Man City missing Rodri
Man City's two defeats this week against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup and Wolves on Saturday had one thing in common. They were without Rodri for both and his absence was clearly felt and especially against Wolves.
Mateo Kovacic was used in the defensive midfield position in Rodri's absence and looked uncomfortable as he gave the ball away on a number of occasions and was overrun in the middle of the park. He might be more of an 8 instead of a 6 but his overall performance there proves that City aren't the same without Rodri.
He gives the attacking players the licence to do their thing further up the pitch by sitting in front of the defence and he also dictates play in the midfield. City clearly miss this when he's not around as their performance against Wolves demonstrated.
With Arsenal up next for the champions, they could struggle again without Rodri who is suspended.
Ollie Watkins and Jarrod Bowen both pushing for England recalls
Both Ollie Watkins and Jarrod Bowen have got their seasons off to a good start with Bowen arguably starting the better having scored 5 goals in 7 league games this season. Watkins might've just got going after his hat trick against Brighton, but he did score a hat trick against Hibernian in the Europa Conference League in August.
With both players hitting form at a good time and Gareth Southgate announcing his England this week ahead of their upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers, both players are surely pushing for recalls.
Watkins was unlucky not to be recalled last season because he was on such a good run of form around February-March time. But Southgate opted to go with Ivan Toney who was also having a great season at Brentford. With Callum Wilson currently out injured and likely to miss the upcoming internationals, Watkins could well be chosen in his absence if Wilson still injured.
I said at the start of the season that Bowen has the chance to step up as West Ham's main man following Declan Rice's move to Arsenal, and he has taken it with both hands. 5 goals in 7 games this season and most of them have been crucial to the Hammers starting the season strongly.
He might be behind the likes of Saka, Rashford, Grealish, Foden and Maddison in the pecking order for England but with the the form's he's been in this season, he still has a good chance of being recalled. Especially with Mason Mount not in good form.
Officials cost Liverpool against Spurs
One of the main talking points from Spurs v Liverpool was undoubtedly the performance of the officials. They made some controversial decisions during the game and two of them in particular came under the spotlight in Luis Diaz's disallowed goal and Diogo Jota's first yellow card. Both decisions I thought were wrong and were what cost Liverpool on the day.
Luis Diaz's goal was disallowed for offside but the player himself was clearly onside. For some strange reason, VAR didn't spot this. They probably had a look at it, but after doing so they decided to stick with the original decision. PGMOL announced after the game that it was down to a lack of concentration which I find hard to believe as it was a clear and obvious error.
Diogo Jota's first yellow card was for clipping the back of Destiny Udogie's heel even though he actually didn't. Udogie tripped himself up before going down. VAR didn't even call referee Simon Hooper over to the pitch-side monitor to have a look at the incident which baffles me even more. This was another clear and obvious error and a decision that VAR should've had a better look at.
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