Premier League Week 2, We Have Loses To Discuss
"You can lose three games and still win the league. But you can't lose five."
Matchdays bring the opportunity for every team to take 1 step closer to the Premier League title, a step that comes in the form of 3pts. But if 3pts and a team win is a step closer to the title then a loss and 3pts dropped, a wasted matchday, is effectively taking one step further away from the crown of league champion.
We have just over 1 week until the Transfer Window, and the ability for teams to improve their squad, is closed and shut until January. Manchester City are of course the title-favorites but because the window is open and teams can improve their title-chances, the pool of title contenders is still accepting swimmers.
Sir Alex Ferguson once said “you can lose three games and still win the league. But you can't lose five.”
This weekend we witnessed 3 satellite title contenders absorb 1 loss and by proxy 1 take one major step away from the Premier League title. Can these teams make up ground through improved tactics? Improved performances of the current squad? Or will they need to dip into the market before it closes.
Manchester City v Newcastle
Manchester City are the overwhelming title favorites and they faced Newcastle this weekend to prove this point. There are two camps with Newcastle, you either believe last season was a fluke, maybe you put Newcastle’s top 4 finish down to Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham opting out or you believe Newcastle sparked a plug last season and a formula and style of play that brought out the best of the personnel on the squad. I believe in the latter.
With a loss against City, Newcastle’s title contention took a hit, but of all the loses we will look at, this one is most reasonable. The context surrounding Newcastle’s loss is apparent, the team played a killer first game of the season against Aston Villa who could not contain them and took a 5-1 beating; showing signs that last season’s form is carrying over.
If you’re going to budget 5 losses, losing to City at home is reasonable when considering the strength of the opponent but painful in that it creates a 6 point swing with a direct challenger.
If Newcastle want to join the title contender chat, they need to carrying on doing exactly what they are doing, win big games and avoid losses at all costs.
West Ham vs Chelsea
Chelsea are not title contenders but they have spent money on their transfers and squad improvements as if they are, so for now we will put on a smile and treat them as such.
This Chelsea defeat comes off the back of a very decent draw against Liverpool. Chelsea played good football at times against Liverpool, showing strong signs of a team that appears to have a plan and a strategy with how they want to move the ball and attack their opponent.
A good performance draw against Liverpool as the first match of the season is tough to celebrate and definitely nothing to panic about but a loss against West Ham, a team which has been under immense pressure this Summer due to losing Declan Rice and struggling to acquire reinforcements in a timely manner, this is worrying for Chelsea.
Chelsea play with 3 center-backs and somehow are consistently at risk of conceding goals, often times conceding a 3rd goal against a 10-man West Ham. Thiago Silva is a Rolls-Royce center-back but if playing the former Brazil captain comes with the requirement of putting out a 3-centerback formation, it’s time for him to be dropped.
Title contention has already become blurry for Chelsea, and this team needs improve their defensive shape if they want to challenge for the Premier League.
Tottenham vs Manchester United
Manchester United come into the season with high expectations. The team finished in 3rd and along with the player additions made, the manager Erik Ten Hag is no longer a Premier League rookie coach.
Matchday 1 ended with a win over Wolves but with a performance that left much to be desired. Manchester United are trying to make major tweaks to their style of play, including utilizing a goalkeeper who can play out of the back. The win is huge, and somewhat fortunate considering the possible penalty call at the very dying stages of the match, brings the club closer to their goal of title contention.
The next step after the Wolves win would have been to kick on and defeat rebuilding Tottenham but this was far from the case. Manchester United started very well against Tottenham, creating several cake on a platter goalscoring chances for Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, but just like last season, the Reds cannot score goals away from home.
Erik Ten Hag’s record against the top 6 Premier League clubs away from home last season was humiliating and unfortunately it appears this team is picking up where they left off.
The club needs goals and they needed them against Wolves and Tottenham. It would be very poor player-development by Manchester United if 20 year old new-boy Rasmus Højlund who is nursing an injury and did not participate in preseason with the team, were to make his debut with the maximum amount of pressure to solve the teams goal-scoring issues.
With one step taken away from title contention already, Manchester United need to add goals to their club if they want to challenge for the Premier League.