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ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Matteo Darmian (Manchester United)
Darmian was not selected by Louis Van Gaal as Manchester United hosted Manchester City in the Manchester derby. Following several shaky performances from Darmian, the United manager preferred Antonio Valencia to the former Torino man in the starting line-up. Darmian did however see ten minutes of action as he came on for the injured Valencia with 11 minutes of the match remaining, and helped the home team to keep a clean sheet in a tactical 0-0 draw.
Graziano Pelle (Southampton)
Pelle was unable to add to his tally of 7 Southampton goals this season in Southampton’s 1-1 draw away to Liverpool. The Azzurri striker had a relatively quiet game by recent standards, but was a constant threat throughout the match.
Fabio Borini & Vito Mannone (Sunderland)
Sunderland took on local rivals, Newcastle, in the Tyne Wear derby on Sunday. Borini missed the match with a foot injury which looks likely to keep him out of action for several weeks, as the Mackems ran out easy 3-0 winners.
Mannone was an unused substitute in this fixture.
Angelo Ogbonna (West Ham United)
Despite returning from a hamstring injury over a week ago, Ogbonna was not selected in West Ham United’s starting line-up for their home match against Chelsea. He did however make a late substitute appearance as West Ham faced a late onslaught from the Premier League champions. Ogbonna helped The Hammers hold on to their 2-1 lead, as they briefly moved up to second place in the Premier League.
Alessandro Diamanti (Watford)
Diamanti was an unused substitute in Watford’s 2-0 win away to Stoke City.
ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP
Fernando Forestieri (Sheffield Wednesday)
Fernando Forestieri continued his excellent form in Sheffield Wednesday’s 2-1 win away to Rotherham United on Friday evening. The former Italy Under-21 striker provided the assist for Wednesday’s first goal as he again combined with striking partner, Lucas Joao, and then scored Wednesday’s second by capitalising on a goalkeeping error. Forestieri’s link up play and movement off the ball received numerous plaudits in the English press, as he created several excellent chances that his teammates squandered. His contribution has been the key behind Wednesday’s performances and results this season.
Diego Fabbrini (on loan from Watford) & Michael Agazzi (Middlesbrough)
Middlesbrough travelled to Wolverhampton Wanderers, as they looked to find some form after several poor results in the Championship. Fabbrini played the whole match and scored an excellent 20 yard equaliser which was the catalyst for ‘Boro to come back from 1-0 down and run out 3-1 winners. The goal was Fabbrini’s fourth in the league this season and saw Boro move up to fourth place in the table.
Once again, Agazzi did not feature in Middlesbrough’s squad for this fixture.
Mirco Antenucci, Giuseppe Bellusci, Marco Silvestri & Tommaso Bianchi (Leeds United)
In their second game under new manager, Steve Evans, Leeds United travelled to Bolton Wanderers. Silvestri and Antenucci started the game, while Bellusci was once again on the substitutes’ bench. Antenucci earned and converted the penalty which gained Leeds a 1-1 draw, although the Yorkshire side will be disappointed to not have taken all 3 points, given their opponents were down to 10-men for the last 20 minutes. Silvestre made a couple of excellent stops, including one fingertip save, to keep Leeds just one goal behind in the minutes before Antenucci equalised.
Bellusci was once again an unused substitute, whilst Bianchi was not selected for the match day squad.
Francesco Pisano (Bolton Wanderers)
Pisano did not make the match day squad for Bolton Wanderers’ home game against Leeds.
Gabriele Angella (Queens Park Rangers – on loan from Watford)
QPR played host to MK Dons as Gabriele Angella did not make the match-day squad. In his absence, QPR ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.
Federico Macheda (Cardiff City)
As has been the case for each league game this season, Macheda did not make Cardiff’s match day squad for the game against Bristol City.
Diego De Girolamo (Sheffield United)
Once again, De Girolamo did not feature in Sheffield United’s match day squad in their 2-1 defeat by Millwall.
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On the back of the superb 3-0 victory over Torino, Lazio coach Stefano Pioli has stated that his side are strong title contenders, alongside arch-rivals AS Roma.
Two well taken Felipe Anderson goals followed up Senad Lulic’s opener to hand Pioli’s men a comfortable win and see them climb to fifth in Serie A – level on points with second placed Napoli – and still just two points off top spot.
The Biancolesti manager told Sky Sport Italia: “I am satisfied with this performance and now we can change our focus to the next challenges. We have three tricky matches before we meet Roma, so there’s plenty of time ahead of the derby.
“The table does say that at this moment the derby could well be a Scudetto clash, but we are still in October, so you expect the contenders like Juventus will climb back up the table.”
The coach then spoke of the decisions he will have to make ahead of the big tie against Roma.
“We have players with a lot of quality in attack and tonight the spotlight will be on Felipe Anderson because he scored, but they all contribute.
“Clearly I have to make some choices and someone will have to be left out.”
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Oct. 25, Stade Saputo, Montreal, Quebec
MONTREAL IMPACT 2, TORONTO FC 1 (Att.: 20,801-confirmed sellout)
Partly cloudy, cold; Game time temp.: 5 C/41 F
Match Report
After playing five straight games at home, and winning all but the last one against Columbus, TFC would conclude the MLS regular season on Decision Day with a match at Canadian rival Montreal Impact, cheered on by a notable travelling contingent of supporters. The game pitted two of the league’s top foreign stars, TFC’s Sebastian Giovinco and Impact’s Didier Drogba, meeting for just the first time as the Ivorian was held out with an injury the last time the teams met at BMO Field at the end of August.
Giovinco started alongside Jozy Altidore in the 4-4-2 favored by coach Greg Vanney and it took Seba just five minutes to test Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush. Giovinco took a pass deep in the attacking third from captain Michael Bradley, took two strides towards the Impact goal and unleashed a swerving shot that Bush alertly parried just wide for a corner.
Less than ten minutes later, Giovinco earned another opportunity as he collected a pass inside the Impact goal area from Robbie Findley and, in full stride, hammered a strike from point blank range that Bush saved.
Giovinco was finding spaces to exploit in between the lines and, just before the half hour mark, he took a backheel pass from Altidore and teed up a shot that fell just wide of the post.
Then, just two minutes later, Seba dazzled the crowd with a weaving run that saw him elude three Impact defenders before lofting a cross into the box for Findley, who struck a header that Bush managed to tip just over the bar.
In the 44th minute, Giovinco threatened again when he sidestepped Impact centre back Laurent Ciman, then outmuscled defender Victor Cabrera to the ball before striking a weak shot from a tight angle that Bush saved comfortably.
It seemed the teams would be content to re-enter the locker rooms goalless but with mere seconds to play before the halftime whistle, TFC broke the deadlock as Giovinco crossed from the left edge of the box and found Altidore who beat Bush with a looping header to the top corner of the net. The set-up marked Giovinco’s 16th assist of the season.
The TFC faithful celebrated the goal through much of the halftime break but, within ten minutes of the re-start, the Impact would silence the visiting fans and inspire the local supporters with a breathtaking display in a span of 60 seconds that overturned the result. Drogba netted two goals in rapid-fire succession, both from ten yards out, first with a deft backheel following a cross from captain Ignacio Piatti and, then, with a stab of the foot following a pass from Marco Donadel.
Vanney explained what turned the tide in the Impact’s favour in those harrowing few seconds.
“For some reason, out of the blocks, we started the second half too passive,” Vanney said. “We were sitting in too much and not getting pressure on the ball. There was a stretch of 10 to 15 minutes, we were late to everything, we were turning the ball over, we were slow to everything. The mindset coming out of the locker room was supposed to be continue to be aggressive, continue to push the game but we started passive and it cost us.”
Drogba’s impressive feat in that short span of time overshadowed Giovinco’s efforts to that point and the Atomic Ant was at a loss for words on why TFC was overrun so quickly by the Impact.
“Unfortunately, this has happened to us before,” Giovinco admitted. “It’s a problem we’ve had for some time. I can’t really say what went wrong but it just keeps happening.”
Giovinco agreed that, at times, he found it difficult to elude the marking of Impact centre backs Ciman and Cabrera.
“It’s something I deal with every game,” said Giovinco. “Sometimes I can get around it and sometimes I can’t. I was unlucky on a couple of occasions, too.”
It wasn’t until the 74th minute that Seba would re-emerge in the TFC attack, taking a pass from Altidore just beyond midfield and running at the Impact defense before laying the ball off to Jonathan Osorio who spotted Bradley alone at the top of the box but the TFC captain saw his effort strike the crossbar.
Only a minute later, Giovinco’s free kick from a central position 25 yards out fell wide of the mark.
TFC looked for more offensive spark late in the match as Vanney sent on strikers Herculez Gomez and, later, Luke Moore to try and conjure up an equalizer and, in added time, they nearly found the tying goal when Giovinco played a give-and-go with Bradley before laying off to Altidore but the American striker, with Bush at his mercy, saw his close range effort blocked by a sliding Hassoun Camara.
TORONTO, ON – MAY 10: Sebastian Giovinco #10 of Toronto FC has a shot on goal during an MLS soccer game between the Houston Dynamo and Toronto FC at BMO Field on May 10, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
At the final whistle, TFC players were informed of results from other matches that would conspire the Reds to fall to sixth place and face a wildcard playoff road game right back at Stade Saputo against the very same Impact side in a one-and-done, knockout match on Thursday night.
In his post-game comments Vanney expressed the reasons why he feels his team can attain a result on the same field against the same team in just four days time.
“I thought our first half was pretty dominant,” Vanney remarked, “in terms of controlling their chances and giving ourselves the run of the game and getting things in front of their goal and creating opportunities.
“What gives us confidence is that we know when we’re an aggressive team in terms of our speed of play, when we’re attacking and not sitting in a shell and defending deep, then we’re going to create chances.”
Giovinco also felt TFC could earn a win in the playoff rematch if the team stuck to the game plan.
“We know what their strengths and weaknesses are,” Seba said, “so we’re just going to have to go out and do our best.”
Giovinco completed the regular season with 22 goals, a mark that tied him with Kei Kamara of Columbus, however, Seba will earn the Golden Boot award on the strength of his 16 assists.
The other honor he is in the running for, the league MVP award, will be determined by a ballot and announced at a later date.
Giovinco’s Key Moments:
5th – takes pass from Bradley, tries swerving shot from outside box, deflected for corner by Bush
14th – takes pass from Findley in full stride, shoots from point blank range but Bush saves
29th – takes backheel pass from Altidore, shot from edge of box is just wide of post
31st – Collects pass and sprints past three defenders before crossing for Findley whose header is tipped over bar by Bush
44th – takes pass from Jackson, sidesteps Ciman and beats Cabrera but weak shot is saved by Bush
45th – crosses from the left edge of box for Altidore whose header sails over Bush and into the net (16th assist)
74th – takes pass from Altidore and runs at Impact defence, lays off to Osorio who plays it back to Bradley whose shot hits the crossbar
75th – strikes free kick from 35 yards just wide to the left of Bush
Giovinco’s Key Stats (via OptaSports):
Total shots = 3
Shots on Target = 2
Touches = 28
Total Passes = 7
Passing Accuracy = 57 %
Giovinco’s Match Rating: 7
Started game impressively, finding pockets of space both centrally and in wide areas, threatening to strike at goal with virtually every touch of the ball. Was the inspiration for Altidore’s tie-breaking goal. Became less influential in second half as team reeled from quick-strike Impact offense and neither he nor team fully recovered from that 60-second moment of panic.
MVP Watch – League Stats:
Goals = 22 (T-1st)
Assists = 16 (1st)
Shots = 181 (1st)
Shots on Goal = 73 (1st)
Giovinco’s Next Game:
Thurs. Oct. 29 at Montreal Impact – Stade Saputo, 7pm ET (Eastern Conference wild card)
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