Plus ça change

Given the aggregate score of the last 4 games at London Stadium between the teams is 17-1, it can hardly be much of a surprise that Man City ran out 5-0 winners on the opening day of the season, but the manner of their victory is what suggests it could be a disappointing season ahead for anyone that doesn’t enjoy sitting back and watching dominance personified. For me the main takeaways from this game that reinforce my perspective that City could possibly surpass how impressive they were last season these:

  1. They had Foden, Bernardo Silva and Aguero on the bench – 2 players that are genuinely world-class performers and 1 that Pep himself has tipped to join them this year.
  2. When the match was poised at 2-0, Ederson pulled off a double save that reminded everyone that while their attacking exploits may garner the headlines, they have a shot stopper who may be up there with the best of them, if not beyond them.
  3. A Raheem Sterling hat-trick feels like something of a ho-hum moment now, even with 2 of the goals being taken with total aplomb. He is now a complete player and seems to require to warming up to the new season

Contenders or Pretenders

Liverpool and Spurs have been tipped to once again be the closest competitors to City, but both leave matchday 1 with mixed match reports.

There was a lot familiar about Liverpool’s performance, with a dominant Van Dijk goal reminding everyone he is a complete player that deserves recognition as such in the Golden Boot ceremony. Salah scored with a composed finish in a way that harked back to 2017/18 rather than the slightly underwhelming version we saw last year. And for the Origi goal the finish itself paled into insignificance compared with the quality of the cross that led to it.

So far all positive – and yet – Liverpool looked surprisingly vulnerable in defence, with Norwich getting in behind numerous times, and were they just slightly more composed in front of goal it could have been a more uncomfortable curtain raiser for Liverpool.

Possibly of more significance was the loss of Allison. I have remarked in various conversations with friends and in my season preview that Liverpool were very lucky with injuries last year. They have a capable deputy in Adrian, but the dropoff is significant, and we shall have to wait to see if the time he is out provides City with all the opportunity they need to put distance between themselves and Liverpool.

For Tottenham, there was again a sense of familiarity about the match – in this case it was Tottenham underperforming for large swathes of the match and threatening to drop points, only to eventually come to the fore and swagger their way across the finish line.

The concern that will be there for Tottenham is in the ongoing saga that hangs over Christian Eriksen at the moment. It is entirely unclear to me at the moment to what extent that saga is deserving of being labelled as such, or whether the whole thing is a media construct. Yes, Eriksen did say the words “I feel that I am in a place in my career, where I might want to try something new”, however that was part of a wider conversation that could be read as much as trying to convince Levy to show him he is wanted at the club.

There is an element of a storm in a teacup about the perceived fractures appearing in the Tottenham dressing room, but the difference Eriksen made in the game at the weekend just demonstrates his importance and I’m sure will leave fans hoping that nothing comes of it and they will get to see Poch happily shaking Eriksen’s hand with a Spurs fountain pen in hand soon.

Not so MOR

Burnley and Brighton are a couple of the teams who I would be forgiven for having a chip shop sized portion of aforesaid potato snacks on their broad shoulders. Both will therefore have thoroughly enjoyed the spotlight of the opening day shining upon their very impressive 3-0 victories.

Burnley’s Ashley Barnes scored 2 goals in his continuing effort to be the answer to the question of “who Premier League defenders least want to play against but who hogs the least of the headlines”, while in Brighton’s game it felt like although a number of players put in impressive performances on the pitch, it was Graham Potter’s aggressive substitutions to kill of the game rather than see it out that deserve the plaudits in that victory.

I am sure that both teams will have weekends as disappointing as this first was enjoyable – but let’s not poop on their part too much eh?

SO MOR

I feel that the opening weekend should not be dwelt on too much, with unbridled optimism at a week 1 result being as pointless as too much self-chastising hand wringing.

That being said, Southampton and Watford both losing 3-0 will only have fed into nascent insecurities that no doubt abound in both fan bases, and highlight the worst fears that they will have had coming into this season.

To mirror the last sentence of my previous section though, the disappointment of this week could very easily be swept away once week 2 comes around, and a blossoming Che Adams may silence Anfield while Troy Deeney could muscle Everton’s shaky defence into submission and leave both of these teams wondering what all the fuss was about come Saturday evening.

Disappointment Derby

The 3 teams that probably came into this season with the biggest expectations were Leicester, Wolves and Everton. All 3 have had arguments made for them to break into the ‘Big 6’, but they are currently sat in 11th, 12th and 13th and with no goals to show between them.

I would be surprised if we reached the end of the season with all 3 continuing to underwhelm, but I would be even more surprised if all 3 ended up shrugging off this disappointing start and lived up to the heady expectations they had coming into week 1.

Overractions Abound

Chelsea will be fine.
Tammy Abraham will come good.

Mason Mount was not the problem

Man Utd are not that good

Pogba’s moments of genius won’t outweigh those of frustration

It’s a long long season

West Ham’s consistent batterings at the hands of Man City over the last few years have only been matched in consistency by their ability to bounce back from them and put enough results together to get by. The concern for West Ham will be that while they have undoubted talent going forwards, in the City game, a little like when “extras” manages to top score in a cricket innings, it felt like the most effective defensive performer for West Ham was actually VAR.

As for Newcastle, I feel like the season may not have a more representative moment that Steve Bruce being caught on the touchline microphone shouting “what the fuck’s happening”