Matchday 6 - Quick Round Up

Match Day 6 Round Up

Saturday 10th October

Arsenal 2-1 Leeds United

A tough day at home for the defending champions, who were second best for large periods of the game, and probably overall as well, but they did what champions do and found a way to come up with the win. Leeds were very good, causing Arsenal no end of trouble down their right flank, with Bogle and Justin causing havoc going forward. They looked like they had completely nullified the Gunners, right up until Arsenal equalised and then quickly added a winner, but Leeds will feel like they could have got much more from the game. Having taken two thrashings from Arsenal last season, Leeds can be satisfied that they are moving in the right direction and have improved this season.

Starmen:
Konsa - most of the Arsenal players struggled, but he looked very assured in defence for them.
Tanaka - harried and hassled the Gooners into mistakes. He had a very good game.

Flops:
White - while he did get an assist, he was poor all game and looked sluggish at times. He was at fault for allowing the cross in for Leeds to score.
Trafford - his kicking under pressure is woeful and he should have saved one of the goals.
Okafor - had a very poor game.

Chelsea 5-1 Bournemouth

A quick-fire double in the first few minutes effectively killed the game as a contest as the Cherries never really looked a threat. Under Iraola, this Bournemouth team looked full of invention and always seemed likely to score, but this season, despite working incredibly hard, the team looks utterly toothless. They play some pretty stuff and pressurise the opposition very well, but they still somehow manage to be too open defensively at times. It is very odd to watch as, on the face of it, they are playing a very similar way to last season, but they seem miles off the team they were. Chelsea look the same - good going forward but full of gaping holes and disorganisation at the back. Even the return of Caicedo could not help them to keep a clean sheet. One thing the match did highlight is the absurdity to xG stats, with the score at 4-1 Bournemouth's xG was much higher than Chelsea's. Without context it is just another meaningless stat, as it fails to take into account the players that are getting the chances. If Joe Gomez is on the goalline with the ball at his feet and only has to tap it in, I would say the chances of a goal being scored are far less than any ball around the edge of the box that a player should as Szobszlai can run on to, but xG would give a ridiculously higher chance for Gomez to score.

Starmen:
Henderson - rolled back the years, sort of as he was never much of a goalscorer even at his peak, getting two goals and an assist.
Pedro - not just because he scored a double, but also because he was doing the tracking back and helping out at the back when needed that has been missing from the front three this season.

Flops:
Lacroix - if there was a chance that Bournemouth would get back into it, then he would have been the man making it. He seems a bit nervy, maybe he is just not settled in properly yet.
Rayan - he had a very poor game, he did not look happy in the role given to him at all.
Brooks - anonymous.
Silva - made a bad error for one of Chelsea's goals and never seemed to recover. Needs to improve his positioning.

Manchester United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Two awful teams playing it for the title of best of the worst. Manchester United still look half fit and lumber around the pitch like the players are towing caravans. There is no team cohesion, no balance in the midfield and a general lack of quality to the play. They just look to be extremely badly coached, like a lower league side reliant on the players to come up with something as there is little in the way of tactics. Spurs have become even more Spursy than ever, pretty and flashy football but no actual effectiveness. Adding in a manager as lacking in temperament as de Zerbi was just asking for trouble. One thing they do have over United is that they look like they are coached, it is just that the coaching is teaching them the wrong things and they just end up running themselves out of position constantly, leaving huge holes for opponents to exploit. There is no defensive acumen there, just flashy weak, but volatile, players, a lot like their manager in character, they lack substance and lose the plot over nothing.

Starmen:
Mbeumo - scored United's goal and was one of very few that looked up for it and worked hard.
Yoro - had a decent game at right-back and the defence looked much weaker when he went off.

Flops:
Carrick - the least he should be able to do is get the players fit and working hard for the fans, but he does not seem capable of either.
Lammens - he looks like he is beginning to suffer a bit of shellshock behind that defence as his confidence seems to be slipping.
Martinez - one of the worst pieces of defending I have ever seen, it is one thing to be beaten for a goal but quite another to turn your back on the ball and not even know where it is.
Shaw - he has never been the best at keeping himself in shape and he looks to be carrying a bit of extra timber now.
Tielemans - he does not work with Mainoo well at all. The balance is all wrong and he is definitely the weaker link of the two.
Fernandes - has not been at his best this season.
Kudus - very Tottenham, he was flashy but ineffective.
Gray - an absolutely dreadful full-back, it is doing him no favours to persist with playing him there as it is clearly not his position. He is not a good defender and he offers no quality going forward either. It feels like Spurs have wasted a young talent so far.
van Hecke - hopeless.
Senesi - made van Hecke look top class. If United players were towing caravans, he was towing a caravan and running in treacle. Awful defender.
Udogie - so weak and offers nothing to the team.
Bentancur - despite his manager's backing, his sending off (and the wild lunges from himself and van der Ven which led to the incident) just showed a petulant child, not a winner. The lad has plenty of ability but he is prone to this childishness and getting sent off after losing his head over nothing.

Aston Villa 2-2 Brentford

Villa are showing signs of stirring into life after a poor start to the season, the Bees are a tough side to face but Villa would have won the game but for some incredibly poor defending by Mings, who had a mare. He does tend to have the odd error in him, but he was generally poor, constantly misjudging the ball. That is something you cannot do against Brentford, as they will pressure any weaknesses they find. Brentford were once again very good, showing some good stuff but Villa were able to match them physically and that lessened their threat.

Starmen:
Jackson - a well-taken goal and some good play from the big forward. He looks like he could be a good fit for Villa.
McGinn - the other Villa scorer and their leader on the pitch.
Yarmoliuk - scored and was key to Brentford's play.

Flops:
Mings - had a day to forget, including an error to give away the first goal.
Lewis-Potter - back in the midfield and he looked a bit lost.

Ipswich Town 2-1 Fulham

Fulham are in a real mess under Arbeloa. Yes, they do play some very pretty football at times, but they are so ineffective and wide open defensively that they look like a team destined for the drop. Ipswich are not a good team at this level, but they work hard and defend like it matters, something which you do not get from Fulham players. They are the very epitome of fancy dans at the moment. The Tractor Boys have a bit of fight and that was the difference.

Starmen:
O'Shea - solid defending and scored.
Lukic - facing his former team, he is making it look a bad error to sell him. His bite is badly missed in midfield.
King - he looks far too good for his team mates.

Flops:
Maeda - works hard and is very quick, but lacks quality.
Garcia - not got up to speed in the Premier League yet.

Sunderland 0-2 Brighton & Hove Albion

While a lot are already beginning to write off Sunderland and question whether this second season syndrome, it seemed to me more that they just badly missed Brobbey's presence up top. Brighton are an excellent, well-drilled team, whose quick passing football is perfect to cope with going down to ten men, so this result is really not a surprise. With Brobbey due back soon, Sunderland do need to pick up results quickly, before they do end up mired in a relegation battle, especially with the extra games this season due to European participation. Those extra games were always going to ensure this season was not as good for them in the Premier League, but they need to work hard to ensure it does not become more than just a distraction.

Starmen:
Sadiki - I do wonder how much longer he can keep up this relentless pace before he needs a rest.
Gross - another assist and stand out performance from the veteran German. If he was ten years younger, BHA would have so many teams beating down their door trying to sign him. His assist was a beautiful pass, threaded through the eye of a needle almost, with perfect weight to allow De Cuyper to hit it first time.
Vuskovic - his defending has improved them over last season, but it is his ability to play out from the back, very similar to a right-sided Van Dijk, that has changed their play for the better.

Flops:
Hume - he can play pretty much any position, but he rarely plays at anything other than just a makeshift player's level. Great attitude but not really good enough to be a starter at this level.
Angulo - needs to do more.
Isidor - very poor.
Struijk - had looked lucky to escape a red card after a clear foul on Isidor, who was running through on goal, but, after a lengthy check, VAR called the referee over to the monitor to rightly send him off. You have to wonder how the referee did not see that initially, very poor officiating to miss it.

Sunday 11th October

Liverpool 0-3 Manchester City

Not quite as straightforward a win for City as the result may seem, as they needed the help of the officials to win a game that was probably edged by Liverpool prior to the ludicrous sending off, with Kavanagh (who just happens to be from Greater Manchester) desperate to get his cards out over nothing. Neither booking for Gravenberch were bookable challenges in my opinion, in fact it is arguable that either were even a genuine foul, particularly the first. Once Liverpool went down to 10 men, Citeh were far too strong for a team that was unable to reorganise before conceding. Doing that against a team with the quality they have is only going to lead to leaving yourself wide open trying to get back into the game, as it proved, and City were able to pick Liverpool apart pretty easily. It is such a shame that Kavanagh felt the need to destroy what was such an interesting and well-balanced game until his intervention.

Starmen:
Kavanagh - he was the difference between the two sides and stepped up when City needed the result.

Flops:
Kavanagh - destroyed a good game with a sending off so pathetic that it makes you want to check his bank accounts.

Crystal Palace 3-1 Nottingham Forest

Palace and Forest are two teams that look to be struggling and badly needed the result, but the extra motivation of facing their former coach seemed to give the Londoners an edge, which they used to beat Forest. Even with the quick start, following a loose header back, Forest do not look right in this set up. They are just not built for a back three, they have soft wide players playing in the centre, which leads to them being easily run through and they lack a top class striker. Delap works hard but his finishing is poor and his all-round game is not Premier League level. It is hard to understand the talk of him being Kane's long term England replacement, he is very much a worse version of Calvert-Lewin. Glasner's limitations are being exposed at the moment, as his team set up is to be solid defensively and hit on the break, but he does not have the players to build that solid base. Palace look wide open under Sage, though they do look much better going forward now, they still need to tighten up at the back. For a long period at the start, they looked in danger of getting a beating and only a lack of quality finishing by Forest kept them in it. Palace's equaliser did very much come against the run of play, but it also felt like it would come, as Forest passed up chance after chance to extend their lead.

Starmen:
Pino - when he is at it, like he was in this game, he is a very good dribbler and very dangerous.
Kamada - scored the equaliser and was very good, always moving.
Gibbs-White - needs help as he is pretty much having to do everything on his own.

Flops:
Canvot - could have cost his team the game by trying to be clever up against Gibbs-White. Not sure why he felt the need to try and dribble past him but it just led to him giving away the ball.
Khalaili - gave away the ball to gift Forest their goal.
Delap - needs to be better. There is an England place up for grabs and he is not looking like a good option to provide goals.
Wharton - non-existent until the game went to 3-1.

Hull City 2-2 Everton

This is one of those games that sums up Moyes and his ambitions. He goes out not to lose and his team is set up more for perspiration than inspiration. In games like this, that tends to just lead to results like this, even though the Tigers were there for the taking. Hull have had a good start to the season and are high in confidence, which meant they kept going and never gave the Toffees any rest. Despite that, Everton should be very disappointed as it was a game there for them to win, they just need to cut out the errors at the back and the weak finishing. Hull just need to keep going as they are, any results this season are a bonus for a team that went into last season just expecting to be battling against relegation and by some miracle achieved promotion.

Starmen:
Armstrong - looks a good young talent who is earning his place in the team.
Dewsbury-Hall - a goal and an assist.

Flops:
Giles - could say this about almost everyone in the squad, but he just does not look Premier League quality.
Thomas - cost the team a goal, though he did get an assist to cancel that out. His all-round game is poor, so lacking in quality I am still not sure what made them buy him.
Johnson - so far it is not working out for him at the Toffees.
Maitland-Niles - another with an assist who cost his team a goal.

Monday 12th October

Coventry City 4-1 Newcastle United

A game that lacked quality, apart from a few flashes from Rudoni, but showcased how poor the Toon's defensive set up is. This is not a good Coventry side, but Newcastle made them look like PSG at times. Jaissle seems unable to organise a defence, which was all over the place despite hardly being challenged by the quality of the Coventry play. It is not really possible to emphasis enough how bad Newcastle were, as they were very well-beaten by a Sky Blues team that showed little. They did not need to, that is the sad thing, Newcastle were so bad that they could stroll through their defence at will, as Mfuni did when he added the 4th.

Starmen:
Rudoni - scored the penalty to open the scoring and showed flashes of quality at times.
Cherif - he was not great but his goal was good and he did well to win the penalty. Not at all bad for a back up stepping up.

Flops:
Mason-Clark - a bit anonymous.
Fernandez-Pardo - does not look like a centre-forward at all. Very poor performance once more.
Wissa - weak performance.
Murphy - so bad, it was no surprise he got taken off.
Botman - yes, he scored the Newcastle goal but he was abysmal throughout other than that. An error-strewn performance from the centre-back.
Hornicek - after a good start to his Newcastle career, he is beginning to look a bit shaky.
Joelinton - came on to rescue a result but just helped Coventry with a bad mistake.

Written by Tris Burke October 14 2026 16:35:47