We're back! After a fun summer of Euro 2024, Copa America and Olympic drama, the 2024-25 European season began with a bang across the continent as the English Premier League, Spanish LaLiga, French Ligue 1 and Italian Serie A kicked off. We had big statements from Manchester City (in beating Chelsea), Real Madrid (in surprisingly drawing at Mallorca) and Bayer Leverkusen (in winning the German Super Cup), to name just three.
There were also talking points galore around Liverpool, Manchester United, Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli, Barcelona and much, much more.
It's Monday. Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football.
It's obvious that Man City are so far ahead of Chelsea ... less obvious is how Maresca & Co. are going to turn it around
So much for the notion that Manchester City are slowly winding down, what with the 115 charges, Pep Guardiola and Kevin De Bruyne in the final year of their contracts and the ownership having long ago accomplished what they set out to achieve. It might still be the case, but they remain head and shoulders the pick of the Premier League, judging from what we saw on opening day at Stamford Bridge.
City started without Julián Álvarez (off to Atletico Madrid), Rodri (unavailable), Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Jack Grealish and Nathan Aké (all on the bench) and still picked up where they left off last season, winning 2-0. Mateo Kovacic did his best Rodri impression, Erling Haaland bullied his way beyond Marc Cucurella to the first goal and they cruised through through the game with a sense of purpose and control.
It's a cliche, but it's true: time and work matter. Pep and these players have been doing it together for a long time, there's a synchronicity and a chemistry to what they do which has a multiplier effect on their players (who, of course, are already pretty darn good of their own accord).
It's the opposite of where Chelsea are right now. There's the obvious fact that this was Enzo Maresca's first league game in charge, that he hasn't had the time to work with many of these player and that their summer has been disrupted by the twin clouds of PSR and their giant squad (and the knock-on effects, like the Raheem Sterling situation around his omission from the squad). There's the age and inexperience of this Chelsea side and yeah, the fact that to a man, most of these guys are considerably worse than their counterparts in the City crew.
City looked a class apart, but there were also a few positives for Chelsea to take, such as the performances of Romeo Lavia and Levi Colwill and the fact that at a goal down, they did have chances to equalize (Nico Jackson's close finish and the Enzo Fernández header). And yeah, while Kovacic's goal was well-taken, Robert Sánchez didn't exactly cover himself in glory either and individual mistakes can happen. (The good news for Maresca is that if he thinks this is Sanchez's level, he's got a bunch of other keepers to choose from.)
The question is how Maresca is going to take this team forward. There's a Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) piece to this -- they may already be facing a points deduction and if they don't trim the squad effectively to improve the bottom line, they could face another one -- but put that to one side for now, because that's a club issue, not a Maresca issue. Focus on how the pieces he does have -- and wants to count on -- will fit.
Against City, Maresca did the logical thing of playing (give or take) his best 11 available players. One obvious thing that stood out is that Christopher Nkunku and Cole Palmer were out on the wing, with Enzo Fernandez in the attacking midfield role. Both Nkunku and Palmer, versatile as they may be, are more effective when they come into central areas. As for Fernandez, using him as a No. 10 means losing his passing from deep and his late runs (indeed, he had a rough game).
Another is that, for now at least, Chelsea's build-up play looks unimaginative. They had nearly half the possession against City (which isn't bad) but a lot of it was sterile. Maybe Lavia can grow as a passer and become a deep-lying playmaker, but right now, there's very little creativity in the middle of the park. Having spent more than $300 million on the trio of Fernandez, Lavia and Moisés Caicedo, it makes sense they should play. But then what do you do with the pieces ahead of them?
Luis Miguel Echegaray reacts to Arsenal's 2-0 win over Wolves in their opening game of the Premier League.
Whatever it is, it likely won't be what Maresca did so successfully at Leicester, where he had a both a deep-lying playmaker and genuine wingers. It's going to be a different scheme. Then again, if you're going to hire someone on the back of what he achieved elsewhere, wouldn't you try to lay the conditions for him to do the same in his new job?
Maresca's challenge is pretty much unique -- even more so than that faced by his predecessor, Mauricio Pochettino, who at least had plenty more experience and clout when he was in charge. And that's before you get into the club's many off-the-pitch PSR/squad size related issues -- all of which, by the way, are of their own making.
Mallorca frustrate Real Madrid in Mbappé's debut as Ancelotti calls for 'balance' from his left-leaning team
Real Madrid fielded the same XI that beat Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup, which means Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo were all on the pitch at the same time, with Jude Bellingham on the left side of midfield. It's a way of shoehorning your best players into the lineup, which ideally is what a coach is supposed to do. But it's also a really difficult thing to do and it requires chemistry, especially when the pieces don't really fit naturally.
Vinícius started the game on the left wing. Kylian Mbappé, who played on the left wing most of his career, started in the middle and drifted to the left. Rodrygo started on the right, but strayed to the left early and often (scoring a great goal in the process). Bellingham, who played in attacking midfield last year, was on the left of a midfield three.
That's a lot of congestion on one side. You can make it work -- of course you can -- but it's going to take time, and it's not easy to find the right chemistry, especially in a congested season. That's the balance coach Carlo Ancelotti talked about after the game, as much as the "defensive balance" (though the two are obviously linked). It won't matter against many teams because Madrid have far better players, but then you get games like Sunday's 1-1 draw against Mallorca. It's not about the result -- Mallorca keeper Dominik Greif made at least two huge saves (but then so did Thibaut Courtois) and the home side's goal came after a set-piece brain fart -- as much as it is about the performance.
Julien Laurens discusses Joshua Zirkee's impact for Manchester United after his debut goal.
There are obviously other talking points from the game -- Ancelotti making substitutions too late, Ferland Mendy getting himself foolishly sent off -- but the core issue is this: how do these pieces fit together? The alternative, when Eduardo Camavinga is fit, might be sacrificing Rodrygo for a genuine right-sided player (Brahim Díaz or Fede Valverde) or perhaps shifting to a 4-3-1-2 set-up, like last year.
Leverkusen stardust wins them German Super Cup, but Stuttgart's performance shows Hoeness is for real
Patrik Schick's late, late equalizer sent the German Super Cup to penalties, which Bayer Leverkusen won, because that's what they do -- even when they had to play nearly an hour down to 10 men after Martin Terrier's red card. There's a stat from last season that says Leverkusen scored 25 goals in all competitions after the 86th minute. I have no idea if it's the sort of thing the analytics folk take seriously, but it sounds impressive, and numbers like that feed belief, which matters to the players on the pitch.
The German Super Cup isn't a "glorified friendly" like last week's Community Shield, where the champions (Man City) sent out a team stuffed with McAtees and O'Reillys. It matters, and both teams went for it. The difference going into it is that Leverkusen hung on to all their big guns in the summer (including the biggest of all, manager Xabi Alonso) whereas Stuttgart was pillaged by rival clubs, losing defensive mainstays Hiroki Ito and Waldemar Anton, plus top scorer Serhou Guirassy.
And yet Stuttgart more than held their own, hitting the woodwork on three occasions and coming close to putting Leverkusen away. That says a lot about Sebastian Hoeness, the young manager who (like Alonso) chose to stay put, despite enticing offers from bigger, wealthier clubs (none more so than Bayern, whom he turned down). The fact that Hoeness -- despite the summer departures -- hit the ground running in the Super Cup says even more.
Quick hits
TEN -- Arsenal pick up where they left off last season: It turned out to be a fairly routine 2-0 win, (though it could have taken a different turn if not for a superb David Raya save from Jakob Strand Larsen, and what struck you about the Gunners' home win was how calm they looked -- even as they had to wait for Bukayo Saka's late second half effort to put there game to bed. There's a maturity about this side which bodes well.
Janusz Michallik reacts to Liverpool's 2-0 win over Ipswich in Arne Slot's first Premier League game.
NINE -- Kimmich back in midfield for Bayern in cup romp, but will he stay there? The ridiculousness of having one of your top two or three players pinball between midfield and right-back may well continue this season, and Joshua Kimmich can blame his own versatility for that. The 4-0 win away to second-tier Ulm in the DFB-Pokal may not be much of a bellwether, but if Kompany sticks to the 4-2-3-1 formation, we saw you'd imagine a Kimmich-João Palhinha (with the occasional Aleksandar Pavlovic start mixed in) in the middle.
EIGHT -- Gravenberch auditions for defensive midfield role as Liverpool come alive in the second half on Arne Slot's debut: The good news for Slot is that his era begins with 2-0 away win vs. Ipswich. The not-so-good news is he needs to figure out what happened in a first half that saw Liverpool manage just three shots with a cumulative xG of 0.11 against a newly promoted opponent. The transition from Klopp to Slot was supposed to be more seamless than this. That said, Ryan Gravenberch's audition for the pivot role went OK; they'd still be better off with Martín Zubimendi there, but if he doesn't materialise it's not the end of the world.
Julien Laurens lays out what to expect from Mason Greenwood in Ligue 1 after an impressive first game with Marseille.
SEVEN -- La Masia to the rescue (again) for decimated Barcelona as Flick tries to make his mark: We might as well withhold judgement on new boss Hansi Flick given that Barcelona -- between injuries (Ronald Araújo, Frenkie De Jong, Gavi), mysterious late omissions (Ilkay Gündogan), missing registrations for financial reasons (Dani Olmo) and post-Olympic holidays (Fermín López) -- were down half a team. That's how they ended up playing two kids, Marc Casadó and Marc Bernal, in their first ever LaLiga start. Bernal is 17, just like Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí, who also started. Valencia were the better team in the first half, but Barca came back strong in the second and deserved their 2-1 win courtesy of Robert Lewandowski's two goals. That said, until the starters return, it's mostly about points: Flick's direct pressing approach -- and how the team take to it -- can only be judged once the real Barca are out there.
SIX -- Joshua Zirkzee may or may not be a "traditional" No. 9, but what matters is knowing how to use him: He may run and play in a less-than-orthodox way, which may explain why he got no love at Bayern or even in his first season at Bologna, when he started just five games. On Friday, Zirkzee came off the bench and scored the winner for Manchester United against Fulham. Whether it's a sign of things to come or a one-off will depend on him, but also on Erik Ten Hag and how well he's studied the only two coaches who have gotten the best out of him: Thiago Motta last year and Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht in 2021-22.
FIVE -- Thuram's ready, but Inter Milan are not: This may be a team sport, but it is played by individuals, and when individuals (a pair of Yanns, Bisseck and Sommer, in this case) gift the opposition two goals and most of the rest of the side is wasteful and absent-minded, you will drop points. That's pretty much what happened to the Serie A champions away to Genoa in their 2-2 draw. The good news is that Marcus Thuram, who scored twice, looks to be in sparkling form, but he ain't going to do it on his own ...
FOUR -- Luis Enrique sends out the kids to begin post-Mbappe era ... and PSG nearly pay the price: We know Paris Saint-Germain's new business model is all about youth, but maybe Luis Enrique went a bit too far for the Ligue 1 opener fielding the youngest-ever lineup in French history and leaving out the likes of Marquinhos, Ousmane Dembélé, Randal Kolo Muani, Bradley Barcola, João Neves and Milan Skriniar. He sent on the cavalry in the second half to beat little Le Havre, though it was still 1-1 with six minutes to go before PSG broke through and won 4-1.
THREE -- Milan come back to draw Torino, but they need their regulars: Manager Paulo Fonseca cited fitness as the reason why the likes of Tijani Reijnders, Theo Hernández and especially Álvaro Morata started on the bench against Torino. Fair enough -- after they came on, Milan battled back from 0-2 to 2-2, but that doesn't fully explain why they should have gone two goals down from the start. Or why the guys who started put on such a horror show (beyond the merits of Torino, who played well) at both ends of the pitch. There's work to do here.
TWO -- Marseille are off to flying start, but De Zerbi is wrong to talk of Greenwood's performances "calming controversy:" After an impressive transfer campaign that saw bring in land Elye Wahi, PIerre-Emile Hojbjerg and Mason Greenwood, Marseille and new boss Roberto De Zerbi probably represent the biggest threat to PSG for the Ligue 1 crown, something they confirmed with a 5-1 walloping of Brest. But De Zerbi might want to avoid talking about how Greenwood's performances (he scored two against Brest) might help "calm the controversies" surrounding him. The "controversies" relate to facts off the pitch, and it would be quite depressing if all you had to do to "calm them" was be good at your job.
ONE -- Napoli get spanked, and coach Conte says he feels ashamed -- it's nice to see some accountability: Napoli were indeed awful in losing 3-0 against Verona. Rather than passing the buck, Antonio Conte took it on the chin. (However, saying "I hope the players feel equally ashamed" was a bit backhanded.) Cynics will say he already passed the buck in his previous statements, taking about how big the job ahead of him was and how messed up the side is (despite all the holdovers from the title-winning team two years ago). It's not really a question of shame. It's a question of doing your job, which, first and foremost, is getting the players you do have (rather than the ones you don't, like Romelu Lukaku) to perform better. Let's hope Accountability Sunday isn't just one day a week.