The Score: Man Utd’s Achilles heel, Liverpool are jumpy and Palace’s big problem
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Hello and welcome back to The Score, my weekly column on the biggest talking points of the Premier League weekend. For the new season, we’ve given it a little revamp – with a new structure and some shiny bells and whistles at the end.Please let me know your (positive) thoughts on social media: @danielstorey85
The theme of this Premier League weekend was undoubtedly the failings of rebuilt attacks at clubs with significant expectations and recent silverware. Between them, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Tottenham scored once. None of them won and all three fanbases are getting a little jumpy.
The general point, I think, is to see the sheer amount of change. Look at a list of starters and used substitutes by those three clubs this weekend – Victor Munoz, Bradley Barcola, Alexander Isak, Rio Ngumoha, Cody Gakpo for Liverpool, Savio, Omar Marmoush, Dominic Solanke, Mathys Tel, Mohammed Kudus and James Maddison for Spurs and Nicolas Jackson, George Hemmings, John McGinn, Tammy Abraham, Ibrahim Mbaye and Johan Manzambi for Villa.
That group includes seven new signings. It also includes two teenage academy graduates and five further players who started fewer than 14 league games last season due to either form or fitness. The nine starters shared 49 Premier League starts for the same club last season and McGinn accounted for 28 of those.
All three managers (one new, one fairly new and one established) are in different stages of their tenures, but all have had to reconstruct front threes and thus all their attacking patterns. The lack of fluidity and understanding has knock-on effects on the midfield balance and how much the full-backs have to push on to create overlaps.
What exacerbates the problem is the individual wastefulness of each team. Liverpool rank in the bottom half for converting shots to goals. Villa and Tottenham rank 18th and 20th respectively with a combined one goal from 81 attempts. Managers need quick wins when there is uncertainty and have been let down by wastefulness above and beyond the tactical unfamiliarity.
This all takes time. You can feasibly plug in and play one forward, but it is unusual to do so quickly with many. The problem? You don’t really get time any more, or at least not without putting yourself behind the eight ball. Villa, Liverpool and Tottenham were all odds-on to finish in the Premier League’s top seven and have won one of their combined 12 league games (Liverpool at Ipswich).
Is fun enough for Chelsea this season?
Chelsea have now failed to keep a clean sheet in 20 consecutive league games (Photo: Getty)
Chelsea’s four Premier League matches have involved 19 goals, so you can’t say that supporters aren’t being entertained. Xabi Alonso has one of the best front threes in Europe and the lack of midweek football means that he can let them off the leash each weekend. And maybe for one season, that’s enough.
But Chelsea have spent comfortably over a billion pounds on transfer fees since June 2023. For them to be starting Jorrel Hato (as an out-of-position central defender) and Wesley Fofana (who has had injuries but never been good enough at Chelsea) in a system that needs wing-backs, but has Pedro Neto on the right and Malo Gusto on the left is extraordinary. These are square pegs in round holes and it makes Chelsea look constantly vulnerable in defence.
Chelsea’s problem last season was an overreliance on Joao Pedro and a bluntness thanks to Cole Palmer’s form, but they also conceded 25 home league goals – more than all but six teams in the Premier League. That demanded improvement and Chelsea have conceded eight goals in their last 270 minutes at Stamford Bridge.
Man Utd’s Achilles heel
A manager is judged by how they solve problems and Michael Carrick failed that task spectacularly. But managers need leaders on the pitch and Manchester United’s full-backs at the example that every other club should not follow.
The failure of this club to invest in its future was protested before kick-off in the Manchester derby. It too is epitomised by Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu starting a fixture of this importance. When a team has an extra man, it needs to stretch the pitch wide and that means the full-backs helping out.
Can either of this pair overlap at pace? No. OK, but can they cross dangerously? Also no. Sure, but presumably they are solid defensively? Absolutely not. Safe in possession? Not really, nope. What a useful combination that is. At least Luke Shaw will definitely stay fit all season.
Sage must sort out Palace’s defensive organisation
Axel Disasi received a red card following his reckless challenge on Jack Clarke (Photo: Getty)
Crystal Palace alleviated any early crisis talk with their away win at Fulham last weekend, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be worried about their defensive numbers.
Last season, only five of the Big Six plus Brighton allowed fewer shots than Palace (and Brighton only allowed one fewer) and 13 clubs allowed a higher xG per game figure against their goal. It’s a small sample size, but Palace are currently conceding more shots on target per game than any other team and only Newcastle have faced more shots. Palace have faced Ipswich, Fulham and Everton in three of their four league games.
Again considering the relatively gentle fixture list, Palace have allowed an xG of 8.1. If that stays above 2.0 per game, they will absolutely be in relegation trouble.
Gameweek 4 highlights
Player of the weekend – Mohamed Belloumi (Hull City)
The Premier League does a decent line in left-footed right wingers and Belloumi is leading them all. He scored twice at Stamford Bridge, continually cut inside with the ball, but also made penalty box runs that created space and caused panic. The flicked touch for Lewie Coyle in between his two goals was sumptuous.
Nominations for both Forest goals at Villa Park and I’d actually filed this section with Bruno Guimaraes taking the award, but then Lewis Dunk thonked a ball from 25 yards into the corner of the goal where the spiders live and made Coventry City feel a lot more glum. Dunk gave the game away by looking so shocked.
Mistake of the weekend – Omar Marmoush (Tottenham)
Because we don’t have to restrict ourselves to errors that cause goals to be scored or missed. Not when a pass is this bad.
Statistic of the week
In Premier League history, only Erling Haaland, Robin van Persie and Andy Cole have enjoyed longer runs of either scoring or assisting goals in away matches than Morgan Gibbs-White’s eight.
Those eight opponents: Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea, Sunderland, Tottenham, Manchester City and Brighton.
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