Froggies physical approach gets results. A lot of the Sporting players still playing with vacation rust. Matthieu giving the ball away easily, reminding us of another French player too good for Sporting recently. The CBs without P. Oliveira run like the residents of my local senior housing. Podence sparked some life into the very moribund first half squad.
Location: Estádio José de Alvalade Date: Saturday, July 22nd at 2:30 PM EST / 7:30 PM Local Time Channel: Sport TV 1
SPORTING: Rui Patrício; Piccini, Coates, Mathieu e Fábio Coentrão; Gelson Martins, Battaglia, Bruno Fernades e Acuña; Podence e Bas Dost Acuna wearing #9 last worn by Slimani
Coates saved us there - Patricio with a terrible pass and Monaco should have scored. Still early in pre-season for Patricio.
Yes, that was a dangerous one. I like what I've seen from Acuna, he might be a big boost to our team.
Rony Lopes with a fantastic goal for Monaco from outside the box. 1-0 EDIT: It was cancelled by the video assistant referee for an offside
GOLOOOO Sporting!!! Bruno Fernandes with the tap-in after a nice play down the middle by Gelson to Bas Dost
2-0!! Na na na na na Bas Dost!! Acuna won that corner with some hard work and strength, and it was his perfect corner kick which met the head of Dost for 2-0. Lets hope this isn't the last time we see that this year
Not an easy game even though its 2-0, Monaco had a goal called off and several other chances; also our defense is still shaky especially with direct over-the-top balls to Mbappe - our offside trap needs to be worked on. 1st half ratings as there probably will be changes at halftime: Rui Patricio - Only just came back from holidays, a bit shaky, couple of his passes went straight to Monaco players Piccini - better game from him Coates - much better today, saved a goal off the line and handling the strikers well with his strength Mathieu - average, seems a bit clumsy on the ball Coentrao - good game, although he's staying back most times, hasn't really gone forward Battaglia - not bad, you could tell he's trying not to make mistakes as a DM Bruno - our best player again IMO (dare I say, I totally forgot about Adrien), scored the first goal, great passing and vision, and even defensively has been covering well for Piccini when he goes forward Gelson - how we've missed him, our attack is something else with him Acuna - pleasant surprise, only been with us a few days and seems to already be comfortable and even tracking back to defend, assisted the second goal Podence - this is his year to shine, he deserves to start Dost - Boss
Coentrao off for Jonathan Bruno Fernandes off for Adrien Battaglia off for William Bas Dost off for Doumbia
This would be like 4-5 to 0 if these guys would just stay on side. Chemistry still lacking but the potential is there
2-1, Tobias with the fail at the end for Monaco's goal, not sure this is the guy to be 4th defender. I just don't see it All in all against the reigning French champions and CL semi-finalists, a 2-1 win is nice. They had moments of dominance particularly in the first half but we held on and ended up being more efficient
Tobias has played much more than Pinto so far, looks like hrs 3rd choice right now. Attacking the season with those two as back up is worrying
It's imperative we keep him IMO. Adrien is transferrable as we have a quality player in Bruno Fernandes. But neither Battaglia nor Petrovic have anything on William - even at half gas. Not that Battaglia played badly in the first half, but William is just a specialist in that role while Battaglia is more of a box-to-box.