Portugal started the game well, they were dominating and getting quite a few shots on target. Ben Foster was in good shape though, he never looked vulnerable although Portugal‘s strikers were buzzing past Terry like Formula 1 cars past a pickup truck. We rarely got forward in the first half but when we did, we were deadly. Sam Hinshelwood sent a fine diagonal pass to the opposite wing for Ashley Young, the left winger shot to the far post but the keeper got a hand to it. The ball bounced clear and Nathan Delfouneso powered it in, his first goal for England! I replaced John Terry at half time and our defending improved drastically, Portugal failed to create any more chances. We stood our ground well and just when the game was getting a tad boring Steven Gerrard played a nice through ball for Welbeck, the striker dribbled past an opponent and powered it in! I was quite pleased with the win as Portugal were the favorites before the game. I decided not to call up Terry anymore although I might get some criticism for that, he is (or was) a great player but my plans for the team don’t include him anymore as I don’t want to defend deep and draw the opposition onto us, I want to play attacking and attractive football.
Back to the Premier League after the international break, our next game was at home with disappointing 11th placed Tottenham. We started the game well but their keeper, Gomes, denied us with a few miraculous saves. Guilherme did give us the lead eventually, he scored with one of his trademark placed shots. We continued to be totally in control after the interval but the finishing was quite wasteful. We finally doubled the lead 14 minutes from time when Gergely Varga converted a penalty kick, it was a solid performance and we could have scored quite a few more goals. I was hoping that the good display would boost the morale for the tough challenges that were lying ahead of us.
Next up, the match of the season at Meadow Lane, A.C. Milan were coming to Nottingham. We got a draw at San Siro earlier in the season, it ended 1-1 back then but it was a game in which we had a lot of defending to do. Milan were starting with a very attacking setup again with Pato behind the two strikers, Paloschi and Huntelaar. The first 20 minutes of the match were fairly even, none of the two teams managed to create clear chances. We took the lead from a corner kick, Guilherme scored with a fine header and the capacity crowd at Meadow Lane was in heaven! Milan reacted with fury but we defended well and then took control of the game until half time. We even had two great chances to score but missed them. The match took an unfortunate turn right after the break, we failed to clear a corner kick ball and Pato scored the equalizer. We continued to push forward after the goal, the team was looking ready to take the lead again. Milan were launching deadly counter attacks though, Ochoa miraculously denied Pato on one occasion. The game continued with us struggling to make possession count and Milan waiting for the perfect opportunity to punish us on the break. Nothing important happened until the final whistle, we failed to beat Milan although we had a pretty good chance. I guess we’ll leave that for the next time…
Back to the Premier League for the last game of the month, a tough one at Anfield Road. Liverpool were down in 5th place, 9 points behind us, after a not very convincing run in the last few matches. I don’t know if I mentioned this before but their manager is now… Josep Guardiola. Anyway, back to the game. We played very well in the first half, we were in control of the game but were not very lucky as we struck the woodwork again, twice! Liverpool had a good chance on a counter attack but Ochoa denied Torres with a fantastic save. The second half was less convincing, we failed to create any more chances and some of my players were showing signs of fatigue. We didn’t have any problems in defense though, so the game ended 0-0.
We were still top of the table at the end of the month with quite a few teams closely behind us. I think that we’ll have an exciting season :)
December will bring some important games, away at second placed Manchester City and then the Nottingham Derby. We’ll also have the Carling Cup quarter final to play, I really want to get to the final this season.
That’s how November was folks, I am still a bit angry about dropping those two points at Wolves… I think that I need to bring in a new centre back in January, hopefully I’ll get enough money for that by selling goalkeeper Sergio Romero. We’ll see about that later, thanks for reading.
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Sears
1 марта, 2010 at 23:01
Johnny,don’t beat yourself up to much about the late goal inceident against Wolves,I’m sure you’ll get your revenage.Other than that,you had a splendid month remaining unbeaten yet again.Tough away game to City coming up next month but you should win giving your recent preformences.I wish you all the best!
Laxeyman
2 марта, 2010 at 00:04
Well done Johnny good month there. Don’t worry too much about the Wolves game, as long as that doesn’t happen to often it shouldn’t affect you. It’s interesting to see how your Emgland team compares with mine. For me Shelvey and Delph are no where near good enough for the England squad and Walcott is a bench warmer for me. I know you are more than a year ahead but it’s strange how the sides differ so much.
Johnny Karp
2 марта, 2010 at 00:16
@Laxeyman
Thanks for the comment. Who do you employ in attack for England, Rooney and Rodriguez? Usually I employ Welbeck or Walcott alongside Rooney.
@Sears
Thanks for the good wishes mate, I hope to stay unbeaten until the end of the year.
TheZiggy
2 марта, 2010 at 01:39
Your players are starting to show some of the signs of getting complacent. It’s really hard to do anything about it with any certainty. Sometimes telling them you expect a win works, but sometimes that can backfire as well. Dropping the 2 points to Wolves like that is always frustrating, but the main thing is you’ve remained unbeaten and still hold a lead in the table.
Kevin Mayo
2 марта, 2010 at 02:44
Hi Johnny
Well you went through the month unbeaten so that’s a good thing but maybe your team isn’t performing as good as last year or perhaps as well as you would like? Do you think you will be dipping into the transfer market come January? Good win over Spurs and a solid performance again for England. Had to laugh when i read you dropped Terry :)
Lye
2 марта, 2010 at 03:12
Hi mate, some worrying signs initially regarding the defensive slip ups but you are still getting good results over the rest of the teams. Some positive side over there, 2 tough game coming up next month and your players mustn’t show the same attitude as in the Wolves game. Else the unbeaten record will be lost.
Johnny Karp
2 марта, 2010 at 08:52
@Lye
Thanks for the comment, I hope that the team will show a different attitude in December although I’m a bit worried because the transfer rumors will begin again and some players might be unsettled…
@Kevin
I think that the team is performing a bit better than last year, wonderful in some games but highly annoying in others. I will try to sell Sergio Romero and maybe Muniesa or Caceres in January and buy a new centre back. Terry’s attributes are still outstanding at the age of 33 but he’s awfully slow.
@TheZiggy
I think that you are right, it is complacency because the team did very well in the high stakes games like the one against Milan. I share the curiosity to see how the matches will look with the new patch, I hope that it will be OK.
Laxeyman
2 марта, 2010 at 09:44
Johnny, I usually play Crouch and Rooney up front, but that may change before the world cup because he’s getting quite old and slow. I still play Terry, but because he plays alongside Richards, who has great pace, he gets away with being quite slow. At the moment his pace is 10 and acceleration is 8. What are his pace attributes on your game?
Johnny Karp
2 марта, 2010 at 12:27
Crouch is way too slow at this moment in my game, he’s no longer an option for the national team. Terry is at 8 for both acceleration and pace and I guess he’ll be even lower in the next few months.
Laxeyman
2 марта, 2010 at 19:52
Thanks Johnny, if Terry’s pace deteriorates like that then he may well be finished with the national team after the world cup. Crouch too.