Nick Miller breaks down all the highs and lows from matchday six of the 2018-19 Premier League season in our Weekend Review.
Goal of the weekend
The top corner was peppered by Premier League forwards this weekend: James Maddison for Leicester against Huddersfield; Alexandre Lacazette for Arsenal against Everton; Joao Moutinho for Wolves against Manchester United.
But because of the slick, one-touch passing in the build-up, and because it was a reflection of Manchester City’s superiority over both Cardiff and the rest of the Premier League, Ilkay Gundogan’s guided effort from the edge of the area takes this title. Good luck to anyone trying to stop them.
Combination of the weekend
Unai Emery had plenty of things on his to-do list when arriving at Arsenal, but near the top must have been how to get the best from Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Conventional wisdom, in these days of lone out-and-out strikers, would be to pick his favourite and stick with him up top, or rotate them.
Emery, however, is doing his best to get them both in the side at the same time, and it looks like it’s working rather nicely.
Neither particularly like occupying the left-sided role in Emery’s loose 4-2-3-1 system, but splitting duties probably helps share the load rather: Aubameyang and Lacazette swapped over a couple of times during the win over Everton, and an added bonus — or maybe the whole point of it all — was that it made their forward line less predictable.
It doesn’t necessarily impinge on either’s goal threat either: Lacazette’s brilliant goal came from the left, opening his body up and firing into the net with his right foot.
There’s a danger of this approach feeling like Emery is trying to shoehorn his players into a formation, rather than picking the best formation to suit his players. But, for the moment at least, it’s working.
Buck-passer of the weekend
The aftermath of the draw provided another example of Jose Mourinho’s mentality, which can be broadly summarised as: When his team wins, it’s his responsibility, but when they lose it’s someone else’s.
After Saturday’s game Mourinho suggested Wolves played “like it was a World Cup final” whereas United didn’t: Leaving aside the question of whose job it is to make sure the players’ attitude is right, his explanation was, as ever, instructive.
“I can’t explain the difference of attitude because I never had a difference of attitude,” he said.
Blame someone, not sure who, but not the manager.
Frustration of the weekend
There generally isn’t much middle ground when it comes to Paul Pogba. He’s a player about whom extreme opinions are the general theme, so the temptation is to place the truth somewhere in the middle of those who howl good and bad, to conclude he’s neither the best or worst.
But in reality he can be both, something he displayed in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Wolves. On the one hand he set up Fred’s goal with a beautiful pass, the sort of subtle and smart ball that makes you wonder how anyone could ever criticise this unfailingly elegant footballer. On the other hand, he carelessly ceded possession in the lead up to Wolves’ equaliser, trying a needless turn in the centre circle allowing Ruben Neves to whip the ball away from him.
It’s easy to see how people on both sides of the argument can find evidence to support their view.
Is Pogba’s best good enough to put up with the bad? Probably. But he’s certainly incredibly frustrating.
Job done of the weekend
Few associated with Tottenham could truthfully say their win over Brighton was a convincing romp.
But this was a win they needed by any means necessary, and contained enough flickers of light to suggest the good times haven’t disappeared forever. First, Harry Kane had the composure score his penalty despite some initial struggles this season. Then, after losing from winning positions in two of the last three matches, Spurs were good enough on Saturday to keep, and then extend their lead. Erik Lamela’s goal was a sweeping glimpse of Mauricio Pochettino’s side at their best, superbly finishing a flowing move that started from the edge of their own penalty area.
Tottenham’s problems are still there for all to see, but the solutions are too.
Doomed team of the weekend
Harsh perhaps to judge them after playing against Manchester City, but Cardiff are six games into their Premier League adventure with two points to their name.
Those two points were gained versus the only other two teams yet to secure a win, they scored in neither game and played against 10 men for about half an hour in both games.
Nobody expected Cardiff to cut swathes through the division, but their return to the top flight is going about as badly as it could do so far.
Reality check of the weekend
Maurizio Sarri might not have minded Chelsea’s draw with West Ham on Sunday, if only because it serves as evidence for everything he’s been saying over the last couple of months. Chelsea’s new manager has repeatedly insisted his side are way behind the Premier League’s best — specifically, Manchester City and Liverpool — but as they kept winning his words sounded more like excessive caution than realism.
A draw isn’t exactly a bucket of freezing water to the face, jolting Chelsea out of any complacency they might hold, but it did at least serve as a reminder of their current inadequacies.
Luckiest moment of the weekend
There wasn’t a lot of immediate controversy at the time. Perhaps the referee was unsighted. Troy Deeney forgave his assailant after the game. But there’s no escaping that Tim Fosu-Mensah’s shin-high challenge on Deeney when Watford were leading 1-0 was exceedingly dangerous, and should have been punished more harshly.
It almost feels a side-issue considering the injury the foul could have inflicted, but had Fosu-Mensah been sent off, would Fulham have grabbed a point?
Be the first to comment