The Score is Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams’ performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning
It was a weather-affected weekend in the Premier League, but only one game fell foul.
Michael Carrick got a point in possibly his only match as a Premier League manager, but Manchester United rode their luck against Chelsea.
Manchester City and Liverpool march on, while there are signs of new life at Aston Villa and Norwich City. And why on earth was Graham Potter booed by his own supporters?
This weekend’s Premier League results
Sunday 28 November
- Brentford 1-0 Everton
- Burnley P-P Tottenham
- Leicester 4-2 Watford
- Man City 2-1 West Ham
- Chelsea 1-1 Man Utd
Saturday 27 November
- Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle
- Crystal Palace 1-2 Aston Villa
- Liverpool 4-0 Southampton
- Norwich 0-0 Wolves
- Brighton 0-0 Leeds
Arsenal
A regulation win to quickly avert any sense of emotional damage caused by the heavy defeat at Anfield. That matters when you have a young squad; the only disadvantage of bringing through youth en masse is that they can lack a little mettle when things go wrong. Mikel Arteta will be keen to point out that the Liverpool loss was just one defeat; it’s still true that no team in the Premier League have taken more points over their last 10 matches.
And it’s worth reflecting again on the age profile of this new starting XI. Arteta again picked the youngest team in the Premier League this weekend – he now accounts for the top ten. Only two players within it were older than 24 (Thomas Partey at 28 and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at 32). Nine of their 14 league goals this season have been scored by players aged 23 or under. Of their eight most regular starters this season, Ben White is the second oldest having turned 24 last month.
The standout statistic is this: The XI that started against Newcastle on Sunday was Arsenal’s youngest in the Premier League since the 1-0 home win over Manchester United in May 2011. That is why we are patient with them during defeats and so upbeat about their progress after ostensibly simple home victories.
Aston Villa
You only need to look at the results in Aston Villa’s two matches under Steven Gerrard to understand that he has had a positive effect on the club. Villa have now won consecutive league games for only the third time in 2021. Against Brighton, they hung on in the match and then took advantage in the final 10 minutes. Against Palace, they did the damage in the first half and then hung on at the end.
The obvious difference lies in their defensive stability. In Dean Smith’s final eight league games in charge, Villa allowed their opponents to take shots at a rate of 14.6 per match. They have allowed Brighton and Palace, two progressive, surprisingly overachieving teams this season, to take six and eight shots respectively.
That comes from a vast improvement from individuals who were struggling during Smith’s last months. Tyrone Mings looks like the rock at the heart of the defence again. Marvellous Nakamba looks like a midfielder reborn, winning possession but also starting quick attacks with penetrative forward passes. Jacob Ramsey is kicking on again and, at the opposite end of his career, Ashley Young was brilliant as a left-sided attacker.
Fixtures against Manchester City, Leicester City and Liverpool in the next fortnight will test Gerrard’s mettle in different circumstances, but this has been a dream start to managerial life in England. The decision to sack Smith looks inspired.
Brentford
You can’t blame Thomas Frank for enjoying that. Before the 1-0 win on Sunday, Brentford’s manager was at pains to point out that his team had just been promoted and Everton were aiming for European football. Perhaps he was trying to instil some resolve into his players, a prove-them-wrong attitude to bruise the noses of supposedly bigger clubs as they had done so well against Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.
And it worked. Frank’s strategy wasn’t particularly pretty. He instructed his players to sit deep and cede possession to Everton, backing themselves to thwart an under-strength front four. His theory was that either his team could hit Everton on the break (which they often did in the first half) and take advantage of any mistake (like Andros Townsend kicking someone in the face in his own penalty area).
Brentford were probably guilty of being too defensive in the second half. Everton are low on confidence but were allowed to apply pressure and had four chances in the last 15 minutes. But that is exactly why Frank celebrated so raucously at full-time. The winless streak is over. In a tight midtable, Brentford are suddenly four points off sixth.
Brighton
Firstly, the caveats: 1) It can be frustrating watching your team fail to score, particularly when that has long been the biggest barrier against them fulfilling their potential. 2) Brighton are on a sticky run, without a win in eight league games. 3) It may just have been a minority amongst Brighton’s home support, picked up by the microphones behind the dugouts.
But dear me, if you are booing the most progressive manager in your club’s history then you probably need to check your privilege. I’m generally against telling supporters what to do (they pay the money and that gives them the power to react in any way they see fit, as long as it isn’t abusive), but to give Graham Potter grief when Brighton sit eighth in the Premier League, ahead of Manchester United, is pretty damning on the entitlement and impatience of the modern football supporter. And for clarity, that isn’t just the case at the Amex Stadium.
Most stupidly, it seems to have really annoyed Potter. “The fans are entitled to their opinions but I disagree with them,” he said after the game. “You have to understand the game, who we played and what we did. We are sitting eighth in the Premier League but maybe I need a history lesson on this club.”
At a time when Potter is in demand – there are supporters of several higher-profile clubs than Brighton who would love him to manage their team – it’s pretty foolish to risk burning your bridges with him. I fully understand the short-term frustrations (Potter probably feels the same), but booing the team and/or manager given where your club has come from is spectacularly short-sighted.
Burnley
Sean?
Do you wanna build a snowman?
C’mon, let’s go and play.
I never see you anymore.
Come out the door.
It’s like you’ve gone away.
Chelsea
Two points dropped of course, given Chelsea’s total dominance over possession and territory, the manner in which they conceded the goal and the number of chances and promising situations they wasted at the other end. Two points dropped too because Liverpool and Manchester City beat Manchester United with such embarrassing ease and Chelsea found life tougher.
But Thomas Tuchel will not be too annoyed. Firstly, this was a team that contained several players who would not get into his best XI: Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Hakim Ziyech. Each of those was guilty to a greater or lesser extent, but in combination they tended to move the ball a little too slowly and so allowed Manchester United’s uber-defensive system to keep them at bay. When chances did come their way, Werner was guilty of snatching at them. Nothing changes there.
And Chelsea did dominate the game. They had so, so many corners. They had 24 shots to United’s three and two of those three came from sloppy mistakes. Jorginho should have headed or volleyed the ball rather than trying to control it with two players rushing at him. Edouard Mendy’s sloppy pass would have cost Chelsea if it hadn’t led to Fred being asked to chip with his weaker foot.
Finally, this represents an improvement for Chelsea. In their previous four home games against Big Six teams under Tuchel, they had failed to score a single goal. On recent occasions that they had fallen 1-0 down, they had proved themselves incapable of getting back into the match. On both those points they had an answer. And if Antonio Rudiger scuffs that last-second volley rather than middling it, they might be celebrating a win.
Crystal Palace
The worst performance of the Patrick Vieira era, and one with all the hallmarks of where he must improve. Palace have been poor from set pieces and conceded the opening goal from a corner. James Tomkins made a mistake in attempting to win a header when Cheikhou Kouyate was already in position; that left Matt Targett alone at the back post. They have also tended to enjoy extended periods of possession without converting that into sufficient chances – 63 per cent of the ball and seven shots (their first on target not until the 80th minute) on Saturday.
But the standout issue against Villa was a lack of dynamism in central midfield. Luka Milivojevic has been a brilliant servant to Palace, but you do wonder whether he now has the pace to play in a central midfield pairing. You can understand why Vieira wanted to get Conor Gallagher higher up the pitch and play Michael Olise and Wilf Zaha as wingers, but Villa were able to consistently dispossess Palace in midfield and create dangerous attacks with Milivojevic unable to stem the tide. The loss of James McArthur has caused a huge headache.
McArthur is reportedly not going to be back until the new year, so Vieira must find a solution. He is either going to have to change the team’s shape to give them more steel in midfield, or perhaps give summer signing Will Hughes a chance instead of Milivojevic.
Everton
We might just be entering the final weeks of Rafael Benitez’s ill-fated tenure. This was an appointment that never seemed to fit right and produced only a brief honeymoon spell. Everton look broken and Benitez looks unable to fix them with the component parts he has at his disposal.
Everton’s front four on Sunday consisted of Alex Iwobi, Andros Townsend, Anthony Gordon and Salomon Rondon. Without being unnecessarily harsh to any or all of them, it’s fair to say that when Farhad Moshiri’s purchase of the club was ratified in March 2016, he might have had a slightly different vision of where the club would be five-and-a-half years later.
This is not on Benitez, but his best trait as a manager is making a team solid and he is hardly managed to do that at Goodison. They have kept two clean sheets in their last 10 games in all competitions (against Norwich and a rotten Tottenham). They don’t create enough chances because they don’t have the players and they don’t finish them because their only good striker (Dominic Calvert-Lewin) is injured. But they must be wondering whether it is worth rolling the dice again.
Leeds United
Officially getting worried on Leeds’ behalf now. Marcelo Bielsa spoke before the game to admit that his club were not getting value for money from him this season, but precious little changed and Leeds were highly fortunate to take a point back north. That is the only crumb of comfort.
Injuries are clearly still an issue. But they are only without Luke Ayling and Patrick Bamford from the certain starters, which doesn’t fully explain the lack of energy and haphazard passing that repeatedly got Leeds into trouble on Saturday. Any hope that Bamford’s return will spark a return to form is mitigated by the news that his recovery has been delayed.
The players who are starting are struggling badly. Jack Harrison’s form from last season has dropped off a cliff, Rodrigo hasn’t really worked out yet and even Raphinha struggled to influence the tempo of the game against Brighton. Illan Meslier is the only Leeds player currently performing at his peak and it’s a good job too.
And then there’s Bielsa’s tweaking. Kalvin Phillips started at centre-back and struggled there. Diego Llorente started at right-back and the same is true. Dan James was signed as a right winger and now finds himself playing as a lone striker – he lacks most of the attributes you’d want from that role. Junior Firpo was brought in for Pascal Struijk but has been a disaster so far in the Premier League. There is serious work to do in January because, so far this season, it’s hard to believe Leeds finished ninth last year.
Leicester City
On Thursday evening, when Leicester beat Legia Warsaw in the Europa League, I wrote a piece in which I wondered whether James Maddison’s first home goal since February might ignite him into a period of good form. Maddison is a confidence player; as soon as something comes off he begins to demand the ball more often. He also stops trying too hard to make things happen.
Three days later, Maddison played a starring role and received his second standing ovation in two games. He was gifted his goal thanks to some William Troost-Ekong nonsense, but twice set up Jamie Vardy to take the game beyond Watford. Brendan Rodgers will be delighted to see his two most prominent attacking players linking together again.
But neither will Rodgers be convinced that his side have turned a corner. Watford’s expected goals figure (2.91 according to fbref.com) was the seventh highest of any away team in the Premier League this season and the highest by any losing team in the Premier League since July 2020. The team that created lots of chances and wasted them on that occasion? Watford.
Liverpool
There will be weekends after which we need to frown and scowl about Liverpool conceding chances and failing to defend with the same authority as their 2019-20 pomp. There may be times when we conclude that their central midfield suffers so much in the absence of Fabinho that we must wrap him in cotton wool and store him deep inside a cupboard at Anfield. We may opine that the Africa Cup of Nations may ultimately decide the potential of this Liverpool team to win the title.
But there are other weekends when we should avoid all analysis and just bask in the brilliance and beauty of Liverpool as an attacking force. It says as much about their title challengers sharing their goals around the pitch and the underachievement of Manchester United, but three of the top four goalscorers in the Premier League all play for Liverpool. That is extraordinary.
So is their current attacking pomp. Liverpool have now scored two or more goals in 17 consecutive matches in all competitions, a new English football record. Mohamed Salah has eased off slightly – two goals in his last six games – but there’s always someone else to rush in. Diogo Jota has three goals in his last two matches and looks completely at home in this front three.
Given Afcon is looming (and the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 is worth keeping in our minds here), Jota is potentially the defining player in Liverpool’s season. If he can stay in top form, and potentially be rested a little, until Christmas, he will carry the hopes of this Liverpool attack on his shoulders.
Manchester City
It is amazing how easily Manchester City seem to share their goals around the team. They haven’t been on sparkling goalscoring form this season (27 in 13 league games is below their usual recent rate), but it’s the sheer variety that impresses. Pep Guardiola was happy for Sergio Aguero to leave because a) he thought he might land Harry Kane and b) Aguero’s fitness hadn’t been dependable for some time. He must be mighty impressed at the manner in which others have stepped up.
Of those 27 goals in the league, no player has more than four. No striker has more than two, and even then Gabriel Jesus has played mostly as a right-sided forward. Nine different players have scored between two and four league goals this season and their last nine league goals have been scored by eight different players. With nine players also providing between two and six assists and nominal defender Joao Cancelo top of that list, is the next age of Guardiola’s City a perfecting of Total Football principles?
Manchester United
A vast improvement upon their recent performances against title challengers. Michael Carrick picked a team to sit deep, soak up pressure and avoid being out of the game at half-time, and that is exactly what they did. David de Gea made an excellent stop with his feet from Callum Hudson-Odoi in the opening few minutes, but that was his most difficult save of the afternoon. United needed to stop the rot and plenty of away supporters travelled down to London fearing another collapse.
And there were some excellent individual displays. Scott McTominay has always given his all and merits being a key member of the first-team squad under caretaker, interim or permanent manager. Aside from his weak chip, Fred was excellent in midfield and Nemanja Matic looked more comfortable in possession than he has of late. Alex Telles did pretty well to cope with the overlapping threat of Reece James.
But this type of display is not sustainable. Bruno Fernandes looks increasingly frustrated at having to play as an extra defensive midfielder and headed straight down the tunnel at full-time, Cristiano Ronaldo will not be on the bench every week and who knows if they can commit to the press with him in the team. Jadon Sancho scored the goal brilliantly, but United didn’t actually create a single chance of their own making.
United played like a newly-promoted club, with four defenders and three defensive midfielders. They rode their luck, enjoyed a break after an opposition mistake and ground out a draw. But they were also booked for time-wasting at 1-1 when they had a free-kick and a chance to send the ball long into the box. For a team who came into the season as predicted title challengers, that’s a fascinating mindset. In the short-term it made sense. But something’s got to give.
Newcastle United
It’s a point made in this piece, but Eddie Howe’s biggest task until January is to try and find a balance that makes Newcastle harder to beat but without becoming bogged down in a certain way of playing.
In their last two games, we have seen both sides of their style: chaos against Brentford when they were determined to attack, resilience against Arsenal which they were unable to alter after falling behind. Their survival from relegation depends on what happens before January, not during it.
Norwich City
Nobody is going to claim that Norwich are suddenly perfect, that they won’t go down or won’t crumple against better opposition. And Dean Smith has been fortunate to have two home games to start; four of Norwich’s next six are away from home and the other two are against Aston Villa and Manchester United, both of whom will also have new managers looking for, or in the midst of, a bounce.
But there is certainly a change of mood at Carrow Road. Against Southampton we saw a better attacking showing, scoring twice but allowing the visitors to have 17 shots. Against Wolves, Norwich were far better in defence (five shots faced with a total expected goals figure of 0.3) but wasteful in attack. They had 14 shots and clearly deserved to win the match, but only four of those shots were on target and Jose Sa was brilliant for Wolves.
But don’t listen to me about the difference Smith has made; listen to Billy Gilmour instead, now in the fold after failing to kick on under Daniel Farke: “He’s come in and been ruthless with us, how we train, the intensity, in the games you can see there’s a massive difference, it feels like it as well.
“There’s a real buzz about the place and wanting to do well. He’s just come in and said we need to be more aggressive. You can see that we’re playing higher up and more aggressively, attacking a lot more and getting after teams.”
Southampton
Just when you think Ralph Hasenhuttl has found a semi-permanent solution to Southampton’s ills (this time by being far more safety-first), back they come to drag themselves down again. There was hardly any surprise in them losing heavily at Anfield, but it comes off the back of a painful defeat at Carrow Road. Their next four league games are against teams above them in the league but ones in which Southampton might consider themselves able to cause an upset (Leicester, Brighton, Arsenal, Crystal Palace).
But one thing must change: Hasenhuttl has completely lost hold of is Southampton’s poor away form. In 2021, they have played 18 away league games and won only twice (against Sheffield United and Watford). They have conceded 48 goals in those games and scored only 13.
That’s odd because, before this year, their away form was Southampton’s strongest suit. How has a team gone from losing only three away games in a calendar year (2020) to winning only two?
Tottenham
Where is Harry, he’s long gone?
Where is Dele, he’s taken her along?
But they haven’t put their mittens on
And there’s fifteen feet of pure white snow?
Where is Tanguy, where is Son?
Where is Eric, now it’s getting dark?
Oh, where is Skippy, they are all out back?
Under fifteen feet of pure white snow
Watford
This is quickly becoming an utterly ludicrous season, but one that Watford supporters are becoming used to. Their team performs exceptionally one week, achieving what from the outside seems like a breakout victory to build on, and then they lose all momentum in a wave of defensive incompetence. It’s fun for the neutrals; maybe not for them.
Watford have ceded 127 shots in their eight league games. That run includes a 4-1 victory over Manchester United during which they only allowed nine shots. They went from having 11 shots in two combined games against Leicester City and Leeds to having 20 shots against Everton the very next game. They have conceded four or more in a match twice and scored four or more in a match twice. They have had four excellent league wins this season and have followed each of them up with defeats against Brighton (2-0), Stoke City (3-1), Southampton (1-0) and Leicester (4-2).
Watford are a bonkers team, which makes them hard to judge on a weekly basis and hard to like as a nervous supporter. But it also makes them wonderfully good fun.
West Ham
If you are a West Ham supporter who braved the freezing weather to go to Manchester on Sunday afternoon, I salute you. West Ham have lost 10 of their last 11 games against Manchester City, conceding 30 goals in those games. And if there is one weakness of David Moyes’ management (and it doesn’t help that he has managed non-elite teams for most of his career – make your jokes about his Manchester United team now) it is that he has a wretched away record against Big Six teams.
Last season, Moyes’ West Ham took a single point from their six away league games against Big Six teams, their improbable 3-3 comeback draw against Tottenham. The season before that, he took one point from a possible 15 in those games having joined in December 2019. This season, they are one loss from one. Look forward to Arsenal away on 15 December.
Wolves
You do feel as if we are about to learn an awful lot about Bruno Lage’s Wolves over the next six weeks. There’s no doubt whatsoever that Lage deserves huge credit for how quickly he has settled in. It isn’t easy taking over from a manager who had become so synonymous with a club’s re-rise to prominence. Nuno Espirito Santo’s tenure tailed off, but this was still his team playing his football. To have Wolves sixth in the table at the end of November deserves huge praise.
And yet still some fans are unhappy – see the Brighton section for my thoughts on that. The critics point to performances such as the 0-0 at Carrow Road (and the 2-0 defeat at Selhurst Park and 2-0 home loss to Brentford) and say that Lage hasn’t really got a grip on what he wants his team to be. Again, that strikes as pretty unfair given how long he’s been in the job.
But Wolves certainly face a tricky run. Between now and 3 January they must play Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United and they are only six points above Southampton in 16th. Nuno’s best moments at Molineux came on these occasions: they took 10 points from 12 against Chelsea and Arsenal last season and did the double over Manchester City in 2019-20. Inspire something similar and Lage will prove those who refuse to believe in his competence spectacularly wrong.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2ZB0rty
Post a Comment