[ 2013-12-31 ]

Brendan Rodgers' paucity of decent reinforcements was laid bare in the defeat at Stamford Bridge. Cue a January splurge? Photo by AP

Barclays Premier League digest: talking points, trends and off the ball
Kristian Walsh looks at a good January splurge,
dark days at Villa Park, Manchester City's
battling, getty shirty and Arsenal topping the
table

1. January essential as everything is up for
grabs
As Joe Allen hobbled off injured at Stamford
Bridge and Brendan Rodgers turned to his
substitutes, the Liverpool bench was less
‘who’s who’ and more ‘who’s that?’ The
Northern Irishman had little to choose from. A
centre-back brought in on a free from Manchester
City, an on-loan left-back who is third-choice at
Valencia, two untested players from the Spanish
league and two teenagers without a competitive
minute of league football.
January cannot come soon enough for Rodgers and
Liverpool. Rodgers could maybe be forgiven for
selecting Brad Smith – a 19-year-old left-back
– to play on the left of midfield as a statement
to the club’s owners that reinforcements are
needed.

Liverpool’s transfer policy is muddier than
most. Rodgers makes up part of a transfer
committee – a group who signed eight players in
the summer – yet appears to only really trust
Simon Mignolet and Mamadou Sakho.
As £14m of summer spending in Iago Aspas and Luis
Alberto looked on from the bench, the young Smith
was given his opportunity. When the riches on
Chelsea’s bench is highlighted – and at an
accumulative cost of approximately £140m, rightly
so – it should also be pointed out Liverpool
refuse to utilise Aspas, Alberto and young
centre-back Tiago Illoi, while sending Fabio
Borini and Suso on loan.
The game at Stamford Bridge serves as a microcosm
of how important January is. The winter transfer
window offers clubs another opportunity, a chance
to tweak or completely reshuffle and make their
squads more competitive. With just nine points
between first and eighth, and seven points between
11th and bottom-side Sunderland, a strong January
showing could be the difference between Europe and
no Europe, between survival and relegation.
Liverpool were not the only team to have their
squad paucity – self-inflicted or not –
revealed over the course of a busy Christmas
period.
In Fulham’s 6-0 defeat to Hull, they missed
Dimitar Berbatov and Scott Parker, with Hugo
Rodallega and Giorgos Karagounis not able
replacements; Southampton continue to miss Morgan
Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama in midfield, two
players who could have prevented their 2-1 defeat
at Everton; in the 3-3 draw between West Ham and
West Bromwich Albion, the away side could call
upon Stephane Sessegnon, Claudio Yacob and Morgan
Amalfintano in an attempt to change the game,
while Sam Allardyce had substitute Modibo Maiga to
thank for West Ham’s rejuvenation.
History dictates that the table going in to the
New Year is not too similar to the one in May.
With everything tight at both the top and bottom
of the table, that looks set to happen once more,
and a good transfer window could make all the
difference.
2. Aston Villa return to dark days of McLeish
Villa Park has spent the majority of the past four
years in a state of disgruntlement. After a brief
respite towards the end of last season –
spearheaded by the monstrous, 19-goal Christian
Benteke – the Aston Villa of old have returned.
Their long-suffering supporters were keen to let
them know it after their 1-1 draw with Swansea,
too.
The draw with Swansea may have ended a run of four
consecutive defeats, but there was little
positivity otherwise. Swansea were comfortably the
better side and allowed Villa just 27 per cent
possession; the home side contributed to that with
their insistence of tossing aimless balls towards
Andreas Weimann, who did well to win as many
headers as he did.
The early-season enthusiasm, spurred by wins over
Arsenal and Manchester City, has evaporated; the
feeling of building upon last season’s strong
finish has been replaced with the familiar fear of
relegation.

Benteke’s injuries and loss of form has not
helped, but Paul Lambert’s side have struggled
regardless. The spark and buzz generated by the
free-kicks of Leandro Bacuna, the midfield axis of
Ashley Westwood and Fabian Delph, and the dynamism
of their front three, has started to dim. Instead,
an old-fashioned 4-4-2 has been deployed, offering
little invention and little return.
This was their 10th home match this season; they
scored only their seventh goal and earned their
eighth point. It is form that contradicts
Lambert’s promise at the start of last season.
“An integral part of what I want to do here is
to get the crowd going and to make Villa Park a
vibrant, intimidating and exciting environment,”
he told season ticket holders in an open letter
upon his appointment.
Despite the point against Swansea, it was not
vibrant, intimidating or exciting. Instead, it was
a point grasped desperately, reminiscent of their
play under Martin O’Neill (the later years) or
even Alex McLeish. McLeish, hounded out of the
club after a year, won just four home games and
lost eight. Lambert has just two wins and six
defeats with nine games still to play. The
substance and style of the two managers are fairly
identical right now.
Granted, Villa have faced six of the top eight at
home already (though that also worries given they
now have to face them away), but there should
still be concern how a season that promised much
is now dwindling into a potential relegation
battle once again.
Lambert needs to get Benteke fit and firing once
more; if not, then focus will fall upon the Scot
to see whether he can stop the malaise. After
taking just one point from home games against
Crystal Palace and Swansea, it may get worse
before it gets better – just like last season.
3. Manchester City must learn from weekends like
this
Manuel Pellegrini’s side have won games by
cricket scores – the 6-3 against Arsenal
represents Australian bowling figures, at least
– but have done so with a sense of humility.
It was a pity, then, to note the absence of
humility after a second difficult afternoon in the
space of 44 hours (as counted by Pellegrini)
against Crystal Palace. After Liverpool put up a
fight many expected, it was Tony Pulis who
surpassed expectations with his Palace side, much
like he has done since taking over at Selhurst
Park.
Palace could have taken a point from the game. Joe
Hart was drawn in to a number of smart saves, most
notably from Joel Ward’s half-volley which
looked to be creeping into the far corner.

The goalkeeper spent the afternoon back-pedalling
and diving low, sent every which way by the plucky
visitors. Even at 1-0 down, Palace were not
content to preserve a morale-boosting defeat,
instead making positive substitutions.
Pellegrini did not agree. “I don't think we were
fortunate to win the game today,” said the
Chilean. “Just one team wanted to play for 90
minutes and one wanted to stay in their own goal.
I was absolutely sure before the game that it
would be very difficult.”
He added: “It's very difficult when just one
team wants to play, and the other doesn't want to
play. I understand the way they do it. Our team
was not fresh enough to make all the moments you
have to do when you have 10 players inside their
own box.”
There can be no question of City’s superiority
on the surface. They had 23 shots (although only
four found the target), while they saw 76 per cent
of the ball. They also made 808 passes compared to
Palace’s 236, with an accuracy of over 90 per
cent. They were undoubtedly neater in possession
and a better footballing team – but despite
that, the game was simply decided on one moment of
quality from Edin Dzeko.
City will not always get their way, and it is
something Pellegrini must be at peace with. There
is no one way of playing football. Despite the
number of passes and their intricacy and accuracy,
City’s finesse was matched with Palace’s
ferocity. It is easier to play the football of
Pellegrini’s design with the ability of bringing
in six players – five of them internationals –
who cost a combined total of £87m.
City’s unblemished home record will be
threatened by teams at the lower reaches of the
table playing in their own stifling style. It is
not only for Pellegrini to figure out how to beat
them – as he did on Saturday – but learn how
to accept it, as well.
4. No need to get shirty of swapping
At around 4.50pm on Sunday afternoon, the game we
all love and cherish was ruined. With the
half-time whistle at Stamford Bridge followed an
act so dastardly and nefarious, the sport will be
changed forever. Mamadou Sakho of Liverpool and
Samuel Eto’o of Chelsea swapped shirts, a
deviation from the normal procedure of doing so at
full-time; to rub salt into these seeping, chronic
wounds, Philippe Coutinho and Oscar did similar.

Of course, the decision taken by the four players
makes little difference to anything – Andre
Santos did similar with Robin van Persie in
November 2012 and the world still turns. Still,
social media was outraged with the insolence of
the four, and it quickly spread to reality.
Brendan Rodgers was told of Sakho and Coutinho’s
fashion faux pas. “Thanks for telling me because
I don't like that,” he said. “I will raise it
with him [Sakho] now. Coutinho did it too? Did he?
Oh Christ.”
There may be cause for the rancour. Eto’o had
produced a very poor challenge on Jordan Henderson
and, in the name of solidarity, perhaps Sakho
should have swung a boot at his opponent instead.
Likewise, maybe Coutinho should have foreseen
Oscar’s stoppage-time challenge on compatriot
Lucas Leiva and swapped fists instead.
In a game where players spit, bite, dive and
fight, and where businessmen-cum-owners bleed
clubs dry, the display of friendship and
professional admiration between four players is
hardly something to be aggrieved with. Granted,
supporters will be upset given (some of them, at
least) pay their hard-earned money to see their
side’s players act with professionalism, but all
four emerged in the second half as determined to
succeed as they were in the first half.
In what has always been a game of partisanship
which borders on fanaticism – made even worse by
the advent of the Internet – to see players
shake hands and acknowledge each other’s
commitment is heartening. What difference does it
truly make if it happens after 45 minutes or 90
minutes, providing they give the same service to
their new shirt after half-time?
The swapping of shirts was silly, maybe even
insensitive to the traditions of the game. But it
certainly was not malicious. In an increasingly
tribal game, one of verbal nastiness and potential
season-ending tackles (and that was at Stamford
Bridge alone), it really is nothing to get shirty
over.
5. Lows of December may bring a high 2014 for
Arsenal
The epitaph of Arsenal’s season was engraved far
too early, it seems. After defeats to Napoli and
Manchester City, as well as home draws to Everton
and Chelsea, the told-you-so brigade charged.
Alas, Arsenal had tried to keep up with the
pre-season favourites, but simply do not possess
the squad depth or quality; normality, and a
likely fight for fourth, is to be restored.
But Arsenal have fought back, made mockery of such
predictions (for now), and Arsène Wenger has kept
faith in his team. The result is Arsenal entering
2014 on top of the Premier League.
The 3-1 win against West Ham was impressive for
the tenacity shown in coming from a goal behind
with 25 minutes remaining to win so comfortably;
against Newcastle, yet more tenacity and a
new-found solidity. This was not the free-flowing
Arsenal of flicks, tricks and mesmerising
movement; instead, it was a more regimented
4-2-3-1, with Theo Walcott stretching play on the
right, Olivier Giroud acting as a regular
centre-forward, and Mathieu Flamini and Jack
Wilshere looking to form an axis to build upon.

It was needed against a Newcastle side in such
good form with seven wins in the previous nine.
United have beaten Manchester United, Chelsea and
Tottenham, while salvaging a point against
Liverpool despite having 10 men. Alan Pardew has
been mooted as the finest coach this season.
Arsenal knew they could look to outplay Newcastle,
but also knew such tactics would allow Yohan
Cabaye, Loic Remy and others to play as well.
Instead, Arsenal showed another side, a tougher
side, to doggedly earn the three points and stifle
a side in such fine form. That Giroud would score
from a set-piece was a just ending to such a
considered display.
While it was thought Arsenal’s poor run of
results may have dented confidence, it appears to
have done otherwise over Christmas. The side seem
galvanised and tougher for losing top spot to
Liverpool, and responded with six important
points.
Many title-winning sides must overcome adversity.
Last season, United lost two of their first six
games, and would then only lose one of the next
24; the season before, City’s eight-point
deficit, "Agueroooooo" and all that is etched into
the league’s history. There is an argument that
to win it, you have to lose it first – Wenger
will hope his difficult December will prove the
catalyst of an unlikely 2014 title success. So
far, so good, after two industrious wins on the
road.

Source - The Telegraph

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