijder as a left winger. I also took out Bonetti and replaced him with Hinshelwood, I was looking to improve our ball possession to relieve some of the pressure that our defenders had to endure. We were under siege in the following minutes but we had a chance to counter, Sneijder made a run on the left flank, dribbled past his opponent and swerved in the cross… Hinshelwood was right there at the far post, he headed it in from point blank range! Get in! Confidence was high, the lads started to move the ball around for minutes while Marseille‘s players were desperately trying to get it back. It was all over, we were through to the semi finals where we were going to meet Russian side CSKA Moscow.

That would have been a reason to celebrate but I changed my mind after looking at our schedule. Only one of our league games got postponed for May, so we had to play 5 games in the last 10 days of the month. Even worse, the last three games were scheduled almost one day after the other! That was absolutely insane, I had to figure out a way to survive… Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

The next game was at Wembley, the Nottingham Derby again but this time in the FA Cup semi final. Manchester United had a league game to play on that day, they won 1-0 at West Ham so we were tied at 77 points now but we had three games in hand. Anyway, back to Wembley… Forest outplayed us in the first 20 minutes of the game, they were looking determined to get revenge. We slowly took control of the match in the last part of the half and Sam Hinshelwood gave us the lead just before the break by finishing a team move. We doubled the lead only seven minutes into the second half, Defour lobbed the ball past Forest‘s defense, Sobis picked it up and powered it home. We took the foot off the gas but still managed to score one, Agnaldo deserved a goal after playing very well throughout the game. Arsenal will be our opponents in the final, luckily scheduled on the 17th of May.

Back to the Premier League, we had a tricky away game at Wolves only three days later. They were in 7th place after a very good season and the last meeting between the two sides ended with a win for us, a narrow 1-0 in the FA Cup back in February. We got off to a slow start and Wolves nearly punished us 10 minutes into the game, they missed a great chance. Sam Hinshelwood was in great shape though driving the team forward, he picked up an assist from Demba Ba and placed it into the back of the net. We took control of the game after the goal but the better ball possession didn’t convert in dangerous attacking moves, the team looked a bit uninspired. We continued to play a bit below par in the second half but Demba Ba finished a quick counter attack and the game was as good as over although there were around 20 minutes left to play. This was one of the three games we had in hand over Manchester United, so now we were 3 points clear with two games in hand.

We had another away game coming up, a more difficult one: at Anfield Road with 9th placed Liverpool. They had a disappointing season and they had to win the game in order to preserve any chances of getting an Europa League place. We won the home game 1-0 in December and I was hoping for a good result. Manchester United were continuing their good run, they beat Newcastle 2-0 the day before our game, so the pressure was on us again. The first half was fairly even overall but Liverpool were better than us in the first 20 minutes, they missed a couple of chances. We were looking much better after the break, we kept Liverpool under pressure in the first few minutes and Rafael Sobis converted that into a goal with a fabulous volley from the edge of the area. Liverpool reacted in style, they were pushing us back and Romero had to make a couple of great saves to preserve our lead. I was hoping to survive until the end of the game but it wasn’t to be, a harsh penalty decision brought them back level. I admit that it was the just result though, Liverpool deserved to get at least on e point.

We had to travel quite a few miles for the next game, it was the first leg of the Europa League semi final with CSKA Moscow. They had a very strong team, they knocked out Juventus and Stuttgart in the previous rounds and their squad featured some great names like Igor Akinfeev (goalkeeper), Alan Dzagoev (midfielder) and Vagner Love, the Brazilian striker. The first 25 minutes of the game were entirely ours, we were all over them but their keeper was in top form, he made four fantastic saves to keep the score level. There was nothing he could have done a few minutes later though, Sobis received the ball inside the box and he powered in! The keeper didn’t touch it but I think that it would have broken his arm if he would have reached it. Guilherme wrapped up a fantastic first half with a fine dribble and a perfectly placed shot from the edge of the area, I was extremely pleased with the performance. The second half saw CSKA trying to push forward but they were leaving huge gaps behind the defense. That gave Biglia the chance to play a perfect long ball for Guilherme, the Brazilian picked it up and lobbed it past the goalkeeper from 20 yards out, fantastic! CSKA were coming forward but Romero proved that he’s at least as good as Akinfeev and pulled off a few magnificent saves. The last 20 minutes were a bit more difficult as we had to play with only 10 men, Sobis got injured and I had already made all the substitutions. We were a bit under pressure but had another great chance on a counter attack a few minutes before the final whistle, unfortunately Guilherme missed it. That was a superb win and a great performance but we couldn’t enjoy it too much, the injury to Rafael Sobis was quite serious and he was going to be out for a full month! That could be a big blow considering that he scored 32 goals until that point of the season. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

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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