Notts County Story — September 2015

Hello folks, welcome back to the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story! Sorry for the rather long interruption but I’ve been through quite a few problems lately. Anyway, back to the story. The first month of the season went pretty well, my team didn’t impress but we won all the games that we had to play. Now it was time to consolidate the results and back them up with more impressive performances.

The first game of the month was away at Aston Villa, not an easy opponent at all. Unfortunately we started the game with the same unconvincing manner of playing and Aston Villa took the lead by converting a nice and quick team move. My team reacted well but missed a few chances, the best of them was a header from Jonjo Shelvey that smacked against the crossbar. We got the equalizer before the break though, centre back Cristian Zapata scored his first goal for the club with a powerful corner kick header. We took control of the game after the break but hit the woodwork again before Hinshelwood converted a perfect pass from Shelvey. My strikers continued to be rather wasteful and we could have been punished in the last minutes of the game. That was not they way I expected this team to be playing, I was more than concerned at that point.

I had to forget my concerns for a little while, England needed me for two games. The first one was a home friendly with Belgium and I can say that I’m embarrassed by the performance. There is not much to say about it, it was a shameful display from a full strength England team. I can’t understand why the players had such a soft attitude in front of 60 thousand fans. The team was unrecognizable and only started to play better in the last twenty minutes, too little too late. We were absolutely disgraceful in all aspects of the game, the defense was a mess, the midfielders were as aggressive as a Miss World contestant and the strikers were unbelievably wasteful and slow.

I was extremely angry and I asked the players to show their worth in the next game, away in Estonia. That was a game that we had to win to qualify for the European Championship, no distractions allowed. The team showed determination right away and Jonjo Shelvey hit the crossbar in the first minute of the game. Then Rooney scored twice in the first 10 minutes but both goals were disallowed but I didn’t have too much to worry about once Nathan Delfouneso stepped up and scored a hat-trick. Switzerland were surprisingly beaten by Northern Ireland so the gap was now at 6 points with two more games to play. We just needed one point out of the last two games, I guess we can already say that we qualified. By the way, Belgium drew 1-1 at home with Latvia…

Back to Meadow Lane, we had a home game against West Ham coming up. My boys started the game well, West Ham were under heavy pressure right away. Then Fabian Delph created the opening goal, his through ball left Guilherme with an easy finish. We could have extended the lead before half time but hit the woodwork again. We continued to move the ball around well in the second half and eventually doubled our lead through Andrea Romano. Left winger Agnaldo made it 3-0 with a fine shot from inside the penalty area but he had to thank Lucas Biglia for a splendid assist.

It was a good display but I felt we had to play even better in the next game, it was a very difficult Champions League away game at Lyon. Lyon‘s best players were the keeper, Hugo Lloris, attacking midfielder Miralem Pjanic and quick striker Yanis Tafer but the whole squad was looking strong. My team surprised me though, they were piling on the pressure right from the start but Hugo Lloris denied us with a few unbelievable saves. We took the lead thanks to another corner kick header from Cristian Zapata, he is showing great aerial ability. Lyon were still under pressure after the goal but somehow they got back on level terms, a poor pass in our defense was intercepted and that was it — Lyon‘s first shot on target hit the back of the net. We had a big chance of getting back on track four minutes later, Joe Barton had to convert a penalty kick but Lloris saved it! We had another good chance right before the break but Delph‘s shot thundered off the crossbar. The second half was a different story, Lyon were playing much better and they kept us under pressure throughout the last 45 minutes. It was not a bad result by any means but we could have ended the game in the first half, that’s my only regret.

Next up, another trip to Villa Park but this time in the Carling Cup. The first half was fairly even and entertaining, both teams showed good attacking football but Aston Villa managed to take the lead. We were missing lots of chances again but when the strikers don’t score the defenders should do that, Havard Nordtveit headed in his first goal of the season. Then we took the lead 10 minutes into the second half, a fine run from Rafael Sobis down the left wing gave him the chance to send in a perfect cross that Sam Hinshelwood headed in. Aston Villa produced a breathtaking display after the goal but my defense survived with a bit of help from goalkeeper Rene Adler. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

The last league game of the month was at home with Sunderland, we had to win it in order to confirm the good run. It was a good display from my lads, they solved the game in the first half and then took the foot of the gas. The first goal was particularly pleasing, a fine flowing team move found Delph inside the box and he finished with a placed shot.

We are top of the table and have already opened up a decent gap, I hope to keep it up and dominate the league this season.

The month was not over yet, the last game was the Champions League encounter with mighty Atletico Madrid. After having a look at their squad I was sure that we would have a tough game: they had Otamendi in defense, Hamsik in midfield and Aguero in attack and these are their best players but the rest of the pack were solid players too. My boys were not afraid though and we started the game in great style, Rafael Sobis scored an early goal after picking up an assist from Andrea Romano. Atletico produced a fierce reaction in the following 10 minutes but then we took control of the game and deservedly doubled our lead before half time. It was yet another corner kick header from Zapata, he’s a monster in the air. We were under heavy pressure after the interval, Atletico were firing from all over the place. Adler was in great shape though but he was defeated eventually from the penalty spot. We took control of the game after the goal but just when we were pushing for the third goal Atletico punished us on a counter attack. I was thinking that maybe I should have pulled back to defend the one goal lead… Fabian Delph changed my mood a few minutes later, he was running the show in midfield, passed it through to Romano and the Italian didn’t miss the opportunity. It was a spectacular game and I’m extremely happy that we managed to win it. The away game will be very difficult though…

Before moving on I want to show you what centre back Cristian Zapata did in the last game. He scored a goal with a corner kick header but he dominated his opponents in the air all over the pitch. His heading stats are more than impressive, I’m quite happy I chose to buy him this season.

We’ll have an easier schedule in October, just one tough game with Manchester City.

We’ll have to be careful not to get complacent though, we could easily get into trouble if we don’t show the right attitude on the pitch. That’s how it was my friends, thanks for reading.