Click the sign-up box below to receive The Score newsletter every Monday morning this season
Arne Slot must be wondering what the fuss is all about. You replace a dynastical manager at an elite club after moving to a country for the first time, you take on a steamroller title and the pretenders below them and you have a five-point lead after 11 games. Nothing is decided yet, but Liverpool are in rude health while those below them flounder a little.
The rest of the top half is outrageously bunched up, largely because nobody seems to commit fully to a run of fine or frustrating form. This weekend, better runs for Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest both ended abruptly, while Manchester United and Newcastle United are kicking on again.
At the bottom, Wolves got their first win and Ipswich got a fabulous victory at Tottenham, meaning Crystal Palace are back in the bottom three and things continue to look tricky for Southampton.
Scroll down for our verdict on every team (listed in table order).
This weekend’s results
Saturday 9 November
- Brentford 3-2 Bournemouth
- Crystal Palace 0-2 Fulham
- West Ham 0-0 Everton
- Wolves 2-0 Southampton
- Brighton 2-1 Man City
- Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa
Sunday 10 November
- Man Utd 3-0 Leicester
- Nott’m Forest 1-3 Newcastle
- Tottenham 1-2 Ipswich
- Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
Liverpool
Arne Slot and Unai Emery were almost identically dressed. Black windcheater, dark zip-up top, black trousers and black trainers. The space Slot stepped into in the summer was very similar to the one that swallowed Emery when he succeeded Arsene Wenger six years ago.
Wenger had dominated and shaped Arsenal perhaps even more than Jurgen Klopp had moulded Liverpool. They both entered a dressing room which knew only one voice.
Yet while Emery floundered and fell, Slot has pulled off a seamless transition of a kind Liverpool used to excel at – Shankly to Paisley to Fagan, to Dalglish. The last two won the title in their first season at the helm and the question is whether Slot can do the same.
An international break is a time for assessment. Liverpool enter it five points clear. In the wake of what he acknowledged had been a big week at Anfield – a comeback to beat Brighton, the demolition of Bayer Leverkusen and now a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa – Slot argued other teams “could win 15 or 16 games as we have done”. The Liverpool manager named Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea as the three most likely to do so.
However, the lead is significant. Of the seven previous teams who were leading the Premier League on Armistice Day by five points or more, only one – Newcastle who were eight clear of Manchester United in 1995 – have failed to win the title. By Tim Rich
Read more: Trent’s injury a worrying reminder for Liverpool of how quickly luck can change
Man City
It came as no surprise that Pep Guardiola acknowledged the international break was coming at the right time for his Manchester City side after they suffered a fourth successive defeat at Brighton, the longest losing streak of the Catalan’s managerial career.
For Guardiola, the coming pause in the domestic campaign offers a chance for some of those players sidelined through injury to recover fitness while manager also cited the opportunity to “clean our heads”. There haven’t been many times when Guardiola’s squad have needed to regroup in recent years but it’s clear something of a reset is required right now.
The lengthy list of absentees plainly hasn’t helped, most notably Rodri whose absence has only underlined his importance to the team. In the absence of the Spain international, out for the season with a knee injury, a wall of protection in front of the back has been removed and the ease with which Brighton were able to attack the heart of the City defence as they completed their second half comeback exposed a vulnerability in Guardiola’s side.
Nor was there anybody able to replace the Ballon d’Or winner’s ability to link play in the central areas as well as provide the security for teammates to press more aggressively. Mateo Kovacic filled the role effectively during a first half when City were on to and deservedly led but once Brighton gained more belief and grew into the game, there was a distinct lack of cohesion to City’s play and the tables were turned and it was they who found themselves being opened up more easily.
Guardiola’s side aren’t used to seeing sides play through them quite so effectively as Brighton managed in the final period of a game that turned into a painful watch for the manager. The fact the introduction of Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne had little impact only added to Guardiola’s concerns.
With four central defenders out injured, Guardiola fielded an untried pairing of Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, making his Premier League debut, and Josko Gvardiol, but most of the defensive problems came from the right hand side of the City backline where Kyle Walker was given a testing time by Kaoru Mitoma and Pervis Estupinan.
The England international, 34, is clearly not fully fit and Guardiola pointed Walker has had only limited training sessions this season. The effect has been to dull the defender’s lightning pace and at the Amex Stadium he found himself exposed far too often, particularly in the build-up to Brighton’s equaliser that came after Mitoma’s cross had triggered a scramble in the City penalty area.
Further forward, Erling Haaland contributed his customary goal but, like the other areas of the team, the forward players aren’t firing with their usual efficiency with Phil Foden yet to find the outstanding form of last season.
This though, is a manager and a group of players who have habitually overcome obstacles placed in their way in recent seasons. And as Guardiola points out, the break could hardly be better timed. By Ian Winrow
Chelsea
Can Chelsea be considered title challengers yet?
Three weeks ago Enzo Maresca, a few months into his first season in charge, was pouring scepticism on the idea.
But they have frequently shown they do not look streaks behind the league’s best.
They looked surprisingly composed and were not outclassed even in defeat on the opening day against champions Manchester City, and here they were again hosting the second-best side in the country in recent years and holding their own with style and comfort.
Chelsea shaded the first half for shots, Arsenal for possession. Their xG was almost identical. In the second half they didn’t implode when Arsenal took the lead – as they frequently used to – and Pedro Neto equalised 10 minutes later with a fine low strike that earned a deserved point. Either side could have won and the other could have had few complaints.
They have had a brutal run of league games, yet came away with draws against Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal, losing only to Liverpool narrowly away from home.
“Very soon we’re going to win this kind of game,” Maresca said afterwards. And, on the evidence available, he is probably right.
Maresca will want nothing more than his team to continue plugging away diligently and keeping pace with the pack without people discussing them as serious challengers.
But if they keep this form up, and start winning these kinds of games, it will be hard for fans not to start getting carried away. By Sam Cunningham
Arsenal
All it took was an hour for Martin Odegaard to show precisely what Arsenal have been missing in recent perplexing months.
A game that was creeping into mediocrity blown open by a moment of brilliance – a stroke of quality that Arsenal had been unable to find in a season that has not gone as expected.
Both sides had barely conjured a shot on target until Odegaard, on the edge of the area, spotted the space and recognised the potential for Gabriel Martinelli to run into it then looped the ball over Chelsea’s defence with the sweep of his boot.
The ball found Martinelli perfectly at the back post, and the Brazilian controlled it well with one foot before slotting it inside Robert Sanchez’s near post with the other.
Odegaard, so essential to Arsenal’s previous title races and the epitome of this glorious new era, had not started a game since coming off against Brighton two months ago.
But after a couple of minutes from the bench against Inter Milan in midweek, he was deemed fit enough to start a game Arsenal badly needed not to lose, to avoid a concerning period of form setting in and taking hold.
Arsenal finally have their centre of gravity back. The singular force that balances all the variously weighted components around it.
Just as Manchester City are feeling the loss of Rodri, Arsenal have struggled without that crucial missing ingredient in Odegaard’s absence, winning only two of their last six games before his return on Sunday, and losing half of them.
It will be a relief for Mikel Arteta, whose side had been expected to provide the most viable challenge to City’s Premier League dominance once again, only to fail to capitalise on City’s shocking form, see Liverpool pull away as early leaders and watch nervously as Chelsea start to find the sort of rhythm, after a chaotic few seasons, that could yet see them become surprise contenders. By Sam Cunningham
Read more: The single pass that put Arsenal’s title challenge back on track
Nott’m Forest
It’s one of the staples of football fandom that you cannot escape, getting carried away by an unexpected run of fine form. All week, Nuno Espirito Santo had been stressing that Nottingham Forest winning Player of the Month and Manager of the Month awards meant nothing because they needed to maintain their performance level and extend the run. Now you see his point.
This was Forest’s worst performance of the season. They took the lead but never looked fully settled. Their two wingers, Anthony Elanga and – particularly – Callum Hudson-Odoi, struggled to find space and were wasteful in open play when they did get the chance to take on a man. Chris Wood was marshalled superbly against a team who conceded a hattrick to him last December.
But Forest lost the game in central midfield after the break. That came, I think, through two means. Firstly, they failed to react quickly to Newcastle upping the tempo immediately after the game restarted. It’s all very well looking to soak up pressure, as Forest did, but it relies upon energy in midfield and defending properly at set pieces. Nuno’s players did two little of either.
It was the midfield issue that seemed the biggest problem, though. Forest have flourished because Ryan Yates and Nico Dominguez have been able to hassle opponents into turning over possession, protecting the defence and quickly getting the ball to Morgan Gibbs-White. In the second half, Bruno Guimaraes pushed higher, Joelinton swapped sides and Sean Longstaff did the protecting. Newcastle effectively moved 15 yards higher up the pitch and changed the game as a result.
Brighton
After an opening half when his Brighton side were guilty of allowing Manchester City the time and space they needed to take control of the game, Fabian Hurzeler introduced Carlos Baleba in a bid to strengthen the core of his side.
The effect was dramatic as the Cameroon international, 20, quickly asserted himself, injecting skill, belief and an impressive know-how into his side’s play that was a significant factor in a turnaround that maintained Albion’s impressive start under their new, young coach.
Signed from Lille for a fee of around £25m at the start of last season, Baleba is one of the latest eye-catching products of the club’s renowned recruitment process. And against City he showed why he is likely to be the next Albion youngster to be linked with an expensive move to a higher profile club.
Baleba’s energy helped his side loosen City’s grip on the midfield and plug the gaps that Guardiola’s side had exploited in the first half. The fact that Brighton’s recovery was completed by goals from two other substitutes – the excellent Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley, both returning after lengthy injury absences – only underlined the growing strength of Hurzeler’s squad. By Ian Winrow
Fulham
After watching Alex Iwobi against Crystal Palace, it struck me that he seems to be playing in a quasi-free role where he is trusted to do his defensive duties but also pop up high up the pitch and pockets of space and play passes into the box. It felt like a new age of a player who picked the perfect new home. So I went to look.
As it happens, there is a statistic for that: the number of completed passes played into the penalty area in open play. And Iwobi has done this more than any other Fulham player this season.
Fun fact: Iwobi had also done it more than every other player in the Premier League at the close of play on Saturday, which is impressive. Fun-er fact: Iwobi had also done it more than every other player in the Premier League at the close of play on Saturday, which is absolutely ludicrous.
Newcastle
Since a defeat at Chelsea a fortnight ago that left Newcastle mired in mid-table they have beaten the same opponents in the Carabao Cup and outplayed Arsenal, but this was the best win of the season by some distance.
Not necessarily for the performance – although Newcastle were lethal in the second half – but more for the conviction and confidence exhibited in coming from a goal down at one of the Premier League’s form sides. If the Magpies’ Achilles heel has been their away form – this was only the second win of the season on their travels – here was an energetic, high press blueprint for how to solve it.
The win lifts them into the top half of the table and they sit on 18 points from 11 games: an identical points haul to the one they had at the same stage in the season they qualified for the Champions League. With the Premier League so wide open, it feels like anything is possible once again. By Mark Douglas
Read more: Newcastle’s forgotten man who sparked their season into life
Aston Villa
This was Aston Villa’s fourth consecutive defeat. They are learning, as Newcastle learnt last season, that Champions League spectacles do not automatically spill over into the domestic game.
Since the epic victory over Bayern Munich, Villa have won a solitary Premier League game in two months. In the season they overcame Bayern to win the European Cup in 1982, Villa finished 11th.
They did not play badly at Anfield and had Ollie Watkins been in better touch, Villa might have had at least one goal. Their problems were best exemplified by their corners. They had nine to Liverpool’s two but in the first half they pushed up so many players for them that they were twice caught cold by a cavalry charge of a Liverpool counter-attack. In the second, the set-pieces became more frequent and ever more ineffectual.
Emery’s most significant action was to drop his captain, John McGinn. Since his return to the Villa midfield from injury, the Scot has lacked his former intensity and results have slumped. The 4-1 loss to Tottenham and defeat in Bruges seemed to have snapped Emery’s patience.
The Villa manager acknowledged that the gap between his side and Liverpool is greater now than last season. That gap may yet become a gulf. By Tim Rich
Tottenham
Ipswich defended their penalty area brilliantly, both wing-backs tucking in dutifully to help the wide centre-backs and prevent Tottenham from creating the one-on-one situations they thrive upon. Here’s the blueprint for blunting Angeball.
Their time-wasting, described as “strategic” by Ange Postecoglou was frequent and infuriating but ultimately successful, swallowing up any momentum that Tottenham hoped to build after Bentancur’s thumping header.
Dominic Solanke was a game worker but none of Spurs’ creators showed up. Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson were stifled and the increasingly peripheral James Maddison, only summoned with six minutes of normal time remaining, barely had a kick. Ipswich supporters delighted in the ex-Canary’s misery.
The Premier League table is evidence of how baffling this Tottenham team have become. A goal difference of +10 is only bettered by league-leading Liverpool, and yet they have lost as many matches as they have won, five apiece since a draw at Leicester City in their opening game.
Postecoglou began the campaign by talking up his trophy-winning credentials in his second year at a club. On days like this, Spurs feel as far away from ending that drought as ever. By Oliver Young-Myles
Read more: Tottenham’s shock defeat to Ipswich justifies their unfortunate new nickname
Brentford
It’s time to give Yoane Wissa the big fanfare, after he scored his sixth and seventh league goals of the season. In 2024, only Erling Haaland has scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League. Given Wissa’s reputation seemed to play second fiddle to Ivan Toney and then Bryan Mbeumo, it’s a brilliant record.
One thing about Wissa that is easy to like is his positional multifunctionality. Last season, Wissa started seven league games off the left wing, one off the right and the rest centrally, both as a partner for Toney and on his own when Toney was suspended.
This season, with new signing Igor Thiago getting injured shortly after arriving, Wissa has played almost exclusively as a lone centre-forward. Even then, he is happy to drop deep and wide and allow others to dash into his space. His movement to get chances, despite not having electric pace, is a boon.
And when he gets those chances, Wissa is still versatile. He has 33 Premier League goals in total: 18 with his right foot, nine with his left and six with his head. Like so many of Brentford’s best players, it has taken time for outsiders to recognise the full extent of Wissa’s consistent excellence. Few opposition managers are still doing it.
Bournemouth
Losing to Brentford after beating Arsenal and Manchester City is frustrating rather than deeply concerning, but I do think that Andoni Iraola has a decision to make on his goalkeepers. Over the last two games, when Bournemouth drew at Villa Park and beat City, Mark Travers played in goal because Kepa Arrizabalaga was injured. He was comfortably Bournemouth’s best player in both games.
For the visit to Brentford, Iraola chose to go back to Kepa after his recovery. That was an interesting shout, given Brentford’s penchant for putting crosses into the box and Kepa’s occasional weakness under the high ball. Cut to Kepa failing to handle a cross in the build-up to Brentford’s first goal. He was also beaten at the front post for their second.
Kepa is favoured by Iraola for his ability to play out with his feet at a level above Travers; this, after all, is why Chelsea made him the most expensive goalkeeper in the game’s history. But that cannot come at the expense of the basics and Bournemouth lose because they were lacking. In three games this season, Travers has “saved” more than three goals through the quality of his shot-stopping vs the quality of chances faced. Kepa is not in credit by the same measure.
This stuff isn’t easy for a manager because goalkeepers are unique. Were these two wingers and Travers had performed this well recently, the supposed first-choice would come back from injury and sit on the bench for a game or two, coming on as a substitute. Iraola doesn’t really have that option.
But with Kepa only on loan and now responsible for a backwards step, complications arise. On form this season alone, Travers deserves to get his place back even if Kepa can play the better passes through the lines.
Man Utd
If Ruben Amorim is to stick to what has got him this far, Manchester United are not short of No 10 options. Ones who can be equally as devastating are less ubiquitous.
Bruno Fernandes will be one, of that there can be no doubt. Especially now he has recovered from his severe bout of profligacy. His superb opener that set United on their way to a second victory over Leicester City in the space of two weeks took him to four goals in four since Erik ten Hag left, after none since April prior to that.
Like Wayne Rooney before him, Fernandes had been somewhat a victim of his own versatility under Ten Hag. More often than not he played off the forward line, but one week he could find himself a false nine, the next on the right of a front three. It was not beyond the realms of possibility to see the skipper play in a holding role.
There is unlikely to be such upheaval once his fellow countryman settles in at Carrington. The burning question is who plays alongside him. By Pete Hall
Read more: The Man Utd duo who look a perfect fit for Ruben Amorim’s tactics
West Ham
On the half hour mark, with West Ham yet to attempt a shot on goal, Julen Lopetegui sprang into life. Gesticulating wildly beyond his technical area, the screams will have been heard several rows back, in an otherwise eerie vacuum of quiet.
Lopetegui was frantically urging his players up the pitch, his very reason for being here in the first place and an articulation of what 60,000 others in the ground were thinking. A stalemate with Everton leaves him teetering on the brink. Even as dirges go, this was as bad as they come.
His departure would not solve all of West Ham’s problems; he is one symptom of the malaise and lack of clear direction rather than its sole cause, but the whole purpose of this experiment cannot be forgotten. This was supposed to be an improvement on Moyes-ball, a transition which necessitated time. The upcoming international break would be an obvious moment to bring it to its natural end.
The grace period is certainly over. Everton came at them time and again and had they not lacked the finishing touches, the sit-in-and-bear-it mentality would have had graver consequences. Crysencio Summerville was unlucky to hit the post, there were flashes of inspiration from Jarrod Bowen and Danny Ings was thwarted by a brilliant injury-time save from Jordan Pickford.
But by the second half, when a disconnected cable meant some of the small screens in the press box had cut out, staring into the blank void was just as entertaining and nobody really missed anything. Aaron Wan-Bissaka might have fluffed another pass; Summerville may have come hurtling back to save him again. Who really knows.
There are good things about this West Ham squad, but there are so many things wrong with it, chief among them the failure to sign a centre-forward who could play more than 63 minutes in the Premier League this season.
The inspiration of Mohammed Kudus, whose suspension for striking two players in the 4-1 defeat to Tottenham has been extended to five games, was sorely missed here. Lukasz Fabianski has re-emerged as first choice in goal at the age of 39, not that he showed his age with an acrobatic stop from Jesper Lindstrom’s header. In 2024, Tomas Soucek is still traipsing back to provide cover for an otherwise porous defence.
Which, in a certain light, is pretty unforgivable. Unlike David Moyes, Lopetegui was given £132m in a statement window, enough to buy players into the double figures. And that is a problem for him too, because the root of the power struggle that saw him exit Wolves was a recruitment policy that veered from mad spending to miserliness and misery.
It was not unforeseeable, therefore, that it should come to this. Before his arrival at Molineux, the main snippet of pub trivia many English fans could recall about him was his sacking by Spain on the eve of the World Cup. It was not only that he had already agreed to take the Real Madrid job, but he had done so without telling his employers ahead of time.
What all these stints tell us is that Lopetegui is a coach who craves ultimate control – something which was always going to be unattainable at West Ham, where sporting director Tim Steidten has a key role overseeing transfers.
There is no obvious silver bullet manager who comes next, only more adapters. It is genuinely incredible now to think that Hansi Flick, the architect of Barcelona’s revival, was formerly a candidate. When Moyes was still in the job, Ruben Amorim came to London for talks – though he now insists he was never serious about taking up the role and even if things do not work out at Manchester United, the severance pay will suggest he made the right decision.
So what now? Lopetegui is hopeful of being given a stay of execution which will keep him in place until the Newcastle match on 25 November, but then it is Arsenal, followed by a couple of six-pointers against Leicester and Wolves.
The trouble with going from one type of manager to a totally different one is of course that it starts as an admirable endeavour but when it does not work, it looks awfully like there is not a coherent plan to go forward. Booed off at half-time and full-time, this was a miserable experience barring a frenetic final 20 minutes when it looked like West Ham could have nicked it.
Lopetegui’s exit over the coming weeks is not inevitable, but it feels increasingly like the logical endpoint. By Kat Lucas
Leicester
Coming into the weekend, it is somewhat remarkable that only two teams had scored in every Premier League game so far this season.
One being Manchester City, of course. The fact that Leicester were the other was certainly more surprising.
Take Jamie Vardy out for the first time this season at Old Trafford and that goalscoring Leicester run was, of course, going to come to an end.
Modern day United are vulnerable in the extreme, even at home. Teams of all levels have created multiple chances at Old Trafford this season. A Vardy-less Leicester did not really create any of note all match.
“It will always be, because he [Vardy] becomes alive in the box and he’s as good as it gets in terms of sniffing out a threat,” Steve Cooper said.
“It’s about the guys who played today and there was more than enough opportunities to cause damage but we didn’t turn good opportunities.”
“Cooper, sort it out!” came the perhaps unfair calls from the away end, given Leicester’s decent start to the season. With Vardy back fit after the international break, the under-pressure boss will have the tool to go about doing just that. By Pete Hall
Everton
Fabio Capello, Roy Keane and millions of England fans have not let Jordan Pickford off the hook lightly over the past couple of months. It has not always been an easy period but in injury time with Everton clinging on, his save from a deflected Danny Ings shot was a reminder of why he is England No 1.
On the whole, Everton can feel a little aggrieved not to have taken more than a point. That said, the decision to haul off Dominic Calvert-Lewin to replace him with Beto did not actually improve their chances of scoring.
Everton were better going forward but still lack a final ball and cutting edge in the last third. Sean Dyche does not seem too concerned about that but it is not clear what the answer is – you can argue that late on Beto and Calvert-Lewin could have been given a chance together but neither looked like making any real difference on their own.
On paper, Jarrad Branthwaite’s return is a massive plus. He did not look fit and will take time to get up to speed, but at least his partnership with James Tarkowski has been revived, which is something to build on.
Dyche hailed this as a “good point”, which may be true when the only team they have beaten since the end of September is Ipswich, but it all continues to feel like Everton are basically going to be in limbo, treading water and crossing their fingers until the takeover is complete. By Kat Lucas
Ipswich
Ipswich’s first Premier League victory in over two decades owed plenty to Sammie Szmodics, the 29-year-old gracing the top-flight for the first time.
Nine years ago, Szmodics spent time on loan at non-league Braintree Town. Five years ago he was playing for his boyhood club Colchester United in League Two.
Last season he scored 27 goals in the Championship for a mid-table side; before then he had never managed more than 15 despite spending most of his career in the third and fourth tiers.
In March, he became an international footballer with the Republic of Ireland. In August, he became a Premier League footballer. His rise has been a long time coming and warrants praise.
Some players develop later than others and this year has unquestionably been the best of Szmodics’s career. At last the graft and sacrifice and determination has finally paid off.
Szmodics scored a brilliant opener and played a key role in the second scored by Liam Delap but his all-round display and combination play with the equally impressive Leif Davis was excellent. They dominated their side of the pitch.
Ipswich recruited heavily in the summer and perhaps inevitably it has taken some of the recruits a while to bed in. Szmodics has adapted quicker than most and will be key to their survival hopes. By Oliver Young-Myles
Crystal Palace
This has not been a good week for those assumptions that Crystal Palace were busily pulling clear of the bottom three and it’s only slightly to do with what has happened on the pitch. Oliver Glasner’s team should have beaten Wolves before needing an equaliser to even take a point. They probably merited one against Fulham based on the chances they missed, but were rightly punished for such foolish generosity.
Now Glasner’s job is being made far harder by a significant injury crisis. On Saturday, Palace were without Jefferson Lerma and Adam Wharton through injury, Cheick Doucoure through a lack of match fitness (he was on the bench) and Will Hughes with a suspension for yellow cards. Daichi Kamada (more on him shortly) might have played in a midfield two, but Eddie Nketiah’s injury meant that he was needed further forward.
Instead, Glasner was forced to pick a pairing of central defender Marc Guehi and academy product Justin Devenny. Ahead of them were Kamada and Ismaila Sarr, two summer signings which show little sign of working out. Kamada’s rash tackle earned him a stupid red card, suspension and further ire from supporters who are already beginning to give up on it working out.
Worse news comes with the absence of Eberechi Eze, whose form has dropped off this season without Michael Olise but who remains Palace’s chief creative threat. If Eze isn’t going to be back until December, Kamada will miss three games through suspension and Nketiah isn’t there either, there’s a sporting chance that Jean-Philippe Mateta will be chronically starved of service.
The kicker: the fixture list. Palace are just inside the bottom three after their recent mini-revival, but play Aston Villa, Newcastle, Manchester City and Brighton (the derby is away from home) in their next five games. Given the absentees, this might well get worse again before it gets better.
Wolves
Short of calling on body language experts, to the untrained eye Gary O’Neil hardly cut a relieved figure after Wolves’ win over Southampton on Saturday.
As the full-time whistle sounded at Molineux, O’Neil looked positively solemn before eventually smiling, thanking his backroom staff and hugging a handful of his players.
There was no explosion, no falling to his knees to rejoice in a first Premier League win of the season, while the fist pumps towards the South Bank stand – seldom seen in these quarters this year – had to be coaxed out of him.
That O’Neil even chose to fist pump was a point of division for Wolves fans, some of whom replied “cringe” and “embarrassing” to an X post from one local reporter.
It only riled the O’Neil Out brigade further, and though unfair based on their manager’s largely muted response – which spoke of someone who knew they were nowhere near out of the woods – there was little by way of the actual performance to convince the doubters that the 41-year-old should stay on.
Against Southampton, who have now replaced them at the bottom of the table, Wolves enjoyed just 29 per cent of the ball, at home no less.
A better team would have punished Wolves, but that is an issue for Southampton, who face a difficult decision themselves over the international break regarding the future of Russell Martin.
Back at Wolves meanwhile, in all likelihood O’Neil will live to fight another fortnight, with a trip to Fulham next on 23 November.
However, the sense that beating Southampton merely delays the inevitable rings true should they go on to lose to Fulham, and so if the Wolves board can hypothesise that possible defeat then they must still ask the difficult question now.
Is O’Neil really the man for the job? With Bournemouth, Everton, West Ham, Ipswich and Leicester to follow before Christmas, Wolves need to make sure they have the manager they want for a dogfight they are nowhere near out of.
O’Neil will say he is, and those with a glass-half-full outlook will point towards a run of three straight games unbeaten after that late loss to City, but the jury is still out on a deliberation that will dictate their survival prospects.
In this instance, you cannot help but feel hindsight will come back to haunt them in May. By Michael Hincks
Southampton
Que sera, sera, says Russell Martin. Well, “what will be, will be,” to be precise, and now rooted to the bottom of the table, it feels as though the Southampton boss is running out of excuses to defend his stubbornness.
Southampton seem to be this season’s Burnley, sticking with their style, and so far sticking with their man. If that really is the case, then relegation beckons, and Martin can only hope to fall as spectacularly upwards as Vincent Kompany managed to do in the summer.
That came after Kompany stuck to his principles for an entire season (and after Bayern Munich exhausted their contacts list), but Martin will not be so lucky.
He may even be lucky to survive the international break. Against the Premier League’s leakiest defence, the club previously bottom of the table, Southampton had 71 per cent of the ball, with nine shots resulting in zero on target.
Decisions went against them, undoubtedly, but trips on the road this season will not come easier than this, and Wolves were there for the taking.
Quite who would come in to replace Martin may well be what keeps him in a job, but Southampton would be wise to put some feelers out. Now, let’s think of a manager currently free with Premier League experience and say their name at the same time. Three, two, one. David Moyes. Woah, spooky. By Michael Hincks
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/8YbeEp6
Post a Comment