Monday, 16 December 2013

Weekend stats: Well-I-nevers from the Premier League

Weekend stats: Well-I-nevers from the Premier League

Weekend stats: Well-I-nevers from the Premier League

Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:48 PM PST

Tottenham 0-5 Liverpool Spurs failed to register an attempt on target in a dismal showing at White Hart Lane. This hasn't happened in the Premier League since August 2006. Luis Suarez again put in a star turn for the Reds, with all 6 of his unblocked shots being on target. He also provided 2 assists. Liverpool's Jordan Henderson misplaced just 5 passes in the match, completing 58 of 63. The Reds looked steady at the back too, with Mahamadou Sakho completing 49 of 51 passes. ANALYSIS Stats Zone• DEBRIEF Can it get worse for AVB? Er, yeah… Aston Villa 0-3 Man United Danny Welbeck scored 2 from just 3 shots on target against Villa. Villa failed to make their chances count, firing 10 of their 13 shots in the game wide. As well as grabbing a goal, Tom Cleverley put in a good shift in United's midfield, completing 77 of his 82 passes in the game (93.9%). Only Chelsea's Michael Essien completed more this weekend. ANALYSIS Stats Zone• DEBRIEF Moyes should cultivate his homegrown Norwich 1-1 Swansea Norwich misplaced the most passes this weekend of any side (137), while Swansea attempted the most (650). Jonathan de Guzman was at the heart of Swansea's control in midfield, attempting the most passes of any player this weekend (93). However his accuracy was slight off as he only completed 79.6% of them. Bradley Johnson had a good game for the Canaries, making 5 interceptions. ANALYSIS Stats Zone Hull 0-0 Stoke Tom Huddlestone struggled to make an impact in proceedings, misplacing 24 passes in the game. Of outfield players this weekend, only Newcastle's Mathieu Debuchy made more unsuccessful passes (27). Ryan Shawcross repelled much of Hull's attack, making 16 clearances for the Potters, 15 of which were headers. This was a high for a Premier League player this weekend. ANALYSIS Stats Zone Cardiff 1-0 West Brom Peter Odemwingie had a point to prove against his former club, but conceded the most fouls of any player this weekend – 5. Neither side excelled on the wings, with Cardiff completing 1 of their 23 crosses in the game (excluding corners) and West Brom 4 of 19. West Bromwich Albion failed to have a shot on or off target in the first half. Despite make a stellar stop, David Marshall could have used the ball better, with only 4 of his 24 long passes finding a teammate. ANALYSIS Stats Zone Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace Palace got stuck in, winning 33 tackles – the highest tally from a side this weekend. Chelsea's experienced midfield general Michael Essien turned back the years, completing 83 passes. Eden Hazard proved a handful in the final third, completing 34 of his 39 passes there this weekend – a Premier League high. ANALYSIS Stats Zone • ANALYSIS How Chamakh can save Palace, and more from the Bridge Everton 4-1 Fulham Roberto Martinez's side boasted the best passing accuracy of all the Premier League sides this weekend, with 87.33% of their passes finding the target. As well as finding the net, Seamus Coleman was key to Everton regaining the ball, making 6 interceptions against the Cottagers. Fulham mustered just 8 crosses (excluding corners), with only 2 finding their intended target. ANALYSIS Stats Zone Newcastle 1-1 Southampton Newcastle's pass completion of 69% was their lowest in a Premier League home game this season and the lowest at home since Jan 2012 (67% v Man United). Southampton completed the most long passes of the weekend (50). Tim Krul's distribution was hit and miss, with 15 of his 31 long passes finding their intended target. ANALYSIS Stats Zone West Ham 0-0 Sunderland Lee Cattermole was in typically combative mood, winning 8 tackles. Jussi Jääskeläinen sealed his 8th clean sheet of the season with 6 saves: no keeper made more this weekend. Although he couldn't conjure up a goal, Sunderland's Emanuele Giaccherini caused the Hammers problems, creating 6 chances for the Black Cats. ANALYSIS Stats Zone Man City 6-3 Arsenal Of the 13 shots on target in this game, 9 resulted in goals, with Wojciech Szczesny making a solitary save. All 3 of Fernandinho's shots in the game were on target, with the Brazilian scoring 2. Samir Nasri provided 6 key passes, a joint Premier League high this weekend. Yaya Toure's shooting was slightly off the mark, with only 1 of his 5 shots finding the target. Olivier Giroud too was wayward, firing 3 times off target without testing the keeper. ANALYSIS Stats Zone • DEBRIEF City can win the league - on the road • DEBRIEF Ozil can't hide in the big games

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Debrief: The Premier League weekend reviewed, Dec 15

Posted: 15 Dec 2013 12:23 PM PST

City can win the title… on the road Manchester City's 6-3 demolition of Arsenal underlined how imperious Manuel Pellegrini's side are at the Etihad: Eight home fixtures have brought 35 goals, an average of 4.37 per game (the next most prolific home side being Liverpool on 2.75 per game). The six-goal hidings handed to Spurs and Arsenal have certainly made Chris Hughton feel better about Norwich's 7-0 slapping in early November, while Man United's 4-1 loss in September seems almost sedate in comparison. Perhaps more importantly, the win halved the distance between the clubs to three points - effectively two, given City's goal difference. The question has been whether City can be as good on the road, but the win at Bayern was their second in an unbeaten three-game week on the road. That needs to continue if Pellegrini's side are to genuinely challenge for the championship. Looking back over the last eight games (half the season so far), there are six teams tied at the top of the form table – corresponding to the actual top six: Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, City, Everton and Newcastle. But over those eight matches they're all averaging a fairly low 2 points per game. It's far from a scorching short-term pace, and extended over the season it would only have brought a top-two finish in one of the last 10 Premier League seasons. That may be an indication of a more pleasingly level Premier League, but it also means that any team putting together a run of wins will shoot to the top of the table. The old "win at home, draw away" gets you two points per game but doesn't win the Premier League. City's next eight-game Premier League block ends with the visit of Chelsea on Monday 3 February and include the Boxing Day home game against Liverpool, but just as crucial are the trips to beatable opponents. Pellegrini should demand maximum points at Fulham next Saturday, Swansea on New Year's Day and Newcastle on Sunday 12 January; should they continue their 100% home record, they would be five points faster than the pace and homing in on a second title in three seasons. Buyer Moyes needs to keep his finest homegrown David Moyes may be "set" to "swoop" for world-class players next month, with a concomitant "clearout" of "underachievers" from the champions' squad, but the strolled win at Aston Villa may make him pause for thought. Manchester United have always made eye-catching signings, but have an equally strong tradition of building from within. Of the 14 players Moyes used at Villa Park, 11 have been at Old Trafford since at least the age of 20, with six having come from the youth team. Two of the latter were at the centre of United's romp: Danny Welbeck bagged a brace and his fellow scorer Tom Cleverley ran the midfield, completing almost 50% more passes than anyone else. Only the hotter heads among United's fans have advocated selling Cleverley and Welbeck. Much stronger are the calls to cull Anderson, Nani and Ashley Young, while Javier Hernandez and Antonio Valencia might also be replaced. Manchester United fans love their tradition, and Moyes may find the departure of hired hands goes down better than throwing the club's babies out with the bathwater. Clarke's departure a mere matter of maths There was a widespread outbreak of mild surprise at Steve Clarke's sacking by West Brom, but it's far from a senseless or knee-jerk decision. In the end, it all comes down to the numbers. Clarke's side were two points above the drop zone, having lost their last four on the bounce and won only seven of their 34 games in 2013, gathering 31 points: relegation pace. And relegation from the Premier League means bad numbers in the financial department – as West Brom know, having suffered it thrice in a dozen seasons. Moreover, Clarke wasn't struggling on a shoestring budget. The squad looks good enough to have kicked on from last season's eighth-placed finish, not least thanks to Clarke breaking the transfer record twice within the space of hours on deadline day, purchasing Stephane Sessegnon and Victor Anichebe. Add in Nicolas Anelka and it's no wonder West Brom have their highest-ever wage bill - yet more bad numbers for a carefully-managed club. Speaking of management, it's notable that both Clarke and his predecessor Roy Hodgson were officially Head Coach. That usually means less involvement in the finances, which at The Hawthorns are tightly controlled by chairman Jeremy Peace, but in the end it doesn't matter what your title is if your team isn't winning. Clarke's departure makes it four of the current bottom five Premier League clubs to have changed manager this season. The exception, West Ham's Sam Allardyce, can hardly be sleeping easily after one win in nine games – against Fulham, costing Martin Jol his job. West Brom's eighth-placed finish last season sounded good but most of the points were racked up early on, in Clarke's honeymoon period. Besides, the Baggies were a yawning 12 points behind seventh-placed Liverpool, only one point fewer than the 13 they finished above relegated Wigan. The summer spending was designed to kick them on, not risk their future – which Peace decided was better without Clarke. Ozil can't go missing With respect to Sol Campbell - which isn't always easy to find – Mesut Ozil's signing was the biggest jaw-dropper of the Arsene Wenger era. Not only for the pricetag - trebling Arsenal's previous record outlay – but the statement it made: here was a player to win the games in which the Gunners had struggled. Ozil has certainly impressed in his first three months, and it's a long while since Arsenal looked such strong title contenders. But they need their brightest star to shine in the biggest games: crushing the also-rans is something they've managed just fine without him. As James Maw noted in his Saturday Analysis, Ozil was comprehensively upstaged in Arsenal's rout at Manchester City by Samir Nasri, who acrimoniously left the Gunners for glory. The German wasn't invisible - he created a couple of chances and completed 48 passes - but he didn't own the game in the way Arsenal would have liked. Moreover, Wenger will not have been pleased with the way Ozil skulked off the pitch at the end without acknowledging the fans; certainly, the midfielder's compatriot Per Mertesacker didn't hold back his on-pitch remonstrations. It may seem like nothing, and Arsenal fans will surely accept Ozil's Facebook apology that he was "upset with the result" - but they will be rather hoping he stops such results happening again. Can things get any worse for AVB? Well, yeah... At least Gooners' misery will only have lasted 24 hours: nothing eases a fan's pain like their greatest rivals getting gubbed. Spurs' 5-0 home humiliation by Liverpool resounded around the division: an end to the Reds' questionable away form (one win in six), an end to Spurs' five-game unbeaten run since the previous annihilation at Manchester City, and for some an end to any faith in Andre Villas-Boas. It's probably fair to say the Portuguese manager has never pleased all the White Hart Lane faithful, and his popularity rating will have plummeted after this pummeling. On Wednesday Spurs host West Ham in a League Cup quarter-final which has suddenly taken on huge significance for Villas-Boas and Sam Allardyce; then it's Southampton away before the Christmas visits of West Brom and Stoke. It's not the hardest run of games, but there's the problem: AVB needs nothing less than wins, and preferably stylish ones, if he's to have a hope of repairing the damage. After all, the first four days of January brings trips to Manchester United and Arsenal...

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More to come from Man United, insists Moyes

Posted: 15 Dec 2013 09:31 AM PST

Moyes had come in for plenty of criticism after the champions slumped to successive home defeats against Everton and Newcastle United. Yet United avoided a third top-flight defeat in a row as Danny Welbeck scored twice and Tom Cleverley claimed his first league goal for a year to see off Villa. The former Everton manager was encouraged by his side's display against Paul Lambert's men, but insisted United can still get better. Moyes said: "We are getting closer to it, but it has to be more consistent and I'm still looking for that to improve again. "We could have scored more goals, but I think the all-round performance was much more like that. Moyes was pleased for Welbeck, who found the net in the Premier League for the first time since August. He added: "I think for Danny it's really important, because he's a forward and he needs to get himself goals. "It's always been labelled at him, but I thought today he got two poachers-type goals and could have had another one. "I thought all-round he played well for the team, he was a threat going in behind and I was pleased for Danny, I thought he did a good job." Darren Fletcher made his first appearance since Boxing Day when he came off the bench with just over 20 minutes remaining. Fletcher got a great reception on his return after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a bowel problem, but Moyes is not expecting too much, too soon from the Scotland midfielder. He said: "I think anybody who returns from an illness to play professional football for a club like Manchester United, it shows a lot about the boy himself. "The time and hours he's been through where he's had to be on his own, work on his own in a hospital with operations, I think today was a big message to a lot of people - if you're not well then keep believing and you can get right. "But more importantly he came on and didn't look out of place; he stroked the ball around and I don't know if he gave the ball away in the time he was on. "I don't want to put pressure on and say it's Darren Fletcher back, because you just never know. "We've been looking for more reserve games; we've got him three or four games and he seemed to cruise through the reserve-team games, so we thought what else can we do? We might need to get him back in the team and see how he does."

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Lambert rues soft goals in Man United loss

Posted: 15 Dec 2013 09:11 AM PST

Danny Welbeck scored twice in the space of three first-half minutes and Tom Cleverley was on target in the second half as Villa suffered their sixth home defeat of the season. Lambert thought all three goals were avoidable as United punished some sloppy Villa defending to ease the pressure on manager David Moyes. He said: "I thought we started the game well, it was as well as we've started in a number of weeks. "What's disappointing is the goals we've lost. The second and third goals we were in possession of the ball, they turned it over and the first goal you've got to stop the cross. "That's just the basis of the game, but they're clinical and you can't give them a sniff at goal or that can happen." Christian Benteke looked out of sorts once again as his goal drought was extended to 10 games, but Lambert has backed the misfiring Belgium striker to come good. He said: "Christian hasn't scored, but he'll come through this." And the former Norwich City manager boss expects a response from his side after their latest home defeat. "We have to (be worried about Villa's home form), there's no point feeling sorry for yourselves," he added. "We have to bounce back as quickly as we can. "We seem to be doing things the other way around, getting points away from home and struggling at home. "You will look at it for a couple of days or so, but you have to let it go and go to the next one and that's what we will do."

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Welbeck eager to kick on after Aston Villa win

Posted: 15 Dec 2013 08:19 AM PST

The England striker scored twice as United coasted to a 3-0 Premier League triumph at Villa Park to ease the pressure on manager David Moyes. United had slumped to defeats against Everton and Newcastle United in their last two top-flight games, but never looked back on Sunday after Welbeck scored twice in the space of three first-half minutes. Tom Cleverley struck early in the second half to seal the points, yet Welbeck knows United now need to be more consistent if they are to close the 10-point gap to leaders Arsenal. Welbeck told Sky Sports: "I think it was a good all-round team performance and everyone got together and played some good football. "They were two good finishes and that's where I want to be, playing up top, but I'm just happy to play my part. "Now we've set the platform and we really want to build on it." Cleverley was relieved to end a 12-month goal drought in the Premier League and expressed satisfaction with his performance. The midfielder said: "It plays on your mind as a midfielder when you're not scoring goals. I think there was a year's worth of celebrating when I scored. "I think I passed the ball well and played well today."

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Premier League: Aston Villa 0 Man United 3

Posted: 15 Dec 2013 07:20 AM PST

Back-to-back defeats against Everton and Newcastle United had left Moyes' men ninth in the table, but they got back on track at Villa Park by securing their first win in five top-flight games. Welbeck had not scored for over two months and was without a league goal since August, yet the England striker struck twice in the space of three first-half minutes on Sunday. Tom Cleverley then scored his first Premier League goal for exactly a year early in the second half to end any hopes of a Villa comeback and Darren Fletcher made his first appearance since Boxing Day after recovering from a bowel problem on a morale-boosting afternoon for United. Last year's champions have now won their last six games against Villa and the latest victory ensures they leapfrog Southampton to move into eighth, 10 points behind leaders Arsenal. Villa have already suffered six home defeats this season. Fletcher was among the United substitutes and Moyes made four changes to the side that beat Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek as Antonio Valencia, Patrice Evra, Cleverley and Welbeck started. Marc Albrighton made his first Villa start of the season as Paul Lambert also made four alterations. United were in front after only 15 minutes when Rafael da Silva got to the byline and whipped in an inviting cross. Adnan Januzaj headed against the post, but Welbeck slotted in the rebound. Villa were stunned three minutes later when United doubled their lead. This time Antonio Valencia was the architect as he burst down the right before delivering the ball into the path of the onrushing Welbeck, who slid in to finish clinically from close range. Valencia played a one-two with Welbeck but was indecisive and failed to get his shot away after 27 minutes. Soon after, the winger set up Rooney and the England striker flashed a shot wide of the far post. Welbeck had a great chance to complete his hat-trick after only 33 minutes when he raced clear but dragged his shot wide of the far post. United were out of sight seven minutes after the break as Rooney played in Cleverley and the midfielder tucked the ball inside the near post with a measured right-foot finish. Cleverley then showed his value at the other end as he produced a timely block to thwart Andreas Weimann. Fletcher was given a long-awaited run-out with just over 20 minutes remaining and Welbeck had another chance after 72 minutes, but his lob floated over the crossbar. David De Gea palmed away Karim El Ahmadi's curling free-kick 14 minutes from time and Cleverley stung Brad Guzan's palms as United saw out a comfortable victory.

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Rafael: Man United can retain the title

Posted: 15 Dec 2013 12:53 AM PST

United travel to Aston Villa on Sunday seeking their first league victory in five attempts, having suffered back-to-back home defeats to Everton and Newcastle United. But Brazil defender Rafael has not given up hope of finishing top of the pile. "The league table looks strange but we are not that far from fourth place," he said in quotes reported by The Daily Star. "If we get a good run going, I think we have a chance. We can do 10 games unbeaten – this is Manchester United. "This club can always win games. It is not impossible for us to win the title. We just need a good run now – we have done it before. "Our target is always to win titles – ­Manchester United is about winning titles." The 23-year-old also has designs on representing his country at the 2014 World Cup, having earned two caps for the host nation. He added: "Of course I expect to play for Brazil next summer. I play for Manchester United and I'll try to play as many games as possible here to make it. "I am fit again and working hard. "The last time I played for Brazil was at the ­Olympics. "I haven't been picked for quite a long time and I haven't heard from our national manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari. "I just need to do my job here. I think he's going to call when he thinks I'm ready to play."

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