ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
Crash! Bang! Wallop! What a football match. In truth, Chelsea 4-4 Manchester City was more like a big-budget cinematic experience; a comic-book explosion of colour in driving rain, starring superheroes from across the Premier League multiverse. BAM! Not one, but two, thudding headers from centre-halves. THWACK! Erling Haaland finding a new part of his body to score with. AGH! Peter Drury and Jamie Carragher reduced to primal screams by the chaotic end to the game. POW! A Lampardian deflected goal from Rodri to surely win the match. GAH! City’s Rolls-Royce centre-backs skidding about like the pre-loved motors that were once parked behind the goal at Stamford Bridge.
If all that wasn’t enough, Chelsea got a last-minute penalty and up stepped Cole Palmer – sold by City in the summer – to blast it home, before offering a statuesque, told-you-so celebration, much like Raheem Sterling when putting Chelsea ahead in the first half. Not quite muted, but nuanced – a nod to the cameras setting up a sequel just before the credits rolled. Palmer even threw in a b@ntorious DVD extra, sidling up to a City tactical huddle before being dragged away by Haaland. And we still haven’t mentioned the whirring legs of Conor Gallagher and Phil Foden, Kyle Walker’s free kick, the dopamine rush of two lengthy VAR checks, or Mauricio Pochettino throwing in a post-whistle meltdown just to add some extra spice.
Yes, after a big-budget reboot that has repeatedly tanked, Chelsea are finally entertaining neutrals for the right reasons again. After five goals in their first eight league games (three of which were in one game, against Luton), Pochettino’s cast of hopefuls have scored 14 in their last five, serving up two Premier League all-timers in the space of six days. Having shaken off their collective uncertainty in a trust exercise at nine-man Spurs, Sunday’s full-throttle performance saw Chelsea go toe-to-toe with the division’s very best. “Did you have fun?” Pep Guardiola asked assembled hacks in the post-match presser. Yes we did – and more surprisingly, so did he.
For so long, Pep’s trophy magnets have been the Premier League’s ruthless spoilers, controlling the narrative and ensuring the final act plays out in their favour. Here, Guardiola appeared to embrace the chaos, fielding an attacking lineup and sticking to his guns as the game swung repeatedly from his grasp. What was expected to be an intriguing battle of systems instead descended into the kind of HyperBarclays soaraway shootout that would usually put Pep in a week-long funk. But when all is said and done, City took a point and are still top despite some early-season rebuilding issues. They have made a habit of winning two-horse title races, but this season could be different, with four teams – Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Aston Villa – within three points of the summit. Next up for City – a home game against Jürgen Klopp’s resurgent Reds. Cor! That’s coming up on … 25 November? That’s right – it’s another international-break intermission. Time to refill the popcorn.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I can’t see him as an old man. He still is my hero. I still can’t believe he’s gone really … He seemed to glide across the pitch. His passing was immaculate. You knew once he had the ball it was going in like a rocket. It was fantastic to watch”– Jimmy Turner, an 84-year-old Manchester United fan, pays tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton as fans lined up outside Old Trafford to pay their respects before the United legend’s funeral.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Re: experiencing crowd trouble in South America (Friday’s Football Daily letters). A few years ago, we were in Quito, Ecuador, and tried to get tickets for the big match (Quito something v Guayaquil) on Saturday night. The match was changed to a Sunday morning as the police had the fixture changed on the grounds, apparently, that it was easier to manage a full-blown riot in the daylight than under lights at night. Unable to get tickets online, we turned up at the stadium, hoping to get tickets there, failed, so we joined the huge crowd on top of the hill, outside the ground, watching the game through a fence with razor wire along the top. Oh yes, there was an armoured personnel carrier, about the size of a small battleship, parked there as well, presumably ‘just in case’. Those were the days …” – Richard Samwell.
A friend of mine from Argentina took her Swedish boyfriend to a Boca Juniors home game. I asked her how that went. ‘Great, he wasn’t too scared and we got out alive,’ she said. Test passed!” – Ben Bull.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Ben Bull, who gets a copy of United with Dad by Simon Lloyd, published by Pitch Publishing. Visit their brilliant football book store here.
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