February 2012 - The Quest for League Cup Glory

This month starts with Slory and Varrault out with long term injuries and Ephraim a few days away from recovery following his elbow injury. This is going to be a tough month where we will be playing 8 fixtures for the 3rd month in a row. The last couple of months has really tested the depth of our squad, and on the whole we've stood up to the challenge very well. We have 5 league matches, an FA Cup tie, our first leg of our Champions Cup knockout 1st round and the League Cup final to end the month.

Liverpool (H) Premier League

The Reds travel to Loftus Road as marginal favourites for this match, but I feel if we play well, we have every chance of taking the 3 points. Liverpool are one of or closest challengers, sitting just 2 points behind us, so the result of this match is very important. For this match I am giving one of our young players, Alexander Kacaniklic his debut, with Paul Dixon taking a place on the bench. This is a slight risk, but I feel the pace of Kacaniklic and his dribbling may cause Liverpool some problems.

The match started with our players looking to attack, and really taking the game to Liverpool, but their defence was proving very hard to break down, with them playing 2 DMC's. When Liverpool did get forward, we were looking solid as well, and after quarter of an hour this was looking like being a pretty dreary match. In the 23rd minute the first real chance of the match came with Faith Yucel receiving the ball in the area, but Reina in goal caused frustration by saving it; where's a beachball when you want one? The next was 3 minutes later, this time Steele was the keeper making the save. In the 35th some patient build up play saw Scocco get in close but his shot was parried by the keeper, out on our left where Kacaniklic quickly passed it back to Scocco, who spotted Fatih Yucel in space just outside the area, and gave him a perfect ball to hammer into the net to give us the lead. We'd been looking good and continued to outplay Liverpool, even though we had less possession. However just to cause maximum frustration we conceded in added time at the end of the half from a corner. I was massively disappointed in our players for allowing this. The half finished with the scores level at 1-1.

I was disappointed, as Liverpool really did not deserve to be level, as they'd shown little in the way of positive play. Most of their greater possession was just interminable passing in the midfield. I sent the players back out telling them could win this, hoping it would spur them on a bit more. In the 47th minute Scocco was brought down in the Liverpool area, and Curri stepped up to take the penalty, hoping to set the record straight after having his previous penalty saved. I have to admit I was a little nervous, but he hammered it home to give us the lead again. In the 55th minute Gerrard gave a us a scare cracking a long range effort which thumped into the crossbar, and bounced out to one our players. In the 66th minute Jimenez went down after a heavy challenge with a potential upper body injury, so in a slightly risky move I decided to substitute him and change our formation slightly to 2 DMC's, with Scocco sitting in just behind Fatih Yucel. In the 71st minute before this substitution could be made Torres managed to get through for his first shot of the match. Huge credit goes to Steele for closing him down and making an excellent save to stop him from scoring. There was no surprise that Liverpool starting pushing forward, but we were doing the sensible thing on the whole when we got the ball, moving forward and passing the ball about trying to keep possession and see if we could find another way through the defence. In the 90th minute that nearly happened with Fatih Yucel having a shot from the edge of the area saved. Liverpool gave us one more scare in added time when they got a cross into our box with an astounding number of their players in the area, but fortunately their header was wide of the post. For the rest of the time we managed to retain possession and see out the match to seal a 2-1 victory.

I was delighted with how we'd taken the game to Liverpool and managed to come out on top. This victory is extremely important in our title fight, and one of the big keys to this was how quiet we'd managed to keep both Torres and Gerrard, with them both managing just 2 shots each during the entire game. When you consider that before this match, Torres had scored 24 times from 23 matches, keeping him so quiet was some acheivement. I felt that with the hard work our players had put in and the positive attitude they showed, we deserved this victory. Kacaniklic gave a good account of himself on his debut, showing a few good moves, and showed quick thought and vision to put the pass back to Scocco in the build up to our first goal. Fortunately Luis Jimenez has not picked up an injury which is good news. It is grealy amusing to see this result described as a shock victory in the Premiership Round-up.

Result: 2-1

The FA Cup 4th Round replays took place the same day as this match, and our next opponents in the 5th round will be Portsmouth. There was an upset in the replays, with Championship side Swansea defeating Premier League strugglers Wigan at the DW Stadium.

Birmingham (A) Premier League

We travel to St. Andrews as firm favourites for this match. Birmingham have been struggling this season and find themselves down in 15th place, just above the relegation zone, and come into the match off the back of losing in an FA Cup replay to Blackburn. This is an away match we would expect to collect all the points, but as with all teams in the league they always have the ability to cause a threat. Paul Dixon our loanee from Bolton will make his debut for us in this match at left back, giving Curri the chance to take a breather.

Early on we were showing greating ability to retain possession and passing, but failing to make the best of this as Birmingham were defending very well, restricting us to long shots. A few times they managed to get forward, but also restricted them to a couple of long shots. After 15 minutes I decided we needed to work the ball into the box, because our long shots were just nowhere near the target today. We continued to dominate, and in the 24th minute this paid off with Dixon, playing in debut, slipping a pass through into the area for Zigoni to run onto and slot the ball home to give us the lead. Birmingham felt this goal was offside, but the replay shows that Zigoni was just onside as the pass was made. In the 27th minute Rowlands went down after a tackle with a potential foot injury, not bad enough for an immediate substitution, but a worry still. We continued to do an excellent job of retaining possession, pushing Birmingham back all the time, but their defence proving to be very tricky to break down again. In the 42nd minute Sunny conceded a foul, that I don't understand at all, just outside our area, and received a yellow for this mysterious offence. Fortunately Steele was up to the job and caught the free kick. Right at the end of the half, Birmingham had their best period of play, in forcing a series of corners, but we held firm to keep the score at 1-0 when the break arrived.

I was pleased with what I'd seen in the first half, with us dominating the game, and always the more likely to score the next goal. I decided to send the players back out giving them encouragement to go on seal the victory for us. Birmingham started the half showing their intent to try and get forward and find an equaliser, but we again stood firm, although they were nervous moments, and our defending was looking more frantic. We really needed to just calm things down, and get the ball back under our control. In the 58th minute Buzsaky had a great chance from a rebound after a Zigoni shot, but he didn't make the most of that and allowed the keeper an easy save. In the 64th minute Scocco missed a great chance to put us further ahead, shooting wide of the target. I made a couple of substitutions to try and just mix things up a bit, getting Curri out on the left wing, and Balanta up front with Zigoni, as for once Scocco was not having a good game. This almost immediately had a big effect with us going forward, with Curri running onto a Grenier throughball, but his finishing is not good, so it was no shock to see the keeper push it wide in the 71st minute. From the resulting corner, Birmingham cleared the ball out to the centre of the park and we quickly moved back out to our right wing, where Buzsaky delivered the ball back into the area, with Balanta making a one touch pass allowing Zigoni to run through and score his 2nd of the match, in the 72nd minute. Birmingham were again crying out for it be ruled as offside, but out near Buzsaky was a defending playing him onside at at least 3 yards. As you'd expect Birmingham started to push forward, but we were still standing firm, and once we got the ball we were looking very good at retaining it, and now working chances with ease. In the 79th minute Zigoni will probably never get a better chance of a completing a hat-trick, shooting from about a yard out to the right of the goal, and somehow he fluffed it hitting the post; one of those nightmare moments for a striker. In the 85th minute Steele made a mess of trying to catch a ball from a corner kick, which allowed Birmingham to pull a goal back; with his aerial ability and handling that was most unexpected. That gave them a lot of encouragement, pushing forward again, and I was nervous when they got another corner, but we cleared it and then took control of the ball well, with Buzsaky denied in the 3rd minute of added time by a superb full stretch save from the keeper. The full time whistle brought the match to an end seconds later with us securing a 2-1 win.

I was largely pleased with the performance today. Was a disappointment to concede another goal from a corner, especially in the manner it came about, as Steele is normally excellent at dealing with the ball crossed in the air. Fortunately our defending after was good and our control of the ball and passing moves were excellent. It was a shame that Zigoni missed his golden opportunity to score a hat-trick, and will be wondering how he hit the post. Fortunately the knock that Rowlands picked up has not caused an injury, which is great news. I was impressed with the debut of Paul Dixon, especially as he started the match understandably nervous, but after he supplied the pass for our opening goal, he really settled down and did a fine job for us, finishing with a rating of 7.40, which is excellent in his first competitive match of the season.

Result: 2-1

The last few matches I'm beginning to feel I'm getting the strategy and touchline shouts better coordinated, which seems to avoid the situation I was having before, where sides would just overrun us. The matches haven't had the same inevitable feel that the opposition are going to peg us back as I was suffering before. It doesn't mean this will always work, but I feel I have a better understanding of how to counteract a team suddenly going on the attack. It's very easy to just panic and think the match engine has gone crazy, but after reading some guides, most of which are neatly listed by FM Pundit here, I feel so much more confident about dealing with each team we play. I would advise anyone who hasn't check these out, to do so, as things should become a whole lot clearer.

Arsenal (H) Premier League

The Gunners arrive at Loftus Road, with us narrow favourites for the match. Having come through the big test with the visit of Liverpool earlier in the month, this is our next challenge, as Arsenal are pushing us the closest of any team at the top right now. Both sides will be trying to ensure they are not defeated, as that would hand the advantage in the league to the other team, and therefore this match could have a huge bearing on who wins the premiership title this season. Our record against Arsenal is remarkable so far with 2 wins and a draw. The 2 wins last season though were definitely gifts through them playing weakened teams against us in both matches. I doubt that will happen this time though. As I had in our last meeting, I decided to go with a Counter attacking strategy, which had largely worked for us.

The first half was a fairly even but unexciting battle. Arsenal created more shots, but there were no real incidents worth noting. We seemed to be cancelling each other out, and so the first half ended up goalless.

I was reasonably happy that we'd done quite well at keeping Arsenal quiet, but concerned that we'd only managed a couple of shots. I sent the players back out telling them they could win this game. The 2nd half started in much the same fashion, so it seemed the match was destined to be very boring. However in the 56th minute Balanta ran with the ball down the left and hit a cross into the box, which Scocco met with his head to give us the lead, and is his 100th career league goal. In the 70th minute disaster struck from an Arsenal free kick, with the ball deflecting in off Curri, dubiously given as an own goal, to level the scores. That was definitely a lucky goal as the free kick had delected off an Arsenal player's body on the way into the area with him having no control of it. In the 1st minute of added time I was livid at the referee for sending Daeseleire off for a 2nd yellow card offence, which seemed far too harsh. It was a relief when the final whistle blew bringing a very poor match to a close with the scores level at 1-1.

Having managed to get the lead it was disappointing to only end up with a draw, especially as the goal we conceded owed a lot to luck. I sympathised with the players over this bit of bad luck. The red card for Daeseleire sees him banned for a one match. The performance of Kjær in the centre of defence was great today, earning him a well deserved man of the match award. Even though we lost the lead, to only claim a draw, the fans are still happy with this result. Elsewhere there was a very significant and surprising result with Liverpool being mauled 6-2 by Sunderland.

Result: 1-1

Portsmouth (A) FA Cup 5th Round

We arrive at Fratton Park to play the current leaders of the Championship, which makes us only marginal favourites for this match. This is definitely not a match we should take for granted.

When the match started Steel was called upon to make a save in just the 2nd minute. After that we began working our way forward putting Pompey under some pressure. It was clear though that Portsmouth were up for trying to grab the win here. In the 8th minute they won one of the most mysterious corners ever, with Steele apparently being given as making a save on a ball that was not noly wide of the post, but he also never got close to it. That would suggest either the referee/assistant are terribly biased, or what you see on the 3D view is sometimes not even close to what the match engine believes is going on. This seemed to spur Pompey on and they started mounting attacks, so I decided that our best chance was to try and see if we could exploit the flanks, as the speed and dribbling of Grenier and Ephraim should start to cause problems. This worked perfectly in the 18th minute with Grenier steaming down the right touchline, and produced a superb cross into the box, where Ephraim was placed to side foot into the back of the net. Pompey were determined to come at us, which gave us more space to get down the flanks, and they were struggling to deal with this, with plenty of last ditch tackles going in. In the 26th minute Scocco skied a chance from in the area, but he was under pressure from the defender. After this Pompey started trying to thump long shots at us with that disturbing accuracy, making Steele really work for his wage today. In the last 5 minutes of the half Pompey were putting us under huge pressure, very nearly cracking us with Steele again coming to the rescue with a great save. We manged to see the half out with us leading 1-0.

I was pleased that we had the lead, but it felt rather fragile with the way that Pompey were pushing so hard. I decided to tell them to do this for the fans, hoping that would give them the added motivation to hold on, and hopefully stretch our lead. For a while we had to withstand quite a bit more pressure from Pompey, before we finally managed to get forward again. As Pompey were now doing a good job of stopping us down the flanks, I switched to exploit the middle to see if it would make a difference. Ephraim had a good chance to score again in the 58th minute, but couldn't find the back of the net, with the keeper saving the ball. Although this in itself wasn't creating many more shots, it was making it harder for Pompey to attack, as they were now mostly going down the wings, which we seemed to be happier to defend against, although there were still a few scares. In the 81st minute Fatih Yucel stuck an almighty long shot from 30 yards, but the keeper managed to get a hand to it, to push it for a corner. We then spent most of the rest of the match camped in the last third of the pitch, with Buzsaky having a close shot saved by the keeper. This allowed us to play out the rest of the match to take a 1-0 victory.

I was pleased with how my touchline shouts in the 2nd half really changed the dynamic of the game. The shots from Pompey shows the big difference between the two halves, with 12 in the 1st, and just 3 in the 2nd. We had only 3 in the 1st and 7 in the 2nd half, which shows just how much better we had played. Our performance in the 2nd half, even though it didn't give us any more goals, really did stop Portsmouth being anywhere near as effective as they had been. I have to admit I was rather worried after the way they were all over us in the 1st half. This is a match that we could have thrown away if we'd continued to allow Portsmouth to dominate as they had in the 1st half. Steele really earned his wage today and the clean sheet bonus in that 1st half, but his performance was eclipsed by Ephraim, the man of the match, who along with Grenier really terrorized the Pompey backline. One of the best things about this match was that it did not end up as a draw, as that would have added to our already congested fixture nightmare.

Result: 1-0

The draw for the 6th round of the FA Cup took place a couple of days after this match, and will see us play away at either, Tottenham or Cardiff. Given all the teams left in the draw are Premiership teams, it could have been worse, such as away to Arsenal or Liverpool. Tottenham however if they do win the replay are still a tricky prospect. One good aspect of the 6th round onwards are that all matches are settled on the night, with no replays.

Valencia (A) Champions Cup First Knockout Round 1st Leg

We travel to Spain and the Nuevo Mestalla for our most daunting challenge of the season, as underdogs, and expected to be thrashed. This is the first match of the season that the fans have been pessimistic. Success for us in this match is not be completely thrashed I feel, with a draw being a long shot, and win would be a miracle. I decided the best option would be to set us up for going on the counter attack, and hope that if we can hold steady at the back, we have a hope with a quick counter attack.

The match started with Valencia pushing forward, giving Steele some early catching practice. What happened next stunned me and the entire stadium. The ball was cleared to the left and forward to Zigoni, who squared the ball inside to Fatih Yucel at the edge of the centre circle, in space and able to dribble forward clear of the defence. As he got into the area, he unleashed a great shot to beat the keeper to give us an astonishing lead in just the 5th minute. Valencia immediately pushed forward, forcing Steele, who was looking really motivated for this match, to make a stunning save in the 6th minute from a long shot. One of the oddest things was how Valencia seemed in little panic to pressurise us, and were allowing us a lot of time on the ball when we got it. In the 22nd minute Steele was called upon to make a good save, but wasn't working as much as I expecting. In the 34th minute we finally worked our 2nd shot of the match, with Zigoni's shot from the edge of the area, just saved at the near post. The inevitable happened in the 40th minute with Valencia's, David Villa finally receiving a great pass at the edge of the area, and managed to somehow slide it in the corner of the net. It was a bit disappointing, but it takes a striker of his quality to pull out a great shot like that. Just slightly left and it would have been wide, just a touch right and it would have hit Puygrenier who was right in front of him. Valencia then seemed to up the tempo, and in the 43rd minute Villa got in clear, only to see Steele push his shot out for a corner. We managed to see the half out with the scores level at 1-1.

I was pleased with what I'd seen, because although Valencia are clearly better than us, we'd not allowed ourselves to be overrun, and it'd taken a classy finish to break through our defences. I sent the players back our telling them I was pleased, hoping this would motivate them for the 2nd half. I have no idea if the half time talk really had an effect, but from the kick off the ball was worked to the left, for Balanta to move forward, and spotted a diagonal pass to Fatih Yucel, just outside the area, with space, and again as he entered the area he unleashed another superb finish into the far bottom corner of the net to give us the lead again. I was stunned, and delighted. Although Valencia were getting forward and putting some pressure on us, we were still getting a lot of time on the ball. In fact at this point we'd had more possession and our passing completion was better. In the 57th minute from a corner, Zigoni got his head to the ball and the Valencia keeper made a save he didn't know too much about from point blank range, allowing Puygrenier a follow up shot, but he could only give the keeper some catching practice. In the 63rd minute Villa scored the equaliser from just outside the area, yet again just finding the one place, that missed a defender, and although Steele got a fingertip to the ball, he couldn't stop it going in. In the 69th minute Villa got through looking for his hat-trick, but this time Steele was able to get enough on the ball to push it out for a corner. In the 75th minute there was huge disappointment with Valencia scoring from a corner, which I really hate. For some reason I can't fathom, about half of the goals conceded at corners, seem to be by a player scoring their first goal of the season. In the 78th minute Ephraim will wonder for a long time how he couldn't find the shot to score with just the keeper to beat in the 6 yard box. My players looked determined to try and find an equaliser in the game pinning Valencia back and winning several corners. With the seconds ticking away we gave it one last try winning another corner, from which we went close, with the rebound dropping to Sunny just outside the area, but his shot couldn't find a way through the crowded area. That was the last shot of the game, bringing it to an end with us losing 3-2.

In spite of losing, I was really pleased with the performance we'd put in, even if the winner was a very disappointing goal to concede. To have taken the lead twice against such good opposition was superb, and gives us a little hope that we might just be able to pull off a big surprise in the 2nd leg, with the two away goals we have scored. Even if don't, we have given a superb account of ourselves in this match. I was delighted that Fatih Yucel was given the man of the match award, scoring two superbly taken goals. The only surprise for me, was that Jimenez had a very average game. The email summary of the match states that we put in a good display and could feel unlucky at losing this match. Despite the loss, the morale of the team is still very high, which is great as they are obviously viewing this match objectively.

Result: 2-3

Manchester City (A) Premier League

We travel to the City of Manchester stadium as clear underdogs for this match, but our record against them is actually quite good, with 4 wins out of the last 5 matches between the two teams. This is another extremely important match in the title race, as City are 3 points behind us having played the same number of games.

The match started with Man City going close, after getting a cross in from the byeline, with the header fortunately giving Steel an easy save. After that things became a lot more even, with both sides creating some chances, with the closest being a long shot from City that hit the crossbar in the 16th minute. This seemed to spur City on for a few minutes, with us having to defend hard. In the 20th minute we worked the ball forward patiently getting a series of corner kicks, with Kjær getting his head to one in the 25th minute to give us the lead. City really pressed after this, and the equaliser came in the 32nd minute, much to my disappointment. We tried to react, but everytime City got the ball, they were moving the ball so fast, we were struggling, and Steele had to make a superb save in the 35th minute to stop the ball going into the top corner of the net, and another brilliant diving save in the 41st minute. We managed to weather the storm putting a big clearance up the field for Zigoni to run onto on the right side, he held the ball up near the corner waiting for options, and provided Grenier a superb pass to run onto in the area. He ran to the right edge of the 6 yard box, and somehow managed to beat the keeper at the near post to give us the lead again in the 1st minute of added time, and gives him his first goal of the season. The first half came to an end with us still leading 2-1.

Our first half performance had been rather variable, with our defence being opened up a bit too often, but our attacking play had been good at points, although our strikers seemed to become rather isolated. I sent the players back out telling them I was pleased, hoping they could hold out for a victory. City found the equaliser in the 48th minute, with Steele making 2 great saves, before Tezvez pounced to stab the ball home. I was disappointed that we let them back level so quickly. In the 50th minute Steele had to make another great save after we allowed Robinho to just dribble right through us, and was beginning to seriously worry me. However, we were not about to lie down, and we moved the ball forward again patiently, and in the 53rd minute Ephraim picked out a superb cross to Jimenez in the area, who kept his cool to place the shot into the net to give us the lead again. This was now becoming a real end to end affair, and Adebayour scared us in the 57th minute getting clear but fortunately for us he shot just wide. The match continued going end to end with scares for both teams, one of the biggest being in the 76th minute from a City cross, with the header somehow being put wide of the target. In the 79th minute Steele produced an absolutely astonishingly lucky save after a Barry shot from outside the area, hit the bar, and bounced down, hitting him bouncing safe allowing us to clear the ball. For the last 10 minutes City were almost camped in our half of the pitch, with a scary number of shots, but fortunately for us the shots were either blocked, easy saves, or off target. I have no idea quite how we managed to hold on to this 3-2 win.

This definitely goes down as a lucky win, and shows the frailty of the City defence, in that we managed to score from 3 of the 7 shots we had in the match. I was disappointed to see the man of the match award going to Tevez, as I felt Steele who had an outstanding game, was more deserving, but goals always count higher for ratings. I was delighted to come away with this most unlikely victory. I don't how or why but we seem to have the something over City, no matter what they throw at us. One thing I did notice early on in the match was that we had several players motivated from the start, which seems to happen rarely. An observation about City that may explain this result, is that each time the scores were level they were quite happy to allow us the time and space on the ball to work openings. Once behind they would then push, and the longer they stayed behind, the more desperate they seemed to be, such that although they had lots of shots, they were easier for us to stop than if they had been more controlled about working an opening, as they had been when scoring their 2 goals.

Result: 3-2

Fulham (H) Premier League

Our final league fixture of the month sees Fulham travel the short distance to Loftus Road, with us being favourites to win the match. Fulham are a team we see as a rival, but they actually see us as fierce rivals, so they are sure to have serious motivation for this match. The sides have not been seperated by more than one goal in our previous 4 matches, so this is likely to be another tight contest. When the teamsheets are announced we find that Fulham are lining up with a 3-5-2 formation, making for a very congested midfield, but hopefully giving us space on the wings to get behind them.

As I expected space in the midfield was difficult to come by and it was clear a patient build up would be needed. In the 4th minute after a lot of passing, we finally fashioned an opportunity for Scocco to hit a long shot, which the keeper only just pushed out for a corner. From the resulting corner, Fulham made a poor effort of trying to defend, and the ball dropped to Puygrenier, who even with his poor finishing skills managed to find a gap through the bodies to give us the lead in the 5th minute, even though the keeper managed to get a hand to the ball. Our lead didn't last long though, with Fulham equalising in the 9th minute, the first time they'd even managed to get near our area. Most annoyingly this goal should have been given for offside, so I feel very aggrieved by this. Our players continued to build regular attacks, and in the 18th minute, the keeper saved another tremendously struck long shot from Scocco. Fulham were now looking more attacking and causing a few more worries at the back, but it was us that struck again next, with a well worked moved down the right side, with Scocco passing the ball inside to Jimenez, who flicked it on into the area, where Ephraim arrived to hit the ball into the net to give us the lead again in the 29th minute. Fulham then dropped to a 5-3-2 formation, I'm guessing to strengthen the backline. Although Fulham were still managing to make attacks, it was allowing us huge amounts of space to get down the wings when we went forward. In the 44th minute Jimenez put Fatih Yucel through into the area, and he gave us our 3rd goal of the match to give us a 2 goal lead. We quickly won the ball after the restart and went looking for another, and only a well timed tackle stop Fatih Yucel the opportunity to score, and a couple of minute later the half time whistle blew just as he hit a shot, which went into to net, but wouldn't count, so the half finished with us leading 3-1.

I was pleased with what I'd seen so far, with us able to rip through Fulham with ease, and our defence had not had much work to do, with a dodgy offside decision being the only time we'd failed to deal with and attack. I sent the players back out pleased with what they'd shown so far, hoping they would continue to show the same endeavour in the 2nd half. Fulham came out absolutely fired up, pushing us back as much as they could, winning several corners early on. The pressure from them was quite intense, but we were still standing firm, but they were closing us down fast when we were heading forward. I made a few adjustments, but in the 71st minute they still managed to get a player clear with a great throughball, but fortunately Steele managed to stand his ground and make an excellent save. Later the same minute we managed to get Ephraim through, but he pulled his shot wide of the target. In the 78th minute Steele made another superb diving save. Fortunately after this we calmed down and started to play more sensibly, and our defending became much more solid, Puygrenier really taking control of the things at the back, winning almost every header when the ball was hit forward. We also managed to take some time out of the game by retaining possession, but still looking to score again. We managed to play the rest of the match out claiming a 3-1 victory.

I was pleased with this result, although I feel we a few times we nearly panicked in the 2nd half under pressure, but this turned out to be a very good team performance, all built upon the superb attacking play we'd shown in the first half. Puygrenier won the man of the match award, after having put in a superb performance in defence, as well as scoring a goal. This is our best performance against Fulham, and we stood up the to pressure we knew would come in the 2nd half. The fans are delighted with this result, as they should be when we beat one of our rivals.

Result: 3-1

The FA Cup Replays were also took place on the same day, confirming Tottenham as our opponents in the next round, giving us a tricky encounter at White Hart Lane. Elsewhere Arsenal were surprisingly beaten in the home leg of the EURO Cup tie against HSV, 3-1 to be put out of the tournament.

Arsenal (N) League Cup Final

Next up is a visit to Wembley to play Arsenal for the second time this month, with them clear favourites to lift the trophy. This will definitely be a tricky match, and after being knocked out of the EURO Cup earlier in the week, it's hard to know exactly how they will react to that. We can only hope it has a negative effect upon them, rather than inspiring them to give us a good thumping. The two matches between us in the league, both ended as 1-1 draws, so this could well be a closely fought match. One piece of luck for us, is that Theo Walcott is injured, and won't be playing. When the teamsheets were revealed, it was clear they were intent on winning this trophy, with a very strong side announced.

The first half was pretty awful, where we had marginally more of the ball, but for the first half an hour, we were getting nowhere when we went forward, and giving the ball away too often at the back. In the 10th minute we have Steele to thank for making a great save after Puygrenier allowed himself to be caught dwelling on the ball. This happened with several players during this time with Steele having to save us. It wasn't until the 42nd minute we finally worked a proper chance, with Ephraim receiving the ball in the middle of the area, but he thumped it straight at the keeper. The half ended goalless with Arsenal having created 3 times as many chances as us.

This was a really poor display, not helped by what appeared to be a terribly biased referee. We had Laure and Sunny booked in the first half, and yet Arsenal seemed to able to take my players down without it even being given as a foul. My favourite was Sunny being behind Fabregas, but somehow giving a foul away for backing into him. I told the players I was disappointed, hoping this would fire them up to start performing. We came out looking much more motivated, but it who still Arsenal who broke through for the first chance of the half with Steele having to make a great save in the 49th minute, and another in the 55th. In the 60th minute we were denied claims for a penalty with Boateng pushing Fatih Yucel as he was jumping for a header. Our first shot came a minute later with Fatih Yucel blasting just over the bar. We'd been doing a good after that of retaining possession and cutting out attacks from Arsenal. In 83rd minute though, I was angry for 2 reasons, with van Persie being offside, and then I'm sure he fouled Steele before putting the ball in the net. I was spitting chips after that, and decided to just go full out attack. Sadly we totally failed to achieve anything and the match came to an end with us losing 1-0.

I was totally gutted by this result and feel totally cheated by the complete injustice of van Persie's goal which I feel should have been disallowed, and for us not being a awarded a penalty. To lose the League Cup in such controversial circumstances really hurts, but it's something we need to put behind us. I was also disappointed with how few times we managed to create shots, with only 6 to the 17 Arsenal had. The players had put in a lot of effort without managing to really create much. This is the first match we've failed to score in since Christmas, which is also a disappointment.

Result: 0-1

Monthly Roundup

Despite being absolutely gutted at losing the League Cup Final in the way we did, I feel we had a superb month. Our league form was brilliant with 4 wins and draw, with 2 of those wins over our closest title rivals. The win over Portsmouth in the FA Cup 5th round was not as convincing as I feel it should have been, but it was still pleasing to advance to the 6th round. In the Champions Cup against Valencia, who I expected us to really struggle against, I ended up feeling disappointed that we'd managed to draw the match, as we played so better than I could have dared hope. However I still feel that scoring 2 away goals was good, as it gives us some hope in the 2nd leg at home next month.

Our wins over Man City and Liverpool have given us a good advantage over them, and the hectic fixture schedule took its toll on Arsenal, who lost to Aston Villa during the month, allowing us to gain an advantage over them. This run won me the Premiership Manager of the Month award for the first time this season, with Man United's Roberto Mancini in 2nd and Arsenal's Arsene Wenger in 3rd. Our chances of taking the title are quite a bit better after this month. Liverpool had a terrible month with 1 win, 2 losses and 2 draws to slip 10 points behind us, the low point being the 6-2 thumping they suffered at the hands of Sunderland.

Clement Grenier won the Premiership Young Player of the Month award with Angelo Balanta placed in 3rd. There were a lot of great performances from different team members, but my player of the month is fairly easy this time, with Kjær being the most consistent performer for us in the centre of defence, with an average over 7 games of about 7.4. The month ends with Slory now back to fitness and ready to play in the 1st team again. Varrault is our one remaining injury, still about 3 weeks from being able to make his return.

The next month sees us play 6 fixtures, which feels like a very quiet after 3 straight months with 8 fixtures a piece. We will be playing Tottenham in the 6th round of the FA Cup, our second leg of our Champions Cup tie against Valencia, and 4 league fixtures.

I now feel more optimism that we may be able to win the title, because our rivals appear to have a slightly tougher run in to the end of the season than we do, although we don't want to rely on other teams slipping up.