English UCL Roundup

Liverpool

After an unconvincing win over Ludogrets at Anfield, Liverpool were sluggish again in Switzerland as they fell 1-0 to Basel to further complicate Brendan Rodgers’ current situation.  Basel have now gone unbeaten in the Champions League against English opposition for seven games, adding to their resume of wins over Manchester United, Chelsea, and Tottenham. 

With Real Madrid looming in three weeks, Rodgers will be happy to see Daniel Sturridge rejoin the starting XI by then, but collectively the entire team is in a funk.  Even Raheem Sterling, whose form has been encouraging for Liverpool, looked sluggish and was not his usual scintillating self.  

The most concerning issue with Liverpool right now though is their leaky defense.  With Mamadou Sakho relegated to the bench, Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren have to give more for all 90 minutes.  Today, the pairing was solid for most of the day, but lack of communication with Simon Mignolet and a momentary lapse in concentration cost the Reds dearly.  

Chelsea

England desperately could have used the services of John Terry in Brazil.  Terry put in his customary dominant performance at the heart of the Chelsea defense, commanding the defensive third and always being in the right place at the right time.  The star of the show however, was Nemanja Matic.  

Sitting next to the less defensive-minded Cesc Fabregas, Matic was happy to break up play time and time again in the first half, and was gifted a lovely headed goal for his efforts.  Matic is a key cog in the Chelsea midfield, and his value to Jose Mourinho only grows. He will play a key role in Sunday’s London Derby, and will only further prompt Arsene Wenger to rue his inactivity in the market for a defensive midfielder.  

Oscar’s performance was noteworthy too, his well-weighted balls for Andre Schurlle, Eden Hazard, and Diego Costa constantly causing problems for the Lisbon defense.  Times remain free and easy for Chelsea.  

Manchester City

Manchester City followed their competition-opening loss in Munich with a disappointing draw against visitors Roma on Tuesday.  Manchester City’s chances for qualification into the knockout stages took a big hit, and City’s recent dominance in England is no barometer for how this team plays in Europe.  

Gael Clichy was constantly out of his depth tracking the aging Maicon, while Fernandinho and Yaya Toure were stormed in the middle by Pjanic and Keita.  It is becoming too familiar of a theme for City to do so poorly in the European competition, something Manuel Pellegrini’s addition promised 16 months ago.  

The two bright spots for City were their English players Joe Hart and James Milner.  Milner came on for Jesus Navas at halftime, and was effective on both the right and left wings.  Hart, meanwhile, put to rest doubts about his grasp on the #1 jersey, stopping Gervinho from scoring on multiple occasions.  

Arsenal

Danny Welbeck scored a hat trick on Wednesday against Galatasaray, something he failed to do in his entire tenure at Manchester United.  Nonetheless, the Englishman is enjoying life in North London, with six goals from five starts.  

Arsene Wenger will be more pleased with the all-around effectiveness of all his attacking players.  Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who got the nod over Alexis in the North London Derby, justified his inclusion in the last two fixtures.  Alexis was his usual self, always up for a chase or a trick.  Mesut Ozil, surrounded by three players with exceptional pace, was gifted the middle of the park and was at the middle of every move in the attacking third.  

Mathieu Flamini’s inclusion made Arsenal fans nervous, but the Frenchman redeemed himself today with a solid performance in front of the back four.  The lone blemish for Flamini was his booking, although one can hardly blame him for lunging in after seeing several of his teammates hacked down, particularly Alexis when Felipe Melo should have been sent off in the first half for an utterly inexcusable two-footed challenge.  

Fernando Simplifies Things For City

It was a roller coaster of a campaign for Manchester City last season.  In Manuel Pellegrini’s first season at the Etihad, City won two trophies and displayed some dominant displays of football.  What almost saw the Citizens lose the title however, was their inconsistent defending in the middle of the park.  

Particuarly away from home, Manchester City were too susceptible to the odd counter attack and poor run of play.  They would go missing for extended periods of matches, lacking the ability to defend in the middle third.  

Fernandinho is an excellent central midfielder, as is Yaya Toure.  However, as the year went on, it became clearer and clearer that both prefer to get forward more than track back.  

After two league games, Manchester City new boy Fernando is already panning out as the clubs most impactful signing of the summer.  Since Nigel De Jong left in the wake of their 2011-2012 championship, the Blues have been missing a steely defensive midfielder.  

Fernando fills this void, and although Fernandinho played alongside Yaya Toure for much of the year to great effect, the Brazilian was at fault for a lot of City’s positional indiscipline last season.  

In the big games, Pellegrini has the option to play the more defensive Fernando next to Toure, while Fernandinho would offer more going forward if he prefers an attacking side.  As we have seen in the first two games, Fernandinho can replace a forward from the bench and provide even more cover.  

In both instances, Pellegrini has done this to protect a lead, and in both instances Manchester City have closed out the game properly.  The chances of coming from behind against this team are even slimmer now.

Although he shows no signs of slowing down, Yaya Toure is getting old.  Fernando is the type of player who complements the Ivorian best, especially at this point in his career.  Liverpool, playing just one holding midfielder, ought to look at what Pellegrini does with his two central holders and think about fielding more support for Steven Gerrard.  

Poetically enough, Fernando is a much simpler player than Fernandinho.  They share a name and a starting position, but the latter is more flamboyant in both aspects.  With Fernando in the fold, Pellegrini has a means to simplify things on the pitch, which so far he has done after just two games.