The Magpies FM 2010 Story — February 2012

Hello dear friends, welcome back to my Football Manager 2010 story! My mighty Magpies had a tough time in January, it was probably the worst month since I took charge of the team. We were down to 2nd place at the end of the month and my physios had their hands full with injured players.

Due to all the injuries I had to find another player to bring in on loan. Luckily my parent club, Arsenal, had midfielder Francisco Merida available and they agreed to help me out by sending him to us for the rest of the season.

We had to get back on track, otherwise our promotion dream could be shattered. The first game of the month was a tough one, at home with 5th placed Bristol City. We came out with a draw from the away game back in September, a hard fought one. Our first half was extremely poor, the team looked unable to play our usual passing game. We looked a bit better in the second half and got the draw thanks to a debut goal from Francisco Merida, he rifled in a beautiful shot from 25 yards out. It was an even game overall but we could have won it with a better first half.

It was our third consecutive Championship game without winning, we had to do something about that sooner rather than later. The next game was another difficult one, away at 7th placed Ipswich. We managed to win the home game 2-1 in October but it wasn’t easy at all. Somehow the game turned out to be easier than I expected, my boys produced a breathtaking display. Alibec and Szalai ran the show in the first half while centre back Marc Muniesa put the cherry on the cake with a corner kick header. We had a lot of fun in the second half and bagged another two goals, our fans were ecstatic!

We demolished Ipswich in the Championship but we had to prepare to receive the same treatment in our next game, mighty Arsenal were coming at Meadow Lane in the 5th round of the FA Cup. We had nothing to lose though, we just had to try and fight. We didn’t play bad at all, we even created a few chances… The problem was that I couldn’t find a way to stop Arshavin, he played two perfect assists and Arsenal scored twice, beautiful goals too I might add. Anyway, I was pleased with the team’s efforts, we could have hoped for more with a bit of luck.

Back to the Championship, we had to fight to get back on top of the table. The next game was at home with 19th placed Huddersfield, we defeated them 2-0 away from home in November. We played pretty well again but their goalkeeper, Alex Smithies, was like friggin Spiderman, he saved anything that we threw at him! We did score one though, from a corner kick. The ball bounced back and forth in a crowded penalty area and eventually found the way towards the net… The bad news was that we had another long term injury after the game, Ritchie De Laet was going to be out for 3 months!

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Next up, the big battle, away at current Championship leaders Newcastle. They were the first team that defeated us in the league this season, they won the game 1-0 back in November. We were on a good run though and the good form showed in the first half, we dominated it but unfortunately were unable to convert that into goals. Newcastle switched to a 4-2-4 formation in the second half, they looked desperate to win the game. In fact, they were all over us in the last 45 minutes, I hoped to survive and maybe give them a nice surprise on counter attack. That’s exactly what happened, we stood firm, then Newcastle’s players got a bit tired from continuously pushing forward and we struck gold! Tomas Pekhart blazed one in after a quick counter attack and we clinched a massive win!

The last game of the month was at home with last placed Preston, the game was postponed earlier in the month due to a waterlogged pitch. We won the away game easily in October, it ended 4-1. It wasn’t that easy this time though. A few days before the game our best goalkeeper, Ben Amos, got injured. He’s going to be out for three weeks but I guess it’s a good chance for Kasper Schmeichel to prove his skills again. The first half was rather poor but Sabrin Sburlea managed to get one in. We missed lots of chances in the second half and nearly got punished for that in the last 10 minutes, Preston had a couple of good chances but Schmeichel saved us.

It was a good month and we were back up there, even with one game in hand!

I guess our chances of getting promoted are way higher now but March will be decisive. The highlight of the month is undoubtedly the Nottingham Derby but we’ll have to get the most points out of the other games.

That’s how it was folks, we’re back on track! What do you think, will we get promoted?

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