The Notts County Story — December 2011

Hello my dear friends, welcome back to my Football Manager 2010 story. Things were looking good for my Notts County at the end of November, despite having the first defeat of the season we were still top of the table. If you remember I complained about the pitch at Meadow Lane in the previous post, Kevin described it pretty well: «a mud bath». I contacted the board and requested them to relay the pitch, the situation was outrageous.

They agreed that the current state of the pitch was awful but nothing can be done until the end of the season. Well, later is better than never…

We’ll have to fight in the swamp until then, there’s nothing more to do about it. The first game of the month was at home with 18th placed Reading, a team that we demolished 4-0 in the Carling Cup back in August. The game started well for us, Alibec finished off a nice team move, more than 5 consecutive passes brought him in a perfect position to score. Centre back Ritchie De Laet doubled our lead with a fine header from a corner kick. Reading clawed one back when Ben Amos missed an interception but the three points were ours, we deserved to win it.

The next game was not going to be as easy, we were playing away at 3rd placed Derby County. We had a hard fought game with them in the Carling Cup in September, we won that one 3-2. This time we were playing for points, so I would have been quite happy with a draw. My lads started the game with great determination, we had no less than 4 corner kicks in the first 10 minutes! Despite our domination it was Derby who scored, they finished off a fast counter attack and took the lead. We continued to play pretty well and Tinga finally brought us back on level terms with a powerful shot from inside the penalty area. We could have won the game with a bit more precision upfront and maybe a bit more luck but I was satisfied with the team’s performance.

Back to the swamp, we had a home game coming up with 5th placed Doncaster Rovers. They had a very good start this season and I was expecting a tough game. And it was quite difficult indeed but with better concentration we could have made it a lot easier. We missed a truckload of chances and just when time seemed to run out Denis Alibec blasted one in. We should have won it with ease…

Next up, an away game at 17th placed Cardiff. The game started perfectly for us, we were 2-0 up in the 7th minute! First right winger Sam Hinshelwood scored with a corner kick header and three minutes later Alibec banged in his 10th goal of the season. What seemed to be a perfect dream turned into a nightmare though… Cardiff turned the game around with three goals in 8 minutes, I was absolutely shocked. It seemed like each of their shots was bound to hit the net! We tried hard to make things right again but we missed lots of chances again, it just wasn’t our day…

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

We had to wake up and forget the Cardiff nightmare, 22nd placed Brighton were coming at Meadow Lane. It was a good chance for us to get back on track and we had luck on our side again. One of Brighton‘s defenders got sent off right away for a professional foul, Alibec was clean through on goal when he got fouled. With an one man advantage the game turned out to be quite easy, we put four goals past them with no real difficulty.

The last Championship game of the year was at home with 5th placed Portsmouth, strong promotion contenders. We beat them 2-0 away from home in August, so I surely hoped to repeat that result at home. We were pretty lame in the first half, we couldn’t get any shots on target at all! Things had to change in the second half and they did, Varga converted a penalty kick with great calm and then Shelton Martis finally scored his first goal of the season with a nice corner kick header. After the game A.C. Milan‘s manager, Leonardo, expressed his interest in my young right back, Gergely Varga. Not for sale mate, not for sale! :) He has a contract with us until 2016 and the lad is still very happy to stay.

Top of the table at the end of 2011, I have to admit that’s quite pleasing. The battle isn’t over yet though, we still have to earn many points to gain promotion. As you can see Bolton were deducted 10 points, I think that was due to some financial problems. With those 10 points they would have been only two points behind us!

The year wasn’t over yet, we had one more game to play. It was the FA Cup 3rd round game with League One side Rochdale, an easier task for my boys. We solved the game in the first half, we were 3-0 at the break and playing quite well. My lads got a bit complacent in the second half but it was over before it began, we couldn’t lose it anymore.

We’ll play Brighton in the next round, we have a good chance of going through! We’ll also have some pretty tough Championship games in January, away at Bolton and Middlesbrough…

That’s about it, it was a great year for The Magpies and we hoped for a successful 2012! We’ll have to fight for every point in the next few months, I think that the promotion battle will be fierce. On the other hand, I still manage Uruguay, remember? The next post will be about my first months in charge of that proud national team, stay tuned to find out how it was!

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