Week 2 — From London (and Paris)
Writing this week from the home of the EPL itself, London. Tickets are incredibly hard to come by without some luck, and I’m fortunate for that. After working every angle I could to see Man U (who at times feels like my ‘crazy ex-girlfriend’) play Brentford while we were staying in London, I’m incredibly grateful that tickets are incredibly hard to come by. Might have been the worst 600 quid ever spent if that’s where I tried to take my son. Instead. Through a little help from my friends, 2 tickets to the home opener at the Emirates magically appeared the day before our flight. And we got a chance to see some magic in North London against Leicester.
The early weeks of the EPL season for fantasy owners, knockout pool participants and other people living in the real world of football brings an anticipatory excitement and angst for all. As mentioned last post, every week counts the same. There is no ‘easing’ into a season. But in these early weeks before the first international break, all owners, coaches, players and fans are sizing up who they are. Has the youth matured? Have the mature aged too much? Are the transfers fitting in? Do we still have the magic from last season? Can we break the curses from last year?
As each week goes by, like a tense game of ‘hold’em’, our cards are slowly getting flipped. With all of us trying to understand what each club really is as a cohesive (or not) unit competing for the hardware, bragging rights and 23/24’s place amongst the home and continental competitions. To stick with the poker analogy, viewing weeks 1–4 as ‘the flop’, we are slowly seeing what each squad is actually made of. To Week 2’s THREE THINGS (special edition, I have more to say because I was lucky to actually be there!):
Number 1: Notes from the Emirates in North London.
1a. Does Arsenal actually have heart? Arsenal is an easy target for having no grit, limping out of competitions routinely. Comfortably up 2–0 after Ramsdale fairly escaped a VAR-overturned penalty, the Gunners were coasting and most of us were waiting for them to let it slip away. A Saliba OG off a nothing counter attack and we’re at 2–1. 2 minutes later, Xhaka cleans up the garbage to make it 3–1. Minute 74. James Maddison, the most skilled player not doing enough with his career in the EPL, strikes. 3–2. Minute 75. Martinelli goes weak foot with an amazing strike from outside the box. 4–2, final score. You hate to give up 2 goal leads narrowed twice. But if you’re going to do it, immediately scoring after, TWICE, is a great way to respond. Supporters can’t hate that.
1b. Mini Man City. Like a good sister city. Addition by addition. Arteta. Zinchenko. Jesus. All from the school of Pep, except this unit, which I could appreciate having a touchline view (more so than the TV wide angle), isn’t totally picking up what Coach is putting down. False runs from the flank are hesitant or ill-timed. Players were frequently on the same vertical lines (think boxes not triangles, which is bad/easy to defend). The 4–3–3 creatively morphs to a 3–4–3, but while Zinchenko looked awesome in the midfield, it’s not’s not entirely clear where the 4 are supposed to be. Players are over-communicating to try to get it right. No one is totally confident who is right. Jesus is everywhere, but Saka and Martinelli need to be more in the flow. If Arteta is half the student we think he might be, along with his Arsenal roots, the future is bright with this new system. But not here yet.
1c. Leicester are missing major pieces. Tielman’s Arsenal job interview went about as well as Dale and Brennan’s in Step Brothers. Ndidi was strong but Dewsbury-Hall, Justin, Castagne were weak. Vardy might have set the record for the least amount of touches or the most amount of invisibleness in one game. Imagine his home life was a distracted with this little trial between his and Wayne Rooney’s wives. Do we seriously have nothing better to do people?!? Finally, the back 3 anchored by the respected, but aging Johnny Evans just isn’t a system that’s going to work for Mr Rogers. I think Leicester is in serious trouble.
Number 2. Manchester United. De Gea took the fall. And he wasn’t good. That first goal looked like when I used to play goalie against my kids and would intentionally miss so they’d feel good about themselves. De Gea needs to know that every team playing Man U feels like the parent in that situation, and they definitely don’t need the charity. Is Brentford actually decent? Who cares for now. Hard to dissect exactly what’s going on with ETH’s squad, but there’s a lot, it’s all bad and it’s predictably unattractive. The wheels are off. The house is on fire. Off days are back on and full of sprints. The Coach is publicly saying he wishes he could sub the entire team off. It’s a dumpster fire. A massive one. The Glazers, who are the majority Man U owners, are an odd lot. And they have never been one to give two shits about public opinion or their team’s record as long as the bottom line for the commercial behemoth is solidly in the black. I optimistically wonder if maybe, just maybe, a start like this is enough to rock the boat and get Man U back where they belong. If not…the Big 6 (Man U, City, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea) term might get retired.
Number 3. Ties. Five of them this week. Three of them are noteworthy. Some quick fire thoughts.
3a. Chelsea/Spurs. Conte is a fighter (Mourinho-esque in his style of coaching, but more likeable in the pressers). Tuchel is too. And they almost fought. Both however, were quick to make up to make sure they don’t get fined or suspended more. Chelsea needs to set Reece James free and let him get forward. The kid is amazing and might make a world top XI if they picked it today. If Chelsea is going to play 3 in the back, James can’t be in it. Koulibaly was awesome, great with both feet, amazing finish. Lockdown defender (see the second Chelsea goal), helping Stamford Bridge faithful forget losing Rudiger to Madrid. And Spurs look like the least attractive squad by far of the Top 5, shocking. They are desperately missing a 10, the way Erikson used to play it. Also missing depth. But if Conte can sort those pieces out, they’ll be hanging around…and if they don’t, the other top 5 will still dread playing them.
3b. America’s team, Leeds, shit the bed. Never understood if 2–0 being ‘the most dangerous lead in soccer’ had any credence or data behind it, or if it was just a Coaches or Captain’s motivational tool (I used it!). But if anyone is falling on that sword, they can thank Leeds for strengthening their case. Giving up 2 to Southampton in the final 20 minutes is going to be tough to swallow. Jesse Marsch would love to be sitting on 6 points right about now. Next week’s reaction with Chelsea will be critical.
3c. Liverpool…another tie to a mid-to-bottom-table-squad. And even after all the presser talk about Liverpool routinely giving up first goal…it happened…again. But it wasn’t from a lack of effort. Klopp did as I expected, part from necessity, part because it was obvious. But he brought in the youths. Average age dropped from 30 to 27 (even with Boring James at 36 years young in the lineup) to start against Crystal Palace compared to last week. And the young guns came out blazing. They just couldn’t quite connect. Sitting in a Scottish pub in Paris (still on vacation and was the only place I could find with Sky Sports) the announcer’s kiss of death came in the form of a graphic. 30 minutes into the game, Liverpool had 75% of possession and 11 shots to Crystal Palace’s 0. Next minute, Zaha scores on a pure CP counter. Liverpool continued to hunt like a pack of wolves every time they lost the ball, in a way that Klopp has to be happy with. But results are results. And Pep has 6 points today, and Jurgen only has 2. Pity the fool (ah hem…Man U) who has to play Liverpool next week. Might be 15–0.
Closing out this post with some gambling lyrics to go with our prior analogy. As we wait for the turn and river to let us know what our clubs are truly made of…the late, great Kenny Rodgers…
“There’ll be time enough for countin’…when the dealin’s done.”
To Week 3!!
******
Runners up for this week’s lines, but only because we’re in Paris right now and walking, running, floating, eating countless croissants on the Seine…nothing to do with this post.
Billy Joel — Somewhere Along the Line
“Well, it’s a rainy night in Paris,
And I’m sitting by the Seine,
It’s a pleasure to be soaking in the European rain,
Now my belly’s full of fancy food and wine
Oh but in the morning there’ll be hell to pay
Somewhere along the line”
And, Beatles — Ballad of John and Yoko
“Finally made the plane into Paris
Honey mooning down by the Seine
Peter Brown called to say
‘You can make it OK
You can get married in Gibraltar, near Spain’”
