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HALF-TIME: Bournemouth 0-0 Liverpool
The ref adds on no time and I’m not surprised; no one needs any more of that. A drab 45, Alisson making one fine save to deny Evanilson; Iraola, in particular, has work to do, because his side lack coherence and intensity.
43 min At Elland Road, it’s Leeds 0-0 Palace, but Antoine Semenyo has just put City 3-2 up against Sunderland. Back with our game, a Szoboszlai corner is headed clear easily enough.
41 min “Harsh on Gakpo,” reckons Niall Mullen, “who has been Liverpool’s most creative player this season; not a strongly contested competition, but still.”
He’s not useless, obviously, but I bet they were dead excited when they thought City or Spurs would cough for him. The crossing and shooting into bodies is especially infuriating.
39 min Bournemouth look to up it again, but there’s been precious little quality in this half; in a way, Liverpool have got away with one, because they’ve been sluggish through midfield and attack, but Alisson and Jacquet have made sure they’re yet to be punished.
38 min Brobbey, Brian Brobbey, has scored again for Sunderland, finishing a lovely team goal that survives a VAR check; they and City are now level at 2-2.
36 min A nodded header through the centre and Christie is on to it – that was far too easy for Bournemouth – but Jacquet glides over to block the shot. He’s made an excellent start to his Liverpool career – he looks a player.
34 min This time he tries the knuckle-ball, the shot scooting low past the near post.
33 min Liverpool find Barcola down the left and he cuts inside to open a shooting lane, Petkovic diving by and having to save with his legs, then Wirtz and Gakpo both shoot in the follow-up, various bodies hurled in front to block. But Liverpool maintain pressure and win a free-kick 30 yards out, Szoboszlai again applying hands to lips.
32 min Back at City, Rayan Cherki shifts it quickly, gets a shot away, and his team lead Sunderland 2-1. I think he might be the most technical, natural footballer in the league, and is one of the game’s last mavericks.
31 min Bournemouth win a free-kick down the right and Tavernier sends in an outswinger … easily cleared.
30 min I’d much rather see Rio Ngumoha than Gakpo. He was fortunate, I think, to make the England squad, having done not much, a pick on talent not form, but he’s always asking questions of defenders. Gakpo asks questions of people’s patience.
28 min On Barcola, though, I like him, but I wonder if he’s really a £120m player. I don’t love his finishing, and though he can be lethal against a high line, how many of those will Liverpool face? He’s got room to improve, but I bet PSG were delighted to accept a fee of that magnitude for a player not a first choice.
27 min Ball slide in behind for Barcola and up goes the flag – though I think he was on.
26 min But Liverpool do look to build pressure, knocking the ball about in the Bournemouth half but without tempo. Then, when Kerkez loses patience, he boots into Adams and his team do as Michael Finnegan does.
24 min Isak’s barely had a kick so far; there’s not much balance in Liverpool’s midfield in terms of a pass-first player, and of the wingers, Gakpo is looking to score not provide. When Iraola finally settles on a first XI, I’m pretty sure this won’t be it.
22 min What’s going on with Liverpool’s shorts. I’m not sure why the 1986 away kit is one that needed recreating – the 1985 classic, sure – but the shorts need to red, not cerise.
21 min The classic “block-tackle”: Roy Keane on Neil “Dissa” Pointon:
19 min The resultant corner comes to nowt, but Bournemouth are inching their way on top. Oh, and Kerkez nails Wirtz with a block-tackle as they contest the same ball; that looked a sair yin for the now-limping German.
18 min Bournemouth are coming, Scott sliding a ball between Araujo and Jacquet for Tavernier, who dashes to the line and cuts back to the near post, where Evanilson flicks; Alisson, moving towards the far, does really well to halt momentum and tip around the post with a strong hand.
17 min First, Jacquet follows Evanilaon out wide and fouls him unnecessarily then, when the free-kick comes to nowt, Scott sidewinds towards the box but his pass into it is kicked away by Van Dijk. That’s the first time we’ve seen him in a dangerous area.
16 min Mac Allister slips to Wirtz down the line … and he allows the ball to run away from him. He’s not made much of a start here, careless in his work; generally, the players who translate best to the Prem come from Ligue 1 because the physicality is most comparable; the Bundesliga is very hit and miss.
14 min “Did Iraola just do a Ron Atkinson and sit down in the wrong dugout?” writes Dave Estherby. “Wasn’t paying full attention but it sure looked like it.”
I missed this, but sounds like a hilarious moment for tonight’s MOTD. Who says there are no characters in the game any more?
12 min That didn’t last long. Back at City, Enzo Le Fee has just slid Brian Brobbey through for a stabbed finish, excellent goal and Sunderland level at 1-1.
12 min This has been poor so far, neither side able to string together a succession of passes.
11 min At City, Enzo Fernandez has shown how it’s done, taking a free-kick fro out on the right and deceiving Richard Roefs in the Sunderland net by going for goal with a cross expected and beating him at the near post. City lead 1-0.
10 min He curls over the left side of the wall … and just over the angle.
8 min Scott rolls studs over the ball as he looks drive down the left, but he runs into Araujo, which looks every bit as pleasant as it sounds, then Mac Allister collects the loose ball and finds Wirtz, who incites a Smith into an impetuous tackle. Free-kick Liverpool, 25 yards out, just left of centre; Szoboszlai will be, to quote Conor Coady, “rubbing his lips.”
8 min Bournemouth win a corner and it goes short to Truffert, whose return-pass is ill-directed, sliding behind. We’re yet to see much in the way of quality.
6 min Araujo wins it in midfeld, finds Wirtz … who gives it away. He’s been given an awful amount of patience, which makes sense because of how talented he is, but it’ll surely run out at the end of this season.
5 min Though they played on Thursday night, Bournemouth have started the sharper. They’re not pressing Liverpool when the defence have the ball, but are locking on when they look to move it into midfield. Van Dijk eventually lofts a pass down the line to meet Barcola’s run inside, but he can’t control and the ball flies behind.
3 min It comes to nothing, but we can see that, for now, Barcola is on the left. That makes some sense – putting the better player in his preferred position– but I’m not sure what Gakpo offers from the right.
2 min Bournemouth test Kerkez with a high ball towards the touchline; Rayan pursues it and ins the throw.
1 min Bournemouth will, I think want to speed up the opening exchanges. Ordinarily, you might expect Liverpool to sit in a calm things down, earning the right to play, but Iraola teams aren’t built that way.
1 min Away we go!
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come. There are fireworks, which really amps up the excitement I can tell you. How did we manage without them for so long?
Liverpool, meanwhile, will hope Szoboszlai’s power means he can get enough of the ball so that Mac Allister and Wirtz can play. They’ll also look to hit Isak, whose deft hold-up play can bring them and the wide players into things – he’ll want to pick his pass, then hit the box. I’m not sure which of Gakpo and Barcola will play left and which right – my sense is it’ll be that order – so I’d expect Gakpo to target the space in behind Truffert.
Marco Rose wants to get his first league win by keeping the energy from their first European win. He hopes his team play with intensity and they’re “quite confident”.
He’s complained about game management so far this season and at Sociedad, they were good in the first half but struggled in the second – they need to get better at keeping the ball when dropping off physically.
Kluivert is injured and it’ll take some time until he’s back.
So where is the game? I’m really looking forward to seeing how Adrian Truffert gets at Liverpool left flank – Kerkez is prone to being caught upfield, and I don’t imagine Barcola will want to defend much, so I’d expect Bournemouth to target that area, also using Rayan, who’s in decent nick. They’ll also want Scott to carry the ball forward and look to feed Rayan and Evanilson – he’s got the physicality on Mac Allister and Wirtz – and I expect they’ll want them running off Van Dijk, who isn’t what he was.
Iraola says he knows his old players well and that they are good. He expects a tough game but trusts his team who are ready for the fight.
Liverpool have drawn games they wanted to win so far this season and need to go for the win here. Coming off a lot of games, they’re rotating players, the starting XI is strong, but there are also bench solutions for the second half when the game is decided.
It’s nice for him to see a lot of old faces, but now everyone will focus on the 90 minutes and then there’ll be time to catch up. I’m not sure that interview could’ve been less revealing.
“I doubt you’ll find a better defender than Gabriel Magalhães (although possibly not at the Amex yesterday),” writes Chris Day-Kerry. “I often think that it’s easier to tempt a player to Spain or France than Northern England.”
Gabriel is a decent defender, yes, but that raises another point: the overall standard of centre-back is poor. He’s a long way off where Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho were, I think probably Ledley King and Sol Campbell too.
Yes, to those who’ve emailed – I did neglect Erling Haaland, who if of course also in that list of elite strikers.
As for Liverpool, Iraola is still picking at his back-four – ultimately, he doesn’t have full-backs he can rely on, so it’s likely he’ll be flicking through options until he does. Similarly, his midfield is going to remain unbalanced until it isn’t. Dominik Szoboszlai, of course, is a mainstay, but there’s not much pace and control around him; Alexis Mac Allister is scoring goals currentl, but doesn’t offer enough else, while Florian Wirtz is getting more chances than a Monopoly champion. We see flashes because he’s extremely talented; the question is whether he’s quick enough, of foot and thought, or robust enough, to regularly impose himself in “this league”. Our collective sense seems far closer to no than yes.
I don’t imagine Rose spent too long sweating over his team. Kluivert is a miss, and of course Junior Kroupi is long-term injured, but otherwise, his team is pretty settled. Adam Scott, who we might’ve thought would leave in the summer, stayed, and has started the season in excellent form. His ball-carrying is exceptional and he offers height in both boxes; if he can develop his passing, especially shirt, punched through the lines, he might develop into an all-round monster.
But back to our game, let’s have a closer look at our dramatis personae.
Also kicking-off at 2pm: Man City v Sunderland and Leeds v Palace. We’ll keep you updated with any goals that go in; I’m really looking forward to seeing how Daniel Farke’s men get on after their Monday-night dematerialisation of Newcastle.
Anyone with any ideas as to why that is?
It’s interesting that, for all the money in the Premier League, many of the best players, especially attackers, are in Spain, Munich and Paris. If you consider Vinicius, Bellingham, Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Kvaratskheilia, Dembele, Doue, Oliseh and Kane, the Prem doesn’t have superstar that equivalence and only Bruno Fernandes is remotely close to that company in terms of being among the world’s best in his position. Nor are there that many Prem players who might have the potential to hit a similar level.
Andoni Iraola, meanwhile, is still searching for his best blend – for any blend, really. He leaves out Victor Munoz, Ryan Gravenberch and Kostas Tsimikas, with Alexis Mac Allister, Milos Kerkez and Cody Gakpo coming in.
Marco Rose makes one change to the side that sorted Sociedad in midweek, Justin Kluivert replaced by Ryan Christie. He’s not in the sqaud at all, so presumably is injured.
Teams!
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Truffert, Hill, Silva, Smith; Adams, Scott; Tavernier, Christie, Rayan; Evanilson. Subs: Di Gregorio, Cook, Soler, Brooks, Gannon-Doak, Diakite, Sanchez, Toth, Jebbison.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson; Araujo, Van Dijk, Jacquet, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Gakpo, Isak, Barcola. Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Tsimikas, Munoz, Frimpong, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Koumas, Ngumoha.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Ashington)
Also going on:
Preamble
There have never been as many brilliant footballers in the world as there are now, there has never been as much money anywhere as there is in the Premier League now, and the use of data has never been as sophisticated; for those reasons, Premier League fixtures have never been as hard to predict nor of such high average standard. Every team has players good enough to hurt every other team.
Bournemouth v Liverpool offers a case in point. Andoni Iraola left Rayo Vallecano to join a team with a ground capacity of 11,307, who have won precisely no top-level honours, then used their scouting systems to attract players of calibre from clubs of similar or greater size. He then moved to Anfield, spending insane amounts of money on attackers the summer after Arne Slot did exactly the same at cost of his job, and yet it’d be no surprise whatsoever if his old club take the points today.
Thus far, the richer clubs have retained their advantage over the course of a season – having the best players, rather than merely brilliant players is enough to win them sufficient marginal games to keep reaching the Champions League – but, as we’ve already seen this weekend at Brentford and Brighton, week to week, they are prone to being out-thought and out-played. Might this be the season that their talent ID – for managers as well as players – is so good, that next, we see it backed in the market with Champions League money?
Both Bournemouth and Liverpool have made iffy starts to the season, learning new systems following a World Cup summer with squads built to someone else’s specifications, both much better going forward than backwards. And both will want a win to see them off into the international break, fearful of the grim deal sitting with a defeat for a fortnight entails. Which for us, means only good things – this should be a terrific tussle.
Kick-off: 2pm
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