“It was the elephant in the room that Arne Slot went out of his way to address. Up until the last international break, Liverpool’s head coach repeatedly referenced the kind early-season schedule when assessing his team’s start. The run of fixtures from the October break to this international window was meant to give a clearer indication of where expectation levels should be set. Premier League matches against Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa were broken up by Champions League fixtures versus RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen, with a trip to Brighton in the Carabao Cup squeezed in. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
The Slot Machine: How Liverpool set up against elite teams – and beat them
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“From the local businessmen propping up boyhood clubs to the Gulf states chasing reflected glories, an eclectic mix has taken over English football’s top 20 clubs. Owners of 
“Kylian Mbappe is France’s star forward and one of the most recognisable players in world football. The Real Madrid player was France’s captain at Euro 2024 and has 48 goals for Les Bleus — but for the second consecutive international break he has been left out of the squad by manager Didier Deschamps. It has not been a straightforward few months for Mbappe. He has struggled for form at the Bernabeu since joining after his contract expired at Paris Saint-Germain — though he remains in a legal battle with them over unpaid wages — and in October reports linked him to an alleged rape in Sweden. …”
Scissors Kick 