Five Things From the Week: Dec. 16-22

Liverpool beat Tottenham in emphatic fashion, a new team rose to the top of La Liga and a U.S. women's national team star was traded from one coast to the other. Five Things From the Week covers all that and more.

1. Liverpool may have navigated their rough patch

Liverpool weren't going to keep their relentless pace up forever. A shaky stretch of results at some point was inevitable. The question was how long the stretch would last and how many points they would drop along the way. They dropped almost as many points in their two games before Sunday's riveting 6-3 win over Tottenham (4) as they did their first 13 Premier League games (5) and still hold a four-point lead with a game in hand on Chelsea.

The way in which Liverpool dropped the points is important too. They fell behind at St. James’ Park twice and nearly came away with all three points. Then they equalized twice against Fulham playing down a man to salvage a draw. Every team will have games like those. If that stretch is as bad as it gets for Liverpool, they will win the league and probably do so comfortably. Putting six past Spurs is the exact kind of thing that helps prevent a couple poor performances from snowballing into a slump.

2. Atlético Madrid are flying

A pair of second-half goals propelled Atlético Madrid past Barcelona on Saturday and sent them to the top of the La Liga table. It was their 12th consecutive victory in all competitions and straight out of the Diego Simeone playbook. Atléti were outshot 19-5 and lost the expected goals battle 2.7-0.7. They created very little outside of the two goals and easily could have conceded a couple more.

The trip to Barcelona was an understandable outlier from their recent dominance. In their seven games since Nov. 26, Atléti have scored three or more goals five times while allowing multiple goals just once. This is what it looks like when Simeone’s teams are at their very best. When he has enough talent at his disposal to hang with Spain’s two giants, something magical usually occurs. Everything is falling in place for it to happen again.

3. Landon Donovan and Tim Howard’s Club World Cup conversation was spot-on

The latest episode of the “Unfiltered Soccer” podcast featured a conversation between Landon Donovan and Tim Howard about the consequences of FIFA not requiring teams participating in the Club World Cup to release players for international duty that is worth a listen. FIFA’s decision theoretically leaves the U.S. without three key players – Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah – for the Gold Cup, the team’s final trial run for the 2026 World Cup. At one point, Howard said the following: “I think in this matter, it’s important that U.S. Soccer and Mauricio Pochettino say, ‘absolutely zero chance I’m playing without those three.’”

In about 10 minutes, Donovan and Howard covered the implications for the U.S. men's national team, why the Club World Cup is such a priority for FIFA and the importance of taking a break from club responsibilities. It was a nuanced conversation that covered the situation from a variety of angles. The bottom line is this: Unless exceptions are made, the World Cup hosts – who already don't have a qualifying cycle – are losing their final opportunity to simulate the summer of 2026 with a full squad because of FIFA’s greediness.

4. Bruce Arena is getting the band back together

Bruce Arena has brought in four players in his short time as the San Jose Earthquakes’ sporting director. All of them have played for the New England Revolution, and three of them were acquired by Arena when he was in New England. The fourth player is MLS veteran Nick Lima, who is a product of the Earthquakes’ academy. While none of San Jose’s additions have spent an extensive amount of time with Arena, he is incredibly familiar with each of them.

Arena seems determined to build a collection of experienced domestic players, much like he did with the Revolution. The result in New England was a trip to the Eastern Conference final and one of the best regular seasons in league history before it all fell apart. Colorado rebounded by doing something similar last year too. There's obviously no guarantee it works again, but Arena knows as well as anyone how valuable MLS experience can be.

5. Big trades will still happen even with the NWSL’s new rules

The first major trade of the NWSL offseason was finalized Friday, with the Seattle Reign sending Jaelin Howell to Gotham FC in exchange for Lynn Williams and goalkeeper Cassie Miller. Howell and Williams are no strangers to changing teams, but this was the first time they had to sign off on the deal as part of the league's new collective bargaining agreement. While everyone else may have been surprised by the news, the people involved were not.

Williams is a good example of why it might not be as difficult as some may think to make trades happen under the new rules. She is a recently married native of the West Coast who has never played west of Kansas City. Joining Seattle makes sense on a professional and personal level. Williams is by no means the only NWSL player in that kind of situation either. The league's players aren't fundamentally opposed to changing teams. They are opposed to doing so when it doesn't make sense for whatever reason, be it location, environment or something else.