Goals were at a premium as 18 clubs faced off in this mid-week round of matches. Just 13 goals were scored across the nine games, but a number of these were key in shaping the future of a club. We take a look back at some of the biggest talking points.
Steven Gerrard watched on as his Aston Villa side crumbled at Craven Cottage. The away side had a man sent off, conceded a penalty and put the ball into the back of their own net in a 3-0 loss. The former Liverpool midfielder was sacked not long after the final whistle. This isn’t a kneejerk reaction from those in charge at Villa Park. The team have taken just nine points from their 11 matches this season and are only outside of the relegation places due to goals scored.
Gerrard needed a reaction last night. He didn’t get one. Instead, they were blown away by a team that was winless in three heading into the game.
The night of Núñez
Darwin Núñez finally scored his first Anfield goal for Liverpool. It proved to be the winner against West Ham as the Reds climbed up to seventh in the Premier League table. It turned out to be a scrappy match against the Hammers but Nunez was able to show glimpses of his class.
He forced Łukasz Fabiański into a fine save after connecting with a stunning left-footed half volley and he cracked the post with another effort from just outside of the area. His goal was one that an old-school centre-forward would be proud of after he timed his run to get across the defenders and emphatically nod home. In total, he had six shots during his 57 minutes on the pitch with an Expected Goals total of 0.46. The impressive metric, however, was the xG on target total – 1.07. He was adding real value to his efforts with his shot selection.
Everton’s offensive woes
Frank Lampard was able to name Anthony Gordon and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in his attack against Newcastle United. The hope was that the Toffees would be more of a threat than they were against Spurs over the weekend when they managed just four shots.
It didn’t work out and Lampard’s team mustered just one effort on goal. One shot in the entire 90 minutes. To make matters worse, Everton weren’t at their defensive best and allowed the hosts 16 shots in total with an xG of 1.46. The third consecutive defeat was, in truth, deserved.
A captain’s performance
Hugo Lloris singlehandedly kept Spurs in the game against Manchester United.
The Frenchman made an astonishing eight saves as the hosts took an incredible 28 shots in a 2-0 win. Fred’s deflected effort broke the deadlock just after half-time and it was the slice of look Erin ten Hag’s men needed to beat the Tottenham captain between the sticks. Bruno Fernandes added a second to make it appear like a comfortable victory. On another day, without this Lloris masterclass, that is a statement victory.
The Eagles are soaring
Crystal Palace came from a goal behind to beat Wolves. Wilfried Zaha scored the winner but the start of the show was Eberechi Eze.
The 24-year-old is reportedly going to be named in the preliminary England squad and after that performance on Tuesday night, you can understand why. He finished with one goal from two shots, created three chances and completed all of his dribbles on the night.
We need to talk about Kepa
A lot of Chelsea players have benefitted from Graham Potter’s revival but few have had their luck transformed in the way Kepa has.
Frozen out by Thomas Tuchel in favour of Edouard Mendy, Kepa is back in the first-team picture and kept another clean sheet for the Blues in the draw with Brentford. He’s now kept five successive clean sheets. The world’s most expensive goalkeeper is finally living up to the price-tag, making a string of stunning saves to extend Potter’s unbeaten run as Chelsea manager.
(Images from IMAGO)
You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Premier League season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
In the first of a new series of special features, we take one of the most talked about tactical storylines in the Premier League season and break it all down for you.
Mohamed Salah was playing the best football of his career just 12 months ago.
He had 10 goals and five assists in ten matches across multiple competitions for Liverpool heading into the October international break, midway through the month.
This time around, however, his 13 outings have returned just eight goals and three assists. And it is worth noting that he’s scored four in his last two to boost those totals.
Heading into the game against Manchester City, his last open-play goal for the Reds in the Premier League was back in August.
Statistically speaking, Salah was more dangerous than ever during the 2021/22 campaign. Yet recently, the 30-year-old had been posting some of his worst numbers in the red of Liverpool. So what is going on?
To start, we’ll focus on what was occurring before the recent system change. His shots per 90 average had dropped from 4.5 to just three and, as a result, his Expected Goals per 90 average had almost halved from 0.77 per 90 to just 0.41. The former Roma man looked isolated and predictable.
The confusing thing is that this is all by design.
Jürgen Klopp had tweaked things this term following the arrival of Darwin Núñez. Instead of being the main goal threat for the Reds, Salah had been tasked with more of a creative role. Deployed in his usual position on the right, the Egypt international would hold the width a little more and look to isolate full-backs in one-on-one situations with space to attack before getting the ball into the penalty area.
In many ways, that had been a success. Salah, for example, ranked second for chances created (26), though just two of those are classed as big chances, and he was fourth for Expected Assists behind Kieran Trippier, Gabriel Martinelli and Kevin De Bruyne. So it has been a successful experiment if you solely focus on those numbers. But you can’t just do that, can you?
Salah is a three-time Golden Boot winner. He holds the record for most goals scored in a single Premier League campaign and he is one of the best chance-getters in the competition’s history.
He looked a shadow of his former self and it cannot be a coincidence that Liverpool find themselves in mid-table now that Salah’s goals have dried up. The prolific wide forward ranked 22nd in the Premier League for xG90. He was first for this particular metric last season.
Klopp had nullified his most potent attacker.
Against Arsenal, he had just one shot and he was replaced after 69 minutes. The Reds, without a win since August, replaced Salah with Fabinho at 2-2. That alone says a lot about the predicament that the club found themselves in.
Liverpool were forced into changing their shape with Klopp saying they needed to go back to basics. A 4-2-4 shape was used in the following matches – successfully against Rangers and unsuccessfully at the Emirates. This system gave the Merseysiders more attacking options but isolated Salah even further, as seen below.
Diogo Jota, Luis Díaz and Núñez are all in central areas as Liverpool look to progress the play while Salah holds the width on the right. Jordan Henderson picks him out with a pass and he is immediately closed down by Takehiro Tomiyasu and Martinelli. The ball goes back to the captain who clips it into the box where all of the forwards, with the exception of Salah, are waiting.
We see another similar situation above. Henderson is working the ball out to the right with Salah initially positioned in space. The other Liverpool forward are highlighted in central areas.
The No.11 is fronted up by Tomiyasu and is unable to beat the Arsenal left-back. But had he done so, Granit Xhaka was filling in at left-back meaning Gabriel, the left-sided centre-back could remain in the middle of the box with partner William Saliba.
For Salah to do anything in this phase of play, he needs to beat Tomiyasu and Xhaka before finding space in a crowded penalty area to get a shot off. It was by no means impossible for a player of his quality, but it was far more complicated than it should have been.
The Salah of yesteryear would have been making the run highlighted in the graphic. He may not have received the pass, after all it is a tricky one to execute, but his presence would’ve created space for others and Liverpool could’ve created something in the ensuing chaos. Perhaps Tomiyasu tracks the run and this frees up an area for Jota, as an example. All of a sudden the Reds have a bit of an overload on that flank.
Salah doesn’t even attempt to make that run. He just holds his position and Díaz’s floated pass eventually finds him. By this stage though, Arsenal have plenty of bodies back and it is an easy situation to defend. It was not an opportunity for Liverpool, but it was a situation that would’ve been leveraged a little better.
And then came the change.
Klopp started Salah on the bench against Rangers but came on with 22 minutes to play, replacing Núñez in one of the central positions.
He proceeded to score the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history and was praised by his manager afterwards, with the German tactician saying: “Different position, more inside. Outstanding player.”
The subtle tweak transformed, well, everything for the Liverpool No.11.
Instead of having to occupy wide areas, Salah was able to play against a centre-back. He was a threat in behind. His first was a little fortunate, with the ball falling kindly for him but it comes about because of where he’s positioned.
For his second, he is stationed between the centre-backs instead of being pinned against the touchline. Salah had four shots during his 20 minute cameo and could’ve had an assist after playing in Jota from the right. Another perk of playing centrally – he can impact the game across the final third.
Klopp stuck with Salah as a centre-forward for the match against Manchester City.
His faith was rewarded with the 30-year-old netting the winner. He caused all kinds of problems for the away side and at times he single-handedly occupied their entire back three. It was a proper No.9 performance from Liverpool’s No.11. The highlight being when he forced Ederson into the save of the match.
Salah initially dropped deep to drag Rúben Dias into the Liverpool half. He then spins the former Benfica man and attacks the acres of space behind City’s defensive line.
It was an old-school drop deep and then spin in behind move, and it worked so well. Firmino played the ball to his strike partner and Salah raced through only to be thwarted by a fingertip save by Ederson.
City could not cope with Salah. They feared him and that has been missing over recent months. The return of the fear factor can only be a positive for Liverpool.
On another day, he finishes with two goals and an assist. And this against the team with one of the best defensive records in the league. It was a statement performance.
With Jota and Díaz now both ruled out for the foreseeable future, the Reds can’t afford to isolate Salah in wide areas. He needs to be the man leading the line. If the last two outings are anything to go off, last season’s form could well return.
(Images from IMAGO)
You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Premier League season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
Real Madrid are now the only unbeaten team in LaLiga this season after Sunday’s 3-1 win over Barcelona in El Clásico. Karim Benzema opened the scoring for Los Blancos after a fine run from Vinícius Júnior, whose shot was saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen but found its way into the Frenchman’s path. It was his 12th goal against Barcelona and set up a big win for the champions ahead of his trip to Paris to receive the Ballon d’Or on Monday. Not a bad couple of days for the French forward.
Barcelona played well enough in the first half and Robert Lewandowski missed a great chance as he slid in on the stretch at the far post but hit his shot over the bar from close range. Fede Valverde was then left in lots of space to make it 2-0 following another counter-attack 10 minutes after that, the Uruguayan hitting a low drive into the corner from outside the box for his fifth of the season – already his best return as a Real Madrid player.
Substitute Ansi Fati gave Barça a lifeline with an excellent run down the left and cross for Ferran Torres to pull a goal back in the closing stages, but the referee brought play back to award Rodrygo a penalty – following a VAR check – right at the end after what had looked like an innocuous challenge by Eric García. The Brazilian scored the spot-kick himself to round off a fairly comfortable win, which sees Carlo Ancelotti’s side move three points clear of their fierce rivals at the top of the table with nine fixtures played.
“In the first half we were better, more clinical, more effective,” Ancelotti said after the game. “They tend to press high and we had the confidence to play out from the back. Defensively we did well. The team was committed, we didn’t leave any spaces. The first half was the key to the game.”
Valverde’s new-found goal threat has been a feature of Madrid’s season and the Uruguayan’s strike gave Madrid a cushion at the break: “He is getting used to playing in this position [on the right]. He’s scoring goals, and he has spectacular energy,” Ancelotti said.
For Barcelona, it was a disappointing defeat on the back of the midweek draw at home to Inter in the Champions League, which leaves the Blaugrana in danger of dropping down to the Europa League for a second season in a row.
“The feeling is that we are in a negative dynamic,” Xavi said. “That we tried. We had faith and pride in what we were doing. Luckily, it’s just three points. It was an opportunity to stay leaders and we leave with nothing.
“We couldn’t take advantage of our good moments and they defended very well. We have to change the dynamic.”
Xavi added that Barça were ‘in construction’ and said: “We have to improve a lot.”
For Madrid, it was a welcome win after last season’s 4-0 loss in the same fixture.
“Last season I tried to invent something,” Ancelotti said in reference to that defeat. “This time, I put the players in their [rightful] positions.”
Atlético up to third; Betis, Real Sociedad, Villarreal and Sevilla all win
Atlético Madrid are up to third place in LaLiga following a hard-fought 1-0 win at Athletic Club. Álvaro Morata saw an early effort ruled out by VAR but set up Antoine Griezmann for the only goal of the game early in the second half, the French forward – who is starting games again now his permanent return from Barcelona has been negotiated – beating Unai Simón with a neat finish. Atleti also had goalkeeper Jan Oblak to thank for two superb saves and there was a vital block from Reinildo Mandava as the Rojiblancos clung on for three vital points. “After 11 years [here], I still get excited by winning like we did today,” Diego Simeone said.
Elsewhere, Real Betis moved level with Atlético in fourth by beating Almería 3-1 at the Benito Villamarin. Real Sociedad also have 19 points and are fifth after a 2-1 win at Espanyol and Villarreal are seventh (behind Athletic) following a 2-0 victory at home to Osasuna.
A bit lower down, Sevilla are also on the up after registering their first win in Jorge Sampaoli’s second spell in charge – a 1-0 success at Mallorca – to climb to 14th.
And at the very bottom, Elche are the only LaLiga team without a win in 2022-23, although they did earn a creditable 2-2 draw at Valencia to claim only their third point of the season. Edinson Cavani scored both of Valencia’s goals, his first since signing for the club in late August.
(Images from IMAGO)
You can follow every match from the 2022/23 LaLiga season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
Napoli continue to lead the table, is this finally their year!? Fiorentina on the other hand have been the disappointment of the season, plus a little known goalkeeper you need to check out.
It’s been over three decades since Napoli won their last Serie A scudetto; back when a certain Diego Armando Maradona was walking around the streets of Naples as the most iconic figure the city has ever seen. Since then, they haven’t come close to matching the success seen in the early 90s. While there have been a few seasons in the last decade where Napoli nearly took the Scudetto away from Juventus during their eight year dominance, they always finished behind the Bianconeri, and couldn’t secure the silverware that a series of strong sides perhaps should have done.
This year feels different. What was supposed to be a rebuild through youth turned out to be a much more competitive side that hasn’t cowered down to anyone. As it stands, they’re in first place in Serie A, one of the only four remaining undefeated teams in the top five European leagues, and they top their Champions League group. They batter the opposition with a barrage of chances, often playing lightning quick passing combinations that stun a defence and put Napoli in a prime position to score. It’s hard to find a weakness in the squad. And even players like Mário Rui – who was questionable in the past – have raised their game under the manager Luciano Spalletti.
Napoli currently have ten straight wins in all competitions. It’s a chance for Spalletti to remind everyone that he’s one of the finest attack minded managers that Italy has seen in the 21st century. His Napoli came into the season as 25/1 Scudetto underdogs, but currently look like the team to beat. Another thing that’s gone in their favour is that the usual suspects have all been struggling in different ways. Milan have been decimated by injuries, Juventus have mostly played a dreadful brand of football, and Inter have slipped up against teams they should be beating with some bizarrely poor defending.
Even when Napoli face adversity, like they did this weekend against Bologna, they show resilience and personality. Kvicha Kvaratskhelia has added more layers to his game each round. At first, his dazzling dribbling steals the spotlight, but when you look at him closer you see his full array of talent – with a vision as intelligent as his passing. Add his creativity to his unstoppable one-on-one ability and the way he can finish with either foot, and suddenly you have a player who looks pretty much unstoppable. Napoli’s new superstar in the making could cement his legacy in the city – if he can deliver a trophy in his first season at the club.
Fiorentina have been a massive disappointment
One of the more surprising subplots of the Serie A season is how poor Fiorentina have been. They sit in 13th place after yet another underwhelming result, this time Monday’s draw against lowly Lecce.
The stats surrounding Fiorentina are a bizarre anomaly. How is it possible that the team with the highest average possession in the league (nearly 61%) and the most accurate long balls and crosses per game, could struggle this much to score goals? It doesn’t take the most intricate statistics in the world to know that there’s a direct correlation between possession and success. The teams that have the most of the ball should theoretically create more chances and concede less. This couldn’t be any less of the case for the Viola, as they have the second worst offense in the league with only eight goals scored in their first 10 matches.
The manager Vincenzo Italiano was last season’s darling, often fielding a fearless team that approached every game the same way no matter who was on the other side. Over the summer, it seemed like they fixed their biggest weakness: a direct replacement for striker Dušan Vlahović, who left in January for Juventus. Luka Jović joined from Real Madrid, and the hope was that he’d be able to finally score the amount of goals deserved for a team that often dominated possession in the opponent’s half. Jović’s form is still a far cry from the player that banged in 17 goals for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018/19, a season that convinced Real Madrid to spend €60M for the young attacker. Jović has only managed one goal in 551 minutes of Serie A play this season, which is more akin to the disappointing rate he managed at Real Madrid the few times he did get a chance to play.
Fiorentina only look like a Jović string of goals away from finally hitting their stride in the league. The possession and creativity are there, the end product is not. They’re far too talented to be in the second half of the table, so I’m thinking this is just an early season rut and still have hope that a player with Jović’s pedigree will figure things out and start delivering the goals up front.
Guglielmo Vicario is a name you need to know
If your first thought was “who?” then join most of the football community. After all, it’s not often that an Empoli goalkeeper becomes a name talked about outside of the most passionate Serie A circles. But he should be – Vicario might just be the best Italian goalkeeper at the moment. Stretching back to last season, the keeper has put together highlight reel after highlight reel, single-handedly keeping Empoli in games through his otherworldly reflexes and shot stopping ability.
One quick YouTube search will show you plenty of montages, some even put together by the official Serie A channel, with a collection of Vicario’s best work in-between the pipes. This past weekend against Monza, one save in particular made all of the headlines for just how quickly he reacted to a shot inside the box. It’s one of those saves that makes you watch the replay over and over, wondering how it’s humanly possible to react in a millisecond. Vicario has already formed a sort of cult following with Calcio affiliated social media accounts who fawn over the quality and style of his saves.
The Udine born Vicario is entering his prime at 26 years old, and his performances haven’t gone unnoticed, as Italy boss Roberto Mancini named him to be part of the Azzurri UEFA Nations League squad for the games against England and Hungary. I’d be shocked if Vicario didn’t join a big club at the end of this season. This isn’t a player who has just had a month of great form – Vicario has now been delivering at a high level for two seasons. He’s the real deal.
(Images from IMAGO)
You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Serie A season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
From Belgium to Brazil and Spain to Serbia, there were derbies and big rivalries wherever you looked across Europe and the world this weekend. We were treated to a couple of days of non-stop entertainment in the world of football, which we will be attempting to recap in this edition of Last Weekend.
Eight matches into the new league campaign and it was time for the first Clásico of the season in Spain. Real Madrid and Barcelona went into the match level on 22 points, so the visitors were only leading the standings thanks to their superior goal difference.
The match was played out in a manner that many had foreseen, with Barcelona keeping hold of more possession, but Real Madrid posing a serious threat on the break. Vinícius Júnior proved key in such situations and the Brazilian was involved in the build-up to Madrid’s two first-half goals. It was his ball carrying skill that was on display before Karim Benzema’s opener as well as when Federico Valverde struck later in the half.
Barcelona looked increasingly threatening after going two goals down and even more so after substitutes were introduced to the game, but their finishing let them down in front of goal. Ferrán Torres was able to pull one goal back with seven minutes on the clock, but Real Madrid killed the game in stoppage time as Rodrygo won, and then converted a spot-kick.
So, its advantage Real Madrid after the first Clásico, and a troubling times for Barcelona as their Champions League campaign is also in jeopardy.
The Premier League’s biggest rivalry of the modern era was rekindled when Liverpool hosted Manchester City, who were the only side with an unbeaten record in the Premier League going into this weekend. The hosts, on the other hand, had endured a terrible start to the season that left them 13 points behind their opponents prior to this match.
We were treated to an enthralling end-to-end affair that has become a regular occurrence when these two sides collide, as both went back and forth throughout the 90 minutes. After a goalless first half, the match reached its peak of freneticism in the early stages of the second period, which was a real celebration of football.
First, Mohamed Salah went through on goal but had his effort graze off Ederson and go narrowly wide. The referees did not notice the save so a goal kick was awarded, which eventually led to Manchester City scoring at the other end. There was another twist in the tale, though, because VAR found a foul in the build-up and ruled the goal out. Back at the other end, Salah created a wonderful chance with a sumptuous trivela cross, but the header went out off the crossbar and the offside flag was eventually raised.
The decisive goal also involved similar end-to-end action. Kevin De Bruyne took a free-kick for Manchester City which was caught by Alisson, who quickly launched a long ball forward for Salah. João Cancelo was the only man back for City, and he decided to challenge for the ball, allowing Salah to get past him on the turn, go through on goal again, and slot the finish past the onrushing goalkeeper.
There were many more great chances, frenzied action, refereeing mistakes and incensed reactions from the players, staff, and the packed Anfield crowd. But finally, the match ended with Liverpool celebrating a hard-fought win after 10 minutes of additional time.
The bad news for them, though, is that Jürgen Klopp was sent off and will face a suspension, and more worryingly – they suffered yet another injury in the attacking department as Diogo Jota had to be stretchered off towards the end of the match. The real winners, therefore, are Arsenal, who escaped Elland Road with three points earlier that day and now have a four-point lead at the top of the table.
Over in France, Le Classique was the headline act on Sunday night as Paris Saint-Germain hosted Olympique Marseille. The hosts unquestionably had a significantly stronger side on paper, but Marseille had hope because they had kept step with them 10 games into the season with just a three-point deficit, and more pertinently, PSG’s seemingly never-ending internal issues were the talk of the town again after reports emerged in midweek that Kylian Mbappé was displeased about unfulfilled promises.
One of those, reportedly, was that PSG would sign a pure striker in the transfer window who would be a regular starter, enabling Mbappé to play in his favoured position on the left. Evidently, that did not happen, because the French international has been playing down the middle in Christophe Galtier’s 3-4-2-1 system with Lionel Messi and Neymar behind him.
Perhaps for this reason, Galtier changed to a 4-3-1-2 formation in this match that brought Mbappé closer to the left flank, while Neymar operated in a deeper and more central role.
The downside of this formation was that it was quite narrow defensively, so Marseille found a good deal of joy while attacking down the flanks with their wing-backs. PSG’s star men were able to create a number of big chances, though, and they eventually took one on the stroke of half-time as Neymar scored the opener. Marseille worked hard in search of an equaliser in the second half, but just as Igor Tudor tried to influence the game with some attacking substitutes, his side suffered a massive blow as Samuel Gigot was sent off.
That really took the fizz out of the match, as the home side were able to see out the win with relative comfort. Both sides will feel that they could have scored more goals as the final xG tallies read 2.49-1.23, but the result seemed fair.
The big derby in Italy this week was a Turinese affair, as Torino welcomed a misfiring Juventus side to the Stade Olimpico. Massimiliano Allegri’s side were 10 points behind the league leaders going into the match and were yet to win away from home all season. They were also struggling in the Champions League, where five points separated them from the top two, who they are due to play in the upcoming weeks.
Allegri continued to have the backing of the board in spite of bad results and equally concerning performances, but he knew fully well that any embarrassment suffered against their local rivals would be a big issue. With that in mind, he made a big call to bench club captain Leonardo Bonucci after his poor performance against Maccabi Haifa in midweek, while also returning to a 3-5-2 formation that seemingly suits the squad better.
The switch to a three-man midfield also caused problems for Torino’s intense man-to-man defensive system as a centre-back had to step forward to prevent an overload from being created. That allowed Juventus to get at the hosts’ back line fairly regularly, but the issue this time was that they were not taking their chances.
Ultimately, a goal from a corner in the 74th minute proved to be enough for the Bianconeri to come away with all three points, which for once were entirely deserved because they created chances worth 2.27 xG altogether. Could this be a turning point in their campaign? The Champions League matches against Benfica and PSG should be able to quickly provide an answer.
Here in FotMob’s home nation, this weekend put an end to the title race as Molde clinched their fifth-ever league trophy with a win at Lillestrøm.
Earlier this season, the home side had raced to a surprise lead at the top of the Eliteserien table, but we were vary of their xG overperformance, which ended up pulling them quite a way back. Molde, meanwhile, had a shaky start, but their run of 13 consecutive league wins starting close to the midway point of the season has helped them seal the deal with a few games to spare.
They only needed a draw this weekend to start their celebrations, but a last-minute winner meant that they did the job in style. That goal could really hurt Lillestrøm’s challenge for the European spots, though, because they are now three points behind third-placed Rosenborg.
Clearly, the battle for the best of the rest position is still very close, so it is never too late for you to start watching Norwegian football.
On a weekend full of huge matches across the world, by far the biggest upset came in Japan, where the final of the Emperor’s Cup was held.
The favourites were eight-time J. League winners Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who look set to finish third this season behind title challengers Yokohoma F.Marinos and Kawasaki Frontale. Up against them were second-division strugglers Ventforet Kofu, who had not yet secured safety with four matches left to play, and were winless in the league since early August.
For some reason, though, they were giant killers in the cup. They defeated four top flight sides en route to the final with a comeback win over Hokkaido Consadole in the third round, a 3-1 triumph against Sagan Tosu next, an extra-time win in the quarter-final versus Avispa Fukuoka, and semi-final success against Kashima Antlers thanks to the only goal of the match.
Once again, Ventforet looked a completely different side in a cup match as they controlled proceedings in the first half, scoring the opening goal in the 26th minute through Kazushi Mitsuhira. They were not under the cosh in the second half either, but a powerful strike from Takumu Kawamura meant that Sanfrecce equalised with about five minutes of normal time left.
The J. League side dominated thereafter as the match went to extra time, and they looked to have earned a reward for their work close to the two-hour mark when they were awarded a penalty. Kohei Kawata made a crucial save to keep the spot kick out, though, taking the game to penalties.
Everyone was faultless from 12 yards out bar the man who got the equaliser, Kawamura, who was denied by Kowata. That meant Ventforet Kofu lifted their first-ever major trophy in over 55 years of existence, becoming the first football club from the Yamanashi Prefecture to do so.
The final unbeaten run in the Premier League ended this weekend with the table now starting to take shape. We will be taking a look at some of the statistical standouts and a number of impressive team performances.
Heading into the game at Anfield, Manchester City had not lost an away match in the league since the opening day of the 2021/22 campaign. Pep Guardiola’s side were also the only unbeaten team this term and had a 13-point advantage over their hosts.
City had been rampant this season, averaging over three goals per game. Yet the makeshift back four, made up of James Milner, Joe Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk and Andrew Robertson, kept them quiet. The away team finished with an Expected Goals total of just 0.94 and created just one big chance in defeat on Merseyside. By comparison, the Reds racked up an xG haul of 2.04 and had five big chances against the best defensive side in the league coming into this game.
It was a reminder that this Liverpool team is still one of the best in the league and writing them off is premature.
The performance of Champions?
Arsenal eked out a 1-0 win over Leeds United to extend their lead at the summit of the table to four points. By no means was it convincing though.
Mikel Arteta watched his side get out-shot (16-9), lose the big chances metric (3-1) and create chances worth just 0.55 xG. The hosts tripled that xG total, finishing with 1.86, albeit they did have a penalty to boost that particular metric. However, even without it, Leeds had double the xG of the visitors.
On one hand, it is the sort of result that eventual champions have to grind out. They can’t be exceptional in every single game. But this sort of performance needs to be a one-off. Playing like that but picking up all three points just is not sustainable and it will result in more losses than wins.
Mount masterclass
Mason Mount has been in fine form following the appointment of Graham Potter. The versatile midfielder was without a goal or an assist this season under his predecessor, Thomas Tuchel but his double against Villa takes his tally to four goal involvements in his last two matches.
He was a standout performer at Villa Park and his FotMob rating of 9.0 was more than justified. Mount scored twice – one was a finish that a poacher would be proud of and the other was a spectacular free-kick. He also completed all of his dribbles, found a teammate with 100% of his crosses and recovered the ball on six occasions to cap off an all-round, eye-catching performance.
Shaky foundations
Prior to the match against Spurs, Everton had the joint-best defensive record in the Premier League. You wouldn’t have known that watching the game on Saturday night though.
The Toffees allowed the hosts to have 21 shots and three big chances as Antonio Conte’s side finished with an xG total of 2.27 on their way to a 2-0 win. By comparison, Everton had just four shots and created opportunities worth 0.43 xG. There is a balance to be struck but if a team focuses on being defensively solid, they need to be defensively solid as other areas of their game just aren’t up to scratch. If Everton concede, they struggle as they don’t have any attacking patterns of play to rely on. Their eight goals in 10 outings point to that.
Is it time for Frank Lampard to go back to the drawing board?
Delivering in the Premier League
Dominic Solanke scored and assisted as Bournemouth played out a 2-2 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage.
The 25-year-old landed both of his efforts on target and he recovered the ball on two occasions. He’s a threat and a grafter. Solanke is in impressive form at the minute too. He now has five goal involvements (two goals and three assists) in his last five starts for the Cherries. It cannot be a coincidence that his team are unbeaten in those matches and have taken nine of their 13 points.
(Images from IMAGO)
You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Premier League season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
🏴 In truth, you might want to scroll to Sunday for this weekend’s truly massive games but there is – of course – plenty to get your teeth stuck in to on your match feed for Saturday!
In the Premier League, there’s a chance for Spurs to close the gap to the leaders when they play Everton. We’ll see who’ll come out on top in the battle of the high-achieving promoted sides, Fulham or Bournemouth. Plus there’s a relegation six-pointer at Wolves and a survival mission for Brendon Rogers as Leicester face Palace at a restless King Power Stadium.
Fans of lower league English football might be pleased to find this weekend’s FA Cup matches listed in the app as our coverage of this season’s tournament begins with the final qualifying round.
🇪🇸 In LaLiga, with all the attention going on Sunday’s Clásico, you might be interested in the warm-up – the clash between the sides currently billed as the ‘best of the rest’ – Athletic Club and Atlético Madrid. Diego Simeone’s side travel to the Basque Country to take on a side who have only lost once, and conceded just three goals at home, this season.
🇫🇷 Similarly, with France’s big two set to clash later in the weekend, your attention should be on proud Breton club Lorient. Riding a historic high to sit second in the table, the relative minnows will go top of Ligue 1 – should they beat Stade Reims at home. This is a side who had to cancel their first home game of the season due to the damage caused by hosting a traditional local festival on their pitch in the summer!
🇺🇸 Saturday also marks the start of the MLS Play-Offs in the US and Canada. New York Red Bulls play post-season debutants FC Cincinnati to kick-off proceedings, before LA Galaxy, who finished fourth in the West, host Nashville, who ended the regular season in fifth.
🇮🇹 There is a truly massive game in Serie A on Saturday with the Derby della Mole – the Turin Derby – pitting Torino against their more successful, but currently in crisis mode neighbours, Juventus. Despite winning just one of their last six games, the hosts only sit two points down on Juve, with nine games played. And with coach Max Allegri under serious pressure after a run of poor performances that has included league defeats to Monza, and this week’s Champions League humiliation at Maccabi Haifa – this could be Torino’s best opportunity to end a seven-year wait for a win against their city rivals.
Elsewhere, Atalanta can go top of the table, should they maintain their unbeaten start to the season, with a win over ninth placed Sassuolo.
Sunday
🇪🇸 The biggest club game in the world shouldn’t need any introduction, nor much of a build-up in this preview but here we go anyway, because this particular edition of El Clásico should be a cracker. Both defending champions Madrid, and Xavi’s resurgent Barça (domestically at least), go in to the game unbeaten and locked together on points.
Barcelona’s superior defence – they’ve conceded just once so far – means they currently lead the table but that could all be set to change as the league’s best two attacking outfits go head-to-head.
For the record – the all-time list of results reads 100 Madrid wins to Barcelona’s 97, with 52 games resulting in draws.
🇫🇷 The fixture gods continue to bless us on Sunday with the latest edition of France’s biggest game – Le Classique between PSG, and polar opposites, Marseille.
The Southern side have impressed so far this season, although did suffer the first defeat of their season, at home to AC Ajaccio last weekend. PSG also dropped points – at Reims – and are now on a run of three draws after their back-to-back 1-1s with Benfica in the Champions League.
Those results have left a three point gap between the rivals and the potential peculiarity that both sides could be chasing a win to take them back above the un-fancied Lorient come kick-off.
🏴 There’s five Premier League games lined up – four with simultaneous kick-offs. So you might want to check your alerts are working for the games involving leaders Arsenal – who travel to Leeds, fourth placed Chelsea – who go to Villa, and the game between fourth and fifth – Manchester United vs. Newcastle United.
Later in the day, there’s the heavyweight clash between Liverpool and Manchester City, the two sides who’ve shared the last five titles (and more often than not, finished second to the other). Can City inflict further misery on a side currently sitting well off the pace in 10th with just 10 points from their first nine games? Or can Liverpool use their huge 7-1 Champions League win at Rangers – featuring Mo Salah’s record breaking hat-trick – to inspire a change in fortunes? And as if they need further motivation, the Reds are unbeaten in their last four meetings with City.
🇩🇪 This Bundesliga season has been out of the ordinary in a number of ways but this weekend, there’s a chance for the country’s most dominant sides to reassert their authority – albeit, neither can overtake current leaders Union Berlin.
Union face fourth placed Dortmund, with the side from the capital possibly still celebrating their midweek win in the Europa League that ensures the club will be playing continental football post-Christmas, for the first time in their history.
Bayern, who ensured their progression in the Champions League with the win over Viktoria Plzeň, must now refocus on perhaps the trickier task of a taking on second placed Freiburg.
And if both results go the way of the big two, we could see the league’s top four separated by just two points come Sunday evening.
🇮🇹 Back in Serie A, there’s five games on the slate – with action for four of the sides sitting in the top six as we head in to the weekend. Leaders Napoli take on Bologna, a side they’ve not lost to in five meetings and who’ve not kept a clean sheet so far this season.
Defending champions Milan could lift themselves up the table – but only if they can inflict what would be a fifth straight defeat on the out-of-form Hellas Verona. But perhaps the biggest game of the day sees Lazio (third) face Udinese (fourth). Both sides sit on the same number of points – three down on Napoli and both feature some of the season’s best performers in the league. Lazio’s Sergej Milinković-Savić leads Udinese’s Gerard Deulofeu by seven to six in the assist charts while Ciro Immobile has one more goal than Udinese’s Beto at the top of the scoring charts (6 to 5).
🇺🇦 Among a litany of national-clasicos and regional derbies around Europe over the weekend (Sunday also features big clashes in Copenhagen and Stockholm, for example) – there is possibly a more significant game taking place in the Ukrainian Premier League. The besieged nation’s two biggest sides – Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv are set to play each other in a competitive game for the first time since the Russian invasion.
And this week – we published a special feature looking at the Ukrainian League and just what it’s taken to bring football back to the country. You can read that piece by clicking here.
🇯🇵 And finally, keep your eye out for the result of the Final in Japan’s Emperor’s Cup where second division side Ventforet Kofu take on Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who currently sit third in the J.League. For further context, Ventforet Kofu still need a point from their remaining two league games to ensure they don’t slip down to the third tier! Could we see a fairytale #Cupset?
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On the 26th of February this year, Metalist 1925 were due to play Shakhtar Donetsk to mark the end of the Ukrainian Premier League’s winter break and the beginning of the second half of the 2021/22 season. The Kharkiv-based club had played a few friendlies across Europe in preparation for this game but were back at home base a number of days prior to this fixture. As the day of the match came ever closer, excitement was building, but suddenly, with two days to go, everyone completely forgot about the game.
On the 24th of February, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. Located just about 40 kilometres away from the Russian border, Kharkiv was one of the first major Ukrainian cities that was targeted, so all the players and staff members of Metalist 1925 were forced to evacuate the city alongside hundreds of thousands of other civilians.
Pavlo Posokhov, press officer at Metalist 1925, recalled that day when we spoke to him:
“On the morning of the 24th, we all woke up at about 4 or 5am because Russia was bombing Kharkiv. We all understood what was going on around us, and everyone tried to save their families and themselves, and most of the people went to the West, away from the border on the East.”
Thankfully, everyone from the club managed to escape safely. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about all the citizens of Kharkiv, and indeed most other cities affected by Russian attacks, as countless lives were lost on that day and throughout the war.
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the role of politics in the sport of football, with many calling for the two to be kept separate. The reality, however, is that the two have always been intrinsically linked, because there is much more to football than just 22 people chasing a ball around a field of grass. As with all things in life, this is both good and bad in certain cases.
Take, for example, the role of football in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Many experts have said that Russia has used football as a means to accumulate soft power over the years, both in a subtle fashion such as through sponsorship deals for state-backed brands like Gazprom and in a more blockbuster fashion such as during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Of course, Russia’s invasion had a major impact on the footballing scene in the country. The national team was barred from participating in international competitions like the UEFA Nations League and 2022 FIFA World Cup, while clubs were chucked out of UEFA competitions, leading to a mass exodus of foreign players from the Russian Premier League.
However, a significantly more profound effect was felt in Ukraine, where there were more pressing matters at hand than football, so the sport came to a standstill in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. The 2021/22 league season was eventually suspended (with no champion declared but European places decided based on the table), while the national team eventually began playing friendlies against clubs from across Europe in preparation for their postponed World Cup qualifying play-offs. Certain clubs like Dynamo Kyiv and SC Dnipro-1 also participated in qualifying rounds for UEFA competitions.
Undoubtedly, these matches meant a great deal to the Ukrainian people and especially the football fans among them, but things were not quite the same. All of the home matches were not held in their actual homeland for obvious reasons, so while Ukrainian sides were playing football, football hadn’t really returned to Ukraine.
That was until the 23rd of August – Ukraine’s National Flag Day – when the Ukrainian Premier League returned for the 2022/23 season, with Metalist 1925 facing Shakhtar Donetsk in the opener in Kyiv.
The decision of the league’s restart was taken a good while prior to that, but there was some debate surrounding it. Ukrainian football expert Adam Pate spoke to us about this:
“[The reaction to the decision was] Very mixed, very very mixed. I don’t think there was a right decision either way. A lot of prominent people said it’s not the right time to think about football.”
Adam travelled to Luxembourg as a refugee before the invasion took place, but he was in touch with a number of locals and personnel involved with the league. Therefore, based on the conversations he had, Adam said that he believed the decision to restart the league was the right thing to do.
“Little by little, life was getting back to normal, and what better way to show that to the world? Yeah, the league’s back and competitive sport is taking place. In general life, sport isn’t all and everything, but it’s a bloody good way to measure what’s going on.
“It also sends a great message that, hey guys, we’re not afraid, we’re still going to have our league going, we’re going to be playing football, we’re just going to be doing everything that we normally do. You can try and scare us but we’re going to be carrying on.”
In fact, Adam said that some clubs based about 30 kilometres from the frontlines were appealing to the federation to have matches held in their home stadiums. This proposal was rejected, but it shows the determination of the people.
Pavlo echoed this sentiment, and also spoke about what the return of football would mean to the people of Ukraine – the fans.
“People can, sometimes for 90 minutes, sometimes before the game, sometimes after the game, not think about war, not read the news about war and think about football, think about their favourite team, think about the news about their team, think about the result of a match and so on. It’s useful for the people because thinking about war all the time is very difficult, your brain can go poof. Because it’s very terrible, very horrible things are being done in our country.”
We also spoke to Ukrainian football journalist and expert Andrew Todos, founder of Zorya Londonsk. He detailed the logistics involved behind the restart – the scoping out of venues for matches, which are mostly being held in Kyiv and western regions of the country which are further away from the frontlines, the various approvals and clearances needed from ministries, and most importantly, the provisions for air raid shelters in close proximity to all stadiums.
Andrew was in Kyiv on the 23rd of August and was one of a select few people in attendance at the match between Metalist 1925 and Shakhtar Donetsk, as there are no fans allowed at the stadiums in Ukraine this season, but journalists and dignitaries can watch the matches in person alongside club and league personnel.
“If I compare it [the atmosphere] to some of the matches I saw in Ukraine during COVID, it was a lot more eerie. It was quite nervous, everyone was anticipating bracing themselves during an air raid and everyone having to go down. However, during the opening match, nothing happened, sadly the football on display wasn’t of the best quality because a lot of the players hadn’t played competitive football for a good eight months since the winter break of the previous season. So, it took a bit of time for the players to get warmed up and break the nerves that they were playing with in the early few minutes, but then once they got into the full swing of things, it was very much forgotten about and everyone was just playing football.”
Thankfully, this has been the case throughout the season so far. There have been a couple of Premier League matches interrupted by air raid sirens, but after six rounds of fixtures, every game that has kicked off has also seen the full-time whistle blown.
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news in the world of Ukrainian football since the most recent Russian invasion. While the men’s second and third tiers, women’s leagues and amateur leagues have all restarted after the Premier League, a number of clubs – primarily those from the east – have not been able to return to action.
FC Desna Chernihiv, based in the hometown of Andriy Yarmolenko, are one of two clubs that have been unable to return to the Premier League as their stadium was severely damaged by missile attacks. The other is FC Mariupol, named after the city that Russia captured and occupied during the invasion, who have also withdrawn from the 2022/23 season. Adding in clubs from the second and third tiers, a total of 24 professional Ukrainian clubs have had to withdraw in this fashion according to Andrew.
Additionally, a number of clubs, including Metalist 1925, are no longer able to play home matches at their home stadiums. This is, however, unfortunately not a new phenomenon in the Ukrainian Premier League, as the likes of Shakhtar Donetsk and Zorya Luhansk have been away from their hometowns since the Russian invasion in 2014.
Nevertheless, in spite of losing a number of clubs, home stadiums and indeed people, Ukrainian football has soldiered on for the 2022/23 season, just as the country and its people have been doing. Indeed, Ukraine’s fight on the footballing front is about much more than just enabling 22 people to chase a ball around a pitch. It is, as Andriy Pavelko, President of the Ukrainian Football Association put it, “A sign to the world that Ukraine can and will win.”
The Bundesliga table continues to deviate from the normal path of years gone by but the two struggling big guns are beginning to find their shooting boots. With the run-in to the World Cup break now underway, can the unlikely leaders keep up the pace?
Der Klassiker hasn’t really lived up to its billing over the last few seasons, the meeting of Germany’s two giants has frequently been one-sided, but the first iteration of the 2022/23 season got underway with a bang as Borussia Dortmund left it very late to snatch a point against Bayern München.
The Bavarians had taken all three points on offer over the last seven league meetings, a run of results that stretched back to November 2018, with Dortmund’s only victory since then coming in the season’s curtain raiser nine months later in the DFL Super Cup of 2019/20.
If there had been an optimum time to take on the 10-in-a-row league winners then it was now, suffering a loss of form domestically Julian Nagelsmann’s side are seemingly focused on the UEFA Champions League.
But, with the chance of taking top spot by virtue of playing before both Union Berlin and Freiburg, Dortmund did what they’ve done so many times before – they failed to take advantage.
Anthony Modeste’s 90+5 minute goal certainly set the Yellow Wall on fire, but while Dortmund created chances, their cutting edge lacked any type of blade. An xG of 1.62 is a poor return from their 12 opportunities created, with Modeste himself missing what can only be described as a sitter, before nodding on at the back post.
For Bayern’s part in this matchup, they needed two long-range strikes from two ex-Schalke players to inflict a two-goal lead on their hosts, but as we’ve seen consistently this season they created as many big chances as they missed, two, a tale of twos for the 2-2 draw in the Westfalenstadion.
Leroy Sané was the FotMob player of the match, with a score of 8.2. His wonderful strike was matched by his seven ball recoveries, but even this display wasn’t enough to break him into the FotMob Team of the Week – ouch!
Schön Dich Wiederzusehen
Those not familiar with the above phrase will certainly be familiar with who it relates to – Xabi Alonso, which is why ‘nice to see you again’ fits.
The Spaniard was last seen in the Bundesliga pulling the strings in Pep Guardiola’s Bayern midfield, a squad that is up there with the best of the best that has ever played in red and white.
After hanging up his boots at the Allianz, Alonso became a coach, which is the mould the three-time league title winner returns in, as head coach of Bayer Leverkusen.
Gerardo Seoane’s lacklustre season start eventually brought the axe from Simon Rolfes at The Werkself, and the Managing Director of Sport at the club will be especially pleased with himself after he saw what Alonso served up in his first game in charge of on-field matters.
Jeremie Frimpong and Moussa Diaby pulled out two man-of-the-match performances, walking with ease into the FotMob Team of the Week.
Frimpong’s two goals essentially killed the game, and it was Diaby who opened the scoring in this new Alonso era..
The appointment of the 40-year-old comes at a crucial time for Leverkusen, they are currently in what can only be described as a flipped UEFA Champions League group.
Locked in a three-way tie for second the experience of the new head coach could be enough to see them reach the Round of 16, as well as dragging themselves back up to a more familiar placing in the Bundesliga table.
The high flyers?
Union Berlin and SC Freiburg still lead the way at the top of the table, but after Matchday 9 their breakaway leads look a little more unsteady.
Union picked up a much-needed win in Stuttgart after their previous slip-up against Frankfurt, while the Breisgau-Brasilianer could only manage a draw against struggling Hertha Berlin – their third in the last five league games.
Is it the end of the road for the surprise double at the top? Potentially, but their strength had been their consistency, let’s see if they can find that starting pace again as the enforced Winterpause approaches.
The final word this month belongs to Borussia Mönchengladbach, after inexplicably leaking five goals to Weder Bremen at the start of October, they then hit five of their own against local, and fierce rivals, FC Köln.
There’s no better way to recover from an embarrassing result than tanking your derby opponents!
(Images from IMAGO)
You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Bundesliga season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
This week, our Best XI features an all-Liverpool attack, with Mo Salah taking our highest rating on Matchday 4 thanks to his record-breaking hat-trick.
Leon Goretzka also scored highly as Bayern progressed from Group C and there’s room for one of the Maccabi Haifa side that beat Juventus.
