[ad_1]
How can you leave Tuanzebe?
Axel Tuanzebe’s performance against PSG was phenomenal considering that the last football game this man played was against Colchester in the EFL Cup 10 months ago. That day he marked Frank Nouble. In Paris, he was tasked with keeping Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, arguably the two most dangerous forwards in world football, at bay.
Yes, maybe they were a little below their usual level, but Tuanzebe looked like he had been in command of the Champions League matches his entire life. Packed with pace, power and excellent positioning, the defender twice stopped a Mbappé who was flowing at full speed and not charging into his goal with a strong last-minute defensive game.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer now has a good problem on his hands. United, as a defensive unit, looked supremely tight on a back three with Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelof equally impressive. So where does this leave captain and £ 80m man Harry Maguire, who suffered a muscle injury at the weekend but is expected to be fit for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea, live on Sky Sports ?
Will Maguire, whose troubles have been well publicized, have a hard time returning to this team? Tuanzebe – surely – is unstoppable after putting Neymar and Mbappé in his pocket.
Lewis jones
Weak hopes for Liverpool without Van Dijk
A victory is always the most important thing in football. But under the circumstances, a clean sheet against a powerful Ajax side was not far off for Liverpool on Wednesday night, with the pre-match buzz dominated by talks about the prolonged absence of Virgil van Dijk, and even Jamie Carragher. questioning if it will. prevent them from defending their Premier League crown.
Without their £ 75 million man, Liverpool took some time to face Ajax’s difficult three forwards, and had to thank Adrian for a reflex save in the first half to deny Quincy Promes, before Fabinho improved and cleared. Dusan Tadic’s chip off the line. .
But once they settled in, and with seasoned boss Jordan Henderson ahead of the untested combination of Fabinho and Joe Gomez, they looked as solid as they have all season – something that comes as no surprise to Klopp, who said afterward. of the match his Brazilian midfielder. he’s perfectly “comfortable” with his new position.
Let’s not forget that Van Dijk was present for Liverpool’s seven goals at Aston Villa before the international break, and while his world-class credentials are not to be questioned, the red wall has come down a bit even with him in it. since reboot in June.
If this was a test of whether Gomez and Fabinho can sit together as a competent couple, if never the first choice, on the baseline, the result was an encouraging pass after the latter’s man of the match performance, though, of course these are early. days.
The biggest problems are more likely to be on the table for the physio, who has already claimed Joel Matip, Liverpool’s only other senior center-back, this week. Perhaps only if injuries hit again, as is eminently possible in the congested era of coronavirus reprogramming, will Klopp be left scratching his head over his next fix.
Ron Walker
Is the city’s attack machine malfunctioning?
Manchester City defeating Porto 3-1 looks on paper like one of those City nights in the Champions League.
But the scoreboard didn’t tell the whole story.
Pep Guardiola’s men fought for fluidity in attack and had to rely on a penalty from Sergio Agüero and a moment of dead-ball brilliance from Ilkay Gundogan to keep Porto at bay. Apart from the attack that led to the penalty, City failed to get a shot on Porto goal in the first half.
And, his total of nine shots on goal was the lowest tally on record in a Champions League home game under Guardiola’s supervision. To give you some context, he scored 22 in his round of 16 second leg against Real Madrid in the summer.
Perhaps the toughness of Porto’s defense, led by Pepe, needs some praise by restricting Raheem Sterling and Agüero to so little space, but the lack of pace in the attacking areas has become the norm so far this season. . City’s expected goal data is well below the 2.34 average in home games in the Guardiola era – against Leicester it was 0.87 and despite beating Arsenal 1-0, a 1.34 figure speaks volumes about what little they created.
They are consecutive victories for City, but improvements are still required.
Lewis jones
Balance still eludes Chelsea, but hopes for progress
Successful teams are usually built from behind. Chelsea flew into that final season; they conceded 54 Premier League goals and 16 in eight Champions League matches, but it didn’t stop them from reaching the knockout stages and finishing fourth at the national level.
However, after sending in nine goals in his first five league games this season, winning just twice, something has clearly been broken. Chelsea kept a valuable clean sheet in Tuesday’s Champions League opener stalemate against Sevilla. But for all his talent and spending going forward, he came at the cost of creativity, hitting just six shots all night, and failed to test Yassine Bounou once.
The game marked the Blues’ first goalless draw with Frank Lampard since he took office nearly 18 months ago. That’s not a coincidence; Rarely, if ever, has he prioritized his defenders’ clean sheet bonus over paying for his offensive talent to get between goals.
But after throwing a 2-0, 3-2 lead against Southampton on Saturday, the second time Chelsea have conceded three goals in a game this season, it is no wonder they called the deadlock a “positive result” and admitted that a clean sheet was “big business” for the club.
The problem is finding a balance. And it has been a delicate act for Lampard since a powerful and offensive-minded Chelsea played well, but were clinically beaten 4-0 by Manchester United in his first game as manager.
And it certainly eluded a Blues side whose best effort came from Kurt Zouma’s header from a corner Tuesday night. Not Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner or Kai Havertz, a trio that cost the Blues over £ 150 million to add to their ranks of forwards, but who barely had a vision of goal between them.
There are certainly positives to be gleaned from an unusually strong defensive performance against a group of canny visitors in Seville.
But while Chelsea must improve at the rear, they cannot afford to lose their best asset, their ball power, as compensation. Will you be able to manage both with the staff at your disposal? It’s early, but it’s not guaranteed.
Ron Walker
Liverpool fixtures
Saturday, October 24: Sheff Utd (at home)
Tuesday, October 27: FC Midtjylland (home)
Saturday, October 31: West Ham (hours)
Tuesday, November 3: Atalanta (a)
Saturday, November 7: Man City (a)
Wednesday, November 25: Atalanta (h)
Saturday November 28: Brighton (a)
Tuesday, December 1: Ajax (h)
Saturday, December 5: Wolves (h)
Wed Dec 9: FC Midtjylland (a)
Saturday 12 of December: Fulham (a)
City man
Saturday, October 24: West Ham (a)
Tuesday, October 27: Marseille (a)
Saturday, October 31: Sheff Utd (a)
Tuesday, November 3: Olympiakos (h)
Saturday, November 7: Liverpool (h)
Wednesday, November 25: Olympiacos (a)
Saturday November 28: Burnley (h)
Tuesday, December 1: Porto
Saturday, December 5: Fulham (h)
Wed Dec 9: Marseille (a)
Saturday 12 of December: Man Utd (a)
Chelsea
Saturday, October 24: Man Utd (a)
Wed October 28: FK Krasnodar (a)
Saturday, October 31: Burnley (a)
Wed November 4: Rennes (h)
Saturday, November 7: Sheff Utd (at home)
Tuesday, November 24: Rennes (a)
Saturday November 28: Tottenham (at home)
Wed Dec 2: Seville (a)
Saturday, December 5: Leeds (h)
Tuesday, December 8: FK Krasnodar (at home)
Saturday 12 of December: Everton (a)
Man Utd
Saturday, October 24: Chelsea (h)
Wed Oct 28: RB Leipzig (at home)
Sunday, November 1: Arsenal (at home)
Wed November 4: Istanbul Basaksehir (a)
Saturday, November 7: Everton (a)
Tuesday, November 24: Istanbul Basaksehir (h)
Saturday November 28: Southampton (a)
Wed Dec 2: PSG (in hours)
Saturday, December 5: West Ham (a)
Tuesday, December 8: RB Leipzig (a)
Saturday 12 of December: City of man (h)
[ad_2]
