Presser Watch | Pep Guardiola, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Mauricio Pochettino speak after Gameweek 5
The Premier League is back and it’s back with an absolute bang, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham getting rid of a winless run. It also bore witness to Manchester City’s first defeat at the hands of Norwich City, a shocking win but that’s the Premier League, and it far from over.
Liverpool
Liverpool got their fifth consecutive win despite Newcastle United taking the lead via a stunning strike by Jetro Willems. However, goals from Mohamed Salah and a brace from Sadio Mane gave the Reds a well-earned victory and puts them on the road for a great time at Napoli. It also sets up their Premier League season, especially after Manchester City lost against Norwich City and Liverpool will need all the luck they can get going forward.
“We needed that, we didn't want to have that but it's not unlikely that it can happen because it was really difficult. Newcastle did what they did, they do that really well and are always a threat for counter-attacks. It's difficult to press them because they play the ball that early, constantly in a second-ball formation but then they have the speed to go in behind, plus Joelinton is really physically strong fighting for these balls.
“In the moment when we started doing that, immediately we had our moments, we had chances, scored two wonderful goals. Second half, learning from the game and showing the boys a couple of pictures which helps always because you can then justify the situation right – where's the space and things like this.
Chelsea
Thanks to the international break, Chelsea had all the time in the world to digest their terrible downfall against Sheffield United and did well to prevent the same happening again. Wolves did well to pull two goals back, but a hattrick from Tammy Abraham and goals from Mason Mount and a Fikayo Tomori stunner gave the Blues their second win of the season.
‘We’ve tried to address some things from the Sheffield United game with the group that were here during the international break and, as soon as the others were back, we were able to speak to individuals as well,' said the boss. 'We regularly sit down as a group to focus on different elements of the game.
‘It’s not a back four issue, it’s a team issue and it’s something we have to address across the board,’ he added about our defensive record, which has seen nine goals conceded in four league games. ‘We’ve obviously conceded more than we want to so it’s our job to put it right.
Tottenham
For the first time in a long time, Tottenham did well. They didn’t concede goals, they never looked liable defensively and were on the job from the minute go. In the end, a brace from Son Heung-Min, an own goal and Eric Lamela’s toe poke was more than enough to give the home side a win. It saw Mauricio Pochettino overjoyed and the
“I’m so happy. From the beginning we showed good intensity, focus and then our quality – and that’s why I’m so happy. It was a very important victory for us. The feeling was that we were so aggressive, I think we surprised them because when you watched our form in previous games, we never were aggressive like today.
“The plan was to be aggressive, to show intensity from the beginning and all the credit to the players, they made an unbelievable start to the game. It was such an important performance for us to start to build our belief and start to win games because in the Premier League, we need to be in a good position.
“Now we need to keep pushing the squad... not to play well or not so well, I’m not talking about performance, I’m talking about the will, the intensity, the togetherness. That is the challenge, to be all together and fighting for big things.”
Manchester United
A Marcus Rashford spot-kick was more than enough for Manchester United to walk away with a victory against Leicester City, but it was far from easy pickings. The Foxes put up some sort of fight in the second half, testing David De Gea once or twice, with the Spaniard pulling off a few decent saves and that saw Solskjaer walk away with a smile.
“There were many reasons why we needed a win today. For the boys, that they can see what we’re doing is the right way. I thought the first 20-25 minutes were excellent. Then, of course, we played against a good team as well and they made it hard for us and we made it hard for ourselves with some bad decisions.
”We were a little bit sloppy on the ball, but we had to defend and today is probably the first time this season, apart from some parts of the first half against Chelsea, that we’ve had to defend deep against a team that was pushing us, but I never felt under any real, real pressure. They didn’t create too many big chances in that second half, even though they had the ball.“
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola and his men were the shock upset of Gameweek 5, with Norwich City somehow walking away as 3-2 victors. It was a fascinating display of football from both teams, and while Manchester City did manage to get two goals back, they struggled to do much more against Norwich City but Guardiola was not worried. The former Barcelona manager had a lot to say and even added that he doesn’t expect his team to win every game of the season.
“People cannot expect we will win every game or get to 100 points every season. Sometimes games like this happen – we had our chances to score but didn’t, so congratulations to Norwich. It is football – we had many opportunities today, they had three or four and scored three goals.
"The first one was a set-piece we didn’t defend, the second we were caught on the counter-attack and the third came from a mistake, but we know what we are as a team, we know what we have done and we know what we are going to do. I love my players and it’s a pleasure to be with them.”