Two of the promoted clubs had a great weekend; the other did not. There are kind words for Eddie Howe and Bernardo Silva, but rather harsh ones for Fulham.
Almost exactly a decade on from their first minutes together on the pitch as teammates, in a November 2013 friendly defeat for England against Alexis Sanchez’s Chile at Wembley, Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend used their collective experience and talent to
After the Newcastle thrashing came four more losses marked by a lack of fight, a deficiency in belief, an absence of application. No longer were Sheffield United battling for every ball. They lost three of those games by two goals or more as that determination to keep things close until the bitter end was lost.
Eddie Howe was different. He used the 15 months spent in the post-Bournemouth managerial wilderness to hone his craft, develop his ideas and enhance his expertise. It’s a shame he didn’t utilise just a fraction of it to expand his knowledge on Saudi Arabia or give the country’s human rights record any thought at all but that is another discussion for another time.
Only one of the 15 players Newcastle used – of whom eight were bought by Alan Pardew, Rafael Benitez and Steve Bruce, to Howe’s six signings, with academy product Sean Longstaff the outlier – failed to make at least one tackle, interception, clearance or block. And to be fair to Bruno Guimaraes, it is difficult to do any of those while simultaneously trying to carry out a hit on Jorginho.
“What can I say about Bernardo?” Guardiola said after the Bournemouth win. “He can play holding midfield, attacking midfield left, he can play attacking midfield right, he can play winger. I push him to score goals. It’s the next step in his career.” That reflects how poorly Manchester United have protected Onana, who in turn allowed mistakes to creep into his game under the glaring spotlight. The Copenhagen penalty save proves just how crucial momentum and confidence can be in those situations as he has been largely very good since.
Sean Dyche has referenced “trying to build” something at Everton on a few occasions since he was given planning permission and a hard hat. There are few better men to put foundations in place towards becoming hard to beat, even if that has left some fans feeling a little cold at this point in the process.
It was a pointed comment which made the club look even more foolish upon watching any replay of some fans celebrating behind the goal when Bruno Fernandes scored. The Liverpool of last season likely lose that match but the iteration of Jurgen Klopp’s teams from years gone by, the challengers they are hoping to emulate, would have won it. That neatly reflects a Reds side in between those two polar opposites as a brilliant project, but a work in progress all the same.Neal Maupay scoring two goals since February 2022 and both of them coming against West Ham is objectively funny. It is entirely necessary to make that known.
“We won 11 matches in a row at home and that is fantastic. Away it is a challenge. Today I learned again,” Unai Emery said after defeat at The City Ground. “We are calm and relaxed, we have to be stronger defensively away.” Eddie Nketiah is not quite of the requisite standard on a consistent basis, and certainly not in games of this calibre. William Saliba is phenomenal. Declan Rice is brilliant. Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus are vital to this team. Fabio Vieira only seems to be effective in certain circumstances. Nothing to see here.The only visiting team to fail to score at Old Trafford in the Premier League so far this season. The first team to ever drop Premier League points to Luton.
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