Premier League talking points: Man United a low rent Harlem Globetrotters; Salah steals the show

Ten talking points from the weekend's Premier League

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah runs for the ball at Anfield. Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Mo steals the show in the big one

For all Chelsea’s pretentions to wear the Premier League crown, and they go into the break at the top of the league, Liverpool v Manchester City still feels like The Big Game. These are the two biggest beasts and whenever they play each other, it feels like a big occasion.

The second half was utterly breathtaking as the two heavyweights started to slug it out.

When Liverpool click into gear, their attacking prowess is awesome. The break for Sadio Mane’s goal was rapier-like and makes a mockery of the ceaseless tippy-tappy patterns that too many clubs try to play under the impression it is sophisticated. This was classic Liverpool; fantastic pace, the perfectly weighted ball into a perfectly timed run.

And Liverpool need a phenomenal attack because they are defensively leaky right now. Then Pep got cross, rubbed his head agitatedly, and yes, he took off his cardigan. Ooooh.

Mo Salah took it as his cue to bring his phenomenal talent to the party and score a goal which he had no right to score, but scored it anyway. It may be his finest ever goal. He is an absolute genius.

City didn’t deserve to lose it, a draw was fair, but oh, my word, Mo.

An Arsenal audition for Potter?

If roles were reversed, Mikel Arteta was Brighton manager and Graham Potter, Arsenal boss, Arsenal would’ve won this easily. Arsenal have some lovely players, but are a less cohesive team. Brighton play better as a team, have the sort of steel heart that the Gunners have long craved, but lack a consistently ruthless cutting edge up front. They wasted so many chances to blow the Gunners away.

Potter wasn’t auditioning for the Arsenal job. Yet. But his team’s fine performance will surely be stored in the North London memory banks for the time that it is properly realised within the club that a change must be made for there to be any real progress.

That looks to still be some way off, by which time Potter may well have got a better offer from Manchester United, who, like Arsenal, are mired in a delusion that a former star player makes a contemporary star manager. On Saturday night Brighton dominated possession 58/42 and had 19 attempts at goal to Arsenal’s six, though only two on target, and might have won it in the final moments if they had a top rank striker. When we consider the relative financial investment in the squads, it was very clear who was doing the better job.

The revival of Ruben Lotus-Cheek

The thought was that he was surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge, albeit on massive £170,000 per week wages. Having spent last season at Fulham on loan where fans report he didn’t exactly set the place alight in his 32 games, it was assumed he’d go out on loan again. However Thomas Tuchel kept him on and in the first half against Southampton it was easy to see why.

This was his first Premier League start since July 2020 and he really added a lot of energy, clever footwork and progression from midfield, often being the connection between the defence and attack. A tall and powerful player he can roll a player better than most, holding them off with his physique and spinning away. It was his assist for Chelsea’s first goal.

Now 25 and long touted as ’a good young player coming through’ it wouldn’t be unfair to say his career had stalled. In 2018-19 he played 40 games for the Blues netting a healthy 10 goals, and playing eight games for England too, so a resurgent RLC is good news for both club and country. Perhaps Tuchel has finally worked out how to get the best out of him.

Demarai Gray adds colour

With the physique and bearing of an Edwardian branch-line station master, Rafa Benitez is a wily old fox who out-thought his Manchester counterpart all afternoon, despite having some significant players out injured. Buying Demerai Gray for £1.7m must go down as the best of the year. Gray tore Manchester United apart on the counter-attack, gliding past the Manchester United defence like a racing car overtaking a bus. Add this buy to the acquisition of Andros Townsend, now on his 13th club, aged 30, on a free and Everton fans can be very satisfied at the progress they’ve made, despite the lack of recent spending. Benitez knows how to organise a defence and they held the opposition at bay with some ease.

Manchester United: A low rent Harlem Globetrotters

Another in a long line of United’s ‘just try and do something’ performances inspired by their insipid manager. They should have lost the Everton game and if VAR hadn’t spotted an offside knee for Yerry Mina’s goal, they would have.

Every game is like the last. The same things go right, the same things go wrong. At all times they look like 11 individuals, some supremely talented, all flailing around trying to make a difference, but failing. They just hope Paul Pogba can do something, hope that Jadon Sancho can, that Cristiano Ronaldo can, that Mason Greenwood or any of their other superstars can. But that’s not how football works. You know it. I know it, everyone but their manager knows it. They just ran into a brick wall time after time as Everton held them at bay easily, by virtue of being well-organised, keeping their shape, and breaking on them at pace and with directness.

It seems perfectly obvious that if a top-class manager got hold of this talented side, bought a good midfielder or two, and put Fred and Scott McTominay in a bin, they’d be immediate title contenders. As it is, they look like a low rent version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Sean’s yawns

That the 19th and 20th Premier League sides contested a goalless draw suggests they’re both in the correct league positions right now. In post-game interviews, Sean Dyche sounds like a man who has said all the words that are coming out of his mouth far too many times. There is nothing new for him to learn about his Burnley side, nothing new to say. Whatever happens has happened to him and to Burnley before.

This degree of experience might sound like an asset but it isn’t, rather it projects a little boredom and a lack of passion for the cause. And, to be brutally honest, all he’s doing is going around in circles. What can he look forward to achieving over the coming season? Nothing much other than winning nine or 10 games and survival in the top flight in order to do it all again next season. Paid £70,000 per week, he’s already got enough money. Why not take on a different challenge that’ll get the blood pumping in his veins?

Surely another club, maybe in the Championship, would give him a gig. The prospect of yet another season in the bottom third of the Premier League clearly fills him with zero joy.

Spurs solidify their mid-table status

It was Spurs turn to be the crisis club this week with some even suggesting a loss against Aston Villa would end Nuno Espírito Santo’s short reign as boss. In the end it wasn’t that dramatic. They made hard work of their 2-1 win over Aston Villa thus keeping the gaffer in a job for at least the two weeks of the international break. However, a greater point needs to be made. For a club that recently had title ambitions, or at least top four, they are way, way, way off. The slide has been remarkable and weirdly, no-one at the club seems bothered. They are on a par with Arsenal, Villa, and West Ham, not as good as Brentford or Everton. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them finish 10th this season. This is solely because of mismanagement by Daniel Levy. He may have won his battles with Harry Kane but it was a pointless fight and one which will see the club take less money for him in the end. The lack of investment, the waste of money on Jose Mourinho, the hopeless search for a manager, all this is at Levy’s door.

Patrick’s Palace improving

Palace have the same amount of points as Watford, seven, which is hardly stellar but there is a healthy dose of belief and hope at Selhurst Park that Patrick Vieira’s youthful revolution has some substance to it. A 2-2 at home against Leicester isn’t especially brilliant but when you achieve it by coming back from two goals down, it seems far more positive than if you give away a two-goal lead.

Funny how the psychology of football works. Playing on the front foot and being more positive than under Roy Hodgson is risky and could yet go very wrong, but fair play for trying to entertain rather than merely being pragmatic and trying to survive. After all, it is supposed to be fun and Palace are definitely fun and in Conor Gallagher — who is on loan from Chelsea — they have one of the most exciting young English midfielders playing right now. While England’s midfield is hardly short of talent, he looks a fantastic prospect for an international cap this season. He’s a player growing into his game each week. It’s as though he’s found his position, his team and his composure. It’s very exciting to see.

Wacky Watford whack another manager

As I was writing this I joked to someone that it was about time that Watford sacked their manager, seven games in charge this season. He was almost a veteran. A half-hour later, he was gone. You only become their manager for the contract pay-offs, I suppose. Even by the standards of their premature ejections this was a quick one. Xisco Muño had got them to 14th with seven points, which is about where everyone might’ve expected. The club talked about a ‘negative trend’. Well yeah, that’s just caused by being Watford, isn’t it? What do you expect? The club is only ever putting off relegation.

We needn’t feel sorry for their managers, they all know what they’re signing up for. And the old adage about ‘needing time’ and that stability is desirable has been proven wrong by Chelsea and by Watford too. Given how many managers we’ve seen in situ for three years or more and are doing nothing special, a quick change is valid enough as a business model.

The next and 17th manager in 10 years should take them to Christmas before the inevitable defenestration. Soon, we’ll all have managed Watford for a few hours.

A late sting by the Bees

Brentford’s last gasp winner at the London Stadium in a 2-1 win was no more than they deserved after battering West Ham in the first half. Ceding possession to West Ham United 63/37, you didn’t need to be the second coming of Rinus Michels to realise that they were going to hit the Hammers fast and hard in the transition and look to keep a low block the rest of the time.

Taking the lead on 20 minutes and holding onto it until the 80th, they should’ve been two or three up by the time West Ham, who had flattered to deceive, equalised. Brentford, insulted to have been pulled level, just found another gear and scored in the 94th minute and, despite being under the cosh in the second half, actually finished the game with more shots on target.

Thomas Frank’s side is a joy to watch and a lesson to far higher profile and far more highly paid managers of how to guide a team to success, even with limited resources. Their seventh position is no fluke. They’re ahead of West Ham, Spurs, Arsenal et al because they’re a better side, playing more cohesive, intelligent and fantastically motivated football.