WE HOPE YOU enjoyed your break, because English Football Ltd is back once again in all of its voracious, ceaseless, relentless and often inglorious glory.
The EFL kicked off last night and the Premier League returns next Saturday, earlier than usual to accommodate the deracinated World Cup uneasily re-housed across November and December.
The Community Shield raises the curtain on the top flight this afternoon, a tradition differently hued by being held at the King Power Stadium in Leicester as Wembley is booked up for the European Championship final. More familiar are the teams in action: Manchester City and Liverpool, the definitive English football rivalry of this era and one of the best in the country’s history. They have been the top two for three of the last four seasons, and remain the sides for Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Man United to catch this time around.
Here are three key questions facing both sides ahead of a new season.
1. The big lads up top
Pep Guardiola is the most important figure in the game’s tactical and stylistic developments in the last 15 years, and Jurgen Klopp has a case to be made as the second-most important. Guardiola always rankled at the tiki-taka moniker for his Barcelona side (in terms of catch-all titles, he prefers juego de posicion), and the best tactic for keeping it in check became Klopp’s gegenpressing.
To use the ideas of another philosopher, it’s all a little Socratic – if Pep dreamed up the thesis, Klopp countered with the antithesis and now we have the synthesis, where both coach’s deepest beliefs have melded with the other’s, and perhaps that’s why City and Liverpool play out so many stone-cold classics.
Both men have become influenced by one another since they started slugging it out in England. Klopp, for instance, signed Thiago Alcantara, the kind of player Guardiola would design in a lab. Guardiola, meanwhile, has found inspiration from Liverpool in moving his full-backs from in-field to closer to the touchlines and asking them to share a significant part of the creative burden. (Joao Cancelo is wearing the number seven this season, for instance.) .
There’s another obvious similarity seen in this summer’s business as both have pushed their chips in on big number nines.
Erling Haaland arrives at City with a guarantee of goals, but it will be interesting to see if there are any unintended consequences that might imbalance Guardiola’s obsessively crafted ecosystem.
The City machine has run slickly to this point without a central striker, but will Haaland’s introduction compromise some of the other, effective parts?
And what of Darwin Nunez at Liverpool? Klopp this week described Roberto Firmino as “the soul” of his team, and that Liverpool could not have played as they have done without him. Nunez, though, will play up front instead of Firmino, so how will that affect Liverpool’s output? (Write your own jokes about involving Darwin in a process of evolution.)
On the face of it, both City and Liverpool are making significant changes to their approach, and from a position of such strength that they have only a tiny margin for improvement in the first place.
But that tiny margin will decide who finishes ahead of the other this season. It’s going to be fascinating.
2. Managing the transition
‘Transition’ is usually a word the mediocre cling to for comfort, as proof that things might one day be better. (We now enter Manchester United’s tenth-straight season of transition.) The best sides undergo their transition without having to utter the word. (See Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.)
This is what’s happening at City and Liverpool at the moment. Fernandinho has left City, as was predicted, and also exiting are Raheem Sterling, a bedrock of previous league triumphs, and dependable squad players, Jesus and Zinchenko.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have sold Sadio Mane, the first key signing of Klopp’s reign, and remained consistent to the point of being their best players in the second half of last season.
All of a sudden, both sides’ look different to when this rivalry truly kicked off, midway through the 17/18 season when Liverpool took City’s unbeaten record and then knocked them out of the Champions League. Mane, Lovren, Can and Wijnaldum have left Liverpool, while City have eased out Aguero, Otamendi, Fernandinho, Sterling, and Sane. None of that is drastic change, but it’s a significant turnover nonetheless.
Both sides have managed their subtle overhauls very well to now, but can both repeat the trick this season? If they can, it will once again be a shootout between both for the title.
Liverpool’s task might be more difficult, as Mane was more central to their success last season than Sterling was to City’s.
3. Squad depth
If there was an area Liverpool’s squad has had an edge on City’s in recent seasons, it’s depth at goalkeeper. Alisson and Ederson are nigh-inseparable, but Caoimhín Kelleher has proven to be a better deputy than Claudio Bravo or, as we saw in the FA Cup semi-final last season, Zack Steffen.
City couldn’t keep Gavin Bazunu and so have addressed the problem by recruiting the excellent Stefan Ortega from the Bundesliga, so that slight gain might now be lost to Liverpool. As if to accentuate the point, Alisson and Kelleher are injured for today’s Community Shield, so the over-the-hill Adrian will play.
Neither squad are lacking depth in many areas, aside from possibly at full-back. Liverpool don’t have many alternatives to Trent Alexander-Arnold: Joe Gomez deputised there last season but is a centre-back, while Calvin Ramsay, signed from Aberdeen, hasn’t made a pre-season appearance.
City, having allowed Zinchenko to go, look a little bit light at left-back, though are pressing to remedy that by signing Marc Cucurella from Brighton. It’s probably only a matter of time before that happens, but if it doesn’t, City might need to go shopping.
Funny. I’d have given Liam Williams a kick up the backside if I were his coach. They way he went down like he’d been shot after Henderson made slight contact with him was embarrassing. Clearly milking it trying to get a card.
@Farz Saadat: He’s a master of the football-esque winge
@thesaltyurchin: He turns my stomach.
@Farz Saadat: I actually thought Porter was unlucky to be penalised, Williams should be ashamed of himself and his carry on yesterday, bloody Neymar would be proud of the the way he went down and rolled around. Gatland is doing what Gatland does, having a whinge and a moan about “decisions” to deflect from the 60 mins where Wales were completly and comprehensively outplayed. Murray and Sexton played great ball yesterday, took me back a few years to when they were lethal combination.
“Strangely, I’m not that disappointed with many things in the game”. Perhaps it’s Warren who needs a kick up the backside.
That call on Porter was nonsense. Perfectly legitimate attempt to try and prevent a grounding of the ball (a long shot, granted, but he’s entitled to do that). It was the 2 Welsh players who came in on top of Porter afterwards that inflamed the whole thing. The fact that the assistant ref then said Dickinson needed to have a chat with Hansen was hilarious. Thought the ref had a decent game overall but that was farcical.
@Cian Nolan: Porter gave away a lot of penos. Another ref could have lost patience and given him a yellow.
However he’s a great player who’ll put that right next week.
@TL55: yes but I don’t recall us being warned to stop or risk yellow. All fouls are not equal.
@Doug Storms: Persistent infringements can lead to a yellow.
@Cian Nolan: totally agree that porter’s tackle was legit. The referee Dickson wasn’t bad yesterday but the two assistants on the line intervened to make some poor calls.
@Elrond Rivendell: but you will be warned if one is due. We were not warned.
@Jim O’Connor: agreed. I thought the line judges were made a few mistakes but the ref by and large had a decent game.
He is right about Porters slide into the try scorer, Liam Williams was cured very quickly after the Henderson challenge. Quite a few Welsh lads were playing “dead” after some tackles, aka premiership football
Meh, frontline hounds like Porter get in trouble, as well they should, definitely had a few too many penalties but more from the set piece, sensational effort holding up that try as he has to be part of the tackle too.
He’s right. Possibly because Porter made that wonderful intervention previously he got carried away with himself in the split second.
We’ve all seen far worse inflicted on Ireland try-scorers and nothing was said. It’s a pathetic wind-up from Gatland…The Liam Williams Oscar bid was much worse.
Gatland is delighted with his “We Gave The Irish a Game for 30 Minutes” trophy.
Does Gatland think he’s coaching Ireland ?
I’m not a fan of his, but Gatland does strike a chord. Porter really did not need to do that. He’s definitely a big part of Ireland’s pack dominance, but every now and then, does needlessly stir things up that leads to stupid penalties like the one he gave away after the try was scored. It was the tone that was set for those 25 minutes where Ireland stopped playing and allowed Wales back into the game when they should have been well out of sight and racked up a bigger score.
If they’re going to win a Green Slam and possibly a World Cup, they need to cut that crap out. And that goes for Porter. He should focus on his own game, and not try to rile up the opposition.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: he is entitled to contest and try to prevent the grounding.
No issue there for me.
@Oran Burns: 100% correct, ignore Gatland’s sore comments- I seem to recall Oscar nominee Liam Williams sliding a double knee into one of our own try scorers some years ago.
The reaction from the Welsh was like a bully trying to create a row to rile the crowd. It was the sign of a team with nothing to offer on the field.
Yesterday we build a score, early, held it and then their soaked pressure with a type of determined defending that I’ve previously seen from NZ or England on their way to winning world cups.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t he try to stop a try? It’s a winner’s mentality. Wales are the worst for sliding in with two knees into try scorer’s backs. And yesterday’s non injurious attempt by Porter was the first time I’ve seen it penalised. Ref caved to the Welsh reaction and the home crowd. I’d be singing Porter’s praises if I was Farrell. That mentality is why we walked it yesterday.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: I’d say if Andrew Porter was Welsh Gatland would have his name on the team sheet first. They lost move on heading to a rejuvenated Scotland should be his priority. They left scores behind for sure but that’s because of Irelands excellent Defence. On a separate note delighted for Conor Murray proving the experts wrong yet again.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: Getting up the opposition nose is POM’s job not Porter’s!
@TL55: tbf I think the point is not the penalty given away during Williams try, i think its the other 4 or 5 that Porter gave away in short succession that kept handing Wales momentum and entries in to our half/22. It was crazy watching it at the time. Obviously a fantastic player that just had various rushes of blood to the head!
@John Brennan: I was delighted for him too reminded me the way he played a few years back, hopefully will do his confidence good. Only critique I would have was box kicking in the 39th minute instead of holding the ball and closing out the half easily, but only something small.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: no that challenge was legit and Porter is entitled to make it and see if he can disrupt the grounding. It wasn’t late.
@Tom O’Gorman: While Porter, like everyone else is well entitled to stop any potential grounding action, in this situation, he was never going to stop that. He simply reacted foo late. The ball was grounded milliseconds before he made contact with Williams, and the referee, whose decision is open to debate ended up pinging him for the scuffle.
@Oran Burns: He is entitled, yes, but he was NEVER in a realistic position to stop that grounding. The ball was grounded milliseconds before he made contact with Williams, and whatever anyone says about the referee, Porter was the one who ended up pinged for the afters.
@TL55: The explain Porter’s action where he shouldered Nic White who kicked the ball dead in the Ozzie game at half time. I recall O’Mahony wasn’t the player who started that…
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: “The ball was grounded milliseconds before he made contact with Williams”
So Porter who had Milliseconds to attempt to prevent the try which is his role, should have summed up that he would miss holding the ball up by milliseconds and not tried to prevent the try? Ummmm, seriously?
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: And the “scuffle” was instigated by none other than Daniel Biggar. Had he not come in guns blazing, there would have been no handbags, no drama and everybody would have reset and gotten on with it.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: you should try re-reading your own comment….how ’bout that?
@Niall Mulligan: And yet who was penalized? You ever consider that the end is more important than the start, Niall?
@Kieran Collins: Nah, not really. Especially not on the advice of someone who offered it in such a petulant manner.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: Your logic is illogical dude with too many names :)
https://youtu.be/u-XGWHmIVeo
I’d hate to have been Williams’ backside so, after this. He must have gotten a proper walloping.
@Joe Vlogs: that’s a dinger, few match ban these days, easy. Liam Williams legacy will read like this if he’s not careful: https://www.balls.ie/rugby/ireland-wales-liam-williams-iain-henderson-541703
@Joe Vlogs: that’s the one. Gatland was quiet about that. Interesting to see who the ref was and typical of his performances over the years when we played Wales. Thought the TMO had an oversized involvement in a few of the dodgy calls yesterday.
I was mad with Henderson. He had a clear opportunity to poleaxe that annoying play actor Williams and completely messed it up
Porter was making a genuine attempt to get under the ball, but was a fraction of a second too late. If he is a little faster then he is a hero, he is a little late and it’s a penalty. There’s is nothing more to it, claims of malicious play needing a coaches sanction is just grasping at straws.
Henderson also made a genuine attempt to charge the kick and even twisted his body mid air to avoid full contact. It also warranted nothing more than the Penalty that was given.
Both actions were valid and to be encouraged but need to be a bit tidier to avoid penalties and I am sure that’s why they will be told in the review.
I have no doubt that the French would have been every bit as dominant against the Welsh. It’s going to be a titanic battle next week…can’t wait!
Liam Williams is the biggest cheap shot merchant in the tournament and has been for years so people in glass houses etc.
However Porter’s discipline was all over the place. He conceded 6 penalties and many of them were poor ones – not rolling away, in at the side etc. that’s hard to defend
He wonders why he is not popular in Ireland ! He still has a chip on his shoulder about being fired
Would have thought Fatland had plenty of his own problems to worry about after yesterday.
I reckon Porter was within his rights to try to get a hand under the ball to prevent the grounding but he roughed Williams up in the contact which was needless. He made a lot of errors in the 2nd half and needs to get his discipline sorted. I thought Williams was shameful in his reaction to Henderson’s attempted charge down. Henderson had every right to go for it, he couldn’t have known the trajectory of the ball. But Williams throwing himself down and rolling about after being touched by Henderson’s hand was embarrassing. The BBC commentary team, and especially JD1, were just as bad. This playacting has been about for a good while but it hasn’t become prevalent, World Rugby need to clamp down on it before the World Cup.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: The playacting annoys me especially because we want dangerous play eradicated and shameless gamesmanship taking advantage of strict refereeing shouldn’t have a place in rugby.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: And Williams is no angel, anyone remember his late knees first slide into Paddy Jackson after Paddy had scored a try for Ireland.
Not gonna mention the welsh player sliding in feet first when Keenan grounded the ball in our end zone? Didn’t make contact but it was cynical and potentially dangerous play that should have been picked up on.
Porter had every right to make that attempt. It was when the other 2 welsh players piled on that things got nasty.
Gstland should worry about his own team and keep his nose out of ours. C’mon Ireland
To be fair Porter was committed but his timing was off. I don’t think there was anything sinister in it at all and the ref got it right. Gatland would have been kissing his a#se if Wales got a try off it. So maybe the kick should be reserved for the welsh hooker
Gatland should start with a kick up the ass to the entire Welsh Team
So would I