Ristovski coming in for his debut with a few minutes left. It's too bad we didn't score more but it makes sense to slow things down and conserve energy for the next match.
It's over! The win is most important. 1.5M in the bank and 3 massive points. But that end was awful. Barca beat Juve 3-0 so we're in 2nd place.
From 6-0 to 3-2 in a matter of minutes lol Oh well, 3 points. Although I feel a +3 GD over Olympiacos would've been huge for Europa chances. Either way, it's the result we wanted and needed.
Takes a fantastic result and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.....Oh well it is 3 pts so I will get over it...but the goal differential could come back to haunt us
That last goal was flat-out unacceptable. Jesus christ, how the f*ck do you let him just walk in front of you uncontested and head the ball like that.
I feel obligated to say it because I've been ragging on him all season, but that may have been Piccini's best game for us
We need Coentrao back ASAP. And if Jonathan doesn't improve we need to look for an alternative in January or look at possibly our youngsters. Player ratings: Rui Patricio - looked nervous today, he's not the best with the ball at his feet and could've done better on the goals conceded. 6/10 Jonathan - our worst player again today, too many mistakes, technically limited 5/10 Coates - imperial defending for most of the game, almost scored a fantastic goal. I hope we can hold onto this player, he's the sort that I can see as a captain and leader. 8/10 Mathieu - comfortable with the ball at his feet but a bit of a shaky 2nd half, also doesn't help that he has to practically cover for Jonathan's mistakes. 7/10 Piccini - great performance, defensively strong, he's getting better each game. 7.5/10 William - excellent performance, dominant midfield presence, its these sorts of games that he can show off his skills and get a transfer he deserves to a big club. 8/10 Acuna - average performance, Acuna needs a rest, also doesn't help with Jonathan behind him (am i being too harsh?) 6.5/10 Gelson - scored a goal and his speed with Doumbia on the counter destroyed Olympiakos. 8/10 Bruno Fernandes - another game, another excellent performance, does this guy know how to play poorly? Passing and Vision top notch and rounded off with a goal and another off the post. 8.5/10 Doumbia - a goal and an assist and his speed and agressiveness caused tons of problems - this is probably the line-up we'll use in Champions League vs. Juve and Barca. 8.5/10 Subs: Dost - Came in to try and hold up the ball but the team fell too deep and he disappeared from the game. Not sure why we subbed Doumbia as he's fit and could've been dangerous on another counter. 6/10 Bruno Cesar - had a glorious chance to make it 4-1 (if I'm not mistaken had a goal waved off not sure why) but nothing more than a utility player. 6/10 Ristovski - had his first minutes for us at the end but didn't see much to give him a rating.
In all my years watching Sporting, Bruno Fernandes has been one of the biggest impact signings and he has hit the ground running (an understatement). hope he keeps it up the rest of the season. anyways, great result. we won away in Athens.
I don't see Barca dropping points to Olympiakos home or away, but if Olympiakos plays better they could draw Juve. Hopefully we can spring a surprise against the big 2 teams in our group.
Agree with all of this to be fair, I've been a big critic of Coates due to his time in England that I've seen plenty of but he's been a rock and was excellent today. How great is it to have the option to play dost or doumbia, our starting line up today could work an absolute treat in the champions league. Jonathan was poor as you said but what a pleasure it is to have kept hold of William. Bruno is just a quality player and at this rate we'll be lucky to keep hold of him at the end of this year!
Highlights of the match as well as the full match is here: http://www.footyhl.com/2017/09/12/olympiacos-vs-sporting-highlights-hd/
You guys dropped the soap at the end but were saved by the bell. I watched the Barcelona game and Juve looked depleted but they had some injuries. Best of luck.
Sporting hit three posts. Sporting needs to work on its Defence, but our midfield and attack look good this season. Bruno Fernandes, Gelson, Bas Dost, and Doumbia are 4 class players in the attacking third. they are effective counter attackers too and William can launch those balls from deep. a Portuguese team hasn't won at Karaiskakas (Olympiakos stadium) since 1973, so I think we should accept the win and move on to the next game. I remember Benfica losing there 5-0 or so 7-9 years ago or so. Game by Game, we pushed Real Madrid hard last season with a weaker team so I dont see why we cant get points off Barca or Juve this season.
I've not seen a short pass on a FK like that one on the play that ended with the first Sporting goal in a while. Nice.
We having a great start to the season but refs keep bailing Benfica out and conceicao seems to have got Porto finally playing properly Seems we never catch a break but I'm confident this can be our year
Higuain maybe getting suspended for flipping off the fans at Camp Nou, may effect our game against Juventus on the 18th of October Looks like there's precedent with a 3 game suspension, which may actually take him out of both our games with Juve as we play them back to back after Barça