La Liga : Sevilla 3-1 Atletico Madrid

Gregorio Manzano marked his first home game on Sevilla's bench with a convincing 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid, following the mid-week away win in Dortmund against in-form Borussia. The board opted for a manager who basically favors 4-4-2, a formation intimately related to the team's success in recent years, under Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo "Monchi" sport direction. Moreover, the motivation techniques Mazano has been praised for, immediately brought the squad together and that has always been a crucial factor for a newly appointed manager.

The starting line-ups

The successor of Antonio Alvarez (and an Atletico manager in the past as well), lined up with a system that initially looked like a 4-4-2, playing Negredo and Kanoute upfront. However, with the Malian stiker often withdrawn in midfield positions, it seemed more like a 4-4-1-1 (or even 4-5-1) over the course of the game. 

With Aguero and Godin both out injured and Reyes banned for one match, Quique Flores started with a 4-5-1, using Perea as a central defender (it was probably his last time playing there...) and a midfield trio of Assuncao-Thiago-Mario Suarez, whilst Fran Merida replaced Reyes on the flank.

First Half (2-0)

Not a fascinating half at all, despite the scoreline and some good chances, as it took some really poor defending from Atletico to concede two goals in six minutes.

Renato was playing deeper for Sevilla, with Romaric occupying the space a bit higher up the pitch,  closer to  Atletico's midfielders. It seems that the Brazilian has restricted his forward runs and prefers a more conservative role in front of the defence, often receiving the first pass and providing cover, whilst the more powerful Romaric presses more intensely and -surprisingly- has more freedom to create. 

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Champions League MatchDay 2 : Inter 4-0 Werder Bremen

Inter ripped Werder apart in 13 minutes, while Schaaf's side had no answers to Eto'o's brillinatly performed "false nine" role.

The starting line-ups

Benitez lined up with his usual 4-2-3-1. Pandev and Milito were unavailable, so Eto'o was upfornt with debutants Coutinho and Biabiany on the left and right flank respectively. On the other hand, Thomas Schaaf had to deal with the absences of important players (Pizarro, Frings and Fritz, all got injured in the Bundesliga match against Hamburg)   so he opted for a 4-5-1, with Jensen-Bragfrede-Borowski as the midfield trio while Wesley was preferred to Petri Pasanen at right back.

First Half (3-0)

The scoreline at half time speaks for itself.

Taking a look at Bremen's defence, it was clear that they would be easily put under pressure should Inter's front four were allowed to find any space. Eto'o's movements proved to be the key factor for this. The African had an excellent game, acting brilliantly as a "false nine", dropping deep and disorganizing the opposition defence.

The hosts' main plan was to exploit the space created when Eto'o was closed down by Werder's holding players as well as to play through balls on the shoulder of the opposition defenders. Both Silvestre and Wesley looked particularly uncomfortable. The Frenchman had problems with Biabiany's runs while Wesley  obviously lacks of the positional awareness required to play at right back. Inter's wingers streched the play by occupying wide positions, before linking up with Eto'o, whilst Sneijder' performed his more attack minded role -a sign of  Benitez era?- very effectively.

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