Man City, Erling Haaland bounce back to halt losing ‘streak’ — or do they?The reason the word “streak” is in quotes is that, while technically accurate — City did lose back-to-back Premier League games — it’s also a bit misleading. Sandwiched between the defeats to Wolves and Arsenal was a Champions League game against Young Boys they won with relative little drama. Plus, the loss to Arsenal ultimately came down to a deflected shot.
It’s the same drill with Erling Haaland. Yes, he hadn’t scored for City in a month (which, for him, are equivalent to dog years, so it felt like seven months), but he did notch twice for Norway over the break, becoming their all-time leading goal scorer. So take City-related stats with a pinch of salt.
More telling was their performance against Brighton. Two early goals (via Haaland and Julián Álvarez), John Stones and Rodri back in the starting lineup, Jérémy Doku running rampant on the left and a 2-1 win that saw them back at the top of the table.
Any nit-picks? Manuel Akanji, who usually doesn’t deliver stinkers, dropped a big one, getting himself sent off for two yellow cards and making a big blunder on Ansu Fati‘s goal. But perfection, in this gruelling campaign, is going to be elusive. And against a side that provides a different challenge than what City usually face — Brighton went to toe-to-toe, showing little fear — Pep Guardiola’s crew looked impressive.
Relief for Rudi as Kvara fills Osimhen’s big boots
Matches after international breaks are often tricky. Especially when — as was the case with Napoli manager Rudi Garcia — the break began with reports of your boss meeting with potential replacements, and ended with your star center-forward, Victor Osimhen, picking up an injury that will keep him out for a month or so.
Throw in an away trip to Verona, where clashes between these two sides have often been tense, and there was reason to fret.
But in Osimhen’s absence, others showed they could step up. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia popped up with two goals, Jack Raspadori offered trickery and altruism and even midfielder Jens Cajuste, less than impressive thus far, turned in a solid performance in Saturday’s 3-1 win. There were still wobbles at the back and they’re obviously better with Osimhen than without, but it’s easy to forget this team has a fair bit of depth.
Garcia isn’t out of the woods yet, but in Raspadori and Gio Simeone, he has a forward platoon capable of holding down the fort until his star striker returns.
Luis Enrique’s ‘mad scientist’ schtick continues as PSG beat Strasbourg
Leave it to Luis Enrique to never stop experimenting. His experimental 4-2-4 set-up backfired badly against Newcastle at St James’ Park in the Champions League, but he revisited it in Ligue 1 play against Strasbourg. (He’d probably call it a 4-2-2-2, but… whatever.) Bradley Barcola and Lee Kang-In were positioned out wide and Kylian Mbappé played through the middle with Goncalo Ramos, while Carlos Soler was picked ahead of Achraf Hakimi at right-back.
PSG rolled to an easy 3-0 win, which really doesn’t tell us much: Strasbourg are poor and haven’t gotten a result at the Parc Des Princes in years. But it’s clearly a concept that Luis Enrique likes and will continue to tinker with. This is a man who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “over-thinking” … why not use your brain to try and get better and better every game?
Leverkusen roll on with win vs. Wolfsburg, but what happens when Schick returns?
Such is the standard that Xabi Alonso’s team have set this season that their 2-1 away win to Wolfsburg this weekend felt a bit more laboured than we’re accustomed to. They took the lead, weathered the equalizer and then Alex Grimaldi popped up with the winner. It wasn’t quite the steamroller they’d been treating us to this season, but then again Wolfsburg are mid-table and had won every home game this season in the Bundesliga.
Meanwhile, Xabi Alonso may have an interesting conundrum on his hands real soon, with news that Patrik Schick could be available again this week.
Injuries limited Schick to just 10 league starts last season, and he hasn’t played since March. But in 2021-22, he was the Bundesliga’s second-highest scorer, with 24 goals in 27 appearances. He’s different from Victor Boniface, of course, and he’s a guy Xabi Alonso inherited.
Managers are often loathe to tinker with a winning side, but Schick can be devastating to opponents when he’s fit and firing. It will be curious to see how, and if, he fits in.
Inter start slowly, but a strong second half keeps them flawless on the road vs. Torino
Torino are what you might call a “tough out,” especially when you play them in their back yard, and Inter began Saturday’s clash as if they had the post-holiday blues. Leave it to manager Simone Inzaghi to sort things out with his substitutions. I hesitate to call them “game-changing,” because I think we tend to overrate this, but the fact is Inter played much better after Carlos Augusto, Davide Frattesi and, especially, Denzel Dumfries came on in the 57th minute.
Inzaghi loves his “planned subs,” and there’s no question this trio prompted Inter’s second half revival and all three scores in the 3-0 win. They stay top and, impressively, have won four of four away from the San Siro in Serie A without conceding a single goal.
Griezmann hat trick seals bizarre Atletico win against 10-man Celta Vigo
Antoine Griezmann has no doubt scored better hat tricks — this was a penalty, a blunder by substitute Vicente Guaita and a side-footed effort from a few yards out — but the one in the 3-0 win at Celta will stand out. It takes him within eight goals of the club’s all-time leading scorers (Luis Aragones), and capped a bizarre game that saw Celta fight back furiously, but unsuccessfully, despite playing more than an hour with 10 men.
There was little arguing with Iván Villar‘s red card, but Celta seemed unaware that they were a goal down as they continued to pepper Jan Oblak‘s goal. Diego Simeone likely won’t be happy with the fact that Atleti couldn’t kill the game against 10 men and, in fact, had to wait until 26 minutes from time to add a second goal. Still, it’s six wins on the bounce, they’re three points behind table-topping Real Madrid (and Girona!) and they have a game in hand.
It’s not a bad place to be…
El Shaarawy grabs late winner for AS Roma as Jose Mourinho gets sent off … again
Stephan El Shaarawy capped an emotional week that saw him falsely accused of illegal betting with a huge late goal that gave Roma all three points against Monza. It wasn’t a great performance — Jose Mourinho himself said after that Monza did not deserve to lose — but it showed fight, grit and bloody-mindedness and, at least until the likes of Lorenzo Pellegrini and Paulo Dybala return, that’s probably the most you can expect from this side.
As for Mourinho, he was gracious after the post-match press conference, but less so at the final whistle. He clashed with Monza boss Raffaele Palladino and his staff (not for the first time), mocking them by pretending to cry. His “cry more” schtick didn’t impress the referee, who sent him off. It’s the fourth time since the start of the 2022-23 season that Mourinho has been shown a red card, and he’ll now miss the game against Inter next week.
You’d have thought that while you can sort of understand a manager getting a red for losing his cool and berating a referee or getting into it with an opponent, this sort of sending off — for taunting! — is, both needless and stupid, especially at his age. I’d hope Mourinho would agree.
