I like Brown in the midfield.

From what I saw, Dombrowski definitely started in central mid alongside Poltl. Brown started at right mid, not Dombrowski. And I disagree with your comment that yanking Bagley at half was the right move. Of the four attack-ish minded players in the lineup (Bagley, Suzuki, Brown, and Guante), Bagley was the most effective of the four. Bringing on Karalexis for an attacker was the right move, but I would have taken out Suzuki or Guante and played with Bagley as the lone striker.

Otherwise, can’t really fault the players or manager. Like you said, it was a strange game all around and all tactics and plans kind of get thrown out the window when you’re two men down. The guys played with a lot of heart and effort, and when you’re struggling as much as they are recently, at least that’s something.

Finally, last night was more proof that the standard of reffing in this league is getting poorer. Not just the two reds (which I thought were yellows, but not straight reds), and I hate blaming the refs and always harping on them every game, but last night I watched from the library, and the linesman right in front of me spent half the game aligning himself with the most advanced attacker and half his time aligning himself with the ball. Seriously. That’s basic reffing 101 stuff, and it was pretty sad to see that he seemed so clueless and was purposefully aligning himself in the wrong position half the time.

I only caught Tommy’s foul in my periphery (looked like a studs-up high boot, but I could be wrong) and as you said he didn’t complain. Scot’s sending off was simply ridiculous, never a red and maybe a yellow. The team played their guts out and it was crushing that we didn’t hold on for the win; but the guts-playing-out part is important, and I’m happy for the team to go into a long break on at least some kind of up note.

I was pissed Bagley had to go off at halftime (as you said, right move), and would have liked to see Guante get yanked (though I didn’t realize Gregor wasn’t in uniform). Taka and Leo once again underperformed. This squad is not as deep as once I thought, and thank gosh for the break to lick some wounds. I want to see the All-Bolkan squad out there to face Juventus.