This weekend another regular round took place in the local football championships. Although there were no shortage of unexpected results on the fields, this weekend also confirmed many things that were talked about before. This is what this Eurofootball.com article is about.
1. Fighting against other "Premier" league teams is not that easy for English giants.
Although in this round none of the strongest clubs in England played against each other, only Arsenal celebrated victory this weekend. Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur ended their matches in a draw, while Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea suffered defeats. However, looking at the points accumulated during the matches and comparing this season's results with last year's indicators for the entire season, we would not notice a big difference. Arsenal (had an average of 1.97 points per match, now 2), Manchester United (had an average of 1.84 points per match, now 1.93), and Tottenham Hotspur (had an average of 1.68 points per match, now 1.73) even improved this indicator, while Manchester City (had an average of 2.08 points per match, now 1.93) and Liverpool (had an average of 1.63 points per match, now 1.53) slightly worsened it. The most significant change, of course, occurred in the Chelsea club - after collecting an average of 2.29 points per match last season, they now only average one point per match.
2. Jurgen Klopp is a great coach, but he is not a miracle worker.
Although in the two months in England Klopp has already delighted the fans of his new team and achieved several great victories, after losing to Newcastle United, he only managed to accumulate 11 points in seven rounds in the Premier League. Convincing victories against Chelsea and Manchester City show that the coach and the team have great potential, however, defeats against Crystal Palace or Newcastle United remind that they still need to do a lot of work to show stable and good results. Klopp can certainly and should improve Liverpool's results, but even he will need more time and fans' patience.
3. Even Barcelona cannot relax.
Although Barcelona led the match against Valencia, towards the end of the game they relaxed a bit, giving the opponents a chance to equalize the score, and ultimately Santi Mina took away two points from the Catalans with a precise strike. We all know that Barcelona can play much better and more confidently, and this stumble will be a great lesson for the players of the team leading in Spain that it is too early to relax even for them.
4. Atletico Madrid are contenders for the La Liga champions' titles.
In Spain, Barcelona and Real clubs are always distinguished, but for several years now Diego Simeone's team has maintained the pace set by the leading teams and are serious contenders for the La Liga champions' titles. After winning the Spanish championship two years ago, last year Atletico seemed slightly worse and lagged behind the leading teams by a double-digit point difference. This year they are once again determined to prove that they can compete with the La Liga giants. The most important weapon in Atletico's victories is their extremely solid defense - in fourteen rounds they only conceded six goals, which is one of the best results in all of Europe. After a series of four consecutive victories in Spain, Simeone's players are ahead of Real by two points, and trail Barcelona's players with the same point difference.
5. Bayern is not the only strong team in the Bundesliga.
This Saturday, Bayern suffered their first defeat in this year's German championship. They were defeated 3-1 by Gladbach players, who have recently shown that they are also quite strong and should not be underestimated. After starting the season with a series of five defeats, Gladbach has not suffered a single defeat in the last ten rounds and has collected 26 points, while Bayern players have accumulated one point less in the same period. Although no one doubts Bayern's success in the Bundesliga championships, and even after this defeat, this result once again shows that the best teams can beat Bayern, even the Gladbach team and the Borussia and Wolfsburg teams who played a great match against each other on Saturday.
6. Juventus are the main favorites to win the Serie A championships.
Despite winning only twelve points in the first ten rounds, Massimiliano Allegri's players have shown with five consecutive victories that they must be the main favorites to win the Italian championships. The unsuccessful start of the season brought a lot of criticism and statements that without Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal, Juventus is no longer the strongest team in the Serie A championships, but now such talk is gradually subsiding. Although the Italian champions are still behind the leading Inter club in points, the Juventus team has already shown that they are the main contenders to celebrate the Serie A trophy this year.
7. In France, apart from the first and last teams, the level of all other teams is very similar.
In Ligue 1, there is a 12-point difference between second and eighteenth place - three points less than between PSG and the second-placed Angers team. The only other team that stands out is the still winless Troyes team this season, which is already nine points behind the eighteenth-placed Toulouse club. The point differences among the other seventeen French league teams are very small, with the most being three points separating the teams who are next to each other. This leveling of teams was mainly due to the weakening of the clubs that were in the top eight last year, as well as the teams' results in European competitions. Excluding Paris Saint-Germain's results, the other teams in the Champions League and the Europa League look blank, with six wins overall, nine draws, and ten defeats.
Tautvydas Sakalauskas
