Premier League Gameweek 17: Overreaction Monday ft Arsenal's elite status, Manchester City and Mo Salah
As the saying goes hindsight is 20/20 but when it comes to football rarely does an opinion last more than a weekend unless it genuinely has some point to make. That being said after an action packed weekend of overzealous fans in the Premier League, there were bound to be a few nonsensical debates.
Arsenal are no longer a top six side
A sensational 3-0 defeat to Manchester City saw the reigning champions sweep aside the Gunners on their home patch and it saw a few claiming that Arsenal needed to be relegated from elite status.
SC’s Take: This is truly the end of Arsenal and that’s saying something indeed. The Gunners have looked nothing more than a team patched up with a few elite superstars and this season has proved that brilliantly. Their recruitment has been downright terrible, their management of the team has been even worse and their stance on their player’s personal opinions is surprising. Or does it showcase exactly who they want at the club and who they don’t?
But either way, Mediocrity always tends to slowly creep up on you before there comes a day that you realise you’ve been doing nothing but eating, bathing and even sleeping next to it. For Arsenal, that day has come and gone but the club still hasn’t realised it.
Manchester City are back in action
Kevin de Bruyne’s masterclass in midfield play at the Emirates stadium combined with Manchester City’s dominance of a team they’ve never struggled against in the past has seen the interweb claim that City are back!!
SC’s Take: First’s things first. Manchester City were never gone. They were sitting there, waiting for their moment to pounce and it still hasn’t come. This performance, albeit against an invisible and terrible Arsenal side but that first half more than anything proved that Kevin de Bruyne is the best midfielder in the world right now. Not defensive midfielder naturally, that goes to Thomas Partey and N’Golo Kante, but central/attacking midfielder on the planet.
The second thing it proved was that Manchester City might not be just a team anymore but their individual players are so good, that they paper over the cracks. Think Aymeric Laporte, KDB, Raheem Sterling and so on. It works for them until it doesn’t and with 21 games left in the season, we have a rather long long long way to go and City love a streak.
Mohamed Salah is nothing but a goal poacher
Four goals in three games – including the Champions League – and that has seen many claim that Mohamed Salah is nothing more than an overhyped, over-rated goal-poacher.
SC’s Take: Being a goal-poacher is not easy, even though that is not even the bracket that Mo Salah even comes close to falling into, because of the toll it takes on the mind. It requires the person, or stat padder, to be in the right place at the right time 100 times out of a 100. Because chances will never turn up 100 times out of a 100, but once in a blue-moon and it’s usually a game-changers. It’s why in footballing folk-lore the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Filippo Inzaghi, Ruud Van Nistlerooy, Gary Lineker and even Chicharito are rated so highly.
But that’s not what Mo Salah is. The Egyptian, thanks to his spells all over the world, is possibly the product of a love marriage between Philippe Coutinho and Francis Jeffers (in his prime), ie the best of a goal-poacher and a creator. Why creator?? Because the Egyptian has averaged a higher KP90 (Key Passes per 90) than Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and TAA in every season barring this one where he’s been plagued with injuries. Even then, he’s fourth on that table behind Trent Alexander-Arnold, Naby Keita and Sadio Mane.
There is hope for Watford
Nigel Pearson’s Watford didn’t get off to the best start with a loss against Liverpool but their performances saw a few claim that they can have renewed hope for their future.
SC’s Take: After one amasses just nine points after 17 games, hope slowly starts to fade away because to stay up after that is just as high a probability as Luke Skywalker had of destroying the death star. It’s possible but not improbable and for Nigel Pearson to do it, Watford will have to get 31 points out of 63 potential points (21 remaining games). Remove nine games (top six, Leicester City and Wolves) which is 27 points and it leaves Watford needing 31 points from a potential 36 in 12 games. Not exactly a situation to have hope in, is it?