So regarding my recent USL goal of the week post, I noted that usually in the top leagues you see a lot of goals that look more like tap-ins at close range. There's a reason for that: they're consistent. If you can get guys in the midfield to play long balls and forwards who can run past defenders effectively, your team is, well, nearly impossible to defend against. Close-range goals are hard to stop because the keeper has to cover a lot of potential ground in a very short amount of time. This is, of course, a challenge at any level of the game, but with the top players in the world at your disposal, it's not very surprising that it's the common strategy of many of the strongest teams, especially ones with high levels of goals scored.
I recall some mumbling about Manchester City's acquisition of Erling Haaland last year when it was finalized, people being surprised at the team's apparent shift in strategy from a false-9 formation (for those not up on their vocab, that's a center-forward player who tends to feed the ball to the wing players but keeps a position more in the back, more in line with attacking midfielder positioning) to one with a true center forward whose goals were more known for being tap-ins. Again, the strategy is consistent and effective if your team can pull it off, and having a player with the speed and vision of Haaland on the squad certainly made Pep Guardiola confident that they could.
(This was something I joked about as I played FIFA 22's career mode, where my extremely powerful striker character was forced to play along the wing rather than in center forward positioning -- setting the transfer fee record for a player but not actually changing the strategy, because in career mode coaches keep their strategies fixed irrespective of their lineups, rather than tuning them based on the players they have available.)
Now look at how they just played against Liverpool; they managed to pull that same strategy off without him as he recovers from a recent groin injury. Another game their big goals are played in from the back and side, placed well enough that they require little effort to actually get into the net. Even the one that least fits this definition -- a shot from Gündogan made after Alvarez's shot is deflected -- is just barely outside the 6 yard box.
Liverpool's early goal against them isn't all that different either, but Mohamed Salah takes a stronger strike from further back. It's a powerful strike that they just weren't expecting, even if the commentators hinted in the pre-match spiel that Salah was likely to be City's big weakness.
About the only strategic difference in terms of goal placement over Mikel Arteta's Arsenal is that their first goal, breaking Gabriel Jesus's scoring drought since October (and the first in his brace for the day) was taken from a penalty kick. It's certainly a less surprising result that Man City had, given that Leeds are one of a handful of teams in a very tight fight against relegation and Liverpool is at least sitting comfortably in the upper-mid side of the table.
And you can see why they do this -- Martinelli fires a banger from near midfield against an open goal, but the ball has to travel so long that by the time it's getting in range, Leeds already has defenders there to block it. It's a pretty obvious thing to try at least, but at the same time being so obvious means the defenders know that they need to get back to stop it.
Arsenal and City are both getting early second-half goals and in nearly identical situations -- Ben White just has to direct the ball against the goalkeeper, who's guarding the opposite post at the time, and so has a pretty easy job of it.
Leeds's only goal is given a lot of help by Zinchenko's deflection. Again, at the top level, you see why these sorts of plays are less common -- the defense get a lot more chances to get in the way of them, and usually they succeed. This was the rare block that made the shot more likely to go in, as it didn't clear the post and wound up on the opposite side of the keeper.
If you wanted to see a goal like the USL goal of the week, you might have had to turn on the Bournemouth v Fulham match. Bournemouth is also part of that nail-bitingly close relegation challenge, while Fulham is about as smack-dab in the middle as one can get in 10th place.
Fulham's early goal by Pereira is a bit less elegant than the tap-ins from the previous two teams. It's another one that's set up well by the support players, but he needed to keep it low to get it through the defensive line, aiming it through Jack Stephens's legs. Good vision involved, but it needed a stronger kick and a keeper who was ball-watching.
Bournemouth's response, from Tavernier in the 50th minute, however, is exactly the kind of goal you want to see if Barajas's goal for Charleston is what gets you screaming for soccer. It's nearly identical. A couple steps off from the defender to turn him the wrong way, and then a shot that curves beautifully into the edge of the goal.
Following a player over a team or a league can be quite challenging. How long will Tavernier play in the EPL? Well, if he stays with Bournemouth, his goal paired with one by Solanke in the 79th minute to secure their win puts them up enough over the other table-bottom teams that they may be able to stay in the EPL for another season, but with another 10 games to go for them, nothing's set in stone yet.
As for Fidel Barajas? Good question -- if he keeps up play of that quality I wouldn't be surprised to find if a squad makes an offer to bring him into a bigger league somewhere.
American soccer still has no promotion/relegation system.