SOBS V ZAGREB
The Lads welcomed a load of Croatians to Wearside and basically sent them home happy. Far from the Europa League being a bit of light relief from our current Premier League malaise, it was pretty much more of the same. The majority of possession let down by slack defending, a string of misplaced passes, and powderpuff shooting. Four subs at halftime improved things, but we were already two down by then and didn't really look like getting anything more than a consolation.
Since Saturday, we'd learned the seriousness of the injuries to Ballard, Diarra, and Mundle. Mukiele's mystery concussion protocol, which I thought didn't apply in Europe (remember Alderete?) kept him out, but at least Talbi had taken Diarra's place in the Euro squad. Restricted access to turnstiles at the north end meant severe congestion inside as folks stopped for a chat in the least convenient places. According to rumours there were anything from 3,000 to 50,000 Croatians in town, but it looked like 2-3,000 or so in the ground. Well done them - it's a bloody long way from home, and (despite the drum) they were noisy throughout.
Roefs
Meunier Alderete Danso Methalie
Xhaka (c) Ahoka
Angulo Rigg Fofana
Isidor
... and a bench of Moore, Whitaker, Brobbey, Hume, Proctor, Sadiki,Tutierov, Jenson Jones, O'Nien, Talbi, Reinildo, and Le Fee. Aye, twelve of them.
After a suitably special firework display and a great rendering of Wise Men Say, we observed a minute's silence in memory of Jesus de Miguel.
It's only a game.
We faced south, the blue Croatians faced their fans, there was another rendition of WMS and they kicked off.
They basically kept the ball for the opening couple of minutes before a brief respite but their left back was quickly involved in fouling Angulo - a recurring theme, as it turned out. We got ourselves sorted after five or so and played it to Issy coming in from the left, but when he did his trademark "open up and shoot with the right" it went pretty weakly to the front post rather than the back, and the save was comfortable.
After they had a corner which we half cleared (watch our, it happens again) and they shot over, Ahoka galloped onto a cross but his header at the back post wasn't much bother for the keeper. We were doing most of the attacking at this stage, but kept passing to nobody on the left, with the Angulo/Meunier combo looking more useful on the right. Issy put a header way over, then got in the way of our next shot and spent a good while on the deck having his nads returned to their usual place.
While he was off the field, Zagreb went down the other end and won a corner which we didn't deal with properly and, somewhat reminiscent of Poznan, it was controlled and blasted in from the edge on 20 minutes.
That properly rattled us and we had Meunier to thank soon after when he hoofed it off our line, and then Xhaka needed the magic sponge after winning a 50-50 on halfway - for which he was booked. Puzzling, to say the least.
Meunier then worked well with Angulo to put in a cross that was so teasing that we didn't attack it and their keeper just watched it curl onto his right hand post. Another fluffy Issy shot was collected, and the visitors started to look way more threatening going forward. Another poor header in our box (Danso, I think) led to the ball being popped over Roefs and in. Six minutes to the break, and many headed for the bars for some Milk of Amnesia.
Three added minutes were announced, Zagreb controlled them, and we wondered if Regis would dare wait until the hour to make changes.
He didn't with Sadiki, Hume, Reinildo, and Le Fee replacing Ahoka, Methalie, Rigg, and Meunier. Personally I'd have kept Ahoka on ahead of Xhaka, but what do I know....
Almost immediately, there was a free for foul on Fofana out on .the left, and Issy heeded my scream of "dee summat!" by heading in Xhaka's delivery. Lengthy VAR check - no goal. Bah.
Somehow their number 3 had escaped a first half booking - so he continued upending Angulo in the second, and didn't get booked then either. We were showing a bit more life (not difficult, admittedly) and Hume's shot was deflected for a corner that came to nothing before Issy had another chance but his left-footer at the front post was both weak and wide. Another Xhaka free (to be fair, his frees were way better than his passes in open play) caused a bit of confusion in the Zagreb box and Reinildo had a shot blocked only for Danso's acrobatic effort to clip the bar.
Half an hour to go, Brobbey replaced Issy in the least surprising substitution of the season. We did the obvious and hit it to his feet, and a chance fell his way - the keeper blocked it but nutted Bri's boot in the process.
Xhaka at last caught one properly and drew a decent save, then we had a penalty shout when BB went down in the box but the ref had already decided he didn't like our number 9 and waved appeals away. A Fofana effort from the left curled to the near rather than the far post and was saved, then Roefs had to be out sharp to clear from the feet of a Zagreb player. This might sound like we were in with a chance, but aggression in the box and hitting shots with purpose? Not for us.
This was reflected by the increasing number of empty seats from 80 minutes which must have looked poor on the telly and demoralising to the players. I know, I know - you pays your money and you takes your choice. Each to their own.
The four added minutes brought us a corner that brought us nothing, then it was all over and we left the Croatian fans to celebrate - long into the night, presumably. Good on them.
Again, the stats don't reflect what actually happened - lots of shots (17) but most lacked real power, lots of passing, but most of the accurate stuff in our half. For the record, I wasn't impressed by the ref, who I thought had a particularly poor second half. Not that it made any difference.
Man of the Match? I suspect it'd have been Ahoka had he survived the halftime cull, but I'll give it to his replacement Sadiki who at least played his usual game. Mention toBB as well, as he did make a difference up top.
