Beefy Bites 23rd December 2024
Your Monday munchables from a weekend in the world of football
Welcome to the final Beefy Bites of 2024.
Read on for Manchester City being hilarious, Morgan Rogers being amazing, Northampton Town being in trouble, St Johnstone being bottom of the Scottish Premiership and Monza being toothless.
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Maybe Manchester City are just plain bad?
There’s something about Manchester City’s abominable form this season that I hadn’t considered. Maybe they’re actually bad. Maybe they’re reliant on Rodri. Who wouldn’t be? Maybe Erling Haaland is struggling for goals at the worst possible moment. Maybe luck is against them when they need it most. Maybe. But maybe they’re actually bad.
They lost 2-1 to Aston Villa in the early Premier League kick-off on Saturday and they were lucky in the most literal sense to get even one.
In spite of my hereditary Villa pessimism, I think they’re a pretty good side and I believe them to be capable of anything in the game other than beating Crystal Palace. But they’re the kind of team City haven’t really had much trouble with under Pep Guardiola and they weren’t just worthy winners on this occasion, but emphatic ones.
City have one win in twelve matches in all competitions. They’ve lost nine of them including the last three. It’s a remarkable turn of events but it will surely end with two wins before the end of 2024. Maybe.
Morgan Rogers comes of age at Villa
Villa’s performance against the Premier League champions was no joke. Ashley Williams neatly outlined the effectiveness of Unai Emery’s retooled midfield on Match of the Day and the benefits were clear: with Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana holding and playing out of their skins, Youri Tielemans was freed up to put in a man of the match performance and John McGinn was released to be a nuisance.
But with a brilliant goal and an assist – and, for me at least, the best individual performance on the park – it was Morgan Rogers’ day. The former City forward has been a tremendous signing for Villa. He’s creative but he’s also an absolute tank. The way he carries the ball is always impressive and it’s a vital component of Villa’s best games.
Only nine players in the big five European leagues have played more through balls this season. They include Rodrigo De Paul, Joshua Kimmich, Lamine Yamal and Pedri. Oh, and Youri Tielemans.
Cobblers on their knees
‘Managerless’ is one of those labels in football you don’t want to be carrying around for very long. Northampton Town weren’t surprised but were perhaps less than prepared for the resignation of Jon Brady, the manager who guided them to promotion from League Two and kept them in League One last term.
Brady left after the Cobblers’ loss at Stevenage, their first league defeat in seven games. Northampton started the season poorly but had tightened up significantly at the back until Stevenage popped two past them at the start of the month. They were also winless in six at that point. Funny old game.
He has not yet been replaced and Northampton have lost their last two games, scoring none and conceding eight. Five of them were scored at Sixfields on Saturday by a Charlton Athletic side previously unable to buy one.
Four defeats in five have left Northampton one place outside the relegation zone, two points ahead of Crawley Town. All four teams beneath them have at least one game in hand on the Cobblers. Crawley have two. Brady’s replacement will have a real job on their hands.
Jam Tarts leave a bitter taste for the Saints
Heart of Midlothian are back off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership. This time, manager Neil Critchley will be demanding that they stay away from it for good. With a home derby against Hibernian coming up on Boxing Day, they have an immediate chance to leapfrog their rivals and drag them right into trouble.
Hearts moved up two places with a 2-1 win over St Johnstone on Sunday afternoon, dropping the Saints to the foot of the table in the process. They went ahead early through James Penrice’s header on his birthday but the key moment came just before the hour, when Blair Spittal crashed in a fabulous volley to put his team back in front within a few minutes of conceding courtesy of a Graham Carey penalty.
St Johnstone have problems. I’ve seen them play in the flesh this season, very shortly after Simo Valakari’s first game in charge. That was on 30th October and they’ve won once since. Based on what I saw from them in Paisley that night, I’m not surprised by that at all.
Monza adrift
With just one Serie A win to their name in 2024/25, Alessandro Nesta’s Monza need to start picking up some unexpected points if they’re to clamber back up the table. They were bottom of the league at kick-off against Juventus on Sunday night and there they remain.
All the goals in Juve’s 2-1 win came in the space of 25 minutes in the first half. Weston McKennie turned in a Teun Koopmeiners corner to put the Bianconeri in front before a well taken volley from Samuele Birindelli turned Andrea Carboni’s cross into his first Monza goal. The equaliser was against the run of play but the Biancorossi made a game of it from there on in.
Nicolás González smacked in a loose ball to score what proved a Juventus winner six minutes before half time and a tame second half revealed the size of the challenge facing Nesta.
Monza are under-strength at the moment and, generally, don’t look the worst team in Serie A. But Juventus kept them at arm’s length for the most part. Meaningful chances were at a premium and possession wasn’t much use in search of another leveller.
Juventus might be the Old Lady but it’s Monza who don’t have any teeth.
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