Can anyone stop the Reds?
Liverpool are seemingly on the march to the English Premier League title. Some pundits have finally admitted (through gritted teeth) that the title ‘is theirs to lose’.
But Liverpool fans won’t be having any it. A friend still calls Anfield legend Steven Gerard “Slippy” after that infamous slip against Chelsea that dented Reds title hopes in 2014, so the caution is understandable.
Misfiring Gunners
Gunners fans surely don’t feel that they’ve run out of ammo?
After all, the title was ‘theirs to lose’ not so long ago. But it is the consistency (or lack thereof) in their recent performances that has robbed their title claims of credibility.
And Saturday’s 1-0 win over Wolves did little to ease concerns that another blip is around the corner (with Man City visiting on Sunday).
Arne Slot’s Liverpool charges were workmanlike in dispatching bottom club Ipswich 4-1, with the largely unheralded Cody Gakpo on the double and evergreen Mo Salah showing that he still one of the most lethal finishers in the business.
Mo of the same
But it is the recent scoring contributions of the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, who netted a well-taken opener on Saturday, that should be a concern for the other title chasers. This has taken some of the pressure off Salah, who leads the goalscorers’ charts with 19 league strikes
Even Darwin Nunez is able to chip in now and then, for crying out loud. In fact, the scoring load has been shared around a team that often finds answers to tricky situations on the bench.
Does that make Slott a tactical genius?
We’ll reserve judgment till the end of the season. Just ask Brendan Rogers.
Money can’t buy you love
One man whose footballing genius is not in doubt is Man City’s Pep Guardiola, despite a recent wobble that has left them in fourth. Their Champions League hopes are also hanging by a thread.
It seems that the Citizens are trying to buy themselves out of a hole once again, with three recent arrivals, but there is a lingering fragility to their play that suggests it may not work this time.
The worst of teams
If City are in a hole, Manchester United have hit rock bottom, and started to dig. They did beat high-riding Fulham 1-0 on Sunday night, through a deflected Lisandro Martinez effort, but the Cottagers can feel unlucky not to have come away with all three points.
Ruben Amorim called this Red Devils team the “worst team in the history of Man United”.
Ouch!
Yet, for large parts of Sunday’s match, and recent performances, United have seemed determined to prove him right.
Square pegs in round holes
United have looked disjointed, disorganised, defensively frail and generally leggy as they struggle to adapt to their new manager’s all-action style of play.
There are suggestions that Amorim had wanted to delay his arrival from Porto till the end of the season because he felt that they did not have the players to fit his system. But United club bosses had insisted the celebrated young Portuguese tactician join this season. It is no wonder Man United fans are said to be fuming at INEOS.
United’s saving grace has been the form of their young stars like Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo. Diallo saved Red Devils’ blushes with a 12-minute hat-trick against strugglers Southampton that secured a late win.
Yet talk of the sale of another young rising star, Alejandro Garnacho, only adds to the confusion about the direction being taken at the fallen giants.
Singing the blues
Chelsea are linked with a move for the exciting attacker (when are they not?)
The Blues seem to have lost their way this season, after a fine start under Pep acolyte Enzo Maresca, with the 3-1 loss against Man City their latest setback. But one really has to ask if another signing is the answer to their up-and-down results.
Meanwhile, the high-flying Nottingham Forest came crashing to down to earth this weekend, as Bournemouth followed up their 4-1 hammering of Newcastle with a 5-0 thumping of the fourth-place side.
Old manager bounce
Even the Toffees are enjoying a mini-revival under the returning David Moyes, securing a 1-0 win over Brighton at the weekend, after a 3-2 win over Spurs.
The struggling Foxes piled further misery on Ange Postecoglou, who is facing a horrendous injury toll at Tottenham, with a 2-1 win on Sunday. His stubborn refusal to move away from his high-pressing game is also cited as Ange’s Achilles heel (Amorim take note).
With the lack of a Plan B, the axe is surely hovering over the Australian.