A new record for Salah

Watching the top team in the Premier League, Liverpool, play against the bottom side, Southampton, should not be an interesting match, and it wasn't, despite Will Smallbone bringing the visitors ahead 0-1 just before halftime. In the second half Darwin Nuñez scored one of his rare non-misses to equalize and then Mohammed Salah sealed the victory with two penalty goals.

What was special about the match is that with his two goals the great Egyptian Mohammed Salah sealed his position as top-scorer of the Premier League, and equalized Sergio Agüero's record as the foreigner with most goals in the Premier League, a record he is very likely to get in the next matches. He also became the third all-time Liverpool scorer behind Ian Rush (who was among the spectators today) and Roger Hunt.

Mohammed Salah is already a Liverpool legend, and today just seals it as Liverpool is almost sure to take the title this season. But with a spectacular season the Egyptian seems like the best player in the world at the moment. 

A true star and a true legend.

Liverpool in the lead

I don't have a favourite Premier League side, but over the years I have come to sympathize with Liverpool and despise Tottenham (as to the reason, that would be worth another post one day). So it was with interest that these two sides faced another in the Premier League.

A lot of people have talked about the fact that Tottenham under Ange Postecoglu (who apparently sees himself as a modern day Gladiator modeled on the very "historically accurate" Russel Crowe) are playing entertaining football; but entertaining football is not to play without defense! And we saw that yesterday as Tottenham's defense was virtually inexistant as Liverpool played around and was ahead 3-1 by halftime on goals by Luis Díaz, Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szoboszlai, and one lucky strike for Tottenham by James Maddisson.

But not much changed in second time as Mohammed Salah scored twice to make it 5-1. In the meantime, Tottenham's tactics appeared more to be about playing so badly that Liverpool would fall asleep, and then be lucky to score; sadly it worked as Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke scored rather lucky goals before Luis Díaz fortunately closed off scoring the final 6-3 goal.

With the bad runs of Manchester City and Arsenal (not to say Manchester United who lost 0-3 at home to Bournemouth!) Liverpool arrives at Christmas securely on first spot four points ahead of Chelsea, while Tottenham are on 11th place, which is not a position too high.

Starting up

 Following a post-tournament hangover and a pretty boring Olympic tournament that I did not even find worth writing about, we are now starting the European leagues with the Premier League starting yesterday when Manchester United defeated Fulham 1-0, starting a new season with a victory as they will try to improve on their 8th place in last year's PL.

In the meantime other favourites have also started well: Liverpool defeated Ipswich 2-0 with Mohammed Salah setting Diogo Jota up for the first goal and scoring the second himself. Arsenal, a side with huge ambitions after coming close to win the league the last couple of seasons, defeated Wolverhampton 2-o on goals by Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka, while last season's number four, Aston Villa, defeated West Ham 1-2 and will the looking to repeat their great season.

The champions of the last four seasons, Manchester City, are playing tomorrow in a clash against a Chelsea side that also will want to improve on their 6th place of last season.

In Spain the league started today as well with Valencia losing 1-2 at home to Barcelona. I don't think we can expect anything from the Valencians while Barcelona will be looking to upset a Real Madrid side that frankly looks like nobody can threaten them.

I am moving soon. My TV is gone and my place is full of boxes, so I did not in fact watch the matches, but certainly expect to watch more soon!

Lazy Sunday matches

Despite it being a lazy Sunday at home I watched too great matches. The first was the FA Cup quarterfinal between Manchester United and Liverpool. 

Liverpool have ambitious goals now in Klopp's farewell season, while Manchester United is continuing its unstable ride under Erik ten Haag. It was nevertheless United who looked the strongest as the match got going and only ten minutes into the match it was the Scotsman, Scott McTominay who scored for United. Liverpool appeared uninspired but managed to put some pressure towards the end of the first half and it was Alexis McAllister who equalised, while Mohammed Salah brought Liverpool ahead just before halftime.

It was not fully deserved for Liverpool, but they showed some spine and appeared more confidence.

But confidence does not always translate into results: Liverpool pressured but they lacked concentration, both in attack and in defense, and they slowly let United into the match; three minutes before time Antony equalised for United after a clumsy Liverpool loss in midfield, and the match had to go into an exciting extra time (not that us neutrals cared). And just as the first half of extra time was ending Harvey Elliot brought Liverpool ahead 2-3, and they seemed to be in the semifinals, but again they lost concentration: Marcus Rashford equalised and in the last minute of extra time the young Ivorian Amad Diallo scored the winner for Manchester United after a quick counterattack following a Liverpool corner; a situation that seemed unnecessary (stupidly, Diallo got a second yellow card for taking his shirt off, and will miss the semifinal, showing him as a player that needs to grow...).

Manchester United will face one of the other victors this weekend: Manchester City, Chelsea, and every neutral's favourite, Coventry City, some the Championship!

The other match I enjoyed watching was La Liga match between Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona. Atletico Madrid have the best home record in the league, but today FC Barcelona played perhaps their best match of the season, and one has to wonder if Xavi's resignation at the end of the season is in place.

FC Barcelona were completely dominant the entire match, and the few chances that the Madrileans had were taken care off by a strong Marc-Andre ter-Stegen. It was the former Atletico player Joao Felix who scored the first Barcelona goal after an elegant pass from Robert Lewandowski (Joao Felix used to plat for Atletico, and I found it unfair that the fans were after him throughout the match. He did show himself as the bigger man by not celebrating his goal though).

All in all, Lewandoski showed that he still has incredible skills, and his 2-0 goal in the second half was a typical center-forward goal, but the goal in the low corner from a difficult angle. It was the young Barcelona player Fermin Lopez who scored the third for Barcelona, who seemed to be enjoying the match as they have not done lately. 

This was the Barcelona we know...

With Girona losing to Getafe, Barcelona now takes second spot int he table behind Real Madrid. That said, with an 8-point difference it seems unlikely that Barcelona can overtake Real Madrid. That said, this result is a warning regarding their coming matches, in particular against PSG in the Champions League.

 

Premier League 2023-2024 Opening

I had the pleasure of watching an excellent openining match for Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League. Matches like this point to an excellent season ahead, where the usual suspects of Manchester City will be challenged by the likes of Arsenal (who opened with a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest), Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and even other teams in one of the world´s most competitive league. 

Both Chelsea and Liverpool started well despite them sharing points with 1-1. Liverpool started best with two new signings in midfield, the Argentine Alexis MacAllister and the Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai. It was Luis Diáz who brought Liverpool ahead, and ten minutes later Mohamed Salah had a goal disallowed by VAR. It was one of Chelsea´s many new signings, Frenchman Alexis Disasi, who equalized for Chelsea towards the end of the first half. Second half could have gone to either side. More interesting was to see more of Chelsea´s new signings, many of them young players, such as Levi Colwill, Noclas Jackson, Ian Maatsen, as well as the Ukranian Mykhailo Mudryk, players with a big potential and who will be exciting to follow. 

Summer is over. Let the leagues start!

7-0 wow

 Since Erik ten Haag became Manchester United manager the team has done better, and they are currently third in the Premier League. Liverpool in the meantime is fighting to be in the top four. So today’s classic match between the two English giants was a spectacular match for Liverpool, who trashed their rivals 7-0 in what is their biggest victory over Manchester United ever.

It did not look like it would end like that after a tight first half where Liverpool was leading only 1-0 on a magnificent strike by Cody Gakpo. But in the second half goals poured in on de Gea: Darwin Núñez scored twice, Cody Gakpo also scored again, Roberto Firmino scored the last goal, while Mohammed Salah, with two goals, became Liverpool’s all-time Premier League goal scorer.

Liverpool are in fifth place, just behind Tottenham, but is looking like a CL candidate again. Manchester United remain third, but Erik ten Haag probably has some things to think about.

Manchester City champions

 Although in the end everything finished as one might have expected (City and Liverpool victories), the end of the Premier League ended with a high level of excitement, with the surprise always looming.

To be champions City needed a win at home against Aston Villa. But with 20 minutes elft Aston Villa were ahead 0-2, and there was a clear fear in the stadium (although Liverpool were at the time not winning). But goals by Rodri and Gundogan (who came in to make two) within a magic period of five minutes, put things straight and the title in Manchester.

Liverpool knew what was happening in Manchester, and that a victory would give them the title. But Wolverhampton were a hard nut to crack, and the Wolves went ahead already in the third minute. Liverpool pressed on an towards the end of the first half Sadio Mane equalized. Knowing the result in Manchester the Reds pressed on, but the goal did not come until the 84th minute by way of Mohammed Salah. But by this time City were already up, and even though Salah scored a third in the last minute, they hardly celebrated it as they knew it was but for nothing but the goal-stats.

Liverpool ends as runner-ups, but they have an FA Cup title, and next week they will be vying for the Champions League title in a clash of Titans against Real Madrid.

Premier League Saturday action!

I have just spent an entire lazy Saturday morning watching some great Premier League action during which Manchester City's apparent hold in the first spot has been weakened, put excitement into the league.

First I watched Liverpool defeat Norwich 3-1. Despite going down 0-1, Liverpool showed the same cool professionalism by which they defeated Inter in the Champions League and came back on a spectacular goal by Sadio Mane, a goal by Mohammed Salah, as well as a cool finish by the new signing Luis Diaz to score his first goal for Liverpool (a shame that he cannot score for his native Colombia). 

Liverpool are on second spot and had six points up to Manchester City before the Manchester side were to face Tottenham at home, who are still fighting for a possible European spot. But everyone knew it would be a difficult match as Manchester City has been looking strong at home, but only after four minutes Tottenham's new Swedish signing Dejan Kulusevski made it 0-1 on a quick buildup by Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min. As Manchester City pushed forward one was expecting an equalizer and it came by the way of Ilkay Gundogan after a mistake by Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal.

After this I at least was expecting Manchester City's constant pressure to bear fruit but instead in the second half Tottenham's counterattack proved deadly again as Son splendidly found Harry Kane who first-timed to make it 1-2. 

City continued attacking against a defensive but fighting Tottenham, who continued threatening on the counterattack (and in fact got another Harry Kane goal cancelled for a hair-thin offside). Two minutes into added time City got the equalizer on a well-taken penalty kick by Riyad Mahrez. Anyone would be forgiven to think that that was it, but Tottenham had another attack where a splendid cross by Dejan Kulusevski found Harry Kane's head and 2-3 for Tottenham.

Except for Manchester City, many are probably happy with the result: Harry Kane has not scored many goals this season, but his fourth and fifth season goals came in this crucial game, and he will be needed as Antonio Conte's side tries to get to Europe. Liverpool are surely also happy, as they are one match short with six points up to City, who may be feeling the pressure.

And in the end football fans like myself are happy that the Premier League continues to offer us so much excitement on a lazy Saturday morning in San Salvador!

Manchester United in trouble

It is seldom one sees as one-sided a classic match as that between Manchester United and Liverpool on Saturday, when Liverpool gave United a legendary trashing of 0-5. Despite all of Manchester United´s weaknesses, one must first give credit to a Liverpool side that has found its groove from a couple of years back, and who will be battling for the Premier League title with Chelsea (and possibly with Manchester City, but I predict a race between Liverpool and Chelsea). Mohamed Salah, with three goals against Manchester United, is back as possibly the best striker in the world at the moment, while balance in defense and midfield seems to be perfect for Liverpool. 

 In the meantime Manchester United has no defence, and it was incredible to see two such experienced players as Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw being outplayed again and again by Liverpool´s attacks. Cristiano Ronaldo is a threat by the mere fact of his immense talent; a World Class Player without a doubt, but it does seem that the team is struggling tactically to integrate him. It is a pity to have a player of such quality only to show him off rather than to make the team better, but that is what seems to be happening. A lot of people are saying that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should leave as a manager, and with these results it is hard to disagree with, although there is also a feeling that the problem is deeper that the Manager, and that Manchester United, despite its immensely talented squad, needs something else to improve.

The goalkeeper is the difference

The final of the Champions League 2018 was not as expected for two reasons: firstly, it was s disappointment for any football fan that Mohamed Salah got injured. The match lost a lot of its expectation even though Liverpool showed that they are a great team even without the Egyptian. But more unexpected was the horrible performance of Loris Karius. Liverpool have had goalkeeper problems for a long time, and Karius came in as an apparent saviour for the meager Mignolet. But the problem is that a great team cannot have a mediocre goalkeeper, and today Karius made all the mistakes that a goalkeeper cannot do.
I do not care about Karius. If you play at this level, you should have thick skin. But the truth is his mistakes were worthy of a bad YouTube video, and surely gave the victory to a Real Madrid side that for anything but the goalkeeper should have been up for Liverpool to defeat.
Real Madrid have beaten all European records and are surely the best team in history. But tonight they have one man to thank for it: Loris Karius.

The first Finalist

Never count Roma out: 5-0 down they managed to pull two goals back to lose 5-2 to Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal. So all they need to do now is what they did against Barcelona: win 3-0 in the second leg.
While predictions in football are something to avoid, I predict this will not happen. Liverpool defend better than Barcelona, and Roma coming back from behind a second time would be completely unprecedented in history. Liverpool are almost sure to be in the final in particular thanks to two players who were outstanding today: Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino each scored two goals and made two assists, and are looking hungry for more goals in Rome.
Never count Roma out, but I count them out.

Barcelona's unexpected elimination

I took time out for lunch to watch the Champions League semifinal in a restaurant in San Salvador. Manchester City-Liverpool was the match of choice. In San Salvador, few people watch English football, and most people prefer Barcelona or Real Madrid. So as everyone took for granted that Barcelona was through, there was nobody else watching football in the restaurant.
As expected Manchester City-Liverpool was a great match: City played a great first half, which they were unlucky not to be leading by more than a goal by halftime. But the second half saw a different Liverpool side emerge, as first Mohammed Salah and then Roberto Firmino gave the Reds a well-deserved victory and a place in the semifinal.
When Salah equalized for Liverpool it had become obvious that the match to watch was Roma-Barcelona, as the Italians were leading 2-0, and would sensationally go through with a third strike that all of a sudden did not look so impossible. Thus, many people in the Salvadorean restaurant turned their eyes towards the match, and were chocked to see Kostas Manolas score a third goal that in the end brought Roma through, and made them only the third team in the Champions League to overcome a three goal loss in the first match (the second one being Barcelona themselves when they defeated Paris St. Germain last season).
One cannot help but be happy for Roma, who did what everyone considered impossible, namely to defeat FC Barcelona's arrogance. Roma have done this throughout this season: Atletico Madrid and Chelsea underestimated them, but came behind them in the group stages. I do not think that Roma will win the Champions League, but any team that underestimates them will suffer the consequences.
I had a great lunch break, thank you.

The best

I am not a Liverpool fan, but I have to say that I think Mohamed Salah's stats are amazing and what he has achieved for Liverpool and for Egypt in the past year must awaken respect and admiration, which I have. If he continues on the same style over the coming year, he will probably be among the best in the world
Why not at least, if not better, than Neymar, Messi or Ronaldo? If Liverpool cannot win the Champions League or Premier League without him it is probably because the rest of the team are not up to the task (I always have been of the subjective opinion that one player cannot make a football team; it objectively takes 11): one has to wonder if Liverpool could not win a title with Luis Suarez, whether Mohamed Salah is simply too good for Liverpool...?

Two teams that will not be champions

Liverpool and Arsenal tied 3-3 in a very entertaining but poorly played match. "Entertaining for the neutral but not for the knowledgeable" as I saw on a tweet that was later deleted. Liverpool are currently on a roll; they play intense and high pressure, and with a Mohamed Salah who is at the top of his career (I have never been a big fan, and I am still of the opinion that he misuses too many chances) they are a scoring machine. But football is also about defending, and here Liverpool can in no way be hoping to win the title! 0-2 ahead, in full control, and it only took them 3 minutes they fall apart! While defending is absolutely dreadful, you also have to question why they were not 4-0 ahead against a dreadful Arsenal. On top of that you have a goalkeeper in Mignolet who costs goals: I still wonder where his hands were on Xhaka's equalizer.
Jurgen Klopp is a great manager because of his approach to football, confidence in his young players and passion for the match. But if he does not also focus on defending, he will remain a great manager without titles.

Arsene Wenger has given Arsenal more titles than such a club could ever hope for. That said, one has to wonder whether he is over the top, or whether it is even his responsibility that his players seem unmotivated for such a match. Arsenal's first half was a disgrace in attitude and fight in front of their fans. There were some improvements in the second half, where Alexis Sanchez 1-2 goal seemed to give them some faith. But in the end one came away with a bad impression of players like Alexis and Ozil, who really only show glimpses of their quality. Maybe Arsenal needs an overhaul, and maybe, just maybe, it will have to start with the man who they owe everything to, Arsene Wenger.

In any case, a great match, but I will come with a daring prediction (because all prediction about the PL are notoriously hard): none of these teams will be Premier League champions!