Post Match Reaction - Round 1

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing Sheets
N/A

Errors

Lis
Error: Player J_Boeteng & F_de_Jong spelt wrong
mon
Error: Player A_Pereira wasn't found in the roster
MRS
Error: Named 6 subs
rma
Error: Player F_Silva wasn't found in the roster
sev
Error in conditionals (line 9)
Reason: Sign missing after MIN
[SIZE=16px][/SIZE]

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Leverkusen 1-2 Juventus (PSG)

There was once a time when AB used to hate playing me, thinking playoff final, and the first few games where I always got the better of him.

But of late the PSG ship/now to be known as Juve has risen faster than the mighty Wolfsburg/forever to be known as Leverkusen, and now we are a mere thorn in his side that he carefully picks out and casts aside.

in this match we decided to try and bend him over and ruin him with the deadly L, but alas this was ineffective with Juventus enjoying the lions share of possession and shots and Leverkusen lucky to walk out with only a -1 on the score cards. Looks like my goalkeeping nightmares from last year have ended, but we need to play with more confidence if we stand a chance at winning these sorts of games.

we move on now to rangers, where Burrows has the keys. New Leverkusen vs old Leverkusen, time to prove who the boss is and get this season underway.

well done to AB and his fraud of a team.

[Niall]

Roma 4 - 1 Borussia Dortmund

Congrats to Roma on their win, based on the match stats we deserved to get beaten here but I'm disappointed that our defense conceded 4 goals over the course of the game. Obviously, we are going to need to be much better defensively if we want to stay in EFL 1.

We've got Lazio at home in round two, so I hope we can give the home fans something to cheer about and put this defeat behind us.

[Johnboy]

Monaco 0 - Rangers 1

Well this didn't get the season off to the start we hoped for. With a strong defence and goalkeeper we shouldn't be conceding when we limit our opponents to only 3 shots on target.

Our focus was to keep things tight and try and hit Rangers on the break but that didn't happen as hoped, and as a result of that focus we didn't have enough going forward to make a meaningful contribution to the scoreline in our favour.

Moving forwards we have a cup tie against Conference side Atalanta to look forward to before we continue our league campaign on Thursday so we are hoping to get a good victory to increase our confidence. All that being said however, we have a lot of new names in the squad so it was always going to be a challenge to get everybody bedded in for match day 1.

Good game Aaron, good luck for the rest of the season

[Burrows@Rangers]

Monaco 0 - 1 Rangers

Away to Monaco and what a start this was, we were a bit sceptic since Monaco has a awesome goalkeeper but we managed to score on the 9th minute by our new guy Tariq Lamptey with an assist from John
Lundstram from the throw in.
stat wise it was an even game
Happy with the win

Good game john

[Gary@Millwall]

Sporting Lisbon 4 Bayern Munich 3

Opening day of FFO2 saw the Godfather of FFO title contenders visit the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

There was a massive sense of excitement in the Portuguese Capital following a very busy close season that saw 10 players make their debut (one from the bench).

Sporting Lisbon players looked fired up from the first whistle and in the first real action of the game Manchester City wonderkid loanee Devyne Rensch was given too much space by the Bayern Munich players and unleashed a power driver that gave the Lisbon Lions the lead.

Tactical changes from both managers saw both teams setup in the same formation with Bayern Munich opting to attack and Sporting Lisbon being instructed to be more patient and play a passing game to try and carve out opportunities.

Rick Karsdorp pulled up in the 8th minute with a thigh injury and was replaced Vallci and there were whispers of concerned among the home faithful.

Sporting Lisbon were creating chances and then the big Casemiro played a lovely long ball to the Big Lewandowski who struck a sweet shot into the top corner to make it 2-0 after 21 minutes.

Bayern Munich looked rattled and Jon Banks barked orders at his team to revert back to the opening tactics.

This did not have the desired affect and in the 32nd minute Luke Shaw found Eden Hazard who made it an incredible 3-0.

The Sporting Lisbon fans were in dreamland as Sporting Lisbon had been so dominate and clinical a cricket score could be on the cards.

However Bayern Munich are no mugs and Havertz pulled a goal back 3 minutes later to make it 3-1. Bayern Munich had their tails up and as usual when these two sides meet Bayern Munich got the help of VAR with the ball hitting the line but being ruled a goal from
Schlotrbeck.

Has the half time whistle blew the once jubilant Sporting Lisbon fans look dejected with the score being 3-2.

Things went from bad to worse 3 minutes into the 2nd half when Jérôme Boateng was sent off for a 2nd bookable offence.

The eleven men of Bayern Munich were all over Sporting Lisbon and in the 55th minute Jon Banks lovechild Timo Werner bought the game level and a huge grin could be seen on the Bayern Munich managers face.

It looked like there was only going to be one winner and that was the eleven men from Germany, despite Sporting Lisbon giving as good as they were getting.

The next goal was going to be crucial and has the Bayern Munich fans were singing 3-0 and you Fucked it up Sporting Lisbon won a corner.

There were groans when the worse Lisbon passing player on the pitch went to take the corner but Vallci cross was misjudged by Alisson and up popped Matteo Politano to score a screamer of a goal from 30 yards.

The ground exploded in noise and Windebank slid on his knees down to the corner flag to envelope Matteo and the rest of the players in wild scenes of celebration.

The final whistle brought an opening day 7 goal thriller to an end.

Windebank Post Match Comments

Dear me we made hard work of that, we ripped them apart for the opening 35 minutes and to see us concede a three goal lead all sorts of things were going through my head. Mostly if we throw this game away Jon will be gloating forever.

Then to already have lost a defender to injury so early in the game to have a defender sent off I thought holy shit here we go. I was not shocked when Bayern equalised and could see JB licking his lips thinking of the amount of abuse he was going to throw at me.

So when Matteo Politano scored that winning goal I was as you can imagine bloody delighted and I am not ashamed to admit I was punching the air in delight.

A great way to start the season with 3 points and beating that Yorkshire mouthy geezer with a voice of a mouse is a great way to start 2023 and FFO2.

Good Game JB

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atletico 3 AC Milan 1

Good game Mati

Marsh opted for a 4-1-2-1-2 formation with numerous tactical changes occurring during the 90 minutes.
Both sides had early chances but it was Milan who struck first on 13 minutes when Argentinian striker Simeone scored with a topspin bomb of shot that went in off the post.

Atletico didnt need to much time to get the leveller. Polish attacking midfielder Zielinski burst past Hernandez and rifled the ball into the net to make it 1-1.

Half time score 1-1

On 51 minutes Milans Schuurs poor error allowed Zielinski to flick an header past Maignan to make the score 2-1.
Simon Marsh's poor pre-season planning ensured that an under-par player Gammelby was forced into the game when Mbabu was taken off with an injury on 64 minutes.
However, on 72 minutes substitute Pasalic found the overlapping Romagnoli who promptly ended the contest with a left foot finish
3-1

A great start to the season against a side with a large wage budget.
The negative was Mbabu who will miss 2 games with injury and 2 bookings already. Last season the club picked up far too many bookings.
Manager Simon Marsh commented "Its a wonderful start for us and we will have to find a way around the absentee Mbabu over the next two games. Strangely we now travel to Milan again for the cup game. A very difficult opening round draw. Good luck to Mati over the rest of the league season and I feel sure Milan can improve this season"

Man of the match : P_Zielinski

[Marshy@Atletico]

The amount of teamsheet errors in FFO always amazes me.
Has nobody got an esms teamsheet maker and teamsheet checker?

[Guest]

Sevilla 0 - 1 Lyon

A disappointing start to the season in what was an open game but we failed to score from 23 attempts, including hitting the woodwork several times!

With 7 debutants in the team including both strikers, there will be lots of training ground practice this week! Hope you haven't sold me a dud in Nunez Drum??!!

Both sides elected to start with A, and the crucial goal was a 16 min drive past Musso, who otherwise had a great game with 15 saves and 110 abs earnt! The stats show Lyon deserved the win, however, well played Jason!

Good abs earnt across the board so not too despondent ....

[Burrows@Rangers]

The amount of teamsheet errors in FFO always amazes me.
Has nobody got an esms teamsheet maker and teamsheet checker?

Nope doesn't work on phone.

[JB@Norwich]

Lisbon 4-3 Bayern Munich
A new era for FFO and for Bayern started with an away defeat in a thrilling match in Lisbon.
Lisbon raced into a 3 goal lead before goals from Havertz, Schlotterbeck and Werner pulled the scores level. The defensive issues of last season returned as Lisbon smashed a late winner. Manager Jon Banks had this to say
"We always seem to start the season poorly no matter how hard we work in preseason or how much rest I give the players. Its not a bad result on the face of it given the improvement in Lisbons team but the performance wasnt there for me today. We will get better but we need to get MUCH better if we want to challenge this season"

GG Windy

[Drum@Villa]

Barcelona 3-2 Lazio.

The lazio era starts, with a flop.

4 debuts, and a result that I kind of expected.

Barca are a well oiled, well drilled and well managed team, nobody get a free ride in the Nou camp.

6 minutes in, there crown jewel striker, Jesus punished a slow start, 1-0.

with how the game was read Lazio were struggling to find a rhythm.

controversy on the 27th minute, VAR, ruled Oyarzabal’s shot crossed the line, De Gea insisting that is the worst decision he has ever seen. 2-0.

2 minutes later Memphis Depay was fed by Semedo, to reduce the arrears, 2-1.

A quiet spell in the match, dominated by Barca, but 42 minutes Araujo is on hand to tap in from a mistake.

Halftime 2-2.

51 minutes in, Jesus again is in hand to score for the Catalans, and that other than a few tactical changes and a lot of running from the home side was game set and match.

Gave up possession, but happy enough with 7 shots and none off target.

gg Livi.

[Derek]

Roma 4 1 Dortmund

New season. New FFO. But same old Roma Way with not a DM in sight.

18 shots to 3 suggests Roma deserved to win and Dortmund will surely have easier matches to come but may

Only two new faces in the Roma side but one of them - Coman's man of the match performance - suggests some wise business from the TK during the close season.

Spinazzola scored two but then went off injured and misses the next match. Sub Telles put in a decent performance as Roma's strength in depth shows itself again.

gg Niall.

[AB@Juventus]

Bayer Leverkusen 1 - 2 Juventus

This game was once our cup final as Jason mentioned, however this German team has taken a huge step backwards in recent seasons and games like this show it. While it was close on the scoreboard, it was anything but.

Leverkusen played into our hands, out thinking themselves into gifting us TA and 20 minutes in, we made the break through.

We then attempted to keep it tight at the back and we doubled our lead 5 minutes before half time.

Into the second half and we went on the hunt for more goals but less than 10 minutes into the second half, it was Leverkusen who scored putting us on edge.

It was mostly us pressing for a third for the rest of the game and we saw the game out to get our first win of the season.

Statistically we were much the better team, we should have been more comfortable but a win is a win.

Good game Jhop

[Marshy@Atletico]

[QUOTE=Burrows@Rangers;n64508]

Nope doesn't work on phone. [/

Laptop / PC ?