Notts County Story — April 2016

Hello mates, welcome back to the latest episode of the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story! As you know from the previous post we were only two wins away from claiming the Premier League title for the third time in a row. Even more, we were on course for a quadruple after lifting the League Cup, we were still in contention for the FA Cup and the Champions League. Enough said, let’s get rolling…

The first game in April was away at 14th placed Tottenham, I surely wished to claim the first victory of the two that we needed. The game started with a fantastic proof of ability from Andrea Romano, he made a stunning 60 yard run on a counter attack and set up Jonjo Shelvey for an easy tap in. The game was fairly quiet until half time but Romano made it more lively again just after the break, he played another assist but this time it was for right winger Nicola Bonetti. We were safely in control and Romano wrapped up his excellent game with two perfect headers, it was a great afternoon for the Italian striker. Unfortunately his countryman, Nicola Bonetti, got injured and was going to be out for a month.

Next up, the away leg of the Champions League quarter final with Werder Bremen. We were in a good position after winning the home leg 4-1 but I hoped to continue our unbeaten run in Germany. After the first 10 minutes of the game it was quite clear that we were going to have a painful evening, Werder were much more determined and aggressive and we were under heavy pressure. Some good defending and a few top notch saves from Akinfeev kept us afloat but we finally cracked a few minutes before half time. I was hoping to see a different attitude from my players after the break but that didn’t happen, a fine move from Werder got them 2-0 up five minutes into the second half. Things were getting serious but somehow my lads woke up and took control of the game, Werder had no more chances to score until the last minute of the game. I guess it was all due to complacency but that could have been tremendously costly for my team, the bullet fizzed past our ears but fortunately did no harm. Our unbeaten run was over but I was relieved to be through to the semi final.

We’ll get to meet Atletico Madrid in the next round, the team that entertained us in the group stage. We managed to win both the away game and the home game back then, I surely hoped to do just that again but I was also aware of Atletico‘s tremendous strength. The other semi final was going to be an encounter between surprising Aston Villa and trophy holders Juventus.

The next game saw us travel to Wembley to meet Sunderland in the FA Cup semi final. We managed to beat them in both Premier League games, 2-0 at home and 1-0 away, so we had no excuses. The first half was quite poor though, Sunderland came pretty close to scoring the opener but their corner kick header hit the crossbar. We looked much better after the break and we finally got a break through: Romano was brought down inside the penalty area and Joe Barton coolly converted the kick. We were in control of the game and that reflected on the scoreboard a few minutes later, Rafael Sobis fired one in from inside the penalty area, in off the post. Liverpool beat Fulham 2-0 in the other semi final so we’ll have to beat The Reds to lift the trophy again.

Back to the Premier League, the next game was away at 18th placed Wolves. They desperately needed a few points to reach safety but we weren’t in the mood for charity, we wanted to claim the title! In fact, we solved the game before half time thanks to another impressive performance from Andrea Romano, one goal and two assists. I sent in a few reserves at half time and the crowd got to watch an entertaining last part of the game with four goals scored. That didn’t matter too much though…

… the title was ours!

With the title already in the bag and three days before the Champions League game I chose to send in the backup players in the next game, at home with Reading. They produced a solid performance though with Carlos Abad and Chris Gadi running the show. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

And the big day finally came, the first leg of the semi final with Atletico Madrid. I had my best eleven available while they were missing an important first team player, Marek Hamsik. We had enough to worry about though, their four men upfront can bring nightmares to any defense. They just knocked out Barcelona (3-1 at home and 0-0 away) so I guess that tells something about their strength.

We got off to a great start in front of 32000 ecstatic fans, Andrea Romano made one of his trademark moves, skipped past a defender and powered it in right at the far post beyond the keeper’s reach! The game was fairly even after that flamboyant start but Andrea Romano created and missed another chance right before the break. Atletico came pretty close after the interval but Akinfeev stopped the counter attack with an immense save. A few minutes later Andrea Romano struck again, he played a fabulous through ball for Rafael Sobis and the Brazilian striker netted it in cold blood. We were keeping things under control, moving the ball around well, but just when I thought it was all over Simon Kjaer missed an interception in defense and Atletico clawed one back. It was a good win but it could have been a lot better with just a bit more concentration in the last minutes. We were preparing for a tough second leg, a one goal advantage is not very reassuring.

We had another Premier League game before the second leg so I chose to rest all the lads that played against Atletico, that game was way too important to risk any injuries. But I surely didn’t expect to be humiliated by 8th placed Newcastle at Meadow Lane… My players were complacent and sloppy, it was a disgraceful performance. Some of them might have to think twice before coming to me with «more first team football» requests, they don’t deserve to wear the Notts County shirt after such an embarrassing outing.

Anyway, back to the important matter, the second leg of the Champions League semi final. We had a slim one goal advantage to defend and we did that very well in the first half, it was an evenly matched game with only one clear chance for each side. Atletico were building up the pressure after the break but they were unable to create any clear chances, we were defending very well. We even had a good chance on a counter attack but we failed to convert it. Then we slowly regained control of the game and the last 20 minutes were entirely ours, we were pushing Atletico back into their own half! And we scored eventually, Andrea Romano picked up a long kick from Igor Akinfeev and somehow squeezed it past the keeper! We were through to the final!

I had a slight reason to be sad though, Sam Hinshelwood picked up a yellow card and he’s going to miss the final, I feel sorry for him. Anyway, Nicola Bonetti should recover from his injury by then so it won’t be much of a problem for the team. Juventus beat Aston Villa in the other semi final, so we’ll get to meet the team that knocked us out last year in the semi final, I hope we’ll get our sweet revenge.

Before the final we’ll have to meet Liverpool and Manchester United twice, that’s quite a weird schedule. I hope we won’t get any injuries on the road to the final, otherwise I guess we are prepared to fight for every inch of turf and lift the Champions League trophy.

That’s how it was folks, thanks for reading and see you tomorrow for the season’s last update.

• If you like the story subscribe to the RSS feed, the future episodes will come to you fast as lightning!
  
• You can also subscribe to the Email Newsletter, the new posts will be sent directly to your inbox!
• Want to stay in touch? Download and install our community toolbar, it works on Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari!