The European season is unfolding in style. Finally, pictures are starting to form. One game is a fluke, two games is perspective, three, though, is when shapes become clearer, lines are drawn. We now know, for example, that Arsenal aren’t that much different from last year. We know, too, that Liverpool have a bit more bite to them than we thought.
It is clear, too, that Xabi Alonso might be a good manager, บาร์เซโลน่า lack depth, and Man City will be up-and-down and then end up finishing third. There’s a lot to break down: storylines to follow, sketches to make sense of, goals to enjoy.
BALLGM US presents The Euro XI, with 11 key observations from the weekend.
The European season is unfolding in style. Finally, pictures are starting to form. One game is a fluke, two games is perspective, three, though, is when shapes become clearer, lines are drawn. We now know, for example, that Arsenal aren’t that much different from last year. We know, too, that Liverpool have a bit more bite to them than we thought.
It is clear, too, that Xabi Alonso might be a good manager, Barcelona lack depth, and Man City will be up-and-down and then end up finishing third. There’s a lot to break down: storylines to follow, sketches to make sense of, goals to enjoy.
BALLGM US presents The Euro XI, with 11 key observations from the weekend.
So Mikel Arteta decided to show up and play for a draw. Snooze. We’ve heard this story before. But this was a seriously painful way of playing football, when Arsenal showed up to Anfield with four centerbacks and three defensive midfielders, as well as a Victor Gyokeres up front.
What, exactly, are you supposed to do with that in an attacking sense? Well, Arsenal were very, very good defensively. But everything else was fiercely unwatchable. Seriously, did anything happen for most of that game? Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai delivered the right foot of karmic justice, absolutely pinging one into the top corner from 35 yards to secure a 1-0 win. Good.
Right? The Cityzens looked like world beaters when they put four past Wolves to open the season. In Tijjani Reijnders they had Kevin De Bruyne 2.0. เออร์ลิ่ง ฮาลันด์ was back scoring goals. Title on. Except it’s very much not.
Since then, they have lost two in a row, including a 2-1 defeat to a wonderfully well-drilled ไบรท์ตัน team. James Milner, 39, scored the equalizer, which is admittedly funny. City will still probably finish third.
Is it possible to dislike Jack Grealish? If it is, no one seems to know how. He is football’s perfect court jester – except he’s like, really good at this sport. Grealish is an immense talent, a true maverick in an era of robots.
His role in the extended Premier League cinematic universe has always been that of the best player on a mid-table team, the undisputed main man that can convince a manager to make an exception to his system. And he was at it again for Everton, assisting two in a convincing win for the Toffees. Grealish is smiling. So are Everton fans. Somehow, everything just feels fine as a result.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Newcastle could really use a No. 9. Of course, the Alexander Isak saga has clouded their whole season so far. He was their undisputed superstar. He didn’t want to play for them, and now he plays for Liverpool. It’s all wonderful content. Now, though, they’re left with a big German fella who has to score all of the goals. He didn’t play at the weekend, but he will need to start banging ’em in to dispel the ghost of Swedish striker past.
Bruno Fernandes seemed rather happy when he buried a last minute penalty to beat เบิร์นลีย์. It’s the first time someone has looked happy at Man United for quite some time. There might have actually been something reasonably comforting about it all.
Try really hard, and you just might feel bad for them. What his goal did, in reality, is save Ruben Amorim’s job for at least another week or two. This is a results-oriented business, remember, and losing to Burnley at home would have seen him booted. But now he lives to survive another couple weeks – which is a little boring.
Do managers leave Manchester United and then immediately become subject to a terrible curse that follows them around for all eternity? Perhaps. That seems to be what happened to Erik Ten Hag, who, after accepting the ไบเออร์ เลเวอร์คูเซ่น job this summer – and lasted just two บุนเดสลีกา games before being fired.
How did this happen? Surely he doesn’t deserve it. A loss and a draw don’t really mean anything. The word is that the Leverkusen locker room is a mess, and a mass clearout this summer has brought about a little instability. Rational response: fire the guy who just walked through the door. Makes sense.
Everyone loves to claim that VAR is against them and สำหรับ their rivals. And it’s all a bit much, really. No, there is not an agenda against your club. Yes, you probably should just start winning. Sure, decisions are poor now and then, but it usually just comes out in the wash.
The issue is, the VAR haters do have real grounds for hatred after this weekend, when a power outage meant the VAR didn’t work in the Barcelona-Rayo Vallecano game. It ended in a 1-1 draw, but had the technology functioned, VAR probably would have overturned a Barca penalty – which Lamine Yamal dutifully converted. It decided to wake up again, of course, for when Rayo needed a winner (correctly) chalked off. Not great.
We can all stop freaking out now. The เรอัลมาดริด revolution is well underway. Xabi Alonso is here, and he is saving the world, one genius substitution at a time. No, it doesn’t matter that he is in charge of a massively disjointed squad, or that he doesn’t have a striker.
Madrid are here, and 90 minutes is a long time at the Santiago Bernabeu. This is all a little hyperbolic, of course. But Madrid won again. They are now undefeated with three victories on the trot. Is it their time, or will this thing collapse as soon as they play someone decent? Time to find out.
It was a weird week of firings. A trio of former Manchester United managers were all let go from their respective positions. First, Jose Mourinho left เฟเนร์บาห์เช่. Then, Ole Gunar Solskjaer was removed from Besiktas (seriously, something must be in the water in Turkey). Ten Hag rounded it off.
The latter two are sad – it’s never nice to see someone fired. But Mourinho getting shown the door is juicy. The Portuguese manager admitted last year that his next post could be a Premier League side fighting relegation. Well, it’s not looking good for เวสต์แฮม at the moment. C’mon. Do it.
Oliver Glasner pulled the nuclear option over the weekend. On transfer deadline day, it seemed that คริสตัล พาเลซ were going to sell their captain and best player, center back Marc Guehi to Liverpool. The fee had been agreed. The medical had been completed. Glasner, Palace’s highly-regarded manager, then pulled the ultimate power move: sell my captain, and I walk. Palace, of course, hung onto Guehi. Glasner is still here. Juicy stuff.
It’s hard to get jazzed up about the French league. After all, it’s pretty predictable: PSG are going to absolutely walk it, no matter what happens. They don’t always make easy work of everything, but when they’re on, they play some of the best football you’ll ever see. Joao Neves, with his hat-trick at the weekend, showed how good they can be.
