Belgium 3-2 England(De Neve 9’, Wullaert 45+6, 85’ P | Bronze 38’, Kirby 44’)
LEUVEN –England’s hopes of qualifying for next year’s Olympics suffered a major dent with a 3-2 defeat in Belgium on a night that was overshadowed by a sickening injury to Alex Greenwood.
The Red Flames stunned the Lionesses with Tessa Wullaert’s late penalty after Georgia Stanway had handballed inside the box – but of greater concern will be the welfare of Greenwood following a clash of heads with Belgian forward Jassina Blom.
The defender required oxygen as she was treated by six paramedics and four England medics before leaving the field in a neck brace. As her teammates looked on in distress, it took 14 minutes before she was stretchered off to united applause from around the Den Dreef Stadion.
At half time, an FA spokesperson confirmed she was conscious and talking and remained under supervision from medical staff at the ground.
Yet while every precaution was taken with Greenwood, the incident will raise serious questions about concussion protocols; unbelievably, Blom was permitted to play on, despite sustaining a gash to the head that needed bandaging.
Uefa’s rule states that players carrying a head injury require assessment and can only continue playing “on specific confirmation by the team doctor to the referee of the player’s fitness to do so”. i has approached Uefa for comment.
The Lionesses had endured a nightmare start, Laura De Neve curling in a free-kick at the near post past Mary Earps. Chloe Kelly, in the form of her life at Manchester City, believed she had been fouled in a tussle on the edge of the box, but ultimately conceded the set piece herself.
When England suffer these setbacks, Sarina Wiegman can so often fall back on the old guard, Lucy Bronze equalising with a header that left goalkeeper Nicky Evrard rooted to the spot.
Another Bronze header across goal ought to have teed up Alessia Russo perfectly – somehow the Arsenal striker put her chance wide, but that left the stage open for Fran Kirby, making her first international start since October 2022, to slot in England’s second. There are a few fairytales left in her yet and England do not have another player like her.
The hosts went into this fixture having never beaten England but the Belgium band were not to be dissuaded. Wembley is used to a brass section but the accompanying orchestra in Leuven is even more sophisticated, with cymbals and trumpets divided into parts and performing an impressive concerto.
More worrying for Wiegman was the familiar sound of the gasp as England’s high line was beaten by another through ball to Wullaert for Belgium’s second. Her side have kept just one clean sheet in seven matches (the 1-0 reverse against Belgium last week) and it is easy to see why.
It might have been worse too, had Earps not come to the rescue with Millie Bright and Jess Carter scrambling. Like all Ballon d’Or nominees, this week Earps was robbed of the chance to meet that well-known women’s football enthusiast (checks notes) Novak Djokovic, who presented the gong – but that was inevitable when the ceremony was scheduled at a time when most international players were unavailable.
England would not have felt nearly so desperate had Evrard not denied a Kirby effort that looked as if it would sneak over the line. Scrutiny will stay on them, however, as they are the “home” nation on whom Team GB’s qualification for Paris 2024 depends.
The Nations League has offered more competitive games, more regularly, but that has meant England are also falling short more often. They will have to rely on Dutch and Belgian dropped points and win their final two games to make it through.
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Manchester United should insist on regular nightclub visits as part of a tailored programme to get Marcus Rashford firing again. A table reservation at Chinawhite does not tend to subtract from the sum of a person’s happiness. And a few spins around the dancefloor can be therapeutic and cardio enhancing, bringing Rashford back to his best in the shake of a hip.
Let’s be clear – Rashford is not a bad lad. This is the fella who single-handedly forced a U-turn on government policy to feed impoverished children. The celebration of his birthday at Manchester’s premier decompression chamber for footballers looked bad only because of the result in the derby. Had he been blue he would have been paraded as a conquering hero justifiably hanging out.
Rashford has been a shadow of himself this term, the burden of carrying a malfunctioning team stripped of confidence appears to have landed particularly heavily on his shoulders. Thirty goals last term, one this. With each match he has become increasingly desperate, trying too hard, making poor decisions, snatching at chances.
At his best Rashford can draw comparisons with Kylian Mbappe. At his worst he is a reincarnation of Bebe, a player who looked awkward in the presence of a ball and spent four years failing at United before the club ended his torment a decade ago. In any other circumstances Rashford might be sent away for a week to sit on a beach and refresh.
Something about the United environment is troubling him. Rashford does not need an invitation to look sombre. The difference in body language between him and Mohammed Salah, for example, is pronounced.
Salah could scoop one over the bar in front of the Kop from six yards and still laugh about it. He wears his gifts lightly and is not constrained by mishaps.
He knows the next chance is going in the back of the net. This is how confidence and belief work.
Rashford was a study in angst when he pulled his best chance wide of a post in the derby. It was a piece of rare brilliance, controlling the ball on his chest and sending Kyle Walker on holiday with his sharp turn.
Had he buried the chance, as he might have last year, United would have been back to one down, and if not back in the game, at least more in it than they were. He didn’t, triggering the old insecurities that drag on performance.
The optics associated with a nightclub outing are bad only if we choose to make it so. There is no necessary link between Rashford’s night out and outcomes. He is not a serial abuser of sleep patterns. He is not failing on the pitch because he is negligent in some way, or because he doesn’t care enough. Indeed the opposite is arguably the case. He cares too much and can’t get out of his own way.
Rashford is a sensitive soul and clearly in need of a reset. Not so easy when his manager, Erik ten Hag, is also struggling to cope in the most challenging of environments. The alternatives are either not good enough, Antony, or in exile, Jadon Sancho. Ten Hag has Alejandro Garnacho ready to step in but there are two wide spots to fill.
Rashford is not failing in isolation. United are a club in turmoil, owned by American financiers who are essentially disconnected from the process. Playing winning football is obviously preferable but not a priority. That would be maximising return on investment. The protracted sale of a portion of their investment to Sir Jim Ratcliffe is further evidence of that. This gives rise to a destabilised board and a disjointed leadership that impairs decision-making all the way through the club.
Rashford’s decision to party on his birthday was actually one of the better ones he has made this season. Carry on clubbing, son, and come back a better, more relaxed player. Goodness knows your team needs you.
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Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2034 World Cup after Australia withdrew its rival bid from an unprecedented fast-tracked process.
Football Australia issued a statement on Tuesday saying it had “explored the opportunity” of a bid but opted against it.
World-governing body Fifa unexpectedly gave countries just four weeks to submit their entries by 31 October, despite the tournament being 11 years away.
Saudia Arabia announced its declaration of interest within minutes of Fifa outlining the process for 2034, which was restricted to countries from Asia and Oceania, earlier this month.
Saudi Arabian Football Federation President Yasser Al Misehal said in a statement at the time: “The 2034 Fifa World Cup is our invitation to the world to witness Saudi Arabia’s development, experience its culture and become part of its history.
“We are extremely committed to presenting the most competitive bid possible that will also help unite the world through football.”
Fifa rules only allow a confederation to bid if it has not hosted one of the previous two World Cups. European, African, North American and South American countries were ruled out of the bidding by the awarding of the 2026 tournament to the United States, Canada and Mexico followed by Spain, Portugal and Morocco being set to host the 2030 finals, with some games also being held in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay – the first time the World Cup has ever been hosted by six countries or across three continents.
As well as gaining the back of Asia governing body, global stars in the Saudi Pro League came out in support of the country’s bid.
Midfielder Jordan Henderson, who has been criticised for turning his back on the LGBT+ community by leaving Liverpool to play for Al-Ettifaq, recorded a video saying, “Very excited about the announcement. Go Saudi Arabia 2034.”
Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and the country has been accused of sportswashing its human rights abuses by investing billions of pounds in sport.
Australia, hosts of the 2023 Women’s World Cup alongside New Zealand, was surprised by the unusual speed of the bidding process for a tournament that takes years of careful planning.
One option it explored, i understands, was to prepare a bid with Indonesia that could have included Singapore and Malaysia as co-hosts.
But it is now focusing its efforts on hosting the Women’s AFC Asian Cup which, along with the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, will create a “truly golden decade for Australian football”.
Football Australia has already been stung once by a World Cup bidding process. The country tried to gain support to host the 2022 World Cup, but managed to secure only one vote. The tournament hosting rights went to Qatar.
Saudi human rights put under microscope
Fifa president Gianni Infantino (left) sits next to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at Qatar 2022 (Photo: Getty)
“Saudi Arabia has the same system towards migrant labour that Qatar had when it was awarded the World Cup without going through the reform process that Qatar has. There is real severe exploitation of migrant workers without the willingness to open up and do anything about it.
“On top of that, there is the same discrimination against the LGBT+ community, even stricter restrictions on freedom of expression, torture from the police. It’s clear where the bid idea is coming from – it’s part of Saudi’s Vision 2030 and investment in sports. This would be the pinnacle of that.”
After the controversy around the bidding process for Qatar, Fifa tightened the requirements for bidding nations as part of wholesale reform. When the 2026 tournament was awarded to the US, Mexico and Canada, those countries had to pass enhanced human rights due diligence, which is now enshrined in the process.
Top of the list of requirements is an explicit commitment to the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. Cockburn envisages a Saudi bid as “the first major test” for Fifa on this issue.
“Every country that bids has to have a plan for how they would respond to human rights risks so it would be almost impossible to imagine they would hand the World Cup to Saudi Arabia unless they abandon that human rights policy,” he says.
“Or unless Saudi Arabia committing to a quite remarkable array of reforms to do it. A lot of people would be pretty sceptical about whether they do that, but it would have to be pretty substantial for them to pass the human rights criteria.
“The concern that many have is that when big money and big politics come into play, they will abandon that policy.”
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Two goals and an assist in Manchester City’s Sunday stroll at Old Trafford ensured that Haaland recorded his first double-digit return since Gameweek 4 to punish the millions of managers who entrusted others with their captain’s armband. Only Arsenal’s hat-trick hero Eddie Nketiah outscored Haaland in FPL at the weekend.
Haaland’s exploits make this weekend’s captaincy decision tough to call once again. The Norwegian will certainly have more backing with City hosting Bournemouth at the Etihad, but he faces strong competition with Mo Salah another leading candidate as Liverpool travel to Luton.
Son Heung-min has a trickier fixture on paper but is in red-hot form ahead of Monday night’s game against Chelsea under the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium lights. It’s a London derby with added spice as a certain Mr Pochettino takes on his former employers for the first time.
i‘s top scorers in Gameweek 10
Son Heung-min – 10 points vs Crystal Palace: The Spurs skipper continued his fine form at Selhurst Park with a clinical finish taking him to eight goals and nine goal involvements for the campaign.
Mo Salah – 8 points vs Nottingham Forest: Salah left it late (just as he did in the Merseyside derby) but eventually got his points. He has provided attacking returns in 14 Anfield games in a row.
Douglas Luiz – 7 points vs Luton: The Brazilian was outscored by Moussa Diaby and John McGinn but performed better than the hugely popular Ollie Watkins as Villa stretched their winning run at home to 12 games.
Like their north London neighbours Arsenal are still unbeaten in the Premier League but they face a stern test of their title credentials at St James’ Park on Saturday evening.
The Gameweek 11 deadline is at 11am on Saturday 4 November:
This is an extract of i’s Fantasy Premier League tips. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every week this season for our full 11-player team, advice on the best captain and more!
Gameweek 11 fixtures
3pm kick-off unless otherwise stated
Saturday 4 November
Fulham vs Man Utd (12.30pm)
Brentford vs West Ham
Burnley vs Crystal Palace
Everton vs Brighton
Man City vs Bournemouth
Sheffield United vs Wolves
Newcastle vs Arsenal (5.30pm)
Sunday 5 November
Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa (2pm)
Luton vs Liverpool (4.30pm)
Monday 6 November
Spurs vs Chelsea (8pm)
Ederson (Man City)
Ederson was restored to City’s starting line-up at Old Trafford, after being given a post-international break breather, and performed well with a strong one-handed stop from Scott McTominay the pick of his three saves on the day.
The Brazilian has kept four clean sheets in nine league matches and looks a safe bet to earn a fifth shutout in Gameweek 11 with Bournemouth the visitors to the Etihad. The Cherries have scored just four goals away from home so far, while City have only conceded twice in four matches on their own turf.
After a shaky performance in the Merseyside derby, Kostas Tsimikas looked much more assured against Nottingham Forest in his second start since Andy Robertson suffered a long-term shoulder injury.
The Greek left-back has registered consecutive six-point hauls over the past two gameweeks thanks to back-to-back clean sheets and an attacking return may not be far away either.
Only Kieran Trippier has taken more corners than Tsimikas (13 to seven) among defenders since Gameweek 9.
To borrow a cliche from your favourite football pundit you have to worry about Sheffield United. While all three of the promoted sides are struggling, the Blades are the only Premier League team still winless after 10 games and are naturally rooted to the foot of the table as a result.
Their upcoming opponents Wolves, on the other hand, are unbeaten in five and seemingly making steady progress under Gary O’Neil. Hwang Hee-chan has emerged as a key player under his new manager with a total of seven league goals only bettered by Haaland, Son, Salah and Callum Wilson.
With Pedro Neto sidelined due to a hamstring injury, Hwang is the go-to Wolves attacker.
Price: £5.5m Points: 49 Gameweek 11 fixture: Sheffield United (a)
Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
Darwin Nunez’s finishing may still be erratic (as evidenced by that open goal miss against Toulouse last week) but he isn’t nicknamed Captain Chaos for nothing: Liverpool’s No 9 is a constant threat and looked extremely sharp during the 3-0 win over Forest on Sunday.
A goal and assist in that game means the Uruguayan has only failed to register a goal or assist once in his last seven Premier League matches. Minutes have been an issue – he has only started four league games so far – but it would be a surprise if he didn’t start against a muscular Luton side at Kenilworth Road on Sunday.
We were hardly going to omit the big man from this week’s tips after giving him the big build-up now were we? The reason why some FPL managers opted to sell Haaland – against our best judgement it should be noted – is because of his dwindling xG numbers; that is no longer a concern.
Haaland’s xG of 2.06 against United was superior to his previous four league appearances combined and were it not for Andre Onana’s best efforts, he would have walked away with the match ball.
The irony doesn’t so much linger in the wings as slap Paul Heckingbottom hard across the cheek. Sheffield United have now made the worst start to a season in Premier League history, pushing Sheffield United 2020-21 into second place. That team was managed by Chris Wilder. Reports suggest that Heckingbottom will soon be sacked, to be replaced by… Wilder.
Everything is broken or quickly breaking at Bramall Lane; it was never meant to be like this. Over their last five league games, when Heckingbottom was hoping to build on the slight wisps of promise, Sheffield United have conceded 20 goals and scored just two. They have now taken one point from 10 games and outsiders are starting to whisper about other unwanted records.
Their joint-top goalscorer is own goals, with two. They have been ahead for three per cent of their Premier League minutes. None of this is fun.
To pick out one problem feels cruel, such is the length and breadth of Heckingbottom’s must-do-betters. But Sheffield United’s defending so far this season has been record-breakingly, off-the-side-of-chart bad. They are on course to allow 300 shots on target and 764 shots across a full season, which would “beat” the worst offending totals from last season’s Premier League by 102 and 145 respectively.
It is true that the Blades haven’t played any of the three teams directly above them, but not playing Sheffield United yet is one of the reasons why they are there at all.
In less than 18 months he took them out of trouble and into the play-offs and then followed semi-final disappointment with automatic promotion with 91 points. That he was left off the nominations list for the Championship Manager of The Season was a gross omission.
Heckingbottom was hardly provided with the tools for his improbable mission. Abdullah bin Mosaad, the club’s owner, has long insisted that Sheffield United are available for sale but purchases by Henry Mauriss and Dozy Mmobuosi fell through over concerns about the substance of their wealth. The second half of the promotion season was spent under transfer embargo.
Not that it mattered: Heckingbottom had bought only two players for a fee over the preceding 18 months and one of those cost £250,000.
If Heckingbottom’s promotion cheer has quickly dissipated, he has a robust defence than his team for the absolution of guilt. The stark reality: the squad that started last season was stronger than they find in a higher division.
Due to enforced sales and expiring loans, Sheffield United lost their top goalscorer, top two assist providers and second and third highest chance creators and then they lost their captain to serious injury thereafter. Supporters i spoke to on the eve of the season believed that, without a takeover, relegation was a certainty. No news is bad news.
Heckingbottom was hardly provided with the tools for his improbable mission (Photo: Reuters)
Heckingbottom was permitted to recruit 10 new players – although three were on loan, one was a free transfer and three others cost £5m or less. The age profile of those signings was instructive too: the majority are aged 22 and under and Gustavo Hamer is the oldest at 26. Sheffield United looked to be building a squad to flourish in the Championship after relegation.
But then sacking the manager would suggest a demand for more. It would decree that Sheffield United are not simply Luton Town, happy just to be here and to be future-proofed after years of financial turmoil. If Heckingbottom would concede defensive underperformance, a back four of Jayden Bogle, Luke Thomas, Auston Trusty and Jack Robinson is not Premier League quality. You cannot escape reality forever and Heckingbottom is a manager who deals in nuts and bolts.
That is the most galling aspect of this deep funk. Six months ago, this group of supporters were celebrating after securing promotion against West Bromwich Albion. The triumph itself partly explained the joy – the realisation of a goal that had been pursued relentlessly over the previous 18 months.
But revelry blended with excitement. The joy of promotion lies in the prize, not simply the achievement. Too quickly that got lost on the wind.
The futility that may haunt Sheffield United over the next 28 matches is a dangerous entity. Last season, the three promoted clubs all stayed up. But Fulham and Bournemouth spent handsomely, enjoyed parachute payment benefits and had retained some of the better players from their previous Premier League seasons. Nottingham Forest were the exception and spent £160m to stay up.
If you cannot come up and cope, what’s the point in coming up at all? Clubs do indeed get vast broadcasting revenue, but fans being left to only celebrate the bottom line is a dystopian football culture.
Futility is fuelled by hopelessness that stems from a perceived – and in Sheffield United’s case realised – lack of competition. You turn up and, if you’re lucky, you might get a point every now and then and occasionally you’ll have a good day against a meagre opponent. 60 per cent of matches become write-offs.
As the Sheffield United season ticket-holder muttered to his granddaughter after the defeat to Manchester United: “You get bugger all for trying your hardest”. That might well become the epitaph to their fated campaign. “Enjoy the moment,” advised Heckingbottom when promotion was confirmed to the fanbase and the players. Oh Heck – maybe he saw what was coming next.
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The last time Beth England was seen on the pitch, she was being thrown on by Sarina Wiegman in the dying minutes to try and salvage the Lionesses’ World Cup dream.
Since the 1-0 defeat to Spain in the final, England has undergone hip surgery and has not yet played a minute for club or country.
Yet the spectre of that occasion, and what followed it, has not gone away. On Monday, the former Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales was banned from football for three years for kissing forward Jenni Hermoso during the celebrations. Hermoso only returned last week, scoring the winning goal against Italy in the Nations League.
Tottenham striker England admits that even now, the Rubiales saga remains a “touchy subject”, having watched Hermoso “have that moment taken away from her and all of the achievements put to one side for this one scandalous act.
“It’s the pinnacle of your career,” she tells i. “You’ve just won the World Cup final and it’s completely overshadowed by all this nonsense that could have been prevented.
“But I also know there’s been a lot of issues with the Spanish Federation and highlighting that is hopefully going to bring about change.
“And not just for Spain or women’s football, but sport in general, that we as women are not to be used in that manner or treated in that manner. We wouldn’t expect that to happen to our male counterparts so we shouldn’t expect the same.
“So possibly the only positive is that it becomes such a worldwide scandal that it shows it’s not acceptable and that we as women will stand up to fight against this. And I take my hat off to Jenni for standing up and fighting as much as she did and not backing down.”
During her own time away, there has been no risk of England letting up on her responsibilities. She was recently given the Spurs captaincy in a surprise phone call from new manager Robert Vilahamn, which she considers “a huge honour”. And she has spent most of the last three months with her two working retrievers in a job she takes just as seriously: Dog Mum.
“They are my children,” England says. “If anyone asks, ‘have you got children?’ I say yes, I have two children. If they have four legs and fur it’s none of your business, they are my child.”
“They” are Buddy, aged four, and Dilys, two-and-a-half – they are uncle and niece. “She is the devil,” England says of Dilys. “But also the best thing that’s changed our lives.”
How so? “She will terrorise him. She would bite him, and he is so placid and patient with her. She runs the house – as a woman I’m not surprised – she’s the boss and he just lets her do what she wants. When it gets to a point where she really bothers him, he will tell her off and put her in her place. I just wish he told her off a little bit more.”
England is fronting a campaign to promote more responsible dog ownership. “When you have a child you get nine months, you have antenatal classes,” she points out. “You put everything in place ready for that child to be born – these days you can click online and within 24 hours have a dog.” Hosting a series of puppy classes, the 29-year-old has clearly been relishing normal life after a nine-week camp in Australia.
England with retrievers Buddy and Dilys (Photo: Tegan Oldfield)
Nevertheless it cannot have been easy watching her teammates return to WSL action while she is still taking it “day by day” in her recovery. She confirms she is “on track” to return as scheduled. Her injury has meant she has not had a chance to play since the heartache of the World Cup final, though she can now look back at that night in Sydney with a little more fondness.
“Not many people can say they’ve played in a World Cup final,” she smiles. “Albeit we fell short at the final hurdle, you’re second best in the world and that in itself is something to be proud of. Obviously we’d have liked to have gone all the way and won it, especially after the previous year of winning the Euros, but we weren’t the better team on the day and that’s just football.”
It was far from certain that England would make it to Australia at all. In her final six months at Chelsea, she scored just twice, largely restricted to the bench and eventually moved to Spurs in a £250,000 deal – a record transfer between two English clubs. As Tottenham battled relegation, she kept them up almost single-handedly with 12 goals in 12 games.
“Last year I just thrived off the pressure, but it was almost like there wasn’t any pressure either because there wasn’t any expectation,” she recalls.
“Within the latter stages of my career at Chelsea I’d not really played much so it was just about a fresh start and showing not anyone else, but more myself, that I know I’m good enough and I can be a great striker. I don’t know how I did it but I had an amazing second half of the season which ultimately got me to the World Cup.”
Though England is yet to play, Spurs have arguably been this season’s biggest surprise package so far, transformed by Vilahamn’s focus on identity, which he has compared to the philosophy of the men’s team under Ange Postecoglou.
“The girls have really bought into it,” says England, whose goals have been replaced in the meantime by new signing Martha Thomas.
“We’ve recruited quite well as well and I think you’re seeing that in performances, we’re starting to be a lot more clinical. I think that’s what we lacked last year there wasn’t as many goalscorers as we’re seeing now.”
“It’s something I never thought I would have done,” she says of her captaincy. “But I’ve got a lot of experience in the game and I’m still learning, I’m not going to be a perfect captain or get things right all the time but I can definitely bring what I’ve learned.
“I’ve been in the WSL since I was 16 and I’ve been around great role models. So hopefully I can continue giving that leadership to the girls, and most importantly, when I get back on the pitch.”
Beth England has partnered with Burns Pet Nutrition and Admiral Pet Insurance to host a series of puppy parenting classes designed to help new puppy parents stay on the ball with all the things they need to remember.You can watch the puppy parenting classes via the Burns You Tube page
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Hermoso said at the time of the incident: “I feel the need to denounce what happened because I believe that no person, in any work, sports or social environment, should be a victim of this type of non-consensual behaviour.
“I felt vulnerable and the victim of an aggression, an impulsive, chauvinistic act, out of place and without any consent on my part. Simply put, I was not respected.”
The 10-week investigation centred around clause 13 of the Fifa disciplinary code, relating to “offensive behaviour and violations of the principles of fair play”, which includes the ability to sanction anyone who “behaves in a way that brings the sport of football and/or Fifa into disrepute” or “violates the basic rules of decent conduct”.
It is also believed to have taken into consideration Rubiales’s public comments in the aftermath and threats by the Spanish FA to take legal action against her.
The fallout from the incident made international headlines: Spain’s head coach Jorge Vilda was sacked after coming out in support of Rubiales, the former president’s mother went on hunger strike in protest against the “inhumane” treatment of her son and 15 members of the Spanish national team announced a boycott.
Hermoso herself was dropped from the squad, while those threatening to boycott were still called up.
“We have spent weeks, months, searching for protection from inside the [Spanish FA],” Hermoso said.
“The same people who ask us to trust them are those who today announced a squad with players who asked NOT to be called up.
“The players are certain that this is yet another strategy of division and manipulation to intimidate and threaten us with legal repercussions and economic sanctions.
“It is more irrefutable proof that shows even today that nothing has changed.”
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OLD TRAFFORD — Manchester United were beaten before a ball was kicked at Old Trafford.
One look at the back four named by Erik ten Hag had supporters and the watching media aghast. How could that rearguard stop Erling Haaland?
In short, they never stood a chance. But not because the Nordic goal machine was at his unplayable best – he didn’t have to be. Haaland’s fellow Scandinavian Rasmus Hojlund must be questioning his life choices – this wasn’t the Manchester United in the brochure.
Going up against the best team in the world with Leicester City’s centre-back pairing from 2018-19, a central defender at left-back and Diogo Dalot sealed the home team’s fate as the teamsheets made their way out of the printer.
Injuries did really restrict Ten Hag’s options, but his decision to leave Raphael Varane on the bench and play 35-year-old Jonny Evans alongside a rejuvenated Harry Maguire was, remarkably, a tactical one, according to the Dutchman. In fairness, he did not stipulate which team’s tactical plan his judgment would benefit.
Instead, Evans made no interceptions, no tackles and no blocks in the entire 90 minutes. The oldest defender to play in the Manchester derby since Laurent Blanc in 2002 cannot shoulder the blame for such an inept display, but he should never have been within 50 miles of Haaland on Sunday. For Manchester City’s game-clinching second goal, he wasn’t much closer.
On another day, this could easily have been a humiliation on par with the famous 6-1 drubbing in 2011 under Roberto Mancini, had Andre Onana not pulled off several stunning stops, with Haaland wondering how on earth he did not add to his bulging collection of hat-trick match balls.
The rotting carcass of a footballing giant left to fester in these parts is not entirely Ten Hag’s fault – the recruitment in the post Sir Alex Ferguson era has been nothing short of catastrophic – but fielding a team this inadequate against the unrelenting noisy neighbours is unfathomable.
Sergio Reguilon was on the bench and came on – was he not fit enough to start in his recognised position over an out-of-form centre-back, up against the fleet-footed wizardry of Phil Foden?
There are further questions of the bodies selected further forward. With Casemiro not fit to make the United squad – Ten Hag went for a pivot of Sofyan Amrabat, who the United boss really pushed to sign, alongside Christian Eriksen, a figure that understandably does not have the engine he once had.
That left Scott McTominay as United’s most advanced midielder, with Bruno Fernandes deployed as a wide forward. Rodri didn’t have to break stride.
Injuries were again the company line after the match. But £55m Mason Mount was on the bench, another player Ten Hag pushed for.
The club have backed the Dutchman to sign the players he wants in the transfer market, a shift from their similarly unsuccessful approach of bringing in household names that could fit into any manager’s system.
Budgets have been tighter than in previous years, it must be said, with the Financial Fair Play inspectors camped in a parked car outside looking through a long camera lens. So why sign Mount, when he isn’t capable of fitting into a midfield in desperate need of a quality upgrade?
A line-up of this mediocre calibre just cannot wash in these parts, not for games of this magnitude. We have known this once great club are a shadow of their former selves for some time. But to not even give United a fighting chance from the off is just unacceptable. The fact the Dutchman does not seem to be learning his lessons is perhaps the most worrying element to a defeat everyone saw coming.
“First half we had a very good game plan and the execution was very good,” Ten Hag said. “When you see the first half it is toe to toe and the penalty changes the game.
“We could have returned in the game with the shot of McTominay just before half-time. From chances it was toe to toe and also in the previous games against them the probability [of winning] was there in all the games.”
It really wasn’t. A humiliating, record-book enshrining scoreline, one that really exposed the gaping chasm between the Manchester rivals, was what Ten Hag and United needed. A real wake-up call.
The gulf in quality in the spines of these rivals tells you all you need to know. Onana, Maguire, Amrabat and a raw Hojlund are playing a different sport to Ederson, Ruben Dias, Rodri and Haaland.
Haaland was lapping up the City celebrations in front of his adorning supporters at the end, and who could blame him. It was the most strenuous activity he had performed all day.
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Manchester United have troubled their neighbours in the derby in recent years, but they were dominated almost throughout by a team that knows what it is doing. The same cannot be said of Erik ten Hag, with United enduring their worst start to a league season in Premier League history. His team look compartmentalised, lack discipline and have far too many questions for a manager 18 months into his work.
Tottenham Hotspur keep their place at the top of the table after a grubby Friday night win over Crystal Palace, but Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa all won to continue their own verve. Those three scored 11 goals between them against weak away teams, Eddie Nketiah’s hat-trick the standout individual achievement.
At the bottom, all three promoted clubs lost away from home, conceding 10 goals in the process. The worst result of the lot was for Burnley and Vincent Kompany, who gave Andoni Iraola his first league win as Bournemouth manager and caused questions about his own future to be asked at a louder volume.
Read my analysis on every team below (listed in table order).
Ange Postecoglou is making all this look very easy indeed. This is now Tottenham’s second best ever start to a season, with eight wins and two draws. The only other time that Spurs outperformed their current 10-game streak was when winning the First Division in 1961. Nobody should be anticipating a similar feat in Postecoglou’s first season, but that misses the point and so do all those saying “Lol, they will collapse soon because Spurs”.
“Let them dream,” said Postecoglou after the win on Friday night. “That’s what being a football supporter is all about. It’s fair to say this lot have suffered a fair bit, so I’m certainly not going to dampen that.” It’s amazing how unusual it is to hear an elite football manager say that.
For too long, supporting this club was a miserable existence. That is not to say that Tottenham fans have had it worse than Scunthorpe or Bury or Yeovil or whoever else, but there is still something deeply depressing about watching potential be trodden into the dust by a club that doesn’t even have the decency to give supporters any entertainment. There is nothing more galling for fans than paying a huge amount of money to not enjoy something and then being told forcibly that you should be grateful for the aesthetic gruel you just received.
Which is where Postecoglou comes in. Some managers build bridges through their results, of which Tottenham have had a few recently. They can be very successful, because if the results stay consistent then the bridge becomes solid. Other managers build bridges in order to get the results, of which Postecoglou is one. It can occasionally feel a little schmaltzy, all the talk of family and hugs and “No look, we just want the fans to enjoy themselves”, but in the right hands it absolutely can work.
It clearly helps Postecoglou that he has followed his opposites. They failed and so created a mandate for him to operate in his ideal laboratory conditions, a collection of players who wanted to play with a smile on their face and a fanbase that was desperate to be moved closer towards their club.
But he deserves enormous credit for the manner in which he has reinvigorated the players he inherited, allowed the new arrivals to settle in with such ease and get Tottenham supporters believing in the improbable. With five Champions League spots likely available and no European distractions, Tottenham have a shot at a marvellous first season. Right now, Postecoglou is king.
Arsenal
There may be doubts as to whether Eddie Nketiah is quite good enough to lead Arsenal’s line, and Gabriel Jesus’ latest injury has raised valid questions as to why Arsenal bought Kai Havertz rather than another striker, but the only thing Nketiah can do is take the chances that come his way.
He has struggled a bit recently; no doubt. Since his two goals against Manchester United in January, a day that felt like Nketiah’s breakout performance for Arsenal, he has only scored twice – against Fulham and Nottingham Forest this season.
He has also had precious few starts. It is far harder than people realise to deal with irregular minutes and then have the pressure to lead the line when something else goes wrong.
Nketiah is certainly good enough to make Championship-level defenders look foolish. His first two goals were poached – making the right run and being in the right place respectively to anticipate danger created by his teammate and by Wes Foderingham.
The third was pure silk, a gorgeous curled shot. I don’t know why he didn’t take the penalty to get a fourth, but Fabio Vieira presumably appreciated the gesture.
Nketiah’s ability to score goals against second-tier Premier League sides may well prove useful if Jesus is out for a while: after Newcastle it is Burnley, Brentford, Wolves and Luton. But Mikel Arteta must also look to rotate his two strikers more than he has, particularly if Jesus is going to be prone to injury through being slightly overworked – his issues do appear to be muscular. It would also help Nketiah to feel like a front-level striker rather than the backup.
This weekend gives us the perfect chance to remark upon Liverpool’s ruthless home Premier League form, continued with an oh-so-easy stroll against Nottingham Forest with all three starting forwards scoring. Liverpool have conceded three goals in their last eight league games at Anfield and have scored 17 goals in the process.
But then what’s new? Liverpool’s record against non-Big Six teams at home in the Premier League over the last two-and-a-half years is a thing of wonder. Since a 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle in April 2021, they have played 35 such matches.
Jurgen Klopp’s team have won 30 of those games, drawn three – Aston Villa, Brighton (twice) and Crystal Palace. The only defeat was against Leeds United in October 2022. Yes, we are saying that Jesse Marsch is the key to beating Liverpool at Anfield.
It is a long time since Aston Villa have played European football, and the Thursday-Sunday split comes with its challenges for clubs without vast squad depth. As you go deeper into the competition, as Villa surely will in the Europa Conference League, fatigue becomes an issue.
So it is just another advantage of appointing Unai Emery as your manager that Villa have the master of the game when it comes to Thursday night overperformance that combines with Sunday consistency.
Villa have lost only one of their league games that followed their five European games so far this season – that was at Anfield. They swept past Luton with three goals in the first hour. That allows you to conserve energy with the game won, exactly as they did on Sunday.
Villa’s efficiency in front of goal is also making this far easier. In Alkmaar on Thursday, four goals in the first hour. Against West Ham the week before, a two-goal lead. Emery’s side have now scored 19 times in their last six matches in all competitions.
They are now seven points ahead of Manchester United and 10 ahead of Chelsea. That makes them legitimate contenders for fifth place and Champions League football. The supporters are having the time of their lives.
Man City
Erling Haaland has now scored 11 goals in 11 Premier League games this season (Photo: Getty)
This was not one of those vivid, technicolour derby trashings that passes into folklore. There’ll be no mural depicting the time an Erling Haaland brace undressed Manchester United on their own patch, no songs dreamt up to commemorate this resoundingly routine victory for the European champions.
City’s class, quality and gameplan were a million miles more convincing. Remember they arrived in a rare mini-wobble, back-to-back away defeats in the league offering rare signs of sky blue vulnerability.
Was it going to be one of those days? Haaland’s response, when Rasmus Hojlund’s tug on Rodri in the penalty area was spotted by VAR, was emphatic. He rolled the spot kick past Andre Onana and bawled at the Stretford End. Chants of “Keano” – a reference to the career-ending injury his father suffered on this ground – encouraged him to cup his ear to the crowd. Those days of red dominance are long, long gone.
City scored again after the break, a brilliant move that ended with the sublime Silva overlapping before teeing up Haaland for a header, and United’s resolve dissolved. Phil Foden added a third with ten minutes remaining. It could easily have been five or six. City have been everything Manchester United are not for more than a decade. You might as well chalk up at least another three onto that. By Mark Douglas
Sven Botman’s injury means that Jamaal Lascelles is back in the team (Photo: Getty)
A frustrating result to end a difficult week. It began with news that Sandro Tonali was likely to receive a significant ban for his role in illegal betting – including on his own team before moving to England. It continued with a home defeat in the Champions League, one that made some sections of the home support grumble in a manner that makes you worry about growing entitlement.
Newcastle also suffered two injuries against Borussia Dortmund and followed it up with a sticky draw at Molineux despite leading twice. Eddie Howe will believe that two points were thrown away foolishly.
It’s the injuries we want to dwell on, because they ask questions of Newcastle’s summer transfer business. The owners, recruitment team and manager have got most things right since arriving at St James’ Park, but this summer they clearly prioritised certain positions. Alongside Tonali, Newcastle signed a left winger (Harvey Barnes), a right-back (Tino Livramento) and a left-back (Lewis Hall – whose loan will become permanent).
Barnes started only two league games before getting injured, second choice behind the in-form Anthony Gordon who was signed for £45m in January. Livramento has played 45 league minutes across four appearances because Kieran Trippier has been their best player this season. Lewis Hall has played nine minutes – he’s not getting in ahead of Dan Burn.
The point is this: why did Newcastle sign expensive options in three positions for which they already had stellar options? It would have been perfectly permissible if they had depth across the squad, but that’s not true. Sven Botman’s injury means that Jamaal Lascelles is back in the team (214 Premier League minutes in the whole of last season). Alexander Isak’s absence means that Newcastle are forced to cross their fingers that Callum Wilson holds up; he has a history of niggling injury issues.
Brighton’s perennial problem in the days pre-Roberto De Zerbi was their inability to finish chances. Under Graham Potter, it became the Premier League’s running joke. They would create chance after chance and spurn the lot. Danny Welbeck and Neal Maupay were the two most guilty parties. Brighton became known as the expected goals champions.
Under De Zerbi, that issue has now shifted and the 1-1 draw at home to Fulham was a perfect example. Brighton have had more than 70 per cent in two league games this season – West Ham and Fulham. Brighton have also won neither of those matches. They also had 75 per cent possession against AEK Athens in the Europa League and lost that game too.
Interestingly, in the two league fixtures Brighton didn’t create more than 1.5 xG in either game. They had plenty of shots – 18 against Fulham and 25 against West Ham – but most of these shots were either from long range or with numerous defenders in the way and, as such, were blocked.
De Zerbi is already acutely aware that Brighton’s opponents believe that they can hit them on the counter by deploying a low block and catching Brighton midfielders and full-backs high up the pitch. Now there is evidence that Brighton are struggling to create chances against it too. Brighton haven’t won a league game since 24 September.
Man Utd
This is now Manchester United’s worst ever Premier League start, a fifth defeat in the league proving the recent late rescue acts were nothing more than a mirage, but it no longer constitutes cracked badge crisis club territory. Mediocrity has seeped into the red and white DNA and a floundering Erik ten Hag has played his part in that.
He has talked a good game since the summer but what progress have the club really made on his watch? A year ago they were walloped 6-3 at the Etihad and Ten Hag’s terse response garnered him plenty of plaudits. Here was the disciplinarian to shake the club from its torpor.
But a year and some £300m spent later, Ten Hag is no closer to bridging the gap to City and they appear to be falling behind well-managed top four insurgents like Newcastle United and Aston Villa.
Pep Guardiola’s side are some benchmark, with Rodri the midfield metronome and the sublime Bernardo Silva the supplier for chief executioner Haaland, but United were so feckless, their team selection so bewildering that their manager can’t escape his share of the blame.
We are told that Sir Jim Ratcliffe – whose investment and new ideas are imminent and will have been confirmed by their next home league game in November – intends to back Ten Hag. Surely, though, that is just canny PR so as not to unsettle the current coaching incumbent. If Sir Jim is serious about shaking things up, things will have to get better sharpish or his new football committee’s first job will be finding another manager.
What was going through Ten Hag’s head here? Raphael Varane sat on the bench while Jonny Evans started. “Tactical,” Ten Hag said before the game. But their defensive line was so deep, their back four so flat footed, that City’s buccaneering forward line was always going to make hay against them.
There was no Casemiro in midfield while Mason Mount, the man Ten Hag urged his bosses to win an auction for to offer his team some control over games, sat on the bench. Scott McTominay, a player United have been hawking around for the past three transfer windows, was preferred in his place. Predictably, there was no control. By Mark Douglas
There is something not quite right about the balance of this West Ham team at present, even though Jarrod Bowen so often wriggles them out of a pickle. After last weekend’s questions over the midfield balance, Moyes dropped Tomas Soucek and gave Mohammed Kudus his first Premier league start. It is true that Kudus was the brightest player, retaining possession and occasionally playing passes for wide players to run onto – that made him unique.
But an ostensibly attacking change of personnel had its limitations. With Moyes not prepared to leave Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse as a two-man midfield, Lucas Paqueta was given greater defensive responsibility. That stymied his creative verve – Paqueta was too often left playing simple sideways that someone with less prodigious talent could have done.
It doesn’t help that Michail Antonio is now the first-choice striker at 33. The effort has never and will never be in question, but Antonio’s ability to hold up the ball has diminished badly and his penalty-box presence virtually non-existent on Sunday. Antonio lasted 55 minutes. Surely Moyes’ other option is to start Bowen centrally and spick an attacking midfielder.
Watching West Ham has been an experience over the last 12 months: the European endeavour, Bowen’s directness, Declan Rice’s marauding captaincy by example, Paqueta’s invention. They have stepped grossly in the wrong direction over the last few weeks, a football team with an unambitious plan that still regularly fails to pull it off. Too often they are left holding out for individual magic, either from Bowen in open play or Ward-Prowse over the dead ball.
Neal Maupay received a yellow card for kicking the ball away as a substitute (Photo: Getty)
The best fact of this Premier League weekend: Thomas Frank has now won more Premier League games at Stamford Bridge in 2023 than Frank Lampard and Mauricio Pochettino combined.
You cannot blame Frank for showboating a little after he won his third straight league game away at Chelsea since taking Brentford up, scoring eight goals in the process and conceding just once. In his interview with the artist formerly known as BT Sport, Frank described his side’s performance during a 2-0 win as “average at best”. Yes he did smile knowingly too.
Frank has had so much success on this ground because his team are perfectly set up to deal with Chelsea’s half-baked threat and that hasn’t changed whoever is in charge. Brentford like to play with a low block and soak up pressure. They are happy for their opponents to cross the ball into the box and actively encourage them to push central midfielders higher up the pitch, because that only creates more opportunity for their own counter attacks.
Chelsea had almost 70 per cent possession and 17 shots, but Brentford became far more confident as the game went on. And why not? This is what they are made to do. Any hint of panic after their poor run is now over.
Chelsea
It is time to face the reality: for all those compliments that Chelsea earned during their mini-resurgence, their home form remains appalling and they won’t ever kick on until it improves sustainably.
Chelsea have beaten Crystal Palace, Luton and Leeds United at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League this year and the clocks have just gone back. That is risible from a supposed top-six staple.
Chelsea continue to struggle against the low block – it doesn’t help that that was also Pochettino’s undoing at Paris Saint-Germain. They did indeed improve in recent games against Arsenal, Brighton and Burnley, but all three opponents were happy to attack Chelsea and allow them to occasionally play with space in front of them.
Starve Chelsea of that and they become stale and frustrated. Then, generally, comes the bad news. This was an exact replica of the home game against Nottingham Forest, bar Brentford sealing the result in the final minute. And it will happen again.
In these situations, a team’s cheat code is possessing a clinical striker who digs you out of the hole. So it is with apologies to Nicolas Jackson that we must point out that in the last four Premier League games he has started, Chelsea have taken 62 shots without scoring a goal. Jackson is clearly talented, but this team in this period of its development is not the best place for him to flourish and he is not the striker who will take them forward.
This week, Pochettino revealed that Christopher Nkunku may be fit to return after the November international break. You better believe that Chelsea are trying to rush him back before this season gets any worse. Qualifying for European football might depend upon it.
Wolves
Appointing Gary O’Neil is arguably the best decision Wolves have made (Photo: Getty)
Last week, we wondered whether Bournemouth might regret sacking Gary O’Neil. Now we’re ready to conclude that Wolves made a fine choice in appointing him. They are unbeaten in five games and finally looking up the table.
This was not the majority opinion when O’Neil was recruited. Supporters – with some good reason – feared that their club had merely taken the cheaper option, par for the course after letting their best midfielders leave over the summer. After a series of bigger-name, European appointments, was this not evidence that the owners had given up a little bit on the grand Portuguese project?
But everything is working fine. Wolves rank 14th and 15th for shots and shots on target per game, and 16th for shots and shots on target faced. If that second statistic might cause some concern amongst supporters, it probably shouldn’t.
Look at the fixture list: Wolves have played five home league games this season and, at the start of the weekend, Brighton were the lowest ranked of the five in seventh place.
Given that Wolves have won at Everton and Bournemouth and drew at Luton with 10 men, the chances are that they continue to move further clear of trouble between now and Christmas, even given the injury suffered by Pedro Neto. There are just too many teams consistently performing worse than Wolves right now.
Crystal Palace
Did we hear the first signs on Friday night that Roy Hodgson might just be getting a little weary of his work back at Selhurst Park?
Some Palace supporters have been expressing their concern that insufficient opportunities are being given to the club’s younger players. The average age of the starting XI on Friday was 28.2, and that includes Marc Guehi, Tyrick Mitchell and Cheick Doucoure, all of whom are 24 or under. On the bench were Naouirou Ahamada, a 21-year-old central midfielder signed from Stuttgart in January, 19-year-old summer signing Matheus Franca and academy graduate Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, a highly-rated winger. All came on.
Perhaps Hodgson was just being a little grouchy in response to the criticism for not giving these players more minutes.
“There was no disappointment today,” he said, when asked if he was happy with the performance following the heavy defeat at Newcastle. “Although, maybe the young substitutes — who we like to think we can believe in and help us to a different level – didn’t show that. They didn’t do anything for us at all, really. We became much weaker when I made the substitutions.”
Even if Hodgson was unimpressed by his younger players, it is an interesting man management technique to call them out so publicly after a defeat. Supporters shouldn’t expect any of the three to start many games in the near future. In the case of Franca, whose transfer fee could rise to £26m, that’s a little worrying.
Fulham
Fulham haven’t quite enjoyed the full Joao Palhinha experience this season, quite possibly due to the lingering disappointment of his failed move to Bayern Munich.
Last season, Palhinha was the tackle and interception champion of the Premier League, streaks ahead of any other player. Before Sunday, he had been usurped at the top of the list by Crystal Palace’s Cheick Doucoure.
And then at Brighton, we saw the full Palhinha repertoire. He will get the headlines for scoring the equaliser, but the midfielder’s work off the ball was supreme. Fulham deliberately sacrificed possession and played with a low block, but their central defence was protected in no small part by Palhinha’s efforts.
His was the most impressive statistic of any player this weekend: Palhinha made 10 tackles against Brighton. That’s the most by any player in any Premier League game this season.
Everton
Even after a woeful first half for both teams, you felt sure that Sean Dyche was delighted to face such a miserably lethargic opponent. He would be forgiven for expecting more cause to fight.
So if Everton had produced little before the break, we might diagnose that as circumspection. They lay waiting to play on the counter and then they made good on that intent against a desperate adversary.
That strategy worked because of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Everton possessing a better centre-forward than West Ham won them the game. Calvert-Lewin has dealt with stinging and persistent criticism from his own supporters for the regularity of his niggling injuries – as if he was not as annoyed as they were – but his return to fitness and form will keep Everton up.
Sean Dyche left all three of his permanent attacking summer signings on the bench – Beto, Youssef Chermiti, Arnaut Danjuma – in favour of Calvert-Lewin flanked by two wingers. Calvert-Lewin won headers, ran channels and generally kept at least two defenders quiet. His turn and finish for the opening goal were exemplary.
Calvert-Lewin has four goals in his last six matches in all competitions. He is the international class attacker in this team and he now receives standing ovations from his crowd.
When Nottingham Forest signed Odysseas Vlachodimos from Benfica late in the summer transfer window, it was clear that there would be a fight to end up as the club’s No 1. Matt Turner was a late alternative to Dean Henderson, whose injury issues had persuaded Forest to seek an alternative option. Vlachodimos being Greek was a slight complication, given the owner, but Turner had the shirt from the start.
Before Sunday, Turner hadn’t done a huge amount wrong. His save percentage was reasonable. There were a couple of low-value shots that Turner failed to save, but he had been starting to build some chemistry with a regularly-changing defence.
The mistake at Anfield was hardly game-defining, given that Forest lost it in the space of 10 first-half minutes with neither goal Turner’s fault. But charging out to a long ball and getting nowhere near it, thus giving Mohamed Salah an open goal, was probably the worst error by any Premier League goalkeeper this season.
And now Steve Cooper has a decision to make. There has been much upheaval in Forest’s final third this season thanks to injuries (full-backs) and stuttering form (defenders), but the suspicion is that Vlachodimos might just get the start at home to Aston Villa next weekend.
Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola loves Antoine Semenyo’s energy when pressing high up the pitch (Photo: Getty)
Antoine Semenyo was a forgotten figure in Bournemouth’s survival bid last season. With Gary O’Neil presumably preferring to trust the attackers he had worked with for a while, the £11m January signing played only 250 minutes before the end of the season. He started two league games before mid-March, Bournemouth lost them both and that was about that.
Andoni Iraola had struggled to point towards any positives over his first two months of Premier League football, but Semenyo was one of them. The Ghanaian has now played more minutes than in his last half-season and has started double the number of games. Thanks to his bursting run and left-footed finish, he has also scored two league goals.
Semenyo was used as more of a central striker – and goalscorer – at Bristol City, but under Iraola he’s a wide forward with Dominic Solanke cemented as the centre-forward. It works because Iraola loves Semenyo’s energy when pressing high up the pitch and his directness when Bournemouth turn over possession in the final third.
That pressing has not always worked out for Iraola and it is pretty clear that the success of his tenure at Bournemouth will live and die by it improving. But against a side intent on playing out from the back and consistently looking uncomfortable doing it, Iraola finally has the victory he needed to create some faith.
Luton
As another game goes by during which Luton gave their all, offered some resistance but ultimately succumbed, it strikes that Luton’s biggest problem this season is going to be sustaining a run of results. It’s all very well coming from 2-0 down against Nottingham Forest, displaying guts and glory in the process, but if the next game roughly takes you back to where you started mood-wise then the survival bid never quite materialises.
This provokes an interesting question for Luton in January. Away from the best clubs in the league, Luton have nothing to fear. They have won one game, drawn two others and have lost four league games by a single goal.
Unlike Burnley and Sheffield United, they have rarely been humbled. Also unlike those two clubs, they barely spent any money in the summer. They could loosen the purse strings without taking unnecessary financial risks.
Until then, Rob Edwards’ challenge is to get more from the players that Luton did sign in the summer. Luton signed 13 players on permanent or loan deals in the summer – this is a squad that is pretty high on bodies. But of the eight outfield players with the most starts this season, only two were summer arrivals and one of those (Marvelous Nakamba) was on loan at Kenilworth Road last season. Edwards has given them a unexpected platform, albeit still in the bottom three. Now to rotate and make his team a little more unpredictable.
Burnley
The suspicion grows that Burnley have wasted an awful lot of money since gaining promotion. This was a club that ostensibly had two options: buy players who they believed suited the style of play in the Championship and hope that they could replicate it in the Premier League, or buy players who might offer a plan B in two or three positions.
The problem is this: Burnley are indeed trying to play the same way as last season: inviting the press, playing their way out, banking on a resolute defence. But not only have they discovered that Premier League attackers are a good deal better at pressing you in possession, they also have half a new team so have lost the consistency of performance that they enjoyed last season. They have lost their identity.
Burnley faced the lowest number of shots and goals in open play in the Championship last season, and also the lowest expected goals figure. This season, they look uncomfortable when playing out of defence and are allowing far too many shots.
Unsurprisingly given the loss of their top goalscorer from last season (Nathan Tella returned to Southampton after his loan), Burnley are also far less effective in attack. They are recording fewer than 10 shots per game on average and have the second lowest xG figure after Sheffield United. Not having many shots, giving away more shots and pressing high up the pitch to far less effect than last season? It’s not an ideal recipe.
At any other club, we might expect a compromise to form between ideals and the grim reality of the league position. But honestly, that’s unlikely to happen under Vincent Kompany because the club understandably built around his overperformance last season. By the time this does click, Burnley will be playing catch-up. It feels a long time since we were all – me included – were picking them to be comfortably the best of the promoted trio.
Sheff Utd
This quickly feels very futile. Sheffield United don’t win, and whenever they offer some stubborn resistance it is either quickly undone, is coupled with a complete lack of attacking impetus or both. Just another inevitable defeat.
Paul Heckingbottom is going to be sacked soon, because this cannot be allowed to continue unabated and getting rid of the manager is always the only answer. He will leave with sympathy from supporters for the way in which he has been let down by his club’s transfer market inactivity.
That merited sympathy does not automatically mean that Heckingbottom isn’t underachieving, though. Sheffield United are not just failing to pick up points – they are terrible. They have had 27 shots on target in 10 matches, which over the course of the whole season would lead to 103. The lowest in the Premier League last season was 111.
And to match that attacking lethargy? Shambolic defending. Heckingbottom’s team have allowed 79 shots on target this season – nobody else has faced more than 60. Again extend that record across a whole campaign and you get exactly 300 shots on target faced. Last season, the worst offenders in the Premier League were Bournemouth, who allowed 198 shots on target.
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