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- 🚨 Wanted: Clinical striker
🚨 Wanted: Clinical striker
Plus: remembering Michu's iconic season
GM football fans. Route One here, the football newsletter that always has an original opening line.
But not today. Let’s get into it, Router.
p.s. expect FPL analysis in tomorrow’s briefing.
Today’s briefing is a ~3 min read:
Wanted: clinical striker 🙏
The Premier League’s best (and worst) passers 🤝
One-season wonder: remembering Michu’s iconic season 🌟
Morning Brief 🗞️
Liverpool 2 - 1 Fulham.
Cody Gakpo scores the winner as the hosts come from behind. Darwin Nunez assisted both goals.
Frustrated Crystal Palace owner John Textor is considering selling a 45% stake in the club amid his concerns about his lack of control.
Ambitious Liverpool owner John Henry will reportedly leave no stone unturned in his request to bring Kylian Mbappe to Anfield this summer.
Newcastle enquired about Dominic Solanke but have been told that Bournemouth will not sell him this month.
West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta is out for two months, but Jarrod Bowen’s ankle problem is not as serious as first feared.
WANTED: CLINICAL STRIKER 🙏
It’s been a day, so can we talk about Chelsea’s loss to Middlesbrough now?
It was a microcosm of Chelsea’s problems this season: creating a lot of chances, but missing too many of them…
But the Blues have been here before… in the 2013-14 season.
Jose Mourinho’s side created chances: they had the second-most shots on target, averaging 7.39 a game.
But… they weren’t clinical: they had the sixth worst goals per shot on target.
Their strikers weren’t performing: Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto’o didn’t live up to the expectation.
The story sounds all too familiar, right?
This season…
Poch’s side is top for xG in the league.
They are creating the third most big chances.
The issue? They are missing a lot of big chances.
But isn’t Liverpool missing lots of chances too?
Well, yes, but…
1/ Liverpool has had 160 more shots.
2/ They’re scoring their half-chances.
3/ The Reds have conceded almost half of Chelsea’s goals this season.
So… it’s hard to compare the two.
While there is hope for Chelsea…
… they’ll have to wait till next season.
After Mourinho’s side finished 3rd in the 2013-14 season, they won the league.
The biggest difference? They were 1st for goals per shot on target.
GRAPH OF THE DAY: THE PREM’S BEST PASSERS (MID EDITION) 📊
The jury is in…
The players with the most through balls and forward passes per 90.
Spot any surprises?
R1’s takeaways:
❌ Kai Havertz and Scott McTominay… Ooof.
✅ Rodri’s doing what Rodri does best… world-class sh*t.
✅ Chelsea’s pair - Enzo and Palmer - are helping to create chances with a lot of through balls.
Are Endo and Rice’s stats unfair? Considering they’re DMs… maybe.
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MICHU: ONE SEASON WONDER 🌟
Look, here at Route One, we don’t throw around the ‘icon’ word too often.
Promise.
But, in Michu’s case, we think it’s warranted.
The Spaniard joined Swansea for £2.3 million in the 2012 transfer window.
In the same window:
Robin van Persie made the switch to Manchester United.
Eden Hazard was the new kid on the block at Chelsea.
Olivier Giroud joined Arsenal following his title-winning season at Montpellier.
Safe to say… Michu’s signing went under the radar.
Ok, the window closes. Now… Michu’s just another journeyman, right?
Wrong!
On his debut against QPR, Michu scores two and gets an assist… in Swansea’s 5-0 win.
He continued to tear up the Premier League and had everyone copying his twisty-hand-by-ear celebration (we didn’t know what else to call it)…
This is where things get interesting.
In February 2013, Swansea faced Chelsea in a two-legged semi-final in the English League Cup.
Michu opened the scoring in the first fixture in Swansea’s 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge.
Following the 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge, Michael Laudrup’s side maintained a goalless draw which took his side to Wembley.
They faced Bradford City of League Two in the final.
It was February 23. A good ole’ Sunday.
Michu was at the helm, and Swansea produced a dominant 5-0 win.
It was the first and last time that the Welsh club claimed a major trophy in their history…
… and Michu ended the Premier League season with 18 goals and three assists.
But his flair, iconic celebration and finesse shots will be the things that people remember.
*salutes all round*
EXTRA-TIME ⏱️
West Ham had the 7th highest average attendance across the world in 2023. They even beat Real Madrid, Arsenal and Tottenham.
Getting the sack from any job isn’t ideal, but it’s even worse if you find out on live TV. That’s what happened to Gus Poyet when he was sacked by Brighton. To be fair, he takes it well.
It’s always great to get an insight into a changing room. Here’s a clip of Sir Alex Ferguson’s team talk in May 1993. His side had already won the league title so he wanted to make sure the players enjoyed the last game.
Chelsea fans, you’ve had a rough week. So let’s take you back to some better times with Eden Hazard’s solo goal against Bayern Munich in the 2013 UEFA Super Cup.
MEME 😆
Source: 433