It’s perhaps fitting that the international break would fill our teams with flags. But even though I would consider myself an amateur vexillologist—at one point, I was able to identify nearly all the national flags in the world—I’m not loving the yellow flags that have appeared next to many of my players. The injury of most consequence seems to be Gabriel’s—with him set to be out for 1–2 months, we must ask ourselves if we want to replace him with another Arsenal defender or look elsewhere. With a rather delectable fixture run ahead, Manchester United midfielders look quite attractive. But aside from the well-discussed trio of Mbeumo, Bruno, and Cunha, Jiayang tosses another name into the ring: Amad Diallo. Currently embroiled in his Critical Approaches to Art History course, Jiayang also brings up the art-historical methodology of connoisseurship, specifically the elusive “Sense of Quality” that art historian Bernard Berenson tantalizingly alludes to at the end of his 1902 essay, “Rudiments of Connoisseurship.” Jacob, hearing the idea for only the first time, applies it beautifully to the context of soccer—just what is it about Amad that makes him a player of such “Quality”? What are the indicators of Quality for different positions? Finally, we examine a few mid-table teams whose fortunes either have shifted recently, are in the process of shifting, or seem destined to shift imminently.

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