UFS 09 07

Welcome to the Underdog Football Show. I'm Chris Horwath. Three Premier League games in and Arsenal and Man City are still perfect. Liverpool have finally gotten a win. Hull still haven't conceded a goal. Tottenham still haven't scored one. Man U have already gone from losing at Hull to scoring five to giving away a win in the 96th minute. So typical Man U stuff right there. And outside England, Barcelona spent the weekend watching both of their biggest title rivals lose before going out and winning 5-0 themselves. Inter came back from two goals down against Napoli in one of the games of the weekend, and the MLS gave us the first hat trick in Portland Timbers history and another American teenager doing something no one his age has ever done before. We'll also get into the end of the transfer window, where Man City spent 125 million pounds on Enzo Fernandez and immediately used him to create a winning goal. Sunderland somehow won a transfer battle involving two private jets sitting at the same airport, and one of the most interesting moves of Deadline Week might be a 35-year-old Japanese legend going to West Ham. For our stroll down the English pyramid, we're going to be looking at Bath City, where supporters who spent a decade controlling their own club have overwhelmingly voted to give that control up. The reason why says quite a bit about both the promise and the limitations of fan ownership, so stay tuned for that. Let's start with Arsenal. Chelsea needed 77 seconds on Sunday to score at the Emirates. Morgan Rogers put them ahead, and for a few minutes it looked like we might get our first really complicated afternoon of Arsenal's title defense, but Arsenal settled down. Kai Havertz equalized in the 25th minute. Martin Odegaard scored the winner shortly after halftime, and Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1. Three games in, three wins, nine points. That's where you want to be. And this was the first result where I think the larger point matters more than the score. Last year, Arsenal had to prove that they could win the league. Now they're being tested on whether they can carry themselves like champions, and so far, so good. Chelsea are good. They spent heavily again. Javi Alonso has them playing aggressively, and they'd won their first two matches. Arsenal went behind almost immediately, but they never looked panicked. They looked and played like the champions that they are. They're now unbeaten in 12 straight matches against Chelsea in all competitions, and Mikel Arteta said afterwards that he believes that this Arsenal team can actually exceed the level of the one that won the league last year. And if anybody knows, I'm going to trust him there. Man City are 9 for 9 too, although Saturday's 1-0 win over Coventry was much less comfortable. Erling Haaland scored the only goal. It was his 300th top-flight goal of his career, which is an incredible milestone. But the interesting thing about that was who helped create it, and that was new purchase Enzo Fernandez, who was thrown into the starting lineup after an injury in warm-ups just days after completing his 125 million pound move to Chelsea. He found Antoine Semenyo, who crossed it in, and Haaland finished. It's a pretty efficient introduction. City completely rebuilt that midfield. They spent an extraordinary amount of money in doing it, and three games into the post-Pep era, they still haven't dropped a point. That's pretty good value for the money so far. Liverpool finally got their first win on Friday. Alexander Isak scored twice inside nine minutes as Liverpool beat Ipswich 2-0, and that comes after consecutive 2-2 draws against Newcastle and Forest. So a clean sheet was almost as important as Isak's goals here. Liverpool also gave Bradley Barcola his debut off the bench after the 107 million dollar move from PSG. For Adani Areola, this looked much closer to the controlled version of Liverpool that he wants. They got ahead, they didn't spend the afternoon chasing the game, and they didn't need to rescue things late. It's what they want to do. Hull City's start may be the strangest one in the league so far. They drew 0-0 with Villa, and it means Hull have seven points from three games. More remarkably, they haven't given up a goal yet. Man U, Coventry, Villa. Zero goals given up. This is a team that entered the season as the overwhelming favorite to finish last, and here they are just doing the damn thing. Three games in, Hull are unbeaten, and they have the only perfect defensive record in the Premier League. Villa, on the other hand, they still haven't won and they still haven't scored. Now, they did finally record their first shot on target of the season against Hull, but that's not exactly where you want to be after three matches. Tottenham's situation is maybe even stranger. Spurs drew 0-0 with Forest, three league matches, zero goals. And against Forest, Tottenham didn't register a shot on target. This is after one of the most aggressive summer rebuilds in Europe. Eventually, you expect the attacking talent to start producing, but Roberto De Zerbi has reached the international break without his team having scored a Premier League goal. At some point, new players, new manager needs time stops being the whole explanation, you know? Man U thought they had two straight wins on Sunday. Brien and Bumo put United ahead at Everton. Tyreek George equalized in the 83rd minute, and Benjamin Sesko headed United back in front in the 88th. And then, Ainsley Maitland-Niles making his Everton debut after joining from Lyon on deadline day, hit one from roughly 30 yards out in the 96th minute. 2-2. United have four points from three matches. Everton have five, and they haven't lost. For United, the frustration is obvious. They look like the much better team after a terrible opening loss at home. They scored five against Ipswich. They twice led Everton away from home, and then they gave away two points with essentially the last meaningful play of the game. That's the difference between starting to build momentum and going into the break with another week of questions. Now, let's look at Spain. Barcelona could not have scripted this weekend much better than they did. First, Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Real Betis. Troy Parrott scored in the 81st minute, then Kylian Mbappé hit the crossbar. Real had a bicycle kick equalizer ruled out for offsides, and then finally, deep, deep, deep in stoppage time, Kylian Mbappé had a penalty saved by Álvaro Valles. Real's perfect start was gone just like that. Then Saturday, Atlético Madrid went to Athletic Bilbao, and they lost 3-0. Nico Williams scored just after halftime. Robert Navarro made it two almost immediately, and Oihan Sancet finished it late. Then Barcelona went to Valencia, and they won 5-0. Ilkay Gündoğan scored twice. Fermín López had a goal and an assist. Raphinha and Pedri scored as well. Barcelona have 12 points from four matches, and they sit all alone at the top. And the lucky rebel La Liga market coming into this weekend had Barcelona minus 140, Real Madrid plus 120, and Atlético Madrid at plus 1400. Obviously, one weekend does not decide Spain, but when the favorite wins 5-0 and both primary challengers lose, it certainly makes a preseason number look pretty sensible. Serie A gave us one of the best games of the weekend. Napoli went up 2-0 on Inter. Matteo Politano scored, Rasmus Højlund scored, then Inter flipped the entire game. Lautaro Martinez pulled one back, Marcus Thuram equalized, and then Martinez scored again in stoppage time. Inter win 3-2. And that's an especially interesting result against the Lucky Rebel Serie A futures. Inter were even money to win the league. Napoli plus 450, AC Milan and Juventus are both plus 500, and Roma's plus 1,000. Inter just gave us a pretty darn good example of why they're favored early on. Two goals down against the defending level of competition that, you know, you'd expect around the title race, and they still found a way out. Juventus and Milan drew 1-1 on Sunday, leaving both on seven points. 19-year-old Alphonso Sisse put Milan ahead, and Federico Gatti rescued Juventus late. It was an unbelievable game. But let's take a look at the MLS because Saturday went completely off the rails in a couple of very interesting places. Inter Miami and Atlanta drew 2-2. Lionel Messi had two assists, Casemiro scored for the second straight game, and Briel Embolo scored a late penalty on his Atlanta debut. The result itself is a mild surprise. Lucky Rebel had Inter Miami plus 109, Atlanta plus 200 in the draw plus 295. So the plus 295 draw being the outcome was the least likely outcome, and Miami dropped points in a game where the market still gave them the edge. Messi now has 30 combined goals and assists this MLS season, 18 goals, 12 assists. He became the first player in league history to reach 30 goal contributions in three separate seasons. And that brings the Lucky Rebel Golden Boot market back into focus here because I think the odds are really interesting. Messi was plus 110, Hugo Cuypers was plus 500, Peter Musa plus 1,000, Sam Surridge plus 1,200, and Brian White—excuse me, Brian White—plus 1,400. The race is still very much alive. It just remains very difficult to bet against the guy who keeps inventing statistical categories all for himself. Elsewhere, Portland and Minnesota somehow produced an even crazier match. Portland won 5-4. Vincent Janssen scored a hat trick, and that was the first MLS hat trick in Portland Timbers history. The club has played 522 MLS matches without one. Portland were minus 213 favorites at Lucky Rebel, so the winner isn't the strange part; it's the route. It's how they got there. Portland went ahead 3-0. Minnesota got it all the way back to 3-3, and Portland still ended up winning 5-4. The Philadelphia Union also got another milestone from Cavan Sullivan. At 16 years and 342 days old, Sullivan became the youngest player in MLS history and the first teenager to ever record a goal contribution in five consecutive matchups. In Toronto, Josh Sargent scored the first professional hat trick of his career in a completely ridiculous 4-4 draw with Chicago. As the playoffs get closer, the broader Lucky Rebel MLS Cup market has Inter Miami plus 300, Vancouver plus 600, LAFC plus 900, Nashville 1,000, and Cincinnati plus 1,400. Miami still carry the shortest number, but Nashville has built separation in the East. Vancouver has been one of the most consistent teams all year, and it just doesn't feel like a league where the favorite is remotely inevitable. The Women's Super League also opened this weekend, and the most interesting result came immediately. London City Lionesses beat Man U 2-1. Danielle van Dijk scored what became the winner, and this is where all of London City summer spending suddenly becomes something more than a fun transfer market. They brought in Alexia Putellas, Mapi León, Marie-Antoinette, and Danielle van Dijk, among a litany of other people. They are backed by Michelle Kang, and they've made it extremely clear that the goal is not simply to comfortably exist in the WSL. Beating Man U in the opener is pretty good proof of concept that their plans might be working. Man City women beat Birmingham 3-1 behind two Khadija Shaw goals. Liverpool beat promoted Charlton 4-0. Arsenal beat Brighton 1-0 on a debut goal from 19-year-old Lisa Bown, and Tottenham beat West Ham 3-1 with two goals from debutant Christy Hansen. Now, my favorite part of the show. Let's go down the English pyramid. Bath City are back in the Southern League Premier South this season. It's the seventh tier of English football. They were relegated from the National League South in April, ending a 14-year stay at Step 2. But the more important thing happening at Bath has nothing to do with any results. For nearly a decade, Bath City has been completely community-owned. In 2016, supporters raised about £365,000 through a community share issue. That allowed the Bath City Supporters Society to acquire controlling interest in the club. The society eventually held 55% of the voting rights and appointed six of the nine club directors. In practical terms, supporters weren't just being consulted; they controlled Bath City. And now they've voted to give that control up. Actually, more than 96% of votes cast approved the transfer of the society's shares to Bath City Holding Company, an investor group led by Andrew Stalbow. The proposed new ownership group has around six million pounds of investment behind it, and one of the investors involved is Kurt Smith from Tears for Fears, who was born in Bath and is expected to serve as a club ambassador. The interesting part is why supporters voted yeah. It wasn't just some revolt against fan ownership. The society itself says that the model helped safeguard Bath City, but the club's attempt to redevelop Twerton Park was rejected in 2020. There was still debt. The stadium needed investment, and after relegation, the financial limitations became harder to ignore. The supporters' society made the very difficult decision to conclude there just wasn't a realistic community-owned route to fund the infrastructure the club needed. Even Ken Loach, a filmmaker and longtime supporter who spoke during the scrutiny process, said he remained committed to the community ownership in principle, but accepted that Bath just didn't have the resources to sustain the club's ambitions anymore. There's one part of this that really illustrates how complicated these situations can be. The supporters raised roughly £365,000 in 2016. Under the proposed sale, the society's ordinary shares are being sold at a penny each. So basically, the shareholders should not expect to recover the money they originally put in, which does sound awful until you remember what that money bought. It bought a decade in which supporters controlled the club. It helped Bath City keep going. It gave the community a genuine say in decisions. And now those same supporters have overwhelmingly decided that preserving the club may require a different ownership model. That's what I like about this story. Fan ownership isn't automatically perfect, and it definitely doesn't solve all the problems. Private ownership isn't automatically evil. The interesting question is whether either structure actually serves the football club and the people who care about it. The team's supporters have now tried one model, protected the club through a very difficult period, and voluntarily decided that the next stage probably requires something different. After relegation, they're effectively trying to rebuild the ownership, finances, stadium, and football operation all at one time, and they decided there was a better way to go about it. Good for them. Now transfers. The men's window is closed in England, and Man City delivered the biggest move at the deadline. We alluded to it earlier. They got Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea for £125 million, a five-year contract. It is the second time that Enzo Fernandez has been transferred for more than £100 million, and it makes him the first player ever to do that twice. Last season he had 15 goals and seven assists in all competitions for Chelsea, then played a major role in Argentina reaching the World Cup final. He now joins Elliot Anderson and Ayoub Bouaddi in a midfield rebuild that has cost City more than £300 million for just those three players. And that's part of why that Coventry debut mattered as much as it did. Sometimes a massive deadline signing spends three weeks, you know, getting up to speed. Enzo Fernandez arrived and immediately helped create the winner. The other deadline story that I really loved was Malik Fofana going from Lyon to Sunderland for about £31 million, because apparently a normal transfer is not dramatic enough. Sunderland agreed to the deal. Crystal Palace tried to hijack it. Both clubs had private jets waiting at Lyon Airport. Fofana had effectively been given two destinations to choose from. Sunderland's owner personally went to France to convince him, and Malik Fofana chose Sunderland. He's 21. He's explosive, can play either wing, and scored 11 times in 59 appearances for Lyon after joining from Gent. For Sunderland, this is also a club-record type of statement. They're not just trying to survive; you're beating another Premier League club to a player that Arsenal was also tracking. That changes the profile of the recruitment. A few of the smaller deadline moves I like: Hull City brought in Brooke Norton-Cuffy from Genoa, Tim Iroegbunam from Everton, Sorba Thomas from Stoke, and Ilias Ansah from Union Berlin. I particularly like Norton-Cuffy because Hull's start has been built around defending and athleticism, and he gives them another young, powerful wide option with experience in both England and Italy. Fulham signed Hugo Larsson from Eintracht Frankfurt for about 21 million. It's the kind of move that can both kind of disappear behind the 100 million dollar headlines, but a 22-year-old central midfielder with Bundesliga and European experience is exactly where a club like Fulham can create value. Then Everton paid about 4 million for Ainsley Maitland-Niles. 48 hours later, he scored a 96th-minute equalizer against Manchester United from 30 yards out. That is a decent return on a first installment. On the women's side, Man City needed goalkeeper depth and took Anna Moorhouse on loan from Orlando Pride through January. Moorhouse started 20 NWSL matches this season with 58 saves and six clean sheets. She previously set the NWSL single-season shutout record with 13 during Orlando's 24 Shield and Championship season. And West Ham signed Saki Kumagai from London City Lionesses on a one-year deal. Saki Kumagai is 35. She's won five Women's Champions Leagues. She's won leagues in France, Germany, and Italy. She won the 2011 World Cup with Japan. This isn't a developmental signing. This is West Ham adding somebody who has basically seen every version of high-pressure football that exists. But before we finish, let's go back to where we started. Three matches in the Premier League season, the defending champions and Manchester City are perfect. Liverpool fondly look settled. Hull have not given up a goal. Tottenham have not scored one. Man U can score five goals one week and still look incapable of protecting a lead the next. Barcelona just watched Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid lose, and then they won by five. Inter came back from two down against Napoli. And the MLS entering the playoff stretch with Lionel Messi still piling up records and enough chaos underneath Miami that I don't think anybody should feel particularly comfortable right now. The transfer window is finally closed in England, which means all the excuses start disappearing. Managers know the squads they have. Players know where they're playing. And when club football comes back after the break, we can stop talking about what everybody might become and start judging what they actually are. I'm excited for that. I'm Chris Horwadel. This has been the Underdog Football Show. I'll see you next week.