Premier League winners and losers

Daniel Storey

Winners

Tottenham
Two weeks ago, I asked three questions of each Premier League team competing for a place in the top four. With Tottenham, the first question was easy. A year ago, this was a team that had flunked their examinations. From the beginning of March until the end of the season, Mauricio Pochettino’s side won four of their final 13 matches, against Stoke, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and a Manchester United team desperate to be rid of Louis van Gaal. Were they better for the experience, or worse?

Pochettino has always insisted that Tottenham would be stronger for their setback, but seeing is believing. When Kyle Walker talked of tears in the dressing room after allowing Leicester City to win the title, ears inevitably pricked up and we wondered about the psychological impact of this eventual failure. You only needed to walk across north London to find a manager prepared to talk about mental weakness. The cliche is that setback makes you stronger, but at least half the time, setback only breeds more setbacks.

The tendency is to assume that Pochettino has simply continued the good work of last season, but that underplays his achievement. He has re-energised and restored a mood that was high between August 2015 and February 2016, but slumped thereafter. Despite a summer of transfer activity that threatened to hamper Pochettino’s progress, he has somehow created an even greater team than the sum of their collective parts.

This has hardly been plain sailing, despite how easily Spurs have overcome their problems. Moussa Sissoko was an abject signing so late in the transfer window, and has failed to improve the squad. Vincent Jannsen is unfit for purpose in the Premier League, unless that purpose is missing chances to entertain the young ones. Erik Lamela has missed 22 league matches, Danny Rose 13, Harry Kane, Mousa Dembele and Toby Alderweireld eight apiece. Despite all that, Tottenham are as strong as they have ever been.

We worried about ‘The Fear’, but Spurs got the love. They have won seven consecutive matches in all competitions, and have scored almost 3.5 goals per game in that run. They will not win the Premier League title, but their likely presence as the only team to make the top three in each of the last two seasons should be meaningful consolation and emphatic proof of Pochettino’s progress.

A year ago we were wondering whether Tottenham, like Leicester, were the benefactors of the Premier league’s elite clubs either taking their eyes off the ball or undergoing a season of change. A year later, with elite managers in place, squads improved and money spent, Tottenham are still leading the rest a merry dance.

 

Dele Alli
I definitely do understand that Tottenham have got Dele Alli, thanks to the semi-constant, chanted reminders, but I am struggling to comprehend just how developed he is before turning 21 on Tuesday. The boy has already come of age.

The statistics of goals and assists inevitably form part of the Alli headlines, along with the inevitable comparisons to Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Cristiano Ronaldo (yes, really), but Alli merits being appreciated in his own right. A young player chose the perfect home and the perfect manager, and it has produced perfect results. If the talent is there, it really can be that simple.

 

Antonio Conte
“I think that every coach’s real function is not only to win but a good coach tries to improve the players and also tries to find the right way to work with them – tactical aspects and physical aspects – to show them the situation that they can improve,” said Antonio Conte on Sunday. “I think a good coach, a good manager must do this, not only to win or to buy the best players in the world.”

Music to my bloody ears. The transfer market and transfer budgets evidently play a greater role in the remit of a football manager than ever before, but this season more than any other, managers have excused underperformance by urging increased investment in their playing staff.

And so to Jose Mourinho and his own demands. “What we have now is not bad at all but if you ask me how far we are from having the team I want, it’s far. Very far. We had just one transfer window. We didn’t use the second one. We need a transfer window again. Definitely we need to improve, in terms of our squad.”

That is not to rule that defence null and void, but what happened to coaching players towards improvement? Was that not once the hallmark of the greatest coaches? Was that not once the hallmark of Mourinho’s Porto?

Conte has hardly operated on a tight budget. He spent more than £30m on Michy Batshuayi and N’Golo Kante, exactly £30m on David Luiz and £20m on Marcos Alonso. It is not hard to imagine the Italian making very different noises were his team in fourth rather than first, although that is clearly giving my Auntie a pair of balls. Sorry, Sandie.

Yet the most impressive element of Conte’s first season in England has been the improvement in individual players. Gary Cahill, Thibaut Courtois, Victor Moses, Nemanja Matic, Pedro, Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas. Conte clearly benefited from not being the last guy, but has taken some of this squad to performance levels they have never previously reached. He’s done so less than ten months after his first day at the club.

Which players have improved under Pep Guardiola? Raheem Sterling for sure, but anybody else? And which players have improved under Jose Mourinho? Ander Herrera and Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo maybe, and that is it, and far more have gone backwards under Mourinho than forwards. The response from those managers is not to cure their inability to ‘do a Conte’ with their own expensive, talented squads but to discuss further improvements.

No manager of an elite club can survive without reliance on the transfer market, but the best coaches strike a balance between improvement of current options and improving the options they found. Fail to do so and the ‘chequebook manager’ tag begins to hold weight.

That is where Conte and Mauricio Pochettino have succeeded this season – and Conte in his first in England – and where Guardiola and Mourinho’s debut campaigns at new clubs can only be considered failures.

 

Heung-Min Son
Included as a winner last Thursday and included again come Monday. The speedy return of Harry Kane will be celebrated by supporters, teammates and manager, but the truth is that Tottenham have not missed Kane one bit. Four goals and an assist in his last three matches just as the weather gets warmer; let the Son shine in.

 

Chelsea
We have to keep including them as winners because Tottenham just won’t let up and thus keep forcing Chelsea to respond. And respond they do, almost every bloody time.

 

Liverpool and resilience
Having praised Tottenham’s resilience when beating Swansea from behind in midweek, it is only fair to give Liverpool equal credit. Tottenham and Liverpool have both conceded the opening goal in 11 of their league games this season, and both have taken 17 points from those matches. Their record of 1.55 points per game in those fixtures is better than any other club in the league.

As an aside, Manchester United have taken just seven points from the eight matches in which they have conceded first. That might be the difference between a top four place and missing out.

 

Roberto Firmino
A player who ended last season as an attacking midfielder is now Liverpool’s first-choice striker, and Saturday saviour. To have equalled his goalscoring record from last season is impressive, but to do so while learning a new role only increases the credit Firmino is due.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has demonstrated a tendency to score a goal out of nothing despite drifting in and out of a match, and Firmino has mastered the same trick. Give him greater support/competition/backup, and Liverpool may truly see him shine.

 

Luke Shaw
Not only did Shaw start a league game for the second time since October, he was the best player in an otherwise unappetising game. Four chances created was more than any other player on the pitch, but most encouraging of all were the words of congratulation from his manager.

 

West Ham
West Ham will likely finish in 12th position and end up 12 or so points ahead of the bottom three, and in a few years hindsight will dissipate the feelings of angst suffered by supporters in recent months. On Saturday, that angst was front and centre of the mood.

It was never pretty and at times barely effective, but if ever there was a day for West Ham’s result to be king, it was this. A first clean sheet since January arrived at the perfect time.

 

Southampton
It has been a largely forgettable season for Southampton, save the run to the EFL Cup final, but Claude Puel is keen to take advantage of the embarrassing late-season apathy at Stoke City, West Brom and Watford. There would be something very reassuring about Southampton finishing in the top eight for the fourth season in a row under three different managers and with their players being continuously targeted and picked off.

 

Fabian Delph
I always knew he would come good for Manchester City. Against Hull at home.

 

Jordy Clasie
We had high hopes of Clasie when he arrived in the Premier League…hopes that, as yet, remain unrealised. The Dutchman has been steady at Southampton, his first 18 months hampered by injury, but we’re still waiting to see the player so highly rated in Holland.

A first Premier League goal on Saturday is hopefully evidence of a player growing in confidence. Turning 26 in June, Clasie isn’t a young player with potential anymore.

 

Marouane Fellaini
Manchester United captain. As in the captain of Manchester United.

Fellaini’s selection on Sunday means that he has now started more league games this season than Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Michael Carrick, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard. He shouldn’t be anywhere near that midfield.

 

Bobby Madley
It’s en vogue to criticise referees, so chapeau to Madley for playing a wonderful advantage for Tom Davies’ opening goal for Everton on Sunday. He somehow stopped himself celebrating with several fist pumps, thus proving him a better man than me.

 

Romelu Lukaku
To pinch a statistic from WhoScored, Premier League goals in 2017:

Romelu Lukaku – 13
Stoke City – 11
Burnley – 11
Crystal Palace – 9
Sunderland – 7
Middlesbrough – 5

Losers

Middlesbrough
– 23% of Middlesbrough’s league games this season have ended 0-0.

– Middlesbrough have failed to score in 48% of their league games this season.

– Middlesbrough have had 78 shots on target this season. The next worst in the Premier League are Sunderland, with 92.

– Middlesbrough have created 206 chances in the Premier League this season. The next worst is Sunderland, with 215.

– Alvaro Negredo has had the most shots on target of any Middlesbrough player, with 19. That ranks 28th in the Premier League.

– Second is Cristhian Stuani. He has had six shots on target since October 1.

Please don’t make me watch them again, not until they have spent at least one season in the Championship to think about what they did.

 

Paul Clement
Our early loser, because Swansea’s performances have fallen off a cliff. From enjoying 4.4 shots on target per game and allowing 3.4, to enduring 1.8 shots on target and allowing 5.6. Something has to change quickly if Hull continue their fine home form.

 

Sunderland’s midfield
There was a spell of five or six minutes during the second half yesterday when I deliberately concentrated on watching Sunderland’s midfield.

First you had Lee Cattermole, haring around when without the ball despite Manchester United comfortably passing it around him. Not only was it reminiscent of playing late afternoon piggy-in-the-middle with a six-year-old in an attempt to tire them out before bedtime, it also rendered Cattermole out of juice when he finally received the ball to feet. More often than not, his only option was to pass it sideways and catch  his breath back.

Now to Jack Rodwell, just another Next Big Thing who has become Never Quite Will Be. Rodwell continuously demands the ball from his defenders and Cattermole, and does attempt to stride forward. You can see how he might be useful in a team with greater quality around him, like Liverpool, Everton or even West Ham. Yet he lacks the drive or force of personality to grab his team and drag them to be better.

Then you have Didier Ndong, Sunderland’s record signing, with the spark of invention that hides huge flaws in his game. Time and again Ndong was urging for support or options when he had possession in Manchester United’s half, but when those options presented themselves his passing was atrocious and his crossing equally poor. Eleven passes completed in the opposite half in 90 minutes.

And then you didn’t have Sebastian Larsson, because he had already been sent off. Larsson can claim that his challenge only merited a yellow card, but that glosses over his decision to dive in frustrated into a tackle in midfield. That was Sunderland’s fourth red card of the season.

During those six minutes, Sunderland lost possession nine times either through a basic error in passing or choosing the wrong option when passing the ball. It’s not the only reason why they are in trouble, but a strong indicator. The relevant characteristics of their midfield are abject decision-making, the basics done badly and misplaced or misguided aggression. That only ends one way.

 

David Moyes
If his next job is in the Premier League, there should be studio pundits in at least ten different European countries bemoaning the lack of opportunities given to foreign managers in the Premier League. Less than four years after the highest point of his managerial career, Moyes has hit rock bottom.

 

Watford
You really haven’t seen a lack of effort until you’ve witnessed a Watford team whose safety has been confirmed playing away from home. That’s now 347 minutes without an away goal, and you’d be hard pushed to believe one is on the way soon.

 

Burnley’s away form
The good news is that Burnley have now surpassed Derby County’s record low of three away points in a Premier League season. The bad news is that they only have four.

 

Mark Hughes and Stoke City
The good news is that Watford’s continued place in the top ten means that Stoke have beaten a current top-half Premier League team this season. The bad news is that Watford are the only top-half team Stoke have beaten this season. I’ll stop this format now.

Since the beginning of 2016, the current position on the league ladder of the teams beaten by Mark Hughes’ Stoke in all competitions are as follows:

69th, 30th, 15th, 31st, 22nd, 10th, 14th, 73rd, 20th, 17th, 18th, 10th, 12th, 10th, 20th, 16th, 19th.

Seventeen wins in 16 months, against teams with a current average position of 23.9. Does it make you feel warm inside, Stoke fans?

 

Joel Robles
During the second half against Leicester, Robles made a one-handed diving save from a header, and I caught myself surprised that the ball had not gone into the net. It was not a simple save, but nor was it one that you would expect to beat a Premier League goalkeeper. That inadvertent surprise is an indictment of Robles’ form.

Everton have faced 13 shots on target in their last three Premier League matches, and conceded six times. Against Leicester, Robles came out of his goal but left a gaping space in between his legs for Islam Slimani to slot the ball through. Five minutes later, he made Marc Albrighton’s free-kick look brilliant by coming off his line to try and claim the ball only to watch it sail over his grasp.

Ronald Koeman has a long enough list of issues to resolve in his Everton squad, particularly if Romelu Lukaku leaves. Buying Manchester City dinner before asking them about Joe Hart might be the best place to start.

 

Vincent Janssen
I think I have identified the problem: He’s not very good.

 

Daniel Storey