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It was another intense weekend of soccer across the European landscape. England handed out a trophy, Chelsea’s meltdown continued apace, and we had a Madrid Derby that contained plenty of drama. Oh, and let’s not forget the return of Major League Soccer. I’m Mike Goodman, and this is the Golazo Starting XI newsletter, where we’re here to break down what it all means on this manic Monday.
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? Top picks
All times U.S./Eastern
Monday?? Serie A: Lazio vs. Sampdoria, 2:45 p.m. ? Paramount+?? Argentina: Racing Club vs. Lanus, 5:15 p.m. ? Paramount+
Tuesday?? Serie A: Cremonese vs. Roma, 12:30 p.m. ? Paramount+?? Serie A: Juventus vs. Torino, 2:45 p.m. ? Paramount+
? Elsewhere …
Tuesday? FA Cup: Fulham vs. Leeds, 2:45 p.m.? FA Cup: Bristol City vs. Manchester City, 3 p.m.
? Does Potter deserve patience from Chelsea?
Tottenham Hotspur knocked off Chelsea, 2-0, on Sunday, marking just the next step in a precipitous decline for Todd Boehly’s club. The Blues have won exactly two of the 12 matches they’ve played since the World Cup break. After the loss, they now sit in 10th place, tied with Aston Villa with 31 points.
And it’s not like Chelsea are primarily there due to a weird fluke. Their goal difference of -2 is also 10th best in the League. It’s right in line with their expected goal difference of -1.5, also 10th best in the league. To make matters worse, a hot run of form likely won’t get them sprinting up the table. The next three teams above them — and four of the five above — have played fewer matches than the Blues. It’s an ugly situation all around.
And yet, Graham Potter appears to be safe for the time being. As James Benge writes, the new regime atop Chelsea are taking pains to distance themselves from the old, very successful way the club was run. They want to give Potter time.
Benge: “Boehly, Eghbali and the rest of the ownership consortium have determined themselves to change the way things were done. The hiring of a string of individuals whose role vaguely approximates that of a sporting director was to bring with it a collegiate approach to club management, the half billion pounds of player recruitment about building a pre-peak squad that can grow together. They look up the Premier League table and see the value of the patience displayed at Arsenal, where Mikel Arteta has gone from public enemy No. 1 to the prince that was promised. They want to give Potter similar leeway.”
It is, in some ways, admirable to show such faith in a manager. Of course, Arteta had the benefit of already being well loved as a player at the club he was returning. And Arsenal spent years slowly drifting away from the top of European soccer as Arsene Wenger ran down his career, and then they suffered through a truly disastrous spell under Unai Emery. It’s easier to give a promising young manager an extended period to fix things when there’s broad agreement on the idea that there’s a lot that’s broken.
Chelsea, on the other hand, won the Champions League just two seasons ago. They finished third last year and then went two spending sprees in the subsequent transfer windows. And while it’s true that much of the eye-watering amount that was spent in January was done so on players designed to have their maximum impact several years from now, they bought Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella (to name a few) last summer — all were obviously supposed to be having an immediate impact on the club. The current version of this Chelsea squad is not one that is underinvested. They’re supposed to be good now and good later.
It may all come good, of course. There are lots of reasons to like Potter, not least of which is how his Brighton sides showed a marked improvement in performance from Year 1 to Year 2 under his leadership. But the differences between Arsenal and Chelsea are truly vast. Assuming Potter should be retained because Arteta succeeded on a long timeline (one which, by the way included serious doubts about whether he’d ever get there, up until about halfway through last season), assumes a lot of facts not in evidence.
Arsenal were broken, and Arteta seems to have fixed them. Chelsea are currently being broken in order to be remade. That’s a very different thing altogether.
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? Man United announce their return to the top
It wasn’t a close match in the end. Erik ten Hag’s side scored twice in a six-minute span just after the half-hour mark of the EFL Cup final at Wembley. Newcastle, despite boasting 61% possession over the course of the match, never really threatened to make a game of it. Sure, they had 15 shots, but those amounted to 1.05 total expected goals. Ten Hag’s side took the lead and effectively kept Newcastle at bay to win Manchester United their first trophy in six years. And as Chuck Booth writes, this might be the first of many trophies to come.
Booth: “The team will have to continue these performances, but with ten Hag’s subs and a summer coming to bolster the squad — possibly under new ownership — there’s no reason to expect this rise to not continue. United are rebuilding a winning culture brick by brick, and with Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Martinez and others in the squad, there are young players who can be a part of ten Hag’s core for a while to come. This trophy could be the first of many as the club could be back on a level playing field with their noisy neighbors Manchester City before long. If ten Hag’s improvements keep coming at such a rapid rate, passing City to be the top club in Manchester is still certainly within the realm of possibility.”
And now let’s get to some links:
? Cristiano Ronaldo was at the ?? Jake Paul-Tommy Fury fight.? Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his return for AC Milan late in a 2-0 win against Atalanta.? Who did the Stanky Leg ??? celebration better: Theo Hernandez or Mike Grella?? PSG finally got back to their winning ways thanks to their ? two stars ?, writes Jonathan Johnson.? That’s 700 club goals for ?? Lionel Messi and 200 PSG goals for ?? Kylian Mbappe.? For more on ? Chelsea, Booth broke down some truly abysmal numbers. ? In the Madrid Derby, Real couldn’t get it done against 10-men Atleti.? Arsenal kept their ? title charge rolling as ?? Leandro Trossard stepped up as a starter, writes Benge? MLS is back and ?? Thiago Almada marked the occasion with a stunning late rally for ?? Atlanta United.? House of Champions: Fabrizio Romano joins the squad to talk about all the latest rumors.? And remember, all of your soccer needs — from Champions League to Serie A to NWSL and so much more — are available on Paramount+. You can try one month free by using the code: ADVANCE.
? Best bets
All odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook and all times U.S./Eastern. SportsLine has you covered with this weekend’s best bets.
Serie A: Juventus vs. Torino, Tuesday, 2:45 p.m. ? THE PICK: Juventus (-140) — It’s been almost a whole month since Juventus lost a Serie A match. They’re on a tidy four-game winning streak. Torino aren’t bad, they’re currently sitting in ninth in the league, but Juventus appear to be on a mission to charge back up the table after their 15-point deduction and try and qualify for Europe no matter what. A win here would leave them only six points behind sixth-place Atalanta.FA Cup: Fulham vs. Leeds, Tuesday, 2:45 p.m.? THE PICK: Leeds (+230) — Leeds finally have a new manager, but this pick is less about having faith in them and more about the fact that Fulham are a complete paper tiger. Despite their vast difference in the table where Fulham are sixth and Leeds are 17th, Fulham actually have a worse expected goal difference tally than Leeds. While there are certainly some mitigating circumstances and xG doesn’t tell the full story, Leeds and Fulham are simply on much more equal footing competitively than a quick glance would have you believe.