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 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.
4 comments:
What can i say? An incredible month with victories against Chelsea and Arsenal, I think your team should be grabbing at least a europa place at the end of the season.
At times I was sitting watching with my mouth wide open, especially the with the way we started against Arsenal. Our success though largely rested with Fatih Yucel, who is just knocking goals in for fun right now.
Was a bit of luck I found him too, as I'd set one scout roaming Europe, and he just happened to be in Turkey at the start of the season and found him. That scout was unsurprisingly poached from me, and nothing I could do to stop it. I get the last laugh as he went to Hull who are bottom of the table, and look completely doomed. Only a miracle turnaround will save them.
I need to agree. that Yucel has impressive skills and he seems to be so determinant for your team, even if he's only 19 years old.
I usually never sign regen, but here you found a real gem!
I rarely sign regen's, but when I checked his skills, I decided it was well worth getting him. His ability to find space in the area is amazing.
In the summer I need a couple of midfielders to provide him better support, to increase the chances that he'll want to stay with the club for years to come.
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