Gameweek 1 – Lampard Limps out of the Gate
Though we only needed to survive without Premier League football a little over 80 days, the new season is upon us like a breath of fresh air.
The summer international window brought countless storylines via the Women’s World Cup, Copa America, Gold Cup (no, we didn’t forget about the U19 Euros and U21 World Cup for all of you next generation zealots). We had more than enough competitive football to wet our insatiable palates. Not to mention a transfer window that tossed around the likes of Mathijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Antoine Griezmann, and an ongoing a Parisian escape from Neymar.
Even with all those juicy names in tabloid rumor headlines, most football fans carried a minor remnant of desire for the world’s most watched sports league to return after their summer escapades.
Now, while we we’re still brushing the sand out from between our toes and coating our torsos in aloe-vera, the Premier League made its merciful return. So let’s recount the highs and lows from an opening weekend littered with question marks and overreactions.
Storyline of the Weekend
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Frank Lampard both entered this weekend’s headline match at a significant disadvantage. Win and your expectations grow tenfold, lose and you might have placed one hand on the exit doorknob.
And after United’s 4-0 drubbing of Chelsea (raise your hand if you expected that), we know where the bulk of scrutiny now lies.
Hamstrung by a two-window transfer embargo and the club’s best player leaving for a chance at being Real Madrid’s next Galactico, Lampard’s task as new manager of Chelsea is to make do with the tools he’s been given; albeit, tools that won a Europa League and finished 3rd in the Premiership last season.
But with a remarkably meager managerial resume (1 season at the helm of Derby County in the Championship, which he took from 6th to… 6th) and a seismic gap between the top two teams growing at an alarming rate, it’s easy to be pessimistic of the task at hand for the man who bagged 211 goals and a Champions League trophy for the West London squad.
Sunday’s result shows all that pessimism might be warranted.
Chelsea’s squad selection was the fifth-youngest XI of the Premier League’s opening weekend (Manchester United’s was the youngest), and evidently exhibited a real lack of maturity. Kurt Zouma, oftentimes cool and confident on loan at Everton last season, looked clumsy and out of place, giving the ball away and recklessly conceding the penalty for Rashford’s opener.
Caesar Azpilicueta gave a clinic on what an aging defender’s legs look like after playing for three straight grueling campaigns without ample rest. His right side of the field was violated by the pace of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba, which Solskjaer’s side made a point of to penetrate on the counterattack in the final 30 minutes.
As for Lampard, he was feeling just as exposed after the match, albeit from a different opponent. His former boss José Mourinho was on hand at Old Trafford as a Sky Sports panelist to pass along judgment, calling Lampard’s squad selection, “naïve,” and criticizing Lampard’s over-reliance on youth (see Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Andreas Christensen).
But such criticisms didn’t prevent Lampard from remaining positive about his team’s overall performance, which looke threatening at times. Shots from Tammy Abraham and Emerson clanged off the post, and a few attempts forced Uniteds captain, David De Gea into acrobatic saves.
“We made four mistakes, and they put them away,” he said. “It is a reality check for us all. We are Chelsea. We don’t want to come here and lose 4-0. It wasn’t a 4-0 game for long periods, but we need to accept it.”
Although Lampard’s lack of concern is warranted– Chelsea out-possessed, 54% to 46%, and outshot United, 18-11, by a decent majority – the onus now lies on him turn the ship around rapidly or risk losing significant ground in the Top-6 race.
Chelsea’s upcoming match is a mid-week UEFA Super Cup clash against Liverpool in Istanbul, a game that has become more important because of the need to slam the brakes on possible negativities moving forward.
With 13 seasons under his belt as a player at Chelsea, Lampard knows exactly how important fast starts are for clubs in the Big 6. And his task to keep the tires from spinning has only gotten more difficult. He must find a way to win, and win big, quickly. A win over Liverpool would help ease the cause.
Match of the Weekend
With any game besides a blowout to truly choose from, and as most teams and players are only beginning to get their feet moving beneath them, the pick of the litter from Gameweek 1 goes to Tottenham’s 3-1 triumph over newly promoted Aston Villa.
Despite the two-goal score line, the Villans kept Tottenham on their heels for most of the match, especially after John McGinn’s shocking ninth-minute opener left Tottenham Hotspur Stadium silent.
Making their first appearance in England’s top flight since 2016, Dean Smith handed out 4 full debuts and 2 debut substitutions of the 12 total new players to Villa Park (all for the pedestrian sum of 130m pounds). The hotly anticipated Wesley Moraes was one of Villa’s least effective players, lacking any serious counterattacking threat as striker. At the other end, Tom Heaton proved to be worth every penny of his 8-million pound transfer fee. The former Burnley man came up with two mega saves in the closing minutes, and kept Villa in contention until Spurs’ hit their breakthrough moment.
For Spurs, it was their record-breaking signing which broke Villa’s resistance in the 73rd minute. Tanguy Ndombele fizzed home a shot in the right-corner which rolled perfectly at his feet just outside the eighteen.
Soon thereafter, the Harry Kane floodgates opened. Villa captain Jack Grealish gave up possession just outside the eighteen in the 86th minute, and the England national made no mistake, placing his shot inside the left post.
Four minutes later, Kane would double his tally and secure three points for the Spurs in their first home opener in eight seasons.
In the end, Tottenham relied on their talents and poise to overcome the upset. However, the match boils down to one factor for Spurs; Christian Eriksen. Mauricio Pochettino elected to begin the match with the Danish international on the bench, a call which stifled Tottenham’s threat and creativity in the final third. It wasn’t until his introduction in the second half that Spurs were able to finagle a breakthrough.
With contract talks seemingly stifled, this leaves the North London club pondering whether they can afford to let him go before the end of the international transfer window at the end of August. If so, they risk their chance to push towards the top of the table come May.
Surprise of the Weekend
Maybe it’s not the flashiest of upsets, but Brighton’s 3-0 win over Watford surely wasn’t anticipated by many heading into the new season. The Seagulls ended last year limping across the line in 17th place and immediately sacking Chris Hughton after four-and-a-half years at the helm. Combining these events alongside the hire of Swansea recruit Graham Potter, Brighton were placed as third favorites to be relegated.
Watford meanwhile were looking to turn the tide after losing seven of their last eleven league matches last season. Javi Gracia’s men made a valiant effort at the FA Cup, and though they were throttled 6-0 in the end by a treble-winning Manchester City, they looked to progress via a deeper run into the Top 10 this season.
In the end, it was the Brighton – with their three central defenders and wing backs – which produced exactly the kind of proactive, inventive performance the club had sought in recruiting Potter. They cruised home through an own goal from Abdoulaye Doucouré and clinical finishes from the substitutes Florin Andone and Neal Maupay.
Javi Gracia’s side, known for their hot starts the last two seasons, looked lethargic and out of ideas when pressing forward. He emphasized that his team were simply outmatched, and offered, “No excuses… we try to improve for the next one.”
Watford need a wake-up call to prevent their poor form at the end of last season from biting them now.
Protest of the Weekend
Newcastle might agree that Mike Ashley has been a terrible team owner, but those sentiments don’t seem to keep people away from St. James’ Park.
Around 300 Newcastle fans marched through the rain and registered their protest against Mike Ashley’s continued ownership of the club. But still, Newcastle announced an attendance of 47,635, just under 5,000 away from maximum capacity. Hardly a damaging dent, even with visiting Arsenal handedly taking home a 1-0 victory.
Though negative sentiments still pervade, and will most likely boil over as the season progresses, it’s going to take far more than fans boycotting games for the club to receive a real impact. At the moment, there seems very little appetite for a full on movement, which places Newcastle and their hardcore supporters on a merry-go-round of similar events and consequential emotions.
‘Everybody Keep Calm’ of the Weekend
$73 million in transfer fees and the title of ‘savior of American soccer’ is a lot to put on a 20-year-old’s shoulders. And while one match is by no means telling of a player’s career trajectory, Christian Pulisic had a debut to forget after coming on as a replacement for Ross Barkley in the 58th minute.
After taking a shot to the chest from Pogba during an early sprint, the American was left watching the Red Devils blitz his defense for the final three goals, proving him hapless in trying to revive any hopes of a point from the match.
However, anybody who believes his debut performance will dictate how his season will unfold is seriously overthinking things. His pace on the wings will be needed in Chelsea’s four competitions this year, and Lampard remains committed to the youth and building a team for, “tomorrow,” (to Mourinho’s demise). The American should be given ample time to blossom, but tides can turn quickly at Cobham.
Moment of the Weekend
Here’s a moment that makes your goosebumps perk up.
Billy Sharp, hailing from the working-class city of Sheffield in central England, scored an 88th minute equalizer for Sheffield United, his boyhood club, against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Sharp’s story is straight out of a movie script. He made his debut for United in 2004, but could only muster one minute of playing time the entire season. Since then, he had gone out on loan to eight other clubs, only totaling 18 minutes in the top flight.
Then, making a reappearance for the Blades in their return to the top flight for the first time in 12 years, he pulls off this last minute gasp of a finish. Somebody buy that man a drink.
Final Whistle
Of course, we can’t not make it through this column without referencing the opening performances of the two clubs who have the best shot at lifting the title come early May.
On Friday night, Liverpool quelled any nerves from a lackluster preseason by hopping out a 4-1 victory over newly promoted Norwich City. Mohamed Salah played hero twice over after scoring the second goal of the night, and posing for a photo with a fan who ran into a pole a broke his nose chasing after Salah’s car. No risk, no reward.
However, the darkest point of the evening came when Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson fell to the ground with a calf injury proceeding a routine goal kick. He has since been ruled out for at least a few weeks, meaning one of Liverpool’s only signings of the summer, West Ham graduate Adrian, will need to step in quickly and maintain the last line of defense.
For Liverpool, Alisson’s injury stretches their depth and exposes their fragility should more of their stars go down (Salah, Firmino, and Mane all played in summer competitions). And considering the form their main title rivals displayed over the weekend, and Liverpool’s more-than-favorable early fixture list, there’s zero room for error to begin the season.
Continuing their preseason form, Manchester City arrived in East London and handedly dismantled the Hammers in a 5-0 drubbing, effectively silencing critics who were concerned of their biggest question marks; the absence of the RSC Anderlecht bound Vincent Kompany and the aging Fernandinho.
Pep Guardiola carefully shored up these concerns with the signing of Rodri from Atletico Madrid to take over the defensive-midfield role, and moving Fernandinho to the role of a central defender. And though the 23-year-old Spaniard is not the flashiest of midfielders, his ability to dictate tempo defensively and break lines with his passing is key in Pep’s “dinky dinky” system.
City have improved from their treble-winning haul a year ago. Alongside a Raheem Sterling hat-trick, Riyad Mahrez looked particularly lively on the wing, and is presenting Pep with the argument that he can be the man to replace an ACL stricken Leroy Sane.
In the end, if we should be surprised by anything this weekend, it should be in ourselves for having any hope in the slightest that another club besides these two will mount a run for the title.
Zeke Ouellette Media 