Notts County Story — March 2014

Here we go again dear friends, welcome back to the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story! The end of February saw us sitting in 1st place, two points above Manchester United and with a game in hand. We were also still involved in the Europa League and in the FA Cup, that gave us a pretty busy schedule for March with some very tough matches in it. There was no way back, we had to keep on fighting for each game as the season was coming closer to its end.

The first game of the month was supposed to be an easier one, at home with 17th placed Sheffield United. We won the away game quite clearly, 4-2 back in October. My boys were determined to solve the problem as quickly as possible, we were all over them right from the first seconds of the game. Guilherme picked up a nice assist from Sobis to score the opening goal and he doubled the lead 20 minutes later with a powerful shot from distance. Rafael Sobis was a bit jealous so he banged one in from the edge of the area before half time, it went straight into the top corner. Sheffield United‘s keeper was pretty busy in the second half too but he did quite well until Sobis powered another one in to make it 4-0. We were in for some good news at the end of the game, Manchester United were held to a 1-1 home draw by Stoke, we were four points clear now with a game in hand!

The next game was much more difficult, we were facing 4th placed Manchester City away from home. The home game went pretty well for us, it ended 3-1 back in October and it was a massive result for the fans. Manchester City were in a good state of form though, they just lifted the Carling Cup trophy after beating Chelsea 2-1 in the final. Our morale wasn’t too bad either, so we went forward right away but Forsyth, their keeper, denied Demba Ba with two fantastic saves in the first two minutes of the game! We continued to play pretty well but Manchester City were launching dangerous counter attacks and one of those went all the way eventually, Tevez beat the offside trap and slotted it home. My team reacted well but we lacked accuracy upfront, most of our shots from good positions went wide. Manchester City were riding the wave of enthusiasm and they produced a much better display in the second half, doubling their lead in the process with Adebayor. We tried to react but it all ended when Sobis hit the post a few minutes after Adebayor‘s goal. This was our game in hand so we were still top of the table with a four points cushion between us and Manchester United.

We had the chance to get even with The Citizens right away, the FA Cup 6th round game was coming up next. The confidence was a bit higher in their dressing room but I knew that we had the ability to get through to the next round. We were under pressure right away though and my defenders couldn’t cope with it, Robinho scored an early goal. Manchester City continued to dominate the game and we were lucky to score one against the run of play, Marcelo Moreno found a gap and placed the ball in. We were on the back foot for most of the first 45 minutes and Sergio Romero had to pull off some heroic saves to keep the score level. The second half was a bit more even but just about when we were hoping to do more Sneijder picked a poor pass back to a defender, Adebayor intercepted it and scored without saying thanks. The team looked confused in the next 10 minutes but the game took an interesting turn when the villain turned into a hero: Rodney Sneijder finished a quick counter attack with a delightful lob, we were back on level terms! Sneijder was absolutely fantastic in the following minutes, he was running around and intercepting almost any ball that was coming to our left wing. One of those interceptions led to a pass for Sobis, he was clean through but he was stopped by a tackle inside the box, penalty kick and a red card! Young left back Joe Barton stepped up to take the penalty and he placed it in, no keeper would have saved that one! We were under a lot of pressure after that goal but we survived with a bit of luck, a great long shot hit the post 10 minutes from time and then Sergio Romero worked another miracle to save a close range shot. Sneijder was the best player on the pitch after the error that led to Adebayor‘s goal, he did so much that he got injured and will be out for two weeks. We were through to the semi finals where we’ll meet the winner of an interesting game between Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.

After surviving the back to back battles with Manchester City we had another double trouble package ahead, the clash with Lazio in the Europa League last sixteen. The first leg was away from home and I was quite worried after looking at their squad, they had a great pair of strikers: Mauro Zarate and Goran Pandev. The first half was fairly even, the two teams were like boxers studying each others moves. Lazio did land a punch though, Zarate got away with a quick counter attack and set up Golasa for an easy goal. The second half started well for us, we were looking capable of coming back into the game but we got punished again on a counter attack. We reacted immediately and Sobis put one in right away, a very important away goal. The last half hour saw us defending with everything we had, Lazio put us under a lot of pressure but Romero managed to keep the tight score. It was a very rough game with countless fouls and yellow cards but we never looked like getting away unbeaten. We still had a chance in the second leg though, a narrow win could have given us the tickets for the quarter finals. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

Steven Defour was suspended for the second leg after reaching the yellow cards limit but Sam Hinshelwood was back on the pitch after his injury. We also had some good news from the Premier League just before the game, Manchester United dropped a couple of points again after drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa. Our match was off to a nightmare start though, we were dominating the game but Zarate got away again on a counter attack and finished with a placed shot. Things were not looking good but the team tried to react. We managed to get quite a few shots on target until half time but Lazio have a good keeper too, Uruguayan Fernando Muslera… It was half time already and we were 3-1 down on aggregate, we needed to score. And the ball went in eventually, a free kick from the right flank sent the ball into the six yards box, the keeper parried three consecutive shots before the ball arrived in front of centre back Havard Nordtveit, he powered it in! It was his first goal of the season and that surely gave a lift to everybody in the team. Three minutes later striker Demba Ba, employed as a left winger in that match, blasted in one of his trademark powerful shots from 20 yards out, it went in off the post and we were level on aggregate! Lazio were shocked as we kept on pushing forward. Rafael Sobis extended our lead a few minutes later with a fine shot from the edge of the area, it was an epic comeback. But the team just wouldn’t stop, Tinga set up Guilherme with a through ball and the Brazilian striker scored his 50th goal for the club! Sobis scored another one on a counter attack two minutes from time, it was probably the best second half I’ve ever seen this season.

We were through to the quarter finals and the draw pitched us against strong French side Olympique Marseille. If we’ll manage to get past them we’ll get to meet either CSKA Moscow or Stuttgart in the semi finals while Arsenal have a good chance of getting to the final on the bottom side of the draw.

Back to the Premier League for the last game of the month, at home with 18th placed Burnley. We defeated them 3-1 away from home in November and it was quite clear that we needed a win again. Rafael Sobis was in great shape and he gave us the early lead, we were in control. We created quite a few chances to score but that didn’t happen until the second half, Sobis scored his second by intercepting a parried shot from Guilherme. We could have scored a lot more but I guess two goals and three points are more than enough. The best news came after the game, Manchester United lost 2-0 away at Reading!

Normally we should have played another game by the end of March but it was re arranged due to international call ups. Manchester United got back on track in their last game of the month, they won 4-0 at home with Hull City. We were still top of the table, three points clear with two games in hand.

Rafael Sobis was deservedly picked as Player of the Month, he scored four times in three games!

You could say that three points clear with two games in hand seems like a pretty good chance of winning the title. Well, take a look at next month’s fixtures, we’ll have nine games to play while Manchester United will have only four as they are out of all the cup competitions. And I think that if we’ll manage to get past Marseille we’ll have two more games to play, it will be a massacre. If you look at the opponents it gets even worse, we’ll have the Nottingham Derby (twice!) and then a tough three games stretch with Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea!

Well, I guess we’ll have to live through April but it will be extremely difficult. I think that we have a chance of winning the title but only if Manchester United will drop a few points in their four games, otherwise it will be very unlikely. What do you think?

• 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!