Verona – Potenza:

Supposedly, Potenza is one of the weakest teams in Serie C1. I certainly think that too, but, at the same time, I think that they can make a good season. I thrashed Potenza 4 – 0 anyway, with another good game of Mifsud, bagging two goals. Potenza’s defense played awfully and Mifsud and Verona’s midfield took advantage of that. Obviously Mifsud was chosen Man of the Match with an 8.9

Verona – Ternana:

This was one a very important match because Ternana is one of my promotion rivals to Serie B. In addition, due to international call-ups, neither Mifsud, Abdoulaye, Vass nor Andy Selva couldn’t play, along with Dalla Bona that got himself injured in training. Another good game with 4 goals for mi team. Ternana’s midfield was extremely tired and my players played pretty well. For this game, I decided to put some “squad rotation” players in the first eleven: Francesco Cangi for Abdoulaye, Gennaro Esposito for Vass, Diego Farias (a brazilian youngster on loan from Chievo) for the injured Dalla Bona and Berrettoni for Mifsud. As you can see, Farias scored twice and played a good game and was chosen Man of the Match with an 8.9. Berrettoni had also a good game with an 8.7.

Verona – Virtus Lanciano:

This was my first match against Virtus (the second one was in Serie C cup). Verona dominated the game from the beginning, even Corrado Colombo scored ‘20 seconds after the match was started. He also scored on the second half, on injury time. Mifsud scored at the end of the first half. Obviously, Colombo was chosen Man of the Match with a 9.1 (although, Mifsud ended the game with a 9.0)

Verona – Ravenna:

Ravenna is 6th on the league table. However, they are a very powerful team in Serie C1, it is another one of my promotion rivals. They have a lot of players on loan from different Serie A teams: the most important are Simone Esposito from Juventus, Ricardo Douglas Parker from Siena and Lucas Correa form Lazio. As you can imagine, two wingers with good stats and a central midfielder with good passing, creativity, decisions and free kick taking is LETHAL in a Lower League as Serie C1. For the first time, my opponent was slightly better than my team. However, Pugliese had a fairly good game and was the Man of the Match with a 7.4. Lucas Correa form Ravenna, made my defense and midfield struggle, especially after Dalla Bonna’s sending off. He ended with a 7.3.

Verona – Rimini:

Another difficult team. However, they didn’t play well at all and I think they’re passing through a very bad time. Their media prediction is 1st and they’re 10th. Rimini’s manager days are numbered. Verona’s midfield dominated the game, Pensalfini was Man of the Match with an 8.2. Julien Rantier (Mifsud couldn’t play due to an injury) had also a good game with two assists and ended with an 8.1.

In the Serie C cup, I managed to knocked out Giulianova on penalties and Taranto (Good! A difficult team out of the competiton).

Now, I’m in the goup stage along with Cisco (a Serie C2 team) and Virtus Lanciano. I tied with Virtus and thrashed Cisco 4 – 1.

As I said before, Verona is unbeaten and I can almost predict that we’re going to be League Champions. About the other teams, the only one that dissapoints me is Rimini. They can perform a lot better.

Mifsud is the league goalscorer along with Dell’Agnello from Ternana. Colombo has been in pretty good form and has scored 10 goals.

Now, I have a decision to make regarding my forwards. Di Gennaro is my first team regular but he has only scored to two goals in seven matches due to injury. Colombo has scored 10 goals and has lower stats in comparison to Di Gennaro. Who should be my first team regular?

Related posts:

1. Verona Marches On
2. Newcastle In October And November 2012-2013
3. Hellas Verona Kicks Off Season With FM Guru With New Contributor!

Newcastle v Lyon

This was the first leg of the Quarter final stage of the Europa League but my Newcastle team look about as good as a team that couldn’t qualify. It was an awful performance but we somehow managed to get a precious away goal and hopefully this will give us some impetus when we play the return leg at St James Park in a week’s time.

Newcastle v Blackburn

A surprise defeat that saw us lose our second consecutive match. Yet another off performance from my Newcastle team and this was starting to become a worry and it needed sorting out fast. The winning goal came from a free-header in the first half from Christopher Samba.

Newcastle v Lyon

After the first leg result I was a bit pessimistic about our chances of going into the semi-finals but an historic win put my Newcastle team through on away goals. The win was made all the sweeter by the fact that the scorer of both my two goals was a former Lyon employee. Ben Arfa sent my Newcastle team into the semi-finals where we will play fellow English side Aston Villa.

Newcastle v Wigan

Our league form was again stuttering as we only managed a point against a Wigan side that were in a mid-table position. Bent got the game’s first goal in the 6^th minutes but Hugo Rodallega got the equaliser and the final goal of the game in stoppage time at the end of the first half.

Newcastle v Chelsea

This was turning out to be quite a weird month as after not being able to pick up points against Blackburn and drawing with Wigan I then managed to beat Chelsea in a very exciting match at St James’. A goal in the 90^th minute of the match sent the Newcastle fans into mass delirium and my title hopes were back on track

Newcastle v Villa

In the first leg of the semi-final of the Europa League it was my Newcastle team who came out on top with a fine display and an equally good score of 3-1. The goals coming from Ben Arfa, Bent and a James Milner own goal. This would put me into good stead heading into the second leg next week.

Newcastle v Wolves

Neither side seemed to want to win this game as both team lead at some point in the game but it was the team in black and white that won the game and for the second league came running scored a very late goal. This time Eduardo snatched the winner in the 92^nd minute of the game.

Newcastle v Villa

The all important second leg at Villa Park was now going to determine whether or not I was going to contest the final in Cardiff. Much to my relief we won the game by a slender 1-0 margin with the goalscorer the one and only Darren Bent who has been my talisman all season long. I had now booked my place in the final against Juventus.

Newcastle v Reading

The curse of not being able to win straight after a European match struck again as I lost against Reading at the Madjeski Stadium. Shane Long got the only goal of the game and the fatigue from my players was starting to show.

Newcastle v Everton

With only three games left of the Barclays Premier League season I was going to have to win every game from now on if I am going to win the league this season. I was still just one point behind Arsenal in second with the all important final game of the season against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Back to this game the score ended up in a 1-0 win for the visiting side the goal coming from Darren Bent in the 56^th minute of the game.

Newcastle v Fulham

In the penultimate game of the season I decided to give Jo a run out as Bent was looking very tired and I will need him fit for the next two games. It was Jo in the end that got the only goal of the game to secure the three points to keep us just that one point behind Arsenal with one game left to play.

Newcastle v Juventus

I was now in Cardiff in the final of the Europa League against Italian giants Juventus. It was no surprise when both sides were reluctant to go forward and it was quite a dull match. The only major talking point in the game was that Eduardo was sent off in the 86^th minute of the match for an elbow on Domenico Criscito. This was a bit of a letdown as this left a tired Darren Bent to have to play up front by himself. The game couldn’t find a goal in either 90 minutes or after extra time so the game was going to be decided on a penalty shoot-out.

Unfortunately we took poor penalties and that was our downfall as we lost on penalties 3-1 so our European dream was at an end. I had one game left of the season against Arsenal.

Newcastle v Arsenal

It was our biggest game of the season and it was going to decide whether the Premiership was going to either Newcastle or Arsenal. I named an unchanged side to the team that faced Juventus in the Europa League final. We started the game well and had the first major chance of the game when Eduardo was sent though by Verratti but his shot was well saved by Almunia and it went for a Newcastle corner. It was all Newcastle in the first 20 minutes of the game and again we nearly took the lead when Verratti’s shot it the post out bounced out for a goal-kick.

Arsenal’s first chances came in the 25^th minute of the match when Ramsey shot looked to be going into the top corner but Andrea Consigli superbly tipped the ball out for a corner and Arsenal felt that they were getting back into the game. After 35 minutes of the game I was forced to make a chance when Eduardo picked up an injury on came Jo and I was looking to him as has scored some important goals during the season.

It was 0-0 at half-time and I needed a second half goal if I was going to win the league in my final season. Arsenal were determined to finish the game off as quickly as possible and brought on both Bendtner and Van Persie.

The second half was a major contrast and the game seemed to die down a bit with no real major chances until the 69^th minute when for the second time in the game the woodwork was rattling. This time it was Consigli’s goal after a rasping Van Persie free-kick looked likely to give Arsenal the lead but I breathed a huge sigh of relief when it came off the bar.

It was now last chance saloon and I brought on another forward in the shape of Ryan Donaldson who has come up through the Newcastle ranks. In the 92 minute of the game when all hopes were lost of winning the league seemed to have ended. This happened

DONALDSON SCORES TO WIN THE LEAGUE FOR NEWCASTLE.

League Table

After the major disappointment of the previous two seasons I had sweet revenge and won the league in the greatest of fashions. I was in shock for a week with the way I won the league and it was the best send off I could get as Newcastle manager in my final season.

Thanks for reading

Warren

P.S. My new story will be here soon my a new team to manage

Related posts:

1. Final Season With Newcastle Kicks Off
2. Newcastle In February And March 2012-2013
3. Newcastle In December And January 2012-2013

March

During March, there are 4 games to be played. We also had one televised game, against Charlton, which I will show you the stats of. Below is all the results from the month March.

Walsall (A)- Harris, Frampton

I highly expected to win this game and eventually came out with the 3 points, after a tough game. Harris equalised for the Lions, after Walsall took the lead. Frampton then scored the winner in injury time.

Charlton (H)- McGleish, Harris

In a game that we totally dominated, I expected to win by a slightly bigger margin, but at least we got the 3 points. McGleish got the opening goal to give us a 1-0 lead, but Charlton soon equalised. Neil Harris got the winner with 30 minutes to go. We could have had a lot more goals with the stats that we had.

We had double the shots and 5 more on target!

Leeds (A)- Morison, McGleish

I thought we might have been beaten in this game, but the scoreline turned out to be the same as it was last time, 2-2. Leeds took a 2-0 lead, but my side never gave up and got a goal back through Steve Morison, and equalised through McGleish and a stunning goal.

Stockport (H)- Morison, McGleish

A good 2-0 win for us, and goals from Morison and McGleish made McGleish extend his goal tally, to be 3 in front of Grant Holt of Norwich. We got the 3 points which kept us at the top of the league by a long way.

At the end of this month, I got a mail saying that Millwall had secured a play-off place, which meant we had completed part of the promotion push. We were the first club in England to secure a play-off place, as we kept our unbeaten run up.

April

April saw us playing 6 games, in which we ended our unbeaten run by getting beat twice. We had 2 big games against Colchester and Huddersfield which were the tough ones.

Brentford (H)-Ormerod (2)

This game was one of the easiest games of the month, but we only managed 2 goals. Ormerod, scored once in the 65^th minute and again in the 82^nd minute to secure us the 3 points.

Colchester (A)

This is the first game that ended our unbeaten run as Colchester beat us 1-0 away from home. The fans were still pleased with this result as we were cruising to the title.

Gillingham (H)- Antal o.g, Price(2), McGleish

This was the game that if we won, we were promoted to the championship, and the side didn’t fail to score in this game as we scored 4 goals. The first of the goals was an own goal from the Gillingham goal keeper, followed by 2 good team goals, finished by Price. McGleish got the last goal to secure our place in the Championship next season. All that was left, was to secure the League 1 title.

Yeovil (A)

A goal-less draw against a side I expected to beat by a massive margin. Not one of my players played well which gives me even more reason to have a squad change out in summer.

Huddersfield (A)- Alexander

This was the second defeat of the season, and this performance was just as bad as the Yeovil one. Substitute Alexander scored the goal for Millwall after going to 2-0 after 30 minutes. A poor performance from the whole squad.

We won the league! We won the league despite getting beat and Leeds got beat aswell, which let us lift the League 1 title!

Leyton Orient (H)- Price, Eustace, Emmanuel-Thomas, Alexander

A great win for the side, which gives us a good celebration for the game. We just won the league and then come out to win 4-2. Price got the first of the 4, followed by Eustace who got his first goal for the club. Emmanuel-Thomas scored the 3^rd followed by Alexander who once again came on as a substitute.

May

This month saw us play the final 2 games of the season against Tranmere and Swindon. Also, I will tell you about the end of the season awards.

Tranmere (A)- Emmanuel-Thomas, McGleish(3)

In a 7 goal thriller, Millwall came out on top with a massive win. Emmanuel-Thomas opened the scoring with a great goal, followed by a spectacular McGleish hat-trick. This game was the game that showed England we can score goals and that we will be good enough for the Championship.

Swindon (H)- Emmanuel-Thomas, Harris

What a way to end the season! A 2-1 win over Swindon, is a great way to end the season. Emmanuel-Thomas scored on his last game playing for Millwall to give us the 1-0 lead. Swindon equalised to make it 1-1 and substitution Neil Harris scored the winner.

This is how the league finished. I was astounded with how many points we finished with. We finished with 110 points and 15 ahead of Leeds. We scored 96 goals and conceded 46 leaving us with a goal difference of +50. Colchester won the play-offs.

I was proud of myself after I won this award. My first season as manager and I won the Manager of the year award. Pretty good.

I also got the Manager of the Month award for May after winning both games and scoring 6 goals.

Scott McGleish turned out to be the best player in the squad at the end of the season followed by Steve Morison and Gary Alexander.

This was the team of the season. I was proud to announce that 4 Millwall players were in there including Alan Dunne, Darren Ward, Tony Craig and David Martin.

After a proud season, and a season to remember, expect a lot of changes to be made to the side because we will need to strengthen it a lot to challenge in the championship.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

Related posts:

1. Millwall In September
2. Millwall In August
3. Millwall Tops Table After Extending Unbeaten Run

Newcastle v Bristol City

A slender 1-0 win was enough to see me get three points in the first game of February. A goal from the returning Darren Bent who had been out for the last two months with a hip injury got the winning goal in the second half. The game was getting scrappy and I felt that Bristol could have equalised at any point. This got even harder when Steven Taylor was sent off for a second yellow. We managed to hang onto the 1-0 lead and get the three points at the final whistle.

Newcastle v West Ham

I was now set to face a West Ham side with the return match just three days later. This encounter at St.James Park ended in a 1-0 win to the home side with a goal from Marco Verratti. His wonderful free-kick was brilliantly placed into the top left hand corner of Robert Green’s goal. This was my second consecutive 1-0 win and I was hoping for a continuation of this form.

Newcastle v West Ham

In the second encounter it was much a closer game but it was my Newcastle team who edged out on top again. West HamHam took the lead through George Boyd in the first half but my Newcastle team fought back to win the game after goals from Bent and Aaron Spear in scoring his second goal in his 4^th league appearance from the Toon.

Newcastle v HSV

I was now into the knockout phase of the Europa League and my first game was against HSV of Germany. It was a pretty dull match with the sending off of Jorge Valdivia the only real talking point to the game. In the end it was a satisfactory result and I was hoping to progress after the second leg at St James Park.

Newcastle v Tottenham

We were no back into the race for the title at we had a tough game to face in the form of Tottenham Hotspur. It was always going to be a difficult game and it proved to be that way with Spurts winning the game with two second half goals from Crouch and Defoe. It was a disappointing result but there are going to be plenty of game to sort it out.

Newcastle v HSV

The second leg was much more of a one sided contest with Newcastle winning the game by 3 goals to nil. The goals came from Bent, Ben Arfa and Jo. We had progressed into the next round where we will be facing Spartak Moscow.

Newcastle v Villa

An evenly contested match ended in a 2-2 draw between two of the top clubs in the division. We took the lead twice but Villa levelled the game twice and the game ended in a draw. We were starting to pick up a problem of not being able to win games just after playing in Europe. Hopefully this won’t affect us too much.

Newcastle v Spartak Moscow

A very comfortable 4-1 win over the team from Russia with two goals each from Dan Gosling and Eduardo in a very one-sided game. Moscow scored the first goal of the game but we hit back with 4 unanswered goals to be favourites to progress into the Quarter Finals.

Newcastle v Manchester United

This was a massive match in terms of what was going to happen to my title credentials. If we won this game it would give us a massive confidence boost for the final push of the season. On 35 minutes Newcastle took the lead when Sega Diagne sneaked into the far post to sidefoot the ball into the goal. This was the only goal of a frantic game and it was a brilliant win in the end.

Newcastle v Spartak Moscow

It was already confirmed before the match as I won the first leg quite comfortably but a 1-1 draw in Russia made it certain with goals coming from Prudnikov and Wilson. I was now into the Quarter Finals to face Lyon for a place in the semis.

Results

With 6 wins from 10 games I was pleased with the way the past two months went. I was still in the hunt of the premiership and I was in the Quarter Finals of the Europa League.

I have decided not to post the league table to add a bit of suspense to the blog.

Thanks for reading

Warren

Related posts:

1. Newcastle In October And November 2012-2013
2. Newcastle In December And January 2012-2013
3. Final Season With Newcastle Kicks Off

This post is about Verona’s matches on August and October.
It has been an excellent start for Verona. The first two official matches were Italian Cup Qualification Rounds. The first one was against Spezia, a Serie C2 team.

Verona – Spezia: It was an easy match. But unfortunately, Spezia scored and tied the game after an Abdoulaye’s stupid foul on the area, in a crossed ball that my keeper Pinsoglio had perfectly controlled. But my team never stopped attacking and got the victory. It was an excellent debut for Adam Vass (He managed to score a goal). Giuseppe Russo got injured and will be out for 4 weeks. Filippo Pensalfini, one of my central midfielders, made two assists and was chosen Man of the Match.

Ancona – Verona: Second match was against Ancona at their stadium, a more difficult team because they’re on Serie B. Ancona dominated the game and eliminated Verona from the Italian Cup. It wasn’t a tough elimination, because we were not going to win that Cup. At this point, it is more important to win Serie C1 Cup (even if the Board Room are not interested in this competition). Giuseppe Pugliese, my left back, was chosen Man of the Match. It is also worth pointing that it was Mifsud first game in Verona. He didn’t have any clear goal chances and ended with a 5.8 rating. But it’s all about adaptability I think.

Now with Serie C1 matches.

Verona – Foggia: The first one against Foggia. Foggia’s media prediction is 2nd but clearly its squad doesn’t resemble it. It deserves a 8th or even lower. Anyway, it seems that Mifsud will have a sweet sweet tournament. He scored 4 goals and smashed Foggia’s defense. Pugliese and Abdoulaye had a good match too.

Spal – Verona: Next game was against Spal in their stadium. This was a very difficult one because Spal plays with wingers and my team plays mainly in the middle. Spal has a good team with a strong attacking force, Giacomo Cipriani (ex-Bologna) and Fabio Bazzani (ex-Sampdoria) as his substitute and Vinicio Edwards Espinal, a Dominican attacking midfielder, running through the right side of the field, but my team took advantage of their mistakes in defense, with an another good game for Mifsud (Man of the Match), bagging a goal and making an assist.

Verona – Real Marcianise: The game against Real Marcianise was an easy one, but they managed to make things difficult. They shot a lot from outside the area, but it seems that their shooting is not one of their strengths. We played decently but for some strange reason we couldn’t score until minute ‘82 with Berretoni’s penalty, we deserved to win for a bigger margin. Samuele Dalla Bona was chosen the Man of the Match only because he was the intellectual author of the penalty. He played as “average” as all other Verona players (around 6.7 – 6.8 match rating). Adam Vass got injured but it’s not a serious one. Before this game, Francesco Di Gennaro got injured and will be out for 4 weeks so, Corrado Colombo will be Di Gennaro’s replacement.

Pescara – Verona: This is probably one of the most difficult rivals I will be facing this season (along with Spal and Rimini). Marco Veratti, the amazing wonderkid in Football Manager 2010 is in this team (fortunately, in my game, he was sold to Udinese hahaha). However, they have a team with a lot of potencial, with or without Veratti.
My defense couldn’t cope with Massimo Bonnani’s header and for moments I thought we were losing this match, but if Pescara has a good Target Man, we have it too. Corrado Colombo (Di Gennaro’s substitute) had an amazing game and gave us an important draw, considering how strong is Pescara’s team. Bonnani was chosen Man of the Match due to his hattrick. Verona’s best player was Corrado Colombo (9.2 rating and he wasn’t chosen Man of the Match).

Verona – Taranto: Taranto is another good team if we consider the level of Serie C1. But in this game, they dissapointed their fans, the media and me (they ended the match with a 5.75 average rating). I expected so much more from them, doesn’t matter that they are my rivals. They played awfully and Mifsud and Colombo (another good match) took advantage of that. Man of the Match? Colombo… Hands down.

Valle del Giovenco – Verona: Valle del Giovenco is a curious case. They have a good attacking force: Gionatha Spinesi (former Catania), Labros Choutos (former Greece International) and Stefano Dall’Aqua as a substitute. But their midfield and defense aren’t as strong as their forwards. My team gave “VDG” very few goal ocassions (only 5 shots against 14 of Verona) and dominated every aspect of the game (regardless of the final result); my team felt like they were playing at home. Andy Selva managed to get his first goal at Verona but the Man of the Match was Bruce Abdoulaye.

As you can see, my new players have adapted very well, with Mifsud bagging 8 goals in 7 matches and Abdoulaye and Voss playing very well too. Pinsoglio has conceded 7 goals, but he hasn’t been responsable for any of them. Colombo had also made his contribution with 6 goals in 7 matches. Di Gennaro will have to be very careful, Colombo could take his place.

Unfortunately, I can’t post Serie C1 league standings because I got a little excited and played the whole month of September too and didn’t get any screenshot after Valle del Giovenco’s game. I thought about posting September in this post too but it was too much work for Jason. So, I will include it in the next post, I’m sorry. But if you do the math, 16 points out of 18 it’s enough to be on top of the league, don’t you think?

Related posts:

1. Verona in October and November
2. Hellas Verona Kicks Off Season With FM Guru With New Contributor!
3. Millwall In September

The first match of the month was at home against Wigan a team who were sitting down in 18^th waiting to record their first win of the season. I ment to start Craig Gardner but because of some bug I started Buonanotte insteadK. Moreno created some space for himself and it was just over, I would’ve been pretty annoyed if that had ventured in.

James McFadden is left footed and he made a darting run across the box and drilled a shot, well saved by Kirkland. Second half, two subs later, one goal created. Craig Gardner (who I intentionally tried to start but failedK) put a through ball for Benitez; he worked his way past the defenders and crossed for Kadlec (sub #2) to head home emphatically. Wigan almost scored through Rodallega who pounced past Dann (he fell over in the process, shove?).

But just then on the 70^th minute mark we scored again thanks to a goal from Benitez, Kadlec returned the favour earlier set in the match and played a delightful ball for him (he looked suspiciously offside) and he drilled it past Kirkland.

Figueroa got sent off for complainingK. Later in the match Tainio picked up a ball 30 yards from goal and had a go, just wide. We held onto a good victory and 3 points.

Our next game after the international break was against Blackburn Rovaz on the road at Ewood Park. An early long throw from Pedersen resulted in a header just over from their in form striker Kalinic. A free kick from Gardner in the box resulted in McFadden getting totally pushed by Emerton, surely a penalty, referee says no.

A smart ball from Michel found McFadden and his shot was well saved by Paul Robinson. During the first half I had to make 2 subs for Dann and Michel’s injuries. A free kick from Blackburn saw Emerton slide a ball through to Reid who finished in the corner, I thought he was offside and so did the linesman.

We should have had a penalty again when Nelsen jumped on top of Benitez. And after all of these incidents BLACKBURN WERE GIVEN A PENALTY, it was a blatant foul by Benitez but Emerton wasn’t going anywhere. And Kalinic scored the penalty. I decided to make a gamble and bring on Wood for Benitez.

With 10 minutes to go Vince Grella was sent off, I was hoping we could make the extra man count. Wood had a chance blocked by Nelsen. Wood had 2 headers over the bar. The game was over and we had failed. It was the sides poorest performance since Stoke.

We should have had two penalties but my side lacked creativity, I’m sure O’Connor would have put those headers away but since Wood is only 17 I’ll have to give him the benefit of the doubt. That dropped us down to 8^th.

Our next game was on the road again, this time to the theatre of dreams DENS PARK. I mean Old Trafford of course.

I expected a demolition because they basically had a full strength side out there, but some times ability is not as good as awesomeness.

I’m happy that we scored considering we had only one shot on target, our goal was an equaliser after Berbatov gave them the lead with a pretty simple goal (one of 8 shots on target).

Our goal was even better of course J. Rio Ferdinand who is of course the current England Captain had the ball stolen off him by a Scot (proud O’Connor) who ran past him and passed terrifically to Benitez who kept his cool and fired past Van Der Sar and that gave us a well deserved point from the Red Devils.

Our next game was a Carling Cup game against Fulham at the Cottage. We took the lead when Hangeland closed down Buonanotte at half way and he sent through Kadlec who ran all the way and slotted past Schwarzer.

Fulham were looking dangerous and that soon proved correct as Greening picked out Nevland who fired into the top corner. In the second half McFadden played a great low ball into the box and Prieto had his shot saved but Benitez did not miss from the rebound.

Benitez extended our lead when he dribbled through the defence and past Schwarzer and tapped it in. Fulham then scored a late consolation but we were through to the next round.

Next up we had a home game against Portsmouth, which I had already played and lost 3-2 when I was one point winning 2-0, so at the end of the season if I did win this game I would have minused 3 points. We started really well and went ahead thanks to an absolute screamer from Craig Gardner from 25 yards right in the top corner.

Tommy Smith then scored an easy equaliser because Scott Dann decided to be in a good position to win the ball but not to the latter, in fact I see that he ran over the ball instead of kicking it, I’ll kick him.

Our next chance was from a free kick, Gardner laid it off to Kadlec who hit a long range curling shot well saved by James. I saw all this space opening up for Portsmouth and then they scored.

I am starting to realise what a great player Benitez is, he dribbled past the defenders and finished emphatically in the corner. We took the lead just before half time, a cleared corner headed back in by Carr, then headed on by Gardner found its way to the unmarked McFadden to sweep home, James had made a terrible error to choose to come out for that.

In the second half Hassan Yebda had a good chance for Pompey but put his header high over the bar. Some more great dribbling from Kadlec and a good pass found Benitez who hit the post. Kadlec had a chance to end the game but his shot was saved. Gardner made a good run down the right and crossed for Benitez who headed straight at the keeper.

And I swear at the next goal UTAKA was 5 yards offside, a terrible error and his effort squeezed under Hart. And the next incident I shouted what the hell, Lee Bowyer had got sent off for apparently elbowing Boateng, that was his second undeserved red card of the season.

There was a late free kick for Pompey after Gardner WON the ball and it nearly went in. The game ended 3-3. David James played superb and I think we deserved to win. Well that’s all for this post, we’ve got 3 games next month, the most challenging will be Everton at Goodison Park.

In December I am considering loaning out Chris Wood as I am being told that he is not yet good enough for the team.

Our first game of the month is up against fellow promoted side Burnley. I was hopeful of at least getting a draw. To my surprise we were favourites.

Turns out Burnley are bottom and they could really use the points. Burnley’s first chance of the game came from Eagles free kick, it was deflected, for a corner. I went away until the 36^th minute where Paterson brought a fine save out of Hart. Some good control from benitez brought a save from Penny.

I still can’t believe how good Benitez is, he dribbled past several defenders AGAIN and placed the ball into the corner. Yay. Otamendi was off injured when Steven bloody Fletcher scored.

Otamendi’s injury looked sort of serious so I took him off and replaced him with the other mistake maker of the week. I thought Gardner had scored but Penny was equal to it. Johnson made another mistake and gifted the ball to Thompson and I was sure he was going to score, but he took to much time and Hart saved it.

I thought the game was heading for a draw when just before 5 minutes of stoppage time Chris Eagles cut in from 40 YARDS and shot but it was a wonderful save from Joe Hart. Looking at the stats both sides had 2 clear cut chances so I’m quite pleased with a draw.

During the international break Kadlec got injured and scored. Chris Wood scored four times in two games for his country.

Our next game was against Sunderland, who normally struggle away from the Stadium filled with Light apparently. Bolo Zenden started on the left against my Stephen Carr who are both over the age of 30. I told my players that they could win.

O’Connor coming in for Kadlec played a smart ball for Benitez and the Ecuadorian dude finished. They almost replied instantly to my annoyance, Hart saved. Bizarrely Stephen Carr was chosen to take a free kick, he went very close .

All of my squad are getting injured at the moment, O’Connor added to that list which meant young Wood would come on full of confidence after his 4 international goals. I decided to change Wood’s role to Poacher. The most unlikely person to score Michel, scored!

An excellent ball from Prieto and a good run in the box by Michel who hit it first time past Gordon for his first goal for Birmingham. Early in the second half Henderson had a decent chance, his free kick went wide. Gardner was given a lot of space and hit a great 30 yarder brilliantly saved by Gordon.

Sunderland hit back on the counter attack and scored through Bent, Hart dived at his legs and should’ve got the ball (I thought he did). Michel was losing vs. Cana in the midfield battle so I brought on Ferguson.

Sunderland were playing very well on the counter attack and I had to be very wary. Kilgallon headed just over from the corner. We won a free kick and from it Prieto unluckily headed onto the bar. We had a good chance on the counter attack but Wood’s diving header was unfortunately straight at Gordon.

Late on Gardner got injured, which is a blow because he’s been our best player. But we held on for the 3 points to my delight. That result had moved us up to 7^th.

O’Connor is out for a month. Gardner is out for 2 whole months.

Our next game was Europe chasing Everton who were currently in 14^th. I only had 2 available fit strikers so I was hoping I didn’t suffer a similar dilemma that Fulham did, their 3 first choice strikers are out of action, but that didn’t stop them beating Everton last week.

Whilst looking at the line-ups I noticed Distin the left footed defender was playing at right-back but I suspected because Heitinga was in the middle he could go to right back.

Everton had the first chance of the game from 20 yards, Yakubu shooting with his left foot, didn’t get it on target. Prieto burst into the box was brought down and I assumed it was a penalty but Benitez hit it on the volley just wide, I thought he might score from there but it was an opportunity missed.

Then Everton scored, I’m sure Yakubu was offside (I know I say this a lot but I mean it) but nevertheless he finished well past Hart. Everton were playing really well and I didn’t see us having any impact on the game.

Afro man had a good long range shot, clawed away by our standout keeper. Just when I thought we had no chance (in the first half) Everton were reduced to 10 men, Heitinga bringing down Wood on the edge of the area for his second bookable offence.

I thought Buonanotte was about to shoot but laid it off to McFadden who hit his drive just wide. At half time I put McFadden up front with Benitez and brought on Fahey and Tainio. For about a quarter of an hour there were no highlights to my annoyance because if I was in Everton’s situation there would have been many chances for the opposing team.

Yakubu nearly got his second but it went just wide. It went on for another 10 minutes and I swore very loudly when Fahey brought down Bilyaletdinov in the box for a penalty, he had already been booked as well which brought forward the inevitable, I was surprised he was not sent off.

It is so annoying as they scored the penalty but so far there had only been two spells off play, both for EVERTON L. Why the hell did Fahey do it in the first place, it was just like Blackburn by Benitez, he wasn’t going anywhere L. Minutes later Everton could’ve score 3, which is so annoying.

We lost which is sort of embarrassing, they had 7 shots on target compared to our 1. They were the much better team but played a whole half with 10 men, we didn’t trouble them which is very disappointing. Fahey and Buonanotte are new injury problems for me.

This month we got 4 points out of 9 which will be valuable for our survival in the top flight, join me next time when my biggest game so far, against Liverpool in the carling cup comes around.

Related posts:

1. Birmingham Heads Into New Season
2. Magpies Heads Into New Year
3. Birmingham September 2009

A game that I wanted to win, and should have won, because Notts Co were in the league below us. They took the lead half way through the second half through Lee Hughes. John Thompson was sent off 6 minutes before the Notts goal was scored.

Man of the match for the Lions goes to Tony Craig who put in a good performance and influenced the team on but they couldn’t get a goal.

A big win for the Lions, with 3 different scorers getting on the scoresheet, not including the own goal. David Martin scored his first goal in a while, early on in the 5^th minute getting the Lions up 1-0. Steve Mildenhill, the Southend Keeper, scored an own goal in the 40^th minute to get Millwall 2-0 up.

Alan Dunne and Steve Morison scored the other 2 to give us the 3 points and a comfortable 4-0 win. Alan Dunne got man of the match after a solid performance and also managed to get himself on the scoresheet, well done Alan!

A 2-0 win over Carlisle is a big win as we continued our unbeaten run to 26 games unbeaten. Neil Harris and Ali Fuseini were the scorers. The goals came in the 43^rd minute and 51^st to secure the points. Ian Harte also missed a penalty for Carlisle in this game.

Ali Fuseini claimed the man of the match award after a great performance and also grabbed a goal for himself.

A game, which I thought, would be a tough one came as a surprise to me. We went 1-0 up through Neil Harris in the 31^st minute and continued to press at the defence of Southampton. On the half time mark, Kenny Pavey equalised through an offside goal which shouldn’t have been.

We continued to press but couldn’t find any real chance on goal. Ali Fuseini had a shot that hit the post in stoppage time but was denied. Kenny Pavey got the man of the match for Southampton, but my man of the match was Steve Morison for his good solid performance, and was unlucky not to get a goal or 2.

We got a 1-0 win over Oldham in a game that could have gone either way at the end. We took an early lead through Neil Harris in the 5^th minute. After that, the game was really tight and could have gone either way. Jason Price got injured in the 80^th minute and might be out for a long time.

Tony Craig got man of the match for a solid performance and really lead the team to a 1-0 win.

A dissapointting draw for the Lions in a game that I thought we would definitely get the 3 points. Ryhs Murphy got Brighton’s goal in the 8^th minute, and Millwall’s new signing Brett Ormerod scored the equaliser in the 20^th minute.

Alan Dunne got injured in the 75^th minute but doesn’t look to bad. Brett Ormerod got man of the match on his debut after a good performance and contributed to the performance with a goal.

January was the month for transfers and I would like to show you the transfers been made during the winter period. Here are the players that left The Den.

I sold 3 players during the period including Paul Robinson who was supposed to be the best defender at the club. During my time at The Den, he has been injured but every time he recovered, he seemed to gain another injury and never played a game so I was offered £325K for a player that had never played under me

so I accepted and he left for Southampton. Danny Schofield and Adam Bolder were the other 2 players to the The Den, both playing a few games under me, including a few goals for Danny Schofield. I got a respectable £420K for these 3 players. Below is the players I signed for The Lions in the winter period.

2 championship players were signed for the Lions after I decided to strengthen the squad for the end of the season to secure 1^st place in League 1. John Eustace and Brett Ormerod were signed from Watford and Blackpool for a combined price of £10K.

Both of these players were on the transfer list at their clubs and both looked like players that could help gain the trophy. The other signing was Scott McGleish who was signed from Leyton Orient.

He is 33 which could be a bad thing, but he was currently the top scorer in League 1. I signed him for 70K which took quite a chunk out of my transfer budget. Hopefully he can continue scoring for me and get us the league title.

After a high scoring game last time we played these guys, I wanted to make this game an even higher scoreline in favour of the Lions, but that didn’t happen. Grant Holt opened the scoring, followed by a Scott McGleish equaliser. Wes Hoolahan and Grant Holt scored another 2 in the space of 2 minutes to give them a 3-1 lead.

Scott McGleish and Brett Ormerod scored a goal each to get us a point we needed. Scott McGleish got man of the match after a splendid debut and got 2 goals out of the 3 goals scored by the Lions.

After a 3-3 draw with Norwich, I really wanted to get 3 points and in this game, I was lucky enough to get them. Barry Corr opened the scoring for Exeter with a tap-in from 2 yards out. David Martin equalised with 27 minutes to go in the game.

The Lions were awarded a penalty with 2 minutes to go and Scott McGleish converted it home to give Millwall the 3 points. Scott McGleish was awarded the man of the match for the 2^nd game in a row after getting the goal that gave us the 3 points, well done Scott.

A shock result after only getting 1 point after having more than 60% of the possession. Matt Bloomfield scored the first goal of the match to give Wycombe the lead, then missed a penalty in the 50^th minute to let the Lions capitalise and get a goal back through Neil Harris who was brought on as a sub to score the equaliser.

Tony Craig snatched the man of the match award from Scott McGleish after a solid performance at the back.

We went a goal down to a Andrea Orlandi goal in the 25^th minute. At this point I felt everything was going to go wrong.

David Martin pulled a goal back in the 49^th minute followed by a Jude Stirling own goal to give us the 3 points I didn’t think we would get.

David Martin had a great game, never gave up and grabbed himself a goal. He picked up the man of the match award closely followed by Scott McGleish.

I was hoping to get all 3 points in this game, but The Lions left it very late to get them. Ali Fuseini got an early goal in the 2^nd minute to give us an early lead. Ritchie Jones grabbed a goal back for Hartlepool in the 42^nd minute. Nadjim Abdou got a late winner for The Lions in the 92^nd minute with a 20 yard finish to give us the 3 points.

Nadjim Abdou snatched the man of the match award away from Scott McGleish after he got the winning goal, and never gave up the whole match.

We gathered 22 points in these 2 months and are now sitting on 81 points, ahead of Leeds and Colchester who sit on 2^nd and 3^rd place.

Unfortunately my computer wouldn’t let me save a screenshot of the league table due to problems with my computer, so I don’t have a screenshot of that, sorry. The Next post will be all about the race to the title.

Related posts:

1. Title Race Heats Up For Wolves
2. Millwall Tops Table After Extending Unbeaten Run
3. Millwall In September

We had a total of 9 games to play in December starting off with Wigan on the first day of December I was hoping for a win and only a win would do.

Newcastle v Wigan

I won quite comfortably with a 3-1 win over Wigan who were currently in mid-table. The goals came from Jo, Motta and Bent.

Wigan scored in the last few minutes of the game which was a bit annoying but it didn’t stop me getting 3 points. Next up was Zilina in the Europa League.

Newcastle v Zilina

I was only expecting a win here as we were at home against a team that haven’t scored a goal yet in the group stage. The game finished 2-0 with Darren Bent claiming both goals in a very positive footballing display.

I had all but confirmed qualification but I just needed a point against Moscow in the next game to make it certain.

Newcastle v Wolves

Just the one goal was enough to seal a win for the team in black and white with Bent getting the winner yet again.

He was becoming a vital part of my squad and I feel he will need to stay free from injury if we are going to win the Premiership this season

Newcastle v Reading

A third consecutive home game brought a third consecutive win against a Reading side who had only won one game so far this season. Newcastle won this game 2-0 with the goals coming from Ben Arfa and Abou Diaby.

We were hitting some good from and it was at the right time as my next game was a massive crunch match against Arsenal.

Newcastle v Arsenal

A draw was probably a fair result as neither team deserved to lose with Arsenal just edging the game.

We took the lead in the 55^th minute when Danny Wilson got on the end of a Verratti cross but Arsenal struck back straight away and scored through Johan Djourou with similar goal to what Wilson scored previously.

Newcastle v Dinamo Moscow

Qualification to the knockout stages was confirmed with this 1-0 win in Khimki. The goal came from Abou Diaby.

I have eased though the group stage but I now know that the European games will now become much more of a challenge and I am interested to find out who I have got in the first knockout stage

Newcastle v Fulham

My unbeaten season was gone and it was at the hands of Fulham with a late goal at Craven Cottage this was a big setback as I felt that a draw was a decent result but Kamara scored in the 94^th minute and I had suffered by first defeat of the season.

Newcastle v Man City

I had a break from the league while I was to participate in the league cup quarter final. It was going to be a tough game and because the board had said the league cup performance wasn’t going to be assessed then I decided to play a weakened side.

The 1-0 loss justified this and Steven Ireland got the only goal of the game.

Newcastle v Bolton

I have now seemed to have hit a blip in from and it is now 3 games without a point and the latest loss was a 3-1 defeat to Bolton Wanderers.

It was a poor performance and I didn’t deserve anything from the game. I needed to get back to winning ways if I was going to win the league this season.

Newcastle v Man City

I got the revenge I needed for Man City knocking me out of the league cup just 10 days earlier with a 2-0 win and both the goals came from returning Eduardo.

It was a much improved performance and I was hoping this is the team that is going to play of the rest of the season without any major blips.

Newcastle v Watford

It was now time for the third round of the FA Cup and this pitted me up against a Watford side that were currently 20^th in the Championship.

It was the Championship side who took the lead though in the 9^th minute when Daniel Bogdanovic beat the offside trap and calmly placed the ball beyond Consigli.

We did manage to get an equaliser but the game finished 1-1 and it would be yet another fixture in an already busy month.

Newcastle v Liverpool

A 0-0 draw was the way this game ended at Anfield and it came to no real surprise as both teams defended really well.

This is turning out to be a disappointing run of form and my Newcastle side couldn’t seem to string a few wins together.

Newcastle v Watford

I now really needed to concentrate on the league and in Europe so I decided to play a weaker side against Watford and we ended up losing the game 2-1.

I wouldn’t be too disappointed by this result if we can start winning game in the league.  So was this gamble going to pay off?

Newcastle v Stoke

A very late goal sealed this game and thankfully it came from a Newcastle player.

It took until the 96^th minute to get the first goal of the game and I was thrilled when we scored hopefully this was going to be the platform to get a good run of from going.

Newcastle v Birmingham

A 2-0 win ensured that we claimed back-to back wins. The goals came from both Danny Guthrie and Hatem Ben Arfa.

I was pleased with the display and I will be looking for a repeat of this in the final game against Sheffield United

Newcastle v Sheff Utd

A 3-1 win was the final score but that didn’t make the whole story as Sheffield really took the game to Newcastle and were leading at one point.

We came back with goals from Diagne, Enrique and Motta

Results

After playing 17 games in the past months it was certainly a very busy schedule and apart from a minor blip in the middle of January I can be quietly pleased with the way these months have gone.

I now only had three months left and the title race is really hotting up.

Table

I had slipped down to 4^th place but I still had a game in hand and with only 4 points separating 4^th to 1^st I was confident that I was still in with a massive chance of winning the league. I was really looking forward to continuing this season.

Thanks for reading

Warren

Related posts:

1. Newcastle In October And November 2012-2013
2. Newcastle In February And March 2012-2013
3. Newcastle Start 2012/2013 Season

I support Deportes Ovalle a small team in the Chilean Third Division (that unfortunately nobody has ever heard of), but if we talk about big teams, I’m a big fan of AC Milan and Tottenham and I don’t like Inter (obviously), nor Barcelona.

I decided to manage Hellas Verona, an important Italian team with good training facilities and average youth facilities that is, unfotunately, in the Serie C-1. So, I’m going to try to get them back to Serie A and also, to participate in European Competitions.

It’s media prediction is 5th but Verona has clearly a squad that can get the Serie C1 Championship right away. Though, I have to make small changes first.
I have a lot of faith in Francesco Di Gennaro as a Target Man. I think he is a good player for Serie B, not only Serie C1. I’m pretty sure he will bag a lot of goals this season.

After analyzing the team, I decided to buy a goalkeeper, a central defender, a defensive midfielder and a striker.

The transfers for the summer window are:

I sold Rafael because there are better first team goalkeepers in the market and Giuseppe Ingrassia (a goalkeeper on loan from Palermo) is a good reserve goalkeeper, and since he is in loan, I don’t have to worry about putting him in the first eleven or not.

Carlo Pinsoglio, a very promising goalkeeper coming from Juventus, is going to be my first team regular. If I train him well, he will have the stats of a worldwide reputation keeper.

I signed Bruce Abdoulaye, a Congolese average right defender from Clermont 63, to cover some aspects in defense. He is a natural right defender with good strength, but he can play as a central and left defender too.

I loaned Adam Vass from Brescia, an Hungarian defensive midfielder, with good tackling, work rate and strength stats. He will be very useful in covering spaces in midfield and defense.

And finally, I signed Michael Mifsud for free because I needed a quick stricker to complement Di Gennaro’s good heading. I wanted Julien Toudic from Caen (16 Acceleration and 15 Pace) but Monaco signed him. Anyway, Mifsud will be doing OK in Verona’s team.

I will play with a 4-1-3-2, since I have pretty decent central midfielders and I don’t have any good wingers.

Well, that’s it for now. Next post will include my first official matches as Verona’s manager. I don’t wanna introduce you to friendlies because I always play only one to see how my tactic for the season is going to be, and also because Verona has to play the Italian Cup Qualification Matches, but that is going to be included on the next post too.

Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Verona in October and November
2. Verona Marches On
3. Final Season With Newcastle Kicks Off

November

This month gives us 5 games to play, 3 in the league and 2 in the FA Cup. First up is Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup 1^st round.

Steve Morison and Neil Harris (2) got the goals for Millwall that put them through to the 2^nd round of the FA Cup. Andrew Proctor and Jimmy Ryan got the goals for Accrington is this close game.

Neil Harris got the man of the match award for this game after he converted the 2 penalty’s into the net and grabbed his side the win the tie for his side.

We continued our unbeaten run in the league with a 2-0 win over Brentford. Neil Harris and Steve Morison scored there goals within 3 minutes of each other to give us the 3 points.

Keeper David Forde secured the man of the match award with more than 6 great saves when Brentford applied a lot of pressure on the Millwall Keeper.

A great win over a lower side in the league, Wycombe. Steve Morison(2) and Nadjim Abdou scored the goals.

The Lions were all over the Wycombe players and had 60% of the possession during this game. Nadjim Abdou got the man of the match award for scoring his nice goal to secure the 3 points and keep our unbeaten run going in the league.

A Steve Morison first half goal gave us the 3 points in this game. The Lions had plenty more chances to make it 2 or 3-0 but just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net in the second half.

Alan Dunne achieved the man of the match award after being solid at the back, not letting anything progress through the back, Well done Alan!

This was the last game of the month and I wanted to end the month unbeaten, plus I wanted to get through to the 3^rd round of the FA Cup. Darren Ward made a good start to match getting us up 1-0, then Neil Harris got 2 goals to secure the win and progress through to the 3^rd round of the FA Cup.

After getting the man of the match in the last game, Alan Dunne took an early shower after making a bad challenge on a Bournemouth player.

Darren Ward got the man of the match award for this match after scoring another goal from defence and being solid at the back once again.

We still sit top of the league and are still unbeaten. We have played 18 games and have 46 points, 7 points clear of Leeds.

I once again got manager of the month, for having another unbeaten month. I wasn’t the only person to get an award that is contracted to Millwall. Take a look at this….December

This month gives us 6 games to play including a big game against Norwich. We also have 1 televised game against Charlton this month.  First up is MK Dons.

The Lions kept up there unbeaten run with a great 3-1 win over MK Dons. Neil Harris opened the scoring puting Millwall 1-0 up. 3 minutes later Jermaine Easter equalised making it 1-1. Darren Ward put us ahead again, with Ali Fuseini scoring to secure the 3 points for the Lions.

Darren Ward got his 2^nd man of the match award in a row with another goal and another solid performance.

We only came away with 1 point from this game after letting the Hartlepool score a late equaliser. Gary Alexander gave us the lead in the 58^th minute, before letting Adam Boyd score a consolation goal.

Gary Alexander put us in the lead again after a great goal. Armann Smari Bjornsson scored a late equaliser to grab 1 point on a day that they shouldn’t have got any.

Gary Alexander got the man of the match award after getting the 2 goals for the Lions in a game that he could have got a lot more but played well enough to get the man of the match award.

We got the 3 points that we needed and kept our unbeaten run going. Steve Morison, Darren Ward and Ali Fuseini scored the Lions goals while Troy Deeney got the Walsall consolation goal.

David Forde got the man of the match award as he was phenomenal in goals and never let anything trouble him. He was unlucky with the goal that he let in from Troy Deeney.

Once again, we secured the 3 points, this time the match was a televised match. We have kept up our unbeaten run. Steve Morison and Neil Harris gave us a 2-0 lead before half time, before Miguel Llera scored a consolation 7 minutes from time.

Neil Harris got man of the match with a stunning performance, also adding another goal to him name.

This game had many goals in it, 4 for Millwall, 3 for Norwich. Tony Craig opened the scoring in the 3^rd minute with a brilliant goal before Shabani Nonda equalised through a penalty.

Wes Hoolahan put Norwich in front with a goal 7 minutes before half time. Jason Price equalised 1 minute into the 2^nd half. Grant Holt put Norwich back in front with a goal on the hour mark.

Ali Fuseini levelled with 10 minutes to go, and Neil Harris grabbed the winner with 6 minutes to go.

Alan Dunne was once again sent off for a second bookable offence with 4 minutes to go. Jason Price got the man of the match award for his great contribution to the win, and grabbed himself a goal as well.

A massive win over Bristol Rovers gave us our biggest win of the season so far. Danny Schofield, Jason Price(2), Neil Harris and Steve Morison all contributed to the massive win.

Jeff Hughes and Simon Lappin scored consolation goals for Bristol Rovers. Steve Morison claimed the man of the match after a great performance.

We sit top of the table by 12 points now, but Leeds have a game in hand to the Lions. 62 points from 24 games and still unbeaten is quite an achievement.

I am really proud of my players. Also another award…..

I won the Manager of the Month award again for the 3^rd month in a row after winning 5 out of the 6 games in played in the league, and the Lions drew there other game against Hartlepool.

Hopefully the Lions can keep performing and get the League 1 championship in the trophy room!

Ali Fuseini was young player of the month after a great month of performances. Ali looks like a player for the future!

Thanks for reading and please comment.

Related posts:

1. Millwall Continues Unbeaten Run
2. Millwall In September
3. Millwall Ends Brilliant Season