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David Moyes has held his press conference looking ahead to Everton’s short trip to Anfield tomorrow. "We are up against it and we have to go there and fight for everything we can,” was the gist of it. Here are some highlights courtesy of PA Media:

David Moyes is not envious of Merseyside derby rivals Liverpool’s huge summer transfer business but pointed out they spent more on one player than Everton have invested in their squad in the last two seasons.

Alexander Isak’s £125m arrival from Newcastle on deadline day broke the British transfer record and took the outlay at Anfield this summer to £450m. By contrast, Everton spent about £63m.

• Liverpool say investigation has their full support

• Goalkeeper understood to have denied allegations

The Football Association has launched a racism investigation after the Liverpool goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe allegedly made reference to skin colour in a comment overheard by some staff and teammates.

The alleged incident is understood to have been heard while Liverpool were preparing to take a squad photograph, and the club are believed to have promptly looked into the matter internally.

Robertson looks a better bet for Merseyside derby, a fresh test for Bournemouth, protests at West Ham and more

• Premier League top scorers: the latest standings

It would be a surprise to see Arne Slot start Milos Kerkez against Everton, given the left-back’s struggles against Burnley last weekend. Kerkez was booked for diving and was lucky to avoid a second yellow after fouling Jaidon Anthony before being substituted for Andy Robertson after 38 minutes at Turf Moor. Surely Slot will not risk a similar performance in the cauldron of the Merseyside derby, especially with such a dependable option in Robertson and the tricky Iliman Ndiaye on the right wing for Everton? “It’s a massive jump,” said the Scot of moving to Liverpool as he came to the defence of Kerkez this week. “I came from Hull City, he’s come from Bournemouth, and it’s probably quite similar. He will be the starting left-back for Liverpool in the future and it’s up to me to push him this season and help him improve.” Kerkez is lucky to have such an experienced mentor, but may face a wait to get back into Slot’s starting XI after Robertson started against Atlético Madrid in midweek. Michael Butler

The ferocious Manchester City striker can undo the best laid plans and he left Napoli staring at an inevitable Champions League defeat once they were down to 10 men

Everybody has a plan until Erling Haaland charges at them. Familiarity, perhaps, has dulled in Premier League minds just what a terrifying prospect he is, nearly 90kg of Norwegian muscle capable of moving at ferocious speeds yet blessed as well with a deft touch and a range of finishes. Manchester United couldn’t stop him, and neither could Napoli. Even when Haaland isn’t scoring he is spreading terror.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo is an experienced defender. He is the Napoli captain. He has won half a century of caps for Italy. But when Phil Foden – the signs of rejuvenation he showed on Sunday happily maintained against Napoli – slipped an angled pass through the back four after 21 minutes, Di Lorenzo, presumably aware of the presence of Haaland and worried about the unstoppable force he represents when he gets going, stepped across his line.

This is Wolves’ worst start to a season in their history but there are reasons to be optimistic

By WhoScored

Four games, zero points and just two goals scored: this is Wolves’ worst start to a season in their history. Vítor Pereira’s side are rooted to the bottom of the table. Seventeen sides have started a Premier League season with four losses and just eight have avoided relegation. More worryingly, only one of the past five have managed to stay up: Everton last season.

Three straight one-goal defeats in the league – 1-0 against Bournemouth, 3-2 against Everton and 1-0 against Newcastle – show Wolves are losing by fine margins. Is this a blip or are there deeper problems? Either way, with the three promoted teams coming up in the next five weeks, they need points quickly. Wolves are not getting blown away but there is a clear pattern from their opening games: self-inflicted errors, a lack of cutting edge up front and a disjointed structure that collapses under pressure.

• Kazakhstani side beaten 4-1 at Sporting

• Frankfurt 5-1 Galatasaray | Club Brugge 4-1 Monaco

Kairat Almaty’s debut in the league phase of the Champions League was ruined by conceding three goals in four second-half minutes as Sporting ran out 4-1 winners at the Estádio José Alvalade.

The visitors from the city of Almaty in south-eastern Kazakhstan undertook the longest journey ever recorded between two clubs in the Champions League and they struggled to find their rhythm in the first half. Sporting were handed a penalty after 21 minutes when Aleksandr Mrynskiy brought down Luis Suárez, but Morten Hjulmand’s spot-kick was kept out by the legs of the 18-year-old Kairat goalkeeper, Sherhan Kalmurza.

The ‘Special One’ is back working in Portugal after more than two decades away but his homecoming has divided opinion

Less than three weeks after being dismissed by Fenerbahce, José Mourinho is back in the dugout. The “Special One” has taken over at Benfica, marking his return to his home country more than two decades after his move from Porto to Chelsea. In an unusual twist he has signed a contract to June 2027 with a break clause next summer related to October’s club presidential election. Will this be a fresh start for Mourinho, or another step down in his career?

Hélder Postiga, a former Tottenham forward and one of Mourinho’s key players at Porto, regards the appointment as a win for an entire nation. Postiga, who scored five goals in Porto’s triumphant 2003-04 Uefa Cup campaign, believes the coach’s return will elevate Portuguese football.

• Manchester United 3-0 Brann (Utd win 3-1 on agg)

• Terland 8,13, 62

Manchester United reached the main draw of the Women’s Champions League for the first time after an Elisabeth Terland hat-trick helped them overturn a first-leg deficit to deservedly eliminate the Norwegian side Brann in the third qualifying round.

Terland netted a perfect hat-trick, scoring with her right foot after earlier doing so with her left and nodding in a header, to ensure Marc Skinner’s team will be included in Friday’s draw for the new, 18-team league phase of the competition, along with Chelsea and the holders Arsenal.

Popular midfielder is a lifelong Boro fan and is adamant they can return to the Premier League after nine seasons

Hayden Hackney has seen the public display of affection. In other words, he has seen Bob Mortimer’s slew of social media posts. “YOU BEAUTY!!” the Middlesbrough-born comedian posted to his millions of followers in the minutes after the transfer deadline passed this month, accompanied by a picture of Hackney, who rejected a move to Championship rivals Ipswich earlier in the window. “One of my family told me so I looked at his profile and it was just a photo of me,” the 23-year-old says, laughing. “‘Oh my God. No way.’ It was funny.”

That came a few days after Mortimer, part of Boro’s under-16s in the 70s, stressed he could not contemplate a Boro team without Hackney. The midfielder, who joined Middlesbrough at eight years old after being spotted playing for his home town team Redcar Town, is central to the club’s hopes of returning to the Premier League after nine seasons away. He has racked up more minutes than any other Boro player last campaign and played all but seven minutes of this one. He is living his dream. “Everyone in my family supports Middlesbrough,” Hackney says. “My dad used to go to all the games when he was younger and I think back then his excuse to go to the games was to take me as well. I loved it.”

The first two goals of his loan spell suggest that England forward’s stay at Barcelona could become more than a marriage of convenience

It was the day that Uefa confirmed, as kick-off approached in Barcelona’s Champions League season, that La Liga’s champions would begin their home campaign in the competition against Paris Saint-Germain next month where they ended the last one, at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. With their supporters getting ready to renew their journey up the slopes of Montjuic that few of them care for, their climb to potential glory mirrors the hopes of one of their new arrivals.

And how he has arrived. Flags do not get planted at the summit much more emphatically than this, and Marcus Rashford could not have picked his moment better to announce himself with Barcelona. His first two goals for the club, setting them on the road towards a trophy this team is determined to make theirs on a night back in his homeland, with the vacuum of the transcendent but injured Lamine Yamal waiting to be filled, didn’t so much state an intent to become important for Hansi Flick’s side as yell it from the top of the Cheviots.

The FA cannot swallow the club’s argument that reporting Roman Abramovich’s alleged irregularities wipes the slate clean

When Chelsea’s players kicked off their Champions League campaign on Wednesday, they wore shirts proudly emblazoned with two stars, one for each time the club has lifted football’s most prestigious club trophy. The twin triumphs count among 21 honours collected during the free-spending tenure of Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who bought the club in 2003 and injected it with his oil and gas billions.

Last week, the Football Association issued 74 charges against Chelsea relating to alleged financial irregularities during that trophy-laden era. The club must respond to the charges by Friday. A parallel Premier League investigation has yet to conclude. The allegations are understood to relate partly to payments by offshore companies owned by Abramovich to agents involved in Chelsea transfers, as well as to controversial “third-party” investments in footballers. Details of the transactions were first revealed by the Guardian, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and international partners in 2023 after a months-long investigation.

A little over 24 hours before kick-off, Hansi Flick spoke about how lucky he felt to have acquired Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United.

Barcelona’s manager was not remotely bothered that the forward’s stock had fallen so far at Old Trafford. Rashford, he said, was a player he had long admired and could help improve.

• Bilic was club’s manager from 2015-17 and is out of work

• Potter’s future not thought to hinge on Palace match

West Ham will consider turning to Slaven Bilic if they sack Graham Potter, who is under growing pressure after a poor start to the season. Although there is a belief that Potter’s immediate future does not hinge on the outcome of Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace, the wider picture is less than encouraging for the former Chelsea manager.

West Ham are 18th in the Premier League after losing four of their first five games and there is growing alarm at board level. David Sullivan, the largest shareholder, is not ready to make a change yet but contingency plans are being put in place.

Pep Guardiola said of drawing Napoli and having Kevin De Bruyne return: “It was always going to happen, right?” He might have spoken, too, of his No 9’s ruthlessness, as Erling Haaland broke this game open with Champions League goal No 50 in a record 49 matches, a feat that handsomely beats Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous 62-appearance mark.

His strike was a seventh in five for City – form as ominous as the Norwegian’s in the 2022-23 treble season.

• Asencio and three former youth players to face trial

• Case relates to alleged incident in Gran Canaria in 2023

The Real Madrid defender Raúl Asencio and three former youth players at the club are to stand trial in connection with the alleged filming and distribution of sexual videos involving two women, one of whom was a minor at the time.

According to court documents, three of the defendants are accused of “one count of distributing child pornography, as well as two offences against privacy”. Their bail has been set at €20,000 each (£17,400). The fourth, who is understood to be Asencio, is accused of two offences against privacy and has had his bail set at €15,000.

• His contract to 2027 includes break clause this summer

• Benfica play at Chelsea in Champions League

José Mourinho has been confirmed as Benfica’s head coach on a contract until the summer of 2027, with a break clause at the end of this season. His fourth game, on 30 September, will take him back to his former club Chelsea in the Champions League.

The 62-year-old takes over from Bruno Lage, who was sacked after Benfica’s 3-2 Champions League defeat by Qarabag on Tuesday. Benfica said in a statement that a break clause would allow the club or Mourinho to end his deal in the 10 days after their final game of this campaign.

The trophy for the best regular season record has numerous contenders, which of which have reasons to think they’ll lift it (or not)

Are you a Cup or Shield person? For those who choose the latter, this part of the season is for you. The race to claim the title for best regular-season record is coming to a head with several teams still in serious Supporters’ Shield contention – it’s shaping up to be the wildest finish in recent memory.

As evidence of this: The standings are led by a team who lost their most recent match 7-0. Behind them – by just one point – are an expansion side. Then it’s a team who have won just two of their last six games followed by an outfit on a record-tying nine-game winning streak. And then there’s the team lurking in the shadows, boasting the greatest player of all-time, still within striking distance thanks to games in hand.

With stadiums across the Women’s Super League varying widely, fans’ needs can often be short-changed

The Women’s Super League has built a reputation for its inclusive and welcoming environment for all, but does that feeling always ring true for supporters with disabilities or children with neurodiverse needs?

Experiences across the division can be hugely contrasting, often depending on whether your team are sharing their men’s team’s ground or a lower-league venue, meaning that half the WSL clubs do not currently have specially designed sensory rooms, for example.

Plus: national teams with top-10 scorers in the 21st century, different kits in the same match (2) and a referee’s coin toss

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Who is the most prolific player with the initials XG?” asks Oliver Forrest. “And who has the highest goals and assists of players with the initials GA?”

There are only a handful of male* footballers with the initials XG – here is an exhaustive list. The diminutive journeyman Greek midfielder Xenofon Gittas scored 17 goals across his club career (plus three for Greece Under-21s) but cannot match the scoring exploits of Xhevdet Gela, who is our winner with 44 goals across all competitions including the Europa League with the Finnish sides MyPa and Lahti. Unusually, during a spell between 2019-2022 in which Gela was playing for Ekenäs in Finland, he was also the full-time manager of a fourth-tier side, Esbo, a club around 80km away. Gela returned to the manager’s role at Esbo in January this year, although not in a playing capacity.

As non-goalscoring club debuts go, Isak’s 57 minutes at Anfield made for a fascinating spectacle

Now witness the firepower of this fully operational Death Star. Four months, one record transfer and an endless rolling multiverse of internet rage since his last club game, Alexander Isak has now finally rematerialised in physical form.

As rust-laden, non-goalscoring club debuts go, Isak’s 57 minutes at Anfield made for a fascinating spectacle. In part for the sheer event glamour, the rubbernecking aspect, like witnessing a personal appearance at a shopping centre by your favourite controversial reality TV star. But also for the sheer data overload in a thrillingly open game dotted with wildness: from a Diego Simeone crowd‑surf red‑card climax, to the endless tactical complexities that continue to flow from Arne Slot’s attempts to re-gear his Liverpool team along these giddily attacking lines.

Mauricio Pochettino has taken his fair share of criticism, but the US program is better off than it was when he took over one year ago

Mauricio Pochettino had enough. Just for a minute or two, quickly enough to miss it, he broke free from the unrelenting positivity he appears to have shackled himself to in his year-long spell in charge of the United States men’s national team. For only a few moments, the Argentinian was clearly … como se dice … cranky.

“People sometimes create debate and talk with no sense,” he said on the eve of the USA’s friendly against Japan. “If people want to talk about bullshit, they can talk about bullshit.

After becoming first club from the country to win a regional trophy, team set their sights on the CAF Champions League

First there was Letsile Tebogo, who put Botswana on the sporting map when he won gold in the 200m at the Paris Olympics. Now, there is Gaborone United Ladies, who became the country’s first football team to win a regional trophy and will make history when they appear at the CAF Champions League this year.

United claimed the Cosafa Women’s Champions League Cup – a tournament played among southern African clubs – when they defeated the Zambian side Zesco Ndola Girls 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in August and their victory means they will represent the region at the eight-team CAF Champions League tournament this year.

• Italian club last played in the top flight in 2020-21

• ’Ndrangheta clans had infiltrated ticketing operations

The Italian third-tier club Crotone have been placed under judicial administration for a year because police found “sufficient evidence” of pervasive mafia infiltration, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Crotone, based in the southern Calabria region that is home to the powerful ’Ndrangheta mafia, are seventh in Group C of the Serie C league, on five points from four games. They played in Serie A for two consecutive seasons almost 10 years ago, and in 2020-21.

Home team were heading for a win to celebrate their 80th, but then up popped Jakub Kaminski in the 14th minute of added time

“I thought we got off to a good start until the thunderstorm.” In context it was a standard, anodyne, flat-batted answer by Köln’s Marius Bülter as he strove to analyse his team’s efforts. Quite unwittingly, it captured the chaos of the afternoon perfectly. It was an afternoon that was supposed to be about VfL Wolfsburg as the club celebrated their 80th birthday with as much flourish as this industrial corner of Lower Saxony could muster, with billowing clouds of green and white smoke accompanying club legends including 2009 champion Grafite and iconic defender Naldo leading the team on to the pitch in front of a (rare) sold-out crowd.

Yet typically Köln, the club that does football drama like few others, rudely barged in and made it all about themselves. In Lukas Kwasniok they have a new coach who, like the club’s best down the years, knows how to lean into the emotion and Effzeh are already an invigorating watch. As they trailed 2-1 going into stoppage time, Kwasniok had thrown attacking substitutes such as Ragnar Ache and the lively teenager Said El Mala into the mix to make something happen. Little did the coach know his team would have to equalise not just once, but twice in that period.

The team is climbing up the Ligue 1 table but fans are sick of being treated like ‘pawns’ by the Chelsea owners

By Get French Football News

Strasbourg are a club torn between inertia and evolution. Change is visible all around the Meinau: in its recently developed stands and on the pitch where, in two years, they have gone from perennial relegation strugglers to Champions League candidates. The motor for change was BlueCo’s purchase of the club in 2023. The takeover was met with stout opposition and the team’s upward trajectory since has done little to remould public opinion.

“I feel like we are back at the beginning. I am so disappointed with the reaction,” complained Liam Rosenior on Sunday, exasperated by the latest fan protests. You needn’t scratch too much to uncover the resentment that bubbles beneath the surface of the Meinau. The 15-minute strike, where the club’s ultras remain silent at the start of matches, is now just a common feature of Strasbourg fixtures, and you are never more than a few weeks away from a lengthy and often explosive supporters group communique denouncing some facet of the management of the club.

Forty-eight teams will participate in next summer’s World Cup and 30 places are still up for grabs

Forty-eight teams will participate in next summer’s World Cup, with the hosts, Canada, Mexico and the United States, granted automatic entry. A further 43 places are determined by qualifying competitions from the six confederations and the remaining two will be decided at March’s six-team intercontinental playoffs in Monterrey and Guadalajara. After this month’s internationals, 18 countries have places booked. The draw is due to take place on 5 December at Washington’s Kennedy Center.

Decision to begin consultation is likely a sensible one and a break from the present way of doing things in world football

Never underestimate the attraction of a good can-kick. That would appear to be the message coming out of Tirana on Thursday when Uefa announced it had not taken the epochal decision on overseas league fixtures that the world of football had anticipated. Instead, the executive committee decided it would embark on a round of consultation, one that would even take in the considerations of supporters to boot.

This is likely a sensible decision. There has been a fair amount of surprise in some quarters that the question of whether and by how much football leagues should be allowed to move from domestic to international is only now being properly debated in the corridors of power. After all, the first writ in this debate was served by the promoter Relevent against the United States Soccer Federation in 2019. Only with the prospect of La Liga staging a fixture between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami as soon as December has the issue come into focus. But to have discussion at all will be regarded by many as better late than never. It is also a break with the current way of doing things.

Portugal star will hand Gianni Infantino the perfect publicity coup if he does play in America for the first time in more than 10 years, having already begun cosying up to Donald Trump

Is it still safe to stage the World Cup in the United States? After more headline evidence this week of the extreme nature of American gun violence, some may conclude that the answer is no. Nine months out from the opening game, it is now almost impossible to ignore this. But believe it or not statistics suggest more than 300 people will have been shot in America last Wednesday alone.

The same number will also be shot on Friday, Saturday, every day next week, and every day of World Cup year. On average 127 of these unnamed, largely non-famous people not called things such as the superstar influencer Charlie Kirk will die each day. Within this, youth gun deaths will be both alarmingly high and a register of social injustice: a disproportionate 46% of all young people shot will be black.

Ruben Amorim is not the biggest problem at Old Trafford, but it is becoming harder to deny he is one of the issues

Perhaps the best that can be said of Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United is that you know exactly where you stand with them. It’s 10 months since he was appointed but he is yet to win back-to-back league games. Having beaten Burnley last time out, amid scenes of revealing euphoria, they were never going to win at Manchester City.

Which must have been a relief for City, who had lost two of their first three games this season for the first time in 21 years. There was, for them, particularly after half-time, a pleasing sense of normality returning. Rodri, shaky early on, began to dominate as he used to before his knee injury, while there were fine performances from Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Phil Foden.

Two of the summer’s biggest transfer moves from Germany to the Premier League are starkly contrasting prospects

What must a footballer who costs €80m, €100m or more be able to do and prove? He should be a promising prospect at the age of 17 to 20; occupy a clear position on the pitch; be one of the five most important players in a team; perform consistently over many years; prove himself in international competition; and be physically strong. This applies to virtually all those players in this price range: Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and Ousmane Dembélé.

Two German footballers moved to the Premier League for such a sum in the summer. One of them meets these criteria. Florian Wirtz’s career has been impressive. He caught the football’s attention as a teenager. It was only a matter of time before he made his breakthrough.

Our cartoonist tells the ancient Greek tale of one godlike figure’s pursuit of glory at the City Ground

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• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

With £125m Alexander Isak’s Liverpool debut near, we look back at five record-breakers that flew – and five who flopped

Southampton to Blackburn, £3.6m
Shearer’s move to Blackburn was a pivotal moment in the Premier League’s inaugural season, backed by the ambition of their new owner Jack Walker. After an injury-hit first campaign where he scored 16 goals, Shearer exploded in the 1993-94 season with 31 goals from 40 games. The following season, he formed a formidable strike partnership with Chris Sutton and his 34 goals were crucial to Blackburn’s title win, the only major honour of his career. He broke the British and world-record fee again in 1996 after his £15m move to Newcastle.

Exiles from the Taliban in England and Australia are using the sport to battle prejudice and give a voice to women and girls in Afghanistan

“I felt quite lost,” says the goalkeeper Elaha Safdari. “I didn’t know anyone, but little by little football gave me the strength and power to start again, to start from zero, to build, to keep going and to keep pushing myself forward.”

It is four years since a 17-year-old Safdari arrived in England, part of the Afghanistan women’s development team evacuated first to Pakistan then to the UK after the US withdrawal of troops and the concession of power to the Taliban.

Major step to qualification with win in Serbia brings back memories of Waddle, Gascoigne and Italia 90 for head coach

Thomas Tuchel has not been short of recommended reading material since his appointment as England’s head coach. Or documentaries to watch. The suggestions have come from everywhere, but especially the media, who are eager to help out with presumed gaps in his knowledge of the nation’s football history. This is the real cost of turning to a guy from overseas.

Has Tuchel seen the fly-on-the-wall programme with Graham Taylor from 1994: An Impossible Job? No? He has to put that right. In fact, wouldn’t it be great if Tuchel could allow the cameras in for a sequel as he targets glory at the 2026 World Cup? It was put to him a few months back. Strangely, he did not seem keen.

Former Brentford striker missed out on England’s qualifiers but he believes the standard of Saudi football should not be ignored

Ivan Toney is aware of the outside noise. He hardly needs reminding that plenty of people have had their say since he swapped the Premier League for the Saudi Pro League just over a year ago. An Asian Champions League winner’s medal and 35 goals for Al-Ahli later, the striker is defiant, even if he found himself on the outside as England played their latest World Cup qualifiers.

“Those that know me, know that I do what I want to do,” Toney says. “If there is something I want to go for, to try, then I will do it. If people want to talk, they can talk. It doesn’t hurt me, doesn’t bother me, I just concentrate on myself. I do what makes me happy.”

Prepare the tiny violins! Someone has been shouting at Diego Simeone! Famously thin-skinned and a bastion of all that is right and pure in this world, the Atlético Madrid manager was sent off on Wednesday night at Anfield after reacting to a fan’s jibes from behind the dugout, following Liverpool’s latest Slottage-time winner in their Bigger Cup tie.

While admiring John Waugh’s ‘more is more’ celebration of the extended Bigger Cup format (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), he evoked Albert Camus as justification for his case. As we all know, Camus owed everything he knew about morality and the obligations of men to football, but, whereas life may be meaningless, his love of his team RUA was so deep that when he went to Paris he went to watch Racing Club, because they wore the same kit as RUA, so he could pretend to still be watching his favourite team. ‘After all,’ he wrote (in French), ‘that’s why I loved my team so much – for the joy of victories, so wonderful when paired with the fatigue that follows effort, but also for that stupid urge to cry on nights of defeat.’ Were Algeria still French and RUA playing in Bigger Cup, and that Camus had been wearing a seatbelt on that fateful drive, and reached the ripe old age of 112 he would be have been ecstatic to watch them play against any old chaff they were drawn against” – Guy Cooper.

Has it occurred to our learned friend that Football Daily might be looking at the bigger picture (doubtful, I know)? Qarabag may be minnows in Bigger Cup, but they’ve won 11 of their past 12 domestic league titles because of the money they make in European competitions. I wonder how many fans find it fun watching non-Qarabag teams compete in the Azerbaijan Premier League? Contrary to John’s argument, I believe clubs having a chance of actually winning a competition would increase fan engagement and make the whole sport more appealing. Maybe a better idea than just cramming more teams into European competitions is to actually have fewer teams competing in them, but have Uefa distribute more money across those weaker leagues so teams are better able to compete?” – Thabo Caves.

What pleasure to read a reference to Larkin (yesterday’s letters) on a day when I myself had spent a little while reading part of an anthology of the great poet’s works. Noble Francis, and others, who may have found Larkin’s sometimes fruity language a little coarse for their sensibilities might have enjoyed attempts to sanitise literature that included: ‘They tuck you up your mum and dad’” – Michael Lloyd.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

The attacking midfielder sparkled against United, giving City a boost for the season and England hope for the 2026 World Cup

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One of the many mysteries of last season for Manchester City was Phil Foden. When he was a teenager, everybody knew how good he was. He had been probably the key player shortly after turning 17 as England won the Under-17 World Cup in 2017, and there had been a clamour for him to play for Manchester City long before Pep Guardiola began to start him regularly in 2020-21. For four seasons he was one of the best players in the league and then, suddenly, there was nothing – at least by the exceptionally high standards he had set.

Foden had not had a good Euros in 2024. He has never really produced his best for England, a function perhaps of him playing for a club with such a specific style of play. Take him out of that regimented environment where he knew exactly what runs to make, exactly where his teammates would be moving, and he found it hard to adapt. And England generally did not play well at that Euros, despite reaching the final; the front end of the team was a mess, lacking the balance of previous Gareth Southgate sides.

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After enduring the slog of one season of Bigger Cup with its “Swiss Model” 36-strong league table, where each team plays eight matches against different sides, Football Daily still hasn’t decided if Uefa’s experimental new format is better, worse or much the same as the fairly jeopardy-free group stage it replaced. Instead of needing what seemed like an already excessive 96 matches to whittle the 32 competing teams down to 16, as its name suggests, Bigger Cup now requires a whopping 144 matches to eliminate just 12 of the 36 teams lining up on this season’s grid. A $uper €eague in all but name, Uefa is painfully aware its flagship club competition is now an even more unwieldy, bloated mess that places unreasonable and unnecessary demands on the bodies of exhausted footballers but doesn’t appear to care. When it means it gets to pit Manchester City against Real Madrid for the 11th time in six seasons and the cash keeps rolling in, then who is Uefa to concern itself with Mikel Arteta looking increasingly forlorn at the sight of a succession of Arsenal players pulling up lame with hammy-twang as they sprint from the Duty Free checkout to the boarding gate for their flights to Bilbao, Prague or Milan?

With all the offers he has received, I think it is really, really brave [to stay]. Everyone says to him, ‘you should do this, or you should do that’ and I think he is true to himself. He believes in what we are doing here and knows the grass is not always greener on the other side. [Ole Gunnar] Solskjær went to Besiktas and he’s not there anymore. He has done a hell of a job and the loyalty he has to the club, to the people and the project is extraordinary … the easy part would be to go for the money and hop on to somewhere else” – Bodø/Glimt suit Havard Sakariassen tempts fate by praising manager Kjetil Knutsen’s “extraordinary” devotion to the Norwegian minnows, who he has led to Bigger Cup despite heralding from a fishing town in the Arctic circle that Football Daily could fit into its back pocket.

Chris Wilder has the ideal opportunity to out-Ange the new Forest boss at Sheffield United (yesterday’s Football Daily) and declare the arrival of trophies on his third tenure” – Callum Taylor.

Lovely quote of the day yesterday concerning the Thuram brothers and their dad. A far cry from the last time I played a match against my brother: he executed a double-footed, over-the-ball tackle into my knee that left me unable to walk for a month, and with a scar that’s still visible 40 years later. To add literal insult to injury, the referee (who happened to be our dad) didn’t even book him, let alone send him off, claiming not to have seen the incident, despite it happening three feet in front of him. Happy days” – Paul Taverner.

Re: yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs (full email edition). The story of Manchester City rather churlishly firing a barman for wearing a United top (and fair play to him, I’m not that brave) reminds me of a rather amusing tale from my youth. Arriving unfashionably late to an FA Cup replay circa 2008 between Liverpool and Luton, which involved sprinting across Stanley Park, we were met by a steward at the away end who greeted us with a cheerful: ‘I hope you lads win tonight, I [expletive deleted]-ing hate Liverpool.’ [Narrator: Luton did not win.] Still brings a smile to my sadly less youthful face all these years on” – Patrick Brennan.

La Liga’s salary limit applies to the whole club and with six players leaving this summer, is the club’s golden era over?

How times have changed. For the past few years Barcelona have been the team everyone wanted to join: five consecutive Champions League finals, stylish football, leaders in women’s football, a stunning city and Ballon d’Or winners for teammates. However, 10 years after becoming professional, the three-time European champions are a club in trouble.

Restricted by La Liga’s financial fair play rules, the women’s team have had a calamitous summer transfer window. There have been six departures – all to the Women’s Super League – while the midfielder Alba Caño is leaving for the NWSL in January. They made only one signing, Laia Aleixandri on a free transfer from Manchester City.

See which hot shots are leading the way in the English top flight’s goalscoring charts this season

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Philippe Auclair as Arsenal win in Bilbao and Spurs host Villarreal to start this season’s Champions League

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On the podcast today: The Champions League returns - a great night for Gabrielle Martinelli as Arsenal win in Bilbao. He and fellow not really forgotten man Leandro Trossard come off the bench to win it. Spurs just about get the job done thanks to some disastrous goalkeeping. Thomas Frank will take the win in his first ever Champions League game however it came.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Emma Sanders and Tom Garry to round up all the weekend’s WSL action

On today’s pod: the panel rounds up all the weekend’s WSL action as Manchester United and Arsenal both scored five in convincing wins, with Alessia Russo and Melvine Malard stealing the headlines. Chelsea were far from their best but still saw off Aston Villa, with Sam Kerr only needing 13 minutes to mark her return with a goal.

Elsewhere, Leicester held on for a gritty win over Liverpool, Spurs cruised past Everton at Goodison Park, and Manchester City came from behind to beat Brighton. The panel also touches on drama in the Championship, Ash Thompson’s suspension at Sheffield United, England’s newly announced autumn friendlies, and whether Barcelona could really sell off their women’s team.

Newcastle’s new striker makes his mark, Martínez is in Villa’s good books again and Madueke has dream week

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Is Gianluigi Donnarumma a Pep Guardiola goalkeeper? He may or may not be, but he is an exceptional goalkeeper. Manchester United didn’t offer enough of a test even to begin to assess whether Donnarumma is good enough with the ball at his feet to allow City to play as Guardiola would like them to. Nor did they test whether his starting position is advanced enough to sweep up behind a high defensive line and prevent the sort of chances City yielded up to Tottenham and Brighton. But his save to keep out a Bryan Mbeumo volley, hurling himself to his right to push the ball wide, was spectacular, and drew congratulations from pretty much all his teammates. Even if he is not the perfect stylistic fit, Donnarumma’s presence, his commanding stature and the aura he projects make him the right goalkeeper for now as City begin the process of rebuilding with a notably young squad. Jonathan Wilson

Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United

Match report: Burnley 0-1 Liverpool

Match report: West Ham 0-3 Tottenham

Every deal in the NWSL, WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

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