Simeone, my man. How you have fallen. I thought it was still possible to overcome 2 goal deficit after Inaki broke the deadlock but once the penalty didn't happen, Atleti fell apart. Knew it was against the odds to pick them for the final, but Simeone's supposed to be the puppetmaster in the face of cup adversity. Boo.
What was Newcastle's reasons for selling St Maximin in the first place? What is his injury record? Man was their best player and the only one with the most successful take ons after Hazard left England. I recall telling Harkorede earlier this season that Newcastle was never going to survive this season with their dreadful squad depth, and I was not wrong.
~
Yeah we had the youngest lineup against Liverpool in the Cup final but nobody is talking about it. They only see billions and not toddlers
I don't know much, that sale went under the radar but I recall it was all tied to ownership, you know, the big sports consortia that own multiple clubs. Newcastle stems from the same Saudi sovereign funds so he was moved to leverage or optimise some of their finances. The club fans did a mini revolt but he was plenty crucial to their performance, despite his injuries. I loved watching him play. But the owners used him to adjust their books. This is modern football, I guess.
It wasn't so much the age of your players but their experience. I believe you had a lower starting average age (Liverpool ended up lower after subs) but collective experience was well above ours. Half our squad had not even 90 minutes in a senior game, a couple had their first starts last night.