GOAL US unpacks the main weekend storylines from the Premier League, La Liga and other top competitions in The Euro XI
Can we jump to conclusions? Are the pieces just perfectly in place for most of Europe's top leagues?
Liverpool played Everton – the definition of a trap game. But they saw them off, late pressure notwithstanding. Man City and Arsenal then did the Reds an almighty favor by playing out a 1-1 draw in which either manager could have set up a team to win, but neither looked like they really wanted to.
Liverpool are five points clear and not playing well (yet). Further down the table – yes, down – Man United won their game against Chelsea and then tried really hard to lose it. In Germany, Bayern Munich are scoring for fun. And even if PSG-Marseille is postponed until Monday because of heavy rain, there's no doubt that the Parisians will walk it.
Of course, much can change here. Liverpool could start losing. Arsenal could decide they want to win. City could win 20 in a row and no one would bat an eyelid. Until then, though, we're left admiring from afar. But that might not be such a bad thing.
GOAL US presents The Euro XI, with 11 key observations from the weekend.
AFP1Mikel Arteta never changes
Why, Mikel, would you go out and spend big on Victor Gyokeres, Ebere Eze and Noni Madueke, if you aren't going to make the most of them? Arsenal's summer transfer business, from the outside, seemed a state of attacking intent. Here was a manager who loved his defensive structure, taking the handbrake off a little.
The Gunners could be expansive, maybe even just a little bit fun. But when it came to the big game, Arteta went right back into his shell. The Spaniard deployed seven (!) defensive players against a weakened Man City at home, and relied on a late moment of magic from Gabriel Martinelli to salvage a 1-1 draw.
Was this tragedy? No. But one point could have been three, if Arteta had just been a little more brave.
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport2Pep Guardiola bunkers in
Man City are in a precarious spot. They are still rebuilding and tweaking, Pep Guardiola fiddling with a team rather than fine-tuning it. And you could see a side still a little uncertain of itself Sunday afternoon.
City went up 1-0 early thanks to a lovely goal from Erling Haaland. Guardiola's side of old would twist the knife, make it four or five. Instead, Guardiola shrunk and bunkered in. To be fair, it almost worked, but City were frighteningly conservative.
And even if Arsenal weren't exactly full of attacking inspiration, they could have few complaints about the draw. But something weird is happening: Pep is playing scared.
Getty3Erling Haaland is keeping Man City alive
It is a good thing, then, that Guardiola has a super Norwegian space robot demon to play up front. Haaland wasn't exactly last year, but he was miles off the player that smashed the Premier League goalscoring record in his debut season. Now, it seems, he is determined to restructure his game a little.
Haaland's whole vibe for a long time is that he was very good at one thing: sticking the ball in the net. Everything else was low priority. But this year, he's changed it up. Haaland is carrying Man City not only by scoring – he has six in five games – but also by affecting the game everywhere else.
Haaland passes. Haaland defends. Haaland now does a bit of everything. And without him, City would be in a far worse place.
Getty Images Sport4Liverpool keep playing with fire
It's rather funny that the most likely team to win the Premier League are doing it while looking reasonably poor for long stretches. Liverpool were excellent for 30 minutes in the Merseyside derby. They scored two very nicely crafted goals, and might have had a third if Mo Salah's whipped shot not gone inches wide of the top corner.
After that, though, they closed into their shell, and let Everton play. They were, in the end, outrun, outworked and perhaps slightly fortunate to come away with three points against their rivals. It's an odd situation, all said.
Liverpool probably have too much attacking talent to lose in a shootout. But they do a pretty poor job of controlling games from ahead. At some point someone is going to punish them. The question is, who?