Welcome back my friends, the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story continues with a brand new episode! We were down in 2nd place at the end of October, out of the Carling Cup after a quick defeat at Old Trafford but our fans were as happy as they could be. The reason was the Nottingham Derby victory, we beat Nottingham Forest at The City Ground and that was enough to see our fans singing in the streets for days.
I knew that one win wouldn’t be enough for a successful season though, we had to pile up the points and build a solid position in the Championship table. The first game of November was away at newly promoted Huddersfield, they were in 14th place. We had lots of trouble with the last season in League One and they still had a solid team. Right winger Sam Hinshelwood gave us the lead early in the game, he missed a lot of chances last month and I was quite concerned about his lack of confidence. We scored again just before the break and had the game under control in the second half too, we could have scored even more.
The next game was at home with 7th placed Southampton, a very good team. The game started very well, Carlos Martinez played a perfect through ball for Szalai and we were in the lead right away. The Saints played better than us after conceding that goal, we were under pressure throughout the first 45 minutes and Southampton deservedly scored before the break. Things changed after half time, we were all over them in the second half and created lots of chances to score. Tomas Pekhart converted just two of them, we could have scored a handful.
We had another tough home game coming up, 6th placed Newcastle were coming at Meadow Lane. I was expecting a close game but we had a big chance to win it despite Newcastle‘s first half goal. They were down to 10 men in the 63rd minute but we failed to create more upfront. We missed the few chances that we created and that was it, our first league defeat. I guess that moment had to come sooner or later. I hoped that it would be later.
We had to get back on track right away, the next game was at 19th placed Peterborough. The lads played with great determination, they wanted to prove that the home defeat was just an accident. Szalai was absolutely unleashed, he scored a superb hat-trick but missed at least another three huge chances. Anyway, it was a good win to get the smiles back on our faces.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Sonny
28 декабря, 2009 at 23:47
johnny good results but if you think the pitch is that bad why not make a request to the board apart from that well done
Martin
28 декабря, 2009 at 23:49
If I Remember Rightly You Didnt Exactly Dominate When You Played Huddersfield In League 1 And Now It Looks Like You’ve Just Beaten Them Pretty Easily Away From Home
In My Opinion This Shows How You Are Such A Good Player Of The Game :)
Martin
28 декабря, 2009 at 23:52
Oh And Well Done On Getting Up To 1st Place :P
Johnny Karp
29 декабря, 2009 at 00:07
@Martin
Thanks mate, I guess I improved my squad much more than Huddersfield did, I also didn’t check if they sold some of the players they had last year.
@Sonny
I made a request to relay the pitch at the beginning of the season but they turned it down. I will make a new one just to see what happens.
Kevin
29 декабря, 2009 at 00:28
Top of the table and with a pitch that looks like a mud bath! Not bad at all. I’m sure you will end up getting promoted and good luck in December with seven games to play.
I just finished a game against Huddersfield and managed to tie 3-3 but was 2-0 up. They were tough.
Johnny Karp
29 декабря, 2009 at 11:23
@Radu
They can get annoyed but the situation is outrageous, they have money but the pitch looks… I guess «mud bath» is the perfect description :)
@Kevin
Thanks for the comment mate, Huddersfield are a tough nut to crack indeed.
ShrewsBuddy
30 декабря, 2009 at 15:35
High there, I came to this site a week ago, and a read your story with awe. Great job. I have been playing the CM/FM series since 1993 (i think this was the year of the first Championship manager, where you could only play england, and where you could use a tactic with all central players to win everything :-). I’ve played the game ever since. The footballmanager series i didn’t play that often the last years, because i find them to much work to achieve something. I still bought every version of them, but after 1 or 2 seasons i stopped playing. This one i must say is spot on again. The role implementation is just what i needed to quickly have an impact during the game.
For you Johny: great career sofar, and i think you will sure get promoted this year. I’m playing now with Shrewsbury, and i’m half way the first season. I’m 3rd, and had some nice cup results as wel, so i love it. I will be following your storry, so keep going :-)
Johnny Karp
30 декабря, 2009 at 16:30
@ShrewsBuddy
I definitely agree, FM 2010 is a great game and a nice step forward. Thanks for the comment, I wish you all the best in your Shrewsbury career!
eddie eddie
14 января, 2010 at 22:04
Good results for you there.