We’re obviously watching Ruben Amorim as well as Aston Villa and Liverpool v Real Madrid, while Kyle Walker’s legs look set to be tested again.
Game to watch: Liverpool v Real Madrid
We fully expect the Arne Slot naysayers – a select group of predecessor-obsessed Liverpool fans included – to claim after a victory over the European champions on Wednesday that the Reds are still yet to beat a proper team this season because They Aren’t What They Were or Jude Bellingham’s A Fraud or Kylian Mbappe’s Made Them Sh*T or something equally as straw-grasping and absurd.
On the other hand we’re also preparing ourselves for the ludicrously premature Quadruple chat that’s sure to arrive if Liverpool beat Madrid in a game that actually doesn’t really matter with automatic qualification all but secured for the Reds in any case, and then beat Manchester City on Sunday (also not a proper team, if you’re asking).
Narrative nonsense and lack of jeopardy considered, try as we might due to our aversion to change, it’s hard not to be thankful for a change of competition that means Liverpool can play Real Madrid at Anfield in November. We’re pleading guilty to wanting to watch good footballers play football.
READ: Only Ole has had a better start as Premier League manager than Arne Slot
Manager to watch: Ruben Amorim
We quite literally watched him on Sunday and it’s safe to say he’s the manager to watch until we say otherwise. He’s engrossing enough anyway before we take into account that he’s in charge of an underperforming team playing in a completely new style with a majority of players fighting for their futures.
Amorim has managed to carve out a quite extraordinary situation at the start of his United tenure where performances and even results don’t particularly matter. He’s said “identity” is the priority – which makes perfect sense, by the way – and everyone’s apparently willing to watch United be a bit sh*t for a time in search of that sense of self.
Erik ten Hag’s handed him a difficult job for pretty much every reason you can think of; one being their poor results in Europe which mean Amorim likely feels as though he can’t rotate too much in games like this against Bodo/Glimt – who are actually above United in the Europa League table – when he would love to be in a position to make wholesale changes to see as many of his new players as quickly as possible.
He will surely take a look at some though, with Mason Mount, Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Rasmus Hojlund surely pushing for a place in his first-choice XI.
Team to watch: Aston Villa
They really need something to get them going again. Their last win in any competition came against Bologna over a month ago, a victory which maintained their 100% record in the Champions League while they sat fourth in the Premier League, four points off top spot. Everything was going swimmingly.
Not anymore. Villa are now eighth, 12 points shy of Liverpool, having won two points from four games in the Premier League, with defeat to Club Brugge blotting their European copybook.
The defeats being away to Tottenham and Liverpool grants perspective for those with their fingers on the big red crisis button, and the Champions League loss – while frustrating – still leaves Villa in the automatic qualification spots.
Panic is as yet not required but Villa fans probably feel as though they’re on something of a comedown, and Juventus can be their Hair Of The Dog on Wednesday in what will be a fervent atmosphere at Villa Park, as it was when they got one over on another European giant in Bayern Munich.
Player to watch: Kyle Walker
He picked the wrong season to launch the ‘You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker’ podcast and we wonder whether the production company is now advising the use of the past tense in a title change, signifying him having Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe et al in a pocket torn through by Timo Werner on Sunday to the extent that his shorts were left in a ragged mess around his ankles.
Pep Guardiola played Rico Lewis ahead of him against Tottenham in a bid to protect Manchester City’s protector of the last seven seasons but the academy product can do nothing when Walker does his Go On Then, Beat Me schtick with leaden legs against a footballer who may well be faster than him even when he’s not played 89 more minutes.
If he plays on Tuesday, Walker will likely be up against Igor Paixao, who’s firmly in the No Slouch category of wingers and has probably been Feyenoord’s best player this season, claiming three goals and ten assists in 18 games.
Signed by Arne Slot two years ago and linked with Liverpool in the summer, the 24-year-old will surely see a clash with Manchester City as a huge chance to catch Premier League eyes, despite the ability to beat Walker in a foot race now a long way from the badge of honour it once was.
EFL game to watch: Wrexham v Lincoln City
League leaders Wycombe beat Lincoln 3-2 last time out and look as though they’re going to run away with League One having won nine games on the bounce to take a four-point lead over second-placed Wrexham.
Lincoln are currently out of the play-offs on goal difference and victory over the back-to-back promotion-chasers will see them close to the gap to the Welsh side to just two points.
