..::Football IV::..

[Wolverine GTR]

Zidane revels in success of Real Madrid substitutes

Zinedine Zidane believes his substitutions made the difference as Real Madrid came from behind to defeat Sporting CP 2-1 in their Champions League opener.

The holders of the competition fell behind to Bruno Cesar's excellent strike two minutes into the second half, and with 67 minutes on the clock Zidane sent on Alvaro Morata and Lucas Vazquez.

The pair immediately added more energy but it was Cristiano Ronaldo who fired home the equaliser from a brilliant free-kick with one minute of normal time remaining.

Morata secured all three points when he headed home a cross from James Rodriguez – another substitute – in the 94th minute, and the French coach was pleased his decisions paid off.

"We are happy because we kept going until the end, we didn't give up. Sometimes you meet an opponent who play very well but our players were tremendous, they made an enormous effort and they got their just reward," said Zidane.

"It's a coach's job to make substitutions and we're happy that they paid off. You make substitutions in order to change the game and that's what happened today.

"The three substitutes all gave us something when they came on. I'm happy with all three."This is Real Madrid and we know we can always turn things around in a minute. We played a little better after conceding and we finally did it."

Zidane admitted his team came under serious pressure in the first half but was pleased with their fight in ensuring they came out on top."They took it to us, especially in the first period. After they scored we took more control of the ball," he continued. "I don't know if the result was fair or not, but it's clear we believed.

"It wasn't a perfect match; you never see a perfect match but the important thing was to win. Later we'll analyse things. There's nothing in particular to single out what I didn't like.

"We can play better, especially in the first half. There's two sides playing and they went to war with us. It's the Champions League; there's nothing easy in football, especially the Champions League."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Tuchel: Dortmund win not as easy as it looked

Thomas Tuchel has stressed Borussia Dortmund's 6-0 win over Legia Warsaw was not as easy as it looked and was the result of a lot of hard work.

The Bundesliga side netted three times in the opening 20 minutes, before adding three more after the interval to cruise to a comfortable victory in their Champions League Group F opener in Warsaw.

Tuchel was understandably pleased with his side's performance and hailed Dortmund's efficiency in front of goal."Even if it looked easy, there was a lot of our work behind it," Tuchel told reporters.

"Legia's problem was that we were very efficient in the first 25 minutes. We quickly scored goals that helped us to get more self-confidence for the remaining part of the game.

"Were Dortmund so good or Legia so weak? I don't want to be philosophical here and judge it in this way. We were just the better team, we had more scoring opportunities than Legia."Winning 6-0 means we put a lot of work in and I hope we will continue to work in this way. I can only give the team a big compliment."

Mario Gotze led Dortmund the way as he opened the scoring early on, his first goal since his return to the club, and the attacking midfielder was delighted to see his team bounce back from their 1-0 Bundesliga debut at the hands of RB Leipzig at the weekend in impressive fashion.

"We can be relatively satisfied with the performance," Gotze told Sky."We showed that we can do things differently. I am feeling very well and I am looking forward to what's ahead of us."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Pochettino laments sluggish Spurs defending

Mauricio Pochettino criticised the manner of the goals his side conceded after Tottenham were beaten 2-1 by Monaco in the Champions League.

Spurs are playing their home European fixtures at Wembley Stadium this season, while work on their new ground means White Hart Lane's capacity is reduced, but Pochettino's men failed to perform at their best in front of a crowd of over 85,000.
Monaco took the lead after 16 minutes through Bernardo Silva's brilliant solo effort and substitute Thomas Lemar made it 2-0 from close range 15 minutes later.

Toby Alderweireld pulled one back for Spurs just before half-time, but Monaco's possession football killed the home side's momentum after the interval."We conceded a goal after 16 minutes that, at this level and in football, you cannot concede," Pochettino told BT Sport."We conceded the second in the same circumstances as the first.

"We improved in the second half and had chances to win the game but after conceding the first they started to play comfortably with the ball and with calmness.
"They had only two shots on target and scored twice. We feel very disappointed with the result, we deserved more but you cannot concede like we did."

Pochettino sent on Mousa Dembele in the second half and the midfielder's presence seemed to lift Spurs, allowing Dele Alli to play further forward and probe for an equaliser.Alli indicated he did not mind being moved around the pitch, saying: "I'll play wherever the manager wants me to, it's not a problem. We started poorly and they punished us for it. We did enough to win the game but we didn't take our chances.

"Monaco are a good team but we weren't ruthless enough. The fans came out in numbers and never stopped singing. We need to pick ourselves up and win the next game."

Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim paid tribute to former Manchester United and Chelsea striker Radamel Falcao, who returned to his starting line-up against Tottenham, and also to Portuguese midfielder Silva.

"Falcao has been decisive for us because of his effort defensively. He served as a point of support and helped us to start from the back," he said."Silva played a very good match. He was very important in the transitional phases of the game."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Guardiola: I can't teach Aguero anything

Pep Guardiola believes he should be afforded little credit for Sergio Aguero's goal-laden start to the season for Manchester City.Aguero returned to the City side from a domestic suspension to net a second hat-trick in as many European games, inspiring a 4-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach in Wednesday's re-arranged Champions League Group C clash.

City's group opener was postponed as a thunder storm caused havoc in Manchester on Tuesday, but it was Aguero who struck twice before half-time against the Bundesliga side.He completed his treble with by rounding goalkeeper Yann Sommer with 13 minutes to play before making way for Kelechi Iheanacho to finish the scoring.

As in the first half of last Saturday's 2-1 derby triumph over Manchester United at Old Trafford, City played with the vibrant attacking flair that has become their coaches' calling card.

However, as long as Aguero continues to contribute to his team's relentless aggression without the ball, Guardiola believes the goals will take care of themselves.

"Sergio is good because he's good," he told a post-match news conference. "He was good with Manuel [Pellegrini], he is good with the national team, hopefully he is good with us.

"His talent in the box to score goals is natural; I can teach absolutely nothing."He has to know that behind him there is a team that is going to help him if he is going to help us. That is what I have to convince him.

"If he continues to help us in that way he is going to score a lot of goals, like Keli [Iheanacho], like all our strikers."

An injury suffered by influential playmaker David Silva in training on Wednesday morning forced Guardiola to give Ilkay Gundogan his City debut in midfield.

It was the former Borussia Dortmund star's first action since undergoing knee surgery that ruled him out of Germany's Euro 2016 plans and he played with an easy style that meant the hosts did not miss their usual creator-in-chief.

"That shows how good he is, after three or four months out," Guardiola said."We had a problem with David in the morning. We spoke with [Gundogan] and he said: 'I'm ready.'

"He is so intelligent. He knew exactly how to control his efforts. He was not ready to play 90 minutes, that is what I thought.

"To play with the quality that he has - both feet, intelligence, doesn't lose the ball, really good when he arrives in the box - he has such a lot of qualities that are going to help us a lot. He is going to be an important player for us."

Guardiola did not go into specifics on Silva's injury, which he does not think is serious but could rule the Spain international out of Saturday's Premier League match with Bournemouth."I think it's not a big problem but a problem enough to not be able to play," he added.

"Hopefully it will not be tough. I don't know if it will be in time to play against Bournemouth but hopefully next week in Swansea he can be ready."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

UEFA Europa League Group Stage Fixtures 2016.09.15

UEFA Europa League Group Stage Fixtures 2016.09.15

Qarabag Vs Slovan Liberec
Rapid Wien Vs Genk
Sassuolo Vs Athletic Club
Viktoria Plzen Vs Roma
Astra Vs Austria Wien
AZ Vs Dundalk
Tel Aviv Vs Zenit
Young Boys Vs Olympiakos Piraeus
APOEL Vs Astana
Feyenoord Vs Manchester United
Zorya Vs Fenerbahce
Mainz 05 Vs Saint-Etienne
Anderlecht Vs Qabala
Standard Liege Vs Celta de Vigo
Panathinaikos Vs Ajax
Osmanlıspor Vs Steaua Bucuresti
Villarreal Vs Zurich
Internazionale Vs Hapoel
Southampton Vs Sparta Praha
Konyaspor Vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Sporting Braga Vs Gent
PAOK Vs Fiorentina
Salzburg Vs Krasnodar
Nice Vs Schalke 04 ​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Good Luck Manchester United!​

 

[Alucard_SxE]

Rapid Wien Vs Genk
Sassuolo Vs Athletic Club
Viktoria Plzen Vs Roma
Feyenoord Vs Manchester United
Mainz 05 Vs Saint-Etienne
Sporting Braga Vs Gent
Nice Vs Schalke 04

Not many interesting matches. But I guess these will be fun

 

[Alucard_SxE]

Manchester City 4-0 Borussia Monchengladbach: Aguero hat-trick secures win for City

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the highlights B Mons defence was so pathetic. Nobody at the back when city are countering. Can't believe they beat bayern 3-1 some time ago

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Rapid Wien Vs Genk
Sassuolo Vs Athletic Club
Viktoria Plzen Vs Roma
Feyenoord Vs Manchester United
Mainz 05 Vs Saint-Etienne
Sporting Braga Vs Gent
Nice Vs Schalke 04

Not many interesting matches. But I guess these will be fun

Feyenoord match 1kath lesi wena 1kak naha.Hodata play karanna wenawa

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[Alucard_SxE]

Feyenoord match 1kath lesi wena 1kak naha.Hodata play karanna wenawa

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no rooney & mkhitaryen.
Murinho's got a habit of destroying good players Man ekai minihata kemathi naththe.

Feyenoord Dutch erevedise wala top inne dan. pretty good performances so far. Eth ithin man utd wala thiyana quality eka hatiyata dinne naththam wedak nehe.

 

[Alucard_SxE]

BTW I don't think man utd will take Europa League seriously. They won't care. Today reserves will play. And for the entire europa eague the reserves will feature most likely.

Primier League teams usually don't care about the europa league.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Half Time

Feyenoord 0 Vs 0 Manchester United
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[Wolverine GTR]

Manchester United 1st half performance nam hari naha adathAttacking madi + passing unath sloppy
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[Wolverine GTR]

no rooney & mkhitaryen.
Murinho's got a habit of destroying good players Man ekai minihata kemathi naththe.

Feyenoord Dutch erevedise wala top inne dan. pretty good performances so far. Eth ithin man utd wala thiyana quality eka hatiyata dinne naththam wedak nehe.

Ow bro.Mkhitaryen nam injury lu.Rooney wa nam damme natthe mokada mandaWatford match 1kata rest karawanna hithuwada danne naha.
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[Alucard_SxE]

Ow bro.Mkhitaryen nam injury lu.Rooney wa nam damme natthe mokada mandaWatford match 1kata rest karawanna hithuwada danne naha.
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primier league teams do not care about europa league. They usually try to get knocked out soon as possible. specially since europa league is on thursday and primier league starts on friday.
and they feel winning europa league doesn't have that much value & not worth the effort. liverpool going to the finals is one of the rarerest incidents

 

[Alucard_SxE]

Meanwhile man u are 1-0 down... wolvorine I told you so. Don't have hopes for euro league. they don't care.
I'd even say don't have hopes for the primier league even, under murinho

 

[Alucard_SxE]

Zenit came from 3-0 down to win 3-4 after a red card, Unbelievable!! 6 goals in the second half!!

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Full Time

Feyenoord 1 Vs 0 Manchester United


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[Wolverine GTR]

Manchester United play karana widiyanam anthimai nehGoal down unata passe thamai dagalanne

Pogba & Depay
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[Wolverine GTR]

Meanwhile man u are 1-0 down... wolvorine I told you so. Don't have hopes for euro league. they don't care.
I'd even say don't have hopes for the primier league even, under murinho

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