Spurs are reaping the rewards for faith in youth.
This summer, Spurs shed the dead weight from their squad and for the first time
in the Daniel Levy era, gave full faith to their manager in backing his desire
to promote a young, athletic side of future stars and academy players. Spurs
first choice front six of Dier, Ali, Lamela, Son, Eriksen and Kane are 21, 19,
23, 23, 23 and 22. They don’t currently have a player anywhere near their squad
over the age of 28. The youngest starting eleven in the league’s history (taken
over a 10 game period) is currently unbeaten since the opening day and playing
the sort of football that Spurs fans thought was long a thing in the past. Most
impressively, their manager has added defensive steel to attacking nous and
Spurs, for the time being, seem finally shorn of conceding the sort of
calamitous goals that have defined their seasons for the past decade. Spurs
battered West Ham this weekend, after doing the same and somehow coming away
with a draw away to Arsenal last week. The front players interchange with
loving symmetry and, in Dier and Ali, they now have steel to sit alongside the
flair of Eriksen and Lamela. Dembele has also been a revelation when required,
the ex-Fulham player finally having woken up to his ample talent. After a start
where City looked like they might run away with it, just four points separate
five teams at the top. Spurs are up there entirely on merit, and if they can
keep their young guns fit and firing, they should not be intimidated by anyone.
Lukaku is coming of
age.
Few players featured more regularly in my team of the weak last season than Lukaku. The Belgian has always been a curious player, looking like Drogba in his pomp one minute, and Heskey in his decline the next. This season, it looks like he has finally come of age and Everton are reaping the awards. It should be remembered, that Lukaku is only just 22. He became only the fifth player in league history this weekend, to score 50 goals before his 23rd birthday. Given the others are Rooney, Ronaldo, Owen & Fowler… it’s safe to say he is in pretty good company. When he plays like this he is unstoppable, holding the ball up, rising like a salmon and with a fleet of foot unbefitting to a big man. His rise in form has coinciding with an Everton team who now appear rampant in attack given half the chance. They have torn apart the bottom two teams in ruthless fashion and have strength in depth along with a first eleven full of shimmering menace. Everton had a brutal start to the season fixture wise and looking at their next few games – Bournemouth, Palace, Norwich, Leicester, Newcastle, Stoke – their fans should be rewarded with more goals and a potential and genuine challenge for the major European places. Okay, they probably won’t beat Leicester. But the rest…
Few players featured more regularly in my team of the weak last season than Lukaku. The Belgian has always been a curious player, looking like Drogba in his pomp one minute, and Heskey in his decline the next. This season, it looks like he has finally come of age and Everton are reaping the awards. It should be remembered, that Lukaku is only just 22. He became only the fifth player in league history this weekend, to score 50 goals before his 23rd birthday. Given the others are Rooney, Ronaldo, Owen & Fowler… it’s safe to say he is in pretty good company. When he plays like this he is unstoppable, holding the ball up, rising like a salmon and with a fleet of foot unbefitting to a big man. His rise in form has coinciding with an Everton team who now appear rampant in attack given half the chance. They have torn apart the bottom two teams in ruthless fashion and have strength in depth along with a first eleven full of shimmering menace. Everton had a brutal start to the season fixture wise and looking at their next few games – Bournemouth, Palace, Norwich, Leicester, Newcastle, Stoke – their fans should be rewarded with more goals and a potential and genuine challenge for the major European places. Okay, they probably won’t beat Leicester. But the rest…
Leicester have a
month to make their claim real.
Top of the league, with the best striker and the most creative midfielder (that little German pixie aside) – the bubble is still refusing to burst for Leicester. It is telling then, that they now enter a period of games where they will be either found out for the plucky, crest of a wave riding mavericks they are; or stand up as genuine title, that’s right, genuine title contenders. Their fixtures between now and January are Man Utd, City and Chelsea at home… and Swansea, Everton and Liverpool away. The league’s best defence roll in to town this weekend and if the Foxes can penetrate a back line that hasn’t conceded from open play in TEN HOURS, let alone roll them over, the gloves really will be off. Nobody wants this Cinderella story to end. Leicester are an absolute breath of fresh air at the top of the tree and the longer they stay there the better. Danny Murphy said Jamie Vardy wasn’t worth £10m this weekend. Which says everything you need to know about the lack of respect that he, and this wonderfully free flowing, positive team are still receiving. Viva La Foxes!
Top of the league, with the best striker and the most creative midfielder (that little German pixie aside) – the bubble is still refusing to burst for Leicester. It is telling then, that they now enter a period of games where they will be either found out for the plucky, crest of a wave riding mavericks they are; or stand up as genuine title, that’s right, genuine title contenders. Their fixtures between now and January are Man Utd, City and Chelsea at home… and Swansea, Everton and Liverpool away. The league’s best defence roll in to town this weekend and if the Foxes can penetrate a back line that hasn’t conceded from open play in TEN HOURS, let alone roll them over, the gloves really will be off. Nobody wants this Cinderella story to end. Leicester are an absolute breath of fresh air at the top of the tree and the longer they stay there the better. Danny Murphy said Jamie Vardy wasn’t worth £10m this weekend. Which says everything you need to know about the lack of respect that he, and this wonderfully free flowing, positive team are still receiving. Viva La Foxes!
Alexis Sanchez needs a rest. Now.
Since the summer of 2013, 28 months ago, Alexis Sanchez has played, wait for it… 161 games. That figure doesn’t even include friendly or pre-season matches. He has not had any period longer than 2 weeks off at any stage, and, excluding the close season, is averaging a match every 4.5 days. That, quite frankly, is madness. Other players have no doubt done similar, but Sanchez is flying back and forth to Chile every month or so and has a game centred around pace, power and physical strength. He started the season poorly, visibly jaded after his summer excursions with his country. He found full fitness towards the end of September and promptly scored seven goals in four matches. Another international break followed and Sanchez hasn’t scored since. He has been carrying a niggle since that break which worsened before the latest one. Inexplicably, he played 180 minutes for his country, despite barely being able to run, before returning and getting a single days rest and playing another 90 for a tired Arsenal this Saturday. Arsenal may well have a long injury list (when do they ever not) but not resting their star asset is now getting dangerously close to total stupidity. Alexis visibly plays better when fully fit and having had a week’s rest. Arsenal have a virtual dead rubber in the Champions League this week before playing Norwich the week after, a fixture they surely do not need Sanchez to get three points from. The best thing Wenger can do at this stage is give the lad two weeks off in the sun and tell him to come back refreshed, recharged and ready for the busy Christmas. If he doesn’t, both his star player and his title chances are going to burn out like a candle.
Klopp gets Liverpool pressing to the samba beat.
In a weekend full of impressive performances, the best was reserved for the Etihad Stadium. What was surprising though, is that it wasn’t Manchester City who came up with it. Even allowing for a Vincent Kompany-less City back line, Liverpool turned in a first half performance of incredible pressing, passing and movement that tore apart the league leaders like confetti. This was Klopp’s calling card right here. This was why people went crazy when he was appointed manager. This is what his sides are capable of. Klopp has landed on his feet more than people realise at Liverpool. Rodgers was trying to play this type of football but couldn’t quite the engine going following the loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona. As such, Liverpool are ready equipped with several players who ideally fit Klopp’s style of play. Very fit, intricate players capable of high pressing, high tempo football. Coutinho, Fimino, Lallana, Milner, Can. The captain Jordan Henderson also fits this mould and his reintroduction into a team playing this well is only going to improve things further. Defensively Pool remain a work in progress, Martin Skertel is by no stretch of the imagination a player good enough to play in a side with delusions of trophies and Klopp could do worse than replace at least three members of his back five with premium quality in January. For now, the reintroduction of Lucas, strangely cast aside by Rodgers for much of his reign, is helping keep things tighter and providing a base for the German’s samba stars to shine higher up. City were awful, but when their own manager says 10 goals wouldn’t have flattered the opposition, they’ve probably done something right.
Since the summer of 2013, 28 months ago, Alexis Sanchez has played, wait for it… 161 games. That figure doesn’t even include friendly or pre-season matches. He has not had any period longer than 2 weeks off at any stage, and, excluding the close season, is averaging a match every 4.5 days. That, quite frankly, is madness. Other players have no doubt done similar, but Sanchez is flying back and forth to Chile every month or so and has a game centred around pace, power and physical strength. He started the season poorly, visibly jaded after his summer excursions with his country. He found full fitness towards the end of September and promptly scored seven goals in four matches. Another international break followed and Sanchez hasn’t scored since. He has been carrying a niggle since that break which worsened before the latest one. Inexplicably, he played 180 minutes for his country, despite barely being able to run, before returning and getting a single days rest and playing another 90 for a tired Arsenal this Saturday. Arsenal may well have a long injury list (when do they ever not) but not resting their star asset is now getting dangerously close to total stupidity. Alexis visibly plays better when fully fit and having had a week’s rest. Arsenal have a virtual dead rubber in the Champions League this week before playing Norwich the week after, a fixture they surely do not need Sanchez to get three points from. The best thing Wenger can do at this stage is give the lad two weeks off in the sun and tell him to come back refreshed, recharged and ready for the busy Christmas. If he doesn’t, both his star player and his title chances are going to burn out like a candle.
Klopp gets Liverpool pressing to the samba beat.
In a weekend full of impressive performances, the best was reserved for the Etihad Stadium. What was surprising though, is that it wasn’t Manchester City who came up with it. Even allowing for a Vincent Kompany-less City back line, Liverpool turned in a first half performance of incredible pressing, passing and movement that tore apart the league leaders like confetti. This was Klopp’s calling card right here. This was why people went crazy when he was appointed manager. This is what his sides are capable of. Klopp has landed on his feet more than people realise at Liverpool. Rodgers was trying to play this type of football but couldn’t quite the engine going following the loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona. As such, Liverpool are ready equipped with several players who ideally fit Klopp’s style of play. Very fit, intricate players capable of high pressing, high tempo football. Coutinho, Fimino, Lallana, Milner, Can. The captain Jordan Henderson also fits this mould and his reintroduction into a team playing this well is only going to improve things further. Defensively Pool remain a work in progress, Martin Skertel is by no stretch of the imagination a player good enough to play in a side with delusions of trophies and Klopp could do worse than replace at least three members of his back five with premium quality in January. For now, the reintroduction of Lucas, strangely cast aside by Rodgers for much of his reign, is helping keep things tighter and providing a base for the German’s samba stars to shine higher up. City were awful, but when their own manager says 10 goals wouldn’t have flattered the opposition, they’ve probably done something right.
Team of the Weak:
Adrian – Should really have saved at least two of Spurs goals, although was done few favours by his defence and actually made 8 further stops to keep the score down to a mere four. Still, you can’t win them all son.
Richards – Richards move to Aston Villa this summer has been little short of a disaster. Just two clean sheets and he continues to marshal a defence to morale sapping batterings.
Mangala – One of the single worst performances in Premier League history. Should be made to train with the reserves for a month.
Sagna – Little better, caught in position, terrible passing and beaten too easily time and time again.
Coloccini – Shit. Just shit.
Noble – More interested in starting fights than playing football and let Spurs get under his skin. Not a good day.
Sissoko – One of those games where you wonder if he’s only stepped on the pitch to cash his cheque.
Arteta – Came on for an injured player. Scored an own goal. Left injured.
Toure – Pathetic and lazy performance, dragged at half time, could have come off after 15 minutes.
Sanchez – Give. The. Man. A. Holiday.
Pelle – One of those games for Pelle where is hair was more noticeable than his football. Suspended to boot.
Adrian – Should really have saved at least two of Spurs goals, although was done few favours by his defence and actually made 8 further stops to keep the score down to a mere four. Still, you can’t win them all son.
Richards – Richards move to Aston Villa this summer has been little short of a disaster. Just two clean sheets and he continues to marshal a defence to morale sapping batterings.
Mangala – One of the single worst performances in Premier League history. Should be made to train with the reserves for a month.
Sagna – Little better, caught in position, terrible passing and beaten too easily time and time again.
Coloccini – Shit. Just shit.
Noble – More interested in starting fights than playing football and let Spurs get under his skin. Not a good day.
Sissoko – One of those games where you wonder if he’s only stepped on the pitch to cash his cheque.
Arteta – Came on for an injured player. Scored an own goal. Left injured.
Toure – Pathetic and lazy performance, dragged at half time, could have come off after 15 minutes.
Sanchez – Give. The. Man. A. Holiday.
Pelle – One of those games for Pelle where is hair was more noticeable than his football. Suspended to boot.
What you may have
missed
David De Gea making the save of the season so far at Vicarage Road; Chelsea grinding out the sort of deathly dull 1-0 win that makes everyone want to welcome Jose Mourinho into their warm bosom; John Stones, just going about his day job, being the best centre back on Merseyside and not being at Chelsea; Newcastle not so much imploding, as not bothering to begin with; Stoke keeping their fifth clean sheet in six matches; Gary Monk clinging on to his job despite being tipped for England two months ago; Arsenal having one of those days against Tony Pulis away from home; the majority of Manchester City’s starting eleven utterly absent from the Etihad Stadium and West Ham, Payet-less and guile-less against Tottenham’s handsome youths.
David De Gea making the save of the season so far at Vicarage Road; Chelsea grinding out the sort of deathly dull 1-0 win that makes everyone want to welcome Jose Mourinho into their warm bosom; John Stones, just going about his day job, being the best centre back on Merseyside and not being at Chelsea; Newcastle not so much imploding, as not bothering to begin with; Stoke keeping their fifth clean sheet in six matches; Gary Monk clinging on to his job despite being tipped for England two months ago; Arsenal having one of those days against Tony Pulis away from home; the majority of Manchester City’s starting eleven utterly absent from the Etihad Stadium and West Ham, Payet-less and guile-less against Tottenham’s handsome youths.
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