Monday Fulham Stuff - 19/09/22...

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Results

Sunday
Brentford	0-3	Arsenal
Man Utd	P-P	Leeds
Everton	1-0	West Ham
Chelsea	P-P	Liverpool

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Harrison Reed for England?
João Palhinha's sensational strike at the City Ground will take all the plaudits for pure magnificence but it was Fulham's third goal of a surreal 316 seconds that was most special. Arriving at the back post after a superb move started by a sumptuous Aleksandar Mitrovic defence-splitting ball was Harrison Reed, a tenacious defensive midfielder turned into a box-to-box machine by Marco Silva. The special one from Worthing hadn't scored in over a century of fantastic Fulham appearances. Four years of frustration melted away in the Trentside air as he connected with a first-time strike to leave Dean Henderson beating the ground like a wrestling referee and then slid into the corner in front of the delirious Fulham faithful.

Reed has long been one of the most reliable members of a Fulham squad that has gone up and down with such regularity that it was almost easier to accept the almost unanimous opinion of the talking heads this summer that the Whites would slip out of the top flight with barely a whimper. But the midfielder, who epitomises Silva's attacking attitude after working hard at both his fitness and the offensive side of his game to fulfil the requirements of his coach, is playing some of the finest football of his career alongside Joao Palhinha in an engine room to fulfil any of the rest of the top six. He's always covered every blade of grass and read the danger quickly, but Reed is developing into a more complete central midfielder before our very eyes.

His quiet excellence shone in the Scott Parker side that probably should have stayed up, but didn't. It was a surprise to me that Southampton let out of their outstanding youth projects leave for £6m, but it probably demonstrates how well the Saints are served in midfield. Some suggested that Reed's success was down to the fact that Parker's ultra-defensive system and there might have been something in that, but his evolution under Silva shows that there is much more to Reed than merely stopping the opposition from playing. I've been sceptical of the project to turn a consistent number six into more of an eight, but with Palhinha adding quality to the deeper element of this partnership there's more scope to refine Reed's role.

His ceaseless running makes it difficult for opponents to subdue Fulham's midfield – and it was key to the visitors taking such a firm stranglehold on proceedings in Nottingham on Friday night. Silva spoke to his side at half-time about the need to move the ball quicker in order to hurt a Forest side that have shown a fragility when holding a winning position. Reed and his colleagues quickly set about turning those strong words into action. He isn't just a reassuring presence in the middle of the park, but an integral part of Fulham's dressing room culture and a leader in his own right.

The news last night that Kalvin Phillips has suffered a serious injury and could be a doubt for the World Cup this winter got me thinking. Gareth Southgate likes playing with a pair of holding midfielders, as illustrated by the success of the Declan Rice/Phillips axis in the European Championships. Jude Bellingham is a shoo-in to come into the line up, but there isn't exactly a surfeit of English-qualified holding midfielders. Now that Reed has shown he has more to his game, might the England head coach cast a glance in the special one Iniesta's direction? He could do a lot worse. Our newly-established goal threat has more Premier League strikes to his name than Mason Mount. Reed's performances speak for themselves but if Southgate is determined to break England's long wait for a major trophy, he will know that the national side only lift the World Cup with a Fulham player in the team. For George Cohen in 1966, see Reed in 2022. You know it makes sense, Gareth.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2022/09/harrison-reed-for-england/

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Newcastle United: Magpies gifted Elliot Anderson injury boost

Newcastle United have been gifted an injury boost ahead of their next Premier League game away to Fulham after the international break.

The Lowdown: Saint-Maximin update
Speaking to the media after their 1-1 draw at home to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon, Eddie Howe revealed (via The Chronicle) that Allan Saint-Maximin has suffered a 'minor setback' in his recovery from a hamstring injury, which is why he did not feature this weekend.

The former Cherries manager added that it is 'unclear' when the 25-year-old will return, despite the St James' Park outfit now breaking off for the internationals.

The Latest: Anderson 'will be fit' v Fulham
Howe also gave an update on Elliot Anderson, who was also absent against Bournemouth, revealing (via The Chronicle) that he too had a 'minor' niggle.

However, the Newcastle manager said of the 19-year-old that 'he'll be fit' for their next match against Fulham in October.

The Verdict: Boost for Newcastle
While there are now doubts over whether Saint-Maximin will be fit for the trip to Craven Cottage, it will certainly be a boost for Newcastle to have Anderson back.

The 19-year-old has made four senior appearances already this season, as he looks to make his breakthrough into the first team after a loan spell at Bristol Rovers last term.

Nonetheless, with all of the other injuries in the Magpies' squad, they need all of the bodies that they can get, especially with the risk of injury and fatigue after the upcoming international fixtures.



https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/newcastle-united-news/fulham-team-news-anderson-injury-premier-league/

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Antonio Conte's unsuccessful attempts to seal summer transfer agreement with Leeds United emerges

It seems that Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte was indeed keen to sign Dan James from Leeds United during the summer transfer window.

That's after a report from The Times claimed that Conte himself was unable to persuade the Wales international to make the move to North London before the window closed.

Having only joined Leeds from Manchester United in the summer of 2021, James found himself facing an uncertain future at Elland Road just 12 months later.

It was reported that Tottenham had been keen on a move for the winger, with reports suggesting they had made an offer to sign James on loan with an option to buy.

Ultimately though, that deal would not materialise, with James instead joining newly promoted Fulham on a season-long loan, though it now seems that was not for the want of trying from Conte.

According to this latest update, Conte himself was unable to persuade the winger to make the move to Tottenham, with the 24-year-old instead electing to join Fulham.

Since making his move to Fulham on deadline day, James has made two appearances for Marco Silva's side, both of which have come from the bench.

This is an interesting decision for James to make, and it would no doubt be intriguing to know his reasons behind it.

With Tottenham competing in the Champions League this season, while Fulham have only just come up from the Championship, it could be argued that Spurs will be expected to enjoy more success during the campaign.

However, with that in mind, James may have felt he had a better chance of getting game time at Fulham, considering the high quality options Conte has in his Tottenham squad.

It could though, be argued that it would have been better for Leeds had he joined Spurs, which would have created less risk of James potentially doing any damage to Jesse Marsch's side if they get dragged into a relegation battle.



https://www.leedsallover.com/antonio-contes-unsuccessful-attempts-to-seal-summer-transfer-agreement-with-leeds-united-emerges/

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Fulham boss heaps praise on 'class' individual after Nottingham Forest win

Fulham have started this season in strong form following their Championship title win

Fulham boss Marco Silva heaped special praise on Tim Ream after their win over Nottingham Forest on Friday.

The evergreen defender helped his side win 3-2 at the City Ground.

Ream, 34, put in another solid performance for the London club, despite playing in left-back.

'Class'...
Although he has admitted he doesn't like singling out individuals, Silva said afterwards, as per the official club website:

"I don't like to mention individual players but I have to mention Tim Ream.

"34-years-old, he's been probably our best central defender so far and with the problems we have on our left-side, without Robinson and without (Layvin) Kurzawa as well.

"I didn't have doubts to start him there as I knew he would show the class and the knowledge about the position definitely because the way he works every single day showed to me that he was able to do it. He played really as a captain."

Fulham ace
Fulham signed Ream back in 2015 from Bolton Wanderers and he has since earned cult hero status at Craven Cottage.

The USA international has made 268 appearances in all competitions and has chipped in with three goals.

The Cottagers' last couple of campaigns in the top flight have been tough but this term they look to be a force to be reckoned with.

It is still early days but Silva's team are looking well organised, have genuine quality and showed on Friday that Aleksandar Mitrovic isn't their only source of goals.



https://www.londonworld.com/sport/football/fulham/fulham-boss-heaps-praise-on-class-individual-after-nottingham-forest-win-3847529

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AGM – Save the Date – 17 November

We are pleased to confirm that the Fulham Supporters' Trust Annual General Meeting will take place on the evening of Thursday 17 November 2022. The meeting, which will be for fully paid up members only, will start at 7pm and will be conducted virtually using the Zoom platform.

We are in the process of finalising the AGM arrangements and will provide full details to members shortly. In the meantime, please save 17 November in your diaries.

During November, we will be undertaking an annual election process where four board positions will need to be filled. These are currently held by board members standing down by rotation, all of whom may seek re-election should they so choose. The nomination period will open on Wednesday 2 November 2022 and close on Wednesday 16 November 2022. More details on how to put names forward for election will follow nearer the time.

In order to seek election, propose or second a nominee for election or vote in the election you will need to be a fully paid up member of the Fulham Supporters' Trust as at 1 October 2022.



https://www.fulhamsupporterstrust.com/news/2022/09/agm-save-the-date-17-november/

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Notes from Sept meeting with FFC

On Wednesday 14 September at 13.30, the Fulham Supporters' Trust met with Fulham FC via video conference.

The Club was represented by:

    Alistair Mackintosh (Chief Executive, Officer AM)
    Darren Preston (Chief Operating Officer, DP)
    Carmelo Mifsud (Communications Director, CM)
    Aimee McKenzie (Operations & Venue Director, AMK)
    Katy Brecht (Head of Ticketing, KB)
    Nicola Walworth (Supporter Liaison Manager & Disability Liaison Officer, NW)
    Samuel Curteis (Supporter Relations Executive, SCu)

The FST was represented by:

    Jerry Cope (Treasurer & Membership Secretary, JC)
    Simon Duke (Secretary, SD)
    Sue Couch (Board Member, SC)
    Tamara Dragadze (Board Member, TD)

HOW IT WORKS
The Trust asks any questions that it judges are of interest to supporters, based on responses from Trust members to the advance notification of the meeting, and by generally interacting with the wider supporter base. There is no restriction placed on which questions the Trust choose to ask or points raised with the Club. These notes are then sent to members only, in advance of being posted on our website.

If any member has raised an issue that it was not possible to discuss in the time available, then please do contact us again in good time before the next meeting or alternatively we can seek to raise it between meetings if that is more appropriate.

TOPICS DISCUSSED
    Ticketing Policy
    Safe standing
    Follow up from July 2022 Craven Cottage walk around
    Supporters with mobility issues
    Riverside seating and ticketing
    Away tickets
    Catering
    Value of Academy

The Trust opened the meeting by offering our condolences on the death of Fred Callaghan, which has recently been announced. The Trust also congratulated the Club on the excellent start made to the new Premier League season.

TICKETING POLICY
The Trust reported that ticket pricing remains an issue within the fan base, mainly with respect to match-by-match ticket sales in the Hammersmith and Putney Ends. This is preventing some supporters who are not in a position to have a season ticket from attending, particularly those games with a higher profile. Season ticket pricing was again acknowledged by the Trust as being reasonable.

AM said the Club strategy remains to bring in new supporters, which is working as evidenced by games selling out. AM added that there was a natural tension between season ticket pricing and single ticket pricing. But pricing policy is kept under constant review and the Club remain willing to continue to listen to the views expressed by the Trust, particularly as we move towards full capacity availability in the Riverside Stand and pricing for next season. With the annual Trust fans survey due to be launched around November, it was agreed further feedback on pricing would be shared with the Club.

SAFE STANDING
In response to the question of whether safe standing is being considered by the Club, DP reported that they are looking into the feasibility. There are constraints presented by the construction details of the Hammersmith and Putney End stands, which need to be considered from a safety point of view. Discussions are at an early stage with Arena Seating to see if they can develop a safe standing proposition, which would fit with the existing Craven Cottage configuration. The Club will update the Trust on progress.

FOLLOW UP FROM JULY 2022 CRAVEN COTTAGE WALK AROUND
The following updates to points raised at the July Craven Cottage walk round, and in correspondence with their Members, were provided:-

    The Club continue to explore the possibility of installing more P-Handles. Whilst they acknowledge the benefits to some supporters of having additional handrails, there are logistical/technical hindrances which they are looking to resolve;
     
    The PA system has been tested in a non-match day environment and then observed by Club staff during 2 home games this season. Although the Trust had continued to receive complaints particularly in the Johnny Haynes Stand, the Club's tests had not found evidence of ongoing issues. The Trust will continue to monitor member feedback and engage with the Club as necessary;
     
    Structural engineers and electricians have been engaged to look at the possibility of installing screens to enable spectators in the back rows of the Johnny Haynes stand to observe VAR decisions. It is hoped that a way will be found to install screens during the course of this season. This remains challenging due to the listed nature of the stand.
     
    Riverside Stand concourse access post games is subject to overall capacity constraints, which need to be monitored. DP reported that, whilst the Club want the Riverside Stand to be something all can enjoy, post match access need to be carefully controlled. He will work with Chris Baker, Head of Safety, and in turn the stewards to ensure there is effective messaging to supporters looking to take advantage of these facilities.
     
    The one-way system implemented at the Hammersmith End to improve people flow has solved some problems but created others. The Club are evaluating next steps.

On another matter it was confirmed the PA system in the Riverside Stand is working.

SUPPORTERS WITH MOBILITY ISSUES
In response to a question about ticketing arrangements for anyone with a condition which requires assistance, NW advised that the ticket office should be contacted before a purchase is made (season ticket and/or match ticket) and the Club will look to accommodate accordingly. The Club would never expect anyone with a condition which requires assistance to just "soldier on". Ambulant seating is available in the Riverside Stand, Hammersmith and Putney Ends. Further information, including on pricing, can be found in the Disability Supporter Information section of the Club's website.

RIVERSIDE SEATING AND TICKETING
The Trust asked the Club to explain how the additional 708 seats in the Upper Riverside Stand were to be sold. It was explained that the Chelsea game, which was the first at which they were to be made available, was to be a "test" event. With the game postponed this now moves to the Newcastle game. The "test" will include entry and exit arrangements and successful completion should lead to these seats, and possibly more as the season progresses, to be sold on a regular basis.

For this season, the Upper Riverside tickets will be sold on a match-by-match basis. They will not be available for season ticket transfers/purchases or upgrades from other parts of the ground. The only exception for upgrades would be where additional tickets were being purchased. In these cases the ticket office should be contacted.

AWAY TICKETS
In response to a specific example, KB confirmed that where an adult had purchased an away ticket but could not purchase at the same time for their children due to the level of their loyalty points, should the threshold for tickets fall to a level where tickets could be purchased for the children the ticket office would look to swap the adult ticket to ensure they could all sit together. In instances such as this the ticket office should be contacted. It should be noted there would need to be sufficient time for the old ticket to be physically returned before the new one was issued.

CATERING
The Trust had received a number of comments from members relating to catering. These included quality of staff and shortages of product. AMK asked that these be shared with her outside of today's meeting. A response will be provided in due course.

VALUE OF ACADEMY
The Trust is delighted to see Luke Harris receive a call up to the senior Welsh squad for the forthcoming internationals. In response to a question from the Trust about the number of Academy graduates we have nurtured then lost to other clubs, because young players were not allowed to sign long-term contracts,  AM confirmed Fulham remain fully committed to their Academy. The primary objective remains to bring players through to the first team but where this is not possible, for whatever reason, the Club will then look to maximise the return on their investment.

Meeting closed at 14.30



https://www.fulhamsupporterstrust.com/news/2022/09/notes-from-september-meeting-with-ffc-3/

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Premier League: Son sends a message, Man City's best player, Xhaka the creator, and Fulham's midfield monster

Daniel Storey gives his verdict on the 14 Premier League teams in action this weekend

The Score is Daniel Storey's weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams' performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning

Son Heung-min is back to his best, so are Arsenal and Erling Haaland is inevitable.

There were fewer Premier League matches than usual this weekend but there was no shortage of drama and talking points at both ends of the table. Son scored a 13-minute hat-trick after being dropped by Antonio Conte; Everton recorded their first victory of the campaign; and Arsenal's 15-year-old academy prospect Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest player to feature in the competition's history.

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal's jubilant supporters will enjoy looking at the Premier League table for the next couple of weeks after surpassing Tottenham and Manchester City on their way to the summit. Things are looking bleak for Leicester and new-look Nottingham Forest, though, while West Ham's slow start continued at Goodison Park.

Arsenal
What a difference a year makes. On the opening night of 2021-22, Arsenal were bullied by Brentford and seemingly unnerved by the swell of energy that their opponents created. On Sunday they played as if holding a Championship team at bay in an FA Cup tie.

It was the perfect performance, for several reasons. Mikel Arteta's team scored from a set piece early on, the opposite of what happened in that defeat last August. They scored a second reasonably quickly to quell any hopes of an immediate response, with Gabriel Jesus scoring and Granit Xhaka creating – more on that shortly. Then after half-time, when Thomas Frank presumably told his side to start quickly and pressure Arsenal, Martin Odegaard's replacement scored a wonderful long-range goal.

If that wasn't enough, they were even able to give a debut to a 15-year-old kid and make us all feel ancient.

15 years and 181 days.

The youngest player in Premier League history.

Congratulations, Ethan Nwaneri 👏

❤️ @ArsenalAcademy pic.twitter.com/52pnzERNM8

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 18, 2022

Do not underestimate the psychological test that Arsenal have just passed. After losing at Old Trafford to reveal the same old nagging flaws, Arteta would have much preferred a home game against Everton, a fixture they won 5-1 last season. Instead they were forced to face another demon and slayed it efficiently.

Now back to Xhaka. In 2018-19, he was Arsenal's second highest chance creator in the Premier League (behind Mesut Ozil, who basically had a free role). But over the last two seasons, with Arsenal well below full health and in need of a holding midfielder, Xhaka's numbers tailed off badly: 16 chances created in 2,591 minutes in 2019-20 and 17 in 2,522 minutes in 2020-21.

Now Arsenal have greater protection in midfield – and are stronger defensively anyway – we are seeing more of Xhaka the creator. So far this season he has already created 14 chances in seven games and contributed one fewer assist than in the last two seasons combined.

Aston Villa
It has not been an easy few months for Tyrone Mings. No player wants to be dropped from the team and no captain wants to lose their armband. It sends a message – to the public as well as the individual – that your manager believes you unfit for purpose. Had Diego Carlos not suffered a serious injury, Mings may not be in the team at all.

But that setback to Carlos offered Mings a lifeline at Aston Villa and he has taken it. The victory over Southampton on Friday evening was hardly memorable. Southampton were rotten and Villa didn't dismantle their opponent. It was gruff and gritty and Villa took one of several half-chances they created.

But Mings was the star. This was their first clean sheet at Villa Park against a current Premier League team since a 4-0 win over the same opponent in March. Mings won every header he contested, cleared every ball and led his defence. It was a passable impression of the Mings that became a fan favourite at Villa following his move from Bournemouth.

And he deserves great credit for that. Steven Gerrard has spoken repeatedly about the need to eliminate individual mistakes and some of that criticism was clearly aimed at his former captain.

After a midweek in which he was again omitted from Gareth Southgate's England squad, Mings picked an opportune night to show his best attributes.

Bournemouth
Promoted teams, if they are to be successful, must learn to cope with different opponents. Against Nottingham Forest a fortnight ago, Bournemouth surged back into the match by throwing caution to the wind. One easy way of demonstrating their intention to attack is that Neto, their new goalkeeper, had the fewest touches of any starter.

Fast forward to St James' Park on Saturday, where Gary O'Neil knew that Bournemouth would face a different test. Bournemouth had 20 per cent less possession than in their previous match. They stayed behind the ball and only counter-attacked when the situation made it sensible. They defended deep, looked to repel crosses and slowed down the game with passes across their defence. When those crosses were not headed clear, Neto came to claim.

And so, having had the fewest touches against Forest, Neto actually had more touches than any other Bournemouth player against Newcastle (51). That's the first time a goalkeeper has done that this season, but demonstrates that O'Neil's Bournemouth are capable of switching their strategy and being successful both ways.

Brentford
Thomas Frank accepted after the game that his team were outplayed by Arsenal and had few complaints at Brentford's defeat. Frank changed formation to the back three that was so successful against Manchester United, but it didn't work. Then, Brentford were able to make the most of robbing possession in the final third and maximising set-piece opportunities. Here, Arsenal dealt well with the set-piece threat and passed through the press.

The aim was presumably to get the wing-backs high up the pitch, forcing Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli towards their own goal and leaving Gabriel Jesus isolated. In fact, it had the opposite effect: removing a creative midfielder meant that Ivan Toney was starved of service, much to the delight of Arsenal's supporters.

More broadly, this defeat followed the Brentford pattern. Incredibly, in a run that stretches back to September 2021, Brentford have won the last nine Premier League matches in which they have scored first. That's all very well, but deserves to take on a negative connotation: Brentford have only scored the first goal in nine of their last 39 league games.

Frank's side have proven themselves capable of taking points after trailing (they would have been relegated last season if they had failed to do so), but that's not something you can rely upon long term. They simply have to improve their start to matches.

Brighton
No game this weekend.

Chelsea
No game this weekend.

Crystal Palace
No game this weekend.

Everton
After Everton recorded consecutive league clean sheets for the first time since May 2021, it feels appropriate to congratulate them for their magnificent work in the transfer market this summer. For all the money spent on Amadou Onana, Dwight McNeil, Neal Maupay, James Garner and Idrissa Gueye, it is their recruitment of two central defenders for no transfer fees that stands out.

James Tarkowski always seemed a solid pickup from Burnley, given his schooling there in defensive positioning and diving in the way of every shot. But to get Conor Coady on loan from Wolves, who now appear to be a contender for a relegation fight, was extraordinary. Coady was apparently let go by Wolves because Bruno Lage wanted to move to a flat back four. But Coady is now impressing in exactly that system at Everton. Have Wolves dropped the ball?

Fulham
This is the second time that Joao Palhinha has featured in this column already this season, but he deserves it after another excellent display helped Fulham to come from behind at the City Ground on Friday evening. The one thing that the Portuguese midfielder hasn't demonstrated in his early weeks in England was his shooting from distance. Cue a powerful, curling shot from 20 yards to give Fulham the lead.

WOW JOÃO! 😱#FFC pic.twitter.com/V1MHggwBAH

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) September 17, 2022

Palinha isn't a creative midfielder – he is yet to record a created chance in the league this season. But he is a regular shot-taker, ranking fourth at Fulham and is more than happy to pass the ball through midfield to a more creative player. He and Andreas Pereira work excellently in combination.

And without the ball, Palhinha is a monster. No player in the Premier League has won more tackles so far this season. "Pressures" is a statistic that records the number of times a player applies pressure to an opponent who is carrying or passing the ball. Not only does Palhinha rank first in the league for the number of pressures attempted, he has also done so successfully six more times than any other player.

At 27, Fulham were signing a midfielder for the present not the future – Palhinha has fitted in remarkably quickly.

Leeds United
No game this weekend.

Leicester
If this is to be the end of Brendan Rodgers' tenure at Leicester – and supporters are certainly demanding as much – it was a fitting final performance because it contained all the hallmarks of the club's decline:

1) The defending at set pieces has long been the running joke of the Premier League. The individuals in the team may change and a new set-piece coach may have been appointed, but Leicester's inability to protect themselves from high-quality chances, particularly from corners, is embarrassing.

In the first half against Tottenham, Leicester were the better team. They pressed Tottenham high up the pitch successfully, winning possession and then using it to create chances. But they were undone by two regulation runs, one to the front post and one the back. They were also slightly fortunate not to concede an own goal, although replays showed that Danny Ward was probably fouled.

For all the organisation, success in these situations often comes down to desire. Why are Leicester's players not spotting runs from opposition players quickly enough and busting a gut to ensure that they either block off those runs or challenge players in the air?

2) Although Leicester did indeed press high successfully in the first half, they are ludicrously easy to attack against on the occasions when that press is bypassed. Rodgers picked a midfield with four forward-thinking players and one player holding the fort. Youri Tielemans was the second most defensive of the five and he is Leicester's most regular tackler this season, but Tielemans wants to create attacking moves rather than stop them.

Two years ago, when Wilfred Ndidi was one of the most effective defensive screens in the country, that might have worked. Whether his serious injury has broken Ndidi, whether he has been deflated by having to play as a defender or whether he is simply drowning without support, he is a shell of his former self. As soon as the opposition has the ball in Leicester's half, they are outnumbered and defenders are left with the choice to step out, engage and get passed around or sit back and leave huge spaces in front of them.

3) That openness in midfield could be masked – at least in some games against lower-quality opponents – if Rodgers was embracing chaos theory. If Leicester were creating a high number of high-quality chances and conceding the same, you could be convinced that this was a semi-deliberate strategy.

But that clearly isn't the case. Leicester rank 16th for shot-creating actions per 90 minutes played, 17th for shots per 90 minutes and 14th for expected goals, a measure of the quality of chances they are creating. That might be acceptable if they were a Sean Dyche Burnley, aiming to keep shot numbers low at both ends of the pitch. But that's evidently not true.

Instead, Leicester rank joint-eighth for goals scored because they have been pretty lucky. They have scored twice from low-percentage long-range shots (Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall against Brentford, James Maddison against Southampton). They played for 60 minutes against 10 men at Stamford Bridge. They scored from a penalty against Tottenham after a wild challenge by Davinson Sanchez. The evidence suggests that Leicester will score fewer goals if they continue to play the same, not more. And they're conceding so many it doesn't really matter anyway.

4) Danny Ward is struggling. Kasper Schmeichel's form last season merited Leicester replacing him with a new goalkeeper, but promoting their reserve has not worked. Ward was not directly at fault for any of the goals against Spurs, but that's not the point. He is conceding too many of the shots he faces for this to be bad luck.

Post-shot expected goals roughly measure a goalkeeper's performance based on the statistical chances of saving a shot according to where it is directed. In the Premier League this season, the second worst club by this measure are Southampton with -3.5 (the quality of shots faced suggests that Southampton should have conceded 7.5 goals but they have conceded 11. Leicester's figure is -7.1.)

Much has been made of Leicester's summer inactivity, and you can make a case in Rodgers' defence about not replacing Schmeichel. But Leicester only lost two first-team players over the summer and the other was Wesley Fofana. Fofana only played seven league games last season when Leicester finished eighth and they only kept one clean sheet in his last 15 league appearances for the club (and conceded six in two games this season). This goes beyond the loss of two players.

If that inactivity did make a difference to the morale of the squad (and it is perfectly reasonable to think that it might have), it was on Rodgers to solve the problem. That is what he is paid so much to do; he is one of the highest-paid managers in the division. You earn your money through an ability to sidestep issues and create a team that continues to perform above – or at least to the level – of its potential.

It's not just that Leicester are bad; it's that we have known for so long why Leicester are bad and so have every team they face. Rodgers overperformed during the first half of his tenure, but they have dropped away so much and so quickly that there is no obvious case for keeping him in charge. Leicester are bottom of the table, winless and have conceded more goals in their first seven matches than any other top-flight team since 1965. It would be better for everyone if this relationship ended now.

Liverpool
No game this weekend.

Manchester City
The most goals a Premier League player has ever scored in all competitions in a single season is 44. We have reached mid-September and Erling Haaland is almost a third of the way to that target. The question is now not whether he will take some time to settle in the Premier League or be eased into Manchester City's shape, but whether he will stay fit all season and thus have a good shot at breaking Mohamed Salah's record for goals in a 38-game Premier League season. He's a third of the way to doing that too.

At Molineux on Saturday lunchtime, City replicated their most common Premier League performance: early goal, control of possession, offering slight hope to counter-attacking opponents, killing off the game. Amid all the chatter of fixture congestion and fatigue, you preserve your energy when you can. Both managers would have shaken hands on 2-0 at half-time.

But look a little deeper for City's best player. Given City's usual dominance of territory and possession, it is easier to notice Rodri as a progressive passer. It is certainly true that his consistency is astonishing, both in terms of passing accuracy and the decision-making of when to quicken the tempo. He is the conductor maestro.

Yet that isn't even Rodri's strongest suit. Three times in the first 15 minutes of the second half, the only minutes in which Wolves troubled City and forced their opponents to play facing their own goal, a ball was pulled back to roughly the penalty spot. Each time, a player in gold was well-placed to take a shot but the pass was intercepted by Rodri. His positional sense, without the ball, is like nothing else in the league.

Against Wolves, City had far more than half of the ball but no player on the pitch won possession more times than Rodri. No Manchester City players made more clearances or intercepted more passes. No midfielder on the pitch gave the ball away less often. He is the holding midfielder who can do everything.

Manchester United
No game this weekend.

Newcastle
One of the hardest teams in the Premier League to work out, not just because we're not quite sure what Newcastle United's owners expect from this season. Are Newcastle the side that haven't won since the opening day and have only beaten a promoted club, putting Eddie Howe in trouble? Or are they the team that has only lost once (in the last seconds at Anfield), have drawn with Manchester City and can feel unfortunate that several decisions have gone against them, thus meaning Howe is taking them forward again? Who really knows.

But two things really are worth mentioning. The first is that, for all the transfer market work in 2022, a year during which Newcastle have signed a goalkeeper, two starting full-backs, an expensive central defender, a central midfielder for whom they broke their transfer record and a striker for whom they broke it again, they are still far too reliant on Allan Saint-Maximin's unpredictable brilliance to create chances.

On Saturday, without Saint-Maximin, we saw that issue laid bare. Newcastle's best chances came from set pieces (and they scored a penalty). In open play, they were too predictable and so relied upon crosses into the box (24 in total vs Bournemouth's three). Even without captain Chris Mepham, Bournemouth dealt with those fairly comfortably.

Between them, Newcastle's other wide players (Miguel Almiron, Ryan Fraser, Matt Ritchie, Kieran Trippier, Matt Targett and Jacob Murphy) have successfully dribbled past a player 11 times this season; Saint-Maximin has done so 14 times by himself. Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes are an excellent combination centrally and do drive forward with the ball, but without a threat out wide opposition teams can cover the two Brazilians and everything gets a little stodgy.

The repeated use of crossing brings us to the second point. Alexander Isak is certainly tall, but he's also a modern forward who likes to roam from his centre forward position and bring others into play. Despite his height, Isak has played 192 matches in domestic league competition, European competition and for Sweden. He has only scored five headers in those matches and two of those were in the Swedish league in 2016 when he was 17.

The point is this: when you sign a striker for more than £50m, it seems reasonable to change the style of your attack to match the profile of the player rather than asking the player to match the style of the attack. On Saturday, Trippier alone attempted 16 crosses into the box to a front three of Isak, Fraser and Almiron – none of those are particularly effective in the air. And if that is the plan, to cross in search of chances because you're finding things difficult through the middle, it's probably worth giving Chris Wood more than a minute and playing with a front two of him and Isak as a combination.

Nottingham Forest
This is now an emergency situation. Every promoted club targets certain fixtures and privately labels them must-win or must-not-lose as they aim to reach 40 points and survive. If you face the other two promoted clubs at home in your first seven matches and twice hold the lead at half-time, nothing less than four points is acceptable. Nottingham Forest have somehow taken none and have conceded six goals in 90 combined minutes.

It is difficult enough for a manager when your club has signed so many new players, whether or not that was a necessity (and, to an extent, it was at the City Ground). Most will have been promised first-team football and, from what we know of Evangelos Marinakis and his son, they will also have been sold an ambitious project that aimed for midtable comfort this season.

The practicalities of acclimatising those players is made far more difficult after a couple of defeats, because the pressure grows on the manager to change the team in search of the solution and Forest have so many new signings in reserve that Cooper has little option. Ideally, he wants to rely upon a few players he knows that can make up the core of the team. But the argument grows – for supporters and the club – that he has to make a completely new team on the hoof. It's incredibly difficult.

So look at Forest's team. After seven matches, Forest have used 23 players – no team in the Premier League have used more. They have started six different central defenders, six different central midfielders, three different players in the advanced central midfield role and five different strikers. What chance does any team have of producing consistency in those circumstances and yet what choice does Cooper have but to keep searching for the right answer?

This can be fixed. If Forest are even in touch with 17th place when the World Cup starts, Cooper should be highly commended for his work and we should expect them to improve in the second half of the season. But right now, that looks like a distant hope and the ambition of the owners – who told the supporters publicly what he expected this season – makes things harder still. Go back to the last two words of our Forest season preview for all you need to know: "Good luck".

Southampton
From one manager struggling with a host of new players to another. Southampton signed eight new outfield players, all of whom were aged between 19 and 25. Southampton's results early in the season – a 2-1 win against Chelsea and a 2-1 win at Leicester – suggested that there was good reason to believe in a new age at St Mary's.

But on Friday evening, Ralph Hasenhuttl only started one of those eight outfield players – defender Armel Bella-Kotchap. Romeo Lavia was injured, and would surely have started if fit, but Duje Caleta-Car, Joe Aribo, Sekou Mara, Samuel Edozie and Juan Larios were all on the bench and Ainsley Maitland-Niles wasn't in the matchday squad. The same was roughly true against Wolves, when Aribo and Bella-Kotchap were the only two in the team.

That's perfectly reasonable. If you sign a collection of players at peak age, you might put them all in the team. When the group that arrives are all young, a manager needs to be careful. Start them en masse and you risk losing any cohesion and damaging their development.

Unfortunately for Hasenhuttl, his club and their supporters may respectfully disagree. The reason those players were signed was because Southampton were awful towards the end of last season. Southampton's results in their last two matches, 1-0 defeats during which they managed two shots on target in total, makes the case that leaving several of those players on the bench was a bad mistake.

It also piles the pressure on Southampton's upcoming games and on Hasenhuttl's team selection. If he isn't going to trust the new players, his seniors may reason, we'll get a manager who is.

Tottenham
Honestly, Tottenham aren't playing that well. The league table may lie, Spurs unbeaten and level with Manchester City in second. Saturday's result may lie, the first time that Spurs have scored six in the league since thrashing Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2020. But the eyes don't lie.

In the first half against Leicester, Spurs looked like a team of component parts. The central midfielders were harried and frequently ceded possession in dangerous areas. The direct passes forward didn't work because Son Heung-min wasn't there to run beyond the last man and Richarlison didn't win a header. The defence worked fairly well but then Davinson Sanchez committed a stupid foul in the box.

Hat-trick ✅
Hero ✅ pic.twitter.com/l4EPsgSHW7

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 17, 2022

Of course, it didn't matter, and the fact that it didn't matter is a cause for great celebration. Antonio Conte wanted strength in depth so that he could a) demand more from his starters, b) he could rotate when he didn't get more from them and c) so Tottenham could overpower teams through the use of substitutions. Son clearly wasn't happy about being dropped, but if the net result is that he comes on to score a hat-trick and sends a message to Conte not to leave him out again, everyone's a winner.

The power of individuality that is powering Tottenham forward is surprising because it goes against everything we knew about Conte. His team are currently being bailed out by Hugo Lloris and the brilliance of two or more of their forwards. Conte may not like that because it suggests that the team are not quite functioning as a collective.

But that may change over time and, in the meantime, Tottenham are making it work. The north London derby will tell us exactly where Spurs are at, but if you have a group of superstar attackers that can wriggle themselves out of mediocrity and onto emphatic victories, nobody moans.

West Ham
It might not be David Moyes' biggest problem given that West Ham have taken nine points from their last 13 league games either side of the season break, but what on earth has happened to Jarrod Bowen? Bowen was called up by Gareth Southgate last week to have another look at him following England's June fixtures, but if this club form continues he has no hope of going to the World Cup.

In 625 minutes over seven league games this season, Bowen has neither scored nor assisted a goal. He has taken 15 shots and only one has required a save from the goalkeeper. He has only dribbled past a player six times. He has created only seven chances. All of these are down significantly on the first half of last season. Is Bowen tired, or have defenders just worked him out?

Wolves
The temptation is to focus on the defensive shambles that made life far too easy for the best attack in the Premier League: Goncalo Guedes failing to track Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish making an unchecked run to score, the gaping space between the centre-backs for Erling Haaland's finish, Nathan Collins' madness that ended the game as a contest and gives Bruno Lage a headache for Wolves' next three fixtures. Loaning out Conor Coady left Lage badly short at centre-back; Yerson Mosquera may have to step in.

But the bigger question surrounds Wolves' front three and how they expect to score goals. Raul Jimenez's thigh problem and Sasa Kalajdzic's season-ending injury provoked the free transfer signing of Diego Costa, but he was not fit to start. Anyone expecting a repeat of Costa's physical brilliance from his Chelsea years should think again.

Lage has seemingly decided that Hwang Hee-chan is not fit for his purpose. Even without Jimenez, Kalajdzic and Costa, Hwang was left on the bench and only had seven touches of the ball in his 20-minute appearance. That signing has just not worked out.

Instead, Lage went for a front three of attacking midfielders with Daniel Podence nominally the central forward. That made some sense given how much Wolves have previously given City problems on the counter attack, but it didn't really work. Wolves did threaten on the break, but too often they were undone by having several creators and no finisher.

Wolves had one touch of the ball in the penalty area and between the width of the posts in 90 minutes on Saturday; that was Guedes' shot in the 59th minute. Even if Costa is not the same player, they are desperate for a focal point that can afford the attacking midfielders behind him some space.



https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-son-sends-message-man-city-best-player-xhaka-creator-fulham-midfield-monster-1864262?ITO=newsnow

[Bassey the warrior]

Premier League: Son sends a message, Man City's best player, Xhaka the creator, and Fulham's midfield monster

Daniel Storey gives his verdict on the 14 Premier League teams in action this weekend

The Score is Daniel Storey's weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams' performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning

Son Heung-min is back to his best, so are Arsenal and Erling Haaland is inevitable.

There were fewer Premier League matches than usual this weekend but there was no shortage of drama and talking points at both ends of the table. Son scored a 13-minute hat-trick after being dropped by Antonio Conte; Everton recorded their first victory of the campaign; and Arsenal's 15-year-old academy prospect Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest player to feature in the competition's history.

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal's jubilant supporters will enjoy looking at the Premier League table for the next couple of weeks after surpassing Tottenham and Manchester City on their way to the summit. Things are looking bleak for Leicester and new-look Nottingham Forest, though, while West Ham's slow start continued at Goodison Park.

Arsenal
What a difference a year makes. On the opening night of 2021-22, Arsenal were bullied by Brentford and seemingly unnerved by the swell of energy that their opponents created. On Sunday they played as if holding a Championship team at bay in an FA Cup tie.

It was the perfect performance, for several reasons. Mikel Arteta's team scored from a set piece early on, the opposite of what happened in that defeat last August. They scored a second reasonably quickly to quell any hopes of an immediate response, with Gabriel Jesus scoring and Granit Xhaka creating – more on that shortly. Then after half-time, when Thomas Frank presumably told his side to start quickly and pressure Arsenal, Martin Odegaard's replacement scored a wonderful long-range goal.

If that wasn't enough, they were even able to give a debut to a 15-year-old kid and make us all feel ancient.

15 years and 181 days.

The youngest player in Premier League history.

Congratulations, Ethan Nwaneri 👏

❤️ @ArsenalAcademy pic.twitter.com/52pnzERNM8

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 18, 2022

Do not underestimate the psychological test that Arsenal have just passed. After losing at Old Trafford to reveal the same old nagging flaws, Arteta would have much preferred a home game against Everton, a fixture they won 5-1 last season. Instead they were forced to face another demon and slayed it efficiently.

Now back to Xhaka. In 2018-19, he was Arsenal's second highest chance creator in the Premier League (behind Mesut Ozil, who basically had a free role). But over the last two seasons, with Arsenal well below full health and in need of a holding midfielder, Xhaka's numbers tailed off badly: 16 chances created in 2,591 minutes in 2019-20 and 17 in 2,522 minutes in 2020-21.

Now Arsenal have greater protection in midfield – and are stronger defensively anyway – we are seeing more of Xhaka the creator. So far this season he has already created 14 chances in seven games and contributed one fewer assist than in the last two seasons combined.

Aston Villa
It has not been an easy few months for Tyrone Mings. No player wants to be dropped from the team and no captain wants to lose their armband. It sends a message – to the public as well as the individual – that your manager believes you unfit for purpose. Had Diego Carlos not suffered a serious injury, Mings may not be in the team at all.

But that setback to Carlos offered Mings a lifeline at Aston Villa and he has taken it. The victory over Southampton on Friday evening was hardly memorable. Southampton were rotten and Villa didn't dismantle their opponent. It was gruff and gritty and Villa took one of several half-chances they created.

But Mings was the star. This was their first clean sheet at Villa Park against a current Premier League team since a 4-0 win over the same opponent in March. Mings won every header he contested, cleared every ball and led his defence. It was a passable impression of the Mings that became a fan favourite at Villa following his move from Bournemouth.

And he deserves great credit for that. Steven Gerrard has spoken repeatedly about the need to eliminate individual mistakes and some of that criticism was clearly aimed at his former captain.

After a midweek in which he was again omitted from Gareth Southgate's England squad, Mings picked an opportune night to show his best attributes.

Bournemouth
Promoted teams, if they are to be successful, must learn to cope with different opponents. Against Nottingham Forest a fortnight ago, Bournemouth surged back into the match by throwing caution to the wind. One easy way of demonstrating their intention to attack is that Neto, their new goalkeeper, had the fewest touches of any starter.

Fast forward to St James' Park on Saturday, where Gary O'Neil knew that Bournemouth would face a different test. Bournemouth had 20 per cent less possession than in their previous match. They stayed behind the ball and only counter-attacked when the situation made it sensible. They defended deep, looked to repel crosses and slowed down the game with passes across their defence. When those crosses were not headed clear, Neto came to claim.

And so, having had the fewest touches against Forest, Neto actually had more touches than any other Bournemouth player against Newcastle (51). That's the first time a goalkeeper has done that this season, but demonstrates that O'Neil's Bournemouth are capable of switching their strategy and being successful both ways.

Brentford
Thomas Frank accepted after the game that his team were outplayed by Arsenal and had few complaints at Brentford's defeat. Frank changed formation to the back three that was so successful against Manchester United, but it didn't work. Then, Brentford were able to make the most of robbing possession in the final third and maximising set-piece opportunities. Here, Arsenal dealt well with the set-piece threat and passed through the press.

The aim was presumably to get the wing-backs high up the pitch, forcing Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli towards their own goal and leaving Gabriel Jesus isolated. In fact, it had the opposite effect: removing a creative midfielder meant that Ivan Toney was starved of service, much to the delight of Arsenal's supporters.

More broadly, this defeat followed the Brentford pattern. Incredibly, in a run that stretches back to September 2021, Brentford have won the last nine Premier League matches in which they have scored first. That's all very well, but deserves to take on a negative connotation: Brentford have only scored the first goal in nine of their last 39 league games.

Frank's side have proven themselves capable of taking points after trailing (they would have been relegated last season if they had failed to do so), but that's not something you can rely upon long term. They simply have to improve their start to matches.

Brighton
No game this weekend.

Chelsea
No game this weekend.

Crystal Palace
No game this weekend.

Everton
After Everton recorded consecutive league clean sheets for the first time since May 2021, it feels appropriate to congratulate them for their magnificent work in the transfer market this summer. For all the money spent on Amadou Onana, Dwight McNeil, Neal Maupay, James Garner and Idrissa Gueye, it is their recruitment of two central defenders for no transfer fees that stands out.

James Tarkowski always seemed a solid pickup from Burnley, given his schooling there in defensive positioning and diving in the way of every shot. But to get Conor Coady on loan from Wolves, who now appear to be a contender for a relegation fight, was extraordinary. Coady was apparently let go by Wolves because Bruno Lage wanted to move to a flat back four. But Coady is now impressing in exactly that system at Everton. Have Wolves dropped the ball?

Fulham
This is the second time that Joao Palhinha has featured in this column already this season, but he deserves it after another excellent display helped Fulham to come from behind at the City Ground on Friday evening. The one thing that the Portuguese midfielder hasn't demonstrated in his early weeks in England was his shooting from distance. Cue a powerful, curling shot from 20 yards to give Fulham the lead.

WOW JOÃO! 😱#FFC pic.twitter.com/V1MHggwBAH

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) September 17, 2022

Palinha isn't a creative midfielder – he is yet to record a created chance in the league this season. But he is a regular shot-taker, ranking fourth at Fulham and is more than happy to pass the ball through midfield to a more creative player. He and Andreas Pereira work excellently in combination.

And without the ball, Palhinha is a monster. No player in the Premier League has won more tackles so far this season. "Pressures" is a statistic that records the number of times a player applies pressure to an opponent who is carrying or passing the ball. Not only does Palhinha rank first in the league for the number of pressures attempted, he has also done so successfully six more times than any other player.

At 27, Fulham were signing a midfielder for the present not the future – Palhinha has fitted in remarkably quickly.

Leeds United
No game this weekend.

Leicester
If this is to be the end of Brendan Rodgers' tenure at Leicester – and supporters are certainly demanding as much – it was a fitting final performance because it contained all the hallmarks of the club's decline:

1) The defending at set pieces has long been the running joke of the Premier League. The individuals in the team may change and a new set-piece coach may have been appointed, but Leicester's inability to protect themselves from high-quality chances, particularly from corners, is embarrassing.

In the first half against Tottenham, Leicester were the better team. They pressed Tottenham high up the pitch successfully, winning possession and then using it to create chances. But they were undone by two regulation runs, one to the front post and one the back. They were also slightly fortunate not to concede an own goal, although replays showed that Danny Ward was probably fouled.

For all the organisation, success in these situations often comes down to desire. Why are Leicester's players not spotting runs from opposition players quickly enough and busting a gut to ensure that they either block off those runs or challenge players in the air?

2) Although Leicester did indeed press high successfully in the first half, they are ludicrously easy to attack against on the occasions when that press is bypassed. Rodgers picked a midfield with four forward-thinking players and one player holding the fort. Youri Tielemans was the second most defensive of the five and he is Leicester's most regular tackler this season, but Tielemans wants to create attacking moves rather than stop them.

Two years ago, when Wilfred Ndidi was one of the most effective defensive screens in the country, that might have worked. Whether his serious injury has broken Ndidi, whether he has been deflated by having to play as a defender or whether he is simply drowning without support, he is a shell of his former self. As soon as the opposition has the ball in Leicester's half, they are outnumbered and defenders are left with the choice to step out, engage and get passed around or sit back and leave huge spaces in front of them.

3) That openness in midfield could be masked – at least in some games against lower-quality opponents – if Rodgers was embracing chaos theory. If Leicester were creating a high number of high-quality chances and conceding the same, you could be convinced that this was a semi-deliberate strategy.

But that clearly isn't the case. Leicester rank 16th for shot-creating actions per 90 minutes played, 17th for shots per 90 minutes and 14th for expected goals, a measure of the quality of chances they are creating. That might be acceptable if they were a Sean Dyche Burnley, aiming to keep shot numbers low at both ends of the pitch. But that's evidently not true.

Instead, Leicester rank joint-eighth for goals scored because they have been pretty lucky. They have scored twice from low-percentage long-range shots (Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall against Brentford, James Maddison against Southampton). They played for 60 minutes against 10 men at Stamford Bridge. They scored from a penalty against Tottenham after a wild challenge by Davinson Sanchez. The evidence suggests that Leicester will score fewer goals if they continue to play the same, not more. And they're conceding so many it doesn't really matter anyway.

4) Danny Ward is struggling. Kasper Schmeichel's form last season merited Leicester replacing him with a new goalkeeper, but promoting their reserve has not worked. Ward was not directly at fault for any of the goals against Spurs, but that's not the point. He is conceding too many of the shots he faces for this to be bad luck.

Post-shot expected goals roughly measure a goalkeeper's performance based on the statistical chances of saving a shot according to where it is directed. In the Premier League this season, the second worst club by this measure are Southampton with -3.5 (the quality of shots faced suggests that Southampton should have conceded 7.5 goals but they have conceded 11. Leicester's figure is -7.1.)

Much has been made of Leicester's summer inactivity, and you can make a case in Rodgers' defence about not replacing Schmeichel. But Leicester only lost two first-team players over the summer and the other was Wesley Fofana. Fofana only played seven league games last season when Leicester finished eighth and they only kept one clean sheet in his last 15 league appearances for the club (and conceded six in two games this season). This goes beyond the loss of two players.

If that inactivity did make a difference to the morale of the squad (and it is perfectly reasonable to think that it might have), it was on Rodgers to solve the problem. That is what he is paid so much to do; he is one of the highest-paid managers in the division. You earn your money through an ability to sidestep issues and create a team that continues to perform above – or at least to the level – of its potential.

It's not just that Leicester are bad; it's that we have known for so long why Leicester are bad and so have every team they face. Rodgers overperformed during the first half of his tenure, but they have dropped away so much and so quickly that there is no obvious case for keeping him in charge. Leicester are bottom of the table, winless and have conceded more goals in their first seven matches than any other top-flight team since 1965. It would be better for everyone if this relationship ended now.

Liverpool
No game this weekend.

Manchester City
The most goals a Premier League player has ever scored in all competitions in a single season is 44. We have reached mid-September and Erling Haaland is almost a third of the way to that target. The question is now not whether he will take some time to settle in the Premier League or be eased into Manchester City's shape, but whether he will stay fit all season and thus have a good shot at breaking Mohamed Salah's record for goals in a 38-game Premier League season. He's a third of the way to doing that too.

At Molineux on Saturday lunchtime, City replicated their most common Premier League performance: early goal, control of possession, offering slight hope to counter-attacking opponents, killing off the game. Amid all the chatter of fixture congestion and fatigue, you preserve your energy when you can. Both managers would have shaken hands on 2-0 at half-time.

But look a little deeper for City's best player. Given City's usual dominance of territory and possession, it is easier to notice Rodri as a progressive passer. It is certainly true that his consistency is astonishing, both in terms of passing accuracy and the decision-making of when to quicken the tempo. He is the conductor maestro.

Yet that isn't even Rodri's strongest suit. Three times in the first 15 minutes of the second half, the only minutes in which Wolves troubled City and forced their opponents to play facing their own goal, a ball was pulled back to roughly the penalty spot. Each time, a player in gold was well-placed to take a shot but the pass was intercepted by Rodri. His positional sense, without the ball, is like nothing else in the league.

Against Wolves, City had far more than half of the ball but no player on the pitch won possession more times than Rodri. No Manchester City players made more clearances or intercepted more passes. No midfielder on the pitch gave the ball away less often. He is the holding midfielder who can do everything.

Manchester United
No game this weekend.

Newcastle
One of the hardest teams in the Premier League to work out, not just because we're not quite sure what Newcastle United's owners expect from this season. Are Newcastle the side that haven't won since the opening day and have only beaten a promoted club, putting Eddie Howe in trouble? Or are they the team that has only lost once (in the last seconds at Anfield), have drawn with Manchester City and can feel unfortunate that several decisions have gone against them, thus meaning Howe is taking them forward again? Who really knows.

But two things really are worth mentioning. The first is that, for all the transfer market work in 2022, a year during which Newcastle have signed a goalkeeper, two starting full-backs, an expensive central defender, a central midfielder for whom they broke their transfer record and a striker for whom they broke it again, they are still far too reliant on Allan Saint-Maximin's unpredictable brilliance to create chances.

On Saturday, without Saint-Maximin, we saw that issue laid bare. Newcastle's best chances came from set pieces (and they scored a penalty). In open play, they were too predictable and so relied upon crosses into the box (24 in total vs Bournemouth's three). Even without captain Chris Mepham, Bournemouth dealt with those fairly comfortably.

Between them, Newcastle's other wide players (Miguel Almiron, Ryan Fraser, Matt Ritchie, Kieran Trippier, Matt Targett and Jacob Murphy) have successfully dribbled past a player 11 times this season; Saint-Maximin has done so 14 times by himself. Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes are an excellent combination centrally and do drive forward with the ball, but without a threat out wide opposition teams can cover the two Brazilians and everything gets a little stodgy.

The repeated use of crossing brings us to the second point. Alexander Isak is certainly tall, but he's also a modern forward who likes to roam from his centre forward position and bring others into play. Despite his height, Isak has played 192 matches in domestic league competition, European competition and for Sweden. He has only scored five headers in those matches and two of those were in the Swedish league in 2016 when he was 17.

The point is this: when you sign a striker for more than £50m, it seems reasonable to change the style of your attack to match the profile of the player rather than asking the player to match the style of the attack. On Saturday, Trippier alone attempted 16 crosses into the box to a front three of Isak, Fraser and Almiron – none of those are particularly effective in the air. And if that is the plan, to cross in search of chances because you're finding things difficult through the middle, it's probably worth giving Chris Wood more than a minute and playing with a front two of him and Isak as a combination.

Nottingham Forest
This is now an emergency situation. Every promoted club targets certain fixtures and privately labels them must-win or must-not-lose as they aim to reach 40 points and survive. If you face the other two promoted clubs at home in your first seven matches and twice hold the lead at half-time, nothing less than four points is acceptable. Nottingham Forest have somehow taken none and have conceded six goals in 90 combined minutes.

It is difficult enough for a manager when your club has signed so many new players, whether or not that was a necessity (and, to an extent, it was at the City Ground). Most will have been promised first-team football and, from what we know of Evangelos Marinakis and his son, they will also have been sold an ambitious project that aimed for midtable comfort this season.

The practicalities of acclimatising those players is made far more difficult after a couple of defeats, because the pressure grows on the manager to change the team in search of the solution and Forest have so many new signings in reserve that Cooper has little option. Ideally, he wants to rely upon a few players he knows that can make up the core of the team. But the argument grows – for supporters and the club – that he has to make a completely new team on the hoof. It's incredibly difficult.

So look at Forest's team. After seven matches, Forest have used 23 players – no team in the Premier League have used more. They have started six different central defenders, six different central midfielders, three different players in the advanced central midfield role and five different strikers. What chance does any team have of producing consistency in those circumstances and yet what choice does Cooper have but to keep searching for the right answer?

This can be fixed. If Forest are even in touch with 17th place when the World Cup starts, Cooper should be highly commended for his work and we should expect them to improve in the second half of the season. But right now, that looks like a distant hope and the ambition of the owners – who told the supporters publicly what he expected this season – makes things harder still. Go back to the last two words of our Forest season preview for all you need to know: "Good luck".

Southampton
From one manager struggling with a host of new players to another. Southampton signed eight new outfield players, all of whom were aged between 19 and 25. Southampton's results early in the season – a 2-1 win against Chelsea and a 2-1 win at Leicester – suggested that there was good reason to believe in a new age at St Mary's.

But on Friday evening, Ralph Hasenhuttl only started one of those eight outfield players – defender Armel Bella-Kotchap. Romeo Lavia was injured, and would surely have started if fit, but Duje Caleta-Car, Joe Aribo, Sekou Mara, Samuel Edozie and Juan Larios were all on the bench and Ainsley Maitland-Niles wasn't in the matchday squad. The same was roughly true against Wolves, when Aribo and Bella-Kotchap were the only two in the team.

That's perfectly reasonable. If you sign a collection of players at peak age, you might put them all in the team. When the group that arrives are all young, a manager needs to be careful. Start them en masse and you risk losing any cohesion and damaging their development.

Unfortunately for Hasenhuttl, his club and their supporters may respectfully disagree. The reason those players were signed was because Southampton were awful towards the end of last season. Southampton's results in their last two matches, 1-0 defeats during which they managed two shots on target in total, makes the case that leaving several of those players on the bench was a bad mistake.

It also piles the pressure on Southampton's upcoming games and on Hasenhuttl's team selection. If he isn't going to trust the new players, his seniors may reason, we'll get a manager who is.

Tottenham
Honestly, Tottenham aren't playing that well. The league table may lie, Spurs unbeaten and level with Manchester City in second. Saturday's result may lie, the first time that Spurs have scored six in the league since thrashing Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2020. But the eyes don't lie.

In the first half against Leicester, Spurs looked like a team of component parts. The central midfielders were harried and frequently ceded possession in dangerous areas. The direct passes forward didn't work because Son Heung-min wasn't there to run beyond the last man and Richarlison didn't win a header. The defence worked fairly well but then Davinson Sanchez committed a stupid foul in the box.

Hat-trick ✅
Hero ✅ pic.twitter.com/l4EPsgSHW7

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 17, 2022

Of course, it didn't matter, and the fact that it didn't matter is a cause for great celebration. Antonio Conte wanted strength in depth so that he could a) demand more from his starters, b) he could rotate when he didn't get more from them and c) so Tottenham could overpower teams through the use of substitutions. Son clearly wasn't happy about being dropped, but if the net result is that he comes on to score a hat-trick and sends a message to Conte not to leave him out again, everyone's a winner.

The power of individuality that is powering Tottenham forward is surprising because it goes against everything we knew about Conte. His team are currently being bailed out by Hugo Lloris and the brilliance of two or more of their forwards. Conte may not like that because it suggests that the team are not quite functioning as a collective.

But that may change over time and, in the meantime, Tottenham are making it work. The north London derby will tell us exactly where Spurs are at, but if you have a group of superstar attackers that can wriggle themselves out of mediocrity and onto emphatic victories, nobody moans.

West Ham
It might not be David Moyes' biggest problem given that West Ham have taken nine points from their last 13 league games either side of the season break, but what on earth has happened to Jarrod Bowen? Bowen was called up by Gareth Southgate last week to have another look at him following England's June fixtures, but if this club form continues he has no hope of going to the World Cup.

In 625 minutes over seven league games this season, Bowen has neither scored nor assisted a goal. He has taken 15 shots and only one has required a save from the goalkeeper. He has only dribbled past a player six times. He has created only seven chances. All of these are down significantly on the first half of last season. Is Bowen tired, or have defenders just worked him out?

Wolves
The temptation is to focus on the defensive shambles that made life far too easy for the best attack in the Premier League: Goncalo Guedes failing to track Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish making an unchecked run to score, the gaping space between the centre-backs for Erling Haaland's finish, Nathan Collins' madness that ended the game as a contest and gives Bruno Lage a headache for Wolves' next three fixtures. Loaning out Conor Coady left Lage badly short at centre-back; Yerson Mosquera may have to step in.

But the bigger question surrounds Wolves' front three and how they expect to score goals. Raul Jimenez's thigh problem and Sasa Kalajdzic's season-ending injury provoked the free transfer signing of Diego Costa, but he was not fit to start. Anyone expecting a repeat of Costa's physical brilliance from his Chelsea years should think again.

Lage has seemingly decided that Hwang Hee-chan is not fit for his purpose. Even without Jimenez, Kalajdzic and Costa, Hwang was left on the bench and only had seven touches of the ball in his 20-minute appearance. That signing has just not worked out.

Instead, Lage went for a front three of attacking midfielders with Daniel Podence nominally the central forward. That made some sense given how much Wolves have previously given City problems on the counter attack, but it didn't really work. Wolves did threaten on the break, but too often they were undone by having several creators and no finisher.

Wolves had one touch of the ball in the penalty area and between the width of the posts in 90 minutes on Saturday; that was Guedes' shot in the 59th minute. Even if Costa is not the same player, they are desperate for a focal point that can afford the attacking midfielders behind him some space.



https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-son-sends-message-man-city-best-player-xhaka-creator-fulham-midfield-monster-1864262?ITO=newsnow

What a signing Palhinha is. I knew he was good but those stats suggest he's the best defensive midfielder in the league.