Post Match Reaction - Round 26

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing Sheets


Errors
cel
Error: Player S_Arias is injured

nap
Error: Player E_Husaj wasn't found in the roster
Error: Player C_Aranguiz is injured

rom
Error: The PK taker, Firmino wasn't listed in the teamsheet

Error Points
Celtic - 3
Leverkusen - 1
Lazio - 1
Napoli - 4
Roma - 2

[Drum@Villa]

Juventus 3 - 2 Lazio

wow. Leading the game and although we were giving up the possession to the superior side on the game, we seemed to be holding our own.

Mbappe and Pulisic doing the damage again, but then DDG goes and takes down the juve player (who obviously made a meal of it) in the box from behind, and the ref had no choice but to 1. Send him, and 2. Penalty

Duly dispatched and then a winner.

DDG has been instantly fined 2 weeks wages, and forced to apologise in the dressing room to the whole team.

has gifted a juve all 3 points.

gg AB

[Steve@Chelsea]

Real Madrid 2 - 0 Dortmund

Niall often takes points from me so I'm happy to get the three points on offer with what was a solid win with 2 goals from Rodrygo. We had Mendy and Elliot out for this game so in came Varane and 36 year old Silva who played his first (and last) start for Madrid before his impending move to Spurs. We dropped an E in this game which I think took Dortmund off their game plan. I was surprised that the stats lent themselves towards the visitors as reading the game it felt like things were in our favour but we it seemed were more clinial.

Once again though we pick up a stream of bookings that see's two more players out for the next game verses Lyon, which will make it 3 out for the next game and our backup will be tested to it's limit with both our strikers and Mendy still out of contention. It's really odd as we only play with 10 aggression, and picked up 9 fouls v 15 for Dortmund - yet we have 4 bookings vs 2. Our DP has been an issue all season. Diaz and Mendy will both also miss the Bayern Munich game which is a set back. This tough period of suspensions should only last the next 2 to 4 games though, so if we can ride this out without losing too many points we will then be clear on the suspension front for a while hopefully, while other teams will then start to hit their own suspension periods.

[Ed@PSG]

Celtic 2 PSG 3
We finally win a game away from home, but it was far from a good performance. Twice we trailed,and we finally got our noses in front towards the end. Surprised at the shot count for Celtic and if they hadnt had 14/22 off target then im sure they would have got something from the game. No idea why our away form continues to be so poor. Maybe A just isnt so strong away from home. Felix has gone off the boil, but fortunately Yeremy Pino seems to have stepped up, moving to 2nd on the golden boot behind his teammate.
GG Sam

[Johnboy]

Monaco 3 - Sevilla 1

After the disappointing performance and result in Lisbon last time out in the league we welcomed Sevilla to Stade Louis II looking for revenge after losing in Spain earlier in the season despite being the arguably better team.

We maintained the starting eleven that secured a semi final spot in the DPT competition, although a change on the bench saw Reyes named in front of Iago.

The game was even for the first 38 minutes before defensive midfielder Amadout Haidara got on the end of a cross into the Sevilla penalty area to head home his sixth of the season and confirm his position as our 3rd highest scorer of the season to date.

One-nil soon became two-nil as Immobile scored his 14th of the season almost on the half time whistle to see Monaco hold a 2-0 lead at the halfway point.

Ten minutes into the second half Jovetic scored his fifth of the season and our third of the match and we were looking home and dry. A change for Monaco saw Reyes come on to replace Caio Henriques and with 10 minutes left Sevilla got on the scoresheet through Jose and it was twitchy time until the final whistle.

10 points from 5 games is a good return but we need to maintain this form, both in the league and the DPT, to have a chance of meeting our pre-season targets.

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

[Derek]

Rangers 1 2 Roma

With only the title to play for we showed how much it meant to us in this battling performance.

We had to play for 90 minutes with 10 men and were behind for most of the game. Rangers took advantage of our weakened defence to batter Martinez with shots. All is forgiven for Martinez though who was a man mountain in goal.

Kostic got us back on level terms just after half time but we struggled to even get the ball against the new-found Scottish flair.

But with 6 minutes left KDB proved he is the best AM in the game with his 20th goal.

The top sides all won so no change at the top.

gg Burrows

(Nice to see Madrid rolling out their Ed-like excuses. They must be feeling worried)

[Ray@Wolves]

Eintracht Frankfurt 3
C_Tolisso (14), C_Kouame (47), J_Laurent (74)

Booked: Juanmi (6), T_Hazard (13), C_Tolisso (24)

Valencia 1
B_Iglesias (89)

Booked: J_L_Gaya (29), M_Caqueret (43)

MotM: F_Dimarco (Eintracht Frankfurt)
HT: 1-0

This was a massive "must win" game for both sides as we fight against the dreaded drop. Corentin Tolisso opened the scoring for us after a sustained period of possession with a wonderfully taken solo goal. Christian Kouame and Josh Laurent added to that in the second half before Valencia got a consolation goal late on. Five bookings in the game highlights just how committed and determined both sides were in this game. Fortunately no one is suspended from this game although a couple of players are on the cusp. We definitely had the better of the chances and more of the ball so I feel ewe deserved the three points. This win and Marseille's defeat gives us a clear 4 point cushion above the drop zone and amazingly it puts us in amongst a clutch of teams vying for a DPT spot.

Good game Matt.

Next game see's us travel to France in another big relegation battle against Marseille.

[Gary@Millwall]

Bayer Leverkusen 1 Sporting Lisbon 2

Windebank took his high fliers to the Bay Arena looking for a victory after being knocked out of the Sporting Lisbon cup by Liverpool in mid week. Both sides had missing players but Bayer Leverkusen had two players missing compared to one for the away side.

This game is a bit of a grudge match because in a galaxy far far away and quite a long time ago Mr Hopton managed to secure a 3-0 victory which he gloated about for bloody ages. Since then Sporting Lisbon have effectively beaten Mr Hopton's side in every match since and today was no different.

Casemiro came back into the side after missing the DPT game to suspension and Sporting Lisbon conceded tactical and home advantage as Hopton's side looked to counter Lisbon's exciting passing style from the first whistle.

Leverkusen dominated the first 28 minutes until Lisbon switched tactics which saw Robert Lewandowski connect with a Boateng headed pass and despite seeing his initial shot come off the post Lewandowski buried the ball to score his 24th goal of the campaign.

Sporting Lisbon went back to passing the ball and the game was an even affair until Hopton told his side to open up and attack from the 65th minute.

In the 75th minute Casemiro was substituted for bench warmer Gugganig and Leverkusen brought the game level via Meunier who scored from a great pass from Lemar.

At this stage of the season it is pivotal that sides have to find ways to win games to if they are going to stay on the coat tails of the big boys and not panic.

Sporting Lisbon's players did not panic and dominated the final 15 minutes of the game and got their rewards when Matteo Politano showed great skill flicking the ball over Doherty and calmly slotted the ball into the net in the 91st minute.

The away end went mental the players went into a bundle and Windebank required oxygen as he nearly passed out delirious with what he just saw.

This was a massive win in a very close game in which Lisbon just edged possession with 51% Leverkusen created 9 chances and had 5 shots on target which was slightly better than the 8 chances Lisbon created of which 4 were on target.

Windebank's Post Match Comments

I am a bit flustered following that dramatic injury time winner, that is what football is all about and thankfully my medical staff were available to give me that bit of oxygen as the excitement got a bit too much for me at the end.

The boys were really disappointed to get knocked out of the DPT but this result really made up for that disappointment.

Playing and beating Mr Hopton means a lot for me and the players will be getting a day off following that great win today. Mr Hopton is a great bloke and we had a quick catch-up after the match and there are no hard feelings just a bit of damaged pride from the geezer that started the rivalry all those seasons ago.

That is 16 points out of a possible 18 and we remain in 3rd on 54 points along with Roma and Real Madrid.

There are now 16 cup finals left for us to navigate and Telles arrives on Saturday as we strengthen our back line with a lot of players 1 booking away from 1 or 2 game suspensions.

Great game Hopton we squeezed out a win today and the double over you feels bloody good. Best of luck for the rest of the season mate.

[AB@Juventus]

Juventus 3 - 2 Lazio

A much needed 3 points against a very good team, one who dumped us out of the EFL Cup earlier in the season.

We gave away TA, knowing Lazio would play C (That's a lie, I didn't know who we were playing) and after controlling the first half hour, Lazio took the lead (Shock)

2 minutes later, the visitors took a 2-0 lead and we'd crumbled. We both changed tactics to A and what came next was nothing short of magnificent.

A goal back on 39 minutes caused us to change back to P as we entered the break a goal down still and with Lazio opting to play D as the 45th minute ticked over (I thought 'What a pussy Drum is for playing D vs me')

On 64 minutes, the game changed forever as Lazio's GK was shown a red card and we were awarded a penalty which we scored to make it 2-2.

Lazio changed back to C but 3 minutes later, we took our first lead of the game and to my own surprise, changed tactics to D (Must have left that in from the Roma game hoping we could take a lead vs them for once)

This killed off the last 23 minutes and we ran out 3-2 winners.

Statistically we were the better team so a narrow win feels right. Good game Drum.

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Leverkusen 1-2 Lisbon

This is probably the 8th game I’ve now lost points after the 90th minute, feels like I’m playing Fergie time each week.

pretty happy to have gone toe to toe with the champions elect, proves that we are a better side than our current position dictates. Gutted to lose out in the way we did and though a draw would have been a fair results.

good game gaz

[Livi@Liverpool]

AC Milan 1 Barcelona 1

Milan are performing to a better level than they have for a few seasons and so a draw at their place isn't a total disaster. But we took the lead and had more of the chances so there is a feeling of disappointment that we couldn't come away with a win.

We're within 3 points of the top trio so nothing to panic about yet but we're falling into the bad habit of drawing too many matches which isn't going to win you many titles.

Home game against Celtic next with both sides at full strength.

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atletico 5 Marseille 1

Good game Euan

Fresh from the hangover of a hammering away at Frankfurt it didnt start well with Henderson beaten by the first shot. Atletico found their shooting form firing in 5 goals in 37 minutes.

Manager Simon Marsh commented "It was important to get back to winnings ways because the other sides up there keep in winning also. We just want to finish as high as possible but 08th does look the absolute worst now. There is nobody applying any pressure from the huge peleton from 09th to 20th which is separated by only 5 points. It would take a lot from here to lose a mighty 17-point gap to 09th. From here we have a difficult run-in. No disrespect but our start to the second half of the season in Ac Milan, Celtic, Valencia, Frankfurt and Marseille is very kind. PSG and Barca are the next two up!".

Players continue to improve with Sessegnon finally getting to 14-shooting.

Marsh has made some attempts at squad strengthening this week but nothing came to fruition. Marsh commented "We have made several bids which we felt were competitive. Managers either wanted a lot more than we offered or completely ignored us. In some situations we have increased our bids so we will see what next week brings".

Asked on the possibility of bringing Donnarumma to the club Marsh added "Our offer has been sent and we await a response. We will not be able to match some clubs spending power but we have put what we feel is a good offer in".

[Guest]

Monaco 3 - Sevilla 1

After the disappointing performance and result in Lisbon last time out in the league we welcomed Sevilla to Stade Louis II looking for revenge after losing in Spain earlier in the season despite being the arguably better team.

We maintained the starting eleven that secured a semi final spot in the DPT competition, although a change on the bench saw Reyes named in front of Iago.

The game was even for the first 38 minutes before defensive midfielder Amadout Haidara got on the end of a cross into the Sevilla penalty area to head home his sixth of the season and confirm his position as our 3rd highest scorer of the season to date.

One-nil soon became two-nil as Immobile scored his 14th of the season almost on the half time whistle to see Monaco hold a 2-0 lead at the halfway point.

Ten minutes into the second half Jovetic scored his fifth of the season and our third of the match and we were looking home and dry. A change for Monaco saw Reyes come on to replace Caio Henriques and with 10 minutes left Sevilla got on the scoresheet through Jose and it was twitchy time until the final whistle.

10 points from 5 games is a good return but we need to maintain this form, both in the league and the DPT, to have a chance of meeting our pre-season targets.

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

Well played John - our season is falling apart as we are now 4 points off the DPT places ...

Despite a significantly improved squad since Raingod took over - we now have 7 players rated 19 or above .. it is not gelling ...

We don't score enough either so may look to do a few deals to reinvigorate ...

Jose with our goal as per usual on his return ...

[Guest]

Bayern Munich 0 - 1 Inter

a good win and a good performance away from home to get the win, Bayern are having one of those seasons but we matched them in stats and an early goal from Klostermann oin the 10th minute was enough to take the points, we remain unbeaten and turning draws into wins like this is steps in right direction. GG mate

Juventus up next