1. Is this really an open title race?
The most open title race for years. One of six could win it. This one will go all the way to the wire. You could pick any of those statements at random and find them in almost any newspaper every weekend at the moment. However, all of these statements continue to rely on something that, at this stage, still hasn’t happened. And that is Arsenal suffering a bad run of form. Consider this for a moment. Sir Alex Ferguson is still at Manchester United and after 15 games his team find themselves 5 points clear at the top of the table. They find themselves in good form, scoring goals, with the best defensive record to boot. They possess the stand out contender for player of the year and all of their rivals continue to drop points almost every week, especially away from home. Would anyone be saying this was an open title race? No. They would be saying the writing was on the wall and this could be over by March. Arsenal of course, aren’t Ferguson’s United. Even if they are a more credible alternative than David Moyes’ United. But January looms closer and the Gunners injury list is shortening. Centre forward aside, they are well stocked in every area. Indeed, their midfield cup runneth over with such riches that their rivals must be sick of the sight of pacy, creative magicians coming off the bench if the first lot haven’t done the job. Arsenal didn’t even win this weekend and still extended their lead at the top. They have two huge games up next in City and Chelsea, but even if they get say, one point from those two they would remain top and see themselves playing the current bottom quarter in 5 of their next 6 fixtures. Of course, if pushed, I too would probably not put any money on them winning the league. But it will be interesting at what point people stop considering them to be merely having a very good run... and realise that they are quite clearly the team to beat.
2. Jose’s defence is full of holes
It’s safe to say that this weekend’s result at the Britannia was right up there with any shocks we’ve had this season. A badly out of form Stoke, who hadn’t scored in 4 hours of football, coming from behind to draw and eventually beat Chelsea by 3 goals to 2. Jose bemoaned his attackers afterwards, and he had good reason to given a Chelsea centre forward has still not netted an away league goal in 2013. But 99% of the time, scoring two goals against Stoke is gonna be enough to win the game. The reason Chelsea lost on Saturday wasn’t because Fernando Torres missed a string of chances, it was because Mourinho’s side currently cannot defend a set piece to save their lives. After conceding 3 goals in this manner to Sunderland midweek, the Chelsea boss saw his team pegged back by yet another terrible set piece mix up. To rub salt into his wounds he then witnessed several mistakes in the build up to Sunderland’s second, before the sight of Assaidi turning Ivanovic like he was a duck on ice and hammering in the winner. Chelsea have stuttered this season like everyone with the exception of Arsenal and Everton. But they key to any title winning team remains the defence. The ability to grind out 1 nil wins when you’re not playing well being far more important than scoring half a dozen when you are. Chelsea don’t look capable of doing that at the moment. Ashley Cole can’t get a game, John Terry is playing every minute despite question marks over his fitness and Ivanovic is a sham of a right back. Sure he’s brilliant going forward, but only really from set pieces. He has continuously given his best performances for Chelsea from centre back so it baffles me why he is still deployed out wide whilst Azpilicueta, the best right back in the league, is using his wrong foot on the other side. Jose hasn’t really changed four of his back five all season, and with different options and personal available... perhaps it’s time he did.
3. Tony Pulis could organise a damn good piss up in a brewery
Three games, two wins, two clean sheets, two goals for Chamakh. It’s early days but this is already a miracle healing job from Tony Pulis. Crystal Palace obviously haven’t bought anyone since Pulis took over, and indeed the most negative manager outside of Greece has actually started playing two up front. What has changed though is plain and simple organisation. And there are few people better at it than our Tony. Crystal Palace have been a regimented unit of efficiency in their last two games. Closing down space, marking intelligently and actually learning the art of defending a set piece. They are still in the relegation zone, but only on goal difference and are now just a win away from 15th spot. Chelsea away is next up which should give us more of an idea how Tony is doing. If Chamakh can score against England’s Brave John Terry then anything is possible. Expect a recall for his beloved country hopefully.
4. Martinez & Pardew should be happy to be ignored
Arsenal and Man City’s home team aside, the two clubs who should be getting the most credit at present are Everton and Newcastle. The former are playing some truly wonderful football and have, seemingly overnight, evolved into a squad full of young attacking talent harnessed by a rock sold defence. The latter are the best example of a “team” in the league - with each and every player doing a job for the good of the unit. Alan Pardew’s men have beaten Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd in the last month with a collective scoreline of 4-0 in their favour. A feat that won’t be matched by anybody come May. They sit in 5th and 7th respectively, both within striking distance of the Champions League spots. They also, of course, both won at Old Trafford this week and on both occasions were not given their fair share of praise from a media more focussed on the wreckage of Alex Ferguson’s title winning side. They should be grateful for this though. Football is a fickle business and, as a general rule, if nobody is talking about you it’s probably because you’re doing a very good job. Both these managers are, in highly contrasting ways. But they both deserve huge credit in a season that is really separating the men from the David Moyes.
5. Manchester United could get worse, before they get any better
With the parting words of Sir Alex ringing in their ears, it is likely that the board of Manchester United will give David Moyes until the end of the season to prove to them that he is the right man for the job. After 15 league games, he looks anything but that. People can criticize the squad he was left with all they want, but it was still a squad that won the title by a near record margin and Moyes was well aware of the flaws within it even before he took over. Of course, the Fergie Factor goes a long way, but even without that, the time has very much come for Moyes to be judged on his own two feet. Put bluntly, he is failing on every single level that you can judge someone on. His team selection is seemingly random, with no hold of the art of rotating players for the right fixtures whatsoever. His defence is creaking, error strewn and lacking in basic organisation. Something that he was famed for at Everton. His midfield doesn’t function either as a creative force or a protective one. He has killed, stone dead, the careers of Nani, Young, Cleverly, Fellani, Kagawa and Valencia in 4 months. Players who clubs would have fallen over themselves to sign a year ago (ok maybe not Cleverly) and now couldn’t be sold to Sunderland. His attack has become hopelessly one dimensional, reliant completely on Rooney to the extent that the striking talent of RVP and Hernandez looked like they had no idea what they were doing on a pitch together. But worst of all, worse even than his insipid, cowardly post match interviews, is his complete lack of man management.
Looking around the pitch during the last four games, none of them victories, I could see nobody bar Rooney and De Gea who looked bothered about winning. Many people pointed to the good work on a limited resource Moyes had done at Everton as why he should be given a shot at the Utd job. Others, and I wasn’t one of them then, instead looked at a record against big clubs or in big games of somebody who did not possess the necessary nous, bottle, ability... whatever you want to call it... to get his team over the line when it mattered. Right now those people are laughing. Because as manager of Manchester Utd, League Champions, every game is a big game. And right now it’s becoming increasingly clear that David Moyes simply cannot handle the pressure.
Utd obviously won’t win the league and they probably won’t get near the top four bar a complete collapse from both Merseyside clubs. To be honest, it’s probably best if they finish mid-table, take it on the chin and realise that whilst Fergie did more good for his club than any in its history... he left them up shit creek without a paddle when he choose his replacement.
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