Welcome to the newsletter, every Monday this season Competitor Three of the biggest questions arising from weekend football will be discussed.
Newcastle United narrowly lost against West Ham United this round, Liverpool moved to the top of the league after a scare against Brighton, and Manchester United led 1-0 in the 96th minute but still No wins.Sheffield United throw away other Two goals ahead.
On the back of all this and more, we ask if Erling Haaland has underperformed in his and his club’s worst moments, if Cole Palmer is the Premier League’s most valuable player, and Does Xabi Alonso reject Liverpool and Bayern Munich to stay in Bayer Leverkusen, a real power move…
Could Haaland’s poor form come at Manchester City’s worst period?
In the 84th minute, Manchester City 0-0 Arsenal, the ball fell into the hands of Erling Haaland at the far post. For a moment, hope among the neutrals rose: By then we’d been sitting in bloated rot for an hour and a half, but at least we might gain a target – any target – for our heroism.
But Haaland wore it out. In fact, he barely wore it out: he almost missed it entirely. What’s really weird, if you look closely: it looks like he’s trying to pass the ball to centre-back Ruben Dias rather than trying to knock it home himself.
The ruthless goal machine had a chance from four yards out and tried to pass it to the defender…
🎙️ “Haaland looked like a man who had never played football for a few seconds!”
One more chance❌ pic.twitter.com/5wVeAfzK73
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 31, 2024
In some ways, it succinctly sums up the game. Liverpool’s more entertaining 2-1 win over Brighton earlier in the day took it to 29 goals in eight games on Saturday, not only making this unprecedented run more intense, but also There’s nothing close to a high-quality ending, with only three shots hitting the target across the two attacks.
You could also say that Haaland’s vacancy is a win for Arsenal centre-backs William Saliba and (especially) Gabriel Magalhaes, who kept the Norwegian big man for just the second time this season silence. In those two Premier League games, Haaland did not have a single shot on goal.
But perhaps there are broader factors at play. Haaland has not seemed to be in good form since returning from a two-month absence with a foot injury in late January.
He has scored four goals in eight Premier League games during that time – a healthy return for an average striker, but far from the pace for Haaland. not enough. He has scored six goals in other games, but that was the five he scored in the FA Cup win over Luton Town and the late Champions League win against FC Copenhagen. scored a goal. Again, taking away any goals at this level is harsh at best, but it’s also reasonable and speaks to concerns about his performance at key points in the season.
For the rest of the Premier League, the frustrating thing about City having Haaland is that when they’re not in the game, he can be there to grab chances and score those points that they might otherwise miss out on. He scored against Arsenal both home and away last season, ruthlessly popping the ball on their nascent title challenge. Not this season, though.
(Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Just before the international break in March, Haaland also struggled against Liverpool. He scored against Manchester United a week ago, but only after missing a few chances, and his celebration was more of relief than joy.
To clarify, this is not to say that Haaland is bad now. There’s nothing better than this. Clearly, he is one of, if not the best center in the world. He is likely to continue to work hard for the rest of the season, averaging two goals per game and leading City to a fourth consecutive title and a treble in a row.
But at the moment, he doesn’t look like himself – and it comes at City’s worst possible moment.
Is Palmer the Premier League MVP?
It’s time for people to start thinking seriously about which player has performed best in the Premier League this season.
There are many candidates. Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard at Arsenal. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool. Rodri and Phil Foden of Manchester City. Ollie Watkins, James Maddison, Lucas Paqueta, Ross Barkley, Bruno Guimarães… it’s all subjective, everyone has their own choice, equally valid.
Who is most valuable The players in that division, though? This is a slightly different thing: “best” is self-explanatory, but “most valuable” is more about a player’s importance to the team. Which player would leave the biggest hole if removed from his side?
The answer has to be Cole Palmer.
There are several ways to measure his importance to Chelsea. Goals and assists are basic: 13 for the former and eight for the latter, and you don’t need us to tell you that these are the highest numbers at the club.
It’s important to note that six of his 13 goals have come from penalties, but goals still need to be scored and Palmer’s performance so far has been nothing short of perfect.
(Greenkirk/AFP via Getty Images)
Another very crude way of looking at it is if you remove his goals from Chelsea’s results. This is flawed because it assumes that the person who replaces him in this thought experiment contributed absolutely nothing, but if his goals were taken away, their score would be reduced by 10 points. That would take them to 30 wins in 30 games: a step closer to relegation in any other season.
But beyond these simple statistics, Palmer’s value lies in giving Chelsea something to be excited about in what has been a long, dismal season for Chelsea. Even the penalty awarded against Burnley on Saturday: a bold, flowing Panenka when a more standard penalty would have been fine. This may seem like unnecessary showiness, but when nothing else fuels passion, this type of thing becomes very important.
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“We’re so comfortable,” Palmer said after the 2-2 draw at home to second-bottom Burnley, who fielded 10 men for 50 of the 90 minutes. “Same story, we’re killing ourselves every week. As players, we have to improve on that. We need consistency.”
Palmer used “we” and “we” there, but he was within his rights to separate himself from the rest of the Chelsea squad.
he is doing his Work and then some. How many other Chelsea players can say that?
Is staying at Leverkusen a real power move for Alonso?
We already know what a remarkable achievement it would be for Bayer Leverkusen to win the Bundesliga title this season, but here’s something else to highlight: even after losing 2-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, champions Bayern are still on 81 points. The opponent has 10 points more. They achieved their 11th straight title last season but could still finish second by double digits.
Following the announcement that Xabi Alonso will stay at Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the season, his potential suitors have done their best to resolve the issue – he is only an option and they are undergoing a thorough process and are not yet Take any measures and so on – but even if they knew what was going to happen, the news would cause panic for Liverpool, Bayern and other teams looking to make changes this summer.
(Hesham Elsherif/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Alonso’s decision was derided by some as “cowardly”. Take the easy option and stay put instead of showing ambition. Does effectively rejecting Liverpool and Bayern indicate that he has no “cojones”, that he has no confidence in his own abilities, as has been suggested?
Well, in short: no. Quite the opposite in fact.
In the aftermath of this little miracle at Leverkusen, Alonso’s stock price will likely never be higher than it is now. He may never choose between two giants again, because he has a relationship history with both giants.
But what he’s doing is a real power move: a coach who has the self-awareness to say, after less than two seasons of experience in the senior game, that he needs at least another season of experience. , but is confident that his reputation will remain high enough to attract a big job the next time he comes along.
Alonso is doing things his own way, in his own time. He has not ignored the attention of Liverpool and Bayern for fear of getting the top job. He does this because he is not afraid that this will be his only chance.
Next…
- Easter. English football has banded together over the years to thoroughly flush its players out for our viewing pleasure as if they had unlimited energy: in fact, today (Monday) there is a full round of games across all three levels of the EFL (All but one game will be played tomorrow in Division I and Division II), just like Friday. Things to watch: The Championship’s unusual automatic promotion battle, with three teams separated by two points, but we’ve reached a point where the winner can be decided. Rotherham United could be relegated from the second tier and Carlisle United could be relegated from the third tier.
- Then there’s a full round of Premier League football in midweek. Tuesday’s five games aren’t exactly interesting: though look at how West Ham recover from their weekend collapse when they face Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park, while Nottingham Forest need a win at home against Fulham It will be interesting to see Newcastle United host Everton, Bournemouth face Crystal Palace and Wolves face Burnley.
- Wednesday’s three-person group stage is a bit encouraging: most notably Manchester City against Aston Villa, but also Arsenal against Luton and Brentford against Brighton and Hove Albion.
- Then on Thursday, the round starts with leaders Liverpool hosting bottom Sheffield United and the theoretically big team, but that’s not the case as they’ve both been a bit rubbish this season: Chelsea vs Manchester United.
- Finally, in the off-field fun, Everton should be looking out for their second PSR breach of the season and we can all agree that’s what we’re in football for.
(Popular Photo: Getty Images)
