Saint-Étienne’s troubles, Daniel Farke and his horse lap of honour, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and more — Issue #3
Another weekend of European football in the bag, another newsletter freshly dropping in your inbox.
Once again it's been an up-and-down weekend in football, with heroic late comebacks in Germany to flurries of red cards in France. As I do, I'm going to recap some of the topics you may have missed, so let's get into it.
Che Adams finally announced himself as a Premier League striker
When Southampton paid €15 million for then highly-rated Championship talent Che Adams, I doubt many Saints fans would've imagined such an underwhelming return; 24 goals in 113 appearances in the competition, considering he hit 22 goals in his last season at Birmingham. But his luck is starting to turn around, and no more was that seen than on Saturday afternoon.
Southampton were 1-0 down to Leicester City and despite the promise new man Sékou Mara (who is an absolute player and half) brought to the pitch, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s men still didn't look like scoring. So in came Che Adams with 30 minutes to go, the narrative was written, with the Leicester-born forward having a chance to get his team back into the game against his boyhood club and Adams took that narrative and ran with it. As seen in the video above; 0.50, he takes his first goal so well with composure to tuck it away in the box and his second goal, well his second goal was… special; an overhead/scissor kick that was beautifully put away from a trademark James Ward-Prowse whipped delivery across the six-yard box. And he should've got a third.
In those 31 minutes, Che Adams showed Southampton fans and most importantly Premier League fans what he was about; confidence, composure, and clinical. Whether he's still playing at the South Coast by the 1st of September is still up in the air but wherever he plays, as long as he's given the confidence he needs from his team; he will shine.
Daniel Farke’s great job at SV Lippstadt, horse hap of honour and his great start at Borussia Mönchengladbach
I tuned into some Bundesliga football on Friday night, as you do, and I was greeted by some insightful information from one of the commentators, my ears were prickled when I heard “Daniel Farke’s legacy at Lippstadt is an underrated one, he did so well he got a lap of honour on his final game of the season… on a horse, Farke was publicly afraid of horses.” This single line of commentary had me digging into Daniel Farke’s time at SV Lippstadt, where it all began for the German.
Farke embarked on his managerial adventure with SV Lippstadt 08 — where he played for the club on three separate occasions, ending his career there. With Farke at the helm — as head coach and sporting director — amateur side SV Lippstadt are top of German football’s fifth tier, Oberliga Westfalen, and on their way to a second successive promotion in six years.
He would subsequently move to accept the opportunity to take charge of Borussia Dortmund II. He managed the team for two seasons before he was recruited by Norwich City, having failed to agree on a new contract at Dortmund, this emphasised Farke — always looking for the new challenge.
His time at Norwich was quite bipolar; when they were good, they were incredible to watch contesting for Championship titles but when they were bad, it was terrible, usually rock-bottom to the league by Christmas with the odd upset that sticks with a Norwich fan to this day. His eventually sacking led him to Krasnodar, but his time there was short and brief, with him and his coaching style leaving during the Russian prevention in Ukraine. The unfortunate events that had occurred meant he was without a club and during the summer of 2022, Borussia Mönchengladbach exploited his free agent status and hired him.
This season couldn't have started better for Farke, Gladbach are second in the league (obviously second to Bayern) and have started to look like the promising side that had excited under former manager Marco Rose. For Farke, this was needed. Back to Germany, a country he knows well and it's evident in his quick adaptation to his maiden Bundesliga campaign.
For me, a tactically underrated coach who continues to impress.
Udinese’s wing-back merry-go-round
It must be a confusing time to be a Udinese fan right now, you're waking up to a wing-back being linked out of your club or in to your club every hour it seems.
It was inevitable that the Serie A side were going to see a shake-up in the wing-back department this summer, as they have a collection of some of the finest full-backs in the country, with the likes of Nahuel Molina, Brandon Soppy, and Destiny Udogie all playing their trade in Northeastern, Italy — all have left or have a transfer arranged, and has left Udinese with a demanding job of replacing them but it’s a journalist’s dream as they link very full-back under the sun to the club.
Despite Destiny Udogie agreeing to a move to Spurs a couple of weeks ago, won't fully process that move until next summer as he stays with Udinese for the rest of the season. They have brought in Adam Masina, Enzo Ebosse, and Nehuén Pérez to add depth to their flanks but the club still believes they will go in for at least one more — as seen in Gianluca Di Marzio’s tweet, they are nearing the completion of Kingsley Ehizibue.
Width is very important on Andrea Sottil’s side and a massive shake-up in one summer will be very impactive on their side, so we will wait and see what effect it will have. I'm sure Udinese fans can’t wait for the João Cancelo rumors!
Saint-Étienne – France's most successful club in a deep demise
If last season did not convince the football fan how bad the demise of Saint-Étienne was, the weekend definitely did.
Saturday afternoon was a new low in the history of Saint-Étienne. They capitulate in a club-record defeat and became merely the second Ligue 2 team to have three players sent off in a match as they were left to a pummelling 6-0 by Le Havre.
If you don't know already, Saint-Etienne were relegated from Ligue 1 last season, with their affliction compounded by a points deduction. They opened their campaign with two draws and one defeat but were humiliated on Saturday.
Saint-Étienne drastic fall is a wake-up call to many big clubs in Europe, that if you take your status for granted and expect to be in a position you thoroughly don't deserve, you will be punished *cough cough Manchester United*
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia; Napoli’s new gem
Kvara is very good at football!
I'll be looking to write an actual in-depth piece on him in the next week or two, where I will delve into why I love him so much. But the last week should prove my admiration of this Georgian magician.