Post Match Reaction - Round 17

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing Sheets


Errors

Error Points

[Derek]

Leverkusen 1 1 Roma

Despite gifting Jhop the tactical bonus we still edged the stats and with stronger GK/Shooting probably deserved to squeeze a win.

It's looking super tight between the big 3 - could be the best title race in years.

(Although we need to stop drawing against the small clubs)

Next up Burnley - where we need to find a rare CL win.

gg Jhop

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Leverkusen 1-1 Roma

Despite the draw, our team put up a solid performance against Roma. We dominated possession and had some promising attacks, with A_Telles scoring a fantastic goal to give us the lead. It's disappointing that we couldn't hold onto it, but our defense was mostly resolute, and J_Bijlow made crucial saves. We showcased our ability to compete against tough opponents, and with a bit more luck, we could have secured the victory. This match should serve as motivation for us to continue working hard and improving in the upcoming games.

Good game Derek

[Westhammer]

Napoli 1 - 1 RB Leipzig

A good result away to Napoli, a nice tidy performance and again we take an early lead but just can't add to it, probably too cautious and Napoli equalise but still a good result. Defender Bernat put in a big shift and was deservedly MOM and good to see a midfielder get on the scoresheet with Nakamba scoring. Next up a crucial group game which a win is needed.

[ChrisS]

Schalke 5 - 4 Lyon

Massive three points for us. The way we started I presumed our poor run of form would continue. Down 4-1 just 35 minutes in, Schalke came roaring back to make it 4-3 at the half. Second half we were much more into the match after being asleep at the wheel for the first half hour. Lyon had their opportunities to close us out but fortunately for us they were not able to capitalize. Our "finish strong" mentality saw Castellanos fire home the match winner in the 82nd minute for his 12th goal of the season.

Good game Jason, very unlucky you certainly deserved a point if not all 3.

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atletico 1 Real Sociedad 0

gg Freddie

After a week of bummings this game became an important one to try and regain a footing in the top-8. Both sides appeared to try new ways of playing as Atletico thought a counter-attacking team would arrive.

Both sides had chances but both keepers were on top of their games and the half-time would see a 0-0 score-line. 54 minutes saw the goal that would ultimately win the game when Sancho scored from a tight angle. On stats Atletico deserved the victory but once again the question remains on the lack of clinical finishing this season.

Manager Simon Marsh commented "We would have taken any sort of scrappy win so we cannot complain. Plenty of sides on the fringes of champions league football failed to win and we clawed a little ground back on the top3. The new wages info came out today putting us 06th. We are 6th in the table so its par form for now".

D_Dumfries 26 ned 1 19 15 5 improved his tacking.

We now revisit the Champions League with the final game of the group phase.

[Livi@Liverpool]

Barcelona 1 Rangers 3

Another shocker of a result in the league to add to our recent compilation.

In terms of the way each team set up I fancied us strongly with the P v L (supposedly) in our favour. It was 1-1 after an hour when Rangers switched to an attacking approach so credit to them for that as they quickly went in front. We then did likewise but it was them that scored again late on.

Their inferior attackers scoring with 3 of their 5 shots on target whilst we only managed 1 from our 7. Just the way it's going for us at the moment and we need to buck the trend very quickly as we're in danger of falling right off the CL qualification pace.

Talking of CL we visit Arsenal tomorrow in a bit of a free hit. That said we've a responsibility to try and get a result as there are teams fighting for 2nd place. Plus we could do with a confidence booster as it's been murder recently.

[AB@Juventus]

Juventus 1 - 0 Borussia Dortmund

Another quality result against a team who despite struggling in all competitions, have some real quality in their ranks.

I half expected C from Dortmund due to Tomori being suspended but felt our P could work with us being at home too and P vs C is how the game began.

We completely dominated the first half, limiting Dortmund to just 3 actions in the entire half and on 40 minutes, our man in for F_Wirtz notched his 10th goal of the season to give us the lead heading into the second half.

Dortmund had retained TA when we took the lead with us opting to go on the hunt for more goals by switching to A which let Dortmund into the game a lot more than in the first half, with them still being outplayed but they regained some respect from their fans by actually playing in the second half.

We were the better team in the second half but never really looked like adding a 2nd, while Dortmund never really threatened to level the scores and we ran out 1-0 winners.

Statistically we created so much and were the better team and worth the 3 points, however we had a terrible shots vs shots on target ratio which is something that we don't want to see continue, but it's nice to see us creating so much.

Games like these are important, to grind out wins against teams that we'd have struggled against last season shows that we've come a long way in a short time but the season is very long so we'll take it one game at a time and look to our trip to Leeds where we need to decide how to play it....Try to win the group, try to finish 2nd, try to play for abs, try to get players some much needed game time.

[Steve@Chelsea]

Inter Milan 2 - 4 Real Madrid

Madrid bounce back from the Leverkusen mishap by beating Inter away from home for the second time in as many weeks, and 3rd time in 3 weeks in total. Madrid won all 3 games, and once again deployed the C tactic, GS's nemesis for the three points. This was an important win in what is a tough fixture. The three points put's Madrid back on top of the pile with both Roma and PSG slipping up. Next up is the CL and we will have to have a think how we want to play it, as top spot is already guranteed, unless we lose 4-0....

[Guest]

Inter Milan 2 - 4 Real Madrid

Fed facing Madrid now, three games we have taken the game two them, three games we have been equal to them and taking the lead twice but three games we lost anyway, we want to go toe to toe and not be negative against likes like Real Madrid but perhaps we need to learn to just close the doors at 2-0 and go for the points instead of the abs. today was no different we went toe to toe and even though Madrid went C to counter us, something you wont see too often from them and we still overpowered them to race into a 2-0 lead, i should have been more aware and just went D but i dont want to do that, bad run of form but very good signs we are on the right path of the team we want to have and style we want to play.

[Freddie]

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Real Sociedad

Against these stronger teams I always reckon our best chance is to really mix it up and come out with something unusual. We tried to dodge the Atletico midfield with the long ball and used three forwards to try and finish opportunities. Sadly for us it didn't worry out but I'm happy with the performance against a superior side. We weren't majorly outclassed and made some good AB gains.
Played Simon, good game.

[Drum@Villa]

Marseille 0 - 1 Lazio

so a game in which i dominated and only scored 1.

mbappe got himself booked on 19 and then scored the winner on 20.

Semedo played a mom performance.

we are still just floating around mid table.

gg Marseille

[Johnboy]

AC Milan 4 - Monaco 0

Lazy management from me against an opposition much stronger than ourselves meant we got exactly what we deserved from the game, although I again question the impact of my goalkeeper and forward players.

Milan have a much stronger team than us in most areas, at least one player on the Milan bench would get a starting spot for us, while Griezmann and Messi are high quality players who would walk into nearly any team in the league.

Milan took an early lead as Simeone got his first of the match less than 10 minutes in and already I was starting to regret not putting more effort into my selection!

On the stroke of half time Milan doubled their lead as Simeone got his second of the game. This lead to us making a couple of ill-advised changes as we pushed our weakest passing defender into a midfield role.

Around the hour mark Milan scored a third before we made another questionable substitution as Reyes came on to replace Cresswell - although it has to be said Reyes made more tackles in half an hour than Cresswell did in his hour.

With full time approaching Quaison scored a fourth for Milan to give the scoreline a somewhat lopsided appearance - we matched our opposition in terms of possession of the ball, the difference being that Milan scored 4 out of 9 shots on target, while we couldn't get one past Maignan from 5 shots on target.

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