Arsenal
This is not only about Calum Chambers, although he is a personification of Arsenal’s issues. Arsenal have spent £170m on transfer fees for central defenders alone since Chambers made his debut, and you’d have to be an optimist to suggest that he has improved significantly in that time. Placing him alongside Rob Holding and Sead Kolasinac in a back three to face Manchester City made us wince. It was a prescient reaction.
This is not only about Granit Xhaka, although he is a personification of Arsenal’s issues. Xhaka was available for sale this summer and would have joined Roma if they had stumped up an acceptable offer. Mikel Arteta was left with little choice but to bring Xhaka back into the fold at Arsenal when a fee could not be agreed, but making him club captain again was a mystifying choice. If some players lead by example, Xhaka dived in with two feet into Joao Cancelo and could have no complaints about the subsequent red card. Is he really a central midfielder Arsenal can rely upon? We have been asking that question for three years.
This is not only about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, although he is a personification of Arsenal’s issues. Arteta watched Mesut Ozil’s bumper new contract become a millstone around the club’s neck and then allowed them to offer Aubameyang a similar deal and is witnessing a repeat. Aubameyang did at least play centrally against Manchester City, but he looks a shadow of his former self. He has scored seven league goals in 2021 and has scored five away Premier League goals since the start of 2020.
This is not only about Arteta, although he is a personification of Arsenal’s issues. Arteta has various players absent through injury, his signings this summer have been made with at least one eye on the future and you can reasonably point higher up the food chain to identify the root causes of Arsenal’s problems. But Arteta is also the easiest issue to solve quickly and is doing so very little to make a case for extended faith after Arsenal’s worst start to a league season in 94 years. After 20 months in charge, it is still painfully difficult to work out exactly what Arteta is trying to achieve. Perhaps it is simply too big a task for a rookie coach to solve?
For now, Arsenal will remain a draw to high-class coaches who dream of taking them back to the status that they once enjoyed. But that will slip away if Arsenal become embroiled in another mid-table slog against the Premier League rest. That only makes Arteta’s own position more precarious.
Aston Villa
There is a strategy for beating Brentford: you must hassle them in position, look to make quick transitions and play sharp passes in central areas. If your attacks do come down the flank, you would be best advised to play your way into the box rather than cross the ball; Pontus Jansson and Ethan Pinnock are both six foot four inches and new signing Kristoffer AJer is taller still.
Unfortunately for Aston Villa, their spate of midfield injuries (John McGinn, Trezeguet and Jacob Ramsey) left them with a starting pair of 36-year-old Ashley Young, converted to a full-back role in recent seasons, and Carney Chukwuemeka, a 17-year-old who made his Premier League debut. Not only did they struggle to press Brentford high up the pitch, they also lacked the creativity from central midfield that McGinn usually provides. Instead, Villa were forced to launch crosses into the box. Of their 15 attempts, only three were successful and Brentford were fairly comfortable in hanging on to a draw.
McGinn’s absence is Covid-related and he may well be back soon, but you can see why Dean Smith is rumoured to be pushing for another midfield arrival in the final days of the transfer window.
Brentford
There are no definitive conclusions to draw from Brentford’s draw against Aston Villa, but that in itself should be interpreted as a compliment. Brentford have faced the teams who finished eighth, 11th and 14th in the Premier League last season and they are still unbeaten. Thomas Frank’s team look instantly at home in the top flight.
A word too for Ivan Toney, who has now scored in League Two, League One, the Championship and the Premier League. Brentford’s ceiling this season may well be defined by Toney’s prolificacy.
Brighton
The wing-backs are probably the most important players in Graham Potter’s 3-4-2-1 formation, the only ones that have a dual role (defensive and attacking responsibilities). There is no great panic in losing to an excellent Everton team after winning their opening two matches of the season, but Brighton were effectively undone by the performances of their wing-backs on Saturday.
That’s hardly surprising. Jakub Moder is a natural midfielder who is being converted by Potter into a wing-back; he was unable to get forward against Everton, creating no chances and attempting no crosses into the box. On the opposite flank, Pascal Gross is another stand-in who is more comfortable as an attacking midfielder. He struggled to cope defensively with Demarai Gray.
Potter will reason that improvement is likely when his first-choice options return. Tariq Lamptey is a prodigious right wing-back who is repeatedly having problems staying fit. On the left, Solly March and Dan Burn have both operated at left wing-back and are out injured. Brighton are also being strongly linked with Getafe’s Marc Cucurella.
Until then, Gross and Moder may continue to deputise. And with it, Brighton’s most important positions will continue to hamper the team’s ability to perform above preseason expectations.
Burnley
If you’ll forgive the repetition from the first weekend of the season:
“The biggest change between Burnley in 2019-20 (when they finished tenth) and last season (when they finished 17th) was their inability to hold onto leads after scoring first. When Burnley scored the opening goal in 2019-20, they took 2.5 points per match; only four teams in the division could beat that record. Last season, virtually the opposite: Burnley scored the opening goal in 15 of their 38 league games but only took nine points from those matches. In points-per-game terms, only five clubs had a worse record and three of them were relegated.”
Burnley have now taken the lead in two of their three games this season and taken one point from them. They have also taken the lead in four of their last four matches at Turf Moor and taken a single point from those too. Still, they face the bottom team in the league in their next home game. Shame it’s Arsenal.
Chelsea
It is hard to know whether Reece James’ handball was deliberate or not – perhaps only he does. As with everything in the VAR era, it looked far more damning in super-slow-motion than in real time. But to send James off and force Chelsea to suffer the double punishment of penalty (that led to a goal) and a red card does seem remarkably harsh. For those types of incidents, why not extend the double punishment rule recently introduced that renders an attempt to win the ball only a yellow card if a penalty is also awarded even in the cases when a clear goalscoring opportunity is prevented?
Having suffered that double blow on the stroke of half-time and seen two other Chelsea players booked for their remonstrations, huge credit goes to Thomas Tuchel for the manner in which he both calmed Chelsea down at the break and formulated a plan to thwart Liverpool. It takes some gumption to substitute both the best central midfielder in the league (N’Golo Kante) and your goalscorer at half-time, but the introduction of Thiago Silva as an extra defender effectively shut down the match.
Liverpool were dominant in the second half (they had 14 shots to Chelsea’s two and six of them were on target), but Edouard Mendy was never required to make a difficult save and Jurgen Klopp spoke after the game about how tough Liverpool found it to create space in dangerous areas despite dominating possession.
It is too early to talk of Chelsea as title favourites yet (Remember: you are only allowed to look at the league table after six matches), but in Tuchel they have a manager who is intent on creating a dynamic attack that will be mighty hard to stop and has the tactical organisation to make Chelsea damn difficult to break down when they choose to defend their position in the match. And those are certainly the attributes of title-winning teams.
Crystal Palace
One way to accelerate a shift in style over the course of a single summer is to rapidly reduce the age of the first team. It is generally easier for a manager to mould younger players than senior professionals, particularly if they have mostly worked under managers who operate with a different strategy to your own.
Patrick Vieira has largely stuck to that methodology. Nine first-team players left Crystal Palace this summer; the youngest of them was Connor Wickham at 28. So far he has signed five first-team players. On this list, the oldest player is the perennially young Will Hughes at 26. One of those arrivals was Conor Gallagher on loan from Chelsea, who danced around West Ham’s penalty area and scored both goals to give Palace a deserved point. Another, Mark Guehi, should have scored a late winner.
Once again, you could see what Vieira is trying to achieve. During their 12 away league games in 2021 before Saturday, Palace only twice had more than 40 per cent possession. At the London Stadium, Vieira’s side had 54 per cent of the ball. That is their highest figure of the calendar year.
Everton
Demarai Gray has experienced an odd career to date. The move to Leicester City in 2016, before which Gray’s potential as a future England left winger was widely discussed, did not come off; he made only 53 Premier League starts in five years and was sold to Bayer Leverkusen. The move to the Bundesliga, a path increasingly trodden by young English players, was also largely unsuccessful: five league starts and another move.
But at Everton, and under Rafael Benitez, there are signs that Gray could make good on all that promise. Not only does he have two goals in three league appearances this season, he is forming a brilliant left-sided partnership with Lucas Digne. Add in Richarlison’s tendency to drift left from his central striker position and you can see why 49 per cent of Everton’s attacks against Brighton came down that third of the pitch.
Gray is an interesting winger in that he doesn’t tend to take on the full-back that often (two dribbles completed in 247 minutes so far this season). Instead he retains possession and waits for Digne to overlap or drifts infield with the ball to exchange passes and make late runs into the box. With Andros Townsend doing the same on the right wing and both Everton full-backs capable of excellent delivery, you can see why Dominic Calvert-Lewin is so excited about Benitez’s arrival.
Leeds United
There is no great shame in drawing 1-1 at Turf Moor (although Leeds were lethargic and listless for long periods). Marcelo Bielsa’s side did haul themselves back into the match after Raphinha finally beat two players on the left and Patrick Bamford stuck out a well-placed boot to deflect the ball in. It probably does demonstrate how far Leeds have come in the last two years that some supporters are getting a bit itchy about the lack of transfer activity this summer.
But when your game-changing substitutes are Jamie Shackleton and Tyler Roberts, you can see why there is some doubt about Leeds repeating their success of last season. Helder Costa was the only other attacking first-team option; he too often flatters to deceive. Put it this way: Leeds are a couple of injuries from being in a pickle. Will Bielsa compromise on his principles to sign another wide player or a backup to Bamford in the next two days?
Leicester City
Now Brendan Rodgers really does have a defensive injury crisis. After Ricardo Pereira hobbled off, to be replaced by the only-just-fit-again Timothy Castagne, Rodgers will have been delighted by Leicester’s response to the miserable 4-1 defeat against West Ham on Monday evening.
But he will also be awaiting the results of Pereira’s scan having been without the Portuguese international for most of his time in charge. Jonny Evans is suffering with a long-term foot problem, Ryan Bertrand is unwell, James Justin and Wesley Fofana are both months away from full fitness and Jannik Vestergaard strained his knee in training. A message to Daniel Amartey and Caglar Soyuncu over the international break: wrap yourself in feathers and bubble wrap.
Liverpool
Losing Roberto Firmino to injury when he’s in this sort of form would not be alarming if there were other options to fill his role (no shots and no chances created in 43 minutes against Chelsea), but Jurgen Klopp must be worried about any further absentees. Firmino’s hamstring now requires a scan and leaves Liverpool’s front three as an automatic selection.
That matters, even if Premier League clubs dig their heels in over post-international break quarantining and thus Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane stay at Melwood. With Xherdan Shaqiri sold to Lyon, the next cab off the rank over the next few weeks will be Divock Origi or Takumi Minamino, or perhaps Curtis Jones or Harvey Elliott playing as a makeshift wide forward.
Klopp has been insistent that Liverpool do not require an extra attacker in the transfer window, but the strength of their Champions League opponents (Atletico Madrid, Milan and Porto) decrees that resting any of his forwards for midweek assignments would not be risk-free. Will Firmino’s injury – if it rules him out for more than a month – change his mind?
Manchester City
Is Ferran Torres the big winner of this Premier League transfer window? You can see why Pep Guardiola is happy with his current attacking options even after the departure of Sergio Aguero (although it’s clear that there was serious interest in Harry Kane and some interest in Cristiano Ronaldo). Jack Grealish on the left allows Raheem Sterling to play more centrally and Aguero only started seven league games last season.
If City have a method for scoring their classic goal (cut-back from the byline into the six-yard box), against Arsenal they repeatedly produced something different. Guardiola will not be able to enjoy a defence as flat and lethargic as Arsenal’s every week, but they had great success chipping balls over the heads of central defenders, passes usually produced by Ilkay Gundogan or Riyad Mahrez. Torres was signed as a winger but is being converted into a No 9 by Guardiola. His runs from deep to find space in the penalty area are often sensational.
With Gabriel Jesus comfortable in his wide forward role, Grealish settling in well and Sterling and Mahrez used as substitutes on Saturday, City have plenty enough firepower. Signing Kane would have been a game-changer worth redesigning their attack for. Logic dictates that a 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo would not, even if he flourishes at Old Trafford. They’ve scored 15 goals in their last three home league games, after all.
Manchester United
First, the positives: another win to get back on track after the slip-up at Southampton. An unbeaten away record that now stretches further than any team in English top-flight history. A majestic debut for Raphael Varane. Another goal for Mason Greenwood, who should absolutely not see his minutes curbed by the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo.
But boy was that uncomfortable. Manchester United were grateful for David de Gea for his wonderful double save from Romain Saiss, grateful to Aaron Wan Bissaka for his goal-line clearance in the first half and grateful to Lady Luck and Wolves’ penalty-area incompetence that Greenwood’s goal was the winner rather than equaliser. Play like that again, and they will be punished by better teams.
For all the triumphant nostalgia over the return of Ronaldo (and you cannot blame United fans for being so excited), it fails to solve the two clear issues that have held back Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team until now and surely will continue to hold them back if they are not solved.
Firstly, you need to play with an actual midfield. Asking Paul Pogba to play in a double pivot is to crowbar him into the team against all logic because you want to pick most of your many attackers. He becomes flooded when he gets the ball unless he can pick out a Hollywood pass, is unable to connect with those around him and is left covering for the clumsy and comical Fred next to him. There were times in the first half where United were asking one player to stop Adama Traore attacking them and that one player, Fred, has constantly struggled to thwart counter attacks. For United’s needs, he is not good enough.
But there’s also a problem with United’s attack. It may well be covered by expensive wallpaper for most of this season because Solskjaer has Edinson Cavani, Greenwood, Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and at least four other players that don’t even bear serious consideration (Martial, Mata, Van de Beek, James), but the issue is still there. United never look like a cohesive attacking unit unless they are allowed to play on fast counters or build up a head of steam against a tired opponent.
Instead they rely upon defensive error or individual brilliance. Again, that can work; United have players with enough talent to produce those moments. But we are allowed to wonder what might happen if these players were constructed into a defined attacking strategy that served to get the best out of their talents. On Sunday, poor Sancho appeared as if he had no idea what he was meant to do or what any of the players around him were going to do next. That isn’t a conducive environment to getting the best out of him.
There is a critical mass theory element to all this: keep piling enough attacking talent into the squad and eventually that pressure will tell whatever the system. But the pressure is – or should be – on Solskjaer to make something coherent with all these options. The serious title challenge will depend upon it.
Newcastle United
Steve Bruce may believe that the manner of Newcastle’s two dropped points against Southampton were unfortunate; no coach likes taking the lead in the 90th minutes and failing to win the game. But Bruce also accepted that Newcastle’s first-half performance, in which they were completely dominated by a Southampton side that hasn’t beaten a current Premier League side away from home in any competition in 2021, was unacceptable. Southampton had more shots in the first half than Newcastle managed in the entire match.
Bruce’s biggest problem is that his side are sitting deep to protect their defence and yet still not managing it – they have allowed 50 shots in three games this season against West Ham, Aston Villa and Southampton and conceded eight times. If being reliant upon the goals of Callum Wilson and the creativity of Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin isn’t too surprising (they are their best attacking players after all), the two midfielders are being asked to do an awful lot just to service Wilson. Almiron has created two chances in 270 minutes this season. Saint-Maximin has completed 17 dribbles but most are close to the halfway line; he has created six chances.
Newcastle’s safety-first approach is also causing them to panic in their own penalty area. In 2020-21, Newcastle conceded five penalties all season but they have allowed their opponents to score from the spot in each of their three matches so far. That too must change.
Avoiding defeat on Saturday was paramount; Newcastle managed that. But they took six points from these corresponding fixtures last season and currently only have one. Next up comes two league games that Bruce’s Newcastle lost last season, they’re already out of one cup competition and there is little hope of permanent arrivals in the final days of the window. It’s going to be a slog (again).
Norwich City
Daniel Farke may plead that Norwich deserved a point from a much-improved display against Leicester, but his team have conceded 10 goals in three games (and are still somehow not bottom of the table).
If there’s one issue that Farke absolutely has to sort out this season, it’s Norwich’s inability to take points from matches in which they fall behind. In 2019-20, when they were relegated, Norwich failed to take a single point from games in which they ceded a lead (and it happened a lot). So far this season, they have fallen behind three times (albeit against high-class opponents) and lost each time. The last time Norwich took even a point from a Premier League game in which they trailed, Barack Obama was still the President of the United States. Those two things probably aren’t related.
Southampton
Perhaps it’s no surprise that most of the goalmouth drama at St James’ Park came in the final 15 minutes of the match. Last season, Newcastle were involved in 30 goals from the 76th minute onwards; only one team could beat that. Again last season, Southampton conceded 14 times in the final 15 minutes of their league games. Only two teams conceded more in the same period; one of them was Newcastle.
And so to this season, where Southampton have already scored once and conceded three times in the final 15 minutes and Newcastle have conceded six second-half goals, scoring two of their own. It would have been a travesty if Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team had made their long journey south without at least a point, but woe betide any Southampton supporter who leaves their matches early.
Tottenham Hotspur
It’s not easy to determine whether Tottenham’s excellent start to the season in terms of their results (three games, three wins, no goals conceded) is a result of their own aptitude or a dose of good fortune. Manchester City could certainly have scored in the first 10 minutes on the opening weekend of the season. Wolves deserved at least a point at Molineux.
But then Nuno Espirito Santo has also had to deal with more than any new manager would like. The Harry Kane saga has finally been put to bed – albeit temporarily – but he is yet to score a league goal. New signings Cristian Romero (one minute of league action) and Bryan Gil (two minutes) are still settling in and record signing Tanguy Ndombele is still attempting to engineer a move out of London.
Given that noise, you can forgive Nuno for making Tottenham difficult to beat by default. And it’s working. Spurs only won four league games by a 1-0 scoreline under Jose Mourinho, dropping 23 points from winning positions. Nuno’s Spurs have taken the lead three times and have won each game 1-0.
There is clearly room for improvement, particularly in the attacking third. But given the potential trickiness of this early season (look across north London for details), Tottenham supporters will be more than happy to temporarily sacrifice style for substance. Nuno will use the international break to work on the chemistry between attackers who he may have thought might never get the chance to play together again.
Watford
Watford hardly disgraced themselves in north London. Juraj Kucka lashed a shot over the bar when he should have at least worked Hugo Lloris, Josh King got in Ismaila Sarr’s way when Sarr had a chance from close range and Moussa Sissoko sent a shot way high and wide when in space.
But watching Watford in the early season, you do wonder whether Xisco Munoz quite knows what his best team is. Xisco has already used 19 players (four more than Leeds United used in the whole of last season) and has given starts to 15. The defence looks pretty settled, but between King, Cucho Hernandez, Joao Pedro, Jeremy Ngakia, Emmanuel Dennis and Ismaila Sarr he has a collection of players who could start in a variety of different attacking strategies.
Summer signing Ashley Fletcher is also yet to play a minute, while many supporters would like to see more of Cucho. There’s also uncertainty about whether Troy Deeney is leaving the club. Xisco would be wise to use the club’s training sessions during the international break to decide upon a first-choice front four.
West Ham United
David Moyes was under no illusions that central defence was West Ham’s problem area, and the 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace will have done little to dissuade him. For all West Ham’s progress over the last 12 months, they have kept one clean sheet in their last 14 league games. Facing 31 shots so far this season is not particularly worrying; conceding four goals against typically shot-shy teams in Newcastle and Crystal Palace is.
And it’s not surprising that West Ham are experiencing such issues. Their first-choice central defenders are Angelo Ogbonna and Craig Dawson, both of whom are fairly dependable, but Issa Diop has fallen out of favour and Fabian Balbuena left over the summer.
So the best part of Saturday for West Ham came after the game rather than during it. The club announced the £29.6m signing of Kurt Zouma from Chelsea, a brilliant option that makes total sense with a European campaign to come. Now just to hope that West Ham’s third most expensive signing is better than their second (Felipe Anderson) and first (Sebastien Haller).
Wolverhampton Wanderers
I know we’re not allowed to make conclusions about teams just yet, but this is becoming a theme. I don’t know if Bruno Lage’s Wolves are the anti-Tottenham – they lose every game 1-0 despite impressing, Spurs win every game 1-0 despite huffing and puffing – or the new Brighton. Either way, it will be really starting to annoy Bruno Lage.
After three games, Liverpool and Manchester City have had the most shots in the Premier League with 70 and 59 respectively. Those two clubs have scored 16 goals between them. Next come Wolves, with 57 shots. They are one of only two teams in the division (sorry again, Arsenal) to have failed to score a goal. Not only do Wolves have the lowest shot conversion rate (obviously), they are also sixth in the expected goals table (4.87). Their finishing is letting them down.
Lage will hope that the arrival of Hwang Hee-Chan changes things. He had 10 shots without scoring in 447 Bundesliga minutes last season. Oh.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3mXZcxZ
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