Vauxhall Motors Story: February and March 2017

Hello folks and welcome back to Ellesmere Port for a fresh episode of my Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 story! This update begins with the first day of February 2017 and will cover all the events that went on until the end of March, a very important stage of the season. As you might remember we were doing pretty well at the end of January despite the injuries to several key players. We were 5th in the Premier League, qualified for the Europa League knockout round and also preparing to face Tottenham in the 5th round of the FA Cup. A lot of fish to fry there, let’s light up the stove!

The first two games of February were considered to be easier league battles but unfortunately we only managed to get four points out of them. We were quite unlucky against Wolves as we had no less than three goals disallowed and several squandered chances but we did well to recover against West Brom by scoring four goals. Ibrahima MBow was still scoring on a regular basis and I was quite pleased with that since our two Brazilian strikers had another month to spend away from the pitch.

Those were just warm-up games compared to what was ahead of us, we had to meet title holders Tottenham before the Europa League double against Dynamo Kyiv and then we had another tough encounter with Chelsea. Let’s go through those games one by one.

Vauxhall vs Tottenham (Premier League)

Venue: Rivacre Park

Attendance: 10,266 (sold out)

Starting line up: Dean Bouzanis – Julian Marino, Julian Bazzi, Mervin Simon, Javier Godoy – Leandro Velasco, Radek Vecera, Graham Howson, Andrew Surman – Wellington Paulista, Ibrahima MBow

Team Talk: You can win today!

Tottenham were still in with a good chance to defend their title as they were in 3rd place before the game and not far off the top spot. We were in 4th place though and only one point behind the Spurs, an upset would have pushed us up into the podium! Our first half display surely showed that my lads were fully capable of pulling it off, we dominated for more than half an hour but there were no clear chances for us to be honest. On the other hand the Spurs squandered a pretty good one on a counter attack but then we went on to hit the crossbar twice just before half time!

Half time score: 0-0

Half time team talk: Pleased.

Half time substitutions: Mark Brown for Vecera, Stephan El Shaarawy for Surman

The Spurs looked a bit more determined to attack after the break but we were still pretty much in control as our opponents were unable to fire a single shot on target until the hour mark. We didn’t show much in attack either, the second half was a lot more quiet but the Spurs could have won the game on a late chance but their shooting continued to be wasteful until the very end. It was a good result overall but we could have gotten more out of the game if we would have scored in the first half.

Full time team talk: Good result!

Man of the match: Julian Marino

Flop of the match: Stephan El Shaarawy

Match Stats

Dynamo Kyiv vs Vauxhall (Europa League 1st Rnd leg 1)

Venue: Valery Lobanovs’kyi Stadium Dinamo

Attendance: 12,397

Starting line up: Dean Bouzanis – Kwabena Quartey, Louis Laing, Mervin Simon, Grant Baddeley – Leandro Velasco, Mark Brown, Graham Howson, Andrew Surman – Wellington Paulista, Ibrahima MBow

Team Talk: You can win today!

The trip to snowy Kyiv was expected to be a pretty tough one since Dynamo were having quite a few very good players in their squad including former Chelsea midfielder Ramires. The first five minutes of the game were totally crazy as the home side took the lead on 2 minutes courtesy of a great volley and then we restored parity on 4 minutes when Leandro Velasco pushed home on the rebound after Ibrahima MBow‘s initial shot had been parried by the goalkeeper. Then we took control of the game, dominated through very good possession, but it was Dynamo who scored again two minutes before the break when their striker breezed past Louis Laing before firing home. I was pleased with our display though, the result was unjust.

Half time score: 2-1

Half time team talk: Pleased.

Half time substitutions: Shyamdew Weibolt for Howson, Kai Kramer for Surman

We continued to dominate after the break but we were unable to create chances, the Ukrainian defense was looking quite solid. We did deserve an equalizer though and we finally found it on 67 minutes after a pretty good team move: substitute Shyamdew Weibolt ran with the ball on the right flank before floating at the far post where Pavol Vesely touched it first time back into the middle of the area from where Leandro Velasco powered home for his second goal of the evening. We grabbed a good 2-2 away draw and we were the favourites to qualify at that point.

Full time team talk: Good result!

Man of the match: Leandro Velasco

Flop of the match: Louis Laing

Match Stats

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the highlights.

The two goals that we scored in Kyiv were added to an already impressive tally and we were announced that we had just broken a record that was held by mighty Real Madrid!

Record or no record, we still had to face a tricky second leg against Dynamo Kyiv, we had to secure a low-scoring draw or a win to push through.

Vauxhall vs Dynamo Kyiv (Europa League 1st Rnd leg 2)

Venue: Rivacre Park

Attendance: 10,166

Starting line up: Dean Bouzanis – Julian Marino, Louis Laing, Mervin Simon, Javier Godoy – Leandro Velasco, Radek Vecera, Graham Howson, Andrew Surman – Wellington Paulista, Ibrahima MBow

Team Talk: Encourage.

This time we got off to a very good start and we could have taken the lead after just 10 minutes but the Ukrainian goalie pulled off a great save to keep it goalless. We were piling on the pressure and the reward finally came on 19 minutes when Mervin Simon headed on a free kick cross for Louis Laing who found the back of the net with a sliding finish. Dynamo needed to score twice at that point but we were still dominating the game. They did find a goal however, it was a good flowing move but I was a bit frustrated since it came totally against the run of play. My lads were not too affected by it though, we continued to push forward but the second goal eluded us until half time. We were forced to make a substitution four minutes before the break, midfielder Graham Howson left the field on a stretcher and Mark Brown took his place.

Half time score: 1-1

Half time team talk: Pleased.

Half time substitutions: Grant Baddeley for Godoy, Andrew Driver for Surman

The second half saw an even better spell of dominance from my players, I don’t think they could have played any better. We managed to send in quite a few shots on target as well while Dynamo were not seeing much of the ball. Our poor finishing could have cost us dearly 10 minutes from time when Ramires fired a wild shot from distance that went past Dean Bouzanis but thundered off the crossbar! That was a close shave but it would have been totally frustrating to lose the qualification like that. We did have reasons to be sad after the game though, Graham Howson‘s injury was serious and we had to do without our best central midfielder for between two and three months…

Full time team talk: Well done!

Man of the match: Leandro Velasco

Flop of the match: Andrew Surman

Match Stats

Video Highlights

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Paris Saint-Germain won their tie against Rubin Kazan quite easily so we were going to travel to the French capital for the next round.

Until then, back to the league where we were meeting 2nd placed title contenders Chelsea in the last game of the month.

Chelsea vs Vauxhall (Premier League)

Venue: Stamford Bridge

Attendance: 40,444

Starting line up: Dean Bouzanis – Julian Marino, Julian Bazzi, Mervin Simon, Javier Godoy – Leandro Velasco, Radek Vecera, Shyamdew Weibolt, Andrew Surman – Wellington Paulista, Pavol Vesely

Team Talk: You can win today!

Chelsea had beaten us 4-3 in December at the end of a thrilling match and I was expecting an equally entertaining display at Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately we were not playing as well as we did in December, Chelsea were outplaying us but we managed to hang in there for a while. We had another injury, I was getting used to that, Wellington Paulista was stretchered off and Ibrahima MBow came in to replace him. Chelsea were not creating chances despite dominating the game but they broke the deadlock on a corner kick and then made it 2-0 on a fine shot from Marek Hamsik 10 minutes later. We had a very poor first half, something had to change!

Half time score: 2-0

Half time team talk: Disappointing!

Half time substitutions: Kwabena Quartey for Marino, Mark Brown for Vecera

The second half was a bit better from our part, we did show a bit of football but Chelsea kept things under control without breaking too much sweat. Our seven-game unbeaten run came to an end but I was relieved to find out that Wellington Paulista‘s injury was not very serious, he was going to be out for only a week.

Full time team talk: Sympathise.

Man of the match: Mervin Simon

Flop of the match: Mark Brown

Match Stats

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the highlights.

We only managed one win in four league games in February and our position suffered as a result, we were down in 6th place at the end of the month but we were virtually 7th since Aston Villa had a game in hand. The table was quite tight though, I was expecting a fierce battle for the first four places. As you can notice Manchester City had secured an Europa League spot as they won the Carling Cup by beating Liverpool 2-0 in the final.

The top five at the end of February shows something a lot more important than the ratings and the goals: Parana and Zé Carlos were close to a return to full fitness!

March was expected to be quite demanding for our group of players since we were starting with a crunch FA Cup match at White Hart Lane before taking on Manchester United at home and then preparing for the Europa League clash with PSG.

Well, I already know what happened in March and I can tell you that there were quite a few spectacular matches in there and also a few surprising results! Read all about them in the next page! ;)

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