Second leg will be a war of attrition, and a battle of the best defensive and Kante against a superior offence and goalkeeper.

4 hours ago, CFCCAN said:

Pleasantly surprised how well we played and had we had a CF that could actually put the ball in the net we would have come away with a well deserved victory.  I'm not sure whether this is the true Madrid at the moment, or whether they really are that poor in current times.  I was expecting a lot more from them albeit the conditions were awful.  Apart from the well crafted goal by Benzema and him hitting the woodwork Mendy could have made tea all day.  This game could and should have been over in the first 20 minutes if it wasn't for some world class misses.   I can see why Werner is playing for his pace and running behind, but FFS can he be the worse striker in the world right now for missing guilt edge chances; Havertz for Werner James in place of Dave and possibly Kovacic over Kante have to start the next game for me. Kante was brilliant but I think Kovacic offers more threat driving forward, either that or sacrifice Jorghino and leave Kante sitting deeper.   Anyway a very good result with the added bonus of an away goal.  

Kante was the best player for us over the 90 minutes .. crazy to drop him for the next one.

3 hours ago, ozboy said:

Its and ok result and maybe could have been better. If werner scores the first clear opportunity will we still be getting the second? Doesn't matter. Does it really surprise anyone that Real Madrid can score 1 against us at home? Not me.

What does surprise me is how fit Benzema is after all these years. But as I hoped before the game our younger midfield was too mobile for Modric and Kroos and Marcelo. I thought Tuchel should have started James instead of Dave. Other than that we played well and overall I think we kept self belief. 

Second leg will be nervy no doubt but according to 538 probabilities we are now a 63% chance to get to the final. Got to take that.

Yeah I agree with James instead of Dave.. Dave’s legs are gone he can’t keep up with players .. they always had an out ball on his side..

4 hours ago, Scott said:

I have seen edited pics like that from 2012 final with the medals just like that with the heads of our current squad as well lol

I think we probably need to be patient with this team. Timo can score those chances he is constantly getting. He has 12-13 expected goals more than he has actually scored so when he puts in those we are good. He too is in a new country and a new team. 

The entire team is still mainly inexperienced apart from guys like Kante, Azpi and Silva. 

To be in this position is pretty damn good. 

A 1-1 draw AWAY at Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League and we are all  feeling disappointed? This is testament to TT's massive impact on our Club at every level. With good finishing we could/should have been 3-0 at half time. The game plan was superb, we were set up perfectly and almost every player did what was expected of them and delivered top class performances. TT also gets the subs correct and at the right time. Had we been offered a draw before kick off, we would have grabbed it with both hands, so i hope that the players are not too down with not winning and will finish the job next week, having demolished and relegated Fulham before hand 😉

The set up at home will be different, but all we need to do is TIT (trust in Tommy) I think he may be a bit more defensive, Hopefully Kovacic will be fit and hit them on the break, which I genuinely feel we are better at as we have the pace. Regrettably I would probably drop Werner although I doubt TT will, I would go with Kai or Tammy up top and probably start with Ziyech or James too in place of Dave at wing back.

We can do this, and I have a hunch that under TT we will probably will. KTBFFH !!

 

Surprised by the disappointment of some. Thought it was a very good result, and we were unlucky to not win in the end.

Kante was man of the match. Played a blinder.

Bring on the second leg!

32 minutes ago, coombsie said:

A 1-1 draw AWAY at Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League and we are all  feeling disappointed? This is testament to TT's massive impact on our Club at every level

Very good point.

It feels like we are one of the top dogs in Europe again. And boy have I missed that feeling.

 

Chelsea never fail to surprise me....bosses for half the game...coulda scored 4....it seems things go well for chelsea when i predict loses for them....ill be back with my prediction next week......well done team

2 hours ago, coombsie said:

The set up at home will be different, but all we need to do is TIT (trust in Tommy) I think he may be a bit more defensive, Hopefully Kovacic will be fit and hit them on the break, which I genuinely feel we are better at as we have the pace. Regrettably I would probably drop Werner although I doubt TT will, I would go with Kai or Tammy up top and probably start with Ziyech or James too in place of Dave at wing back.

We can do this, and I have a hunch that under TT we will probably will. KTBFFH !!

 

Trust in Timo ! LOL

The banjo has to land squarely on the cow's arse eventually, and it might as well be in a Champions League Semi Final Second Leg 🙂

Edited April 28, 20215 yr by Sexyfootball

I am not disappointed with the result and I am pleased with performance. What bothers me is that Thomas was spot on with the plan and our players could not delivered it as intended. Real was there for the taking and we should have scored at least one more. What hurts is that we slipped for a moment as no one was there for their corner. It was seen from miles above what are they going to do and yet no one bothered as they were sure they cannot score from s corner. 

I saw Thomas was disappointed and we could have had job done already. f**k me, expect different Real in a week and harder to get positive result at the end. We had it and hope we haven’t blow it.

Edited April 28, 20215 yr by mojo

28 minutes ago, mojo said:

I am not disappointed with the result and I am pleased with performance. What bothers me is that Thomas was spot on with the plan and our players could not delivered it as intended. Real was there for the taking and we should have scored at least one more. What hurts is that we slipped for a moment as no one was there for their corner. It was seen from miles above what are they going to do and yet no one bothered as they were sure they cannot score from s corner. 

I saw Thomas was disappointed and we could have had job done already. f**k me, expect different Real in a week and harder to get positive result at the end. We had it and hope we haven’t blow it.

Job is never done in the first leg no matter how emphatic the score. Being 3-0 up from the first leg didn't help Barcelona much in 2018/19 !

I think I prefer it this way ... we will probably need to actually win the game in the second leg ... which puts us in a much better mindset, albeit TT might still go for the 0-0 draw and going through on away goals I suppose 🙂

I watched the game yesterday. Went upstairs and we scored. Continued watching and Madrid scored. I will not watch the second leg for the sake of reaching the final.

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

Trust in Timo ! LOL

The banjo has to land squarely on the cow's arse eventually, and it might as well be in a Champions League Semi Final Second Leg 🙂

It's written in the stars Timo will score the goal in the second leg to pay for his misses just like Torres did.lol

14 hours ago, hephzibah said:

Mount can score those long range goals. Then we still need Havertz for good passes. Pulisic should be playing. And again I think Abraham can be a better option upfront than Werner.

So what three is it going to be upfront in the second leg? I think we need to change our 3-4-3 for next week. I think Madrid played 3-5-2 and so they did not allow us to operate from the wings where we normally play. When we tried to pick up our wingers, they normally had five players at the back. So it was difficult for our wingers to play. 

When James came in, I feel he wasn't able to play much. 

I really wish we can tactically come up with a new formation before next week. They will believe we will still play 3-4-3 and will want to use 3-5-2 to stop us, so if we can have a very good 4-3-3 like Kante Havertz and Mount in Midfield, and Ziyech, Pulisic and Abraham up front. 

Maybe we may be better.

Yep. Mount can score them but he plays more like an inside forward in the 343.  What I'm asking more of is having one of our 2 midfielders to be able to pop a shot every now and then like what Thiago did in the game.

I don't really expect goals from range but we need the unpredictability factor. At the moment, as soon as team parks the bus, our forwards are essentially trying to open up space and can't get into scoring positions as much as they can. If we had someone that can shoot from range, our forwards would get more space to work with.

1 hour ago, The Don Antonio said:

It's written in the stars Timo will score the goal in the second leg to pay for his misses just like Torres did.lol

Will Gary Neville be one of the commentators in the return leg?

I can't believe it, Marcelo is in doubt for the second leg against us because of the local elections in Madrid (he's been called as an officer in the polling station). You can't make it up!  

https://en.as.com/en/2021/04/28/football/1619610784_260075.html

 

A massive opportunity missed for me. Ever the pessimist, I don’t think we’ll go through now. I just think they have too much experience and they can score with one chance where as we can not. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

6 hours ago, KonaKai Blue said:

I watched the game yesterday. Went upstairs and we scored. Continued watching and Madrid scored. I will not watch the second leg for the sake of reaching the final.

Could you completely isolate yourself from the world in a sound proof darkened room just to be safe?

18 hours ago, Phillip said:

And it was not like he was giving us a lot of calls, he was just a fair referee.

Dutch, you say?  I wonder if Val is involved somehow in his reffing this match?

Surprisingly, no 

Funny though, Dirk Kuyt punditing from the studio was happy with Makkelie during half-time, then tore him (and the VAR official) to pieces after the match for not giving us a penalty and failing to do much against persistant Madrid fouling.

3 hours ago, RMH said:

I can't believe it, Marcelo is in doubt for the second leg against us because of the local elections in Madrid (he's been called as an officer in the polling station). You can't make it up!  

https://en.as.com/en/2021/04/28/football/1619610784_260075.html

 

There is no way he wont get excused.

3 hours ago, rtwelch said:

A massive opportunity missed for me. Ever the pessimist, I don’t think we’ll go through now. I just think they have too much experience and they can score with one chance where as we can not. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

You are not the only one feeling that way mate, especially with the serial cheat and WUM Ramos back for that game.

Some of the football we played last night was a joy to watch. Some great passing and interaction and lots of good movement. Pretty much everyone played their part. It was so good that we got a decent result not just by parking the bus and being negative but by really having a go but in a disciplined way. So much of it stems from Silva's class and calmness at the back, which filters through the rest of the side. In the first half I thought Mount and Pulicic were both brilliant and if we can give a repeat of that at The Bridge next week and Kante can play like 2/3 men again, we have a very decent chance of making the final. Just need Chilwell to step up a bit and Werner to discover his scoring boots and I think the only change I would possibly make is James for Dave. 

 

Ah seeing City punish PSGs weaknesses just reminds me how we could have buried Real last night. Not meant to be.