Premier League Review - Klopp’s struggle mean little for now

Before the match against Southampton, Liverpool had struggled under Klopp. They looked more organised and more enthused, but they didn’t appear to be able to press for a whole match, and they also looked like a side that missed several first-teamers from its squad.

That tells us little under Klopp - many managers can arrive at a new side, and simply by not being the old guy, they can extract a little more from the current squad as their methods are novel, and therefore more enjoyable.

It says more about Brendan Rodgers. He had been there for three seasons and was struggling not just with injuries, but to solve old problems, like the defence, and new ones, like getting the players to look like they were interested in having him around. Raheem Sterling wasn’t, for one, and his agent recently said that had Klopp been appointed in the summer, then he would have stayed.

Klopp has to work with the players who are left, though, and for now his task is to make sure that a limited and bloated squad is cajoled into performing acceptably. Defensive improvement is one side of that, but so is identifying who needs to be chucked out in January, and who can be remodelled in a way Klopp can use. Going by the performances in his first three matches, no player can consider himself safe.

Is spending half a billion pounds worth it, if this is what you get?
According to the league, which is probably a fair representation at this stage of the season, the match between Manchester United and Manchester City saw the best and the fourth best sides in England play. And it was terrible.

Manchester City had absolutely no interest in winning the match. There is no reason for them to, really, when they knew that a draw at the home of one of their closest rivals would return them to the top of the league, with plenty more games to come. They also were missing their two best players, David Silva and Sergio Aguero, because of injury. With their attacking thrust dented, of course they would pose less of a threat. That they posed barely any was a tactical choice. It was perplexing.

United have been competent in defence this season, but no more than that. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones remain an underwhelming partnership that can be opened up with pace. Marcos Rojo struggled with a similar problem against CSKA Moscow. Antonio Valencia is a defender who can’t do much more than tackle. If City had wanted to, there was a weakness to attack, but the choice was to not go looking for it.
That meant that United were given the ball for most of the match. They, too, aren’t a side that are keen on going forward in waves and waves, but of slowly engineering chances, and making sure they take one or two of them. By keeping the ball, they reckon, they can’t concede. It often works, but not always. However, Louis van Gaal again decided that victory wasn’t really his thing, and started Wayne Rooney in attack.
Rooney fell over. He failed to control the ball, and completed just 55% of his passes - one of the failed ones was an inaccurate five-yarder. It was woeful. Anthony Martial again looked promising on the left wing, displaying the touch, strength and imagination which would be suited to playing as a striker. Jesse Lingard played well, almost winning the match, when introduced as a winger. The solution is obvious.
The problem is not just that, though. It is that these two sides costs half a billion pounds between them, and neither manager considered it essential that they paid more than lip service to attack. There can be little point, other than financial, in qualifying for the Champions League, if all it means is you have more money to waste on playing boring football, and getting the chance to play more boring games, it probably isn’t worth it.
Spurs are challenging for the Champions League

Mauro Pochettino has Spurs playing in the manner that they do every three or four years, looking as if they are contenders for the Champions League. As we know, it hardly ever comes off, but there are reasons to think that it could be them this year.

Harry Kane’s hat-trick against Bournemouth may kickstart another scoring run, or it may not, but it is evidence that he is fundamentally a worthwhile striker. He has been a touch unfortunate to have done so well with his efforts last season, and relatively unsuccessful in this season.

More importantly, the rest of the side is starting to work, as the defence, shielded by Eric Dier, becomes more resilient, and Erik Lamela is growing into his transfer fee. He has now got four goals in the league already this season. Lamela can now be considered a dangerous player.

Perhaps the best thing about Spurs is that there is no one, Luis Suarez-style genius at the heart of their success. It does not depend on one major variable that has improved, but rather the side has improved from last season, and over the course of this one. With Chelsea struggling and Liverpool still some way off the pace, this is Spurs’ best chance to qualify for (proper) Europe since they sold Bale.

NB The reason West Ham are not considered contenders for the Champions League is because they are West Ham.
Mourinho may have to walk even if Abramovich wants to keep him
Right now, there appears no obvious way out for Jose Mourinho and Chelsea. Roman Abramovich doesn’t want to sack Jose Mourinho, and Mourinho doesn’t want to be sacked. As histrionic as some of his performances and statements have been, he wants to build a new team at Chelsea, and leave a team that can carry on just as the side he left last time did.
On paper, he is not far. Kurt Zouma should be a durable centre-half to play alongside Gary Cahill. Thibaut Courtois is one of the best in the world. Nemanja Matic has at times been a superb defensive midfielder, and Cesc Fabregas a dangerous partner for him. Diego Costa is not an exact replica of Didier Drogba, but he is a physical presence and usually an excellent finisher.

Eden Hazard, too, has the ability to dominate defences for the next half-decade. Willian is intelligent and only improving. There is enough there for Mourinho to add to in the next two transfer windows and leave a squad with depth, quality, experience and promise, all as John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic are phased out.

Except, it isn’t working like that. Matic can no longer keep his discipline, and his second yellow cost Chelsea the match. Terry cannot keep control over the rest of the defence, and even his diplomatic relations with referees can’t hold back the tide. Fabregas recalls Wayne Rooney with his alarming, late-twenties slump.

Victory against Aston Villa came easily, as it has to many, but the draw midweek against Dinamo Kiev was promising. Chelsea were organised, and if they were limited going forward, they no longer seemed a great mess. There was something to build on.

And there was against West Ham, until the early goal they conceded and the early red card for Matic. From then, it was impressive that Cahill scored an equaliser, but a Chelsea side coached by Mourinho, if committed, should be able to hold on for a draw, at home, even when they have 10 men. It is not disastrous, without context, to lose such a match, but in context it could be for Mourinho. Spurs are making a push for fourth place, and Liverpool will probably enjoy a bounce under Klopp. Mourinho will have to start making a play for Champions League football soon, or Abramovich will be forced to act, even if he doesn’t want to. How Mourinho can turn it around, when he’ll be banned from the touchline in his next match (at least) seems unclear. He has dealt with pressure before, but never before a crisis this bad.

Arsenal have the talent to take advantage, but there are no guarantees

For the last decade, Arsenal have been excellent at performing brilliantly at the start of the year, and then collapsing with such verve and severity in the new year, that the whole thing started to look slightly sarcastic.

Arsene Wenger has still pursued sarcasm as a transfer strategy into this season, refusing to buy Morgan Schneiderlin - currently becoming excellent at Manchester United - because he had the green Francis Coquelin. As talented as Coquelin is and may become, injuries to Jack Wilshere and the poverty of Mikel Arteta show it is a foolish decision for such a rich club. Only Petr Cech arrived in the summer.

However, in the preceding two seasons, Wenger has managed to secure Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, and this year they look capable of leading the team to victories against the best sides in the league (except against Chelsea, when they thoroughly Arsenalled the whole thing up). In the last few games they have beaten Bayern Munich, Everton and Manchester United, and convincingly each time. In the next four rounds of the league, they have to play away three times, and at home in the North London derby. 

There is no way yet to tell if this is