The international break finished on Friday, and club soccer returned this weekend across Europe in emphatic, entertaining fashion. The Manchester derby was one-way traffic in Man City’s favor, as expected, and Arsenal thumped Tottenham in the first North London derby of the 2022-23 campaign to show that Mikel Arteta’s work is very much going in the right direction. Elsewhere, Barcelona went back atop LaLiga with a win and Real Madrid defeat, Napoli cemented their spot atop Serie A and Liverpool still have issues despite a long spell without games in which to fix what was broken.
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It’s Monday, and Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football.
Jump to: Man City derby fallout | Real Madrid drop points | Arsenal beat Spurs | Roma pile pressure on Inter | Liverpool still have issues | Plenty to cheer for Barca | Chelsea win, Palace right to be angry | Milan need more than Leao | Messi leads for PSG | Respite for Juventus | Dortmund collapse again | Napoli stay top | Atletico go old-school
Darkness returns to red side of Manchester as Phil Foden, Erling Haaland run rampant
Forget Anthony Martial‘s two garbage-time goals for Man United that came when the game was long over. Heck, forget Antony‘s solo effort, too: It was a great strike, but the sort of individual whack-it-and-see that players turn to when they’re getting no help. Now consider that Man City could easily have reached double figures.
Ugly, ain’t it? That’s the negative reality that Erik ten Hag has to banish from his mind following the 6-3 drubbing his side endured at the Etihad on Sunday. Coaches are trained to be positive, to look forward, to build on strengths and mask weaknesses, but where does he even begin?
Ten Hag came as close to reading his team the riot act as he’s likely to get.
“If you don’t fight, you are going to have a problem against Manchester City,” he said. “This was different to Brentford [when they were also 4-0 down at half-time]. In that game we didn’t run, against City we wanted to run, but we didn’t follow the principle and rules and had a lack of belief.” Translated from Dutch coachspeak: The players didn’t follow instructions, made poor decisions and didn’t believe in what they’re doing.
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You have to appreciate Ten Hag’s honesty here, because he’s going out on a limb. If players aren’t following tactical instructions, if those instructions are wrong, if they don’t buy into what they’re being told … well, usually that’s on the manager.
It’s fair to put some of it on Ten Hag. United looked entirely unprepared for what hit them: That’s a manager’s first job. Equally, the fact that Casemiro, the $80 million man who was starting (and winning) a Champions League final just last May, has yet to start a Premier League game this season doesn’t help, and that’s on Ten Hag. It’s not Bryan Robson, Paul Ince and Roy Keane rolled into one who is keeping him out of the side: It’s Scott McTominay.