Post Match Reaction - Round 21

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing Sheets
N/A

Errors
ATM - Line 9 would of had 6 dfs

Error Points
ATM = 2

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Leverkusen 3-1 Bayern Munich

Battle of the Germans and battle of the DPT spots, previously relegation but both sides have improved their form of late.

It was inevitable that Leverkusen were going to win, we have won every other game for the last 15 games, never won two in a row, weird form.

Both teams matched up PvP but Leverkusen dominated the play and shortly after half time had settled into a 3 goal lead, Jimenez finally finding the back of the net. Munich got a goal late into the match but luckily it only turned out to be a consolation.

most frustratingly for Jb, Rodri had a strong performance

good game mate

[Derek]

Roma 4 - 1 Barca

With Madrid well ahead of us, I knew the last 2 games of the season's 1st half were critical for us - PSG & Barca.

We demolished PSG 4-0 but now faced Lucky Livi who had destroyed our cup final hopes.

With my inspirational team talk ringing in the player's ears. They were ready to show what the Roma Way can do. 24 minutes later and it was game over for Mr Edwards as we ripped through the 7 man Barca defense and went 3 up.

We have closed the gap on Madrid to 1 point and it's all to play for in the 2nd half of the season.

Final 2 games will be PSG & Barca away but hopefully we'll have the title wrapped up by then.

gg Graeme

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atetico Madrid 3 Real Madrid 0

GG Steve

Atletico won the battle of Madrid after Real had a woeful night of poor finishing. It was the away side who seemed to have more game control of the game creating more chances but an early Diaby striker separated the teams. Real managed only 9/23 efforts on target which was perhaps the telling statistic of the game. Atletico only really gained control when they switched to counter-attacking on 60 minutes and a late double from St-Maximin provided a flattering scoreline.

At the half-way stage of the season
Atletico sit 5th in the league table above expectations
They have scored the 7th most goals and only marginally below 3 of those above them.
They have the joint 11th tightest defence, although most of the damage came as a result of 8-0 and 6-0 defeats.
They have the 5th best goal difference although this is well behind Roma Real Barca and PSG.

Managed Simon Marsh commented "We are very pleased with performances on the field this season. We have a 9-point advantage over 09th place Rangers and 13-point advantage over 10th place Leverkusen so we are on course for a top-8 finish. Looking any higher is not something we anticipate worrying about. We are a big level behind Roma, Real and PSG and Barca have worked wonders in the past few months. Our challenge is try and finish above Sporting, AC and Inter Milan and hold off any late run from Munich/Juventus who have underperformed to date. To maintain 5th place would be a top effort".

[Ray@Wolves]

Eintracht Frankfurt 4
J_Laurent (13,16), Juanmi (52), C_Kouame (66)

Booked: Juanmi (9), J_Vallejo (23), H_Ziyech (26), C_Tolisso (72)

Napoli 3
D_Origi (28), S_Mane (41,62 pen)

Booked: J_Okore (5)
Injured: M_Cunha (28)

MotM: S_Mane (Napoli)
HT: 2-2

What an entertaining end to end game this was. Our new signing Josh Laurent from Stoke City had a dream debut scoring the first two goals that looked to set us on our way. Napoli had other plans though and crept back into the game with two goals of their own to send both sides into the dressing room at half time dead level. Early in the second half Juanmi continued his good run of scoring form to put us back in front. But then seeming disaster struck as we gave away a penalty and waited with bated breath to see if our keeper would face more than just the penalty. The ref seemed happy with just the award of a penalty and Koen Casteels received no card at all, much to the disgust of the travelling supporters. Mane duly dispatched the penalty to level the game again with less than 30 minutes to play. Four minutes later our star striker Christian Kouame then showed his class to pop us in front with what turned out to be the winning goal. We edged possession, but there was precious little between the two teams and this game could easily have swung in either sides favour. This is our third win on the bounce and puts us right back in the mix with the handful of teams above us. If we can just keep this form going then we might yet have a chance to avoid the dreaded drop.

Good game Chris, very unlucky.

Next game for us is a very difficult league game that see's us travel to Spain to face current table toppers Real Madrid.

[Johnboy]

Monaco 1 - Juventus 4

Being honest I completely misread the fixtures here and had convinced myself that we were playing Rangers (that's our next league match!) and was working towards that outcome.

We went into the match on the back of a poor result away at Bayern but with the recent improvements in our backline I was confident of a better performance regardless of our opposition.

As has been in the case in our recent matches there was an early goal and the scorer of that has gone on to secure the points, this time it was Juventus that scored and we had no answer to it. That said we nearly survived to half time only 1 goal behind before a shot from distance beat Hradecky in the Monaco goal after taking a huge deflection on its way through.

Juventus went on to score twice in the second half, getting their fourth of the match a minute after we managed to get on the scoresheet. 12 shots on target for each team - with only one goal from each team coming from a striker I am disappointed that our superior goalkeeper has conceded 4 whereas Vandevoordt in the Juventus goal only conceded once.

With 5 goals in the match, but 3 coming from defenders I am beginning to think that the low shooting defender theory has had it's day. Monaco have a big decision to make in the coming days, do we take the captaincy from Hradecky and give it to Immobile to boost our goalscoring chances or do we leave it with Hradecky in the hope that he can have better performances than this one!

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

[AB@Juventus]

Monaco 1 - 4 Juventus

After what feels like forever, we've had a good performance.

N vs A to start with and it was who got the early goal for a change, meaning Monaco came at us and with goals just before and just after half time, we secured the 3 points.

The 77th minute saw the hosts pull one back but we restored the 3 goal advantage just a minute later and went on to record an important win to put ourselves back into the DPT places.

Slightly concerned that 3 of our 4 defenders scored today, however a win is a win.

Statistically it was an even game so a 4-1 scoreline is very harsh on Monaco however, after some of our recent results we'll take it and run. Good game Johnboy.

[Steve@Chelsea]

Atletico Madrid 3 - 0 Real Madrid

Was unsure what to expect from Marshy, perhaps a N to counter my A. I went for a solid P as a middle of the road type of tactic which fairs well verses the likely mix of combos. Perhaps overthinking, but as things landed, I was ok with P vs A. Atletico got the first goal, and then it was role reversed and their P vs our A but despite plenty of shots raining down on the home side towards the end of the first half, we couldn't break them. Marshy dropped a C, which is supposedly massively nerfed by some accounts (but not ours) and their C pinched another goal to go 2-0 up. I.e C isn't dead if played correctly.

We then threw the kitchen sink at them and let in a 3rd goal late on. Disapointing result from a 22-23 shot count, and 1-9 corner count in our favour. Other days we get a draw, but the big factor as Simon says, was our shooting was way off target today. Thats the luck to this game, as nothing you can do about shot on/off target ratio, but no real excuses Atletico deserved the win today. GG Marshy.

Our fabled sea of green dissolves away. Apart from this defeat though our form is good, and we are top of the league at the half way point still by a point. Lots of twists and turns yet to come. Will be an enjoyable second half of the season hopefully and a good title race.

[Drum@Villa]

PSG 2-0 Lazio

We knew coming into this game with DDG injured again, that we were 99% on a hiding.

we scoured Europe for the best possible keeper to bring in, Walton of wolves came and done a stellar job, frustrating Psg till the 69th minute,

And from then on we knew the game was up. Too much class and quality to try and pinch anything.

did try and surprise Ed with a different approach but all in vain.

rumours are there has been a bust up with DDG and drum, captaincy has been approved to Pulisic, and DDG has asked for a move.

Guess we will see

gg Ed

[Livi@Liverpool]

Roma 4 Barcelona 1

The Galacticos got their revenge with an emphatic win - even if the score line flatters them a bit.

We conceded with the very first action as Roma threw the kitchen sink at us and we never recovered. We'll not beat ourselves up too much about it as these results can happen against the better sides.

We're relatively pleased with how the first half of the season has gone. Within touching distance of the top and in a cup final. Just the abject showing in the CL that's let us down.

Tough start to the 2nd half of the season with a visit to Lazio who have been hot and cold but are more than capable when they get things right.

Anyway well played Derek, good performance from your lads.

[Ed@PSG]

PSG 2 Lazio 0
Considering we had TA and HA and were facing a 15 GK the result was rather underwhelming. Frustratingly took until the 69th minute with many shots off target. Poor form continues. Lost 2 key players for CL QF, and 3 MF sit within 10 abs of rating up. Bad day at the offfce.
GG Drum

[Guest]

Marseille 3 - 3 Inter Milan

Well what can I say, I’m back and trying to blow away the cobwebs and rust and we travelled away to Marseille who are not the best so we really should be winning here, I thank Hamza for all he has done but I’ve returned to a couple bad attitudes and a few players overweight, I think they have got away with murder since I’ve been gone and it shows in the results. Today was the first step in recovery, the players know I won’t settle for the pish they delivered under Hamza or the pumping’s we have been getting and today was a turning point I feel, even though it finished a draw it really shouldn’t have, we dominated from start to finish with a nice Hat trick from Son and some sloppy defending cost us three points but as I said we are now on the correct road and gully expect to be firing on all cylinders within a few games, if some players have become too mentally weak and soft under Hamza and need shipped out then that is what will happen but they have a fresh start and a second chance and I don’t offer that too often so they bloody well better take it. GG Euan

[Guest]

Sevilla 1 - 1 Borussia Dortmund

With a Nunez curler in the dying seconds to equalise, it felt like a winner and the crowd went away happy!

However when the game was statistically reviewed in the cold light of day, we did deserve all 3 points .. 18 chances to 7, 58% possession ... it really was one sided!

Some good abs earnt, with Erikson MOM having not been a complete regular this season ... but we need to find a way to score more ..

GG Niall

[Gary@Millwall]

Sporting Lisbon 3 Lyon 1

In the final game of the first half of the season Sporting Lisbon grabbed a great win and 3 precious points.

Sporting Lisbon dominated the open exchanges and talisman Robert Lewandowski got on the end of a great cross by Eden Hazard to give the Portuguese side the lead on the 10th minute.

Lisbon were dominating the game but came unstuck to a sucker punch in the 41st minute when Muller's effort took a ridiculous deflection to bring the game level.

Lisbon kept control of the game but could not find another game before half time and the first half ended equal.

Lyon had a bit of misfortune in the 67th minute when their goalkeeper went off injured and the question was could Sporting Lisbon take advantage of this gift.

Robert Lewandowski who has been on fire so far this season got his and Sporting Lisbon's 2nd of the game in the 78th minute.

Juan Mata put the result beyond doubt in the 86th minute when his crisp volley landed in the back of the net.

Sporting Lisbon 55% possession and created 17 chances to Lyon's 7, with Sporting Lisbon having 10 shots on target to Lyon's 4.

Windebank's Post Match Comments

That was a great performance out there today and I think we deserved this very important win. Getting back to winning ways was very important as we have been getting a load of "I told you so" or gif's with sinking ships from Steve T and Derek.

The establishment are obviously rattled by our form this first half of the season and we find ourselves in 4th place with 41 points and only 4 and 3 points behind Real Madrid and Roma.

Going by discord it is now a two horse race and my little side Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are nothing to worry about in the title race.

We need to keep level headed and win as many games as possible, we have a massive test in the next two League games facing the Banks brothers who will both being itching to get revenge after we beat them both in the reverse fixtures.

Good game Jason