Page 177 – The Pulse of Football

Oct

2022

Ukraine’s fight on the footballing front

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.

By Neel Shelat

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.”

Cover Image from IMAGO

Oct

2022

Bundesliga Review: Where do we stand after Der Klassiker?

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?

By Chris Williams, our Bundesliga expert

At last, an actual Klassiker!

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.

Oct

2022

Champions League Team of the Week

FotMob TOTW – Matchday 4

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.

Who was your standout player? Who was unlucky to miss out? Let us know in the comments on Instagram.

Oct

2022

LaLiga Review: Barcelona and Madrid continue to match each other ahead of El Clásico

Round Eight in LaLiga is now complete so let’s look back at all the action from the weekend.

By Ben Hayward, LaLiga expert

Real Madrid finally keep a clean sheet

Prior to Saturday’s game against Getafe, Real Madrid had conceded a goal in every one of their seven LaLiga matches this season. But at the eighth time of asking, Los Blancos were finally able to keep a clean sheet and that meant a return to winning ways following the 1-1 draw at home to Osasuna the previous weekend. Éder Militão’s towering near-post header from a Luka Modrić corner inside three minutes proved to be the winner for the champions at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez and saw Carlo Ancelotti’s side move provisionally top of the table on Saturday night, before being overtaken by Barcelona on Sunday.

“I think the team played well and we saw many good things in the match,” Ancelotti said. “We could have scored more goals and we kept a clean sheet. Last season we lost here and this year we were much more solid, especially in the aerial duels.”

It was also a first clean sheet as a Madrid player for goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who is standing in for the injured Thibaut Courtois, and the Ukrainian made a good save from Getafe midfielder Carles Aleñá.

Madrid face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday before turning their attentions to the Clásico clash at home to Barcelona next Sunday.

Ancelotti said El Clásico was “still some way off”, but hinted at more rotations in midweek after resting Karim Benzema and Ferland Mendy against Getafe and leaving Toni Kroos on the bench for the entire 90 minutes.

“On Tuesday, the players who are tired won’t play,” he said.

Courtois, meanwhile, is considered a big doubt for the game against Barça.

Seven in a row for Barcelona

Barcelona were not at their best either, but Xavi’s side overcame Celta Vigo by the same scoreline at Camp Nou to make it seven wins in a row in LaLiga since their 0-0 draw at home to Rayo Vallecano on the opening weekend of the season. Pedri scored the only goal of the game, slotting in from close range after Unai Núñez blocked Gavi’s cross into his path in the first half. The Blaugrana missed further chances to extend their lead and had goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to thank for a superb save late on from Iago Aspas.

Ter Stegen has conceded only one goal in LaLiga this season, saving an impressive 19 out of 20 shots faced. “He’s at an extraordinary level,” Xavi said.

Barça, though, are not. “A few weeks ago we were flying and now we aren’t,” the coach added. “We have to improve.”

While it may not have been their most polished performance, the win sees Barcelona head into El Clásico on top of LaLiga thanks to their superior goal difference over rivals Real Madrid.

“El Clásico is unpredictable,” Xavi said. “Last year we [had recently] arrived and it finished 4-0 [to Barça]… you never know, but we will go there to compete and to show our personality.”

Before that, Barcelona host Inter in a crunch Champions League clash on Wednesday. “I’m preparing for that match [first],” Xavi said.

And it is an important one too, following back-to-back defeats in Europe. El Clásico can wait, for now at least.

Atlético back in the top four

Atlético Madrid returned to the top four following a 2-1 win at home to Girona at the Metropolitano. Ángel Correa scored both goals for the Rojiblancos, poking home the first at the far post following an Antoine Griezmann cross and later pouncing on a calamitous error from Girona goalkeeper Juan Carlos to make it 2-0. A deflected strike from Rodrigo Riquleme, who came through the youth system at Atleti, brought the Catalans back into it and Aleix García’s long-range effort was pushed against the post by Jan Oblak in a nervy finale.

The win moves Atlético back into the top four and with Griezmann’s return from Barcelona now negotiated and confirmed, there is no need to keep the French forward on the bench until the final half an hour any more.

“There are moments when you have to win and today we had to win,” Simeone said. “We played the first 60 to 70 minutes as we wanted, but the end wasn’t as we had hoped. The boys want to do well and are giving everything. We need the fans and all of the players.”

Correa is one of those. The Argentine was making only his second start in LaLiga this season and added two goals to the one he netted in the 4-1 win over Celta Vigo in early September. “We are happy for him because he is all heart,” Simeone said. “He doesn’t always start, but he plays regularly. He can get angry for not playing, but he has to show his quality on the pitch.”

He did that and will be in Simeone’s thoughts for the coming games, the first of which is against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Athletic stay third as Sevilla start a new era

Following the dismissal of Julen Lopetegui, Sevilla started a new era under the returning Jorge Sampaoli on Saturday and the Argentine’s second spell in charge got off to the perfect start at the Sánchez Pizjuán as Oliver Torres opened the scoring after just four minutes. But Mikel Vesga’s long-range effort levelled the scores after 73 minutes and there was controversy at the end as Ander Herrera prevented an almost certain goal in added time by fouling Erik Lamela as the Argentine prepared to shoot from the edge of the box, with the net at his mercy and goalkeeper Unai Simón out of position.

Athletic’s fans applauded Herrera, back on loan from PSG, as he was shown the red card. The midfielder saved his side from defeat and the Basques stay third in the table after a game they could have won and then nearly lost. “It was an intense match,” Valverde said. “When the coach has the feeling that his team should have won the three points, it means you have played a good game.”

Sevilla, meanwhile, remain a work in progress. “We suffered in the second half,” Sampaoli said. “This team runs a lot and that’s a sign that we need to play better with the ball.” His team are down in 18th, but should start climbing the table soon.

Elsewhere, Real Betis drop to fifth after a disappointing draw at Real Valladolid, Real Sociedad are up to fifth thanks to a 1-0 win at home to Villarreal (now down to ninth) and Valencia continue their improvement under Gennaro Gattuso. They are seventh after beating Osasuna 2-1 and Justin Kluivert (son of Patrick) scored his first goal for the club since signing on loan from Roma.

(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.

Oct

2022

Premier League Team of the Week

FotMob TOTW – Round 10

Newcastle players dominate after their Bruno Guimarães-inspired demolition of Brentford. The Brazilian rightly earned our top rating of the week (9.2).

Elsewhere, City pair Foden and Cancelo are becoming regular fixtures in the side.

Have your say in the comments on Instagram.

Oct

2022

Serie A Review: Three takeaways from Round 9 as Milan trump Juventus

Milan’s dominating win over Juventus stole the headlines, but two smaller stories have been on my mind – the rise of Monza in the past month and an incredible centre-back performance early in the season.

By Matteo Bonetti, US Serie A expert

Injury-ravaged Milan bounce back

The game of the round was once again at San Siro, as Milan hosted a seemingly resurgent Juventus, who had won two straight and looked to put their worst form behind them. Milan came into this game missing nearly half of their best XI through injury, which made Juve manager Max Allegri’s comments from a few weeks ago even more comical. Allegri claimed that Milan and Inter would struggle too, if they had the amount of injuries that Juventus had succumb to. Well, the Rossoneri not only had more injuries than Juve, but they thoroughly outplayed them in a statement win in front of an incredible San Siro atmosphere.

Stefano Pioli benched Charles De Ketelaere after another unconvincing performance midweek against Chelsea in favour of Brahim Díaz, who lost his starting place last season after an inconsistent run of form. Brahim took the opportunity that was presented to him by scoring the most memorable goal of his career – a coast to coast run, darting by multiple Juventus defenders (including a bizarrely statuesque Leo Bonucci). It was a momentous occasion for Brahim, who instantly ripped his kit off and was paraded on the shoulder of his teammates under the Curva Sud.

Apart from Brahim, centre-back Fikayo Tomori was sensational. His ultra aggressive style makes it difficult for the opposing striker to cleanly settle a ball with their back to goal. The English international also has a curious record – two goals in his Serie A career, both of them coming against Juventus.

Monza’s incredible turnaround

There have been two eras in Monza’s season so far – the one before and after Raffaele Palladino took charge of the club. Giovanni Stroppa only managed a measly single point in five Serie A matches, conceding 14 goals in the process. Since Palladino took over, they’ve been perfect. Three wins out of three, six goals scored, none conceded; with one of the wins coming against Juventus in his first game in charge. Monza are now playing like the team that was promised to fans during the summer, where they had arguably the most impressive transfer window by a newly promoted club in Italian football history. Monza loaded up on Italian internationals, and they’re now starting to gel. The side have the fifth highest possession percentage in Serie A, mostly due to their fantastic ball playing midfield consisting of Nicolo Rovella and Stefano Sensi – two traditional “registi” (deep lying playmakers) who know how to take care of the ball and keep it moving.

The defence has been turned around as well, with former Arsenal centre-back Pablo Marí at the centre of the back three. This form hasn’t looked like a lucky blip either, they’re genuinely dominating teams since Palladino took charge – and we’re still waiting for their star attacker Gianluca Caprari to get back to his form from last season when he was lighting it up for Hellas Verona.

Monza are becoming a must watch, with their fearless style of possession play and not changing anything about how they approach a game regardless of who they’re facing.

Kim Min-Jae’s Stunning Start

It’s rare that I would dedicate one of the three main topics to a centre-back, but here we are after what we’ve seen so far from Napoli’s summer signing.

Kim Min-Jae has been unbelievably good, to the point where you wonder how Napoli could’ve possibly acquired him for so little (reportedly €18m). Kim joined from Fenerbahçe as the direct replacement for Kalidou Koulibaly, and did so with little excitement. His name wasn’t one that was known around Serie A fan circles, so there didn’t seem to be much expectation when he made his first start for the club in August.

Napoli’s scouting department has been on another level this past summer, identifying young talents in smaller leagues that could instantly transition their skillset to Serie A.

Since the summer, Kim has picked up September Player of the Month honours, helped his team get to first place in the standings and is one half of the second best defensive partnership in the league in terms of goals conceded, alongside Amir Rrahmani. What’s more impressive is how Kim has matched the best version of Kalidou Koulibaly so quickly – at 6’3, the Korean international is deceptively quick, so you can play a high line without worrying too much about a striker beating him in behind. He’s also very aggressive, reads the game exceptionally well for a player without much experience in the top European leagues, and has looked dominant in the air. While two months is a small sample size to make sweeping statements about a player, so far he’s been the most impressive defender in the league.

(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.

Oct

2022

LaLiga Team of the Week

FotMob TOTW – Round 8

Madrid’s defence held firm at Getafe resulting in places for 3 of their back-line plus Vinícius Júnior. Almería’s 2nd win of the season is reflected with the inclusion of 2 players but no one could match Ángel Correa’s rating for Atlético (9.1).

Have your say on the TOTW in the replies on Twitter.

Oct

2022

Serie A Team of the Week

FotMob TOTW – Round 9

Lazio’s BIG statement win at Fiorentina on Monday night is reflected with the inclusion of four of their starters: including TOTW regulars Zaccagni, Provedel and Milinković-Savić.

But our top rating went to Inter stalwart Edin Džeko (9.0).

Who was unlucky to miss out? Have your say in the comments on Instagram.

Oct

2022

Premier League Review: The final word on Round 10

It was a weekend filled with statement victories in the Premier League. We are a quarter of the way into the season for most teams and the table is starting to take shape. Here is a look at some of the more eye-catching stats and topical narratives.

By Sam McGuire, Premier League expert

The Gunners are firing

Arsenal have now scored six goals in their last two Premier League matches. The Gunners followed up their 3-1 win over Spurs last weekend with a 3-2 win over Liverpool in what was arguably Mikel Arteta’s most impressive week as Arsenal manager.

The hosts racked up an xG of 3.09 against the visitors on Sunday. The last time the Reds had an xG against total that high was during the 2020/21 campaign when they had no senior defenders and Manchester City romped to a 4-1 win at Anfield. Granted, that haul does include a penalty but it was a fairly one-sided affair in the second half, with Liverpool mustering an xG of just 0.46 in that second half all while trying to look for a winner and then an equaliser.

It was a statement victory for Arteta’s side as they look to really position themselves as title contenders.

Bouncebackability

Manchester United’s win over Everton might not have registered on larger radars but it could be vital to their season.

Heading into the game, Erik Ten Hag had seen his side thrashed 6-3 against Manchester City before struggling to a 3-2 win over Omonia in the Europa League. They were behind after just five minutes at Goodison Park against a team with one of the best defensive records in the league.

They then lost Anthony Martial to injury.

Yet that didn’t deter them as they overturned the deficit to take all three points.

The Red Devils created three big chances to Everton’s zero. Cristiano Ronaldo’s first goal of the season turned out to be the winner, capping an excellent performance off the bench having replaced Martial. No player had more shots than the legendary Portuguese, he completed all of his dribbles and even created an opportunity for a teammate. The 8.2 rating was fully deserved.

West Ham’s new centre-forward

Over the years, the Hammers haven’t had the best of luck when it comes to signing strikers. But Gianluca Scamacca might be different.

Signed from Sassuolo in the summer, the Italy international now has goals in three consecutive outings, including back-to-back Premier League games.

He scored in the 3-1 win over Fulham after leading the line for David Moyes’ side from the off. The 23-year-old attempted five shots on the day and landed three on target. More impressively, however, he managed to increase the value of the efforts with his shot placement, turning an xG total of 0.68 to an xG on target total of 1.10.

The 6ft5 forward may have been profiled incorrectly by some as a pure target man but he is proving himself to be an all-rounder in the attack. After an awful start to the campaign, West Ham are now 13th, just four points off of sixth spot. Not purely because of his goals, but they have certainly helped.

A false dawn?

Newcastle ran out 5-1 winners over Brentford at St James’ Park but the scoreline did not necessarily tell the story of the match.

The Magpies did have almost three times as many shots as the visitors but the xG for the match had them at 1.53 and the Bees at 1.19. Thomas Frank’s charges had fewer opportunities but they were of greater value – they were more dangerous. Granted, Brentford’s xG haul includes a penalty but the fact remains the 5-1 scoreline flattered the hosts. Not that they will mind, they’re just two points off of the Champions League places.

It is, perhaps, premature to assume something has clicked in attack for Eddie Howe’s side. They may have nine in their last two outings but there has been an overperformance of over four in those matches when looking at their underlying numbers. Prior to that, Newcastle had scored just three times in four matches. They seem to vary from one extreme to the other.

Manchester City’s other strikers

It has been the Erling Haaland show at Manchester City this season but Phil Foden has been impressing in the shadows over recent weeks, he might have even stolen the spotlight away from the No.9 this weekend.

He bagged a hat-trick against Manchester United and followed that up with a goal and an assist against Southampton. The fleet-footed attacker was involved in eight shots on Saturday, split evenly between efforts and chances created. He’s coming into form at the right time for England with the World Cup just around the corner.

(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.

Oct

2022

Last Weekend: Arsenal down Liverpool, Xabi Alonso returns to the Bundesliga, Lyon give Peter Bosz the boot and more

Between major clashes between the big sides, new managers coming in and others saying their farewells, there was a lot of action in the world of football this weekend. We will be covering all of that in this edition of Last Weekend.

By Neel Shelat

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: Arsenal 3-2 Liverpool

Premier League leaders Arsenal had a tough fixture against last season’s runners-up Liverpool, who had just two league wins since the start of August. Jürgen Klopp’s side had a double-digit points deficit to their opponents, so they really needed something from this fixture.

The Gunners got off to the perfect start as they took the lead in under a minute through Gabriel Martinelli, but seemed to take their foot off the pedal thereafter. Darwin Núñez equalised just after the half-hour mark and Liverpool looked on course to go into the break on level terms, but Bukayo Saka scored on the stroke of half-time to restore the lead for the hosts.

Luis Díaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold went off injured for Liverpool, but substitute Roberto Firmino made it 2-2 within 10 minutes of the re-start. The game was in the balance again, but the Gunners were looking far more threatening in attack. The decisive moment came with a quarter of an hour left to play as Thiago fouled Gabriel Jesus in the box, allowing Saka to score the winner from the penalty spot.

With that, Arsenal sealed a deserved victory to return to the top of the table.

🇩🇪 Germany: Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 Schalke 04

There was lots of drama in the Bundesliga this weekend, not least Dortmund’s last-minute equaliser in Der Klassiker, but the match we are picking was more of a routine win – Bayer Leverkusen putting four past Schalke in front of a packed BayArena.

The fans were really excited to see Xabi Alonso, who took charge as the head coach of the club following the departure of Gerardo Seoane in midweek. This was the first senior team that the ex-Bayern midfielder was managing, and it is safe to say that his debut went to plan.

He named his XI in a 3-4-2-1 formation, and its right side really clicked as Moussa Diaby opened the scoring before setting up two goals for Jeremie Frimpong.

Paulinho came off the bench to get in on the act and grab a fourth goal late on, sealing a comprehensive win in Alonso’s return to the Bundesliga. He was not the only manager to get their first career win in the league this weekend, though, as Thomas Letsch did the same with Bochum against Frankfurt.

🇫🇷 France: Lyon 1-1 Toulouse

This weekend marked the start of a new era in Leverkusen, and the end of one in Lyon. The Friday night fixture in France saw Lyon host Toulouse in what turned out to be Peter Bosz’s last fixture in charge of the club. The home side were on a rotten run of four consecutive league defeats heading into this fixture, so they were in desperate need of a win to change their fortunes.

On the back of a disappointing 2021/22 season where they finished a lowly eighth, Lyon got off to a great start this season and kept step with the league leaders till the beginning of September, but the wheels really fell off their campaign thereafter. The aforementioned run of losses to Lorient, Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and Lens left them outside the European spots heading into their most recent fixture.

Their match against newly-promoted Toulouse began well, with Tetê opening the scoring with less than two minutes on the clock, but this is where Lyon’s troubles were laid bare. Under Bosz, they have always struggled to close out matches where they are in the ascendency and are expected to cruise to a win, so their inability to add to their lead and poor game management led to Toulouse equalising in the second half and coming away with a point.

Wins for Lille and Clermont Foot on Sunday have left Lyon on the cusp of the bottom half of the table, so Bosz’s sacking can certainly be justified.

Lyon have the same points margin to the relegation zone as they have to the European spots, so it is now up to new manager Laurent Blanc to steer them in the right direction.

🇮🇹 Italy: Milan 2-0 Juventus

Defending Serie A champions Milan are facing a bit of an injury crisis right now as they are without starting goalkeeper Mike Maignan, three senior defenders and as many forwards. That meant that head coach Stefano Pioli had to get a little creative with his line-up for the big match against Juventus this weekend, as he moved away from the favoured 4-2-3-1 shape and drew up a side in a 4-3-2-1 formation.

The most intriguing decision was to deploy Brahim Díaz, an attacking midfielder by nature, on the right. That proved to be a masterstroke, as the Spaniard scored his side’s second goal after carrying the ball forward down that flank to effectively put the game past Juventus. Prior to that, Fikayo Tomori had scored the opener at a crucial point in the match in first half stoppage time.

This win kept Milan within three points of leaders Napoli, who convincingly overcame Cremonese on Sunday, while Juventus are already ten points off top.

🇪🇸 Spain: Real Sociedad 1-0 Villarreal

We previously highlighted Villarreal’s strong defence in the column, but unfortunately, that brought the feared FotMob curse upon them as they have failed to win any of their subsequent league matches!

Their loss to Real Sociedad was one of their worse performances of the season, as they conceded a number of chances while looking terribly flat going forward. Brais Méndez grabbed the decisive goal for Real Sociedad after the half-hour mark, capping off a convincing win for the home side.

Imanol Alguacil’s side are quietly doing a great job this season as they are all the way up in sixth and level on points with fourth-placed Atlético Madrid. They are on a five-match winning streak in all competitions and are on the cusp of sealing progression from their Europa League group, so they could be worth watching out for as we head towards the World Cup break.

🇺🇸 MLS: DC United 2-5 FC Cincinnati

Sunday was Decision Day in MLS as the regular season drew to a close. In the East, the Philadelphia Union, CF Montréal, New York City FC, the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami had sealed play-off berths. Below them, three sides – FC Cincinnati, the Columbus Crew and Orlando City – were vying for the two remaining spots.

Orlando were facing the Crew, so the equation was simple for Cincinnati: win, and make the play-offs. Their opponents were bottom-placed DC United, so they had a great chance of sealing their first-ever post-season tickets in their very short four-year MLS history.

They were well on course for that after just eight minutes of football, as Luciano Acosta and Brenner da Silva gave them a two-goal lead. Brenner went on to bag a first-half hat-trick, taking his tally to 18 goals for the season. Brandon Vazquez matched that number by netting Cincinnati’s fifth goal in the second half and sealed a comprehensive victory for the visitors.

With that, Cincinnati’s three star attackers took the side over the line to the play-offs, where they will be facing the New York Red Bulls in the first round next Saturday.

Cover Image from IMAGO