retired_amyslack

There's an accent in there somewhere Spav so I'm not sure on the pronounciation

September 2005

At the start of the month Ben Thatcher and Shaun Wright-Phillips came head to head when they represented their countries as Wales held England to a respectable 1-1 draw at the Millennium Stadium. They both played again in midweek as back-to-back World Cup qualifiers took place and Claudio Reyna also played twice for the USA, all three returning injury-free, if a little weary.

I decided not to make any changes for the trip to 3rd place Birmingham and goals from Sibierski and Man of the Match Shaun Wright-Phillips gave us an excellent 2-0 win although we did lose Guiza for a week with a sprained wrist. Our next action came in a midweek trip to Crewe in the 2nd Round of the League Cup and I took the opportunity to give some playing time to the fringe players in the first team squad and two goals from Robbie Fowler settled the tie in our favour.

For the visit of struggling Leicester I reverted back to my first choice selection with the exception of the injured Guiza and Fowler kept his place after his impressive display in the last match. Talk about a game of two halves – a dour first period ended goalless but we struck four times without reply in the second half, Reyna and Bosvelt each getting a brace.

The midweek visit of Burnley saw Guiza and Sinclair both back from injury and both players marked their return by getting amongst the goals in our impressive 4-0 win. Guiza scored twice and Sinclair once with Wright-Phillips netting the 4th as we moved up to 3rd place in the table. We ended the month just a point behind new leaders Chelsea and second place Arsenal. Shaun Wright-Phillips was recognised as Player of the Month in the Premiership with Claudio Reyna runner-up.

retired_amyslack

October 2005

It was only October 1st, far too early to use the term “make or break”, but I couldn’t help feeling that the trip to Arsenal could be a key moment in our season. With my first choice eleven all playing consistently well confidence was high but a poor result here could undermine our excellent start. Just as it looked like we had weathered the early storm of Arsenal pressure Freddi Ljungberg put the home side in front after quarter of an hour. We kept our heads up through and equalised through Guiza 15 minutes later. But we were fated to go into the break behind and, having struck the bar minutes earlier, Reyes scored the home side’s second goal shortly before the interval. I brought Gasbarroni on for a struggling Sinclair but it failed to spark us and we looked outclassed in the second period. The home side scored twice more, each goal deflecting home off the unlucky Wright-Phillips. The 4-1 defeat served to underline the gulf in class between ourselves and the top teams and it was a sombre trip back up north.

A few days later we faced London opposition again with the visit of Fulham and a 1-0 defeat proved that lady luck had deserted us, at least temporarily. The only goal of the game came in the 4th minutes when Luis Boa Morte scored a total fluke, the ball bouncing into the net off his shoulder. When Richard Dunne missed a second-half penalty I just knew that we wouldn’t score and I was resigned to the defeat.

With half a dozen players involved in back-to-back World Cup qualifiers I was hoping that they all returned unscathed, but it wan not to be as Ben Thatcher, Claudio Reyna and Shaun Wright-Phillips all suffered injuries. Thatcher was the worst affected, his broken wrist meaning that he would be out for a month. So we travelled to Southampton with three enforced changes where we were reunited with Steve McManaman. Thankfully we just came out on top in an even encounter, the winner coming from a skilful lob from distance by Paul Bosvelt.

Just as Stephen Jordan had been given a first team opportunity due to the injury to Thatcher, the 23-year-old left back suffered a dislocated jaw after a nasty training ground collision – bad luck for him and another enforced change for me. He was joined in the treatment room by Sibierski, allowing Bradley Wright-Phillips to get a start on the left wing for the televised visit of Newcastle. The goalless draw wasn’t exactly enthralling viewing for the TV audience and the visitors had the brilliance of keeper Shay Given to thank for their undeserved point.

For the midweek trip to Blackpool in the League Cup I continued with my policy of giving the second string players some game time and the home keeper performed miracles to keep the scoreline respectable. Our 2-0 win came courtesy of goals from young midfield duo Willo Flood and Stephen Ireland, both of whom looked like excellent prospects.

Our final action of the month involved a trip to Portsmouth and with David James out with bruised ribs I gave 18-year-old Kasper Schmeichel his senior debut. A disappointing 2-0 defeat meant that the teenager did not enjoy a winning start to his career but he was not at fault for either goal. A poor month in the league saw us slip down to 5th place with an unbeaten Arsenal just ahead of Chelsea at the top of the table.

retired_amyslack

November 2005

We got off to a pretty dreadful start at home to Liverpool with the visitors scoring twice in the opening twenty minutes, both goals coming from the head of Sami Hyypia as our defence went to sleep. We improved after the break, Guiza pulling a goal back shortly after the restart but it was too little too late and we were unable to claw back an equaliser.

In midweek we travelled to Chesterfield in the League Cup and I once again rotated the starting eleven to give the fringe players some competitive action. Andrea Gasbarroni opened the scoring with his first goal for the club after quarter of an hour and Willo Flood scored our second before the break. We pretty much dominated play but there was no further scoring and the 2-0 win took us into the Quarter Finals.

We had half a dozen players involved in International freindlies and Claudio Reyna returned with a minor injury that meant he missed the trip to Aston Villa. We rode our luck in the first half to reach the break with the game still scoreless. Then within two minutes of the restart Paul Bosvelt fired us ahead but we were pegged back ten minutes later through Angel. Just after the hour mark Bosvelt struck again with his second of the match and substitute Willo Flood wrapped up the points with a goal in stoppage time.

In our last league match of the month we welcomed visitors Blackburn and on balance of play our 1-0 win was barely deserved. Guiza netted his 11th goal in 14 games after quarter of an hour after he was freed by a through ball from Bosvelt. The 35-year-old Dutch midfielder is enjoying another fine season and is still in very good physical condition. Our Spanish striker is proving to have been a great signing and has now nosed ahead of Thierry Henry in the Premiership scoring chart.

I had a tough decision to make going into the League Cup Quarter Final at QPR – with a huge derby match coming up at Old Trafford in a few days time should I stick with my rotational policy in the Cup? This was still the best hope of silverware for a team such as ourselves so I was tempted to put out my best side but in the end I stuck to my guns and rested the first eleven for the United showdown. A sellout crowd at Loftus Road enjoyed a highly competitive encounter with play swinging from end to end as both sides looked to play attacking football. An early goal from Robbie Fowler gave us a good start and we held our slender lead until Willo Flood scored in stoppage time to seal the win and vindicate my decision.

retired_puly1364

Still reading the story. Nice to see Fulham didn't get relegated (and even are able to beat someone strong ). My favourite English team.

retired_amyslack

Cheers Tanel - glad you have bought a plane ticket to Manchester

retired_amyslack

December 2005

The month began with a trip to Old Trafford for the first Manchester derby of the season, and an eventful game it turned out to be. After 6 minutes we lost Sibierski to injury so Gasbarroni was brought on. In the 14th minute Man United full back Heinze received his second yellow card giving us a man advantage. Midway through the half Reyna put us in front when his shot took a deflection to deceive Tim Howard in the United goal. At this point I should have been feeling quite confident – a goal up and playing against ten men would surely give us an advantage. But I was far from happy as I can honestly say that in my long and varied management career I cannot recall getting a win when playing against ten men. My concern proved to be justified as first Kleberson equalised right at the end of first-half stoppage time, the goal being his first of the season. Then Roque Santa Cruz put them ahead two minutes after the restart, scored his second of the match with 20 minutes remaining and five minutes from time we lost Guiza when he received his second caution. Talk about a bad day at the office!

The next weekend we entertained 5th place Tottenham and with Guiza suspended and Fowler out with a training injury, The Goat started up front. We found ourselves a goal down after just 90 seconds and two behind on the half hour. Frankly we never looked like scoring ourselves and the 2-0 defeat was a real disappointment.

A trip to runaway leaders Chelsea seemed unlikely to break our recent losing streak and with several players severely lacking in confidence I felt that the time was ripe to make a few changes. On that basis in came Schmeichel, Dunne and Gasbarroni and out went James, Distin and Sibierski. To give an indication of what we were up against let me show you the Chelsea teamsheet –

Cech
Ferreira
Bridge
Terry
Carvalho
Lampard
Rosicky
Robben
Robinho
Ronaldo
Pizarro

Subs – Cudicini, Drogba, Gudjohnsen, Duff, Johnson

Not a bad lineup I’m sure you’d agree. Despite all of this we put up a pretty good performance and even took the lead through Gasbarroni after 20 minutes. Rosicky equalised on the half hour and late goals from Ronaldo and Lampard condemned us to a 3-1 defeat.

In midweek a struggling Leeds side visited having just sacked cousin Kevin who took over as manager a year ago. Having missed out on a family reunion, I decided that drastic changes were required to kick-start our season, so I dropped most of the first-teamers and went with the lads that had taken us to the semis of the League Cup. After a goalless first half we finally broke the deadlock through a Richard Dunne penalty. This seemed to relax the lads and they started to play some impressive stuff, adding a second thorough Guiza to seal a comfortable 2-0 win. The bad news was an injury to Bradley Wright-Phillips who suffered a groin tear effectively ruling him out for the remainder of the season.

Boxing Day featured another visit from a struggling northern team, Bolton the club in question this time. Once again our opening goal came in the second half via a Richard Dunne penalty but this time it merely served to equalise the visitor’s first half strike. With the game seemingly heading towards a draw we sloppily gave away a second goal in stoppage time for a disappointing 2-1 defeat.

Two days later we were at relegation threatened West Brom and despite creating more chances than you could shake a stick at we managed to miss them all and returned home with a poor 0-0 draw. With just four points to show for our efforts, December has been a terrible month and we have lost our momentum totally. We were still occupying 6th place in the table but there was a clear gap opening up between us and the top five.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Chelsea | 20 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 55 | 15 | +40 | 55 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Arsenal | 20 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 41 | 11 | +30 | 43 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Liverpool | 20 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 38 | 20 | +18 | 41 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Man Utd | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 35 | 17 | +18 | 39 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Tottenham | 19 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 29 | 13 | +16 | 39 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Man City | 21 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 34 | 25 | +9 | 32 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Newcastle | 21 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 24 | 17 | +7 | 32 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | Southampton | 21 | 9 | 3 | 9 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 30 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | Everton | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 32 | 29 | +3 | 29 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | Birmingham | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | Charlton | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | Fulham | 21 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 29 | -5 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | Portsmouth | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 22 | 29 | -7 | 26 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | Blackburn | 20 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 28 | -9 | 23 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | Aston Villa | 21 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 23 | -8 | 21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | Leicester | 21 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 19 | 40 | -21 | 17 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | Bolton | 20 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 19 | 32 | -13 | 15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | West Brom | 21 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 30 | -13 | 15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | Burnley | 20 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 44 | -30 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | Leeds | 21 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 10 | 46 | -36 | 8 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_amyslack

January 2006

The year started positively with a cracking 4-0 win at home to Charlton, Guiza scoring all of our goals to set a new club record. His hat trick arrived inside the opening 20 minutes as we flew out of the starting blocks and the visitors never recovered. His 4th was the pick of the bunch though, a stunning strike from fully 30 yards out that curved wickedly into the top corner.

The Spaniard was on the scoresheet again in our 2-0 win at Leicester in the FA Cup 3rd Round, Andrea Gasbarroni getting the second late in the game. Joey Barton showed how well he is maturing as a player with a commanding display in midfield, linking defence and attack in a most effective manner.

Southampton came sniffing for two of our players whose contracts will expire in the summer, tabling contract offers for Richard Dunne and Claudio Reyna. I definitely wanted to keep Richard although I wasn’t so certain regarding Reyna but finally decided that his experience would be useful in developing potential starts such as Willo Flood and Stephen Ireland. The American quickly accepted our counter-offer of a one-year extension but to my surprise Dunne turned us down flat, preferring a move to the south coast.

For the first leg our League Cup Semi Final against Spurs I decided that I was going to keep faith with the players that had taken us this far so I rested many of our first choice starters. It proved to be an expensive decision, a rather poor 4-1 defeat making us a real outside bet for a shot at some silverware.

A desperately poor 2-0 defeat in the league at Everton followed with Thatcher and Gasbarroni both picking up knocks, though neither was serious thank heaven. With Chairman John Wardle calling for “a high-profile signing” I had to remind the boss that with under £1M left in the transfer pot that would take some doing. The arrival of explosive Nigerian forward Julius Aghahowa on a Bosman move from Shakhtar after his work permit was approved gave us more options up front but Mr. Wardle still seemed hopeful of a bigger name.

With injuries, suspensions and international commitments (Naybet had been called up for the African Cup of Nations) we were down to the bare bones for the trip to Brighton in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Aghahowa enjoyed his debut, scoring the opening goal in our 3-1 win. Young midfielders Flood and Ireland also impressed, both adding to their goal tally.

Shaun Wright-Phillips had been enjoying another excellent season and I wasn’t hugely surprised when the Chairman gave me the news that we had received an offer for the 24-year-old. But when I heard the details I was gobsmacked – Inter were offering £14.5M plus Edgar Davids and Julio Ricardo Cruz, £8M of playing talent combined. Of course it was far too good to turn down. Unfortunately the two players involved turned down a move to City point blank. I say unfortunately not because I wanted Shaun to leave but not only would we have received a substantial sum of money but we would also have had two excellent players coming into the squad, but it was not to be.

To have any hope of overhauling the lead built by Spurs in our League Cup Semi Final we needed to score early. In fact we failed to score at all, the game ending 0-0, and all we had to show for our endeavours was two more injured players. We had the same scoreline in our final game of the month at struggling Burnley and indeed were grateful to a rejuvenated David James for a share of the points. Now sitting in 7th place in the table we needed to get a decent run of form going if we were to achieve the holy grail of European qualification.

retired_amyslack

February 2006

30-year-old Colombian international Freddy Grisales joined the club at the start of the month and he was straight into the first eleven for our visit to Leicester and he made an excellent debut. The home side played most of the game with ten men after Gavin McCann was sent off in his first appearance for his new club. Keeper Robert Green performed miracles to restrict us to a single Aghahowa goal and sods law said that they were bound to equalise. The inevitable happened ten minutes form time and I was sorely disappointed with the 1-1 draw.

High-flying Arsenal came to town a few days later and inspired by two goals from Antoine Sibierski and some great goalkeeping by David James, we battled for a good 2-2 draw. New boy Grisales scored twice at Fulham before having to go off at half time with a knock and the match turned out to be a real thriller. We may have scored twice in the first period but the home side had scored three times and we came out after half time a goal down. Sibierski equalised from the penalty spot in the 50th minute but then we lost Shaun Wright-Phillips minutes later. A re-shuffle saw Willo Flood move to the right wing and Aghahowa come on in midfield, the Nigerian going on to score twice to give us a great 5-3 win.

The news on Wright-Phillips was bad – he had a torn groin muscle and faced a three-month layoff. With brother Bradley also badly injured this season it was not a happy time for the siblings. A late goal from Guiza gave us a 1-0 win at home to Birmingham in midweek with Trevor Sinclair replacing the injured Shaun on the right wing and putting a splendid display.

We ended the month with a 5th Round FA Cup tie at West Ham and a brace from Guiza combined with a long-range bullet from Grisales took us through to the Quarter Finals with a 3-1 win. We learnt a few days later that we would face bitter rivals Man United in the next round, a prospect that had the fan’s mouths watering already.

retired_amyslack

March 2006

March opened with a televised match at home to Southampton and despite picking up a knock Guiza scored the only goal of the game in the first half to give us a good 1-0 win. We had now established a bit of daylight in 7th place over the chasing group but were still 6 points adrift of our top-six target.

The FA Cup Quarter Final at Old Trafford was an evenly matched affair with both sides creating, and missing, a number of chances. The home side shaded the first half but we had the better of the second period, coming agonisingly close to scoring in a frantic goalmouth scramble during which Guiza, Reyna and Sibierski were somehow denied by keeper Tim Howard. The winning goal came in the 84th minute and it went the way of the home side, David James coming for a near post corner and Fabrizio Miccoli getting there first. The defeat was a bit harsh on us as I thought that we at least deserved a replay back on our own turf.

We recovered well from the disappointment of the cup exit with a crucial 2-0 win at Newcastle in our next match. The Magpies were just a place above us and a victory was vital if we were to have a chance of overhauling them. The goals came from a Grisales piledriver midway through the first half and a rather fortunate own goal a few minutes later. The win moved us to within a point of 6th place and if we could keep our winning streak going in the league then we had a chance of further progression.

We kept our good run going with a 2-0 win at home to Portsmouth with Grisales and Sibierski getting the goals in a five-minute spell in the second half. By that time the visitors were playing with ten men and we were able to take advantage of superior numbers helped by their adventurous approach as they chased the game.

retired_amyslack

April 2006

Our 100% in March was enough to give me my first managerial award in the Premiership but I’d gladly swap that for a place in Europe. Some of our recent good work was undone in our first game of the month when we suffered a dreadful 5-1 pasting at 4th place Liverpool as the Reds simply overwhelmed us.

We recovered well in our next match though with an impressive 3-0 win at home to Aston Villa. I started Aghahowa up front to rest Guiza and he opened the scoring just before half time with a great near post header. Freddy Grisales added the second, again a headed goal, in the 65th minute and Joey Barton wrapped up the points with his first goal of the season right at the end of the game.

In our next match at Blackburn we conceded the opening goal from the penalty spot inside the first 20 minutes and for the remainder of the half we never really got going. But we burst into life after the break and scored three times in a frantic four-minute spell. Substitute Willo Flood squared the game in the 72nd minute when he timed his run into the box to perfection to score a tap-in goal. A minute later Paul Bosvelt put us in front as Flood turned provider and three minutes after that Julius Aghahowa completed a remarkable turnaround with our 3rd goal.

Three of our final four matches involved teams in the top five of the Premiership – a demanding run-in that would make or break our hopes of European football. It began with perhaps the biggest match of the season for us – Man U at home. There was less than six minutes on the clock when United went in front, Esteban Cambiasso somehow outjumping our entire defence to send a looping header over the head of David James. On the half hour Calamity then conceded a needless penalty by pushing Paul Scholes and Fabrizio Miccoli slotted home the kick to put the Red Devils well in charge. I was not too happy at half time and told the players so in no uncertain terms. The rocket seemed to do the trick and within two minutes of the restart we were back in the game after David Sommeil scored his first goal of the season from a corner. With time running out we were pressing hard for an equaliser and it finally came in the 84th minute through Freddy Grisales to give us a deserved point.

Our final game of the month involved a trip to Tottenham, the team just above us in the table. A win would take us up to 5th place so in many ways it was perhaps our most vital game of the season thus far. We got off to a cracking start with Freddy Grisales scoring a hat trick inside 20 minutes. We were playing some of our best football of the season and the Colombian was at the heart of everything we did. Even a missed penalty on the half hour failed to interrupt our flow and Sibierski put us further ahead on the stroke of half time. Grisales scored his 4th with ten minutes remaining and Aghahowa completed the rout in stoppage time to give us our biggest win of the campaign.