Post Match Reaction - Round 19

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing Sheets
N/A

Errors
byl
Error in conditionals (line 2)!!
Reason: CHANGE - Unknown order - Needs to be CHANGEPOS
rom
Error in conditionals (line 7)!!
Reason: Illegal number of player coming in - Needs to be SUB DF 13 DF IF INJURED DF etc.
sev
Error in conditionals (line 7)!!
Reason: Illegal player position Needs to be AM or FW

Error Points
Lazio = 2
Marseille = 1
Leverkusen = 2
Roma = 2
Sevilla = 2

[Derek]

Marseille 1 3 Roma

Martinez had a nightmare start for Roma in goal conceding after only 3 minutes. We soon got back into the game though and with 71% possession easily controlled the game and got the expected 3 points. Donnarumma ensured it was a low scoring game by Roma standards.

Cup semi-final against Barca next - who proved they are no mugs even with a 18 rater in goal.

Looks like Little Lisbon's time in the spotlight is well and truly over though. Which is a shame because it has been entertaining.

gg Euan

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Leverkusen 1-0 Dortmund

It certainly wasn’t a pretty game, with very little chances for either side. But the 3 points is key in what is a very important 6 pointer for DPT positions next year.

Surprised me with the L from Dortmund, but overall a very cagey game where we got lucky with the early goal. Good game Niall.

[Gary@Millwall]

Sporting Lisbon 2 Barcelona 4

The curse of Barcelona struck again as despite only having an 18 rated in goal Barcelona won 4-2 to deliver Sporting Lisbon's first back to back defeats of the season.

Sporting Lisbon raced into the lead in the 3rd minute when Rensch found Frenkie De Jong who made no mistake in making it 1-0.

Teams are at the most vulnerable just after taking the lead and that proved to be the case for Sporting Lisbon as Barcelona went straight from the restart and equalised via Jesus 30 seconds later with the clock still showing 3 minutes.

In the 13th minute Mancini found Politano who restored Sporting Lisbon's lead with a rocket of a shot.

For the rest of the first half Sporting Lisbon weathered a Barcelona storm and somehow saw the first half out with the score still 2-1.

Sporting Lisbon dominated the game up until the 69th minute but could not find away past the weakened Barcelona keeper. A switch to attacking by Barcelona in the 67th minute paid dividends as Semedo pulled the game level.

Then the referee had a complete mind fart yet again when he awarded a strange penalty in the 72nd minute, it was a gift of a decision and Jesus made no mistake from the spot to give Barcelona the lead for the first time in the game.

Things went from bad to worse a minute later Juranovic made it 4-2 to put the game beyond doubt and a result that sees Sporting Lisbon slide down the table to 5th a massive five points behind Real Madrid.

Barcelona dominated possession with 55% and created 15 chances to 11, Barcelona also had 8 chances on target to Sporting Lisbon's 5.

Windebank's Post Match Comments

That was a very disappointing performance and result today, to concede 3 goals in 4 minutes with a wanky referring penalty decision thrown in as well is damn right diabolical.

The players will be in for training tomorrow make no mistake about that I am fucking fuming at the capitulation shown out there today.

These big games are about fine margins and in the last few games that we have lost the referee has played a part in the end result especially with strange penalty decisions or fluke deflections at pivotal moments that have cost us points.

We need to pick ourselves up and win the final two games of the first half of the season or we are going to fall away and slip down the table rapidly.

Well done Livi, I bet your as chuffed as I am fuming following that game. Best of luck for the season mate.

[Ed@PSG]

Sevilla 2 PSG 1
Another abject away performance. got to the point where i just expect not to win the away games. Yet again we had more shots and the better attacking stats shouldnt be resulting in defeats but it is what it is. Heart isnt in the game at the moment so couldnt really care. Just re-using old sheets atm. Will be interesting to see whether our home for can keep us in the CL spots for next season
GG Stew

[Ray@Wolves]

Eintracht Frankfurt 3
C_Tolisso (2), S_Gimenez (3), B_Davies (32)

Sent Off: J_Vallejo (20)

Lazio 2
K_Trippier (36), M_Depay (50)

Booked: R_De_Paul (6), M_Depay (50)
Injured: K_Mbappe (46)

MotM: C_Tolisso (Eintracht Frankfurt)
HT: 3-1

What a breathless roller coaster of a ride that was. This game had everything and how on earth we managed to win this match with only ten men for 70 odd minutes against a far better side I'll never know. But a very welcome three points it is which is just as well considering most of those around us won too!! On balance I think we just about deserved our three points, but it did help when Mbappe went off injured right before the half time whistle sounded. We paid the price for this win though with defender Jesus Vallejo joining that waste of space Henderson in the stands for the next game to serve a one match suspension.

Good game Drum.

Next game see's us face Inter Milan at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atletico 5 Inter Milan 2

gg hamza

With inter sticking to the same line up and tactics Atletico set up to play against the expected. Hamza didn’t disappoint and Atletico scored 2 early goals. An Inter red card then more or less ended the game as a contest. To their credit Inter fought on and made a decent effort of it but atletico won 5-2.

manager Simon marsh commented “a big win against a side up there in the top8. We have made sure we will be turning for the home straight in no worse position than 5th and with at least a 9-point advantage over 09th place. We would have taken that all day at the start of the season”.

[Steve@Chelsea]

AC Milan 2 - 4 Real Madrid

AC has always been a tricky fixture for us and I was tempted to use our E tacic once again, as we have a few times recently, as Mati does like his counter attacking. However, he also often likes to mix it up verses Madrid, so we didn't go for the obvious E and instead took a gamble and went with one of the Madrid Method variations. It went well. We raced into a 0-3 lead before AC to their credit pulled two back but we added a 4th before half time to make it 2-4, and to our surprise the score stayed that way. An important win on the road that shows our title credentials.

Looking at the table, we have to consider Barca and Roma (and perhaps also Atletico_Madrid) as our rivals at this stage for the title. Barca have only lost once and Roma can always go on a run. I'm not totally counting PSG out at this stage as they can still come back into it with their squad quality, but realistically perhaps an 11 point gap is too far a gap for Ed to bridge.

[Guest]

Sevilla 2 PSG 1
Another abject away performance. got to the point where i just expect not to win the away games. Yet again we had more shots and the better attacking stats shouldnt be resulting in defeats but it is what it is. Heart isnt in the game at the moment so couldnt really care. Just re-using old sheets atm. Will be interesting to see whether our home for can keep us in the CL spots for next season
GG Stew

One of our best results of the season ... stats evenly matched, shows how far we have come as a side that we can now beat top sides ...

We were 2-0 before HT but they immediately scored to make it 2-1 at the break ...

.. packing the midfield worked with Nunez dropping back .. and as in real life he scored our opener!

No real change at the bottom - only jumped 1 place as 5 of the bottom 6 won - a great weekend for the bookies!

Unlucky Ed ...

[Livi@Liverpool]

Sporting Lisbon 2 Barcelona 4

Gaz is a diamond geezer and I'd like to think we have a friendly rivalry so I always look forward to our games.

The worry going into this one was that we had our back up GK between the sticks and when he conceded after 3 minutes I thought here we go. We equalised immediately but within 10 mins Sporting had gone back ahead and despite plenty chances for both sides it stayed that way until the 69th min when after some substitutions and tactical changes we burst into life with 3 goals in 4 mins. Gaz wasn't happy with the penalty decision and gave the 4th official it with both barrels but there's no question it was a rash challenge and the right call from the ref.

We managed to see it out from there for an excellent win against a very good side so we're very pleased.

Next up a cup semi with the Galacticos. I'm sure Firminio, Neymar, de Bruyne and co will be licking their lips but we'll look to give them a proper game of it.

Unlucky Gaz, look forward to the return mate

[Drum@Villa]

Eintracht Frankfurt 3
C_Tolisso (2), S_Gimenez (3), B_Davies (32)

Sent Off: J_Vallejo (20)

Lazio 2
K_Trippier (36), M_Depay (50)

Booked: R_De_Paul (6), M_Depay (50)
Injured: K_Mbappe (46)

MotM: C_Tolisso (Eintracht Frankfurt)
HT: 3-1

What a breathless roller coaster of a ride that was. This game had everything and how on earth we managed to win this match with only ten men for 70 odd minutes against a far better side I'll never know. But a very welcome three points it is which is just as well considering most of those around us won too!! On balance I think we just about deserved our three points, but it did help when Mbappe went off injured right before the half time whistle sounded. We paid the price for this win though with defender Jesus Vallejo joining that waste of space Henderson in the stands for the next game to serve a one match suspension.

Good game Drum.

Next game see's us face Inter Milan at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

Not really much else I can say about this game. It had the works.

Mbappe going off injured was actually quite amusing as I said to myself I bet I’m without him for the game v jb while doing the sheet.

so I’m not surprised by anything atm. Our slide down the table continues but I’m not really worried by it.

I’m playing ok in games, just getting no luck in the engine.

but I can’t get downbeat.

will continue the philosophy and hope to start picking up wins.

GG Ray

[AB@Juventus]

Valencia 4 - 3 Juventus

Another horrendous game and result.

Valencia have struggled this season and they came at us today, playing A, and we took an early lead after 11 minutes but the hosts pegged us back after 23 minutes. I felt this would end badly, however we retook the lead after 26 minutes only to lose it 8 minutes later. Frustrating that we can't seem to defend anymore.

We went 3-2 up on 37 minutes and held onto this lead until the 60th minute where Valencia not only pulled level, they took a 4-3 lead on 65 minutes and we were chasing the game but to no avail.

Statistically we were the better team so this is yet another hard one to take, especially when we've conceded 4 goals...I'll certainly be taking the armband away from my GK.

Good game Sanchez.

[Johnboy]

Monaco 2 - Lyon 1

We welcomed Lyon to Stade Louis II on the back of a reasonable run with only 1 defeat in our last 5 and took the lead through Immobile in the 6th minute.

Not long before half time Lyon lost Oztunali to injury and they replaced him with the more defensively minded Choudhury but it remained 1-0 to Monaco at the half time whistle. 5 minutes into the second half we were able to double our lead as Haidara scored his fifth of the season (his fourth in four games) with a vicious chot from the edge of the box that gave the keeper no chance.

Just before the hour mark Suso scored for Lyon although Hradecky in the Monaco goal will be disappointed not to get more on it than he did. We managed to hold onto to the lead and finished the match with a deserved 3 points as we continue our push up the table.

Before the match there was a certain intrigue to see how Monaco would utilise new signing Cordoba, after his much publicised, somewhat controversial, move from Villarreal and he came on with half an hour to go. He managed more shots than either Jovetic or Aubameyang in his 30 minute cameo but will be moving to back to Spain to spend the rest of the season with Real Madrid while former Monaco favourite Chris Wood returns on loan for the rest of the season.

Good game Jason, good luck for the rest of the season.