The Rundown -- Checking in with Liverpool and the Rest of the Premier League at the Second International Break
If you are a Liverpool fan, this international break has settled in leaving a sweet, not bitter, taste in one's mouth. For the vast majority of other clubs barring a couple of exceptions (Chelsea and Crystal Palace, of note) things may not be going as well as was hoped. Eight matches in and our first two tastes of European competition have told us a good deal about the teams in England but it is still too early to draw sweeping conclusions. Let's venture around the league and check in with some of the key stories.
Liverpool Lead and the Rest of the Top Six:
It was perhaps the perfect weekend for a Liverpool fan to leave football fans without soccer for a weekend. Starting with a 2-1 victory over Leicester, Liverpool got to see Wolves top Manchester City and currently enjoy an eight-point lead by way of winning all eight matches this season. There have been some worrying spots with the side that need to be addressed before delving into the good. Since the last international break, all matches barring the League Cup bout with MK Dons have had their concerns. Newcastle scored first. Napoli took three points (albeit, in a decent away performance with a very tough side). Chelsea nearly erased a 2-0 lead over thirty minutes of play. The Reds needed a goalkeeping error to get past Sheffield United. Salzburg did, in fact, erase a 3-0 lead before conceding a second Mo Salah goal. Then, of course, you have the 95th minute penalty converted by James Milner.
The good news is that these are exactly the types of 'win ugly' games that you hear about teams winning if they are to win a championship. Even without arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, and with some uncertainty in the back line that has lacked the clean sheets of last season, things are still looking impressive especially in the league. It has been more of the same lately for Liverpool. I would single out Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in attack as having been superb. Firmino has remained my player of the season for Liverpool and deserves the praise he receives. I also firmly believe that Mane is a world-class winger for a myriad of reasons. He has become a lovely finisher especially in his favored areas (angled shots from the left wing inside the box into the far, top, corner are absolutely clinical) and has the pace and dribbling skills to take on virtually any right back in the world if given the space. In the midfield, Fabinho has become undroppable and forty million pounds is quickly looking like a bargain for the defensive midfielder. It took him some months to settle in, but with nearly a full year of being in the line-up he has anchored the midfield as the ball-winning CDM Liverpool have been crying out for since Javier Mascherano left for Barcelona. To sum things up, the team, it is clear, have bought in on Jurgen Klopp's ideas. This is what you get when you keep a core of top-class players in place and is why retaining your top players is that much more important for a world-class team than simply bringing in players.
Manchester City sit alone on sixteen points, and Arsenal on fifteen in third, but it is a three-way tie on fourteen points with Leicester, Chelsea, and Crystal Palace, in that order, sitting fourth, fifth, and sixth. Each of these teams are varying levels of happy right now and, ironically, the second and third placed teams are likely the least thrilled of their seasons thus far. City are wading through the storm of a center back crisis with Aymeric Laporte and John Stones both out for a handful of matches thus far and, in Laporte's case, face an extended period on the sideline. In their place are Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho, one center back who has been to blame for some crucial opposing goals in the Norwich and Wolves losses, and one player who is not a true center back. The shaky play from City has been the big story of this second 'period' of season in between the international breaks as they book-ended it with their two losses this season. They are still a dynamite squad with a wealth of riches, especially in midfield, as Kevin De Bruyne is expected to be back in the squad after the break. The response will need to be strong from City especially as they venture to Anfield shortly.
Arsenal have a right to be disappointed in their inconsistent play thus far, but they still sit third in the league and have a golden opportunity to at the very least finish in the top four. They've been good -- in Europa League especially. They've been bad -- blowing a 2-0 lead to Watford, falling behind to Aston Villa, Liverpool as a whole. They've been, well, meh -- the Manchester United game is closer to bad then average, but the 1-0 win over Bournemouth was about as pedestrian a win you can get. The identity of Arsenal has been talented players and youth products surrounded by players like David Luiz and Granit Xhaka who on occasion do things that make fans just hold their heads and question their judgment. They do not have another 'big six' opponent since Manchester City over two months from now, so they could be able to stake a claim in the top four, or let a side like Leicester or West Ham slip in. We will need to wait and see which Arsenal shows up over the next month or two.
Finally, let's acknowledge the three teams on fourteen points. Leicester have been the surprise team of the season, though, to be fair, most expected this side to be solid. James Maddison, Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans, Ben Chilwell, Caglar Soyuncu, Harvey Barnes, and Hamza Choudhury are all 23 or younger but have started at least half the games (Tielemans and Soyuncu have started all eight). Led by Brendan Rodgers, this is a quietly deep side especially in midfield that has found a stellar center back pairing in the outstanding Soyuncu and rock-solid veteran Jonny Evans. Chelsea, too, are profiting from youth. Tammy Abraham leads the Premier League with eight goals over eight matches while Mason Mount helps pull the strings as a CAM behind Abraham or on the wing. You also have a pair of U23 center backs in Fikayo Tomori and Andreas Christensen. I expected Chelsea to struggle and I questioned if Mount and Abraham could perform at this level, but full marks to them thus far for impressing early on. That said, if I could make one critique of the two young attackers Abraham and Mount, they were very quiet in the games against Liverpool, Valencia, and Lille. I would like to see them show up a bit more in the brightest lit stages if Chelsea are to get into the UCL quarters or finish in the top four. Finally, Palace sit in sixth place after a thrilling 2-1 away victory over West Ham despite going down early in the second half. They responded well to their 4-0 loss against Tottenham to put themselves in a strong early position. Wilfred Zaha has been the star, no surprise, but Jordan Ayew has scored three goals and made himself the top goalscorer for the side. They lack youth (Max Meyer was 23 at the start of the season and is now 24, he has played 156 minutes, he is the lone U23 player at the start of the season to start a match for Palace) and make up for it with veterans throughout the squad of the Premier League.
Tottenham and Manchester United -- The Struggles:
In a negative manner, though, two other teams have been making headlines. Tottenham sit ninth in the table while United entered the break 12th and just two points off relegation places. It is incredibly early stages still of the season, and United have an immediate chance to swing the momentum pendulum with a Northwest Derby at Old Trafford, but the negativity is there for both of these teams.
We start in North London with the higher-placed team in the table. Spurs have won just three games in all competitions this season. They were trounced at home to Bayern Munich 7-2, eliminated on penalties to Colchester in the League Cup, and most recently were beaten 3-0 by Brighton with little resistance. Stories have come out of the Spurs camp saying that Mauricio Pochettino has lost the locker room. Christian Eriksen, it is known, wants to try a new challenge in his career with Real Madrid. Hugo Lloris has also dislocated his elbow and is expected out until at least the new year, to add injury to insult. Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon, summer signings along with Tanguy Ndombele, have both been out injured and unable to contribute fully yet to the side this season. Things are not entirely negative. Harry Kane remains his typical goal-scoring self. Ndombele has been an immediate positive to the side. Heung-Min Son has also been superb still. The injuries and remaining cast, though, has simply not been up to par. The squad talent is there, but will the motivation in this next run of games which includes a visit to Anfield?
Manchester United, on the other hand, have been simply awful since their 4-0 opening match victory over Chelsea. Since then they have won twice: home to Leicester 1-0 and home to FC Astana 1-0. The time is now for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's future to be decided, and reports are coming that he will be given the Liverpool match at Old Trafford and beyond to continue to lead the way for United. Also faced with gutting injuries to the squad including to Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Eric Bailly, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and a host of others who either remain out of have not been able to get to full fitness yet this season. Lack of attacking depth has meant Marcus Rashford is being forced to shoulder the load with unreasonable expectations on him, as well as plenty of pressure on eighteen-year-old Mason Greenwood to play an important squad role with all the injuries in the first-team squad. There does seem to be some vision within the squad assembly as Wan-Bissaka (when fit), Harry Maguire, and Daniel James have all had strong starts to the season. There still remains areas of need and areas of dead weight for United to clear out. Solkjaer has been promised time, but we'll see if that was just empty words.
Other Surprises -- Good and Bad -- and Rounding Out the League:
Starting with the bad first, the obvious example here are Everton who sit in relegation places at 18th by way of goals scored (6v8 for Southampton). Everton are on a run of four straight league losses (five of their last six) and Marco Silva is feeling the pressure from fans for this recent run of results. To me, a big shifting point has been that Everton no longer feel like that side with tons of young promising English talent. Most of those touted two or three years ago are here. Tom Davies is an okay midfielder. Mason Holgate's career has seemed to be stop-and-start. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a striker who struggles to score. Jonjoe Kenny is tearing it up...on loan with Schalke while Ademola Lookman joined Leipzig over the summer permanently. Instead, brought in have been a mix of young players with promise and in solid form already (Moise Kean, Richarlison, Alex Iwobi, Jean-Philippe Gbamin) mixed with elite club cast-offs (Lucas Digne, Yerry Mina, Andre Gomes, Morgan Schneiderlin, Djibril Sidibe, Fabian Delph), combined finally with players picked from weaker squads (Michael Keane, Jordan Pickford, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Bernard). This was a team, especially in the 2017-18 season, wasted an obscene amount of money when comparing that squad to those who remain in this season's squad. Marco Silva will need to do a good bit of work to get Everton into the clear before a brutal December 1-January 1 stretch of five big four sides and Leicester in a month.
Two of the more positive teams have been West Ham, who sit in eighth, and Burnley, who sit in seventh. West Ham just have not been able to get the results they have needed to get into the top four early on. Whether that's dropping their second half lead to Palace or failing to score against Aston Villa, they will likely be disappointed that they are only in eighth right now. Sebastien Haller has been a revelation on a top, top, signing. Burnley are rolling along again after struggling last season, perhaps due to early-season European balance, but also with less-than-average play overall. Dwight McNeil is the youngest player in the league to start all eight matches, Erik Pieters has been outstanding at left back all season, and the Ben Mee/James Tarkowski center back duo has been superb as ever. In attack, Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood, and new signing Jay Rodriguez all offer something different but each suits the Burnley style of play in a different way -- Barnes leading the line, Wood as a target man with hold-up skills, and Rodriguez as a more pacey and direct offering off the bench. They look to be a team to watch with big fixtures against Leicester and Chelsea on deck.
Some final quick wrap-up thoughts on some of the other teams I did not mention yet. Wolves seem to finally be settling into a rhythm with squad rotation and balance between the league and European competition. Sheffield United at 13th have been a surprise. They are a well-drilled side that play strong defense but can really hit on the counter attack, perhaps even better than Burnley at times. Watford were the first side to fire their manager, bringing back Quique Sanches Flores to help shore up a struggling defense. They were the last side to start a U23 player in the league this season (Ismaila Sarr), but they also have scored just four goals. This is a squad that has avoided relegation and actually performed well in their previous few seasons in the Premier League. I find it hard to see how they can right the ship playing at their current level. Norwich City after the result of the season with an injury-ravaged side against Manchester City have lost their last three games by a 9-1 combined score. They have conceded 21 goals, most in the league, but a young core means that relegation (I know, early to be considering this, but it seems to be a decent possibility) is not at all a death knoll. Brighton have looked good early, playing under Graham Potter with an identity, and Villa have had some fine moments. Southampton and Newcastle both are very shaky and Newcastle have scored just five goals. Joelinton and Miguel Almiron's poor starts to the season have been the most noticeable in a struggling side overall. If the relegation battle comes down to them and Southampton, I rate Southampton based on manager, ability to score, and the fact that Saints's defense is not that weak either.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for more LFC coverage, including live Tweets during the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and other much more general soccer coverage!
Liverpool Lead and the Rest of the Top Six:
It was perhaps the perfect weekend for a Liverpool fan to leave football fans without soccer for a weekend. Starting with a 2-1 victory over Leicester, Liverpool got to see Wolves top Manchester City and currently enjoy an eight-point lead by way of winning all eight matches this season. There have been some worrying spots with the side that need to be addressed before delving into the good. Since the last international break, all matches barring the League Cup bout with MK Dons have had their concerns. Newcastle scored first. Napoli took three points (albeit, in a decent away performance with a very tough side). Chelsea nearly erased a 2-0 lead over thirty minutes of play. The Reds needed a goalkeeping error to get past Sheffield United. Salzburg did, in fact, erase a 3-0 lead before conceding a second Mo Salah goal. Then, of course, you have the 95th minute penalty converted by James Milner.
The good news is that these are exactly the types of 'win ugly' games that you hear about teams winning if they are to win a championship. Even without arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, and with some uncertainty in the back line that has lacked the clean sheets of last season, things are still looking impressive especially in the league. It has been more of the same lately for Liverpool. I would single out Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in attack as having been superb. Firmino has remained my player of the season for Liverpool and deserves the praise he receives. I also firmly believe that Mane is a world-class winger for a myriad of reasons. He has become a lovely finisher especially in his favored areas (angled shots from the left wing inside the box into the far, top, corner are absolutely clinical) and has the pace and dribbling skills to take on virtually any right back in the world if given the space. In the midfield, Fabinho has become undroppable and forty million pounds is quickly looking like a bargain for the defensive midfielder. It took him some months to settle in, but with nearly a full year of being in the line-up he has anchored the midfield as the ball-winning CDM Liverpool have been crying out for since Javier Mascherano left for Barcelona. To sum things up, the team, it is clear, have bought in on Jurgen Klopp's ideas. This is what you get when you keep a core of top-class players in place and is why retaining your top players is that much more important for a world-class team than simply bringing in players.
Manchester City sit alone on sixteen points, and Arsenal on fifteen in third, but it is a three-way tie on fourteen points with Leicester, Chelsea, and Crystal Palace, in that order, sitting fourth, fifth, and sixth. Each of these teams are varying levels of happy right now and, ironically, the second and third placed teams are likely the least thrilled of their seasons thus far. City are wading through the storm of a center back crisis with Aymeric Laporte and John Stones both out for a handful of matches thus far and, in Laporte's case, face an extended period on the sideline. In their place are Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho, one center back who has been to blame for some crucial opposing goals in the Norwich and Wolves losses, and one player who is not a true center back. The shaky play from City has been the big story of this second 'period' of season in between the international breaks as they book-ended it with their two losses this season. They are still a dynamite squad with a wealth of riches, especially in midfield, as Kevin De Bruyne is expected to be back in the squad after the break. The response will need to be strong from City especially as they venture to Anfield shortly.
Arsenal have a right to be disappointed in their inconsistent play thus far, but they still sit third in the league and have a golden opportunity to at the very least finish in the top four. They've been good -- in Europa League especially. They've been bad -- blowing a 2-0 lead to Watford, falling behind to Aston Villa, Liverpool as a whole. They've been, well, meh -- the Manchester United game is closer to bad then average, but the 1-0 win over Bournemouth was about as pedestrian a win you can get. The identity of Arsenal has been talented players and youth products surrounded by players like David Luiz and Granit Xhaka who on occasion do things that make fans just hold their heads and question their judgment. They do not have another 'big six' opponent since Manchester City over two months from now, so they could be able to stake a claim in the top four, or let a side like Leicester or West Ham slip in. We will need to wait and see which Arsenal shows up over the next month or two.
Finally, let's acknowledge the three teams on fourteen points. Leicester have been the surprise team of the season, though, to be fair, most expected this side to be solid. James Maddison, Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans, Ben Chilwell, Caglar Soyuncu, Harvey Barnes, and Hamza Choudhury are all 23 or younger but have started at least half the games (Tielemans and Soyuncu have started all eight). Led by Brendan Rodgers, this is a quietly deep side especially in midfield that has found a stellar center back pairing in the outstanding Soyuncu and rock-solid veteran Jonny Evans. Chelsea, too, are profiting from youth. Tammy Abraham leads the Premier League with eight goals over eight matches while Mason Mount helps pull the strings as a CAM behind Abraham or on the wing. You also have a pair of U23 center backs in Fikayo Tomori and Andreas Christensen. I expected Chelsea to struggle and I questioned if Mount and Abraham could perform at this level, but full marks to them thus far for impressing early on. That said, if I could make one critique of the two young attackers Abraham and Mount, they were very quiet in the games against Liverpool, Valencia, and Lille. I would like to see them show up a bit more in the brightest lit stages if Chelsea are to get into the UCL quarters or finish in the top four. Finally, Palace sit in sixth place after a thrilling 2-1 away victory over West Ham despite going down early in the second half. They responded well to their 4-0 loss against Tottenham to put themselves in a strong early position. Wilfred Zaha has been the star, no surprise, but Jordan Ayew has scored three goals and made himself the top goalscorer for the side. They lack youth (Max Meyer was 23 at the start of the season and is now 24, he has played 156 minutes, he is the lone U23 player at the start of the season to start a match for Palace) and make up for it with veterans throughout the squad of the Premier League.
Tottenham and Manchester United -- The Struggles:
In a negative manner, though, two other teams have been making headlines. Tottenham sit ninth in the table while United entered the break 12th and just two points off relegation places. It is incredibly early stages still of the season, and United have an immediate chance to swing the momentum pendulum with a Northwest Derby at Old Trafford, but the negativity is there for both of these teams.
We start in North London with the higher-placed team in the table. Spurs have won just three games in all competitions this season. They were trounced at home to Bayern Munich 7-2, eliminated on penalties to Colchester in the League Cup, and most recently were beaten 3-0 by Brighton with little resistance. Stories have come out of the Spurs camp saying that Mauricio Pochettino has lost the locker room. Christian Eriksen, it is known, wants to try a new challenge in his career with Real Madrid. Hugo Lloris has also dislocated his elbow and is expected out until at least the new year, to add injury to insult. Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon, summer signings along with Tanguy Ndombele, have both been out injured and unable to contribute fully yet to the side this season. Things are not entirely negative. Harry Kane remains his typical goal-scoring self. Ndombele has been an immediate positive to the side. Heung-Min Son has also been superb still. The injuries and remaining cast, though, has simply not been up to par. The squad talent is there, but will the motivation in this next run of games which includes a visit to Anfield?
Manchester United, on the other hand, have been simply awful since their 4-0 opening match victory over Chelsea. Since then they have won twice: home to Leicester 1-0 and home to FC Astana 1-0. The time is now for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's future to be decided, and reports are coming that he will be given the Liverpool match at Old Trafford and beyond to continue to lead the way for United. Also faced with gutting injuries to the squad including to Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Eric Bailly, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and a host of others who either remain out of have not been able to get to full fitness yet this season. Lack of attacking depth has meant Marcus Rashford is being forced to shoulder the load with unreasonable expectations on him, as well as plenty of pressure on eighteen-year-old Mason Greenwood to play an important squad role with all the injuries in the first-team squad. There does seem to be some vision within the squad assembly as Wan-Bissaka (when fit), Harry Maguire, and Daniel James have all had strong starts to the season. There still remains areas of need and areas of dead weight for United to clear out. Solkjaer has been promised time, but we'll see if that was just empty words.
Other Surprises -- Good and Bad -- and Rounding Out the League:
Starting with the bad first, the obvious example here are Everton who sit in relegation places at 18th by way of goals scored (6v8 for Southampton). Everton are on a run of four straight league losses (five of their last six) and Marco Silva is feeling the pressure from fans for this recent run of results. To me, a big shifting point has been that Everton no longer feel like that side with tons of young promising English talent. Most of those touted two or three years ago are here. Tom Davies is an okay midfielder. Mason Holgate's career has seemed to be stop-and-start. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a striker who struggles to score. Jonjoe Kenny is tearing it up...on loan with Schalke while Ademola Lookman joined Leipzig over the summer permanently. Instead, brought in have been a mix of young players with promise and in solid form already (Moise Kean, Richarlison, Alex Iwobi, Jean-Philippe Gbamin) mixed with elite club cast-offs (Lucas Digne, Yerry Mina, Andre Gomes, Morgan Schneiderlin, Djibril Sidibe, Fabian Delph), combined finally with players picked from weaker squads (Michael Keane, Jordan Pickford, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Bernard). This was a team, especially in the 2017-18 season, wasted an obscene amount of money when comparing that squad to those who remain in this season's squad. Marco Silva will need to do a good bit of work to get Everton into the clear before a brutal December 1-January 1 stretch of five big four sides and Leicester in a month.
Two of the more positive teams have been West Ham, who sit in eighth, and Burnley, who sit in seventh. West Ham just have not been able to get the results they have needed to get into the top four early on. Whether that's dropping their second half lead to Palace or failing to score against Aston Villa, they will likely be disappointed that they are only in eighth right now. Sebastien Haller has been a revelation on a top, top, signing. Burnley are rolling along again after struggling last season, perhaps due to early-season European balance, but also with less-than-average play overall. Dwight McNeil is the youngest player in the league to start all eight matches, Erik Pieters has been outstanding at left back all season, and the Ben Mee/James Tarkowski center back duo has been superb as ever. In attack, Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood, and new signing Jay Rodriguez all offer something different but each suits the Burnley style of play in a different way -- Barnes leading the line, Wood as a target man with hold-up skills, and Rodriguez as a more pacey and direct offering off the bench. They look to be a team to watch with big fixtures against Leicester and Chelsea on deck.
Some final quick wrap-up thoughts on some of the other teams I did not mention yet. Wolves seem to finally be settling into a rhythm with squad rotation and balance between the league and European competition. Sheffield United at 13th have been a surprise. They are a well-drilled side that play strong defense but can really hit on the counter attack, perhaps even better than Burnley at times. Watford were the first side to fire their manager, bringing back Quique Sanches Flores to help shore up a struggling defense. They were the last side to start a U23 player in the league this season (Ismaila Sarr), but they also have scored just four goals. This is a squad that has avoided relegation and actually performed well in their previous few seasons in the Premier League. I find it hard to see how they can right the ship playing at their current level. Norwich City after the result of the season with an injury-ravaged side against Manchester City have lost their last three games by a 9-1 combined score. They have conceded 21 goals, most in the league, but a young core means that relegation (I know, early to be considering this, but it seems to be a decent possibility) is not at all a death knoll. Brighton have looked good early, playing under Graham Potter with an identity, and Villa have had some fine moments. Southampton and Newcastle both are very shaky and Newcastle have scored just five goals. Joelinton and Miguel Almiron's poor starts to the season have been the most noticeable in a struggling side overall. If the relegation battle comes down to them and Southampton, I rate Southampton based on manager, ability to score, and the fact that Saints's defense is not that weak either.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for more LFC coverage, including live Tweets during the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and other much more general soccer coverage!
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