Hi everyone, I hope you are all well and excited for the Christmas period. Welcome back to the final instalment of my Hartlepool’s 2011/12 Championship campaign. For anyone that doesn’t know with only three months left of the season and 16 games to play my Hartlepool side were in the play-off places in 5th position and I was hoping to be able to hang onto this place and have a crack at getting into the Premier League. So let’s get down to business and talk about my February results.
February Results
If I was going to get one of these play-off places I would need to put a good sprint finish and get a bit of form going as there was quite a large chasing pack and a lot of teams fighting for the top 6 places. The first game of February set the tone for an awful month and I could believe what was happening in front of me. First of all came a 2-1 loss to Bristol City after we took the lead though Henaini we capitulated and lost the game. Next game was away to Leicester and the errors in the defence were comical and we lost 3-1 and never deserved to get the 1 which was scored by Moore. I then had a tough game to face Blackpool who was relegated the previous season. It was a better performance but that doesn’t really matter when you don’t get anything from the game. Surely thing would pick up soon against Ipswich which in all fairness they did and I got my first point of the month. The final game saw us up against Doncaster and in a much improved performance we managed to run out 4-1 winners.
Performance of the Month
V Doncaster
I don’t think you can have any arguments about the winner this month and it will be the clearest winner you are likely to see. Special thanks have to go to Henaini and Moore who were a real partnership up front and also to James Chester who had an excellent game at the back.
March Results
Hopefully we can have a much better month in March than what we did in February and I surely couldn’t get any worse. There was a long break before our next game for an international match and I was hoping that this would give my players a chance to rest and clear their minds before the next game. First up was Peterborough and the talk about the players to clear their minds backfired as they were half asleep for this game and that 20 minute period at the start of the game proved costly and we lost the game 2-1. If I was ever going to have to break out of this form I would need to do it soon but the likelihood of that happening in the next game was slim as we faced 3rd in the table. In the end we put up a good fight and game out with an exciting 3-3 draw in which we got a point in the 95th minute. I was looking for my players to take positive from this game and use it in the next one against Burnley and with goals coming from Henaini and Brown that’s exactly what we did and we won 2-0. We now had two tricky away games, the first of which was against table toppers Nottm Forest. In a tight game the leaders ran out two-nil winners and my chances of gaining a play-off spot were quickly descending. The final game was against mine and Darren’s team in Newcastle United who had really struggled the second time back in the championship and had changed their manager 3 times in one season (this sounds awfully familiar). They churned out a 3-1 win and that ended another disappointing month for my team.
Performance of the Month
V Swansea
The second time Swansea had featured this season in POTM. It was a close call between this game and the Burnley match but I had to go for this one as I felt that without this result we wouldn’t have got three points against Burnley.
April Results
The final 5 games of the season are hardly worth talking about as I had failed in my bid to get into the play-off places and my team was shot of any confidence and the season faded away as quickly as saying “promotion”.
One good thing that did come out of this season was that the summer signing of Eyeman Henaini won signing of the season and he ended up being the joint top goalscorer in the league with Marlon Harewood.
Table
After a horrible end to the season I have to say that when this season started way back in August if someone had said to me that I would have been challenging for a play-off spot in my first season in the Championship I would have laughed it off and said it would be untrue.
The fact that we managed to have what was a decent season up until a few months ago. I am proud of my player’s effort this season and I am confident enough that we will give it a much better crack at it next season once I have brought in some new players and developed the squad.
Thanks for reading
Warren
Ana Garcia
20 декабря, 2010 at 14:17
Unlucky end of season,
I guess it was a little much to ask your newly promoted side to push for the playoff’s, at least you can build on the side you have and with all the extra income etc You should have a bit of money to bring some new players in.
Best of luck next season.
warren
20 декабря, 2010 at 18:30
The one positive that I could take from this season is that it has been successful and I can always improve my squad next season.
Thanks for the confidence boost and I hope that I can improve on this season’s position.
Laxeyman
20 декабря, 2010 at 15:41
Hi Warren, a shame that your side faded badly at the end, but overall a decent season, and a good platform to build on for next season. With a few additions I reckon you’ll be up there challenging next season. Good luck!
warren
20 декабря, 2010 at 18:33
Hey Laxeyman,
I guess the reason wny we finished so poorly was that I didn’t really have a championship squad. My first 11 was good enough to challenge for the play-offs but as soon as I got a few injuries then the reserve players were simply not good enough
Sears
20 декабря, 2010 at 15:47
Hey Warren,
your team performed well despite that poor end to the season. Now you know who’s gotta go and what you need to improve. Eyeman Henaini was a inspiration, hopefully you can find gem like him during to the summer. Good luck!
warren
20 декабря, 2010 at 18:36
Hi Sears
I am pleased with the way I have peformed this season and now that its the close season I can take a good luck at some of the players that I can bring in to improve the squad. The area I am mainly looking at is in defence as I may need to bring in a few player to help with the amount of goals we condeded.
Henaini was a great piece of business and I player I stumbled across which you can class as being a bit lucky but I think it was more of being in the right place at the right time.
Darren Smith
20 декабря, 2010 at 18:44
That was a tough few months Warren. When the rot sets in like that its so hard to change your fortunes. Like you said Hartlepool still had a good season and avoided relegation with ease. With some good signings and team chemistry I reckon you’ll be much closer to the top six next season. Goodluck mate
warren
20 декабря, 2010 at 19:27
Hi Darren
Like I have said in the post even though the last few months weren’t very good I can still be proud with what I have achieved this season and hopefully with a few quality signings I can make a better fist of it next season.
Daniel
20 декабря, 2010 at 21:34
Warren dont get down in the dumps you managed to get a relegation favourite club safley away from the drop with ease. just build on this season and before you can say promtion u will be losing to west ham in the prem lol
warren
21 декабря, 2010 at 11:40
I am proud with the way the players have proven themselves in the Championship and it was just a blip that I had at the end of the season. I am looking for at least a play-off spot next season if i can bring in the right players.
Kevin
21 декабря, 2010 at 00:19
Hello Warren
That’s too bad how your season slipped away after Xmas. i thought you were in with a good chance. The league is filled with really strong clubs so it was always going to be difficult. Still you stayed up and that’s all good in my humble opinion.
warren
21 декабря, 2010 at 11:44
So did I but the league is full of teams that have got Premiership experience (16 of the clubs that I have faced in fact.) So even though it would have been nice the play-offs were a bit too high of a target. I’ll be pushing for the play-offs next season.
Lye Kuek Hin
21 декабря, 2010 at 00:27
Hi Warren,
It must be frustrating to see your side running into patchy form. Championship is always difficult. There are too many good teams there. A 14th position is not too bad for a newly promoted side and i hope you will come back stronger next season. Good luck.
warren
21 декабря, 2010 at 11:46
Hi Lye
When you see your side in as bad as form as you saw mine then it is really frustrating as I tried new things to combat it and none of them worked but all in all 14th place was a very good achievement in my first season and I easily stayed away from the drop.
A few quality signings in the summer and I have no doubt that we will make a much better first at it.
FM Freak :)
22 декабря, 2010 at 18:13
That was some poor last months there, but a decent season. You will be back next season with hopefully some better players :)
FMF <3
Birdy
23 декабря, 2010 at 08:34
Hey Warren
Unlucky but I think your squad will be able to produce the goods and be promoted next season
Good Luck Birdy
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