Bulgarian Blunder!

So, as mentioned in the last post - I was on a long weekend snowboarding with the lads which was good. However, what wasn't good was my lack of thought to technological advancement as I checked the kick-off time on my Forza app and chose to add 2 hours to it for the time difference when Forza (and the wonders of modern technology!) had very kindly already done it for me! So, I had my almost perfect day of snowboarding, the city game, a 2 hour massage and out for the evening somewhat torpedoed as I arrived at the rendezvous cafe on the ski road home at 4:30. Casually strolling up to the table where Tony sat I thought I had an hour to spare to finish the last leg of the slopes get rid of my gear at get to 'Amigos' for the game, only to be told by Tony that it was half time already! So, hearing the devastating news I quickly strapped my board back in and thundered down the mountain to try and catch as much of the 2nd half as possible! The only comfort being the fact that Tony informed me as I was abruptly leaving that the new Messiah had scored after 11 minutes on his full home debut to leave us 1-0 up at half time! Finally we have someone who can capitalise on early pressure! With this knowledge also leading me to ponder whether Sergio was on the bench or not?

Anyway, I legged it to the bar and met up with one of the other guys, Jay, who after a lot of drinking the night before had had enough and packed it in at lunch time! I looked up at the screen and the clock to see 68 minutes staring back at me! Dumb ass me! Interrogating jay, a Liverpool fan, on how it had gone he said we hadn't played that well from what he saw and Swansea were actually having the better of the 2nd half to this point.

I then checked my 'oh so intelligent' Forza app! For the formation and saw that we had set up in what they believed to be a 4,3,3 formation with Fernandhinio at right back and no sign of Sergio! Obviously I wasn't able to analyse exactly what zones players actually picked up in reality so I am not going to comment on that, but what I would say is I would worry about Yaya becoming too exposed in a true 4,3,3. As for Sergio well you know my opinion on that from other posts, in that I would drop Sterling to accommodate the Messiah.

So, I start watching the 25 minutes of my addiction and we don't look dynamic at all, with everything looking a bit static. The only player standing out at all being Sane who seems to have really lifted his game and is starting to look very exciting as he begins to start living up to his hype with his electric feet and bi-line wizardry.

Then they score and you could just feel it coming in the minutes leading up to the goal. Leading to that inevitable sinking feeling, with this time ones gut saying drop these two points and we can kiss goodbye to any outside chance of the league as 12 points is too much and besides we will have lost that much needed momentum yet again!

Then low and behold we make two substitutions with Zaba and Sergio coming on and from what I could see we looked more direct and balanced with the ever dependable Zaba offering his usual overlaps down the right flank and Sergio linking up well in our play to create the much needed penetration that lead to that beautiful equaliser which had me screaming and jumping up and down in the bar as the only city fan in there and at the time the only one making any noise! The rest were mainly Welsh watching the six nations game on other screens, with one eye on their country men in the football as there was quite a few cheers when Swansea scored even though they were first and foremost rugby men.

So happy days, momentum firmly flowing! The league still an outside possibility and most importantly our new signing simply world class! However I hope we heed my advice and keep long standing servants! So on that note I end with Play Sergio, drop Sterling.

Amigos, Bansko!