Notts County Story — February 2014

Hello folks, welcome to another episode of the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story! We were in for an exciting season, top of the table at the end of January with one point above Manchester United and also with one game in hand. The Red Devils had a though schedule ahead of them, so I hoped that they would drop a few points along the way. The tricky part was to be careful and win most of our games…

The first match of the month was a difficult one, away at 8th placed Everton. We won the home game 2-0 in January but I was quite sure that things would be tougher at Goodison Park. The game started pretty well for us though, we dominated the first minutes and took the lead thanks to a placed shot from Kevin Thomson, he whistled it in from the edge of the area. The rest of the first 45 minutes were evenly boring, the two teams looked unable to produce something special. I was hoping for a similar second half but I was in for a big disappointment. Everton totally dominated the second half, my team looked like a bunch of tired old people. We survived somehow until the 76th minute but Everton got back level and even had the chance to win the game. I can’t explain what happened in that second half, maybe it was all due to fatigue. Manchester United won their tricky home game with Arsenal 3-2, so we were back in 2nd place but with a game in hand.

The game in hand was coming up next, at home with 13th placed Aston Villa, a strong team that was having a disappointing season. We were 1 point behind Manchester United, so a win would have pushed us right back on the top of the table. Guilherme started things up with one of his perfectly placed shots but Aston Villa reacted well in the following minutes, Romero had to show a couple of fantastic saves to keep us ahead. Then we took control of the game and Sam Hinshelwood doubled our lead with a fantastic goal, he dribbled past two defenders plus the keeper and pushed it in. Guilherme wrapped up our fairytale first half with a fabulous shot from 35 yards out but an unfortunate deflection made it 3-1 just before the break. We looked solid in the second half, controlled the game and claimed the win that took us back in 1st place, two points above Manchester United.

The next game was away at struggling Stoke, they were in 14th place and they surely remembered that we beat them 4-1 at Meadow Lane back in September. We started the game well, dominating quite clearly but Sam Hinshelwood hit the post 25 minutes into the game. Senegalese striker Demba Ba was back from the African Cup of Nations and he looked eager to show his skills at the club again, he powered one in from the edge of the area to give us the lead. We remained in control of the game until the last 20 minutes, Stoke were beginning to put us under pressure. Demba Ba produced a penalty on a counter attack but Varga‘s shot was saved by Fabianski! We managed to keep cool until the final whistle though and grabbed the three points. Manchester United won their difficult way game at Liverpool 1-0, so the two points gap remained unchanged.

Next up, an easier home game, 14th placed Fulham were coming at Meadow Lane. We beat them in the away game, it ended 2-1 in October. The game was fairly even until the 21st minute, Sam Hinshelwood gave us the lead with a fine corner kick header. Two minutes later our wonderkid right winger made another one of his blitz runs on the wing and crossed the ball to the far post. Agnaldo was there to head it in, 2-0. We took control of the game and Guilherme made it 3-0 in the second half after picking up a fine through ball from Defour. It was a good win but there were bad news coming with it, Sam Hinshelwood had a twisted ankle and he’ll be out between three and four weeks. Manchester United won their game with Nottingham Forest, they were looking unbeatable.

The next game was the FA Cup 5th round clash with Wolves, a team that held us to a 1-1 draw in the Premier League game back in November. This time things looked a bit different, Wolves were under siege right from the start but their keeper was absolutely fantastic, he saved around 10 shots in the first half. We continued to push forward in the second half but their keeper kept on saving everything that we threw at him. Even more, Wolves had a couple of chances on counter attacks! The time was running out and Demba Ba finally managed to place one out of the keeper’s reach, we thoroughly deserved to win this one. We’ll get to meet Manchester City in the next round, that will be a tricky one. 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 last challenge of the month was the double encounter with Standard Liege in the Europa League. Their team looked quite solid with some very good players like Witsel in midfield or Mbokani upfront. Last but not least, their manager was a fellow Romanian, Laszlo Boloni, one of the best Romanian managers ever. He also was a legendary player with more than 100 caps for the national team.

The first leg was away from home, that always is a slight advantage. We started the game quite well and Agnaldo hit the crossbar with a point blank range header only 10 minutes into the game. We were dominating and the result finally came before the break, Agnaldo swept in a fine cross and Demba Ba finished it off with a powerful header. Just before going back to the dressing room Standard tried to react, their striker unleashed a terrific long shot, it went past Romero but hit the post! Standard continued to push forward after the break but Romero was in form, he saved a couple of good chances. I replaced Demba Ba with Moreno somewhere around the 60th minute and the Bolivian made me happy right away, he finished a counter attack with a perfectly placed shot. Six minutes later, the same drill: Moreno beat the offside trap and placed it past the keeper, we were 3-0 up! It was a massive result that gave us a huge chance to qualify for the next round.

We still had to be careful in the home leg though, we had to avoid conceding an early goal. The team looked quite determined and they did even more, Guilherme shattered Standard‘s dreams right away. We were in control of the game as Standard‘s players looked bereft of confidence. Their keeper gave us a nice present just before the break, things were looking nice. The second half was an entertaining show, we put another two goals past them and played very well. We were through to then next round where we’re going to meet Italian side Lazio, they just knocked out PSV Eindhoven.

While we were defending England’s honor in Europe the Premier League didn’t stop, another match day was played and I am pleased to say that Manchester United finally dropped some points, they lost 2-0 at Chelsea! So now we are two points ahead of them with a game in hand!

Sam Hinshelwood was elected Premier League Young Player of the Month again, too bad he got injured…

We’ll be quite busy in March, eight games to play… We’ll start with an easier one but then we’ll have back to back games with Manchester City and Lazio.

That’s how it was folks, the race between us and Manchester United is still close but I must say that I’m quite impressed with their form. I bet they won’t drop too many points until the end of the season, it will all depend on us and our capacity to win games. The European dream goes on too, we have a chance against Lazio although they have great players in attack. We also have an opportunity to get to the semi finals of the FA Cup but I don’t know if the squad will be able to handle all the three challenges, we’ll have to play the games and see.

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