5 things that we learnt from the Premier League weekend

An eventful week came to an end with rumours spreading about Leicester boss, Nigel Pearsons sacking. Tottenham won the North London derby for the first time under Mauricio Pochettino while Steven Gerrards last Merseyside derby ended in a goalless draw. With Manchester City sharing points with Hull City, Chelsea extended their lead atop the table to 7 points after winning at Villa Park. Super-Sunday was rather dull as we witnessedBurnleyblow awaytwo goalscushion.This was the first Premier League weekend since February 2013 in which no team won by more than one goal. Keeping aside all the rumours, news, and blah blah, here are the five things that we learnt from the Premier League weekend.

#1 Harry Kane is no more a future prospect

For those who have been considering Harry Kane as “the one for the future”, I say, he is the best English striker at the moment and he deserves a chance at international level. In the post-match press conference Arsene Wenger told “When you have scored the number of goals he (Kane) has scored, if you don't put him in there (England), somebody will give him a passport to another country.” Surely, he was not in a joking mood not at least after the 21-year-old Tottenham striker undid Arsenal with two goals in the second half of the game.

Harry Kane has scored 22 goals so far this season. You can call it luck if someone scored for one or two games and then went dormant for very long periods, but this, what Kane has been doing on the pitch, it is sheer brilliance.

He has got the ability to shoot the ball from long range. Unlike a “Classic No.9” he doesn’t just sit in the space between the center backs and try to outmuscle them - his off the ball movements make things happen for the Spurs upfront and his presence of mind inside the box is an auxiliary weapon in his repertoire. Kane has not just been thrashing mid-table and lowly placed teams – has scored two each against Chelsea and Arsenal and this is just the beginning.

#2 Chelsea prove once again that they are indomitable

Last season, Jose Mourinho repeatedly told the media that his side was not in the title race, even when Chelsea was sitting atop the league table. When many thought he was playing mind games with them, only Mourinho knew the true strength of his squad - Inept strikers, ageing players and imbalance in the squad. This season, he has cleared all the mess and is quite confident of marching all the way to the title. In fact, this confidence of his is portrayed on the pitch by his players. This team resembles is no manner the Chelsea teams of the last two season. The team has changed its habit from losing to weaker teams, to winning against the bigger ones. Whatever is the challenge thrown at it, the team seems to have an answer.

At Villa Park on Saturday, Chelsea took a quick lead through an Eden Hazard goal – on their last trip to the same venue they weren’t able to score even one. Deep in the second half, undeterred by the equalizer scored and pressure piled by Aston Villa, the Londoners again went ahead, this time it was a volley by Branislav Ivanovic, who is having a great season. The absence of Diego Costa was felt, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

#3 Pardew\'s promise and Zaha\'s magic

Crystal Palace had won only three games in the league before Alan Pardew’s appointment as the manager. Under the former Newcastle manager, on Saturday, Palace registered its third win in the league in four games, and now there’s a six-point gap between them and the 18th placed Burnley.

Pardew’s arrival spurred hopes among the Eagles supporters, many of whom expected a turnaround in their fortunes just the way Tony Pulis had pulled them out of the relegation zone and placed Palace in a respectable league position. So far, Pardew has not broken the promise.

On Saturday at Leicester, Pardew asked his players to tighten the defense and hit on the breaks. Playing counter attacking football is no easy thing and it requires a special player. Luckily, Crystal Palace had Wilfried Zaha.

The visitors made 33 tackles and 17 interceptions in their half, which signifies their intention – do not concede. Zaha, playing on the left wing, recovered the ball thirteen times and carried the attacks and troubled Leicester defence by dribbling at his will. Like most of the counter-attacking teams do, Palace scored the winning goal, the only goal from a corner.

#4 Liverpool still look shambles in front of the goal; Can shines

Liverpool lost – Brendan Rodgers changed his team. Liverpool lost again – Rodgers tweaked his tactics. Liverpool is now winning but not by the bigger margins like they used to do last season. And this becomes a problem when up against teams that stress on defending deep. Against Everton, Liverpool had 17 shots out of which 6 were on target, but none went in.

The problem is evident – Liverpool are looking shambles in front of the goal. Mario Balotelli (0), Fabio Borini (1), Rickie Lambert (2) and Sterling (2) – Liverpool’s strikers – have a combined tally of 5 goals in the league and it is a serious problem. The most feared team of last season is now dependent on the young Raheem Sterling for goals.

Liverpool, after the completion of 24 rounds of matches this season, has 33 goals. At the same stage last year, the Reds had 58 goals. So that is a 43% fall. Not scoring goals will never be in the primary checklist, if a team has a good defense and a reliable goalkeeper. The runners-up of last season have let in 27 goals his season. With so many ups and downs in the league, the fact Liverpool made no attempt to sign any strikers surprises me.

If there was one positive from the game that Rodgers could take home, then that was Emre Can’s performance. Playing alongside Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho as the third center back, the German put on a good defensive display by making timely challenges. Can was the highest rated outfield player of the match.

Can’s performance was the only positive for Rodgers from the game.

#5 Van Gaal\'s wrong choices

“Play him up front!” That was what the Manchester United fans were complaining. Louis van Gaal deployed Wayne Rooney in a rather unusual position and played as one of the two central midfielders of 4-4-2 diamond system. Not just that he played Angel di Maria in a central position behind the two strikers, Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie.

It would have helped United to attack more smoothly and with some intensity, had Van Gaal swapped the positions of di Maria and Rooney. Van Gaal expected Rooney to sprint towards the box and take shots from outside, but he failed miserably in doing so. The English forward had only one blocked shot.

di Maria likes to play in wide positions, contribute during the defensive phases and make menacing runs from deep. His new position allows him no such luxuries. Coming to Rooney, if you can remember the first goal against Newcastle back in December, it was as a result of intelligent off ball movements of the strikers and a run from the deep by Rooney into the box to be at the receiving end of Falcao’s square ball. This summarizes Rooney effectiveness when played in his regular positions.

West Ham were also playing a 4-4-2 diamond. Playing similar tactics but with individuals who are more used to it made things easier for the Hammers. Perhaps, it would have been a better choice for the Dutch manager to play a 3-5-2 with Rooney and van Persie as striking partners, di Maria and Antonio Valencia on the wings, Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Daley Blind in the midfield.

Edited by Staff Editor