Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s football
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola during the Premier League match at St James' Park. Pic: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.
Amid Liverpool’s deepening crisis and the growing scrutiny on Arne Slot, it is only right that Nottingham Forest’s role in it is given some attention and acclaim. Back-to-back league wins at Anfield for the first time since 1963 deserves recognition, as does the willingness of Forest’s players to embrace the gameplan of the third different managerial voice they have heard this season. Sean Dyche’s instructions were implemented to perfection as Liverpool disintegrated. “We changed the tactical side today,” said Forest’s recently appointed manager. “I told the players: ‘We’re not passing it, we are going long, because Liverpool were going to press the life out of you’ – which is exactly what they did at the start. We dealt with that quite well and we mixed it tactically, which is credit to the players.” Forest’s tactics may have been straight out of the Dyche playbook but they were also encouraged, inadvertently, by Slot, who has regularly told opponents how to play his Liverpool team this season. He has meanwhile not found any solutions.
Once the final whistle blew, Pep Guardiola and Bruno Guimarães had an on-pitch exchange involving raised voices and waving arms. At first it seemed that Manchester City’s manager was remonstrating with Newcastle’s captain, perhaps blaming some of the streetwise Guimarães’s gamesmanship for his side’s 2-1 defeat, but they seemed to part on a more cordial, almost amused, note. “I was telling him how good he was,” said Guardiola, who subsequently told off a cameraman for filming “a private conversation” with a player he has long admired. Having reverted to his old No 6 role with Sandro Tonali at No 8, Guimarães was back to his very best and played a big part in a much-needed win secured by two goals from Harvey Barnes. The only problem for Eddie Howe, who registered a first managerial Premier League victory against Guardiola at the 17th attempt, is that Tonali adores the No 6 position and is arguably best suited to it. Has the moment come to tweak 4-3-3 into 4-2-3-1 with the Brazilian and the Italian as a double pivot?
There are various reasons why Arsenal have finished second three seasons in succession, chief among them a lack of strength in depth. During the run-ins, they’ve found themselves missing injured players and carrying tired ones. Now in the absence of Gabriel, Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz and Victor Gyökeres and with Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli only on the bench, having been injured, they were able to annihilate Spurs without even playing that well. It is not simply a matter of quality, but also of variety: Mikel Arteta doesn’t have replacements, he has options, different profiles posing different threats for different opponents and different situations. So, with the majority of those absent soon to return, the challenge for the manager will be to pick the right ones at the right times – one look at Liverpool tells us how difficult this is – and if he can, there’s a strong chance that this time his team finish the season as champions. Daniel Harris
First, let’s get the disclaimers out of the way: Tottenham’s injury problems are real. Unlike Arsenal, Thomas Frank does not have the depth that allows him to be without James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke while still expecting to seriously challenge consistently. What that does not excuse is the lack of ambition Spurs showed in this game. Three shots, the first of which was Richarlison’s speculative goal, is what you would expect from a promoted side at the Emirates. Similarly, setting up with a back five said that Spurs were more concerned with stopping Arsenal than with how they might win the game. Frank will need to be more proactive in big games as Tottenham manager. His Brentford were very good at getting points against the teams they should get points against but less impressive against the top sides. It is natural that there is a period of adaptation when you step up a level but the best coaches learn quickly. Frank is a good coach but if he wants to be a great one then he must find a way to align his pragmatist tendencies with an approach that puts his teams on the front foot when the standard goes up. Tom Bassam
Emi Martínez is a very strange goalkeeper, his personality far more noticeable than his talent. He is an irritant, a great wind-up merchant and huge personality who manages to dominate his environment through ego alone. As Leeds’s apparent equaliser was checked by the video assistant referee, he stood close behind Robert Jones, the on-pitch official, with his head cocked, listening in so blatantly it was comical, before giving a brief grin and nodding to inform his teammates that the decision was going their way. The cliche, which is not entirely untrue, is that he is the sort of player you love to have in your side but despise if he is an opponent. Yet his abilities as a goalkeeper are also mixed: he made two outstanding saves on Sunday, but also cost his team the opener with his weak challenge on Lukas Nmecha, preferring to clutch his head in supposed agony than simply claim the ball.
A straw poll among Sunderland supporters in Putney Bridge’s Eight Bells pub, the cosy establishment that hosts away fans for matches at Craven Cottage, gauged that the defeat at Fulham was the worst performance of their team’s season. Bar an early effort from Bertrand Traoré and Enzo Le Fée’s fizzing shot in the opening moments of the second half, Sunderland created little. Fulham, a team low on confidence, with uncertainties abounding, should have won more easily than via a late goal from Raúl Jiménez. In the second half Sunderland retreated into a shell as if hanging on for a point. Honeymoon over? Régis Le Bris said his team came off second best in individual duels, with Granit Xhaka unable to exert much influence in midfield. “We are still on the Premier League journey and we can lose, we can struggle, it’s normal but we are not happy,” said Le Bris. He and Sunderland’s fans expect far better next time.
The victory over Burnley was the first time Moisés Caicedo had not featured in a Premier League game during Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea reign, a rest taken on the Turf Moor bench after a tiring international break with Ecuador. Andrey Santos was selected to replace Chelsea’s main man in midfield, who was not required for a straightforward win. Santos was able to drop into the defence when Chelsea were out of possession, while happy to do the work off the ball to protect the defence. The 21-year-old has needed to wait his turn in his favoured deeper role because Caicedo all but owns the shirt, the Brazilian instead often playing higher up the pitch. In what could become a hectic season, summed up by this week’s assignments against Barcelona in the Champions League and the Premier League leaders, Arsenal, being comfortable with rotating in a key area would be beneficial to Maresca. He clearly has the confidence in Santos.
It was the 95th minute and almost the final action of Crystal Palace’s deserved victory at Wolves but an episode that symbolised the differences between the sides. The Wolves wing-back Jackson Tchatchoua sent a hopeful cross towards the back post and, under pressure, Daniel Muñoz calmly chested the ball to his goalkeeper Dean Henderson. It was typically composed and in keeping with a slick Palace performance, illuminated by another fine display from Adam Wharton. Fresh from making his full England debut against Albania, the 21-year-old was graceful in midfield, especially compared to his Wolves counterparts. The hosts, who have two points from 12 matches, were understandably anxious. Wharton seemingly knows no such emotion. “He didn’t get the start [against Albania] because he’s the best header of the ball in England, but for his passing, his orientation, passing forward, his line-breaking passes,” Oliver Glasner said.
Alex Ferguson’s retirement affected various players whose careers were heavily reliant on his ability to extract the maximum from them. But none suffered as heavily as Danny Welbeck, hurried out of the door to Arsenal by Louis van Gaal to make room for Radamel Falcao, at a terrible time, the situation compounded by his body continually letting him down. Eventually, he left for Watford then, at 29, joined Brighton, a career that never really got going seemingly winding down. But then the injuries abated, allowing him to make the most of his prodigious gifts. Physically, he is strong and quick, but so are most players; what separates Welbeck is his well-roundedness, an adhesive first touch and imaginative link-up play supporting finishing that has matured nicely. If Thomas Tuchel had a battery of elite strikers available, he would still be a terrific option, a point of difference with a unique skillset useful in all phases and game states. But the paucity of options makes it impossible to leave him out.
Nuno Espírito Santo has undoubtedly stabilised a West Ham side that, under Graham Potter, were going only one way. And, after successive uplifting wins before the international break, another three points looked imminent when they led an under-strength Bournemouth 2-0 after 35 minutes. But then, before the hour, Nuno removed Callum Wilson, scorer of both his side’s goals, to introduce Tomas Soucek, and the game changed, Bournemouth scoring twice to steal a point. Nor did his explanation – “I was trying just to have another presence with Tomas there, it worked before” – make much sense. A football team needs a centre-forward because without an out-ball, a threat in behind and a box presence, opponents can push up to dominate with little risk. Nuno’s conservative mindset may have worked well at Nottingham Forest, for one season, but it eventually cost him at Wolves, meant he never got going at Spurs, and does not suit his current squad.
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