One team has a chance to pull back to within four points of league-leaders Liverpool — and that team is not Manchester City. It’s the league’s second-most press heavy team, hosting the hardest team in the league to press. I want to say “should be fun” but every game we watch together ends up making us all question whether “fun” is actually a real concept and not just a theoretical ideal that none of us have truly ever experienced before. Game stats at 10 am EST. Oh, and don’t forget about the sale! The newsletter is 30-percent off through December 25. Subscribe here:
Another terrible game! Well, not terrible. It was interesting, and overall pretty impressive from Southampton, but Ings going off injured really nuked their chances in this one. Southampton are one of the best-coached teams in the league -- an obvious candidate for a team that could quickly become awesome with the addition of the right players and no change at all in system. City ... saw it out, I guess? They didn't concede many shots or any good shots. Guess we can't criticize them for blowing games they dominate AND for winning games they look kinda crappy in, but this wasn't really the response you'd wanna see immediately after Liverpool won 7-0. If we're updating our priors, this one didn't continue to move things toward "City are back and they're fine".
Metaphorical Full Pig recipient: Ben suggested we give KDB a full pig for assisting the winner and just generally thwacking the ball wherever he wanted with whichever part of his foot he wanted. He created the most chances and completed the most final-third passes, so he gets the award. However, in order to encapsulate his contradictory brilliance, he gets a full, uncooked pig. It's his choice to raise it and treat it like a child or do otherwise.
Thanks again for all the lively commentary. Another weak match, but this might have been my favorite chat yet. Always fun to feature a team we don't always talk about. Enjoy your weekends, all. Talk soon!
Any chance that later in the season you'd host an Inter watch chat and get Marco on? Not sure how many Serie A-interested people there are in your fanbase but the takes would be incredible
Is anyone in here keeping up with the NGITC fantasy league? Just curious if people are still checking their teams. I haven't done a great job of keeping the excitement going, but would like to start integrating it more often.
Yes. So glad we did this — appreciate it. It’s been a real thrill. Way more engaging/rewarding than fantasy (American) football. Streets ahead, you could say
Loving it! First time doing PL fantasy and it's been a ton of fun. Wish there was a way to set the timezone to NA time so I don't keep missing the lineup deadline but that's on me
Vestergaard's ability with the ball at his feet has been really good since joining Saints. He has cleaned up the rest of his game though, which has made a huge difference.
It’s funny, defending balls in the air was actually a massive weakness of his which seems to have disappeared this season. Maybe he just remembered he’s a gigantic human?
Roberto Firmino was the latest "crisis of confidence" player who wasn't actually undergoing any crisis but was just experiencing some negative variance. Who will be next?
But isn't that built through a lot of lower xg chances. Usually when we the media is talking about confidence issues it's about players missing big xg chances. I'd think that narrative pops up for Raheem, who's been occasionally black holeish with the ball this year, long before de bruyne.
OK, on the City goal, Sterling stopped his run, sat at the penalty area, and KDB found him with a cut-back. On that Bernardo Silva chance just now, he did a similar thing, and KDM found him with a cut-back. Seems like City may have re-emphazised the pattern that they've scored so many goals with over the past four years.
I used to kind of scoff at Romeu as a player because he just passed sideways but he almost never gives the ball away and I feel like they’ve had a lot of success with him and JWP
Plus, the cultural transition would be non-existent. Squint and you can’t tell the difference between Bergamot and ... Southampton. (I can say it because I live there)
Southampton needed more open play through the midfield, Mourinho needed a guy to cynically foul players from behind and throw his face in front of the ball. The transfer was the universe achieving balance, nature healing
I feel like if he and Havertz swapped teams and roles both players would be better off (with the caveat that Havertz is a obviously a much better player)
If city sign Haaland in January, are they title favourites? Not far behind liverpool, and that would be such a huge boost for them, this season and beyond. 538 has them as favourites anyway, and Haaland + KDB would be bananas.
If they win today and win the game in hand, they'll still be five points back. They've already played Liverpool at home and didn't gain any points. You'd have to think that City are way, way more talented than LFC -- and better coached -- for them to be favorites within that context.
KDB. I think TAA can get away with crosses which aren’t exactly perfect because Mané and Salah are such good improvisers that they’ll control anything, whereas KDB makes it easy for the recipient. I guess that’s another reason why completion % isn’t so helpful
In case any of you west coast lunatics who got up at 4:30 for Liverpool/Palace were wondering, no that wasn't a dream. It really happened. Klopp used all his subs!
I really think Sterling is better on the right. A good example at the end of him just coming inside into traffic, which doesn’t happen on the right. Great on either side, but I think his few weaknesses are minimised on the right
I agree, but I feel like with Cancelo playing inverted and De Bruyne usually skewing right City would have no creativity on the left side with Sterling on the right
Agreed. I think another issue is that Mahrez can’t play on the left. Would like to see Foden in the Sané wide left role, or try to resurrect Mendy somehow
Ryan, I think you've mentioned your love of Le Carre before in the newsletter. Any recommendations for someone who has read the big name stuff (Spy Who Came In, Tinker Tailor, Perfect Spy, etc.) but wants to get deeper into the catalogue?
What do people think of Kyle Walker these days? Seems like he doesn’t show up when people talk about the world’s best RBs, but I couldn’t name 5 better
I think I mostly agree with Tom. Your ceiling as a great RB is really limited if you're not doing any attacking. I actually do think he's a pretty good defender ... other than all of the stupid fouls/penalties. He's sort of an ideal RCB in a back three, which is, in a way, how City use him in possession anyway.
He just doesn’t do anything going forward any more. Part of that is because they play him more conservatively but I think he’s not great at attacking and although he’s generally good at defending he gives up too many penalties
That's fair, discipline is definitely an issue but I feel like against teams who play from the wing he's lights out at locking down his flank and defending wide
That's fair, discipline is definitely an issue but I feel like against teams who play from the wing he's lights out at locking down his flank and defending wide
Yeah, not sure how much you can blame him for that. Seems like his pace is more valuable in transition defending/recovery than in overlapping, but I still think that’s really useful for team which play an aggressive defensive line. I think he could do what Alphonso Davies does for Bayern (but with less dribbling) in a more flexible system.
I think part of it is the glut of good english right backs, so he seems like yesterdays man compared to Trent, Reece James, Tariq Lamptey, AWB among others, even though he's only 30.
Where do you see Southampton finishing? I like them a lot but don’t think they can keep up a top 4 challenge all season (Unless the stats say otherwise)
Are Man City worse at set pieces than they should be? Could just be games I've watched, but they seem like less of a threat than they should be given that they have KDB and some lunky English defenders with foreheads. Deep down, does Pep believe any goal not scored in open play is unethical, and undermines his own success?
FT Stats:
Shots (on target): Southampton 9 (3), City 11 (5)
xG: Southampton 0.73, City 0.87
Attacking-third passes: Southampton 68, City 93
Penalty-area passes: Southampton 11, City 11
Another terrible game! Well, not terrible. It was interesting, and overall pretty impressive from Southampton, but Ings going off injured really nuked their chances in this one. Southampton are one of the best-coached teams in the league -- an obvious candidate for a team that could quickly become awesome with the addition of the right players and no change at all in system. City ... saw it out, I guess? They didn't concede many shots or any good shots. Guess we can't criticize them for blowing games they dominate AND for winning games they look kinda crappy in, but this wasn't really the response you'd wanna see immediately after Liverpool won 7-0. If we're updating our priors, this one didn't continue to move things toward "City are back and they're fine".
Metaphorical Full Pig recipient: Ben suggested we give KDB a full pig for assisting the winner and just generally thwacking the ball wherever he wanted with whichever part of his foot he wanted. He created the most chances and completed the most final-third passes, so he gets the award. However, in order to encapsulate his contradictory brilliance, he gets a full, uncooked pig. It's his choice to raise it and treat it like a child or do otherwise.
Thanks again for all the lively commentary. Another weak match, but this might have been my favorite chat yet. Always fun to feature a team we don't always talk about. Enjoy your weekends, all. Talk soon!
Oh, I absolutely meant he should get it as a pet. Thanks Ryan (and everyone) this was a lot of fun! Time for me to subscribe
Any chance that later in the season you'd host an Inter watch chat and get Marco on? Not sure how many Serie A-interested people there are in your fanbase but the takes would be incredible
sorry this should obviously be Franco*
Materazzi would work too if he's available
Would also accept Verratti or Van Basten
I'd love to hear Reus' takes on Conte's use of Perisic at wingback
Any predictions for Munich Leverkusen?
Alphonso is playing at LW with Hernandez behind him, I predict fun
Pls for the love of all that is holy, do not let next week be Arsenal Chelsea. Strip Arsenal of top 6 status till they earn it.
Southampton seem like they're gonna lose the ball every time Nathan Redmond gets near it.
Is anyone in here keeping up with the NGITC fantasy league? Just curious if people are still checking their teams. I haven't done a great job of keeping the excitement going, but would like to start integrating it more often.
Yes. So glad we did this — appreciate it. It’s been a real thrill. Way more engaging/rewarding than fantasy (American) football. Streets ahead, you could say
Streets Ahead indeed, only complaint is wish there was more of a trade aspect and one could make at least 2 transactions per week without penalty
Loving it! First time doing PL fantasy and it's been a ton of fun. Wish there was a way to set the timezone to NA time so I don't keep missing the lineup deadline but that's on me
Hoping to play next year if the prize is still Iberian ham
WHEN THE HELL DID VESTEGAARD LEARN TO HIT PASSES LIKE THAT?????
Vestergaard's ability with the ball at his feet has been really good since joining Saints. He has cleaned up the rest of his game though, which has made a huge difference.
He’s miles better this year. Making forays forward a la Matip more too
So good in the air, too. Scary player if he puts it all together.
It’s funny, defending balls in the air was actually a massive weakness of his which seems to have disappeared this season. Maybe he just remembered he’s a gigantic human?
He was such a mystery before this season. All the things he should be good at seemed to be an issue, and all the things he shouldn't came naturally.
Was it the haircut?
The really heavy hair was weighing him down and causing him balance issues. That was offset by the weight of a ball at his feet though.
There aren’t a lot of 1-on-1 battles I look forward to in soccer but soucek vs vestergaard in the air is one of them
LONG BALL CITY WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BEAUTIFUL GAME PEP
Roberto Firmino was the latest "crisis of confidence" player who wasn't actually undergoing any crisis but was just experiencing some negative variance. Who will be next?
I mean, that was Che Adams’ entire season last year, so he must be immune for life now
Aubameyang...lol
Turns out Kevin De Bruyne is trailing his xG by more than anyone else in the league ...
This is totally anecdotal but I feel like he has had a bunch of bad luck. Crazy deflections etc
shot the ball into gabby jesus's back ...
But isn't that built through a lot of lower xg chances. Usually when we the media is talking about confidence issues it's about players missing big xg chances. I'd think that narrative pops up for Raheem, who's been occasionally black holeish with the ball this year, long before de bruyne.
Of course I type this and Raheem puts one away.
Werner?
DCL has gone a full two games without scoring, does he count as lack of confidence or is he just washed?
*taps mic* anyone out there?
Yessir. Happy holidays!
OK, on the City goal, Sterling stopped his run, sat at the penalty area, and KDB found him with a cut-back. On that Bernardo Silva chance just now, he did a similar thing, and KDM found him with a cut-back. Seems like City may have re-emphazised the pattern that they've scored so many goals with over the past four years.
I am a professional soccer journalist. Also: I have never heard of the kid who just came on for Southampton.
Romeu just got Christmas off. Well played
Any nominations for both a) what kind of ham we should award after the game and b) who the recipient of said ham should be?
KDB surely gets a whole pig for that pass? Riccy Q reborn
rum ham for Mahrez’s finishing?
Proudfoot just cited xG on the broadcast. Well-cooked meat!
He also used the phrase “mob-handed” earlier, one of my favorites. Get em Jim!
HT Stat Update:
Shots (on target): Southampton 7 (2), City 5 (2)
xG (per Stats Perform): Southampton 0.39, City 0.18
Final-third passes: Southampton 25, City 35
Penalty-area passes: Southampton 9, City 5
Really impressive from Soton so far. Really unfortunate to produce that performance against City and go into HT down 1-0.
looking forward to the end of Ederson’s career when he’s playing in the center of the park for Sporting Kansas City
Love this. I’ve been wanting him to play center back for city
We should do a pod of 11 Players Who Should Play Different Positions
Pickford: ball boy
Barca should be playing Frankie De Jong at CB and embracing the chaos
Andy Carroll CB
Luis Suarez, GK
He was quite good in that one World Cup
Saints have Andy Carroll at CB today
Can’t wait to see how Pep coaches Redmond today
Could really use some coaching tbh
The easiest “do you rate him?”
I used to kind of scoff at Romeu as a player because he just passed sideways but he almost never gives the ball away and I feel like they’ve had a lot of success with him and JWP
He’s budget Busquets
Mahrez doing a good Redmond impression so far
Of all of Danny Ings' accomplishments, naming his instagram account Ingstagram might be his greatest. Top tier handle.
How good would Papu Gomez be in this Southampton team?
Yes, please.
Plus, the cultural transition would be non-existent. Squint and you can’t tell the difference between Bergamot and ... Southampton. (I can say it because I live there)
What does Italy have to offer that Weston Shore cannot?
I love this idea
Southampton look ... exactly how you'd expect them to look without Che Adams and Danny Ings.
And with city seemingly instructed to not foul in the final third
Kind of funny that Hojbjerg gets held up as the lynchpin of the Tottenham revival under Mourinho -- and yet Southampton have flourished without him.
Southampton needed more open play through the midfield, Mourinho needed a guy to cynically foul players from behind and throw his face in front of the ball. The transfer was the universe achieving balance, nature healing
Good call. I feel like Hojbjerg + Romeu = too much 6, not enough 8
Do you think they would be better/worse if they’d signed Mckennie as his replacement?
I actually think ... worse? I don't really see where he fits in without totally throwing off the balance of the team.
Yeah, I definitely think JWP looks worse next to him instead of Romeu
Don't think McKinnie fits as well playing that deep
Southampton's press is starting to wear off. Not quite to the same extreme, but I'm getting some second-half v Spurs from the las5 15 minutes or so.
Noticed this the past few times I have watched them. Think Ben was spot on earlier re squad depth, too
Ryan Sessegnon just scored -- for Hoffenheim.
Have they still got him playing at LCB?
LB today.
Less interesting, probably more sensible
City have one shot since they scored ... in the 16th minute.
Outside of the score, it's a really even game so far, which is a win for Soton and an L for City.
I hope next time he does a post match interview a reporter asks Vestergaard how it felt to fight in the battle of Helm’s Deep. Dying to know
The Kyles Walker Bowl!
Is Ferran Torres still on the field? Has he ever been on the field?
I've seen him play about 25-30 times. I've also never seen him play.
Hat trick vs Germany should fuel the hype train for awhile
feel like he did his job well with the near post run on the sterling goal. is he meant to be like firmino?
He’s winger that they’re playing way out of position. Also not sure he’s very good. Hard to know because he doesn’t do a ton on the field
I feel like if he and Havertz swapped teams and roles both players would be better off (with the caveat that Havertz is a obviously a much better player)
Thoughts on the City kit? It reminds me of seawater under a microscope
Look like a psychedelic satin handkerchief
Yeah, I like it too
Anything is better than a gradient kit
Nice to see Pep do his best Mourinho impersonation
Next thing you know KDP will be playing right center back in a back 6
Budget Vestergaard
The sound Ward-Prowse makes when he smashes in a corner is genuinely impressive, it's so loud every time.
I haven't noticed! Like, foot-hit-ball sound? Or tennis-forehand-grunt sound?
Foot hit ball, there must be a mic near the corner flag but it's like a flatter home run esqe crack
Is Theo Walcott...good?
If city sign Haaland in January, are they title favourites? Not far behind liverpool, and that would be such a huge boost for them, this season and beyond. 538 has them as favourites anyway, and Haaland + KDB would be bananas.
If they win today and win the game in hand, they'll still be five points back. They've already played Liverpool at home and didn't gain any points. You'd have to think that City are way, way more talented than LFC -- and better coached -- for them to be favorites within that context.
Please leave our beautiful boy alone
That would depend if they can reliably score between now and then, they might end up far enough behind to make it very difficult.
Better crosser: TAA or KDP?
It's KDB. He's the modern Beckham. (THIS IS A COMPLIMENT.)
i look forward to KDB's cologne
“Let me talk” the fragrance
Modern in that he has more pieces to his game, that are part of the modern game. Or do you mean a more 1:1 comparison?
Just that Beckham literally kicked a ball better than anyone else in the world. That's now true of KDB.
JWP is so mad right now
The utmost disrespect
Hoping this is a KWP typo and not a KDB typo
KDB. I think TAA can get away with crosses which aren’t exactly perfect because Mané and Salah are such good improvisers that they’ll control anything, whereas KDB makes it easy for the recipient. I guess that’s another reason why completion % isn’t so helpful
Good morning Ryan. Do you think Che Adams deserved the Ballon d’or this year?
Harry Kane is a poor man's Che Adams.
Toss up between Grealish’s calves and Adams’ thighs
Disappointing third place finish for Adama Traore's shoulders
Looking forward to a towering Vestergaard header
In case any of you west coast lunatics who got up at 4:30 for Liverpool/Palace were wondering, no that wasn't a dream. It really happened. Klopp used all his subs!
lmao
Was it just me or did anyone else feel like that was one of the worst TAA games in a long time (despite the result)
Villa was pretty pretty pretty bad
The "Lamptey to start at Euro 21" train is gaining steam
Naby Keita looked good today. He played the full 90 too. Excited
He's so useful in games like this -- basically like having an extra attacker on the field.
How many of Barca’s problems does Sterling fix? Could have spent the Griezmann money on him
Compared to liverpool's morning destruction, too soon to say man city's title hopes are already swimmin in shark infested seas?
I really think Sterling is better on the right. A good example at the end of him just coming inside into traffic, which doesn’t happen on the right. Great on either side, but I think his few weaknesses are minimised on the right
I agree, but I feel like with Cancelo playing inverted and De Bruyne usually skewing right City would have no creativity on the left side with Sterling on the right
Agreed. I think another issue is that Mahrez can’t play on the left. Would like to see Foden in the Sané wide left role, or try to resurrect Mendy somehow
I don't know if Foden has the one-on-one skill to play on an island and create like Sane did, but I agree that he's the better option
Most boring city team since the negredo Jesus navas nasri era
What did Aguero do to Pep?
What happened to Bernardo Silva? He used to be a real source of anxiety as an opposing fan.
Schalke about to lose to Bielefeld 🥴
Turns out that constantly letting your best players leave the club at no cost is a terrible long-term strategy!
Especially when you replace them with the players that the German relegation teams were more than happy to let go
Ryan, I think you've mentioned your love of Le Carre before in the newsletter. Any recommendations for someone who has read the big name stuff (Spy Who Came In, Tinker Tailor, Perfect Spy, etc.) but wants to get deeper into the catalogue?
This is the best intro guide to JLC, I think. Read whatever you haven't from this list to start: https://www.vulture.com/2020/12/best-john-le-carre-george-smiley-books.html
But really, you can't go wrong with any of it.
I really liked "A Delicate Truth". From 2013. No one really talks about it.
What do people think of Kyle Walker these days? Seems like he doesn’t show up when people talk about the world’s best RBs, but I couldn’t name 5 better
I think I mostly agree with Tom. Your ceiling as a great RB is really limited if you're not doing any attacking. I actually do think he's a pretty good defender ... other than all of the stupid fouls/penalties. He's sort of an ideal RCB in a back three, which is, in a way, how City use him in possession anyway.
Every time I watch him he's great, I don't know how many fullbacks are better than him defensively
He just doesn’t do anything going forward any more. Part of that is because they play him more conservatively but I think he’s not great at attacking and although he’s generally good at defending he gives up too many penalties
That's fair, discipline is definitely an issue but I feel like against teams who play from the wing he's lights out at locking down his flank and defending wide
That's fair, discipline is definitely an issue but I feel like against teams who play from the wing he's lights out at locking down his flank and defending wide
Yeah, not sure how much you can blame him for that. Seems like his pace is more valuable in transition defending/recovery than in overlapping, but I still think that’s really useful for team which play an aggressive defensive line. I think he could do what Alphonso Davies does for Bayern (but with less dribbling) in a more flexible system.
I think part of it is the glut of good english right backs, so he seems like yesterdays man compared to Trent, Reece James, Tariq Lamptey, AWB among others, even though he's only 30.
Where do you see Southampton finishing? I like them a lot but don’t think they can keep up a top 4 challenge all season (Unless the stats say otherwise)
They're rocking a negative xG differential right now. Somewhere around eighth sounds about right to me.
They’re great, but I don’t think the squad depth is there for any to sustain any kind of challenge in the top 6
I feel like the group of Arsenal, Villa, West Ham, Everton and Southampton could finish 5-9 in any order and I wouldn't be surprised
One of these is not like the other
Gunnersaurus deserves better
Have you got Peter Drury on commentary in the US? For me, he’s the second best English speaking commentator after Ray Hudson of course
Jim Proudfoot on NBCSN. Love him.
Are Man City worse at set pieces than they should be? Could just be games I've watched, but they seem like less of a threat than they should be given that they have KDB and some lunky English defenders with foreheads. Deep down, does Pep believe any goal not scored in open play is unethical, and undermines his own success?
They could be great at set pieces; instead they're bad-to-average. I haven't heard him speak about set pieces and don't know anyone who's worked with him, but my guess is that he feels similarly to Roberto Martinez: https://www.espn.com/soccer/english-premier-league/story/4097252/premier-league-leaders-liverpool-might-beg-to-differ-that-corners-are-overrated-for-scoring