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Nope, there should be an update before I go to bed tonight. Been playing couple of other games and also takes a wee while to get to certain points in the game
Brondby 2012-13 Champions League Group Stage, Part Two
With Anders Berg injured and out for a while, he would miss the trip to Moscow and the trip to London. After three defeats, it was imperative that Brondby took something in Russia, and in truth they really needed a win if they were to have any chance of not finishing bottom of this group. The match in Moscow though was just three minutes old when Sergey Ignashevich sent CSKA ahead from the penalty spot and when Alexandr Salugin made it two on 21 minutes the mountain was looking exceedingly impassable. Two minutes after half time, Birgir Joensen scored - but at the wrong end of the park. Yury Zhirkov made it four just short of the hour and this was turning into a nightmare. Christian Holst eventually salvaged a little bit of pride for the Danish Champions with seventeen minutes left to play, but in stoppage time Victor Dmitriev completed a miserable night that everyone associated with the club would want to forget. A five one hammering, and no chance now of reaching either the 2nd phase or indeed the UEFA Cup.
After such a heavy defeat, it was with real trepidation that Olaf took his side to London to face a Chelsea side who had already murdered Brondby 4-1 on their own patch. It took just sixteen minutes for Chelsea to take the lead through Adebayor, but fortunately for Brondby they didn't really feel like turning the screw and the match reached the 45 minutes at still that single goal to nil scoreline. Ten minutes after the restart Chelsea had a penalty, which Van Persie netted and any hopes of a consolation result were fading into the London night.
Eleven minutes from full time, Morten Clausen picked up a red card which would rule him out of the final match at home to Bayern and an injury time goal for Julio Baptista made sure of the win for the English champions and Brondby were now guaranteed the wooden spoon, as if they hadn't been already.
The final match at home to Bayern gave hope of some consolation. A win would be nice, a draw would be better than nothing and with Chelsea and CSKA having already secured the Champions League 2nd phase place, Bayern were consigned to the UEFA Cup. There was nothing to play for but pride, and with Anders Berg back it was hoped something could be gained that would prevent the Danes from ending with the infamous nil point. To be fair, this was possibly their best performance of the group, but a 30th minute strike from Fernando Torres was enough to give Bayern the win.
Six defeats from six, only 2 goals scored and 18 conceded, this had been an utter disaster for the Brondby side and it had to be wondered how a team that was about 75% of a Faroese national side that was top of their World Cup qualifying group could do quite so appallingly bad.
It was fair to say that the European campaign had been an unmittigated disaster. In many ways the manner of the beast seemed strange, given that Olaf had acquired a fair slice of the Faroese squad. Then again when all was said and done, he still hadn't acquired the whole Faroes squad and the other clubs in that group were probably greater than many international sides. It was a learning curve, and it could only be hoped that next time round the players would be better able to cope. Given that there would indeed be a next time, which was by no means guaranteed.
If the fans were looking for a guide to the domestic season ahead, they would get one early on as Champions Brondby took on Cup winners Kobenhavn in the Super Cup. This though was a match that the Brondby support would rather forget, starting badly by going behind after just four minutes, and 86 minutes & four more goals later they had been well and truly hammered. If this was a guide to the season, Olaf's side were in serious trouble.
The League season though started on a positive note with a good 4-2 away win over Silkeborg before Kobenhavn again stuck a hatchet into Brondby trophy chances with a 2-0 win. A draw, a win and another loss, this time to AGF saw a stuttering start to the title defence and the side was looking far from convincing. Eventually though, and despite the mauling's in the Champions League, the team began to settle down putting together a five match unbeaten League run before a 2-0 loss to AB and then anpther seven match unbeaten run was ended by Viborg before the final match of the first half the season and a vital 1-0 win over League leaders OB.
With 20 matches played, Brondby sit 2nd in the table with 36 points, two behind an OB side who had been threatening to run away with the title until Olaf's men put the brakes on them. In the Cup, the Quarter Finals have been reached after a shakey 2-0 win over B93 and then a revenge 3-0 thrashing of Kobenhavn. Come January, a few new faces arrived at Brondby Stadion as Olaf looked to strengthen the squad in the hope that a bit more competition would spur the players on to better performances. Left back Kristian Hojgaard was tempted back from his English exile with Crystal Palace where he had spent four and half successful season. Goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen comes in from Bochum, as does right winger Peter Damgaard who will hopefully provide something that neither Johan V Gunnarson nor Bardur Jensen seem to have been able to. Right back Tordur Mortensen has also been signed from FH and the full back cover is now looking a whole lot better. Looking to the future, and in come youngsters Allan Danielsen and Kristian Olsen, both of whom will be looking to convince the manager that they are ready for first team action.
The new players will hopefully provide whatever it is that had been lacking, and without the distraction of Europe, Olaf's side look well placed to go on and retain their title....
I spent two hours today at work reading the whole thing - brilliant stuff, especially the Faroes (couldn't really care less about Olaf once he left Copenhagen, though).
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