Pablo Mastroeni has backed new arrival Diogo Goncalves to mirror the impact of departed star Andres Gomez, as Real Salt Lake prepare to return to MLS action against the San Jose Earthquakes.
Real Salt Lake emerge from the Leagues Cup break third in the Western Conference standings, with only Inter Miami (56) bettering their 51 goals this season in MLS.
However, they must continue their playoff push without Gomez, who has joined French side Rennes after contributing seven goals and 13 assists in regular-season action this year.
The $11million fee RSL received for Gomez allowed them to strengthen in the transfer market, and Mastroeni feels Goncalves – brought in from Copenhagen – could replicate his impact.
"If I had to take a flier, I'd say Diogo is a top player. He has the pedigree of playing for some top clubs, he's an established player," Mastroeni told KSL Sports.
"All his attributes are extremely refined, he has an unbelievable eye for goal. I think he will be an important player for our team.
"He is the player I would say can be most equivalent to Andres Gomez in terms of his effect on the attacking side of our game."
While RSL are in the conversation to be top seeds, San Jose are propping up the Western Conference with just 14 points, some nine adrift of St. Louis City in 13th.
Interim boss Ian Russell acknowledges their postseason hopes are likely over and they are playing for pride, saying: "It's tough to make the playoffs right now.
"The motivation for players should come from within as well. You can't always be the coach motivating them.
"This is their job, they get paid to do this and they're playing for contracts as well. It's just pride — we need to win games."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Real Salt Lake – Cristian Arango
Arango leads the MLS scoring charts for 2024, with his 17 goals tied for the most by a Salt Lake player in a single regular season, alongside Alvaro Saborio in 2012.
His 28 total goal contributions this term, meanwhile, are the most by a player in a single campaign in RSL's MLS history.
San Jose Earthquakes – Gavin Beavers
The Earthquakes have conceded 61 goals through 25 matches this season, tied with the Tampa Bay Mutiny in 2001 for the most allowed at this stage of an MLS season.
Only three teams have ever had a worse goal difference than San Jose's minus-30 at this stage of a season. Goalkeeper Beavers could be a busy man as he targets just his third clean sheet of the year.
MATCH PREDICTION: REAL SALT LAKE WIN
Real Salt Lake have won six of their last seven regular-season home matches (one defeat), scoring five goals in three of their last five at home after doing so just four times through the first 312 regular-season home games in their history.
They have also scored in each of their last 14 home matches against San Jose, their longest such streak against any opponent in their MLS history.
Meanwhile, only the 1999 MetroStars (nine) have ever had fewer points after 25 games of a season than San Jose this year (14, tied with three other teams). As just the second team in the post-shootout era to lose 19 of their first 25 games in a season, they are big outsiders.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Real Salt Lake – 64.8%
San Jose Earthquakes – 16.7%
Draw – 19.1%
Liverpool 2-0 Brentford: Slot marks first match at Anfield in style
Liverpool boss Arne Slot made himself at home at Anfield as goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 victory over Brentford.
After winning by the same scoreline away at Ipswich Town last week, Slot saw his team dominate much of Sunday’s encounter to keep up their perfect record to start the 2024-25 Premier League season.
Slot waited just 13 minutes for his first home game to spark into life – Diogo Jota leading a rapid counter-attack from a Brentford corner before laying it off to Diaz, who lashed in beyond Mark Flekken to mark his 100th Reds appearance in style.
Flekken and Nathan Collins combined to keep Liverpool at bay in the second half, while Brentford – who were again without Ivan Toney – went close through Kristoffer Ajer at the other end.
However, Liverpool’s dominance finally told when Diaz turned provider for the Reds’ second, which was expertly guided home by Salah with 20 minutes remaining.
Cody Gakpo’s deflected effort struck the crossbar late on, as the Reds joined Manchester City, Brighton and Arsenal on two wins from as many matches.
Data Debrief: Slot makes himself at home
Slot is the first Liverpool manager to win his first two league matches in charge since Graeme Souness in April 1991.
Stretching back to last season, Liverpool have now scored in each of their last six league games, scoring 15 goals during that run.
Liverpool 2-0 Brentford: Slot marks first match at Anfield with win
Liverpool boss Arne Slot made himself at home at Anfield as goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 victory over Brentford.
After winning by the same scoreline away at Ipswich Town last week, Slot saw his team dominate much of Sunday’s encounter to keep up their perfect record to start the 2024-25 Premier League season.
Slot waited just 13 minutes for his first home game to spark into life – Diogo Jota leading a rapid counter-attack from a Brentford corner before laying it off to Diaz, who lashed in beyond Mark Flekken to mark his 100th Reds appearance in style.
Flekken and Nathan Collins combined to keep Liverpool at bay in the second half, while Brentford – who were again without Ivan Toney – went close through Kristoffer Ajer at the other end.
However, Liverpool’s dominance finally told when Diaz turned provider for the Reds’ second, which was expertly guided home by Salah with 20 minutes remaining.
Cody Gakpo’s deflected effort struck the crossbar late on, as the Reds joined Manchester City, Brighton and Arsenal on two wins from as many matches.
Data Debrief:
Jota has contributed to goals in his last 3 games in the Premier League (2 goals, 1 assist).
Slot is the first Liverpool manager to win his first two league matches in charge since Graeme Souness in April 1991.
Stretching back to last season, Liverpool have now scored in each of their last six league games, scoring 15 goals during that run.
'He is cold and I am fire' - Madueke hails Palmer link-up after Wolves thrashing
Noni Madueke believes his link-up with Cole Palmer is perfectly balanced after he set him up for a hat-trick in their 6-2 thrashing of Wolves.
Enzo Maresca earned his first Premier League win thanks to Madueke's 14-minute hat-trick, after Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen had cancelled out Nicolas Jackson and Palmer's goals in the first half. New signing Joao Felix then rounded off a superb display for the Blues with 10 minutes remaining.
It is the fifth time that a player has assisted each goal for a team-mate's hat-trick in the Premier League, and Madueke was pleased with how well they complimented each other on Sunday.
"It is unbelievable. He is cold, and I am fire, so it mixes well," Madueke told PLP.
"He has the ability to always play a pass at the right time. I like to get the ball in space, beat people and make things happen, so luckily today it worked.
"The first [goal] was a bit lucky. Second one was all Cole Palmer; two brilliant passes, with the weight of pass I just had to step onto the ball and score.
"I'm made up for the hat-trick, but more made up we won the game."
Madueke was the subject of ire from the home fans after posting a now-deleted Instagram post with a less-than-complimentary opinion about the city of Wolverhampton.
"I just want to apologise to everyone that I might have offended," he added. "It is just a human mistake, an accident.
"It wasn't meant to be out on my socials like that. I'm sure Wolverhampton is a nice town, and I'm sorry."
Maresca is the first manager in Premier League history to see his team score six goals in his first away game in the competition. Despite being pleased by the emphatic nature of the win, Maresca admitted there were still improvements to be made.
"The performance was good. I think the first half was not a complete performance, we started well in the first 10 to 15 minutes, we scored a goal and had two or three more chances," he told Sky Sports.
"Then we lost a few easy balls. When you want to build from behind you cannot allow yourself to lose easy balls, otherwise you concede set pieces and counter-attacks. You need to be more accurate. Overall, the performance was good."
Meanwhile, Wolves sit at the bottom of the early standings having failed to win their first two games, stretching their losing run to five matches in the Premier League.
After a bright first-half performance that twice saw Wolves come from behind to level the score, Gary O'Neil was left frustrated with the easy nature of Chelsea's goals in the second half.
"We gave Chelsea a lot of help, so there is an awful lot I need to fix," O'Neil told BBC Sport.
"They were unacceptable [mistakes] from us. I am all for positivity and when the lads do well, they know they have done well, but from all of us as a group, to concede those three goals as we do is unacceptable."
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