Damien Kayat looks back at this weekend’s European football action which saw fireworks aplenty in the Premier League, things get ugly at PSG and Barcelona fire blanks.
Passions run wild in Premier League
Well, this wasn’t exactly a weekend where discipline reigned supreme in the Premier League. Darwin Nunez’s inexplicable headbutt against Palace was the exclamation point to a fairly combustible round of matches.
What was the Portuguese thinking? To be fair, it was actually a moment in keeping with his all-round game. He was snatching at chances and just looked too frantic throughout.
Liverpool will have looked at these opening two matches as a nailed-on six points. But they were once again caught out with their nearly psychotic high-line.
For a team that defends so little, Liverpool do concede their fair share of chances. I think they simply need a midfielder who can add goals. That’s perhaps one of the key differences between them and the current City squad: City’s midfielders score goals.
Too much of the scoring burden is lumped on their formidable strike force.
Highlight Darwin Nunez vs Joachim Andersen.
— Berita Sepakbola Dunia (@gilabola_ina) August 16, 2022
Source: ESPN/PremierLeague pic.twitter.com/yrCOGVJr2y
But undeniably the most incendiary scenes of the weekend came at Stamford Bridge, where Spurs engineered a late rally to draw against a vastly superior Chelsea.
It was the kind of gritty draw that they would have been incapable of pre-Conte. The game was full of contentious decisions and I think it’s fair to say that Tuchel and Conte are both fairly impassioned characters.
It all boiled over in a post-match fracas that made both managers look like petulant children. Many take umbrage with Conte’s tendency to react hysterically to goals.
But Tuchel also threw in the old Mourinho touchdown dash after Chelsea regained the lead. I just don’t really like the predominant narrative that those scenes were great for the league. Just look at the passion, etc.
I know I risk sounding like an old fuddy here (maybe I am an old fuddy). But this is a game that is broadcast to children all over the world. Watching two middle-aged men nearly come to blows over a game of football shouldn’t be something that is celebrated.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting a bit soft.
TUCHEL VS CONTE: ROUND TWO!!! 🤬🤬 pic.twitter.com/XhWuOU4fwD
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 14, 2022
New Low for United
Just when you thought the Manchester United circus couldn’t get any worse. That first-half display against Brentford was arguably the worst 45 minutes of Premier League football for the Red Devils. Period.
United fans are currently venting out their collective anger at the Glazers. They are essentially the Galactic Empire to most United fans (you can almost hear the Imperial March when the cameras are on them). And plenty of blame has to be levelled on some of their business decisions.
But they have still spent hundreds of millions of pounds on this squad. Do you remember how jazzed United fans were at the beginning of last season? Pinching Cristiano Ronaldo from City was just the icing on the cake after the acquisitions of Varane and Sancho.
You can’t blame the Glazers for being slightly skittish with their cash following deals like Sanchez and Maguire. But it seems as if most United fans seem to be hesitant to blame new boss Erik Ten Haig.
Obviously, the Dutch coach-supreme can’t be expected to figure out this particular United enigma in one month. He has inherited a Frankenstein’s monster of a squad that is a hodgepodge of the previous managers’ philosophies.
But at the very least, you expected Ten Haig to come in and upset the status quo of this bunch of prima donnas. But the decision to let Maguire keep the captaincy is a baffling adherence to the tried and tested failure that came before.
And let’s just look at some of the frankly insane decisions he has made in the past two weeks. Eriksson went from playing in a false-nine to operating at the deeper lying playmaker role. You half expect him to come in for De Gea between the sticks next week.
All this talk about resetting the ‘culture’ of the club is completely undermined when you are linked with tempestuous figures such as Andrea Rabiot and Mauro Icardi. I just don’t think Ten Haag has a divine right to avoid criticism for this fiasco of a start.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 13, 2022
Mbappe-World
It’s little wonder that there’s reports of unrest at PSG. The Parisian’s attempts to become the new Galaticos of European football has been fraught with peril from the get.
Trying to maintain the egos of all these star players in what is essentially a monopolized league hinges on two things: Champions League success and outrageous loads of money.
And the decision to essentially hand Kylian Mbappe the keys to the Eiffel Tower is already starting to have damaging effects. The 23-year-old superstar’s power at the club has unsurprisingly gone to his head.
Reports suggest that he has been trying to engineer an exit for the in-form Neymar (such has been his displeasure at the burgeoning relationship between Neymar and Leo Messi).
I mean how pathetic is this? That’s some Kardashian-level fodder. PSG have created a monster by entering this Faustian bargain with Mbappe. Who have they got at that club who can stand up to these superstars?
PSG are the ultimate cautionary tale for what happens when player power is prioritized at a club.
Mbappé stopped running and sulked because Vitinha didn't pass the ball to him.
— SemperFi Messi ♍ (@SemperFiMessi) August 14, 2022
Too much ego NEVER helps a team 🤯pic.twitter.com/bBTidDX8Qa
Barcelona fire blanks
With all the fanfare and bluster coming out of the Nou Camp during this transfer window, it’s easy to forget that Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Marid are the current Spanish and European champions.
They had to come from behind away from home at Almeria. It gives them an early advantage over this much ballyhooed Barcelona line-up.
Employing some frankly Mafioso tactics during this transfer window, Joan Laporta and his cohorts have flaunted the very notion of Financial Fair Play with some outrageous summer spending.
How they have managed to purchase the likes of Raphinia and Lewandowski with their amount of debt is simply beyond me. But Xavi’s side were largely unremarkable in their 0-0 home draw against Rayo Vallecano.
And I have to admit I was slightly underwhelmed by their array of new superstars. Raphinia looked terrified to make a mistake while Lewandowski looked slightly undercooked.
It was ironically Frenkie de Jong who shone brightest for the Catalans, buzzing around the pitch in a performance that would have left United fans salivating.
FT #BarçaRayo 0-0
— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) August 13, 2022
🤝 The points are shared in the Spotify Camp Nou!#KickOffLaLigaSantander | #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/JVoAlbc2iM
Player of the Week: Ante Rebic
I was quite tempted to go for Gabriel Jesus this week. But you just can’t help but identify with Rebic’s amazing redemptive arc. 2022 hasn’t been the greatest year for the Croatian winger.
Injuries and poor performances have kept him on the fringes at both club and international level. He was also accused of having a poor attitude by his fellow teammates and a terrible approach to training.
But it seems as if the winger seems to have finally got his act together. He helped Serie A champions AC Milan to a breathless 4-2 opening day victory against Udinese.
In the absence of key striker Oliver Giroud, Rebic scored two goals and was instrumental throughout in a dynamic performance. The 28-year-old could turn into a crucial cog in Stefano Pioli’s title defence.
Ante Rebic tonight! ❤️🖤#SempreMilan #Rebic #Croatianassassin pic.twitter.com/Tw6uzhxMYO
— Milan Club India (@MilanClubIndia) August 13, 2022
