New Bristol Rovers manager Matt Taylor admitted to being amazed how poorly his team played in their 1-1 draw with bottom-of-the-table Cheltenham Town at the Memorial Stadium.
Taylor had veteran full-back Jack Hunt to thank for sparing his blushes in his first home game in charge since succeeding Joey Barton as he cancelled out Will Goodwin’s opener.
“It was incredible to witness that first half because there were so many mistakes and so many moments where we weren’t in control of our own game,” Taylor said.
“We were slow and a bit stodgy and we were waiting for moments to appear and when that happens you get a lot going through your brain.
“And footballers can’t have too many thoughts going through their mind because they become indecisive.”
And the former Rotherham boss added: “We weren’t where we needed to be during that first half and I told the players it could only get better.
“We certainly couldn’t get any worse and I challenged them to start showing more of what we are made of.
“And then to see the difference in the second half was impressive – it really was night and day as we went from being a poor team to being a really effective team.
“We played quicker football with a brighter tempo and we looked like a different side.
“We could have gone on and won it but I’d have snapped your hand off at half-time for a point after how we played but I’ m learning so much in a short space of time.”
Striker Will Goodwin put the Robins in command on 28 minutes, coolly slotting in from 10 yards after a counter-attack led by George Lloyd to record his fifth goal this season.
Hunt, making his 500th senior appearance, equalised on 50 minutes, acrobatically poking a bouncing ball beyond Luke Southwood after good work by Luke Thomas.
Cheltenham’s ex-Rovers manager Darrell Clarke headed back up the M5 with mixed feelings.
“The most pleasing aspect is that the dressing room is disappointed that we haven’t won the game and that’s a good sign,” Clarke said.
“We scored a good goal and kept our shape nicely in the swirling wind but didn’t handle the first 15-20 minutes of the second half well when they came back into it.
“We knew they couldn’t play as badly in the second half as they did in the first so we were braced for them to come at us.
“We conceded a sloppy, scruffy goal but we didn’t chuck in the towel, they didn’t roll over and got more impetus as the game went on and that bodes well.
“So I’m sat here with mixed emotions but it was probably a fair result because we were better in the first half, they had the upper hand.”
While the Robins remain rooted to the bottom of the League One table, Clarke is upbeat about his side’s chances of beating the drop.
“We’ve now taken four points from three tough game and we keep going and we’re just trying to claw teams back,” Clarke said.
“I can’t ask for more from the players because they’re giving me everything in terms of effort, determination and grit but we’re playing for snookers because of our bad start to the season.”
Verona 0-5 Inter: Five-star visitors go top of Serie A
Inter hammered lowly Verona 5-0 away from home on Saturday to move top of the Serie A table, with all five goals coming in the first half.
The hosts could easily have taken the lead through Casper Tengstedt just six minutes in as he struck the post after causing chaos in the box, but Inter sparked to life after that.
Joaquin Correa rattled the crossbar moments later, and then opened the scoring after 17 minutes, finishing off a lovely team move by chipping Lorenzo Montipo.
Having set up the opener, Marcus Thuram added a quick-fire double; twice in three minutes, he took the goalkeeper out of the game with clever play before picking out the back of the net.
Substitute Stefan de Vrij fired their fourth past Montipo before Yann Bisseck managed to pick out the top corner despite initially tripping over the ball in the 41st minute.
The second half was a subdued affair, though Correa almost scored another, but instead smacked the crossbar for a second time.
Inter leapfrogged Napoli, who do not play until Sunday, as they moved into first with 28 points. Verona are 14th on 12 points.
Data Debrief: Full-throttle first half
It was a pretty much perfect first half from Simone Inzaghi's side, and it gave the manager a chance to rest some key players with a Champions League tie ahead of them in midweek.
Inter scored five goals in the first half of an away league game for only the second time in their history in Serie A - after the 5-1 score against Sampdoria in the first 45 minutes of play back in March 1964.
The visitors scored with all five of their shots on target in the first period and outperformed their 2.79 expected goals (xG) by some margin.
Correa has scored in a Serie A game 756 days after his last goal in the top-flight, on 29th October 2022, against Sampdoria, at Meazza. Meanwhile, all three of his away goals have come against Verona at Bentegodi.
Chelsea not focused on Liverpool and Man City, insists Jackson after Leicester win
Chelsea are not getting carried away by talk of a title challenge following their 2-1 win over Leicester City, according to striker Nicolas Jackson.
Jackson netted his seventh Premier League goal of the season and was joined on the scoresheet by Enzo Fernandez on Saturday, as Enzo Maresca got one over on his former club at the King Power Stadium.
The result lifted the Blues to 22 points in third, just one adrift of champions Manchester City in second and six behind leaders Liverpool.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Jackson said: "We know the months of November and December have a lot of games, so we just try to recover for the next one and go again.
"I saw the danger, then the ball came to Enzo, he gave it to me and he finished. I'm just working in every game to try to help the team win."
Asked if Chelsea were now thinking of themselves as title challengers, he added: "No, we don't look at the teams in front of us, we just try to win every game."
Five of Jackson's goals this season have come on the road, the most of any player in the Premier League.
Since the start of May, only Erling Haaland (18) has bettered Jackson's 11 goals in the competition overall.
Leicester got a stoppage-time consolation through Jordan Ayew's penalty, though they earlier felt aggrieved not to be awarded a spot-kick when Stephy Mavididi was seemingly felled by Wesley Fofana in the 85th minute.
Boss Steve Cooper lamented that call, saying: "We've had some terrible luck with this referee. That continued today.
"There's also the game to talk about. Tough first half in terms of Chelsea territory and dominance with the ball. We gave away a poor goal. It should have been 0-0.
"Defensively we were generally okay. We need to be showing courage and belief. If we do that we can create chances and be a threat.
"The big moment is the first penalty not given, it's clear what happened there. The second one was offside [before VAR] and you see how onside he was.
"That was the story of the officials' game. You can speak to them after 30 minutes. I'm not sure if I will or won't."
'It's an honour' - Flick delighted by Messi's Barcelona praise
Hansi Flick says it is an "honour" to hear Lionel Messi praise Barcelona's start to the season.
Flick took over as Barcelona head coach in May, with the club making an impressive start to LaLiga, as they sit top on 33 points after 13 matches.
They have won 11 of their games, losing the other two, while they are sixth in the Champions League table, just three points behind leaders Liverpool.
Messi, who spent 17 years at Barcelona before leaving to join Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, recently described Flick's team as "spectacular", in particular lauding his use of young players in the team.
The German has not shied away from using academy players during his time at Barcelona so far, with Lamine Yamal the standout of the bunch after he carried last season's form into this campaign.
Yamal is the only player across Europe's big five leagues to complete 25+ dribbles (34), create 25+ chances (26), have 25+ shots (39), score 5+ goals (five) and provide 5+ assists (seven).
When asked how he felt about Messi's comments, Flick was delighted.
"It's an honour to hear the best player in history say that he likes this Barca," he told reporters.
"He follows the team closely, he has his heart set on this club, that means a lot to the youngsters and to the team."
Barcelona return to LaLiga action when they travel to Celta Vigo on Saturday, looking to extend their lead at the top of the league.
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