Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
By David Bellington
The Premier League season is up and running with a couple of surprises and some strong performances coming in on the opening day. Arsenal laid down the marker with their win over Coventry, while Manchester United were handed a big reality check.
Aston Villa were hammered by Brighton, while Liverpool were able to get a point against an upbeat Newcastle United side. With the second day matches set to happen over the weekend, here a look at what’s the buzz around Premier League this weekend.
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TOTTENHAM STARS PLAYING AS INDIVIDUALS
Early Monday morning at Tottenham’s Hotspur Way training ground, the players began to arrive. Sandro Tonali pulled up in his £200k Mercedes G-Wagon, Mathys Tel was also in his Mercedes, Dominic Solanke’s Lamborghini Urus followed Richarlison in a Corvette Stingray.
As the parade of supercars parked in the VIP area reserved for players, each one picked up a bag and trudged off to face Roberto de Zerbi and his assistants. The highly paid players were mainly heads down, hardly looking at each other, and all looked very nervous. They knew the meeting was going to be a tough examination of their failure at Brentford.
The problem, to be fair to both the players and the manager, is that the team has some highly talented individuals who are not yet playing together. It is true some have only just returned from World Cup duties or recently arrived after being transferred into the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but the way in which Brentford took them apart last Saturday does not make the £300million investment look a sound move.
De Zerbi believes things could be very different on Saturday against Newcastle with newly signed Savio hitting form midweek with a goal and an impressive performance. And Tottenham’s other Manchester City forward, Omar Marmoush, has arrived and it bodes well for the future.
Due to the signing of Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Conor Gallagher, Pape Sarr feels there is little future for him at Spurs. He has made his feelings clear to the club and has suggested leaving. Tottenham have told him they understand and would accept a fee of 34 million pounds for him to move; possible destinations are Nottingham Forest or Aston Villa, who have made initial approaches.
Galatasaray is another option, but Sarr would prefer to stay in the UK.
Lucas Bergvall also feels under threat and although he played the first half of the opening match, he was pulled off at half-time and looked dejected. It is only a few months since he spoke to De Zerbi about leaving but was persuaded to stay.
A home match against visiting Newcastle might be a chance to put many wrongs right after an intense week of training, but it is a test of De Zerbi and his assistants as they try to mold their superstars into a team.
VILLA IS COLLAPSING LIKE A PACK OF CARDS
Have you ever played the game of Jenga? You build a tower of wooden bricks and two opponents take turns to remove one brick at a time until the tower eventually collapses.
Aston Villa supporters must feel their team is similar to playing Jenga. Gone are last season’s big players Youri Tielmans, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Ezra Konsa.
The result was a team that looked a shadow of last season and was on the wrong end of a four-goal fest as Brighton took them apart.
Ollie Watkins, probably their best remaining striker, was not even in the squad as his agents line up a lucrative contract with Saudi Pro League team Al-Hilal. He had not trained all week.
As Unai Emery sits amongst his collapsing and crumbling squad, his main hopes rest with the incoming Zion Suzuki, who impressed in the World Cup and Swiss international World Cup player Johan Manzambi. Emery hopes that Matteo Ruggeri could be the answer as a replacement for Digne at left back. Arsenal at home on Monday evening is hardly the match Villa wanted while they sort themselves out, as the title holders are already proving their quality.
VAN DIJK CONFIDENT LIVERPOOL WILL BACK IRAOLA
Virgil van Dijk has been talking about Liverpool bringing in new players to strengthen Adoni Iraola’s squad and give the new manager a fair chance of competing with Arsenal and Chelsea. He says the recruitment team at Anfield has his full trust.
So far, centre-back Jeremy Jacquet has arrived with left winger Victor Munoz, and both have signed permanent deals. Defender Ronald Araujo has been brought in on loan from Barcelona, but Liverpool are still searching for wide players.
Paris Saint-Germain’s forward Bradley Barcola is their choice and the French winger’s move is close to completion. The Reds have also seen two bids for Yankuba Minteh turned down and Brighton want 70 million pounds for the 22-year-old.
Van Dijk pointed out that Liverpool’s options are “quite thin, but everyone wants to see quality arrive regardless.”
Van Dijk did not underplay Liverpool’s draw with Newcastle but said their next game will be more like the plan Iraola is working on.
In praising Dominic Szoboszlai captaining Liverpool at Newcastle, Van Dijk said,
“There is experience, and there is someone in terms of Dom who has been the captain of his country and that will help him to be part of this groupit is going to benefit us also in the long run with Szoboszlai signing a new deal. He will be here to take over.”
NICO GONZALEZ BOOSTS NEWCASTLE MIDFIELD
Newcastle finally got their man as Manchester City’s Spanish midfielder Nico Gonzalez completed his signing for the Magpies.
He said on Wednesday evening,
“I’ve experienced playing at St. James’ Park twice with City and it was really tough. The atmosphere was amazing and the fans are so passionate. I can’t wait to experience that as a home player.”
He was presented to the crowd before Newcastle’s home game against West Brom in the Carabao Cup match.
24-year-old Nico cost Newcastle 50million pounds and he will wear the No. 6 shirt.
HULL’S PLANNING WAS THEIR ACE CARD TO BEATING UNITED
Hull City have made a big statement to everyone who said their destination this season is relegation. Beating Manchester United was no fluke or accident, it was a carefully worked-out strategy based on brilliant work behind the scenes at Hull’s headquarters.
Their coach Sergej Jakirovic and his assistants watched United three times before meeting them at the MKM Stadium and they worked out a plan to beat the match favourites.
They studied United’s game with AC Milan, and they saw coach Michael Carrick’s system left huge gaps in the full-back positions.
They also realized that United are particularly vulnerable to set pieces and it is a major weakness.
Hull boss Jakirovic who watched United live said,
“We saw United’s problems and we used this in the match. Everything we discussed and watched in our meetings we used and it all worked.”
Carrick insists that it is one game and he will not change his strategy after one bad performance. The fact is their players lacked pace and were predictable. Fortunately for United fans, they have Amad to return along with Lisandro Martinez, Matthijs de Ligt and Mason Mount. Things will improve, and with the 70 million pound signing of Carlos Baleba from Brighton, Carrick says he wants one more left-back signing.
Next up is Ipswich this weekend, which United expect to win, but the outcome is looking interesting rather than definite.
CITY CONFIDENT THEY WILL FIND NEXT RODRI
Enzo Maresca told us that the club would definitely find a great replacement for Rodri.
“When Sergio Aguero was here and left, everyone worried, but Erling Haaland arrived. When Fernandinho left, Rodri came in. Great players leave, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, it is normal, and when they leave you need to have a very good recruitment team and we have that.”
Maresca says he wants a squad of 20 outfield players and currently has 19 senior players.
Maresca is hoping that Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi will resolve the problem of replacing Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, and he is working closely with his team to make it happen.
Set pieces are back in force
Oliver Glasner took on the poisonous challenge of managing Nottingham Forest, hoping he’d be given a chance to survive for a season. Unfortunately, he became the seventh manager in a row to lose their first game with Forest, and the club owner Evangelos Marinakis only wants positive results. How long Glasner is given to turn things around remains to be seen.
Glasner pointed out after the game that he and his team could not be expected to arrive and immediately have his new squad playing like Real Madrid. What he also expected was the importance of set pieces. He was right, but regrettably the move went against him when Leeds Anton Stach sent in a free kick from the edge of the penalty area which left Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels clutching at air.
Glasner had told his players before the match that set pieces could win the game against Leeds, and he was right. Most teams now have a dedicated set piece coach and they are becoming more and more prized as highly paid, valuable assets.
Following the departure of Taiwo Awoniyi to Coventry, Forest have agreed a 50 million pound deal to sign Chelsea striker Liam Delap, who has failed to deliver goals since his move from Ipswich. Forest wanted to pay 40 million pounds but agreed a new club record to take Delap to the City Ground.
IPSWICH TOWN’S NEW JEWEL
After a hurried order of Julio “The Jewel” Encisco shirts were delivered to the Ipswich merchandise shop at Portman Road, they are flying off the shelves as fans pour in through the door with cash in their hands to wear the name of their new forward star.
Issa Diop, Sasa Lukic, Abdul Fatawu, Daizen Maeda and Emerson Da Silva are the new boys in a 100 million pound spending spree, alongside Encisco, but it is the Paraguayan forward who caught the eye in Town’s 2-1 victory over Sunderland in their opening game of the season.
It was Encisco’s time at Strasbourg, playing under new Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil, that he impressed, and after taking over at Ipswich from Kieran McKenna, the Ipswich boss told the recruitment team and club management that he wanted to bring the Paraguayan back to Portman Road, where he was on loan in 2025.
He is going to prove very troublesome to many defences this season, and with Jack Clarke, Ipswich have two very talented forward players who can take on defenders and are capable of beating them with ease.
SANCHEZ IS CHELSEA’S WEAK SPOT
Chelsea showed in their 3-2 defeat of Fulham some of the improvements that Xabi Alonso has already made to his playing squad. Morgan Rogers delighted his new boss by scoring on his debut alongside Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer, who is looking more and more like his old self after a period of poor performances at the end of last season.
However, after splashing out a record 117 million pounds on Rogers, Chelsea were left wondering how they could have spent over 200 million and ignored their main weakness. Robert Sanchez in goal cannot be allowed to continue with the sort of form which gifted two goals to Fulham. Aston Villa’s Emi Martinez could be the answer. Xabi’s biggest problem is sorting his defence out, and he cannot rely on his forwards to carry the load all the time to win matches. The score should have been 3-0 but not with Sanchez in goal.
MARTINELLI AND WATKINS COULD PLAY TOGETHER AT AL-HILAL
Gabriel Martinelli sat down with his family and discussed a possible move to the Saudi Pro League. Arsenal have not yet fully agreed to his move, but I am told that Martinelli would receive a boost to his current salary, earning another four million more than his nine million pound Arsenal wage packet.
Al-Hilal have offered the Gunners 50 million pounds for the winger and he could link up with Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, who is the subject of a 40 million pound bid. The deal is very close as I write this column.
If Martinelli stays at the Emirates, he has another year on his contract, but there is an option to further his contract by a year, which would protect his value.
ZIRKZEE READY TO MOVE TO ITALY
It is time for Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee to move on. He is way down the pecking order in Michael Carrick’s squad and although the Reds went down 2-0 to Hull, he was left sitting on the bench as an unused substitute.
Juventus looked the most interested European club to sign the 25-year-old Holland international. However, the Italian giants need to sell players from their main squad to bring in fresh talent, and boss Luciano Spalletti has not yet decided whom he wants to add to his players. This has allowed Fiorentina to come into the picture and the Dutch forward seems to be edging closer to a move to Florence.
Zirkzee is ready to pack his bags at a moment’s notice and move to Italy in order to revive his career. The only other club involved is Aston Villa, although their interest is only moderate.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
