Notts County Story — January 2015

Hello dear friends and welcome to the future, my career as manager of Notts County has just reached the year 2015! At the end of December 2014 we still were in a good position despite some serious injury problems. We were top of the table two points clear of the second placed team, Manchester City. We were also still involved in all the cup competitions, including the Champions League.

The first game of the new year was our debut in this season’s FA Cup, the third round draw pitched us against Championship side Crystal Palace. I chose to rest all the first team regulars, so I sent in the backup players and a few youngsters from the reserves team. We started the game well, dominated the first half but Ibrahimovic missed a couple of good chances. We continued the siege after the interval but our strikers were having a bad day. Rodney Sneijder had to step up again and give us the win from a dead ball situation, he sent in another one of his left footed free kick shots to push us through to the next round.

We had another cup game coming up, the first leg of the Carling Cup semi final against Stoke. The Carling Cup was one of my main targets at the end of the season, so I was keen on getting through to the final. The game began well for us, we were pushing forward quite nicely but Fabianski saved two certain goals in the first 15 minutes. The goal did come eventually, a free kick shot from Joe Barton was parried by the keeper but Bonetti was there once again on the rebound to push the ball in. Guilherme doubled the lead just before the break with a placed shot, we were in control. We could have scored one or two more goals in the second half but failed to do that due to some relaxed finishing. I was quite worried when I saw Defour coming off injured but it wasn’t too serious, he was going to be out of action for at most seven days.

The first league game of the month was at home with struggling Middlesbrough, they were down in 17th place and we had quite a good time in our previous meeting and defeated them 4-1 in August. The players were determined to close the game as soon as possible and Guilherme gave us the lead two minutes into the game with a fabulous strike from the edge of the area. Then Ashley Young doubled the lead after a nice move and places shot and Nordtveit made it 3-0 from a corner kick just before the break. We were totally in control of the game and Guilherme scored his 20th goal of the season in the second half, it was a fine long range shot. I was quite pleased with our domination of the game, Middlesbrough looked like certain victims from the first minute to the last.

We had a much more difficult match coming up, away at 5th placed Aston Villa. They were having a very good season and they held us to a 0-0 draw at Meadow Lane in August. The first half was fairly even again but Guilherme could have given us the lead: another fine shot from 20 yards out hit the post instead of the net. The game continued in a similar fashion after the interval but we took the lead from a dead ball situation, left back Joe Barton scored his first senior goal with a fine free kick shot from the edge of the area. The goal gave my players more determination and a few minutes later we doubled the lead, midfielder Kevin Thomson celebrated his return after an injury that kept him away from the pitch for two months. Aston Villa clawed one back immediately and could have equalized two minutes later but the woodwork helped us. We were under pressure in the last 20 minutes, I switched to a more cautious setup and survived until the final whistle with a few great saves from Ochoa.

We survived a tough game but the most difficult game of the month was right ahead of us, at home with 4th placed Arsenal. They surely remembered the previous game, it was our first victory at the Emirates Stadium and quite an emphatic one, it was 3-1 back in September. The Gunners were looking for revenge but we played well in the first half, controlled the game but failed to make the better ball possession count on the scoreboard. Arsenal had a good chance with Bendtner on a counter attack but Ochoa did well to stop him. We got out of the dressing room with more determination and managed to push Arsenal into their own box after the interval. And the goal came eventually, Guilherme got the ball for us with a fine tackle in midfield, then the ball went to Demba Ba and the Senegalese finished the move with one of his trademark powerful shots. Arsenal tried to react but we stood firm in defense and didn’t allow them to create any clear cut chances. It was a hard fought game and a well deserved win, I was quite pleased. 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 the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final and since we had a good two goal advantage from the first leg I figured that it was a good chance to rest a few players. It also was a chance to send in the new signings. That’s right, I brought in a few players before the game. You know that I was looking for either a centre back to boost our defense or a central midfielder to fill in for injured Biglia. Well, the search didn’t go to well. First I looked for a centre back but I had to find one that would have been eligible for the Champions League games. I found two good ones eventually, Bocchetti and Subotic, but the 10 million pounds that I had in the transfer budget were not enough to sign either of them. The quest for a central midfielder had a similar outcome, so I decided to find a few bargains instead. Here’s what I found:

The biggest coup is the new goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev‘s contract with CSKA Moscow expired at the end of December and he didn’t want to renew it. Although I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to employ him in the Champions League I decided to make him a good offer and he accepted it. He is even better than Ochoa in my opinion, so I figured that he could help us in the Premier League.

The next signing is a young regen right back, it was a real bargain. He is one of the best right backs in the Premier League and I got him for only 4 million pounds from Manchester City because his contract was going to expire in June and they didn’t want to lose him for free. He can be a great backup for Gergely Varga but first of all it was a good piece of business considering that Manchester City wanted 15 million pounds for him last summer.

The last new face is a striker, French player Chris Gadi from Barcelona. Marcelo Moreno didn’t play too well in the first half of the season so I thought that a younger replacement for him would be good for the squad. I loaned out Marcelo Moreno and bought Gadi for a very low fee, only 2.8 million pounds (his contract was going to expire in June, same story). He is a skillful striker that might be a reasonable backup for my two Brazilian strikers.

So, those were the transfers, back to the Stoke game. It started extremely well for us as new boy Chris Gadi made a fine run and set up Ibrahimovic for an easy finish. We were dominating the game but Stoke scored the equalizer against the run of play. A few minutes later Huth was deservedly sent off after making two brutal tackles on Ibrahimovic, the game was as good as over. Reserve winger El Shaarawy and backup right back Martin Martinez got their names on the score sheet before the break and the second half was fairly quiet, we were through to the final. Akinfeev made a solid debut between the sticks, Stoke had a few chances on counter attacks but the Russian keeper did very well to stop them. Liverpool beat Arsenal in the other semi final, so we will meet them at Wembley in March.

We had another cup game coming up, away at Ipswich in the FA Cup. The first half was fairly even and boring, Guilherme had the best chance to score but his fine shot hit the post and went out of play. We were dominating the game after half time but Ipswich were defending quite well. Guilherme had to show some magic and he did just that, he dribbled past two defenders and put the ball past the keeper. Ipswich tried to get back into the game but they were leaving gaps at the back. Unfortunately we missed quite a few nice chances on counter attacks but we defended well so we were through to the next round.

The last game of the month was another tricky one, away at 11th placed Everton. They have been quite disappointing this season but we only got a scrappy win against them at Meadow Lane, 2-1 back in September. They started the game well, very aggressive in midfield. Tinga found some space though and placed the ball in but the lead didn’t last more than a few minutes. We continued to play well until half time but we missed a couple of great chances. The second half showed the same picture, we were pushing forward but we were quite wasteful upfront. We didn’t have any luck either, Joe Barton and Steven Defour hit the post with their shots from long range. Everton were literally under siege in the last minutes and we finally cracked them three minutes from time thanks to a placed finish from Rafael Sobis.

The perfect run in January allowed us to open up a six point gap over Manchester City, I was quite pleased about that. Chelsea have two games in hand though, so they could well bounce up to second spot.

February will begin with a tough away game at Manchester United, then we’ll meet Liverpool in the FA Cup and end the month with the difficult trip to Bordeaux.

I am fairly confident though, I liked the way the team performed in January and since we have no other players injured except Biglia I hope that we can continue the good form next month. The road is still long and winding but things look good at the moment. Thanks for reading, I’m looking forward to seeing your opinions about the new transfers.

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