Player of the week
Phil Foden is in the middle of the biggest heat check since then Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things. He was the best player on the pitch during City’s 3-1 win in the Manchester derby, finishing with two goals, including a now trademark stunner from the edge of the penalty area.
Sometimes you can tell that a player has made a mini jump, even if the numbers don’t show it. While others have been in and out of the line-up this year, Foden has been City’s constant. He has played more games for Pep Guardiola this season than at any other time in his career.
According to the advanced stats, this was a standard Foden season, albeit with an increase in shots. But he delivers important performances with more pressure on his shoulders. With Erling Haaland missing big chances, Kevin De Bruyne missing time through injury and others being cycled in and out of the lineup, City are routinely turning to Foden to pick up wins.
The focus on Foden’s End Product™ has (a little) clouded the development of his all-round game. As a player, Foden’s greatest strength is his unpredictability: it’s impossible to know at any moment whether he will zigzag here or there. He can drop into space and feed players in front of him; he can zoom in behind. No other City player has such a refined bundle of skills.
Controversy of the week
Isn’t it nice to have another weekend determined by an official decision? If you want a full account of the disaster at the end of Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, head here.
In short, referee Paul Tierney wrongly gave Liverpool a drop ball in the eighth minute of extra time at the end of the match. Liverpool went to the other side of the pitch and two minutes later Darwin Núñez scored a last-second winner. From there, bedlam.
We can debate how much of an impact Tierney’s decision had on the winner. After all, Forest had a few chances to clear the ball before Liverpool put it in the net. But for those with non-Liverbird tinted glasses, it was probably a lot. Former referee Mike Dean described it as a ‘monumental mistake’.
What we can all agree on: Forest’s handling of the post-match situation was a farce. The club sent out their newly appointed ‘referee analyst’, Mark Clattenburg, to flood the airwaves with their side of the story. It is a damning indictment of the league that a former official is now appointed by a club to cover Malcolm Tucker when a decision they don’t agree with goes against them.
When Clattenburg was initially appointed, it was sold as a role built around data analytics and internal communications – all common for Premier League clubs, although typically the work of data scientists. Clattenburg, we were told, would help teach the Forest coaches and players the rules and compile files on the various referring teams. It was clear to anyone with eyes and ears that it belonged to Clattenburg Real The role would be to give the club an outlet to fire on officials without manager Nuno Espírito Santo taking any responsibility.
“I won’t comment on the referee,” Espírito Santo said after the match, leaving it to Clattenburg to do the heavy PR work.
This was Clattenburg’s first rodeo as a chief spinner. Let’s hope this will be the last.
Save of the week
On the other side of the Forest controversy, there was a result that kept Liverpool at the top of the table. “If you had told me 12 days ago, we would have won all four games,” Jurgen Klopp said after the game against Forest. ‘I would have said: no chance.’
If Liverpool win the league, people will rightly point to the young replacements further up the pitch who have stepped up in the absence of senior pros all over the pitch. But it’s over Caoimhín Kelleher’s ability to retain Klopp’s team in matches that have provided the platform for their recent form. There are now five wins on the line for Liverpool in all competitions. In the last three they conceded a cumulative xG of 5.76, but did not concede a goal.
Here are the league’s current top three goalkeepers in shot-stopping percentage who have played at least 600 minutes:
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André Onana, Manchester United
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Alisson Becker, Liverpool
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Caoimhin Kelleher, Liverpool
How great it is to have Kelleher as a backup goalkeeper. Since being thrust into the starting line-up due to Alisson Becker’s hamstring injury, Kelleher has been as productive as any goalkeeper in the league. Take any measurement you want – quit rate; expected goals after the shot; actions off the beaten track – and you’ll find Kelleher at or near the top of the list. He spares A ridiculous A large number of shots would have to be fired. However, he has saved his best Alisson impression for one-on-one stops.
Klopp’s expansive style puts pressure on his goalkeepers to get off the line quickly. Halfway through the Forest match, Kelleher made another crucial save and rushed home denied Anthony Elanga, who ran through on goal.
Had Kelleher played even at a league-average level over the past month, Liverpool’s title hopes would likely have disintegrated. Instead, they have maintained a title challenge despite injuries. They’ve lost one of the league’s best goalkeepers and seemingly found another.
Goal of the week
This, from Marcus Rashfordis football as high art:
“If you support me, great,” Rashford said this week. “If you doubt me, even better.” What better way to answer critics than to shoot one from 30 yards in a hometown derby.
However, despite Rashford’s efforts, it was a disappointing performance from United. They conceded three avoidable goals and finished with just three total shots, only one of which (Rashford’s) was on target. Problems that had plagued them all season returned against the league’s best. They finished with just 26% possession. City finished with more total shots (27) than the percentage of United who had the ball. Without Rashford’s strike it would have been another routine win for City.
Hymn of the week
Chelsea arrived late and grabbed a 2-2 draw against Brentford. It was another frustrating afternoon, with Chelsea controlling the first half and then wilting as Brentford applied pressure early in the second half.
Rushing defense is built into Brentford’s DNA, and Chelsea were unable to keep their composure as their opponents began to increase the pace. Chelsea fans let their manager know how they felt and offered a round of anti-Pochettino chants and singing the name of former manager José Mourinho – on Pochettino’s birthday no less.
Pochettino is one of many problems. But he is a problem. Chelsea’s performances have been messy all season. They have no organizing purpose, no structure, no guidance when the game gets exciting. Pochettino was hired to mold a hodgepodge of players into a team – and Chelsea are no closer today to having a blueprint for the next twelve months than when he first took the job.
The whining about Chelsea’s $1 billion spend has (rightly) taken away much of the vitriol. The loose approach to the transfer window was the club’s biggest problem. All of this is baked into the adjustment period. But the confusion and aimlessness are still shocking at times. Pochettino is approaching an almost full season of games, but the list of questions is growing: where is the development? Which of the young investments is significantly better today than when they first signed? What would the top version of Pochettino’s Chelsea look like?
As we approach the latter part of the season, Chelsea find themselves in the bottom half of the table. They have won just once in their last five league matches. They lost a cup final that was there for the taking. They now hope they can win the FA Cup and collect enough points to finish in the top half of the table. As a reminder, they won the Champions League three seasons ago. By the time next season rolls around, it is unlikely there will be European football at Stamford Bridge.
Building a team is certainly about incremental improvement. But Chelsea has shown nothing under Pochettino. The dubious experiment feels increasingly doomed.