Man City add to Liverpool’s woes, Lewandowski lifts Barca, Arsenal give up goals, more

We’re heading into the final international break of 2025, in which several more nations will punch their tickets to the 2026 World Cup, but before we get there, Europe’s top leagues gave us plenty to talk about. In the big game of the weekend, Manchester City deepened Liverpool‘s seasonlong malaise with a comprehensive 3-0 win at the Etihad that showed the best of Jérémy Doku and capped Pep Guardiola’s 1000th game in glorious fashion.

In LaLiga, Robert Lewandowski returned to the pitch after injury and led Barcelona to a 4-2 win at Celta Vigo that closed the gap on Real Madrid (who drew this weekend) in the title race. Bayern Munich‘s 16-game win streak (all competitions) was snapped with a 2-2 draw at Union Berlin in Bundesliga action, while Arsenal also dropped points at newly promoted Sunderland to narrow their edge atop the Premier League.

We also had talking points galore for Napoli (who don’t look good), Paris Saint-Germain (who might have a title race for once in Ligue 1), Man United and Tottenham (neither of whom deserved points in Saturday’s clash), and Antoine Griezmann again played a crucial role in Atletico Madrid’s fourth straight victory.

– Ogden, Lindop: Man City cap big week with Liverpool win
– Reaction: Spurs vs. Man United another rollercoaster for fans
– VAR Review: Why Van Dijk’s headed goal was disallowed

It’s Monday morning, so what better time for some musings? Let’s get into it.

---

Arne Slot’s to-do list just got longer as Jérémy Doku leads Man City past Liverpool and into second place

It was Pep Guardiola’s 1000th game as manager and he couldn’t have had a better afternoon despite the driving rain at the Etihad: a resounding 3-0 win over Liverpool that was not driven by Erling Haaland (though he did score because, well, he almost always does). Nope, the star of the show was Doku, who had the sort of game those of us who drooled over his skill set years ago have been waiting for.

Simply put, Doku is a ball of energy, speed, strength and guile. When he’s at his best, you’ll struggle to find a better one-on-one player anywhere in the world. At a time when athleticism and defensive structures dominate, there’s still room for having a guy who can simply stand up his defender and then blow past him.

As a weapon, it may be simple or even crude, but there’s no counter. Your guy gets taken out and then somebody else has to slide across, which wreaks havoc and creates a knock-on effect that, in turn, means someone will be open down the line. And if you choose to double him up, well, that means someone else on his team is unmarked.

Doku did to Liverpool right back Conor Bradley what Vinícius was unable to do in midweek, when Slot sent out the same XI against Real Madrid with a wholly different outcome, as Liverpool won 1-0 but could have scored more. Consistency — in part because of muscular injuries, which may be par for the course for someone so quick — has been Doku’s Achilles’ heel in the past, but if he can bottle what he showed Sunday, City add whole new dimensions to their attack and become far less dependent on Haaland. He’s a boon not just for the big Norwegian, but for Phll Foden in the No. 10 hole, whoever plays on the opposite flank, Nico O’Reilly overlapping … everything just gets easier.

City are now four points behind Arsenal and while the Gunners haven’t reached their ceiling — they’ve been doing it without Martin Odegaard, lest we forget — you wonder if City’s might be even higher, given that Rodri has yet to return from injury for something other than the odd cameo appearance.

And Liverpool? Well, you could just look at incidents and conclude that if Virgil van Dijk‘s goal had been allowed to stand (and there’s a strong case that it should have) it would have been 1-1 and this game could have taken a different turn. Equally, if Ibrahima Konaté had jumped half an inch higher, Haaland’s goof header earlier in the game might not have given City the lead. And had Van Dijk’s deflection on Nico Gonzales’ shot not wrong-footed Giorgi Mamardashvili, then City’s second goal might never have taken place.

But that would be silly and wrong. Performance matters, and the worrying part here is that Slot opted for the safety blanket of last season’s setup, just as he had in previous outings, with Florian Wirtz (out wide in place of Cody Gakpo) and Hugo Ekitike the only newcomers among his outfield players.

Except it didn’t work.

Wirtz doesn’t give you Gakpo’s defensive output on the left, while Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai had to come and rescue Bradley on the right, leaving gaps centrally for City to exploit. Throw in the fact that Konate looked like a guy who has had to start every single game this season (the mix-up for the penalty that Mamardashvilii later saved was very unlike him) and Liverpool looked far more fragile than last season’s version.

So where does Slot go from here? Arsenal are eight points clear, true, but there’s still more than two-thirds of a season left to play. He needs to get under the hood and figure it out. The huge summer spending spree — and the criticism for the lack of production from the newcomers — is a talking point, but ideally it can’t derail from the task at hand: getting Liverpool to perform with some consistency. Integrating the newcomers while getting results is a challenge and balancing the two isn’t easy because it weighs present-day impact with medium-term growth.

Ideally you do both, but if you have to prioritize at this stage, it has to be the former. The club spent big to extend Salah and Van Dijk; the goal has to be to win something meaningful this season. If that means there’s no time to figure out how to play Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez together (or even just one of them, given how little they’ve both contributed) … so be it. If it means keeping Alexander Isak in the garage (read: the bench) so be it.

The one exception, some would argue, is Wirtz, simply because of the quality he brings and the fact there’s nobody in the side with his skill set. Maybe so, but there was nobody in the side with his skill set last season either and they ran away with the Premier League.

---

Lewandowski back with a bang for Barcelona as they claw back two points on Real Madrid

It had been five weeks since the Polish center-forward last started for Barcelona — not a great outing to be fair, the 4-1 defeat to Sevilla — but you were quickly reminded how even an aging full-time striker sometimes offers more stability than a part-timer asked to fill the role. Lewandowski bagged a hat trick: a (generous) penalty, a tidy “read-the-ball” finish from a cross and a header from a corner. Two of the three were perfect examples of the “nose for goal” trope that may be a cliche, but is still very real.

Beyond that, Lewandowski’s mere presence gave Barcelona the hub around which to play, as well as some much-needed leadership in the absence of the injured Pedri. They scored four at Celta Vigo; they could have had plenty more against an opponent who may be in the bottom half of the table, but were coming off five straight victories. That’s impressive when you consider too that Marc Casadó was a late scratch, leaving Hansi Flick with just one defensive midfielder and forcing him to bring in Dani Olmo while turning to a weird 4-1-2-3 setup.

That said, the perennial issues that dog this team remain. Twice they took the lead, twice they let it slip away with the usual high-line issues. And as we’ve said many times, it’s not the high line itself, but the poor way it’s executed by whoever is back there (Sunday night it was Pau Cubarsí, Ronald Araújo and Eric García at right back). On the first Celta goal, everybody gets sucked towards the ball in midfield, allowing Borja Iglesias to slip Sergio Carreira into acres of space. On the second, Iglesias produces a great finish, but it’s a whole heck of a lot easier to do when the opposing defense is — again — running back toward its own goal and you have tons of space to shoot.

Oh, and just to continue the theme of self-destruction, Frenkie de Jong, who really should know better, picked up a needless second yellow in injury time and is now facing a suspension. That said, Real Madrid are now just three points ahead and, you hope, some of the injured players will be back after the break. Right now, it feels as if Barca are competitive in spite of themselves.

---

Arsenal drop points, but it’s no reason to worry

Newly promoted Sunderland joined Liverpool and Manchester City as the only teams to take points off Arsenal this season in the league. When you’re that consistent, with 14 wins in 17 matches in all competitions — anytime you don’t win, especially after 10 victories in a row, and especially when the equalizer comes in injury time, it’s going to be jarring. That’s why a reality check is in order.

Both of Sunderland’s goals, Dan Ballard’s opener and Brian Brobbey‘s flick, came off the back of individual defensive errors: Declan Rice misjudged the flight of the ball and Gabriel allowed Brobbey to outmuscle him. Here’s the thing. Rice and Gabriel have been two of Arsenal’s (if not the Premier League’s) best performers this season. Unless you think the mistakes are symptomatic of a deeper ill, you move on. Stuff happens. Even the greats screw things up. (If you like this sort of thing, there are extensive YouTube compilations of penalty misses from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for you to enjoy.)

More relevant, I think, is that outside of the two goals, David Raya didn’t have a single save to make, which suggests that defensive solidity is still there (as do the 0.44 expected goals conceded). Leandro Trossard scored a wonder goal, suggesting it made a lot of sense to extend his contract, while Bukayo Saka is getting stronger by the game after returning from injury. And if you really want to go there, that Ballard elbow on Mikel Merino could easily have resulted in a penalty.

Manager Mikel Arteta spoke of “disappointment and frustration” as the run of clean sheets came to an end. Sure, but once he calms down, he may well find his team remain nicely on track. They dropped points, not their level.

---

Napoli lose and Antonio Conte says he’s doing a “bad job”

The only silver lining is that in a tightly wound Serie A, Napoli are still within two points of first place despite Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Bologna. But that has more to do with the competition than the Napoli performances. They’ve been dreadful, and the defeat at Bologna might have been the worst yet. Napoli were outplayed in a first half that finished scoreless and somehow got even worse after the break, producing a second 45 minutes when they managed just one shot of any kind, despite going 2-0 down and having to chase the game.

“Five defeats are too many for a team that’s supposed to win the title,” Conte said. “We don’t yet have that chemistry that makes us want to fight and compete … it means, I’m doing a bad job. We’re not a team.”

That’s about as big a self-indictment as you’ll get. While it’s good that Conte is taking responsibility, it’s not great that his solution is all about platitudes and coach-speak (“We’re not a team” sticks out in particular.) That’s how you talk to your Little League team of 12-year-olds, not a bunch of professionals. You can only hope that behind closed doors, the messaging is a bit more sophisticated.

Even the alibi of the unavailable players is wearing a little thin. Romelu Lukaku hasn’t been there all year; that’s why they picked up Rasmus Højlund, remember? And remember how Kevin De Bruyne was supposedly an issue tactically though, weirdly, most of their metrics have cratered since he’s been out?

The reality is that right now Napoli are lucky to be where they are in the table. They need to do better and — Conte’s right — their coach needs to a better job. A far better job.

---

Quick hits

10. Inter dump Lazio to go back atop Serie A as Cristian Chivu makes his mark: Replacing manager Simone Inzaghi was never going to be easy, and it was always going to take time. Classic conundrum for a new manager, especially an inexperienced one: to what degree do you keep doing what worked in the past for your predecessor, and to what degree do you tweak? Chivu’s version of Inter is somewhat less pretty than Inzaghi’s but, when things come together — as they did Sunday against Lazio — it’s far less forgiving.

They took an early lead with Lautaro Martínez (the most uncoordinated shot you would have seen this weekend) and then turned the screws, limiting Lazio to four shots and 0.20 xG for the first 74 minutes of the game, by which point they were 2-0 up (and should have been 3-0 up, if not for Piotr Zielinski‘s disallowed goal). A purist might sniff at the fact Lazio hit the woodwork afterward and had very late chances, which is suboptimal. Sure, but it felt as if Inter could have scored more too. And along with Roma, who are flying after their own 2-0 win over Udinese, they now sit atop Serie A.

9. Once again, Paris Saint-Germain need an injury-time winner to get past Lyon: Here’s a stat for you. If games ended in the 89th minute, PSG would have won just two of their past nine matches in all competitions. Instead, they’ve won five of nine, with the past two wins coming thanks to injury-time strikes: a week ago against Nice, it was Gonçalo Ramos. This time, after a wild game away to Olympique Lyonnais, it was João Neves.

PSG monstered possession (72%), but produced just nine shots on goal: Lee Kang-In and Senny Mayulu don’t quite offer what Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué bring to the table in terms of incisiveness. Twice they took the lead, both times with a bit of good fortune — Warren Zaïre-Emery making himself invisible to spring the offside trap for the first, Vitinha possibly fouling Tanner Tessmann to set up Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for the second — and twice they were pegged back with a little bit of help from goalie Lucas Chevalier, who could have done better.

Neves was honest in saying they “need to improve.” He’s right: even without Dembele, Doue, Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi, they should be capitalizing on seeing so much of the ball (Fabián Ruiz had a quiet game, which didn’t help). The last thing Luis Enrique needs if he’s going to defend his Champions League title is a legitimate title race in Ligue 1. And that’s what he has to deal with right now.

8. Chelsea stink up the first half before breaking out vs. Wolves: Never mind the 3-0 victory. When you play the current iteration of Wolverhampton Wanderers — zero wins and two draws in eleven games, no manager on the bench — you have to grade on the curve, which is why Chelsea were booed off the pitch at halftime after a first 45 minutes filled with plodding and predictable play.

We’re not privy to what happened at halftime — maybe it was words of inspiration from Enzo Maresca, maybe it was just inertia — but business picked up a little with Malo Gusto‘s goal early in the second half, and it really ratcheted up when Estêvão came on and played a huge part in the last two scores. The good news is that Chelsea eventually shook off whatever post-Qarabag hangover they were suffering from. The not-so-good news is that you suspect this inconsistency — Alejandro Garnacho is the epitome of this — and this reliance on a couple individuals (the injured Cole Palmer being one of them) will continue for some time. Call it growing pains.

7. Antoine Griezmann to the rescue … again? Last week, I celebrated the little guy for hitting his 200th Liga goal. I didn’t expect him to be coming up again so soon, but here we are. Against a scrappy Levante side, it was Griezmann who came off the bench to break the 1-1 deadlock with his first touch. And it was Griezmann again, after a huge Jan Oblak save, to make it 3-1 and put the game to bed.

It’s now four wins on the spin for Atleti since the drubbing against Arsenal in the Champions League, but several of them could easily have gone the other way. Diego Simeone is finding he has to reach deeper in his box of tricks to keep Atleti ticking over. They’re turning into a side who can dominate the ball, but pay a hefty price for switching off at the wrong time (witness Levante’s goal). Seems appropriate that it’s a man from the past (and, evidently, the present) who got them out of trouble.

6. Uninspired Real Madrid held at Rayo Vallecano: Xabi Alonso didn’t want to hear talk of fatigue after the 0-0 draw away to Rayo. (It’s been four straight years now that they’ve failed to win there.) After all, his team had an extra two days’ rest compared to the opposition, who turned out in the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday. But they did look flat against Rayo, a small club that plays and thinks like a big one. Maybe the Anfield defeat took more out of them than they want to acknowledge.

Kylian Mbappé was quiet, Real Madrid took a while to get going and Aurélien Tchouaméni reminded you how important he is by his absence (Eduardo Camavinga filled in and wasn’t quite the same). If you’re determined to draw out the positives, Vinicius looked lively, Jude Bellingham looked fitter and Arda Güler in a deeper role showed plenty of leadership. But it feels as if this international break comes at just the right time.

5. Luciano Spalletti is ready to tinker, which is what he does best, after Juventus draw the derby: He wouldn’t have been my choice to lead Juve at this time, but now that he’s on board, it’s best to let Spalletti do his thing. That means fiddling with lineups and combinations (sometimes outside the box) until he gets something that works.

Juve were disappointing in the scoreless derby draw against Torino — they had a ton of the ball and did little with it. Spalletti blamed a lack of creativity and to be fair, unless Kenan Yildiz is switched on (he wasn’t on Saturday), there isn’t too much of it in the side. Nobody felt the need to see Daniele Rugani starting again or a reprise of Igor Tudor’s 3-4-2-1 and yet that’s what we got, with Yildiz and Chico Conceicao behind Dusan Vlahovic. If it’s part of his trial-and-error regeneration of Juve, so be it. He’s still a bandage, not a cure, but once you stick the bandage on, the worst thing you can do is rip it off and stick it on again.

4. Borussia Dortmund undone deep in injury time. Are the Keystone Kops back? The upshot is that because they conceded on a Hail Mary, boot into the box and subsequent header in the seventh minute of injury time, Nico Kovac’s crew had to settle for a point in Hamburg. So much for cutting Bayern’s Bundesliga lead to five points.

Should they have done better? Probably. Kovac evidently felt they looked gassed after chasing Manchester City around for 90 minutes in midweek and left out Karim Adeyemi, Ramy Bensebaini and Felix Nmecha (Julian Brandt too, but that’s no longer news). They took the lead and allowed themselves to get pushed back (no shots at all from Dortmund in the final 25 minutes) against a newly promoted side. When you do that, you risk conceding freak goals, which is what happened. Even with their more solid setup, Dortmund give up silly goals.

3. Max Allegri is angry after Milan’s 2-2 draw at Parma, but is it for the right reasons? Allegri talked about his team being “naive” for committing the cardinal sin of Italian football, letting a 2-0 lead turn into a 2-2 draw. He railed about the defensive errors that led to Parma’s comeback and the missed opportunities, but that’s a pretty knee-jerk reading. Pervis Estupiñán getting muscled off the ball by the touchline isn’t great, but Adrián Bernabé still had to unleash a worldie of a curler to beat Mike Maignan. And sure, you expect Christian Pulisic (back from injury) and Alexis Saelemaekers to bury those second-half chances, but lest we forget, one of those came after a moment of genius from Rafael Leão, the other came on the counter. Other than that, Milan produced very little in the second half and against a side like Parma, with their shoestring budget and 30-year-old coach (Carlos Cuesta), you expect more.

This was a game that got away from Milan because they played with fear of conceding an equalizer in the second half, rather than taking the match to the opposition and looking to score a third. He needs to fix that. Oh, and a word of praise for referee Marco Di Bello. After awarding Milan’s penalty, VAR sent him to the screen to reconsider. He did, and he stuck to his original decision. I wish more referees had the personality to do this.

2. Somebody had to take the points when Tottenham hosted Man United: Saturday’s clash was a 2-2 draw and they ended up sharing them. Based on style, it might have been fairer if both went home empty-handed. Harsh? The combined xG at the end of the first half was 0.42 and there had been just six shots, including Bryan Mbeumo‘s goal. United were clunky, Spurs disjointed (Copenhagen is one thing, United — even with all their issues — another).

United boss Ruben Amorim said the three points were there for the taking. Probably so, but then it’s his team who let a lead slip with six minutes to go and needed a late injury-time equalizer to get even a single point (thank you, Matthijs de Ligt, but even more gratitude should go to the horrendous defending). As for Spurs, Mathys Tel came off the bench for a rare moment of brilliance for one goal and Wilson Odobert, with another peach, was responsible for the other (though it was credited to Richarlison, who provided the slightest of touches on the way, supposedly). Patterns of play? Creativity? Nope. And the crowd’s reaction when Spurs’ apparent current creative mind, Xavi Simons went off — resounding boos — tells you what the fans think too.

1. Bayern Munich’s win streak ends with a thud at Union Berlin: After 16 consecutive victories, the run came to an end away to the Bundesliga’s “other” hipster club, Union Berlin. And given Harry Kane‘s equalizer only came in injury time, Vincent Kompany’s crew nearly suffered their first domestic defeat in 11 months. They looked fatigued and their game was littered with mistakes. Manuel Neuer allowed the ball to trickle under his body for Union’s opener. Luis Díaz with an absurd finish one-on-one with the keeper. Kane heading the ball straight to an opponent for the 2-1.

Just a bad day at the office? Probably: Roll on the international break. And after they come back, it’s just a month before the winter break. By then, Jamal Musiala and Alphonso Davies should be back too. Make no mistake about it, they’re not releasing their grip on the league anytime soon.