Weekend Update - Liverpool stall again, Dortmund Schlott into 2nd & 'Kvaradona' continues his meteoric rise
This weeks review is of The Merseyside Derby; Dortmund vs Hoffenheim; The Old Firm; Napoli vs Lazio and Manchester United vs Arsenal.
Welcome to Played on Paper’s Weekend Update a.k.a my reviews of some of the games I watched over the last few days, including a longer read about the one I found the most interesting and some shorter summaries of the others.
Simple enough, right?
This is going to be released every week on Monday alongside the normal end-of-week content and should cover a United game (I’m a United fan, I’m always going to watch them, sue me), another Premier League game, a Serie A game and then another game from the world of football (this week it’s the Bundesliga).
Anyway, that's enough explaining let’s get into it with:
The Big Game - Everton 0-0 Liverpool
It seems strange to start with a 0-0 (Match of the Day certainly wouldn’t do it), but Everton vs Liverpool was a much more interesting affair than you’d expect.
Liverpool are in poor form and while they’re not great going forward, Everton have adopted an ever-improving defensive structure over the past few games.
We’ll start with the obvious statement, the Merseyside Derby was a scrappy affair. Only 4 yellow cards were given (one to Jordan Pickford for timewasting) and this wasn’t really a fair reflection of the game. In fact, Virgil van Dijk probably should have been sent off for a rough challenge on Amadou Onana.
Now onto what you really want to read about - Liverpool are a mess.
Yes, injuries are a major contributing factor, especially in the midfield, but it seems like their problems extend further than this. Jurgen Klopp had all his attacking options available in this fixture. but they still struggled to break down Everton’s low block regularly.
Sadio Mane’s absence casts a long shadow. His directness when attacking the goal is something that no one in this current Liverpool side seems to be able to replicate.
However, when Liverpool were able to leverage their quality and find chances, Pickford was there to stop them. The English keeper has always enjoyed the big occasions and this Merseyside Derby was no exception, making 8 saves. Nathan Patterson was also exceptional for the home side and so was Onana.
The Belgian midfielder consistently applied pressure to the Liverpool midfield and without Thiago, they couldn’t find a way to play around him. It was an imperious performance and showed why Everton had sanctioned such a big fee for a player that had been used sparingly by Lille last season (which seems surprising given how he has started).
Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz had the best chances for Liverpool, the Uruguayan fiercely hitting a shot across his body on the half volley with Pickford only stopping it with his fingertips, before the Colombian winger hit the post after picking up the rebound.
But the most concerning performances came from Liverpool’s right-hand side.
Mohammed Salah has two goals and two assists so far this season, but this output isn’t really reflected in how he is playing. He was incredibly quiet during this game and was mostly a passenger as the rest of his team struggled in attack.
Salah’s taking fewer shots and seems less involved in the game, maybe because other players are occupying the space he wants to work in. Harvey Elliott seems to naturally want to occupy the half space on the right and even Trent Alexander-Arnold was tucking inside, clogging up the channel that Salah thrives in.
Worryingly for Liverpool, Salah no longer looks like a player who can put the team on his back in these early stages of the season.
If Klopp’s current tactics stay the same, they are effectively handicapping their biggest asset and given how they are struggling even in the games they win (bar the obvious 9-0 shaped elephant in the room, but let’s be honest it’s Bournemouth), this seems like a mistake.
Alexander-Arnold suffered from a similar lack of output before being substituted in the 59th minute. James Milner came on in his place, if you thought his recent performances in midfield were bad, this one at right-back was a new low.
Overall, Everton stuck to their game plan and will be disappointed that they didn’t get all three points. Neal Maupay should have scored the go-ahead goal in the second half but Allison denied him with another one of his brilliant 1v1 stops.
Conor Coady then thought he had put Everton ahead against his former side, but the goal was ruled out for offside. A point against Liverpool is not the end of the world though.
Some of his previous draws have raised question marks over Frank Lampard’s time as manager, but this one can firmly go in the positives column and some of the recent performances will give him hope for the rest of the season.
Liverpool on the other hand will be left scratching their heads and wondering where they go from here. This is a game they should be winning; a derby in name though not in nature.
You would expect that Klopp finds a way to turn this all around, but nothing is guaranteed in the Premier League.
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Hoffenheim
After Borussia Dortmund’s embarrassing capitulation against Werder Bremen a few weeks ago, conceding three goals after the 89th minute, a change of approach was needed.
They needed to avoid going ‘full Dortmund’ once again, and in their last two games, they have. Back-to-back 1-0 wins against Hertha Berlin and now Hoffenheim sees them 2nd in the table, behind SC Freiburg on goal difference.
Marcos Reus got the winning and only goal, while unfortunately Jamie Bynoe-Gittens who has started the season well, dislocated his shoulder and will spend a few weeks on the sidelines.
However, the centre-backs deserve a lot of credit for this result; Mats Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck are creating a formidable partnership after the latter’s move to the Signal Iduna Park this summer. It seems strange, given Bayern’s need for a centre-back this summer that they allowed the German to join a direct rival, but Dortmund are now reaping the benefits.
Celtic 4-0 Rangers
If it wasn’t clear how far Celtic are ahead of the rest of the teams in the Scottish Premiership, then this match was an ample reminder. Rangers were completely blown away by Ange Postecoglou’s side as they made it six wins in six.
Postecoglou (with the help of a sizeable chequebook compared to the rest of the league) has created a strong squad full of the exact profiles he wants and he has them coached to a tee and it shows. They will be hoping to carry this good form into their Champions League fixtures next week.
Liel Abeda scored a brace and Jota, who is showing week on week why Benfica may have made a mistake in letting him go, also got a goal in the first half. David Turnbull capped off the scoring by capitalising on an awful mistake by goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin.
It seems very early to say the league is wrapped up in September, but unless Celtic completely capitulate, I can’t see where Giovanni Von Bronckhorst’s side will make up the points while remaining flawless themselves.
Lazio 1-2 Napoli
Since everyone is going to be talking about the Derby de la Madonnina, I’m going to skip it and instead talk about Napoli and Lazio (basically Rafael Leao and Mike Maignan are incredible).
What I want to talk about is Lazio-Napoli. It was a truly fascinating affair from two teams who would consider themselves dark horses for the title this season.
Lazio are in their second season under Maurizio Sarri and you can start to see the coach’s tactics start to take hold. Last year they looked like they had some good ideas but were ultimately a very disjointed side, however this year you can see more than just the foundations of ‘Sarri-ball’ and they are starting to string it all together.
This showed early on as Mattia Zaccagni placed a shot into the bottom corner to put Lazio ahead. Napoli, however, are a hard beast to keep down, and as the game went on they quickly got up to speed.
I’ve spoken about how good Victor Osimhen is on many occasions and though he didn’t score he constantly caused problems for the Lazio defence, with direct and unstoppable charges into the box.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the other hand was rewarded for his efforts. At €10m, ‘Kvaradona’ might be one of the signings of the season, with four goals and one assist so far.
After going close with an incredible effort early in the game (a spin which ended in a low-driven shot from distance that struck the post), he got Napoli’s second, an incredibly powerful strike from close range after centre-back Kim Min-Jae had equalised from a corner.
Loan signing Tanguy Ndombele got a short cameo and announced his entrance into the match with one of the most bafflingly audacious long balls you’ll see for weeks.
Napoli are one of those sides that have so many options going forward it overwhelms opponents and their win was well deserved. They now sit top of the Serie A after five games.
An injury to winger Hirving Lozano, which looked like a cheekbone fracture, may cause them some problems down the line. The Mexican winger was fantastic in the early stages but now potentially faces an extended period on the sidelines.
Manchester United 3-1 Arsenal
Arsenal’s unbeaten run is over (Thank god for that).
The turnaround at United has been exceptional over the past few games and though this is not exactly the sort of football Erik ten Hag wants to play, the compromises he has made are getting results.
New boy Antony made his debut and although he wasn’t fully up to speed, probably due to the training sessions he missed to force the move, he got United’s opener with a left-footed finish that the team have been crying out for on the right-wing for years.
He then immediately endeared himself to the Old Trafford faithful by over-celebrating to the Arsenal fans in the away end, kissing the badge emphatically and riling the away fans up.
Buyako Saka would get one back for Arsenal and he was excellent throughout the match, causing numerous problems for Tyrell Malacia, but Marcus Rashford would seal the win with a stunning brace.
Both goals showed United’s strength in this game; they beat Arsenal on the counter and central to this plan was Christian Eriksen, who was excellent once again in a deeper role.
Arsenal still remains top of the table and played well, so there is no need for panic stations and United will be hoping they can continue this good form, maybe staking an early claim for a top four place while Liverpool and Chelsea flounder.
Still, there’s a lot of football still to play (and Europa League starts next week).
Thanks for reading this Weekend Update. I am currently looking for work so if you are reading this and have any paid writing opportunities, feel free to drop me a message on Twitter. On Friday we will be back with the World Cup series covering France so if you haven’t already, hit subscribe to get this straight to your inbox. See you then!