August 2010 - The Premiership Dream Begins

I've decided to change the format slightly, given how I've started to give each match a little summary. The list of results will appear near the end of the post along with the appropriate portion of the table where we sit.

Before the first matches kicked off I have kept Martin Rowlands as Captain, but changed our Vice-Captain to Cedric Varrault. He is well liked by many of his team-mates, and believe that although his Influence is slightly less than Gavin Mahon's, he will actually serve us better. Unfortunately Martin Rowlands was injured before the start of the season, and won't be back in action before the end of September. I have faith that Varrault will stand up to the task, and his determination will help the team to perform well while he stands in as Captain.

Manchester City (A) Premier League

First match of the season was at the City of Manchester Stadium, which I felt was an especially nasty fixture to start with. One thing I did notice before the match though was that Man City had only played 3 friendlies during pre-season, and a lot of their team were still lacking match fitness. Only one member of our starting eleven was lacking match fitness and he was at 98%, and the rest fully fit at 100%. I felt my only realistic chance of even claiming a draw was to go defensive and hope we could grab a goal on the counter at some point. The first half saw us pretty much under siege, so it was no surprise that Adebayor grabbed a goal mid-way through the half, after some penalty area ping-pong. In some respects slightly fortuitous, though the finish was well taken. After the goal the pressure at least lightened a bit, and we did start to make a few nice passing moves, creating a few half chances. Given the pressure we had been under in the first half our defending had been largely solid and our few sorties upfield had shown some good passing skills.

At half-time I told the lads I was pleased with the display. I'm not sure if this team talk made any difference or not, but the second half was like a totally different match. Within two minutes Fatih Yucel took control of the ball on the left after a clearance from a corner and fired in a delightful cross that Balanta got on the end of it put us level. I fully expected the pressure to be reapplied but it seemed like the opposition were stunned. For the next 20 minutes we were mostly in control, firing the ball into the box with regularity. This pressure took its toll on the opposing team and they conceded a penalty, which Yucel stepped up to take and buried with power. Man City did apply more pressure again, and were unlucky they didn't put away one of several good opportunities they created. Some absolutely heroic defending made sure we held onto an extremely unlikely win. This is an absolutely and almost unbelievable win, especially after our seriously disappointing matches against Wolves and Stoke in pre-season. It was great to see us turn in a good performance after the terrible rubbish we showed during pre-season.


Wigan (H) Premier League

Wigan's visit to Loftus Road was one we were marginal favourites for, but with them playing four at the back and a pair of defensive midfielders, I was a bit worried that breaking their defence down might be a problem. Also the speed of left winger N'Zogbia and striker Rodellega would give us problems at the back. This turned out to be a very even and entertaining contest. We broke the deadlock quite early on in the 8th minute when Balanta received the ball just outside the penalty area and proceeded to jink behind two Wigan defenders and slide the ball past the advancing keeper. This lead only lasted 7 minutes however before a wonderfully weighted lob over our defence was run onto by Rodellega to smash home an equaliser. The ball was played end to end with both defences largely neutralising the attacks to restrict the chances by either side. The deadlock was broken again in the 43rd minute this time by Buzsaky with a trademark curling long shot from outside the area into the opposite top corner. A marvellous way to complete the half.

In the second half Wigan didn't have to wait long before they equalised again. This time N'Zogbia broke down the right and got to the byeline just outside the six yard box and slipped a pass through for Rodellega to double his tally for the match. This was a little frustrating but somehow predictable. The pattern of the match pretty much stayed the same with Rodellega causing scares at the back and our midfield trying hard to make that one killer pass required to steal the winner. The winner came late on, into the second minute of inury time and in slightly bizarre fashion. Buzsaky attempted to smash in another long shot from just outside the area, but it hit one of the Wigan defenders, and lobbed nicely for Fatih Yucel to pounce and smash the ball into the back of the net from close range. The draw would have been a pretty fair result, but to snatch the winner is brilliant. For a neutral this would have been great match to watch. Winning our first two matches of the campaign is astonishing, and could never have dreamed of a start like this.

Chelsea (A) Premier League

For us this has to be one of the highest pressure matches, visiting Stamford Bridge. A match against our fiercest rivals and one of several teams in the league I fully expect us to lose to. The match started as a bit of a nightmare with Chelsea overrunning us, scoring after just 5 minutes, and then a second in the 17th minute. At this point I feared we could be about to suffer a humiliating massacre. Although Chelsea still largely dominated after their second goal, we finally started to put a few passes together. In a wonderful move just minutes before half-time Wayne Routledge got in behind the defence and chipped a cross into the box which Fatih Yucel headed with power into the net. Chelsea continued to dominate the match, with both sides creating some good chances. If we'd been lucky we'd have snatched an equaliser, but given the way the match started, this loss isn't that bad. Losing to Chelsea is of course annoying, but our performance after the first 20 minutes was encouraging.

The new boss of Javier Aguirre is trying to play mind games saying he believes we will be relegated. I have refused to rise to this comment, just saying I was pleased with the effort the team put in. Cedric Varrault and Angelo Balanta are determined now to prove Aguirre wrong. Only Wayne Routledge is concerned that we will be relegated.

Hartlepool (A) League Cup 2nd Round

Our trip to the Victoria Park ground is a match in which we are expected to secure an easy victory. I can't help but feel a bit nervous, even though we should have no trouble dispatching a League 1 side. It took 25 minutes before my nerves were calmed a bit when Angelo Balanta received the ball after a poor clearance at the edge of the box and hammered the ball into the net. Shortly after we were denied a penalty after Wayne Routledge appeared to be taken down in the box. Akos Buzsaky then eased the nerves further with another of his trademark shots from 40 yards, curling into the top corner of the net. On the stroke of half time, Dimitri Daeseleire played a ball into the box from just inside the opposition half which was met by the foot of Fatih Yucel to make the score 3-0 at half time.

In the second half Hartlepool came at us, with some of their players seeming to put in performances way above their normal ability, but we stood firm until the 88th minute when they scored what I would describe as an unexpected way. Ritchie Humphreys a Hartlepool midfielder hit a shot from a full 40 yards out which beat our keeper just inside the post. What is unexpected about this is, that he only has Long Shots at 5. This shot wasn't quite as spectacular as Buzsaky's striker, but he'd have still been proud of it. Quite a bolt from the blue, but only a late consolation for Hartlepool, with the score standing a 3-1 at full-time.

Newcastle (H) Premier League

A couple of days before the match Gavin Mahon picked up a heel injury in training, and will be out for about 10 to 12 days. It's a bit of a blow, but given there is the international break after this match, the timing could have been a lot worse, given Rowlands is still about a month away from recovering from his injury. My scouts are checking out some good central midfielders, because the cover without these two players is a bit thin.

Newcastle beat us at home in the last fixture of the previous season, so it would sweet if we are able to get revenge over the Toon Army. They are the favourites despite us being at home, so by no means an easy fixture, but hopefully the improved back four will do the trick.

For the first 10 minutes of the match we hardly saw anything of the ball. Even before the kickoff I knew it was likely we'd be under pressure as they had Lovenkrands and Wellbeck up front, both with a pace of 17, and on the left wing Jonas with a pace of 18. This made me start off with a defensive attitude and proved to be the right idea. After the inital onslaught things settled a bit and we did at least start to see some of the ball, but were being closed down far too much. Not wanting to risk pushing up the field too much I kept the defensive line, but upped the tempo several notches. This made a big difference and opened things up a lot and Newcastle started committing a lot of fouls. We finally got a free kick in a good place not far outside the box. Buzsaky stepped up, firing the ball over the wall, but luck was not with him, as he hit the post and bounced to safety. As the half went on we gained a bit more possesion and eventually opened a few gaps. A set of slick passes saw Balanta step free of his marker and guide the ball home past a despairing keeper, with the clock standing at 45 minutes. A great end to the first half, and a great battling performance.

I knew the second half would be tough, and sure enough it was. Newcastle pressed even harder in such a manner that we didn't even create a single shot. Our defence stuff firm, with Cristian Nasuti putting in a man of the match performance and Sebastian Puygrenier ending up with the same match rating. They were most definitely our heroes of the day, with Lung jr putting in a few great saves to deny the opposition as well. I was impressed with the heart of the defence, showing immense character to deliver a 1-0 victory, which could even this early in the season prove to be absolutely vital. Newcastle would be wondering how they were unable to break us down. I believe the term that some pundits would use for this is "Winning Ugly," which I'll take any day.

Monthly Roundup

To be perfectly honest when I looked at the fixture list, I thought something like 4 points from these fixtures would have been a decent return, with Chelsea and Man City giving us a real thumping. You can see that our new strike partnership of Fatih Yucel and Balanta seems to be doing well right now. I still think Fatih Yucel is in the process of adapting his game to how we play, but definitely happy with what I've seen so far.

The one thing about all these victories that is most pleasing is how, unlike last season, we have managed to avoid conceding a late equaliser. I'm extremely happy that the defensive changes have worked. I also have to conceded that we've been immensely lucky as well.

In the last few days of the month, we have completed the signing of Rafa, from Getafe, a defensive midfielder. He is a fair bit better than Gavin Mahon, gives me a really solid ball winning midfielder. With Rowlands and Mahon out, I was in desperate need of some extra depth. That said Faurlin did a good job in that position, but does give away more free kicks when playing as a ball winning midfielder. Rafa was signed for £550K even though he was valued at £1.7M before the move. I believe he will do a good job for us once match fit.

Heidar Helguson has also been loaned to Charlton. I had attempted to sell him, but noone was interested, 5 clubs came in to loan him once offered up. Like several of the players already loaned out, I hope he will perform well enough that I can sell him after his return. It should be noted that this was a player my backroom staff told me I should sell, and was hardly used during the previous season. After the move, Helguson has told the press he hopes the move can be made permanant. I'm with him on that, for sure.

Antonio German one of our decent young strikers coming through from the ranks, has been loaned out to Crewe to help give him more experience. Depending on how well he develops, he might be useful backup for us in a few years time.

I definitely didn't expect to be putting up this part of the league table to show our position at the end of the month. Hopefully this good start will allow us to have the confidence to gain a few more victories and give us the chance to avoid relegation with relative ease. I am under no illusions that we will slide down the table from this position, but can at least be proud to say that after we won our last match of the month were top of the Premiership, albeit for two days. Next month throws up two particularly tough matches; away to Everton, who are flying at the moment, and home to Arsenal. Our home tie to Fulham in the league cup and away at Reading for the final match of the month are in relative terms easier, but nothing at this point is easy.

I think it's time I tried to work out something for our corner kicks, as we hardly ever score from corners. The trusted method from FM09 of a defender for flick on at near post, striker with good heading to challenge the keeper and other defender to attack the far post, with kicks being hit into the 6 yard box is just not working. In a way I'm glad it doesn't, as it makes everyone have to think a lot more about how to set up a corner properly. In FM09 it was insane, as one season I had central Miguel Riffo second highest scorer for the team with something like 30 goals in one season. I don't expect to work out a way to achieve anything like that, but would be good if we scored corners at rate better than about 1 in every 10 matches.

I am also pleased that the signing of Fatih Yucel is now seen as being very good by the fans, and Sebastian Puygrenier's siging has also been very well received. Fatih Yucel seems to have been well received by his team mates with many of them thinking he is a good player. The majority though are pleased to be playing along side Varrault, which suggests the team harmony should increase nicely.