Welcome back to the DtG Writers Cup! Firstly, in this tournament, each person was assigned two letters to build a squad. Secondly they have been pitted against each other with some interesting results! After week one we had 4 games but as its been three weeks we’ve finished EIGHT matches to share with you in this article! Some will be more detailed than others but we’ll try and cover the important bits.

Part 1: ( http://dictatethegame.com/2019/08/02/fm19-writers-cup-season-1-introduction/ )

Week 2 Fixtures

Group A

Guyern Munich 3-3 Pelham North End

And what a way to start the weeks fixtures! With 4 goals in the last 5 mins and stoppage time, we saw Guyern Munich and Pelham North End serve up an absolute cracker of a match. Certainly a fairly even match according to the stats and it showed with two early goes a piece from Fernandinho and Edison Cavani. As a result that put the Pelham North End striker on three goals from two games.

Depite the lack of goals until the 85th minute, the game was by no means dull; lots of chances either side including a brilliant strike by Robert Firmino that struck the inside of the post but bounced out, there were definitely more goals in this one.

Then the game turned on its head 4 goals in 5 mins and stoppages was enough to bring back the joy of football. Both managers stated a draw was probably the fairest outcome, and after both winning their first game they were level on points at the top of group A.

Eric St Petersburg 0-1 Samdoria

On the other hand, a slightly less eventful match saw Son Heung-min score the only goal of the match with a tidy finish from fourteen yards. However with some other clear-cut chances for the home side they never managed to break down the asymmetric formation.

After this game Eric unfortunately decided to leave the Dictate The Game, so this will be his last match in the tournament. Also I’d just like to thank Eric for his work on the site and more notably, the podcast. Moreover he was a true asset and we wish you the best of luck with everything in the future.

Group B

Domcaster Rovers 3-1 RB Lukezig

In addition, this game was streamed on Twitch and was possibly my favorite game of Football Manager this year. Despite a very close game on paper, the home side overcame RB Lukezig in a 45 minute football manager game!

Firstly, Hazard scored a great goal, beating De Gea at his near post which rattled the home fans. However Domcaster came back, and Dembele scored a tidy finish from twelve yards. As a result The Domcaster Rovers manager was visibly ecstatic, as shown by this clip below:

https://www.twitch.tv/dictatethegame/clip/BumblingCleverDogeWoofer

Then going in level, Domcaster Rovers had the momentum, a goal from Robert Lewandowski settled the boat and Deulofeu scored from the bench to wrap up the points… or did it?

However with the game nearing its close, the Domcaster Rover’s manager experienced some technicaly faults and was kicked from the match. Subsequently leaving his awful inexperienced assistant to see out the win. The RB Lukezig team struggled to make an impact but at one point were playing around 8 players up front:

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late from the team bottom of Group B and will end week 2 still searching for some points.

Benfica 4-2 Ryan Brownpool FC

Similarly, Benfica continued their strong start to the group stages with an absolute demolishing of Ryan Brownpool FC. Despite Messi failing to turn up, the team scored 4 goals, including a brace from Mbappe. However with the statistics suggested the match was fairly even, the ruthlessness from Benfica showed they are a force to be reckoned with. On the other hand Ryan Brownpool looked nowhere near their sharpest and lacked sharpness in the final third. Bale and Richarlison scored concelation goals but Kylian Mbappe will be taking the headlines.

Week 3 Fixtures

Group A

Guyern Munich 1-1 Samdoria

The last game of Group A saw Samdoria draw with Guyern Munich. Samdoria dominated the game however they weren’t able to turn their dominance into a result. Firstly Kyle Walker scored early on to open the scoring. Despite a fairly stagnant game, Serge Gnabry scored a late goal to snatch a draw. The Guyern Munich camp said that they were lucky to scrape a draw, and despite this outcome Guyern Munich finish above Samdoria.

Group B

Benfica 4-0 Domcaster Rovers

 In the last set of matches in group B, Benfica definitely showed who are the strong favorites for the main event knockout stages. Domcaster Rovers never really turned up to the match and it showed in both the stats and the result. A hattrick from messi opened his account the tournament and Sadio Mane scored another. The last goal was scored at around 50th minute, and Domcaster Rovers changed to a more aggressive three up top. As a result this slowed the game down and there weren’t any more highlights after this game.

Ryan Brownpool FC 2-0 RB Lukezig

Lastly, in a match that would see Luke searching for his first point in the DtG Writers Cup. However would it be a return of the ‘score-more’ tactic in a desperate attempt to salvage a point from the game?

Above all, in a game you’d expect Ronaldo, Reus and Bale to produce the goods upfront, unfortunately it wasn’t to be for them. As a result the game suffered from attacking quality. Similarly from RB Lukezig, Aguero, Hazard, Higuain etc – they just didn’t show up. 

However it was Ryan Brownpool FC who ended the game on top, with 60% percent possession and a brace from centre midfielder Ivan Rakitic. Moreover the second goal was magnificent, a defensive error saw Luke’s defender clear it to Rakitic who was lingering on the edge of the area, and his timed effort was enough to beat Alisson. 

This was enough to see Ryan finish second also with Luke failing to secure a point in the three games played.

Tables

Every team played 3 games and were sorted by Points then goal difference.

Top Goalscorers

DtG Writers Cup: The Knockout Draw

Also teams were seeded so that in theory, 1st in both groups can meet in the final, and they have an easier route to the DtG Writers Cup final.

Lastly that’s the results for the DtG Writers Cup, and next article will see the quarter final and semi finals finished (6 games in total) for a large article on the final and 3rd place playoff.