Notts County Story — January 2017

Here we go again folks, welcome to 2017! My  Notts County were looking quite alright at the halfway point of the season after bringing home another piece of nice shiny silverware, the FIFA Club World Cup. The Premier League situation also improved, we were top of the table six points clear of the other contenders and with a game in hand.

The first game of the new year was the first leg of the League Cup semi final clash with Manchester City. I was expecting a close hard fought game but things took a dream like turn right away as Andrea Romano went through the defense and scored only 11 seconds into the game! The Citizens were shocked and a few minutes later Sergio Aguero slotted one home. We were playing like extraterrestrials and Ashley Young made it 3-0 with a nice shot right into the top corner just before the half hour mark. Then Andrea Romano took over and banged in a free kick from 35 yards to add his 20th goal of the season. Seven minutes later the Italian striker slotted another one home from an assist served by his mate Sergio Aguero. We were 5-0 up at half time and the team slowed things down a bit in the second half. Even so, we created another few chances and scored another goal when Zapata jumped higher than the keeper and headed home a corner kick. I was in disbelief at the end of the game, I honestly didn’t think that my team can play so well.

Next up, a Premier League game away at 11th placed Sunderland. We got off to a good start again, Sergio Aguero was brought down inside the box and Gergely Varga converted the penalty 13 minutes into the game. Then Segio Aguero created and missed a couple of chances until half time but we were in control of the game. The second half was also fairly quiet until Steven Defour decided to celebrate his 100th league game for the club. First he played a fine through ball for Guilherme (came in for Aguero 25 minutes from time) who doubled our lead. Then Rafael Sobis made it 3-0 and just before the final whistle Defour played another superb assist for Nicola Bonetti.

The next game was at home with surprise package Burnley, they had a great first half of the season and were lying in 7th place. We totally dominated the first half but were unable to find the way past Burnley‘s tenacious defense, probably their most valuable asset. We did score the opening goal a few minutes into the second half, right back Stefan van Dijk unleashed a powerful cross and Agnaldo connected with a well placed header. Then there was silence until the final whistle, Burnley continued to defend and we didn’t have too much determination to score either.

The most important game of the month was coming up, at home with 2nd placed Manchester United. I was surely looking to make the gap between us and them even wider, I wanted a win. We started the game in full throttle and Sergio Aguero made the difference once again: after missing a good chance in the first minutes he played a superb assist for Fabian Delph who slotted it home from inside the box. The team immediately looked to net a second goal but we were punished on a quick counter attack only two minutes after taking the lead. Then we resumed our attacks and scored again as Havard Nordtveit headed in a fine free kick cross from Andrea Romano. The game was fairly even until half time with each team missing a clear chance to score. The second half was completely different though, Manchester United took control of the game and we were under steady and heavy pressure. We had an immense Igor Akinfeev between the sticks though, he played one of the best games of his career in the last 45 minutes. We had a few opportunities to strike on counter attacks but my strikers were not incisive enough to get past United’s defense. We secured a great result but I have to say that we had luck and a great Akinfeev on our side in the second half.

The next game was the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final and since we won the first leg 6-0 I decided to send in the players that had less chances to feature in the starting eleven until then. There was no pressure and the team produced a decent performance, obviously not anywhere near the fantastic football that we displayed in the first leg. James Milner scored his first goal for the club to give us a well earned 1-1 draw. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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