Cup P1: Buffs start Season 5 with an unchanged side. In the Cup Preliminaries they are drawn against a same quality level 7 Portuguese side and win 4-0 on their travels.
Scorers: Billy McNeill (12), Kenny Dalglish (19, 88) and Paul McStay 956).
Graeme Souness was stretchered off with a Groin Strain (2 days).
Cup P2: Buffs FC finish the job at home with a 6-0 win (agg 10-0). As the opposition came out again in a 4-4-2 (its almost as if they had no manager) Buffs Mad switched from 4-5-1V for this to play 4-3N-1-2 and with Dalglish out injured Joe Jordan got a starting spot - James McFadden also featured as AMC with Buffs wingers rested until the half-time switch to 3N-4-1-2.
Scorers: McFadden (2, 37), Jordan 43, 75) & Law (79, 90).
Buffs Mad said "Its a disappointing day to see we only managed 29 shots at goal - but their GK was on fire with 4 outstanding saves."
Didn't do a "What have I learned?" yesterday.
I have learned -
1. In the right hands with the right orders and with the appropriate skilled players Defensive Counterattacking is an extremely powerful option - a Quality Buster;
2. No matter how hard I stare at stats and think about it, I can see nothing that stands out to say that Man on Man Marking does anything;
3. That Whole Pitch Pressing seems to behave differently according to Mentality and Formation rather than a naive view that it will Force Whole Pitch Pressing regardless;
4. Arrows are about skill selection and motivation not position;and
5. My bum does look big in this.![]()