6) Palace struggling to find a replacement for Murray
It isn’t just Manchester United who are enduring a bout of goal trouble. Alan Pardew made an expression that was a hybrid of a wince and wry smile when it was put to him that Crystal Palace haven’t had a single Premier League goal this season from anyone that might be classified as a traditional centre forward. “I knew someone would find that out,” he said, almost apologetically. “It is something that worries me, of course it does, because you want your No9 to be off and flying. “That is a negative to come out of the season for us.” With Dwight Gayle, Frazier Campbell and Patrick Bamford yet to get off the mark in the Premier League, it is a bit of an oddity. Pardew spoke of his hopes that Connor Wickham or Marouane Chamakh might soon return from injury to rectify that particular issue. “With those options I think it won’t be long before we start seeing our strikers score,” said Pardew. The sale of Glenn Murray to Bournemouth sharpens the situation. “Glenn was an influential player for us,” Pardew added. “We have missed him. I won’t hide from that.” With Palace’s drive and pace from wide areas, the lack of a scoring striker to aim for and work off remains frustrating.
7) Liverpool’s trip to Russia could yet spoil momentum gained at the Bridge
This was a Liverpool performance worth celebrating, and represented the best moment of Jürgen Klopp’s brief stint as manager thus far. Away from all the internet memes and undoubted charm, the German has made an unspectacular start to his time in England prior to this match – three low-scoring draws and a narrow 1-0 win over Bournemouth in the Capital One Cup – but he got his tactics and substitutions spot on during Saturday’s match, with Christian Benteke and Jordan Ibe coming on to great effect. However, Liverpool resume their Europa League campaign on Thursday and are yet to win the subsequent Premier League match this season when they have played Thursday-Sunday. Klopp can tinker tactics and inspire confidence in his players, but he cannot eradicate fatigue, and the 5,000-mile round-trip to Rubin Kazan this week won’t help his players prepare for what should be a tough test at home to 10th-placed Crystal Palace on Sunday. There are encouraging signs, but fans and pundits alike should refrain from trying to forge too much of a narrative about the heights that Liverpool might reach, or where they might finish in May off the back of one result – Klopp was unfortunately forced to answer a question in his post-match press conference about if he thought his side were title challengers. Urgh. Make no mistake, the performance at Chelsea was an excellent one, but let’s not get too carried away: by this time next week, a knackered Klopp and co could be back in the bottom half of with Chelsea.
8) Southampton’s No4 is Clasie by name and nature
Southampton fans have needed longer than expected to acquaint themselves with Jordy Clasie but they are learning quickly that their summer signing may well have been a bargain at £8m. The Dutch midfielder, in whom Ronald Koeman had placed considerable faith when the pair were at Feyenoord, was derailed by injury in the season’s early weeks but made his second Premier League start in the 2-0 win over Bournemouth and the impression was positive. Clasie played alongside Victor Wanyama in Saints’ deep midfield pairing and – like the rest of his side – rarely missed a beat in the first half, showing a fine passing range and playing an important part in Steven Davis’s deadlock-breaking goal when he cut an accurate ball into the feet of Graziano Pellè. The Holland international’s quality does not appear to be in question but he will, of course, still need time. He faded in the second period, again in common with most of his colleagues, and his manager said afterwards that he still has to adjust to Premier League levels of intensity. “Jordy is coming out of the Dutch competition and he’s not the most physical player, which is why I replaced him after 70 minutes,” said Koeman. “He needs to learn and adapt to the Premier League. We will give the boy that time, and today he showed his qualities.” Clasie was effectively signed as a replacement for Morgan Schneiderlin and it will be some achievement if he can match the Frenchman’s influence at St Mary’s, but the cautious early evidence is that he fits perfectly into a Southampton midfield that is beginning to pick itself.
9) Watford’s recent success built on pragmatism of Sánchez Flores
“We didn’t quite tick today for reasons I don’t know,” said West Ham’s Mark Noble on Saturday. “That’s the way it goes sometimes. Everyone didn’t play to their capabilities today and we played against a team who I thought to be honest thoroughly deserved their win.” Slaven Bilic, meanwhile, said: “We were bad today, we were second best. Watford were way better than us and they totally deserved the win.” This is becoming something of a theme. “It’s difficult to explain,” said Stoke’s Philipp Wollscheid a week earlier. “It’s the same team and we felt confident, but you shouldn’t just let bad days happen, you have to fight. They deserved to win and there is no point trying to say otherwise.” Meanwhile Garry Monk, after Swansea’s defeat at Vicarage Road in September, said: “It was a poor afternoon for us and nowhere near the performance levels that we require. We didn’t do any of the things we know we’re good at, and that’s disappointing.”
There is no coincidence here: what is becoming clear is that Watford are organised in defence and are capable of identifying and frequently neutralising their opponents’ strengths. “Quique covers every single point there is which is great for every player going out on the pitch,” said Ben Watson. “You know the strengths and weaknesses of all the players you are up against – since he’s come in he’s been amazing.” On Saturday they concentrated on denying Dimitri Payet possession in central areas within 30 yards of goal, aided by his spending much of the first half on the left flank, and they further benefited from the absence through injury of Diafra Sakho, whose replacement, Andy Carroll, a matchwinner against Chelsea a week earlier, had an awkward afternoon. None of Jamie Vardy’s last eight opponents have been able to stop him scoring, but we can expect Sánchez Flores to have come up with a decent plan by the time his side visit the King Power Stadium next Saturday.
10) Is now the right time for Woodman?
Tim Krul is out for the season with a knee injury, Karl Darlow remains a couple of weeks away from recovering from ankle trouble and Rob Elliot looks set to be sidelined by a groin problem. Does Steve McClaren offer his 18-year-old fourth-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman a debut in Saturday’s all-important game atBournemouth or should Newcastle United’s manager pick up the phone, get an emergency loan sanctioned and perhaps beg Manchester United to release Victor Valdés. The latter course of action perhaps sounds most sensible but Woodman, recently recalled from a spell on loan at League Two Crawley is a very highly-rated England youth international. Should McClaren overlook him now Newcastle may well lose a much coveted prospect to a rival club at the end of the season. Long term that could prove bad business but the Tynesiders have won only one Premier League game and their manager has little option but to concentrate on the short term. What should McClaren do?
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