EFL Cup - Round 1

[Neil@Fiorentina]

Real Sociedad 2-0 Porto

After the news that manager Freddie was going to be absent due to health worries, the call went out for someone to step in and caretake Sociedad.

''Hey, I'm semi-retired now, so I thought a bit of caretaking might be fun, and Freddie is a nice guy to cover for, though to be honest I was expecting to have to sweep some floors, lock some doors, whatever caretakers do, not pick the team!''

Kirby quickly introduced himself to the squad, and gave them some detailed instructions on how to take down the opposition ''Umm, kick it that way, run a lot, and if you can't get the ball, kick the man'' Basically Leeds tactics..

The game itself went well, with it starting well tactically, P v N, and Sociedad edged the game, and won fairly comfortably.

''I was impressed with young keeper Agirrezabala, and Sadiq had a great game upfront'

2 games v Tim in a week, and unbeaten, easy

[AB@Juventus]

Juventus 12 - 0 Villarreal

It seems we're the talk of the game today with our outstanding win against a no show manager with a poor team. I knew there was a good chance that they'd not have a manager and I wanted to take advantage and after last season's defeat on penalties to Werder Bremen, I wasn't taking any chances.

Goals from C_DeKetelaere on 3 minutes and R_Leao a minute later got us on our way and after M_Odegaard on 7 minnutes and W_Fofana on 13 minutes we were well in control of the game from an early stage.

Further goals from C_DeKetelaere on 20 minutes and then 34 minutes to complete his hat trick put us 6-0 up at half time and cruising.

Some may have expected us to lift our foot off the gas but we pushed down on the neck of Villarreal and added more in the second period.

R_Leao got his second of the game just 3 minutes after the re start and then goals from Nuno_Mendes and F_Onyeka on 69 & 74 minutes pushed us onto 9-0 to the good.

A late flurry of goals in the last 10 minutes saw R_Leao complete his hat trick on 82 minutes, either side of a A_Isak brace, scoring on 81 & 88 minutes to round off the beating at 12-0

The only blemish on this fine performance and tactical masterclass was S_Botman's 51st minute yellow card.

Statistically we dominated them, 53 shots and 29 on target. A great day at the office......Oh and all of the abs...just the 1876 earned.

Good game T sheet

[Guest]

Juventus 12 - 0 Villarreal

It seems we're the talk of the game today with our outstanding win against a no show manager with a poor team. I knew there was a good chance that they'd not have a manager and I wanted to take advantage and after last season's defeat on penalties to Werder Bremen, I wasn't taking any chances.

Goals from C_DeKetelaere on 3 minutes and R_Leao a minute later got us on our way and after M_Odegaard on 7 minnutes and W_Fofana on 13 minutes we were well in control of the game from an early stage.

Further goals from C_DeKetelaere on 20 minutes and then 34 minutes to complete his hat trick put us 6-0 up at half time and cruising.

Some may have expected us to lift our foot off the gas but we pushed down on the neck of Villarreal and added more in the second period.

R_Leao got his second of the game just 3 minutes after the re start and then goals from Nuno_Mendes and F_Onyeka on 69 & 74 minutes pushed us onto 9-0 to the good.

A late flurry of goals in the last 10 minutes saw R_Leao complete his hat trick on 82 minutes, either side of a A_Isak brace, scoring on 81 & 88 minutes to round off the beating at 12-0

The only blemish on this fine performance and tactical masterclass was S_Botman's 51st minute yellow card.

Statistically we dominated them, 53 shots and 29 on target. A great day at the office......Oh and all of the abs...just the 1876 earned.

Good game T sheet

i thought we had processes in place to stop these kind of beatings ? nice ab gains but makes a mockery of it

[Drum@Villa]

Marseille 0 - 2 Lazio

Lazio rolled into Marseille, straight off the back of a the loss to Barca in particularly good spirits.

Having never had much luck in this competition, it’s more of a care free approach,

in a game in which we were in what seemed controlled, new signings H_Aouar (7) C_Pulisic (34) managed to lift any of the Barcelona result.

6 shots on target and 5 on target within the game. And shading the possession gave us the game.

gg Euan

[Steve@Chelsea]

i thought we had processes in place to stop these kind of beatings ? nice ab gains but makes a mockery of it

I like the SSL way of dealing with cup sheet misses. Game plays out vs a random, but the missing team does not progress regardless. Right winner who puts in effort goes through and no silly abs

[Steve@Chelsea]

Real Madrid 5 - 1 Bayer Leverkusen

"We didn't need to pay the ref off to have an easy game. Wolfy, I mean Bayer, I'm still getting used to the name changes were of little competition for us to waste our money with such dark arts. I jest though, as it could have been a different story if Bayer didn't have a goal disallowed in the 13th minute I think it was when it was 1-1. That could have given them the lead. As it was it was a comfortable win with the goals spread about the team and a much better shots on target rate than in R1 of the league which is pleasing.

We roll on to the next round, and best of luck Jason, I'm sure you can turn it around with some luck at Leverkusen to get them a better finish than last season."

[Marshy@Atletico]

AC Milan 1 Atletico 1 (Atletico win 7-6 on penalties)

The poor close season preparation threw the away side into a 3-man defence and an 11-14 player on the field.
28 minutes and Messi magic is ended by Henderson bringing him down in the box. Penalty 1-0.
33 minutes Milans Torres show his second yellow card
77 minutes and Atletico draw level with Vinicious Junior smashing into the bottom corner.
So the game ended 1-1 after extra time.
Milan can count themselves unlucky not to progress after a 22-12 shot count but the shots on target was 8-8.
Both sides missed 2 penalties each until finally the shootout ended with 7-rated Lindeloff scoring.

Marsh commented "It was a poor performance against 10-men for 90 minutes and in truth we are lucky to advance. It was an unlucky draw for both sides with plenty of goals for other big wage EFL teams against minor sides. However, we are delighted to get through and hopefully we will have better fortune with the draw".

GG Mati

[JB@Norwich]

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 ?

I didnt mention you in R1, you felt the need to mention me. Stop trying to nonce me up

[Burrows@Rangers]

Rangers 1-2 Bayern Munich

We took the lead for the whole of 4 minutes was good when I lasted but we knew this was going to be hard game with the quality of players they have. Our new guy Lamptey ended up getting a red card so he'll be out for a few games which isn't great

[Sanchez@Cardiff]

Feyenoord 0 - 2 Valencia

Matt Rose spoke after the game to give his thoughts.

‘First round of the Cup is always the hardest. Valencia are by no means the best team in the EFL, so being faced with an ex EFL team, especially one caretaken by the infamous Nick Lovell was always going to be tough.

Looking at the stats Valencia were the better team throughout with 10 shots of target compared to the opposing side having just 4. We had a bit of a communication breakdown on the touchline however and that could of cost us the game. Stupidly I gave my assistant the wrong positions for our subs, stickers came on as defenders and defenders as strikers.

Luckily it all worked out.

Great game Nick and all the best for the conference.’

[Guest]

Eintracht Frankfurt 1 - 3 Sevilla

Pleased to get a win after opening day defeat ... the league title is not a realistic target, our best chance of success is in the cups ..

One change from Sunday, with Eriksen preferred to Darder .. whilst Manager Raingod was under the weather so allowed his Asst to take the reins ..

We feared the worst after conceding a 14th min pen, but 2 crackers from Jose saw us in the lead before the half hour mark ..

It took a cheeky Nunes penalty with 4 to play to make the game safe, but the first signs that the new players are starting to gel ..