Football News: Matchday 10 - Quick Round Up

Match Day 10 Round Up

Saturday 1st November

Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 Leeds United

A very one-sided game, which saw Leeds look like relegation fodder as they were comprehensively beaten. Brighton are not a great team this season, but they do seem to have Leeds' number and there was little jeopardy in the match. If Leeds are to have any chance of staying up, they need to show a lot more fight than this.

Starmen:
Welbeck - showing some real form right now, even leading to some calling for him to return to the England fold! Got another goal today, but you always feel another injury is around the corner for him.
Gomez - two goals in the game for him.

Flops:
Leeds team - I could pick out any of their players, but not one of them were good enough or showed enough fight.
Farke - he is showing the exact same inadequacies he displayed when in charge of Norwich City in the Premier League. Far too timid in away games and lacks the ambition to actually send the players out to win.

Burnley 0-2 Arsenal

Another very comfortable win, this time for the away side as the Gunners strolled to a very easy victory. Another similarity is the negative set up of the promoted team, who set out to try and get a draw and ended up getting spanked because of their negative approach. Though, to be fair to Burnley, there was an extremely high probability that they would have got beaten no matter what they tried. There is such a huge gulf between the two teams, it was a tough ask for the Clarets to pick up anything from the game.

Starmen:
Dubravka - kept the score down, almost singlehandedly.
Tuanzebe - held the defence together and stopped it becoming a demolition. Finally starting to show signs of becoming the player Man Utd thought they had all those years ago.
Gyokeres - a game that allowed him to show what he is about, and he gave the Burnley defence a difficult time, as well as notching a goal.
Rice - head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. Not just for his goal, but for the excellence of his all-round play.

Flops:
The Rest of the Burnley team - they were given a football lesson.
Gabriel - I had him among the stars of the match until he picked up a stupid needless booking right at the end. Those kind of silly bookings lead to bans, and that can be the difference in a title race. Such a shame as he has been excellent over the last couple of years, but he does have a rash streak.

Crystal Palace 2-0 Brentford

For all the plaudits Keith Andrews is getting for Brentford's start to the season, he was given a lesson against Palace by Glasner. There was a clear gap, gulf even, in quality between the way the two teams played, with the Bees looking very disorganized defensively. The one thing Palace have very much in their favour is organization. They are set up to defend deep and hit on the counter and they do it very well, even against another team looking to do the same in the shape of Brentford.

Starmen:
Guehi - he has really stepped up a level, maybe even two this season. Not just in terms of his defending, but in his all-round play.
Lerma - breaks up play really well and is so strong in the air that he is brilliant on defensive setpieces.
Mateta - you have to wonder why Man Utd did not go for him, rather than Sesko this summer. He offers so much more than the youngster does right now and could have made a real difference this season.

Flops:
Collins - his own goal really killed the game early in the second half.
Yarmoliuk - there is genuine ability there, but he is incredibly ball greedy and so many potential counters die at his feet as he takes far too many touches and misses the chance to release the ball forward.

Fulham 3-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves are an absolute mess at the moment and it is little wonder this match led to the end of Pereira. It was almost like he was trying to get the sack by dropping the club's two best players to the bench for this game. His bizarre team selections have been head scratching all season, the big question was why Wolves thought it was a good idea to give Pereira a new 3-year deal just recently! All season they have been awful and it is no surprise they got demolished by a decent Fulham side.

Starmen:
Sessegnon - opened the scoring and had a good day with Wolves down to ten men early on.
Jimenez - the Mexican assisted Sessegnon with the opening goal on his return to Molineux.

Flops:
Pereira - his idiotic decision to drop both Joao Gomes and Andre from the midfield was enough of a reason to sack him alone! It is no wonder he never lasts long anywhere.
Strand-Larsen - looks lost up front with no pace to trouble opposition defences and terrible service.
Agbadou - he is having a season to forget, it was a stupid sending off.

Nottingham Forest 2-2 Manchester United

A proper ding-dong battle of two surprisingly well matched teams. Forest are clearly in a false position relative to the quality of players they possess, but having European football to deal with, as well as the Premier League, is tough on players who are not used to it. Man Utd are showing the advantage of not having to worry about it for once and so are able to concentrate everything on moving up the table. There are some clear weaknesses in both sides, for Forest it is goal scoring from midfield, so it would have been good for them to see Gibbs-White score for a change. He really needs to step his game up on that side of things if he is to become a top quality midfielder. For United, the weakness is the wing-back positions. The left-side has a lack of quality and the right-side is defensively weak while Amad is there. In fact Ed77 texted me complaining about that a number of times during the game, only to text me in absolute despair asking why Amorim had not taken him off when he made substitutions. Of course, that message reached me just as Amad went and equalised!

Starmen:
Murillo - saved a certain goal right at the end with a goal line clearance.
Anderson - a top class midfielder who Newcastle must still be gutted to have had to sell to clear FFP issues.
Savona - beginning to look like a quality full-back.
Gibbs-White - finally got a goal! Just needs to score more regularly.
Cunha - a top class player who can take the fight to teams on his own if need be. Possibly the signing of the season?
Casemiro - I am not a big fan of Casemiro, his passing is inconsistent and he has had a lack of mobility due to a lack of basic fitness and being overweight. But he has improved his basic fitness now and his game has picked up as a result. His experience is invaluable to this team.

Flops:
Sels - flaps at too many balls into the box and was lucky Murillo covered in behind when he did so late in the game with a ball that would have been far easier to catch under no pressure.
Ndoye - just looks a level below what is needed in the Prem.
Sesko - nowhere near ready yet for the Premier League. He might come good, but he is not good right now.
Dalot/Dorgu - neither are good enough.

Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Chelsea

I doubt Chelsea will have an easier game all season, as Spurs just strolled through the game with a horrible attitude, which all ended with a few of the players flouncing off down the tunnel ignoring the manager and the club's fans. They should have been apologising to the Tottenham fans, particularly Spence, whose attitude stank throughout the 90 minutes, barely breaking sweat and making no effort to get back when needed. For Chelsea, it was just a training game with little intensity to allow them to save their energy for the rest of the season. Hard to believe that Spurs see Chelsea as a rival, as they displayed no fight and fully deserved to be booed off. It must be said that Frank needs to be stronger and get his tactical plan across, rather than allow them to fanny about at the back with the ball until they give it away. He was not brought in to continue playing the same way, he was brought in to bring his style of play in an attempt to turn Spurs into a team that is competitive at the top end of the table.

Starmen:
Vicario - kept the score respectable.
Caicedo - was everything Spurs are currently missing.

Flops:
van de Ven - terrible error for the goal.
Porro - would have struggled to pass wind, let alone the ball, during this match.
Spence - too lazy to close down and shut down the opposition or to track back. Spent most of the game moving at that pretend run speed that players do when they are being hurried off at substitutions.
Simons - I really have no idea what people saw in him before he joined Spurs, but now I am thinking I overrated him as well, and I thought he was exceedingly average before they signed him!
Neto - far too busy picking arguments and whining to play at his best. He is so much better than he is showing.

Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa

The absolute perfect match for Liverpool to get back on track as Villa came to play, rather than to exploit Liverpool's weaknesses. They were on an excellent run of form and so it is understandable Emery just wanted to continue on with what was working for them, however Slot finally saw sense and reverted to what worked for Liverpool. That was the main difference. If Slot had continued playing the way he had set the Reds out for the start of the season, there is a very good chance Villa would have beaten them. Instead, he returned to the system and style that strolled to the title last season, with a team selection that was almost entirely last season's title winners, and it showed. This was a team that were comfortable playing this way and, as the confidence grew, they played better and better throughout the match. Emery is unfortunate in catching Liverpool at the wrong time, so that he just ended up contributing to a simple victory, rather than coming away with something from Anfield.

Starmen:
Robertson - with no need to worry about pace in behind him, he was able to push on at will.
Gravenberch - another goal for the Dutch midfielder.
Salah - gave Digne a torrid time and scored.
Szoboszlai - best player on the pitch, he was everywhere.
Rogers - a few moments of real quality from him, he was the only real dangerman for Villa.

Flops:
Watkins - looks so low on confidence at the moment and was feeding off scraps which did not help him.
Guessand - I am not sure what he offers to be honest.
Digne - tried everything to stop Salah and failed.
Martinez - his error set Liverpool on their way.

Sunday 2nd November

West Ham United 3-1 Newcastle United

A truly pathetic performance from the Geordies, after starting so well with an early goal. After that, they played like they were trying to conserve energy for the midweek European game and were dismantled by the Hammers. Normally, the one thing you expect from the Toon is a physical battle in midfield, but they were so far off it that the match was very one-sided. Surprisingly so. They look to be going backwards this season and currently look a long way from the team that challenged for the top 4 last season. Perhaps it was a case of arrogance though, as they acted like they expected to just have to turn up to get the win, especially after their early goal. One thing Nuno is good at though is getting a team togetherness and battling spirit from his players.

Starmen:
Potts - gave the defence a lot of protection. A very mature, assured performance.
Paqueta - must have his eye on a move to Newcastle in the summer judging by the amount of effort he put in. He was even working hard defensively and had an exceptional game, plus he scored just when they needed it.
Bowen - he is always a threat and is far too good to be playing in a relegation battle.

Flops:
Woltemade - barely featured in the game.
Gordon - he was absolutely outstanding as the worst player on the pitch. Sometimes it was hard to believe he is a professional footballer, as he played like someone who had won a competition to play in the game.
Newcastle midfield - how they only received one yellow card between them is beyond me. They do nothing but foul, and the fouls are always yellow card worthy, but somehow they seem to escape sanction.

Manchester City 3-1 Bournemouth

The quality difference in the players was stark, as Bournemouth, particularly, lack firepower up front, while Citeh have Haaland in devastating form. They have finally begun to find his runs, without needed Kevin De Bruyne to play him in, and that is all he needed. The Cherries are a good team, but it is clear that they are punching well above their weight right now, in terms of league position. Their defence is hopeless, understandably so considering they lost three members of their back four and the keeper in the summer. It is testament to Iraola that they are in such a lofty position at the moment, but he is going to have a hard job to keep them there without improving their defenders in January.

Starmen:
Haaland - no longer is he a brilliant finisher but poor all-round footballer. He has clearly worked extremely hard on his game and has become a capable link man too.
Doku - caused the Bournemouth backline no end of problems.

Flops:
Donnarumma - terrible error cost a goal.
Tavernier - plenty of effort but very little actual quality.
Diakite/Senesi - the drop in quality of the centre-backs from last season is stark. These two have a lot of improvement to make. Right now they are massively weak links.
Gannon-Doak - was brought on late on, with his team 3-1 down, yet he spent his entire time passing the ball back. He is one of the best at running with the ball, though his final ball is awful, but he failed to really attack the defence with the ball at his feet, despite receiving it with space to run into.

Monday 3rd November

Sunderland 1-1 Everton

A very disappointing return to Sunderland for Moyes, who seemed to be happy to settle for a point. A brilliant goal from Ndiaye gave him something to build on, but his usual lack of ambition kicked in and his team allowed Sunderland back in. To be fair to Sunderland though, they did massively contribute to Everton being the better team in the early part of the game. It took them 30 minutes to start to pass to their own teammates, but once they got going they were the better side. In the end, the Mackems will probably be feeling that they deserved to pick up all three points. Sunderland have a great fighting spirit, but their lack of quality back up is likely to tell at some point this season. They just need to have notched up enough points by then to keep them safe.

Starmen:
Ballard - battering ram of a defender who is a threat in the opposition box at set pieces. He holds the back line together.
Xhaka - he has grown into a superb midfielder with invaluable experience. He is the key player for this Sunderland team, he makes them tick. It is impressive just how much improvement he has continued to make even as a veteran player.
Ndiaye - he is a class act. Head and shoulders above the rest of the Everton team, they need to hold onto him for the long term if they are to move up the table.

Flops:
Hume - the weak point that Everton targeted from the kick off.
Barry - awful game from the forward. He offers nothing at the moment. Desperately needs a goal to boost his confidence.
Dewsbury-Hall - is not good enough on the ball for the role he is playing. Works hard but you need more from a 10.

Written by Tris Burke November 05 2025 21:27:43