EFL Cup - Round 1

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing
Villarreal - T Sheet used


Errors
Acm - Error: Player N_Baumann wasn't found in the roster
mon - Error: Player A_Pereira wasn't found in the roster
psv - Error in conditionals (line 8)!! - Reason: Condition type missing after IF
frn - CHECK YOUR PLAYER NAMES

[Niall]

Inter Milan 2 - 2 Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund win on penalties

This was a very good win for us, albeit a very lucky one but we'll take it.

Having gone 2-0 down after 26 minutes, it was looking like we would be exiting the cup in the first round again, but we managed to peg one back through Patson Daka before half-time, we stayed in the game second half, and enjoyed the lion's share of possession. Evan Ndicka managed to score a late second goal in the 91st minute which leveled the game that meant the game would go to extra time.

At that point, I wasn't confident that we'd get the win as I felt that Inter's superior attack would create and score at least one more goal and I didn't think we'd be lucky a third time had we conceded another goal. I'm glad I was wrong and the game went to pens. I was nervous but proud of the team and I was delighted when our goalie saved Isco's pen, which puts us in the hat for the next round.

Inter and GS were just unlucky with the shoot-out.

[Tim@Leeds]

Sociedad 2 - 0 Porto

couldn’t be arsed with going C, ain’t got no time for dat this season. Might have been more competitive if we had done but sod it. We’ll have a go at teams and see what happens. Who cares about Porto anyway right?

well played Freddie, good luck for the rest of the comp bud.

Roll on Friday for some proper attacking tactics

is that 50 words yet?

[Jason@Lisbon]

Well got spanked by the better team now onto roma in the league on thursday and hoping for a better result

[Gary@Millwall]

Sporting Lisbon 4 Napoli 1

Sporting Lisbon were missing two first team players both of which were defenders for this game. Windebank opted for a three man defence and to pack out the midfield and both sides started playing football the right way with both managers looking to pass the ball.

In the 8th minute Frenkie de Jong's corner was misjudged by Odysseas Vlachodimos and Matteo Politano connected with his head Vlachodimos clawed the ball off the line which led to the referee confirming the ball did in fact cross the line and Sporting Lisbon took the lead.

Napoli changed tactics to counter attacking and within 2 minutes they found themselves level when Elseid Hysaj found Sofiane Diop who curled the ball into the bottom corner.

Both teams were now back to trying to pass each other off the park and despite both sides creating loads of chances the first half ended 1-1.

In the 56th minute Casemiro went on a mazy run before delivering a great cross for Robert Lewandowski who lobbed the Napoli goalkeeper from 30 yards to give Sporting Lisbon the lead for the 2nd time in the game.

Napoli again switched to counter attacking and were getting more actions than the home team, however backup defender Vallci produced a defence splitting pass in the 73rd minute that Casemiro run onto and hit into the back of the net to make it 3-1.

Napoli players looked stunned and Windebank told his charges to counter attack with Waters barking to his players to go on the attack, within a minute Eden Hazard found Casemiro with a 40yard pass and the big midfield general made no mistake to make it 4-1.

There was no Long ball instructions from Windebank this game as he ordered his players to park the bus and after weathering an initial storm Sporting Lisbon took control of the game, that was until the 90th minute when Anthony Lopes brought down
Origi in the penalty area. Mane stepped up but Anthony atoned for his error by making a fantastic save to keep the score at 4-1.

Windebank post match comments

Another exciting game with both teams trying to play football. The paying faithful will be going home happy after 49 chances being created 27 by us and 22 by Napoli with both of us having 13 shots each on target.

To score another four goals is a fantastic achievement by these players and is unheard of in the Portuguese Capital.

It's not just the goals but the key passes and tackles with 26 and 16 respectively.

We cant get carried away though as both games have been at home, we have a big test on Thursday when we visit AllianzStadium to play Juventus who have also won their opening two games with tonight's being a 12-0 destruction of Villarreal who's manager did not show up.

In the mean time the players can be proud of making it through to round 2 and it will be interesting to see who we draw, I am hoping for a home draw though to be honest.

Good game Chris

[Derek]

Ajax 2 6 Roma

Roma have proved over the years that no results are guaranteed in the cup, so will be pleased to get through this one ok. Roma's attacking play was simply too much for Ajax and the game was over after 32 minutes. New signing De Bruyne getting man of the match and controlling much of the play.

Worryingly the best keeper in the game has now conceded 3 goals from 4 shots faced and has now dropped down a level.

Sensi enjoyed getting a game and playing alongside his hero (KDB) and will be hoping he can stay at the club long enough to get another game.

gg Alfredo

[Eduardo]

Königsblauen 2 - 4 Boeren

It was always the case if we managed to keep them on distance but it soon became clear this one was against a surperior side. Inside the first eight minutes they’ve scored twice but somehow?! we scored two quick goals inside two minutes to get back in the game.

But we never came close in this one and the visitors scored twice in the second to secure one step further in the cup.

Well played Ed.

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Madrid can’t remember - 1 Leverkusen

I imagine a session with a dominatrix will end up with less ass whippings than I received from Madrid last night.

Having 2 goals disallowed makes this feel worse as well. Not sure what the answer is when a team like Madrid or Roma invite you into their home and play A. Do you go toe to toe, play the obvious C as I did or maybe just drop a dirty D and hope for a sneaky goal. I’m yet to find the magic formula.

Manager comments
”it’s not been an easy start to the season with Madrid and Juventus, we find ourselves left just in the league which will make a long season, but have the opportunity to kick start the league with a game against Rangers.

the referee was abysmal during the last game, clearly favouring Madrid who have probably paid off the ref for an easy fixture, shame as the two disallowed goals could have changed the game.

we move on and we move up! Well played Steve and see you in the league!”

[Sam@Bilbao]

PSV 3-2 RB Leipzig

"Very pleased to progress, even more pleased to score 3 goals, a defensive approach from Leipzig with the same setup as Sunderland in the first league game, we managed to break it down though this time with 3 goals in the first 30 minutes courtesy of Cody Gakpo and a double for Noni Madueke, they came back into the game and even though we opened up in the second half to try and put the game to bed, the game filtered out and we got the deserved win, Leipzig are a decent side and one of the teams i expect to challenge for those 2 efl promotion places come the end of the season, Im very pleased for Noni, he had a great first game and was unlucky to not win us the game on Sunday, so the 2 goals to get us through tonight and another fantastic performance is great, He will be a key player for us this season and we will probably have a job on trying to keep hold of him in the long term if he carries on with performances like tonight."

[JB@Norwich]

Rangers 1-2 Bayern Munich
"To go behind again is frustrating but even more so when my keeper is injured in the process. We will assess Allison when we get back to Germany but he seems ok to play the next game. Sven did a cracking job once he came on and that pleases me.

We fully deserved the win and it was good to see Haaland get off the mark tonight. We relish a big tie in the next round. Good game Mr Burrows

Its also nice to see that Inter Milan still accept failure"

[Ed@PSG]

Schalke04 2 PSG 4
"We were 2 up inside 8 minutes and level 2 minutes later following 3 goals in as many minutes. Crazy start to the game, and it is extremely concerning that we conceded from the first 2 shots we faced. We went on to double our tally in the second half, but we always looked fragile. Historically we dont do too well against Eduardo, so i am happy to get past this potential bananaskin. Hopefully we can get a home draw in the next round, although a lot of massive teams in there after a round of very little upsets.

Good game Eduardo"

[Westhammer]

PSV 3 - 2 RB Leipzig

Not a bad performance against one of the favourites for the league title, we went to counter them and didn't start well at all going two down in 20 minutes but pulled one back shortly then they score there third before half time. We then started well in the second half to get within one but weren't strong enough to get the elusive equaliser. We meet again Thursday so maybe try something different.

[Guest]

Real Betis 0-3 Celtic

The first game in charge of the mighty Celtic, and I must say it felt good! A good 3-0 win thanks to goals from Almiron, Richards and Rashford. However, Harris was not happy with the level of play. "We actually were hardly in this game 13 on target shots to 7. We were thankfully crucially clinical in front of goal, whereas Real Betis had to deal with an incredible performance from Lafont, who is now 19 rated, thanks to his 14 saves and 160+ abs. We do have an injury to one of our best defenders, which will leave us a bit stretched at the back in crucial league game this weekend."

GG Evan.

[Guest]

Inter Milan 2 - 2 Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund win on penalties

Not quite sure how we lost this one if I’m honest, had a 2 goal lead and looked comfortable, we will be having a chat about it as a team as its unacceptable to not only lose a two goal lead but to lose the game, penalties are a lottery but we should have had it wrapped up way before then.
I believe the sub board was broken as we tried to make a few substitutions and we weren’t able to which is difficult to understand what went wrong there as we had a very strong bench but credit to Dortmund they fought hard and got the win, and we go out.
Who is this Bayern Munich boss and whys he hassling me for a date and feeling the urge to mention me every game ?

[Livi@Liverpool]

Lyon 1 Barcelona 4

We flew out of the traps scoring twice within the first 3 minutes and it was always going to be difficult for Lyon from there. In fairness they battled away and I do feel that the score line is a bit harsh on Jason and his lads.

Several good individual performances for us again, Jesus man of the match for the 2nd game running even though he didn't hit the back of the net.

He's now a baw hair away from rating up along with a couple of others so everything looking pretty rosy for us albeit at a very early stage of the season.

Extremely tough trip to Inter next - they always seem to beat us.