Here we go again folks, a new episode of the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story is ready! Despite a few injury problems we were still looking good at the end of February, top of the Premier League, won the Carling Cup and also were still in contention for the FA Cup and, most important, the Champions League. Let’s see how we went on from there.
The first game in March was at home with Fulham, a team that was exceeding the expectations and was lying in 12th place. And they were very close to getting a perfect start, a free kick shot hit the post, then traveled down the goal line and hit the other post before Akinfeev got a chance to catch the ball. Fulham‘s bad luck continued a few minutes later as Cristian Zapata converted a corner kick with one of his trademark powerful headers. Fulham were the better team in the first half and I guess we were lucky to go to the dressing room with the one goal lead. We showed a bit more football in the second half and young reserve right winger Luiz Henrique scored his first goal for the club by heading in a cross from Agnaldo. Fulham hit the woodwork once again before Rafael Sobis put the game beyond doubt by finishing off a quick counter attack. It was a pretty poor performance from my lads but the finishing was top notch.
Next up, the FA Cup quarter final clash with Championship side Stoke City. They were fighting for promotion to the Premier League and were lying in 4th place at that time. I decided to send in a few young lads from the reserves hoping that they have enough to overcome a Championship side. The first half was fairly quiet but there was a player that wanted to prove something: reserve striker Xabier Atutxa. He placed in two perfect shots from inside the box. He got a bit of confidence and did it again in the second half, skipped past a defender and slotted it home to earn his first hat-trick for the club!
I guess a hat-trick deserves a screen shot too, here’s 19 year old Spanish striker Xabier Atutxa. He is Basque actually, I bought him for 1 million pounds from Athletic Bilbao last summer. He is a very talented lad and I hope that he will become a star of the future.
And now, the most important game of the month, the second leg of the Champions League tie against Valencia. We managed to snatch a 2-2 away draw last month so we had a good chance of going through. We started the game well, we were moving the ball around in Valencia‘s half but were unable to find a break through. Then disaster struck just when everybody was expecting us to score, right back Stefan van Dijk made a horrible late tackle in midfield and the referee had no choice but to send him off. I took out one of the strikers and sent in Gergely Varga and just when I was thinking about what to do next Nicola Bonetti made a blitz run down the right flank, crossed it low into the box and Rafael Sobis volleyed it straight in! I switched the strategy to counter as I expected a fierce reaction from Valencia and it was a good move, we kept the game under control until half time. The second half was more lively but we kept possession very well, Valencia only managed to create a couple of chances that were not too dangerous for Akinfeev to handle. On the other hand Rafael Sobis had two good chances to strike on counter attacks but he missed them. We were trough despite playing more than an hour with 10 men on the pitch, I was very pleased. The quarter final opponent will be strong German side Werder Bremen with the first leg to be played at Meadow Lane.
We had a few more Premier League games until then, the first one was away at last placed Birmingham. I expected to win it and the lads were determined to do that, we were all over them right from the start but hit the woodwork twice in the first 20 minutes. We kept on trying hard but it was the other team that scored, Birmingham‘s first shot on target went straight into the back of the net! That was a bit frustrating I reckon. We continued to push forward in the second half and Chris Gadi finally banged one in but not before hitting the crossbar once again. We won it eventually, a through ball from Fabian Delph was slotted in by Chris Gadi but I was very disappointed with the finishing, we should have scored at least three more goals. Well, I guess we can blame bad luck and carry on… Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Laxeyman
4 апреля, 2010 at 15:08
Hi Johnny, another brilliant month. The title is yours, maybe you can do an Arsenal and be unbeaten all season. You are on course for a record points tally, and I think you’ll beat Weder in the champions league, hopefully you can go all the way in that!
Matthew
4 апреля, 2010 at 15:11
Hi
I have been following this story for a while now and it is great and Blyth Spartans was my favourite story. I have started a save with Bristol Rovers in League 1 and I need some help because my defence isnt playing well. My team have scored 10 goals in 4 games and let in 9 leading to 3 defeats and a 4-0 win. Also, my defenders are championship quality according to my scouts so I dont know what the problem is. Thanks for any help.
Matthew
Johnny Karp
4 апреля, 2010 at 15:59
@Laxeyman
Thanks mate. I guess winning the Champions League is more important than going unbeaten all the way but I’ll surely try to do both.
@Matthew
Thanks for the comment. Let me tell you a secret, the Blyth Spartans story is my favorite too :) About your defense problems, I think that you might have the defense set up wrong, for example if your defenders are slow you should set a deep defense. Maybe you could give us more details about the manner in which you conceded all those goals.
sam warren
4 апреля, 2010 at 16:39
well done johnny I know that it is not guranteed yet but you have easily won the premiership. Now you can concentrate on the Champions League and hopefully win it this year. Good luck for the rest of the season.
Matthew
4 апреля, 2010 at 17:01
Hi Johnny
I have decided to try a Blyth type story only I am using Dorchester. If you like I could keep you updated. I have a steam account if you want to get updated by that.
Thanks
Johnny Karp
4 апреля, 2010 at 17:17
@sam
Thanks mate, we’ll try to focus on the Champions League indeed.
@Matthew
I don’t know how that could be done through Steam but you can always come here and leave a comment to tell everybody how it goes. Good luck with Dorchester, seems like a really nice and tough challenge.
Kevin Mayo
4 апреля, 2010 at 21:32
Hi Johnny
Simply brilliant and your new reserve striker is amazing. you keep finding these «gems» so good for you. The title is yours pretty much, I don’t think Chelsea will catch you know. I assume you are trying to finish the season before Wednesday?
Lye
5 апреля, 2010 at 03:30
Hi mate, you are right about the 2 wins will definitely land you on another title. I believe you can get past Werder Bremen for the second leg as i think its very difficult for them to overcome your three goal advantage. It should be another fantastic season for you and will be looking forward to sweep all trophy this season.
Johnny Karp
5 апреля, 2010 at 11:32
@Kevin
You are right, I am trying to finish the season before Wednesday but I’m not hurrying things up. We’ll see if I manage to do that.
@Lye
Thanks mate, I don’t think we’ll lose the title, that would be a catastrophic experience. My main goal is the Champions League, I’ll be focusing on that once the title will be secured.
ravenie
5 апреля, 2010 at 14:48
I am quite shocked but I am bored with my current game with Southampton. I want to start over but I do not know who to do so with.
Johnny Karp
5 апреля, 2010 at 15:10
@Ravenie
Why are you shocked?
ravenie
5 апреля, 2010 at 17:48
Because I’m usually so into it but I’m ready to start anew with Coventry but I’ll need to do it on a different computer. I already started it on laptop so i know which signings im going to make
Johnny Karp
5 апреля, 2010 at 18:12
OK Ravenie, I get it. Good luck with Coventry then, hope it will be a successful career.
Kevin Mayo
5 апреля, 2010 at 18:13
Ravenie
Sounds like you are going through an FM mid-life crises. Welcome to my world and I think Martin’s too :)
Martin
5 апреля, 2010 at 19:10
Kevin, LOL