After all Premier League matches were postponed last weekend, this weekend sees domestic action resume – though three of the biggest clashes have also been postponed due to UK police being redirected to the Queen’s funeral.
With the international weekend to follow this weekend, teams will be hoping to build some momentum before the fortnight break. For others, like Liverpool, their postponed match this weekend comes at a perfect time after a tricky start to the season.
IS LIVERPOOL’S REBIRTH FOR REAL?
Finally, it looks like Liverpool has found their feet. Well, sort of. We said the same thing after their record-equalling, nine goal thrashing of Bournemouth last month – only for their brief resurgence to fall apart immediately. This time, a looming fortnight of extra training could help turn the tide.
The problems at Anfield have been laid bare in recent weeks. The hangover from a brutal 63-game season where they went two games away from an unprecedented quadruple hit the squad hard – in their opening seven matches (all comps), the Reds ran a combined total distance that was less than their opponents. There were injuries galore, while the understrength midfield particularly struggled as Jurgen Klopp opted not to sign reinforcements until Arthur Melo arrived on deadline day.
Klopp has suffered bad losses before, but he declared last week’s record-equalling 4-1 Champions League loss to Napoli the worst of his tenure.
“I watched the game back plenty of times and it was a real horror show,” Klopp said.
“It was the worst game we played since I am here. We had a few bad ones, everyone remembers (a 7-2 defeat to) Aston Villa and others but there were always glimpses of us even in these games. In this particular game, nothing.”
“It looks like we have to reinvent ourselves,” Klopp also told BT Sport. “There are a lot of things lacking.”
Remarkably, after one of the busiest seasons on record – and with this year’s fixtures set to be even more stacked – Liverpool enjoyed a six-day break between games, after the death of The Queen saw last weekend’s fixtures postponed.
“They were four or five days of absolute truth — we didn’t hold back anything,” said Klopp.
Then, they ended a horror trend of conceding first as they went on to win 2-1 against Ajax courtesy of a late Joel Matip winner.
Now, with Sunday’s match against Chelsea postponed (due to policing priorities for the Queen’s funeral), Liverpool have a two-and-a-half week break as the International Window arrives at almost the perfect time.
“It’s the first step but nothing more,” said Klopp of the Ajax win.
With Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota all back in the starting line-up after recovering from injuries, Liverpool look much more like the heavyweights that often ran rampant last season. New superstar signing Darwin Nunez has not yet got up to speed, and at the moment he is far less important to the Reds than the returning Jota.
Kostas Tsimikas also enjoyed one of his finest outings in a Reds jersey, and looks a serious challenger to Andy Robertson’s virtual lock on the starting left-back role this season. His opposite fullback, Trent Alexander-Arnold, has been a surprise struggler this year, as has star centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
Should that pair continue their poor run of form, Liverpool’s title hopes – let alone their top-four aspirations – appear well out of reach.
Van Dijk said: “What we did last week (against Napoli) was unacceptable, all of us, and the days after that game we definitely had a reality check.
“We were absolutely shocking that night, we know it, it hurts all of us, it hurts me.
“We spoke about it, we drew a line under it and we showed glimpses (against Ajax) of what we normally are. We are good if we perform as a team.”
With six days between their last two games, and a good two-and-a-half weeks before their next clash, this time Liverpool’s revival might be the real deal.
SON ‘LAUGHS’ AT POOR SHOOTING START
For years, South Korea star Son Heung-min has been a creative powerhouse at Tottenham. This season, despite Tottenham’s hot start to the Premier League campaign (unbeaten in six league matches, third place and just one point behind Arsenal), Son has failed to get on the scoresheet despite starting in all eight matches in the PL and Champions League.
It is a significant change from last season, when Son scored 12 times in his final 14 appearances to share the Premier League Golden Boot with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah – having scored 23 goals apiece.
But there are growing calls for Spurs manager Antonio Conte to drop the 30-year-old – something Premier League legends have shut down.
Speaking to BT Sport, Rio Ferdinand was emphatic: “No chance, blasphemy! Golden Boot winner last season, joint top goalscorer with Mo Salah. We’re six Premier League games in, a couple of Champions League games … and they’re asking for him to be dropped? Were they asking for Harry Kane to be dropped when he didn’t score in August all those times?”
He added: “For me, if I’m taking a player out of the Spurs team, [deciding between] him or Harry Kane would be the flip of a coin. He’s a top, top player.”
Michael Owen agreed, focusing on Son’s impressive statistics in terms of creativity this season.
“It’s the best he’s ever had in his eighth season, I totally agree with Rio,” he said.
“Short memories. If you’re Manchester United, City or Liverpool and you say, ‘You can have one player’ … I’d say the majority would take Son. Yes, Harry Kane scores plenty – but he (Son) scored more goals last season. He’s just very, very difficult to play against.
“You’ve got to be patient with top players. What would [dropping him] do to his head? He’s carried the team for two, three years. Everyone saying it’s a two-man team with him and Kane, then all of a sudden he has a few quiet games and you drop him?”
Harry Kane has roared out to a hot start, picking up five goals in his first six Premier League matches. New arrivals Ivan Perisic, Dejan Kulusevski, and Richarlison have all bagged two league assists, with Spurs’ strong recruitment reducing the reliance on Son as the key playmaker.
Nevertheless, there are still problems at the North London team – problems which were exposed in their late Champions League collapse to lose 2-0 to Sporting CP.
“I’m OK. If I’m honest, if I wasn’t getting chances in the game I would be worried but I’m still getting chances,” Son said last week.
“In some games, there have been unlucky moments. In some games, it has been a bad finish. This is going to make me stronger … In some games I’m really frustrated because if I have some massive chances and the ball doesn’t go in. It makes me just laugh.
“But I am not worried about it because the team and the staff and all the fans are helping me.
“I think if I score one the confidence will be back and I hope I can go on and score more goals.”
It is unlikely that Son will be dropped from the starting XI for Sunday morning’s (AEST) clash with last-placed Leicester City, despite the spark that Kulusevski showed when he came off the bench to replace the South Korean against Sporting.
Son has hit the woodwork twice, and he’s still taking plenty of shots – 17 in the league, second only to Kane among Spurs players.
There have been worrying signs, but the winless Foxes might just be his best chance yet to end the drought.
SAME, SAME BUT DIFFERENT FOR NEW BLUES BOSS
Chelsea’s new manager Graham Potter’s first match in charge of the Blues ended in a tricky 1-1 draw with Red Bull Salzburg – and the same problems that plagued his predecessor Thomas Tuchel were on full display.
Chief among those was an inability to capitalise on key opportunities in attack.
Both Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz missed chances early in the game while Mason Mount was left shaking his head in disbelief after sending a shot wide in the 39th minute.
While only conceding just the one goal, there were noticeable holes at times in defence but it was not all bad for Potter’s new-look Blues.
The utilisation of the versatile Sterling at left wing back, in particular, paid dividends early although it did not always go as planned.
It is nothing new for Potter to operate with positional flexibility and in reality, as opposed to being defensive-minded, Sterling’s role actually gave Chelsea more of an edge in attack.
Sterling played high and wide, which Potter explained post-game was an intentional choice to open up more one-on-one opportunities for the 27-year-old.
“I thought we got Raheem into one-v-one situations quite often, dangerous situations in the box, they blocked well,” Potter said.
Sterling’s goal, which came from an overload, was a result of it although Salzburg’s equaliser was also a product of it, with both Sterling and Marc Cucurella caught upfield.
Potter’s brilliance is based on both tactical and positional flexibility and we saw glimpses of it against Salzburg, although we were also given a reminder of the big problems he inherited.
BT Sport pundit Joe Cole was impressed with Sterling’s new role, comparing it to the one Leandro Trossard adopted at Brighton.
“He [Sterling] has been outstanding,” Cole said.
“He is playing that Trossard role, what he did for Brighton, where he is playing high and wide. He is reversing out, stretching the pitch and making it big. He is in acres of space.”
Peter Crouch also said there were “signs of positivity” for Potter and Chelsea, commending the new Blues boss for his “bold” late-game substitutions, including that of Sterling.
Although Crouch warned that more broadly, Potter may need to work on instilling more confidence in some of his key players, including new signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
“I think there is a little bit of a lack of confidence at the moment in certain players,” Crouch said.
“Certainly [Hakim] Ziyech who come on then you could see his shoulders were down. He didn’t look like a player full of confidence.
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as well the last few games. I think there’s a few players suffering with a little bit of a lack of confidence so that’s something he [Potter] really needs to address.”
