That was quite the opening act for the 2023-24 Premier League season. Patterns have been set, emotions stirred and harsh realities have bitten. I have yet to find a fan of a Premier League club or player of fantasy football who welcomes the international break but it does give supporters a chance to draw breath and wonder; what the heck was that about?
At Liverpool it is all about relief, huge dollops of it in fact. That game against Newcastle United was on course to end in implosion but victory with ten men has galvanized the team. The Saudi Pro League transfer window closed without Mohamed Salah being sold even though there was widespread horror/glee that the bid for the Egyptian would rise and rise until the club could not refuse it.
Those who predicted Burnley would navigate the top flight with suave assurance under Vincent Kompany are now doubting themselves and, of the promoted clubs, Sheffield United are the ones with a point, are not in the relegation zone and have more robustness than anyone supposed was plausible.
Over at Tottenham Hotspur we have the highly unusual phenomenon of rapture as the supporters and many neutrals fall deeply, madly in love with the gung-ho style of Ange Postecoglou, which conveniently forgets that the Australian threw away a decent opportunity to win silverware by fielding a weakened team in the Carabao Cup.
The most fascinating club, four games in, though, is Chelsea because its supporters are deeply divided. Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have either made yet more dreadful mistakes including the appointment of the wrong manager and purchase of the wrong players or the owners have, joy of joys, taken their investment in the team to more than £1 billion in just three transfer windows and found a coach who can nurture all the young talent at his disposal. It has to come good, doesn’t it?
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Mauricio Pochettino remains calm, a half-smile plays on his lips as if to convey that results bear little relation to progress, that all will be well. But what does that look like? Last season Chelsea finished below west London rivals Brentford and Fulham which was quite the humiliation but not the cause of as much ridicule as it deserved because Chelsea were viewed as still in transition following the forced departure of Roman Abramovich. A new owner was getting to grips with a new sport and could be forgiven for thinking the appointment of the most heralded English coach in the form of Graham Potter would be a masterstroke.
Now there are no excuses. There has been a clearout so brutal that it was like watching your uncle chuck beautiful and beloved antique clocks and figurines into the same skip as his rotten kitchen cupboard doors and linoleum. How dismaying for the supporters to watch the classy Mateo Kovacic thrive at Manchester City and for the homegrown Ruben Loftus-Cheek to be having fun in Italy.
Pochettino watched his side lose at home to Nottingham Forest last weekend
MARK PAIN/ALAMY
The departure of Mason Mount was more complicated, emotionally, because the England midfielder was keen to leave but, not so long ago, he represented the beating heart of the team.
The incoming replacements are, overall, young and promising and naturally will need time to assimilate but the overhaul feels simplistic, less about evolution and more of a giant, greedy tantrum.
The stark reality is that Moisés Caicedo functioned effectively in a well-oiled, beautifully coached Brighton & Hove Albion team but is probably not worth £115 million and indeed appears to be struggling with the burden of that extraordinary price tag.
But what might be scaring some Chelsea faithful the most about the opening games is that their team is fifth in the expected goals (xG) table but score hardly any actual goals. Their xG versus Actual rating is -0.51 which is very bad. Brighton, for example, has an xG versus Actual rating of +0.47 which is very good.
One refrain among the fans is how a club can spend more than £1 billion and forget to buy a reliable goalscorer. It is a bit like giving your kid the money to buy sports kit for the new school term only for them to return home with 50 KitKats and a Curly Wurly but no shorts or shin pads.
