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Man United managerial target's stocks fall, the latest FPL cheat code and how Pep Guardiola has created league's best defender - FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED FROM PL WEEKEND There was plenty to digest after an eventful weekend of Premier League football Join Mail+ to get ahead of the game with Sami Mokbel's unmissable football news column every Thursday , plus more of your favourite writers and clubs By Nathan Salt Published: 12:00 GMT, 28 October 2024 | Updated: 12:00 GMT, 28 October 2024 e-mail View comments Manchester City were handed a boost in the title race while it was another weekend ruined by the football for Manchester United and former boss Erik ten Hag . Crystal Palace finally got a win on the board and we are left with just winless teams as we edge towards the 10-game mark with the table taking shape. And, above all else, it was the weekend of last-minute goals with Bournemouth , Brentford , Everton , West Ham and Wolves leaving it late to get a result.
In the second instalment of this weekly column, Mail Sport picks out five of the most interesting talking points to emerge from the Premier League over the weekend. MCKENNA’S GAMBLE IS BACKFIRING It is a brutal report card: shots (86), shots on target (26), Expected Goals (7.7), touches in opposition box (149), goals conceded (20), and errors leading to goals (5).
Kieran McKenna's stock is falling with how his Ipswich side are looking in the top flight The newly-promoted side boast some unwanted statistics after their slow start to the season The league-wide ranking for those stats? 20th, 19th, 20th, 20th, 19th, 19th. Kieran McKenna was commended for his loyalty and for betting on himself in the summer when, amid strong interest from Brighton, Chelsea and Manchester United, he elected to remain with Ipswich. Read More Bruno Fernandes is no longer Man United's most important player: FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED FROM WEEKEND He was rewarded with a lucrative new deal to do so, which he had certainly earned following back-to-back promotions in a dream rise up from League One.
But football stock falls fast, that won’t come as any surprise to McKenna. And his stock is falling with how his Ipswich side are looking in the top flight. Brighton feel like they have struck gold with Fabian Hürzeler, while Chelsea are starting to find a groove under Enzo Maresca.
Manchester United’s secret talks with potential successors to Ten Hag, as revealed by Mail Sport last week, did not include McKenna. Defenders of McKenna will point to the fact Vincent Kompany ended up getting the Bayern Munich job after taking Burnley down, but consider that one of the unexplainable anomalies of recent times. Ipswich were 2-0 up this weekend at Brentford before collapsing, not once but twice, having seen Liam Delap pull it back to 3-3 late on.
The gap for newly promoted sides in the Premier League is growing at an alarming rate and competing is harder than ever. But top job offers are not always going to be there and McKenna’s bet on himself is looking more head-scratching by the week. Ipswich were 2-0 up this weekend at Brentford before collapsing, not once but twice GVARDIOL’S EVOLUTION The story is well told now.
Pep Guardiola signs a great player and somehow makes them even greater than they realised they could be. Read More EXCLUSIVE Man City's new star Savinho on his love of bull-riding and why he'll never stop dribbling That now is Josko Gvardiol, a player that is most certainly in the conversation to be the best defender in the Premier League right now. Only that he is so much more than a defender, in classic Guardiola style.
By the end of play on Saturday after that day’s slate of games, Gvardiol stood No 1 as the player with the most touches in the final third of any player outside of his own club. His 295 touches show just how he has been pushed to become an attacking force to pair with his elegance and consistency at the back. By contrast, goalscoring phenom team-mate Erling Haaland has had 123 touches of the ball in the final third in the league this season.
Gvardiol headed to City as a centre back, has had to adapt to being a left back for Guardiola, and is now a goal-threat with high volume involvement in the final third. The Croatian has the poise of a No 10 on the edge of the area, while he is also capable of taking on a man like the electric wingers at his club. And then there is his ability to shoot from range, as evidenced with his stunner away to Wolves.
Go and find a flaw in Gvardiol’s game and come back to me...
it will take you a while. Josko Gvardiol has proved to be one of the best defender's in the league since joining Man City FPL CHEAT CODE THAT ISN’T HAALAND Any conversation where a player is only behind Erling Haaland in a metric is always a good one to have and that is why I have picked out Chris Wood after his brace at Leicester City on Friday night. Since Nuno Espirito Santo's first game in charge of Nottingham Forest (December 23, 2023), only Erling Haaland (19) has scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League than Wood (16).
Where Haaland is fashionable, Wood is unfashionable. He turns 33 before the year is out and despite his purple patch, is somehow still flying below the radar of public consciousness. His finishes at Leicester summed up just how elevated his confidence is right now, riding the wave and Forest (as well as my Fantasy Football team) are thriving as a result.
Attacking fluidity and interchangeable players found itself in vogue in recent years, with strikers happy to drift out wide, and No 10s and wingers eager to pick up pockets of space inside to create confusion in an opposing defence. Chris Wood scored a stunning brace during Nottingham Forest's trip to Leicester on Friday Only Erling Haaland (19) has scored more non-penalty goals than Wood since December For Wood it’s about sticking to what has worked for the bulk of his career and trying to rediscover the form that saw him produce a 30-goal season for Burnley back in 2016-17. So, long live the big-bad-centre forward that is far greater than the target man moniker would suggest.
‘We want to try to bring it back or I'll be out of a job,’ Wood joked after the win over Leicester when asked about the resurgence for unorthodox No 9 striker. ‘For a period of time, the small centre-forward or the No 10 mixed role with the No 9, it kind of came into fashion. ‘Thankfully Erling has come and brought it back into fashion, he has got a lot of pace and power, some things I don't have, but it is making it easier for us No 9s.
’ MARESCA’S COACHING ON FULL DISPLAY When Mauricio Pochettino was kicked to the curb and in strolled Enzo Maresca, plenty were left dumbfounded at the decision. Pochettino was beginning to quieten the circus that had been in town for too long at Chelsea and get more out of players that had underperformed to that point. But, nine games into the new season, Maresca is showing just how good a coach he is with Chelsea now looking strong favourites to secure a top four berth this season and return to the Champions League.
Under the former Guardiola assistant, Cole Palmer, who was electric last season, has been directly involved in more goals (12) than any other player in the Premier League this season. Chelsea have finally found their form under new manager Enzo Maresca (right) Nicolas Jackson, who scored the opener against Newcastle on Sunday, has now been involved in 14 goals in his last 14 Premier League appearances (10 goals, 4 assists) While Chelsea have now won 10 of their 14 Premier League games since the beginning of May (D2 L2). Only Manchester City (35) have won more points in the league across that same period.
Maresca hasn’t been scared to make big calls such as dropping Enzo Fernandez and Chelsea are benefitting immensely from his hard-line approach, as well as his high level of coaching to improve the players at his disposal. The one that stands out to me is not Palmer or Jackson but Moises Caicedo. Maresca has really simplified his requirements of what he wants out of Caicedo and the Ecuadorian looks much more effective as the lead defensive screener in the double pivot preferred by Maresca.
Pochettino was often left wanting Caicedo to play more as a box-to-box No 8-style midfielder and the version Maresca is harnessing is so much more effective, not just to the balance of the team, but also in allowing those around him to play to their strengths, too, without clogging up the pockets. Just two defeats in the opening nine games - Manchester City (1st) and Liverpool (2nd) - Maresca’s side have shown they are as equipped as they’ve ever been to restore themselves to the top four for the first time since the 2021-22 season under Thomas Tuchel. Just two defeats in the opening nine games, Maresca’s side have shown they are as equipped as they’ve ever been to restore themselves to the top four SINK OR SWIM FOR MOORE Ange Postecoglou could only laugh when he sat down in his press conference after beating AZ Alkmaar to discover James Maddison had likened 17-year-old team-mate Mikey Moore to Neymar.
Any hope of keeping a lid on the hype around Moore, or the academy ace up his sleeve, was now over. Moore has arrived and was rightly rewarded with his first Premier League start at Crystal Palace, which, at 17 years, 77 days, made him the youngest player to start a Premier League match for Tottenham since Stephen Carr against Ipswich back in September 1993 (17 years, 28 days). ‘You have to be careful but after the game, I don't get the sense that that's going to affect Mikey at all,’ Postecoglou said during the week.
Mikey Moore had a tough introduction to Premier League football in Spurs' visit to Palace Palace was a tough assignment for Moore on what was objectively a poor display from every Spurs player. Moore’s Premier League debut ended with 0 shots, 0 chances created, 0 successful dribbles, 0 accurate crosses, 0 final third entries and 0 touches in box. The teenager is a gem of a talent and there is no doubts internally at Spurs that he will showcase his talents on the biggest stages.
But stepping up to becoming a first team regular is no mean feat and with increased physicality and increased attention paid to you, now is the time to see if Moore is ready for the bright lights. Share or comment on this article: Man United managerial target's stocks fall, the latest FPL cheat code and how Pep Guardiola has created league's best defender - FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED FROM PL WEEKEND e-mail Add comment.
