The 2023/2024 season is now up and running, and into it’s second week. With several key talking points coming from the second round of fixtures, it may be too early to begin making bold predictions, however we are starting to see how some teams will line up, those who have impressed early, those who haven’t, and plenty of teams who need to make some moves in the final few days of the transfer window.

Each week we will be producing a round up of the Premier League (and other leagues where we find it) action, picking out 3 big talking points to dissect and analyse following the round of fixtures. This week’s talking points surround VAR (yes, again), Angeball and praising Brighton (yes, again). We will also pick out our game of the week and also player of the week, which will hopefully coincide with our Player of the Month posts returning at the end of August, so do check those out if you don’t already.

Let us know over on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) if you have seen anything in a game that you think we should be talking about, or have anything to share from what you’ve seen at a game that week. Any funny stories, tactical analysis or general comments will be featured.

VAR Again (Sorry)

People love to hate VAR, and everyone always mentions “we don’t want to talk about VAR”, but I’m not sure I believe that, as we do actually love the drama and headlines refereeing and VAR create, so long as it goes in our teams’ favour.

This weekend however, refereeing took the headlines on a few occasions, and after listening to Howard Webb on a podcast just yesterday, there are huge improvements needed, but I think that the issues may well be a bureaucracy issue more than something that can be fixed in stadiums. Before getting into the key issues from the weekend, the Howard Webb interview highlighted a lot of issues with making significant changes due to the rules and laws of the game coming from way above at FIFA and those ‘overlord’ organisations. He spoke about facing up to issues and being honest with fans, but when pressed on questions about changing the handball law and getting decisions relayed to fans in stadiums and at home, he gave a more ‘political’ response. I think there are moves in the right direction, but fans need to have things explained clearly as the silence from referee’s towards fans, leads to debatable moments and speculation of bias.

Looking at this week’s games, 5/9 games saw a red card given (56%), compared to week 1 where we saw just 1 (10%). This small sample size doesn’t give too much away just yet, but clearly consistency in decision making is an ongoing lesson for the referees as well as players, coaches and fans. I think we need to be very careful in how flexible the rules adapt throughout the season, as this raises question of fairness.

I do think most decisions were correct, but that never makes the news as nobody wants to talk about the right calls. Instead, we must look at the ‘wrong’ calls.

In the Liverpool game, Mac Allister saw red for a yellow card challenge at best and Liverpool were given a penalty with little/no contact on Szoboszlai. In the Arsenal game, Tomiyasu saw red for 2 very small yellow card offences, while Crystal Palace were denied a penalty. Manchester United could argue they should have had a penalty for handball against Romero and Fulham will feel angered by the red card for Tim Ream in their loss to Brentford. All these moments could have been the other way, and probably should have been. With VAR’s directive to not intervene unless clear and obvious, we are back to phrases and rules within the sport which are down to interpretation, and with interpretation comes opinion and conflict.

One thing I am loving to see, is the straight refusal to entertain timewasting, and back-chat towards officials, and this is what I and many other have wanted for some time. I think this is the situation where we see some tough decisions while the game adapts, but players will learn to bring some respect to the game or face the consequence, and I respect that. There does need to be some clarity however, as we saw with the Arsenal red card for Tomiyasu where VAR cannot intervene for second yellow cards, and also where the line gets drawn for timewasting. Likewise on this issue, we saw a yellow card to Fernandes for asking the referee about a decision, which I think was given with Michael Oliver not recognising the captaincy rule which supposedly should allow these conversations to come between captain and referee. With managers and now captains being penalised, it again feels like referees are being ‘shut off’ rather than protected.

There are positives from the new world of refereeing, but 2 weeks in, 6 red cards down and several key calls gone wrong, fans are well within their right to question the current setup.

Angeball > Bazball

Okay, I may still be holding on to some resentment of this summer’s ashes result as England did just about everything but claim the victory, however we do have an Australian to praise in the early part of the season. Ange Postecoglou has done his time in football, working his way towards the position he finds himself in, so I don’t want this to sound patronising like he hasn’t won leagues and trophies everywhere he has gone, but what a great job he’s doing at Tottenham so far.

To put this into context, Tottenham have tried and failed with Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Nuno Espirito Santo (I’m leaving Ryan Mason and Cristian Stellini out of this for now), and they were at serious risk of fan backlash for the Harry Kane saga in letting their heroic figure and primary goal threat leave just hours before the season started. Despite this, Ange has approached everything in a laid-back attitude to potential drama and meltdown, and knows he can get a tune out of the squad he has. Admittedly, I think Spurs need a different striker as Richarlison seems to be a shell of his former self, yet their incomings have paid off in this window, and they look decent contenders to return to European football this season, we’re just not sure which competition quite yet.

The win over Manchester United showed unity from the fans, with the new stadium as loud as I’ve heard for some time, and that clearly impacted the game as United were sloppy at times and Tottenham took advantage. James Maddison is set to become a legend at the club if he continues in this way, as he controls their attacking play, is almost a leader on the pitch and is not afraid of the pressure that clearly comes from Kane departing, and a new talented Englishman to lead their attack.

I also must mention the terrific work of Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma in the midfield, as we saw against Wolves this would be an area of weakness for Manchester United, and these two made them pay. Sarr making his run into the box for the first goal, and Bissouma offering defensive security and a link up between defence and the forward line. If Spurs weren’t as settled as they seemed to be, and if this was a Football Manager style reality, I would be screaming at United to make a late bid for either of these 2 for their midfield.

Before finishing on Spurs, I must say that not everything is perfect just yet. The defence on the ball seemed a bit risky, especially when Porro was pressed by United’s attack, which on another day could have been costly. Meanwhile, I mentioned Richarlison not looking like the player he could be, and I’m not sure how that resolves itself in Kane’s absence. Finally, Son doesn’t seem to have hit the ground running as we may have expected. With the armband on, he may get to his usual level with a run of games under his belt, but for now I’m not blown away by his 2 outings.

With old Tottenham regimes, we were given 2 choices from them, they either were going to be title challengers under Mourinho/Conte, or they were failures. This time however, the pressure isn’t there, as everyone knows they need more to be in that top 2/3 contention, but with Postecoglou, everyone at the club seems to be enjoying playing good football, and picking up good results as they did on Saturday.

Caicedo Who?

Well, well, well, if it isn’t Brighton & Hove Albion once again pulling an incredible performance and attacking masterclass out of the bag once again.

It’s going to become a regular feature of these weekly round-ups to praise Brighton, but after the journey they’re on, why not give them the praise they deserve. If we quickly analyse the last few years for the club, they’ve gone from finishing 15th in their first season in the Premier League in 2018, to subsequent finishes of 17th, 15th, 16th, 9th and last season 6th place and in European football. All the while, they have had their manager ‘taken’ who began their progression up the table post-Hughton and lost pretty much their key players of every season in the last 3/4 years.

The off-field and on-field running of Brighton is the envy of the footballing World currently, as they financially have their operation down to a tee, and on-field they play some brilliant football with some of the most exciting players in the Premier League. With back to back 4-1 wins to kick off the season, they’re top of the table, top scorers and also are waiting to see the group stage draw for their European adventure.

To just focus in on this weekend’s result, the 4-1 over Wolves showed that perhaps Wolves will struggle more than their opening day impressive showing against Manchester United, however it’s no shame losing to this Brighton side currently. My FPL team took a hit as De Zerbi started with Welbeck instead of the newcomer Joao Pedro, and brilliant young talent Evan Ferguson, but this didn’t matter. With Welbeck failing to get on the scoresheet, the rotation they have in that position is perfect for a long season, while the goals coming from midfield and even defence make it easy for strikers to have an ‘off day’. There isn’t an area to criticise currently for Brighton, as the wide players of March, Mitoma, Estupinan and Milner work so well together, the attacking options with Enciso just behind, and the experience of Gross, Dunk and Webster are improving Gilmour alongside them also.

I will say what a few have footnoted their praise of Brighton with, that their opening 2 games have been kind fixtures, but the manner of victory will have West Ham, Newcastle and Manchester United all fearing their games against this team in the coming weeks, and I fully expect to be praising them again after these games.

Matchday 2 Player of the Week: Solly March After his goal in the 4-1 win over Luton on the opening day, Solly March showed he could be a genuine attacking threat for Brighton alongside their 3 striker rotation system they are seeming to favour between Welbeck, Ferguson and new boy Joao Pedro. Despite the previously mentioned departures of key talented players within their squad this year and last, De Zerbi has goals coming from all angles, and Solly March is hitting a rich vein of form early in the season. With 2 goals, 5 shots and 100% shot accuracy, he was a real attacking threat, however with 9 recoveries, 4 interceptions and 3 clearances while also winning 3/4 tackles, he did the defensive duties required. In the previous section, I mentioned that Brighton haven’t had the toughest start to the season in terms of opponents, but with players like March in this form, they could take on just about anyone at this stage.

Matchday 2 Game of the Week: West Ham 3-1 Chelsea Okay I know perhaps this wasn’t the finest example of beautiful, possession-based football and skill from the final game on Sunday, but when I felt a bit ropey and began weighing up the prospect of a greasy takeout order, this game hit the spot. With a bit of everything, including Chelsea being beaten (nothing personal, I just like it when that happens), this game had 4 goals, a missed penalty, a red card, James Ward-Prowse set-pieces and a resolute defensive performance. For Chelsea, they can take out their tough start on Luton this Friday in front of their home crowd, and I do believe things will get on track for Pochettino at the club once he gets his best XI organised. With West Ham however, they’ve been impressive in the early stages of the season, as I had tipped them to be in a relegation battle or thereabouts in my summer predictions, so getting 3 points like this before the introduction of European nights, and with the window still open, leaves things looking good for Moyes’ side.

Let us know over on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) what you made of the second round of fixtures, and what you’re looking forward to in the next game week.