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- 🎯Trent vs Palmer 🥶 | Is Tuchel Right for England?
🎯Trent vs Palmer 🥶 | Is Tuchel Right for England?
Thomas Tuchel is a winner which is what England need, but is he the right man for the job? His style of playing, man management and personality make for a big change from the demure Gareth Southgate.
George Hudson
October 16, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes
The October international break has finally come to an end and league football is back! To recap matchday 4 of the Nations league, there were big derby wins for Germany who beat the Netherlands, and France who beat Belgium. Daniel Maldini made his full international debut for Italy making him the third generation of the Maldini destiny to be capped for his country.
But the most surprising result over the past week or so was England losing 2-1 to Greece at Wembley. Over in South America, the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup continue —Argentina smashed Bolivia 6-nil, including a hat-trick from Lionel Messi and Brazil put 4 goals past Peru.
In this week’s GOAT Report, we preview the game between the Premier League’s in-form teams. You’ll also want to check out this week’s shocker where we take aim at Jordan Pickford.
Today's game plan:
Liverpool vs Chelsea | Sunday | 16:30 BST
After a long October international break, the Premier League returns with what should be a high intensity game between Liverpool and Chelsea. These two teams actually have a lot in common this season: both teams are led by new managers, both teams are performing much better than many predicted they would, and both teams are on a good run of form.
Going into the game, it’s Liverpool that will be favourites —they sit atop the Premier League table and are playing high intensity and effective football under Arne Slot. With just 2 goals conceded, Liverpool have the best defensive record in the league so far this season.
Whereas Liverpool hit the ground running, Chelsea have improved over the course of their first 7 games under Enzo Maresca. They now sit in fourth place mainly thanks to their potent attacking players, but mainly Cole Palmer who has the best attacking stats in the Premier League —he averages a goal or an assist every 73 minutes.
Form & Team News
Liverpool have been exceptional under Arne Slot. Their high-octane pressing game has been the key to their dominance, and this commitment to defendinghigh up the pitch is central to them only conceding two goals. One goal was conceded in the 5-1 smashing of West Ham and the other was conceded in the shock 1-nil loss at home to Nottingham Forest.
Although he indicated that this will most likely be his last season with Liverpool, Mo Salah has been a model professional and found excellent form. It’s Salah and Luis Diaz who are combining for most of Liverpool’s goals —between them, they have scored 9 of Liverpool’s 13 goals this season.
Liverpool went into the international break in stellar form. After the shock defeat to Nottingham Forest back in mid-September, Liverpool have won their last six matches across all competitions. This win streak includes big away wins over AC Milan and Crystal Palace. When they welcome Chelsea to Anfield on Sunday, Liverpool will be motivated by the prospect of maintaining their position at the top of the Premier League table —a position they haven’t been in at this stage of the season since 2021.
Liverpool do have a number of confirmed injuries and doubts going into this one. The biggest loss for Liverpool is goalkeeper Alisson, who suffered a hamstring injury before the break. In the midfield, Alexis MacAllister is a doubt after he picked up a minor knock whilst on international duty with Argentina. Backup midfielder Harvey Elliott is also sidelined until late October as he recovers from fracturing his foot.
GR Liverpool predicted lineup | Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Jones, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Salah, Jota, Diaz.
After a slow start adjusting to Enzo Maresca’s demands, Chelsea are now hitting form and have gone seven games unbeaten. Maresca’s structured playing style prioritises on stability and is characterised by disciplined defending and patient build-up play.
Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer are the star performers so far this season, particularly Palmer who has netted 6 times in the league. Nicolas Jackson and Madueke are also contributing to the attack with both players on 4 league goals for the season.
After losing their first game of the season to Man City, Chelsea have recorded four wins and one draw in their last five matches. The draw came in their most recent outing where they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest.
Where Liverpool have the best defence in the league, Chelsea are 2nd behind Man City in terms of goals scored. The blues have scored 16 goals in their first seven league games. So far, they’ve had no problems winning away from Stamford Bridge, but whether or not they can keep this scoring record going at Anfield against Liverpool’s resolute defence remains to be seen.
Chelsea have a number of player suspensions to deal with including Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana, who both picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season in the draw against Nottingham Forest. The only injured player in the squad is Reece James who suffered a serious hamstring injury in pre-season, and although he is not fit to start the good news is that he has returned to first team training this week.
GR Chelsea Predicted lineup | Sánchez, Gusto, Tosin, Colwill, Veiga, Caicedo, Fernández, Palmer, Madueke, Sancho, Jackson
This Week’s Shocker…
England’s number 1, Jordan Pickford had an absolute nightmare in the goals against Greece as England went down to a shock 2-1 defeat at Wembley. The blunders started in the 9th minute of the game, with the first piece of dodgy keeping being when Pickford takes too long to make a decision and gives the ball away on the edge of his own box. The shot from Anastasios Bakasetas is on target but Levi Colwill somehow manages to clear the ball off the line whilst sprinting at full speed towards his own goal. Then, from the resulting corner, Pickford flaps at a looping header and the ball is put into England’s net, only to be ruled out for offside.
Is the fact that nobody is pushing Pickford for his England place, leading to him to become complacent? Pickford is vastly experienced having played in 5 major international tournaments since 2018, but mistakes are creeping into his game. His performances in an England shirt suggest a player who is not mentally preparing to perform at his best.
Around the world…
After rupturing his ACL playing for Liverpool back in December 2023, Joel Matip has called time on his football career at 33 years old. The Cameroonian centre back was amongst the first signing Jurgen Klopp made for Liverpool back in 2016, in his 6 seasons at Liverpool Matip earned a Champions League and Premier League winners medal.
The list of Premier League clubs monitoring the progress of Jamie Gittens is growing. Currently 20 years old, Gittens spent time with Reading and Manchester City in his youth before signing a professional contract with Borussia Dortmund in 2020. This season Gittens has emerged as one of England’s most promising young talents which has attracted the interest of Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham.
Pochettino took over as manager of the US national team back in September and he has now won his first game in charge. Second-half goals from Yunus Musah and Ricardo Pepi got the US over the line but this was far from a convincing performance.
Al-Kholood have replaced Paulo Duerte with Saudi Pro League’s best known survival specialist. Noureddine Ben Zekri has built a reputation as a manager who knows how to keep clubs in the Kingdom’s top league having previously got Al-Okhdood, Al Raed, Al Fayha and Damac clear of the danger zone. Ben Zekri takes over an Al-Kholood team that have lost 4 of their last 6 games and sit third-from-bottom of the Roshn Saudi League.
In their search for a replacement for Gareth Southgate, the FA have opened talks with Thomas Tuchel over the England manager job. The former Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Bayern Munich coach has been out of a job since May. The other leading candidates for the job include Jurgen Klopp, Graham Potter and Eddie Howe.
Games to keep an eye on…
Manchester United vs Brentford | Saturday | 15:00 BST
8 points from the first 7 games is officially Manchester United’s worst start to a season in 35 years. Under-pressure Erik Ten Hag needs a result to take some of the attention of his United team, but Brentford have made a habit of scoring early goals this season which could make for a very nervy Old Trafford crowd.
Leverkusen vs Eintracht Frankfurt | Saturday | 14:30 BST
Frankfurt are the surprise package in the Bundesliga this season, sitting in 3rd place having picked up 13 points out of a possible 18. They’ve won four of their first 6 games, and only dropped points against Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. This game against Bayer Leverkusen should be high scoring.
Celtic vs Aberdeen | Saturday | 15:00 BST
It’s 1st vs 2nd in the Scottish Premiership as leaders Celtic host the closest chasers Aberdeen. These two teams have both made perfect starts to the season but Celtic’s goal difference of +12 on Aberdeen means they are top.
Roma vs Inter | Sunday | 19:45 BST
Roma made a shocking start to the season in which they picked up just 3 points from their first four games, leading to the sacking of club legend Daniele De Rossi after just 7 months in charge. After sacking De Rossi, Roma appointed former Torino manager Ivan Juric who has steadied the ship. Roma currently sit in 9th place and welcome 2nd-place Inter to the Stadio Olimpico.
Real Madrid vs Dortmund | Tuesday | 20:00 BST
Matchday 3 of the Champions League gets under way next week and the pick of the Tuesday night games is a repeat of the 2024 final. Despite the signing of Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid are struggling to get going this season and recently lost 1-nil away to Lille on matchday 2. In contrast, Dortmund have made a perfect start to their Champions League campaign including putting 7 goals past Celtic on matchday 2.
GOAT Trivia…
Say congrats to…
Wish a late happy birthday to the assist king Mesut Ozil [@M10] who turned 36 yesterday, October 15th.
Ozil has the best assist to games ratio in Premier League history with one assist every 2.7 games.
On this day in football…
On 16th October 2004, Lionel Messi made his La Liga debut for Barcelona in a game against Espanyol. 17-year old Messi replaced goalscorer Deco in the 82nd minute of the game and although his impact on the game was limited, the GOAT showed glimpses of his insane close control and dribbling abilities.
Goal of the week…
Italy and Belgium put on a good show of football in their Nations League match last Friday. Italy went 2 up within 25 minutes but the game’s momentum shifted when Lorenzo Pellegrini was sent off in the 40th minute.
Belgium went on to rescue a draw, and our goal of the week is Maxim de Cuyper’s crisp strike from this perfectly-worked free kick routine.
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