Premier League Ponderings – Week 24
Day of the Derbies, Part 1: Hometown Harry
Who else but Harry Kane? Who else but the hometown hero, the born and bred Hotspur, the local legend in the making? Of course it would be him to lead Spurs past their biggest rivals and above them on the table.
Arsene Wenger named a predictable team in his 700th game in charge (predictable given injuries). David Ospina remained in goal (until this game he hadn’t ever conceded in the Premier League), with the only possible surprise being Danny Welbeck starting above Theo Walcott. But Danny brings far more on defence and he’s an absolute workhorse. Understandable.
As for Spurs, who ever really knows with their player selection? They have so many different players, so many names to choose from, and only about three of them (Eriksen, Lloris and, yes, Kane) really demand selection. That’s their problem, it’s why they’ve have so many ups and downs this season. Too many Luxury Players.
By that I mean players that players that may be capable of wonderful things, but rarely when it matters. Usually skilful, talented and exciting players but lacking in a few crucial fundamentals. There are Foundation Players and there are Luxury Players. And whatever else falls in between; I’ll expand on this theory some other time. Foundation Players are the ones who lay the platform. They do the hard work, the dirty work, so that others can flourish. Michael Carrick is a Foundation Player, Vincent Kompany is a Foundation Player, Nemanja Matic is a Foundation Player. They may be stars in their own right, but when they play it is 100% team first.
Then you have Luxury Players. Like Erik Lamela. The players who’ll score the fourth goal in a 4-0 win, but never score that crucial 85th minute equaliser. Mousa Dembélé has become one such player too (he wasn’t at Fulham, he was an important playmaker there). But then watch him against Arsenal, cutting onto his left foot, looking to take on his man every time, yet what did he actually achieve? One shot. There was some nice passing from him still, that’s where he’ll thrive. Unfortunately for him, his side is full of players who are all flash and no cash.
But they’re coming good. In Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb, they have two promising young Foundation Players. Spurs’ last three losses have all been in games where Ryan Mason didn’t play – he’s unbeaten since Chelsea did them in at the start of December! He’s been a major part of their recent form, though it can’t be understated that once the Europa League went on break there was an immediate upward curve on the form graphs.
Arsenal set up to play the Manchester City Strategy. Francis Coquelin as a defensive shield, the rest of the midfield there to work hard and get forward. It’s a 4-3-3 formation, but it’s almost a 5-5. Everybody has a defensive responsibility – find a centre forward who gets back as often and enthusiastically as Olly Giroud. It’s all hands on deck, crowd the field… then hit ‘em hard on the break. With Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck as outside forwards, that can be lethal.
What it means in effect is plenty of time without the ball. They have to let the opponents work it around, search for gaps and generally get frustrated while they themselves soak it all up like a sponge. All that possession and no end product, here’s the genius of the strategy: Arsene Wenger is making opponents play like Arsenal! It’s brilliant! All those years of dealing with his own critics, seeing teams figure out how to stifle his Gunners… it was all elaborate research for this new plan!
And it worked wonders in the first half. Mesut Ozil gave them the lead as he latched onto Giroud’s stretched effort following Danny Welbeck absolutely shredding Danny Rose for pace. Like, he left that sucker in his DUST. He skinned him alive. The pair had a bit of a battle all game. Words were exchanged. Welbeck was booked. But the winning blow was struck early. For a fullback in football, this is the equivalent of getting dunked on in basketball.
Also shout out to Ozil for going fill Gangsta Gollum in his celebration. Apparently it's for his niece or something.
For the fact that they were without the ball most of the first half – Spurs had 63% at the break – Arsenal were far better at establishing possession. Their first touch was, to a man, better and unlike Spurs they were able to lay it off to teammates in 50-50 situations where Tottenham would just punt it clear first time. They played with confidence, with belief, and deservedly lead 1-0 at half time.
But for some reason they changed things. Arsenal started playing football. They even had more of the ball in the second half. Perhaps they weren’t comfortable sitting on a 1-0er while David Ospina was playing in butter-coated gloves, perhaps it was clever on Mauricio Pochettino’s part, sitting back more and inviting Arsenal forward – which in turn creates more room for Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen. Whatever it was, the game really opened up at both ends in the second half.
Heroic Harry hit the equaliser from a corner. A header flicked on, Ospina parries it into danger just as he’d been doing all game. Kane had drifted out past the far post, but there was a man in place to deal with him (Aaron Ramsey).
But either he didn’t know that Harry Hotspur was there or he was too lazy to pick him up. Easy tap-in.
It really felt like we were headed for a draw. If any team were going to steal a winner (as is always a possibility no matter how the game is trending), it was Arsenal that had the more class up front. Yet it was Spurs that were trying their hands. Eventually the sheer volume of efforts tolled. 23 shots to 7. With their 23rd, they made it count.
Bentaleb, the 20 year old Algerian fresh back from the African Cup, made the cross. A gorgeous cross too, floated and curled dangerously from deep, and up leaps Happy Harry who supplies a – yes, I have to say it – Shearer-esque finish.
Tottenham fans were in spasmic raptures.
Arsenal fans… not so much.
So. 2-0 over Man City, 2-1 under Spurs (that makes sense, right?). Exact same tactics. What changed for Arsenal? For one they never got that second, killer goal. That’s the way of the wind with that strategy. Anyone can always score a goal at any point – if you’re relying on a 1-0 win then you’re gonna cop a few. What Spurs did to get themselves back into it was to keep plugging away. They shot from distance, they crossed from different angles, they attack with set-pieces and they tried a few long balls over the top. They didn’t get stuck trying to break them down through the middle. For 55 minutes it worked fine for Arsenal but once they let a goal in they had no Plan B. Hmm, when have I heard that before with this team…?
And how else can we finish this but for with a shout out to Harry Kane himself. Boyhood Spurs fan and Tottenham’s favourite son.
22 goals in all comps this season, no English based player has more. To be honest, it’s not like he’s leaving defenders in fits or scoring too many stunning individual efforts. He’s just a great finisher playing full of confidence. And striking, like no other position (not even goalkeeping, I’d say), is almost completely defined by confidence. His rise may seem rapid, but it’s all down to the knowledge that he’s guaranteed a spot each Sunday so long as he keeps banging them away.
The 2014/15 North London Derby: 1-1 at Emirates, 2-1 at White Hart Lane. Tottenham win by unanimous decision.
Day of the Derbies, Part 2: Zzzzzzzz
In stark contrast to a thrilling and entertaining North London Derby, we then had this. The Merseysider. With all the action of a Gareth Barry dinner party and about as much fun as a wet blanket.
Brendan Rodgers’ new formation, which is something close to Lousi Van Gaal’s 5-3-2, but with a few key tweaks (a midfielder in the middle of the back trio, more flexibility from the forwards). It fits Stevie G better by giving him more support and Raheem Sterling seems to be having fun. Something’s working, they haven’t lost a league game in 2015 yet. Since before Christmas in fact!
Meanwhile Everton are still figuring things out. Romelu Lukaku simply has not been the same player. He looks lonely and malnourished up front and no Leighton Baines immediately halves Everton’s chances of scoring. And he’s a left back so there ya go.
For some reason Ross Barkley, who’s one of my favourite guys in the EPL, was left on the bench, only getting a paltry five minutes at the end. Five minutes in which he provided a much needed direct, attacking attitude. It’s been a tough season for Ross, injury putting him out for most of the start of it when it looked like he was primed for a breakout campaign. He’ll be back, but his team’s struggles aren’t helping.
Raheem Sterling has been great all season. Daniel Sturridge hasn’t lost a step. But if there are two men that I’m gonna attribute Liverpool’s mini-resurgence (mini because a draw with Arsenal is their only game against a team currently ranked above them since the ‘resurgence’ began), those two men are Emre Can and Mamadou Sakho. Joe Allen is not on that list.
Stevie G rampages are starting to get ugly. He’s less Walter White killing all the Nazis with a car-boot rifle these days, and more like Scarface in that final scene.
Jordon Ibe (pronounced eBay) was Man of the Match. Brendan Rodgers called the teenager (making his second career Premier League start) “brilliant”, but he’ll find the positive things in anything. Ibe got the award because nobody else stood out. He nearly scored! Except this is football, not ‘nearly’. Still, the lad’s like a chunkier Raheem Sterling. He’ll do fine in this league.
The moment Rickie Lambert came on was the moment Liverpool settled for a draw.
The 2014/15 Merseyside Derby: 1-1 at Goodison, 0-0 at Anfield. Everton win on away goals.
Liverpool’s next game is at Anfield against Spurs. That’ll be a lot of fun.
Other Ponderings
See ya later Nigel Pearson. Or not. The Leicester City manager did good things in getting the club promoted, but he really does seem like a nutter. And there’s only so far a nutter can take you. So despite the usual calls for stability and patience, when your team is bottom of the table without a win and your manager is strangling opposition players, you should sack him. And he was… until he wasn’t again. With his firing being reported all over the place, the club came out and denied everything and offered a very tenuous line of support.
Who wants to make the Fergie Time reference with Man United’s draw at West Ham? No? Ok, I’ll do it. The Red Devils were straight up bad for a long time in that game, playing right into West Ham’s hands by being slow and getting completely dominated in the air. But then Mary Fellaini came on and actually won a few headers and Daley Blind came through right in time. A loss would have been terrible, a draw not so bad.
There were a few late goals this weekend. James Milner has ice in his veins. Although how the hell did they not beat Hull? Plus Saido Mane scored a deep winner for Southampton when QPR’s defence fell to pieces and Peter Crouch banked a late one for Stoke with a looping header in the 90th minute for a 1-1 draw with Newcastle. Moral of the story, don’t give up. Also don’t fall asleep until the game is over. Also also don’t let other teams score late goals against you. Depends where you’re sitting, I s’pose.
Darren Fletcher debuted as captain of West Brom. Meanwhile Tony Pulis isn't quite as keen on Saido Berahino having ambitions. HOW DARE YOU WISH TO BETTER YOURSELF!?
Steven Gerrard is not a popular man amongst Evertonians.