European Weekend football Review - 26th November 2024
Guardiola’s Worst Streak, Derby Delight for Bilbao, and Kane’s Hat-Trick Keeps Bayern Flying
Premier League - Man City v Tottenham
For the first time in his managerial career, Pep Guardiola suffered a 5th consecutive defeat, with bogey side Tottenham handing out a thrashing at the Etihad.
Despite outplaying Tottenham for long stretches of Saturday's encounter, City struggled to create many meaningful opportunities as their frontline failed to click once again.
James Maddison struck twice, along with former City player Pedro Porro, and Brennen Johnson as Ange Postecoglou’s side were ruthless on the counter attack.
This has been a recurring theme, with City facing 1.17 shots per game on the counter, as well as conceding 1.25 goals per game, showing the defensive and structural issues they have at the moment.
Of course they are missing Rodri in midfield who perfectly knits the team together as well as other key personnel, but so many of their key players are underperforming.
Spurs continue to be the Jekyl and Hyde of the Premier League, brilliant one week, awful the next. The result helped them bounce back from defeat to Ipwich before the international break, as well as now leaving just 4 points between the sides.
City host Feyenoord in the Champions League midweek before traveling to Merseyside to take on Liverpool needing to get a win.
Tottenham welcome Roma to North London on Thursday night in the Europa League, followed by a visit of Fulham on Sunday.
Other Results
Leicester City 1-2 Chelsea
Bournemouth 1-2 Brighton
Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest
Aston Villa 2-2 Crystal Palace
Everton 0-0 Brentford
Fulham 1-4 Wolves
Southampton 2-3 Liverpool
Ipswich 1-1 Man Utd
Newcastle 0-2 West Ham
Player Of The Weekend - Matheus Cunha
The Brazilian was in sparkling form on Saturday for Wolves, grabbing 2 goals and an assist as Gary O’Neil’s men grabbed a vital win at Craven Cottage. The pick of his goals was the 87th minute curling effort from distance that left Fulham keeper Bernd Leno clutching thin air.
League Table
La Liga - Athletic Bilbao v Real Sociedad
Athletic Bilbao claimed the bragging rights in the Basque Derby, winning 1-0 thanks to a Oihan Sancet’s 26th minute header.
Ernesto Valverde’s men extended their winning run in all competitions to 7, taking them to within 2 points of Villarreal for a place in the top 4 and a potential Champions League place.
Bilbao created the majority of the chances and will feel but for poor shot selection and wasteful shooting that they should have recorded a bigger winning margin.
This latest defeat for Real Sociedad continues their erratic form that has seen them lose 6 games already this season as they are slipping further and further from the European places.
Solid at the back, Sociedad simply do not score enough goals, their tally of 11 is the 2nd worst in La Liga, with the likes of Mikel Oyarzabal and Takefusa Kubo to name but a few way off the pace.
Bar the visit of Real Madrid to the San Mames next week, Bilbao have very winnable fixtures in the league coming up to help push their way further up the table; could this be the year they get back into the Champions League?
Other Results
Getafe 2-0 Real Valladolid
Valencia 4-2 Real Betis
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Alaves
Girona 4-1 Espanyol
Las Palmas 2-3 Real Mallorca
Celta Vigo 2-2 Barcelona
Osasuna 2-2 Villarreal
Sevilla 1-0 Real Vallecano
Leganes 0-3 Real Madrid
Player Of The Weekend - Bojan Miovski
It has been tough for Miovski transitioning from the Scottish Premier League, but the North Macedonian finally grabbed his opening 2 goals for Girona, netting a brace in his side’s 4-1 home win over Espanyol; he also assisted the opening goal scored by Bryan Gil.
League Table
Bundesliga - Wolfsburg v Union Berlin
Wolfsburg’s recent solid run of results continued as they narrowly overcame the challenge of Union Berlin on Saturday afternoon.
Ridle Baku scored the only goal of the game, volleying the ball into the net from just inside the penalty area to score his 2nd goal of the season, and extend his sides unbeaten run to 5 in all competitions.
After a horrible end to September, dropping 7 points from 3 matches to end the month, Ralph Hassenhuttl has steadied the ship; his charges are only 2 points off the European places, though they do currently sit 11th in the Bundesliga.
For Union Berlin, their current woes continue. With no win in over a month, and in that time they were also dumped out of the DFB Pokal by Armenia Bielefeld, Bo Svensson will need to find solutions to their current predicament to arrest their slide down the table.
With one of the lowest scoring records in the division, the Dane will have to find a way to get more from his attacking players; A solid defensive record will only get Union so far, before their lack of goals drags them into another relegation scrap.
Other Results
Bayer Leverkusen 5-2 FC Heidenheim
Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Freiburg
Hoffenheim 4-3 RB Leipzig
VFB Stuttgart 2-0 Union Berlin
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Werder Bremen
Holsten Kiel 0-3 Mainz
Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0 St.Pauli
Player Of The Weekend - Harry Kane
The England captain scored yet another treble, as Bayern defeated Augsburg 2-0 on Friday night. He has been criticized in recent weeks for not turning up in the big moments for club and country, but the goals at the weekend took his overall tally for the Bavarians to 49, helping them maintain their 6 point lead at the top of the Bundesliga.
League Table
Serie A - Milan v Juventus
With both sides struggling for consistency under new management, it was no surprise this contest finished goalless in a turgid affair with little on offer at the San Siro.
Milan created a paltry xG of 0.29, while Juventus were only marginally better with an xG of 0.45; neither goalkeeper was forced into making any saves of note.
For Thiago Motta, the draw helps his side maintain their unbeaten Serie A start, but that has to be taken with a pinch of salt as they have contrived to draw 7 games already this season.
Despite the football looking completely different under Motta, Juve still seem to struggle with attacking fluency, but have kept the steeliness they were renowned for under former manager Max Allegri; they are the first side since Roma in 2013/14 to keep 10 clean sheets in their opening 13 games.
For every positive result for Paulo Fonseca and co, such as wins over neighbours Inter Milan and Real Madrid in the Champions League, there have been poor results against relegation fodder such as Calgiari and insipid displays against Juventus.
Lying in 7th, already 9 points off 4th placed Fiorentina, something needs to change quickly if Milan are not to miss out on Champions League football next season; with loud boos reverberating around the San Siro on Saturday evening, Fonseca needs results to improve and fast.
Other Results
Verona 0-5 Inter Milan
Parma 1-3 Atalanta
Genoa 2-2 Calgliari
Como 0-2 Fiorentina
Torino 1-1 Monza
Napoli 1-0 Roma
Lazio 3-0 Bologna
Empoli 1-1 Udinese
Venezia 0-1 Lecce
Player Of The Weekend - Joaquin Correa
Often a much maligned figure at Inter, Joaquin Correa had one of his better days in a Nerazzurri shirt in the 5-0 win away at Verona, the Argentine provided 2 assists and got himself on the scoresheet to keep Simone Inzagi’s men just a point off Napoli in the race for the Scudetto.
League Table
Ligue 1 - Lens v Marseille
Marseille bounced back from their harrowing home defeat to Auxerre before the international break, recording a 3-1 win away at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
Far from their sparkling best, Marseille rode their luck at times with Geronimo Rulli being called on several occasions to save L’OM.
All the goals came in the 2nd half with Valentin Rongier, and Luis Henrique putting Roberto De Zerbi’s men into a commanding lead, only for Angelo Fulgini to pull 1 back with 10 mins remaining.
Lens thought they had equalised through Remy Lascary, only for VAR to rule the goal out for a foul in the build up.
Marseille made sure of the points when Pierre-Emile Hojberg drilled the ball home from a freekick just outside the area, the win kept the pressure on Monaco with just 3 points separating the sides in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Despite a needed victory, Marseille have a lot of work to do, they conceded 16 shots, and on another day a more ruthless side would have punished them for their disjointed defending.
Lens continue to struggle in attack, their starting front 3 have managed just 2 goals between them all season, highlighting their weak area; manager Will Still will hope to get the backing from the board to strengthen up front in January to help Lens qualify for Europe next season.
Other Results
Monaco 3-2 Brest
PSG 3-0 Toulouse
St.Etienne 1-0 Montpellier
Reims 1-1 Lyon
Lille 1-0 Rennes
Auxerre 1-0 Angers
Nantes 0-2 Le Havre
Nice 2-1 Strasbourg
Player Of The Weekend - Maghnes Akliouche
The tricky winger was in devastating form in Monaco’s 3-2 win over Brest on Friday night, scoring twice to help the Principality side stay 2nd in Ligue 1; his 2nd goal was delightful as he delicately chipped the ball over the advancing Marco Bizot.
League Table
