Page 182 – The Pulse of Football

Aug

2022

Last Weekend: Major Leeds Soccer shocks Chelsea, Barcelona click and Kvaratskhelia stars in Serie A

With the 2022/23 season well underway now, we are starting to see storylines develop across Europe in the early stages of the league campaigns. We will keep you up to speed with all of those through our Last Weekend columns, and this time around, Leeds, Barcelona and Napoli are among the sides at the top of our agenda.

By Neel Shelat.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: Leeds United 3-0 Chelsea

Jesse Marsch’s Leeds United tenure has had its ups and downs so far. He helped the Yorkshire-based club narrowly avoid relegation last season, but fans were not entirely convinced about his style of play.

Public opinion will certainly have been massively swayed after their most recent result, as they completely outmatched Chelsea this weekend. The Blues may have kept more possession, but Leeds’ intense press unsettled them from the very start. They were rewarded for their endeavours in the 33rd minute when Brendan Aaronson profited from a mistake by Édouard Mendy and scored in to an empty net. Four minutes later, they doubled their lead through Rodrigo’s header from a set-piece situation.

Chelsea switched to a back-four system in the second half, but Leeds continued to cause problems with their pressing. Jack Harrison’s goal in the 69th minute put the result beyond any doubt, and Elland Road celebrated a thoroughly deserved victory over Chelsea for the first time since 2002.

Marsch’s high-octane style of play, epitomised by American internationals Aaronson and Tyler Adams who were brought in this summer, is being dubbed ‘Major Leeds Soccer’, and clearly, Chelsea were not ready for it.

🇪🇸 Spain: Real Sociedad 1-4 Barcelona

Barcelona have been busy pulling levers this summer as they have continued to spend big even in times of apparent financial difficulty, and now they seem to be reaping rewards on the pitch.

After a disappointing draw against Rayo Vallecano in their season-opener, the Catalans faced a tough trip to the Reale Arena to face Real Sociedad. Things got off to the perfect start when Robert Lewandowski scored his first La Liga goal less than a minute into the match, assisted by young left-back Álex Balde. La Real responded within five minutes through Alexander Isak’s chipped finish, but then there were no more goals until half-time in spite of a good number of chances at both ends.

The match remained very open in the second period, so Xavi turned to his bench in search of goals. Ansu Fati was sent on alongside Raphinha in the 64th minute, and the teenage winger stole the show thereafter. In his first four minutes on the pitch, Fati set up a goal each for Ousmane Dembélé and Lewandowksi, and he went on to score one for himself in the 79th minute.

The 19-year-old winger clearly came on and turned the game in his side’s favour, reminding Barcelona fans of his quality. Even though they have made a number of attacking reinforcements in recent months, Fati looks set to be a key figure in Barcelona’s future.

🇮🇹 Italy: Napoli 4-0 Monza

When Khvicha Kvaratskhelia joined Napoli from Dinamo Batumi this summer, he was a relatively unknown figure to most. It is easy to see why – prior to this move, he had only played in the Georgian and Russian leagues and was yet to make an appearance in a continental club competition.

Those who had been following the 21-year-old’s career knew that Napoli were signing a real gem, but perhaps even they did not expect Kvaratskhelia to acclimatise to Serie A so quickly. The Georgian winger has already shown what he is all about just two matches into the season, returning with three goals and an assist from those games. He opened Napoli’s account for the season against Hellas Verona last weekend and went on to assist their third goal, before bagging a brace this Sunday against Monza.

The first goal was a thing of beauty, as Kvaratskhelia picked up the ball outside the box, created a bit of space for himself and picked out the far corner with a curling finish.

He showcased his dribbling ability for his second, beating his man at the edge of the box before slotting a left-footed finish past the keeper. Remember the name (even though it might be a bit tough).

🇩🇪 Germany: Bayer Leverkusen 0-3 Hoffenheim

The Bundesliga coverage in this column has only focused on the top-two so far this season, but we’ve probably heard the last of them. Dortmund created history when they became the first-ever team to concede three goals in a match after the 89th minute as they threw away a two-goal lead against Werder Bremen, and after Bayern smashed Bochum for seven, we might as well consider the title race done and dusted.

But of course, there is more to any league than just the champions, and the Bundesliga is never short of storylines outside the title challengers. Bayer Leverkusen appear to be providing one of them early on this season. Die Werkself have consistently been one of the better sides in the league of late. In fact, they have finished lower than sixth on just one occasion since 2009/10 and qualified for the Champions League on eight occasions in that period of time.

Following a lofty third-place finish last season, things have not started well for them this time around. After three rounds, they sit at the bottom of the table with no points to their name after narrow losses to Dortmund and Augsburg, and a heavier defeat to Hoffenheim this weekend. Add to that their DFB Pokal first round defeat against 3. Liga side Elversberg, and you get Leverkusen’s worst-ever start to a season since promotion to the top flight in 1978. It is not as if they have lost any star players in the transfer window or shaken up the squad massively – things are pretty much as they were in 2021/22, but results are firmly going the other way.

Leverkusen’s next fixtures include a tough trip to Mainz and a home match against high-flying Freiburg, but they will need to start picking up positive results from those games if they are to get their season back on track.

🇫🇷 France: Clermont Foot 1-0 Nice

Paris Saint-Germain matched Bayern München in scoring seven this weekend when they defeated Lille, so we might as well focus on other storylines in France too. One of those is from Nice, who are not having a nice start to the season.

After Christophe Galtier left for PSG in the summer, Nice brought in Lucien Favre to coach the squad. The Swiss tactician had taken the South France-based club to a third-placed finish in his previous spell at the club, and that was probably set as his target for this season too.

Things have not started well at all for the 64-year-old manager, as Nice are winless four games into the season. They started their league campaign with draws against Toulouse and Strasbourg and followed that with a loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa Conference League play-offs.

The match against Clermont Foot presented a good chance for Nice to turn their fortunes around, but just six minutes in, they found themselves trailing. They were still behind at the half-time break after struggling to pose a serious goal threat, but things started to get better as the second half wore and substitutes were sent on. But just when they started to build some serious momentum, everything fell apart after Mario Lemina was sent off, and Jean-Clair Todibo followed him down the tunnel two minutes later.

Nice are just one spot above the relegation zone in the early table, so they need to get their act together quickly.

🇵🇹 Portugal: FC Porto 3-0 Sporting

There was a big clash in Portugal very early on in the season, as two of their big-three clubs squared off this weekend when defending champions Porto hosted rivals Sporting at the Estádio do Dragão.

Sérgio Conceição had switched to setting his side up in a 4-1-3-2 formation for the initial matches of the season, but he reverted to his trusted 4-4-2 for this big game. Sporting, meanwhile, sprung no surprises in their 3-4-3 system and started the match well as they kept a considerable majority of possession, but chances were hard to come by. The deadlock was eventually broken in the 42nd minute after Antonio Adán misjudged a cross, leaving an open goal for Evanilson to score.

The result was effectively sealed in the 75th minute after Pedro Porro saw red for a handball offence on the goalline to prevent the home side from doubling their lead, but his efforts were in vain because Mateus Uribe did so from the spot anyway. Porto were awarded another penalty late on when Adán brought Wenderson Galeno down in the box, and the Brazilian striker made no mistakes from twelve yards out.

This was a classic counterattacking performance from Porto as they defended resolutely and posed a serious goal threat despite not keeping a lot of the ball. The match statistics show just that.

With three wins from three games, Porto’s title defence is off to a flyer, so it is once again up to the rest of the league to catch them if they can.

Cover Image from IMAGO

Aug

2022

This Weekend: Big league grudge matches and 100% records on the line

The best action to follow this weekend

By Bill Biss

Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 There’s no Friday night game in England’s Premier League this week so we start Round 3 with six fixtures on Saturday. And amazingly, despite being just two games in to the season, only two sides maintain a 100% record.

One of those two sides are the latest stars of Amazon’s All or Nothing series – Arsenal, who play at Bournemouth in the last of the day’s games. The Cherries are in the midst of a really tough run with this game coming in between last weekend’s defeat to Man City and next week’s trip to Liverpool. The newly promoted side will be really glad of that opening day win over Villa, especially if they come up against the same Arsenal side who’ve been fairly convincing in their wins over Palace and Leicester.

At the other end of the scale, there are only four Premier Leagues sides who’ve yet to win a game so far. Wolves are one of those four, so they’ll be hoping their new record signing Matheus Nunes will have an instant impact as they face Spurs earlier in the day. Frank Lampard’s Everton are also searching for that first win and they entertain the free-spending Nottingham Forest.

🇩🇪 You’ll probably be less surprised to hear that the situation in the Bundesliga is the same in that only two sides here have won their opening two games of the new season. The league’s big two – Bayern and Dortmund – have started well, albeit Dortmund’s six points have been harder fought than those of Bayern, who’ve been at their free-scoring best.

On Saturday, Dortmund face newly-promoted Werder Bremen. Bremen have drawn both their opening fixtures but this will be by far the biggest test of their credentials back in the big time. Elsewhere, there’s an intriguing clash between polar opposites Union Berlin and RB Leipzig – the two sides who couldn’t be more different off the pitch but finished last season divided by a single point; fourth and fifth in the final standings.

Leverkusen were the side who came in third last term but they have started the campaign terribly, losing to Dortmund and Augsburg. They’ll be looking to get off the mark, at home, against Hoffenheim.

🇪🇸 The first week of the new season in LaLiga gave us plenty of interesting storylines – which you can recap here in one of our new regular columns from Spanish football expert Ben Hayward. One of those was Champions Madrid only just managing to battle through their game against newcomers Almería – with a 2-1 win coming thanks to David Alaba’s late free-kick, scored just 28 seconds after he’d come on as a substitute!

Carlo Ancelotti will be hoping for a more fluid performance from his side as they visit Celta Vigo on Saturday.

In contrast, Real Betis really impressed in their opening weekend win over Elche so their fixture against Mallorca – who looked tough to break down against Athletic Club – could be another game to look out for on your match feed.

🇮🇹 Similarly to Madrid, Inter Milan were another of the continent’s big clubs to make hard work of their opening game – only winning at Lecce when Denzel Dumfries netted deep in to stoppage time. Boss Simone Inzaghi didn’t hold back in criticising his players so expect a reaction when they take on Spezia at the San Siro.

There wasn’t a single draw in the first round of Serie A fixtures so at the risk of jinxing the outcome in any other matches we highlight here – Lazio’s trip to Torino looks nailed on to be an entertaining game!

🇵🇹 They’re not messing about in the Liga Portugal, where they’ve scheduled one of the biggest games of the season for this, the third round of games. Defending champions FC Porto play Sporting Club, the side who finished as runners-up last season, but who beat them to the title in the previous campaign.

Porto, who lost one solitary game en route to winning the league, have obviously won two from two so far in 2022/23 but Sporting have been less convincing – beating Rio Ave but enduring a high-scoring draw with Braga despite having taken the lead three times.

🇺🇸 Finally for Saturday, two fixtures of interest for the respective leaders of the Western and Eastern conferences in MLS.

LAFC sit nine points clear in the West having won their last seven games in a row, and they take on Californian rivals San Jose Earthquakes – who, in contrast, are without a win in six. Meanwhile, Philadelphia Union have quietly gone about building a five point cushion in the East. They’ve actually lost two of their last three but will be confident going into the weekend’s trip to the capital, where they face bottom side DC United. New coach Wayne Rooney has so far failed to turnaround their season and they’ve failed to score in each of their last four matches.

Sunday

🇪🇸 All three of Sunday’s games in LaLiga look enticing – starting with the afternoon clash between Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic Club and Valencia, one of his former sides.

Later, two of the three clubs who top the (far to early to mention) league table after 3-0 wins in their opening games play each other – Atlético Madrid and Villarreal. Both looked super strong in those matches and Villarreal’s form continued with a 4-2 win over Croatian side Hajduk Split in a Europa Conference League qualifier on Thursday night.

Atleti will be hoping not to lose any more of their prize possessions before the close of the transfer window, particularly if the strike partnership of Álvaro Morata (two goals) and João Félix (three assists), can continue to produce similar results to last weekend.

In the last of the day’s games Barcelona go to Real Sociedad with Xavi’s new-look side looking to notch their first goal of the season after drawing a blank against Rayo Vallecano.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Back in the Premier League, there are also three fixtures to look forward to. As mentioned above, Manchester City are the only team, other than Arsenal, to have won both of their first two games but they could face a stiffer test at Newcastle United.

We currently have Newcastle as the joint best-rated side in the division after they’ve kept successive clean sheets in the win over Forest and draw with Brighton. Can Eddie Howe mastermind an early season upset in this, the clash of two of the richest clubs in the world?

They’ll be no love lost in the day’s earlier game between Leeds United and Chelsea, two sides who’s mutual dislike for each other is based on a rivalry that developed way back in the 1960s, when both sides were fighting to get in to the top division. Both have started with a win and a draw to their name so perhaps something will have to give at Elland Road?

West Ham face Brighton in Sunday’s other game, with the visitors looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign under Graham Potter. David Moyes’ side are winless in the league but they did beat Viborg in the home leg of their Europa Conference League qualifier on Thursday and will look to build on that before heading to Denmark, where they’ll hope to seal a place in next week’s Group Stage draw.

🇮🇹 Serie A holders Milan probably headline Sunday’s schedule in Italy as they visit the always overachieving Atalanta. Both sides rattled up three points in their opening games of the season – Atalanta winning 2-0 at Sampdoria whilst Milan eventually overran Udinese to win 4-2. The champions’ potential title defence is something discussed in another of our new regular columns here – provided by Italian football expert Matteo Bonetti.

Elsewhere, look out for Napoli‘s first home game of the new campaign against newcomers AC Monza. Luciano Spalletti has been busy rejuvenating his squad to bring about a younger, fresher side – even adding proven goalscorer Giovanni Simeone in midweek – despite how well his side played in their 5-2 win at Verona last weekend.

🇫🇷 Famously, Christophe Galtier was the man who masterminded Lille’s Ligue 1 title winning campaign in 2020/21, a triumph that upset perennial favourites PSG in the process. After a frustrating season spent at Nice last year, Galtier is now the man entrusted with the Parisian superclub – and now, just three games in to his reign, he returns to Lille on Sunday evening.

It’s going to be a heated affair, no doubt worsened by Galtier’s signing of one of Lille’s biggest stars, Renato Sanches, just before the season start. That said, Lille have fared well under their new coach Paulo Fonseca and they go in to the game second in the table, head of the pack behind PSG, who perhaps dauntingly, have already scored 10 goals in two games.

🇩🇪 Speaking of sides who dominate all others in their respective domestic leagues – Bayern München have started the Bundesliga with a bang, averaging four goals a game in wins over Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg.

This weekend Bayern will test that early season form on the road, at Bochum who themselves have shipped five goals in the two defeats, that have started their campaign.

In the day’s only other game, FC Köln will attempt to shake off a shock Europa Conference League defeat to Hungarian side Fehérvár, when they visit Frankfurt, who currently boast the division’s most porous defence.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Cover Image from IMAGO

Aug

2022

LaLiga Review: All the major stories from the opening weekend

After the first round of the new season wrapped up with three back-to-back games in Spain’s top flight on Monday night lets look back at who fared well, who didn’t, and which players impressed.

By Ben Hayward, LaLiga expert

Barcelona draw a blank

Barcelona failed to score at home four times in LaLiga last season – all under Xavi Hernández – but following the arrival of forwards Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha in the summer, fans will have been expecting goals in the Catalans’ opener against Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou on Saturday. The Polish striker did have the ball in the back of the net early on, only to see his effort ruled out for offside. Another new signing, Franck Kessié, also saw his celebrations cut short by the assistant’s flag when he thought he had scored the winner in the closing stages. But Rayo could have won it themselves in added time, with Radamel Falcao offside when he poked home at the far post after Pathé Ciss was unable to convert from an excellent position moments earlier.

“I understand the disappointment,” Xavi said afterwards. “We had generated a lot of expectation. We have to analyse the match, improve and carry on growing with our model, and keep working.”

Xavi also called for patience and this was only one match. More signings are also expected: Barça are in the market for a right-back and perhaps even another attacker, with Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva strongly linked.

Preparations for the Rayo match were not helped by the fact that the new players were not registered until the day before the game, while midfielder Frenkie de Jong’s future still has not been sorted and Xavi therefore opted to leave the Dutchman on the bench until the second half. Everything is a little chaotic at Camp Nou right now and the signings will also need time to gel, to assimilate Xavi’s ideas and style of play.

All of that said, the coach was right: this was disappointing after a positive pre-season campaign and next Sunday’s trip to Real Sociedad will be another big test.

Madrid find a way past Almería

For a while, it looked like Real Madrid might not win their opening match either. Coach Carlo Ancelotti made changes after the midweek win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Super Cup and his side struggled early on at Almería, going behind to a Largie Ramazina goal after six minutes. It took some time for Los Blancos to get back into the game. Unsurprisingly, that happened following the half-time introduction of Luka Modrić. Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s go-to guy for goals in the past few seasons, Karim Benzema, did everything but score as he was frustrated by the excellent Fernando Martínez in the Almería goal. However, the Frenchman did manage to flick a loose ball to Lucas Vázquez – who started at right-back with Dani Carvajal absent through injury – for the equaliser after 61 minutes and the champions claimed the three points courtesy of a David Alaba free-kick a quarter of an hour before the end. The Austrian had only been on the field for 28 seconds!

“The match affected the youngsters on an emotional level,” Ancelotti said afterwards in reference to Eduardo Camavinga and debutant Aurélien Tchouaméni. And on Alaba’s winner, he said: “The ones who would usually take it were Benzema or Toni [Kroos]. But Alaba came on and he takes free-kicks really well. Davide [Ancelotti, Carlo’s son and assistant] said he should go on quickly, so he could take it.”

That quick thinking won the match for Real Madrid and at the end of the season, those two extra points could be very valuable indeed.

Atlético dominate on Monday night

Atlético Madrid impressed more than either of their title rivals and the Rojiblancos boasted the weekend’s outstanding player in João Félix. The Portuguese winger has struggled for consistency since his big-money move from Benfica in 2019, but shone in an unselfish role against Getafe as he set up all three goals for Diego Simeone’s side. The 22-year-old dinked the ball into the path of Álvaro Morata for Atlético’s first, before winning it back himself and finding the striker with an exquisite reverse pass for the second and setting substitute Antoine Griezmann away for the third. A hat-trick of assists. Sublime.

“He looks more mature and stronger,” Simeone said. “He is growing. We saw that in the first goal and the second with his passes. He is in the best moment of his career.”

Morata also impressed with his brace and although the Spain striker has been heavily linked with a transfer this summer, Simeone made his feelings clear. “I’m not the owner of the club, I’m the coach,” he said. “But he’s doing really well, he worked with a lot of humility and everyone at the club hopes he will stay.”

And asked if this is the best squad Atleti have had, Simeone said: “We’ll see at the end of the season.” Partido a partido.

Villarreal and Betis impress; Sevilla struggle

Sevilla will not be the only big team to lose away to Osasuna in 2022-23 and the Andalusians’ 2-1 defeat in LaLiga’s opening match on Friday came via a controversial penalty, the type of decision LaLiga referees had vowed not to award this term. Contact between Papu Gómez and Jon Moncayola had been minimal. The decision upset coach Julen Lopetegui and striker Rafa Mir. They called it a penaltito. A little penalty. “We have to accept it with certain scepticism,” Lopetegui said. Other than that, Sevilla had done quite well, although issues remain in central defence following the summer sales of Jules Koundé and Diego Carlos.

If Sevilla drop out of the top four this season, Villarreal will be one of the teams in contention to take their place. The Yellow Submarine started with a splash, thrashing promoted Real Valladolid 3-0 away from home. All of the goals came in the second half and two in the final 10 minutes — both of those scored by the excellent Alejandro Baena and the second a screamer into the top corner from outside the box. Golazo! “The result is probably bigger than it should be, but that’s because we were effective in front of goal,” Emery said. And after the game, the return of midfielder Giovani Lo Celso on loan from Spurs was announced. “I’m pleased,” Emery added. “Now is the time to be ambitious.”

Real Betis, with top-four aspirations of their own after an impressive 2021-22 season, also won their opening match 3-0. At home to Elche, the verdiblancos were helped by a red card inside 16 minutes after midfielder John Nwankwo fouled Aitor Ruibal with the Betis right-back through on goal. Midfielder Nabil Fekir was alert to dispossess Enzo Roco as the Chilean waited for the ball to go out for a throw-in and went on to set up Borja Iglesias for the first. And Juanmi showed great skill to score the second and third either side of the break. “I’m happy for the win, for the goals and the clean sheet,” coach Manuel Pellegrini said afterwards. “It has been some time since Betis won on the opening weekend.”

Meanwhile, the promoted clubs all lost on the opening weekend of LaLiga. Real Valladolid were beaten 3-0 at home to Villarreal, although the manner of the result was harsh and they were frustrated by the excellent Geronimo Rulli; Girona did better but ended with no reward as they were beaten by a Carlos Soler penalty in a 1-0 loss at Valencia: and Almería (winners of Segunda last term) put up an impressive display despite defeat at home to Real Madrid.

Credit goes to Mallorca for a plucky draw away to Athletic Club, where Ernesto Valverde was making his return as coach. Also to Celta Vigo and Espanyol following a 2-2 draw at Balaidos, with the Galicians inspired as ever by Iago Aspas and putting a difficult summer behind them, albeit frustrated in the end as the Catalans mounted a spirited late comeback from 2-0 down.

(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.

Aug

2022

Serie A Review: Three takeaways from the opening weekend

The Serie A season kicked off over the weekend, with some of the biggest games held over to Monday night – meaning it’s taken us until now to digest everything that happened. But here’s our take on the major talking points from an intriguing set of results.

By Matteo Bonetti, US Serie A expert

Milan remain underrated

The bookmakers currently have Milan as a near 4/1 (+380) underdog to win the Scudetto. Compare that to Inter and Juventus, who are hovering around +170, or less than 2/1, and it’s easy to see why the reigning Scudetto champions may be getting unfairly overlooked.

Losing Franck Kessié to Barcelona was a blow, but adding Charles De Ketelaere more than makes up for it even if they play completely different positions. The Belgian wonderkid is a special talent. Elegant with the ball, versatile and gifted with the type of technique that gives him a limitless ceiling. He instantly fixes one of Milan’s two weaknesses from last season (right wing and attacking midfield), so it’s fair to say Milan as a whole have strengthened. Yacine Adli and Tommaso Pobega are two new arrivals that can also play in the midfield. With Kessié gone, more will be expected from Ismaël Bennacer as the partner alongside Sandro Tonali. While none of these players have the muscle and aggression of Kessié, they are mostly tidy, ball playing midfielders that should give Milan the type of control we saw last season in most games.

Last season’s number one defence is as strong as ever and is further reinforced by the return of Simon Kjær, who was injured for the majority of the previous campaign. Pierre Kalulu stepped up in the Dane’s absence and should only continue to get better with more playing time. The chemistry being built within the club is special. When I visited Milan last season to cover a game at San Siro, I had the chance to speak with a lot of people behind the scenes, who all raved about the superb atmosphere in the locker room. They also spoke about Zlatan Ibrahimović, who despite being injured, had become a sort of spiritual leader and assistant coach, mentoring the younger players and showing them the type of mentality needed to win at the highest level.

Two new signings that adapted well to their new league

Two summer signings in particular stood out in Round One: Juventus’ Ángel Di María and Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratshkelia (he said he’s fine being called Kvara, so we’ll go with that for now). Both players notched a goal and an assist in victories for their respective sides.

Di María started off as a sort of second striker alongside Dušan Vlahović, but quickly moved to his favourite position down the right flank. His cuts inside onto his favoured left foot caused Sassuolo all sorts of issues. Pinpoint crossing, great movement, and – perhaps, most importantly for Allegri – a great work rate off the ball. Di María hardly plays like a 34-year-old winger; as we saw with a few of his darting runs, his pace and acceleration are still there. The Argentine looks like a player who needed a change of scenery after taking a more rotational role in PSG’s super team. With Juventus, he’s a starter when healthy and someone who will have a massive role in supporting the attack.

The Georgian winger Kvara also got off to a great start in his league debut with Napoli. His dribbling is going to be a nightmare for fullbacks, as he’s constantly looking to take them on with a series of feints and chops to either side to create space. Kvara looks comfortable on either foot, which makes it even harder for a defender to know what side of the field to show him. Fortunately, he’s not all flash and no substance (or as they say in Italy tanto fumo niente arrosto). Every movement was deliberate and purposeful, and every ball sent in for one of his teammates was clever.

The minnows will take points from the giants this season

One of the best things about Serie A is how unpredictable the league can be. Rarely is a result a foregone conclusion before the referee blows his whistle. The three newly promoted teams were overall impressive in their first games. Lecce’s first half against Inter was more reminiscent of a five round mixed martial arts fight than an actual football match, but they gave a positive account of themselves in the second half, drawing level through their big summer signing, Assan Ceesay, who scored an impressive 20 goals last season in Switzerland with Zürich. His pace is going to be a problem on the counter, especially as bigger teams will look to impose themselves against Lecce and pin them back in their own half. Inter barely scraped by with all three points, relying on a 95th minute winner from Denzel Dumfries.

Cremonese were also about to celebrate a hard earned point away to Fiorentina, only to be let down by a howler from their new goalkeeper Andrei Radu. You may remember the name from last season, as Radu was at fault for gifting Bologna a goal in that infamous makeup game that would’ve given Inter a leg up in the Scudetto battle.

Historically, a lot of these newly promoted teams are where young Italian tacticians get their first opportunity to coach at the highest level, which is why we see a lot of these minnows come into Serie A and cause problems for the bigger clubs.

(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.

Aug

2022

Premier League Review: The talking points from Round 2

The Premier League really lived up to the billing of the best league in the world this weekend. We’re only two weeks into the new campaign yet only two teams have their 100% record intact. But what were the biggest talking points?

By Sam McGuire, Premier League expert

Same old Chelsea

The original battle of Stamford Bridge was fought on the pitch, this time around it was on the sidelines with Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte clashing on a number of occasions during the 2-2 draw on Sunday.

Spurs came from behind twice to salvage a point as both managers were sent off after the final whistle. The two tacticians have been at the centre of it all in the aftermath but one interesting takeaway from the match was the fact no player had more shots than Kalidou Koulibaly.

The centre-back had three efforts – one of which was a superbly placed volley for the opener. Tuchel’s side were heavily reliant on defenders chipping in with goals last term and it might be the same this time around.

Reece James netted the second goal for Chelsea and he finished the match with two shots, the same total as his colleague on the left flank, Marc Cucurella. The wing-backs for the home side had as many efforts as Chelsea’s front two.

Same old Chelsea, relying on their defenders to provide the goal threat.

City, Haaland and inevitability

Erling Haaland scored two on his Premier League debut against West Ham United.

There was an expectation that he would feast at the Etihad on Saturday as champions Manchester City faced off against Bournemouth.

Now, Pep Guardiola’s men did feast as they coasted to a 4-0 win having scored three in the opening 37 minutes. They had 19 shots in total compared to the visitor’s three. However, Haaland was on the peripheral throughout.

The former BVB forward completed just two passes during his 74 minutes on the pitch. Despite this, he still chipped in with an assist to make it three goal involvements in two outings.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Haaland wasn’t signed to be the game-changer against the likes of Bournemouth. He was signed to be the difference-maker in crucial games and he likely will be.

Arsenal’s No.9

Gabriel Jesus put on an attacking clinic against Leicester City as Arsenal romped to a 4-2 win at the Emirates.

The Brazilian attacker, a summer arrival from Manchester City, had a hand in all four goals. He scored the first two and then assisted the latter two in what was perhaps the performance of the weekend.

Jesus attempted an astonishing seven shots and racked up an expected goals total of 1.9, while also creating three chances and completing 75% of his attempted dribbles.

The 25-year-old has added a new dimension to the Arsenal attack and you do have to wonder just how many goals he can score as the main man for the Gunners this term.

The Brentford blitz

In what was the result of the season so far, Manchester United were stung by the Bees on Saturday evening, with Erik ten Hag’s side suffering yet another defeat.

Brentford scored four times in a stunning first-half performance and then managed the game out with great maturity after the break.

The hosts amassed an expected goals total of 1.32 in the opening 45 minutes while limiting the visitors to just 0.4. United could only muster opportunities worth 0.52 expected goals despite wholesale changes at half-time.

In many ways, it was similar to what happened to the Red Devils in their opening game against Brighton (1.29 expected goals in the first half). Swarmed before the break, certain players crumbled under the pressure and were punished.

Thomas Frank’s men were ruthless and fully deserved the emphatic victory, their first of the season.

Filling the void at Brighton

Graham Potter lost Yves Bissouma to Tottenham Hotspur this summer and yet the midfield for Brighton have looked as solid as ever.

They dominated a Manchester United team last week at Old Trafford and kept a clean sheet against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United side. One key reason for this has been the performances of Moisés Caicedo.

Signed last summer, the 20-year-old spent the first half of the season on loan before being recalled early in January. He impressed from the off and he’s now one of the first names on the team sheet.

Against Newcastle, the dominant midfielder won 75% of his tackles, made two interceptions and completed eight ball recoveries.

(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.

Aug

2022

Last Weekend: Brentford hammer United, Madrid start with a win and goalkeepers go rogue

We’re back at 100% capacity in the footballing world as almost all the competitions have now kicked off for the 2022/23 season – including each of Europe’s top-five leagues. We’ll be checking in on the proceedings in all five of them in this edition of Last Weekend, with the headlines coming from Brentford in England and Almería in Spain.

By Neel Shelat.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: Brentford 4-0 Manchester United

A loss against Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford was a bad enough start to Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United tenure, but things got significantly worse this Saturday as they were thrashed by Brentford, who beat the Red Devils for the first time since 1938.

The defeat to Brighton was a close and competitive match that ended 1-2, but against Brentford, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. It all started with a goalkeeping howler from David de Gea, who fumbled a relatively simple shot to gift Brentford the lead. He was also at fault for the second goal as he put Christian Eriksen in all sorts of trouble with a risky short pass that led to a high turnover.

By the half-hour mark, Brentford had a three-goal lead, which they extended five minutes later after a swift counterattack. Ten Hag should not be above criticism, as he made some questionable decisions such as playing Eriksen in a deep-lying midfield role and persisting with short goal-kicks with a keeper who is uncomfortable with the ball at his feet.

We said it multiple times last season but Manchester United really are hitting new lows. With no points from their first two games and a goal difference of -5, they are at the foot of the table for the first time in three decades.

And with Liverpool visiting Old Trafford next, they could well stay there for a while longer.

🇪🇸 Spain: Almería 1-2 Real Madrid

Fresh from their UEFA Super Cup win in Helsinki in midweek, Real Madrid kicked off their title defence in LaLiga with a visit to Segunda División champions Almería.

The hosts were playing their first top-flight match in seven years, but you would not have guessed that based on their performance alone. Just six minutes in, a swift move saw Large Ramazani go through on goal, and the young Belgian applied a smart finish to give his side a shock lead.

Carlo Ancelotti had made a fair few changes to the side that beat Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday as the likes of Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga and Nacho Fernandez were handed their first starts of the campaign, but some of them left a bit to be desired in their performances. Both of the aforementioned midfielders were brought off before the hour-mark, after which Lucas Vázquez scored the equaliser. Nacho came off with about 15 minutes left to play, and his replacement, David Alaba, put the visitors in front from a direct free-kick with his very first touch.

Real Madrid certainly deserved this win, as they were probing and testing the Almería defence all game.

The hosts can take a lot of positives from this game, though, as they put up a tough fight against the champions of Europe. Elche and Real Valladolid are two of their next three opponents, so they will surely be aiming to get some points on the board against them.

🇩🇪 Germany: Freiburg 1-3 Borussia Dortmund

We were far from upbeat when discussing the Bundesliga opener in the previous edition of the column, so let’s change that a little here.

Dortmund got the better of Freiburg on Friday night, but the match was nothing like what the scoreline might suggest. The away side saw more of the ball throughout the match, but they looked very uninspired going forward in the first half. At the other end, Freiburg’s long balls caused a fair few problems, which manifested in the opening goal scored by Michael Gregoritsch ten minutes before half-time.

The second period started in a similar pattern, although Freiburg slowly began to sink deeper as the final whistle got closer. With the scoreboard still reading 1-0 in the 75th minute, most regular Dortmund watchers knew what was coming – a dispirited final 15 minutes, quite possibly complete with a second goal for the side with the lead.

Substitute Jamie Bynoe-Gittens had other ideas, though, as he drove Dortmund forward and scored an equaliser in the 77th minute, aided by some very charitable goalkeeping from Mark Flekken. After that, Dortmund showed some determination that has been hard to come by over the last few years, and they were rewarded for their endeavours in the 84th minute when 18-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko gave them the lead. Marius Wolf added some insurance a few minutes later, and that sealed the three points for the visitors.

Make no mistake, Dortmund’s overall performance was not exactly encouraging (as the xG shows), but it was their resilience and character that struck fans and experts alike after this game.

That poses the inevitable question that was on everyone’s minds: Could we have something of a title race in Germany this season? The answer was swiftly provided by Bayern Munich in their 2-0 win over Wolfsburg.

🇮🇹 Italy: Fiorentina 3-2 Cremonese

Between De Gea’s disastrous performance in the Premier League and Flekken and Marvin Schwäbe’s sloppiness in Germany, the Goalkeepers’ Union had quite a few causes for concern from across the continent on Saturday. Not to be outdone, members from Italy decided to make even bigger headlines on Sunday.

First up, Luís Maximiano took just six minutes to get sent off on his first-ever appearance in a Lazio shirt for handling the ball outside the penalty area, taking the earliest shower of any debutante in Serie A in almost 30 years. The worst was saved for last, though, as Ionut Radu made the most comical goalkeeping howler in the fifth minute of stoppage time to lose the match on his Cremonese debut.

Playing their first top-flight game since 1996, La Cremo delivered a very impressive performance against a Fiorentina side that secured European qualification through the league last season. After going behind following the quarter-hour mark, they found an equaliser within three minutes. Things looked bad at half-time when they were trailing again and had a centre-back sent off, but they levelled the scores again from a set-piece in the 68th minute.

Just when it looked like they would come away with a point for their hard work, Radu very much threw it away. He jumped to claim a seemingly harmless cross-shot but ended up landing in his own net, carrying the ball over the line with him.

🇫🇷 France: Troyes 0-3 Toulouse

Sticking to the theme of newly-promoted sides doing well, let us move over to France, where Toulouse find themselves up to fourth after two matchdays.

They kicked off proceedings last Sunday with an encouraging draw against Nice, before going one better this weekend. It might be a bit too early to speak of such things, but their visit to Troyes could be described as a relegation six-pointer because four teams are set to drop out of the league at the end of the season with the French top-flight being trimmed from twenty to eighteen clubs next year.

Even in such difficult circumstances, Toulouse might have a decent chance of survival based on their early performances. Philippe Montainer’s men have only lost a couple of regular starters in the transfer window as the core of their squad has been maintained, and they have continued to play a possession-heavy style of football that tore through Ligue 2 defences last season.

It is safe to say that it had a similar effect on Troyes, who were comfortably beaten in the end.

Les Violets will be facing the likes of Lorient, Clermont Foot and Reims in the next few weeks, and if they can continue to deliver such performances, they may well have a noteworthy buffer to the relegation zone very quickly.

🇧🇷 Brazil: Corinthians 0-1 Palmeiras

The Paulista Derby – arguably the biggest rivalry in Brazil and one that can be traced back to the 1910s – was held on Saturday night, and it was set to have major implications on the title race as Palmeiras and Corinthians were first and second in the league going into the match.

The two sides’ Copa Libertadores campaigns had also taken different turns in midweek, with Palmeiras prevailing on penalties against Atlético Mineiro, while Corinthians were eliminated against Flamengo. That meant that the league was their only shot at a major trophy this season apart from the cup, and with a six-point deficit to their rivals, they desperately needed a win to realistically keep the title race close, but it was not to be.

Palmeiras are gunning for their first league title since 2018 alongside a third-consecutive Libertadores success, and things are going smoothly on both fronts. They have avoided Flamengo in the Libertadores semi-finals, and after beating Corinthians thanks to Roni’s own goal in the 72nd minute, have forged a nine-point lead at the top of the league.

The next month is going to be pivotal for Abel Ferreira’s side in the context of their season. They will face tough tests in the league against fourth-placed Fluminense, a rejuvenated Flamengo who have climbed up to second, and Red Bull Bragantino. In the midst of all this, they will also have the two legs of the Copa Libertadores semi-final.

The most dominant side in South American football’s recent history will really be tested to their limit in the coming weeks.

Cover Image from IMAGO

Aug

2022

This Weekend: Serie A and La Liga get started and Chelsea face Spurs in London

The best action to follow this weekend

By Bill Biss

Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 It’s a busy day in the Premier League as Round 2 of the season begins off with a bank of seven games spread across the day. Villa and Everton start early as both sides look to bounce back from defeats on the opening weekend whilst Arsenal vs. Leicester City headlines the traditional three o’clock kickoffs.

Mikel Arteta’s pre-match speeches might be in the spotlight following the release of Amazon’s latest All or Nothing series but he won’t have to look far for motivation with Saturday’s opponents becoming something of a league rival in recent times. Arsenal were one of few sides to do the double over the Foxes in their famous title winning year – and they did the same last season, but Brendon Roger’s team have shown a knack for getting at the Gunners.

Manchester City also make a rare three o’clock appearance for their game with newly promoted Bournemouth. We’ll see whether Pep Guardiola and his new attacking spearhead, Erling Haaland, can pick up where they left off against West Ham – or whether Bournemouth can pull off another surprise after they calmly dispatched Villa last weekend!

In the late game, the already under-pressure Erik ten Haag takes Manchester United to Brentford where he’ll be hoping for a much needed morale boosting win. The Reds won both games against the Bees comfortably last season so the result here should be a good marker for where the current squad stands.

🇪🇸 The top flight season in Spain starts on Friday night, with Sevilla’s trip to Osasuna, but the weekend’s main talking point will no doubt be what kind of line-up La Liga’s officials will let Barcelona put out for the game against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday night.

Will Xavi be able to field all of his crazy new signings? Will we see the combined might of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Ousmane Dembélé up front!? Whatever happens you can guarantee some significant drama between now and kick-off.

Elsewhere, Real Valladolid president Ronaldo Nazário – now listed as a Brazilian business professional on Wikipedia, rather than the footballing legend he is – will oversee their return to the big time as they take on Villarreal.

🇮🇹 Serie A also joins the 2022/23 party with the Italian league getting underway this weekend. Defending champions Milan get us started with a home game against Udinese before last season’s runners-up Inter play away at newly promoted Lecce.

For more on the new season and in particular – an in-depth look at the league’s big summer transfer stories, check out the first of our new regular column with Matteo Bonetti – here.

A third game of interest comes at another of the promoted clubs – the noisy AC Monza – owned by former Italian president and Milan owner, Silvio Berlusconi. They start their first ever Serie A campaign against Torino in an evening kick-off.

🇩🇪 The opening weekend of the Bundesliga produced so few shocks that RB Leipzig’s draw at Stuttgart probably constitutes something of a surprise. The Red Bull side, who finished fourth last season, now face FC Köln in the biggest draw among Saturday’s fixtures. The Billy Goats soundly beat promoted side Schalke in their first game, lodging 32 shots on goal, to Schalke’s five.

For their part, Schalke will look to improve on that as they face Borussia Mönchengladbach in the evening kick-off whilst Stuttgart face Werder Bremen, the other German giant that has returned to the top flight this season.

🇫🇷 Neymar and Lionel Messi were the stars of the show as PSG started their Ligue 1 title defence with a 5-0 thrashing of Clermont Foot. And it looks like new man in charge, Christophe Galtier will be able to call on the additional services of Kylian Mbappé for their first home game of the season – a meeting with Montpellier on Saturday night.

The side from the south coast should provide stiffer opposition though, and watch out for midfield talent Téji Savanier – he racked up a 9.3 FotMob rating in Montpellier’s win over Troyes last weekend.

🇧🇷 One league where we now deep in to the season is in Brazil – where at just over the halfway stage Palmeiras lead their arch-São Paulo rivals Corinthians by six points. And on Saturday night, the top two meet for the Paulista Derby, one of South America’s most heated games.

The table situation only adds fuel to the fire, as does the club’s contrasting results in the Copa Libertadores quarter-finals during midweek. Corinthians lost their all-Brazilian tie against Flamengo and where dealt a further blow when former international star player, Willian decided he’d like another crack at the Premier League rather than stay with the club that brought him back to Brazil in 2021.

Meanwhile Palmeiras won their quarter-final, on penalties, and will now be supremely confident of claiming a third straight continental title. Confidence that will no doubt boost their title charge back home as they look to win the Brasileiro for the first time since 2018.

Sunday

🇪🇸 The schedule in La Liga will give us an early look at two of the promoted sides on Sunday – plus freshly crowned UEFA Super Cup winners, Madrid! Girona, complete with their savvy loan signing, MLS golden boot – Taty Castellanos are back in the top flight after three seasons away but they face a tough start at Gennaro Gattuso’s Valencia.

But that’s nothing compared to Almería who kick-off with a home game against Real Madrid. This one pits the Segunda Champions against the defending Primera and European Champions and will certainly be a baptism of fire for Almería coach Rubi. The 52-year-old only took over with three games to go last season but he’s been entrusted with Almería’s first taste of La Liga football since 2015.

Madrid eased their way to a record-equalling fifth Super Cup triumph on Wednesday, defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in Helsinki.

🇩🇪 In the Bundesliga, Bayern München play their first home game of the new campaign, with Wolfsburg the visitors to the Allianz Arena. Looking to improve on last season’s 12th placed finish, the Wolves started with a 2-2 draw against newly promoted Werder Bremen in Round 1, whilst you probably heard all about Bayern’s 6-1 thrashing of Europa League holders Frankfurt.

That result had all the pundits writing off the title race before it’s even begun. And any questions marks on how the side would cope in the post-Lewandowski era were wiped out by the performances of Sadio Mané, Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry and of course, the old war horse, Thomas Müller.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Back in the Premier League and Sunday provides the first high profile London Derby of the season, with Chelsea hosting Spurs at Stamford Bridge. On the opening weekend, Chelsea managed to end their recent hoodoo at Everton by coming away with a 1-0 win whilst Spurs simply took Southampton apart. Neither Son Heung-min or Harry Kane got on the scoresheet but Antonio Conte’s men still managed to put four past the Saints and racked up 18 shots in total.

Recent results between the two London sides have traditionally favoured Chelsea with the Blues doing the double over Spurs in the league and beating them in both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final during the last campaign.

The day’s only other game is one that Nottingham Forest fans have been dreaming about since their relegation from the top flight back in 1999. West Ham are the first Premier League visitors to the City Ground, for what will no doubt be a raucous occasion, but it’s one that both sides will have targeted as an opportunity to pick up their first points of the new season.

🇮🇹 Sunday is traditionally the main day for Serie A but with this opening round of the season well spread across the next four days, there are actually only four games on the slate. And most eyes will be drawn to the matches involving the two sides from the capital.

Lazio get first dibs on the shared Stadio Olimpico for their fixture against Bologna, a team they exchanged contrasting 3-0 wins against in their games last season. But this will be a new look Lazio side with coach Maurizio Sarri bringing in eight new signings over the summer.

None of them are as high profile as José Mourinho’s transfer dealings at Roma – Paulo Dybala, Nemanja Matić and Georginio Wijnaldum all being highly recognisable newcomers but you can bet that both Roman clubs will be fighting to break in to the top four and return to the Champions League come the end of the season. For their part, Roma start the campaign at Salernitana, the side who pulled off a highly unlikely escape from relegation last time out, securing 18 points from their last 15 fixtures.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Cover Image from IMAGO

Aug

2022

Look ahead to the new La Liga season with FotMob

Ahead of the 2022/23 season start in La Liga, let’s take a look at how the big teams are shaping up.

By Ben Hayward, La Liga expert

Barcelona’s financial levers

During his time as Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola once said: “There is nothing more risky than not taking any risks.” The Catalan club have certainly taken plenty of risks this summer and only time will tell whether those pay off. Barça have sold off 25 per cent of their domestic television rights for the next 25 years and almost a quarter of their in-house production company in order to raise much-needed funds now – despite their huge debts – and strengthen their squad by activating ‘financial levers’. It has allowed the Blaugrana to assemble an impressive roster ahead of the new season and an enviable forward line, with Robert Lewandowski signed from Bayern Munich, Raphinha brought in from Leeds and Ousmane Dembélé renewed for a further two seasons at the request of coach Xavi Hernández.

Xavi arrived as coach in the middle of last season. There was huge excitement and anticipation at Camp Nou, with comparisons drawn to Guardiola’s spectacular spell in charge between 2008 and 2012. But Xavi found a club in extreme debt, struggling in mid-table and inherited a squad with serious shortcomings. Some of those were addressed in the winter window. This summer, they have been addressed for real and the feeling is that the 42-year-old now has a group of players who can embrace his methods and thrive under his tutelage. If it works – and there was a genuine intention about his Barça last season, with many signs of improvement en route to a second-placed finish – and if all of the new signings are registered in time to feature in La Liga, then this hungry FCB can be considered favourites to win the competition for the first time since 2019.

On the flip side, failure to register those players – the five new signings plus Dembélé and Sergi Roberto who have penned new contracts – due to La Liga’s strict FFP-type rules – would cause chaos and unrest at institutional level and would seriously harm the club’s hopes of winning the competition. Time is running out ahead of Saturday’s kick-off at home to Rayo Vallecano, but Barça remain confident it will all be done in time and if it is, Xavi’s side should provide the fireworks in 2022-23. As Guardiola said in his first press conference as Barça boss: “Fasten your seatbelts, because it’s going to be fun.”

Madrid’s stability under Ancelotti

Fans of Real Madrid might be a bit bemused on reading the above. After all, their team won La Liga at a stroll last season, added the Champions League title in May and just opened their campaign by claiming another piece of silverware – the UEFA Super Cup.

Madrid are in a good place right now, no doubt. Coach Carlo Ancelotti has brought stability, along with experience and tactical nous. The Italian is popular with everyone at the club and has led Los Blancos to four trophies in 2022. And while the summer transfer window has been much more low-key than Barcelona’s, that is partly because big changes were not needed at the Santiago Bernabeu. Missing out on top target Kylian Mbappé in May was a big disappointment, but Madrid claimed the Champions League in Paris a few days later. So far, only two players have been brought in this summer: Aurelien Tchouameni from Monaco and Antonio Rüdiger from Chelsea. Both appeared as late substitutes in the 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday and should go on to become key players at the Bernabeu. Tchouameni, along with Eduardo Camavinga and Fede Valverde, will be part of a dynamic and more modern midfield as Real look to ease the burden on their veteran trio of Luka Modrić, Toni Kroos and Casemiro.

Madrid won La Liga last season with 86 points, but are likely to need many more this time around following Barcelona’s big recruitment drive and Ancelotti – despite being the only coach to have won titles in all of Europe’s big five leagues – is more renowned for his record in cup competitions in a long career spanning over 25 years.

“Every year it’s difficult,” Casemiro said on Wednesday night. “We have to recognise that they (Barcelona) have strengthened really well with players of great quality. We want to do better as well and we will work on ourselves. The best team will be the one out front.”

Big changes at Atleti

Atlético Madrid won La Liga in 2020-21 and Diego Simeone’s side were expected to be strong again last season, but the Rojiblancos mounted a disappointing defence of their title and only sealed Champions League qualification right at the end of the campaign. Atleti ultimately finished third and appear unlikely to improve upon that position in 2022-23.

Luis Suárez has left the club to return to Uruguay with Nacional, while on-loan Antoine Griezmann has only just been registered ahead of La Liga’s kick-off. Experienced midfielder Axel Witsel has joined from Borussia Dortmund and should play an important part, while right-back Nahuel Molina has arrived from Udinese as a replacement for Kieran Trippier, who left for Newcastle last January. Striker Álvaro Morata has also returned following a loan spell at Juventus and could be key. Simeone will also hope for a big season from the club’s record signing, João Félix, who has only shown his best form intermittently since a €126 million transfer from Benfica in 2019.

The chasing pack

Sevilla finished fourth in 2021-22 but seem set to find life more difficult this term following the departures of centre-backs Diego Carlos (to Aston Villa) and Jules Kounde (to Barcelona), although it will be interesting to see how Isco fares back in southern Spain following his move from Real Madrid.

Elsewhere, former Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde is back for a third spell in charge at Athletic Club and his return to San Mames should see the Bilbao side challenge for the European places – even if their policy of signing Basque-only players means it will be essentially the same squad as last season.

Espanyol could be a team to watch under former Granada coach Diego Martínez, so impressive during his time at the Andalusian club. Mexican coach Javier Aguirre is always good entertainment and is staying at Mallorca after keeping the islanders up against all odds last term. It will also be good to see Girona – and the evergreen Cristhian Stuani – back in La Liga after three seasons in the second tier.

(Images from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the 2022/23 La Liga season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2022

Look ahead to the new Serie A season with FotMob

With the 2022/23 season right around the corner, it’s time to look at the five most impactful summer transfer signings and how they’ll help out their new teams. We saw some of the usual suspects at the top of Italian football getting stronger, while others failed to make that splash signing to really push them to the next level.

In no particular order, here are the five biggest signings (so far).

By Matteo Bonetti, US Serie A expert

Romelu Lukaku

The Belgian striker returns to Inter after a disappointing season with Chelsea, the club that initially signed him as a teenager, from Anderlecht, more than a decade ago. Lukaku failed to make the consistent impact that is expected from a player who was signed for a reported £97.5 million. His meagre eight Premier league strikes were a far cry from the 47 league goals he had in the two previous seasons at Inter.

The good news is Lukaku has already proven to be dominant in Serie A. After being the best player on Antonio Conte’s Scudetto winning Nerazzurri, he returns to a team that just narrowly missed out on the title to Milan, on the final match day of the season. The new manager, Simone Inzaghi, employs a similar 3-5-2 that Conte is so well known for, but with a higher defensive line that isn’t so reliant on the constant long ball. I’d assume Inter become more direct with Lukaku, given how incredible he was in open space, terrorising provincial defenders nearly every weekend on the counter. He’ll also find an improved Lautaro Martinez alongside him, who really raised his game in Lukaku’s absence last campaign.

Paulo Dybala

There were whispers throughout the summer that Roma was about to make a truly special signing, and they did exactly that by securing Juventus’ Dybala. The reaction from Roma fans has been nothing short of euphoric. On the day that he was announced, Dybala’s new Giallorossi kit set the single day record for sales. He’s being met by the same sort of enthusiasm that we saw last season when José Mourinho landed in the Italian capital. Dybala is easily the most exciting signing Roma has had in decades, and the one that can push them in to top four contention.

At his best, “La Joya” is a world class talent with a stunning left foot and sublime technique. He showed what he can do in Italy when healthy – score over 20 goals a season, win the league MVP by carrying your team to another Scudetto, etc, etc. However, his last few seasons at Juventus were derailed by fitness issues and injuries which kept him out of the lineup on a consistent basis. At Roma, Dybala can play as a second striker alongside Tammy Abraham in Mourinho’s 3-5-2, where I think he’s at his best. It feels like a change of scenery is exactly what Dybala needs to get his career back on track, and under Mourinho, he may have found the perfect motivational manager to get the best out of him.

Paul Pogba

After being the highest paid player by an English club until the record was surpassed in 2021, Paul Pogba returns to Juventus, after a six year stint at Manchester United. However, the club he comes back to is a very different one than the Bianconeri side he left back in 2016. Gone are his top class midfield partners like Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio. Aside from that, the dominant nine-year Scudetto run came to a screeching halt with back-to-back fourth-place finishes.

A player like Pogba is exactly what was missing in the Juventus midfield – which was short of any sort of dynamism. And Juve know what they’re getting in Pogba – a luxury midfielder that can guarantee you 8-10 goals per season, drive forward with purpose, and play a few defence splitting through balls. It’s also the excitement that he brings as a highly marketable, electrifying player.

One of the criticisms with Juventus under Allegri is their dull style of play, preferring to sit back and protect a 1-0 lead rather than pile on the insurance goals. There’s a good chance Allegri will have to take a few more risks with the added firepower that Pogba can bring when fit.

Bremer

Losing two starting centre backs like Giorgio Chiellini and Matthijs De Ligt is never easy, but the pain Juventus fans undoubtedly felt will be eased by the arrival of Torino’s Bremer. The Brazilian defender was shockingly dominant last season, winning the Serie A defender of the year award over the likes of De Ligt, Fikayo Tomori, Milan Škriniar and Kalidou Koulibaly. That gives you an idea of just how good he was, as he’s something of an unknown quantity for the average fan that probably didn’t watch that many Torino games last season.

Bremer brings a highly aggressive style, matched with a reading of the game that is normally reserved for much more experienced defenders. What’s even more reassuring is how he raised his game against the best strikers in the league. As a Torino player, Bremer completely marked Dušan Vlahović, and other quality frontmen out of games. His no-nonsense style should also pair well with the veteran Leo Bonucci.

Charles De Ketelaere

It finally happened. After months of negotiating, Milan were finally able to pry their number one target away from the clutches of Club Brugge, beating other potential suitors like Leeds United in the process.

There’s plenty of good news with this signing. The 21-year-old De Ketelaere shows a real promise with tons of upside – a versatile and technical attacking player who moves well and seems perfect for Milan’s style of play, especially in that central attacking midfield role. Last season you could argue that Milan had two weaknesses in their lineup, at right wing and attacking midfield. Coach Stefano Pioli alternated between Junior Messias and Alexis Saelemaekers out wide, but neither really showed the consistency needed to make that position their own, while Brahim Díaz lost his place to the hard working Rade Krunić in the trequartista role.

De Ketelaere instantly solves one of these positions, and has plenty of room to grow and keep getting better.

(Images from IMAGO)

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Aug

2022

Last Weekend: Haaland delivers a Hammerblow, Bayern start with six while PSG fire five

It’s safe to say that football is back in full swing now, with three of Europe’s top-five leagues starting their 2022/23 season along with a raft of other competitions. We will be going over some of the meaningful matches in this edition of Last Weekend.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: West Ham United 0-2 Manchester City

The Premier League threw up a number of surprising results this weekend, most notably Fulham’s draw with Liverpool and Brighton’s first-ever win at Old Trafford. Our focus, however, will be on the defending champions Manchester City, who came away with a relatively comfortable win at West Ham.

The star of the show was their new striker Erling Haaland, who won and converted a penalty in the first half before going on to add a second after the hour mark. In doing so, he highlighted how he solves two of Manchester City’s ‘problems’ from last season.

The first is the issue of spot-kicks. Last season, they had four different takers in normal time, across all competitions, and it is safe to say that none really established themselves.. Haaland, on the other hand, netted every penalty he took in 2021/22 and that streak continued on Sunday with a pinpoint finish to the bottom corner.

More pertinently, the Norwegian international changes the dynamic of how Manchester City approach open games. Last season, they generally looked to control and slow down games where they had the lead and the opposition were pushing for an equaliser because if the match became an end-to-end affair, they had no one to make runs in behind and get on the end of counterattacking moves. With Haaland, though, they grabbed a second just minutes after West Ham started to come out of their shell, with the ex-Dortmund striker fed by an inch-perfect through ball from Kevin De Bruyne.

Another intriguing aspect of Manchester City’s performance was their tactical tweaks, in possession, to accommodate Haaland. Pep Guardiola is no stranger to inverted full-backs, and he took this concept to extreme lengths by asking Kyle Walker and João Cancelo to tuck in close to the centre circle, often leaving Rodri to drop in between the centre-backs to create a 3-2-5 shape, with the two other midfielders pushing forward and the wingers hugging the touchline.

This was the big question – how long it would take Manchester City to accommodate Haaland – and it appears that the answer is no time at all.

🇩🇪 Germany: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-6 Bayern München

Pessimism was at an all-time low in Germany following the Bundesliga opener on Friday, which saw record champions Bayern Munich utterly thrash Europa League holders Eintracht Frankfurt.

Leading up to the match, there was some excitement and anticipation for the season as Borussia Dortmund seemed to have strengthened in the transfer window, while Bayern had changed a bit following the departure of star striker Robert Lewandowski, so there was some uncertainty around their attack.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side put all doubts to bed in emphatic fashion with a five-star first half showing centred around fluidity up front – which was something that they did not have with Lewandowski in the mix. On this occasion, new signing Sadio Mané partnered Serge Gnabry up top with Jamal Musiala and Thomas Müller operating just behind them.

The movements and positional rotations of this quartet really dizzied the Eintracht Frankfurt defence. Each member of the quartet registered two goal involvements, while the debutant Mané got a goal for himself.

After a terrific first half where the away side mounted a five-goal lead, they could afford to take their foot off the gas for the second period and cruise to victory. While it is far too early to reach any conclusions about the season, this has to be considered a statement victory from Bayern Munich.

🇫🇷 France: Clermont Foot 0-5 PSG

Things are not looking much better in France, where defending champions Paris Saint-Germain put five past Clermont Foot in their first match of the league season, just a week after beating Nantes 4-0 in the Trophée des Champions.

Christophe Galtier named an unchanged starting line-up, so we were treated to the fluidity of the front three of Pablo Sarabia, Lionel Messi and Neymar once again. The Brazilian international was the standout performer of the match as he thrived in a narrower role in the left half-space, for which PSG’s new manager deserves credit. By using a back-three system which relies on the wing-backs to provide attacking width, Galtier enabled Neymar to have a greater involvement in the match in a more central position, as is evidenced by the fact that he managed 67 touches on the night.

Neymar played a part in four of his side’s goals, scoring the first, and setting up the subsequent three. Indeed, it was his creativity that particularly shone, as his statistics from the match show.

His old friend Messi did not want to miss out on the fun, so he bagged a late brace that included an overhead kick, to cap things off rather nicely.

Not only are PSG playing some superb football on the pitch, but their transfer business led by new sporting director Luis Campos also seems to be very clever. They recently signed Renato Sanches from Lille, and are being strongly linked with a move for Fabián Ruiz from Napoli. With that level of talent in their squad with a manager who knows how to use it, the league will surely be theirs again come the end of the season.

🇵🇹 Portugal: Santa Clara 0-0 Casa Pia

The Liga Portugal got back underway this weekend, and there were lots of interesting results to talk about. Last season’s top two, Porto and Benfica, won their respective matches by a four-goal margin, while Sporting and Braga took part in a thrilling 3-3 draw.

So, we have obviously picked out a goalless match, which saw Casa Pia make the long journey to the Azores to face Santa Clara. While most sides do not look forward to this journey, Casa Pia and their fans had been looking forward to this fixture for a long time because this was their first top-flight league match in 83 years.

The last time Casa Pia were in the topmost division of Portuguese football was the 1938/39 season when the league was called the Primeira Divisão and there were just eight teams competing in it. A certain FC Porto won their second league title that season, while Casa Pia themselves finished rock bottom, avoiding defeat in just one of their 14 matches.

They have already matched that record this time around and probably should have had more than a point from this long trip out to the mid-Atlantic. They missed a penalty in the 10th minute of the match, and even thereafter, continued to look threatening as they outshot their opponents.

Nonetheless, this was a very promising performance and result for Casa Pia. Next up for them: A visit from giants Benfica in an all-Lisbon clash. Unfortunately, though, it will not be played in their home stadium, the Estádio Pina Manique, as it does not meet the capacity requirements. Their first true home match, therefore, will be in two weeks’ time against Boavista.

🇮🇹 Italy: Hellas Verona 1-4 Bari

Over in Italy, the Serie A season does not start until next weekend, but the initial rounds of the Coppa Italia have been taking place over the past couple of weeks. Some top-flight clubs were involved in the Round of 64 including Hellas Verona, who hosted Serie B newcomers Bari.

This was the first competitive match for the hosts’ new head coach Gabriele Cioffi, who succeeded Igor Tudor following the Croatian tactician’s move to Marseille. Things started off pretty well for him as Kevin Lasagna drew first blood in the 16th minute, but Michael Folorunsho equalised for the away side at the half-hour mark.

After that, it was the Walid Cheddira show. The 24-year-old striker, who bagged a brace against Padova in the previous round, put Bari in front just before half-time. He would go on to net two more goals in the second half to complete a memorable hat-trick, with Davide Farioni’s sending-off sealing Hellas’ fate.

The Coppa Italia format is often criticised for being tougher for lower-league sides, but Bari will hope to be outliers to that fact when they face Parma in October with a spot in the Round of 16 on the line.

🇨🇭 Switzerland: FC Zürich 0-3 Sion

On the opening weekend of the Swiss Super League season, we highlighted FC Zürich’s hefty defeat against Young Boys. Well, things have gone from bad to significantly worse for the defending Swiss champions – they are currently the only side in Europe to sit bottom of their league after lifting the title in the previous edition.

More worryingly, they are the only team in the history of the Swiss Super League to have failed to score in each of the first four rounds of fixtures. In fact, this holds true even as you look back to the Swiss top-flight all the way to the 1940s, after which data availability becomes limited. The point is: FC Zürich have had a monumentally poor start to the league campaign.

Their loss to Sion highlighted this, as they looked flat for large periods of the match against a side that had the second-worst defence in the league last season, based on goals conceded. At the other end, they shipped three goals to the side that had the second-worst attack in the league, based on goals scored.

It is very early in the season, but FC Zürich will already be contemplating parting ways with new manager Franco Foda, who is largely responsible for this, as he has been tinkering with formations and tactics from match to match and failing to give his team any real identity. Following his disappointing campaign with Austria in Euro 2020, this is not a good look for the 56-year-old German.

Written by Neel Shelat.

Cover Image from IMAGO