Statement wins, coaches under pressure, and some very bizarre team selections. ESPN’s writers break down the best — and worst — from Matchday 5 in the UCL.
And then there was one. With five games played, Arsenal are the only team in the UEFA Champions League with an unblemished record. The Gunners’ impressive 3-1 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday saw to that, but what of the other results this week?
What can we read into Chelsea’s confident 3-0 win over Barcelona? What does Liverpool’s 4-1 capitulation at the hands of PSV Eindhoven — at Anfield no less — mean for under-fire Reds boss Arne Slot? And what on Earth was Pep Guardiola thinking when he named a second-string squad to face Bayer Leverkusen?
Read on as ESPN experts Julien Laurens, Sam Tighe, Rob Dawson and Gab Marcotti answer all the big questions from Matchday 5.
– Arsenal remain perfect in Champions League, firm up contender status
– Lindop: Liverpool’s nightmare continues with UCL loss to PSV
– Dawson: City’s squad issues were made apparent in Leverkusen loss
Marcotti: This was beyond weird. The only time you see this many changes is when there’s a meaningless fixture or an early round Carabao Cup game, where you secretly don’t mind if you go out. I don’t think there’s a coach in the world, other than Pep, who would try to pull something like this.
Man City’s next three games are Leeds United at home, Fulham away and Sunderland at home. It’s not as if you need to rest for those. Nor was it a case of wanting to keep the second-string involved. When you make 10 changes, there isn’t going to be any chemistry anyway. You’re effectively telling the 10 guys coming in that they’re reserves and nothing more.
I can only speculate, but my hunch is that there’s something else going on that know about. Guardiola usually doesn’t do stuff like this. Not necessarily anything sinister, maybe just some weird newfangled motivational technique, or maybe trying to send a message to the guys who lost at Newcastle United? Either way, it was a huge miscalculation, possibly prompted by the fact that Leverkusen had two regulars, Edmond Tapsoba and Robert Andrich, suspended for this game. (Or maybe he didn’t notice that Erik Ten Hag had been sacked?)
In any case, life now gets needlessly complicated. Real Madrid away are next, followed by Bodo/Glimt away — they may not be high up the table, but they play on a plastic pitch north of the Arctic Circle and the game is in January. For all Pep knows, he could be walking into a literal blizzard. The possibility of having to go into the playoffs (or, worse) is very real, and that means adding two more fixtures in an already congested calendar.
Mario Melchiot and Stewart Robson discuss Manchester City’s struggles to get a win after their 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
Dawson: Guardiola made a mistake with his starting XI against Bayer Leverkusen and he admitted to it afterwards.
No one is saying he shouldn’t rotate — the packed playing schedule means he has to. The point is that he made 10 changes when it could have been limited to four or five, particularly with Leeds at home next up in the Premier League. The issue with City’s performance was that there was no rhythm to it at all, though it shouldn’t be a surprise when so many players were starting a game for the first time in weeks.
It was an odd decision from Guardiola because losing to Leverkusen has put unnecessary pressure on the rest of the Champions League campaign. They’ve a tough game against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu next month. If they lose that — and they could — they might need to beat both Bodo/Glimt and Galatasaray in January to give themselves a chance of finishing in the top 8.
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Tighe: A glance at the result, and at Man City’s rotated XI, may well produce a scoff, and it’s an outcome that’s made all the more galling by the fact Leverkusen heavily rotated too.
Clearly, taking Erling Haaland out of this team is not something City can get away with. He’s scored 58% of their Premier League goals (14 of 24) and 50% of their Champions League goals (5 of 10). The over-dependence is concerning, but Pep likely felt the need to try and give him a break given the Norwegian forward is on course to clear 4,000 minutes this season (and then head into a FIFA World Cup). If not here, at home against an injury-hit Leverkusen, then when?
It should be noted, too, that the City team on the pitch really should have got this done. They registered 1.8 xG on the night, which is the same as Chelsea managed in their 3-0 win over Barcelona, and more than Benfica did (1.2) in their 2-0 win over Ajax. Tijjani Reijnders, Nathan Aké, Oscar Bobb and Rayan Cherki all missed chances of varying presentability. Haaland was subbed on to save the day and missed two more.
Laurens: I love Guardiola dearly, but his decision to rotate so heavily made no sense whatsoever. Not because City lost; their B team did enough and created enough chances to win and they will still qualify top eight regardless.
It made no sense because Guardiola has decided to completely change the way his team is playing. There’s a new philosophy, a new system, and new things to teach. His strongest team is still learning it, and it was the wrong move to change everything for a Champions League match. I’m all for rotation, but not the whole team when you need consistency for the squad to learn the new football you want to play.
It was evident against Newcastle that City’s new style hasn’t clicked, and this could very likely lead to three defeats in a row when they play at home against Leeds this weekend. I am only kidding, but Tuesday was a reminder that, in Man City’s current state of flux, Pep can’t really play Pep roulette anymore.
Marcotti: Probably. What’s impressive to me is the way they can find different solutions. Yeah, we’ve all heard about the set pieces and the counter-attacks (and they scored that way too). But Arteta has a whole box of tricks he can rely on, and he has the courage to act. Taking off Bukayo Saka is a huge call because he’s one of your two best set-piece takers and he’s your biggest star (and a good egg all around). Yet Arteta had the guts to do it, and it paid off handsomely.
Arsenal beat — comprehensively — a team that had won every single game bar one this season. And, sure, Jamal Musiala and Alphonso Davies were sidelined, but they’ve been out pretty much all season. (Not to mention that Arsenal were without Gabriel Magalhães, Viktor Gyökeres and Kai Havertz, plus Martin Ødegaard was only just coming back from injury.)
Luis Díaz was pretty much Bayern’s only relevant absentee, so that’s not much of an alibi. The way Arteta’s side came out in the second half, even before the goal, was truly impressive. Bayern didn’t know what hit them. I don’t know if they can keep this up all season, but what I do know is that they have more levels they can tap into. We haven’t seen the best of Saka yet this year and they’re simply a better possession side with Ødegaard in the team.
Craig Burley reacts to Arsenal’s 3-1 win vs. Bayern Munich to sit top of the Champions League table.
Laurens: Arsenal are the best team in the world right now and it is not even a debate. They are the only team still unbeaten in the Champions League, where they have only conceded one goal in five games. We saw on Wednesday that even the second-best side in Europe is not even close to them.
Arsenal destroyed the German champions in the second half, nullifying their fire power up front and controlling Harry Kane really well. Arsenal are the best team out of possession in the world by a mile and, even if their football is not the sexiest, they are so efficient in both boxes. The depth of their squad is also what propelled them to the win on Wednesday night.
