As the dust settles on the first half of the season, with
Liverpool at the summit and Huddersfield at the foot, the Monkey casts his eye
over the key talking points thus far.
The title is now
Liverpool’s to lose, not City’s to win
7 points clear going into a head to head match up, Jurgen
Klopp’s side remain unbeaten and the favourites to win their first Premier
League title. Liverpool have been here before though – twice in recent times –
and it is up to Klopp and his talented side to silence the critics and lose the
bottlers tab once and for all. City are no strangers to a wobble, and after
starting the season like a steam train now look like a side who lack the key
parts to get going again. Put simply, they must
beat Liverpool on Thursday evening to put themselves back in this title race.
It’s hard to see how Pool would lose 3-4 games against all the other teams in
the league – which is realistically what would need to happen if City fail to
beat them.
Whilst Salah is back to his thrilling, rapier best – there
is no doubt that the key man this season has been Virgil Van Dijk. The Dutch
colossus is the player of the year elect and if Liverpool can keep him injury
free, it would be an almighty shock from here were they not to prevail come
May. They have conceded just 8 goals in 20 matches and indeed, you could double
their goals against column… and they would still have the league’s best
defence. Van Dijk possesses the energy of Vidic, the leadership of Terry and
the talent of Ramos. He is the best centre back the league has seen since his
compatriot Jaap Stam. Indeed, much like Stam, Van Dijk has been under-rated
until this point. The former Manchester United player is rarely remembered when
people list the great defenders of the past 20 years – but before his falling
out with Ferguson he won six trophies in three seasons and was, on his day,
almost unbeatable.
After Gerrard’s slip, the collapse at Crystal Palace and
Rafa’s meltdown… Liverpool dare not lose it from here again.
They can conquer who
believe they can.
Liverpool must now, finally, believe.
Ole is not the
Messiah, Jose was just a very naughty boy
Three wins, 12 goals and all is well again at Old Trafford.
With the title well gone, the United hierarchy finally put both Mourinho and
the fans out of their collective misery and decided to let an old boy put the
fun back into the club for a few months. The big decisions for United are yet
to come however.
There were mitigating circumstances for Jose’s now
obligatory third season collapse, and there is little doubt that many of the
problems at United stem all the way up to the board and owners. But despite
that, the sheer and relenting negativity – both on and off the pitch – was ill
befitting a club of any stature, let alone this one. Jose should have been
sacked in October when it was clear he had lost the dressing room.
Solskjaer has put smiles back on faces, not least his own,
but he is not the long term solution and United need to get both the Director
of Football and Manager roles exactly right. With Liverpool and City looking as
strong as they are, and the chances of prising Pochettino away from his loyal
young bucks looking unlikely at best – United can ill afford another misstep.
Relegation battle?
More like a pea shooter fight.
The bottom half of the table makes desperate reading. Less
of a battle, more a group of toddlers dumped in the middle of a forest and
asked to escape. From 13th down we have 8 teams who, by rights,
probably all deserve to be relegated.
Brighton lead the way. Who have had both their centre backs
sent off this season, have a 45 year old pensioner up front and their best
player from last season still yet to turn up to this one.
Palace and Newcastle rarely score, a by-product of having
played much of the season without an actual striker. They have less points between them than
Arsenal. And aren’t even in the relegation zone.
Cardiff City staying up would be one of the league’s
greatest ever stories – were it not for the fact that they could conceivable do
so with about 28 points.
Southampton can’t defend, or shoot without Danny Ings.
Burnley are having one of those seasons when everything goes wrong, all of the
time – although seem to have finally come to the decision of many clubs before
them – that Joe Hart isn’t… and never was… the answer.
All of which leaves Fulham – who are an absolute mess, all
be it marginally better with Raineri now in charge – and Huddersfield – who
have 10 points.
10. After 20 games. And are somehow still only 2 wins away
from safety.
Can we relegate 6 teams this year? The Championship doesn’t
deserve these teams… let alone the Premier League.
Wolves the lone
carnivore in a field of herbivores.
Currently lying in 7th spot, there is little
doubt that thus far Wolves have been the pick of the clubs beneath the royalty
that lines the top six. Defensively solid and quick through midfield, they have
also been the only team capable of spoiling the party. They have beaten Spurs
and Chelsea and drawn with United, Arsenal and City. With a talented manager
and young squad, they could well threaten even higher up next year if they
invest correctly in the summer.
It seems harsh to pick on a striker who has scored 6 and
made 6 so far, but Raul Jimenez is far from the finished article and it’s
tempting to wonder how good this side could become if they had attackers who
could… well… actually shoot.
Wolves have rotated but their first choice front three of
Jimenez, Jota and Costa have just 9 goals between them after 20 games. They
have had 107 shots of which only 35 have even been on target. Indeed only
Southampton & Palace have a worse shot to goal conversion rate this season
– and both of those are skewed by the amount of long range efforts their
trigger happy midfielders fire in.
Wolves could do worse than stick Doherty up front.
No wait… he already is. My bad.
The Golden Boot will
go down to the wire.
More closely contested than the actual title race, the
league’s Golden Boot looks an almighty scrap this year. Salah, Kane and
Aubameyang are all tied on 13 so far. The consistency of the first two offset
by the feast or famine nature of the latter. Kane’s numbers are of particular
note given this season he has remodeled himself as a holding midfield player.
Behind them lies a free flowing Hazard and the City pair of
Sterling and Aguero. Both well rested and back to full fitness, only a fool
would discount either if the club triumphs on Thursday.
For those of you who have asked. Morata is not likely to threaten.
He currently has the same
number of goals this season as under 11 sensation David Brooks. Who is taking
time off from his paper round to play football for Bournemouth this year… with
admiral success.
Happy Hunting
Happy Hunting
No comments:
Post a Comment