😱 Chelsea 4 - 4 Manchester City
Plus Spurs vs. Wolves, Palace vs. Everton and the other fixtures from GW12.
An instant classic in West London grabbed the headlines, though further afield there were plenty of goals and talking points too. You may also notice the new title - let’s see if that shakes this up and gets us any new visitors.
Grab a brew and enjoy Andrew’s Weekly Sports Bulletin, #11.
Game of the Weekend 🙌
Chelsea 4-4 Manchester City
Bonkers. The word on the mind of Dizzee Rascal, c.2009, and every football fan on Sunday. An end-to-end, eight goal thriller at the Bridge, the best game Chelsea have played since Monday.
It’s fitting then, following the recent end of the SAG-AFTRA strike, that this cinematic masterpiece showcased a plethora of character archetypes.
The Bully, Erling Haaland. Master of the Dark Arts. The Norwegian won a penalty, manhandled off the ball by Marc Cucurella, despite tugging the Chelsea defender’s shirt first. 0-1.
The Sage, Thiago Silva. At 39, he became the fourth oldest goalscorer in Premier League history, using his experience and nous to rise highest and equalise from the corner. 1-1.
The Jester, Josko Gvardiol. The master of physical comedy, stumbling helplessly over his own legs and presenting the ball amiably to Reece James. A squared ball across the six-yard line, and a tap in for Raheem Sterling. 2-1.
The Shapeshifter, Bernardo Silva. City’s utility man, showcasing world class talent from any position. On hand to whip a delicious ball straight onto Manuel Akanji’s head from a set piece routine. 2-2.
The Creator, Julian Alvarez. Argentina’s World Cup winner, once again supplying service to City’s goal machine, number 9 Erling Haaland, by assisting the third goal. 2-3.
The Ally, Conor Gallagher. Always a bridesmaid but never the bride, the academy product that’s survived Boely’s investment, Gallagher’s stinging long range strike in soaking conditions forced an error from Ederson. Nicholas Jackson made no mistake on the follow-up. 3-3.
The Warrior, Rodri. The base of Guardiola’s midfield, the most stoic and resolute defensive stalwart, seized the chance to plunder a lead by rifling in a deflected shot. 3-4.
The Hero, Cole Palmer. Ice in his veins, steps up to take the penalty against his former club, and calmly sticks the ball past Ederson.
What does this prove? Well, possibly that the maxim “you couldn’t write it” simply isn’t true. Also that googling ‘character archetypes’ doesn’t actually gives you snappy archetype titles. But it was a f***ing great game of football, wasn’t it?
Tactical Trends 📊
Everton on the up
Everton are, perhaps surprisingly, one of the form teams of the division. They’ve lost only once in their last five league games, collecting 10 points and moving up to 14th.
The man behind it all, Sean Dyche, adopts a no frills approach to football. It does him a disservice to call it ‘brawn over brains’, but the emphasis on physicality and structure in his squad selection does sometimes come at the expense of intricate manoeuvres. The players are increasingly buying into manager’s philosophy, and The Toffees’ victory over Palace at the weekend displayed the grit and determination that are hallmarks of Dyche sides.
Most influential in this run for me has been Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Finishing has been Everton’s costliest vice, and while the £25m spend on additional striker Beto added a useful squad player to their ranks, they’ve definitely benefited from the return of their senior striker.
As well as getting back into the goals, Calvert-Lewin has shown once again his great prowess in the air. A very capable target man, he acts as a magnet for balls being pumped up field. He can either nod it down to the industrious Abdoulaye Doucoure, or capitalise on crosses from wide men Jack Harrison or Dwight McNeil.
This emerging Everton partnership is reminiscent of the Chris Wood/Ashley Barnes axis that made Dyche’s former Burnley team so good – and it’s no surprise that two former Burnley players, McNeil and James Tarkowski, are playing crucial parts in this Merseyside resurgence.
Even if the injury-prone DCL succumbs to another tweak, Everton fans will be confident that the system is finding its feet and that progress can continue.
City’s defence? Question mark?
A bit of number crunching on my end reveals this was only the fifth time in Pep Guardiola’s managerial career that his team has conceded 4 goals. Five times in 882 matches. It would be churlish to say that they’re in crisis. Sitting top of the league, they’re clearly not struggling too badly, but they’re also not the watertight defensive unit they once were.
The table above shows all the goals Guardiola’s teams have ever conceded in the league, broken down by year and by club. The goals conceded per game ratio this season for City is the worst since Guardiola’s first in charge, way back in 2016.
Granted, four of those twelve conceded this term came over the weekend and that somewhat clouds the true nature of the figures. But, they’re crucially looking less solid as well. City are making their lives more difficult by not shutting games out - the losses against Arsenal and Wolves felt like games that previous squads would’ve put to bed.
This isn’t trying to take anything away from Chelsea, as Palmer, Sterling and co. were excellent going forward and exploited hitherto unidentified weaknesses in the W-M system, by setting up narrow and pushing midfield players incisively through the middle of the pitch.
The point I’m trying to make is that City’s free flowing attack is risky. While Chelsea have been the only ones to completely smash down their front door, you would expect more solidity from a Guardiola team at the back. For all their attacking strength, the balance isn’t quite there yet, and that makes for a much more exciting title race.
City play in-form Liverpool, historic bogey team Spurs and free-scoring Aston Villa in their next three games. If I were Pep, I’d want to lock down defensively to make sure I stayed top.
Did both Manchester United and Chelsea win this week? 🏆
🥳 NO 🥳
Chelsea’s draw against the reigning Champions stop an addition to the W column.
Season tally: Yes 3 - 9 No.
Player of the Week 🎖
Pablo Sarabia
Why pick a player that’s played 90 minutes when one man can dictate an entire game in 10?
Wolves had performed well against injury stricken Spurs, but wasteful finishing by Hwang Hee Chan and Matheus Cunha left fans worrisome. Sarabia entered the fray in the 87th minute, Wolves trailing 1-0, and turned the game on its head.
The Spaniard’s control to take Cunha’s pass out the air while ghosting past Hojbjerg was stunning. The accompanying finish was sublime. One fluid motion, a man with total mastery of the ball.
Then, in the seventh minute of additional time, Sarabia popped up on the opposite wing and fed a perfectly weighted pass in to Mario Lemina, who netted a deserved but unexpected late winner.
Sarabia is no doubt a quality player – he’s got 26 international appearances for Spain – but he’s only started for Wolves twice this season. With their orchestrator-in-chief (and top assister in the league) Pedro Neto out injured, more minutes should be on the way.
So that’s it for the Premier League for a fortnight – great news for the subscribers that are less bothered by football, and great news for me because it means I can invoke my refusal to talk about mid-season international football.
I’m super excited for next week’s long read – it’s going to be a cracker, about a certain French baller. Drop your guesses down in a comment, or let me know what you enjoyed about this week’s bulletin.
See you next time! 🏈 ⚾️ 🎳 🎾 🏀 🎱
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