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The manager’s honeymoon period is over and the defeat at West Ham demonstrated their lack of high-grade options again

It was a soundbite from Ole Gunnar Solskjær designed to cut through the hysteria that always accompanies a bad Manchester United defeat and, make no mistake, Sunday’s 2-0 reverse at West Ham was as bad as anything on the manager’s nine-month watch – with the exception of the 4-0 drubbing at Everton last April.

Related: Mark Noble the beating heart of West Ham wherever they want to call home | Richard Williams

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Nick Ames discuss Liverpool’s 100% record continuing at Chelsea, defeats for Spurs and Solskjær, Manchester City putting 8 (eight) past Watford and a policeman forgetting where he was

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We take a look back at the weekend of football just gone, starting with Liverpool’s 2-1 win at Chelsea, which came with all of the trappings of modern football. Free-kick routines, lacklustre marking from set pieces, and VAR debate when VAR has worked exactly as VAR is supposed to work.

Jorginho’s arrival means the midfielder plays further upfield, displaying new tricks while still excelling in defence

How much can be expected of a single player? That N’Golo Kanté is an exceptional footballer is no revelation but there is still something remarkable about the fact that the best holding midfielder in the world has become a totemic Roy of the Rovers figure at Chelsea. There he is darting across his own box to stifle a Liverpool attack. There he is slipping a pass in to the edge of the box and looking for a return. And there he is, drifting in from the right and finding the top corner with an ungainly but nonetheless precise finish. He is their alpha and their omega, their beginning and their end. He is all things to all men and by that means he might save some games – but not this one.

Kanté was exceptional against Liverpool, in the second half a blur, the force driving Chelsea forward. Only one Chelsea player made more tackles than him, only one more interceptions than him, only one had more shots than him and nobody completed more dribbles than him. He has, against expectations, transformed himself into a complete midfielder.

‘This is not a bear pit,” one of the Sky pundits said of West Ham’s new home on Sunday. “This is not the old Upton Park.” In geographical, architectural and atmospheric terms, no dispute there. But one man in the claret and blue performed against Manchester United as though he had made his way to work past the market stalls and the Boleyn pub on Green Street and stopped for pie and mash at Nathan’s before taking to the pitch with the hot breath of the crowd on his neck and the anthems of the home supporters shaking the old stands. And that player won the man of the match award.

Related: Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

The faces said it all – overwhelming relief, delight and, yes, disbelief. Borussia Mönchengladbach’s players wore the look not of players that had won a derby but a war of attrition against themselves. As Marcus Thuram, the summer arrival whose first two Bundesliga goals sealed an ultimately unlikely triumph against Fortuna Düsseldorf on Sunday, took off his shirt and placed it on one of the corner flags, which he then proceeded to gleefully swish above his head, it felt like he was sending the signal miles around of a battle won.

In isolation recent Bundesliga results look good, with a push into the top six on the back of successive wins over local rivals, at Köln last week and now over Düsseldorf this. Compartmentalising, however, has been impossible for Gladbach’s players and fans. This meant so much because it was – astonishingly – their first win at home since they beat Augsburg on 26 January.

Kick It Out has called on the Football Association to take action against a “discriminatory” tweet by Bernardo Silva in reference to his Manchester City teammate Benjamin Mendy.

Related: FA looking into tweet posted by Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva

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Labelled “the hissing hooligans” by the Italian media, it could be argued the loggionisti are the ultras of the opera world. From their places in the cheap seats high in the gods of Milan’s La Scala, this vocal minority of purists have reduced many a world-famous performer to tears with their loud and forthright on-the-spot critiques. And while those taking to the stage at the world’s most famous opera house tonight are well used to fielding abuse from hostile crowds, it is to be hoped The Best Fifa Football Awards™ pass off without any of the talent present getting upset.

Antonio Conte never went home on Tuesday night. He was too angry – too “seriously pissed off”, in his own words – to imagine that he could get a good night’s sleep after Inter’s Champions League draw with Slavia Prague, so he went directly from San Siro back to his club’s training ground instead. The only way to work through his frustrations, was to work.

“Head down and keep pedalling.” That was the mantra Conte gave at his introductory Inter press conference in July, and which he has returned to several times since. A little cheesy, for a man who accused his critics of speaking in cliches when they brought up his history of underwhelming European results this week, but you could not accuse him of failing to practice what he preaches.

The manager of the US women’s national team, two time World Cup winner Jill Ellis, has talked about her legacy. Having announced at the end of July that she would be stepping down from the post she has held for six years, at Fifa’s conference in Milan to analyse the 2019 World Cup she added to the hype: “It was one of a kind, obviously the second World Cup for me personally, but a wonderful showcase. The numbers don’t lie; our sport is exciting and energising.”