Hello my friends and welcome back to the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 Story! As you know we had a terrible run in October, only one win out of five league games, but despite that we were still in 4th place. I was sure that a similar run would have knocked us out of the top five though so I was hoping to see better form and especially better finishing from my players. Let’s see what we managed to do in November and December.
The first game of November was away at struggling 19th placed Kettering. Things were not looking very good for us as the home side hit the crossbar three minutes into the game and then my right winger, Pietro Palladino, received his marching orders for a reckless tackle. Kettering smashed another one against the woodwork a few minutes later but we took the lead just before the break when substitute Michael Abnett volleyed in a cross from Sam Hart. Then we managed to keep things fairly quiet in the second half, the hosts had just one good chance but fortunately they wasted it. We were lucky to get a win this time but we really needed the three points.
We had another away game coming up and we were going to face another struggling team, bottom of the table Barrow. The first half was a dull affair, there was just one chance but my lads missed it, I could describe it as a sitter… The second half was not much different, we had a goal ruled out on the hour mark and then Barrow netted a lucky late winner, a deflected free kick that put it past our keeper. We produced a lousy display but I guess we would have deserved a draw.
We had a much more difficult game coming up as 5th placed Mansfield were coming at Rivacre Park. They knocked us out of the FA Cup in October, I wanted revenge but I was unsure of my team’s strength. The first half was quite entertaining, both teams hit the crossbar before the break but we could have taken the lead with better finishing. Things cooled off after the break, the game was turning into a boring affair but experienced striker Michael Ricketts finally smashed in his first goal for the club from a Danny Uchechi assist. Ricketts could have killed off the game a few minutes later but we held out well and clinched a well deserved win.
Next up, a tricky away game at 12th placed Kidderminster. My lads were playing very well, I was impressed with their display apart from the wasteful finishing. We threw away two immense chances before left winger Sam Hart pushed in his first goal for the club on 31 minutes. The home side leveled the game three minutes before the break but we were creating loads of chances and Danny Uchechi restored our lead deep into injury time. Then we continued the festival of missed chances in the second half, we had no less than 8 clear cut chances before the end of the game but at least we grabbed the three points…
The last game of the month was at home with 5th placed Histon, a tough game against a promotion contender. We were enjoying good possession but my lads were quite uninspired, we were unable to create chances before a defensive blunder gifted Histon the lead. The game passed the hour mark and we were staring at defeat when centre back Oliver Nicholas came to the rescue with a corner kick header. We were not playing well but we were keeping the opponents under pressure and that paid off a minute from time when Michael Ricketts pushed in the winning goal!
With four wins and one loss we managed to climb up into third place, just two points behind new leaders Cheltenham!
And since we were going to meet both Cheltenham and second placed Luton in December I guess you can understand that I couldn’t stop the game there! :) So please go to the next page to see how we did in December! ;)
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Laxeyman
4 декабря, 2010 at 11:54
Well done Johnny, overall a good couple of months, although for some reason it seems like your side are better against the bigger sides, and don’t do as well against teams in the lower half of the table. However, you’ve now got a good chance of promotion, and it looks like it’ll be a really exciting race to grab the title! Good luck!
P.S I’m currently second in the Blue Square Premier with Droylsden, I have 41 points from 20 games, hopefully I can do what you’ve done and grab top spot in December :)
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:53
Thanks Laxeyman. We have been quite inconsistent but so were the other top teams so I guess the title is there for the taking. Good luck with your season!
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 12:15
Hi Johnny
Well that was a gruelling couple of months to reach the top but you did it so well done. Very nice wins over your closest rivals to put you in the driving seat. I wouldn’t change your expectations just keep «Motoring » on!!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:54
Thanks Kevin. I’m not sure whether changing the expectations would put more pressure on my players, still thinking about it…
Sears
4 декабря, 2010 at 12:47
They were 2 good months Johnny, your team seems to be performing more consistently now. Regarding the expectations, I guess there isn’t much point changing them. Anyway I’m sure you can secure another fantastic promotion, goodluck!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:57
Thanks for the confidence Sears, I hope that we’ll pull it off regardless of the expectations.
Darren Smith
4 декабря, 2010 at 14:28
Nice couple of months there Johnny, your side really are scoring some great goals. I reckon top spot will be yours this year, you just need to keep up the form and avoid losing to teams around you.
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 16:00
Thanks Darren, there were quite a few good goals indeed. It surely will be a tight race, I can’t see any team running away from the bunch (including us, of course).
Vinners
4 декабря, 2010 at 14:49
Well Done Johnny! I held my breath then when I thought you might’ve been out the FA Trophy! But you smashed them in the replay so it’s ok. I had the same thing in my game with changing expectations but they hadn’t offered me any improvement from what I already had, so I put them at the lowest and moved on so it’d look better when I won the league!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 16:01
Thanks for sharing your experience Vinners, I’m tempted to switch the expectations to «promotion» in an attempt to put more pressure on my players and make them play with more determination. That’s just a hypothesis though, I’ll think about it.
Ana Garcia
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:44
Very close at the top!
Hopefully you can get a good run and push for the playoff places like you said no oustanding team, so it will very tight!
Have my fingers crossed for you! :)
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 16:02
Thanks Ana, we might need all the luck we can get! :)
hils
4 декабря, 2010 at 18:05
Hi Johnny,hopefully your team will push for the play-offs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A quite good month there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 20:53
Thanks Hils :)
dami
5 декабря, 2010 at 01:21
that’s a lot of snow your team is playing in…probably the reason for the inconsistency…
anyway I’m sure the team can fight through it and gather enough 3 points to get promoted or at least get a playoff spot…
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2010 at 08:58
Thanks Dami. I wouldn’t blame it on the snow though, after all it’s not only our team that was playing on frozen pitches, the opponents had the same conditions.
Lye
5 декабря, 2010 at 02:15
Hi Johnny,
You must be frustrated how your team is struggling against the weaker teams. The great thing is you are on top of the league. This will turn out to be an exciting season as there are no clear favorites now but i am putting money on motormen. Keep rolling!
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2010 at 08:59
Thanks for the confidence Lye, I hope there won’t be too many frustrating moments from now on…
warren
5 декабря, 2010 at 11:02
Hi Johnny
A return to form after the indifferent October month. Its really close at the top of the table but I feel that if you have a good few months you can pull away from the chasing pack.
good luck
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2010 at 11:14
Hi Warren and thanks for the comment. I hope we’ll manage to have those good few months, I’d settle for a couple of good months to be honest :)
James Bush
5 декабря, 2010 at 16:50
Johnny i find your stories very interesting and you seem like a great player of FootballManager. Myself, i struggle on the game, any short tips to help me improve?
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2010 at 17:20
Thanks for the compliment James. I wouldn’t know where to start with the tips though, so I suggest going through our guides and tactics, here are the links:
https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/category/football-manager-guides/
https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/category/fm-2011-tactics-2/
James Bush
5 декабря, 2010 at 18:26
Okay, thanks for that, i really appreciate it. :)