Matchday 9 - Quick Round Up

Match Day 9 Round Up

Saturday 31st October

Chelsea 2-0 Manchester United

An interesting game, with two defences so bad that this could have been a very high-scoring game very easily. Particularly in the first half, which was shaded by Man Utd. In the second, Chelsea upped their game and Man Utd struggled and then their discipline evaporated. Not just in terms of the red card, but their overall play saw them fall apart and forget their position and instructions. It was a very poor performance, which Chelsea took full advantage of, without really needing to play that well to do so. It does leave even more question marks over Carrick, who, at best, is now hanging on by a thread to his job.

Starmen:
Lavia - man of the match with the kind of performance that will make Chelsea fans hope he can stay fit, at last.
Rogers - his goal was crucial to the result. The defending was embarrassingly poor but he took it well.

Flops:
Fofana - spent the first half desperately trying to give Man Utd a goal start! Awful defender who has absolutely no positional sense, or sense full stop.
Carrick - does not seem able to control his players, nor to get them fired up. Nor to get them fit. Oh and his tactics are terrible.
Martinez - lost his head, which he always seems to be on the verge of doing at the best of times. You have to question why he was in the team anyway after his outburst and his dreadful performances.
Maguire - the fact he is still there in Man Utd's central defence, after all these years of not being good enough to be there, is astonishing.

Coventry City 3-1 Sunderland

A proper relegation 6-pointer, even though it is very early in the season, it is clear to see that Sunderland's squad has been stretched too thin by European football and progress in the League Cup. Le Bris has some hard decisions to make as some of these players clearly need a bit of rotation, it is not physical from what I see, but mental refreshment they need. There is not the same movement as last season, they have become a little more cautious, as they have something to lose, unlike last season when there was no expectation or pressure on them and they could just charge forward freely. The biggest problem is the midfield though, Sadiki is a fantastic player, but he is being isolated in there as Xhaka is too deep and le Fee is too high up. Last season Xhaka was higher as the right-back inverted behind him, and le Fee dropped deeper to help out more. Without that, Sadiki is just being passed around and wearing himself out chasing shadows. Coventry are still a poor side at Premier League level, but they have energy and that same lack of fear that the Mackems had last season. However, they do not look like they have anything more than a relegation battle ahead of them this season.

Starmen:
Rudoni - he really is shining this season for Coventry and got another goal.
Awoniyi - his first Premier League goal since signing.
Mfuni - looks like a very good young player.

Flops:
Angulo - all flash but no real brains, not enough effort and does tricks in the wrong areas.
Hume - he is a trier but only good enough to be a back up, rather than a regular starter.
O'Nien - I am not sure if he is just struggling to get going after a long injury lay-off, but right now he is not looking good enough at Premier League level. His error led to one of the Coventry goals.
Alderete - he was having a poor game anyway, but he compounded that by getting sent off needlessly with two bookings in added on time at the end of the match.
Mandava - looked leggy and sluggish.

Hull City 2-2 Ipswich Town

Another relegation 6-pointer, with two teams that are currently not in the relegation places and are playing to stay that way. There is a real lack of quality between the two sides, both will need to invest heavily in their sides to stay in the Premier League in the long term. For now they are just hoping their battling qualities and hard work can bridge the gap in quality, which has so far been enough to see them in survival places, but it is unlikely to be enough unless they improve massively. Especially in the attacking third, despite there being four goals, that says more about the lack of good quality defenders, than it does about the ability of the forwards.

Starmen:
McBurnie - he got a goal and an assist.
Ouattara - got forward well to pick up an assist.

Flops:
Giles - he has a very nice delivery but he was unable to get forward much due to Hull's tactics.
Fatawu - an awful player who was out of his depth last season in the Championship with Leicester, he has shown nothing to suggest he is anything but a League One show pony so far.

Manchester City 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion

The Seagulls showing once again what a good side they are, especially when they have a lead to hold onto. They have the best goal difference in the Premier League due to having the ability to score goals from all over the park, as well as having a team well drilled in their defensive system. Watching them against City was very enjoyable. The players knew their roles, who to pick up, when to press and who to press, there was no hesitation, they work together extremely well as a team. City, on the other hand, look a long way away from the well drilled side that Guardiola created. They seem to be more reliant on individual players to create, rather than good team moves. That is not helped by the talk of Haaland leaving and all the other uncertainty around the club. Which meant it was nice to see them being 'roared' on by a 'capacity' crowd at the 'sold-out' Emptyhad. Strange how every week they report the stadium as sold out, but it is always half-empty, at a club that has been found guilty of falsely inflating income in order to give themselves more money to spend.

Starmen:
Doku - he was the biggest issue for Brighton, but he has returned to the player that first joined, that is incapable of providing a decent final ball.
Verbruggen - while City created very few clear-cut chances, the South Coast side still needed Verbruggen on a few occasions.

Flops:
Nunes - his error caused the goal.
Fernandez - offered little.
Haaland - barely got a pass.

Bournemouth 2-0 Leeds United

Leeds started off on fire against the in-form Cherries, having a goal chalked off for handball and looking the better side right up until Trafford's error gifted Bournemouth the lead. After that, Bournemouth gradually took control of the game. You could see the belief grow for the Cherries, while Leeds were just unable to handle their work rate and movement. It must be said, both teams work hard and are very well-drilled, but Bournemouth just have a little bit more of each as well as quality. How different could it have been but for the error, as Leeds were causing Bournemouth so many problems. It just shows how fine the margins are in the Premier League and how one moment can change an entire game.

Starmen:
Evanilson - his team-first ethic, one minute defending on the edge of his own box, the next attacking the opposition one, is exemplary. Normally his weakness is lack of goals but he got one this time.
Muharemovic - has had such an excellent start to the season.

Flops:
Tavernier - with Bogle and Justin linking so well down his side, it was a difficult day for him.
Trafford - his error changed the game. Thus is the life of a keeper, where an error usually leads to a goal, but every time I see him he always seems like he gives the opposition a chance. He does not like being under pressure at all, whether it is with the ball at his feet or when dealing with a ball played into the box, he is always prone to make a mistake.
Longstaff - was brought on as a sub to try and save the game, but instead he ended up killing it off in added on time with a mistake to gift Bournemouth their second.

Brentford 2-0 Nottingham Forest

This was a game that was mainly separated by Forest's awful finishing. In terms of overall play, there was nothing between the sides ahead of the goal, but that bit of luck went the Bees way and it did seem to knock the stuffing out of Forest. Brentford are flying high at the moment and it showed, they look full of confidence and even when they make mistakes, they just keep going. I do wonder how much the lack of goals affects Forest, they pretty much know the game is lost once they concede, which cannot be good for a player's mentality. They still do not look to be adapting to Glasner's style of play, there are few signs of it coming together, if any. Glasner must be in that group of managers who are in fear of their jobs over the international break.

Starmen:
Janelt - has to be one of the best bargain buys in Brentford's history.
Thiago - scored and is always a presence up top making it difficult for the defence.

Flops:
Schade - he is quick but offers little else.
Sels - needs to dominate his box more.
Milenkovic - not for the own goal so much as his overall play. He is simply not comfortable in a back three.
Delap - he is not just an abysmal finisher, he is also brainless. The amount of silly fouls he gifts needlessly is ridiculous. He is big and strong and quick, he should be just putting his frame in the way and making the defender foul him, but instead he is throwing his arms about, grabbing, pulling, pushing and generally making it easy for defenders.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Crystal Palace

A difficult game to consider as Palace lost any chance to compete when Mateta got sent off in the 13th minute. From then on, the game was completely one-sided as Palace just failed to get the ball and keep it. Despite being left plenty of openings to pass out when they did get the ball back, they were quick to just give it back to Spurs with slack passes and poor play. They were so bad that they made Spurs look good. It is crazy what they have done, a mistake they repeat time and time again under Parish, to go straight from an extremely defensive coach to an attacking one. Then he wonders why it fails and goes straight back to an extremely defensive coach. Why can he not see that he either accepts the short term pain of transition, even if it means relegation, if he wants to have an attacking team or he does it in steps by bringing in a slightly less defensive minded coach first, to baby step the club towards a completely different style of play. It is either that or he needs to bring in a lot more players, as very few of this squad look capable of playing a more attacking way.

Starmen:
Tel - this tells you how bad the Palace defending was that they allowed Tel to run amok at times.
Kudus - he was given so much space to play.
Mitchell - the one Palace outfield player who turned up and he was very good.
Henderson - kept them in the game.

Flops:
Solanke - even against ten men he failed to shine.
Mateta - it was a silly challenge which got him sent off.
Wharton - supposed to be so good on the ball but he was dreadful, his passing left a lot to be desired and his lack of mobility left huge gaping holes in front of the Palace defence.

Aston Villa 1-1 Fulham

First half was Villa's, the second Fulham's, who stepped up their game markedly at half-time. Villa played well in the first half and should have built a bigger lead but their second half was a disappointing performance. They were flat from the start and that allowed Fulham to get on the ball and take control. Villa seemed happy to sit back and look to hit on the counter, which could have very easily seen them pick Fulham off, but they did not make the most of their chances to break. Fulham created chances, but they lack quality and that meant they probably would not have scored without a helping hand from the otherwise excellent Suzuki. Without his horrendous error of an own goal, as he caught a corner in space, under no challenge, he dropped it just over the line before he could rescue it, but without that he would have been in the running for man of the match.

Starmen:
Manzambi - hard working and very good player.
Jackson - another goal for a player who was looking like a player whose career was in the gutter just a few months ago.

Flops:
Torres - got a little overrun at times, as his lack of pace was exploited by Fulham's movement.
McGinn - his failure from the penalty spot was crucial, but his overall game was not at his usual level.
Berge - gave away the penalty with a silly handball, no idea why his arm was up there.
Charles - very poor performance, particularly in the first half when he was abysmal.

Sunday 1st November

Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal

Despite the result, an enjoyable game of, to a large degree, Liverpool's attack against Arsenal's defence. Arsenal showed why they are reigning champions, with a willingness to dig in and do whatever it takes to hold out, also got a bit of luck with VAR deciding to fall asleep on the Isak shirt pull, but you need all that to win trophies. Liverpool showed that they are tactically strong enough to outplay anyone but are a still a long way short of a title challenge due to their lack of attacking options suited to Iraola's style of play. It was impressive how he managed to get that side to dominate the game so well with only ten men, as Isak is, at best, a man down unless he scores. Even so, the only real difference between the two teams was a mistake at the back by Liverpool.

Starmen:
van Dijk - after being assigned to shut down Odegaard, he put him out of the game completely.
Gabriel - as excellent defensive performance, just ruined by his play acting to try and get Nyoni sent off. Refs need to clamp down on that, he and Mac Allister's antics, in particular, were shameful.

Flops:
Isak - if he tried making some runs, he might have got some chances. Awful, feckless performance once again, but this time he did not have a goal to cover up his uselessness. He has to offer more.
Barcola - I just do not see a 100m player there at all. Yes, he is very fast and skillful, but he has no end product at all.

Monday 2nd November

Newcastle United - Everton

A poor game, Newcastle are a team that is so badly coached as to look completely uncoached. Defensively they are shambolic, there is no organisation at all there and offensively it is all about individual players producing something. Unfortunately for Toon supporters, who unsurprisingly are getting increasingly toxic regarding Jaissle, there is so little quality in the team that almost nothing gets produced. The Toffees could, and should, have given them an absolute pasting, but Moyes, as always, has them playing with the handbrake on. In fact, it was more like switching the engine off altogether and just coasting they seemed so afraid to commit bodies forward. Yet every time they did commit bodies forward, they created chances. Newcastle, unless they change very quickly, are headed to a relegation battle under Jaissle and Everton had a chance to do their goal difference the world of good, but three points is three points. At the end of the day, their fans, despite the tedium of the match, will have gone home happy with the away win, while Newcastle fans were booing their team off. I think the Newcastle fans irritation from the kick off was probably the most entertaining thing about the match, I was very surprised Moyes did not look to use that as a weapon. Every time the Everton players won a challenge or, which happened with increasing regularity as the game went on, Newcastle players misplaced a pass, the Newcastle fans got more and more vocal against their team. All it needed was a bit more ambition from Everton and the fans would have completely turned on the players and destroyed their morale and confidence. It can only be a matter of time before the Jaissle experiment ends, unless he suddenly discovers how to coach over the international break.

Starmen:
Dewsbury-Hall - it was really hard to pick anyone out for this at all. Nobody in a Newcastle shirt played well and the Everton forward line were hampered badly by Moyes' caution, while their defence was not exactly put under any real pressure to produce performances. Dewsbury-Hall had a decent game, but no more than that, but in this match that was the best of the lot.

Flops:
Jaissle - I thought his Saudi team were a mess under him, completely disorganised and lacking any signs of tactics, but his Newcastle team is getting worse every game and has long surpassed the ineptitude of his former team. There is issues with quality, there are very few players who are actually good enough, but his coaching is non-existent. If he spent half as much time on the coaching ground as he does in front of the mirror, Newcastle fans might get to see a much better team.
Newcastle team - I could pick out every single one of them for this, but it seems to make no sense to slaughter them individually when it is clear the problem is the team as a whole is being set up so ineptly that they have no chance. They were truly woeful. The worst team performance I have seen this season so far.

Written by Tris Burke November 03 2026 09:17:06