retired_amyslack

February 2007

Our opening match of the month at Wigan proved to be a pretty even encounter and looking at the final Opta stats there was precious little to choose between the teams. The key difference was that we managed to get a couple of goals and thanks to a fine performance by Calamity James, they didn’t. Our first goal came early on through the impressive Gasbarroni but we had to wait until stoppage time at the end of the game before the win was secure when Guiza scored our second. In between times we relied on James to keep the home side at bay and the big man may be doing enough to get a contract extension in the summer.

We were a goal down at home to 3rd place Newcastle inside ten minutes but Man of the Match Freddy Grisales got us back on level terms with a peach of a goal ten minutes later. His curling shot from the corner of the area nestled into the top right hand corner of Given’s goal giving the Irish international no chance. Anelka was clearly in the mood and he put us ahead just before the break when Wright-Phillips picked him out with a whipped cross. Our top scorer made the game safe ten minutes from time when he timed his run to perfection to latch on to Gasbarroni’s ball over the top of the Newcastle defence.

As we prepared for our FA Cup 5th round tie at home to Reading, Julius Aghahowa suffered a groin strain in training and would be sidelined for several weeks. Even though Danny Mills was now back in full training young Chinedum Onuoha kept his place at right back after impressing greatly when called up to the senior team. Stephen Jordan was also keeping first choice left back Ben Thatcher out of the starting eleven with some very steady displays. Shaun Wright-Phillips gave us an early lead when he finished off a mazy run with the most delightful chip over the advancing keeper. The Championship side regrouped and kept us at bay until a few minutes before the break. But two goals in two minutes from Gasbarroni and Grisales sent us into half time in a winning position. Second-half goals from Anelka and substitute Sibierski sealed a comfortable win to take us through to the Quarter Finals. The win also set a new club record of six successive victories.

As we looked forward to our trip to Wembley for the League Cup Final we got the news that we would travel to Aston Villa in the next round of the FA Cup. An injury to Sibierski meant that we had to risk Bradley Wright-Phillips on the bench even through he had just returned to serious training after his layoff so I had to keep my fingers crossed that we didn’t lose either of our main strikers. Despite both sides playing some open attacking football neither keeper could be beaten in normal time and extra time was required. We were just three minutes into the extra 30 when Gasbarroni gave us the breakthrough after some selfless play by Anelka. When Shuan Wright-Phillips scored our second at the death there was no doubting the final result and the club claimed their first major trophy since their success in the same competition 31 years earlier.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 29 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 61 | 26 | +35 | 68 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 29 | 20 | 4 | 5 | 60 | 26 | +34 | 64 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Liverpool | 29 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 57 | 26 | +31 | 60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Arsenal | 28 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 53 | 20 | +33 | 59 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Newcastle | 29 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 45 | 23 | +22 | 58 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | MAN CITY | 28 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 56 | 23 | +33 | 56 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_amyslack

March 2007

Bottom of the table Crewe were still looking for their first win in the Premiership when we visited them at the start of the month and our 2-0 win did nothing to improve their record. It took us some 40 minutes to convert one of our many scoring opportunities into a goal, Timmy Simons succeeding with a free kick from some 30 yards out. Gabarroni was absent through injury so I asked Joey Barton to come in an take on a more attacking midfield role and he did OK but was obviously a but rusty having not played for some time. Our second goal came on the stroke of half time when Anelka was on hand to tap home a rebound from a Guiza shot.

I kept with the same starting eleven for our FA Cup Quarter Final at Aston Villa as we sought to extend our impressive cup form. We took the lead midway through the first half when Anelka latched on to a long clearance from James, drew the keeper off his line and squared the ball to give Guiza a simple tap-in. Minutes later the home side squared the game with a soft penalty but a Grisales thunderbolt put us back in front before the break. The game was still finely balanced and with 15 minutes remaining Villa equalised again game after we got a bit careless in our own third and conceded possession with a sloppy pass. There was no further scoring so the 2-2 draw meant a replay back in Manchester in ten days time.

To describe our league match at home to Arsenal in midweek as a game of two halves would be quite an understatement. The visitors dominated the first period and it was only thanks to David James that we were not overwhelmed. His resistance was broken on the half hour as the visitors finally turned their dominance into a goal. But minutes later we were back on terms through a Grisales howitzer and we started to look a bit more interested. On the stroke of half time we took the lead when Simons calmly converted from the penalty spot to take us into the break in front. The second period was a mirror image of the first as we were all over the visitors and at one point only a remarkable triple-save from the visiting keeper stopped us from extending our lead. We got our reward eventually when Guiza scored twice in the last ten minutes to seal an excellent 4-1 win that took us above our opponents on goal difference.

In one of those coincidences that the fixture computer throws up from time to time we had to host Aston Villa in the league the weekend before we faced them again in the cup replay. I was considering bringing Trevor Sinclair back into the reckoning after his injury layoff but had to reconsider after he pulled a groin muscle in training and was ruled out for the rest of the season. We now had both Aghahowa and Gasbarroni back in full training but neither were ready for action quite yet, although Julius was given a set on the bench. A frankly uneventful first half was enlivened with a stoppage-time strike from Guiza to take us into the break in front. In the second period the floodgates opened – Wright-Phillips scored within a minute of the restart, Freddy showed that he had his shooting boots on with two corkers and Anelka finished the scoring in our 5-0 win. Hopefully our comprehensive victory has given us the psychological advantage for the forthcoming replay.

We started the FA Cup replay as we ended the league match and by the time that Shaun Wright-Phillips put us in front after 20 minutes we had already created a string of chances. The match continued in the same vein but a combination of desperate defending, inspired goalkeeping and wayward finishing prevented us from building on our lead. As time ticked on I was increasingly concerned that we would get caught on the break but with a little over five minutes remaining substitute Aghahowa tucked the ball away to double our lead and I started t relax a little. We still had a couple of scary moments but held to take the match 2-0 and book our place in the Semi Final. Our attendance of 54,979 was confirmed as a new club record, as were the £1.5M in gate receipts.

After a weekend off for World Cup qualifiers we ended a successful month with a trip to 2nd place Chelsea, coincidentally the team that we would be facing in the FA Cup Semi Final next month. With Shaun Wright-Phillips out injured a fit-again Andrea Gasbarroni returned to the starting eleven. Confidence is clearly sky-high at present and we showed no signs of being overawed by the expensive array of superstars at Stamford Bridge. We outplayed our hosts in the first half and reached the break 2-0 up thanks to Guiza and Anelka. Unfortunately we went off the boil a little after the break and our luck turned against us. They pulled a goal back when Mikkel Bischoff sliced a clearance into his own net and then Wayne Bridge scored his first goal of the season in stoppage time to rob us of a deserved win.

A top-six finish was now virtually certain given that we had an 18-point lead over 7th place Villa but I was privately targeting a finish in the top three and Champions League football.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 32 | 24 | 5 | 3 | 70 | 30 | +40 | 77 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Liverpool | 32 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 64 | 27 | +37 | 69 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 32 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 66 | 30 | +36 | 69 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Newcastle | 32 | 19 | 10 | 3 | 54 | 24 | +30 | 67 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | MAN CITY | 32 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 69 | 26 | +43 | 66 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Arsenal | 32 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 58 | 29 | +29 | 63 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_amyslack

April 2007

We had the novel experience of a clean sweep of the March awards as Shaun Wright-Phillips, Chinedum Onuoha and I all finished top of our respective categories. At the start of the month Mladen Krstajic returned to the heart of the defence for the visit of bitter rivals Man United. A fairly even first half ended goalless but I was thrilled with what I saw after the break. We took the lead on 54 minutes when a shot from Freddy Grisales deflected off Phil Neville and into the net. Guiza doubled our lead with less than 15 minutes remaining when he sprung the offside trap to score his 20th goal of the season. The icing on the cake game five minutes from time when John O’Shea was dismissed when he brought down Gasbarroni in the area and the referee adjudged it to be a professional foul. Anelka smashed the ball home to complete a 3-0 rout that moved us up to 4th and sent almost 55,000 fans home in delirium.

The next day cousin Kevin was sacked by Birmingham 18 months after he was booted out by Leeds. The poor man just can’t seem to hang on to a job no matter how hard he tries.

The next weekend we travelled to London to face Crystal Palace, a club deep in the relegation dogfight. Our 2-0 win courtesy of Guiza and Barton didn’t help their cause and they slipped ever closer to the dreaded drop.

In midweek we faced the challenge of Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final buoyed by the fact that unfancied Wigan had beaten Arsenal 1-0 at the weekend to book their place in the Final. Sadly we couldn’t match their achievements, an 11th minute goal from Ronaldo being enough to win the game.

Before facing the challenge of a visit from 2nd place Liverpool at the weekend we were boosted by the return of Shaun Wright-Phillips to the side. We took the lead inside a minute through Guiza and but for the heroics of Chris Kirkland we would have extended our lead in the opening half hour. But the visitors struck back and squared the game before the break with their only on-target effort of the half. The Liverpool keeper continued to defy us after the interval but we finally got the goal we deserved two minutes from time through Grisales. The win jumped us up to second in the table, five points behind rivals United.

For our trip to Spurs at the end of the month Guiza was forced to the bench as he was carrying a knock and Aghahowa was injured so Bradley W-P got a rare start in attack. There were just 12 seconds on the stadium clock when Freddy Grisales fired us in front to claim the quickest goal in Premiership history. We held our lead until just after the restart when Jermain Defoe scored an equaliser after one of our attacks broke down. But just after the hour mark Freddy scored again to restore our lead just before he hobbled off injured. Substitute Guiza made the game safe in the last ten minutes when he tucked the ball away to secure a fine 3-1 win.

An excellent month in the league saw another clean sweep in the monthly awards with Freddy Grisales, Chinedum Onuoha and myself all taking the honours. With just two games left to play we actually had a chance of the title – on the other hand we could lose them both and drop down to 6th.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Man Utd | 36 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 79 | 39 | +40 | 81 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | MAN CITY | 36 | 24 | 6 | 6 | 79 | 28 | +51 | 78 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 36 | 24 | 6 | 6 | 76 | 36 | +40 | 78 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Liverpool | 36 | 23 | 7 | 6 | 74 | 34 | +40 | 76 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Newcastle | 36 | 22 | 10 | 4 | 59 | 27 | +32 | 76 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Arsenal | 36 | 21 | 10 | 5 | 70 | 33 | +37 | 73 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_amyslack

May 2007

Our penultimate game of the season was a Monday evening televised match at home to Bolton and although Guiza was back up front we were missing Shaun Wright-Phillips who had suffered an injury in training. The only goal of the game came on the half hour when Grisales tucked away a penalty. We had most of the game but big Jussi in the Bolton goal was in unbeatable form so I was doubly grateful for the referee’s decision.

We made the relatively short trip to Blackburn knowing that a win would guarantee at least second place irrespective of what anyone else did. A tense first half finished goalless although we created a fair few chances but had trouble converting them. It was more of the same in the second half and we just could not find a way through a stubborn Blackburn rearguard with Brad Friedel in particularly good form. I had deliberately refused to try to follow the other matches taking place but as soon as we the final whistle sounded I frantically tried to check the results.

A win for United had secured the title and even though Liverpool were also victorious our superior goal difference gave us the runners-up position, a fantastic achievement for the club. Not only were we amongst the highest scorers in the division but we had the best defensive record in the league, a real tribute to the players who had worked so hard this season.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Man Utd | 38 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 83 | 40 | +43 | 87 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | MAN CITY | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 80 | 28 | +52 | 82 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Liverpool | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 80 | 34 | +46 | 82 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Chelsea | 38 | 25 | 6 | 7 | 81 | 38 | +43 | 81 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Newcastle | 38 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 62 | 30 | +32 | 79 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Arsenal | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 72 | 35 | +37 | 76 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Aston Villa | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 43 | 42 | +1 | 56 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Everton | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 70 | 66 | +4 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Tottenham | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 47 | 48 | -1 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th| | Charlton | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 57 | 71 | -14 | 47 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th| | Blackburn | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 40 | 50 | -10 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th| | Leicester | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 56 | 62 | -6 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th| | Bolton | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 45 | 54 | -9 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th| | Fulham | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 54 | 77 | -23 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th| | Portsmouth | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 36 | 55 | -19 | 39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th| | Southampton | 38 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 48 | 70 | -22 | 38 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th| | Birmingham | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 49 | 69 | -20 | 36 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th| R | Wigan | 38 | 8 | 9 | 21 | 40 | 64 | -24 | 33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th| R | Crystal Palace | 38 | 8 | 3 | 27 | 33 | 76 | -43 | 27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th| R | Crewe | 38 | 0 | 13 | 25 | 22 | 89 | -67 | 13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

We featured significantly in the end of season awards – Freddy Grisales was voted the Player’s Player of the Year with Shaun Wright-Phillips runner-up; David James, Timmy Simons and Grisales were named in the Premiership Select; I came second in the Manager of the Year award; Freddy and Shaun did a one-two in the Footballer of the Year stakes.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Freddy Grisales | 42 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 76% | 1.92 | 2.64 | 62% | 8.29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andrea Gasbarroni | 34 (1) | 11 | 20 | 5 | 78% | 1.96 | 1.44 | 48% | 8.11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Shaun Wright-Phillips | 46 (1) | 7 | 16 | 7 | 75% | 2.65 | 5.99 | 52% | 8.06 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nicolas Anelka | 38 (7) | 24 | 15 | 6 | 82% | 0.82 | 3.97 | 55% | 7.89 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Chinedum Onuoha | 21 (1) | - | 2 | - | 71% | 2.57 | 0.97 | - | 7.86 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Timmy Simons | 42 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 81% | 2.84 | 0.42 | 64% | 7.64 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Danny Mills | 27 | - | 1 | - | 76% | 3.21 | 1.51 | - | 7.59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mladen Krstajic | 27 | 1 | - | 1 | 82% | 2.44 | 0.07 | 26% | 7.59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kasper Schmeichel | 1 (1) | - | - | - | 72% | - | - | - | 7.50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Trevor Sinclair | 15 (6) | - | 9 | 2 | 73% | 0.95 | 2.34 | 57% | 7.48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Güiza | 42 (4) | 23 | 13 | 2 | 82% | 0.85 | 3.47 | 62% | 7.48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mikkel Bischoff | 28 (1) | - | - | - | 75% | 2.82 | 0.34 | - | 7.45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David James | 55 | - | - | 3 | 55% | - | 0.02 | - | 7.44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Jordan | 33 | - | 1 | - | 79% | 2.01 | 0.71 | - | 7.42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ben Thatcher | 23 | - | 1 | - | 78% | 2.47 | 0.88 | - | 7.39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Sommeil | 41 (1) | 5 | 3 | - | 78% | 2.42 | 0.31 | 45% | 7.36 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Joey Barton | 27 (5) | 2 | 5 | 1 | 82% | 2.18 | 0.51 | 51% | 7.34 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Julius Aghahowa | 26 (12)| 14 | 2 | 1 | 81% | 0.94 | 3.35 | 60% | 7.26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Ireland | 5 (11) | 1 | 5 | 3 | 78% | 2.55 | 1.35 | 58% | 7.19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Sylvain Distin | 17 (2) | 2 | 1 | - | 77% | 1.87 | 0.23 | - | 7.16 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Claudio Reyna | 3 (5) | - | 1 | - | 88% | 1.42 | - | - | 7.13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Bosvelt | 8 (1) | 1 | - | - | 76% | 1.07 | 0.93 | - | 7.11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Bradley Wright-Phillips | 2 (5) | 1 | 1 | - | 90% | 1.08 | 1.43 | 66% | 7.00 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Antoine Sibierski | 5 (5) | 2 | - | - | 84% | 0.79 | 2.38 | 36% | 7.00 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Willo Flood | 3 (18) | 3 | 2 | - | 80% | 1.25 | 1.43 | 66% | 6.90 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tomas Sivok | 1 (6) | - | - | - | 81% | - | - | - | 6.86 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephane Henchoz | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Our midfield trio of Grisales, Gasbarroni and Shaun Wright-Phillips had been outstanding and was one of the real drivers for our success. Anelka and Guiza had scored nearly 50 goals between them, Timmy Simons had been superb in the holding role and David James had another fine season. I was particularly pleased with how Onuoha and Jordan had come through to be first team regulars, displacing the excellent Mills and Thatcher in defence. But despite all of this I was already considering how to strengthen the squad for next season. We would definitely be losing some of our older players in the summer and replacements would need to be found. But that could wait for the moment as we enjoyed our achievements and then took a nice break for the early part of the summer, ready to return refreshed and ready for another season in the top flight.

retired_embartl

Excellent season there Bob, been catching up with this one, congrats on the second placed finish and the League Cup win :thup: