1st October European Football Weekend Review

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Premier League - Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur 

Erik Ten Hag watched his Manchester United side give a wretched performance, further piling the pressure on the Dutchman. 

Tottenham could and probably should have inflicted more pain on the beleaguered Reds, only for wasteful shooting from Timo Werner and solid goalkeeping from Andre Onana. 

Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski, and Dominic Solanke were on target as Spurs made it 4 wins on the spin in all competitions. 

As the game faded out, the home fans left in their droves, having already voiced their disapproval in the 2nd half, they gave up and made for the exits. 

United lacked cohesion, tactical awareness, and if put on a performance you would expect from a non-league side, with Spurs players running unopposed in their half, time after time.

The stats make for pretty bleak reading for the Red Devils; Spurs had more than double the amount of shots, created 9 big chances, close to twice the amount of passes completed, and somehow managed to have 18 shots inside the box. 

It is hard to see a way back from this performance for Ten Haag, big results are needed away at Porto and Aston Villa, but the writing already looks on the wall for him. 

Tottenham also have 2 away trips this week to Hungarian side Ferencvaros, and to Brighton, where they will want to keep up their recent upturn in form. 

Other results 

Newcastle 1-1 Man City

Arsenal 4-2 Leicester City 

Brentford 1-1 West Ham 

Chelsea 4-2 Brighton 

Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace 

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Fulham 

Wolves 1-2 Liverpool 

Ipswich 2-2 Aston Villa 

Bournemouth 3-1 Southampton

Player of the weekend - Cole Palmer 

The only word to describe Cole Palmer’s display on Saturday, in Chelsea’s 4-2 win over Brighton is sensational; he scored all of his sides goals, the pick of those a stunning free kick that left Bart Verbruggen helpless. The England international brings Eden Hazard vibes, the Stamford Bridge fans hope he can bring the success his Belgian Predecessor enjoyed. 

League table 

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La Liga - Atletico Madrid 1-1 Real Madrid 

In normal circumstances this result would have gone down as a dull enough affair, with both sides happy to play not to lose, but the actions of the Atletico Madrid supporters made it more memorable for all the wrong reasons. 

After Eder Militao had put Real into a 2nd half lead, the referee was forced to suspend play as the Atletico Ultras threw missiles at their former player Thibaut Courtois despite the work of captain Koke and manager Diego Simeone to calm things. 

In a bonkers ending to the game Courtois, instead of slowing things down threw the ball back to Atletico, who would score an injury time equaliser through Angel Correa; the goal had been ruled out initially for offside. 

As the game was coming to a close, Marcos Llorente was given his marching orders for a horrendous tackle on Fran Garcia 9 minutes into stoppage time. 

The result will favour Barcelona after their first loss of the season the previous day and helps them keep at least a 3 and 5 point lead respectively over their rivals. 

There will most likely be repercussions for Atletico, this is not the first incident where their ultras have been a menace at the Metropolitano; their ground closing for a few games would not be overly surprising.

Other results 

Real Valladolid 1-2 Real Mallorca 

Getafe 2-0 Alaves 

Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Leganes 

Real Sociedad 3-0 Valencia 

Osasuna 4-2 Barcelona 

Celta Vigo 1-1 Girona 

Athletic Club 1-1 Sevilla 

Real Betis 1-0 Espanyol 

Villarreal 3-1 Las Palmas 

Player of the weekend - Sergio Gomez 

The Real Sociedad playmaker was a thorn in Valencia’s side on Saturday, as La Real were victorious 3-0. Gomez had 2 assists, 90% of his passes were accurate, and created 5 chances for his teammates in a dominant display that helped earn just a 2nd win in the league this season. 

League table 

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Bundesliga - Bayern Munich 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen

 Bayern dominated their encounter with Leverkusen, but despite having more possession and shots at goal, Vincent Kompany’s team could not convert their dominance into 3 points. 

With 69% possession, 18 shots to Leverkusen’s 3, Bayern will be disappointed they didn't strike an early blow in the title race by defeating last season's champions. Xabi Alonso will be the happier of the 2 managers, content to leave the Bavarian city with at least a point to ensure the gap at the top stays at just 3 points. 

Robert Andrich put the away side into a 31st minute lead against the run of play, the midfielder guided the ball home from outside the area beyond the reach of Manuel Neuer. The lead was short-lived. Youngster Alexsandar Pavlovic’s thunderbolt of a volley from 25 yards restored parity, a goal worth watching if you haven’t seen it. 

Serge Gnabry had Bayern’s best chances in the 2nd half, in a crazy 4 second spell, the former Arsenal player first struck the inside of the post, he then followed that up with a shot that hit the crossbar.

Despite dropping points Bayern stay top, a point above Eintracht Frankfurt; they face their 1982 European Cup foes Aston Villa at Villa Park on Wednesday night. 

Leverkusen stay in the top 4, they host AC Milan at the Bayer Arena tonight.

Other results 

Borussia Dortmund 4-2 Bochum 

Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 Union Berlin

Freiburg 0-3 St.Pauli

Mainz 0-2 FC Heidenheim 

RB Leipzig 4-0 Augsburg 

Wolfsburg 2-2 VFB Stuttgart 

Holstein Kiel 2-4 Eintracht Frankfurt

Hoffenheim 3-4 Werder Bremen 

Player of the weekend - Jens Stage 

Danish midfielder Jens Stage came to the fore in Werder Bremen’s dramatic 4-3 away win at Hoffenheim. Stage completed a hatrick on the way to sealing the 3 points, he had a 100% conversation rate, scoring with all of his 3 shots; the win takes Werder Bremen back into the top half of the Bundesliga table. 

League table 

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Serie A - Torino 2-3 Lazio  

Lazio ended Torino’s unbeaten start to their Serie A campaign, winning an entertaining contest 3-2 at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino.

It made it a bad week for Torino, The Granata were also dumped out of the Coppa Italia midweek at the hands of Empoli. On top of this, one of their players of the season so far, goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic pulled up on the warm up.

On-loan from Arsenal, Nuno Tavares is proving to be an astute signing for Lazio, he was to the fore once again setting up the first goal for Matteo Guendouzi. Boulaye Dia then doubled the lead on the hour mark to put the away side into the ascendancy.  

Che Adams pulled a goal back for Torino, only for Tijani Noslin to restore Lazio’s 2 goal lead with a minute of normal time remaining. Saul Coco scored a spectacular bicycle kick to give the home side slim hope of a comeback, but it proved too little too late.

Torino manager Paolo Vanoli was dismissed from the sidelines for dissent to make it a miserable day all round for those associated with The Granata. 

Up next for Torino is a difficult match away to Inter at the San Siro on Saturday evening. Lazio host Nice in the Europa League on Thursday night, followed by the visit of Empoli to the Italian capital on Sunday afternoon. 

Other results 

Milan 3-0 Lecce 

Udinese 2-3 Inter 

Genoa 0-3 Juventus 

Bologna 1-1 Atalanta 

Como 3-2 Verona 

Roma 2-1 Venezia

Empoli 0-0 Fiorentina 

Napoli 2-0 Monza 

Parma 2-3 Cagliari 

Player of the weekend - Lautaro Martinez 

The Inter captain scored twice as the Nerazzurri bounced back from their defeat in the Milan derby last weekend. Martinez had failed to hit the net so far this season, and his performances have looked jaded after a busy summer with Argentina; Simone Inzagi will hope his top striker can kick on from here. 

League table 

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Ligue 1 - Lens 0-0 Nice 

Lens and Nice could not be separated, the game finishing 0-0 at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis on Saturday afternoon. Both sides had won only 2 of their opening 5 matches, though Nice were fresh from thrashing St.Etienne 8-0 the previous week

Polish goalkeeper Marcin Bulka was the busier of the goalkeepers, the Nice netminder made 6 saves, 5 coming inside the box, the pick of his saves coming from M’Bala Nzola were he expertly tipped the ball onto the post. 

Lens goalkeeper Brice Samba also excelled, helping his side keep a clean sheet, the former Nottingham Forest keeper made a key save on 28 minutes, flying low to his right to deny Badredine Bouanani. 

Nice feel they should have had a penalty after Andy Diouf’s risky tackle on Bouanani, initially given, VAR overturned the decision much to the frustration of Franck Haise who sensed a win against his former side was slipping from his grasp. 

The point keeps Lens in the European places, and Nice in 9th just 2 points off their opponents. 

Strasbourg are up next away from home for Lens, Nice travel to Rome to face Lazio in the Europa League, before PSG come to town on Sunday night. 

Other results 

Auxerre 3-0 Brest 

PSG 3-1 Rennes 

Le Havre 0-3 Lille 

Monaco 2-1 Montpellier 

Toulouse 1-2 Lyon 

Angers 1-3 Reims 

Nantes 2-2 St.Etienne 

Strasbourg 1-0 Marseille 

Player of the weekend - Jonathan David 

The Canadian forward scored a perfect hatrick that demonstrated his penalty box prowess in Lille’s 3-0 win over Le Havre; he scored with his right and left foot, as well as his head to make it 5 in Ligue 1 this season. 

League table