Football Manager Blog | Football Manager Guru | Newcastle In December And January 2012-2013

HI everyone, hope you are all well I was in a good position after November in 3^rd place with a game in hand over both 2^nd and 1^st and just three points behind the leaders. I was hoping that these next two months were going to see me climb that bit higher in the league.

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