A manic transfer deadline day for Premier League clubs ended up being defined by two deals involving Liverpool: one that happened and another that didn’t.
The champions finally signed Alexander Isak from Newcastle, paying an English-record £125m for the striker to end the saga of the summer.
However, they missed out on Marc Guehi, despite agreeing a £35m fee with Crystal Palace. The England international had a medical in London after expressing a desire to leave and Palace had even prepared a farewell video for their captain.
However, Palace pulled the plug to ensure that Guehi will remain in south London until January at least.
Guehi has entered the final 12 months of his contract at Selhurst Park and has informed the club he is unwilling to sign an extension.
According to The Guardian, Guehi is angry after being denied the move and is considering whether to continue with the armband.
It was a messy end to a messy window for the Eagles.
As the deadline loomed closer, an extraordinarily public power struggle broke out between the club’s manager Oliver Glasner and chairman Steve Parish. Glasner was desperate for Guehi to stay; Parish wanted to sell.
Had Guehi been allowed to join Liverpool without a suitable back-up signed, Glasner may have walked out too.
“If he doesn’t want to sign a contract, we have to look at it,” Parish told Channel 5 after Palace’s 1-0 win over Fredrikstad in the first leg of their Conference League qualifying play-off tie on 21 August.
“Players leaving on a free is not an ideal situation for a football club.”
Shortly afterwards, a frustrated Glasner addressed the media.
“It’s easy to add 10 numbers [but] we need the right players. The profile has been defined for months.
“We missed replacing him early enough. That’s completely our fault and nobody else’s.”
Glasner’s stance was even stronger last Sunday after Guehi scored a stunning goal and marshalled Palace’s defence to a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa, less than 24 hours before the deadline shut.
“We [Glasner and Parish] had a meeting in March… and we have an agreement that we could sell Marc if we have the right replacement in,” he revealed.
“We wanted to have this replacement at the beginning of the pre-season… [but] it’s August 31 and there is no replacement in the building, so it’s clear one part of the agreement is not fulfilled. That means we can’t sell Marc.”
Palace did buy a centre-back on deadline day, but Jaydee Canvot, bought for around £20m, has only recently turned 19 and made just 20 Ligue 1 appearances for Toulouse.
Moves for more established defenders – Brighton’s Igor Julio, who joined West Ham, and AC Milan’s Strahinja Pavlovic – fell through.
Glasner was desperate for Guehi to remain at Palace (Photo: Reuters)
Managers are rarely as bullish regarding potential player sales as Glasner has been, but he is in a stronger position than most.
The Austrian is the most successful coach in Palace’s 120-year history after delivering the club’s first major trophy, the FA Cup in May, a triumph that also secured European qualification. That was followed by a Community Shield victory over Liverpool.
Like Guehi, his contract is due to expire next summer. He has been linked with Bayer Leverkusen, who sacked Erik ten Hag after just two league games at the weekend, although reports in Germany indicate that Edin Terzic and Xavi are the leading contenders.
Losing Glasner, given his outstanding achievements in SE25, his precarious contract situation and his stellar reputation across Europe, would be a PR disaster for Parish, who was under intense pressure from the fanbase before hiring the 51-year-old in February 2024.
Glasner is arguably the club’s most valuable asset, even more so than England internationals Guehi and Adam Wharton and star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta.
He has proved to be an outstanding tactician and coach wherever he has been, taking LASK from the Austrian second division to Champions League qualifying, leading Eintracht Frankfurt to a first European trophy in 42 years and making history with Palace.
Palace fans will be relieved that Glasner is still in charge and happy that Guehi, an elite central defender, may stay for potentially another golden season.
Palace’s demotion from Europa to Conference League was harsh given the leniency that Uefa has applied to others in the tangled multi-club web.
Glasner has every chance of winning that competition too, given that two of its four winners have been Premier League clubs.
That’s if Palace can put a summer of strain behind them and build on an encouraging start to the season in which they are unbeaten in six matches.
There was a welcome flurry of activity at the end of the window, with Yeremy Pino, Canvot and Christantus Uche joining earlier recruits Borna Sosa and Walter Benitez.
Extra additions were necessary, but the squad still looks a little light following the sale of Eberechi Eze, particularly with the added exertions of European football and an unforgiving Thursday-to-Sunday game schedule to navigate.
It all happened a little late for Glasner’s liking too. Wharton and Ismaila Sarr have both withdrawn from international duty with muscle injuries after playing six games in the space of 21 days for Palace.
Had signings arrived earlier in the summer, Glasner would have had more scope to rotate and the workload on a threadbare squad would have been less.
Parish, Glasner and Guehi are Palace’s most senior individuals in the boardroom, management team and playing squad.
Parish wanted to recoup a fee for Guehi; Glasner wanted signings early in the window; Guehi wanted to join Liverpool. Ultimately, none of them got what they wanted.
In the end, Parish ceded to Glasner’s wishes, perhaps begrudgingly accepting that a happy Glasner is worth more to Palace right now than £35m in the bank. Only time will tell whether that was the right call.
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It reveals everything about the current fragility of Celtic supporters that they made the early-morning journey to Ibrox on Sunday with fear in their hearts. Rangers with the managerial crisis. Rangers with the 6-0 away defeat in Europe. Rangers without a league win.
A 0-0 draw in the Old Firm was widely viewed as just about enough, if hardly appetising. That too damned with faint praise: Celtic had no shot on target in the first half of a league match for the first time in approaching eight years and have now drawn their three most important games of this nascent season 0-0. Excitement? Everybody is just getting through this grimly.
For the several hundred Celtic supporters who travelled to Kazakhstan last midweek, a message of mutiny soundtracked their worst European elimination since the 5-0 Champions League qualifying defeat to Artmedia Bratislava in 2005.
A small allocation at Ibrox meant that “Sack the board” would never be heard on Sunday, but no fear: the internet carries the same message. Celtic have become a club in turmoil with every strand disconnected.
This summer always felt significant. Celtic had won the Scottish Premiership by 17 points and with a goal difference of +86, comically dominant domestically. But that dominance only made their European performance more of a bellwether for the health of the club and the relationships within it.
Celtic went into the Old Firm with trepidation (Photo: PA)
With only one qualifying round to negotiate, for which Celtic were seeded and drew the lowest-ranked possible opponent, a golden chance to seize around £40m of prize money presented itself. That was the plan.
When transfer business was slow in July, it was perceived as a calculated gamble: you can sell the project better to prospective signings with Champions League football secured and there is typically better value to be found as the window progresses.
Celtic would hardly be the only club to wait until the second half of August to get busy, but it felt like an extraordinary risk given the money in the bank and the punishment for missing out.
The subsequent failure is multifaceted and significant. Brendan Rodgers must share the blame: the failure to score a single goal in 210 minutes against a team ranked 315th in Europe was catastrophic and overshadows the success of last season, when Celtic finished above Manchester City in the league phase of the Champions League and only lost 3-2 to Bayern Munich in the knockouts.
This was always a danger with Rodgers, whose return to Celtic after his Leicester City sacking felt like an implicit acceptance of flatlining. As Leicester supporters discovered, when the football gets slow and the team lacks a potent, in-form striker, it becomes aesthetically unappealing and too easy to blunt. Kairat Almaty blunted it.
But even before Kazakhstan, Rodgers had been signposting his own fears with little subtlety.
“We have gaps in the squad that are very clear,” he said on 3 August. “I have to convince the board to really push to get the players in that we really need. Clearly, I’m not doing that job well enough, but I will continue to push and hopefully we can get the players in by the end of the transfer window.”
The Champions League debacle created an unhelpful catch-22: Rodgers believed that he had been let down by summer activity that would have made qualification far more likely; the board believed that Rodgers had underperformed and so made transfer activity harder through the failure to qualify. Supporters in Almaty made it clear who they felt merited the most censure.
Then came the second failure. The supposition – among most supporters and the manager – was that Celtic would react to criticism with a busy end to the transfer window.
The hunt for a centre-forward led them to Kasper Dolberg, who seems set to join former club Ajax, and Chelsea’s David Fofana, who preferred Charlton (although that loan move fell through). Celtic’s board seem to lowball for players as if mid-August was mid-July and then act surprised when deals are not forthcoming.
With Adam Idah sold to Swansea City for £6m on deadline day, Celtic barely have a first-team striker at all. Even if the target list changed after dropping into the Europa League, that does not explain nor justify inaction. Celtic sold Kyoto Furuhashi in January and didn’t replace him. They have now sold Idah and Nicolas Kuhn and not adequately replaced either man. Jota will be injured for much of 2025-26.
The club’s European exit was a new low (Photo: Getty)
The accusation is twofold: 1) that Celtic are grossly lacking ambition having made profit in their last three summer transfer windows, including the one just gone, with little obvious improvement to the first team, and 2) they now face the prospect of a Europa League campaign (Roma, Bologna, Feyenoord and Braga among others) far more arduous than it should have been due to the lack of signings. Rodgers is managing with an arm tied behind his back.
It places Celtic in a football no-man’s land. They will likely be far too good for anyone else domestically (Celtic have conceded one goal this season, when they were 4-0 up against Falkirk in the League Cup).
They are a best price of 1/7 to win the title, given Rangers’ own travails. In Europe, they are outsiders to make the top eight of a group stage in a competition that Celtic fans didn’t even expect to fall into.
At any other club at any other time, this might have been spun as part of a process. You miss out on the Champions League and so you effectively accept a fallow season, aiming to win everything domestically but keeping your transfer powder dry for 2026, when you can spend double.
That doesn’t really apply here for two reasons. Firstly, next summer will be harder, not easier – buying from a position of strength is easier than from a position of weakness. Rodgers, who currently seems entirely fed up, is out of contract next summer and will surely be seeking a second escape down south before then or when the deal expires. Right now, few supporters would blame him.
Secondly, an air of mutiny has entered the mindset of Celtic’s support. Blog posts and podcasts on Tuesday morning were rife with accusations that ranged from distaste to cowardice.
Those who had been giving Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell and chief executive Michael Nicholson some grace until the window closed were fuelled by righteous indignation at being let down. The reported pay rises both received are an extra bitter pill to swallow.
Celtic are now in a mess. The players don’t seem to know what the manager is asking of them or how to create clear chances. The higher-class striker to finish those chances does not exist.
Supporters felt let down by Rodgers for the results against Kairat but reserve far more anger for those above him. Rodgers himself seems deeply disillusioned with the support he has had from upstairs.
This summer at Parkhead was supposed to be the start of something. Unfortunately, it was merely a wasteland of squandered opportunities and failed chances to kick on. It may well have lasting consequences for those shouldering the responsibility for failed leadership.
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Tottenham’s was a transfer window that veered between extremes – from the highs of Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus’ arrivals to the disappointments of missing out on Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White.
Yet it leaves Thomas Frank’s squad in a much better place than the start of the summer. Son Heung-min is the only regular starter from last year who made way and while Spurs have been far from prolific in the window, Frank was reluctant to add players unless they were likely to be part of his regular set-up.
The new boss was also clear he would not be overloading the squad to patch up injuries.
No ‘bloating’ the squad
There was some talk of another centre-back coming in on deadline day, but Radu Dragusin is still on the books as he continues his recovery from an ACL tear, Kota Takai came in from Kawasaki Frontale and the club was confident enough in the squad’s depth to allow Luka Vuskovic to join Hamburg on loan.
In attack, Frank had the same conundrum. After the defeat to Bournemouth, he insisted adding a third striker to the squad “can also cause a problem”, even if there was a temptation given concerns over the severity of Dominic Solanke’s injury and Richarlison’s record.
Solanke’s ankle injury has flared up again (Photo: PA)
The real question mark is whether they have been left too light on the left-wing after Son’s exit, and at left-back, with Destiny Udogie being edged back into action slowly and Djed Spence – by trade a right-back – having starred there under Frank. Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies are the other options.
The first three games of the season exposed an urgent need for a No 10 to replace the injured James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski – Eze would have fitted the mould perfectly before Arsenal hijacked the deal.
The loan market
So the decision to sign Randal Kolo Muani on loan from PSG, in essence, was an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, with the France international able to play on either wing or in the middle of the front three. It is understood there is no option to buy Muani included in his terms, so it may not be a permanent solution but one that addresses a pressing need.
The same goes for Joao Palhinha, who is also on loan from Bayern Munich. In an inflated market Spurs were keen to explore loan possibilities rather than paying over the odds, and the Palhinha deal does include an option to buy if he continues to impress.
Palhinha’s deal contains an option to buy (Photo: Reuters)
There is quiet satisfaction at the two headline deals of the summer, Simons and Kudus, which both represent excellent business. Kudus was prised from West Ham for £55m (significantly less than his £85m release clause) and Simons was on the verge of signing for Chelsea when Spurs made their move.
The fringe players
It was a late twist not dissimilar to Eze, but Frank has been vocal about only wanting players who want to be there. On that front, there are a few fringe players who did not quite get out the door.
Yves Bissouma’s move to Galatasaray fell through, but it is still possible he leaves this summer – Turkey is one of the windows that stays open later than the Premier League’s.
Frank’s first move was to drop Bissouma for lateness and he has since been absent through injury, so it is increasingly difficult to see a long-term future for him in north London.
As for Manor Solomon, he was initially offered an olive branch having impressed Frank in pre-season, but Spurs did entertain interest from Crystal Palace, who then decided against paying up. Instead, the Israel international joined Villarreal at the very last knockings. Bryan Gil also left for Spain after Girona finally agreed to pay a fee in the region of £8m.
Some of Spurs’ business had effectively already been done before the summer, which explains why they were slightly less active than some might have expected given last season’ turbulence.
Vuskovic was already signed but had to wait until his 18th birthday to move to the UK due to post-Brexit regulations, and Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel’s moves were made permanent. The former was always going to happen, while Tel’s future had been up in the air until Bayern Munich agreed to lower the fee.
The main task facing Frank now is to whittle down his squad for the Champions League, as there are 21 non-locally trained players in the group, with a maximum of 17 allowed by Uefa. That could be helped by leaving out long-term injured players and offloading a few more overseas – but the squad certainly looks readier to dine at Europe’s top table now.
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Context is important here. One of the reasons Liverpool had an all-timer of a transfer window is because they radically strengthened a title-winning squad while having a significantly lower net spend than Arsenal.
When judging a club’s transfer business, both incomings and outgoings must be taken into account. Who is to say whether Hugo Ekitike will be a success – the early signs are good – but Liverpool’s ability to recoup over £250m while getting better makes them window winners, by some margin.
The operational superiority compared to Manchester United is as different as night and day. So let’s not compare the two. Judging United’s window, at this stage, works best when we look at what came before.
One of the many areas United have gone from world leading to classroom dunces in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson years is player trading.
It is not churlish to suggest Bruno Fernandes is the only signing we can label a success in that time – and even he has his detractors. But it is not just the failed arrivals who made them an embarrassment to long-suffering supporters. They have been, somewhat remarkably, even worse at player sales.
For years, as transfer market experts Manchester City generated hundreds of millions from players who had barely kicked a ball for the club, Liverpool grew exponentially on a comparative net-spend shoestring and Chelsea stockpiled before cashing in, United could not even offload their star names.
For a club of United’s stature, it is almost unfathomable that Alejandro Garnacho’s £40m sale, three million less than West Ham paid for Mateus Fernandes from Southampton, is the club’s fourth highest departure in their history.
Garnacho left Man Utd for Chelsea in a £40m deal (Photo: Getty)
The Argentine’s exit, however, was part of the mass exodus senior United executives promised, and one that very few connected with the club thought would actually happen.
There were players training away from the first team, overpaid failures and those who had not lived up to hefty outlays littered throughout the squad – hardly an attractive marketplace to delve into.
Yet, somehow, after a cataclysmic season last term, United will generate £180m from player sales in one summer once sell-on fees from previously departed players and all terms of loan obligations have been met. This is £80m more than in any other season, and more than double City made this summer.
Some of the losses taken were still eye-watering though. The loss on Antony stands at £60m. Hojlund at £30m.
Remember the context, however. This was a club full to bursting with overpaid and underperforming stars, outcasts few seemed to want. They may have allowed buyers to get bargain prices, but, in the PSR-ruled world, getting huge wages off the books, while generating record income, can be celebrated.
Man Utd’s exits this summer
Alejandro Garnacho (Chelsea) £40m
Christian Eriksen (free)
Jonny Evans (free)
Victor Lindelof (free)
Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, loan)
Rasmus Hojlund (Napoli, loan)
Antony (Real Betis) £21.7m
Jadon Sancho (Aston Villa, loan)
There has been a shift in how they have spent money, too. In the Ferguson era, United’s approach to the market was simple – identify the best the Premier League has to offer, then swoop in when the players are at the peak of their powers, assert their status as the pre-eminent force, and reap the rewards for years to come.
In recent years, big-money arrivals from overseas have taken precedent, to rather limited success. Signing proven Premier League goalscorers in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo represents a change of tack, one that promises to pay off.
A new goalkeeper was a must, with United taking the right option having identified Senne Lammens and Emi Martinez – two very different profiles.
Martinez celebrates his 33rd birthday on Tuesday and would have wanted big money to join. The madcap Argentine is also somewhat past his best, having suffered a poor end to last season.
Lammens is low risk, given the fee. Few casual observers have seen enough to know if he is any good, but he is worth a punt and will almost certainly be less error-prone than the current custodians.
The jury is still out on Benjamin Sesko, but he has scored goals in the Bundesliga and Champions League and there must be hope that he can come good.
There is one major flaw that remains though. It is the reason why there won’t be any major corners turned just yet.
Casemiro once looked to have filled a gaping void in central midfield long vacated by Roy Keane, but the Brazilian is not quite the force he was in his first season in England.
Ruben Amorim is rigidly wedded to his system and will only ever play two recognised central midfielders. One will almost certainly always be Fernandes -the skipper always mans the ship.
In the current squad, there is no obvious choice for the role that anchors the whole unit. Take Rodri out of City’s side and look what happens. Arsenal spent £60m on their latest defensive midfielder, Martin Zubimendi.
Manuel Ugarte has, so far, looked anything but capable. Casemiro is ageing, Kobbie Mainoo doesn’t have the defensive discipline to play there, and that is about it.
Overseeing a fire sale suggests lessons are being learned. A new £200m strikeforce should improve the goal tally down one end. The defence appears settled, with Leny Yoro looking particularly impressive, while a new goalkeeper, given Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir’s attempts to out-clown each other, was absolutely essential.
Not bringing in an adequate steady hand in the heart of the engine room, however, ensures there remains a ceiling as to how far this new-look United can go.
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IBROX — At half-time at Ibrox on Sunday, two banners were held up in the Copland Stand.
Supporters had just watched Celtic fail to have a first-half shot in a league match for the first time in more than seven years, but if you thought that was enough to settle the anger, you haven’t been listening.
“Martin and co must go – we deserve better,” one banner read. “Enough is enough,” said the other.
On both, the faces of manager Russell Martin and CEO Patrick Stewart were crossed out in red.
That after arguably Rangers’ best half of football of the season, and certainly their most resilient.
By full-time, Martin was booed off the pitch, albeit by far fewer that he may have feared at midday.
Any credit for blunting Celtic was evaporated by Celtic’s capability of blunting themselves. The winless run makes this Rangers’ worst start to a league season in 42 years.
Inside Ibrox, the resentment hung heavy in the air and wrapped around you like a cloak.
Every time a player failed to take on his opponent, played an overly safe pass, lost control or picked the wrong option, it felt not like the commonplace action of a derby but a further nail in the coffin of an entire regime.
Martin avoided the worst of the toxicity by ostensibly relaxing his dogmatism to match the occasion.
Rangers went direct and there was finally some bite in central midfield. Even that comes laced with damnation: if you’re not going to play to your preferred style, what’s the point in having you?
If that sounds like Martin can’t win, welcome to the present. The Old Firm game has typically shaped opinions on managers, for better or worse.
Here, somehow, the opposite: even victory would have only felt like a postponement of inevitability. They did not come here to decide upon their judgement – they came to deliver it.
This isn’t normal
Everything is currently broken at Ibrox. The only connected strand is between virtually every supporter united on a single issue.
When Rangers podcast Heart and Hand conducted a poll when Martin joined, 95 per cent of respondents disagreed with his appointment. Most of the exceptions have since shifted their view.
This is not a fanbase that changes its mind easily or quickly. David Edgar, of Heart and Hand, says that Mark Hateley was probably the last individual to do so – he’s not really joking and that was 1991.
They are opinionated, they care and they have seen more than any of the transients: players, managers, owners.
You can see their point. Martin arrived with a reputation for playing a certain style of football that has never really worked (or been appreciated) at Rangers. He got that reputation at clubs far smaller in size than Rangers, even if Southampton may have got higher revenues before their relegation.
It started badly in the first friendly and, at least until Sunday’s compromise, basically got steadily worse since.
In midweek, they were beaten 6-0 by Club Brugge after a performance with such a lack of fight and cohesion that the margin of defeat could feasibly have been doubled. This isn’t normal.
Rangers were humiliated on the European stage by Club Brugge (Photo: Getty)
These supporters have seen managers drown before, too many recently. After 16 permanent managers in their history until November 2021, when Steven Gerrard was sacked, Rangers have appointed four since and each of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale and Philippe Clement had their patent faults.
But none of them tried to change everything from day one so brazenly and were so unsuccessful in performing the transformation.
That strategy was made more difficult by the summer transfer model. Ask any Rangers supporter what their team of the last two years has lacked and immediately take a couple of steps back while they shout the word “LEADERS” at you at high volume.
Rather than fix that critical situation, Rangers signed 10 players aged between 17 and 25, with the bulk of those coming from Premier League academies or the Championship.
They needed a spine and, even accounting for a trading model of buy-to-develop that makes some sense, this team has even less successful experience than before.
The Scottish Premiership may lack the quality of the top flight down south, but it has a physicality and in-your-faceness that combines poorly with the current personnel playing the current style.
The irony here is that Celtic have been dominant under Brendan Rodgers (whose approach isn’t wholly dissimilar to Martin’s); Rangers are effectively a lower-functioning version of the Celtic style. That’s not how you win friends at Ibrox.
To Rangers fans, that became interpreted as arrogance: you come up and think you can just play your way, you bring players up and assume that they will find it easy.
Nico Raskin was left out of the Rangers squad for the Old Firm derby (Photo: Getty)
That’s probably unfair on Martin, who did at least warn of “early pain”. But perception is everything here.
Supporters do not care for being told what they have seen when it looks different to what their eyes are telling them.
If that wasn’t enough, there have been players frozen out of the squad who fans feel more affinity to than their new manager.
Nico Raskin, Rangers’ best player last season, was not in the Old Firm squad, although he has been named in Belgium’s senior squad for the forthcoming international break.
With Raskin’s father accusing Martin of mistreatment, the manager had been forced to field questions all week. That is a dangerous PR game.
Martin’s race is clearly run
While Martin is clearly a bloke trying his best, this is a misjudgement on a monumental scale: of how Rangers have found their success, of the characteristics of the managers who have brought it and the type of players the squad needed to avoid everything sinking into ignominy.
For that, we should look higher up the food chain. Martin has never pretended to be anything else, tactically; he was offered a job and accepted it, therefore was presumably given a mandate to implement his own style on a three-year contract.
In the story on the official website confirming the appointment read the following words, which now constitute evidence for the prosecution: “Rangers Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Stewart, who led the search along with Kevin Thelwell…”
Thelwell has only been here three months, and as such will be given some leeway.
There are still pertinent questions: why did he and Stewart think that Martin’s appointment would be popular?
If they anticipated the backlash, why did they take a giant leap of faith that always felt misplaced?
And how did Stewart, who has been here long enough to know the weaknesses in the squad and the type of player that might address it, allow the club to recruit so heavily without addressing the leadership issues?
After the game, in the press room underneath the Bill Struth Main Stand at Ibrox, Martin took his seat and awaited the obvious questions about his future. He was bullish, as he so often has been here.
Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh (looking left) was in attendance at Ibrox on Sunday (Photo: Getty)
Supporters speak of surprise at the vast gap between the performances and the manager’s assessments, but you can see why he does it. When the last person being wholly positive starts to turn, his race is run.
“I feel well supported by the ownership group and everyone at the club,” said Martin.
“I feel like they so want this to work and succeed over time. We need to win football matches for everyone outside of the club to feel the same way.”
Cavenagh and vice-chairman Paraag Marathe were at Ibrox on Sunday.
They saw the poor fare, they heard the boos and they will not have missed the banners of dissent.
There are two ways to react to a mistake: concede the error quickly, aim to rectify it, communicate with honesty and in doing so regain some trust from your people, or double down and persevere in the hope of being proven right.
Until now, Rangers supporters have wondered how long until Martin goes. Soon that will warp into: “Why have they not made a change yet?”
The accused guilt spreads to the higher-ups. Their credibility is called into question.
The great shame for Rangers is that this could have been a season of something. Celtic are in a state of existential crisis of their own, a manager demanding reinforcements after their Champions League hopes were ruined in Kazakhstan.
Instead, there is infighting and disillusionment from a saga with no winners. Literally, in the case of Rangers’ league season to date.
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Liverpool take the early initiative and momentum heading into the first international break of the season thanks to a majestic Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick at Anfield. They are the only team with a 100 per cent record in the division.
Wolves are the only point-less team, Vitor Pereira’s side losing at home to Everton, while Graham Potter found a formula that worked in beating Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Sunday.
The other big losers were Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, who repeated a nasty trick by losing 2-1 at Brighton despite taking the lead for the second year in a row. Below is a piece on analysis on each of the 20 clubs (in reverse table order)…
This weekend’s results
Saturday
Chelsea 2-0 Fulham
Man Utd 3-2 Burnley
Sunderland 2-1 Brentford
Tottenham 0-1 Bournemouth
Wolves 2-3 Everton
Leeds 0-0 Newcastle
Sunday
Brighton 2-1 Man City
Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham
Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal
Aston Villa 0-3 Crystal Palace
Larsen is far from Wolves’ only problem
While the future of Jorgen Strand Larsen may dominate the final hours of Wolves’ summer transfer window, it would be foolish for anyone at Molineux to think that keeping hold of their centre forward (and buying another) is the only problem here.
Only West Ham have conceded more goals than Wolves and only two teams are allowing more shots on target against them. Emmanuel Agbadou has made mistakes leading to goals in multiple matches already and looks uncomfortable after a decent start last season. The wing-backs aren’t offering enough in attack to make up for the space in behind and the midfield balance wasn’t right against Everton, even with Andre back.
Is this the time to panic? Maybe. Wolves have trips to Newcastle and Tottenham in their next three league games, which makes a home game against Leeds on 20 September extraordinarily important already. Wolves look badly undercooked.
Emery and Villa in need of a good news story
There’s a lot to be worried about in B6. You can reason that Villa always struggle against Palace – one draw and five defeats in their last six meetings now – but this extends beyond running into a bogey team.
Villa haven’t scored a goal yet this season. Villa’s major attacking signing looks very raw. Villa lack creativity (and this time didn’t just pick too many central midfielders). Villa’s bench was incredibly weak for a team heading into European competition and Uefa’s squad cost controls make improving upon it difficult. Villa’s goalkeeper was left out of the squad after reportedly not coming to training. A club in need of the international break.
Fulham’s understandable anger at VAR
I think I might be the only person who didn’t think it hugely controversial to consider that Rodrigo Muniz committed a foul in the build-up to Fulham’s disallowed goal when you watched the replay. If you stand on somebody’s foot, whether you are performing a skill or not, I can see the argument for an offence. Were it in the box against a Fulham player, Marco Silva would want a penalty.
That said, I don’t agree with the intervention. Over the summer, we were told that the high bar for VAR intervention would be maintained. We were also told that officials would “maintain a high threshold for penalising challenges – not every contact is a foul – while protecting player safety”. I think the combination of those two measures should have caused the referee’s original decision to stand.
Josh King's opening goal is disallowed for a 'careless challenge' after VAR review
Last season, Newcastle United took only eight points from the seven Premier League matches in which they had their highest possession. So far this season, they have drawn games 0-0 against Aston Villa (who had a player sent off) and Leeds United with 59 and 57 per cent of the ball respectively. There is a problem here in dealing with low blocks.
Against Leeds, Eddie Howe chose to leave his first-choice available wingers on the bench, presuming that there would be little space in behind. Two problems: when Elanga and Barnes came on they barely offered anything and Newcastle lacked creativity in central areas to unlock Leeds anyway.
Getting high-class strikers (sorry Will Osula) will help, but Newcastle must be better at finding ways to break teams down with the ball as well as using wingers on the counter.
A stunning win and a claret-and-blueprint for how Graham Potter can turn around a miserable start to the season. Potter had set up West Ham with a back three or five in all but four matches since taking charge. The only one they won with a back four was in his first match, at home to Fulham in January.
But that system now makes more sense with the arrival of two new midfielders and Nicklas Fullkrug’s fitness. Soungoutou Magassa will add energy in a deeper role, while Matheus Fernandes and Lucas Paqueta can swap positions and leave Bowen on the right. If that creates a space for more width on the left wing, those overlaps are exactly what El Hadji Malick Diouf likes doing. Suddenly everything seems not quite so glum.
Brentford guilty of overthinking
Brentford should have beaten Sunderland, not least because they were 1-0 up with eight minutes of normal time remaining. The eventual defeat will rankle. Managing matches effectively is the surest way to dissuade naysayers that you are a relegation candidate.
What should really annoy supporters is what happened at 0-0. I understand that all three of Brentford’s penalty takers of the last few years were not there (Toney, Mbeumo, Wissa) and thus a vacuum may have formed. But Thiago is the centre forward and scored a penalty at Forest on the opening weekend. So why on earth was Kevin Schade – who struggled all game – taking this one?
This was the first penalty Schade has taken in regular play in his career. Thiago has taken 12 and scored 10 – that’s a good enough record for me. Don’t overthink it, guys.
Midfield duo can be Burnley’s strength
To lose at Old Trafford in such circumstances was obviously heartbreaking, but Burnley offered plenty of evidence to suggest that they can cope here. Three points from their opening three games is just about good enough. Their central midfield combination has already proved itself.
Lesley Ugochukwu is the midfield driver, breaking the lines, completing dribbles and also happy to muck in defensively, but he’s not really a passer (only 27 attempted in 90 minutes). That doesn’t matter because Josh Cullen will do that as well as lots of defensive work.
Cullen doesn’t carry the ball much but played the most passes into the final third of any player in the match (impressive given Manchester United’s dominance), with 16. If Burnley can keep those two fit and build up the partnership, it works.
Man City’s damaging new habit
At their very best, Manchester City’s greatest strength was scoring in the first third of their matches and then either turning the screw with more goals or controlling the tempo.
That has been turned on its head. Since the start of November 2024, City have played 31 league matches and lost three of them having taken the lead. They also lost three times in the Champions League having taken the lead. Over the course of three full league seasons before that (2023-24, 2022-23 and 2021-22), spanning 114 matches, City only lost one match that they led.
Pep Guardiola reacts at the Amex (Photo: Getty)
Leeds boos aren’t helping the cause
Leeds United have enjoyed a reasonable start to this season: beaten the team they needed to (Everton), thrashed by the team they didn’t (Arsenal) and a point against a Champions League team at home (Newcastle). There are lingering doubts about the lack of goals and Daniel Farke’s ability to squeeze more out of the squad, but there’s also no need to panic. There should be a good mood here.
So I really don’t understand those supporters who booed Jack Harrison and Brendan Aaronson onto the pitch on Saturday. Even if you have a problem with the individual, is the greater good here not Leeds winning matches? And is that not less likely if those players brought on as supposed gamechangers are told that they are not wanted or liked by fans?
Brighton’s super subs
In an age where Premier League managers of top-half clubs have deeper squads than ever before, where there is often a smaller quality gap between first-team players and substitutes and where you can make five changes of personnel, a wholesale shift if things aren’t working should be encouraged.
Fabian Hurzeler produced a brilliant example on Sunday. With his team struggling to break down City and trailing 1-0, Hurzeler made four substitutions at the same time, bringing on Brajan Gruda, Georginio Rutter, James Milner and Yasin Ayari. Two of those players scored and in the time it took City to cope with the changes, Brighton had seized the territorial advantage.
Nottingham Forest’s problems mount
This week will reportedly see Nuno have meetings with owner Evangelos Marinakis about the apparent rift with sporting director Edu. The timing of a desperate 3-0 home defeat could not have been worse.
Forest clearly have an issue against opponents who sit in a low block, exacerbated by Nuno trying to shift Forest into a more possession-based style that will take time to get used to.
To the naked eye, the build-up is too slow – they need to get Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson playing quick one-twos rather than passing the ball across the back four or five times. This team is fuelled by energy at its best.
And Forest have always had an annoying tendency to collapse when they get frustrated – see Everton at home last season. They have now conceded four goals this season through sloppy mistakes or silly fouls. They have only scored once in their last five halves of football.
Is Martinez Man Utd’s goalkeeping solution?
Let’s be clear: Manchester United were actually good in the first half against Burnley. That they eventually required a last-minute penalty owed much to a goalkeeping situation that has become a complete farce. Altay Bayindir and Andre Onana have each made mistakes having been swapped in and out. Bayindir should have held Loum Tchaouna for Burnley’s equaliser.
Could Emi Martinez be the answer? Sunday brought rumours of serious interest in Aston Villa’s goalkeeper, and other rumours of Martinez being prepared to try and force through a move. It would be an extraordinary way for United to land on their feet and solve one of their problems.
If Marc Guehi is to join Liverpool on Monday, he will remember his final Crystal Palace goal for a while. The result may last a while in the mind too, given its comfort.
I am struggling to think of a less centre-back type goal than a left-footed defender hanging around outside the far-left corner of the penalty area, pushing the ball onto his weaker foot and curling it with an arc that made the goal appear double its normal width. I think it might be my favourite Premier League goal of this and last season, simply for how much it made me do an involuntary yelp at the television.
The perfect Bournemouth performance
We know what Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth are very good at: high pressing, successfully forcing turnovers and midfielders who mop up behind to protect the defence (who are also very capable and mobile anyway).
But this was something else. Tottenham failed to have a shot in the first half of a home game for the first time in more than five years and a total xG of 0.17 was their second lowest in a Premier League match over the last 10 years. Bournemouth dominated from start to finish.
Don’t sleep on how impressive that is. Bournemouth lost almost an entire defence this summer; three weeks into the season and they already look completely at ease. Hot take time: can this team challenge for a top-six place, given the lack of European or EFL Cup football?
Sunderland’s six points
Not all Premier League points are equal. Having lost at Burnley last week and trailing Brentford with 10 minutes remaining, Sunderland now go into the international break with a huge lift and hopes of holding their own here.
This was the first time since November 2016 that Sunderland have won a Premier League match after trailing – a run of 29 matches without doing so. Last season, the three relegated clubs fell behind in 93 league games and they won only two of those games. Sunderland are already halfway to matching that three-way record on their own. Demonstrating an ability to succeed through adversity is a massively helpful habit to pick up.
Moyes embraces the fun at Everton
After their opening weekend defeat at Leeds, I questioned Moyes’ tactics because they had barely even tried to attack at Elland Road until they fell one goal behind. The question was whether Moyes could embrace Everton’s fun side with their two new attacking creators.
Well… maybe they can. Jack Grealish looks exactly like a player who has rediscovered his love of the sport and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has been able to get closer to goal and has more shot-creating actions than any other Everton player. That leaves Iliman Ndiaye to concentrate on getting into the penalty area rather than shouldering all of the creative responsibility. What a difference two new players make.
Mohammed Kudus is a tremendously talented footballer, but he can also overplay and thus flatter to deceive. Against Bournemouth, who swarmed around Spurs’ players and necessitated them playing the ball quickly, it held them back.
Kudus had 43 touches of the ball but completed only 18 passes, only four of which were into the final third. He attempted 12 dribbles, at least seven more than any other player in the match, but far too often he took on one man, got the better of him and then tried to go past a second player or wasted the chance.
This is important with the arrival of Xavi Simons. The Dutchman will thrive upon space and that means quick passes to find him in that space. There’s little benefit on slowing the game down and Kudus must be told as much.
There were caveats, of course. Arsenal were missing Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka from the start and William Saliba went off injured early. That may have provoked the subdued nature of their attacking forays, although Noni Madueke was at least bright on the right wing.
And here’s the statistic: Arteta has now managed 15 matches at Anfield and the Etihad in all competitions and won none of them, scoring only nine goals in the process and conceding 29. For all the talk of an unbeaten record against the Big Six – 22 and out – it’s a bad look for a manager who has been backed heavily this summer. It also dramatically increases the pressure for the games Arsenal struggled in last season, breaking down low blocks against mid-table opponents.
Chelsea’s new striker farce
Only Chelsea could hijack a deal for a player they already own. It’s impossible to imagine this squad being short in any position, but the sale of Christopher Nkunku and loaning of Nicolas Jackson to Bayern Munich left Chelsea with two No 9s. One of them (Liam Delap) will be out injured for the next two months.
Cancelling Jackson’s loan now leaves them with a very difficult balance. Either Chelsea are unable to persuade Jackson to return and must hope that Joao Pedro is able to play every game in every competition, or they have Jackson back but he is utterly peeved at such shoddy treatment. I don’t really understand why they didn’t just keep all three in the first place, given that Delap is still pretty raw and Pedro can play off the striker.
Control is back and so are Liverpool
Perhaps a Big Six opponent was the perfect fixture for a Liverpool team who had been far too chaotic. It allowed Arne Slot to be far more reserved – overly so in the first half – and then gradually up the impetus from 60 minutes onwards. The goal was a wonderful freak from a magnificent striker of the ball.
It’s no coincidence that Ibrahima Konate looked far more secure with Liverpool in that mode. There is still reason to caution against counter-attack sides, but Slot’s team have beaten two Champions League teams and a very impressive Bournemouth and are the only side with a 100 per cent record. A statement made in the title race when they find a happy medium between overloading and sitting deep.
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Russell Martin spoke to RangersTV after today’s match against Celtic. 
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