March 2011 - Extending The Cup Run

On first sight this appears to be a very quiet month, with just 3 matches scheduled, although if we are able to beat Tottenham, this will increase to 4 matches.

Tottenham (H) FA Cup Fifth Round Replay

Having managed to gain a draw at White Hart Lane to send this tie to a replay, we are marginal favourites to win this at home. I feel optimistic after our brilliant display against Man United. I have decided to go with a Standard strategy which seems to work against Spurs.

In the first few minutes Spurs came at us looking to take and early lead, and Crouch fired a long shot just wide. We needed some desperate defending to keep Spurs out in the first few minutes. I felt if we could get through this early period of pressure the game would open out a lot more for us. In the 10th minute we finally managed to make a counter attack, with a well place pass putting Fatih Yucel free, and only a superb save from Gomes stopped him from opening the scoring. We started to get more time on the ball after this, and Nasuti headed just over from a free kick. This seemed to calm our defence down and they became a lot more confident. In the 24th minute Fatih Yucel got free of the defence only to see Gomes produce another great save to deny him. Just before half time Spurs won a free kick just outside the area, which fortunately hit the wall and flew over the goal, which was their best opportunity of the half. Half time was reached with the score goalless.

I was pleased with what I'd seen, as we looked solid at the back and very dangerous going forward, and were unlucky not to have taken the lead. I felt if we could continue to defend this well, we had a great chance to find a winner at the other end. In the 49th minute a Spurs attack broke down, with the ball intercepted by Laure. He moved along the right flank and produced a perfect pass for Balanta to continue forward, and once in the penalty area, squared the ball to Fatih Yucel, who smashed the ball into the net to open the scoring. Spurs pushed forward again, but after another attack broke down in the 53rd minute the ball was cleared to Ephraim in the middle of the pitch. He quickly spotted Fatih Yucel making a run and provided him with a perfect pass to race through and slot the ball home to double our lead. I was deleighted with this, and Fatih Yucel was denied his hat-trick by another brilliant save 3 minutes later. Although Spurs were pushing forward we were doing a good job of restricting them mostly to long shots. We managed to hold our 2 goal lead to the end of the match to put the current FA Cup holders out of the tournament. An absolutely fantastic performance, and our best defensive display for a while. This win sees us through to the 6th round and an away tie to Coventry, which is unfortunately only in 3 days time, which isn't ideal.

Coventry (A) FA Cup 6th Round

We arrive at the Ricoh Arena as marginal favourites to play Coventry who are currently in the lower middle area of the Championship table. This is a match we are expected to win, being a Premiership side. We come off the back of two excellent results, and Coventry from a home defeat. I noticed that the Coventry defence is extremely slow, so decided that I'd go with a standard strategy to try and give them the opportunity to push up slightly and allow us space for us to take advantage of.

After the first minutes I could see this was going to be quite a battle. In the 8th minute Balanta managed to get clear in the penalty area, only for his shot to be deflected just wide by the keeper. From the resulting corner we had a call for a penalty turned down. In the 15th minute Di Gennaro made a fantastic run in the area only to give the keeper a fairly easy save. In the 31st minute we conceded a free kick just outside our area, which required a brilliant save from Lung jr to keep the ball from going in the top corner. Our midfield seemed to be looking very lacklustre, and were giving the ball away far too often allowing Coventry far too easy a time in coming forward. This also meant we were not making the best use of our opportunities to counter attack. However in the 39th minute a poor clearance by the Coventry keeper allowed Di Gennaro to slide in a pass for Balanta in space in the area, this time making no mistake in placing the ball into the bottom corner of the net. I hoped this would bring some confidence to to our midfield, but they still seemed to be giving the ball up too often. Fortunately our defence seemed to be holding up well, and we arrived at half time with our slender lead still intact.

For the second half Coventry changed to a 5-3-2 formation to shore up their defence even more, but still seemed to be finding it far too easy to get through our midfield, which was worrying, and finding space to fire some long shots at us. In the 64th minute Fatih Yucel received the ball clear of the defence, but hit the ball directly at the keeper. I'd have put money on him putting that away, but I think he must have left his shooting boots at home. At times we showed our quality, but allowed Coventry to take possession far too easilly. We managed to play out the rest of match to take a narrow 1-0 victory. I'm pleased that we managed to get the win to go through to the semi-final, but some parts of the performance were lacking. It is good that our defence played well, or we could have been humbled. I don't know quite what to make of this performance, but I'm pleased we got through without requiring another replay in this round.

Bolton (A) Premier League

Our visit to the Reebok Stadium sees us arrive as marginal favourites. Bolton are without their 2 highest scorers and their players with the most assists, which will hopefully help us in taking this match. It largely depends on the attitude the players go onto the field with. Bolton are playing a 4-1-4-1 with a young striker with lots of pace, but little in the way other attributes, but we'll still need to be careful.

The early part of the match saw a big battle in the midfield, with space hard to come by, with only a few long shots going wide of the target. There was also one goal mouth scramble in our area which required a desperate clearance to stop a Bolton player managing to get a foot to the ball. In the 17th minute Balanta was brought down just outside the Bolton area, and Fatih Yucel stepped up to take the kick. He produced an absolutely stunning strike to put the ball in the top corner of the net and give us the lead. Only 3 minutes later we gave away a free kick just outside our area, which required a superb save from Lung jr to stop Bolton levelling the scores. The first half ended with us still leading by the one goal with both sides making a few long shots, but really struggling to find a way through.

I was fairly pleased with our fast half display, as we'd pretty much restricted Bolton to long range shots. In the 61st minute a piece of bad luck was to be inflicted upon us, when Basham struck a 35 yard drive, which deflected off the head of Nasuti to fly into the top corner of the net, rather than carry straight on to be caught by Lung jr. At first I was trying to work out why our keeper was going in the wrong direction, but after a replay I could see just how unlucky we were. In the 74th minute Fatih Yucel was the victim of a vicious tackle, but because he'd come from off-side there were not repercussions for the player committing the foul. This is definitely an oversight in the match engine, having seen my own players occasionally being extremely lucky too in not getting booked for awful fouls. In the 87th minute I thought we'd taken the lead after Lung jr hit the ball forward which Slory ran onto and hit the ball home. Unfortunately he had been just off-side at the point the ball was hit. In the 89th minute Routledge was unlucky not to find the winner when his header hit the crossbar. The matched ended as a 1-1 draw, and I left feeling that we were very unlucky to only come away with the draw. This was a rather scrappy battling performance, but was not one of our better displays. I was largely happy with with the defence, as almost all of Bolton's shots were from long range.

A couple of days after the match Davide Di Gennaro suffered a back strain putting him out for about a month.

Fulham (H) Premier League

The Cottagers arrive with us favourites to take all the points, after they have suffered 3 straight defeats. I expected this to be a battle though given how the match was the first time we played.

This match lived up to my expectations of it being a tough battle, and the first half was a pretty dire affair with both sides committing plenty of fouls. Of note though was how Rafa was looking really up for this match, making a lot of tackles and interceptions, then trying to feed the ball through to other players to try and make an attack. Both keepers had a few good saves to make from long shots, but little else to do in the first half. For us Puygrenier was being very poor, giving away far too many free kicks in dangerous places. It was pretty much a relief when the first half ended with the match goalless.

The second half started with a little bit more action, with Buzsaky striking a great long shot, producing a stunning save from the Fulham keeper. In the 51st minute Fulham conceded a free kick just outside the area, and as Buzsaky swung the kick into the area, Nasuti was fouled in the area. This allowed Fatih Yucel to step up and open the scoring. A few minutes later Lung jr had to perform another good save to stop Fulham scoring an equaliser. The rest of the match was pretty dire with far too many fouls from both sides which broke up the flow of the match. I think we were very lucky to come out of this match with a win, so guess justice has been done after our undeserved loss when we played Fulham earlier in the season.

Month Summary

A brilliant start to the month with victories in the 2 FA Cup ties, putting in a great performance to beat Tottenham, and a less convincing display against Coventry. That seemed to set the tone for the two league matches, which were both very scrappy matches, and far from convincing. However to come away with a draw and a win from those matches was very good. Sometimes it's the result that's the most important thing, rather than the actual performance.

This has seen us retain 4th place in the league, and progress to the semi final stages of the FA Cup, which means a visit to Wembley. The upcoming tie is against Man City, the current leaders in the league, which will prove to be very tough opposition. However, on any given day we have the ability to beat any side, so will remain hopeful that we can pull off a surprise and proceed to the final for only the 2nd time in the clubs history.

Unfortunately during the international break at the end of the month Buzsaky twisted his ankle during an international match, and will be out for about 3 weeks, and will most likely miss the FA Cup Semi Final. A few days later Martin Stranzl damaged his foot during training and will be out for two weeks.

Fatih Yucel won the Premiership Young Player of the Month award again, this time with Silvui Lung jr coming in 2nd place. Both these players have been excellent this month, with Fatih Yucel seeming to score at will.

February 2011 - Nightmares and Dreamscapes

After our tremendous form of January we will look to consolidate our excellent position in the league.

Aston Villa (H) Premier League

Villa arrive at Loftus Road with us being marginal favourites. I am sure that they will put up a lot of resistance and make it difficult for us to achieve a victory. I decided that despite us being at home the pace of Villa's strikers made the Counter strategy our best option in the falling snow of an early February day.

Right from the start I could tell Villa were going to be pushing hard, and trying to close us down as much as possible. The first goal came in bizarre fashion with a Villa cross hitting Puygrenier and bouncing just past Rafa, and before he could react, a Villa striker reached the ball to put it away. That was a very poor goal to concede. Despite gaining a good share of possession we were struggling to find a way through the Villa defence, which was disappointing. Also we were conceding corners, which we were struggling to defend against with any consistency. In the 28th minute however we finally found a way through, with Faurlin hitting a throughball between the Villa central defenders, who seemed to stand like statues as Fatih Yucel chased the ball and slotted it home in the corner of the net. I was pleased that we'd managed to finally find a way through and score. My joy was shortlived though, as only 3 minutes later we conceded again, this time from a corner. This was massively frustrating after we'd had to work so hard to get our equaliser, only to then concede from a set piece so soon afterwards. In the 40th minute the Villa keeper made a mistake when trying to catch a ball which fell at his feet and was lucky to be able to clear the ball away from Fatih Yucel who was challenging him. Seemed like luck was not to be ours today, and the first half finished with Villa still leading 2-1.

I had mixed feelings about our display during the first half, but I believe the wintry conditions contributed to several mistakes being made by both sides. I sent the team back out hoping we could pick things and get ourselves back into the match. Within the first minute Balanta had a difficult chance from a tight angle, which was saved, although I think he should have tried to pass the ball into the box. Early in the half we were having the better of the play, but Villa were defending behind the ball in numbers, making it very difficult for us to work a way through. After an hour it was clear that Villa were looking to defend and waste time if they could, which made for a period of play with both sides making a lot of passes in the middle of the park before finally giving it away to the other. After 70 minutes I made my final substitutions, and shouted from the touchline for the players to pump the ball into the box. I'm not sure if it was the touchline shout, the changes, or some of the Villa players starting to show fatigue, but we started to show signs of gaining a bit more space, but it still felt like we were knocking on a brick wall. This extra space allowed Buzsaky to unleash some of his powerful long shots, but he wasn't finding his range properly. With the clock running down, I really thought this was going to be a big disappointment. In the 90th minute however Routledge was passed the ball on the right wing, and produced an early cross along the ground which Fatih Yucel was able to meet and score the equaliser. The relief was immense. This wasn't exactly a classic performance, but I feel that each time Villa went ahead they tried to defend and close us down to stop us from finding the space we thrive on in the final third of the pitch. Fatih Yucel's 2 goals gave him the man of the match award, and now takes his tally for the season to 30 goals, 22 of those coming in the league, and pulls him to within 2 goals of the current top scorer, Agbonlahor with 24 goals.

Tottenham (A) FA Cup 5th Round

We arrive at White Hart Lane as underdogs for this match, and to honest if we manage to even take this to a replay I'll be astonished. Spurs are the in form team right now, so I expect them to take the match to us. We are going to need a great defensive display and probably some luck along the way.

The match started in an unexpected fashion with us dominating possession, and in the 6th minute Rafa produced an excellent throughball from a free kick for Balanta to race free of his marker and slot home for us to take the lead. After the restart Spurs really started to push us back, producing plenty of opportunities from crosses, throughballs and corners. I watched amazed as Lung jr produced a series of amazing saves to deny Spurs. Despite this pressure we maintained more of the possession during the half, with Gomes having to perform a few great saves as well, one being from a trademark Buzsaky long shot, which he only just tipped around the post. Without the stunning performance being shown by our keeper, we could easilly have been behind by several goals at half time, instead of leading 1-0.

I sent the players back out for the second half telling them I was pleased, and we quickly created the first chance of the second half, with Gomes having to produce another fine save to deny Balanta adding a second goal. In the 58th minute though a bit of bad luck happened, with an attempted Spurs cross hitting Laure which bounced off him, directly into the path of Huddlestone, who unleashed a monster drive from just outside the area, which even a superb dive by Lung jr could not stop from hitting the back of the net. Not much you can do when something like that happens. At least it wasn't a soft goal from a poorly defended corner. In the last few minutes of the match my players were chasing everything and trying really hard to find a winner, with a few close offside calls stopping some very promising attacks. I was pleased by this, as it denied Spurs the opportunity to find a winner for themselves. The match ended as a draw, meaning the tie will go to a replay back at Loftus Road. It is no surprise that Lung jr easilly won the man of the match award after his string of superb saves; he was a true hero today. I was pleased with this performance given how much Spurs were pressing forward, and making life hard for us in defence. After the equaliser went in, I really feared that they'd go on to find more, but some excellent tackling denied them the opportunity, and allowed our keeper to not work so hard in the second half.

Hull (A) Premier League

We head to The Circle, as marginal favourites for this match against the bottom team in the league. This is one of those matches we will be expected to win, but I'm sure Hull with try to make things more difficult for us at their home ground. Their form has picked up a bit in recent weeks, with a recent 4-0 victory in the FA Cup, so their confidence will be more than it was in our previous meetings.

Hardly even know where to start with the match, but defensively we were totally useless. It looked like the defenders had forgotten what a football is and how to defend. The worst performance by the defence since I took charge of this team. In less than 20 minutes we'd allowed Hull to take a 2 goal lead. Totally failing to stop a throughball, which should have been stopped, and also allowing a player with poor heading and jumping attributes to out jump our central defenders to head the ball home. This was a pathetic display at the back, which makes we wonder if the players have just come from the pub. Our midfield was trying to work hard to get us back into the match, and in the 34th minute Slory passed the ball to Rafa in a crowded penalty area to hammer home from the edge of the 6 yard box. It looked like we at least had a chance of coming back in the match, although at the back we were still looking fragile. The half ended with the score still at 2-1.

At half time I told the players that I expect to much more from them in the second half, and sent them back out. Initially this looked to have done the trick and we started to create chances, but somehow we just couldn't find the net. In the 69th minute another piece of the most abyssmal defending occurred from a corner and we shipped another goal, allowing a Hull defender with slow pace to move from deep and get to the ball before our defenders; totally unacceptable. We were still looking to try and get something, but all our attempts ended either with their keeper making a save, or the ball going just the wrong side of the post. The final insult came in added time when we conceded from a corner to record a horrendous 4-1 defeat to Hull, the bottom team in the league. This is the worst performance I've seen us give in defence. Unbelievably poor, and I reckon Stevenage and Accrington defenders had shown more fight in our matches against them, than ours did against Hull today. A total disgrace and embarrassing, especially given how well we'd done defensively in our match against Spurs.

Blackburn (A) Premier League

Our trip to Ewood Park sees us arrive as favourites, with Blackburn having suffered 6 defeats in a row. Hopefully this will gives us the opportunity to bounce back and prove our qualities as a team. For the first time this season Fatih Yucel will start from the bench as the run of matches in quick succession sees him not recovered as well as I'd like at only 90%. Hogan Ephraim was also sat on the bench for similar reasons.

When the match started I could see we were looking out of sorts, and Blackburn were coming forward but we were at least standing firm. This was very much a midfield battle though, and we were giving the ball away far too easilly. In the 38th minute we conceded from yet another corner, with a poor piece of defending. I was angry with that, as the player that scored should not have been able to out jump his marker. We managed to hold on to half time behind by the one goal.

At half time I told the players I expected more from them, and brought both Fatih Yucel and Ephraim on for the second half. We looked to have a bit more intent about our play, and only a good save denied us levelling the score in the 52nd minute. In the 60th minute Lung jr produced a brilliant diving save to stop us falling further behind. After 70 minutes I was getting frustrated and directed the players to go on the attack. In the 74th minute Fatih Yucel produced an excellent cross which Di Gennaro got his head to, but was denied by a desperate clearance. In the 81st minute Rowlands provided an excellent throughball for Fatih Yucel to run onto and get clear of the defenders. He closed on the goal, slotted the ball home to level the scores. I was pleased that we had managed to get ourselves back to level scores, although overall not totally convinced by our performance. The match ended as a 1-1 draw, with us almost grabbing a winner seconds before the final whistle blew. Another match where our defence showed frailties to concede another poor goal, but I was pleased how we managed to fight back to grab a share of the points. A rather unconvincing performance, but after our dismal effort in the previous match, this was encouraging.

Manchester United (H) Premier League

The Red Devils arrive as a clear favourites for this match, although their form has been very patchy this season. I feel this is probably going to be have to be another back to the walls job, and try to crack them on the counter attack. This is a match that I think a draw would be a great result for us, and a win quite unlikely, but with football you never know. I sent the players out on the field telling them to do this for the fans.

In the first couple of minutes I could tell both sides were up for this match, with both teams firing a half chance just wide of the target. We looked like we were playing with much more purpose than we had in the previous couple of matches, and in the 5 minute we showed this when Buzsaky slipped a pass to Fatih Yucel just inside the penalty box, which he was able to fire into the far bottom corner, and give us the lead. This was a dream start, which turned out to have nightmare twist in the 7th minute when we allowed United to whip in a cross from the right for Rooney to equalise. I was not happy that we'd again allowed a team to get a goal back almost immediately after we'd scored one. Although United were coming at us, the one thing I could see might give them trouble was a lack of discipline they were showing, with Rooney getting a yellow card early on, and other tackles flying in at regular intervals.The pressure United were exerting seemed to be good for us, as it allowed us excellent opportunities to counter attack. Ephraim and Buzsaky both fired in long shots which hit the crossbar, making me wonder if this was going to be one of those luckless days. Rooney seemed to be looking determined to be sent for an early bath, and began to think maybe we'd gain a man advantage later in the match. We now seemed to have our concentration again at the back, which was stopping United finding a route through. In the 27th minute a kick up field from our keeper for Fatih Yucel to run onto saw Vidic bring him down just outside the area, and earn a yellow card. Buzsaky stepped up and cracked the ball into the top corner of the net to give us the lead again. For the next few minutes we were put under pressure again, but looked to be standing firm. However in the 34th minute the equaliser was to come from a long shot from Anderson to score a thunderous shot. Given his long shots skill is only 5, I was dissappointed he picked this match to fire in his one in a million shot. United kept pushing and we had to withstand a lot of pressure at the end of the half, but again United were helping us with fouls, and Vidic was also now looking a likely candidate for a red card. We were still however showing good skill when we did get forward, which was pleasing at the end of the half with the score level at 2 goals each.

Apart from our one lapse of concentration I was pleased with our performance, and sent the lads back out, hoping they could keep this going and secure a draw, but I was now thinking a win might be a possibility. I don't know what Fergie had said to his side at half time, but they came out of the traps trying to throw everything at us, but our midfield and defence were looking very solid, even though we were struggling at that point to have much possession. I knew if we could just weather this storm, we'd get our chance to start putting together some good play ourselves.After 10 minutes of this I could see we were finally getting some time on the ball and mounting attacks. In the 60th minute the United keeper cleared the ball to the middle of the field, and after a quick pass back to Laure at right back he thumped the ball upfield for Balanta to run onto, and headed forward. Once in the area, he squared the ball to Fatih Yucel, who thumped the ball home with his favoured left foot. A brilliant move made by the pass of Laure and the pace of Balanta. The question now was, how long could we hold on to this lead? We definitely had a fair bit of defending to do now, but also getting to mount quite a few attacks of our own. I brought Di Gennaro on for Balanta, as he was beginning to look slightly tired. Lung jr made a couple of cracking saves to stop United equalising, and began to wonder if it might be possible to keep this lead to the end of the match. In the 75th minute we were helped by Rio Ferdinand making a very rash and vicious tackle that earned him a straight red card. Of all the United players, he was one of the last I expected to make the walk of shame off the pitch.

United were still looking aggressive, but I could see big gaps opening up, and in the 82nd minute, after a United corner, Buzsaky cleared the ball up the centre of the pitch, with Di Gennaro free of the last defenders and bearing down on the keeper. When his shot hit the keeper I was dissappointed, but saw Ephraim had joined him upfield and smashed the ball into what was now an empty net for him. I was ecstatic that we'd managed to extend the lead. I truly believed we could do this now, and we frustrating United for most of the remaining time by keeping the ball in our possession for long periods of time, which allowed us to play out for a stunning 4-2 victory. A complete success for counter attacking football, in what had been a highly entertaining match. After the last few matches I could not have dreamed of us managing to achieve a result like this. After a dip in morale, this has largely restored most of the confidence back into the team.

Monthly Roundup

This was a truly bizarre month which saw us go from a total nightmare scenario to a wonderful dreamscape at the end. I'm beginning to think some of the players, especially at the back are getting too complacent when we play teams that are lower than us. With 1 win, 2 draws a loss in the league, we've managed to acheive what I thought we would before the start of the month, but after losing to Hull, I began to think we'd end with no wins. Elsewhere a lot of results have helped us too, with teams tripping over each other, which sees us only slip down to 4th place, and dreaming of European football. One thing to note though, is that we've played 2 more matches at home than we have away, which means we have 3 home matches left and 5 away fixtures left, which may have an impact.

In good news Daeseleire my first choice right back is now back in training after his broken collar bone. However it will probably be a few weeks before he's fully fit again to take his place back in the starting eleven. This does mean, that we end this month with no injuries to first team players. Fatih Yucel has won the Premiership Young Player of the Month award after some more excellent performances, and is now the leading scorer in the league with 25 goals. This hasn't been quite as good a month for him, but still an outstanding effort, and once again the teams player of the month, with a mention for Buzsaky who has also shown some excellent form.

January 2011 - Wonderkid Hits Top Form

The month starts with news of a possible loan from A.C. Milan of Davide Di Gennaro. If he decides to join us, he could well be very useful in the role of a striker or right winger.

Stevenage (A) FA Cup 3rd Round

Our trip to play one of the better performers from the Blue Square Premier League, was a match we were clear favourites, and be expected to win with ease. I also had to bear in mind the run of fixtures we have, so decided to give a lot of my first team a rest as we play our main rivals Chelsea at home in 3 days time. I felt the players I was bringing in, such as Lee Cook and Clement Grenier on the wings, Matthew Connolly and Laure at the full back positions, would still give way too much for Stevenage to be able to cope with. I decided to give Martin Rowlands a start in the centre of the park, along side Buzsaky to give us lots of attacking power in the middle. I decided to keep Fatih Yucel and Angelo Balanta, hoping they would get some goals and restore them back to the confidence they had earlier in the season.

I started the match using the Attacking strategy, to try and take control of the match as soon as we can, and avoid becoming the victims of an historic upset. Right from the off we showed the difference in quality, although I was impressed with some of the Stevenage defending making some good tackles to cut out some early opportunities or us to open the scoring. We opened the scoring in the 13th minute, when Connolly provided a great throughball into the box to Fatih Yucel who was in arces of space, allowing him to turn and slam the ball home. This settled any little nervousness I had, even though Stevenage had hardly even made it out of their own half. Our 2nd goal came in the 26th minute, from Balanta using his pace and dribbling skills to get behind the Stevenage defence on the right, and produced an excellent cross to the 6 yard box, which Fatih Yucel pounced on to hammer home his 2nd of the match. We displayed our dominance 4 minutes later by moving the ball around, with Cook in space on the left whipping in a cross to the 6 yard box, which Balanta was able to get his head on and open his account for the match. We continued to push forward, with Buzsaky taking a few long range shots, which produced a few good saves from the Stevenage keeper. The first half ended with us leading 3-0, after a totally dominant display of football, with Stevenage being able to create a single shot.

The second half started with us again playing excellent football, providing opportunities for Buzsaky to take some long shots. He was denied again by the keeper producing some excellent saves. In the 58th minute we conceded a free kick in the middle of the park, from which Stevenage managed to put together some excellent passes, from which they were able to score. I was a bit disappointed, although it was a great move, showing that a team of Stevenage's standing can produce some great football at times. This disappointment was soon forgotten 2 minutes later with Rowlands hitting a throughball for Balanta to run onto at the edge of the box in space, which allowed him to score his second of the match. We continued to dominate the rest of the match and had a few more chances from which we probably should have scored a couple more times. I was delighted that we turned in a good performance and do what we were expected to do in this match. With my strike partnership also getting 2 each, they will now hopefully have a lot more confidence into the rest of the month.

The following day Davide Di Gennaro confirmed that he is joining us on a loan from our parent club A.C. Milan. He is severely lacking match practice, so will take a while before he's ready to make a 1st team start.

Chelsea (H) Premier League

This is the most important fixture of the season, a home match against our closest rivals. This is match where the fans demand a victory, and anything else isn't good enough. The one thing that I know before the match is that there will be no problem getting the players motivated for this fixture. I'm certain that Chelsea will come at us trying to dominate and take complete control of the match. When the team sheets were announced, I see that Chelsea are playing a playing a 4-2-3-1, which is very attacking playing the 2 central midfielders playing in the centre of the park just behind the 3 attacking midfielders. My thoughts are that although Chelsea will put us under a lot of pressure, I can't afford to drop deep, as this will allow Lampard (AMC) far too much room for unleashing his thunderous long shots. To get something from this match we'll have to defend very well, and score with any chances that we do create.

When the match started it was clear we'd put under a lot of pressure, but it looked like our defending would hopefully be up to the job. After 5 minutes Lampard did get some space to take a crack from distance, bringing out a fantastic save from Lung jr to turn the ball around the post. In spite of the pressure we were still able to get a reasonable amount of time on the ball. In the 17th minute we won a corner, on the right. Ephraim stepped up and hit the ball to the edge of the 6 yard box, where Puygrenier had moved to get a clear header which he managed to direct into the goal to open the scoring. Most of the next passage of play was confined to a battle in the midfield, with only the occasional shot from either team. This continued until the 34th minute, when Hogan Ephraim received the ball on the left side, cut inside to the edge of the box, and managed to slide a cross along the edge of 6 yard for Fatih Yucel to have an easy put away to extend our lead to 2 goals. As the first half was drawing to a close, I could see that the biggest problem for Chelsea was the number of fouls they were committing. The first half ended with us still retaining our 2 goal lead, which I was delighted about, but knew we would still need to keep this performace going to stop Chelsea finding a way back into the game.

After telling the team I was pleased with them, they went back out, looking like they wanted to extend the lead further. In the 47th minute John Terry fouled Fatih Yucel just outside of the edge of the penalty box. Given he was the last defender, I'm not sure how he was not booked, but then the ref for the match is the infamous Steve Clattenburg. Fatih Yucel then stepped up to take the free kick and hit a delightful curling shot around the wall to extend our lead to 3 goals. I was at least beginning to believe we might be able to do this. Five minutes later I had to bring Balanta off because he took a very heavy knock, rather to keep his condition good, than an injury worry. I brought on Di Gennaro on for his debut to give him some time on the pitch. Unsurprisingly Chelsea pushed even harder, so it was no surprise when Drogba scored for Chelsea in the 64th minute by getting his head to a cross. My nervousness really started to rise in the 78th minute when Drogba managed to slip his marker in the box at a corner to thump the ball home with a vicious volley. I could sense Chelsea beginning to believe they could get something, and they started to push even further forward, which began to leave them exposed at the back to counter attacks, giving us our most sustained period of control. In the 90th minute my nerves were settled when  Ephraim floated in a high cross from the left side of the pitch. Di Gennaro moved in to Challenge the keeper. This pressure lead to Cech failing to catch the ball and deflecting it into the back of the net, leaving Chelsea not having enough time to make any further reply.

I was delighted with the result, and the determination shown by the team. Our defending on the whole was brilliant, with Lung jr putting in a great performance in goal. Ephraim was stunning on the left wing, causing the Chelsea defence a lot of problems. Man of the match however went to Fatih Yucel, with the highlight being his stunning freekick. In the brief appearance by Di Gennaro he looks to be fairly similar to Balanta, with plenty of pace, but with better off the ball and finishing attributes. After losing 2 home matches in a row, I was delighted to get back on track with a win, in particular as it was against Chelsea.

Newcastle (A) Premier League

Our visit to St. James' Park sees us arrive on a huge high after victory over Chelsea, and Newcastle morale low after a couple of defeats. Newcastle are favourites for this match, but feel we have a decent opportunity to get something from this match. The speed of Jonas on the wing is a bit of a worry, but I'm sure Daeseleire will be able to mostly deal with this.

Right from the first whistle I could tell that both sets of players were up for this match. I could see that Newcastle were going to very phsyical, with a number of tackles flying in. In the 5th minute a brilliant piece of defending denied Newcastle an opportunity, although I believe Lung jr would have stopped the shot. In the 13th minute, Newcastle conceded a free kick just outside the area. Buzsaky stepped up and struck a marvellous shot to score with a curling shot at the near post, with the Newcastle keeper hardly even able to react. Newcastle tried to push for an equaliser, but we were sucessfully limiting them to long range shots, until the 23rd minute when they finally managed to get a cross in from the byeline for Moses to score. I was disappointed with this, as I feel a lapse in concentration allowed him the space. At this point Newcastle felt some confidence, and started to push a bit more, and I began to get slightly worried. Although they were committing a lot of fouls which caused a lot of their attacks to break down. In the 40th minute following a series of Newcastle corners the ball was cleared to Ephraim on the left flank, and he was allowed the room to advance forward and then whip in a cross to the centre of the box, which was met by Balanta who put away a close range shot to give us back the lead. After this we dominated the rest of the first half with a series of corners.

I was pleased with how we'd reacted after taking the lead again, so sent the players back telling them I was pleased with them. We showed some great belief early in the half, forcing some great saves from their keeper. We also managed to make sure any chances that Newcastle did create were at best half chances, which they could not make us pay with. Ephraim continued to terrorise them on the left wing, with their right back seeming to be unable to stop him being able to get crosses into the box, a couple of which were headed just wide of the target. In the 75th minute, Newcastle conceded a penalty, which Fatih Yucel stepped up to take. However he thumped the ball straight at the keeper, with the rebound managing to go safe. I was disappointed by this miss, and hoped we weren't going to pay for this. Immediately after this they switched to a 5-3-2 formation, whch allowed us to dominate the last period of the match.

I was delighted with this battling away performance, quite possibly our best away performance of the season, in which we should have made the match even more comfortable. With his stunning free kick, Buzsaky picked up the man of the match award. This completes the double over Newcastle, against whom we could only gain one point from last season, which is extremely pleasing.

Wigan (A) Premier League

We started the match looking motivated, and in the 4th minute we should have taken the lead. Unfortunately our goal was ruled out because Slory had dived in the penalty area just before Ephraim hammered the ball home. Instead of a goal we ended up with Slory getting a needless yellow card, which was very annoying. We continued to press forward, but it soon became clear that Wigan seemed more intent on hacking lumps out of us, putting in a series of extremely hard tackles. When Wigan did come forward our defence was rock solid, allowing them to only take 2 shots in the first half. We hit the woodwork twice to deny us, and the Wigan keeper pulled sevearl good saves. In the 34th minute Daeseleire was injured during a particularly hard challenge, causing me to have to substitute him. Wigan's very hard tackles, seemed to be going unpunished, which was a bit worrying, in particular a sliding a tackle from behind that only resulted in a free kick, and not even a talking to from the referee. During the second half these tackles caused Slory to pick up a knock, but seemed okay to carry on. Despite the first half finishing goalless, I was pleased with our performance, but disappointed that the referee seemed to allowing Wigan to get away with committed so many bad tackles.

Two minutes into the second half the Wigan keeper managed to pull off 3 amazing saves in succession to deny opening the scoring. In the 60th minute Balanta had a difficult chance from an acute angle but put the ball just wide. Shortly after Balanta was to suffer a knock from another heavy tackle, and decided it was best to bring on Di Gennaro in his place in the 64th minute. In the 67th minute this substition was to look inspired, as Slory slipped a great diagonal pass through to Di Gennaro just outside the penalty area. He moved forward, and then squared a great pass to Fatih Yucel who was in space in the penalty area, for him to finally open the scoring. Although Wigan tried to respond they failed to create anything and we managed to hold on for a well deserved victory.

I was impressed with how the side managed to keep going despite the heavy tackling by Wigan, and how well we defended to make sure we never gave Wigan the chance to score. Sebastian Puygrenier's performance in the heart of defence earned him the man of the match award. Sadly the injury to Daeseleire broke his collar bone and will put him out for about 8 weeks. I can imagine in a real press conference I'd be calling the Wigan players thugs and getting into trouble for saying the referee was very poor in this match.

Arsenal (A) Premier League

Our 3rd straight away fixture sees us visit the Emirates Stadium, to play the Gunners who are clear favourites, and will be out to avenge the defeat we inflicted at Loftus Road. I fully expect Arsenal to come at us, meaning we'll have to defend well and make the best of the opportunities we do create to get anything from this match, so I picked a Counter strategy. The backroom staff tell me that Arsenal struggle against a 4-4-2 formation, which is quite encouraging for us.

When the match started I was encouraged with the way we passed the ball about for the first few minutes, looking for a way to break down the Arsenal defence. After 10 minutes the match settled down to more even possession, with Arsenal pushing forward, which might provide us with excellent chances for a counter attack. In the 14th minute a clearance from an Arsenal corner was cleared, which Faurlin chased down to the left flank and then proceeded to run down the line until just before the byeline. He hit a superb cross which Fatih Yucel was able to rise above the Arsneal players to hit a header past the keeper to open the scoring. An astonishing start for us, which proves just how good we are on the counter-attack. It was also pleasing that when Arsenal came forward we were mostly confining them either long shots are corners, which we were defending well. This continued to give us some excellent opportunities to make counter-attacks, to which Arsenal looked very vulnerable. In the 33rd minute another clearance after an Arsenal attack broke down was cleared to the right for Routledge to latch on, and he sprinted down the flank. As he approached the corner he whipped in a cross to the box, which was met by the head of Fatih Yucel to power home a brilliant header. The first half ended with us leading by the two goals, after a most impressive display of defending and counter-attacking.

I told the players I was pleased and sent them back out, hoping they would be able to keep up this level of performance. Within a minute of the restart another Arsenal attack broke down, allowing us to clear the ball to Fatih Yucel just inside the Arsenal half, and just on-side. He continued to run with the ball onwards, getting pushed to the left side of the area. As he neared the byeline being closed down by two defenders, he produced a marvellous shot with his stronger left foot which the keeper was unable to stop going in at the near post. This completed a marvellous hat-trick, the first of his career. Arsenal contined to push with us still managing to stop them creating any chances until the 75th minute when Eduardo was credited with the goal after an attemtped clearance in our crowded area hit him and rebounded into the net. We continued to defend really well and worry Arsenal with our swift counter-attacks. In the 87th minute, Eduardo scored his second which was again rather lucky as it appears to have been scored after he dived and the ball hit his shoulder to direct it goalward. This set the nerves going a bit for the last few minutes of the match. Conceding an equaliser now would be completely devestating, and every time Arsenal came forward I couldn't help getting worried. Fortunately held firm to hold onto our lead and produce a famous 3-2 win at the Emirates Stadium. I'm absolutely delighted with this result, which our display deserved. Fatih Yucel was superb today, with his 3rd goal being one of the best goals scored this season. I have to say that, although I know we can defend well, and our counter attacks are good, this result was not what I was expecting.

We've now recorded 5 victories so far this year, with 4 match run in the league. I'm not sure what the players did for the New Year, but they seem to be playing with outstanding determination and belief. Fatih Yucel has now scored 8 goals in the last 5 matches, which is outstanding form. I have to say I was also surprised that Arsenal did not play the best squad available, yet again. Fabregas, van Persie and Clichy their top performers this season were not in the squad, along with injuries to Sagna, Walcott and Alumnia, which helped us.

Accrington Stanley (H) FA Cup 4th Round

The visit of Accrington comes with them firmly rooted to the bottom of Coca Cola League Two, making us overwhelming favourites for this tie. As I did with the Stevanage tie, I picked the Attacking strategy, although I didn't make as many changes to the squad. This should be a comfortable win, and feel we should try to dominate from the first whistle, and with their lack of pace they should pose little threat to us at the back, even when we push high up the field.

To my delight we immediately went on the attack and after only 20 seconds Balanta had a chance with a header that bounced back off the bar, showing our intent from the off. We continued to press and within a minute Di Gennaro, playing on the right wing, scored with a header from the middle of a crowded area. I couldn't have asked for a better start than taking the lead in the 2nd minute, having already hit the bar before that. This was also his first goal since joining us on loan. After the restart Stanley tried to make a game of it, but could not find a way through our defence, which provided us with the opportunity to counter attack, with Fatih Yucel just marginally offside to deny him the chance to open his account in this match. The 13th minute proved unlucky for Accrington after they conceded a corner, which Buzsaky swung into the box for Puygrenier to head towards goal. This was our 2nd shot to hit the crossbar, but this time the ball deflected down and went into the goal off the back off one of the defenders, and doubled our lead. We seemed to be able to get balls into the box whenever we wanted, which caused complete panic and confusion at times for Accrington.

I could tell the players wanted to add to the scoreline, and in the 15th minute, Rafa found Balanta just outside the box, with time to swivel and curl in beautiful shot, giving the keeper not chance. Again we looked hungry to add to the 3 goals we already had. In the 19th minute Buzsaky swung in another corner, which Stranzl met with his head, only to be denied his first goal for the club by Fatih Yucel managing to get a slight deflection on the ball before it went it. I was delighted that we'd reached a 4-0 lead in under 20 minutes, and began wondering where our players wanted to stop with the scoring. We continued to dominate and Balanta was denied the opportunity to get free of the defence when he was brought down from behind, to earn that player a yellow card. If he'd avoided that challenge, I believe he'd have been able to outpace the other players trying to track back. This showed we wanted to add more goals, but some Accrington managed to keep us from adding another goal in the first half.

I was pleased with this totally dominate display, and hoped we wouldn't get complacent in the second half and concede any silly consolation goals. I did have to worry though, right from the kick off the players definitely up for increasing their goal tally, with Fatih Yucel denied within seconds of the half starting. Minutes later the their keeper was busy again deflect a Balanta shot wide for a corner. In the 56th minute Balanta charged down the right and provided an excellent cross for Fatih Yucel to add our 5th goal of the match. Buzsaky was now attempting long shots whenever he got the opportunity, but failed to find the target with any this match. We continued to dominate the rest of the match, with Fatih Yucel denied his hat-trick by a fine diving save. The match ended with us running out 5-0 winners, after a delightful display of football, showing that we are not complacent against lesser opposition. This is the kind of performance we would be expected to put in and pleased that the players have lived up the expectations.

It will be no surprise that other top teams are now trying to get us to part with Fatih Yucel. After some questions in a press conference where I answered "I don't particularly see a situation under which he'd leave the club at such a young age," when asked about the chances of him leaving, I was delighted that he has responded well to this. I now feel confident that he will be staying with us for a while yet.

Everton (H) Premier League

The Toffees visit Loftus Road as marginal favourite, and looking to continue their climb back up the table, after a huge slump at the end of last year. Early in the season they were in hot form, but then went through a disastrous run of form which looked like they'd be fighting to keep away from the relegation area. This month they have reversed that trend and arrive showing more confidence, so could be dangerous opponents, possessing the ability to hurt us at the back.

The match started fairly even, with Everton looking at the start as if some of their players were looking to get red cards. In fact later in the match the referee was extremely generous in not sending Jagielka off the pitch. What I did notice was that Everton seemed to winning a number of corners and able to get a head to the ball first. Just as I was thinking this in the 26th minute Yobo scored from a corner to give Everton the lead. Very annoying to concede a goal that way, as it always feels soft, especially as slightly earlier Tim Howard had somehow made a save from Fatih Yucel with the ball ballooning to safety. He is a great keeper and denied him again with a reflex save that again went safe, and worried me that we just were not going to be lucky. The first half ended with us trailing by that one goal, due to our inability today to defend a corner properly. I have no idea why we were awful today at this, especially after so many matches where we'd been excellent. That was frustrating, but I felt we were unlucky to be behind, and that we'd done enough to have deserved to be level.

The second half was to be immensely frustrating, because although we dominated large periods of it, Everton were to score in the 55th from a cross that we totally failed to deal with, and double their lead. It was like my players forgot what this sperical object floating through the air was a minute. We pushed hard to get back into the match, and just as I was beginning to think Tim Howard was going to save every shot we could make, a bit of ping pong around the penalty area saw Fatih Yucel in space to receive a pass which he dispatched with a vicious volley in the 75th minute. The team were determined to try and find that equaliser, but Everton were now defending in numbers, making it so difficult to get through. A couple of times I thought a player had got free, only for last desperate tackle knock the ball away. The match ended with Everton running out 2-1 winners, in a match that could so easilly have gone the other way.

I hate Everton, as they seem to be my nemesis team in Football Manager. In all prevous versions I have rarely managed to gain points off them, no matter what team I've been managing. It doesn't help that I also hate them in real life, which only adds to the frustration after going down to a defeat like this. Our team had played quite well, but it just wasn't to be today, and my nemesis still continues to annoy me. One day we shall rise and vanquish them in style.

Reading (H) Premier League

The Royals visit Loftus Road off the back of a 4 match losing streak and struggling in the relegation zone. We are firm favourites for this match and expected to win this with ease. My scout tells me the Reading defence is quite slow and can be taken advantage of with our pace, which I hope turns out to be true. They also have a few important first team members out injured, so the signs look good beforehand.

Our first half performance was nothing short of dismal, and probably our worst single half of football we've played this season. We provided Reading with lots of chances to hit shots, with them hitting the post, and Lung jr having to make a couple of good saves. We actually had more possession, but we look all at sea in the final third of the pitch, creating few chances that never looked like worrying the net. For the first time this season I told the players at half time that I was disappointed in their performance.

When the players first went back out on the pitch, I could see their motivation had gone up, with a couple of players now looking fired up. Instead of being second to most balls, and lacking imagination in the final third of the pitch we started to look a bit more dangerous, but still struggling to break their defence down. In the 53rd minute however Epraim looped a ball over the top into the penatly area, which Balanta had a free run onto, which allowed him to glance a header past the keeper to put us ahead. This seemed to calm us down and we started to find spaces opening up for us, but the Reading goal seemed to living a charmed life now, with us somehow failing to extend the lead. In the 72nd minute disaster struck with a the ball bouncing about in our penalty area from a Reading corner allowed them to stab hom the ball from there only chance created in the second half. This was as soft a goal as you can concede, and began to think we'd just paid for not being able to put away some of those chances.

The match proceeded on with our players pressing hard to find a winner but again the Reading goal seemed to have magical spell on it that was stopping us getting the ball across the line, with desperate saves coming from everwhere. With the minute nearing the end of the second minute of stoppage time, Buzsaky managed to thread a ball through to Fatih Yucel at the edge of the penalty area. The keeper came forward and allowed him an easy put away to give us victory in the dying seconds, and puts the seal on a most extraordinary month of football. Our second half performance was so much better, and shoould have given us a much more comfortable victory, but still happy that we finally managed to get the breakthrough.

Monthly Summary

The performance of the team in what I thought would be a very tough month has been outstanding. I think drawing Stevenage at the start of the month allowed us to get ourselves back into winning ways, ready for the Chelsea match. The players didn't need much incentive in that match, pulling off a mostly unlikely victory. That seemed to give the players an amazing confidence to go out and perform, with Everton the only team to overcome us. Before the month started I thought our best chances for victories were the Newcastle and Reading matches. The others I thought a draw was probably our best chance. I can only praise Arsene Wenger for again not fielding his best available team against us. After the set of results we did get, I'm left amazed that we managed to achieve these results.

Our stunning run of form has moved us back up the table to now sit in 3rd place, and won me the Premiership Manager of the Month award, for winning 5 out of the 6 league fixtures. Fatih Yucel won the Premiership Player of the Month award after scoring 8 goals in 6 matches. Having added another 4 goals from the 2 FA Cup matches to score 12 goals in 8 matches, he is my teams player of the month by a long way. This has been the most astonishing month for this wonderkid, who I signed at the start of the season with worries that he may cause problems in the team. Instead of causing problems, the opposite has happened with the majority of the squad either pleased to be playing along side him, or saying he will become an important member of the team. Everyone else is united behind Sebestian Puygrenier, including Fatih Yucel, which gives the team a special harmony. Fatih Yucel has improved quite a bit so far this year, and his attributes are now very scary for a 19 year old.

The month ends with our only injury being the broken collar bone that Daeseleire suffered earlier in the month, which will see him out for the next month too.

December 2010 - Perfect Home Record Finally Ends

This is going to be the toughest month of the season so far, as it consists of 6 matches, the League Cup Quarter Final and the rest being league fixtures.

Sunderland (A) League Cup Quarter Final

The fans are hopeful that this visit to the Stadium of Light will see us turn over the Black Cats against the odds, and proceed to the Semi Final. I believe we have a slim chance, but Sunderland have a lot of talent with pace, that could seriously test us. We will need another defensive display of the quality we showed when they visited Loftus Road last month, when we managed to sneak a lucky win.

The match started with managing to gain quite a bit of possession early on with Buzsaky taking the first crack at goal from long range, which just whistled past the post. After the first few minutes the match settled down to be an entertaining end to end affair, although worryingly Sunderland were creating more chances than us. The Sunderland strikers were being consistently caught off-side, but it concerned me that this might be a dangerous game if our backline got things wrong. With the match still without a goal as we headed into stoppage time at the end of the first half, I was delighted to see Daeseleire produce a wonderful cross into the 6 yard box, which  Fatih Yucel was able to control on his chest and then slam the ball home with venom. This brought the first half to an end with us leading, making me very happy, but I knew there was still a long way to go.

The second half was much as the first had been, with the ball being moved from end to end, with Sunderland always looking the more dangerous and likely to score. Our lead only survived for 5 minutes of the second half, with Lee Cattermole finding space and slamming the ball home from the corner of the penalty box. That was frustrating, but we kept battling, trying to make some more opportunities. In the 64th minute a series of passing moves ended with Buzsaky receiving the ball about 30 yards out from the goal with time and space, and produced a stunning drive. The goalkeeper got a hand to the ball, but it wasn't enough to stop the ball from finishing in the back of the net. Sadly this lead didn't last long, as in the 67th minute, Fraizer Campbell hit a screamer from the edge of the box just out of reach of the keeper to level the score again. This is one of a couple of things I seriously hate, to concede a goal so soon after we've scored one. Just as I was becoming resigned to the annoyance of extra time, we gave away a free kick just outside the penalty area on the left side. In the 2nd minute of stoppage time the free kick was hit across the box, and Fraizer Campbell eased away from his marker to head the ball home for the most annoying of winners. I was angry that we'd conceded from a set piece, and in stoppage time, to throw a match away. The players had given some great performances, but a lapse of concentration destroyed all that good work, and puts an end to our League Cup run, with the final score being 3-2 to the Black Cats.

Tottenham (H) Premier League

Spurs arrive at Loftus Road off the back of 3 straight wins and are unbeaten for two months. Last time we played them, in last years League Cup, we lost in a very close match. Although we are considered underdogs, I feel we have improved since last year, so we will hopefully get something out of this, especially as we're still holding onto our perfect home record. The morale has dropped a bit after the last match, but the players should be up for gaining revenge. In what I hope is a good omen, our under 18's beat Spurs in their match the day before this fixture. Spurs start with Crouch and Pavlyuchenko up front, who are not particularly fast, but a big threat in the air. The wingers are quite fast and Palacios in the centre of midfield was a worry. Spurs have the ability to control play quite well, which would suggest dropping a bit deeper, however, I felt this would be dangerous with their strikers having plenty of strength. Pushing up field wasn't really an option, so decided a Standard strategy would hopefully be the best option. Before the match I changed the setup for defending corners, which is now detailed in a previous post.

The match started with us going on the attack straight away, and in the 3rd minute a mistake from a defensive throw-in, saw the ball drop to Buzsaky on the edge of the area. He moved forward with the ball and stroked home a beautiful curling ball past the helpless Gomes. The rest of the first half saw Tottenham push forward, which allowed us several opportunities to extend our lead but fine saves by Gomes denied us. Lung jr and our defensive line were doing a great job to deny Spurs getting on the scoresheet. A fairly exciting first half ended with us leading by Buzsaky's early strike.

I was fairly happy with our display, and tried to encourage the players to keep going as we could be certain that Spurs would take the attack to us. The second half started with end to end football, with both sides showing great touches. I was annoyed that Palacios was given the space to run into, and strike the ball home from the edge of the penalty area. This was the first time we'd allowed him any space, and paid the price. The exciting end to end play continued, with both sides showing their passing abilities, but also some great defending. The first really bad piece of defending happened when Dawson pulled Fatih Yucel down in the box. He'd already been booked, and was lucky to stay on the pitch, after another talking to by the referee. Fatih Yucel stepped up and dispatched the spot kick with confidence, to restore our lead.

The match continued in the same style, so it was no huge surprise when another goal was scored in the 75th minute. This time Defoe slammed in a strike from just outside the box, curling it just around Puygrenier and squeezed just inside the post. I was angry about this, with Defoe allowed too much time on the ball. However this anger lasted less than a minute, with Ephraim being passed the ball on the left hand side from the kick off, and produced a delightful looping cross from the byeline which Balanta was able to run onto and head home from close range. I was delighted, as this brought his goal drought of 5 games to an end, and gave us the lead back.

Spurs then became slightly desperate, pushing even higher up the field. In the 83rd minute after a Spurs corner, Lung jr produced a great throw to find Slory on the right hand side just in the Tottenham half, with space to get to the byeline without any pressure on him. He produced a superb cross to the far post, which Hogan Ephraim was able to get to first with his head, to extend our lead to 2 goals. That was the last goal in an entertaining match, which ended up with the score flattering us slightly, although we'd probably just about done enough to justify taking all 3 points. Ephraim put in the man of the match performance scoring a goal and providing an assist. I am delighted with this result, especially as I'd made some changes to some player settings for defending corners, and we looked much better at the back. Spurs rarely managed to get a head onto any of their corners, which is great as they have a height and heading advantage over us. Unfortunately Varrault twisted his knee during the match, and will be out for about 3 weeks. This is definitely a blow to lose our Vice Captain, who has been doing a great job for us from right back. I am greatly amused that this result is seen as a shock.

Burnley (H) Premier League

Although Burnley have been struggling this season, they arrive at Loftus Road off the back of a good home win against Sunderland. We are clear favourites, but I feel Burnley will try to make it very hard for us to break their defence down. Matthew Connolly makes his first start of the season, at left back as a replacement for Varrault. My only concern is his pace, although he does have good attributes for defending. I've decided to start the match with the Standard strategy, as the pace Burnley has should not be a problem for us to deal with.

The match started with both sides finding it hard to take any attack beyond the defence of the other side. We were were retaining slightly more possession and had the slightly better of the few chances either side created. This pattern went on through to half time, in what was not a very exciting match, as both defences were being very dominant. Neither side was finding it easy to get to the byeline, making it hard to get any decent crosses into the box, and working the ball through the centre was being met with stern resistance.

In the second half, we showed slightly more intent, but it was still a struggle. With the match closing in on a boring no-score draw both sides had only really created one decent chance. Lung jr made one good save to stop Burnley scoring when they managed to get behind our defence. Our best chance had been from a corner with Nasuti thumping a header straight at the Burnley keeper. In the 89th minute there was to finally be a winner when Ephraim found room on the left to reach the byeline and hit a cross into the now crowded box. A Burnley player failed to control the ball due to the speed of the cross. Rafa who had made a run into the box, was happy to find the ball bounce out into his path and buried the ball into an almost wide open net. I was delighted with this late goal to steal the points, in a match I thought was heading for a rather dismal goalless draw. This win has now extended our run of home wins in the league to 9. This was Rafa's first appearance back after his injury, coming on as a sub in the 59th minute, and grabbing his first goal since he signed for the club. This was a match where on the whole neither side really allowed the other to get any kind of rhythm to their play.

West Ham (H) Premier League

For our 3rd home match in a row, we welcome fellow Londoner's, West Ham. They arrive at Loftus Road, like us having won 2 home matches in a row, and just behind us in the league table. We are marginal favourites for this match, which looks as though it will be fairly tricky. One piece of good news for us is that Valon Behrami is suspended for this match, who is one of West Ham's best players, Dean Ashton is also injured, removing another potential danager. The Hammer's have lined up with a diamond formation with the two wide midfielders playing on the wings.

The match started off with West Ham getting more possession, but we always looked more likely to score. Buzsaky tested the goalkeeper several times, with the keeper being lucky that one of his desperate parries went safe. West Ham created a few half chances, but in the first half completely failed to even test the keeper. The first half ended with the neither side able to break the deadlock.

In the second half we started off brightly, and in the 48th minute, Ephraim ran to the byeline on the left. Seeing his route to cross on his left foot was cut off, he turned back and whipped in a cross on his right foot. Fatih Yucel got in front of his marker to deflect the ball into the net with his head. This was a fantastic way to start the second half. I was pleased that we did not lose concentration to allow the Hammer's a quick equaliser, as this has happened far too often to us. West Ham were still getting more of the possession but looking less likely to score even though they were now pushing. In the 73rd minute we allowed a Carlton Cole to meet a whipped in cross with his head, leaving our keeper no chance of making a save. I was annoyed but still felt were looking more likely to get a winner. The winner came through a huge slice of good fortune, as a poor attempt at a cross hit our crossbar, and ballooned up allowing Carlton Cole to head home the winner in the 88th minute. I guess we got lucky to find the winner in our previous match, now luck has bitten us back to give West Ham an undeserved victory. The draw would have been a fair result, with us always looking to have been the more likely to sneak a winner. This loss feels very painful and brings our impressive run of home victories to an end in a most frustrating and unlucky fashion, especially as the goals from Cole were the only time he managed to even create a shot. It is slightly amusing though, that after the match Carlton Cole criticised Gianfranco Zola for his team talks, saying they were not helping the side. Quite amazing given that West Ham have now risen to 3rd in the league, and are the current form team.

Birmingham (A) Premier League

Our visit to St. Andrews sees us visit a team that last secured a win in the League back at the start of October. We are slight favourites for this encounter, with Birmingham managing to only win one home match so far this season. This has to be a considered a match we should be able to come away with a good result from, as we look to bounce back from the disappointment caused by the bad luck in the previous match. Birmingham are firm relegation candidates, sitting in 19th place, and currently looking doomed unless they can turn around their poor form in the second half of the season.

During the run up to the match Martin Stranzl has bruised a rib, and will be unavailable for a week. Annoyingly on Christmas Day I get a report that Hogan Ephraim has got flu, so will be staying at home for a few a days to recover. There is however good news, as Varrault has recovered from this injury and will be available for this match. My backroom staff have told me that playing a high line against Birmingham would be a good idea. However my scout tells me we should either play deep or use fast defenders. My scout seems to be from experience a better judge, so it looks like we'll be playing slightly deep. Once the teamsheet was revealed though I decided to stay with the Standard strategy.

At the start of the match we moved the ball around with great control, and in the 3rd minute after an attacking corner, the ball was moved to Routledge in the box, who held the ball until Buzsaky had made a run into the middle of the box, providing him with a pass which he hammered home to give us an early lead. Birmingham's response was to attack, but we stood firm at the back, and although we didn't have many shots, we were consistently getting the ball wide and worrying their defence with crosses into the box. Birmingham had more shots, but we actually looked more likely to create real scoring chances.

The first half hadn't been particularly exciting but I was happy enough that we looked more likely to score again, despite having less shots than Birmingham, so told the players I was pleased. Whether this had any effect I don't know, but the first piece of action in the second half worthy of note, happened in the 54th minute when Balanta was provided with a beautiful throughball at the edge of the box, and proceeded to advance and slotted the ball home beating the keeper at the near post. This lovely finish was however ruled out by a very contentious offside decision. I've reviewed it a few times, and sometimes I think the decision is correct, but other times it looks like a bad decision. That was frustrating, but soon that was forgotten, because 2 minutes later a series of quick passes saw Slory provide an early cross to Balanta at the edge of the box, and he slammed a first time shot past the despairing keeper.

Shortly afterwards Fatih Yucel was unlucky not to score when he struck a long shot from 30 yards out, which hit the crossbar, and bounced harmlessly to a Birmingham defender. A minute later he went to ground with a potential thigh injury, which prompted me to take him off, in the hope that it wasn't too bad, as he is so vital to us. During the next 10 minutes, although Birmingham tried to push forward, we had a couple more excellent chances to add to our lead, one being from a Buzsaky free kick from 35 yards out. It was a cracking strike, and produced a brilliant save from the Birmingham keeper. Even in the last few minutes, we had a couple more opportunities, one with Rowan Vine collecting the ball at the edge of the box, and only a perfectly timed challenge denied him from taking a shot. In the 89th minute, Balanta got free of his marker and into the box, only to be denied by a great save. One minute into added time, a lapse of concentration allowed Barry Ferguson to find some clear space at the edge of the box to drill home a consolation goal.

I'm very pleased with this win, even though the match stats seem to suggest this was a lucky win, with Birmingham having 19 shots to our 9. It wasn't that simple though, as they only had one more shot on target than us with 5. Also we'd hit the woodwork, and 2 clear cut chances, which Birmingham having none at all. The possession was almost equal with although our passing percentage was a bit down, largely due to the number of clearances we'd made. This shows that the stats don't always tell the full story. Good news at the end of the match is that Fatih Yucel did not sustain an injury and will available to take the pitch in 2 days time for the final match of 2010.

Manchester City (H) Premier League

The Citizens arrive at Loftus Road sitting in 1st place in the league, though come off the back of a defeat to Liverpool, and a draw before that. Man City are favourites for the match, and I'm sure won't make things as easy for as they did back in Manchester. I decided to go with a Counter attacking strategy, as they have Adebeyour up front and their wingers also have lots of pace that would just destroy us if we push up too much.

From the off it was obvious that Man City had come to avenge the defeat we inflicted upon them at the start of the season. However in the 6th minute Fatih Yucel hit a speculative cross into the box from a throw in. In the confusion in the box, Rafa managed to somehow get the ball from the 3 City players that had surrounded him, and sent a pass for Routledge to run onto and score with a powerful shot. I was stunned, but knew that City would come at us even harder, and sure enough they did. In the 13th minute the equaliser came after Tevez ran down the right and then played a diagonal cross back into the path of the on-rushing De Jong placed placed a shot just inside the near post. I knew we were up against it, and City pressed hard, but for the rest of the first half we managed to hold firm, despite the pressure. We did however manage to create a few opportunities, but they were few and far between.

At half time I was fairly happy, but knew there would be a lot more pressure to withstand. The second half started in much the same way with City pressing hard, giving us little respite, although the first clear chance to extend the scoring fell to us, but Balanta failed to find a way past the keeper. I was hopeful that we might be able to hold on, when Lung jr made a superb save to deny Tevez in a one on one. However in the 79th minute Tevez got clear of our defence and our keeper was unable to deny him this time. This was a bit disappointing, but given how City were playing, to keep the scoreline to a 1-2 defeat meant our defence had largely done a great job. It was a good effort, but Man City showed their superior quality and fitness levels, as playing a game just 2 days after the previous match was a bit too much for us. Even if we'd been fully match though, this would have still been the most likely outcome.

Monthly Summary

This has been quite a tough month, with 6 matches, winning 3 league matches, 2 loses and being knocked out of the League Cup. These results still keeping us nicely in the fight for a good position in the top half.

I think the month was still quite good for us, and although we've slipped another place down to 7th, we are still above both Man Utd and Liverpool. If we can keep up our current form we should be able to stay in the top half of the table with ease, which i well beyond my expectations at the start of the year.

Although my strike partnership of Fatih Yucel and Angelo Balanta are not scoring with the same consistency as they were, it is pleasing to see other members of squad are now finding the back of the net. Akos Buzsaky is my player of the month for December, having put in some excellent performances, with Hogan Ephraim and Cristian Nasuti not far behind. In spite of the little run of injuries and illness, we have finished the month with all first team members now injury free, which could be very important for the next month.

Next month looks to be even tougher than this one, with 7 fixtures scheduled for us, which will severely test us, with some very tricky away fixtures and some tough home matches. If we win our FA Cup match then the number of fixtures will increase to 8. Hopefully we'll pick up enough points to maintain our position in the top half of the league.

Defending Corners - Why Am I Conceding So Many

The Problem

I'm sure I am not the only player who has been getting increasingly frustrated at the inability of their side to defend consistently well from corner kicks. Although we've been poor at taking corner kicks, we have leaked far too many goals from corners, and I felt was therefore something that needed to be looked at.

What I saw at first though seemed to be sensible, with our full backs on the posts, and every attacking player in the box marked by one of our players. What I realised though was that Balanta (Heading 6), was one of these markers, and Buzsaky (Heading 8), seemed to often be up against someone with much better heading skills. The attacking team seemed to be mostly targetting the player who was being marked by one of the least capable players in my team, at heading.

When I checked the default settings for defending corners, I found that Fatih Yucel (Heading 18), was set to remain forward, and Balanta to be back. This was bad for a couple of reasons, being that Fatih Yucel is much better at heading the ball, and Balanta has a lot more pace, so better able to take advantage of any counter attack that might come from clearing the corner. Oddly Buzsaky's default was to be forward, but was in fact going back to help out at corners.

A Possible Solution

One thing was obvious, that I needed to have Balanta up front, and Fatih Yucel to come back and help out defending the corner. I was okay with the idea of Buzsaky being back, but he would need to be against someone that would most likely not be a bad mismatch.

The change between my two strikers was simple, changing Balanta to "Stay Forward". Fatih Yucel I changed to "Mark Tall Player" because, although he isn't particularly tall, he has excellent jumping and heading skills, so can challenge most players very well.

What to do with Buzsaky though, as I wanted to keep the wingers with their settings of "Stay Forward." The options available are shown in the above picture. I decided the only sensible idea might be to set him to "Mark Small Player." This way I felt he would have a reasonable chance of challenging such a player. The settings for the team ended up being:

How Well Did It Work?

So far I've only tested it in one match, that being against Tottenham. They have Crouch and Pavlyuchenko up front, both tall and good at heading the ball. Their centre backs are also fairly tall and good at heading too, so felt this would be a decent test of how well this change has worked.

Success for it would be if we are able to get to the majority of the headers first. Conceding will always be a possibility, but the idea is to try and make sure the number of chances created at corners is reduced to as few as possible.

I have to say I am happy with what I've seen. We managed to defend the majority of corners properly by getting to the ball first. The only balls they did get to first, went wide of the goal and never posed any threat. I will only know how well this has worked if we continue to defend corners this well during our next few matches. Hopefully this will reduce the number of goals we concede at corners.

Conclusion

I now realise that I really should have looked at this when I first started, and feel slightly silly for not thinking about this before. I think I'd largely ignored it because against teams that didn't have players with particularly good heading attributes, we'd been defending corners okay, they weren't able to set up the same player mismatch. I wonder how many other players have been doing the same, by being completely ignorant of the causes of this problem.

So as to give a reasonable comparison, I had saved the game under a different name before making the changes. I then played the Tottenham match with the default settings, and we were completely and utterly terrible at defending corners. Tottenham were getting to almost every corner they took and they scored from one. I only played the first half, but they got 7 corners and got a head to 6 of those scoring from one, with our keeper having to save most of the others. It definitely appears from this that the change has made a huge difference, so I encourage everyone else to look closely to see which players they have defending at corners. Such a simple change seems as though it will make a big difference through the season. Something else to bear in mind is what happens after you make a substition, because they may end up being a liability at corners.

November 2010 - A Hero Emerges

The month starts with us managing to be free of injuries again. I am impressed so far with how few injuries we have suffered. Of course, now I've mentioned that, we're bound to start an injury crisis. I hope this thought does not come back to haunt me later.

Bolton (H) Premier League

The first match sees us welcome Bolton to Loftus Road, for what is predicted to be an easy victory for us, with us clear favourites to take all the points. Bolton have lost their last 3 matches, and been hopeless away from home. They also apparently struggle against a 4-4-2 formation and teams of our reputation. I have to say this does sound a bit like we're being set up for a nasty fall. When the teams were announced I checked out the opposition, and noticed their back line was pretty slow, and the left and right midfielders would not produce many tackles. They were playing a 4-1-4-1, with a slow striker, but the wide players were pretty quick. After a bit of thought, I decided that to go on the attack, and push them back, and hopefully give them little respite and little opportunity to worry us at the back. Laure and Varrault my full backs, should be quick enough to deal with their wide players, and even if the striker did break the off side trap, we'd be able to get back fast enough. This is of course taking a bit of a risk, and if things go badly I may have to become more defensive.

Right from the kick off we showed we were up for this match, with Bolton pinned back into their own half, and losing the ball as soon as they tried to move forward. Our passing was slick and fast, and on 7 minutes Laure move high up the pitch on the right and produced an excellent cross which Balanta managed to get a touch onto with his head. The ball just managed to creep under the diving body of Jussi Jaaskalainen to open the scoring. We continued to push hard, producing several good saves out of the Bolton keeper. In the 17th minute, Buzsaky let fly with one of his 30 yard curling thunderbolts. He would have been disappointed to see his shot rebound off the post, but then delighted to see Balanta react quickly to take possession of the ball and slam it home before Jaaskalainen could react. Bolton had so far shown no sign of being able to get far up the field, so I decided to keep the pressure on. We continued to stay attacking and created several more opportunities, which the Bolton keeper managed to keep out with fantastic saves. Bolton survived to half time without conceding another goal, the keeper must have felt like he was the target in a shooting gallery.

I was very pleased with our performance, and delighted that my idea of going on the attack had stopped Bolton even creating a single shot. I therefore kept the same strategy for the second half. We were even more dominant in the second half keeping possession well. We didn't produce quite the same number of chances as the first half, but that was down to Bolton going more defensive and their defenders managed to block more passes than they had in the first half. Their keeper also made a couple more fantastic saves, which denied us the opportunity of increasing the score. The match ended without the a change in the scoreline, and we managed to stop Bolton from taking a single shot at goal. As an experiment this was a great success, although Bolton are one of the few teams in the Premiership that this all out attack strategy is likely to work against. I have to say I'm surprised at how effective this turned out to be, with Bolton rarely even making it into our half.

This display has shown that against a side with a fairly slow defence and a slow striker, that we can produce a dazzling display of domination football. I will definitely remember that this is a good tactic against sides that are lacking the pace to hurt us. The 2 goals from Balanta now take his tally for the season to 15, having scored 7 goals in the last 5 matches. He appears to be turning into my deadly assasin.

In a bizarre twist, in the lead up to the next match, Lee Cook complained about the lack of first team football, and then promptly got injured, putting him out for at least 2 weeks.

Fulham (A) Premier League

Our visit to Craven Cottage sees Fulham as marginal favourites, but they come into this match not having been able to secure a win in their last 7 matches, and off the back of a heavy defeat to Tottenham. This is a match in which I feel we should come away with at least a point. A draw would be satisfactory, but we will still need to put in another good performance to secure that.

This was anything but a pretty match, and to be honest we never seemed to be able to get ourselves going properly. We gave the ball away far too cheaply, although we did create the first really good chance of the match, only for Balanta to be denied by the advancing keeper. Fulham were creating more chances, and holding possession a bit better than us, but we were having little trouble keeping them at bay. The match reached half time with neither side having scored.

The second half followed in much the same manner, though we did manage to push a bit further up the pitch and created many corners. Somehow their keeper Schwarzer managed to make an almost unbelievably good save to deny Fatih Yucel, with the ball just being divert around the post. I began to feel we just weren't meant to score in this match. Sadly there was to be a goal, but not by us, in the 2nd minute of added on time, Bobby Zamora managed to thump the ball home from 30 yards, through a narrow gap between two of our defenders, which Lung jr had no chance of reaching. I was gutted by this goal, as I felt that Fulham had not done enough during the match to deserve a victory. We'd played fairly well, although this is probably our worst performance of the season so far. I go away from this match feeling angry at the injustice of this result, as a draw would have been the fair result. Sebastian Puygrenier put in a man of the match performance, but sadly this was not enough to gain a point.

Sunderland (H) Premier League

The Black Cats visit Loftus Road as favourites for this match. This looks like it could well be our toughest home match so far, and endangers our perfect home record. Along with Chelsea, we are the only teams to have a perfect home record at this point in the season. The speed of Sunderland's strikers and wingers forced me to take a Counter attacking strategy.

From the very start of the match, it was clear that this was going to be a very even match, with both sides producing a fairly even number of chances, and both keepers putting in a few brilliant saves to stop the other side from scoring. For the second match in a row half time was reached scoreless. We had put in a better performance than for the Fulham match, which was at least encouraging, although Sunderland also looked more dangerous than Fulham had.

The second half started in very much the same manner, as a very even match with both sides showing some good football, but struggling to find a way to score. With the match well into the last 10 minutes I begun to get nervous that we were going to suffer the same fate as in the previous match, failing to find a way to score, and then being beaten by one piece of great skill. The deadlock was finally broken, when a penalty was conceded. In the 86th minute, Fatih Yucel stepped up and thumped the ball home to give us the lead. Sunderland then started to chase the game in the last few minutes, and despite Balanta getting through, one on one with the keeper a couple of times, he just couldn't find a way to bury the ball in the back of the net. With us playing well beyond the allotted added on time, Sunderland won a corner, and I began to fear that they were about to get an equaliser during time when I felt the match should have already finished. Fortunately we cleared the ball, and that drew the match to an close. The two highest ratings in the match went to my two centre backs, with Puygrenier just pipping Nasuti to be match of the match. This was a good performance, and in some respects we're fairly lucky get this win, although once we'd scored, we should have increased the margin of victory by another couple of goals. Somehow we have sneaked through with another victory to extended our home winning streak to 7 games.

Liverpool (A) Premier League

Anfield beckoned for our next fixture, which we are unsurprisingly clear underdogs. Our main aim for this match would surely be to keep Fernando Torres quiet. One piece of luck for us was to find that Yossi Benayoun is currently injured, which takes one creative player out, who might have caused us lots of problems, although they have plenty to take his place.

The match started with us taking a Counter attacking strategy. I didn't want to play too deep as Liverpool were playing with Torres up front, and 3 attacking midfielders across the park. The match started with Liverpool putting us under a lot of pressure. I could only hope we'd be able to ride this pressure out and start to work our way into the match. It therefore came as a big surprise when we finally got the ball forward, with Fatih Yucel finding some room just inside the box and hit a powerful shot. All Reina could do with the shot was to parry it, which fell right into the path of the advancing Buzsaky, who hammered to ball into the net. This was definitely against the run of play, and caused great delight. Liverpool continued to press forward giving us few chances to mount many counter attacks. Just before half time, Liverpool delivered a cross in the air at the edge of the box which Torres was able to nod home with a glancing header, and level the score. This was all too predictable, and disappointing to concede just before half time.

I was still happy with our performance though. Liverpool upped the pressure in the second half looking to win the match. This did however give us a few decent opportunities to mount a counter attack, but Reina was able to stand firm. These counter-attacks did give Liverpool a few chances to get a pass through to Torres, in behind our defence. Each time however, Lung jr was able to close him down and produce some outstanding saves to deny him, gaining him the man of the match award. I believe Liverpool went to an Overload strategy, because a couple of times I saw one of their centre backs make a run into our area. One these runs by Agger brought another stunning save by Lung jr from point blank range.

I was pleased with our performance, and although Liverpool managed a lot more shots than us, most were long range shots. Without the stunning performance of Lung jr we would not have held on to secure an unlikely draw, and our first of the season. Unfortunately during the match Rafa picked up a thigh strain, which will put him out of action for 2 to 3 weeks, which is a shame, as he had been putting in a series of good performances for us in recent matches.

Monthly Summary

Despite the anguish caused by losing the match at Fulham in added on time, I think this has been a great month for us, with two victories and a draw away at Liverpool. The one slight worry though, is that our rate of scoring has gone right down. Hopefully this is just a temporary issue, and not the sign of a long term problem. I think this set of results is largely down to the heroics of our keeper, Silvui Lung jr. Since signing for us, his improvement has been very good, and is now producing some stunning performances. He is my player of the month, although Puygrenier also deserves mention for some consistently good performances. Below is Lung jr's attributes; you can also see how well he's trained recently.

This set of results has seen us slip down to 6th place, giving me some confidence that we now have a chance to secure a finish in the top half of the table, with a european place as an outside chance. December will give us a much clearer picture on how good those chances are, as we will be playing a League Cup match and 5 league fixtures, so this will test the fitness and depth of the squard more than previous months. Our only current injury is to Rafa, which is a bit of blow, as he's become a quite important player for us in midfield.