March 2012 - Motivation, that's what you need

This month sees us scheduled for just 6 fixtures, with 4 league matches, an FA Cup tie and the second leg of our Champions Cup match against Valencia. Our injury list, sees only one casualty, that being Varrault, who should be back in training with us by the end month. Our first match is 6 days after our League Cup loss, which is the longest gap we've had between fixtures since Christmas, which is very welcome for many of our players.

Tottenham (A) FA Cup Sixth Round

We travel to White Hart Lane for this tricky cup tie as slight underdogs. The record of our previous 6 matches, sees us share 2 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws, which doesn't tell us an awful lot. We have not so far managed to beat them at this ground, which doesn't bode too well, but I believe we have a chance of finally changing that.

The match started looking as though it was going to be a real hard fought midfield battle. However we soon started to control the ball and in the 9th minute the first good chance fell to Grenier in the area, but his shot hit the crossbar, bouncing off to go for a throw-in. In the 10th Grenier was again involved, this time crossing from the right into the area, where Ephraim was running through, and hit a superb low volley to give us the lead. After this we had to withstand a lot of pressure from Spurs, who were desperate to find an equaliser. One thing we were doing very well was managing to keep Crouch and Defoe quiet. One worrying aspect was how many fouls we were giving away, some of which were decidedly dubious, in particular one where Kranjcar made a clear dive to win a free kick. We did manage a few attacks ourself, but made little to worry the Spurs keeper again. The half came to an end with us leading 1-0.

I was quite pleased with what I'd seen, because despite the pressure we were under, Crouch managed 2 off target shots in the first half, and Defoe did not get a single shot. I sent the players back out giving them encouragement to go on and see this result out. For a large part of the second half we were having to defend strongly, finding it very difficult to take control of the ball properly, making all sorts of weird passes, and giving the ball back too easily. Our defending however remained top quality, keeping Spurs at bay even though they were getting more desperate. I tried a few changes, but these didn't seem to have much effect until the last 10 minutes of the match, where we started to finally pass the ball properly and dominated the possession near the end, helping us to play out the rest of the match to give us a 1-0 victory.

I was pleased that we managed to grab this victory, but to be honest this was a very poor match. In the 2nd half we'd again kept Crouch and Defoe quiet, each managing just 2 shots in that half, none of which were on target. In fact Spurs only managed two shots on target, which were of so little consequence I didn't feel it was worth mentioning them as chances. We managed 3 shots on target, plus a shot off the woodwork. The majority of shots from Spurs were long range efforts that were either blocked or off target. That has to go down as one of our ugliest wins, but the way in which we were able to stop Spurs creating any good chances was extremely encouraging. This win also puts us through to the semi final of the FA Cup.

Result: 1-0

In the days following this match the draw for the semi final was made which sees us play either Blackburn or Everton. The other semi final sees either Liverpool or Arsenal play Chelsea. I was kind of hoping to play Chelsea, as I feel we definitely have the beating of them, but maybe if we win the semi, we'll get them in the final for the ultimate grudge match of the season.

Valencia (H) Champions Cup First Knockout Round 2nd Leg

Valencia arrive at Loftus Road, as marginal favourites to win the leg, and hold a one goal advantage so firm favourites to win the tie and progress to the next stage of the competition. Our 2 away goals do however give us an advantage if we are able to claw our way to 1-0 or 2-1 victory. Given the talent of Valencia though that will not be easy, but I'm sure my players will be giving it a try. We are likely to get a fair amount of possession, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage, but the speed of some of their players is always a handful to deal with. There is a huge bonus to us before the match starts with David Villa being injured. Since the first leg, Valencia have recorded 2 losses and a draw in the league, being thrashed by Getafe and Real Madrid. Their morale is very low coming into this match, which I hope will make a difference.

We started the match going forward, and in the 2nd minute Fatih Yucel hit the post and the follow up shot from Grenier hit the keeper. In the 4th minute Sunny took a knock causing a possible upper body injury, but not bad enough to need substitution. In the 11th minute we conceded a very dubious foul not far outside our area, with Sunny receiving a talking to. I get the feeling already that the referee is biased. From the free kick the ball hit our post, going safe, and I breatehed a sigh of relief. In the 14th minute Grenier got another chance, but again found the keeper with his shot. It was noticable that Valencia were getting more and more nervous the longer the scores stayed level and us pushing forward. This was looking a much uglier match than the first leg, with several of my players taking knocks from hard tackles. This seemed to be the result of their growing nervousness; they had 7 players nervous, and 1 playing without confidence. In the 31st minute Sunny found a superb throughball for Fatih Yucel to run onto in the area, and he took great delight in putting the ball by the despairing keeper to open the scoring. Their nervousness proceeded to get worse, and in the 42nd minute when one of their centre backs was booked, all their players were either nervous or playing without confidence. I have never seen a team in such a bad way before. This didn't stop them making attacks, but there lack of confidence was making things very easy for us to defend. The match reached half time with us leading 1-0.

I was pleased with what we'd done in the first half, and the current scoreline if we could hold on to it would put us into the next round. I sent the players back out giving them encouragement to go on and see the match out properly. Valencia came back out still looking very nervous. In the 51st minute I thought Fatih Yucel had extended out lead, but he was unfortunately offside as the pass was made. In the 59th minute Balanta had a great chance to extend the lead, but the keeper managed to close down fast enough to stop him scoring. In the 62nd minute Grenier had an even better chance, but again found the keeper blocking his shot. Later the same minute Buzsaky struck a thunderous long shot which the keeper managed to deflect over the bar. In the 75th minute Valencia's persistent fouling brought about the sending off of Alex, to take them down to 10 men for the last 15 minutes. In the 77th minute Grenier produced a superb cross to Balanta at the edge of the area, with space and time to place his shot perfectly in the corner of the net to give us a 2-0 lead. Valencia were now looking very ragged, and their attempts to come forward were easy for us to cut off. In the 87th minute Zigoni had the chance to seal the victory beyond all doubt, but hit it at the keeper. In the 89th minute he produced a superb long shot from just outside the area, which looked destined for the top corner, but the keeper managed to get a hand to it, pushing it for a corner. In the 4th minute of added time, he had yet another chance, but again shot straight at the keeper. The match came to an end with running out 2-0 victors.

I was delighted with the team, after this performance, which sees us advance to the quarter final stages of the competition. We played much better in the second half, really taking advantage of the nervousness of the Valencia players. If our finishing had been better, this could have been a very embarrassing demolition. I have to give some credit to Getafe and Real Madrid who had totally demoralised them in the run up to this match. Such was the number of times the Valencia keeper denied us, he ran out as man of the match. I have to say, even though I felt before the match we had a chance after the first leg, I did not expect Valencia to be so poor in the 2nd leg. Today I saw how a very good team can become extremely average if their morale is bad. A couple of bits of bad news from the match, are that Sunny suffered a bruised rib, sidelining him for about a week. Laure picked up a yellow card in the match, which will see him miss the next match in the Champions Cup.

Result: 2-0

In the days following the match, the draw took place for the quarter finals, which will see us play Tottenham. In one way I'm pleased with this, as we know we can beat Spurs, but I'd have preferred a different team, rather than playing another 2 fixtures against them. After our previous fixtures it's bound to be a hard fought contest, and they'll be looking to get revenge for us beating them in the FA Cup. The first of these fixtures at White Hart Lane will take place later this month, so our fixture list has increased to 7 games.

Everton (H) Premier League

The Toffees arrive as clear underdogs for this match, struggling in mid table, but seemingly clear of relegation worries now. My big worry about this match is that Everton have always been my nemesis team, but after securing a draw with them earlier in the season to finally take a point from them, helps me to believe I might finally vanquish my nemesis.

The match started in amazing fashion with Scocco slipping a pass through for Grenier to run onto in the area, with his shot going in off the inside of the post to give us the lead with just 70 seconds on the clock. Although Everton were trying to push forward, we were doing a good job of keeping them at bay, and on the attack we were looking dangerous, with the keeper having to save a stinging drive from Buzsaky in the 6th minute. In the 9th we had a little slice of luck, with an attempted throughball from Buzsaky bouncing off an Everton defender and dropping at the edge of the area, where Ephraim rifled an unstoppable shot into the net to extend our lead. In the 12th minute I was livid when the referee awarded Everton a penalty, with a shockingly poor decision, for a supposed foul by Buzsaky. Yakubu stepped up and hammered in the penalty to bring them back into the match. In the 23rd minute however Fatih Yucel set Scocco free just inside the Everton half and as he reached the edge of the area he placed the ball into the bottom corner of the net to restore our 2 goal lead. After that the match became more even, with neither side really creating much, although every time we went forward we looked a threat. The match reached half time with us leading 3-1.

I was pleased with what I'd seen, with one of our best performances in a first half for a while. I'd even calmed down after the dodgy penalty decision. I sent the players back out telling them I was pleased, hoping they would keep this performance going. Early on in the half it was clear the referee was still seeing things in a quite strange way, with Fatih Yucel twice penalised for fouls, after winning a header. When Rafa was booked in the 55th minute for a relatively innocuous foul I was really starting to get wound up by the referee. Two minutes later we had a scare when a header was put just wide of our post. In the 60th minute we had a shout for a penalty, which was not given, which to be honest looked as much a penalty as the one given to Everton; in other words I didn't think it was. In the 62nd minute Everton thought they'd pulled another goal back, which was disallowed for being offside. At least the assistant referee was getting decisions correct. However I was wrong because in the 74th minute he got a decision wrong with Steele having to make a great save to deny a shot which should have been ruled offside. In the 85th I was livid when Everton scored, a goal from a definite offside position. It appeared the officials wanted Everton to get back into this match. After that Everton started throwing everything into getting forward, but we were standing firm, and Ephraim had a chance after a clearance to score having run from 10 yards inside our own half, but he just dragged the shot wide. That was the last kick of the game bringing the match to an end with us running out 3-2 victors.

I was pleased with my players for finally beating my nemesis team, Everton, even if it appears the officials were trying to stop that from happening. Fortunately the dubious penalty and the offside goal did not cost us the match. The really bizarre booking of Rafa now means he will now serve a 3 match ban, having picked up 10 yellow cards. Some of the Everton players commited several much worse fouls without getting booked, so I was left shaking my head about that. Given how many fouls, including the one to concede penalty, had the commentary say "That's dubious", or harsh, I find it intriguing that the post match report can say the referee had a good match. I'm sure in my position Fergie would have been shooting his mouth off after that match.

Result: 3-2

Bolton (A) Premier League

We travel to the Reebok Stadium as clear favourites for this match. Bolton are struggling in 17th place, and have lost their last two matches. Our record against Bolton is good, although last season we could only manage a draw in this same fixture. This is a match I feel we should be targetting all 3 points, as we push to consolidate our title challenge. Given how we often get complacent against lower opposition I decided to tell my players that I expected a win.

We started the match looking quite bright, forcing Jaaskelainen into two consecutive saves in the 4th minute from Jimenez and Scocco. In the 8th minute there was another great save from Grenier, and another from Curri shortly after. In the 10th minute our pressure finally paid off with Sunny passing the ball to Laure in space just outside the area, and he hit an absolute screamer into the top corner of the net, for his first goal of the season, and must be his first ever long shot on target. We continued to pressure Bolton getting a number of shots, and corners. Bolton managed the odd sortie forward, but we restricted them to just a few long shots. In the 35th minute I couldn't believe we didn't extend the lead, with Jaaskelainen making two superb saves from Ephraim and the follow up from Scocco. In the 42nd minute Bolton hit the crossbar, the closest they'd come to the target. We saw the half out to lead 1-0.

I was largely pleased with what I'd seen, with us largely controlling the match, and it was only the superb keeping from Jaaskelainen that had stopped us adding to our goal tally. I decided to give the players encouragement to go on, and hopefully see the match out in proper style. What followed was a pretty horrible battle, with few really good chances. Both teams had shots hit the crossbar, and a few saves made by each keeper, but there didn't seem to be much danger of the scoreline changing. In a rather turgid half that's exactly how things played out, with the match finishing with us running out 1-0 winners.

I was pleased that we managed to get the win. Although our second half performance was not as good as the first, where we were largely in control, with Bolton creating very few real chances. Laure's performance today was excellent, scoring only his 2nd goal for the club, and deserved his man of the match award. Both defences had performed well, making a low scoring match almost inevitable. This is the first match I've tried using the team talk, "I expect a win" for a long time, and this seems to have made a difference, as no players were looking complacent early in the match, as they had in a couple of matches the previous month. This was a result we deserved, and is extremely important given results elsewhere on the day, with the Manchester derby finishing 1-1, Liverpool losing 2-1 to West Ham, and Arsenal losing 4-2 to Chelsea. A better day I could not have imagined.

Result: 1-0

Newcastle (A) Premier League

We arrive at St. James' Park as clear favourites to win this match. Newcastle have slipped to 20th position, without a win for just over 2 months, claiming 2 points from their last 8 matches. Those 2 points came from their last 2 matches, showing a slight shift in their form, but looking doomed, especially as their remaining fixtures are all against teams in the top 8 of the league. This seems to be another match which probably requires me to tell the lads I expect a win. For the first time in months, I have named an unchanged side, which reflects the luxury of a one week break we've had since our previous match.

The match started with both sides showing good passing skills. In the 4th minute Scocco had a chance to score from the edge of the area, but hit the shot straight at the keeper. In the 7th minute Steele had to make a save from a long shot. Although the possession was fairly even for a while, we were getting into better positions to create chances, with Scocco hammering a shot way over the bar in the 10th minute. In the 16th, Ephraim put Fatih Yucel through into the area, clear of the defence, placing the ball into the opposite bottom corner of the net to open the scoring, his 20th goal of the season. In the 19th minute Scocco hit a long shot, which the keeper managed to push behind for a corner. Two minutes later Jimenez decided to have a crack from distance too, with the keeper just tipping the ball over the bar. From the corner Puygrenier got his head to the ball, but his shot wasn't good enough to beat the keeper. After this the match became much more of a midfield battle, with both sides finding it very difficult to create any chances, with a only a few each created in the rest of the half, bringing us to the break still leading 1-0.

I was pleased with what I'd seen, but slightly concerned we'd only put one of our chances away. I sent the players back out giving them encouragement to see this result out. For the first 5 minutes we were under seige, and I was disappointed to see that a couple of my players were looking nervous for no reason I can understand. Once we'd ridden this pressure, with shots seeming to rain in from everywhere, we finally settled a bit, and in the 57th minute Fatih Yucel was put through on goal, his shot hit the keeper, with Scocco on hand to hammer the rebound in. This settled the nervousness within my players, which I was pleased to see. It was still worrying though how easy it was for Newcastle to work their through us, with Steele having to make a great save in the 61st minute. Two minute later Fatih Yucel broke through into the area, but somehow the keeper managed to hook his shoot away. In the 66th minute Newcastle hit the post from a free kick, with Puygrenier receiving a yellow card that I felt was harsh. Three minutes later Kjær then received a yellow card, that probably was deserved. After this match the became a midfield battle, with rare chances created by either side. In the 86th minute Newcastle's Alan Smith made an awful two footed challenge on Buzsaky gaining himself a straight red card, dropping them down to 10 men. In the 88th minute Balanta was put through on goal only to see his shot saved. A minute later Sunny took a crack at a long shot, only denied by a superb save from the keeper. Newcastle just seemed shellshocked after that, not seeming to have any interest in even finding a consolation goal, bringing the match to an end with us running out 2-0 victors.

I was pleased with this victory, even there were some concerns with how easily Newcastle were able to work a way through us at points. On the whole though our defending had been excellent, and our movement going forward was superb. This was thoroughly deserved win. Elsewhere there were some important results, with Arsenal beating Tottenham, with Man City surprisingly losing 2-1 to Aston Villa.

Result: 2-0

Our opponents in the FA Cup Semi Final have now been confirmed as Everton. When the draw was made I was hoping that Blackburn would beat them, but as we have subsequently managed to vanquish my nenemis earlier in the month I am no longer so concerned.

Tottenham (A) Champions Cup Quarter Final 1st Leg

We travel the few miles across north London to White Hart Lane, for the 3rd time this season. We are marginal underdogs for this fixture, despite the last 2 visits giving us a draw and a win. The record suggests that not many goals are likely with only a single goal being scored in those two matches. As in the our FA Cup match earlier in the month the key will be in trying to keep their strikers out of the game as much as possible. After a long absence I have decided to give Lung jr his first start for a while, to see if his attitude on the pitch has changed.

The match started as a fairly ugly midfield battle, with few chances. The first came to Balanta in the 7th minute, but gave the keeper a very easy save with his rather limp looking shot. In the 9th minute Robbie Keane hit the post for Spurs from a long shot. In the 14th minute I thought Puygrenier had put us ahead scoring from a header at a corner, but he apparently fouled someone while challenging for the ball, which has me mystified. The commentary says he backed into and fouled the keeper, which is astonishing as he was moving forwards towards him at the time. I thought we'd scored in the 19th minute when Zigoni put the ball in the net, but he was clearly offside so the goal didn't stand. After this, Spurs started to try and dominate the game, but were lacking the penetration to open us up properly. I started to worry a bit when Puygrenier was booked in the 24th minute and then Rafa just 2 minutes later. The referee was being so niggly about everything, that play was just not flowing. In the 28th minute Lung jr had to push a thunderous long shot from Palacios over the bar. A minute later when Carrick brutally chopped Jimenez down from the behind, causing a potential shin injury, without even getting a talking to from the referee, I began feel the world was against us. After that we started to play a bit better, and the deadlock was finally broken in the 41st minute when Grenier played a ball over the top for Balanta to run onto. As he neared the keeper he seemed to suddenly look nervous, and it was obvious he was not going to score. His shot hit the keeper, bouncing out to the edge of the area, where Zigoni put the ball back through to Balanta, and this time he found the target to give us the lead. Spurs pushed forward after that, but stood firm to finish the half leading 1-0.

I was pleased with how we battled, and despite Spurs looking the better team, but had created the better chances, and taken one of them. We'd managed to stop Crouch from having a single shot, and restricted Keane the other striker to a couple of long shots, only one on target which was a tame effort. I gave the lads encouragement to go out and see the match through and give us the advantage heading into the 2nd leg. We started the half looking quite bright, before the match settled into a midfield battle. In the 56th minute Spurs worked their first really good opportunity with Lung jr making a good save to push the ball for a corner. When Mattock chopped Balanta down from behind in the 58th minute without even a foul being given, from which he suffered an arm injury requiring substitution I was really wondering what the referee was actually seeing. The match settled back to being the midfield battle although Spurs were looking the more dangerous, with them now finding the head of Crouch a few times, although he wasn't finding the direction or power to really worry us. In the 71st minute, Keane was looking nervous this showed when he gave our keeper an easy chance to clear the ball for a throw-in. A minute later Buzsaky was put through clear on goal, but the keeper was able to push his shot wide for a corner. The match then started to become very ugly with Spurs pumping the ball into our area, making it hard for us to clear our lines. I was really upset when Defoe managed to break through in the 89th minute to score an equaliser. Not long after the match came to an end with the scores level at 1-1.

I was pleased with the effort put in by the players, and feel very let down by a biased referee, who would not book any of the Spurs players, no matter what they did. Rafa and Puygrenier were both booked after 3 trivial fouls each. However Spurs Hutton made 3 far worse fouls and was not booked. The fouls that caused injury to both Jimenez and Balanta looked like they warranted yellow cards. There was also the bizarrely disallowed goal. I was astonished when I saw the post match report say that the referee had a good game. Despite being very upset at the referee, I feel that a 1-1 draw is still a useful result, but under the circumstances this was a kick in the teeth and I sympathised with the players. Fortunately the injury to Jimenez caused no issues, but when Balanta was unceremoniously dumped to the ground he broke his arm, putting him out for the best part of 2 months, and therefore will almost certainly not be back before the end of the season. He is quite understandably distraught about this, but I at least made him feel a bit better after saying "It's a blow, but it's not the end of the world" in the post match press conference.

Result: 1-1

Cardiff (A) Premier League

Our last match of the month sees us travel to the Cardiff City Stadium with us favourites for this match. Cardiff have struggled this season, finding themselves in 15th place having a 6 point gap to the relegation zone. Before the match Dave Jones was trying to play mind games, which seems to have fired up several of our players, so may backfire on him. Only Jimenez has taken a negative view, so will be start the game on the bench. Cardiff are one our rivals, so it shouldn't be hard to get the team fired up for this match, especially after the comments from their manager.

The match started with Cardiff looking quite lively, going close in the 5th minute with header from a corner hitting the bar and going behind. The match started to even up more, and after 10 minutes we started to spend a lot of time camped in the Cardiff half. This pressure finally paid off in the 19th minute with Fatih Yucel sliding a pass for Buzsaky to run onto at the edge of the area, which he placed into the back of the net to give us the lead. The rest of the half was pretty poor with Cardiff keeping very tight at the back, and struggling to find a way through us. Right at the end of the half, Scocco had a tricky chance, but couldn't keep the ball down, with it flying over the bar. The half came to an end with us leading 1-0.

I was largely pleased with our performance, having shown good motivation from the start of the match. I sent the players back out encouraging them to go on and complete the job. The half started as a continuation of the midfield battle, but Cardiff then started to control possession. In the 62nd minute Lung jr had to make a great save to keep us in the lead. I tried some changes, but Cardiff were still all over us. In the 87th minute Cardiff thought they'd found an equaliser, which was ruled out for being offside. We managed to see the rest of the half out without conceding to give us a 1-0 victory.

I was pleased that we'd managed to claim this victory, but it certainly wasn't one of our best performances. After controlling the first half so well, it was disappointing that how near Cardiff came to cancelling our lead out, and we rarely looked dangerous in the second half. It was all told a pretty poor match, that another day we could easily have thrown away. During the match I'd been casting an eye over other fixtures, and up until the very end of the match, Arsenal were drawing their match against Sunderland, only to cause some diappointment by finding a late winner.

Result: 1-0

Month Roundup

This has been an absolutely fantastic month. It's hard to know where to start, but I think the best result was against the very lacklustre Valencia. Even though they were demoralised after recent defeats, they were by no means easy to beat, but the nervousness of their players certainly helped, especially when it came to shooting. The ground out victory over Spurs to advance to the FA Cup Semi Final was good, with the way we managed to stop them from being able to score. Of the 4 league wins, it can be said they were all teams that have struggled, and so we should be able to win them. All our league matches seemed to follow a similar pattern with us taking the lead, and then having to hold out against pressure. The draw in the Champions Cup match against Spurs was disappointing, after getting so close to snatching a win, although before the match I'd have been happy to take a score draw from the match. There were some weird decisions from some referee's, but if you get the result at the end of the day, you soon forget those. It's also easy to overlook the times when you benefit from some dodgy decisions yourself, which I know we have, but can't readilly think of any. It's human nature to remember the incidents that go against you, and forget when the opposition suffers in the same way.

Before the month started, I knew our rivals had a much harder set of matches than us, but I never expected them all to lose so many points, giving us a 10 point advantage over Arsenal and a 14 point advantage over Man United. Arsenal and Man United are now the only teams that that could beat us to the title, and even though we play the latter on the last day of the season, they both need to win all their remaining matches to have any real hope, with us falling apart in our last 4 matches. That said, our last 4 league matches are home to Blackburn and Spurs, and away to Aston Villa and Man United. Blackburn are the lowest of those teams sitting mid table, so none of these fixtures are guaranteed points. The only tricky fixture that Man United appear to have is the last match against us, with Arsenal having one tricky encounter at home to Liverpool. I can't think the team would throw it away now, but there's something scary about this scenario. Our league form has seen me pick up the Premiership Manager of the Month award again.

I'm pleased to see they my team talks seemed to be making difference, because earlier in the season when I checked the results of my team talks, there rarely seemed to be any player that was affected by them. Hopefully I seem to have found the best way to motivate players, at least this late in the season anyway.

This month has again seen some excellent performances, by many players, with Fatih Yucel picking up the Premiership Young Player of the Month award. Although he put in some decent performances, I was surprised he picked up the award this month. My player of the month is Simon Kjær who put in another set of great performances, showing his consistency. I feel that Sunny ran him pretty close, but was not quite as consistent. There is really only one disappointment after this month, that being the broken arm suffered by Angelo Balanta. He has put in some good performances this season, always giving his best, with a habit of popping up in just the right places. It's not an injury that should stop us from claiming the title, but it does weaken the backup to our main strike partnership.

Next month we are currently scheduled to play 5 matches. Three of these are league matches, our FA Cup Semi Final against Everton and the 2nd leg of our Champion Cup quarter final at home against Spurs. Should we manage to beat Spurs, there would 2 further matches in the month to play the semi final stages of the competition.