SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

I was really disappointed once again last night,another European night where we did so much right,too much wrong and the the scoreline flattered the opposition. Even if the result didn’t.

I’m not sure if this was the first time that we have had a female referee,but I wasn’t particularly impressed by her. She awarded two penalties against us in the first twenty minutes,both converted to put the game out of our reach at an early stage. The first one was a fairly straightforward decision to take,and I have no complaints about it after the ball clearly hit a falling Jenz on his trailing arm.

The second,though,was also a straightforward decision-and she got that one right too! The ball was fired at O’Riley from almost point-blank range and was going well wide. She ignored the Real appeals,only to succumb to a vigorous request from the VAR officials. Two penalties,two down,and we were going nowhere.

Incredibly,we then got a penalty of our own-and as usual,made a hash of it. Abada burst into the box and was cleaned out. Juranovic hit probably his worst penalty yet for us,too near the keeper and at an easy height too. All too reminiscent of those days in the early 80s before Roy Aitken started blasting them as hard as he could,almost daring the keeper to get in the way. For years,I didn’t watch us take penalties. I think I’ll revert to that.

Carl Starfelt made his comeback in his first game since August,and his first alongside Jenz. Never a wise idea to blood a new partnership in such a difficult match,but it was a decision forced upon us by the enforced absence of CCV. Yes,we missed him,but I doubt he would have made much of a difference. Jura was in for Ralston,the midfield was as usual,and we had Abada,Kyogo and Maeda up front. An attacking formation,and we did try to take the match to Real Madrid. As expected. But also as expected,we paid the penalty for being so adventurous.

We had fourteen attempts on goal,eight of which were on target. Courtois had some really good saves,although even if the shots were hit with some venom,they were too often fired straight down his throat. Mooy should have done better early in the second half,but showed once again why he gets a nosebleed being so far forward,a lack of composure again letting him down.

There was a multiple substitution just after the hour-I commend the comment from MACCARGO about an hour before the match which predicted this-but at that stage we were four down and soon to be five. Of those subs,Jota was the most effective,being twice denied by Courtois. He then got his chance for third time lucky,this time with a free kick about 25 yards out.

For once,Courtois was helpless,watching as the ball flew past him. The best thing about our night,in fact. And you could say that we finished our campaign on a high,having scored the final goal! That though would be a cop-out,to deny the reality.

The reality is that being drawn against the near-perennial holders plus the semi-finalists from two years ago was always going to be a nigh-impossible task. Those two finished with 13 and 12 points respectively. Being drawn also against Shakhtar,who have long been regulars at this level,even made the possibility of third place a difficult one at best. We should remember that this is the first time we have been at this level in five years,and that few of our players have any experience in it at all. And far too often,that showed.

Yet what are the positives to take from it? Well,we have shown that we can compete for large spells of the game,so the potential is there. We have had over eighty attempts at goal,so the midfield are clearly able to link up with our forwards and supply the ammunition. Only having four goals to show in six games though suggests that we are either snatching at those chances or are simply not good enough to get it over the line.

The negatives are the fifteen goals we conceded,and the number of chances the opposition created against us. Less than eighty,btw! Which suggests that the midfield are simply not capable of protecting our defence,the latter of which creaks and finally collapses under such exposure.

Overall,I’m proud of the effort we put in and the quality which we displayed-albeit not for the duration required to be successful. I don’t think we got the results we deserved,yet the table does not lie. And I think that with a bit of tweaking,some more coaching on performing at this level,maybe the occasional upgrade in personnel,that we will be stronger and more prepared next season.

Disappointed but not disheartened. There has been enough on show to suggest that we can get there.It’s been a while since we could say that about Europe.

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Above article by BMCUWP