January 2012 - Problems in the Dressing Room

The month starts with the confirmation that AC Milan have sent Gianmarco Zigoni on loan to us, and according to my backroom staff he is rated as our 3rd best striker, behind Fatih Yucel and Scocco, so should be able to do a decent job for us during the heavy fixture congestion we have coming up. He is however severely lacking match fitness so will need a match or two in the reserves before joining the first team.

Unfortunately the harmony in the team seems to breaking down a lot. The catalsyt for this seems to have been after one of my hot prospects had a falling out with Rafa while he was tutoring him. Silviu Lung jr has also expressed a desire to leave in order to join a bigger club and win trophies. In order to avoid causing a huge upset, I have responded that he should wait until the end of the season. I'm not happy with this, but if I decline his request to leave, I'm sure he'd stop playing at his best, as happened with Fatih Yucel for a while. I find this desire to leave a bit strange, given that we are currently 1st in the Premier League and also in the League Cup semi final, with a good chance of making it through to final, as well as also winning the FA Cup last season, and the Charity Shield in this one. I can only hope that we do manage to hold on and win the league, and that this causes him to have a change of heart. In the hopes of bringing some of the harmony back to the dressing room, I have accepted offers for both Rowan Vine and Matthew Connolly, who appear to have been the most vocal is stirring up trouble. Wayne Routledge looks to be another player that needs to leave, so I've also offered him to other clubs. This may appear brutal, but I feel I need to clear out those who I feel are no longer good enough to play for the team, and causing our dressing room problems.

Sunderland (H) League Cup Semi Final Leg 1

The first match of the year sees Sunderland arrive back at Loftus Road just 4 days after we gained victory over them in the FA Cup. We are again narrow favourites for this match, and know that we can achieve a win. It would be ideal if we can give ourselves a comfortable victory and keep a clean sheet if we can. My biggest concern in this match is how the problems in the dressing room affect the players out on the pitch, but my assistant seems to have no worries about the focus of any of the our players on match day.

We started the game by going on the attack, allowing Sunderland little time on the ball. In the 6th minute this paid off with Varrault finding a superb diagonal pass into the area for Scocco to run onto and round the keeper to give him the easiest of shots to give us the lead. In the 11th minute Scocco received the ball clear of the defence, but this time the keeper was able to close him down and stop his shot from finding the back of the net. Although Sunderland were trying to mount attacks, were doing a good job of cutting these out and mounting our own attacks and in the 17th minute Scocco squared the ball to his right just outside the area for Fatih Yucel, who moved forward and placed the ball into the net to give us a 2nd goal. In the 25th minute we nearly added to our goal tally with Buzsaky's curling shot from just outside the area saved, with the rebound dropping to Scocco in the area, but his shot was also saved by the keeper. After the half hour mark Sunderland came a bit more into the game, managing a few shots, but nothing that required a great save from our keeper. We continued to mount attacks, with Buzsaky having another shot saved in the 36th minute. Although Sunderland were regularly managing to get down the flanks, their crossing was pretty woeful, which was making our job of defending that much easier. The first half came to and end with us still leading 2-0.

I was pleased with what I'd seen in the first half, with the players looking good on the ball, and making it hard for Sunderland to attack. I sent the players back out telling them I was pleased, hoping they would continue to make the same sort of effort for the 2nd half. Sunderland came out looking motivated, but this didn't seem to be helping them, and in the 51st minute a series of swift passing moves, saw Rowlands slide the ball across the face of the area, for Fatih Yucel to run onto and score our 3rd goal of the match. Annoyingly we got caught out in the 56th minute by the speed of Bent, getting onto the end of a ball and sliding it by Lung jr again at the near post, which is very disappointing. In the 69th minute Scocco had a tricky chance to extend our lead again, but failed to even find the target. In the 84th he had another chance having got clear of the defence, only to hit the keeper again. In the 90th minute I was angry when Bent managed to get on the end of another ball and hammered it by Lung jr without him seeming to make much of an effort to make the save. That was very annoying, as I feel he really could have saved both of these goals, making we wonder if he is distracted by his desire to leave the club. We saw the match through to gain a 3-2 victory.

I was pleased to get a victory, but very annoyed that we'd conceded two goals I felt our keeper should have made a much better effort to try and save. It's very disappointing not to finish with the margin of victory our performance had deserved. Although we will head to the Stadium of Light holding an advantage, but it's not as good as I would have liked.

Result: 3-2

Wigan (A) Premier League

For our first league fixture of the year we head off to DW Stadium to take on Wigan, who have been struggling quite a big this season, finding themselves in 16th place, which makes us favourites to win this match. Our record over Wigan is good, having won the last 3 matches we've played against them, although each time the margin of victory has been by a single goal.

The match started as a midfield battle and continued on from there. In spells we looked good, causing the Wigan defence problems, and several times had a player just about to get clear with the ball, only for him to be fouled each time, denying us any really good chances. In the 40th minute Lung jr had to make the first save by either keeper of the match. We reached half time goalless, in what had been a pretty dreary match so far.

I was somewhat disappointed with our play, although that had a lot to do with the tactics of Wigan. I sent the players back out telling them it had been disappointing so far, hoping this would bring them more to life for the second half. At the start of the 2nd half we were awful, being overrun by Wigan, and took ages to start to settle again. It wasn't until the 59th minute Jimenez had a chance to score, only for his shot to be saved. In the 63rd minute Scocco had a better chance, but somehow the keeper managed to flail an arm and bring off a miraculous save. In the 82nd minute there was great controversy when we were awarded a penalty for a foul on Buzsaky, which Fatih Yucel stepped up to take, and buried into the back of the net to give us the lead. It's no surprise that Wigan started pushing hard to find an equaliser, with Lung jr having a make a save in the 88th minute from a stinging long shot. In the 1st minute of stoppage time, Wigan had a shot bounce off the crossbar and go safe, with Lung jr called upon the following minute. Fortunately after that we managed to keep the ball as I wanted us to, and play out the time for a 1-0 victory.

I was pleased we managed to get this victory, and at times in the 2nd half our performance looked good, but overall the match was pretty poor, with Wigan's very defensive and negative tactics making it very hard to break through. Such was the poor quality of the match, Sunny was named the man of the match with a rating of just 7.5, which says a lot. Our defence, which had seen a few changes for this match for the purposes of maintaining fitness levels, had done a pretty good job, giving me a lot of confidence in all the defensive players I will be using over the next few months.

Result: 1-0

Following this match we have now confirmed the sale of Rowan Vine to Norwich for £500k, which has seen the dressing harmony rise a bit, but is still far too low. Although the harmony of the squad is down, their morale is very high, with the results still being good, but I definitely need to improve the situation as quickly as possible.

Sunderland (A) Premier League

We now travel to the Stadium of Light for a league match against Sunderland, who we're getting to know extremely well recently. They are the narrowest of favourites for this match, and after our recent meetings I feel we have a decent chance.

The match started as a fairly even affair, with both sides looking to mount attacks. In the 8th minute Lung jr had to make a very good save keep the ball out of the net. This seemed to spur Sunderland on, and in the 10th minute Lung jr had to make another great save from a free kick, where our wall was in the wrong position. It took us a few minutes to settle again, with our first shot of the match coming in the 16th minute from a Scocco long range drive that flew just wide of the post. Sunderland were however finding it far too easy to break through our back line with Lung jr making another good save in the 19th minute. In the 28th minute Scocco managed to get on the end of a throughball clear of the defence, but he failed to be able to get the ball by the keeper who'd been quick to close him down. However later the same minute Slory slotted a pass through to Scocco at the edge of the box, allowing him to move by his marker, and this time he managed to slide the ball under the advancing keeper as he dived to try and make the save. Sunderland tried to respond, which was giving us a bit more space to attack when we got the ball, and in the 34th minute Fatih Yucel tried a long range shot from outside the area, which the keeper could only push over the bar for a corner. From the resulting corner there were shouts claiming that we should have had a penalty, but it's very unclear, and the ball went for another corner. In the 37th minute there was disappointment as Sunderland broke through again allowing Aaron Lennon an easy shot to level the scores. Just two minute later Puygrenier was given a very dubious yellow card, for an apparent trip on a player who was running from behind him as he jumped for a header. No idea how that works out. Just into added time Lung jr produced an amazing save to deny Kenwyne Jones when he managed to get the ball clear of our defence, bringing the first half to a close with the score level at 1-1.

Although Sunderland had enjoyed more possession, the match had been fairly even, and was quite pleased with what I'd seen, hoping we could now push on to find the winning goal. The 2nd half started with Sunderland pushing forward, forcing another couple of saves from Lung jr, but we soon started to mount attacks ourselves, and in the 52nd minute Fatih Yucel had an excellent chance to score, but just couldn't get it out of the reach of the keeper, with the ball was cleared out to the right, where the Sunderland right back had the ball stolen from him, and then fouled Slory trying to win it back. Buzsaky stepped up, and I was just expecting the ball to be delivered into the box for one of our players to try and get a head on it. However his kick was directed towards the far top corner of the net, but fully expected the keeper to push it over or wide for a corner, but he misjudged it, and ended up deflecting it into the goal to restore our lead. This was an own goal, as it looks unlikely the ball would have gone in without his touch on the ball. My delight didn't last long as Sunderland managed to claim an equaliser by just keep pumping the ball back into the box, and eventually it fell for one of their players to put the ball in the net in the 55th minute. I was angry with this goal, as our defending had let us down badly, with us getting pushed back far too much. Sunderland then started pushing for a winner, and worryingly in the 62nd minute Buzsaky went down with a potential thigh injury. After this we seemed largely powerless to stop Sunderland from creating chances with shots coming from everywhere, causing a lot of worry. We did get foward a few times, but the last part of the match was pretty poor with us having to withstand some serious pressure, but we managed to hold out and reach the end of the match with the scores level at 2-2.

Given how we'd managed to take the lead twice, I was disappointed with the result and how much we were outplayed by Sunderland in the last part of the match. I guess I should be happy though to come away with a draw, as this is not an easy venue to get a result at. One good piece of news is that Buzsaky has not sustained an injury from the knock he took in the match.

Result: 2-2

In the days following the match I have now sold Wayne Routledge to Birmingham for £1 million, which should ease some more of the dressing room disharmony.

Sheffield United (H) Premier League

The Blades arrive at Loftus Road with us clear favourites to win this match. The backroom staff tell me that we have a lot of different advantages over them, so this is a match we should definitely be winning against a side that have struggled this season, sitting in 17th place in the table. I've decided to give Zigoni his first start since joining the club.

With just 10 seconds on the clock, Sheffield United's Crisetig hacked Ephraim down with a vicious tackle, resulting in him being sent off and his victim suffering a potential knee injury, which is a bit of a worry, but at the moment a substitution is not needed. For some reason after this, it was Blades going on the attack, pushing us back for a while. In the 9th minute a superb throughball over the top nearly got a us a goal with Balanta taking control of it, and hitting the shot, which the keeper just managed to get a hand to and deflect around the post. From the corner Ephraim had a shot which bounced off a defender and dropped perfectly for Puygrenier to swing a leg and thump the ball into the back of the net and give us the lead in the 10th minute. The Blades were now dominating possession, stroking the ball about like we weren't there, but we nearly got them on the break in the 17th minute with Balanta again getting clear and again seeing his shot kept out by another great save. We started to gain a bit more time on the ball, but still giving possession back far too cheaply, which was disappointing. In the 29th minute we won our second corner of the game, and the Blades made an awful mess of trying to defend it, with the ball bouncing about like it was in a pinball machine, before it bounced off the keeper, allowing Kjær to pounce on the ball and prod it into the net to give us a 2 goal lead. In fact it was Kjær's initial flick on to put it over the head of the flailing keeper that helped to cause the panic. This appeared to settle us properly for a while, but again we started to give the ball away far too cheaply. Near the end of the half Balanta and then Jimemez went down having taken a knock, which is not good during this busy period of matches. The first half ended with us leading 2-0.

I was pleased that we had the lead, but felt we hadn't taken as much advantage as we should have, especially with a player having been sent off. I sent the players back out telling them I was pleased, hoping they would then go on the see this match out properly. The half started with the Blades looking very good, making me worry a bit with the ease with which they were moving the ball about. In the 50th minute we'd finally wrestled the ball back, and Zigoni had a good chance to extend our lead, but his shot was the victim of another great save by the keeper. We finally seemed to settle down after that taking a lot more control. In the 56th minute I was astonished when Balanta was booked for a supposed dive in the area, but it looks like he was brought down to me. Somehow the keeper managed to make another astonishing save to deny Zigoni yet again. In the 61st minute we were the victims of another of the AI's miracle long shots, to pull a goal back for the Blades. We then started to enjoy a good period of possession, looking to restore our 2 goal lead, rarely letting the Blades mount a counter attack, but every time they did I got nervous. In the 78th minute Curri spotted Scocco, on as a substitute, in space just outside the area, and he thumped in a superb long shot to restore our 2 goal cushion. After this we were really dominating possession well, and giving the Blades no opportunity of getting forward. This was spoilt though when the referee made what I feel was a disgraceful decision to give Sunny his second yellow card of the game leading to him being sent off in the 87th minute. That sending off had little effect on the result though, with the match ending 3-1.

I'm pleased that we got the win, but absolutely livid about Sunny's sending off, and the bizarre booking of Balanta for a supposed dive. It was quite nice to see our two centre backs get on the scoresheet, but Scocco's screamer was an absolute delight and really settled my nerves. In the post match analysis it actually says that the referee had a mixed day, and could be accused of a bias towards to the visitors, which I certainly felt. The bad news is that Sunny is now banned for 2 matches after his sending off, but there is some good news which is that Ephraim has not sustained an injury as a result of the vicious foul in the first few seconds of the match. One of the more astounding stats is that Sheffield United only commited only 2 fouls in the match, or at least the referee gave only 2 fouls against them.

Result: 3-1

Sunderland (A) League Cup Semi Final Leg 2

We travel back to the Stadium of Light, as marginal underdogs looking to advance through to the final of the League Cup, holding a narrow lead of one goal in the tie. If we can match our performance earlier in the month we played in the league at this stadium, then I'll be very happy, as it will be enough to see us through to the final.

For the first 15 minutes of the match we were completely and utterly rubbish, so bad I was thinking of joining our fans and booing the awful display they were putting on. The only good things I was seeing was some herioc defending under great pressure. I really started shouting at the team, telling them a few fortunes, and this seemed to wake them up from whatever drugged haze they had been in at the start. Suddenly they were managing to string some passes together and in the 18th minute Fatih Yucel squared the ball in the area for Jimenez to stroke the ball home to open the scoring, in what had up until then looked a very one sided match. The match became a little more open after that even though Sunderland were pushing to find an equaliser. This was opening the pitch for us to mount counter attacks which were causing them some worries, even though we weren't creating any shots. In the 29th minute one of those counter attacks saw Scocco put through on the left and when reached the byeline he turned and sent a great pass to Curri who'd moved into the area, who then slipped a short diagonal pass to Rafa, who looked sure to increase our lead before he was flattened by a tackle from Anton Ferdinand. This resulted in a yellow card, which was fairly lucky given Rafa had a clear chance to score. Curri stepped up to the take the spot kick but somehow the keeper managed to make a save and deflect the ball onto the post, with Scocco's shot from the rebound saved, and then Jimenez had a shot from just outside the area, go just wide of the post. I can't believe we've let them off like that. To add serious insult to this missed penalty, Varrault went down in the 36th minute with a possible thigh injury, requiring his substition. This missed penalty seemed to give Sunderland more confidence and they pushed forward again, with Lung jr called upon to make another great diving save in the 38th minute. We went through another period of 5 minutes looking totally awful again, but we managed to make it to half time still leading 1-0.

Although we'd looked really poor at times, I was pleased that we'd managed to get the lead and although Sunderland had put a lot of pressure on us, we'd managed to stand up to that so far. There was a bit of disappointment that we'd had a penalty saved, and Varrault had needed to be substituted. I sent the players back out pleased, as we were now holding a two goal lead on aggregate, and hoped they would be a bit more consistent in the second half. We actually started the half looking a bit better than we had, but it was Sunderland who were to make the breakthrough in the 53rd minute, with another of those annoying long shots flying in that you find hard to believe. For the next few minutes there was big midfield battle, which ended with Sunderland getting a cross into the box for them to head the ball home to take the lead and level the scores on aggregate. From the moment of that penalty everything was going against us, and now we were getting poor offside decisions given against us with the wrong player being called, when the receiving player was actually onside. We desperately needed some change of luck if we were to get out of this with the result we so desired. After about 70 minutes we started to enjoy our best period of the game, but a lot of our attacks were being stopped by fouls in the midfield area, which was getting frustrating. In the 86th minute there was an awful tackle on Slory leading to his enforced substitution with a possible thigh injury, but the player inflicting the injury was not even given a talking to. From the resulting free kick Rafa got his head to the ball, but the keeper somehow managed to deflect the ball over the bar for a corner. In the 3rd minute of added time, we won a corner which was cleared, and the ball was then passed back to Jimenez on the right, who crossed it back into the box, where it took a deflection off a Sunderland player towards the goal, with Scocco the first player to react and he hammered the ball home to level the scores and restore our aggregate lead in the most dramatic fashion. Despite Sunderland immediately going on the attack, there was not enough time for them to find the goal they needed to send the match into extra time. The match ended with the same scoreline there had been in the league game, a 2-2 draw, meaning we'd won the semi-final 5-4 on aggregate.

I was delighted, with how much better we'd been in the 2nd half, especially in the last 20 minutes of the match. Luis Jimenez came away with the man of the match award, after putting in a great performance today, rounded off by getting the assist for our dramatic late goal that put us through to the final of the League Cup. I had just about resigned myself to the match going to extra time, where I feared we would start to tire, and possibly give the match away. The injury to Cedric Varrault is a quite nasty one to his hip, putting him out for between 2 to 3 months, which is not good. Although we have Curri who can play just as well at left back to cover his absence, I feel we need to look at signing another player for this position. Slory's injury is fortunately nowhere near as serious, with it just being a dead leg, putting him out for just 3 to 4 days. Our opponents in the final will be Arsenal, who came through after getting a 1-1 draw away to Everton, to win 3-2 on aggregate.

Result: 2-2 (5-4 aggregate)

Annoyingly a deal to sell Matthew Connolly to Sampdoria fell through when they were unable to find the funds, so I've have offered him up again for sale, but increased his price a little as there is a lot of interest in buying him.

Huddersfield (H) FA Cup 4th Round

Huddersfield visit Loftus Road for this cup tie as clear underdogs for this match. They have had a reasonable run of late in the Championship sitting midtable, and victory can not be taken for granted. As far as the fans are concerned defeat in this fixture would be almost unforgiveable, so it is very important that our players are not complacent.

The match started with us pushing forward looking for a way through, and Huddersfield helped us by conceding a free kick just outside the area. Buzsaky stepped up and stroked the ball home into the top corner of the net to open the scoring in the 3rd minute of the game to get us off to a great start. Rowlands had a shot from a narrow angle saved in the 6th minute to win a corner. In what I felt was a slightly bizarre move Huddersfield substituted their fastest striker, and changed from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-1-4-1, which I was sure could only be a good thing for us, even though it would make it harder to crack their defence again. What followed was a rather unexciting period of play where we were dominating possession trying to find a way through the solid wall that Huddersfield had decided to create, and it wasn't until the 29th minute that Rowlands picked Balanta out in space in the area, where he drilled the ball along the ground to beat the keeper and double our lead. Just three minutes later Zigoni showed good vision to put Balanta through on goal with in space and he advanced into the area and placed the ball into the bottom corner of the net to give us a 3 goal lead. Huddersfield then switched to trying to play possession football, trying to work forward slowly, but that was just succeeded in making the match fairly boring, as it seemed be just a matter of time before we would cut a pass out and clear the ball. Their only shot of the half came from a free kick conceded about 40 yards out, which was blocked, and so the half ended with us leading 3-0.

I was pleased with how we'd performed, getting 3 goals, and totally snuffing out Huddersfield as an attacking force. Steele our keeper in this match, had hardly had anything to do in the match. I sent the players back out pleased, and hoped they wouldn't get complacent in the 2nd half. Huddersfield came out looking motivated, pushing us back suddenly and in the 51st minute they managed to grab a goal back. This seemed to give them hope, and there followed a boring period of play with a midfield battle, and then they started to push forward as if they were Man United, suddenly able to do whatever they liked, and Steele had to make a great save in the 66th minute to stop them finding a 2nd goal. This was bizarre, even when we did break forward, suddenly our first touch had gone, the passing was suddenly going all wrong and Huddersfield were making every tackle perfectly with the ball always going to them. Any tackle we made, the ball was also going straight back to them. I decided to make some substitutions, as nothing else seemed to make any difference, and this seemed to at last suddenly have our passing back again. Huddersfield still seemed to be able to charge through us in a way that I find hard to believe given their players and the skills. They just continued until the end still pushing to find a goal, but I'm pleased to say they couldn't find a way through, so the match ended 3-1.

I'm pleased we got the victory, but I find the 2nd half just totally bizarre, where the only reason that Huddersfield didn't get back into the match was due to some poor finishing and some good defending. Even trying to hassle the opponents didn't make any difference apart from us picking up some yellow cards, so I removed that shout. I know that in real life Huddersfield in that situation may try to go for it in the 2nd half, but to dominate it to such an extent was beyond belief. This seems to happen too often, and I'm glad this time I've got away it, unlike our match against PSG last month, where we were beaten with us unable to do a thing in the 2nd half of the match.

Result: 3-1

Following this match Matthew Connolly has now been sold to Torino for £2.2 million, which is a great relief, and brings a bit more harmony back to the dressing room.

Leeds (A) Premier League

We travel to Elland Road as marginal favourites for this fixture, but this surely has the potential to be a banana skin for us, as Leeds have performed quite well in their first season back in the Premier Division, sitting comfortably in 10th spot. Leeds have also played no matches for 10 days, so their team is fully fit as well, but hopefully that will not prove to be much of an advantage. Their home form is quite poor, so they seem to struggle in front of their own fans.

We started the match in fine form with, with us working Scocco through in the 2nd minute, but he fired just wide. We continued to push forward, and in the 5th minute Jimenez put a superb pass through for Fatih Yucel to run onto and he found the target with a fine finish to open the scoring. We were still doing a good job of controlling the match, and in the 24th minute Fatih Yucel was put through again, but this time the keeper was equal to his shot. In the 26th minute Steele had to make a superb save to stop Leeds grabbing an equaliser, and another great save in the 30th to push the ball over the bar. In the 41st minute Scocco will wonder how having got clear his shot was saved by the keeper. From the resulting corner Fatih Yucel met the ball with his head, only to see the keeper manage to push the ball clear. We continued to press on seeing the half out still leading 1-0.

I was pleased with what I'd seen, but felt we really should have had a better lead. The match restarted looking a bit more open. In the 51st minute Kjær put a header just wide from a corner kick. In the 55th minute Scocco hit the crossbar, he was then brought down, but no foul given, on the edge of the area. In the 56th minute Scocco got clear again, only for the keeper to make another amazing save to deflect the ball for a corner. In the 58th minute this pressure finally paid off with Fatih Yucel turning to provider to flick a short pass to Eprhaim in the area, to slot the ball home to give us a 2 goal lead. We continued to pile on the pressure and in the 62nd minute Ephraim played the ball inside to Scocco 30 yards out in space and he hit an absolute rocket which hit the back of the net, despite the keeper getting a hand to the ball.  Immediately Leeds went on the attack from the restart, but Steele was equal to the shot holding the save with ease. In the 65th minute somehow we allowed Beckford to dribble his way around our defend and pulled a goal back, which was hugely disappointing. As in our previous match, it appeared that a team we'd been outplaying with ease, were suddenly turning on the style in a somewhat unbelievable fashion. Fortunately this didn't last long in this match, and we charged forward again, with Daeseleire producing an excellent cross which went over the keeper's head where the waiting Ephraim had the easiest of headers to put the ball in from point blank range for his 2nd of the match. Ephraim's desire to complete his hat-trick seemed to now be driving us on to look for another goal. I was very annoyed when he went down under a challenge in the 84th minute with a potential arm injury. That seemed to inspire Leeds, with a long shot from 40 yards out only being kept out by a stunning save from Steele. I was pleased though that when we did get the ball we were still looking very comfortable and confident. In the 89th minute Scocco hit a shot straight at the keeper with the ball rebounding out in the area where Ephraim was waiting and he managed to keep his composure in front of an almost empty net, to slot the ball home, and complete a wonderful hat-trick. Leeds tried to see if they could find another consolation from the restart, but once we got the ball back it was easy for us to see the match out for a marvellous 5-1 victory.

I'm absolutely delighted with this win and a superb performance, where the margin of victory could have been even bigger. From the starting 11, the lowest rating was a 7.1 from Sunny who was the first player I substituted due to him picking up a yellow, and looked in danger of getting a second. This is one of the best performances I've seen from the team, demolishing a team that could have caused us a few problems. Ephraim was outstanding, finishing with a hat-trick and an assist. The coaches only rate him as a good player for a Championship side, but there's something about his attributes that make him a great winger, even though his overall attributes are fairly average. He also completed the match with a damaged elbow that will see him sidelined for up to a 2 weeks. The fans that travelled to Leeds were also delighted having seen us dominate a game and for the first time this season produce a result that was befitting of the performance put in. I have to give huge credit to my players, because with the dressing room not showing the greatest of harmony, once they get on the pitch that his being forgotten.

Result: 5-1

West Ham (H) Premier League

The visit of West Ham to Loftus Road sees us as clear favourites for the match. West Ham have struggled a bit recently and find themselves in 11th place in the league, but they are by no means an easy team to beat.

We started the match looking to take it to West Ham, but somehow just couldn't find a way to create a chance, with the Hammers getting more time on the ball and being more creative. In the 9th minute though we finally managed to work our way through, with Grenier forcing a save from the keeper, which rebounded out for Zigoni to pounce on and stroke the ball home to give us the lead, this being his first goal since coming on loan to us. The Hammers then tried to push forward, but we were standing firm, and this allowed us an opportunity in the 19th minute to counter attack, with Laure hitting the ball upfield allowing Zigoni to race clear of the defence, and as the keeper advanced he produced a wonderful lob over the keeper to score his second goal of the match. In the 26th minute Balanta was set clear but the keeper stood firm to make the save. We were doing a great job of keeping West Ham quiet, but in the 40th minute they won a corner, from which the ball was cleared to the edge of the area, and hammered straight into the back of the net, through a crowded area without hitting any player on the way, to pull a goal back. In the last minute of half time there was a bit of a panic in our area but we managed to clear the ball, and the half ended with us still leading 2-1.

I was reasonably pleased with our performance in the first half, and felt that we were quite unlucky in conceding the goal in the way we had. I sent the players back out trying to encourage them to keep up their level of performance. In the 1st minute of the half we nearly allowed Owen to put the scores level and only a good save from Steele stopped that happening. For the first 10 minutes of the half we were almost under siege, before finally starting to get ourselves together and getting our passing back under control. In the 57th minute Balanta had another shot, but the keeper again made a great save. In the 61st minute Steele had to make another close range save to deny Owen again. In the 65th minute Zigoni was put through with a chance of claiming his hat-trick but again the keeper managed to make the save. A minute later West Ham got lucky with a deflection allowing them to score the equaliser, and also disappointed that Steele had not managed to make the save. There followed a big battle in the midfield for about 15 minutes. In the 80th minute we thought we'd taken the lead again when Jimenez put the ball in the net, but this was ruled out for him being offside. In the 85th minute I was livid when a nasty tackle caused Slory to go down with a potential foot injury, fortunately not bad enough to require substitution, but pretty nasty and yet again no card or talking to for the player that inflicted this; just a free kick. In the 89th minute West Ham hit the post, with us clearing the ball for a corner; I can't understand this, as there was very easy to have cleared this for a throw-in. Fortunately that odd decision to concede the corner didn't matter and the match came to end with the scores level 2-2.

I was really disappointed to end up with only a draw, especially after holding a 2 goal lead and although we had less shots, we had by far the better chances of scoring. This definitely goes down as 2 points thrown away. Slory ended up with a twisted ankle, which will see him out for about 4 weeks. This is frustrating, because with Curri who plays really well as a left winger now covering at left back, I'm effectively down by two left wingers. The situation is slightly worse than that, due to Ephraim still a few days away from making a return after this elbow injury.

Result: 2-2

When Varrault became injured I decided I needed to look to cover our left back position. Even though Martin Stranzl can play as a left back, he isn't the ideal cover for that position for any length of time. This became even more important with Slory picking up an injury, as it might then allow us to play Curri as a left winger again, where he seems to be very effective. In the days following I looked at signing some players, but had some good offers rejected, before I found Paul Dixon of Bolton avaliable for loan, and decided that this would probably be our best option, even though he's not quite as good as Curri or Varrault. I am happy this will give us the adequate cover we need.

Monthly Roundup

This was another great month for us, remaining unbeaten, and securing progression through to the League Cup final and the 5th round of the FA Cup. In the league we managed to claim 3 wins and 2 draws. The draw against West Ham is the result I'm most disappointed with, as we'd held a 2-0 lead which we somehow let slip.

The league table sees us slip to 2nd place, on goal difference behind Man City, but we do have a game in hand over them. Arsenal are 3 points behind us with a game in hand over us, with a better goal difference. The top 5 teams are all very much in touch, so the end of the season could be quite exciting as there are no clear favourites yet for the title. We can only hope the other teams make some slips somewhere along the way. It's interesting to see how Everton have managed to claw themselves out of the relegation area, with the odd win but then drop a lot of points to drag them closer again. They may be saved by the teams below them being just as bad this season, but they are definitely the team performing way underpar at the moment. Leeds are also sliding slowly down the table, which after their fantastic start is rather disappointing for them.

Ephraim's stunning hat-trick against Leeds was enough for him to win the Premiership Player of the Month award. There were a lot of good performances this month in the team, with Balanta and Fatih Yucel giving us 4 goals each, and Scocco producing 5. I think for his consistency over over those matches, Scocco just about edges it for my own player of the month. Every member of the team delivered some very good performances, with the demolition of Leeds being the highlight, where Ephraim put in arguably his best ever performance while scoring a hat-trick, so it was a real shame that he suffered an injury in that match. Fortunately he is only a few days away from returning to the squad. Sadly Slory will be out for about 4 weeks and Varrault for about 2 months.

I'm quite amazed with how the squad, which started the month lacking harmony in the dressing room, were able to keep morale very high and produce some excellent results. The good news is that at the end of the month the dressing room is now much more harmonious. If we hadn't been able to keep the good results coming in, I think the lack of harmony would have become a big problem, as a lot of players were making comments to the press about this issue during the month. All is looking much better, but due to Lung jr's getting all upset, I have given Steele a bit of a run in the first team, to bring his spirits up more, as I guess he may well become my number one keeper at the end of the season, and the only way he'll improve more is through playing. Zigoni has made quite an impression with the fans already, especially after the two goals against West Ham, with the 2nd of them being a quite exquisite lob over the keeper.

February sees us scheduled for 5 league fixtures, the League Cup Final and the first leg of our Champions Cup knockout match against Valencia. Once our next oppenent in the FA Cup is confirmed we will be playing that match too, which will mean travelling to either Charlton or Portsmouth, both of these teams being Championship sides. After our match against Huddersfield, which was a bit tense at times, neither of these teams can be taken for granted. Our league fixtures also look tough with matches against Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City, so the next month will be very important in determining how realistic our challenge for the league title is. Although we have a busy schedule of 8 matches, it appears that once Arsenal know their FA Cup opponents, they will have 9 fixtures to play, which for a month with just 29 days, sounds like hell.