Saturday 11th vs Manchester 8-1 loss

Under pressure from ex players who love to view our misery (thats you Tim), i am forced to face up to this result in public.

MANCHESTER were always going to be a tough prospect. Easily as good as Dynamo, but with better individual players, Hans etc, we were on the back foot immediately. Kristin and Tom both gave no warning of their non attendance, which meant there was only one CB available, and James had to play in defence, leaving no target man up front. We played 5 across midfield to try to contain Hans and friends, and left poor Victor Lopez up front against 4 defenders.

The first half was a good game, with the Manchester captain coming up to me at half time and saying that we have improved dramatically since last season and that this was exactly what they needed. It was only 2 or 3-0 by that time, although we had sustained periods of possession, and looked threatening at times.

Lets qualify this game early. Manchester are out of our league. They have ex professionals, one who has played for Antwerp. The class shows, and he scored at least 3 goals, one a spectacular overhead kick taken off James´s head, which is no mean feat in itself. They had 5 subs who were as good as our best players, and they are extraordinarily fit.

The second half kicked off with no changes to personnel, and a good feeling that we might get goal. At 60 mins it all started to go wrong. As the midfield tired, people stopped tracking back and the defence were overrun. 5-0, 6-0 and it was all over with 25 minutes to go. It was time for fresh legs and Caj, Janek, and Hektor all came on to try to batten down the hatches. As it was, it made no difference. Victor, bravely soldiering on alone up front earned a penalty which he deserved for his hard work and made it 6-1 but 2 more goals given away through tiredness, lethargy and lack of heart meant it was a rout.

What can you say, its tough to play against these teams, and we should have plyed the best of the league now. Only West Ham, and maybe Metropolitan worry me a little but we should be alot closer to them than the last two games. We have a week off now, and then Mallorca who are nowhere near as free scoring as Mancester or Dynamo. This is the real test for our level. One thing that we ave seen so far is that we can´t afford any passengers. If we have subs, they must be an addition to the side, as good and as fit as the people that they re replacing. The other is that we need to play at the top level for 90 minutes, not 70. In 2 games we have performed well for 65-70 minutes and then collapsed. This has to change!