DC United 0 Phi 6

 What a disgrace of a game.  The DC midfielders and defense simply cannot advance the ball.  The strikers seldom get a touch.  Meanwhile, this leaves the defense under constant attack, tires them out, and leaves them vulnerable.  Benteke, hung up on visa issues, still has not joined the team, but what good will another forward do the team if he can never get his feet on the ball because the ball is always on the other end?   

CP 3 Aston Villa 1, and CP seems solid enough to hope for a mid-table year.  Arsenal with nine points in the first three matches, one of their best starts in years, finally returning to the top?    

Liverpool 1 CP 1

 For once, CP held a lead on Liverpool, but could not maintain it.  In any case, CP has a long record of struggling with Liverpool, and losing badly, so this was nothing to complain about.  

ARS 4 - 2 LEI

 The game wasn't televised, and we had a family thing going, so I did not see the game realtime, and had to follow it in Livescore.  I've seen highlights and read summaries.  Jesus's first goal was spectacular; his second a bit lucky, in that Vardy headed it to him on the back post and there were no defenders there.  He could have had a couple more, too.  He's going to score a lot of goals for us.  I would not be surprised if he netted 30 in the league.  Here's hoping he stays healthy.  Martinelli was fantastic too.  It's a rare game for Arsenal when Saka is reduced to a supporting role and the real menace comes from the other side of the pitch, but wow, our youngest Gabriel was a force.

The Saliba own goal was just unlucky.  I've seen him make some very bad errors for Marseille, but this was more a case of him doing what he was supposed to do but it just didn't work out.  The supportive reaction of GK Ramsdale and later the fans was great to see.  Leicester was lively but outclassed.  As the only team in Europe's top five leagues not to have added a player, they look like a squad that's going to finish in the lower half, but have too much quality to be in a relegation battle.  Their problem will be in keeping players like Maddison and Tielemanns.  

Well, six points from two games.  It could not have gone better.  There's plenty of room for improvement, especially in defense, but when Tomiyasu and Tierney are fully fit that will get sorted out.  It's vital for us to stay in all four competitions as long as possible, so there are enough minutes to spread around for players like Nketieh, Smith Rowe, Lokonga, Marquinhos, and other young guys who have so much to offer.

I don't know what the hell happened to Man U at Brighton.  It's a nightmare start for ten Haag, the latest coach who is supposed to save them.  They look to be in shambles and may be focusing on Europa League to rescue the season for them.  I'm hoping for a drab 0-0 draw with six red cards when the Spuds play Chelsea today.  But this year, my fervent wish is that the Gunners don't care what any other team does, because they are focusing on beating the team they're playing, and doing it.

CP 0 - 2 ARS

 The post-match commentary oversold our defensive soundness, I thought.  Palace should have had two and could have had more.  But between Ramsdale and some poor finishing, we got the clean sheet.  The technical levels of both teams were very high.  The Gunners especially exhibited some great close control and one-touch passing, but I was impressed by Palace too.  

How cool is it that Arsenal, which used to suffer so badly facing corner kicks and free kicks, is feasting on them lately?  Arteta revealed to Sky Sports just now that the play on which they scored was devised by a set piece coach and they practiced it yesterday.  That's the sort of thing that convinces players to trust the staff.

Everyone played well.  I was concerned by the constant testing of our outside backs with long diagonal passes.  Their wingers usually came up with the ball.  Zinchenko and White were both caught too high up the field at times.  But Saliba and Gabriel were fantastic.  White will not start in big games after Tomiyasu is fit.  But he's a wonderful option in two important positions.  Martinelli's goal was fine; Saka was fortunate to have his errant cross turned in for the clincher.

Three points.  Top of the league.  Feels good.

Benteke from Crystal Palace to DC United

 

DC United needs all the help they can get.  let's hope Benteke still has a few good years left.   

All Or Nothing

 I have never watched this show before, so wasn't sure what to expect.  It's pretty good.  I don't know how many secrets are revealed, but it does give a flavor for how Mikel prepares the team, and an idea what some of the players are like as human beings.  We even get to know the staff; the team photographer has a great cameo.  Amazon just released the first three episodes, taking us from the first game through the debacle at Anfield about third of the season in.  They teased the Auba problems for the fourth episode.  I will definitely watch the rest.

The squad will probably be relieved not to have a film crew around all the time this season.  It may even help to lose that distraction.

Bernd Leno is definitely worth more than Fulham is paying for him.  But I think it's a mark of a class operation to allow him to go for less than they might have gotten elsewhere so Bernd could stay in London, as he wanted.  Mari and Torreira may move on soon.

Rooney was not so magic yesterday, as DC United lost 3-0 to expansion Charlotte.  Grim.

Rooney Magic

 DC United won Senor Wayne's first game in charge with two stoppage time goals. 2-1.  Wowsers.  This season may not be salvageable, but never say never.  Next year might be interesting.