Post Match Reaction - Round 28

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing Sheets
Valencia - Random Request

Errors


Error Points
Celtic - 2
Lazio - 2
Napoli - 3
Roma - 3
Valencia - 2

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Leverkusen 0-1 Roma

Derek read me like a book and scored early doors, nothing else mattered after that, we could have had a whole day to score and we still wouldn’t have found the net. Need to improve over the next few games or find ourselves sucked out of the DPT positions.

Well played Derek. Best of luck for the run in.

[Derek]

Leverkusen 0 1 Roma

With 2 players out we put up a decent showing here and deserved the win.

We got an early goal but then 2 unusual things happens:
* the Roma firepower struggled to score anymore despite having 20 shots
*Martinez kept a clean sheet

We keep trying the shake the annoying chihuahua nipping at the heels but Lisbon keep winning. We've got a lot of tough away games to come so really need to build some wiggle room between us and the 2nd tiers.

gg Jason

[Ed@PSG]

Frankfurt 1 PSG 5
We played an open game and let the hosts match us for chances in the knowledge that the more the action, the more like our superior GK and FWs would influence the game. A brace for each of our front 2 taking their partnership to 67 for the season. We cruise into 5th, but with only 14 games left to play, it may be tough to improve as we sit 6 points behind RM and Barca in 3rd/4th. The focus still remains the CL and we played 20 AGG in the hope a few of the 5 on 8DP would be out and back for tuesday, but no cards were issued in the game. Looking like we need to field a weakened team at home to Marseille on Sunday. We had tried to bring in some cover, bidding 500m for Leao, but the offer was rejected
GG Ray and good luck avoiding the drop

[Steve@Chelsea]

Real Madrid 3 - 1 Bayern Munich

Relatively close game as 70% Madrid beat Bayern to complete the double over the EFL Cup Winners and have them looking nervously over their shoulder at the WM Cup places. With 3 starters out again it was always going to be a close one, but finally our much publicised and paid for backup stepped up to the plate with Javi Martinez notching two goals for Madrid in a man of the match display, alongside one from Elliot. Bayern at home is easier than the more dangerous Lyon away, but to win 3 points today with a depleted team was satisfying after our recent stumbles.

We're now only 3 points behind and right in the mixer with a full strength team to choose from. I have a feeling this season will go right to the final whistle with Lisbon punching above their weight winning games by solitary goals and Roma doing well. Barcelona are still very much in the race and we haven't counted our PSG either. The good thing is these teams are all playing each other at some point, so points will for sure be dropped.

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atletico Madrid 3 Barcelona 4

GG Livi

We beat Barca 5-3 with very similar match statistics in the champions league this season but this time the more clinical side was Barca winning slightly against the grain. It appears we are having a bit of goalkeeping confidence issue at present because Henderson is struggling and is now 231-78 for the season. Since upgrading to 21 he has performed worse. We took the lead, then went 1-3 down pulled it back to 3-3 and then when looking the more likely team to win it, managed to lose 3-4. The result ends any slight title hopes the club had although in truth nobody at the club expected anything more than a challenge for a champions league position and at present that is what they have.

Manager Simon Marsh commented "We have to be disappointed with a defeat because we were the better side on the day but 7 shots on target from 23 was the issue for us. There were plenty of positives and we continue to be an entertaining side with 145 league goals in our games this season. Maximin has moved to 5-tackling which means our defending from the front will be a little stronger"

Atletico moved into the transfer market this week which sees german midfielder Demirbay and dutch defender Dumfries join the club from Blackburn Rovers. Lindeloff and Zielenski make way.

Marsh commented "We have added a little more into our midfield area with the quality of Demirbay without losing too much defensively. We wanted to get a bit more defensive capabilities into the side and Demirbay is capable of winning some tackles. Whether the move is value for money is a difficult question but it is difficult to add players that improve the starting eleven so we took the plunge".

[Gary@Millwall]

Sporting Lisbon 1 Sevilla 0

Sporting Lisbon came into this game looking for their 6th consecutive League win of the season against a dangerous Seville team at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

Stew Herd is a very good manager and got his starting tactics spot on rolling out the N obviously expecting Windebank to attack from the first whistle which he duly did.

With Lisbon having the better of the opening 15 minutes Herd told his players to go on the counter with Windebank changing to passing 5 minutes later. Despite quite an even game Lisbon were creating changes but it was the 30th minute switch back to N tactic that looked like the turning point as Sevilla conceded tactical advantage for the first time in the match.

Surprisingly Seville got a bit of dominance in the game and were awarded a strange penalty when Partey knocked the ball pass a defender and Frenkie De Jong tackle the player that looked outside the box but to the dismay and anger of the home crowd the referee pointed to the spot. Seville's top scorer Jose put the ball on the spot but club captain Lopes was equal to the effort and tipped the penalty around the post.

The home crowd were ecstatic and before they could catch their breath Robert Lewandowski chipped the ball over the Seville defence and the rampaging Alex Telles unleashed an audacious shot that despite Musso getting a hand to it the ball nestled in the net for Alex Telles first goal for his new club.

The first half ended to rapturous applause with Sporting Lisbon holding a slender 1-0 lead.

Sporting Lisbon's strong formation and Windebank ball was keeping Sevilla at bay and they switched to Attacking in the 61st minute which lead to an exciting end to end game for the remaining thirty odd minutes.

Sporting Lisbon were up to the task and closed out the match in style as they secured another win and are now unbeaten since Barcelona beat them 4-2 at home back in game 19. Seven wins and two draws in this nine game unbeaten run sees the Lisbon Lions still equal on points with Roma with 60 points each.

Sporting Lisbon bossed possession with 61% and created 16 chances to Seville's 11. Sporting Lisbon had 11 shots on target to Seville's 4.

Windebank's Post Match Comments

I am running out of words to say about this team after another great performance and massive three points. The boys done themselves proud today and Lopes got a massive round of applause after saving that dubious penalty. We did not lose our heads and Alex Telles looks like a great signing scoring that winning goal today.

We have taken a massive 23 points from a possible 27 and as some managers like to insist we are punching well above our weight and thankfully are not being taken serious. This is great news for the players as they can play with a freedom and just continue to do what they have been doing and that is picking up wins, with today making it 19 of them in 28 games.

We have a massive game against Roma on Sunday with the Roma manager already stating "No pressure playing little Lisbon. Easy 3 points".

Who am I to argue with the great Derek Hughes, we will turn up and play our game and see where it takes us.

Great game Stew best of luck for the rest of the season.

[Guest]

Sporting Lisbon 1Sevilla 0

Great report as always Gary ... always enjoy reading them!

Not too much to add .. apart from a selection decision that proved costly from our side ... when defender Bender went off injured on minute 26 we were forced to replace with 13 rated Miazga rather than 15 rated Kadarabek - as mindful of squad minutes so had chosen the weaker defender for the bench for some mins at the end .. possibly this proved costly with us conceding within 10 minutes ...

Ross Berkeley was MOM after being in and out of the side recently, not much abs earnt elsewhere .. although we can be happy we were always in with the chance of an equaliser as we kept it at 1-0 ..

So bottom 3 now .. perhaps the attempt to keep a larger squad happy has counted against us???

4 points off DPT .. and qualification for that is the absolute target ..

Relegation would see Raingod walk away from the club - he has only experienced 1 senior relegation in 27 seasons of ESMS and walked away from FMFA when this happened with Palace - despite him having built the 5th best side across the whole league in that season .. but this is not even being thought about at this stage, simply how do we get back in the DPT placings ..

With Garcia out we are likely to go to a back 3 for our next game and at least know we have no game on Tuesday when we will be away at Eurodisney so no worries about a rushed sheet ...!

[Livi@Liverpool]

Atletico 3 Barcelona 4

Bit of a crazy game as we trailed early on, then went 3-1 up only to be pegged back before going on to score a late winner through Jesus. Stats suggest Atletico were a bit unfortunate although we did have more shots on target, possession and corners so it wasn't a robbery by any stretch.

We desperately needed a positive result after the disappointment of the cup final and it's a very good away win against, in my opinion, one of the most underrated managers in the game.

The 3 sides above us all won again but we're still very much in the shake up only 3 points behind the top 2 - who face each other on Sunday. We have to focus on ourselves though and take care of business against a Frankfurt side who are much improved under their caretaker.

Anyway unlucky Marshy, very good job you are doing there.

[Drum@Villa]

Monaco 1 - 1 Lazio

it’s never easy playing against a John Read team, and here proved it again.

bossed possession but that’s all we really bossed.

the game was a draw all throughout, no one really took the game to the other. Were we both more concerned about losing than winning, hmm, maybe.

Tanganga got the goal on 2 minutes and Araujo MOM.

Good game Mr Read.

[AB@Juventus]

Juventus 4 - 0 Napoli

A big win against a team/manager who we've struggled against in recent seasons.

With their best defender missing, we opted to go all out attack, vs their P I wasn't sure how it would go but after 7 minutes we took the lead through M_Odegaard and then quickly doubled our lead through him on 16 minutes.

We had control of the game now and the points were made safe in first half stoppage time when Odegaard notched his hat-trick to give us a 3-0 lead going into the break.

The second half was a bit of a non event, with the only action being our 4th, coming from R_Quaison with 5 minutes to play to wrap up a 4-0 romp.

Statistically we were much the better team, creating 31 shots to their 6 so we'll take this result and move on.

Good game Chris

[Guest]

Rangers 3 - 2 Inter Milan

One of those games you question why bother, batter rangers away from home and yet lose, our first loss since my return and the most obvious game to say we did not deserve it, how we lost this i will never know but we move on bewildered at this result. gg mate

[Johnboy]

Monaco 1 - Lazio 1

Fresh from our disappointing defeat in Rome we welcome the capitals second team looking for an improvement, both on the defeat in Rome and also on the defeat when we travelled to face Lazio.

We lined up in a similar fashion to the defeat in Rome, and when Tanganga opened the scoring for Lazio in the 2nd minute I was immediately fearing a repeat performance. However we grabbed an equaliser through Immobile just before the half hour mark and got to the break with the scores level at 1-1.

The second half was fairly uneventful as the two teams cancelled each other out, although it should be noted that Monaco played the last fifteen minutes with 10 men as Arthur had to come off injured and we had already used all of our substitutes prior to that, fortunately it doesnt look as bad as first feared and he should be back for our DPT cup game next week.

Sub-watch revisited - 3 player come on in the second half, play nearly a full 90 minutes between them and contribute a grand total of 1 tackle and 1 pass of any substance to the match, we will need to look into this at the end of the season but suffice to say it just isn't good enough.

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