The next game was at home with Burnley, a solid Premier League team that finished 12th last season. We had a poor first half again, we went 1-0 down right away and we had to thank Guilherme and goalkeeper Romero for going to the dressing room with the 1-1 scoreline. We looked a bit better in the second half, Agnaldo and Pekhart scored to make it 3-1. A corner kick marking error gave Burnley another goal but we won the game. I wasn’t very happy though, we allowed our opponents to create way too many chances and that was because we lost a lot of balls in midfield due to passing errors. You could well say that we stole this win thanks to great goalkeeping and cool finishing.
We had a chance to relax a bit in the next game, the Carling Cup third round with League One side Rotherham. I gave the backup players a chance to shine and they did well, expensive young Italian Nicola Bonetti scored his first goal for the club and Adam Szalai did his job again in a professional manner. The next round will be a lot more difficult, we’ll have to face West Ham…
The last game of the month was a tough battle at Meadow Lane, Premier League leaders Arsenal were coming to get all the three points. The first half was even, my boys played pretty well and even had a few chances to score. We were a bit under pressure in the second half but Romero saved us again, he’s a fantastic keeper. There were 5 more minutes to be played and the pressure on our defense was lighter, it seemed that we were going to walk away with one point. Denilson had other plans though, he rifled in a fantastic shot from 30 yards out, a shot out of nowhere that gave Arsenal the win! I wasn’t very happy about that but…
Our league position is quite good at this point but I still feel it’s too early to draw any conclusions. I am concerned that we concede quite a lot of goals and allow the opponents to create too many chances to score, I might have to restructure the defensive system a little bit.
October will begin with a long break for the squad due to international call ups, we will only have three games to play. I will have one more though, I have to go to Uruguay for the last game of the season (I’ll tell you more about that in a future post)
That’s about it, not too bad so far. What do you think?
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Martin
13 января, 2010 at 17:01
Well Done Johnny
I Never Really Get Excited If I Have An English Chairman Because For Some Reason I Think They’re Not Rich:P
In Real Life I Think Their Chairman Wants Notts Co. To Be A Championship Team Within The Next Few Years!
5th In The League Is Very Good And The October Fixtures Arent The Hardest In The World!
Lye
13 января, 2010 at 17:42
Hi mate, i think your team is perfectly settled in premier league. All your losses was against the big 4 team. And you are performing well against the rest of the team, lets hope Mr Peter Trembling give you some more cash in January for you to spend.
Johnny Karp
13 января, 2010 at 18:59
@Martin
Thanks mate, we’re around 8th actually because some of the other teams have one or two games in hand. Our chairman seems to be quite rich indeed :)
@Lye
Thanks but I’m still a bit concerned by the fact that we allow the opponents to create too many chances, I will try to find a way to improve that aspect of the game. Many of the points that we have are thanks to the goalkeeper and Guilherme…
Laxeyman
13 января, 2010 at 20:03
Another good month there Johnny! You will have no relegation problems I’m sure and ur only losses were against very good teams so I wouldn’t worry.
TheZiggy
13 января, 2010 at 21:01
That’s a good month you’ve had there. Losing to Arsenal by a single goal is no disgrace at all. It all looks good for having a decent season and avoiding relegation without worries.
Nicola Bonetti looks very interesting, and I hope he develops well for you, because his dribbling would appear to be very scary.
I’ve found that it’s hard to restrict sides from creating lots of chances unless you’re totally dominating them. It seems that if they’re having trouble getting in behind for close range shots, they switch to hitting long range shots all the time. I don’t know if my perception of long shots is slightly out, but the AI team usually seem to be able to get more long shots on target, even from players with really low attribute. Some time back I was somewhat mythed when a player with long shot attribute of 1, struck in a thunderbolt from about 40 yards out. If my players have less than 10, they’re usually way wide or high.
Kevin Mayo
13 января, 2010 at 21:22
Hey Johnny
Only one defeat and that was to a «big four» club so all in all another great month for you. Your Bonetti signing is wicked. A real gutsy move spending all your transfer money like that. He does have fantastic dribbling though and should be a hit for you. As always I tip my hat to you for your management and tactical skills.
>> Ziggy, Your perception os not off and I totally agree with you about the long shots, it happens ALL the time in my Swindon game. I’m experimenting with my DMC settings to try an counter it. I’ve read sbout it on other forums to. Another problem I’m having is if i’m say 2-0 up the AI immediately sets up a goal for itself on the very next «key moment» either through a free kick or other set piece. It even made one of my defenders do a 180 and kick the ball in his own net. Wasn’t even under pressure :)
Laxeyman
13 января, 2010 at 21:48
The Ziggy- I agree with u also. It always bewilders me when Gerrard with long shots 19 on my game, has loads of shots from range and hits them all wide or over and then someone from the opposition with long shots of about 5 smashes one in from miles out on his first or second attempt! It’s a fault of the AI.
Kevin Mayo
13 января, 2010 at 21:53
Laxeyman: Summed up very nicely. I can almost predict when it’s going to happen!
Johnny Karp
14 января, 2010 at 09:47
Thanks for the comments folks! I did notice some weird things about the long shots too, I’m a victim of that quite often now. I also noticed that my players tend to waste the long shots, so every player in my team has long shots restricted to «rarely» now, we try to bring the ball into the box and score from there.
I always want to dominate the games but I guess I have to get used to not being able to do that every time, the opponents are too good.
TheZiggy
14 января, 2010 at 15:39
I’m glad I’m not being paranoid about long shots. Rooney in particular seems to be scary, hitting them with power, and long shots at 13, and seems to hit the target every time.
The last patch seems to have accentuated this, and introduced a few other problems. One of the worst is the throw-in after the ball is put out when an injury occurs, is no longer being given back to the other side.
Johnny Karp
14 января, 2010 at 16:26
You’re right about the throw-in problem, I saw that happening a few times. I’m trying to overlook these bugs and enjoy the game, there’s not much you can do about it other than reporting the problems to SI Games…
JOHNNY HATER
14 января, 2010 at 18:31
ure a crap manager, you have no life how dare you make a website, ure such a c*nt i hate you DROP DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
14 января, 2010 at 19:11
:) That’s kinda funny. I noticed that comments like that tend to pop up around once a month, that’s still a good rate. But you know how they say, the mother of all idiots is always pregnant…
Laxeyman
14 января, 2010 at 18:43
Johnny Hater, Shut up, comments like that aren’t welcome here. Go away, u obvisouly have no life urself.
Kevin Mayo
14 января, 2010 at 19:11
Well hasn’t this site taken on a new development. I guess it had to happen eventually as wherever there is good in life, evil has to rear its ugly head.
Johnny Karp
14 января, 2010 at 19:13
That’s alright Kevin… However, I can’t understand how a peaceful website like this can generate such hatred in a person’s head. It’s a mystery to me.
Martin
14 января, 2010 at 19:18
I Dont Understand That Saying Johnny:P
Johnny Hater, Why Is Your Name ‘Johnny Hater’?
Have You Devoted Your Life To Hating Him Or Something?
:L
Johnny Karp
14 января, 2010 at 19:22
OK, forget about it. He won’t be able to post comments again, let’s get back to normal. Thanks.
Martin
14 января, 2010 at 19:23
Wait I Did Understand That Saying Actually :P
Ok I Will Not Say Any More On It
eddie eddie
14 января, 2010 at 22:17
Good results for you there.
Johnny Karp
14 января, 2010 at 22:37
Thanks Eddie, welcome back! Did you solve your computer problems?
Johnny Karp
15 января, 2010 at 09:29
I thank him every single day Radu, I never had such a chairman until now either.