Pep Guardiola’s unprecedented slide with Manchester City continues; USWNT wraps up 2024 in Netherlands

Hello there! The weekend was full of entertaining results and a quick glance at the midweek schedule means more’s in store. I’m Pardeep Cattry with the latest.

📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Monday, Dec. 2
🌍 Women’s friendly: Germany vs. Italy, 2:30 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇮🇹 Serie A: Roma vs. Atalanta, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+

Tuesday, Dec. 3
🇪🇸 La Liga: Mallorca vs. Barcelona, 1 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇩🇪 DFB Pokal: Bayern vs. Leverkusen, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ ESPN2
🌍 Women’s friendly: Netherlands vs. USWNT, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ TNT
🌍 Women’s friendly: France vs. Spain, 3 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network
🇮🇹 Coppa Italia: Milan vs. Sassuolo, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+

⚽ The Forward Line

👎 Manchester City’s slump worsens

Manchester City notched another defeat like it was clockwork on Sunday, losing 2-0 at Liverpool and extending the worst winless streak in Pep Guardiola’s managerial career to seven games.

The match itself was ultimately one of contrasts, both in how it played out and the implications for both sides. Like several teams that came before them, Liverpool happily ceded possession to City but the Reds’ particular strength was in their offensive output. While teams like Tottenham Hotspur and Feyenoord were efficient but limited in their attacking capabilities in their recent games against City, Liverpool were by far the better offensive team. They outshot City 18 to eight and generated 3.57 expected goals to the opposition’s 0.84, limiting City to just two shots on target as the Reds continued their impressive defensive form under new manager Arne Slot. His tactical clarity was the opposite of Guardiola’s, who seemed out of ideas from the start as James Benge writes.

• Benge: “Guardiola’s tactics were a muddle and his players either have too many of this Anfield defeats in their legs or too few. More even than their physical and tactical deficiencies, City came to the home of their greatest recent rivals utterly cowed by the prospect of what might have been. From the outset, they approached this contest hoping only to avoid a beating. The scoreline might suggest mission accomplished. It would be wrong to think so. The problems, then, began before Guardiola picked his XI. Still … if Matheus Nunes and Rico Lewis wide in a 4-4-2 is the answer, is the question how can I exacerbate my team’s creative deficiencies while not mitigating any of the defensive issues? Guardiola himself would acknowledge he has earned a mountain of credit from the past eight years at City. That doesn’t change the fact his team selection is increasing the jeopardy he is in.”

Even as City sit 11 points behind first place, likely signaling the death knell on their title hopes, the lasting image from the game will be Guardiola’s interaction with the Anfield faithful. He held six fingers up at the crowd as a reminder of his six Premier League titles while they jokingly sang that he would be sacked in the morning. His explanation for the gesture was equally memorable.

• Guardiola: “All the stadiums want to sack me. It started at Brighton. Maybe they are right with the results we’ve been having. I didn’t expect that at Anfield. They didn’t do it at 1-0, but at 2-0. Maybe they should have sung it in the past. I didn’t expect it from the people from Liverpool but it’s fine, it’s part of the game, and I understand completely. We’ve had incredible battles together. I have a respect for them.”

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🔗  Midfield Link Play

🇺🇸 USWNT close out the year against the Netherlands

The U.S. women’s national team are in The Hague for their year-end friendly against the Netherlands on Tuesday, which marks another high-profile opportunity for head coach Emma Hayes to tinker with the player pool.

Hayes kicked off a period of experimentation since winning the Olympic gold medal over the summer, both in terms of roster expansion and introducing new tactical ideas. The latter was especially the case in their 0-0 draw at England on Saturday, when Hayes started nine members of the gold medal-winning team. The room for experimentation came in the front line, where the head coach started a new-look front line as Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson were left at home for this international break after a long year for club and country. Hayes was optimistic about the performance of the attack, even as she admitted there was room for improvement.

• Hayes: “”I felt we were in control of the game. I thought we showed some really good passages, thought our counterpress was really good. At the end of the day, we didn’t score and for that, I felt we should have done more for the volume of entries that we had so the decision-making, execution, that comes with connections. Trin [Rodman] playing or Soph [Smith] or Mal [Swanson], they’re used to them. there’s a lot of new players — Emma Sears, Alyssa Thompson, Lynn Williams. It’s a trio that’s never played together before so I think we did well for that, and then the finishers coming in, I thought Yazmeen Ryan did a good job [in the] second half, Korbin [Albert] came in and allowed us to put Rose [Lavelle] in a position to come off the touchline. I actually really enjoyed our performance but we were missing that last part.”

Hayes has the chance to experiment further against the Netherlands, where opportunities for less experienced players. Two players started the international break with zero caps, with NWSL Rookie of the Year nominee Ally Sentnor making her debut in the last minutes of the USWNT’s game at England. One player who’s in focus is Lily Yohannes, who is in her first camp since choosing the U.S. rather than waiting for her Dutch passport and opting to play for the Netherlands.

The 17-year-old midfield already has her first cap and first international goal under her belt, but is worth keeping an eye on for several reasons. Not only will Tuesday’s game in the Netherlands be a symbolic moment for Yohannes and the USWNT after winning her over, it also offers Hayes an opportunity to experiment with the midfield. The head coach has stuck to her options at the Olympics since returning from Paris, rotating through Sam Coffey, Korbin Albert, Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle. Expanding her options in the center of the park is a must, though, and with plenty of time to build towards the 2027 Women’s World Cup, Yohannes will have time to prove her worth to the national team.

🔗  Top Stories

🟣 Edoardo Bova update: Fiorentina’s Edoardo Bova is “awake, alert and oriented” after collapsing during his team’s game against Inter on Sunday.

👎 City’s struggles: More on Manchester City’s latest loss, which might include one of the worst halves of soccer ever played under Pep Guardiola.

🏆 MLS Cup final: The LA Galaxy will host the New York Red Bulls in Saturday’s MLS Cup final, though the California side will be without star Riqui Puig after he tore his ACL.

🔴 Arsenal win again: Gabriel was the star of the show for Arsenal after they won a chaotic 5-2 game against West Ham on Saturday.

🔵🔴 Barcelona lose: Barcelona lost to Las Palmas over the weekend, lacking intensity as their gap atop La Liga shrunk from four points to one.

🇧🇷 Botafogo make history: Botafogo won the Copa Libertadores for the first time on Saturday, beating Atletico Mineiro 3-1 despite going down to 10 men just two minutes into the game.

🇫🇷 PSG’s crisis: Paris Saint-Germain tied 1-1 with Nantes over the weekend, adding to their scoring woes in both domestic and continental play.

🇸🇪 Gyokeres watch: As Viktor Gyokeres racks up goals for both Sporting Lisbon and Sweden, it’s worth asking: Is he Europe’s next great striker?

❌ Herdman out: John Herdman stepped down as Toronto FC’s head coach, all while he remains a person of focus in the Canada drone spying scandal.

🔮 NWSL power rankings: The 2024 NWSL season may have only ended a week ago, but it’s never too early for 2025 power rankings.

💰  The Back Line

💵 Best bets

• La Liga: Mallorca vs. Barcelona, Tuesday, 1 p.m.
  💰 THE PICK: Barcelona to win 2-0 (+650) – After a surprise defeat to Las Palmas on Saturday, La Liga leaders Barcelona will aim to make amends on Tuesday with a win at Mallorca. Expect them to live up to the billing as the oddsmakers’ favorites in this game but considering sixth place Mallorca’s strong start to the season, it might be solid, if not overly comfortable, win for Barcelona.
• DFB Pokal: Bayern Munich vs. Bayer Leverkusen, Tuesday, 2:45 p.m.
  💰 THE PICK: Serge Gnabry to score (+220) – Bayern Munich will host one of Europe’s most anticipated midweek matches, but a cup clash between Germany’s heavyweight and the reigning champions comes with complications for both sides. While Bayer Leverkusen have struggled to find consistent form at times this season, Bayern might not be the best version of themselves on Tuesday. Harry Kane will miss the game with a thigh injury and manager Vincent Kompany might also opt to rotate through his squad. If he does that, expect Serge Gnabry to get some real minutes and perhaps add to his goal count along the way.

For more picks, predictions, expert tips and the latest betting news, don’t miss out on CBSSports.com’s betting home page.   

📺 What’s on CBS Sports Golazo Network

☀️ Morning Footy (Weekdays 8-10 a.m.): Hosts Susannah Collins, Charlie Davies, Nico Cantor and Alexis Guerreros help fans get their day started on the network’s flagship morning show with highlights, interviews and the biggest soccer storylines. Morning Footy is also available in podcast form, so you’ll never have to miss an episode.

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⚽  Call it What You Want (Monday and Thursday): A weekly podcast where Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies and Tony Meola cover all things USMNT and the state of the beautiful game in the United States. You can can catch the show streaming live on YouTube every Monday at 1 p.m. ET and Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.

🥅 Scoreline (Daily): Scoreline is the newest place for fans to catch up on all the biggest news and results impacting global football, match highlights from the top soccer competitions and all the can’t-miss goals from the day’s action, starting Thursday and airing seven days a week.

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