World Football's Monday Morning Hangover: Speaking Double Dutch
Welcome to world football's Monday Morning Hangover, an homage to the NFL section's own Monday Morning Hangover, where we round up the key stories and important points from the last weekend in world football.
With an inevitable focus on the Premier League, let's get started.
Southampton turn the battle for third on its head
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Southampton's 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford felt like a turning point in the season, a point where their campaign was reduced to just three possible endings. Having risen up to third in the table (after 21 games!) with the three points, the first eventuality is that they'll go on to qualify for the Champions League—a stunning achievement for a club that was in the Championship just three seasons ago.
The second option is that the drop-off that many have predicted for the Saints (and many thought had arrived when the club lost four games in a row at the end of 2014) will finally come over the next few months, seeing them finish right around last season's eighth place.
The third also sees them miss out on the Champions League, albeit more valiantly. In this eventuality, history could well end up repeating itself: The club could go on to lose their manager as another summer of seeing their best players stolen away begins to unravel.
Make no mistake: This was a result that will have had many clubs around Europe make a mental note about Ronald Koeman's qualities. He has already been linked with the Barcelona job in both the English and Spanish press, per the Daily Star's Paul Brown, and any elite European club that ends up with a vacancy over the next six months will surely consider him.
Winning at Old Trafford will do that for your reputation, especially in the midst of such a fine season.
However, he is unlikely to go anywhere if Southampton reach the Champions League (unless Barcelona do indeed come calling, of course), something the Dutchman believes Sunday's result shows they can achieve.
"That is what you need if you are not a big club," Koeman said, per the Daily Star, "belief in the players and not afraid of the name or the stadium. We learned that.
"We have organisation. We have 11 clean sheets in 21 games. If we keep the spirit and the organisation, we can keep in front in the table."
The feeling was so different for the club that lost. The game at Old Trafford was a chance for Manchester United to put some distance between themselves and the chasing pack in the race for Champions League football. As it turned out, Southampton dragged them right back down into the mix, building up their own belief in the process.
Louis van Gaal has now woken up on Monday to not exactly favourable comparisons with predecessor David Moyes—something no one wants—and renewed concerns about where exactly this United side is going.
On Sunday, there was a noticeable lack of creativity and incision in the final third, as the decision to play Angel Di Maria as a forward failed to work as hoped. Additionally, Van Gaal's choice not to even name Radamel Falcao or Adnan Januzaj on the bench left him to throw on Marouane Fellaini as a striker in a vain attempt to change the game late on.
"You have to look at the needs of your selection at the time," Van Gaal said, per BBC Sport, by way of unconvincing explanation. "As a coach, you have to take decisions, and you have to look at the composition of your team and your selection, and you have to look at your game plan."
Oliver Kay of The Times noted the absence of Falcao wasn't Van Gaal's only questionable decision:
United finished the game without even managing to summon a shot on target, although that was in great part down to Juan Mata's woeful form in front of goal. For Southampton, it was the archetypal away victory, built on defensive discipline and determination and then capped off with one moment of sublime attacking vision (Dusan Tadic's slipped pass to Graziano Pelle) that led to a straightforward finish.
"The top four is possible, but we have to go game-by-game," Tadic said, per ESPN FC. "We have beaten good opponents, and we have to keep doing this."
The goal left the race for the top four far from straightforward, however. Just five points now separate United in fourth and Liverpool in eighth, with Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United in the mix as well. Southampton are two points clear of Van Gaal's men in third, an advantage they could well end up needing as the season rolls toward crunch time.
United are now doing the chasing again, and this latest result has led many to reflect just how well-suited they will be to that challenge. They are arguably still to deliver a statement performance under Van Gaal this season—the away win over Arsenal was impressive, but also undeniably fortuitous, as was the home win over Liverpool. Only for a fleeting period—after that Arsenal win, in games against Hull City and Stoke City—have they looked like the clinical United of old in games against lesser sides.
As long as Falcao and, to a lesser extent, Robin van Persie continue to struggle, United's much-vaunted strike force looks less than impressive, while the defence is still clearly a work in process.
Sunday's win considerably enhanced Koeman's reputation and Southampton's ambitions. For United and Van Gaal, meanwhile, the problems and questions only multiplied.
Manchester City make statement even as they drop points
With Chelsea winning at home to Newcastle United and Manchester City drawing at Everton, the Blues once again opened up a lead at the top of the Premier League—by two points. You may have thought City boss Manuel Pellegrini will have been aggrieved to see his team drop points against a Toffees side that has been struggling horribly for form and consistency in recent weeks, but instead, the Chilean seemed to see the game as a statement of the club's intent moving into a crucial phase of the season.
Pellegrini said, per the Guardian.
"We showed we had a lot of confidence in our play, we created the chances, but the chances we missed was our problem.
Last time we were stronger as the season went on, and we are happy with the way we are playing so far. With all the players back, we will be stronger in the second half of the season.
Two points at this moment is not an important deficit or a real advantage. We will see if we can finish the season strongly, and we will fight for the title until the last game.
"
That is an interesting interpretation, one the rest of the squad obviously shares. With Chelsea still left on the schedule (albeit at Stamford Bridge), anything less than a three-point deficit can be overcome with just one head-to-head result.
Clearly, City are trying to send a statement, perhaps to themselves as much as their rivals in west London. They have been there and done it twice before (winning the league, from behind, in two of the last three seasons), and they know they can do it again.
As Joe Hart added, via the Guardian:
"We want to be up there but there is plenty of time and we are in a really good position. We have still to play Chelsea and that is a really key game but Arsenal at home next week could be a big three points for us. We haven’t lost in the league since West Ham in October, have won the majority of those games and have been in good away form. We are on a good run, are in a good place and have plenty of players coming back ready for the second part of the season.
Yaya Toure is in Africa doing what he has to do but we will get him back and hopefully be in a good place. We had Edin Dzeko, Sergio [Aguero] and Stevan [Jovetic] all out for three games and it makes things tough when you are missing all your strikers but this is the Premier League, a tough league to be in, and we have no complaints about that. We have an amazing squad and those players are fit again.
"
Goal of the weekend
For some reason (actually, this happens quite often), a lot of the best goals from the weekend appeared in Italy. Two of them in Juventus' win over Napoli...
Goal of the weekend: Runner-up edition
"This is defo Zidane esque volley goal from Pogba. Just brilliant https://t.co/wBAHZWhyrz
— Niko (@Nikomarvel) January 12, 2015"
Random Asides
- Liverpool produced an encouraging all-round performance against Sunderland to kick off the weekend, as Lazar Markovic stole the attention with his winning goal and brilliantly improvised volley, which was unfortunate to rebound off the crossbar. The general fluidity of the performance was impressive, however; clearly Brendan Rodgers has found something on the training ground. Daniel Sturridge is nearing a return, and the Reds remain just five points off fourth. The Reds have been knocked down a few times, but they are not out of it just yet.
- Both Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion started life under new management with valuable victories, no doubt inspiring envious feelings among rival clubs that could do with similar "new manager" boosts. Palace in particular did very well to come from behind to beat Tottenham, although the game perhaps also underlined Spurs' ongoing frailty. Right when they had a real chance to make a statement in the pursuit of Champions League football, they took a stumbling step backwards.
- Andy Carroll's brilliant goal against Swansea City really caught the eye on a weekend where Danny Ings, Charlie Austin, Harry Kane and Saido Berahino all got their names on the scoresheet in their respective games. England boss Roy Hodgson has a little while to pick his next squad—on this evidence, he might need it to pick through all his attacking options.
Good week, bad week
Good week
Alan Pardew: A winning start at a club where he is loved. Does it get much better?
Remy Cabella: Even in defeat, an eye-catching individual display gives hope of better things in 2015.
Muhamed Besic: Handled himself well against Manchester City. He's quickly becoming a player Everton can rely on.
Paul Konchesky: An unlikely source of a crucial, perhaps season-changing goal for Leicester.
Lazar Markovic: His goal (and his almost-goal) felt like a turning point for the Liverpool attacker.
Bad week
Queens Park Rangers: Loss to Burnley set a new Premier League record for consecutive away defeats (10). Ouch.
Stevan Jovetic: Floundered against Everton. Wilfried Bony's arrival cannot come soon enough for City.
Wojciech Szczesny: Finally dropped, and for form rather than any off-pitch issues.
Louis van Gaal: Outdone by old adversary Ronald Koeman, and suddenly United's top-four pursuit looks less sure.
Steve Bruce: Losing to Tony Pulis' West Brom will only have heightened pressure and scrutiny on the boss.
Other Points of Note
Clubs falling over themselves to sign Defoe
The January transfer window is traditionally a time of rampant panic for any club vaguely near the bottom of the league, where managers and their chairmen get out the chequebook in the forlorn hope that one last signing will turn around their campaign. This month, the one object of desire for almost every bottom-half club seems to be Jermain Defoe, the Toronto striker who has long been rumoured to be angling for a move back to England.
Defoe's flock of suitors underlines the value of an established goalscorer to Premier League sides, but also indicates how poorly many clubs spent in pursuit of such a signing during the summer. Hull City and West Brom, mired down the bottom of the league, faced off at the weekend—both clubs spent around £10 million on strikers (Abel Hernandez and Brown Ideye, respectively)—yet at the final whistle, both managers expressed their desire to sign another forward this month.
“I, like Tony Pulis and Nigel Pearson and all the people, would like a Jermain Defoe,” Hull boss Steve Bruce said, per the Guardian. “The numbers might cause a problem but then again I suppose that would be the same for most in the bottom half because he’s very expensive. It might be just beyond us. The one thing you don’t want to do is gamble.”
Defoe's long, often illustrious goalscoring record in English football is precisely why he will not be seen as a gamble for many sides. But their problems probably run far deeper than the absence of a 32-year-old forward.
Goalkeeper change might continue for a while yet at Arsenal
We have certainly seen the value of having a solid backup goalkeeper this season—almost all the top clubs have already had to go to their No. 2 at some point in the campaign. Manchester United are about the only team who are yet to have the need to replace David de Gea, but even they signed Victor Valdes last week in anticipation of an eventual need to replace the Spaniard.
On Sunday, Arsenal went one stage further, selecting their third goalkeeper of the league season as David Ospina started against Stoke City. Reading between the lines of Arsene Wenger's pre- and post-match comments, it was pretty clear that Wojciech Szczesny had been dropped due to his form, not his smoking incident following the recent game against Southampton, and it might be a little while before the Pole regains his No. 1 shirt.
“I don’t know, I haven’t made a decision yet,” said Wenger, via the Mirror, when asked about his goalkeeping situation going forward. “I made a decision for today’s game. Szczesny is our No. 1, he is competing with Ospina and Martinez and that’s our job, we have to accept.”
Ospina was steady if unspectacular against Stoke—he was not asked to do a lot—but after joining Arsenal following a solid World Cup campaign for Colombia, he is clearly not going to be content with a backup role. He is likely to continue in goal against Manchester City, and if that is the case, he may not be benched again until his own form noticeably drops.
That does not bode well for Szczesny, but perhaps the 24-year-old will be both reinvigorated and refocused by the rest. Whether his recent mistakes have been a result of fatigue or just incompetence remains to be seen, but a healthy competition with Ospina (and Emiliano Martinez, whom Wenger insists remains under consideration) can only be a good thing for the club in the long run.
