Notts County Story — March 2015

Hello again dear friends, a new episode of the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story is ready to go live! We were right on track at the end of February, top of the table with a comfortable gap over Manchester City, 10 points. We had to keep winning and consolidate our league position but we also had two very important cup games, the Carling Cup final and the Champions League first knockout round second leg with Bordeaux. Let’s see what we managed to do.

The first game of the month was at Wembley, the Carling Cup final with Liverpool. The Reds knocked us out of the FA Cup last month but that was not too relevant because I chose to field the usual substitutes in that game. Liverpool won 3-2 back then thanks to a hat-trick from Fernando Torres, I hoped that my defenders would keep him quiet this time. We were back in the Carling Cup final after four years, we managed to get there as a League One team in 2011 but Everton crushed our dream of lifting the trophy by beating us 4-1. Now we had a much better chance. We started the match pretty well, we were dominating the game but Reina miraculously stopped a couple of shots in the first minutes. He was forced to get the ball out of the net eventually, Tinga sliced their defense wide open with a through ball for Demba Ba and the Senegalese striker powered it home. We kept the game under control in the second half but couldn’t double our lead. The game was heading for a hot finale when Guilherme placed one past Reina but our joy was short lived as Mascherano banged one in from 30 yards out. We continued to attack though and a last minute penalty kick sealed the win, Joe Barton slotted it home. We never looked like losing this one, the team played very well and we could even have won it by a bigger margin. My dream came true, the League Cup was now in our proud and growing trophy cabinet. Josep Guardiola got sacked by the Liverpool board right after the game and they offered me the job along with a hefty transfer budget, no less than 80 million pounds! I declined the offer but I’m still thinking about who I would have bought with that kind of money…

We didn’t have much time to celebrate, a tough league game was right ahead of us. We had to play at Stamford Bridge against 3rd placed Chelsea, a team that we beat 3-0 in October after a wonderful performance. Chelsea were 16 points behind us with one game in hand, so they had to win the game in order to preserve their slim title hopes. We were in good shape, playing well again but Petr Cech denied our claims for an early goal with a couple of fine saves. Chelsea went down at the half hour mark, Rafael Sobis and Sam Hinshelwood gave us a two goals lead in only four minutes with perfectly placed shots from inside the penalty area. Chelsea tried to react after the interval but they failed to produce more than a few shots from distance. They were out of the title race and I guess they deserved that, we looked like a much better team.

The next game was supposed to be an easier one, at home with 15th placed Wolves. I wanted to get revenge after the away game, it was quite frustrating then because it ended 2-2 with my boys missing lots of chances. Guilherme got us off to a good start with a placed finish but we failed to do more in the first half. Guilherme doubled the lead a few minutes after the break after picking up a superb assist from Sam Hinshelwood, I was expecting more goals at that point. The team got complacent though and Wolves were intercepting lots of poor passes. They found a way back into the game and they even had a couple of chances to equalize in the last minutes, Akinfeev stopped them with his fantastic skills. I was very disappointed but I guess the three points are all that matters at the end of the day. Nicola Bonetti got injured during the game, he was going to be out for 10 days, enough to miss the important match against Bordeaux.

We had a slim advantage over Bordeaux after the first leg, we managed to snatch a 1-1 draw but Bordeaux clearly dominated that game. A goalless draw would have been enough for us but I surely wanted to score. It didn’t happen in the first half, both teams looked rather cautious and no clear chances were created. Bordeaux came out of the dressing room with a different attitude after half time, they were all over us and Ochoa had to produce a couple of wonderful saves to keep us afloat. Then we got lucky, a corner kick against the run of play gave us the lead as Kjaer banged it home with a far post header. We took control of the game after the goal, Bordeaux were looking shaky. A few minutes later Sam Hinshelwood proved his qualities again, he dribbled through the defense and placed the ball past the keeper! Bordeaux were unable to react, they were looking like a totally different team. We were through to the quarter final and the draw pitched us against Premier League rivals Manchester City. The first leg was going to be played at Meadow Lane only a week later! Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

We had one more league game before the Champions League clash, away at struggling 17th placed Stoke. They were on a poor run of seven games without a win so I chose to rest a few players for the more important game with Manchester City. The match began very well for us, Chris Gadi made a fine run and set up Sobis for an easy finish. We were quietly in control of the game and Rafael Sobis doubled the lead from a penalty kick 10 minutes after the break. Stoke were playing pretty well though, I felt sorry for them when Havard Nordtveit converted a corner kick into another goal. Rafael Sobis picked up a second yellow card in the final minutes, I can’t understand why he did that.

Our league performances were not very good this month (maybe except the Chelsea game) but we still managed to get all the points. Manchester City didn’t drop any points either, so the gap was still at 10 points.

Manchester City were on my mind in the Champions League too, we had to face them in the quarter final. I always prefer to play the first leg away from home but this time we had to take an advantage at home. The Citizens knocked out Celtic in the previous round and they were certainly hoping to get to the final. Our fans surely remembered that Manchester City were responsible of our only league defeat of the season, they beat us 2-1 in December. Anyway, let’s move on to the game. The first half was fairly even, each side had a good chance to score but both keepers, Ochoa and Forsyth, were in great shape. We looked a bit better in the second half, managed to get quite a few shots on target but none of them went past the keeper. We took the lead eventually thanks to Rafael Sobis, his determination was the key. He resisted a challenge from Lescott inside the penalty area and rifled in a thunderous shot from an acute angle, the keeper was surprised so he had to collect the ball from the back of the net. Adebayor had a chance to equalize right away but Ochoa denied him with a fantastic save. Our corner kick fortune continued into this game, a deflected cross sent the ball into the six yard box and Havard Nordtveit had no rivals there, he pushed the ball in! It was a great result but it came at a price, Steven Defour is going to be out of action for two weeks.

The month was not over yet, I still had one more game to play but this time it was an international game with England. The match was away in Northern Ireland in the European Championships qualifying group. The previous record of the two teams was totally different, we won the first two games of the group while Northern Ireland lost both of them. We had to win the game, no question about that, but I had lots of injury problems: goalkeeper Ben Foster, Steven Gerrard and last but not least Wayne Rooney. I chose to field Sturridge and Walcott upfront hoping that they could produce the goods. The game started well but we were unlucky, the crossbar saved Northern Ireland twice in the fist 15 minutes. We took the lead a few minutes later, a good move off the ball from Ashley Young was spotted by Jonjo Shelvey, he played a fine through ball and my winger placed the ball past the keeper. We missed a couple more chances until half time but the game was under our control. Left back Joe Mattock scored his first international goal five minutes after the break, he did that with a spectacular shot from 25 yards out. Sturridge closed the accounts two minute from time by finishing a team move, he deserved to get his name on the score sheet. Northern Ireland played with a lot of courage and determination but the better players won the game in the end.

At this point it is quite clear that we have to battle with Switzerland for the first spot, we’ll have our first game against them in June.

Next month will begin with an important friendly game, France vs England at Stade de France. Then I’ll be back at Meadow Lane for the tough games that I have to play with Notts County. The most important game of the month will be the second leg with Manchester City and if we’ll be able to go through to the semi final then we’ll have two more games to play before the end of the month.

I will have to be careful with the fitness levels in the squad, I think I might rest a few players in the Ipswich game to prepare for the Champions League clash and, if we’ll qualify, I’ll see what should be done to preserve our forces for the semi finals. I really hope we won’t have more injuries in midfield, otherwise things might get complicated. That’s about it, thanks for reading and please share your comments.

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