Find a Football Team

• Slot: ‘The more they play the more they will connect’

• Loss to Chelsea puts Liverpool second behind Arsenal

Arne Slot insisted that Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak would develop an understanding in attack, speaking after Liverpool’s stoppage-time defeat by Chelsea meant they relinquished top spot to Arsenal.

Salah and Isak were disappointing as the champions fell to their third successive defeat in all competitions but Slot is confident that his big-name forwards will improve once they get to know each other.

• Declan Rice also taken off in 2-0 win with back problem

• Mikel Arteta: ‘Let’s wait, hopefully it’s not that bad’

Mikel Arteta is concerned about Martin Ødegaard’s knee injury after the captain limped out of Arsenal’s 2-0 win over West Ham as they kept up the pressure on Liverpool at the top of the Premier League.

The Norwegian left the Emirates Stadium with his left knee in a brace after being taken off following a clash with Crysencio Summerville before the break. Declan Rice also had to be withdrawn in the second half with a back injury after he opened the scoring against his former club, with the England midfielder a doubt for the games against Wales on Thursday and Latvia a week on Tuesday.

• Mount scored in 2-0 victory against Sunderland

• ‘We want back-to-back wins and to push for top four’

Mason Mount has said Manchester United’s players are “100% behind” Ruben Amorim after their 2-0 victory against Sunderland.

United’s third win of the season was secured thanks to goals from Mount and Benjamin Sesko, to give Amorim some respite with his future under scrutiny. United have now won three in a row at Old Trafford and also secured a first clean sheet of the campaign. United will travel to Liverpool after the international break, seeking consecutive wins under their Portuguese head coach for the first time.

• Kudus scored first goal for Tottenham in 2-1 win at Leeds

• ‘It’s a good start to the season but we need to continue’

Thomas Frank admitted it was “about time” Mohammed Kudus scored after his second-half strike earned Tottenham a 2-1 victory at Leeds. The £55m summer signing had not found the net in nine games but his deflected 57th-minute shot sealed an impressive win.

Kudus also provided the assist for the opener by Mathys Tel, who notched his first of the campaign, but Noah Okafor levelled for Leeds before Kudus’s strike proved decisive.

• Kane scores 11th goal in first six Bundesliga games

• Vinícius at the double as Real Madrid defeat Villarreal

Harry Kane set a Bundesliga scoring record and Luis Díaz netted twice as Bayern Munich cruised past Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 to continue a flawless start to the season with their sixth consecutive league win.

Kane, who also hit the woodwork from point-blank range in the second half, rifled in his 11th league goal in the 27th minute and became the first Bundesliga player to reach that mark after six matches. He has 18 goals in 10 matches across all competitions this season.

Why does a system that has drawn so much scepticism at Manchester United work so well at Crystal Palace?

Some fixtures just don’t sound right. Maybe it’s just about conceivable that, had things gone slightly differently in the 70s, Malcolm Allison or Terry Venables could have been leading their side behind the Iron Curtain for a crack at Valeriy Lobanovskyi’s cybernauts, but Dynamo Kyiv against Crystal Palace is still a clash that provokes a double-take. It feels like a category error: how can those two clubs possibly be in the same competition?

But this is the modern world. Ukraine is battling invasion, its teams diminished. The Premier League is extremely rich. And Crystal Palace are managed by one of the rising talents of the European game. They didn’t just play each other on Thursday, but Palace won with a degree of comfort. It was their third straight win, their 19th consecutive game without defeat.

After finishing outside the European places twice in the past three, trophyless seasons, are Manchester City back? With this pivotal victory and, significantly, this performance, it appears they might well be. They moved up to second in the Women’s Super League thanks to a late strike from Iman Beney that clinched a hard-fought win against Arsenal.

It was a game that started poorly, but turned into a five-goal thriller and the result was priceless for the hosts. Arsenal, who dropped points at home to Aston Villa last time out and are now winless in three WSL games, slip five points behind the leaders, Chelsea, after five games, while Manchester City are a point behind the defending champions thanks to Beney’s finish into the bottom corner.

• Sheffield Wednesday 0-5 Coventry, Hull 1-0 Sheffield Utd

• Boro slip to Pompey defeat, Leicester see off Swansea

Frank Lampard praised his side’s stirring second-half display after Coventry went top of the Championship with a 5-0 rout of Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

Brandon Thomas-Asante scored twice in the first half with Haji Wright adding a third on the stroke of half-time. Ellis Simms and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto struck further goals in the second period to complete a comprehensive victory.

Alex Fletcher called for changes after crashing into concrete hoardings three years ago. As far as he is concerned, nothing happened as a result

When Chichester City confirmed that Saturday’s FA Trophy tie with Farnham Town would go ahead, they did so with a message: “Billy Vigar, forever in our hearts.” The match, the team’s first since Vigar’s tragic death a week previously, would be contested to “honour Billy”, the club said. “We invite you to join us in paying tribute to Billy on the day.”

Vigar, 21, died after sustaining a “significant brain injury” during Chichester’s Isthmian Premier League fixture at Wingate & Finchley on 20 September. His passing was mourned by Arsenal, where Vigar had been part of the academy, and more broadly by clubs and individuals from across non-league football. There was a great sadness at the passing of a player who was well liked in a tight-knit community but had died, as Vigar’s family put it, “playing the sport he loved”.

High-technique midfielder is talented enough for his Liverpool move to work out but most transfers over £80m don’t

The verdict is in on the new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson movie, The Smashing Machine, which does look pretty good to be fair. The key takeaway is this. Anyone who might have dismissed The Rock as simply a bald, grizzled, muscled-up fight sport veteran is going to have to eat their words.

It turns out The Rock is actually a really good actor. There is talk of a previously unseen ability to inhabit a character, to subsume his entire identity within a role. The role, in this case, of a bald, grizzled, muscled-up fight sport veteran.

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

Results under Keith Andrews may be mixed but set-pieces are helping side pass latest stress tests of club’s framework

Brentford represent a case study in what happens to the “well-run”, paragon club when their long-serving leader departs, along with key players. Can the processes that took the club so far weather such change? Can a much-admired analytics-based scouting system find workable replacements? Appointing a manager – Brentford use the title of head coach – with no frontline experience in Keith Andrews further stress-tests the strength of the framework.

The signs thus far are mixed though positive on balance. As sainted as Thomas Frank is in the Brentford canon, the Dane leaving with the blessing of execs and fans to join Tottenham, progress was never linear or a fully upward curve. A club with a reported wage bill of £50m a season, among the lowest in the Premier League, have heavy tides to swim against. That last season’s 10th place came accompanied by disappointment in missing out on European football suggests how far expectations had risen.

• Real Madrid midfielder left out of latest England squad

• Bukayo Saka recalled for Wales and Latvia games

Thomas Tuchel has said the best ­players do not always make the best team and suggested Jude Bellingham might have been excluded from the latest England squad even if the ­midfielder were in peak condition after his return from a shoulder injury.

England’s head coach, who said there also might not have been a recall for Bukayo Saka if his fellow Arsenal winger Noni Madueke were fit, has placed a heavy focus on team spirit with his selection for next Thursday’s friendly at home to Wales and the World Cup qualifier in Latvia the following Tuesday.

There was plenty of entertainment for neutrals and ample chances for both teams to win it but, ultimately, Chelsea and Manchester United had to settle for a draw that maintained their unbeaten starts to the Women’s Super League season, on a night when the United manager Marc Skinner believed his team made a big statement of their intent.

The 1-1 draw extended United’s agonisingly long wait for a first WSL victory against Chelsea but ended the defending champions’ 100% start and United will have taken great encouragement from a performance that showed they may well have the qualities to mount a serious title challenge.

At Bournemouth, where Fulham had lost on their last three visits, Marco Silva’s team were tweaking the noses of Andoni Iraola. They had suffered in the wind and rain only to take the lead through Ryan Sessegnon’s well-crafted goal. Silva’s substitutions had turned the game in Fulham’s favour, Samuel Chukwueze combining with Sessegnon almost as soon as he arrived into a pitched battle of a contest.

Step forward Antoine Semenyo, one of the Premier League’s players of the season so far. His slaloming run down the byline and drop of the shoulder confounded Bernd Leno to score from the narrowest of angles. Next, the Ghanaian sent Justin Kluivert away to smash in a gorgeous long-range strike. Semenyo’s injury-time second, from a trademark warp-speed counter, supplied by another sub in Ben Gannon-Doak, completed a sweet home win. Bournemouth climbed to second in the table, only Liverpool above them. Just when Fulham were set for fourth time lucky they were denied by Iraola’s expert in-game management, greater depth of resources and a match-winner in Semenyo.

• Tuchel keeps faith with players who excelled last month

• Head coach feels Bellingham is also lacking rhythm

Thomas Tuchel has kept faith with the England squad that beat Andorra and excelled in Serbia last month and found no place for Jude Bellingham or Phil Foden in his camp for the friendly at home to Wales and the World Cup qualifier in Latvia.

Foden was pushing for a recall after rediscovering his form at Manchester City and Bellingham has returned for Real Madrid after shoulder surgery, but the head coach has decided not to pick two of the country’s biggest attacking talents. Bellingham has started only once for his club.

• Chief executive says spending ‘breathes life’ into rivals

• ‘I don’t see how it’s suffocating [the European game]’

Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, has denied that the English top flight’s transfer spending is damaging European football, arguing instead that it “breathes life” into rival competitions.

Masters made the claim as he took stock of the Premier League’s global position and laid out plans for its growth. Noting that England’s elite clubs had a “bigger share of the world’s best players” from this summer’s record-breaking £3bn spending, Masters said: “Seven of our clubs were net recipients in lots of inter-Premier League transfers. But a lot of that money does percolate out of the big European leagues, a substantial portion of that, and breathes life into their own transfer markets. So I don’t see how it’s suffocating [the European game].

Here are five changes the beleaguered United manager could make in order to turn his ailing team around

Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation is not the cause of Manchester United’s struggles. United are recovering from decades of exploitation and the squad, fair in some areas and abominable in others, is only in mid-rebuild.

Rubin and Joel Colwill grew up playing two-touch moves in the garden. Now they are putting them into practice at the club they support

The excitement is etched across the faces of Rubin and Joel Colwill as the brothers discuss playing together for Cardiff. As kids in Neath, about 30 miles north-west of the Welsh capital, they were regulars at Melyn Park, over the road from the family home, and spent hours perfecting two-touch skills in the back garden. “When we were small I got a marker pen and drew a goal on the hallway door and our mother was fuming,” Rubin says, both of them breaking into laughter.

They are separated by two and a half years but have always been close and Joel, who turns 21 this month, was best man at Rubin’s wedding this year. Growing up they lived each other’s journeys, both associated with Cardiff from the age of seven, and their parents, Richard and Jodi, ferried them to training. They attended Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera, the same secondary school as Ben Davies, the Wales defender poised to win his 100th cap in their World Cup qualifier against Belgium on 13 October. Then there were the bunk beds. “Yeah, we had a lot of WWE matches on those,” Rubin says, smiling.

The Cherries’ full-back on why intensity is key to his side’s success, learning English early and receiving a French knighthood

Adrien Truffert has form for hitting the ground running. At Rennes, the club he joined at 13 and spent a decade at until leaving for Bournemouth in the summer, his debut arrived as a substitute against Monaco and culminated in him teeing up the equaliser with a wicked left-foot cross and then scoring a stoppage-time winner. Aged 18, Truffert sent a shot underneath Benjamin Lecomte, the opposition goalkeeper who visits Bournemouth with Fulham on Friday. “I ran off celebrating and slid on my knees,” Truffert says, “like you dream of doing as a kid after scoring your first goal.”

Truffert has excelled for Bournemouth from the moment he contained Mohamed Salah on his first outing in a fearless team performance at Liverpool – where he also outshone his predecessor at left-back Milos Kerkez – and has played every minute in the Premier League this season.

Winless start and fans calling for his sacking mean defeat at Newcastle on Sunday could spell the end for the Australian

Replacing a Nottingham Forest hero was never going to be easy but Nuno Espírito Santo did a very cunning thing after Steve Cooper’s sacking: he won his first two games. A lot is forgotten about the opening six months of Nuno’s tenure, when the team survived one place above the relegation zone and went through a period of winning once in 10 Premier League matches.

Nuno had done the important thing of boosting morale and winning over the fans by defeating Newcastle away and creating excitement by beating Manchester United at home, and no one was clamouring for style points. The City Ground was rocking in late December 2023, and no home fans cared too much that they saw only two more victories there for the remainder of the season.

A feeling of loss and dislocation surrounds the East End club, which has never been part of tourist or establishment London

Graham Potter still turned up for work on Saturday morning, even though there was no work left for him to do. A team meeting was arranged, at which Potter announced to general bewilderment that he had been sacked. Potter left. Training was delayed because nobody was available to take it. Eventually the new coach, Nuno Espírito Santo, arrived on site and hastily began preparations for the Everton game on Monday.

Perhaps on reflection it was inevitable that West Ham United’s big set-piece appointment went the same way many of their set pieces have gone this season. “We’re not West Ham any more,” disgruntled fans have been chanting at recent protests against the club’s ownership, but consider the evidence. A bungled sacking. A fiesta of contradictory leaks and briefings. Chaotic performances on the pitch. A vacuum of leadership and direction. Catastrophic recruitment. An early relegation battle. Fans in open revolt. I don’t know. Sounds pretty West Ham to me.

The USA women’s manager on the death of her predecessor at Chelsea, Matt Beard, and how coaches need more support to navigate the modern game

With hands raised eagerly, the children from Abbott Community primary school want to quiz the USA head coach. The plan was for Emma Hayes to take just a few questions from the youngsters at the National Football Museum, but she wants to answer them all. Even her son, Harry, watching on, raises a hand. The tone is light, fun and educational as Hayes celebrates induction into the Hall of Fame.

The former Chelsea manager, who is being honoured by the museum for her coaching achievements, not least her seven Women’s Super Leagues titles and Olympic gold medal, is quick to point to how glad she is that the “women’s game is in a better place in this country” compared with when she took the Chelsea job in 2012. Alongside her smiles, though, there is a deep sadness. When later sitting down to speak to the Guardian, Hayes has words of warning for the sport: namely that it must learn lessons from the death of her predecessor at Chelsea, Matt Beard, after the shock news of his death aged 47 last month.

• Heidelberg United 1-3 Newcastle Jets

• Lethlean 8; Burgess 22, Fryer 96, Gibson 115

In the end, there was simply no more magic for Heidelberg United Alexander to call upon. After a history-making run to the final of the Australia Cup, John Anastasiadis’s semi-professional outfit fell in a 3-1 extra-time defeat to the Newcastle Jets on Saturday evening, ending their hopes of becoming the first side from outside the A-League Men to lift the trophy and dashing their dreams of playing in next year’s Asian Champions League 2.

That honour will instead go to the Novocastrians, who dragged themselves back up off the canvas after falling behind to Ryan Lethlean’s eighth-minute opener to equalise through Max Burgess in the 21st minute. Over 70 minutes later, they forced themselves in front through Oscar Fryer in the 96th, the substitute cutting inside from the right and curling an unsaveable effort inside the far post before sealing the result in the 115th through a super turn and finish from Ben Gibson. Between the two extra time goals, both sides had a player sent off, first Kosta Grozos for the Jets, then Heidelberg’s Johnny Apostolopoulos.

The World Cup is in reach for Patrick Kluivert’s side and, though problems persist, things are looking up in one of Asia’s most passionate football nations

Three years ago this Wednesday, 135 football fans died at the Kanjuruhan stadium in Indonesia after security forces deployed teargas and created a stampede for the exits. 1 October 2022 was the nadir of a curve that had been sliding downwards for decades. This is a country that, in this century alone, has seen its FA president run the federation from a prison cell while facing corruption charges, the creation of rebel national leagues, federations and national team Fifa bans and fans being killed by other fans.

In March 2023 there were more negative headlines when the country was stripped of hosting the Under-20 World Cup just months before kick-off after the governor of Bali said that Israel would not be welcome on the island. Erick Thohir, former owner of Inter and DC United and current co-owner of Oxford United, had just become boss of PSSI, as the federation is known, and did his utmost to save the tournament. Football fans braced themselves for Fifa punishment and more chaos to come. Instead, the world governing body was sufficiently impressed with the efforts of Thohir, who has been a cabinet minister for years, to give the country the Under-17 World Cup in November. It was a success and brought some much-needed positivity.

After scoring 100 goals in record time, the striker is open to extending his stay at a club where he is now treasured

As the flight carrying Bayern Munich’s squad and staff glides into the south-western corner of Cyprus in Monday’s early evening, some of their experienced, decorated players might reflect that, until very recently, they never expected to be here as they gaze out of their windows. Their hosts, Pafos, have certainly come a long way to breathe this rarefied air, removing from their path along the way no less a name than Crvena Zvezda, whose vintage team vanquished Bayern in an epic semi-final on their route to becoming European champions in 1991.

Finding yourself somewhere you didn’t necessarily expect to be is a continued theme from Bayern’s weekend. Yes, they certainly expected their routine 4-0 win against Werder Bremen (a name that, like the boys from Belgrade, has known more glorious incarnations in the past) on Friday night, but for once it felt like it was about the individual achievement rather than the collective one.

Emotions abound at the Metropolitano as Atleti’s five goals left the coach crying on the touchline and his team revitalised

In the final few minutes before the derby day that was destined to be the best they ever had, Diego Simeone gathered his players and asked if they were OK. The pressure was intense, their need desperate, but of all the things that are truly important in your lives, he wanted to know, is there anything that’s not right? Does anyone have any problems?

“All of them said ‘no’,” Atlético Madrid’s manager admitted later, when the Metropolitano had finally fallen silent, the singing drifting in from down Avenida de Luis Aragonés instead. “So I said: ‘then play, have fun. You’re good. Enjoy yourselves. A footballer’s life passes quickly, make the most of it; these games don’t come back.’”

Under pressure from prevailing winds in society, football has to stand together to protect and celebrate diversity

Football is deeply woven into the fabric of society, so perhaps it is no surprise that at Kick It Out we have seen a rise in reports of discrimination since the summer. The recent protests in central London show many more people are becoming nationalistic and want firmer action against immigration. People from ethnic minorities are being targeted with abuse.

Debate may continue about why people turned out to march with their union jacks and St George’s flags. But we can’t hide from the fact that the far-right has a historical link to football hooliganism, and we know there have been signs of it becoming more apparent at football this season, leaving the communities that we serve feeling vulnerable.

Obdurate manager’s Ruben-ball could arguably take the blame for Fernandes’s penalty fluff in another utterly bloodless performance

You’ve got to hand it to the reliably prolific pain-content generator that is Manchester United. Even at the end of a performance that was, if nothing else, a perfect example of empty and bloodless systems football, 90 minutes that felt like watching a robot with a cold go for a walk, this thing can still offer you stories, mini-arcs, narrative Easter eggs.

The only shame is we will have to wait another six months, April at Stamford Bridge, to see if Bruno Fernandes can complete the perfect hat-trick of weirdly missed west London penalties.

Graham Potter’s great mistake was to think that he could build while the fire was raging around him

The timing of the news left a sour taste in the mouth. Graham Potter has been in trouble for more than a month. There was no decision after West Ham continued their dreadful start to the season last Saturday nine days ago, losing 2-1 to Crystal Palace at a deflated London Stadium, and it seemed Potter had been given one last chance to save his job given that he conducted his usual media duties. Instead Nuno Espirito Santo, immediately installed after Potter’s unceremonious sacking on Friday, will manage the team against Everton on Monday .

There was defiance from the 50-year-old on Friday. Blame the coach all you like, Potter said, but it is worth looking at the wider context. “You have to look at where the club was at,” he said. “Because then you can make an assessment of how long it needs to turn results around. What was the environment like? What was the culture like? What was the team like?”

Sport should not be used to normalise abnormal conduct and it’s no longer possible to dispute the idea that Israel shouldn’t currently be participating

One big thing about deals with the devil. Faustian pacts. Soul exchanges. The get-you-in-front-of-me-Satan dynamic. The key thing here, an element that often gets overlooked, is that consideration must also flow the other way. This is in the end an exchange, and one you don’t get to default on. When Pauly buys a share in the restaurant, well, Pauly buys you too.

Watching Gianni Infantino on stage this week at the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards you wondered about this. There he is, our dear leader, alongside an iconic squad of fellow global rain-makers. To his left is a generic square-jawed galactic commander mail-order wellness powder type. On the edge of the group is a US politician who just looks like money made flesh, face as hard and blank as a government bond.

Our cartoonist looks at the visit of another polarising figure … this time in the Champions League

• Get your copy of this cartoon in our Print Shop

• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Nordi Mukiele, Mohammed Kudus and Hugo Ekitiké have started quickly, unlike Florian Wirtz, Anthony Elanga and Benjamin Sesko

By WhoScored

Six games into their first Premier League season since 2016-17, and Sunderland are flying high in fifth place. It’s their best start to a top-flight campaign in 70 years. A lot of that success can be attributed to their new signings, none more than the outstanding Mukiele – WhoScored’s second-highest rated player this season after Erling Haaland.

The ultras are celebrating 20 years of bringing tifos, noise and passion to the terraces at Selhurst Park

When William McGregor founded the Football League in 1888, his vision was for the original dozen clubs to be at the heart of their communities. The clubs would be a focal point for local people to come together and watch football on Saturday afternoons. As money and television have changed the game, supporters have become a secondary concern and Saturday afternoon kick-offs, especially in the Premier League, have become a rarity rather than the norm. In response to these developments, supporters formed ultra groups to ensure their voices are heard.

One of the most prominent of these is the Holmesdale Fanatics at Crystal Palace, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Leaning on the experience of fans of Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels, Red Star in Paris and St Pauli in Hamburg, they have generated their own brand of coordinated, passionate support over the past two decades.

Only three footballers have won three straight Ballon d’Or awards: Lionel Messi, Michel Platini and Bonmatí

By WhoScored

Winning one Ballon d’Or is the mark of footballing greatness, winning two puts you in a very exclusive group of greats, but winning three in a row? That gives the 27-year-old Aitana Bonmatí footballing immortality. The Barcelona and Spain midfielder has become the first woman, and only the third player overall, alongside Lionel Messi and Michel Platini, to have achieved this feat. What exactly sets her apart?

Born and raised in Catalonia, Bonmatí joined Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy at 13, soaking up a philosophy of technical excellence and football intelligence that would shape her career. By 16, she was already in the senior side, modelling her game on legends such as Xavi and Andrés Iniesta.

Some stories can’t be proved wrong, but Karel Prince’s HMRC of Football podcast is exposing those who have embellished a little too much

Those of you who follow my content with even the faintest interest will know I have been squeezing every last drop out of perhaps five anecdotes for more than two decades.

So with no apology, presuming that Stockholm syndrome has set in and you have been trained to enjoy their retelling, here is the day I almost won a header against Jaap Stam.

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Arguably the most unpopular Australian to pitch up in Nottinghamshire since villainous hotelier Paul Robinson from Neighbours starred in a Mansfield panto 20 years ago, Ange Postecoglou’s reign at the City Ground could scarcely have got off to a more inauspicious start. While the boos and catcalls that actor Stefan Dennis was subjected to during Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood were largely good-natured, such was the toxicity of the invective aimed at Postecoglou during Nottingham Forest’s Bigger Vase defeat by Midtjylland on Thursday, that it is difficult to imagine the man who has been in charge for just six matches will still be around to hear the festive cat-calls this Christmas. On more than one occasion the 60-year-old’s shouts of “He’s behind you!” went ignored by his hapless players, not least when the Danish side scored their first two goals from atrociously defended set-pieces. Far from the celebratory mood they’d hoped for, Forest’s first European home game in 29 years ended in rancour with home fans telling Postecoglou he’d be “sacked in the morning”, before serenading his popular, recently dismissed predecessor, Nuno Espírito Santo.

Is it true Ange Postecoglou has promised Forest fans he always wins a match in his second season?” – Pete Negri.

Far be it for me to want to amplify the trope that Arsenal supporters are football’s whiniest fans, but Thabo Caves (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) does make you wonder. Pointing out that rather than two games a week, Arsenal are having to play 2.33 games a week (ooh an extra 30 minutes!) over a specific three-week period (for a squad with two good options for every position to boot) is not the debate-ender he might imagine. Rather it’s just going to have the orchestra of the world’s smallest violins tuning up their instruments once more, while the rest of football rolls their collective eyes” – Andrew Parker.

I can’t work out whether your recent correspondents (on two or three games a week) are consciously, ironically recreating one of the high points of internet discourse (SFW), or unconsciously proving Marx’s adage about historical events repeating themselves as farce” – Nick Wiltsher.

If it’s any solace, Bob Cushion (yesterday’s letters), I’ve always been like that [wanting wealthy English teams to lose in Europe]. Since Forest lost the ability to negotiate Europe, Uefa football for me has induced a state of seething impotent rage, punctuated only occasionally by Steaua Bucharest and, at a push, Zaragoza. I care not one jot for Liverpool’s exploits from the 80s right up to Istanbul. I am unmoved by ‘that night in Barcelona’, always support anyone who plays Chelsea, because, well, Chelsea have never given me many reasons not to hate them, and I can’t be bothered to tot up how many pots Citeh win while we sort out this finances thing. Yes, I’ll get behind the Palaces of this world and could always back Leeds, but no-one whose name contains the word ‘Dynamo’ are ever going to win anything. Ever again. So you might as well turn it off and go to an actual match. I also always hope Brighton get rinsed, but I’m working through that with a therapist” – Jon Millard.

I struggled for a while to understand the closing caption reference (yesterday’s last line – full email edition) … and then it came to me, in an Aha! moment” – Declan Houton.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Former New Zealand captain led takeover of French club and wants Crux Football to add more teams to portfolio

“I wanted to try to build something that I wish had existed when I was playing.”

At the core, that is what has driven Bex Smith, the former New Zealand captain, to set up a multi-club ownership group and attempt to create environments for women’s teams that her generation could only dream of. On Wednesday, her vision took a step towards reality as her investment group Crux Football completed the purchase of their first team, buying a 100% stake in the French club Montpellier.

With late goals a major factor, the four major players for the trophy saw their narratives crystalize over the weekend

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

There’s always a danger this early in the Premier League season of reading too much into a single set of games. Titles may be lost in September but they are very rarely won. This past weekend, though, did feel like one where many of the prevailing narratives crystalised as Arsenal dug deep to win the sort of game they’ve become used to losing, Liverpool’s defensive shortcomings were exposed as they lost for the first time this campaign, Manchester City swept aside lesser opposition in the manner of old and Chelsea fell apart again.

Liverpool have looked defensively shaky all season. Having been the team of control in the last campaign, making the unremarkable 2-0 win a trademark, they have become the side of the late winner, clinching games this season in the 88th, 94th, 100th, 83rd, 95th, 92nd and 85th minutes. That was never going to be sustainable, but the question was whether general performances would improve, or whether the late strikes would dry up.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.

Grounds have traditionally been designed for men but growth of women’s game is rapidly changing the landscape

“It was a pitch in the middle of a park, basically,” Peter McFarlane, secretary of the Everton Women Official Supporters’ Club, says in describing Walton Hall Park, the 500-seat stadium that eventually held a further 1500 spectators before the team moved to Goodison Park.

Walton Hall Park was the smallest stadium in the Women’s Super League, charming and nostalgic with its railed-off standing space, somewhat isolated outside of the city, and otherwise simply lacking food options and a bar. “It’s worlds apart compared to what Goodison offers us,” McFarlane says. “I mean, it helps we have a roof for the fans.”

There was a compelling clash of heavyweights in Catalonia, some unhappy rumblings at Real and a legend of Azerbaijani football roared

• The viewers. Barcelona v Paris Saint-Germain was the final many wanted last season. Wednesday’s group-stage meeting showed why. The fixture did not disappoint, even if, with red tape delaying the opening of the renovated Camp Nou, it was played in the less atmospheric Lluís Companys Stadium. Luis Enrique’s young Parisians staged a comeback in Catalonia, thanks to their coach’s expert use of his squad. Senny Mayulu, 19, upstaged Lamine Yamal by scoring the equaliser – Wednesday was the first match this season Yamal had failed to either score or contribute to a goal. Instead, the resurgent Marcus Rashford set up Ferran Torres’s opener for Barça. PSG were shorn of Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the forward line that claimed last season’s crown. No matter: 23-year-old Bradley Barcola stepped up as the senior forward and ravaged Hansi Flick’s high-line, high-wire defence. The youngsters kept coming for PSG: 17-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye was replaced by another teenager, Quentin Ndjantou, to play alongside the lively Lee Kang-in. In the end, Achraf Hakimi supplied the assist for Gonçalo Ramos, another sub, to score the 90th minute winner and inflict Barcelona’s first loss this season. “If you’re the best team, you have to show it on the pitch, and not talk,” said Ramos, who habitually scores late goals off the bench. “We are the champions of Europe.”

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen and Mark Langdon, as Monaco score a late penalty against City in Europe and there are straightforward wins for Arsenal and Newcastle

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: what better way to be reminded that Eric Dier joined Monaco in the summer than for him to score a 90th-minute penalty and earn a 2-2 Champions League draw against Manchester City. It was easier for the other English clubs in Europe, as Arsenal and Newcastle won comfortably against Olympiakos and Union Saint-Gilloise, respectively.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Sophie Downey, Tom Garry and Sanny Rudravajhala to review the weekend’s WSL action

On today’s pod: is Arsenal’s title challenge already under threat? The panel ask how Renée Slegers’ side failed to close out the game at the Emirates, and whether Aston Villa’s late equaliser signals a turning point for Natalia Arroyo’s team.

The panel reflects on an emotional match as Manchester United win at Liverpool, and discusses Hinata Miyazawa’s growing influence and what United’s unbeaten start reveals about their own title credentials.

The Matildas’ legacy was meant to supercharge the domestic game. Instead the league has lost a team, leaving many to wonder if the boom has gone bust

The transformative effects that England’s hosting of the 2022 Women’s European Championship had on its domestic game are well known in Australia. The country got its version of this phenomenon when it co-hosted the 2023 Women’s World Cup and its domestic competition, the A-League Women, basked in the reflected halo’s light as it grew to 12 sides, secured a new collective bargaining agreement increasing spending limits and became the first Australian football code to introduce a full home-and-away women’s season. There were record crowds and TV ratings.

Come the start of 2025-26, however, on the eve of Australia preparing to host its own continental showpiece, the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup, and those heights feel increasingly bygone. Most of the news dominating the buildup for the new year has been less than ideal, the coming campaign seeing the league – a closed competition without promotion and relegation – contract in size for the first time since Central Coast went on hiatus before 2010-11. It will do so after Western United’s teams were placed into a period of “conditional hibernation” amid their embattled attempts to stave off collapse.

This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Every deal in the NWSL, WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves