playGabriele MarcottiOct 12, 2026, 09:03 AM ETCloseGabriele Marcotti is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @Marcotti.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsThe European soccer season is back! After a three-week international break in which absolutely nothing happened — nope, nothing at all — we got a huge Premier League game as Man City snuck into Anfield and emerged with a 3-0 win over Liverpool that, while impressive, does little to remove the fog of anger that will follow Erling Haaland & Co. around for the rest of the season (and probably beyond).Elsewhere in the Premier League, Man United and Tottenham battled to a 1-1 draw that did little to dispel the pressure on their managers, Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi, even though Spurs should be walking away a little happier with the result. Beyond that, Arsenal got another win despite looking sloppy after the break.Outside England, Real Madrid battled for a 1-0 win over Villarreal, a game that will be remembered as much for Jose Mourinho’s all-too-familiar antics as it will for Vinícius Júnior’s deserved red card.
We also got talking points galore for Barcelona (can Lamine Yamal get some rest?), Bayern Munich (it’s time to talk about Manuel Neuer), Paris Saint-Germain (who still haven’t gotten going this season) and much, much more.It’s Monday morning, so what better time for some musings? Let’s get into it.- Man City show defiance in wake of cheating scandal, trounce Liverpool – Late draw with Spurs shows how much trouble Carrick & Co. are in – Arsenal fight back as Premier League resumes under cloud of City verdictMan City seal off the outside world and do what they do best at AnfieldTheir coach Enzo Maresca called it “noise,” which is inappropriate when viewed from the outside. “Noise,” like “rumor” and “speculation,” implies some sort of trivial annoyance, not to be taken too seriously when you have a job to do.City’s guilty verdict is anything but “noise” — it’s a near-existential threat to the club. And no matter how convinced you are of their innocence and how much of the City Football Group spin you believe, if you think overturning the verdict is going to be a slam dunk, you’re either a fool or badly deluded.But from Maresca’s perspective, it works.
Give your fear a name — “noise,” in this case — and then block it out. Professional athletes do this sort of stuff all the time. Control what you can control. Let others worry about what you can’t.
It’s Psychology 101 and City nailed it, as they showed in a rousing second-half performance while winning 3-0 at Anfield.play0:52Nicol: I have no sympathy for Manchester City playersAt the same time, let’s not over-egg this. City’s players were booed and called cheats by the Liverpool fans (as you’d expect), but it’s safe to say they’ve faced worse throughout their careers. Nor is it the case that the guilty verdict came out of the blue, somehow shattering their peaceful existence. They all knew it was a possibility when they joined the club, which is why several of them put specific clauses in their contract.
Most of all, like most guys who play sports for a living, they express themselves best and are most comfortable on the field of play.Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola evidently tried to channel the situation and energy of the occasion, but when you’re without Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo (plus Hugo Ekitike, of course) there’s only so much you can muster. They turned in a low-key first half, had a couple chances after the break and then the worm started to turn, beginning with Ryan Gravenberch’s second yellow.Was it harsh? I thought the first one was — the second not so much, given he’s stopping an attack from behind with no real attempt or opportunity to win the ball. It wasn’t that long ago that English referees might treat players on a booking a little differently not wanting to “spoil the spectacle with a red card” (to use a dumb expression we used to hear regularly in the Premier League).
But times change, consistency wins over discretion, and Chris Kavanagh is a paint-by-numbers referee. Gravenberch should have known better, simply put.- VAR Review: Should Gravenberch have been sent off?Even just before the red, at 11 vs. 11, Haaland should have put City ahead but down a man (one of Liverpool’s best men on the day), this was only going to go one way. When you have a debutant in Lewis Koumas up front (and playing out of position), the ghost of Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola, who isn’t Batman and at best can play Robin — and more usually, Robin’s friend, the one who rides in the trunk of the Batmobile — there’s only so much you can do.Iraola’s Liverpool remain a work-in-progress and will continue to be just that until they metabolize his football and their injured guys return. Not getting an on-loan, live body as short-term cover for Ekitike is another in the club’s long list of boneheaded squad choices.
As for City, they’re one of the two most talented sides in the league by some distance and they showed it once more in the second half at Anfield. Sunday’s result was anything but a surprise.Real Madrid won, so why did Jose Mourinho whip out the old playbook?And, by that, I mean why did he tantrum postgame and skip the news conference after the 1-0 win over Villarreal?According to multiple reports in Spain, Mourinho was so angry at the officiating (and, presumably, in particular, Vinícius Júnior’s red card) that he opted not to face the media because he feared he’d say something that would get him in trouble and cause him to be suspended for Real Madrid’s upcoming games, with Sevilla and, especially, Barcelona the following weekend. And so, he declined to fulfil his media duties, becoming the first Real Madrid boss in 13 years to do so. (The last one? Why, it was also Mourinho, during his previous stint.)It’s the usual, familiar conspiracy trope about referees penalizing his team.
As in-house media outlet Real Madrid TV helpfully pointed out, Los Blancos received five yellow cards despite committing just eight fouls, whereas Villarreal, who committed 13, got just two. (There’s no point explaining it, but that’s not how cautions work.)Mourinho also fumed about the fact that Vinícius’ goal was disallowed, and the Brazil international was sent off after VAR noticed that he pulled Nathan Saliba’s hair in the buildup. (Actually, he didn’t just pull it; he yanked it to the point that you can see the player’s head snapping back.) The rules are pretty clear and why Mourinho (or, for that matter, Vinícius, who reacted with childlike incredulity and protested vehemently) doesn’t seem to get this is hard to understand. (Weirdly, Mourinho didn’t have a problem when VAR — correctly — intervened to overturn the assistant referee, ruling that Yan Diomande was onside when he scored the only goal.)play0:48Kirkland: Mourinho will get more time than most Real Madrid managersUnless, of course, you choose to be cynical and conclude that the fact that we’re talking about Mourinho and refereeing conspiracies means we’re not talking about another bumpy performance from Real Madrid, who struggled to break down a stubborn Villarreal. (It might have been different if Kylian Mbappé had taken his early chances, including the one that hit the post. Then again, it would have been different — but in a bad way — if Thibaut Courtois hadn’t reached into his bag of miracles to deny Carlos Romero late.)The uncomfortable reality is that this version of Real Madrid looks uncomfortably like that of Alvaro Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso and Carlo Ancelotti’s final year. It’s a side that doesn’t play good football and when it wins, it does so thanks to individual exploits from its superstars (up front and Courtois on goal). And that’s as much down to how this squad was constructed as it is to the manager.When 1-1 feels like a win for Spurs and a defeat for Manchester UnitedMichael Carrick and Robert
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