Vauxhall Motors in 2020 — Carling Cup Final and Other Goodies

Hello football fans, it’s time to continue the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 story and I welcome you to a new episode. Things were going well for the Motormen at the end of February, we were top of the Premier League table (3 points clear of Tottenham and 4 points clear of Arsenal), still in the FA Cup and in the Champions League and also looking forward to the Carling Cup final.

In fact, the very first game in March was the big final against Manchester City for another chance to win our first ever Carling Cup. Both sides were ready to field their very best players, we had just one absence and that was central midfielder Marcos Fernandez who still wasn’t fully fit. The last meeting with Manchester City had produced a 1-1 draw in the Premier League in November.

Manchester City vs Vauxhall (Carling Cup Final)

Venue: Wembley

Attendance: 90,000 (sold out)

Starting line up: Luis Guilherme — Gary Warner, Danny Wilson, Marat Bykov, Pierre Touya — Leandro Velasco, Indio, Da Silva, Tiago — Zé Carlos, Parana

Team Talk: For the fans!

The game was fairly quiet during the opening 10 minutes, both teams appeared to be afraid to step on the gas.

12th minute — Leandro Velasco whips in a corner kick cross, Danny Wilson jumps and heads it… just over…

15th minute — Indio gets robbed in midfield, the Citizens launch the counter attack… Tafer is clean through but Luis Guilherme stops him with an awesome save!

18th minute — Indio gives the ball away much too easily again, Tafer is clean through again… but Luis Guilherme is unbeatable!

22nd minute — We have a free kick from 30 yards out, Indio steps up and fires a thunderous shot… cracks off the post!

26th minute — Indio tries his luck again from a free kick… hits the side netting…

30th minute — We have another free kick, this time Indio crosses into the box… Danny Wilson is there… Header… It’s in! (click here to watch the goal)

36th minute — Zé Carlos makes a great counter attack run on the left flank, he keeps the ball and waits for support… Pierre Touya enters the box… Ze Carlos passes to Touya… and the left back powers it in! His first goal of the season and a great one, well done Pierre! (click here to watch the goal)

45th minute +3 — Stoppage time is almost over but the Citizens are not giving up… The ball flies into our box… Volley from Tafer… Stopped in style by Luis Guilherme!

Half time score: 0-2

Half time team talk: You’ve got one hand on the cup, lads!

Half time substitutions: Hans Larsson for Warner, Graham Howson for Da Silva

Half Time Stats

55th minute — Man City get a counter attack going again, this time it’s substitute Belfodil who breaks through… Not a chance, Luis Guilherme is Spiderman!

56th minute — Corner kick for Man City, they get a header in but it goes just over the bar.

57th minute — Belfodil tries his luck from the edge of the area… easily saved.

61st minute — Injury to Graham Howson, Radek Vecera comes in to replace him.

64th minute — Good move from Man City, Belfodil shoots… and it’s in, they pull one back… (click here to watch the goal)

68th minute — Indio tries his luck again from a free kick… the shot is weak and Joe Hart holds the ball easily.

70th minute — Excellent move on the right flank, Leandro Velasco bends in the cross… and Tiago heads it in! (click here to watch the goal)

73rd minure — Great move on the left flank now, Tiago passes for Parana… he’s clean through but his shot is parried… Zé Carlos pounces on the rebound… saved again!

75th minute — Wilson gets in a free kick header but Heart can’t be beaten so easily…

79th minute — Indio makes a big mistake again, he sends Belfodil clean through… But he can’t beat Luis Guilherme!

It’s over, we won the Carling Cup for the first time! However, the price that we had to pay was quite high as Graham Howson was going to be out for no less than four months, end of season for him…

Full time team talk: Congratulations!

Man of the match: Luis Guilherme

Flop of the match: Hans Larsson

Match Stats

There was little time for celebrations anyway, we had a tough league match coming up as we were meeting… Manchester City again! Their manager had some kind words before the game, as always…

Vauxhall vs Manchester City (Premier League)

Venue: Vauxhall Stadium

Attendance: 25,875 (sold out)

Starting line up: Luis Guilherme — Gary Warner, Javier Godoy, Danny Wilson, Pierre Touya — Moustapha Gueye, Indio, Da Silva, Tiago — Zé Carlos, Parana

Team Talk: For the fans!

We have to admit that we didn’t play too well in the Carling Cup final, our goalkeeper was the man of the match and that is a sign of weakness for any team. The league match started much better for us though and Parana came close to breaking the deadlock after just 20 seconds! Two minutes later it was Indio‘s turn to try his luck but he didn’t have any of that as his shot bounced back off the post. Then Joe Hart denied Zé Carlos in the 10th minute but he was finally beaten nine minutes later when right winger Moustapha Gueye volleyed home a cross from Indio. The first chance for City was on 24 minutes when they hit the crossbar on a corner kick but we doubled the advantage just two minutes later when Danny Wilson headed home on a free kick.

Half time score: 2-0

Half time team talk: Pleased.

Half time substitutions: Radek Vecera for Da Silva, Walid Mechergui for Tiago

The second half was reasonably quiet, we took the foot off the gas but still managed to keep things safely under control. By the way, this was our 16th home win out of 16 league games!

Full time team talk: Well done!

Man of the match: Danny Wilson

Flop of the match: Walid Mechergui

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the match highlights.

Match Stats

The next match was the second leg against Schalke in the Champions League and although the German side did well to keep it interesting we never looked like losing it (we had won the away leg 1-0 in February). Then we faced 20th placed Southampton in the Premier League and it was a fairly easy game, we won 5-1 and could easily have scored a few more. And then… Well, then we had to face Manchester City one more time, the FA Cup 6th round draw put them in our path again. The game started well with midfielder Marcos Fernandez celebrating his return to fitness with a goal but then two errors from Danny Wilson gifted the opponents two goals after the break and they knocked us out of the FA Cup. The last game of the month was a demolition job against 19th placed Huddersfield, it was Zé Carlos who drove the bulldozer past the relegation candidates.

The Champions League quarter finals were drawn and I was quite pleased with our luck this time, we were going to meet Atletico Madrid (not an easy team to beat but there are better teams around). I was also pleased to notice that an all-English final four was possible after that draw…

Looking back at the FA Cup tie against Man City, Mourinho was so pleased with that win that he finally made a decent comment…

But let’s see the important stuff now, the Premier League title race. There weren’t any big changes in there, we maintained our position and the only rival that lost points was Tottenham while Man City and Man United seemed to be almost totally out of the chase.

The fixtures in April were not too bad, we only had easier matches apart from the double against Atletico Madrid and a Premier League clash with the Red Devils.

If you are curious to see what happened in April then you can read all about it in the next page, it’s just one click away!

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

The month started very well as we had a good home leg against Atletico Madrid, we enjoyed total domination and were leading 3-0 at some point but Atletico managed to pull one back on a free kick. It was a pretty good performance from my lads though, especially from midfielder Robert Ackermann who opened the scoring with a fine effort (click here to watch the goal). The first league match in April was more difficult than expected, 13th placed Blackpool put in a great performance and I admit that we were very lucky to win that one courtesy of a lucky and late own goal. The second leg against Atletico was spectacular, they had noting more to lose and we didn’t have too much pressure either considering the first leg result. We won the game eventually and I was pleased to see backup striker Lucas Cuello finally scoring his very first goal for the club. Then we had another easy game in the Premier League, 11th placed Sunderland were the victims and my lads didn’t let the three points slip away.

At that point our full attention was on the Champions League semi final draw… Needless to say, we’ll meet Manchester City yet again! I already know their squad by heart, meeting them six times in a single season is just too much! The other semi final will see Arsenal facing a surprising Galatasaray, the Turkish champions managed to knock out Tottenham!

Before that we had a couple more league games, the first one being the toughest: at Old Trafford with Man United.

Manchester United vs Vauxhall (Premier League)

Venue: Old Trafford

Attendance: 71,517

Starting line up: Luis Guilherme — Gary Warner, Danny Wilson, Marat Bykov, Pierre Touya — Moustapha Gueye, Indio, Marcos Fernandez, Tiago — Zé Carlos, Parana

Team Talk: For the fans!

Our first half was just terrible, I couldn’t believe my eyes! We had just one shot on target during the opening 45 minutes and that was on a corner kick! The home side wasn’t doing much better but they did manage to squeeze one in on a corner kick, a bunch of my players were inviting each other to clear the ball from our area and Rooney pushed the ball in. To make things even worse right winger Gueye got injured just before the goal and I had to send in Leadro Velasco.

Half time score: 1-0

Half time team talk: I want to see more from you!

Half time substitutions: Hans Larsson for Warner

The second half saw some better movements from my lads but we were not nearly good enough. We got lucky on the hour mark as we bagged a strange equaliser: a free kick shot from Indio was deflected off the wall, the ball bounced to Bykov whose header came back off the bar and into the path of Parana who fired home. That goal woke the lads up and we needed just three minutes to produce a second, a fine team move brought the ball to Zé Carlos who fired it straight into the top corner. We were dominating the game at that point and we made it 3-1 later on when Indio received a good pass from Tiago before unleashing a fierce shot into the top corner. Manchester United reacted after that goal and they pulled one back with 7 minutes remaining but we held firm and even hit the crossbar during stoppage time through Tiago. It was a great comeback but we had to count the wounded again, Moustapha Gueye was going to be out for 6 weeks…

Full time team talk: Well done!

Man of the match: Indio

Flop of the match: Hans Larsson

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the match highlights.

Match Stats

We had another away game to face after the trip to Old Trafford, I was expecting a tough one at 10th placed Blackburn. It was easier than expected though, Parana put in a great performance and we won 3-0.

And after that game I clicked «save game» and then «exit», I wasn’t ready for another match against Man City! :) So it’s time to look at the Premier League table… Arsenal have a game in hand, Tottenham have no less than two… But even if they both win those game we’d still have 7 points on Arsenal and five on the Spurs. Meanwhile Southampton and Huddersfield will play Championship football next season and Liverpool seem ready to follow them downstairs!

We have to win just two of the last three games to secure the title and I’m 100 percent sure that we will do it since we won’t meet any big teams in those last three games. Hell, I might even decide to give Liverpool a hand if we secure the title by then… My main concern is the Champions League at this point, we have to reach the final again although Man City will surely be difficult to beat.

Given the strange Liverpool situation some of you asked for more details about their manager and squad. I can tell you that Slaven Bilic is their current manager while the squad seems pretty good if you look at the names.

Before wrapping up let me present the traditional players’ top five. Parana is still in command, he is having a brilliant season as he scored 27 league goals for us (a new record)! Then there’s our pair of centre backs, Marat Bykov and Danny Wilson, they scored 20 goals between them and generally looked strong and concentrated at the back. Zé Carlos is close behind those two, maybe tied with Wilson in third given the average rating while Leandro Velasco closes the top five at this point.

Erick asked for two screen shots, unfortunately I can provide just one as I was unable to find Espericueta in my game.

That’s all for now my friends, I hope that you have enjoyed this update and that you will forgive me for publishing it with a slight delay. Thanks for reading, looking forward to your comments and requests!