Matchday 3 - Quick Round Up

Match Day 3 Round Up



Friday 4th September


Ipswich Town 0-2 Liverpool

Liverpool took an early lead and it was enough to allow them to stroll to a win, with a dominant first half performance. The second half was not so good but Ipswich just lacked the quality to get anything from the game. I do wonder if they had set their tactics expecting Frimpong to be playing right-back, as they looked to overload the back stick every time the ball was crossed from the right. Where they expecting to be up against the Dutchman's lack of height? It still caused the main issues for Liverpool defensively from open play as Araujo, being a natural centre-back, was drifting central constantly and so they were able to get free headers there. They completely failed to make anything of them down to their lack of quality in the end, rather than as a result of Liverpool's quality.

Starmen:
Isak - scored two goals and came alive due to it, actually moving at pace and pressing with a bit of intensity.
Gakpo - provided two assists with excellent early balls through to Isak and looked a menace.

Flops:

Scherpen - should have done better with both goals.
Maeda - offered very little.
O'Shea - was not comfortable out there on the flank.
Munoz - started really well, but quickly faded and looked out on his feet after about 30 minutes.



Saturday 5th September


Newcastle United 2-2 Bournemouth

Bournemouth took control of the game after scoring, winning the midfield battle with Adams and Scott getting the better of their opposite numbers in the Toon's midfield. The substitution of Adams in the second half let Newcastle back into it and it was no surprise when they equalised late. Bournemouth are having real problems holding onto leads late in games this season, as the press tires they struggle defensively, which is probably no surprise considering how many of their defenders they have lost in recent years. Their defending is heavily reliant on the team in front of them pressurising opponents. Newcastle are looking to play fast break football, but they are conceding far too many goals right now. There is a lack of organisation at the back which is costing them badly. You need a solid defence to play this way and they are far from solid right now.

Starmen:
Adams - while he was on the pitch, the Cherries were winning the midfield battle.
Scott - looks much happier with Adams alongside him.

Flops:
Dedic - decent going forward but his defending is hopeless.
Miley - a very good young player but he struggled badly in this game.
Gonzalez - lacks mobility and can find himself overrun, which is not helped by his tendency to commit rashly.
Wissa - lacks quality on the ball.
Smith - offers little going forward and is poor defensively, age has caught up with him.


Nottingham Forest 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur

A first half that the referee let flow produced a good physical battle, that was much more entertaining than the scoreline would suggest. Tonali and Ndoye were particularly fun to watch as they seemed to continually come together and scrap against each for the ball. Not as enjoyable in the second half but a hard fought battle, with flashes of good play throughout from both sides. Both teams lacked a bit of final third quality, with a real dearth of good chances, those that did come along tended to fall to defenders, which probably goes a long way to explaining the lack of goals. Both teams are very much a work in progress, but you could see signs of what their managers want them to do, though it was mostly just short passages of play where you could see it. Forest will be the most disappointed by the result, the goal ruled out for handball by Williams was very difficult to see the offence and you have to wonder if football is best served by VAR ruling out goals for handballs you can only see when examined minutely.

Starmen:
McAtee - built on his performance last week with another good one.
Aina - if only he had the fitness level of Williams (or Williams had his quality) as he visibly tired and was taken off on the 60th minute.
Cunha - looking better by the game.
Bentancur - starting to recover his level once more.
Tonali - his running battle with Ndoye was probably the highlight of the match. So good to see a ref let the players get into a physical battle.

Flops:
Marmoush - has so much more to offer than this.
Tel - a mindless player and a real weak link in this Spurs team, which has so many players who are not good enough.


Manchester City 1-0 Coventry City

Despite all the riches at his disposal, Maresca's style of play was almost completely nullified and created very little. In fact, the constant slow passing around at the back came very close to giving a very poor Coventry side their first Premier League goal of the season. Man City are looking heavily reliant on Haaland, as they offered little else, except for the chance to lull everyone to sleep with their boring play. If they are to maintain their title challenge, they will need to play a lot better than this. Coventry were just defending for their lives and hoping to snatch something on the break, but were not exactly committing bodies forward on the break. It was not an enjoyable watch by any means.

Starmen:
Haaland - he is such a threat and scored the only goal.
Thomas - worked so hard to keep Man City out.

Flops:
Khusanov - he does not look comfortable at full-back.
Onyeka - got overrun in midfield.


Fulham 2-3 Crystal Palace

The world is crashing down around Fulham following this result, with a whole host of players making public their dissatisfaction with new head coach Arbeloa. It is hard to see him surviving the mess he is making, with the club in almost open warfare with itself. Palace will not be much happier, despite their victory, as they are conceding far too many goals and do not look like keeping one this season. Their win owed far more to Fulham imploding than their great play, but they are making the difficult shift over from Glasner's low block to Sage's more expansive, attractive football. Pretty much the inverse to the transformation currently underway at Forest! It looks very much like these are two teams facing very tough seasons, though Palace have at least got the points to give them something to build upon.

Starmen:
King - how long can they hold onto their starboy? He is starting to rise head and shoulders above his teammates and got a goal as well.
Mitchell - two goals from left wing-back, he has to be in here!
Chilwell - the substitute left-back came on and scored the winner, which he clearly enjoyed after taking a bit of stick before he came on.

Flops:
Arbeloa - he was a divisive character as a player, so not really a surprise that he is having issues with the squad as a manager. He got away with things at Madrid, as they were already in a mess, but now it is a happier camp he inherited, but it has already descended into chaos.
Bassey - normally a good defender, but he is struggling with the Arbeloa style.
Iwobi - had a bit of a stinker.
Charles - a lot of money spent on a very average player.
Wharton - so weak and lazy defensively.


Brentford 1-1 Sunderland

Two well organised and coached sides that are looking like potential challengers for a European place at this early stage of the season. Sunderland must feel hard done by after having a goal ruled out for offside, which is an arguable call at best under the current laws of the game, but you can understand why it was given. Both teams looked to get the ball forward and attack the opposition, rarely passing it about at the back, which made for a good watch. At times, the Mackems biggest problem was their own players, as they got forward in numbers but even got in the way of their own goalbound shots. Brentford kept going and got themselves a deserved draw in the end.

Starmen:
Janelt - got the Bees' goal and scraps well.
Le Fee - runs the attack for the Mackems.
Sadiki - is all over the pitch and was unlucky when Brobbey got in the way of his shot.

Flops:
Lewis-Potter - struggles defensively.
Angulo - goes down under minimal, at most, contact. So weak.
Mandava - play acts a lot. An embarrassing amount. It is so clear he played for Simeone at Atletico Madrid.


Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Leeds United

A fixture that Leeds traditionally struggle in, it was a lengthy gap since the last time they even scored a goal away at the Seagulls, so they can probably be happier with the score draw. The Yorkshire side hustled and harried Brighton out of their stride early on and really should have added more than one goal, that was what cost them. Okafor was tormenting Kadioglu but failing to deliver a final ball of any quality and Calvert-Lewin's finishing was weak. Brighton's pretty patterns of short, quick passing play were not producing chances, but when they played it forward quickly they looked dangerous. I have to be honest though, Hurzeler's hair (has he been to Turkey?) did distract me a fair bit while watching this game!

Starmen:
Vuskovic - scored the BHA goal and mostly positioned himself well to draw a foul from Calvert-Lewin in order to break up Leeds' attacks. Looked strong and technically good.
Dunk - looked so much happier without having to worry about a pacey forward running in behind him.
Tanaka - his tenacity and ability helped Leeds to control the early running, as well as his shot turning into an assist for their goal.

Flops:
Kadioglu - struggled badly up against Okafor.
Yalcouye - goes down far too easily looking for a foul which never was.


Hull City 0-0 Aston Villa

Villa are really struggling this season, yet to score a goal, even registering a shot on target was becoming a problem for them before this game. They were ripped apart and had to rebuild in the transfer window and it is really showing right now. This is not the first time Emery's Villa side have had a poor run and you do have to expect they will find their way eventually, but this Hull side was not the team you want to face while on a bad run. The Tigers work extremely hard and are tactically disciplined along with a bit of pace in wide areas. They just lack the quality of an established top flight side overall, but particularly up front where McBurnie is a long way off the level required to be a good goalscorer in the Premier League. He simply does not have the technical ability to finish the chances nor the movement to get enough of them to make up for it.

Starmen:
Belloumi - a tricky customer with a little bit of quality on the ball, he is the flair player in the team.
Lindelof - has improved so much since his days at Man Utd.

Flops:
Stroud - has yet to really get going at this level.
Buendia - has been given extra responsibility to be the central creative hub of the team and he has so far wilted under it, trying to do too much.
McGinn - it is very rare he has a bad game, but this was one of those rare occasions.


Sunday 6th September

Everton 2-2 Manchester United

A game that will have left neither team particularly happy. Both will feel they could have done better. Everton lack creativity, they also have major weaknesses in the full-back areas, with the transfer window failings leaving ill-feeling around the club. That was added on top of Garner being clearly only half-fit and probably should not have started. He certainly should not have been switched to right-back, when it was obvious he was struggling, and that led to him having to be taken off injured. However, on the plus side, his replacement scored the equaliser. Garner is such a key part of this Toffees side, you do think he should have been wrapped up in cotton wool after his hernia op. Man Utd should have done better all round, they were far too open at the back and not clinical enough up front. The Red Devils look very much about individual moments, rather than good team play, so far this season.

Starmen:
Maitland-Niles - came on and scored on his Everton debut.
Mainoo - having a very good season so far.
Rashford - he has a lot to do to win back the love of the Man Utd fans, but he has begun well this season and gave Rohl a torrid time.

Flops:
Pickford - should have done better.
Rohl - struggled badly defensively, he does not look happy except when raiding forward.
Johnson - really needs to do a lot more, especially up against a player who is not the best defensively, in the shape of Shaw.


Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea

After Chelsea's early goal, they seemed to be intent on sitting in and trying to hit on the break and content to invite Arsenal on to them. If that was a conscious decision to do so, then it was a very strange one when you consider how bad Chelsea's defence has been this season. They have a front three who do almost nothing to help out when the opposition have the ball, which puts them under pressure very quickly. Arsenal are too strong to just allow them to control the game so willingly, they will just overpower you, as they did in this game. I did like the tactic of leaving players up at corners, but I wonder why it is just for Arsenal rather than a standard thing. As for the controversial decisions, the kick on the head to Martinez is a decision that showed the lack of common sense in the usage of VAR. The referee in no way could see properly what was going on in a melee like that, so VAR should not be making any kind of decision, which they did, instead they should simply say there is something that the referee should be looking at and he should go to the screen, have a look and make a decision. Instead we had VAR deciding it was accidental, rather than the referee, which feels wrong to me. VAR should only make a decision in matters of fact, such as offside, I believe. For me, Gabriel was very lucky not to get a booking, at least, as he could see Martinez's head was there and still threw his leg out. It was dangerous and reckless, whether he is going for the ball or not and the kind of thing that can cause serious damage. The Rogers-Rice one looked clear, Rice stretches out to trip him, no idea how the officials missed it, as Rice was clearly just intending to 'take one for the team' as they say. Overall though, Arsenal were the better side and fully deserved three points, regardless of controversies. Their big issue was that they failed to really make the most of their play and score more goals to give themselves a cushion.

Starmen:
Havertz - was very good, he seems to suit Arteta's way of playing.
Odegaard - he is having a very good season so far and got on the scoresheet.

Flops:
Calafiori - was not at anything like his best.
Palmer - when they needed him to step up, he failed to deliver. To be fair to him, he was not really given the platform to succeed, but still a very poor performance after starting the season so well.
Lavia - normally looks such a good player, with the issue being purely his fitness issues, but he really struggled against Arsenal.

Written by Tris Burke September 08 2026 18:37:51