We started off September with a trip to Gravesend to play Ebssfleet. Due to fatigue I was forced to rotate three of the back four players with the exception of Canadian Ross Smith. I was pleased with these changes as the defence coped very well with the early pressure and some long balls clearance set up a couple of early chances for Paterson. It was however Hamshaw who again was instrumental in breaking the deadlock with a lovely little run that culminated in a delicate through ball to Matt Green to score his first goal of the season. That seemed to knock the wind out of Ebssfleet’s sails and we added a second just on the stroke of half time with Hamshaw and Chanot linking together well down the right that eventually allowed Chanot to cross on the overlap and found the head of Paterson to make it 2-0. The second half started badly with two poorly timed tackles from skipper Dannie Bulman who was shown the red card so I had to pull off Matt Green and play alone striker. We defended admirably and held on to gain all three points.

Our next game was also away across the border into Wales to play Wrexham. The only changes I made were Simon Clist in for the suspended Bulman and Borini up front along side Paterson. We forced Wrexham back right from the outset and gave them very little space to move the ball around with Clist and Plessis breaking everything up in midfield. It was Plessis who came closest to giving us the lead hitting the woodwork after 20 minutes however by the interval the game remained scoreless despite all our attacking moves. Plessis would repeat his first half attempt just on the hour and it seemed like luck was not going away. Hamshaw came off for youngster Clarke who made an immediate impact by finding Paterson unmarked and he placed one home to break the deadlock to give us another win to make three in a row.

Luton Town was our next opponents and we were to face then at the Kassam Stadium. We made a good solid start keeping the ball mostly in the Luton half with skipper Dannie Bulman setting up two early chances for Paterson. The breakthrough can after 25 minutes with left back Carruthers and left winger Cook working well together down that flank which led to a low cross that was driven in by Matt Green. Mathew Paterson made it 2-0 eight minutes later on a counter attack that saw Green slide the ball through to Paterson who unleashed a shot from 25 yards that flew into the roof of the net. The home fans went wild. Following the break Luton came on more strongly and I was forced to change tactics after they pulled one back though defender Crieghton was unlucky with a header going narrowly wide to make it 3-1. We were all happy however with the final result.

We stayed at home for the next game which was just three days later against Eastbourne. I had to change the entire team from the previous game due to fitness and so as the game started they looked a nervy bunch of players. Eastbourne made the early running and we cleared an early attempt off the line and another from them hit the post. We began to settle and striker James Constable put us ahead after 20 minutes getting his first of the season. Right midfielder Damian Batt then scored two in the space of 12 minutes, the first on a solo effort down the right flank and the second off a poor clearance by the Eastbourne goalkeeper for an easy tap in. The visitors had nothing to offer in the second half and Fabio Borini completed the rout with a shot on the turn from the edge of the penalty area to make it 4-0.

Next up was a trip to Mansfield and again I had to make some big changes to the starting eleven as only a few days had passed since the Eastbourne game. Mansfield attacked right from the start and gave us all kinds of trouble in the opening twenty minutes forcing me to change from attacking to a more controlled game. Both my central midfielders were not have a good game  which was keeping us on the back foot but eventually we caught Mansfield on the break with Green and Paterson playing a brilliant one-two for Paterson to neatly strike home for the lead. Mansfield came out just as strongly following the interval and after I made all my substitutions Simon Clist was injured and we had to play the final few minutes with ten men. Mansfield took advantage of this and forced an equalizer in injury time though for their efforts they did deserve a point

Following the Mansfield game we had a long journey to the North East of England to play Gateshead who looked like they would be a difficult opponent. We struggle right from the outset and really found it hard to make any inroads into the final third. Gateshead on the other hand were moving the ball around nicely and eventually took the lead in the 38^th minute. Although I tried to get the team motivated it was a lack luster second half performance and we were lucky not to concede any more goals.

We were back home then for the final game of the month which makes 14 played already, almost a third of the season over an it’s not even October yet. We started out where we left off against Gateshead but Crawley took the lead after 5 minutes through an unusual game of head tennis that unfortunately went into our net. We the laid siege to their goal for the next 20 minutes but came away with nothing and the despondency started to creep in and sure enough I wasn’t able to get the boys rallied again and so we ended the month with a dismal 1-0 loss which is our second in a row. The chances up front have seem to dried up as well after such a good start to the month too.

September Results at a glance..

Blue Square Premier: Current Top Ten

So were 5 points off the pace at the end of the month which is a little disappointing to say the least especially as I thought we were about to embark on a long unbeaten run. The late goal in by Mansfield seems to have changed things? Hopefully things will improve in October

Hello everyone and welcome back to my Liverpool story! After a couple of disappointing results in November without the injured Torres, we needed to return to form now he was back. We had a tough month ahead, including the Fifa World Club Cup, which made it 8 games in a month.

We started the month at White Hart Lane, against Tottenham, who were sitting in 8th place. As has become a theme this season, we got off to a great start, in the 2nd minute Torres fired us in front after his intial shot had been saved. Tottenham then began to dominate, but they couldn’t put one away and we grabbed a crucial second goal when Sanchez came inside and beat three players before finishing. It was a truly wonderful goal and it gave us the win, but it was a harsh result on Tottenham, who deserved at least a draw.

Next up for us a home tie against struggling Fulham. We totally dominated them, Torres was at his brilliant best, he scored a fabulous hat trick, that took his tally to 22 for the season. Before the game I had decided to leave out Andre Pierre Gignac, who had been in very poor form. That meant Roman Vavilov came in because Niklas Danielsson had picked up an injury, ruling him out for 3 weeks. Torres first was his best, he beat two defenders and placed in. His second came after Vavilov’s pass, he cooly put it in, and he completed his hat trick in just 22 minutes when he finished a great team move easily. The fourth was scored by Alexis Sanchez, his second in two games, he finished from Vavilov’s pass, the young Russians third assist of the game, justifying his selection.

In the game Francesco Magnanelli got injured, keeping him out for 8 days. It was common thing this month, we had a lot of niggling injuries that threatened to disrupt the team, as it changed a lot.

The next match of this busy month was our final Champions League group game, a dead rubber, away to Portuguese side Braga. Despite the unimportance of the game, I fielded a strong side in an attempt to keep morale high with a big win. I was rewarded with a great performance, we battered them 6-0, Torres scored another hat trick, his second in two games. Goals from Silva, Sanchez and Jules Jourdain added to the score and the game finished 6-0, a result which confirmed us as group winners.

After a four day break, we were back playing again, we were facing Newcastle in the Premier League. It was quite a difficult game for us,Newcastle came and ‘parked the bus’, and it took us a while to break them down. Thankfully we did, right after half time, Torres turned on the magic, he beat three players and put it in to give us the lead. We had to wait until the very last minute to secure the victory, substitute Gignac got his first goal for a while with a tap in at the far post after great work from Silva down the left. The number of long shots we had-13- shows how we struggled to break Newcastle down, and they restricted us to just 2 clear cut chances, which was a good effort by them.

After that game we took a break from the Premiership and we went of to the World Club Cup. We were by far the strongest side there, and I expected us to win a competition that the club has never won before.

The first game was against Tampines, a very weak side from Singapore, in the Semi Final. I sent out a weakened team with no Torres, who was injured against Newcastle, meaning he will be out for 10 days to 2 weeks. It was another blow, but at least he was only going to miss these World Club Cup games, and hopefully no Premier League matches. Also missing were Silva, Sanchez, Mascherano, Johnson, Jourdain, Insua and Reina, all of them were rested. Despite the absentees we still turned out a good performance and brushed aside Tampines, a hat trick from Gignac, two from Axier Kortadi and an own goal, made it a 6-0 win for us. Unfortunately the run of minor injuries was kept up by Darijo Srna, who picked up a hamstring problem, ruling him out for 2 weeks.

So we were off to the final then, and later that day we learnt that our opponents were to be Argentinian side River Plate. They are a stronger side than Tampines, but I still was confident that we could lift our first World Club Cup. I made two changes for the final, Johnson came in for the injured Srna, and Sanchez was brought in for Wilshere, who was knackered. The game started well for us, and we went ahead in the 26th minute through Gerrard, who placed a shot in. River hadn’t threatened at all, but just before half time, they equalised after a good move. I was disappointed and felt we had switched off, and we went in at half time level. The first ten minutes of the second continued in the same way, we attacked, River doggedly defended and looked for counter attacks. That was to be there undoing, as they switched off following an attack, and allowed Kortadi space to send away Danielsson, who placed it in to put us in front. After that the match drifted out somewhat, River couldn’t break us down and we comfortably held on to secure the trophy!

I was pleased with the win, we had another trophy in the bag, and the players morale was boosted.

After that cup win, it was back to the Premier League, to face West Ham on boxing day. After the River game Glen Johnson got injured, and with Srna out as well, Havard Nystad came in at right back. West Ham did the same as Newcastle, they set up to defend and it took until the 54th minute for us to breakthrough. We did it through Alexis Sanchez, who tapped in Gignac (in for Torres who was still injured) at the back post. West Ham never threatened us, and we made in 2-0 in the last minute, substitute Vavilov with a brilliant lob over the advancing Green.

 Next up, we were again in the Premier League, we had a tough trip to the pacey Aston Villa. The fit again Srna came in at full back for Nystad in our only change. Jules Jourdain, was also injured so the 35 year old Jamie Carragher had to face Agbonlahor and Delfouneso. I was seriously worried about Carragher’s lack of pace, but at leat we had Torres returning after injury. The game was a boring one to be honest. We couldn’t break them down, and Villa failed to capitalise on Carragher’s pace (or lack of it). It took until the 85th minute for us to create a chance, and thankfully it fell to the right man, Torres scored it and we had nicked a 1-0 win despite a poor performance.

So that concludes December, and 2013, then folks. It was a good month for us, we added another trophy to our collection, and continued to set the pace in the Premier League. He is the table, and I feel sure we will secure another title, we are currently 2 points clear with 2 games in hand.

The other bit of news regards the Champions League Knockout draw. We have been drawn against Spanish giants Barcelona, we couldn’t have got a more difficult draw, but I guess we have a good chance of beating them. We have another busy month coming up, January sees us play 8 games, including consecutive matches away at Arsenal and Chelsea.

That’s all for now everyone, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read the post.

Hello again dear friends, a new episode of the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story is ready to go live! We were right on track at the end of February, top of the table with a comfortable gap over Manchester City, 10 points. We had to keep winning and consolidate our league position but we also had two very important cup games, the Carling Cup final and the Champions League first knockout round second leg with Bordeaux. Let’s see what we managed to do.

The first game of the month was at Wembley, the Carling Cup final with Liverpool. The Reds knocked us out of the FA Cup last month but that was not too relevant because I chose to field the usual substitutes in that game. Liverpool won 3-2 back then thanks to a hat-trick from Fernando Torres, I hoped that my defenders would keep him quiet this time. We were back in the Carling Cup final after four years, we managed to get there as a League One team in 2011 but Everton crushed our dream of lifting the trophy by beating us 4-1. Now we had a much better chance. We started the match pretty well, we were dominating the game but Reina miraculously stopped a couple of shots in the first minutes. He was forced to get the ball out of the net eventually, Tinga sliced their defense wide open with a through ball for Demba Ba and the Senegalese striker powered it home. We kept the game under control in the second half but couldn’t double our lead. The game was heading for a hot finale when Guilherme placed one past Reina but our joy was short lived as Mascherano banged one in from 30 yards out. We continued to attack though and a last minute penalty kick sealed the win, Joe Barton slotted it home. We never looked like losing this one, the team played very well and we could even have won it by a bigger margin. My dream came true, the League Cup was now in our proud and growing trophy cabinet. Josep Guardiola got sacked by the Liverpool board right after the game and they offered me the job along with a hefty transfer budget, no less than 80 million pounds! I declined the offer but I’m still thinking about who I would have bought with that kind of money…

We didn’t have much time to celebrate, a tough league game was right ahead of us. We had to play at Stamford Bridge against 3rd placed Chelsea, a team that we beat 3-0 in October after a wonderful performance. Chelsea were 16 points behind us with one game in hand, so they had to win the game in order to preserve their slim title hopes. We were in good shape, playing well again but Petr Cech denied our claims for an early goal with a couple of fine saves. Chelsea went down at the half hour mark, Rafael Sobis and Sam Hinshelwood gave us a two goals lead in only four minutes with perfectly placed shots from inside the penalty area. Chelsea tried to react after the interval but they failed to produce more than a few shots from distance. They were out of the title race and I guess they deserved that, we looked like a much better team.

The next game was supposed to be an easier one, at home with 15th placed Wolves. I wanted to get revenge after the away game, it was quite frustrating then because it ended 2-2 with my boys missing lots of chances. Guilherme got us off to a good start with a placed finish but we failed to do more in the first half. Guilherme doubled the lead a few minutes after the break after picking up a superb assist from Sam Hinshelwood, I was expecting more goals at that point. The team got complacent though and Wolves were intercepting lots of poor passes. They found a way back into the game and they even had a couple of chances to equalize in the last minutes, Akinfeev stopped them with his fantastic skills. I was very disappointed but I guess the three points are all that matters at the end of the day. Nicola Bonetti got injured during the game, he was going to be out for 10 days, enough to miss the important match against Bordeaux.

We had a slim advantage over Bordeaux after the first leg, we managed to snatch a 1-1 draw but Bordeaux clearly dominated that game. A goalless draw would have been enough for us but I surely wanted to score. It didn’t happen in the first half, both teams looked rather cautious and no clear chances were created. Bordeaux came out of the dressing room with a different attitude after half time, they were all over us and Ochoa had to produce a couple of wonderful saves to keep us afloat. Then we got lucky, a corner kick against the run of play gave us the lead as Kjaer banged it home with a far post header. We took control of the game after the goal, Bordeaux were looking shaky. A few minutes later Sam Hinshelwood proved his qualities again, he dribbled through the defense and placed the ball past the keeper! Bordeaux were unable to react, they were looking like a totally different team. We were through to the quarter final and the draw pitched us against Premier League rivals Manchester City. The first leg was going to be played at Meadow Lane only a week later! Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Hello everyone and welcome friends to the next installment of my new story. The past week has been so busy at work and home I had almost lost the momentum of continuing on. Anyway, here’s what’s happening with Oxford.

Finally the first game of the season and we are at home to York City. We got off to a flying start with Eyjolfsson scoring on the volley after only 9 minutes as York failed to a cleared corner properly. Our joy however was short lived as York equalized on the volley 4 minutes later when we left their right winger unmarked on a set piece. Disaster happened around the half hour as York scored two in the space of three minutes but then Paterson pulled one back, heading in from a Batt cross and so we went into the interval 3-2 down. I knew the score wasn’t reflective of our performance and didn’t change anything. We laid siege to the York goal in the second half and Paterson got the equalizer off a through ball by Dannie Bulman which he turned sweetly on to hammer in the top left hand corner of the net. A darting run by Chanot down the right flank gave him space to lay in a cross which the York keeper fumbled into the back of his on net and we were in the lead. Fatigue started to set in on the York team which allowed Paterson to complete his hat-trick by placing the ball into the back of the net off another through ball by Bulman. After the final whistle I learned that the injury to Eyjolfsson was worse than feared and so he will be going back to West Ham.

On next game was away to Kettering and the only change was up front as Paterson had been called up for the Scottish U21 squad and was replaced by James Constable. It was Kettering who took the early with Nade heading home after 9 minutes but Damine Plessis on loan from Liverpool  put us back on level terms with a screamer from 20 yards out. Nade put Kettering back in front for a second time and kept the pressure on to find a third goal. We switched from attack to control which immediately paid dividends with Creighton heading in from a corner to make it 2-2. We kept our tactical approach into the second half and finally took the lead for the first time in the game as Constable held up the ball well as we cleared out of defence and played a neat one-two with Bulman who found striker Midson in space to fire us in front. We held on comfortably after that to take all three points.

The third game of the month was away to Histon and we got of to a good start as left winger Jamie Cook put us ahead from a corner kick after just 10 minutes. Histon though took the game to us right from the re-start and pressured us for the remainder of the first half with goalkeeper Ryan Clarke having to pull off a number of saves. In the second half Histon continued with the pressure and eventually found their equalizer after 55 minutes by working the ball into the box to set up the goal. We then dominated the remainder of the game setting up a number of chances for the front pair of Paterson and Midson but in the end a 1-1 draw was fair result.

We returned home for our next game against Chester and from the opening kick off looked the better side putting the visitors under early pressure and we were almost rewarded with a goal as Simon Clist hit the underside of the bar after only six minutes. I had made a number of changes to the team due to fatigue but nonetheless this group looked comfortable together. To my surprise it was Chester who took the lead after 15 minutes sending the ball down the right flank and working it in behind defender Ross Smith for the go ahead goal. Twelve minutes later right winger Damian Batt made his own run down the wing but instead of crossing intelligently placed a through ball to Midson who struck home the equalizer. Defender Ross Smith made up for his earlier mistake by heading in from a corner on the stroke of half time. Chester were never able to come back from that and although Clist hit the bar for a second time we just couldn’t find that third goal we deserved but we did get all three points.

Following the game my physio reported that Midson who fell heavily during the game will now be out for about seven weeks joining Sam Deering on the injury list. I’ll have to go looking for another loan striker.

The following game was also at home against Stevenage, a team who had decided to pack the midfield in in the hopes of breaking down our attacks early and get at least a point from their visit to the Kassam Stadium.As the game got underway Matthew Paterson was looking sharp up front and had  a couple of early chances but it was Stevenage who took the lead having somehow managed to thread the ball into the box for Brouwer to hit home. We had to wait some time to fashion the equalizer when skipper Dannie Bulman raced into the penalty area and scored a bullet like diving header from a Chanot cross to make it 1-1. After the interval both Paterson and substitute Matthew Clarke both hit the woodwork and Paterson  had two attempts finding the side netting only. In the end Stevenage did get the point they were looking for.

Our next match was away to Wimbledon and we fell behind early to an identical goal scored by Stevenage in our previous game so once again we found ourselves chasing the game. Within the next ten minutes following that goal I could see things were not going to go our way as Wimbledon were easily coping with our attacks and most of shots were going well wide. New signing Matthew Hamshaw from Notts County was making inroads down the right flank but the Wimbledon defence was handling his crosses into the box. Wimbledon doubled their lead after the half time which all but finished off the game but Paterson did get a consolation goal for us with a lovely strike on the turn in injury time.

The final game of a very long month was back at home with the visit of Forest Green Rovers. Striker Fabio Borini who is on loan from Chelsea gave us the lead after 5 minutes following a push on defender Luke Foster as he jumped from a corner. The referee did not hesitate at pointing to the spot. For the second game in a row Hamshaw was looking dangerous down the right side and set up Borini’s second goal of the game with a low cross into the box that Borini tapped in between two defenders. The second half was comfortable for us and Constable who came on for Borini was unlucky not to add a third when his effort hit the post. It was a good solid performance overall to finish off a very long month.

Blue Square Premier: Current Top Ten

So we find ourselves in fifth place after the first month but there’s not too much between us and “university” rivals Cambridge who lead the table.

September Fixtures:

I didn’t mention this before but for this game I only loaded up English Leagues on a medium database so I would be interested to know what everyone else does?

Thanks for reading this post.

Hello dear friends and thank you for coming back to read another chapter of the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story. As you know from the previous post we managed to open up a decent gap over second placed Manchester City, we were 6 points ahead of them. That gave us a bit of room to breathe and more serenity in looking forward to the next games. We still couldn’t afford to relax though, we had to keep on winning to stay on course and defend the title.

The first game of the month was a tough test, away at Old Trafford with Manchester United. The Red Devils were having a very disappointing season, they were down in 8th place and were looking like a shadow of the team that challenged for the title last season. They still had Rooney though and that’s enough to win any game against any opponent. We won the last game against them 2-0 at Meadow Lane back in September, I was hoping for a good performance again. The first half was incredibly boring, neither of the two teams managed to create chances. Even more, we didn’t have any shots on target in the first 45 minutes while Man United had only one! Rooney came out of the dressing room with great determination and he had a chance to score right away but Akinfeev denied him with a fine save. We took control after the first five minutes of the second half and the good performance finally paid off when Steven Defour played an exquisite through ball for Bonetti, the right winger placed the ball past the keeper to give us the lead. We were safely in control and doubled the lead just before the final whistle, Kjaer flicked on a near post corner kick and Nordtveit pushed the ball in.

The morale was quite high in our dressing room and everybody was expecting an easy game at home with 10th placed Newcastle, we beat them 3-0 away from home in September. We got off to a flying start thanks to a placed finish from Rafael Sobis and then produced a wonderful display of attacking football. We were already 4-0 up by the half hour mark, it was a massacre. Nicola Bonetti continued his good form by scoring again but the whole team played beautifully, I was very pleased.

We had to take a quick break for international fixtures, England had a tricky away friendly in Greece. I wanted to try a few new players and choices, so I started with Sturridge and Rooney upfront and a new pair in the middle of the defense, Shawcross and Wheater. We got off to a bad start, a pass through the middle surprised our defense and Greece took the lead nine minutes into the game. The team reacted pretty well and I was particularly pleased with Sturridge, he was very determined to succeed. He got us back on track a few minutes later, he got the ball back in midfield and went with it all the way, a fine solo effort. Ashley Young gave us the lead five minutes later thanks to his skills, he dribbled past a defender and placed the ball past the keeper. Sturridge kept on playing well in the second and he scored again after missing a couple of chances. The fourth goal started from him too, he played a perfect assist for Delfouneso (in for Rooney). It was a good result and it seemed that I found the perfect partner for Rooney upfront, Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge.

Back to Notts County, the next game was the FA Cup 5th round clash with Liverpool. Most of my players came back pretty tired from the international fixtures so I chose to rest most of the team regulars, we won the FA Cup last season and although I would have loved winning it again it was not a priority. Liverpool took the lead thanks to a blitz from Torres but we got back on level terms right away, Demba Ba struck one with real venom from inside the penalty area. My backup players were doing quite well, we were dominating the game. Striker Chris Gadi hit the post in the final minutes of the first half but we took the lead before the break, Bonetti finished after receiving a nice assist from Tinga. We continued to play well in the second half but Liverpool scored against the run of play, it was a wonder goal from Torres. The Reds took control of the game but we missed a few good chances on the break. Unfortunately my defense couldn’t cope with Torres, he gave Liverpool the win with a fantastic solo effort. I guess we didn’t deserve to lose it but Torres made the difference with his fantastic skills.

Back to the Premier League, our next game was at home with 13th placed West Ham. We won the away game 2-1 in October but it wasn’t easy at all. West Ham were defending pretty well and despite our efforts we were unable to crack their defensive wall. That was until Sam Hinshelwood stepped up, he finished a team move with a perfectly placed shot to give us the lead. We were taking the game to our opponents but we were unable to convert the chances into more goals until half time. The second half was pretty quiet, West Ham were not giving us any headaches. When it seemed to be all over Rafael Sobis couldn’t resist and he scored with a delightful lob from 25 yards out. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Hello dear friends and welcome to the future, my career as manager of Notts County has just reached the year 2015! At the end of December 2014 we still were in a good position despite some serious injury problems. We were top of the table two points clear of the second placed team, Manchester City. We were also still involved in all the cup competitions, including the Champions League.

The first game of the new year was our debut in this season’s FA Cup, the third round draw pitched us against Championship side Crystal Palace. I chose to rest all the first team regulars, so I sent in the backup players and a few youngsters from the reserves team. We started the game well, dominated the first half but Ibrahimovic missed a couple of good chances. We continued the siege after the interval but our strikers were having a bad day. Rodney Sneijder had to step up again and give us the win from a dead ball situation, he sent in another one of his left footed free kick shots to push us through to the next round.

We had another cup game coming up, the first leg of the Carling Cup semi final against Stoke. The Carling Cup was one of my main targets at the end of the season, so I was keen on getting through to the final. The game began well for us, we were pushing forward quite nicely but Fabianski saved two certain goals in the first 15 minutes. The goal did come eventually, a free kick shot from Joe Barton was parried by the keeper but Bonetti was there once again on the rebound to push the ball in. Guilherme doubled the lead just before the break with a placed shot, we were in control. We could have scored one or two more goals in the second half but failed to do that due to some relaxed finishing. I was quite worried when I saw Defour coming off injured but it wasn’t too serious, he was going to be out of action for at most seven days.

The first league game of the month was at home with struggling Middlesbrough, they were down in 17th place and we had quite a good time in our previous meeting and defeated them 4-1 in August. The players were determined to close the game as soon as possible and Guilherme gave us the lead two minutes into the game with a fabulous strike from the edge of the area. Then Ashley Young doubled the lead after a nice move and places shot and Nordtveit made it 3-0 from a corner kick just before the break. We were totally in control of the game and Guilherme scored his 20th goal of the season in the second half, it was a fine long range shot. I was quite pleased with our domination of the game, Middlesbrough looked like certain victims from the first minute to the last.

We had a much more difficult match coming up, away at 5th placed Aston Villa. They were having a very good season and they held us to a 0-0 draw at Meadow Lane in August. The first half was fairly even again but Guilherme could have given us the lead: another fine shot from 20 yards out hit the post instead of the net. The game continued in a similar fashion after the interval but we took the lead from a dead ball situation, left back Joe Barton scored his first senior goal with a fine free kick shot from the edge of the area. The goal gave my players more determination and a few minutes later we doubled the lead, midfielder Kevin Thomson celebrated his return after an injury that kept him away from the pitch for two months. Aston Villa clawed one back immediately and could have equalized two minutes later but the woodwork helped us. We were under pressure in the last 20 minutes, I switched to a more cautious setup and survived until the final whistle with a few great saves from Ochoa.

We survived a tough game but the most difficult game of the month was right ahead of us, at home with 4th placed Arsenal. They surely remembered the previous game, it was our first victory at the Emirates Stadium and quite an emphatic one, it was 3-1 back in September. The Gunners were looking for revenge but we played well in the first half, controlled the game but failed to make the better ball possession count on the scoreboard. Arsenal had a good chance with Bendtner on a counter attack but Ochoa did well to stop him. We got out of the dressing room with more determination and managed to push Arsenal into their own box after the interval. And the goal came eventually, Guilherme got the ball for us with a fine tackle in midfield, then the ball went to Demba Ba and the Senegalese finished the move with one of his trademark powerful shots. Arsenal tried to react but we stood firm in defense and didn’t allow them to create any clear cut chances. It was a hard fought game and a well deserved win, I was quite pleased. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Hello friends, and welcome back to my Liverpool story on FM 2010! After a very good October, it was time to crack on with playing November, where we had some tough matches to play.

We started the month with a home tie against Blackburn, and before the game I was confident we could win the match. The start of the match was pretty boring, not much happened until the 26th minute. Gignac skipped away from his marker and powered home, in a sudden and unexpected incident in the match. After that it livened up a bit, but we had until the 75th minute to double the lead, Gignac picking up Sanchez’s ball and placing it in. Darren Bent got a consolation goal in the 87th minute for them, but it meant nothing and we had picked up another 3 points.

After the game Torres picked up a hamstring injury which will keep him out for three weeks. It was a blow to us after the great scoring form he’d been in, but it meant Niklas Danielsson had the chance to impress.

Next up and we had a potentially tricky tie away to Bordeaux in our Champions League Group. We got off to a good start and went ahead in the 18th minute through David Silva, who poked in after the goalkeeper fumbled Sanchez’s cross. The match was still very even though, and Bordeaux got the equaliser on the stroke of half time, Kerzhakoz volleyed in from ten yards. The match looked to be drifting to a draw but disaster struck near the end when Kerzkhaoz turned and fired. I thought we had earned a draw when we won a penalty in the last minute, but Gignac’s tame kick was saved and we had slipped to a disappointing draw in a game where we deserved a point. We were still top of the group though, and one more win would seal qualification.

The next game was against West Brom, who had the dangerous Chris Wood up front. It took until just before half time to break the deadlock, Gerrard’s pass found Danielsson who placed it in. I was confident we could grab another goal to kill the game off  but we couldn’t score again and West Brom levelled in the 70th minute through Simon Cox. It was a disappointing result as we should have won, but we still had an advantage over Man City so I wasn’t too worried.

The next game was a big one, at home to second place Man City. Torres still wasn’t back and, seeing as we hadn’t won while he was injured, that was a disappointment. The match was very boring to be honest, barely any chances were created. Our best fell to Gignac, but he couldn’t convert it. City weren’t looking at all dangerous but with 5 minutes to go Jo beat Otamendi to the ball and finished past Reina. We couldn’t respond and slipped to our first home defeat in three years. I was bitterly disappointed, and we now hadn’t won for three games without Torres.

Thankfully El Nino was back for the final game of the month, in the Champions League against Olympiakos. A win would send us through with a game to spare, and I wanted to secure qualification as early as possible. The team were buyoed by Torres’ return and within 30 seconds Gerrard had smashed us into the lead from long range. We were two up in the 14th minute, Gignac finished a good move with ease. It was three-nil when Gerrard scored a penalty after Torres was fouled, and the rout was completed by Torres, who scored a magical goal after beating three defenders. The only downside was that Gignac got sent off for two bookings, but as he will only be banned for one match, the final group game which is a dead rubber, it wasn’t to bad. Anyway, I was glad we were back to winning ways, and it ended the month on a high.

That concludes the month of November, then. The Champions League group table after the Olympaikos match shows that us and Bordeaux are safely through with a game to play, which is always pleasing and means we can rest some players in the final game.

The League table is now tighter after those disappointing results against Man City and West Brom, but we still lead and I am confident we can win the league once more.

So that ends the month, dear readers. I am worried with our performances during Torres’ absence, if he receives a serious injury we could really struggle. I hope we can get things back on track next month, when we have a busy schedule starting on the very first day of December, against Tottenham.

That’s all for now folks, thanks for reading what has been quite a turbulent month for us, I really hope we can improve in December.

Hello dear friends, thanks for coming back to read another episode of the Notts County Football Manager 2010 Story. Things were going alright for my Magpies, we were still top of the table at the end of November with Manchester City three points behind us in 2nd spot. We were already qualified for the first knockout round of the Champions League and also to the quarter finals of the Carling Cup. Let’s see if we managed to keep the unbeaten record in December.

The first game of the month was at home with 9th placed Sunderland, a tricky opponent. The day before the game came with some concerning news for me, centre back Havard Nordtveit got injured in training and he was going to be out of action for a whole month. Back to the game then, Sunderland began with a very aggressive approach and they were difficult to break down. It took something special to do that but my Brazilians are fully capable of doing such things: Guilherme dribbled past two opponents and squared it for Sobis, an easy finish and we were 1-0 up. A few minutes later Rafael Sobis doubled the lead with one of his trademark powerful shots from the edge of the area. We were safely in control of the game but it wasn’t over for Rafael Sobis, he banged one in from 20 yards out to earn his personal hat-trick and the three points for the team.

The next game was a less important one, the last Champions League group match. We had to travel to Denmark to meet Brondby but we have nothing more left to play for, we were already qualified. A draw would have secured the first place in the group table though and I was quite confident about getting it. I chose to rest a few first team players and sent in the backups. We were in control of the first half but failed to create any chances to score. We were more convincing in the second half and Zlatan Ibrahimovic did his job again, he scored the only goal of the match. On the other hand left winger Agnaldo picked up a second yellow after a totally useless foul in midifeld.

Not bad for a first time Champions League journey, we finished first in the group and I was hoping for a decent opponent in the next round.

The draw could have gone a lot better though, we were pitched against strong French side Girondins Bordeaux. I would have preferred Twente or Rangers but I guess Atletico Madrid would have been even worse.

Back to the Premier League, we had a tough game coming up, away at 7th placed Burnley. They exceeded the expectations so far and I remember that we had a tough time beating them in the Carling Cup in October, we got a scrappy 2-1 win. This time my lads seemed to be determined to get it over with quickly, we had three corner kicks in the first five minutes. And the third one brought us the opening goal, Bonetti was the quickest to react in the scuffle and coolly placed it home. Rafael Sobis continued his good form and he rounded up two nice team moves to give us a solid three goal lead at the break. The second half was fairly quiet, we were just waiting to get back home with the three points in the bag. There was a bad side to it though, Simon Kjaer picked up a knock and he was going to miss the most important game of the month.

That game was away at 2nd placed Manchester City, they were 5 points behind us before that game and I was hoping at least to keep that gap. I was quite concerned though as my two best centre backs were injured, so I had to start the game with Caceres and Muniesa in the middle of the defense. Manchester City were on a 12 match unbeaten run, I expected a tough night. It began perfectly for us though, Guilherme served Sobis with a slicing through ball, Rafael just had to push it past the keeper. Manchester City reacted furiously, they were dominating the game and Ochoa was forced to show a couple of fantastic saves to stop Luis Suarez and Adebayor. We were 1-0 up at the interval and we continued to defend well into the second half although the pressure was rising. The Citizens got the equalizer eventually, Marc Muniesa lost Adebayor somehow and the striker was left with an easy header. The other centre back had to make a decisive error too, Caceres brought down Robinho into the box with a wild tackle, the penalty kick was converted and we lost the game. It was our first defeat of the season and I was quite disappointed about it. I can say though that we wouldn’t have lost it with Nordtveit and Kjaer in the middle of the defense… Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Finally, the new patch has been released. It’s the last patch for Football Manager 2010, here are the details and the download links:

For those of you that have installed and are running your game through Steam, it will auto-update the next time you turn it on. For everyone else you’ll have to download from links below. Remember, if you are running via the DVD you’ll need the ‘Boxed’ version, if you are running from a digitally downloaded version of the game you’ll need the ‘Digital’ version.

Do not manually download and try and patch Steam, as said Steam will auto-update, and patching it otherwise could corrupt the game.

Here are the download links:

PC

Direct Downloads

FM2010 Retail Boxed (Patch) – PC

FM2010 Digital eSellerate (Patch) – PC

FM2010 Retail Boxed (Patch) – PC – (Thanks to Worthplaying.com)

Torrent Links

FM2010 Retail Boxed (Patch) – PC

FM2010 Digital eSellerate (Patch) – PC

MAC

Direct Downloads

FM2010 Retail Boxed (Patch) – Mac

FM2010 Digital eSellerate (Patch) – Mac

FM2010 Retail Boxed (Patch) – Mac – (Thanks to Worthplaying.com)

Torrent Links

FM2010 Retail Boxed (Patch) – Mac

FM2010 Digital eSellerate (Patch) – Mac

FM2010 Digital eSellerate (Full) – Mac

There are quite a few error fixes that come with the new patch so I strongly advise you to install it.

Hello fellow Football Manager addicts and welcome to a new dose of our daily drug, a new episode of the Notts County story. My Magpies were top of the table at the end of October, we were showing good form and I hoped that it would continue until the end of the year. Let’s see how November went…

The first game of the month was away at last placed Wolves, they were still struggling to get their first win of the season. Considering their shape I was entitled to expect a win but the game proved to be more difficult than expected. We started the game well, dictating play and dominating the field. Unfortunately we were missing the target quite often but Guilherme, back after the injury that kept him away for a month, struck the ball well from the edge of the area and sent it into the back of the net. I was hoping to double the lead in the second half but Wolves struck five minutes after the interval with a fantastic free kick shot from 30 yards out. We got back to attacking and we finally scored again after hitting the crossbar twice. Ibrahimovic, in for Guilherme, set up Rafael Sobis for an easy finish and we were back in the lead. We were in control of the game but disaster struck four minutes from time, Havard Nordtveit failed to clear a corner kick cross and Wolves scored an unlikely equalizer. I was disappointed and furious, we stupidly dropped two easy points.

It was quite a blow for the morale before an important game, the away game at CSKA Moscow in the Champions League group. We needed a win to secure the qualification with two games to spare but I would have been happy with a draw given the circumstances. Unfortunately the poor defending that we displayed against Wolves continued, Ochoa had to outdo himself to keep a clean sheet in the first half. I was eagerly waiting for the half time break when wonderkid Sam Himshelwood took matters into his own hands to give us the lead: he took the ball from the right flank, cut inside and shot from the edge of the area with his left! The ball went past Akinfeev and we were 1-0 up against the run of play. We looked much better after the interval, we were causing CSKA all sorts of problems but were unlucky again, we hit the woodwork twice and then the Russians punished us on a counter attack. The game was all square and the two teams were looking quite evenly matched, we needed a touch of genius to get back in the lead. That came from Rafael Sobis, the Brazilian striker placed in one of his powerful shots nine minutes from time. We withstood the pressure in the last minutes of the game and it was over, we were through to the next round with two games to spare!

In the other game of the group mighty A.C. Milan were surprisingly held to a 3-3 draw at Brondby, so we had a good chance of staying top of the table. The next game was at home with Milan, that was going to decide who would be the group leaders.

Back to the Premier League, we had to get another three points. The next game was at home with 18th placed Stoke City, a struggling team that was coming from a poor run of nine games without a win. We got off to a great start as midfielder Kevin Thomson gave us the lead with a fine volley from the edge of the box, I was hoping for an easy win at that point. We didn’t create too much pressure until half time though but we still could have doubled the lead but unfortunately the woodwork was against us again. Kevin Thomson got injured quite badly, he’s going to be out for two months. The second half was pretty quiet, it seemed like we were heading for a quiet win but Stoke got the equalizer with a corner kick header! Centre back Havard Nordtveit used his strength a few minutes from time, he made room for himself in a corner kick scuffle and powered it in from point blank range. It was a scrappy win and I was not happy about it, we should have won comfortably but my defenders showed some unforgivable lapses in concentration again.

I was hoping to get back on track in the next game, away at 16th placed Ipswich. I was in for a big disappointment though, the team looked unrecognizable in the first half and some atrocious defending gave former Notts County player Jacob Mellis the chance to score against his ex team mates. Ochoa had a lot of work to do in order to keep the scoreline decent and we had to thank him again for the wonderful saves. Things had to change though, I made it clear for the players at half time that I wouldn’t be tolerating such a display. The harsh half time team talk seemed to pay off, the team was looking way better but Sobis and Guilherme managed to hit the woodwork again! Our captain, Steven Defour, had to step up and show his leadership, he banged one in from 20 yards out and we were back on level terms. A few minutes later right back Martin Martinez whipped in a powerful cross, Ashley Young beat the defender to the ball and scored with a fine touch on the volley. It wasn’t over yet though, some poor defending gave Ipswich the chance to score again but Ochoa kept the points with a couple of stunning saves. I was quite worried about our defensive display, I was thinking that if Ipswich can create so many chances with us then Milan will surely humiliate us…

A break was just what we needed and the international fixtures came at the right moment. I had to travel away to Portugal with the England team and I had a lot to worry about, some of the most important players were injured (Rooney, Walcott, Delph, Shelvey) so I had to improvise a bit. I decided to start with Terry in the middle of the defense, he was considered to be the best English centre back although I was quite unsure about that because of his declining pace at the age of 33. On the other hand Portugal were fielding a full strength squad, Cristiano Ronaldo included. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.