Bruno Fernandes shows he is Man Utd’s leader against Chelsea as Enzo Maresca’s decisions raise questions – Premier League hits and misses | Football News

Fernandes leads Man Utd to vital win

All the debate around Bruno Fernandes’ position in Ruben Amorim’s system after the Manchester derby this week re-opened the conversation around whether Manchester United should have cashed in on their captain over the summer.

The £100m on offer from Saudi Arabia could have been spent re-shaping the midfield, which is so dearly in need of reinforcements. But the message from Amorim was clear: letting Fernandes go at such a pivotal moment in his rebuild would be a terrible decision.

Against Chelsea, Fernandes’ value was evident. Not in a tactical sense, but as a leader. In every stage of the game the skipper was pushing his team forward. “That is the most important thing, the influence he has on the squad,” Amorim said after the game.

Fernandes showed that he can get into goalscoring positions when playing in a two-man midfield. He grabbed the opening goal, his 100th in United colours, that got the ball rolling against Chelsea. That put everyone at ease and opened the game up.

Amorim is undoubtedly asking a lot of his captain to dictate the game from deep and deliver a threat in the final third, but on Saturday Fernandes rose to the occasion. “The point of the captain is to be the best he can be in every situation to make the team better,” added Amorim.

Even when United were wobbling in the closing stages, Fernandes single-handedly led his team up the pitch after dispossessing Reece James and very nearly scored a stunning strike from range before firing up the Stretford End.

Who could Man Utd have signed this summer that would deliver all of this straight away? Many of Amorim’s decisions have rightly been questioned but keeping Fernandes was no doubt the right call.
Zinny Boswell

Questions for Maresca after Chelsea loss

Trevoh Chalobah’s header briefly gave Chelsea hope at Old Trafford but the one-goal margin of defeat flattered them. Despite Casemiro’s red card levelling the playing field before half-time, they only managed five shots worth a meagre 0.39 expected goals.

Their listless performance capped a poor week after drawing with Brentford and losing their Champions League opener to Bayern Munich. It also raised questions of their head coach Enzo Maresca, whose decisions during the game did little to help his side.

First came his call to substitute Pedro Neto as well as Estevao after Robert Sanchez’s early red card, leaving Chelsea devoid of any kind of quick outlet. Not long after that, he withdrew Cole Palmer, later explaining he was not fully fit before the game.

Starting a half-fit Palmer only three days after he played 90 minutes in Munich was never likely to end well and his removal, for the more defensively-minded Andrey Santos, further limited his side offensively when they were chasing the game.

Maresca could have called on Alejandro Garnacho, who would surely have been desperate to prove a point against his former side, or the £51.5m Jamie Gittens, but both players finished the game as unused substitutes, with Tyrique George, a player they seemed happy to sell a month ago, preferred in the second half. It was another strange decision from the Chelsea boss in a game full of them.
Nick Wright

Poker-face Potter on the brink

Graham Potter is a hard man to read. Perhaps he is a better poker player than football manager in that regard.

As he strode into his post-match press conference to address a room of journalists ready to poke and probe him on his West Ham future, you would not have been able to tell if his team had won 6-0 or lost 2-1. His emotionless responses were as predictable as the West Ham defeat.

Remember, football is supposed to be an emotional game, played by emotional people, managed in the most emotionally volatile environments. And that is where Potter keeps falling short.

There is no doubting his coaching credentials. His work at Ostersunds, Brighton and even in patches at Chelsea paints the picture of a tactician who understands the game at a deep level and he is well admired within coaching circles.

His problem is that lack of personality. It is going to hold him back from ever making a success of himself at a big club. It is unlikely now he will get that chance again as his stock continues to fall.
Lewis Jones

Spurs show resilience to make up for last year’s collapse

Last season, this Spurs side embarrassingly collapsed at Brighton, but nearly a year on, they showed real fight to rescue a draw as they appear far more resilient under Thomas Frank.

Having gone 2-0 down after 31 minutes on Saturday, Spurs looked set to suffer their first away defeat under the Dane, but there is a steeliness about this Tottenham side that was not always evident under Ange Postecoglou.

Last October, Spurs went 2-0 up after 37 minutes, but a shocking second-half surrender saw Brighton win 3-2 with Postecoglou labelling it then as his “worst defeat” of his tenure.

For Frank, the same venue has provided the opposite feeling as he called the 2-2 draw their “best performance of the season”.

He had a point with Spurs looking far more threatening than in their midweek Champions League home win over Villarreal.

Frank was also delighted with their “mentality” and “physicality” in their comeback over Brighton – something they are going to need plenty of with a potential 50-plus game season in store.

Eyebrows were slightly raised when £51m signing Xavi Simons started on the bench, but he came on to great effect in the No 10 role, where surely he will have a much better impact than out on the left-wing.

Another bright spot was left-back Destiny Udogie, whom Frank hailed “exceptional” and “unstoppable” on his first start of the season.

Udogie was a part of that Spurs side which crumbled on the south coast last season, but in this rescue act he was one to display Frank’s pursuit of a tougher and determined Spurs.
Declan Olley

King displays maturity to bounce back after howler

After such a dour Fulham performance against Leeds last weekend, it was curious that Marco Silva chose not to pick any of the substitutes – let’s be honest, Kevin, who spurred them to victory late on in that game – to start against Brentford.

Maybe that is why he is the Premier League head coach, because after a week of seeing his side on the training ground he was absolutely right to keep faith that they would find their energy and creativity again.

He said this week their ambitions would not be dimmed by a difficult transfer window, with only Aston Villa spending less, but resources do make a difference.

This was a timely reminder of the talent that remains at Craven Cottage, and that was without their tricky new Brazilian, or fellow new arrival Samuel Chukwueze who was an unused substitute.

Special credit to Josh King, who was unusually quiet in his last game and gave away Brentford’s opener in this one, but went on to drive the hosts forward before he was withdrawn.

Silva said he was “impressed, but not surprised” by the 18-year-old’s maturity, and the way he refused to hide despite such an unfortunate error was a credit to the teenager.

Little surprise he was handed a standing ovation when he eventually made way for the Brazilian. It almost warrants a double take that this was just his 20th senior appearance.
Ron Walker

Wolves aren’t just slow – they’re stuck

Wolves have always been slow starters. They have lost nine out of their last 10 matches and they have conceded a double-digit goal tally in each of the last three seasons. But this feels different – and not in a good way.

Wolves look sloppy at both ends of the pitch. Only West Ham have conceded more goals than them while they have a Premier League-high of errors leading to goals this season.

Meanwhile, their attacking credentials were summed up on Saturday by having three times more of expected goals than Leeds, who in turn managed three times more actual goals than them.

Losing Nelson Semedo, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Pablo Sarabia and Matheus Cunha in one summer would cause that. Wolves are not just missing the quality the quartet bring, but also the experience of these situations.

Wolves also appear to have tied their own hands in tying Vitor Pereira down to a new deal this week. It makes a change of direction much harder, as pulling the plug on Pereira would then create further questions about the club’s decision makers.

So Wolves are not just slow starters, they are stuck and standing still.
Sam Blitz

Okafor’s staggering numbers lead Leeds to victory

Three summer signings got on the scoresheet for Leeds at Wolves and all stole the show in their different ways.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s first Premier League goal since January was a throwback to his best self – not only grabbing Leeds’ equaliser but leading the line with solid build-up play.

Anton Stach’s brilliant free-kick was the moment of the match. The German midfielder came into the weekend as the only Premier League player with at least 10 shots and 10 chances created – and he will join Calvert-Lewin in producing attacking creativity to make Daniel Farke’s side dangerous.

But the standout player was Noah Okafor, whose third goal was so well deserved after an industrious performance down the left.

The winger attempted an incredible 14 dribbles – 12 of them coming before half-time. That dozen was already the most out of any Premier League player in a single match all season, and his aggressive and clinical display epitomised their overall display.

A lot of Leeds’ summer signings had one thing in common: six foot or above. Farke even admitted they had been brought in with physicality and even set-pieces in mind.

But Leeds have showed something different: they have actual Premier League quality capable of keeping them up.
Sam Blitz

Forest are beginning to look like an Ange team – that’s a problem

Ange Postecoglou says Nottingham Forest are “responding” to what he wants them to do, despite his side being winless since he replaced Nuno Espirito Santo.

The worrying thing for him is that Forest are beginning to inherit some good things from Postcoglou but they are also taking on his downsides.

Postecoglou is winless in his last nine Premier League games and that stretches back into the latter days at Tottenham. It is his longest run without a league win as a top-flight manager across spells in Australia, Japan, Scotland and England.

Forest started strongly and quickly, which earned them a much-deserved second-minute opener. The intensity was there. But the almost kamikaze nature of their play allowed Burnley back into the game, ceding control with Scott Parker’s side looking the more likely. Burnley’s equaliser in the 20th minute was a deserved one, and their display from that point merited at least one more with the chances they created.

It is those periods that Postecoglou failed to manage during his Spurs days and similar patterns are emerging. Postecoglou needs to buck that trend if he is to find any success at the City Ground.
William Bitibiri

The marginal gains mastermind

In a Premier League where we obsess with big names, big budgets and big personalities, Oliver Glasner is crafting something special – something clever – at Crystal Palace.

He is one that embraces the marginal gains. If there is one manager in the Premier League who embodies that philosophy to the letter, it is Glasner.

The win at West Ham was the perfect case in point where Palace exposed West Ham’s fragilities at set-pieces. Glasner’s team scored one and created two other big chances from such scenarios and he was very open in his post-match presser about how he knew he could expose a psychological weakness in the West Ham ranks.

He said: “I played over 19 years as a defender and you have periods sometimes where you can concede many set-piece goals. This makes you nervous. It’s natural, we’re all human beings and even if you don’t want it to be there, this just happens. We talked about it. It was good to have many set-plays.”

Glasner is such a smart cookie.
Lewis Jones