Arsenal
Kid to kid. Teammate to teammate. Academy graduate to academy graduate. Arsenal’s future to Arsenal’s future. Bukayo Saka to Emile Smith-Rowe. An Arsenal goal that came double-dipped in Mikel Arteta’s “Trust the process” sauce and incited a thrashing mass of supporters who are suddenly happier to believe it than ever before. These are the days you cling to during the lost years. Those two are the players.
That’s the tease. Here’s the piece.
Aston Villa
Dean Smith is being repaid for his innovation. On 4 August, Aston Villa announced the permanent appointment of Austin McPhee as a set-piece coach. McPhee had worked across Europe, most notably at FC Midtjylland, and was recruited in order to improve the variety of Villa’s dead-ball routines.
Set-piece coaches are subject to some anti-intellectualism by those who believe it’s an indicator of football becoming science rather than art. But there’s no doubt that the smartest clubs in the world are looking to take advantage of specialist insight. If it makes a difference of four or five goals per season, McPhee’s role will be worth it.
And it already is making that difference. After Villa’s victory over Newcastle United in August, Smith credited McPhee for coming up with the strategy that saw Matty Cash’s long throw flicked on by Tyrone Mings for Danny Ings to volley home (flings, Mings, Ings – surely?).
At Old Trafford on Saturday, another clever routine. Kortney Hause took up a position near David De Gea for Villa’s late corner, offering the impression that he would look to challenge the goalkeeper and therefore that the corner would be delivered to the middle of the six-yard box. Instead, Hause then made a dash ahead of the front post to meet a cross delivered there. With De Gea back on his toes and no Manchester United defender reacting quickly enough, Hause’s flicked header did the rest.
Brentford
Brentford’s landmark Premier League result, beating Arsenal on the opening night of the season, may have provided Brentford supporters with greater cheer and two extra points, but on Saturday teatime they went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in Europe at playing that style of football. Thomas Frank’s side matched Liverpool and merited their draw.
If the performance was founded upon intensity without the ball across the pitch, Frank’s plan with it unsettled Liverpool. Rather than looking to trouble their opponents with crosses into the penalty area, Brentford instead looked long to Ivan Toney in central positions. Goalkeeper David Raya in particular played a series of accurate long passes. Toney’s dominance of aerial duels was obvious in the numbers: he challenged for the ball 17 times in the air; Bryan Mbeumo – his strike partner – did so only five times.
It was important who Toney looked to exploit, too. When talking to i last week, the Brentford striker mentioned the challenge of facing Virgil van Dijk. In fact, Frank had clearly instructed Toney to stay close to Joel Matip whenever possible. That makes sense given Van Dijk’s aerial prowess – he won 59 per cent of his headers vs 39 per cent for Matip.
It worked. Matip had one of his most uncomfortable games in a long time, with Toney constantly unnerving him with either his physicality or movement. No wonder that Jurgen Klopp had a congratulatory word with Toney after the match. Cue rumours of transfer window interest…
Brighton
The ultimate test of Brighton’s new leaf comes on Monday evening against the one club they want to beat most. Much was written about their comedic profligacy last season, but against no opponent was it more pronounced than in their derbies against Palace.
Over the two league fixtures between these two teams, Brighton had 45 shots and Palace had four. The expected goals totals over the two games: 3.7 vs 1.0. The aggregate scoreline: Brighton 2-3 Palace. Time and again Graham Potter’s side created chances and spurned them. Palace sat deep, defended stoutly, rode their luck, enjoyed Palace’s attacking incompetence and made them pay.
This season, Brighton have dramatically improved. They have an xG total of 5.4 and have scored seven goals; their finishing has overperformed statistical expectation. But Potter will know that only by overcoming their demons in this fixture can they finally lay the “xG king” tag to rest. If they win, they will go top of the Premier League. That’s some incentive.
Burnley
After the signing of Maxwel Cornet, we wondered how Sean Dyche would incorporate a mercurial Frenchman into a distinctly organised, distinctly functional and distinctly British team. Cornet could play at full-back, but that didn’t strike as an obvious fit. He could play a left winger, but Dwight McNeil usually operated there.
Initial evidence suggests that Cornet will indeed play on the left wing with McNeil moving over to the right and playing as an inverted winger. On Saturday, we saw the whole range of the Cornet repertoire: an excellently-taken volley, a missed chance that was far simpler than his goal and a hamstring injury that forced his substitution at half-time.
Burnley were far more dangerous with Cornet on the pitch, but the game was also more open than Dyche would usually like. Cornet’s injury may cause him to miss multiple matches, but upon his return Dyche must find a balance between enjoying the unpredictable insouciance that he provides without compromising on the organisation that aims to make Burnley hard to beat. Either way, a point at the King Power will rightly be judged as a step in the right direction after a difficult start to the season.
Chelsea
Perhaps this will be a theme of a potentially fascinating title race: just as you think you have a grip on a team they produce a result and performance that shifts your expectations again. Chelsea have suffered their first setback of the season; they deserved to lose.
Being beaten by a dominant, brilliant, organised Manchester City is no disaster, but Chelsea supporters might wonder why their manager allowed the visitors to control the match. Thomas Tuchel picked a trio of central midfielders and three central defenders. That is no issue if two of the midfielders roam forward and press high up the pitch. But with City dominating possession and territory, each of those midfielders’ natural tendency was to drop deep and protect the defence. That made Chelsea’s attacking plan – to counter at speed – extremely difficult to pull off.
You do wonder what the reaction would be if, for example, Gareth Southgate picked three central defenders, two wing-backs and three central midfielders; effectively nine defensive players. When it allows the opposition to build a head of steam and that opposition then takes the lead and resists your comeback, fans will inevitably wonder what might have been. Mason Mount would surely have been a better option; Tuchel may have cursed his absence and wished he had started Kai Havertz.
The great shame of Saturday is that Romelu Lukaku actually looked dangerous on occasion. He rolled Aymeric Laporte brilliantly to provoke a yellow card and free-kick chance, and created another opportunity for Mateo Kovacic with his hold-up play. Unfortunately, Chelsea left him far too isolated and Timo Werner was often expected to be a one-man counter attack. Lukaku had just 21 touches of the ball in 90 minutes.
And if there is one deficiency in Tuchel’s Chelsea it is their inability to respond to falling behind. The team is so organised, so drilled into Plan A, that they can struggle to move up the gears when the match situation demands it. At Chelsea more than most clubs, the first goal of the match is decisive. In four of the last five Premier League matches in which they have conceded first, Tuchel’s Chelsea have lost.
Crystal Palace
We may well be in line for a markedly different A23 derby to normal. In the last two editions of this fixture, Palace have registered 34 per cent and 25 per cent possession. Roy Hodgson was more than happy to sacrifice the ball in favour of defending deep and limiting Brighton to shots from distance. It was hardly a faultless strategy, but you can’t argue with the results.
Patrick Vieira’s arrival promises to change that pattern. Palace’s average possession has risen by nine percentage points from last season to this. Vieira will want to use this fixture to impress Selhurst Park with the new style of play and prove that it can be effective against another possession-based side. That makes it a fascinating contest: one team who knows exactly how they play vs one that is still learning with bragging rights at stake.
Everton
Rafa Benitez is no fool and he is no dreamer either. He understands that he will enjoy far less patience at Goodison than other managers might because of who he is and who he has previously managed. He will have heard the grumbles after the defeat to Aston Villa and the EFL Cup exit to QPR. He will have heard Goodison groan and wince when Norwich were pushing for an equaliser on Saturday.
But he is also doing pretty well. Everton have now won the first three home league games of a season for the first time since 1989. The fixture list has been kind – Everton have played four of the current bottom six, three of them at Goodison. But then Everton also lost to three of last season’s bottom four at home under Carlo Ancelotti.
Had any Everton supporter been told six months ago that they would begin Premier League matches with a front four of Alex Iwobi, Demarai Gray, Andros Townsend and Salomon Rondon, they would have given you a sideways glance and wondered what on earth had happened over the summer. Injuries have hit and transfer budgets have been slashed. That Everton sit a point off the summit after six games proves that Benitez merits a little more trust.
Leeds United
Marcelo Bielsa may have suggested that Leeds deserved to beat West Ham on Saturday, but he was guilty either of selective vision or unwarranted optimism. Leeds are allowing shots at a quicker rate than any other team in the league. West Ham were forced to wait until the 90th minute for their winner, but when you face Leeds in this form you can be sure that another chance lies just around the corner.
Before the criticism, the caveats. Leeds have a clutch of players missing at both ends of the pitch. Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling, Diego Llorente, Robin Koch and Raphinha all rank amongst Leeds’ 10 most important players and this squad simply doesn’t contain enough depth to cope. They will surely improve when the queue for the physio room subsides.
But then it is Bielsa that prefers a small squad and Bielsa who chose to keep faith in the same players after last season, even when supporters expressed doubts about their ability to go again with the same intensity. And it’s fair to question whether the manager leaving his contract unsigned until the day before the opening weekend made recruitment a little less easy.
Those supporters who are panicking furiously about “doing a Sheffield United” should have a little more patience, but there’s no doubt that this has been an unideal and sobering start to Leeds’ second season back in the top flight. Their next four fixtures – Watford, Southampton, Wolves, Norwich – simply must provoke an improvement.
Leicester City
The first signs of dissent at the King Power. Brendan Rodgers quickly sidestepped post-match questions, but he will have been alarmed and hurt by the boos that met Ademola Lookman’s substitution for James Maddison.
Maddison is a handy personification of Leicester’s issues. He is seen by many supporters as a Rodgers favourite, but since recovering from injury last season has failed to replicate his best form. In 360 league minutes so far this season, Maddison has only created four chances.
More importantly, playing him as a No 10 effectively stops Rodgers playing with a front two, something that Leicester supporters believe is crucial when Kelechi Iheanacho and new signing Patson Daka sit on the bench.
Those attacking issues are mirrored in defence. Leicester have allowed 16 shots per game in the league this season and have the most porous defence outside the current bottom four. Injuries to key personnel have not helped, but that only offers a part-explanation. Last season suddenly feels an awfully long time ago.
Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp will understandably talk up the positives after two dropped points. His team are remarkably consistent in attack, scoring exactly three goals in each of their last five matches. Keep that up, and they will overshadow any defensive deficiencies.
But a wave of sloppiness has washed over Liverpool; Klopp will be keen to eliminate it. They conceded three times to Brentford, twice to Milan and allowed Crystal Palace to have 13 shots at Anfield despite eventually winning the game in some comfort.
The prescient question is whether Klopp is guilty of over-rotation that is causing Liverpool teething problems, particularly during first halves as they acclimatise to different players in different combinations. From Leeds to Milan, Klopp picked a different central defensive partnership and made two changes to the midfield three. From Milan to Palace, Klopp made three changes in the back four and one in midfield. From Palace to Brentford, another three changes in defence and one in midfield.
This isn’t necessarily a poor strategy – and Klopp knows he needs to keep players fresh given their competitive Champions League group – but you do wonder whether playing with three different four-man defences in four matches might just have caused a drop in communication and understanding. Look back to 2019-20 for details: when Liverpool won the league, they won 10 straight league games with a back four of Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk and Robertson to establish a position of dominance.
Manchester City
There is a misaccusation that life at the top is easy for a manager: pick your best players and sit back as they win every game. Reality is clearly much different. Failing to win a single game as Manchester City manager and questions are asked of your poor plans or poor execution. Had City lost to Chelsea, articles would have questioned whether Guardiola had the stomach for another title challenge as they sat six points off Chelsea’s pace.
And so this was a superb result, not least because Guardiola used his “free eights” central midfield plan and beat Chelsea by enjoying exactly the same amount of possession as in the Champions League final they lost; same strategy, different outcome. Chelsea were guilty of sitting too deep, but they were pinned back by City’s passing excellence, attacking movement and defensive solidity. More than anything else, it is that ability to snuff out counter-attacking threats that defines their best wins.
But City’s pressing does too. For long periods it looked as if Chelsea were simply choosing to play risk-averse football, passing the ball across their defence and back to Edouard Mendy rather than attempting more adventurous passing lanes through midfield. This wasn’t by choice but necessity; City hounded them and expertly cut off those passes to stop Tuchel’s team building up a head of steam. This was the perfect Guardiola performance without the ball, hampered only by a lack of exactness in front of goal that is inevitable without a world-class No 9. On this evidence, it might not matter.
This was also proof of why you shouldn’t look at the league table until after the sixth match. City have not been perfect, but after a weekend during which all three of their likely title challengers dropped points, they are in a strong position having played four of last season’s top eight (and three of them away from home). Now to go to Paris and try and take charge of a tricky Champions League group.
Manchester United
A dreadful week for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, one that should push him close to the door at Manchester United but probably won’t, given all we know about the club’s loyalty towards him and the goodwill he continues to generate from match-going supporters. Even that must be wavering after another cup exit and dismal defeat to Aston Villa.
Everything we worry about Solskjaer was laid bare. There was a lack of cohesive passing between the supreme attacking talents. There was a painful lack of penetration down the wings (work the ball down a flank, pass it infield, repeat ad infinitum) and yet Jadon Sancho remained on the bench. Their failure to defend set pieces reared its head again. Without the quick movement off the ball in the final third, they were left to take speculative shots; twenty-eight attempts sounds like total domination until you realise that only four of them were on target and most were from low-expectation areas. Cristiano Ronaldo failed to have a shot on target because United failed to service him.
Solskjaer’s defenders will point to the league table and conclude that there is no issue – level on points with Chelsea and Manchester City, one point from the top. But United have dropped five points so far this season without playing a single team inside the top six. In eight matches in all competitions, they have played well for one-and-a-half of them (90 minutes vs Leeds, 45 minutes vs Newcastle).
For all of the investment enjoyed by Solskjaer, has he made them a significantly better team or is he just working with a team that has better individuals who often fire? Since his impressive interim tenure, Solskjaer has been given Maguire, Fernandes, Wan Bissaka, Cavani, Telles, Van De Beek, Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo, amongst others, and yet the performance level has only improved marginally.
At this club, and with these players, that isn’t good enough. Solskjaer will not lose every game, may well embark on a run of wins now and he probably won’t see United drop out of the top four; the financial inequalities of the league see to that. But Manchester United are giving their title rivals an advantage by keeping the faith in a well-meaning, but ultimately inadequate coach.
Newcastle United
Much better from Newcastle, in that they managed 20 shots in an away Premier League game for the first time since 2015. Steve Bruce promised that his team would be more adventurous, and stuck to it. Allan Saint-Maximin was again influential, but we saw more from Joe Willock as an attacking force. Had Callum Wilson been fit, they would surely have won.
But Bruce conceded after the game that only a league win can help his team turn the corner, and he’s right on that point too. He was subjected to more chants from Newcastle supporters calling for his sacking, and they won’t stop after failing to beat a promoted team. Bruce’s critics will point out that there have been plenty of matches this season and last during which Newcastle have been outplayed and out-shot and got a point. You can’t came bad luck when it happens the other way.
Norwich City
What more can we say when nothing seems to change? Norwich are not taking enough shots (10 per game) because they aren’t creating enough chances because they sold their most creative player, and their strikers aren’t clinical enough to finish a high enough percentage of the chances they do create. There are five sides who allow more shots per game than Norwich, but that doesn’t provide much solace when you have the leakiest defence in the league.
The only saving grace is that Norwich have faced difficult opponents, but then every opponent is tricky when you have lost your last 16 top-flight matches, scoring three goals and conceding 39. I’m not convinced there’s any appropriate analysis other than “This team just isn’t good enough for the Premier League”.
Southampton
It might have appeared to be sleepy Sunday lunchtime fare before the north London derby, but the home game against Wolves was actually pretty important for Southampton, and therefore defeat was damning. Southampton had started the season with a series of draws, some in impressive circumstances (Manchester United, Manchester City) and others that were viewed as a missed opportunity (West Ham, Newcastle). That kicked our judgement of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team further down the road. What came after the draws would matter.
Against Wolves, we saw the worst of Southampton. We praised Hasenhuttl last week for the manner in which he had reconfigured the defence to make them hard to beat, but that only works if it is not at the expense of their attacking potential. Against Wolves, they huffed and puffed but were largely restricted to shots from distance that had little hope of success. Until Moussa Djenepo’s introduction, they sorely lacked any creativity at all. They then got undone by a fairly simple long ball that should never have been allowed to bounce.
How quickly a four-match unbeaten run becomes five games without a win. And how quickly focus shifts not to the impressive resilience shown against the Manchester clubs but to the wider picture of four wins in their last 27 league matches for Southampton. There’s no Danny Ings to dig them out of trouble this time. That’s a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of Adam Armstrong.
Tottenham
A manager does not get sacked after three bad performances, not outside of Palermo. But if we were left a little unconvinced by Tottenham’s run of three successive 1-0 league wins to begin Nuno Espirito Santo’s time in charge, the three subsequent defeats appear to be considerably more instructive. Their performances against Crystal Palace and Arsenal were as bad as anything during Mauricio Pochettino’s final months and Jose Mourinho’s entire tenure.
The problem is not that Tottenham are trying to play “Nunoball” and failing to achieve it. It’s that here, as against Palace, it’s hard to work out what the plan is. A list of things that Tottenham don’t appear to be: intent on servicing Harry Kane, intent on servicing Son Heung-min, intent on getting full-backs overlapping to good effect, combative in midfield, defensively solid, creative in central midfield, consistent in team selection.
Ordinarily, this might not present a problem for a new manager; these things take time. But then Daniel Levy promised that Tottenham would appoint a manager who played in a style that suited the grand history of the club and then seemingly landed his fourth or fifth choice who had no obvious history of managing teams who played with that style. That makes his job stability a little fragile, and the next few weeks fascinating.
For more on Tottenham’s defeat, go here.
Watford
A difficult afternoon on which Watford gave up far too many chances to a non-elite attack and were fortunate to take a point, but the second half did provide one huge reason to feel confident in the future. Xisco Munoz started the game with a workmanlike three-man midfield – Tom Cleverley, Juraj Kucka and Moussa Sissoko. When Ozan Tufan came on for Cleverley at half-time, the game changed completely.
Tufan was signed on a season-long loan from Fenerbahce with an option to buy, but took time to build up his match fitness and only made his debut against Newcastle. In 45 minutes, he created four chances and provided attacking momentum from central midfield in a manner that nobody did in the first half. With Ismaila Sarr offering a constant threat out wide, it should create space for a midfielder who is willing to break forward and demand the ball. Tufan looks a certain starter when he’s fully up to speed.
West Ham
Resilience, thy name is West Ham. Since the beginning of May, West Ham have conceded the first goal away at Burnley and won, conceded the first goal away at Brighton and drew, conceded the first goal at West Brom and won, conceded the first goal at Newcastle and won and conceded the first goal against Leeds United and won. There are worse habits to have.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
At various points over the last 11 months, Raul Jimenez will have visualised his next goal. After it became clear that he would be able to continue his playing career, it was all a question of when. When would he be able to train? When would he be able to play competitive football? When would he enjoy the greatest feeling again, when the ball was on its way to the net and nothing could stop its path.
Jimenez must have allowed imagination to wander as to the style of that first goal, be it poacher’s finish from a yard, towering header, thunderous drive or dink over the goalkeeper. And, if he did dream, he surely dreamt of it like this. The Mexican turned as soon as Jose Sa delivered his kick long, wrestling with his opponent but easily gaining the advantage needed to touch the ball first. That touch took another defender out of the game, allowing him to prepare for the shot.
Next came the magic moment. When you have waited 11 months for a goal, the temptation is to shoot as soon as the opportunity arises. Jimenez had better plans, again feigning to shoot and causing a defender to commit himself. One more jink and he had the easiest task of rolling the ball past Alex McCarthy. Cue pandemonium in the away end at St Mary’s, and a striker enjoying the moments he prayed would come again.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3opzK5d
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