Five Things From the Week: Oct. 21-27

Barcelona crushed Real Madrid, Liverpool picked up a point at the Emirates and Nottingham Forest won again. Five Things From the Week covers all that and more.

1. It’s time to give Barcelona some credit

Hansi Flick arrived at Barcelona following a disastrous World Cup with the German men’s national team. Robert Lewandowski no longer looked like an elite striker. Raphinha had fans photoshopping Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams in his No. 11 jersey. Real Madrid brought in the best player available over the summer, who is arguably the best player in the world. Vinícius Júnior is likely going to win the Ballon d’Or. Naturally, Barcelona went into the Bernabéu and thumped Los Blancos 4-0 to build a six-point gap between the bitter rivals. It doesn’t make any sense, except that it does.

Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Barcelona have more points and a better goal difference than Real Madrid in La Liga. Each club has one league title, and Real Madrid have a 5-4 edge in head-to-head meetings. Considering Real Madrid’s current financial advantages, they should be dominating domestically. They aren’t because they haven’t for years. When Barcelona are good, they win the league. Lewandowski has more goals across all competitions of any player in Europe’s top five leagues. Raphinha is in the best form of his career. Saturday’s demolition only reinforced what was already becoming clear: La Liga’s best team resides in Catalonia.

2. Arnie Slot is ahead of schedule

Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Arsenal was only the second time Liverpool have failed to win across all competitions this season. They are one of two teams with a perfect record in the Champions League and have the best goal difference in the Premier League. Sunday was the first time they conceded multiple goals too. They did not play well, fell behind twice and still came away with a point. 

Arnie Slot inherited a team that finished nine points back of Manchester City last season and has them looking like the biggest threat to City capturing a fifth straight league title. Slot was given the almost impossible task of replacing Jürgen Klopp and implementing his own philosophy while also trying to close the gap on Arsenal and City. He’s exceeded all expectations so far.

3. Some big clubs have work to do in the Champions League 

The league phase of the Champions League is already one game away from its halfway point. AC Milan, Altético Madrid and RB Leipzig have a combined six points and would all fail to even make the playoff round if it started today. Benfica, Brest and Sporting Lisbon each have as many wins individually than the three previously mentioned clubs do collectively. PSG also have the worst record of the four French teams in the competition.

There will be some evening out over the next five matchdays, but enough games have been played that the table means something. Milan and Atléti visit Real Madrid and PSG, respectively, in their next game and must make up a four-point deficit to get into the top eight. That's a secondary concern at this point though. First, they need to make sure their European campaign doesn't end in embarrassing fashion after just eight games.

4. Something amazing is happening at Nottingham Forest

Six teams have lost fewer than two games in the Premier League this season. Unsurprisingly, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester City are in the group. The other team is Nottingham Forest. Nine games into the campaign, they sit in seventh place ahead of Manchester United, Newcastle and Tottenham. One more win will put them more than halfway to their 2023-24 points total without their points deduction being added in.

Of all the players Forest have brought in since getting promoted, it is Chris Wood leading the way. During manager Nuno Espírito Santo’s tenure, he has scored the third-most goals in the Premier League behind Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer. Wood needs just three more to become the club’s all-time leading scorer in the Premier League. No player has accounted for a higher percentage of his team’s goals this season either.

5. It just kept getting worse for the Portland Timbers 

The final week of the Portland Timbers’ season featured Phil Neville declaring that God is a Timbers fan, the Vancouver Whitecaps then beating them in their own building 5-0 in the play-in game and star Evander publicly feuding with the team’s front office, reportedly going so far as to tell general manager Ned Grabavoy that he was to blame for the humiliating end to the season in the locker room. 

According to GiveMeSport’s Tom Bogart, Evander’s frustration is centered around a contract dispute. The MVP finalist clearly does not trust the people running the club, which is a major problem when he is far and away the best player on a team lacking starpower. He is the franchise centerpiece everything else is built around. Those players are incredibly difficult to replace in the best of circumstances. It is going to be an interesting offseason in Portland.