PL GAMEWEEK 2 : THE ENTERTAINING DRAWS

GAMEWEEK 2: Post Match Analysis and Summary


Gameweek 3 began with an unexpected defeat for Everton. A team which did not concede any goal this season conceded 2 goals. Looks like the FPL managers who have Pickford, Richarlison, Iwobi, Siggurdson, Walcott are not gonna get a good points return from these players and perhaps it is time to move on and look for other options. Liverpool dominated and defeated Arsenal, Crystal Palace stunned Man United who missed yet another penalty, Bournemouth lost to Man City and Newcastle defeated Spurs. But the focus will be on two of the exciting Gameweek 2 fixtures. Let us begin with perhaps the most awaited game of the week.


MAN CITY VS TOTTENHAM (Held on Saturday, 17th August)


This was surely the pick of the fixtures of Gameweek 2 and it definitely lived up to our expectations. Man City were just so dominant, they were on a different level than Tottenham. City were relentless in attack, desperate to win the ball back. Harry Kane was a spectator in the field as he could not even touch the ball during the early part of the game. The other Spurs players had to do a lot of defending throughout the game.

De Bruyne seemed to have been given a free role to roam anywhere around the pitch and create and he was brilliant on the day. Tottenham left gaps in the corners and Kevin made the most of the gaps to almost play like an extra winger alongside Bernardo Silva. He put in a perfect Beckham like cross from the right wing towards the head of Sterling and he did exactly what he has been doing from the beginning of this season, he put the ball into the goal!

Spurs to their credit came back with a goal almost instantly against the run of play. Eric Lamela ran with the ball, saw the goalkeeper off his line and scored a wonderfully placed goal from outside the box. Perhaps a goal that even a player like Son would have been proud of! What followed however was a series of attacks by Man City. And again Kevin De Bruyne exploited the wings to put in a low grounded cross to Aguero who scored for the hosts.

The second half was similar to the first with attacks by Man City. However Pochettino’s substitution made all the difference! A brilliant headed goal was scored by super sub Moura, from Lamela’s cross as soon as he came on the pitch,with literally his first touch in the game! Jesus was brought in to make a difference,while Aguero was subbed out and he was not happy with the decision and argued with the City boss, Pep Guardiola.

Man City kept trying and finally their substitute, Jesus managed to score in stoppage time only for it to be disallowed by VAR. A very controversial decision indeed by the referee who ruled out the goal as there was a handball committed by Man City's defender Laporte in the buildup play leading to the goal. The handball seemed to be unintentional but VAR came to the rescue yet again for the Spurs. Man City fans must be hating VAR right now as the moment of jubilation changed into a moment of disappointment.

A neutral fan or even a Spurs fan would tell you that Man City completely dominated the game and were unlucky not to get all three points. Man City enjoyed 56 percent of the ball possession with a 90 percent pass accuracy. A total of 30 shots were taken by Man City out of which 10 were on target while Tottenham could only muster 3 shots, 2 on target which led to the two goals. But we only count the goals scored in the end and points were shared on the night. Pochettino, the Spurs players and the travelling fans would have left the Etihad Stadium satisfied with the point and Guardiola disappointed. It was good to see Aguero and Guardiola hug it out in the end after that heated argument earlier. De Bruyne was perhaps the best player on the night and he has taken massive strides this season to improve on last season which was disappointing for his standards. There is more to come from the Belgian for sure, and he is definitely here to create and assist like Ozil used to on his day. Not quite sure who was involved in the transfer of KDB at Chelsea. Maybe it was Jose Mourinho, but whoever it was in hindsight it was perhaps a mistake to sell a player, who according to The Guardian in 2017 is the fourth best player in the world.



WOLVES VS MAN UTD(Monday, 19/08/2019)


Molineux Stadium witnessed a thriller between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United on Monday night.Wolves were unbeaten in 8 premier league home games before this game but surely they were up for a fight for the points this time! The tight closely contested game began with United on the front foot, dominating the possession and pushing Wolves back to defend for most of the first half. United capitalised on their early dominance with good passing and good play in the Wolves penalty box, leading up to Anthony Martial’s goal in the 27th minute.The passing between Rashford and Lingard and the run made by Shaw to take a defender away was crucial and helped Martial run towards the ball and smash it into the top of the net and beat the Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio. Anthony reached a landmark of 50 goals for his club.

United had a few chances including Martial’s chance towards the end of the first half to increase their lead, but sadly for them they could not create enough changes and score another goal to ensure that they seal all three points. Maybe that is the weakness of United and Wolves were looking to make the most of it. When they dominate possession, they do not finish the game by going for that second and third goal which we can see from the best teams like Man City. Extra goals give them that extra cushion as there will be moments in any game at this level, where a team will not enjoy having the ball and will have to defend, keep their rigid defensive shape, fall back and despite their best efforts, they might concede.

Wolves made an early change in the first half and brought in 23 year old Adama Traore for Matt Doherty and this was perhaps the best game-changing decision made by the Wolves manager Nuno. Traore was a beast in the right wing, looking menacing whenever he got the ball. As you can see in the premier league game after dominating the first half, Man United were pushed back and had to defend. This was perhaps due to their own mistakes of passing backwards to their defenders and to De Gea and good pressing from the hungry Wolves team. Wolves enjoyed a spell where they created and looked more likely to score. Jimenez hit the woodwork as they kept getting closer to scoring and finally their good play in the second half led to a goal! Ruben Neves scored a terrific volley from outside the box in a corner played short. A brilliant goal placed perfectly in the top right corner. Perhaps Neves practices these kind of shots from outside the box in training as this was not his first! Not all teams have that quality which Wolves have with Moutinho and Neves in midfield and they were superb at every set piece!

What followed was exciting end to end stuff and United tried on the break,on each counter attack to get the winner. There was a good piece of play by Pogba who was brought down in the Wolves penalty box and a penalty was awarded to Man United. Pogba and Rashford had a discussion about who should take the penalty and Pogba stepped up to take the penalty. Pogba’s penalty kick was saved by Patricio and that ended up being a crucial moment in the game where United could have grabbed all three points and they failed do it. Mata came on too late after the 80th minute to make an impact on the game and finally the game ended with both teams sharing the points. Wolves play have a good record against the top 6 teams and this performance by Man United was definitely a better performance than last season but perhaps 2 crucial points dropped in the end.


What were your thoughts on the two games? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below