Three Talking Points from Gameweek 3 in the EPL
Here are three talking points that we can take from the Premier League’s Gameweek 3…
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Fulham are doomed and they could beat Derby’s record for the least amount of Premier League points in a season.
The latest defeat for the newly promoted outfit was at the hands of Aston Villa, who themselves were in a relegation scrap last season.
The fact that Aston Villa swept them aside 3-0 with complete ease is a serious worry to Scott Parker and Fulham.
It’s in defence where the real problems lie, they lack leadership, quality and the desire needed to keep clean sheets in the Premier League.
They need reinforcements if they are to stand any chance, something that was promised by the clubs Director of Football Tony Khan after the game on Monday.
For me, although their whole backline looks vulnerable, Michael Hector has been the standout disaster so far this season.
He was caught out of position constantly against Villa and he has been beaten for pace in each league game so far this campaign.
Hector has started all three games in which Fulham have leaked 10 goals and in my opinion, he has been at fault for 5 of those goals.
Highlighting specifically on Monday’s game where the whole of Fulham’s defence was poor, Hector was at fault for two of the three goals.
Although he isn’t the only one to blame for Hourihane’s goal, (the second of the game) he should have got a lot tighter to Grealish and made a more convincing attempt to make a tackle, because it led to Grealish gliding past him and setting up Hourihane for the goal.
Then for the final goal which came from a free-kick delivery, he was the man who was supposed to be marking Mings but the marking was non-existent and Mings had a free header at goal.
He did something very similar in the opening game of the season when he let Gabriel have a free header to score on his Arsenal debut.
The reason why I’m highlighting this is because it’s easy when you’re criticising a team to just talk in general terms but that doesn’t really uncover why they are conceding so much.
Sometimes you must look a bit closer to see why things are going so badly and it’s partly because Hector’s defending so far this season would look bad in non-league.
It’s the basics Fulham need to sort out before anything else, but they need to sort them quickly if they are going to have even a slim hope of survival.
The champions Liverpool look a class ahead of the rest again despite big money being spent elsewhere.
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Jurgen Klopp must be delighted by the way the new season has started, it already looks like a repeat of last season.
Leicester are keeping pace with them whilst the other ‘big six’ crumble around them, just as we saw for the first half of last season.
Liverpool further cemented their dominance with a convincing 3-1 win against Arsenal last night, despite a horror moment from Robertson setting up Lacazette’s early goal.
It took Liverpool just three minutes to equalise through Mane and from then on, they were in complete control of the game.
The only slight concern they will have, is how easy it can be to break through their defence when they play such a high line.
Lacazette should have scored to level the game when he was played through by substitute Ceballos but there were several other occasions where a better touch could have seen Arsenal through on goal.
It’s certainly risky in the big games when sides like Arsenal can, on their day, really punish you and it will be the one area that Liverpool’s rivals will be targeting when they face them.
However, Liverpool’s title credentials that were doubted before a ball had been kicked, already look to be very serious.
They have a great chance of winning the big 20th first division title, an achievement that Liverpool fans will be desperate for, as it will mean drawing level with their biggest rivals Manchester United with the most top division titles won.
It would also be a big milestone for Klopp, retaining a Premier League title has been achieved by just three other Premier League managers and so it would further cement his place as one of the great Premier League managers.
As for Liverpool’s most likely title rivals, well Manchester City showed this weekend when they got humiliated 5-2 at home to Leicester, that they still have some work to do before they can seriously challenge again.
Whilst the summers big spenders Chelsea have looked even more susceptible, as they were fortunate to come away with a point in their 3-3 draw with newly promoted West Brom on Saturday.
Therefore, it would appear that Liverpool are indeed in a class of their own as Leicester’s and Everton’s equally strong starts shouldn’t be mistaken for serious title challenges.
The new handball rule is a farce and needs to be removed ASAP.
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“It’s ruining football”
“It’s ruining football” was the most used phrase of the weekend by pundits, managers and fans on social media to describe the new handball rule and they aren’t wrong.
There are two prime examples from this gameweek alone which highlight how ludicrous this new rule is.
The first one went against Crystal Palace and Joel Ward in Everton’s 2-1 win on Saturday, the score was 1-1 at the time and the match was very much in the balance.
Then the referee, who in fairness is just following the rules coming from above him, awarded a penalty in the 39th minute to Everton.
Digne’s header at goal came off Ward’s arm but it came at him at such a pace and he was so close to Digne that he simply had no time to react and move his arm out of the way.
This is where the rule is seriously flawed, it hasn’t taken into consideration the fact that in certain situations, a player is completely helpless and therefore can’t prevent the ball from hitting their hand.
This is why ball to hand has been a successful rule, accepting that there is only so much players can do to prevent a handball and it should be about assessing whether it’s deliberate or not.
The other example from the weekend is even worse and had even greater consequences on the game.
Spurs were leading Newcastle 1-0 from early on and Newcastle didn’t look close to threatening an equaliser.
Then, completely against the run of play, the referee awarded a penalty and why? Because Eric Dier was facing the opposite way as Andy Carroll headed the ball against his arm in the last seconds of the game.
I am still trying to work out what exactly Dier could have done differently to prevent said handball, it was completely out of his control, yet he and Spurs get punished for it and drop two very valuable points.
The rule needs reversing and quickly because if it doesn’t, fans could lose interest and the Premier League we love could be taken from us for good.
