Key events
“I doubt you’ll find a better defender than Gabriel Magalhães (although possibly not at the Amex yesterday),” writes Chris Day-Kerry. “I often think that it’s easier to tempt a player to Spain or France than Northern England.”
Gabriel is a decent defender, yes, but that raises another point: the overall standard of centre-back is poor. He’s a long way off where Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho were, I think probably Ledley King and Sol Campbell too.
Yes, to those who’ve emailed – I did neglect Erling Haaland, who if of course also in that list of elite strikers.
As for Liverpool, Iraola is still picking at his back-four – ultimately, he doesn’t have full-backs he can rely on, so it’s likely he’ll be flicking through options until he does. Similarly, his midfield is going to remain unbalanced until it isn’t. Dominik Szoboszlai, of course, is a mainstay, but there’s not much pace and control around him; Alexis Mac Allister is scoring goals currentl, but doesn’t offer enough else, while Florian Wirtz is getting more chances than a Monopoly champion. We see flashes because he’s extremely talented; the question is whether he’s quick enough, of foot and thought, or robust enough, to regularly impose himself in “this league”. Our collective sense seems far closer to no than yes.
I don’t imagine Rose spent too long sweating over his team. Kluivert is a miss, and of course Junior Kroupi is long-term injured, but otherwise, his team is pretty settled. Adam Scott, who we might’ve thought would leave in the summer, stayed, and has started the season in excellent form. His ball-carrying is exceptional and he offers height in both boxes; if he can develop his passing, especially shirt, punched through the lines, he might develop into an all-round monster.
But back to our game, let’s have a closer look at our dramatis personae.
Also kicking-off at 2pm: Man City v Sunderland and Leeds v Palace. We’ll keep you updated with any goals that go in; I’m really looking forward to seeing how Daniel Farke’s men get on after their Monday-night dematerialisation of Newcastle.
Anyone with any ideas as to why that is?
It’s interesting that, for all the money in the Premier League, many of the best players, especially attackers, are in Spain, Munich and Paris. If you consider Vinicius, Bellingham, Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Oliseh and Kane, the Prem doesn’t have superstar that equivalence and only Bruno Fernandes is remotely close to that company in terms of being among the world’s best in his position. Nor are there that many Prem players who might have the potential to hit a similar level.
Andoni Iraola, meanwhile, is still searching for his best blend – for any blend, really. He leaves out Victor Munoz, Ryan Gravenberch and Kostas Tsimikas, with Alexis Mac Allister, Milos Kerkez and Cody Gakpo coming in.
Marco Rose makes one change to the side that sorted Sociedad in midweek, Justin Kluivert replaced by Ryan Christie. He’s not in the sqaud at all, so presumably is injured.
Teams!
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Truffert, Hill, Silva, Smith; Adams, Scott; Tavernier, Christie, Rayan; Evanilson. Subs: Di Gregorio, Cook, Soler, Brooks, Gannon-Doak, Diakite, Sanchez, Toth, Jebbison.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson; Araujo, Van Dijk, Jacquet, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Gakpo, Isak, Barcola. Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Tsimikas, Munoz, Frimpong, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Koumas, Ngumoha.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Ashington)
Also going on:
Preamble
There have never been as many brilliant footballers in the world as there are now, there has never been as much money anywhere as there is in the Premier League now, and the use of data has never been as sophisticated; for those reasons, Premier League fixtures have never been as hard to predict nor of such high average standard. Every team has players good enough to hurt every other team.
Bournemouth v Liverpool offers a case in point. Andoni Iraola left Rayo Vallecano to join a team with a ground capacity of 11,307, who have won precisely no top-level honours, then used their scouting systems to attract players of calibre from clubs of similar or greater size. He then moved to Anfield, spending insane amounts of money on attackers the summer after Arne Slot did exactly the same at cost of his job, and yet it’d be no surprise whatsoever if his old club take the points today.
Thus far, the richer clubs have retained their advantage over the course of a season – having the best players, rather than merely brilliant players is enough to win them sufficient marginal games to keep reaching the Champions League – but, as we’ve already seen this weekend at Brentford and Brighton, week to week, they are prone to being out-thought and out-played. Might this be the season that their talent ID – for managers as well as players – is so good, that next, we see it backed in the market with Champions League money?
Both Bournemouth and Liverpool have made iffy starts to the season, learning new systems following a World Cup summer with squads built to someone else’s specifications, both much better going forward than backwards. And both will want a win to see them off into the international break, fearful of the grim deal sitting with a defeat for a fortnight entails. Which for us, means only good things – this should be a terrific tussle.
Kick-off: 2pm
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