Leverkusen (H) Thursday 18 April 8pm live on TNT

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Comments

  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    Dodger58 said:

    Damn, I was hoping we’d be the only team to beat them this season

    There's still time for that.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    On the plus side, Liverpool are out.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    We’ve had no real attempts this half.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    Second half was always going to be a struggle, but the ref was absolutely awful.
  • alderzalderz
    We’ve played really well. But, as jorderz said, we ran out of steam and we’ve got no squad depth. If we’d had a couple of players who could have come in and affected the game it might have been different.
  • Dodger58Dodger58
    Proud of our team tonight.
  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    Great team effort. No complaints.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    1-1 FT.

    Well played boys, you gave it all you had.
  • LukerzLukerz
    Cannot have any complaints. For a few minutes in that first half I thought it would be a magical story, but we ran out of puff as it went on.
  • MunichHammerMunichHammer
    Proud of that team. But the ref was awful. The only thing he didn't give a foul or card for was pushing over Antonio.
  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    Kudus put in a great shift as did Antonio. Impressed with JWP - showed some real aggression. Wish we saw more of that in the league games.
  • BerlinHammerBerlinHammer
    Great effort... didnt think we'd have any hope in that game. Its a shame the Ref was shocking.
  • PengemanPengeman
    Great first half. Ran out of steam in the second half. Lack of depth in the squad showed. Narrow margins - what of Bowen and Antonio might have scored in the first half. Our of Europe now and slim chance of returning next year, but if we play for the remaining games like we did in the first-half, then who knows.
  • BubblesNeverDiesBubblesNeverDies
    Leverkusen didn't even deserve to draw, West Ham very unlucky.
    Referee was absolutely terrible.
  • EXETERHAMMEREXETERHAMMER
    BubblesNeverDies said:

    Leverkusen didn't even deserve to draw, West Ham very unlucky.
    Referee was absolutely terrible.

    Exactly this
  • jay_in_cptjay_in_cpt
    edited April 18
    Ref certainly lost the plot and control, but we did as best as we could…. No shame there…⚒️⚒️⚒️
  • EXETERHAMMEREXETERHAMMER
    We absolutely had them first half. Such a shame our bench lacks depth.
  • LukerzLukerz
    Easily said, but that first half needs to be the benchmark for how we look to play every week. We do that with a few more players available & a couple of good players in the summer, we’ll be up there again next year.
  • BazshuayiBazshuayi
    Hopefully not too long before we have a taste of Europe again
  • ClactoniteClactonite
    Disappointed but at least I won’t have to hear Robbie Savage’s voice again for a while.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Not sure it was a lack of depth. Pacqueta and Emerson got themselves ruled out, Philips, Mavrapanos and Aeriola are injured although Fab is our cup keeper. There’s four players who would have been on the bench if not in the starting 11.
    We needed to get a second in the first half but couldn’t. Leverkeusen have been strong in the second halves of games all season and score late in most games. I think they’ve only conceded twice on about four occasions so it was a huge ask anyway.
    They are a top team and look like winning a treble without losing a game all season, some achievement.
  • SlackerSlacker
    Wonderful performance but as others have said we couldn’t keep up that first half intensity. They are a very, very good side and probably deserved it over the two legs.
    Proud tonight.⚒
  • EXETERHAMMEREXETERHAMMER
    I do think there is a lack of depth despite those players unavailable. We have no second striker good enough for the way we play.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Listening to Zhaka they’ve scored over 30 goals this season after the 80th minute of games. That’s an incredible record and prove you just cannot relax against them at all.
  • claretandblueskyclaretandbluesky
    Best performance of the season even if not the best result, better than the Arsenal match as we won that on the counter but here we won it on every part of the pitch and deserved to win this match, even if losing the tie. So many what if's regard the many chances in the first half. It was good to see the fans give such a response at the end showing how much they appreciated the effort.


    My observations are that we can take a match to any team and do not need be so defensive, I feel the players feel that also with Antonio recognising that we gave them too much respect last week. We also need a bench as our side gave everything but were running on fumes at the end. The last thing that was glaring was the difference in Alonso and Moyes, Alonso was not afraid to change in the first half when he hooked that defender off but most significant thing was when they went in at half time with Leverskusan 2-1 up in the tie, Alonso bought on his best attacker and then an attacking midfielder, I feel sure were we in that position we would have brought on a DM. Moyes is a great at running the dressing room and keeping good team spirit, we are buying decent players, he just needs lets us attack from the start in all matches.

    In my view Leverskusan are not the team they are being lauded as and I think much of that is to do with Alonso's profile. I doubt they will end the season unbeaten and should have lost that this evening but for a lucky deflection. They are very good but were completely at sea in the first half, mentally and regard their football.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Yes it was a lucky deflection but they were the better side in the second half and are extremely fit too and can keep going and going, proven by their 30 odd goals beyond the 80th minute. I think this season they are one of the top teams in Europe and you don’t go unbeaten for forty odd games just because the manager is high profile.
    They knew they were all at sea for most of the first half but changed it at half time and controlled it for the most part, shown by the fact we barely had an attempt in that half.
    They can still be proud of themselves as they gave it everything they could but came up short
    It’s a shame we’ll have no European football next season unless there’s some weird results from here on in.
    Not even sure how well they’ll recover in time for Sunday.
  • stevesteve
    If we had played like we did in that first half in some of our games this season .we would have nailed 6th place by now
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited April 19
    Seems to be a suggestion on social media that whilst Emerson, Downes, Areola were all at the game last night, watching, Paqueta was not present. Wonder what the reason was.

    Then again, Mavropanos & Phillips weren’t confirmed as being there either.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Very good performance, poor ref, great atmosphere, sad result. COYI
  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    Best atmosphere since Sevilla imo. (Wish we could have a third of that for league games).

    And the players really worked hard. Everyone was good but thought the front three, Alvarez, Zouma and JWP really stood out.

    JWP in a more advanced role was good. He did a great job showing for the ball and linking up the passing, as well as pressing when off the ball. He played that kind of position for the first few games of the season when he was scoring as well. Think it suits him.

    Such a shame that the keeper makes that save off the Bowen chance first half. We just ran out of steam but can’t complain. What a night.
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