Here we go again fellow Football Manager fanatics, a new update to the Notts County story is packed and ready to go. Our second Premier League season started pretty well, the new signings seemed to add just what the team didn’t have last year, a more confident defense and a much better conversion ratio for the attacking chances. We also qualified for the group stage of the Europa League, the club was entering a whole new era. It was still too early to draw any conclusions, too many tough games were still ahead of us.
The first game in September was one of these tough ones, away at Tottenham. We got off to a very bad start, Defoe intercepted a poor pass in our defense, set up Crouch and we were 1-0 down right away. The lads reacted well though, they started to push forward and we managed to get back on level terms only 8 minutes later: Biglia laid a fine through ball for Hinshelwood, the youngster shot towards the far post, the keeper parried it but Sobis was there to push it in!Ten minutes later, the same drill but this time it all started from a through ball from Defour and Agnaldo was the man who pushed in Hinshelwood‘s shot. We didn’t have any trouble until half time, we were 2-1 up. The second half was more difficult as Tottenham were trying hard to score. Guilherme had a couple of nice chances on counter attacks but he was a bit unlucky to hit the post twice! The last 15 minutes were quite painful, our defense was under a lot of pressure but we survived with a bit of luck and clinched an important victory.
After that tiring match we were ready to face the first group match in the Europa League, at home with strong French side Saint-Etienne. Everybody in town was excited about that match, every single ticket was sold! Guilherme was up to the occasion right away, he finished off a team move in the 11th minute and it seemed that we were in for a fine night. The team continued to play better until the break but Guilherme didn’t find the way to the net anymore, he missed a couple of good chances. He did find a perfect assist for Sobis right after the break and the other Brazilian star couldn’t say no, he powered it in! We kept moving the ball around the park with great confidence, the team impressed me in that second half. The lads looked so confident out there, it was a nice picture to watch… :)
Next up, the Carling Cup 3rd round game, away at fellow Premier League side Burnley. We got off to a great start, Agnaldo intercepted a poor back pass rounded the keeper and laid it into the back of the net. We didn’t have too much time to enjoy that though, Burnley made the score equal only three minutes later. The spectators got to see an entertaining show until half time with good attacking moves on both ends. Unfortunately we went 2-1 down before the break, Sergio Romero made a bad error by coming out to catch a corner kick cross and missing it by a whole yard! Lucas Biglia got us back on track right after the break, he did that with a spectacular free kick bomb shot from 30 yards out, it went straight into the top corner. We continued to push forward but missed good chances quite frequently. We finally struck in the 81st minute when Demba Ba laid a fine through ball for Sobis, the Brazilian dribbled past the keeper and pushed it into the empty net. Then we had to withstand the pressure in the last minutes. We did that well and struck again on a counter attack, we were through to the fourth round.
Back to the Permier League for the last game of the month, at home with newly promoted Stoke. We solved the problem in the first half with four goals in only thirteen minutes! First Defour set up Sobis with a fine through ball and the Brazilian netted his 10th goal of the season. Only a few minutes later Stoke‘s defense was surprised by the exact same move, Sobis struck again after picking up the pass from Defour. The Belgian midfielder had a great first half and got a goal from himself with a fine shot from distance, the fans were delirious. The team got a bit complacent in the second half, we failed to create the same pressure and Stoke deservedly scored a consolation goal.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Martin
2 февраля, 2010 at 22:53
The Brazilians Seem To Be Producing The Goods For You, Guilherme And Sobis Look To Be Forming A Fierce Partnership.
Defour And Biglia Are Both Putting In Solid Performances Too.
Your Team Is Looking As Solid As Ever And I Think You Can Go Far In The Europa League, And, If The Players Keep Performing, Maybe You’ll Achieve A Top 4 Spot
Laxeyman
2 февраля, 2010 at 23:23
Well done mate, good month there. I agree with Martin and it looks like you have a really strong spine of the team. I think you can go along way in the Europa League, hopefully you can get a Champions League.
Majk
3 февраля, 2010 at 01:26
Where’s the updated tactics Johnny? hehe..
Good job. Solid winning streak you’re on at the moment.
Lye
3 февраля, 2010 at 03:53
Well done mate, 3rd place with 2 games in hand. The challenge will be the next few months when you will meet the strong teams. But you have a strong squad and i can foresee big things for your team this season. I believe you will grab a champions league place and hopefully you can challenge for the title.
Johnny Karp
3 февраля, 2010 at 07:54
@Lye
Thanks mate, I’m quite confident myself but the big games will tell us the truth about my team.
@Majk
The updated tactic is in the second page of the post, right at the end. Thanks for the comment.
@Laxeyman
Thanks for the confidence mate. :)
@Martin
Thanks Martin, I’m quite pleased with the Brazilians so far and also with the pair in the middle, Biglia and Defour. I hope the other players will start to produce the same type of performances soon.
Majk
3 февраля, 2010 at 18:09
Yes of course..I totally misssed the second page.
I’m looking forward to testing it. I think I’ll put Ghana up as test objects (I just got the job as their manager).
Maybe Millwall will adopt to some of your ideas, but right now I don’t have the right players to play with a solid back-four.
Keep up the tremendous work!
TheZiggy
3 февраля, 2010 at 18:12
An excellent month, with some very confident looking performances. Nice to see lots of goals being scored. I hope the players can step up to the challenge of taking on sides like Man City.
Hopefully you can get into the top four and get to the Champions League, because if you can get beyond the group stages, it’s almost a licence to print money. :D
Johnny Karp
3 февраля, 2010 at 18:29
@TheZiggy
Thanks for the comment. Indeed, getting to the Champions League can increase the financial stature of the club quite significantly, maybe the chairman will have the chance to get back some of the generous amounts that he invested so far.
Kevin Mayo
3 февраля, 2010 at 19:17
Hi Johnny
Another excellent month there both in England and Europe. Early days but you are moving up the table nicely thanks to some solid performances and the goal scoring abilities of your strikers. I think a Champions League palce could be a reality for you. Well done so far.
Calum
3 февраля, 2010 at 19:18
Well done Johnny. Your team are playing very well. I was just curious about this……. could you please post up your manager profile so we can see your ratings as I find this feature in Football Manager a bit strange. Thank you and good luck!
Johnny Karp
3 февраля, 2010 at 19:38
@Kevin
Thanks, I guess we’ll know more about our strength after the Manchester City and Olympiakos games.
@Calum
Thanks mate. The six attributes in my profile are like this, from top to bottom: 8, 2, 14, 11, 13, 15. I never cared too much about those though, the league table has all the important numbers.
Calum
3 февраля, 2010 at 19:43
Yup :D I agree with you that the league table has all the important numbers.
Martin
3 февраля, 2010 at 19:52
Yeah Calum’s Right I Never Did Think Those Attributes Were Accurate.
What Does ‘Domestic Player Bias’ Mean Btw?
I’ve Got A Suggestion For Another Section Of The Blog That You Could Create If You Wanted To…A ‘Different Competitions’ Section Or Kinda Like An Information Page On The Leagues Or Good PLayers In Your Game, If That Makes Sense
Martin
3 февраля, 2010 at 19:53
Oh Wait Does It Mean That Your Biased Towards Players From The Same Country As The Club ?
Bilal Ahmad
3 февраля, 2010 at 19:59
Johnny your doing really good! If you win both of those game in hands then you will become first! However Man City are tough to beat and congradulations Agnaldo is doing very good for you!
Laxeyman
3 февраля, 2010 at 20:11
Martin I think domestic player bias means how often you sign players from the country your managing in. It may also have something to do with if you play players who are «home grown» but I’m not sure about that.
Johnny Karp
3 февраля, 2010 at 20:14
@Bilal
Thanks for the comment mate, I’m very pleased with all the youngsters, not only Agnaldo.
Bilal Ahmad
3 февраля, 2010 at 20:41
Johnny how do you guys post your Football Manager stories so quick? It takes me so long to write it up. Its been like 3 days and I still haven’t finished my first 2 months.
Johnny Karp
3 февраля, 2010 at 20:50
I don’t know Bilal… I just love writing them, maybe more than I enjoy playing the game itself. I’m also pretty well trained for writing so that makes it easier to get the words out quickly.
Bilal Ahmad
3 февраля, 2010 at 20:52
I got quite far in the game and now I will have to write about it, I don’t think I like writting as much as playing the game. I need to fix up my writting skills so that I can get the words out quickly like you do.
Johnny Karp
3 февраля, 2010 at 21:14
Bilal, if you will keep writing on the blog the skills will improve, you just have to keep going. My advice is that quality is more important than quantity, so take your time and produce good posts, that’s the main thing.
Laxeyman
3 февраля, 2010 at 22:45
Bilal, I think we do get posts out quite quickly (especially Johnny), but because there are 5 people posting it does seem even faster, because there will usually be at least one per day. While we are on this subject, unfortuanatley I’m quite busy so I’m sorry if I can’t get a post up before the weekend, which seems likely.
Kevin
4 февраля, 2010 at 02:41
Ref: Postings
Yes, I’ve been busy too at work this week so I’ve hardly progessed from my play off posting. Maybe by the weekend as well.
Bilal Ahmad
4 февраля, 2010 at 03:08
@ Johnny thanks again mate you seriously helped me out a lot!
@ Laxeyman yeah Johnny posts really quick aswell as Luke. Yeah because you have 5 people on this site it always has something new on it and that is why I love it.
I can’t wait to see both Laxeyman and Kevins post!
By the way I’m probably going to post something tomorrow on my blog so I hope you read it!
Martin
4 февраля, 2010 at 18:56
Btw Johnny, Can You Do A Screenshot Of Your Usual/Strongest Starting 11 In The Next Post?
Johnny Karp
4 февраля, 2010 at 19:29
I rotate the players a bit but so far it’s something like this overall:
Romero
Varga — Kjaer — Nordtveit — Barton
Hinshelwood — Biglia — Defour — Agnaldo
Guilherme — Sobis
Martin
4 февраля, 2010 at 20:01
Have You Noticed That You Have 4 Regens On The Left And Right Flanks?
Nothing Wrong With It But Just An Interesting Fact :P
Johnny Karp
4 февраля, 2010 at 20:15
You’re right Martin, it is interesting ;)