TouchlineFootball

  3 TALKING POINTS FROM ARSENAL 3-2 LIVERPOOL TALKING POINTS AS ARSENAL BEAT LIVERPOOL AT HOME -Mitansh Kagalwala Photo Via:  sportingnews.com   Arsenal took on Liverpool at the Emirates off the back of a North London derby win, while Liverpool came into the fixture a shadow of their former selves. Gabriel Martinelli took just 57 seconds to open the scoring, with Bukayo Saka adding a brace, while Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino scored for the Reds. Here’s what we made of it:   1.        ARSENAL’S YOUNG GUNS: Arsenal have cultivated one of the finest crops of young stars in the world, and they are finally coming of age. Gabriel Martinelli has been electric all season, and he continued his brilliant form against Liverpool, scoring the opener within the first minute, then turned both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson inside-and-out before squaring for Bukayo Saka. Martin Odegaard is 23 years old and already Arsenal’s ca...

  INTER MILAN BEAT FC BARCELONA AT THE SAN SIRO TALKING POINTS FROM INTER 1-0 BARCA -Mitansh Kagalwala Photo Via:  en.as.com   Inter Milan took on FC Barcelona in a crucial match in Group C at the San Siro on Tuesday night. Barcelona had most of the possession, but it was Inter who looked the more threatening on the counterattack, eventually taking the lead through a Hakan Calhanoglu stunner. Barcelona pressed forward after the break, equalizing through Pedri only for it to be ruled out for a handball against Ansu Fati, and having a penalty shout denied late in the game. Here’s what we made of it: 1.        VAR AGAIN: The complaints about VAR and its use in football just keep rising. VAR was at it again on Tuesday, controversially denying Barca an equalizer for a handball after Andre Onana seemingly punched the ball onto Ansu Fati’s hand. VAR returned as the game winded down, denying Barca a penalty after Denzel Dumfries handled in the bo...

  MANCHESTER CITY 6-3 MANCHESTER UNITED 4 TALKING POINTS FROM THE MANCHESTER DERBY -Mitansh Kagalwala Photo Via:  NBC Sport Manchester City locked horns with city rivals United in the Manchester derby at the Etihad, in what was primed to be a fascinating contest. City have been their fabulous selves this season, while United were coming off the back of a recent uptick in form, looking to add City to their list of conquests this season. In the end, though, Manchester was blue, and emphatically so. City dominated United from the get-go, looking threatening with every spell of possession. While United did score 3, the focus will be on their back-end, where they let in 6, and probably should have let in more. Here's what we made of it:  1.        Haaland, Haaland, Haaland: 14 goals, 8 games, 3 back-to-back hattricks. Anyone who still compares this machine to Darwin Nunez should be jailed. The Norwegian clearly turned up today aiming to take reven...

  The Masters of the Comeback Talking Points As City Come From Behind -Mihir Mehta -Editor: Mitansh Kagalwala Photo Via:  indianexpress Manchester continued their charge towards the knockout stages of the Champions League, picking up another win against Borussia Dortmund. This match marked the 6th time that the Cityzens have come back from a deficit since their loss to Real Madrid in the UCL semi-finals. It seems that Pep Guardiola has picked up a few key tricks from Real Madrid’s run in the UCL last year. The highlights of the match were Joao Cancelo and Haaland for the Cityzens and Jude Bellingham and Mats Hummels for Dortmund, as the Sky Blues secured a 2-1 win against the Dortmund side. 1. Kung-fu Haaland: Erling Haaland was once again on the scoresheet as he continued his excellent run of form with 13 goals in 9 matches. Haaland has managed to silence his haters as he eyes the golden boot and possibly the premier league goal scoring record. He managed to score in sp...

  TRANSFER WINDOW ROUND-UP AND RATINGS RATING THE TRANSFER ACTIVITY OF EUROPE’S BIGGEST CLUBS -Mitansh Kagalwala Photo Via:  skysports.com With the summer transfer window finally done and dusted, there's nothing left to do except watch football, enjoy a World Cup, wait for January to roll around, and rank some of Europe's biggest clubs' transfer market dealings. Here's what we made of it:   ARSENAL A busy summer for the Gunners, with the main objective being to clean-up the squad of players surplus to requirements, and to strengthen the squad in other areas. A striker was the main priority, and Arsenal secured the services of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City, who has been in explosive form since arriving at North London. Versatile left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko also arrived from the blue side of Manchester, to provide competition to Kieran Tierney, as well as back-up for midfield. Arsenal’s other major signing was the arrival of Fabio Vieira from Porto, prov...

  Game Review as Red Devils Pull the Trigger - Samarth Purohit -Editor: Mitansh Kagalwala   Both Manchester United and Arsenal came into the game in good form, with the former bouncing back from their disastrous start to notch 3 wins in a row, while Arsenal were the only team left in the Premier League with a 100% win record. The match promised plenty of fireworks as the two juggernauts collided, and the game did not disappoint, with United winning 3-1 in a fantastic game of football. Photo Via:  Independent What went wrong for Arsenal? 1.        The High Back Line Mikel Arteta perhaps underestimated United with his defensive set-up, allowing William Saliba and Gabriel to play in an incredibly high back line. While good for facilitating build-up play and aggression, the pace of the United front line proved to be too much for such a high line to handle, with Marcus Rashford toying with the Arsenal defence at times. 2.  ...

  THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2022/23 GROUP STAGE DRAW OVERVIEW AND PREDICTIONS - Mitansh Kagalwala Photo Via:  uefa.com The balls have been drawn, the names have been read, and the groups have been formed. The UEFA Champions League has taken place, and with the matchups finalized, here's what we made of it:    Group A Ajax, Liverpool, Napoli, Rangers On paper, this group should be straightforward for Napoli and Liverpool. The Italians have been in great form, scoring 5 and 4 in their first two fixtures, but Liverpool’s form has been dodgy. The English giants have seemingly struggled to adjust to life without Sadio Mane, suffering two draws and a defeat before finally picking up their first win of the season against Bournemouth, a 9-0 thrashing might signal a return to form, so don’t count them out just yet. Ajax will have to deal with the loss of their manager and several key players, including Sebastien Haller, Lisandro Martinez, Noussair Mazraoui and Ryan ...

  BEES DEMOLISH RED DEVILS  3 TALKING POINTS FROM BRENTFORD 4-0 MANCHESTER UNITED - Samarth Purohit and Mitansh Kagalwala Gameweek 2 of the EPL promised action and drama, and it delivered on both. The week saw several upsets, with both Manchester United and Liverpool having sub-par games and dropping points. United, in particular, continued their disastrous start to the season with an awful performance away to Brentford, losing 4-0 on a torturous afternoon. Two individual errors from David De Gea early in the game gave Brentford a 2-0 lead, which was quickly doubled by halftime, as United struggled to get back into the game. This result, coupled with the 2-1 loss to Brighton on the opening matchday, sees the Red Devils at the bottom of the table. A surprising sight, given how United performed in pre-season. Here’s what we made of it: Photo Via:  Manchester Evening News (L to R) Manchester Utd players' Christian Eriksen, Fred, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes   ...

  Cityzens Cruise Through Opening Week 4️⃣ Talking Points from City 2-0 West Ham -Mihir Mehta -Editor: Mitansh Kagalwala Manchester City began their defence of their Premier League title in perfect form after easing past West Ham in their opening fixture. PL debutante Erling Haaland was in sublime form, scoring both the goals of the game. Haaland proved worthy of his $61 million price tag as he scored from the spot in the 36th minute, then followed up by latching onto Kevin De Bruyne’s brilliant through ball in the 65th minute. Man City dominated the game having 76% of possession and restricted the Hammers to just 6 shots, of which only 1 was on target. Photo Via:  btsport (L to R) Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and Joao Cancelo against West Ham City Capitalise On Liverpool’s Mistake : City looked on course to win the Premier League for the 5th time in 6 years with the addition of talisman striker Erling Haaland and maestro defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips, but the loss at...

Manchester United 2021/22 Season Review: Kings No More -Samarth Purohit  -Editor: Mitansh Kagalwala Manchester United 2021/22   Manchester United. Perhaps one of the most successful teams in Europe, definitely in England, with 20 League titles (13 Premier League titles), 2 UEFA Champions Leagues, including a treble, and cups galore. Post the departure of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, however, the Red Devils have failed to hit the highs of his tenure, not lifting the league title since 2013, and being trophyless for 5 years now. However, by the start of the 2021/22 season, all that seemed set to change. Manchester had finished a resurgent second place in the previous season, ahead of rampaging rivals Liverpool, with a seemingly weaker squad. Club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was at the wheel, and for once, United started the season having had a great transfer window on paper. Young livewire Jadon Sancho arrived at the club, ending a long and frustrating saga. 4 time...

  BARCELONA’S 21/22 SEASON: A SEASON OF TWO HALVES - Mitansh Kagalwala FC Barcelona’s 21/22 season was supposed to start on a promising note. New signings Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia had all joined on free transfers, and thus, despite Barca’s heavy financial problems, the squad looked in overall better shape. The promised return of Ansu Fati, the rise of youngsters Gavi, Nico and Pedri, and the upturn in form towards the second half of the previous season all pointed to a resurgence. This was going to be Barca's season of comeback. And, of course, Barca still had Leo Messi. What more did they need? Then, on August 5 th , 2021, president Joan Laporta announced that, for the first time in his glittering career, Lionel Messi would don a jersey other than the claret-and-blue. La Liga’s heavy financial regulations meant that Barca could no longer afford to pay Messi’s wages, and the Argentine was forced into a tearful exit to PSG. Even then, despite ridding themse...