PSG pass their biggest test of the domestic season, while Mbappe continues as center-forwardLens away was one of those ties where the opponent could actually beat Paris Saint-Germain rather than PSG beating themselves, which they occasionally do. In that sense, PSG’s 2-0 win means they passed the test, racing to an eight-point lead at top of Ligue 1. We can — and probably should — crack jokes about the league’s imbalance of power, but this was far from a foregone conclusion.
Gianluigi Donnarumma had to save an early penalty, which could have sent the game in an entirely different direction, and even after going down to 10 men just before half-time (with PSG a goal up thanks to Bradley Barcola), Lens continued to attack, as evidenced by the fact that they dominated the xG battle, 2.25 to 0.94. Kylian Mbappe added a second late to put the game to bed, but the result was in the balance until that stage.
Speaking of Mbappe, he again lined up at center-forward. (If you want to be unkind, you might suggest he’s practicing in the role ahead of his move to Real Madrid, when he’ll leave the left flank to Vinicius.) It’s not a traditional No.9 role, he’s far more involved which is good for his continued development, I guess. But it does make you wonder what it says about PSG and recruitment guru Luis Campos given that they committed some $150m over the summer on two center-forwards, Goncalo Ramos and Randall Kolo Muani, both of whom were unused substitutes.
Inter swat Monza away as Lautaro keeps scoring It was a derby (of sorts), but it was as one-sided as you’re likely to see. Inter raced to a 2-0 lead over Monza, had an opposition goal disallowed for the kind of offside only semi-automatic offside is going to see, and then romped to a 5-1 win, mostly in transition. Along the way Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan showed that being able to run a counter-attack well is as much about precision, geometry and speed of thought than speed of foot.
Lautaro Martinez also bagged another two goals, taking his total to 20 for the season in all competitions. He’s well on track to pulverize his personal best, which got me wondering to what degree he’s over-performing his expected goals. The numbers suggest he certainly is: his 20 goals come from an xG of 15.93 in all competitions. Then again, last season — excluding the Italian Super Cup — his 27 goals came from an xG of 22.55.
Those are pretty similar ratios, which equally suggest the over performance may well continue.
Decimated Leverkusen leave it late, but grab a well-deserved win to stay top Xabi Alonso had to reinvent both his defence — Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba are at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Jonathan Tah is only fit enough for the bench — and attack (Victor Boniface injured, Florian Wirtz out of the starting lineup) for the trip to Augsburg. Their only goal was scored very late, with Ezequiel Palacios poking it home in the fourth minute of injury time, but don’t let that throw you off. It would have been a different story had Patrik Schick converted his chances, starting from his early one-on-one, or if Alex Grimaldo’s shot had been an inch lower. And Augsburg were held to exactly zero shots after minute 48.
It’s a different set up with Schick up front, compared to Boniface and the partnership with Adam Hlozek looked somewhat clunky. But the big Czech has a lot to give, both in build-up play and in finishing. If he finds his mojo, he can not only hold down the fort in Boniface’s absence, but possibly form a devastating strike tandem with him when he returns.
Girona throw up a stinker against last-place Almeria, meaning two points dropped We’ve been praising them all season, but on Sunday, away to bottom club Almeria (they haven’t won all season long … and we’re 20 games in), Girona turned in their worst performance of the season. They simply didn’t look prepared, or maybe they thought the three points were already in the bag, which may explain why Savio and Viktor Tsygankov started the game on the bench.
Whatever the case, they were outshot 20 to 5, which shouldn’t be happening when you’re playing a team that is 43 points behind you in the table. The draw means they go top, but Real Madrid now have a game in hand.
French-powered Milan roll past Roma to consolidate third place Barring divine intervention, Milan won’t get back into the title race and, of course, they’re out of the Coppa Italia and the Champions League. So if you’re Stefano Pioli, you just want your team to grow, finish top four and see what you can do in the Europa League.
With that in mind, the 3-1 win over Roma on Sunday night was important. Olivier Giroud scored and dispensed magic, Theo Hernandez unleashed a screamer and Yacine Adli, the forgotten man, opened the scoring, showing that maybe he can be your midfield general (at least until Ismael Bennacer returns). The win means they’re nine points clear of fourth and keep Roma far away. They need some calm to grow and this affords them plenty.
As for Roma, they showed their usual limitations when Paulo Dybala is unavailable. They created very little until late and were gifted a penalty. Jose Mourinho opted to drop Rui Patricio for his backup, Mile Svilar, and because Mourinho was banned (again), nobody was able to ask him about it.
Roma feels a mystery right now.
New wide men Sancho, Maatsen shine for Dortmund It could have gone differently (at 1-0 Gregor Kobel made an absurd, and improbable, flying kick save for which you need to give him the benefit of the doubt) but it didn’t, and Borussia Dortmund got both a 3-0 win at Darmstadt and positive debuts for their new arrivals from the Premier League, Jadon Sancho and Ian Maatsen.
Maatsen started and was a bundle of energy out of the left-back position — enough so to make you wonder why Mauricio Pochettino wrote him off so quickly in that role and instead played him as a winger on the few occasions he did play him. Sancho came on, looking nothing like a guy who hadn’t played since August, and set up Marco Reus for his goal, before Youssoufa Moukoko’s dazzling run made it 3-0 in garbage time.
Sancho’s arrival on loan from Manchester United feels like more of a “too-good-to-pass-up” signing than anything to fill a need. In fact, Dortmund had a glut of attacking midfielder/winger types — Julian Brandt, Reus, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Donyell Malen, Karim Adeyemi and Gio Reyna, plus three center-forwards — even before his arrival. You assume Reyna will go, but even then, that’s a ton of players for three positions.
Chelsea beat Fulham, but progress still slow Cole Palmer — him again — converted a penalty (his fifth of the season) to give Chelsea three points over Fulham and make up for the chances he missed in midweek against Middlesbrough, one of his few subpar outings of the season. There wasn’t much else to cheer (other than the result, and even that might have been different if Malo Gusto had been sent off in the first half).
Messy Napoli get late winner against cellar-dwellersIt was ugly, it was desperate and if you’re determined to see the glass as half-full, you can talk about spirit and belief and all that jazz. Amir Rrahmani found the net in the sixth minute of injury time against a horrible Salernitana side that parked the bus. Huff and puff, and eventually, you may blow the house down.
Walter Mazzarri will take the three points, and rightly so, but he shouldn’t be gloating. It’s not easy to break down a side focused solely on defending (which is what happened after the break), but this was very much an ugly win driven by the pride of individuals, rather than any semblance of team play. Which is what he’s paid to provide.
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