There was a time when a search for the best two teams in England wouldn’t have needed to take place outside of a park on Merseyside. Ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal, and far better than Chelsea and Manchester City, were Everton and Liverpool, the two clubs separated by a stretch of grass known as […]
Category Archives: Off the Mark
Off the Mark: Of course Arsenal can win the league… but they’ll need to get lucky
Another week, another impressive Arsenal result, another few days of hearing that they can’t possibly win the league.
The Gunners’ impressive 2-0 victory over Liverpool opened up a five point gap at the top of the table, the kind of advantage that would be described as ‘commanding’ or ‘dominant’ were it being enjoyed by say, a Manchester City or a Chelsea.
But instead there is a sense that everyone is just waiting for Arsene Wenger’s men to slip up, for them to succumb to the same old failings and to fall away from the challenge of what would be a first trophy in nine years.
That might still happen of course, but claiming that Arsenal definitely won’t win the league this season is simply wrong. Of course they can win it.
They have comfortably been the most impressive side in the division during the opening quarter of the campaign, and what’s more they have the points to prove it.
Since the embarrassing 3-1 opening day defeat at home to Aston Villa – a loss which led to some of us calling for the club’s attitude to change – the Gunners have won eight of their nine Premier League matches.
Whilst City and Chelsea – the two clubs that the bookies fancy more for the title than Arsenal – have been losing at places like Cardiff, Villa, Everton and Newcastle, Wenger’s men have plotted a serene course, only dropping points at a West Brom side who were a week on from a win at Old Trafford.
The notion that the table toppers haven’t been seriously tested was put under a decent threat from a Liverpool side who certainly worked hard at the Emirates last Saturday evening, but the manner in which Brendan Rodgers’ men were kept at an arm’s length and eventually brushed aside showed the quality that Arsenal possess, and more importantly the individuals who they have to enforce that.
As we mentioned when discussing Everton recently, squad depth is incredibly important in the Premier League, and a look at Arsenal’s substitutes on Saturday suggests that theirs isn’t the greatest.
Lukasz Fabianski, Thomas Vermaelen, Nacho Monreal, Nicklas Bendtner, Carl Jenkinson, Chuba Akpom and Isaac Hayden hardly strikes you as the bench of potential champions, especially when you compare it to the riches that Manuel Pellegrini and Jose Mourinho can keep in reserve.
Of course that will change for Arsenal when the likes of Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Mathieu Flamini return to full fitness, but right now the Gunners are relying upon their first team to do the business. Luckily for them though, they’ve got one of the best of those in the division.
Wojciech Szczesny is maturing into a fine goalkeeper, Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker are a solid unit, Mikel Arteta is a calming influence, Aaron Ramsey might have made some sort of goalscoring pact with the devil, Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla are outrageously gifted and Olivier Giroud is a growing, increasingly imposing presence.
Keep those eight fit and healthy and Arsenal are as good as anyone on the continent, never mind the Premier League.
Of course, they are going to require a large slice of luck for that to happen, but any notion that the Gunners ‘can’t’ win the title should be met with a read through that list of players.
This week brings tests away at Borussia Dortmund and then Robin van Persie’s Manchester United, but why spend time worrying about them? Why spend time worrying about anything at the moment?
Arsenal have been superb and fully deserve their place at the top of the Premier League table, a table that they have a fantastic chance to still be at the head of come May.
They just need luck to stay on their very talented side.
Hughton and Jol in a sack race
The fact that Norwich kick off two-and-a-half hours later than Fulham on Saturday could be hugely significant.
Both Martin Jol and Chris Hughton are facing uncertain futures at their clubs, with another defeat at the weekend perhaps proving the final straw.
Jol’s Fulham face the trickier test with their trip to take on a Liverpool side determined to bounce back from the Arsenal loss, and with an international break looming it could be seen as the perfect time to bring in a new man.
It is Norwich though, off the back of their 7-0 mauling at Manchester City, who could be under the most pressure.
Fail to win at home to a solid West Ham outfit in front of a primetime Saturday night audience, and Hughton could be facing some difficult questions.
If Jol loses heavily at Anfield though, those questions will be coming to the Dutchman a little earlier.
Having a Hull of a time
Hull are in the top half, six points clear of the drop zone. In previous years, that’d be enough for Phil Brown to start breaking out in song.
Thankfully those days are long gone now, but Steve Bruce has got plenty to crow about during what has been a very impressive start.
Relegation certainties for many, the Tigers are on the prowl and could be worth backing to get a good result at Southampton this weekend.
Southampton v Hull – Draw or Hull Double Chance is priced at 11/8 at BetMcLean.com
Off the Mark: Joe Hart hasn’t become bad, he’s just forgotten what made him good
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You’ll have seen them all by now, the hashtags, the harsh comparisons and the jokes no doubt ripped off and retold to thousands of followers across the globe. When you’re in a slump, Twitter is not your friend.
When you’re the goalkeeper for England and Manchester City, not many other people are either.
Each error is going to be seized upon and dissected in minute detail, and so the aim has to be to simply stop making as many mistakes. For Joe Hart, that is proving easier said than done.
City would have welcomed a point from their weekend visit to Chelsea, especially seeing as they fell behind in the first half and responded well in the second.
There were crucial momentum points up for grabs there, points perhaps more important than the one they were to achieve from the 1-1 result. Then disaster struck.
Hart’s error in not trusting Matija Nastasic enough to deal with both a lofted ball forward and an onrushing Fernando Torres turned one point into none, an encouraging draw into a damaging loss and a decent result into a third league defeat of the season. That’s the same as Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool combined.
Despite maintaining the title of the top scorers in the division, City’s away form now shows just one win in five. Maintaining that won’t even get them into the top four, never mind the top one.
Hart has been the man blamed by many for this slump, and decisions such as his last minute rush of blood at Stamford Bridge indicate why.
Is this the same man once widely thought to be the best goalkeeper in the Premier League? Physically yes, give or take a few skin flakes he’s removed from his scalp, but mentally the answer looks to be no.
Judging by his lack of faith in Nastasic’s ability to deal with the Torres situation, Hart simply hasn’t got enough trust in his defence at the moment. The company around him doesn’t fill him with confidence, as opposed to the Kompany who usually keeps him safe.
The absence of City’s skipper Vincent Kompany – who has started just four of his side’s nine league games this season, completing only two of them – is the key to Hart’s struggles.
Of course the Belgian isn’t a one-man defence capable of shielding Hart from any shots heading towards his goal, but he does inspire others around him, including Nastasic. Hart would have played behind the Serb on plenty of occasions, but the Nastasic he’ll have seen lining up alongside Martin Demichelis on Sunday would have been a different player to the one the goalkeeper would see playing with Kompany.
Perhaps Hart is also lacking that leadership in front of him when he plays for England too, with Roy Hodgson picking the likes of Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill and Joleon Lescott at centre-back, none of whom possessing the organisational skills of, say, a John Terry.
Let’s not begin a tub-thumping call for the Chelsea man to return to international football though, and instead focus on a goalkeeper who hasn’t become bad, he’s just forgotten what made him good.
At 26, Hart could easily have another 10 years at the top left in him, and that decade is likely to feature one or two more slumps in form like the one he’s experiencing now.
If he can learn from it though, and remember to place trust in his defenders, then he might just look back on this period as the making of him.
City will certainly hope so anyway, as will those of us sick of reading those same old Twitter jokes.
***
Clear thinking is the key to Sturridge form
Liverpool’s forwards are a joy to watch at the moment, and while the spotlight was rightly on the brilliant Luis Suarez at the weekend, it is the development of Daniel Sturridge which is the greater attraction.
Twenty-one goals in 27 Liverpool games is statistic approaching Messi-Ronaldo levels, and it has been really refreshing to see and hear the forward talk with such openness and honesty about the need to de-clutter his mind in order to become a better player.
The fact that Sturridge has only awarded himself “a six or seven” out of 10 for his Reds career so far (and the seven didn’t sit well with him) suggests that he’s his own harshest critic, but goals like the brilliant chip against West Brom at the weekend don’t come from six or seven out of 10 players.
They come from superstars.
***
Swans need to avoid Euro hangover
Swansea look handily placed in ninth at the moment, but that is just three points above the relegation zone.
Such is the tightness of the division they are likely to have slipped somewhat by the time they take on Cardiff City on Sunday, in a match that those who don’t follow football outside of the Premier League might be about to realise the significance of.
It’s going to be big, and with a Cardiff win taking them above their bitter rivals in the table, the Swans need to make sure that their European campaign doesn’t distract them from the bigger picture.
That picture, for much longer than Sunday, is purely made up of South Wales bragging rights.
Off the Mark: Pienaar’s return gives Everton competition and confidence
Substitutes were responsible for four Premier League goals last Saturday, with Everton’s Steven Pienaar beating Paul Dummett, Aaron Ramsey and Oscar to make the biggest impact of the lot.
It took the South African just 10 seconds to find the net after he replaced Leon Osman in the Blues’ home game against Hull City, a match in which the hosts weren’t at their best and were somewhat fortunate to keep 11 men on the field due to a couple of rash challenges from midfielder Gareth Barry.
Yet Roberto Martinez’s men still picked up the three points, something that was made possible thanks to their ability to introduce a player of the quality of Pienaar at such a crucial moment of the game.
Not even Martinez would have expected such instant validity of his decision of course, but it highlighted the importance of having a strong squad in the Premier League, something that is more important now than ever.
Take Chelsea’s recent 3-1 win at Norwich, a match in which Jose Mourinho’s side had been pegged back and were facing the possibility of dropping points until the Portuguese turned to his bench.
Sitting there, along with the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Gary Cahill and Michael Essien, were over £60million worth of footballers in Eden Hazard and Willian. The pair both came on, both scored and both played a huge part in Chelsea earning their win.
Their presence on the bench underlined the strength of Chelsea’s squad, a squad which is so strong that players of the quality of Romelu Lukaku and Victor Moses have been allowed out on loan this season, whilst Daniel Sturridge left the club permanently in January.
You can debate the whys and wherefores of those decisions of course, but ultimately they underline the competition for places at Stamford Bridge, a competition that all other teams must aspire to.
Of course the likes of Everton don’t have the funds to match Chelsea’s vast riches, but Pienaar’s goalscoring return at the weekend showed that the Blues from Merseyside have surely got their best squad of the Premier League era right now.
Across midfield alone they can boast Pienaar, Barry, Osman, James McCarthy and Ross Barkley, with their presences ensuring that the blow of losing Darron Gibson to a long-term knee injury has been softened somewhat.
On the flanks, Kevin Mirallas, Steven Naismith and Gerard Deulofeu compete for places, and whilst Lukaku will be the undisputed star man up top, Arouna Kone and Nikica Jelavic represent pretty decent backup.
Pienaar played the full 90 minutes in the three league games before he was struck down with injury, and so the South African will expect to come straight back into the starting XI now that he has returned to action so spectacularly, but with all of those other options available he might have to be a little more patient.
Martinez now has to juggle his resources and keep all the members of his strong squad happy, a tough job and perhaps the first such test he’s encountered in his managerial career.
His side’s trip to Aston Villa this weekend represents a good test of that squad, particularly as Liverpool and Tottenham – two teams who Everton want to keep up with – have already won there this season.
Manchester City lost at Villa Park though, proof that a strong squad doesn’t always guarantee success, but at least Everton have now become part of a group of Premier League clubs who can legitimately claim to have one.
COMPETITION Wednesday 23rd October
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Townsend proves that confidence is key
What’s better, a confident footballer or a good footballer?
The two are usually one at the same, and no-one else in the Premier League is demonstrating that better than Tottenham’s Andros Townsend right now.
Perhaps feeling freer to express himself following the sale of Gareth Bale, the winger is rewarding Andre Villas-Boas and Roy Hodgson for consistently picking him, and when you’re at the peak of your confidence then freakish goals such as the one he scored at Villa Park on Sunday tend to just happen for you.
Maintain that confidence, and Townsend can become a special player for club and country.
***
Hammers need Andy Carroll back
West Ham’s strikerless formation was rightly lauded at Tottenham, but against Manchester City the deficiencies within it were shown up.
Playing up against makeshift centre-back Javi Garcia the Hammers didn’t have a forward to trouble the Spaniard, with the recently re-signed Carlton Cole not quite up to scratch just yet.
If only Sam Allardyce had another forward to call, maybe a Geordie one with a ponytail and few England caps to his name?
Off the Mark: It’s a crucial month for Alan Pardew and Newcastle
Now on these pages we’re always going to be more concerned with club football than internationals, but Premier League news has been a little thin on the ground lately.
When Jack Wilshere finally stopped giving us a story a day on his social habits, the top flight tales fell away and were inevitably replaced by England’s quest to reach the World Cup, which ultimately they did, mostly without Wilshere’s help.
One little story did creep through though, and it has the potential to get even bigger over the next few weeks.
At the weekend Newcastle boss Alan Pardew suddenly decided to tell us that Magpies owner Mike Ashley – the man who pays his wages and who gave him that still unfathomable eight-year contract last September – sometimes gets “confused and upset” by the way football works.
You could say the same for the Newcastle defence in that first half at Everton of course, but Pardew was referring to the vagaries of the game behind the scenes, and how that has an effect on a man once frequently seen downing pints of lager and sitting in with the fans.
Those same fans are sick of him though.
A number of them are planning a protest march towards St James’s Park ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Liverpool, with Ashley the target of their ire.
They’ve done similar things before of course, and then, as now, the considerable frame of the owner has remained unmoved, but in the wake of his manager’s fairly unwise words how will Ashley react this time?
Things had just seemed to calm down a little from the summer shambles involving the reappointment of Joe Kinnear, a bad smell for Newcastle fans who simply won’t go away.
The team won at Cardiff before the international break – a win made possible courtesy of two goals from the in-form Loic Remy, their only major summer signing – whilst they recovered some lost pride in the second half at Everton and are through to the next round of the Capital One Cup.
A reminder of the disharmony behind the scenes will come with that march on Saturday though, and Newcastle could do with just focussing on their football ahead of what looks a tricky month.
They ‘welcome’ Liverpool to Tyneside less than six months after the Reds won 6-0 there towards the end of last season, a feat they achieved without the banned Luis Suarez.
That meeting this weekend will be swiftly followed by the Tyne-Wear derby and then games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham.
The City test is in the cup, but nonetheless Pardew will know that it forms a crucial part of a period which has the capacity to go drastically wrong for both him and his team.
A thinly-veiled, admittedly pretty meek criticism of Ashley probably isn’t the wisest move at this time then, and with the protest and in-form Liverpool now looming so large on the horizon, it doesn’t seem like the best time to get in the owner’s bad books.
No time is, of course, but this one seems especially needless given that the green shoots of recovery for the Magpies were starting to become visible.
Remy is scoring goals, Yohan Cabaye is back in the team following his summer flirtation with Arsenal and Pardew has dropped the simply awful Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.
The Cardiff win should see them approaching Liverpool with confidence, determined to wipe away the misery of that 6-0 loss.
Instead, the same old mess which seems to permanently engulf St James’s in a cloud of fog could well be in residence again come Saturday, when Pardew, Ashley, the baffling Kinnear and the long-suffering fans will try to blink through it and simply hope for the best, i.e. not 6-0 again.
***
Rooney tuned up
It’s been just over a month since Wayne Rooney returned to action, and in that short time he’s shown just why Manchester United fought to keep him so much.
On his day the forward can be unstoppable, and with England benefitting from his rejuvenation too then perhaps we could be seeing the renaissance of a man who had appeared to be going through a decline.
Nobody at United will admit that the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson was good for the club, but with that clearly fractious relationship now removed from his life, Rooney appears to have rediscovered a form that many thought had gone for good.
***
Give Gus a proper go
Gus Poyet and Sunderland might just work you know, if it is given time.
Of course, time is the one thing that you’re not guaranteed to get when you’re at the foot of the Premier League table with one point from seven games, but if Poyet can quickly instil his brand of football at the club than that win column should be filled soon.
Off the Mark: Fulham should give Martin Jol the boot and invest in youth
Oct 2
There might be other, more high-profile managers than Fulham’s Martin Jol on the back pages at the moment, but perhaps it’s time everyone started paying a little more attention to the men from Craven Cottage. Fulham have been one of the more curious elements of the Premier League ever since their promotion in 2001. The […]
Off the Mark: With Suarez back for Liverpool, the heat is on Rodgers
Sep 25
Remember Luis Suarez? Goalscorer, headline-maker, borderline basket case? Of course you do, and he’s soon to be back in a Liverpool side that – bar last weekend’s surprising setback at home to Southampton – did pretty well in his absence. That 1-0 loss to the Saints was the only one of the 10 matches Suarez […]
Off The Mark: Familiar feelings will be creeping in for worried Aston Villa
Sep 18
Football’s frequent ability to make fools of us all never quite loses its sense of wonder. It’s always there, lurking in the background and just waiting to make us eat our words. Just as those of us who saw Chelsea’s Andriy Shevchenko caress a shot into the bottom corner in the 2006 Community Shield against […]
Off The Mark: Time for Tottenham talking to stop as post-Bale era begins
Sep 11
The two media circuses have left their respective cities, leaving nothing but a trail of new replica shirts and a few scattered journalists in their wake. In Madrid and London the real work starts here, and whilst for Gareth Bale that means a trip to Villarreal and a first outing as the new plaything for […]
Off the Mark: Cardiff City’s great day against Manchester City was missing plenty of important people
Aug 28
The Premier League is, as we are often told, a “worldwide brand” the kind of which very few can compete with. Every weekend all over the globe there are people waking up at all hours to catch a glimpse of their favourite clubs, players and matchups, and they’ll do it all again and again. To […]
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