Post Match Reaction - Round 15

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing Sheets
N/A

Errors


Error Points
Rangers = 1

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Leverkusen 3-2 Frankfurt

Ray has performed a tremendous job since taking over again at Frankfurt, they looked a dead certainty for relegation.

A very open encounter which to be honest could have gone either way, especially with the yo yo score lines.

Luckily for us we had the home advantage and managed to take a vital 3 points. The league is extremely close in the lower half, each game currently a crucial 6 pointer.

Good game Ray.

[Steve@Chelsea]

Real Madrid 2 - 1 Lazio

Was surpirsed to see Drum starting with the Johan Cruyff inspired tactics, as that could so very easily walk right into the Madrid Method attacking philosophy, which it did once we went one nil up thanks to Kimpembe on 5 mins. I was then hoping for more goals and to press home this advantage but Lazio drew back level on 11 mins with a goal from Fabs. Still the tactics from both sides remained the same so I was hoping for a quick response. That came on 34 minutes with a Varane goal to make it 2-1. We then really should have scored a 3rd goal into the second half as we held a clear advantage but instead I had decided to play on the counter to protect the lead which allowed Lazio some pot shots. At the end of it all, a 23-10 shot count, we should have won by more, but we kept the debuting Mbappe quiet and an important 3 points none the less against a good team. A good round overall for Madrid, with many of it's rivals stuttering.

PSG next in the CL who were a little lucky to see Pino go off injured but escape any time out. Pino missing would have been a huge blow for them, but it's good that both teams are at full strength. In the other game Spurs are missing a defender away to Everton which could be vital.

[Ray@Wolves]

Bayer Leverkusen 3
N_NKoulou (13), J_McGinn (46), M_Schmelzer (63)

Eintracht Frankfurt 2
C_Kouame (1), J_Henderson (62) M_Schmelzer (63)
Booked: S_Reguilon (46), H_Ziyech (82)

MotM: M_Schmelzer (Bayer Leverkusen)
HT: 2-1

We edged the possession but Leverkusen had the best of the chances in front of goal. Great start with Kouame scoring within the first minute and for a nanosecond we thought we might have got a draw out of this game when we equalised just after the hour mark only to see Leverkusen go back in front straight away. We tried our best against a side that are just that bit sharper in front of goal than us. Sadly it looks like the "new manager" boost has started to evaporate!

Very well played Jason, good to cross swords with you once again. I'll try to get my own back when you come to visit us in the second half of the season (that's if I'm still in charge of them by then).

Next game we have redundant rubber in the DPT when we face Sevilla having already sunk out of sight in the competition.

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atletico Madrid 3 Sporting Lisbon 0

What an incredible start to the game and one that opposing manager Gary Windebank will be fuming about!

WHAM!!! - Maximin runs down the wing, plays the ball to Ansu Fati who scores a curler after 10 seconds!

BAM!!! - Madrid win the ball straight from the kick off but Lopes pulls Diaby to the ground in the Atletico half.
The referee stunned the entire world when he pointed to the penalty spot. Atletico were 60 metres away from the Lisbon goal! Fati rubbed his belly and scored his second with the game clock still on 1 minute.

The game was even from there but had relatively few chances until substitutes Under and Cairney linked up to make it 3-0 in the 74th minute.

Manager Simon Marsh commented "I can only apologise to Mr Windebank for the Fati penalty. I was shouting at him to deliberately miss it but he ignored me. It was a crazy decision from the referee!".

Marsh added "Other than the chaos surrounding the referee, the result was a brilliant one for us with a few other dropping points at the top. Lisbon have been on fire this season so to haul them back gives us a better chance of finishing as high as possible".

[Derek]

AC 3 1 Roma

With a weak back line and no decent DM - I expected us to cut through AC pretty easily but we were never really in this game and our famous attacking line up was very poor. With most of our titles rivals slipping up this was a missed oppportunity.

The last minute sending off of Nacho when the game was already lost is a little frustrating. Good opportunity to get Muniesa some minutes though.

Madrid omniously starting to hit some good form though....

gg Mati

[Ed@PSG]

Rangers 1 PSG 1
Our abysmal away form continues. We reverted back to 5122P which won us the title last season. After seeing the home team starting N i expected an early goal and to go on and control the game. However, we got sucker punched with an early goal followed by an immediate switch to D. Disappointing to concede a goal from just 2 shots faced. We managed to pull back level on 79, but a combination of too little time, and the continued D, prevented us from going on to get the win. I think that is 6 draws on the road despite dominating all games. Will be playing in DPT next season with Juventus and Bayern Munich at this rate

[Guest]

Celtic 3 - 2 Sevilla

Disappointing to lose to a struggler ..

We dominated possession, had more chances .. and missed a pen!

Good abs earnt across the team .. yet it wasnt to be!

Garcia was MOM - coming in for suspended Toby ...

We were too cautious playing 1 up front ...

This drops us back into the bottom 6 - whilst the DPT is our priority we must ensure we at least finish in the qualifying places again

Well played Deefa ..

[Drum@Villa]

Real Madrid 2 - 1 Lazio

Was surpirsed to see Drum starting with the Johan Cruyff inspired tactics, as that could so very easily walk right into the Madrid Method attacking philosophy, which it did once we went one nil up thanks to Kimpembe on 5 mins. I was then hoping for more goals and to press home this advantage but Lazio drew back level on 11 mins with a goal from Fabs. Still the tactics from both sides remained the same so I was hoping for a quick response. That came on 34 minutes with a Varane goal to make it 2-1. We then really should have scored a 3rd goal into the second half as we held a clear advantage but instead I had decided to play on the counter to protect the lead which allowed Lazio some pot shots. At the end of it all, a 23-10 shot count, we should have won by more, but we kept the debuting Mbappe quiet and an important 3 points none the less against a good team. A good round overall for Madrid, with many of it's rivals stuttering.

PSG next in the CL who were a little lucky to see Pino go off injured but escape any time out. Pino missing would have been a huge blow for them, but it's good that both teams are at full strength. In the other game Spurs are missing a defender away to Everton which could be vital.

Not really much more I can add, (but I need 50 words).

plain and simple, of late we have been quite poor. Ddg keeps letting in goals, (not a fan of manc players) and Osimhen has probably stupidly been transferred out for Mbappe,

if I can find the formula to play his quality I’m laughing, but here, seem to play right into Steve’s charms,

out played, outscored, out thought,

Real Madrid are picking up the pace now.

with the so called big boys still stuttering in various places in the league, SKT could pull away and get his hands on the league.

we were never in it, just a flash of fun at the beginning.

or has the idea of the Bayern job (still want it JB) affected me and the team.

Anyway, we move on.

gg mentor

[Livi@Liverpool]

Juventus 3 Barcelona 3

An exciting game of football in which we trailed 2-0 after 12 minutes, then led 3-2 late on before Juve scored in the 86th minute to get a deserved draw. We tried a change of starting tactic but I can't say it was a success, it was the switch to attacking that really kick started us but we didn't deserve the 3 points so I have no complaints.

A draw away to an excellent side is ok and it keeps the unbeaten league run going although we are starting to draw too many matches now which is never a recipe for success.

Back to Champions League duty tomorrow night and a super tough trip to a brilliantly managed Atletico outfit. Looks like a must win game so we're going to need one hell of a performance.

Good game AB.

[AB@Juventus]

Juventus 3 - 3 Barcelona

A disappointing result all things considered....We set up withing Barcelona TA but 4 minutes in, R_Leao gave us a surprise lead and we switched to A, resulting on a second goal 8 minutes later and we looked to be on the way to a brilliant result....However we matched Barcelona at C vs C and within 15 minutes they'd pulled a goal back and resumed TA.

On 65 minutes, Barcelona changed to playing A vs our A and immediately pulled level in the game and our lead was gone.

We changed back to P vs their A and we all knew what was coming, Barcelona took the lead on 78 minutes, the same minute that we had sub FW Quaison sent off so we were then a goal and a man down for the remaining 12 minutes.

This didn't stop us on this occasion as with 4 minutes to play, R_Leao who opened the scoring, finished it with our 3rd of the game to share the spoils against the league leaders.

Statistically it was an even game, however 3 goals from 5 shots for Barcelona worries me, our GK had a poor day at the office and our struggles continue.

Good game Livi.

[Johnboy]

Monaco 0 - Marseille 0

Another disappointing result in what, so far, has been a disappointing league season.

Marseille sit in the bottom 3 of the table and present opposition that we should be beating. Both teams lined up with top quality goalkeepers, £60 million man Donnarumma in goal for Marseille with Marseille having the stronger defence on paper although Monaco have the stronger forwards.

Monaco dominated the statistics with 62% possession and 13 shots on target compared to the 1 shot that Marseille managed, but Donnarumma was equal to everything Immobile and Aubameyang could throw at him.

Disappointed to come away from this with only a point and this result drops out of the DPT places for next season so we need to improve results, performances and most importantly luck!

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

[Gary@Millwall]

Atletico Madrid 3 Sporting Lisbon 0

Atletico Madrid manager Simon Marsh showed his tactical genius in this match as he won the battle of the wits against Gary Windebank

Simon Marsh rolled out the N tactic which smashed Windebank's use of the European tactic which smashed Sporting Lisbon to pieces.

Within one minute of the game and in addition the most bizarre refereeing decision ever seen in the world of football both FFO or real life the game was over.

Saint Maximin found Ansu Fati who unleashed a terrific curling shot to give Atletico the lead. Then Diaby got the ball in his own half and somehow was pulled down by Lopes and despite being in his own half the referee pointed to the penalty spot, which Fati made no mistake with the corrupt decision and Atletico Madrid were 2-0 in one minute.

The game then settled down but Sporting Lisbon could not score a goal and the game was put out of sight for the home team with Cairney rounding the keeper to make it 3-0 in the 74th minute.

Atletico had the lions share of possession with 61% but Sporting Lisbon created one more chance than Atletico Madrid with 10 to 9 and both sides had 4 shots on target.

Windebank Post Match Comments

I could get embroiled into the disgusting referee decision today but in all fairness Simon's tactical genius today meant he deserved the three points today and there are no complaints from me.

Yes we had equal chances in the game but we were 2-0 down in a minute and conceded tactical advantage for the full match, add to that home advantage and a quality team with a quality manager and we got what we deserved nothing.

Well done Marshy a well deserved win mate and bets of luck for the season.