That doesn't seem so bad considering their wins against Internazionale and Barcelona in the Champions League. But it follows a run of three consecutive Bundesliga draws, meaning (a) they host Bayer Leverkusen on September 30, more than a month since their last league win, and (b) they go into the break in fifth place in the Bundesliga. This being Bayern, the slump created a rush of media caterwauling. Manager Julian Nagelsmann is furious with his players for not being sharp enough in the final third! Players are disappointed that he doesn't take responsibility for the problems! Et cetera!It's never easy to tell how seriously to take those rumours, but it just isn't clicking for the Bundesliga's biggest club at the moment. During their four-match league winless streak, they experienced a rare and devastating finishing streak, producing 8.2 xG worth of shots but only scoring four times. The usual all-world quartet of Leroy Sane, Sadio Mane, Serge Gnabry and Thomas Muller scored just once from 4.8 worth of shots. (Meanwhile, opponents scored five goals on 3.8 worth of shots.) Will it last? of course not. All of these players have proven to be very strong in the finishing department, and a slump can last an apparent time. But it did little damage and Bayern were a mess on and off the pitch after the break. Dear Max, The life of a football manager is always about ups and downs, successes and failures and how you navigate between one and the other. You have been successful in your career and now you are going through a terrible time. Last weekend you drew surprisingly at home with Salernitana (2-2), lost comprehensively at home to Benfica (2-1) in midweek and on Sunday, you were beaten by promoted side Monza (1-0). Things are going from bad to worse. Despite having a talented squad, your team is playing poorly. There is no identity, no patterns of play, no direction. It just doesn't work. It's a shame now that a manager like you and a club like Juve are showing this poor display.
It's not going to get any better, I'm afraid. You are also in denial by accepting the truth without addressing the problem. You should do the right thing and resign now. For your own sake, for the fans and the club who deserve better After wins over Elche and Atletico Madrid respectively this weekend, Barcelona and Real Madrid remain unbeaten in La Liga this season, dropping just two points between them and threatening to run away from the rest of the league. Real Betis and Athletic Club are the only clubs threatening to stay within a reasonable margin of Spain's big two going into the first international break, with usual challengers Atletico Madrid and Sevilla down in seventh and 15th respectively. Betis and Atleti have benefited from being in constant charge. Manuel Pellegrini's Betis beat Girona 2-1 to make it five wins from six games. Borja Iglesias, called up by Spain on Friday, celebrated with a brace to take his tally for the season to six. The only blemish on Betis' record this season was a loss to Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. Meanwhile, Atlético have been given new life by the return of former coach Ernesto Valverde. The Bilbao side have scored three or more in their last four games since beating Rio Vallecano 3-2, marking the first time both Williams brothers have found the target in the same game. Nico Williams was called up by Spain for the first time this week, as was Iglesias, while big brother Inaki Williams switched allegiance to Ghana ahead of the World Cup. Athletic are fourth on their goals scored, five points behind leaders Madrid
Nice have been in trouble since a draw against Cercle Brugge in pre-season in July with no improvement.
Brendan Rodgers' loan spell at Leicester City? His side were in contention at Tottenham Hotspur for a long time but eventually left North London with a heavy 6-2 defeat. Things are like that when you're struggling at the bottom. Leicester have one point from their opening seven matches and have already scored 22 goals -- more than anyone else in the league. Rodgers has credit in the bank at the King Power Stadium and has vowed to fight on, but the two-week international break is a very tempting time for any owner to replace an under-fire manager. Rodgers stressed after the defeat against Spurs that Leicester's next two games against Nottingham Forest and AFC Bournemouth represent an opportunity to get their season up and running but he is nervous about whether he will keep the board's faith. Questions kept coming up. Last season's Golden Boot winner (along with Mohamed Salah) has yet to get going heading into this weekend, a player whose boundless energy and effort seem to have hit a wall. Indeed, Son Heung-min was left out of Tottenham's starting line-up against Leicester on Saturday and made a 31-minute cameo to prove the doubters wrong. But what was South Korea's response? Son became only the seventh player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick off the bench, and the first goal was a perfect example of what made him one of England's most feared forwards.
Collecting Rodrigo Bentencourt's forward pass, Son broke free before creating space for a right-footed shot which he curled brilliantly past Leicester goalkeeper Joel Ward from the edge of the box. His second, a left-footed effort from almost the same spot, was just as good. As if the drama wasn't enough, his third was ruled out for offside before a VAR review gave him a deserved reprieve. Now, Aunas' job is to turn the gift into a goal. The former Napoli winger still has a lot of work to do, but a first-time left-footed volley was just perfect and Maxime Dupe could do nothing in goal. The boos leaving the Allianz Riviera on Sunday afternoon were so loud that Nice coach Lucien Favrec could hear them all the way from his native Switzerland. Nice fans weren't happy, and it won't be at least two weeks until their team's next game after the international break (which is at PSG). Nice are 13th in the Ligue 1 table after just two wins in eight domestic matches and are not faring any better in the Europa Conference League. The players seem lost on the pitch, Favre seems to have no solution, the transfer window is incomprehensible despite the well-known names (Kasper Schmeichel, Aaron Ramsey, Joe Bryan, Ross Barkley, Nicolas Pepe, and others).
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