Managers in the Hot Seat
Welcome back to another edition of our weekly soccer round up! With Champion’s League action back in full force and some Spursy coach switching, there’s a lot to cover.
In The Champions League…
PSG drew Leipzig 2-2, so not a terrible result and keeping them towards the top of the group, but not a great result in that Leipzig is down at the bottom of their group. Man United also drew 2-2 with Atalanta, as did Milan & Porto. Winners of the week: Chelsea (over Malmo), Real Madrid, Inter, Liverpool, Man City, Juventus, Bayern.
In the Premier League…
The Spurs & Manchester United faced off in a winner-take-all-loser’s-manager-will-be-sacked fight to the death, in which Ole proved he can hold onto his job in the face of immense pressure, and Nuno proved he didn’t have what it takes. Although can everything REALLY be blamed on the Managers? Apparently yes! Man U won the day 3-0 thanks to goals from Ronaldo (duh), Cavani (miss u bb) and Rashford (roight a proper manchester bloke). Now they’ve got a big Manchester Derby to get through before international break, so hopefully they can ride this momentum. As for the Spurs, who have fired coach Nuno Espirito Santo (who is apparently from Sao Tome & Principe?!! Who knew) after a disappointing start to the season, they’re hoping to turn things around with the help of Antonio Conte. Not to be dramatic but this man looks as if he hasn’t smiled in ONE HUNDRED YEARS. Also he used to coach Chelsea. So I guess we’ll see! Meanwhile, Aston Villa fired their coach.
In Ligue 1…
This league continues to be a rollercoaster of emotions. The much anticipated midweek matchup between Nice & Marseille ended in…you guessed it, a draw! But both teams snuck in a win over the weekend. Marseille’s been doing well at keeping clean sheets, which is a good thing because it accomplishes the SECOND BIG OBJECTIVE in sport: Do not let other team get points. Good job Marseille! Brest (hehehehe) scored their first win of the season, so also good job to them. St. Etienne, sorry I mean ASSE, failed to get a much needed win over the also shitty team of Metz on Saturday, and Lyon was able to win over 4th place Lens which is a boost to them. PSG did eke out their win over Lille, without Mbappe or Messi, which led to a lot of punditry about Poch’s team finally taking shape and everything coming together and the vibes being, to paraphrase, on point. HOWEVER, Neymar isn’t doing that well, and no one is appreciating Di Maria, and without Verratti they basically need to clone Marquinhos at the back because otherwise they’re boned. Much talk this week about the formation shift used in the last game (moving to more central midfielders 4-4—2, honestly I’m pro given how much we struggle in the midfield), tbd if it will remain. The main issue with PSG right not (both in Champions league and Ligue 1) is that while in theory the results are holding up (top of the table in Ligue, and top of the group in Champions)… but they are also playing like crap so? The sporting director recently said the press was being too hard on PSG, to which my podcast hosts responded MAIS OUI MAIS ILS SONT NULS !!!
In La Liga…
A NEW REAL HAS ENTERED THE CHAT. Well, they’re not new, but they’re not the Real we’re normally talking about! Real Sociedad is at the top of the La Liga title, and they’re kinda having a moment!!! Sadly I only learned about this because my podcast discussed how they should have beat Athletic Club (not Atletico, to be clear) this past weekend but didn’t (despite being UP A MAN) in the BASQUE DERBY. Seems made up but okay! It was an exciting match because there were a lot of people there, so the vibes WERE on point, but Real conceded a foolish free kick late in the game, and then their goalie tried to punch the ball instead of grabbing it and…well, all they got was a draw. Real Madrid, Atletico, and Sevilla also got wins this weekend, and Barca was held to a draw by Alaves. Oh also, Barca’s new coach XAVI will start next week.
In Serie A…
My podcast took the week off!!!!!! But no worries I had a backup. Juventus is looking pretty shitty. They’re finding ways to win games yes, but no one understands what Allegri is doing with these line ups (like it truly makes no sense), and the players clearly need more guidance. This week is the MILAN DERBY so we’re going to save our energy for talking about that.
In the Bundesliga…
Lewandowski continues to stomp on everyone’s dreams, and Borussia Dortmund has been on a drawing/losing streak.
That’s all for this week- yes we skimmed the headlines a bit but what can we say, it’s a lot of hurry up and wait!!! We’ll have to wait and see what happens with the Managers who are currently in trouble and those that have just been replaced. It’s early enough in the season to turn things around, yes, but it’s also in between transfer windows so the new guys will have to find a way to work with what they’ve got for now
