The managers’ decision always changes the run of the matches. But some errors are more than crucial. The match between Newcastle United and Chelsea from the Round of 16 of The FA Cup in 2005 is a bright example of what you shouldn’t do if you are a football manager…

The weather was very cold and snowy. The staff at the St. James’ Park twice cleared the pitch from the snow before the start of the match. The home side looked very strong in attack, as Graeme Souness picked Alan Shearer and Patrick Kluivert up front and Kieron Dyer and Laurent Robert down the wings. Jose Mourinho decided to play with a little more defensive approach, picking Smertin, Geremi, Tiago and Jarosik in midfield and Joe Cole as an attacking midfielder, behind the only forward Kezman. Makelele, Drogba and John Terry were given a break by the Portuguese manager.

The hosts needed only 4 minutes to open the score. Patrick Kluivert scored a magnificent goal with his head, after a wonderful cross by Laurent Robert – 1-0! Then the forward Kezman hit the bar and Chelsea couldn’t equalize. Nothing more interesting happened until the end of the first half. After the break Jose Mourinho took a huge risk, using all his 3 substitutions at once! That was a very silly decision, because when the weather is bad and the pitch is not in excellent condition – injuries happen. However, Mourinho brought Lampard, Gudjohnsen and Damien Duff in. Shortly after the triple substitution, Wayne Bridge went out injured after a straight-out tackle by Shearer and Chelsea left with 10 men on the pitch.

With Chelsea’s new more attacking approach and the injury of Bridge, there was a lot of space in front of Newcastle United’s fast wingers, who made life really difficult for the Blues’ defence. Damien Duff also received an injury, but was forced to play injured. In the last minute of the regular time, the goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini was sent off, because he committed a foul outside his box against Shola Ameobi. The defender Glen Johnson had to take the goalkeeper’s position. The right fullback immediately made a wonderful save against Laurent Robert, who made a powerful shot from the free-kick.

At both ends, Newcastle United won the match 1-0 and made it to the quarterfinals of The FA Cup, where the team beat Tottenham 1-0, again with a Kluivert’s early goal. However The Magpies were knocked out in the semi-finals after a 1-4 defeat to Manchester United.

The Frenchman – Laurent Robert first showed his qualities at Montpellier, where he started his professional career in 1994. He was a typical left winger, who was showing great speed and pace, easily outrunning the defender. But, there was something special in that boy. He was able to score goals from any distance! He was also a free-kick master, making the goalkeepers helpless.

The French giants Paris Saint-Germain were watching at the talented winger and bought him in 1999. In the same year, Robert made his debut for the French national team (on 18th August against Northern Ireland). Eventually the winger recorded 1 goal (against Turkey in 2000) in 9 appearances for France. However, Laurent Robert stayed in Paris for only two seasons, before Newcastle pay £9.5 m. for the Frenchman!

Laurent Robert had a serious impact on The Magpies. He became one of the key players in the team. The Frenchman spent 4 seasons at St. James’ Park and was an integral part of the Newcastle’s starting eleven. He scored 32 goals with the Magpies’ colours. In his 4 years at Newcastle, Robert scored 4 goals against Arsenal, 3 against Liverpool and once against Manchester United. Most of his goals were from direct free-kicks.

It’s interesting that Robert’s goal from a free-kick against Liverpool in 2005, which was crucial for Newcastle to qualify for the Champions League was used in the film “Goal!” To continue with, Robert then played on loan at Portsmouth, before moving to Benfica in 2006. But, why did he leave Newcastle United? He had problems with the new manager Graeme Souness, because Robert criticized him publicly. Moreover, the Frenchman also criticized all the Newcastle squad and the management of the team decided to get rid of one of the best left wingers in The Premier League.

In the last years of his career, Laurent Robert switched several clubs – Levante, Derby County, Toronto FC and Larissa, before retiring in 2009.

England smashed Scotland 3-0 in the fourth round of the European qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia. That was the 113th match between these two teams! It’s interesting that all the goals in the match were scored with headers. And that was the biggest victory for England from the beginning of the qualifying campaign.

The captain Wayne Rooney returned to the England’s starting line-up, to record his 119th appearance with the Three Lions’ shirt. He has recently been in a good shape and deserved to be included in the squad! And his performance proved Gareth Southgate has taken the right decision. To continue with, the Torino on-loan goalkeeper Joe Hart and the defenders Rose, Stones, Cahill and Walker gave Scotland forwards no chance in front of goal. Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson and Wayne Rooney pulled the strings in midfield. Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana were the wingers and Daniel Sturridge played up front.

England was the better team during the whole match. The Three Lions had the possession of the ball in 61 % of the time! However, they managed to open the score in the 23rd minute, when Daniel Sturridge tucked the ball away with a header after a great delivery by Kyle Walker, who was involved in the attack.

Gareth Southgate’s players couldn’t score more goals before the break. But, they started to play even better after the half time. The second goal of the game was scored by Adam Lallana just 5 minutes into the second half, after a good cross by Danny Rose. 10 minutes later, Gary Cahill converted a Wayne Rooney’s cross from a corner kick into a goal, to fix the final score – 3-0!

That was maybe one of the best performances for England for 2016. With the victory, The Three Lions collected 10 points and they are topping the table. Scotland have won 4 points so far (5th place in the standings).

Legia (Warsaw) and Real Madrid finished with a sensational draw (3-3) in the 2nd match of the group stage between these two teams. The Spaniards totally dominated and took a 2-0 lead during the first half. Gareth Bale opened the score with a magnificent volley from outside the box. Karim Benzema doubled the score in the 35th minute of the match. Meanwhile, Los Blancos missed a lot of chances, including a clearance from the goal line. However, the host team managed to score a goal just before the end of the first half. Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe became the goal-scorer for Legia Warsaw.

The miracle was a fact in the second half, when the experienced midfielder Miroslav Radovic equalized in the 58th minute. That’s his second goal against Los Blancos, as Radovic found the net in the first game between these two teams. It looked like the match will finish with the score of 2-2, but the home team took advantage of a great attack and Thibault Moulin gave Legia the lead for the first time in the game with just 7 minutes to go.

Then, Real Madrid started to attack even more aggressively. Just 2 minutes after Zinedine Zidane’s players conceded the 3rd goal, they managed to equalize after Mateo Kovacic’s good shot – 3-3! In the last minutes of the game Lucas Vazquez could even win the match for real Madrid, but the Spaniard saw his shot hit the bar.

Los Blancos are on a run of 27 consecutive games without a defeat in all competitions, but after this draw the team left in second position in the standings of Group F, after Borussia Dortmund won their match against Sporting Lisbon. The Polish team earned its first point in this year’s edition of the most prestigious European club tournament. With the point they won, Legia could even dream about the 3rd place in the group, but they will have to beat Sporting Lisbon in the last match of the group stage!

Real Madrid smashed Deportivo Alaves 4-1 away from home and kept their first position in the standings of the Primera Division. Ronaldo again showed his great goal-scoring abilities and found the net on three occasions. Los Blancos are still unbeaten from the beginning of the season in all competitions and have collected 24 points in the Spanish league.

There was obviously nothing special about the match, but when Alaves went in front with Deyverson’s goal in the 7th minute, a few minutes later Real Madrid received the chance to take a penalty. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up and what did he see… A crazy fan of Deportivo Alaves, who was showing his genitals metres away from Ronaldo’s face. However, The Portuguese goal-scoring machine didn’t distract and scored the equalizer.

If you see the replays from the game, you can also see some fans showing the lowest part of the back to the Real Madrid players. Maybe this is the unadulterated way of support from Deportivo Alaves’ fans, but in that case it didn’t work, because the visitors bagged 4 goals in total, but it may helped during the second penalty, taken by Ronaldo, which was missed by the forward.

On the other hand, Deportivo Alaves are lying in 15th place in the standings of Primera Division and the team will surely be involved in the relegation battle this season. But don’t forget that Alaves managed to win their away match against Barcelona, so it is most likely they remain in the top flight of the Spanish football.

At both ends, I am not sure whether the Alaves fans have tried to distract Lionel Messi and the other Barcelona stars, but they, for sure, will be remembered by Cristiano Ronaldo, who will have just one picture in his mind in the next few weeks after this match.