1) Klopp’s intensity a vital spur for Liverpool
A good sign of Liverpool’s potential long-term trajectory under Jürgen Klopp was the way he continued to go nuts even when his side were coasting during their 4-1 trouncing of Manchester City. The manager had a seemingly running argument with Roberto Firmino despite the Brazilian being excellent during the win. As with the rest of his team-mates who felt the lash of the Klopp tongue, this was generally when the forward did not press quickly enough.
As James Milner, the Liverpool captain, said: “He’ll tell you if you’re not doing the right things and that helps. He’s in the game and you know he’s there with you. He wants you to do well. He knows you’re going to make mistakes and you’ll get a rocket but he’ll come up to you after and say: ‘Well done.’ Every manager is different. He’s different from the old manager but the longer we’re together, the better we’ll get.” Yes, and the rosier Liverpool’s prospects will become of challenging again seriously. Klopp, it would seem, is indeed the real deal. Jamie Jackson
2) Typical, typical Arsenal
It was put to Arsène Wenger after Saturday’s defeat at The Hawthorns that this stumble was typical of his team. “Yes, I don’t deny that,” conceded the Frenchman before elaborating without really explaining. “That is where we have to mature. I feel we took it a bit too easy at 1-0 despite the experience we have in the squad. I could feel it from the outside. Instead of pushing on we became vulnerable.” Laurent Koscielny, following his inadequate display against Tottenham and difficult week after the Paris attacks, continued his uncharacteristically poor form, while Héctor Bellerín was beasted by the excellent James McClean and Per Mertesacker’s solid spell seems to have ended. Arsenal’s defence was not helped by the early loss of Francis Coquelin, whose absence could undermine the club’s campaign if his injury turns out to be serious. Which, of course, brings us back to another familiar complaint about Arsenal, the failure to recruit a top defensive midfielder. For a team that can be so exciting, talking about Arsenal can be very boring. Paul Doyle
3) More attacking intent would have served Watford well
There was a feeling that Manchester United were there for the taking before kick-off, with Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial sidelined by illness and injury respectively. Yet Watford were tentative from the first whistle. Their passing was loose, their nerves were obvious when Allan Nyom slashed a clearance just over his own crossbar and Memphis Depay gave United an early lead. United were very good and they bossed the first half but Watford seemed scared to commit more players forward and take the game to them. They can be a cautious side and Quique Sánchez Flores has done superbly to lift them into mid-table. Yet they troubled United when they became more direct in the second half and, while it was a painful way to lose, Watford should have been more attacking from the start. Jacob Steinber
4) McClaren must rejig his midfield if he is to survive
All the knee-jerk talk about David Moyes being the ideal replacement for Steve McClaren is ridiculous but if it is to be banished Newcastle’s manager could do with results improving – and quickly. McClaren’s problem – and it would be the same for Moyes or any other coach – is that his squad lacks balance. Mentally fragile, it is horribly low on experience and leadership. The biggest problem area remains central midfield. Weaknesses in this department explain why the former England coach’s attempts to convert the team to a possession based passing game are foundering. With Jack Colback and now Cheick Tioté sidelined by injury, Vurnon Anita is the only available defensive midfielder. Anita, though, needs help and there are quite a few games to go until it can be recruited in January. McClaren could do worse than move Fabricio Coloccini to a deep sitting, midfield anchoring role as he switches his formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-1-4-1. The only drawback is that, with Steven Taylor still injured, he is light on centre-half options but it might be worth shifting Paul Dummett, limited at left-back but a potentially decent centre-half, to the heart of the backline and letting Coloccini reprise a role he has played before. Re-invention as a quasi-sweeper could be just the thing for an Argentinian who knows how to look after the ball. Louise Taylor
5) England outcast Walker shows his best and worst qualities
While Tottenham’s Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Harry Kane seem to be at the vanguard of England’s new generation, their club team-mate Kyle Walker’s place remains uncertain four years after his international debut. Since the now 25-year-old full-back was first selected England have played 49 times, with Walker starting 11 of those games and appearing as a substitute twice. On Sunday against West Ham, Walker showed his best and his worst, all within the space of three minutes. He had come forward well throughout, proving a useful and regularly used option on the right flank and delivering a couple of decent crosses while his pace – and Andy Carroll’s lack of it – allowed Spurs to defend high up the pitch, compressing play and aiding their pressing game. He capped what appeared set to be an overwhelmingly positive performance in the 84th minute when, set up by the excellent Son Heung-min, he scored with a wonderfully assured shot using the outside of his right foot.
Moments later Toby Alderweireld headed the ball into his path, just inside the Tottenham half and from an apparently innocuous position Walker contrived to make two terrible defensive mistakes and present West Ham with a consolation goal. First he mishit a pass towards Jan Vertonghen which Nikica Jelavic intercepted, then he was easily befuddled by Manuel Lanzini’s sleight of foot as the Argentinian made space to shoot. It was a moment of pure defensive haplessness and, as the ball hit the back of the net, Walker fell to the ground and put his head in his hands, conscious that his son, one of the home side’s mascots, was in the crowd – though perhaps the fact that Roy Hodgson was there as well will matter more in the long run. Simon Burnton
6) Norwich City must show some ambition in January
Retreat back to the summer and Norwich City, when considering the fixture list on their return to the Premier League, would hardly have pencilled a trip to Stamford Bridge as an opportunity to pilfer points and edge further away from the relegation scrap. Yet they travelled to south-west London above the reigning champions in the table and their inability to exploit the fragility that has flared so often in Chelsea’s defensive ranks will have left them infuriated.
Admittedly they did not end up departing utterly deflated by a narrow defeat but Saturday’s game had been an opportunity and one they lacked the bite to claim. Aggressive and awkward a forward as Dieumerci Mbokani is, he lacked sufficient support. Nathan Redmond and Robbie Brady did their best to create but they could not truly impose themselves on a nervous Branislav Ivanovic and a teenager, Kenedy, making his full Premier League debut and asked to operate at left-back.
Norwich tried and failed to add greater depth of quality to their ranks over the summer, their attempted trolley dash on deadline day yielding nothing more than Mbokani’s loan arrival, but the hope is they have planned early for January. They cannot afford to leave their forays into the market until the last minute once more. Leaving it late again would be dangerous. “I don’t think it’s a secret that we tried to add some quality in the summer,” said Alex Neil. “We tried to add numbers and, unfortunately, a few fell through on deadline day. We had three or four lined up but you are relying on other clubs and players to come and that didn’t happen for us. We were disappointed but will try to strengthen in January.”
Add a forward who can conjure between seven and 10 goals over the second half of the season and Norwich should have enough to survive. They had moved for Dwight Gayle, Jon Walters and Benik Afobe and been thwarted. A trio of foreign based forwards were also sounded out but none arrived. If their pursuit of reinforcements is more successful in mid-season, they are a team that can still thrive. Dominic Fifield
7) What is Aston Villa’s best XI?
It seemed a quintessentially Roberto Martínez thing to do. Everton’s substitutes consisted of a reserve goalkeeper, Joel Robles, and six midfielders. A purist could select an endless array of technical players and the Everton manager has alighted on a fine starting XI. The excellence of Ross Barkley and Gerard Deulofeu renders them first choices, no matter how many others covet their spots in the side.
Picking Everton’s team is comparatively easy. Choosing Villa’s is not. Perhaps only the captain, Micah Richards, and the goalkeeper Brad Guzan are automatic selections. The club were stripped of the spine of their side in the summer, when Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Ron Vlaar left, and seemed to opt for a policy of quantity rather than quality, recruiting 13 players at a total cost of £55m.
Managing them requires the ability not only to identify the best XI but to also work out the finest combinations for the team’s various departments. It is a challenge that proved beyond Tim Sherwood. His replacement, Rémi Garde, has so far benched his most potent striker, Rudy Gestede, looking instead to use Jordan Ayew’s counter-attacking pace. With Jordan Amavi injured, he turned to Kieran Richardson at left-back and saw the Englishman destroyed by Deulofeu.
Garde has restored his fellow Frenchman Jordan Veretout to the midfield but his anonymous showings prompt two questions: what does he do and what is he supposed to do? Meanwhile the £7m winger Adama Traoré is yet to make the bench under Garde while the outcast Charles N’Zogbia has been brought back into the squad. Each may be an understandable experiment but, as Villa’s plight grows more severe, Garde has less time to conduct trials. He needs to find his strongest side. It is no simple task. Richard Jolly
8) Keown’s punditry buffoonery
Brilliant as Gary Lineker is at hosting Match of the Day, there was one of those moments on Saturday night when the coverage had drifted away from the top clubs, time was ticking and one could sense the presenter was asking a question just so that the programme is seen to be showing an interest in every Premier League team. In other words, it was a token-gesture question, based around Eddie Howe staying true to his principles (what a tiresome subject), and it is hard to see what the point is in going down that path, especially when the pundit with the job of answering has no idea what he is talking about. Enter Martin Keown, whose knowledge of Bournemouth and the way their season has gone so far seemed to be purely based on statistics – which, quite frankly, anyone can trot out – rather than any insight. Keown rattled off the goals that Bournemouth have conceded, mentioned their failure to win in seven matches and suggested Howe might have to change his philosophy to give them a chance of staying up. Quite how that would work would be interesting to know. Howe has spent more than three years putting together a team that plays in a certain way – a style that most people would agree is easy on the eye – and has signed and coached players (yes, he also takes training) with that sort of football in mind. Why, then, should the Bournemouth manager have left the Liberty Stadium, where his team were excellent on Saturday and much the better side, thinking the time had come to change his approach? In fact, afterwards Howe reflected on some of the fine football his team produced and said: “If someone can find a better way of doing it than we are, then I will listen.” Perhaps Keown is your man, Eddie? Stuart James
9) Bojan’s decisive impact bodes well for Stoke
Bojan does not seem to score inconsequential goals for Stoke. Four of his seven top-flight goals across the last two seasons have been decisive and all have been critical to securing wins or draws for his team. His latest offering against Southampton was a neat winner at previously in-form side and, while adaptation issues and a bad knee injury have slowed his overall impact for Mark Hughes’ side, there are signs that the Spaniard is finding the kind of form that has been predicted – if rarely delivered – for a number of years now. A look at Stoke’s attacking trio of Bojan, Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri prompts two thoughts: the less generous of them is that it is probably a good job they have the indefatigable Jonathan Walters for company. The more positive is that, if consistency can be coaxed out of all three, then there will be few dull moments in the Potteries in future. The signs are that Hughes’ ambitious schema to change Stoke’s image is bearing fruit and that Bojan, who has now scored three times in nine league appearances this season, might just be becoming the kind of player a manager can hang his hat on. Nick Ames
10) Does De Gea have a claim to be the world’s best goalkeeper?
After 10 hours of football Manchester United’s goal was finally breached. But rather than the goal that beat David de Gea, attention must turn to the goals that were not scored, that the Spaniard prevented. One save in particular defied belief. With the score at 1-0 to United, Watford’s Almen Abdi shot from close range, the ball deflected off Chris Smalling but the Spaniard somehow adjusted mid-flight, reading the flight of the ball, and stuck out a tentacle to claw it wide. Abdi, hands atop his head, simply laughed at how preposterous it was. Afterwards Watford’s manager, Quique Flores, called De Gea “probably the best goalkeeper in the world” – a title long held by Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer. Flores is biased – he gave De Gea his debut at Atlético Madrid six years ago and the two remain close, with the keeper giving Flores an antique gold pocket watch when he left Atlético. “It is very English,” Flores conceded on Saturday – but it does not seem an absurd statement. How many points will De Gea be worth to United this season? 10? 15? More? He certainly earned them at least two this weekend. Michael Butler
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