Euro Division LXIX

Zinedine_Ze_Zebra wrote:Enjoy your sabbatical Soddy!

Congrats on the job Nando Get the in!
Were you unemployed up till now? I didnt think you were.

Fernando wrote:

Zinedine_Ze_Zebra wrote:Enjoy your sabbatical Soddy!

Congrats on the job Nando Get the in!
Were you unemployed up till now? I didnt think you were.

Been out of a job for about a year why you think i was always about  

sodhat wrote:

Fernando wrote:

Zinedine_Ze_Zebra wrote:Enjoy your sabbatical Soddy!

Congrats on the job Nando Get the in!
Were you unemployed up till now? I didnt think you were.

Been out of a job for about a year why you think i was always about  

I thought you were special needs.

VivaPaulScholes wrote:Who runs the league now?

Fernando wrote:Been out of a job for about a year why you think i was always about  

Zinedine_Ze_Zebra wrote:

VivaPaulScholes wrote:Who runs the league now?

You Viva! 

Captain Birdseye wrote:Lille 0-2 Ajax
---------------Militox2
Lille allowed Ajax to come at them and with Ajax looking to play central and Lille CM playing very deep it just allowed constant pressure on them. At times Lille on the break hit from wide but found it hard with gap between attack and defence, 3 in midfield was needed.
Lille GP. Sahin and bender is a good partnership make team around them
Lille BP. They got overpowered in midfield too easily

Fool em 1-1 Corinthians
Barkley------Muriel
Can't see much between the two sides, both had periods where they dominated the game but neither team took advantage.
Fool GP. Strong team allround that can be a match for anyone on their day.
Fool BP. The pace from wide positions is lacking
Corinthians GP. I like 442 good balance
Corinthians BP. Think the team can improve quite a bit bring in bigger names

WHU 2-1 PSV
In midfield WHU had the stranglehold and with the attacking FB giving them width from wide, PSV did get some joy exposing FB and getting their goal.
WHU GP. I always like their set up good side and balance in midfield
WHU BP. A top rated CB will do them the world of good
PSV GP. Potential in side to go forward
PSV BP. An attacker or Midfield that gives them that zip

Ajax 1-0 Fool Em
Florenzi
Ajax did what they had to do, get the win can't say more then that. They had the better team out and it showed, three robust in midfield with the attacking threat of the trio ahead.
Ajax GP. The back 4gives them base and confidence to get forward. Ajax BP. Against tricky opposition more craft needed from midfield.
Fool em GP. Nice to see squad players given a chance
Fool em BP. Sturridge should have started or di Natale as striker

Ballbag 1-2 Southampton
Rossi---------Defoe and lukaku
Ballbag very unlucky with injuries it cost them losing a top player in Along, both sides have strength and weakness but it was Saints who exploited them better.
Ballbag GP. Losing Herrera Villa and Alonso but still having a good side out.
Ballbag BP. Not much bad to say about this sidr
Saints GP. Marky has come along way from a novice to a top tactician
Saints BP. I think they can improve on wingerst

Zwag 2-0 nodge
Giroud
Remy

Zwag strong side and provident here, Nodge made a poor showing and they got what they deserved. Pumping ball forward allowed Zwag to bring it at them.

Zwag GP. Robben is a plus an will win matches
Zwag BP. ZZZ needs to be consistent with tactics and effort

Nodge GP. Valubuena is right direction where the club should be heading
Nodge BP. Still a lot of changes need for the club to grow.

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Glad t’be bach 2-1 FC Basel
Kruse, Sam - Streller
Hard fought win for Glad. Basel attacking play was good, more balance to the team. Glad's attack was too much for the Basel defense.
Glad Good: Defense took some injury hits but still fielded a good line up. Bad: High back line was caught out on occasions.
Basel Good: Improving team, additions of Khedira & Matudi are great. Bad: Improving the defense should now be priority.

Southampton 0-1 Athletic Ballbag
none - Drogba
Drogba vs Dante is a great back & forth battle. Match is a bore draw until tactical substitution are made and the formations change away from 442. Both teams react in the 70th minutes, Southampton go too attacking which allows Callejon on the right flank to set Drogba up for the winner.
Southampton Good: Good standard of players in each position, not much else. Bad: 442 doesnt win games. Too Gung Ho after making subs allows Callejon pace to cause problems.
Ballbag Good: Coped with injuries well still putting out a good starting 11. Tactical changes won the match. Bad: 442 doesnt win games.

Lille 7-0 Would you dance, if Ajax you to dance
Cassano x 3, Pedro x 2, Navas, Sahin - none
Lille set up well, deep defense countered Ajax flowing attacking threat, restricted their space. Injuring the Ajax keeper was a touch of genius & allowed them to bang in the goals.
Lille Good: Deep defense was tough for Ajax to break down. Bad: Injuring the Ajax keeper is a dirty tactic.
Ajax Good: They three attacking mids behind Milito are an encouraging trio, Florenzi most, hes a real talent. Bad: No sub keeper.

Fool Em FC 0-0 Corinthians
Bit of a stalemate, both teams missed chances & some dangerous players played away from their most effective role.
Fool Em Good: Two banks of four is always tricky to break down when organised well. Bad: Di Natale wasted out wide, no where near as dangerous to his preferred central role.
Corinthians Good: Good organisation but not much else good tbh. Bad: Shirokov is less effective being held back & playing deep, some of his real life recent good form has been when hes further up the pitch. Improvements required in a number of positions if they want to compete.

FC WHU Do you think you are 1-1 PSV
Rivière - Kasami
Rivière works well with a top class strike partner which showed today as he bagged a goal. PSV's play down the wings was more effective than through the middle against this opponent & if used more would of got the win.
FC WHU Good: Morrison in his favored role was great, his enthusiasm & drive comes from being a young talent in form, be careful for when that drops. Bad: Attacking fullbacks caught out of position, need more cover for them.
PSV Good: Sturdy setup helped nullify the opponent for long periods. Paulinho & Benat worked well in todays midfield battle. Bad: Worth quickly scouting your opponent, using width more today would of most likely got a win.

Ajax 0-0 Fool Em - re-arranged
Ajax Good: Fullbacks provided the much needed width. Bad: Eriksen & Florenzi in theory was good but Fool Em's aggressive pressing restricted their creativity.
Fool Em Good: Setting themselves up as a tough team to beat. Bad: Attack is suffering a bit, interesting to pick Rodriguez to lead the line instead of Sturridge.

PSV 1-1 Basel - re-arranged
Bony - Matuidi
PSV Good: Bony's hold up play helped keep the ball up the field & build attacks from. Bad:
Basel Good: Khedira & Matuidi double pivot work well, both knew who & when to go forward. Bad: Schurrle having a free role, just dont think hes the type of player to play at his best with no direction. Would of been better used as a central link up man.

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Lille 0-1 Ajax

Corinthians 1-1 Fulham

West Ham 0-0 PSV

Ajax 2-1 Fulham

PSV 2-1 Basel

Bilbao 1-2 Southampton

QPR 3-0 Norwich

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Gladbach 2-2 Basel
Two sides who attacked well, and look weak defensively. The Basel midfield is quality and overpowers their opponents. They are a side going somewhere. The only result I can see here is a draw, both sides are set up well tactically and neither manager deserves to lose.

Corinthians 1-1 Fool Em
Good game here, Tranquil is a good manager and will do well, please can you not use initials it took me a while to work out the player names. Prefer Di Natale central, if it were me I'd have played attacking fullbacks in a 4-3-1-2 with Holtby/Barkley behind the two strikers. Or even Barkley and Holtby widemen in a narrow midfield. Corinthians need some pace in their defense, and a better goalkeeper. A draw.

West Ham 3-1 PSV
A decent performance from PSV who look to finally have a decent manager but they don't have the players to do much yet. They could do with tailoring their tactics a little more to the opposition and thinking a bit more defensively. The tactics seemed to focus too much on what they would do in possession. West Ham put in a decent performance, deserved their win and can look forward to what I would expect to be a more successful season next time.

Ajax 1-0 Fool Em
As I said before, Di Natale should be upfront for Fool Em. I'd like to see Ajax put Florenzi and Eriksen higher up either side of Milito in a 4-3-3. Another difficult game to split, but Ajax get the win as Fool Em rested the likes of Sturridge and Holtby and this gives Ajax the stronger players on paper.

PSV 1-2 Basel
A great battle in the middle of the park was where it all happened. Basel won that but it was tightly contested and that just about gave them the win. I prefer this line up for Basel than their other one.

Ballbag 4-3 Southampton
A fantastic game where both teams were really going for it, wanting to win the game. In normal circumstances, I would have given a draw. But this game would have been with two teams trying to score until the death, throwing the kitchen sink at each other. It's extremely difficult to split the sides but there's something about Ballbag I prefer, but I can't put my finger on it. I know it's poor feedback but it's the truth.

Zwag 1-0 Norwich
Norwich tried to keep it tight, if they have put a bit more effort in tactically they might have made it. Zwag end their season on a high.

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Glad t’be bach v FC Basel - Glad t'be bach win 2-1 in this match. Benteke and Aubameyang are the scorers. The instructions that were given to him suit him as a player and this just edges it for me, both tactics were strong. Basel get a goal back with Streller as the scorer.

Lille v Would you dance, if Ajax you to dance - I like both sets of tactics, both are strong again. I think that Ajax will win this one 1-0. One of the many instructions i liked was the instruction that was given to Milito about staying on a CB for the game and this will allow Eriksen to get through and score from a pass from the midfield.

Fool Em FC v Corinthians - Again i like both sets of tactics and they are also strong. A close game for me but i think that Muriel will score here in a 2-0 win. The instruction that was given to him to run at the opposition and carry the ball was good and it is one of his strengths in my opinion and will allow him to score both goals for Fool Em FC.

Ajax vs Fool Em - re-arranged - I will go with a 1-1 draw in this game, again another set of strong tactics. Both teams have very good defensive instructions which i think will explain why i've gone with a 1-1 draw. I think both teams will defend well but Milito and Di Natale manage to get a goal each for their respective teams.

Southampton vs Athletic Ballbag - The tactics provided to Drogba in this game for Southampton will play to his strengths as a player, one of his strengths i personally think is holding up the ball to bring others into the attacks and this is what was instructed to him and i think that he will get a goal in a 1-0 win for Southampton. Athletic Ballbag had strong tactic aswell as Southampton but Drogba manages to score in this match.

The Nodge vs FC ZwagAtletico - I think that FC ZwagAtletico will win this game 2-0 today. The Nodge do a good job of defending and sitting deep therefore keeping out ZwagAtletico for quite a long portion of the game untill the attacking instructions of pressuring and staying in The Nodge's half allows ZwagAtletico to manage to break through and then Giroud and Robben get the goals to win the match for ZwagAtletico.

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Glad vs Basel
2-3
G
+ - Well done with the injuries ravaging your side, probably the best attaching unit in the league
- - Need to improve squad depth, it showed today
B
+ - Finally a proper looking side, great signings in matuidi/khedira/schurrle
- - Still more needed but you know that anyways

Lille vs Ajax
2-1
L
+ - Not playing 4-2-3-1! Love the 5 at the back and the front trio
- - Need an improvement on cassano next
A
+ - The free flowing trio behind the striker
- - Poulson over siem, milito over luuk

Fool vs Corinthians
0-1
F
+ - Split formations well done once I got my head around them
- - Need someone to be busy in the middle, kehl or wanyama bit not both in my opinion
C
+ - The squad is almost there, need to push on now though!
- - Probably on a level playing field with the sides at the beginning of the season, big ask to break through next season

Ajax vs Fool
2-0
A
+ - Superb tactics, the attacking dimension is too much and the Christmas tree is well pulled off
- - Still with milito over Luuk?
F
+ - The split formation works again
- - Unsure on the squad rotation, Duff/Reuther/Denswil/Rodriguez all probably are bench players compared to holtby/Barkley/Sturbridge...

PSV vs Basel
2-0
P
+ - Traditional 4-2-3-1 but it works well,the pivot is great as is the trio behind bony
- - Need better fullbacks
B
+ - Turning thew side around and the central pairing
- - I'd much prefer to see schurrle out wide or up front, not at number 10

Saints vs Ball bag
1-1
S
+ - A very strong team, probably the strongest squad in the league
- - Time to improve kaboul whome is bit of odd ones out in the quality of the side
B
+ - Well done on showing 4-4-2 today, callejon is a great signing, drog and rossi is a great combo
- - Squad depth needs improving, plenty of bench players who would worry me if they had to step up

Zwag vs Nodge
4-0
Z
+ - The attacking trio is superb, as is the midfield now
- - Defensively still need a lot of work, unsure of Coutinho that far back
N
+ - A solid defensive line that gives you something to build on for next season. Valbeuna is quality too
- - Awful tactics, central midfield not good enough

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Gladbach 2-2 Basel
(Benteke, Aubameyang) (Schurrle, Streller)
Two good sides end the season with a draw, both sides seem care free in instructions and it makes for a better game IMO.
Gladbach Good: The midfield and attack look fierce with Benteke the man upfront.
Gladbach Bad: No depth to the squad as shown when injuries destroyed the defence.
Basel Good: Bold move to sell Neymar but the signings of Khedira, Matuidi and Schurrle seem to have justified it somewhat.
Basel Bad: Defence still needs working on but I can imagine Viva knows this already.

Lille 1-1 Ajax
(Pedro) (Eriksen)
Ajax good going forward but I feel the Lille system restricts them today. Pedro and Navas cause problems although Mirallas and Eriksen equally cause problems, can't separate the two sides. Score draw.
Lille Good: The bold 5-2-3 system, defensively it nullifies a lot of Ajax's attacking.
Lille Bad: Better defenders and the system would see them win more than they lose.
Ajax Good: The usual suspects of Eriksen and Mirallas causing problems whoever they play against.
Ajax Bad: I didn't get the feeling they were pushing too hard to win the game, considering they are going for the title.

Corinthians 1-1 Fool Em
(Ibisevic) (Sturridge)
Two decent sides playing similar formations with neither seeming too focused on actually winning the game IMO. Real end of season feel to this one.
Corinthians Good: The front two of Muriel and Ibisevic will cause problems to any defence, so kudos for that partnership. Adding Pjanic to that will be interesting.
Corinthians Bad: Ibai and Januzaj out wide to cause problems was a good idea but Clyne and Balzaretti are no mugs and only works on occasion.
Fool Em Good: Barkley behind Sturridge equals success, something to build on next season.
Fool Em Bad: Not sure I can take Di Natale as a winger doing the required job. Plus a little suspect defensively with Distin.

WHU 1-0 PSV
(Mandzukic)
A good game, I feel WHU's strikers and PSV's centrebacks are a very close match but WHU's CB's dominate Matavz, that's where the game is won as WHU edge the win.
WHU Good: The defensive improvements have finally come and gives you a good platform for next season.
WHU Bad: Abandoning the 5-3-2. Boo to you. Not sure the gamble was necessary either.
PSV Good: Some good players and a good system. Solid if unspectacular and like WHU a good platform to build on for next season.
PSV Bad: Matavz and Depay need upgrading on to help turn your side into a force. I'd say Kasami too, one wondergoal wont make him the next big thing.

Ajax 0-0 Fool Em
A big game but again I feel neither side really coming across like they wanted to win the game considering the potential championship success. Draw.
Ajax Good: Eriksen. Focal point of the team but being harsh on Ajax I expected more.
Ajax Bad: Too much respect for the new manager, should have gone for the kill. 4-3-2-1 seems too defensive for a side trying to win.
Fool Em Good: Solid but unspectacular comes to mind. Like Ajax I expected more.
Fool Em Bad: Resting key players in a big game. Sturridge out for Rodriguez in arguably cost you the win today as he's not consistent enough.

PSV 1-1 Basel
(Townsend) (Strellar)
The game was very central and both teams have a very good CM pairing. Almost cancelling each other out into a draw.
PSV Good: Same as against WHU, a good system with good players. Bony replacing Matavz is an improvement upfront.
PSV Bad: Same as against WHU, need to improve on Depay and Kasami to make an impact. Not really any difference between the 4-5-1 and the 4-2-3-1 either.
Basel Good: The midfield pairing of Khedira and Matuidi brings your side up to the level of other quality sides' CM's.
Basel Bad: 4-3-3 against Gladbach worked well but the 4-4-1-1 seems too defensive, Schurrle is no Neymar and unable to carry the team in the same way.

Zwag 3-0 Nodge
(Remy, Giroud, Robben)
Zwag's instructions and gameplan worked very well against a decent but poorly prepared Nodge side and Zwag end the season on a high.
Zwag Good: That front three looks class, and if you had Gerrard fit in place of Kirschoff that side would have an incredible midfield and attack for a 4-3-3 system.
Zwag Bad: Defence. It looks so vulnerable and against a better prepared and more attacking side you would have struggled to boss the game.
Nodge Good: Playing for a clean sheet may have worked so 5-4-1 system can't be criticised.
Nodge Bad: Lack of instructions and lack of effort. Like CF if he used spellcheck. Poor.

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Glad Bach 2-1 Basel
Lille 1-1 Ajax
Corinthians 1-2 Fool Em
West Ham 1-0 PSV
Ajax 1-1 Fool Em
PSV 2-1 Basel
Zwag 1-1 The Nodge

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Galdbach 2-2 Basel
Sam, Benteke; Streller x2

Gladbach
They have the perfect balance for me across their midfield but their keegan esque tactics did leave them unnecessarily panicky at the back

Basel
They were the weaker side on paper, but set themselves up well against the opposition and the midfield 2 were particularly effective.

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Lille 1-1 Ajax
Cassano; Mirallas

Lille
Questions need to be asked about their defence, but a stellar collection further up the pitch

Ajax
The defensive midfield nearly lost them the game, but their attacking quartet did just enough to keep a point

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West Ham 0-0 Psv

West Ham
They played a bit too narrow for my liking and waited too long to change it, but they did have the stronger side

Psv
They for me lacked a real cutting edge upfront, but did get a fair bit of joy from out wide.

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Psv 1-0 Basel
Bony

Psv
Bony made a difference for them today, adding that something matavs didnt quite give, but there should still be concerns over butland and kasami.

Basel
Schurrle worked better out wide for me, and they did lack a bit of creativity in the middle of the park

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ballbag 1-1 soton
rossi; lallana

i cant really fault either team today, it was just a case of cancelling each other out, if ballbag used maher more effectively or if soton had a creative player in midfield, it could have been a different story

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Zwag 0-0 nodge

a bit of a drab game in all honesty, nodge set themselves up well defensively and stifled the zwag attackers, but if they had showed a bit more ambition with the full backs, it could have been different. i like the midfield combo of zwag, but against more ambitious teams, they will be found out out wide

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That's all I have atm.

Bull wrote:With that the league came to an end!

Olly wrote:I reckon we'll line up like this

Bunn (if fit)
Whittaker---Bennett---Bassong---Garrido
Redmond----Johnson---Howson---Pilkington
-----------------Hoolahan-----------------
-----------------Elmander------------------

Really don't want Elmander to start up top by himself but I see it happening tonight. Don't expect Fer to play tbh, or Ruddy

Olly wrote:I got a stream, ridiculous penalty decision

Olly wrote:Nobody even appealed for it. It was that clear it wasn't a foul

Bull wrote:

Olly wrote:Nobody even appealed for it. It was that clear it wasn't a foul

IT WAS A FOUL. IT WAS PEN WHY ELSE WOULD THE REF GIVE IT?

Gregers wrote:Norwich to go down olly?

Marky wrote:

Bull wrote:

Olly wrote:Nobody even appealed for it. It was that clear it wasn't a foul

IT WAS A FOUL. IT WAS PEN WHY ELSE WOULD THE REF GIVE IT?

Allow me.

Because its Manchester United playing at Old Trafford?

Olly wrote:I could look dangerous against Bradley Johnson