Pre-break weekend recap

So, with the Premier League having some issues, it was actually the perfect time for that to happen as my subscription for ESPN+ ends on the 20th and I'm not renewing at this point. Thus, outside of parts of Arsenal's win over Leeds, City thumping Newcastle and the Tot-Liv draw, it was all about German and Spanish football. It started on Friday, as Bayern once again beat Wolfsburg as Celta put Espanyol to the sword in Vigo. These two fixtures, in my opinion, illustrate the state of play in their respective leagues. Spanish football is boring and defensive. Half the teams set up to draw, or at best nick a 1-0, while the rest are wedded to the tiki-taka style of prime Barcelona. The "park the bus" style can be attributed to Simeone and later on Bordalas. In contrast, German football is where defending is optional, everyone presses, and there are chances pretty much every game on both ends.

Moving on to Saturday, I watched bits and pieces of a few games, including Sevilla 2-1 Atleti, Atalanta 1-4 Roma, and Hertha 3-2 Dortmund. I'm only going to mention Leeds briefly as that game was shambolic. How they aren't in the bottom three is a mystery. To be fair, there are tons of injuries, but the tactics and transfers are a mess. Anyway, I'm not surprised that Atleti lost either, given the team Simeone put out. Sevilla weren't even good, and tbh Madrid will probably win the league by 15-20 points. I had a feeling as soon as the Atalanta game was about to start that they'd find a way to concede early again, and it happened pretty much immediately. That team is a high quality Leeds. Can't defend for anything and Gasperini gets nowhere near the criticism for the defensive structure, or lack thereof. Again, Roma were just clinical. It was Deja vu of the Milan and Villarreal losses. I laugh (or at least I would) when people suggest that they'll "challenge" for the Scudetto or make a deep Europa run. Have you watched this team? Even with Demiral, and Romero before him, the defense concedes way too many easy chances. Musso looks like crap for it. Imagine going from a defensive Udinese to one of if not the most wide open defense in football. Speaking of open defenses, that's been Dortmund since about 2014. I have no idea how they haven't managed to find a half decent back four. They've finally gotten a decent keeper in Kobel, but look at the bums in front of him. Emre Can was one of the first players I correctly assessed, as he's nowhere near technical enough or positionally aware enough in midfield, and he's not a CB in any good defense. He even forced Witsel to play CB, which is a horrible idea. Then you have Meunier, who can't defend. Schulz is barely a footballer at this point. Pongracic is arguably worse than Schulz and was allowed to leave Wolfsburg, a supposed rival. Hertha don't win that without Hitz in goal, either, mind. Let's put it this way. The three teams mentioned in this paragraph that dropped to Europa from CL are there for a reason, and I didn't learn anything new about any of them.

Sunday, the day I'm writing this, has been decent I'd say. I watched all of Athletic-Betis, and the Basque side actually managed to shoot the ball in the direction of the net and it went in a few times! I know good and well the issues Athletic have, and I'll maybe do a mini-series on them while their matches are still somewhat in my head. Thus, I was more looking at Betis, who were 3rd going in and remain there for the time being. Basically, I still think the team lacks some things. Willian Jose is an enigma. He's got 5 goals and 4 assists, but he's gangly, not particularly fast, and is hit or miss in front of goal. Betis has nearly 60% of the ball and he completed 23/29 passes and had 0/2 shot on target with one blocked. Guardado was missed, as Carvalho plus Guido is a too much of the same in midfield. Especially in a game where Athletic were always going to sit back if the press didn't work and look to counter. I also thought Silva wasn't great in goal, as Inaki scored twice and he struggles to even shoot the ball on target at times. The third goal was a wicked deflection, to be fair. But yeah, a Champions League spot is well within reach, but it's Betis, so I expect them to find a way to mess it up.

In Germany, both Freiburg and Koeln were deserved winners at home, defeating Leverkusen and Stuttgart, respectively. I have to say that the league is way, way less watchable as a spectacle without fans. I mean, every league is like that to an extent, but I can watch the PL and Serie A even with empty stadiums. It's like watching a friendly or something with the action going back and for with relatively little tactical nous. I've written about Freiburg, and it was more of the same. Effective is the word. Stuttgart remind me of Koeln last season and the Europa/relegation campaign. Tons of injuries, sloppy in attack and in their own box, sleepwalking toward a relegation playoff. Luckily for them, Furth are abysmal, while Bielefeld and Augsburg will likely be down there all season.

A quick note on the PL games. Not that my opinion matters, but the excuses are warranted for Liverpool on the day, but not Chelsea. City were always going to batter Newcastle. In fact, I could do a semi-rant on the shambles at that club. Steve Bruce was horrible, but Eddie Howe? Seriously? To fix a defense and avoid relegation? This dude is the opposite of that. I actually think he and Dean Smith would've done better if they switched places. Smith can actually coach a defense, and Howe can work with attackers. Yet there they are, seemingly doomed to relegate their teams. Looking at the table, acknowledging that there are uneven games played, it is true that the top 7 has shaken out to what it "should" be, with West Ham effectively taking Leicester's place after they took Everton's place as the "best of the rest". I think the bottom half are all pretty flawed, but the current bottom four are clearly worse than the others. That said, Chelsea won't sustain anything until they find a manager who gets results while playing good football. It's the Simeone conundrum all over again, but Chelsea have the money and academy to paper over cracks year after year while firing coach after coach.

I have a couple other games to discuss potentially at some point, including Milan-Napoli and La Real-Villarreal. Knowing the results is kinda lame, but it is what it is. I'm thinking of some transfer type stuff with the window opening soon, especially with leagues having planned and unplanned breaks. Say, some CL and Europa teams as they prepare for the second half of the season.