England bows down to Manchester, Barcelona’s bench is real thing, the Bayern empire is crumbling, and how an MLS stadium is something that Wembley can never be.
Behold the Top Five things from the wide world of soccer this week:
1. Welcome to the Manchester Premier League
It is really Manchester’s world, and we are all just living in it.
City and United are the new oligarchy of the Premier League after five matches, putting together identical marks in terms of victories (4), draws (1), losses (0), goals scored (16), and even goals allowed (2). But it is the dominating fashion in which they commandeered the standings that makes it scary.
City put together a week worthy of Pep Guardiola’s old Barcelona teams, tallying an incredible 15 goals in three matches counting last week’s (5-0 over Liverpool), midweek’s (4-0 at Feyenoord), and Saturday’s (6-0 at Warford).
And of course, Jose Mourinho would not let his old rival get away, making a successful to return to Champions League with a 3-0 win over Basel, and welcoming Everton and old pal Wayne Rooney back to Old Trafford with a 4-0 whopping.
More Top Picks Best Massage Chairs For Seniors With Arthritis
The English title race (yes, it is only week five) is shaping up to be a mouth-watering intracity spectacle, as was Antonio Valencia’s rocket against Everton, making it this week’s Goal of the Week.
2. Barcelona’s bench does, in fact, exist
Barcelona’s lack of resources on the bench ended up costing them the Spanish league title last season.
It looked like this season would not be much different. However, the Culés were bailed out by two substitutes -Denis Suarez and Paulinho- and got away with a victory on Saturday despite an uninspiring performance against Getafe.
If players like Suarez, Paulinho, Andre Gomes, Paco Alcacer, especially Gerard Deulofeu in the absence of Ousmane Dembele can offer Ernesto Valverde a real boost off the bench, Barcelona will be able to keep up point for point with Real Madrid this time around.
3. Trouble brewing in Munich
Bayern may have rebounded from the 2-0 loss to Hoffenheim with wins against Anderlecht in Champions League and Cologne in Bundesliga, but something is toxic is cooking in the locker room.
Just in the last seven days, Robert Lewandowski publicly criticized the club’s lack of aggressive spending on transfers, legend Lothar Matthaus then publicly chastised Lewandowski, Franck Ribery threw a fit after being subbed off, and Arjen Robben went out of his way to back Ribery and the disgruntled Thomas Muller after the Cologne match.
Despite it all, Bayern are back to winning. It may be early to declare “total chaos,” as Matthaus called it, but the Bavarian empire is self-destructing slowly but steadily, and Carlo Ancelotti’s head will be the first to roll.
4. Wembley woes be gone? Not so fast
Say what you want, but the Wembley Curse whispers are getting louder and louder.
Even Mauricio Pochettino, usually very adept and eloquent in his statments, could not find an explanation for Spurs’ 0-0 draw against Swansea to follow what looked like a home awakening of grand magnitude with the performance against Borussia Dortmund midweek. Not even Harry Kane, who had been on an amzaing run of performances since September came, could break through the London-sized bus Swansea parked in front of Lukasz Fabianski.
Whatever the human or superhuman problem is, Pochettino and Spurs better find it quickly before the they become ghosts in the standings.
5. Atlanta sets the new standard
The Atlanta United supporters have raised the home crowd game to a whole new stratosphere in Major League Soccer.
Aside from being an astounding piece of sports architecture, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium became is quickly becoming the best home-field advantage in MLS, challenging the Seattle’s and Orlando City’s of the league.
Atlanta United broke the single-game MLS attendance record Satruday by bringing in a whopping 70,425 spectators to witness a thrilling 3-3 draw with Orlando City, surpassing the 69,255 who went to the Rose Bowl for the Los Angeles Galaxy’s first match ever in 1996. These are NFL-level crowd sizes, and if MLS matches are on par with NFL games in anything, it speaks volumes about the continuous growth of the league in the United States.
Atlanta United is having a tremendous first season as it is, but this expansion franchise and its home crowds could take MLS to new heights.
