The extremely high quality of the goals scored by both sides at St. Mary’s last Saturday definitely and rightly stole all of the post-match headlines. Both Southampton and Queens Park Rangers went out with the sole intention of entertaining the public, and this target was met with consummate ease. The dream season currently experienced by Ronald Koeman and his Saints just continues endlessly – second place after six games is an incredible achievement, especially considering their crazy summer turnover of playing staff. The biggest challenge they will of course face is as and when they inevitably do lose a couple of games in a row – how will they bounce back, and will it all come apart at the seams?
It would appear that the team spirit is as good as it was last year, and arguably the new players have brought out the very best in some of the existing players on the south coast. The classic case being Nathaniel Clyne’s net-bursting strike at the Emirates last week in the Capital One Cup. Would the right back have scored a goal like that last year?
For Rangers, their season continues to be a tough slog; although, a 1-2 defeat to Southampton is a cause for optimism, and Charlie Austin’s fabulous strike indicates that he has made the transition to top flight football a smooth one. Austin looks very much at home at this level, and his goals and fitness could well be crucial factors in the battle for survival for Harry Redknapp’s boys this campaign. They still need to tighten up at the back, but in Rio Ferdinand and Steven Caulker, the R’s have a back line good enough to keep them afloat.
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have served up some classic, high scoring North London derbies in recent times. But on Saturday evening, both teams shared the spoils in a dogged, scrappy game – which ended in a 1-1 draw that neither side will have come away altogether happy with. Although Arsenal dominated with sixteen shots to Spurs’ six, the Gunners once again failed to find a cutting edge that would make their bitter rivals pay for their dominance, and although still unbeaten in the Premier League, Arsenal now have four draws on the board, which is not good enough in London N5. Such was the poor form of Tottenham going into this fixture, Arsenal were overwhelming favourites to win this match, and there still seems to be no “plan b” for Arsène Wenger when his side is frustrated. Translated as – they can only really play one way – the “Arsenal way”. But the issue is this: every other team is now wise to Arsenal’s strengths and slick passing game, that if they can close them down, they can effectively stop the Gunners; this is what Tottenham did.
Nacer Chadli has not had the easiest time at White Hart Lane, but he would have seen his name up in lights if his had his 56th-minute strike been the winning goal. But what Tottenham lack in flair this year is more than compensated for by a stubborn defence and an ability to suffocate a game. Mauricio Pochettino’s pressing style has won him many fans, mainly in Southampton, but he played his cards perfectly to nullify the threat of the opposition on Saturday. Both clubs are frustrated, unhappy ones currently – uncomfortable in their own skin. To shake off their indifferent starts, they will both need to remember how to be themselves again.
Gus Poyet is a lucky man at the moment. The Uruguayan must be the only man in the passionately heated hotbed of football that is the north-east of England grateful for Alan Pardew, as whilst five draws out of your opening six games is not entirely bad, it’s not that great either. Sunderland will not be pressing the panic button yet, though – but you would imagine if the Mackems don’t start winning games soon, the microscopic heat in this part of England that is currently beaming down will turn in Poyet’s direction – which would be harsh, yet football is a results-based business after all. It’s not even as if the team are playing that badly – if strikers Connor Wickham or Steven Fletcher had have buried late headers, the home side would have had the three points in the bag to celebrate, and against ten men, they should have won.
For Swansea City, this away point stopped the rot, and they would be the team happier with the outcome of a goalless draw following two consecutive defeats prior to this game. Àngel Rangel’s petulant red card comes hot on the heels of team mate Wilfried Bony’s silly dismissal last week, and this lack of discipline and certain bans of key players will be causing manager Garry Monk some anxiety for sure. The Swans will need to knuckle down and use this point as a springboard to get their encouraging season up and running again, for they have slightly lost their way over the last few weeks or so.
There is certainly a “spring in the step” for those boing-boing Baggies at the moment. Two wins on the bounce is justification to this, and their 4-0 success over Burnley is further evidence that West Bromwich Albion are now firmly in the ascendency after a slow start to the season. The game also revealed that rookie striker Saido Berahino is finally starting to make waves, after the highly rated English forward struck his second brace in two games already this season. Big things have been expected of Berahino, and West Brom will certainly be hoping there can be some ongoing consistency in his form.
The Baggies played very well on Sunday; Joleon Lescott was again outstanding at the back and for any struggles they may have endured this campaign, a lack of class is certainly not one of them. It was the kind of rallying performance, morale-boosting home win required by Alan Irvine and his troops – and the perfect tonic to last week’s victory over Spurs at White Hart Lane.
For Burnley, this season is rapidly becoming laborious, something the Clarets were only ever expecting upon their return to the big time. Sean Dyche is well aware of his team’s limitations, and that it has taken to game six for them to be properly dissected is testament to the organisational and defensive qualities Dyche has provided Burnley with. Their real weakness is very likely to be in front of goal though, where the Clarets haven’t now scored in eight hours and forty-six minutes of Premier League action, which is a mass cause for concern. Can they wait until January to rectify the “goal issue”? Only time will tell, but in the unforgiving top flight, it may well be too late by then.
There aren’t many worse things than being Alan Pardew right now, and it would take an extremely harsh individual to not have any sympathy at all with the beleaguered Newcastle United manager. Mercilessly vilified and crucified on a weekly basis by his own supporters, Pardew has now become the butt of his own boss’ jokes after the Newcastle owner Mike Ashley told a reporter he wanted to sever Pardew’s head should the Toon lose to Stoke City on Monday night. This was all some kind of “joke”, it was revealed, but I am sure that neither Pardew nor his family were seeing the funny side of Mr Ashley’s “comments”.
That the Geordies lost the game 1-0 seemed to be irrespective of the main circus activity, but the defeat once again highlighted the genuine lack of quality within the Newcastle squad. The summer recruitment drive was not thorough enough, and didn’t bring in the calibre or top flight experience that should be representing a club the size of Newcastle. For City, the victory is yet another step in the right direction for Mark Hughes and his merry men, who once again are proving to be a very difficult nut to crack in the Premier League so far. The “robot man”, Peter Crouch, once again found himself in amongst the goals, and a typical poacher’s finish it was from Crouch too. The Potters will come up against much better opposition than United this season, but they are organised, solid and with a bit more flair, could well go on and trouble some of the “bigger boys”.
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