Post Match Reaction - Round 14

[Nick@ManCity]

Missing

Errors
Celtic -Zeleny not in roster


Error Points
mrs = 1
cel = 4

[JasonH@Wolfsburg]

Real Sociedad 2-1 AC Milan

Ter Stegen has gone from unbeatable hero, to steaming pile of monkey turd, conceded 2 and saving 0. Clearly he has taken the words out of marshys mouth and let them effect his performances. Very disappointing.

Overall it was a tale of two teams, one who could finish and save shots, the other who would have better luck at tiddlywinks than trying to put the ball in the back of the net.

This team needs to turn this form around before even the champions league qualification spaces ease passed us. Luckily for us, atletico Madrid, inter Milan and Bayern munich are all utter dog shite and keeping a decent gap from those champs league spots

Well played Freddie

[Ed@PSG]

PSG 2 - 1 Sporting Lisbon
When i saw how our visitors had lined up, I presumed that this would be a relatively easy victory, but it didnt take long for me to be proved wrong. It was 18 minutes before our opponents had their first shot, but they certainly made it count, taking the lead against the run of play. However, we kept our shape and didnt panic. We were back level on the half hour mark, courtesy of the top gun, Erling Haaland. Unfortunately, Bastoni went off injured just before the break, and will now miss three games, in yet another maximum injury length (i believe 4 such injuries so far). Shortly after the break the Georgian got us in front, with the help of VAR. We continued to prod and probe but were unable to add to our tally, despite tactic changes by both teams later in the game. Looking at the game stats it was an extremely one sided game, but you can never be comfortable with a solitary goal lead. Our keeper managed to condede from 3 shots faced, whilst the visiting keeper manager a much more commendable 11 saves. It certainly appears that our number 1 performs better as 24 rater than a 25 rater, which is worrying. Haaland picked up his fifth Man of the Match award for his 15th goal from 21 starts.

[Marshy@Atletico]

Rangers 0 Atletico Madrid 1

A must win game for Atletico Madrid with a massive uphill battle to gain ground in the league campaign. Atletico played it safe with a counter attacking line up and adjustments to change if they were not leading after 60 minutes. Vinicius Junior goal on 57 minutes was perfect timing and they managed to grind out a much needed victory and a rare clean sheet. A shot count of 8-8 sees the away side finally win a game that perhaps they shouldnt have overall.

Manager Simon Marsh commented "It was a tight affair and we were cagey, perhaps due to the confidence issues of both management and players. We felt counter would at least give us neutral tactics at worst and rely on our better players overcoming home advantage. It just about worked but it wasn't a pretty game. We made some great ground on teams above and the gap is down to 6 points from 07th place which is where we are targeting short-term now. If we can take 4 points from our next two fixtures we should move up a few places".

J_Frimpong 23 ned 1 22 16 13 26 1 541 502 2 improved his shooting skills to 13.

Transfer news this week saw the arrival of 2 new players with Hubner and Sutalo leaving the club,
M_van_de_Ven 22 ned 1 20 16 12 28 1 993 701 763
E_Pieters 34 ned 1 18 13 8 26 1 468 17 529

Marsh commented "We lost out some passing to gain some tackling on De Ven, but we were attracted by his shooting skills also. We do have an issue with passing in the side and that will need to improve if we are to ever get closer to winning trophies. Pieters comes with plenty of minutes and takes a headache away as Hubner was not getting enough with us. Its cost us some money but ut means we will be able to retain Pierters for another season whereas Hubner we simply would never have got enough game time".

Marsh finalised "We are doing really well with player minutes now and confident of retaining 23/24 players. Only R_Nainggolan will miss out but at 36 he will be retiring. We have 2 dead rubber games in the champions league coming up to really nail some fringe minutes".

[Derek]

Real Madrid 2 0 Roma

Another blow to our season.

After being robbed by Outten to lose to TRO is a bitter pill to swallow.

It was 8 shots to 6 on target. And our recording breaking signing missed a penalty. So we would have expected a little more from the game.

Our season is on the rocks. Might need to replace my trust in The Roma Way.

gg Steve

[Steve@Chelsea]

Real Madrid 2 - 0 Roma

The scent of fear wafted through the air as the "Fake Galacticos" lined up with a defensive strategy, a far cry from the supoosed Roma Way. The Roman wall proved porous as the leagues leading scorer, Rodrygo, breached their defenses on 27 minutes, followed by Sterling doubling the lead on 52 mins. Despite Roma missing a penalty, their on-field performance was to be honest, nothing short of inept.

In a tactical masterclass, the true Galacticos nullified and countered every move Roma made from the first whistle to the last. The supposed treble-chasing Roma found themselves outplayed and outclassed on the night with a shot count of 18-9.

Roma's pre-match bravado, threatening to turn off the lights at the Bernabeu on their way out, proved to be nothing more than a feeble attempt to unsettle Madrid through the media. This tactic backfired spectacularly, with eggs on the face of Hughes, reminiscent of the last time they tried such tactics in the media earlier this season, resulting in their elimination from the cup at their own home ground.

An embarrassing display all round from Roma. Madrid, once again, demonstrated that there's plenty of life left in the big dog.

[AB@Juventus]

Bayer Leverkusen 4 - 2 Juventus

A shocking performance and result for us in Germany.

We came into the game looking to blow Leverkusen away but it backfired big time.

An early Bayer goal had us chasing and we never looked like winning the game. We made it 1-1 on 11 minutes but again within a minute we were behind again.

2-1 went to 3-1 before the break and despite an early second half goal, it was Leverkusen who scored the games 6th and final goal on 68 minutes sealing a huge win for them.

Statistically we were the better team slightly so the fact that we've been whooped doesn't sit right with me and the lads will be in for extra training.

Good game Chris.

[Livi@Liverpool]

Dortmund 1 Barcelona 2

To say we were in need of a win is a bit of an understatement following a run of really poor results. In truth it was a very even game and Dortmund will feel hard done by at not coming away with a draw. They had quickly cancelled out Berchiche's opener but fortunately for us Fernandez got himself on the scoresheet with 15 mins to go to get us a much needed 3 points.

Resources are stretched to the max for our next game (a visit from Celtic) with Matip still suspended and Malinovski picking up an injury which will see him sit out our next 2 fixtures. Drexler and Aubameyang will be called into action but we have confidence in the pair of them so no excuses if we don't get the result we are looking for.

We've a new face arriving this week following a deal with Atletico and there's another couple of potential arrivals in the pipeline as we look to try and get some consistency into our performances.

[Guest]

Inter Milan 1 - 1 Monaco

Monaco going back seasons have always been a difficult tie for us, one of those teams who always shock and today was no different, we went after them from the get go and should have scored multiple goals but like the last 10 or so games we have went from free scoring to not being able to score more than one goal a game, its a bizzare change of form tbh but wejust keep plugging away and the results will come we have no intentions of shaking up the team etc. Monaco though did well, John does not change from his tried and tested formation and tactic much and after the attacks on Hamza for same thing from managers on a tilt and no longer winning the game 6 league championship its our job to beat what they play and we never, the game was fairly even although again as previous games i felt we did enough to win going by the stats but then Monaco missed a penalty so im sure they feel hard done by as ell so a draw is fair. gg mate

[Johnboy]

Inter Milan 1 - Monaco 1

On the back of a very good result against Bayern Munich and our first win in the DPT this campaign we kept the same personnel with Awoniyi again preferred to Jovetic after his performance on Monday.

We knew Inter would be forced into a change with Adli unavailablr but I wasn't expecting the change that came as they ditched the defensive midfielder and went with and attacking midfielder instead, Inter took the lead 10 minutes into the second half as Di Lorenzo scored his fifth of the season.

We hit back in the 63rd minute as susbstitute Jovetic pounced on a poor back pass to score a solo goal past Martinez in the Inter goal, with 10 minutes to go Jovetic earned Monaco a penalty following a foul right on the edge of the area but Immobile managed to send the resulting spot kick high into the stands and the game went on to finish 1-1.

Inter shaded the game but didn't do enough in the 90 minutes to get the winner and Monaco move up to 2nd in the EFL1 form table with 13 points from the last 15 available. Lasio next in another match that could easily go either way!

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

[ChrisS]

Bayer Leverkusen 4 - 2 Juventus

Historically my teams to not do well against AB managed sides. We were without our captain Di Maria, so I knew it was going to be a tall task to get a positive result. Our form has been improving as the squad continues to gel and get comfortable with the system. Felt AB would come out attacking but rather than counter we just went with a simple normal approach. It paid early dividends when backup striker Wooten who only got the start due to Di Maria's injury, scored his first of the season. Juve struck back a few minutes later but not for long as we took back the lead just a minute later. We managed to add a third goal before the break. At this point I was not sure what AB was going to through at us. Sure enough they scored 2 minutes into the 2nd half. Gakpo scored his first for us since his transfer with a little over 20 minutes in regular time left. At this point we were able to switch to a back 5 and see the game out.

I'm just as shocked as AB, it's been a difficult season so far. This has certainly been a major highlight.

Good game AB.