It was a big week in club soccer as the teams get prepared for the international break. Too many managers these weeks are going to be frustrated with the break. As it puts them two weeks without the squad and they can’t fix many of the problems that team have. So any team coming from a win, it is huge they go into the break in a good mood and will most likely keep their form, On the other hand, the teams that lose don’t have a chance to work on the problems and will only have 2 or 3 days before the next matchup.
England
The big match up of the weekend was Liverpool vs Arsenal. Many expected a high scoring match from both teams as they both are considered to have leaky defenses. Yet, only one team showed up at Anfield and that was Liverpool. The Reds won the game 4-0 dominating both half of the game creating chance after chance. They showed that they could still be elite even without Coutinho in the side. They have to fight off Barcelona for a couple more days but if they lose the Brazilian to a transfer the front three of Saido Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mouhammed Salah will have no problem scoring and creating chances.
Arsenal though probably had their worst performance in the last five years falling to put a single shot on target. This has lead many Arsenal fans to bring back the campaign of Wenger out. To make matters worse Arsenal has to fight off losing some of their key players these next few days and have no time practice because of International break. The Gunners are in a crisis. Their new formation isn’t working with many players looking disinterested in playing and the squad is nowhere deep or as good as the Arsenal fans expected. With three matches in, I doubt Wenger loses his job but during his whole time at Arsenal this might the worst position he has ever been.
Here are the game highlights
In the rest of the league of Chelsea dominated most of the game beating Everton 2-0, finally looking like the champions of last season. Alvaro Morata and Fabregas particularly impressed as the Spaniard duo connected for the goal and were influential. It’s early in the season but Alvaro Morata scored in the weekend and has been showing he could be the perfect replacement to the departure of Diego Costa from the squad.
Tottenham dropped points again at home, officially dropping more this season than in all of the last year. The team is trying to convince that the Wembley form is not a problem but these were more points drop at the end when Spurs are playing in this stadium. This a problem if it continues throughout the season and they don’t have their home form of last year they will have no chance of winning the premier league. They dominated most of the game finally breaking through with Dele Ali’s goal but they couldn’t see the result out and letting Chris wood have a good run at the box score.
The Manchester Squads both had wins over the weekend. United continue their scary good form to start the season by dominating a Leicester City side to win 2-0. United has been in amazing form to start the year and is becoming the clear favorites to win the premier league before the transfer window completes. Mourinho seems to always win titles in his second years and this team seems to finally feel like the old Ferguson teams.
Manchester City won on a 90-minute winner versus Bournemouth right at the end. Sterling hit the shot and celebrated with the fans but to the surprise of the whole stadium, he got a second yellow. This means Sterling will miss the next game for celebration with the fans but he didn’t really do anything over the top. Bournemouth might come out of the game feeling gutted as the southern team had Charlie Daniels score an amazing goal in the 11th minute. They lost the lead by a goal from Gabriel Jesus who plays a smartly taken quick free kick to catch the team sleeping.
The rest of the EPL saw 3 draws, Newcastle surprised with a 3-0 win over West Ham and Swansea stealing a win at Crystal Palace. Manchester is the only perfect side and sits on top of the table but the upcoming days with transfer window closing it will let us know where everyone truly stands.
Spain
In Spain, the great Real Madrid dropped points at home drawing to a resilient Valencia side in a game that was back and forth and either club could have won.The champions couldn’t survive with missing two of stars with both Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo out with a suspension. Marco Asensio came to the rescue for Madrid with an amazing performance that might set him up to be a starter even when Ronaldo comes back. Bale was jeered out after his performance bringing his departure back into question. Barcelona cruised into another 2-0 with an outstanding performance from Messi who scored twice. the team doesn’t look as strong upfront but they are still able to really control matches versus the mid table Spanish sides. To Many Barca is in crisis but things are looking up they will add a couple more signing before the transfer market closes a go into the international break top of the table.
Italy
In Serie A the weekend was highlighted by the comeback 3-1 win by Inter Milan over Roma on the road. The Italian capital side dominated the first half and created chances after chances scoring ones with a true striker’s goal from Dzeko hitting the post three times. In the second half, Icardi took over and score two quick finishes to give Inter the lead and Vecino finishing it in the 89th minute putting home a Perisic cross in for his second assist in the game.
The other big clubs also took care of business. Juventus completed a two goal comeback to beat Genoa 4-2 on the road. Dybala scores a hat-trick bringing his team back after conceding two goals in the opening 15. The defence is not as sound but if Dybala keeps playing like this It won’t matter. AC Milan won 2-1 at home versus Cagliari with an amazing free kick by Suso. Milan scored early with the teenage sensation Patrick Cutrone putting home a cross but lost the lead. The Suso free kick was the ultimate kick in the game. The big spending squad has yet to reach its potential but have started the season on the right foot. Napoli also had a comeback win beating Atalanta 3-1 with Zielinski scoring an amazing goal.
The transfer window is wrapping up and it will curious to see how the teams look after the three days that are left. It will be interesting to see which teams set themselves up for success or failure, so expect random big news this couple days.
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