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Plenty of chat about Liverpool’s demise below the line.
Arne Slot inherited a great well established squad from Klopp and the players had been drilled to play in a system that was proven to produce results. They started very well under Slot and it appeared Liverpool had recruited an excellent manager. But, the longer he’s been at the club the steadily worse results and performances have generally been.
Dumped out the FA Cup last season by Plymouth, outplayed in the EFL Cup final by Newcastle, totally outplayed by PSG home and away in the Champions League, the scoreline only respectable due to the brilliance of Allison in Paris and some poor finishing by PSG.
When they were winning in the Premier League last season it was generally by a single goal. Teams were not put away easily. In his first season his two main title rivals (Arsenal and City) both fell apart with numerous injuries to key players.
Any manager is unlucky to have a valued and popular squad member killed in a horrific accident. Let’s not forget they couldn’t even identify Jota and his brother such was the carnage of that car wreckage. They had to wait for analysis to come from Madrid just to discover which brother had been driving. Andy Robertson was emotional after the Scotland - Denmark game admitting he had struggled all day thinking about Diogo. The impact that has had on Liverpool can’t be underestimated and it must be very difficult for new players walking into a grieving dressing room.
But there is no doubt things were not great end of last season before that tragedy and things are falling off a cliff now.
That’s surely not all down to bad luck. That’s a manager failing to motivate world class players, failing to get tactics and team selection right.
He’s been found out and there is little sign he can actually improve the team or turn around the slump. The writing is on the wall and I’ll be surprised if he’s still in the job come January.
The Championship is very interesting this season. Grim for Norwich fans, their team separates the Sheffield clubs in the table.
Ed Aarons is our Arsenal man, and he’s been considering what Mikel Arteta will do in the absence of Gabriel.
Statistics show Gabriel has played a crucial role in Arsenal conceding only five goals in the Premier League. He has more blocks (20) than anyone else in the division and is also his side’s highest-ranked player for aerial duels, clearances and headed clearances. The Brazilian’s prowess in the air means he is also a significant threat at the other end. He has scored twice and added three assists already this season, taking his total since arriving from Lille in 2020 to 18 goals from set pieces – three more than anyone else in that period. And when Gabriel is not playing, Arsenal’s win rate in the Premier League drops from 64.3% to 40%, or 2.1 points per game compared to just 1.5.
Thomas Frank is under a modicum of pressure but he’s still capable of stonewalling a journalist’s question.
Via PA Media.
Thomas Frank has brushed off the topic of one-time summer target Eberechi Eze ahead of Tottenham’s trip to rivals Arsenal, the transfer hijacked at the last minute.
Frank joked: “Who’s Eze? Very good player. He plays for Arsenal. A team we want to beat on Sunday. I really like to speak about players who are here. The only other two I will speak about are [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo.
“I’ve said before I’m happy with my squad. It’s two clubs on two different journeys. I hate to say it but they’re a little bit ahead of us. But we know that’s one thing, on one game, 100 per cent sure we will be very competitive. Of course we can win on Sunday. Then of course in general we know squad depth is good and important but I’m not really looking at other teams. I’m just looking at my team there.”
To build up to the north London derby, David Hytner spoke to key Tottenham midfielder, Joao Palhinha.
Palhinha has nonetheless heard criticism, most searingly from Jamie Carragher after the Chelsea debacle, the Sky pundit accusing him of not being good enough to progress the ball. There has also been muttering from the Spurs support about Frank’s use of Palhinha alongside Rodrigo Bentancur in front of a back four. Does the partnership lack zip in possession?
Sunday’s key fixtures
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Premier League
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Leeds v Aston Villa, 2pm
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Arsenal v Tottenham, 4.30pm
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Championship
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Sheffield Wednesday v Sheffield United, 12pm
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Scottish Premiership
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Aberdeen v Hearts, 3pm
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La Liga
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Elche v Real Madrid, 8pm
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Serie A
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Inter v Milan, 7.45pm
The table, as it stands.
And the top scorers in the Premier League.
No Palmer, still party for Chelsea at Burnley.
Doom for Wolves on Rob Edwards’ first game in charge.
I was at Fulham where the match was almost as rotten as the weather though the best team won. Sunderland were a little disappointing.
Brighton made a fine comeback in the battle of the B-teams, while another B, Bournemouth, showed their fighting qualities.
Talking of fallen champions. Manchester City’s title charge faltered on Tyneside.
The story of the season is the fall of the champions. Just what is going on at Liverpool?
A historic day on Saturday, the new Nou Camp open for business. Sort of. Sid Lowe was on architectural duties.
Above all, for most there was a kind of comfort, familiarity, the sense that this could be both a way back to where they were and a new beginning. The Camp Nou rebuild is not done: only three sides of the lower two tiers are open, allowing for a maximum 45,401 of the 105,000 it will eventually hold, and at times, in truth, the day of fiesta was a little flat, quiet and underwhelming, but Flick said “it’s a really good feeling to be back here”, and back is the word.
Preamble
Good morning, football. A full day of football awaits, and there’s also a big day on Saturday to consider. The big one comes in north London but there’s plenty of other action, including in the Steel City.
Join us.
