Matchday Roundup – 16.08.2022

Generation:Football readers should expect a lot of random articles on the website, however there is one series we would like to consistently run: Matchday Roundup. As the title implies, we will release an article on the matchday that just ended, across Europe’s top 5 leagues. The format might change, but the idea behind the series will stay consistent.

Premier League

Results

13/08/22	Aston Villa	2	Everton	1
13/08/22	Arsenal	4	Leicester City	2
13/08/22	Brighton & Hove Albion	0	Newcastle United	0
13/08/22	Manchester City	4	AFC Bournemouth	0
13/08/22	Southampton	2	Leeds United	2
13/08/22	Wolverhampton	0	Fulham	0
13/08/22	Brentford	4	Manchester United	0
14/08/22	Nottingham Forest	1	West Ham United	0
14/08/22	Chelsea	2	Tottenham Hotspur	2
15/08/22	Liverpool	1	Crystal Palace	1

As mentioned previously, Manchester United are having an awful time in the Premier League. After a defeat against Brighton in the first match of the season, they got crushed by Brentford. Their historic rivals, Liverpool also dropped another 2 points, with their start of the season being less than optimal as well. Manchester City on the other hand, doing what they do best and won the second game as well. Chelsea and Tottenham offered the most exciting match of the round, with the London sides squaring off in more than one way, with Tuchel and Conte getting into a fight on the sidelines.

Standings

After only 2 rounds, there are only 2 teams who are on maximum points, namely Man City and Arsenal. Early days, but on the other side of the table, Manchester United, Everton and West Ham are yet to get points. While Lampard’s side were destined to struggle this season, I am sure these 3 days will get themselves on the board sooner rather than later.

La Liga

Results

12/08/22	Osasuna	2	Sevilla	1
13/08/22	Celta Vigo	2	Espanyol	2
13/08/22	Real Valladolid	0	Villarreal	3
13/08/22	Barcelona	0	Rayo Vallecano	0
14/08/22	Cádiz CF	0	Real Sociedad	1
14/08/22	Valencia	1	Girona FC	0
14/08/22	UD Almería	1	Real Madrid	2
15/08/22	Athletic Club	0	RCD Mallorca	0
15/08/22	Getafe	0	Atlético Madrid	3
15/08/22	Real Betis Balompié	3	Elche CF	0

Only the first round of the Spanish League and some of the bigger teams already dropped points. Sevilla, last season’s 4th placed team played away at El Sadar Stadium and lost the opening game of the matchday. On Saturday, Barcelona’s much anticipated debut took place, but they couldn’t beat Iraola’s Rayo at home.On the other hand Gatuso started with a win at Valencia, while Real Madrid managed to beat Almeria 1-2, despite going behind early on. Atletico and Betis finished the round on Monday, with both teams securing easy 3-0 wins.

Standings

Really there is not much to look at, this being the end of the first round.

Bundesliga

Results

12/08/22	SC Freiburg	1	Borussia Dortmund	3
13/08/22	1899 Hoffenheim	3	VfL Bochum	2
13/08/22	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	1	FC Augsburg	2
13/08/22	Hertha BSC	1	Eintracht Frankfurt	1
13/08/22	RB Leipzig	2	1. FC Köln	2
13/08/22	Werder Bremen	2	VfB Stuttgart	2
13/08/22	FC Schalke 04	2	Borussia M’gladbach	2
14/08/22	1. FSV Mainz 05	0	1. FC Union Berlin	0
14/08/22	Bayern München	2	VfL Wolfsburg	0

Bayern definitely mean business this year, as they crused through Wolfsburg this time around. Dortmund also managed to beat Freiburg on Friday, however both of the other two title hopefuls dropped points, as Leipzig drew versus FC Koln, with young Hungarian player Szoboszlai being sent off, while Leverkusen suffered their second loss of the season versus Augsburg, at home. I am sure Leverkusen fans were not expecting 2 losses from the first 2 rounds.

Standings

Still too early to draw conclusions, but Bayern are definitely not planning on stopping their Bundesliga win streak, but Dortmund seem like serious as well. Leverkusen have a lot to do to get back into this, howerver Frankfurt, last season’s Europa League winners are also having a very bad start.

Serie A

Results

13/08/22	Milan	4	Udinese	2
13/08/22	Sampdoria	0	Atalanta	2
13/08/22	Lecce	1	Inter	2
13/08/22	Monza	1	Torino	2
14/08/22	Fiorentina	3	Cremonese	2
14/08/22	Lazio	2	Bologna	1
14/08/22	Salernitana	0	Roma	1
14/08/22	Spezia	1	Empoli	0
15/08/22	Hellas Verona	2	Napoli	5
15/08/22	Juventus	3	Sassuolo	0

Something very interesting happened in the first matchday of Italy’s Serie A, as no match ended with a draw, all 10 games had winners. This also means that all of the big guys started the season with their guns blazing, as last season’s champs, Milan, Atalanta, Inter, Lazio, Roma, Napoli and Juventus all secured their first 3 points. Juventus ended the round with an easy 3-0 victory, with Di Maria scoring on his debut and Vlahovic starting his quest for the Golden Boot with a brace. Note that Napoli scored 5 past Verona and all 5 goals were scored by different players.

Standings

Only matchday 1, but it is interesting to see all favorites starting their campaigns with wins.

Ligue 1

Results

12/08/22	FC Nantes	1	Lille OSC	1
13/08/22	AS Monaco	1	Stade Rennais	1
13/08/22	Paris Saint-Germain	5	Montpellier	2
14/08/22	Lorient	P	Olympique Lyonnais
14/08/22	AC Ajaccio	0	RC Lens	0
14/08/22	AJ Auxerre	2	Angers	2
14/08/22	Stade de Reims	2	Clermont Foot 63	4
14/08/22	Troyes	0	Toulouse	3
14/08/22	OGC Nice	1	RC Strasbourg	1
14/08/22	Stade Brestois 29	1	Olympique de Marseille	1

You might be wondering why Lorient – Lyon got postponed, well it’s because the French Federation considered Lorient’s pitch to be unsafe. As for the matches that were actually played, there was a lot of controversy around Mbappe’s behavior in PSG’s 5-2 win against Montpellier, but this shouldn’t distract you from the fact that Galtier’s side are having a very good start of the season, with especially Neymar and Messi being in very good form. Their new signing, Renato Sanchez also scored a goal. On the other hand, Marseille, Lille and Monaco dropped their first points.

Standings

With 2 games gone, it’s dangerous to draw a lot of conclusions, but PSG are looking set to dominate this season’s Ligue 1.