1) Has Wenger found the answer to his attacking needs?
Arsenal supporters were frustrated by the lack of additions to the squad in the summer, with a top-class centre forward top of the wanted list for most. But after Olivier Giroud’s header sent them on their way to a fourth successive Premier League win, could Arsène Wenger have finally found a solution to his options up front? Theo Walcott had kept the Frenchman out of the team in recent weeks as Wenger opted for pace over power and the tactic paid off in the victories over Manchester United and Watford. Against Everton, the Arsenal manager decided to switch things around and was rewarded with a classic centre-forward’s display from the more physical Giroud. “The main thing was that he was on good form and he brought something different compared to me,” Giroud admitted when asked about his job-share with Walcott. “We have different profiles and when he is a bit tired, I try to take the baton. I’m pleased to score but of course the boss can play with my profile or with Theo’s profile.” Wenger was also adamant that the pair could also play in tandem, although that would probably mean sacrificing one of the superb Alexis Sánchez or Mesut Özil. But while things are looking rosy right now, the true test will surely come in the coming months as the pressure begins to mount and the big games come thick and fast. Ed Aarons
2) Kouyaté shines again
Andy Carroll stole the headlines with his headed winner, Dimitri Payet took the breath away with some delightful touches and James Tomkins had one of the best games of his career, yet West Ham would not have beaten Chelsea without Cheikhou Kouyaté’s command of midfield. The Senegalese midfielder has been excellent this season, catching the eye with his surging runs and protecting his defence with some fine interceptions, and it is easy to see why West Ham turned down Tottenham’s approach for him in the summer. Kouyaté’s form is keeping one of West Ham’s main summer signings, Pedro Obiang, out of the team. Obiang arrived in England with a big reputation but the former Sampdoria midfielder is going to have to wait for his turn.
3) Howe requires a tactical tweak
It should be acknowledged first of all that Bournemouth have been in far worse predicaments over recent years than that in which they currently find themselves. Hovering just outside the Premier League’s relegation places would have felt a world away when this club was confronting winding up orders or languishing at the foot of League Two with -17 points to their name. And that was only seven years ago. Similarly, the success or failure of their first top flight season is unlikely to be determined by whether they can conjure wins over the likes of Spurs and Manchester City, who had dismissed them by a similar scoreline a week earlier. It will be the collisions with those directly around them which are likely to determine their fate. Yet, that said, Eddie Howe faces a colossal task in restoring confidence after successive 5-1 drubbings. His job was already tough but has been made intensely so by the injuries that have ripped out the spine from his first-choice team. Callum Wilson hobbled from his seat in the main stand on crutches just before the final whistle here. Tyrone Mings and Max Gradel are also nursing long-term cruciate knee ligament injuries. The captain, Tommy Elphick, is out with an ankle complaint, while Harry Arter, such a mainstay of last year’s promotion side, has yet to feature this term after a groin problem.
The list of walking wounded feels freakish. All of which has left the manager still seeking the right balance to his lineup to confront the scrap against relegation. “It’s a test, it really is,” said Howe. “You have your squad and you’re planning how you’re going to play, and then the spine is ripped out of your side. We’ve had to rejig things and we’ve not got the balance right yet between having an attacking threat and being resolute enough defensively. The side has been knocked out of its rhythm.” He sounded crestfallen post-match on Sunday, but one hopes the positivity will return in time. Howe must adjust and tweak his side to offer them a better chance of survival, even if that goes slightly against his purist footballing instincts. All is not lost yet and, if he can conjure a finish 17th place or above despite all the setbacks suffered to date, Bournemouth’s recent story would enjoy another upbeat and remarkable twist. But, even when a gulf of quality gapes as it did against Spurs, it is worth reminding all just how far this club has come in such a short period of time.
4) Is Rooney ripe to be dropped?
When do “special privileges” end and a player reverts to being just like the rest of the team? This may well become the searing question Louis van Gaal has to answer due to Wayne Rooney’s continuing unimpressive form. The Manchester United captain is not droppable. We know this because the manager has said so. As his on-field leader barring injury or an act of God the 30-year-old is the first name Van Gaal writes on the team-sheet because of those “special privileges” he enjoys. Yet Rooney’s insipid displays this term are stacking up. Against Manchester City in Sunday’s 170th edition of the local squabble the Sky Blues’ famous “We’re not really here” chant might have been rewritten to feature Rooney as the subject, so invisible was he. Afterwards Van Gaal professed to being “sick” of having to field posers about Rooney’s form. Publicly the Dutchman can refuse to do so, as he did in the Old Trafford press room. But privately Van Gaal may well be asking himself if Rooney should be dropped. In the summer he jettisoned Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao from the club. Rivaldo and Hristo Stoichkov are among other A-listers he has dropped previously in his career. Could Rooney be the next Van Gaal takes the axe to? It may only be for a game or two. It may lead to a Rooney revival. But, unless the Liverpudlian improves, it feels imminent.
5) Enjoy the unpredictability of the Premier League while it lasts
One conversation in the press room at the King Power Stadium on Saturday tea-time centred on which result from the Manchester derby would best suit Leicester City’s position near the top of the Premier League. “I can’t believe we’re even talking like this,” said the Foxes diehard. With Leicester, West Ham United and Crystal Palace still in the upper reaches, is the nature of the Premier League changing? Can we really hope for a more unpredictable, even egalitarian, elite division in England? Claudio Ranieri, the happy Leicester manager, believes so. “I think it’s good this year, the Premier League,” he said, “because you don’t know before what happened on the pitch and that is good for all the fans.” Alan Pardew said “I hope so” when asked whether the unfashionable clubs could maintain their invasion of the aristocracy but the truth is it is highly unlikely. The Palace manager was already starting to bemoan what he perceived as a lack of attacking options after this fourth defeat in six league games and injuries and suspensions will tax the clubs with smaller budgets and less strength in depth the further into the autumn we go. Come mid-winter, when European action breaks from early December to mid-February, those involved in the Champions and Europa Leagues will be able to divert their focus fully onto the task of re-establishing their well-bought league position. Look at West Ham last season. The hectic festive schedule is tougher for the smaller clubs, after which key players appearing in successive games invariably pay the price and pick up muscle injuries. So enjoy the unpredictable change of fare while it lasts. Ranieri was quite sensibly marking off the points required to stay up. It’s a sad reflection on modern football of course but the days when Ipswich Town, Queens Park Rangers, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest could suddenly mount a title challenge are consigned to the big screen.
6) Liverpool have a more pressing concern than gegenpressing
Three games into Jürgen Klopp’s tenure at Liverpool, all drawn and all slightly disappointing, the surprising thing is that no one is talking tactics or gegenpressing any more. Against Rubin Kazan in their previous home match, at least Liverpool attempted the high-energy game that their new manager supposedly favours. Against Southampton there was considerably less frantic running about. Not only were Liverpool wasting energy in their first couple of games under Klopp, they were not making the most of their time on the ball. The gegenpressing theory, after all, is based on what to do when your opponents have the ball – how to win it back quickly, how to rearrange in defence if that cannot be achieved and so on. As a theory it is fine but a greater problem for Liverpool at the moment is what to do when they themselves are in possession. Against Rubin Kazan, Liverpool saw far more of the ball than their opponents but struggled to do anything with it. While the game against Southampton was more evenly balanced, Liverpool were still short of attacking ideas. It does not help that Philippe Coutinho has been below par for most of the season and it is far from ideal that Christian Benteke and Daniel Sturridge have been injured. It would be unfair to judge Klopp until he has his strongest team at his disposal but Liverpool are crying out for creativity and attacking invention. What to do when their opponents have possession is currently the least of their worries.
7) McClaren doing well and Newcastle will be OK
Mike Ashley took a seat in the Stadium of Light directors’ box on Sunday. If that was not sufficiently shocking, Newcastle’s owner wore a collar and tie with only one shirt button undone – is he really coming over all establishment? Ashley presumably wanted to see his current manager Steve McClaren’s choreography of Newcastle prove precisely why he sacked Sam Allardyce back in January 2008. But luck was not with McClaren’s side on Wearside. Despite dominating much of the game, Newcastle lost 3-0 and remain in the relegation zone. Ashley though should keep the faith, his new coach has improved this team and, sooner or later, it will be reflected in the League table.
8) Monk deserves to see pressure ease
Amid all the talk of the crisis at Aston Villa and Tim Sherwood’s sacking, it was almost overlooked that Garry Monk had picked up a win that was not insignificant in itself. Swansea had gone six matches in all competitions without a victory and Monk saw the odds on him being the next Premier League manager to be sacked slashed in the lead-up to the Villa game. This, it is worth remembering, is the same manager who led Swansea to their highest ever Premier League finish last season and whose side currently sit 12th in the table. Swansea are not playing with the same conviction that they showed at times last season and Bafétimbi Gomis has badly lost his way but the idea that Monk should be under pressure is absurd. As for Sherwood, there’s enough of that elsewhere on the website but any Premier League manager that has taken one point from a possible 27, no matter what is going on behind the scenes, is going to find themselves out of a job. Stuart James9) Deeney deserving of Watford fans’ high praise
Take a trip to Vicarage Road and within minutes you will soon figure out who the outstanding hero is. Troy Deeney is adored in this part of Hertfordshire – the leading man in the Hornets’ promotion chase last season and a role model for not just his club but football in general. It was a lovely moment then to see him convert his 25th attempt of the season and finally score a Premier League goal at Stoke on Saturday and set Quique Sánchez Flores’s team on their way to a third win of the season. Deeney’s relationship with his strike partner Odion Ighalo also reeks of the old school – the former holding up play and linking it all together, the latter tasked with finding the net. Indeed Ighalo has been involved in all of Watford’s last seven goals, scoring five and assisting both for Deeney and Almen Abdi at the Britannia. It works and once they continue in this current form there should be no doubt of Watford’s ability to remain in the top flight.
10) Neil needs to be a little less naive
“The bottom line is, the game for us boils down to two boxes. Our box, we didn’t defend well enough and in the other box they defended it well. We must have put about 40 crosses into their box and they put about seven into mine and scored a header and should have scored another.” Alex Neil admitted that Norwich’s third straight defeat came about because they came up against a team that were supremely well drilled at the back. It should hardly come as a surprise that a Tony Pulis side is able to defend this way. His teams regularly boss the penalty area. And that’s why Norwich should have shifted their tactics when they realised that they were up against a towering defence that could deal with crosses into the box all day. Neil is a young manager who has laudable ideals. But against the Premier League’s wily old managers who know how to nick a point or three, he may have to be prepared to alter his attacking approach and instruct his team to be a little more patient as they probe. Norwich’s survival may depend on it.
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