Luis Suárez and Jack Colback had impressive weekends for their clubs but questions remain over Joe Hart's and Wilfried Bony's form. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Getty, Richard Sellers/Getty, Ben Stansall/Getty, Peter Cziborra/Action
1) Is Suárez a top-five hit?
Steve Clarke reacted to Luis Suárez's hat-trick against his West Bromwich Albion side by saying the Liverpool forward is definitely among the top five strikers in the world at the moment. It prompted two questions: is he? And if so, who else is? Much depends on the definition of a striker and if players who start off in deeper or wider positions, like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, are excluded, Zlatan Ibrahimovic surely has a cast-iron case for inclusion in the top five and Robert Lewandowski a strong one. Edinson Cavani and Falcao became two of the most expensive forwards of all time this summer. Meanwhile, Suárez has competition from Premier League rivals such as Sergio Agüero, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, plus attackers elsewhere like Mario Mandzukic, Karim Benzema and Antonio Di Natale. The top five? You decide. Richard Jolly
2) Finally time to drop Hart?
Oh, Joe. Not again. It is the easiest thing in the world to make too much of a goalkeeper's error, a case all to often of simply blaming the nearest person when the ball ends up in the net. Goalkeeping errors are nebulous, arguable, subjective. Did Petr Cech make an error for Sergio Agüero's equaliser at Stamford Bridge? Nobody knows for sure. And even when they're clear, mistakes come with a margin for tolerance. There will be mistakes and half-mistakes and moments of doubt. The question is just: how many before it's too many.
Joe Hart was at fault for Chelsea's winning goal against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. He should have stayed on his line as Fernando Torres chased Willian's lofted pass. The ball would have been cleared. The match would have been drawn. It was a bad decision to intervene, the only real mitigation the strong wind blowing from behind his goal that may or may not have held the ball up. There might have been mitigation too – in the fact Hart had a good game otherwise, looking assured and confident and saving inventively with his legs on one occasion, were it not for the fact this has become a bit of a thing.
Outright errors and soft goals conceded have been a theme. Manuel Pellegrini, white with anger and disappointment after the game, refused to make any excuses for his goalkeeper, or even to offer him any support, albeit what may keep Hart in the team for City and England is an absence of any really compelling alternatives.
There are two points worth making. Hart probably deserves to be dropped. It might do him some good. He seems at times too pleased with himself, too prominent, too intent on making an intervention, too swaggeringly present. Plus he also seems to have a recurrent flaw, opting too often for the slightly wild sprint of his line which looks so formidable when it works, but leaves him open to making split-second misjudgments, as here, that can be fatal. Stay at home, Joe. And while you're at it maybe have a seat too. Barney Ronay
3) Shawcross booked … in Stoke's dressing room
There is little Mark Hughes has not seen in professional football over his career as player and manager but Saturday provided a first for the Stoke manager as his defender Ryan Shawcross was booked in the sanctity of the visitors' dressing room following an altercation with Robin van Persie. The pair were separated, and spoken to, by referee Lee Mason as they became embroiled at a set-piece shortly after Stoke had taken a 2-1 lead, the dispute continuing as the teams went down the tunnel. "Ryan was booked in the dressing room," said Hughes. "The referee made a point of knocking on the door and booking him. I've no idea why. He pushed him I think but I've no idea because I didn't see the incident but he wanted to book Ryan. I've never known anyone get booked in the dressing room before." The ill feeling continued after the game with the players exchanging words in the tunnel area as the media conducted interviews. Ian Whittell
•
4) Szczesny shines in harshest spotlight
Goalkeepers tend to mature later than outfield players, their job as much about judgement and temperament as reactions and athleticism; Peter Schmeichel, for example, didn't turn professional until the age of 23, and played for Brondby until he was 26. But in the dash to snatch as many players as possible as young as possible as quickly as possible for as little as possible, goalkeepers are forced to learn on the job and expected to perform earlier in their career than was once the case, resulting in a public, professional puberty that naturally results in some awkward and embarrassing moments. David De Gea and Wojciech Szczesny have both suffered in this aspect, and though it is fair to criticise mistakes that they make, the notion that neither had the ability to succeed – asserted by so many, and with such certainty and alacrity – was harder to fathom. Both possess the physical attributes and capacity for brilliance required to excel – or, put another way, that which cannot be taught – and their incrementally adding anticipation and consistency – that which can be learned and acquired – is almost inevitable. So when, on Saturday, Szczesny made two outstanding saves to preserve Arsenal's lead over Crystal Palace, no one ought to have been surprised – and likewise, when he makes his next apparently avoidable error, nor when he progresses to become one of the world's best goalkeepers.Daniel Harris
5) Are Everton really that different under Martínez?
The extent to which Everton have changed under Roberto Martínez is a subject of much enjoyable debate amongst the club's supporters. While acknowledging the considerable impact being made by additions Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry and James McCarthy, some maintain that in terms of style the Toffees are not so very different from the David Moyes era. Two things have unarguably changed however. Firstly, when Everton go in front they now appear far more eager, willing and able to make the most of the space left by an opposition forced to commit numbers in attack. And secondly, Martínez makes substitutions that change games. Just as Steven Pienaar scored with his first touch in the previous game against Hull City, so the introduction of Leon Osman made a crucial difference against Aston Villa on Saturday. Against West Ham in September, it was Lukaku. Luck or acuity, the result is Everton's best start to the season for nine years. Richard Rae
•
6) Saints go marching on
The pictures at St Mary's tell a story. Or rather, they tell of the club's eagerness to create a new story. At the start of this season most of the photographs adorning the walls inside the stadium were replaced; out went many of the reminders of old glories, in came huge shots of the club's current young thrusters, each image emblazoned with enormous, portentous captions declaring "Our Time Is Now" and "Our Dream is Real". The message is loud and clear: Southampton believe they are on the verge of something special. They are starting to convince the rest of the country. Paul Doyle
•
7) Is AVB wise to criticise Spurs' home support?
The manager had been working up to this. It had needled him for some time and, perhaps, he reasoned that he was safer speaking out after awin, which his Tottenham team secured against Hull City thanks to Roberto Soldado's dodgy penalty. Villas-Boas has felt the love and vocal backing of the club's away support which, by definition, contains the die-hards and he sees the link between it and the team's encouraging results.
But at White Hart Lane, the story has been different. Tottenham have frequently struggled to break down their opponents and the home crowd have been frustrated. They have made their feelings known. What comes first? The poor support or the uninspiring football? Villas-Boas believes it is the former. He feels that the team need a lift from the stands because, as was the case against Hull, the atmosphere is dragging them down. It was as though Tottenham were "the away team", Villas-Boas said. "It is like it drags the ball into our goal instead of the opponent's goal." He added: "We had to dig deep within ourselves because we weren't getting any help from anybody." And this was not simply how he felt. "It is something that is felt within the squad," he said.
Villas-Boas can be commended for his honesty and he does have a point. When Tottenham labour, the frustration is palpable and it cannot help the team. His intentions were well-meaning. But would it have been better to keep schtum, as to criticise the paying fan in such terms has the potential to backfire and to drive unwanted narratives? It has, at the very least, given rivals supporters a good laugh and the material for future chants, which will surely be rooted in the notion that "even AVB thinks you're shit". David Hytner
8) Colback is a central midfielder and Cattermole is better than even he thinks he is
Jack Colback has been played out of his position, and often excelled, at left-back in recent months/years but he showed against Newcastle that he can cut it at the heart of a 4-4-2 after all. No matter that he and Lee Cattermole lack a bit of pace, not to mention height; they shone against Yohan Cabaye, Cheick Tioté and Moussa Sissoko, although both can clearly improve. Wearside fans must hope that a coaching process started by Paolo Di Canio – for all his man-management faults – can be continued by Gus Poyet. If so, the future is surely ultimately bright for Colback, Cattermole and Sunderland. Louise Taylor
9) The curious case of Wilfried Bony
Swansea are not prone to spending big, so when they splurged £12m on Wilfried Bony in the summer it raised a few eyebrows. On the face of it, Bony seemed like a decent addition to a team that had been forced to play without an orthodox striker for much of the second half of last season. The expectation was that Bony would weigh in with plenty of goals and relieve the burden on Michu's shoulders. Yet despite scoring twice in the Europa League on his Swansea debut, things have not happened for Bony, who has completed only one Premier League game this season and been among the substitutes more often than he has been in the starting XI. Although Laudrup has spoken about giving Bony time to adapt, it is hard to escape the feeling that the Swansea manager is not sold on the Ivorian. All of which seems a little odd. Stuart James
10) Fer: not just horsing around
All is fair in love and war and all is fair when you are in the bottom half of the table and sinking fast. Ricky van Wolfswinkel's injury-time throw fell at the feet of Leroy Fer and landed Fer with two options. Give the ball back to Cardiff since they had kicked the ball out due to an injury to Alex Tettey; or try and win three points for his side. Given the fact that Norwich sit in 18th spot, have just two wins all season and are in desperate need of points, he chose the right one and fired the ball into the Cardiff net. (Fer's effort failed to count as the referee, Michael Jones, had apparently failed to blow his whistle). Fair play from Fer it wasn't but with Norwich's present predicament, fair play to them should be what unicorns or Santa Claus or endless love are to the rest of us, pie in the sky. The Dutch midfielder is paid to help his side win matches and that is exactly what he did. You can be sure that if the goal had been allowed at the other end of the pitch, the Cardiff manager, Malky Mackay, would not be arguing that "common sense prevailed". Ian McCourt
No comments:
Post a Comment
thank you for your precious time and feedback.