1. Roberto Martinez has taken Everton to another level
Everton’s commanding performance in defeating Arsenal 3-0 today provided significant evidence of how far the club have come since Roberto Martinez took over.
As good as they often were under David Moyes, it’s difficult to imagine them securing such a stylish victory over the Gunners while the Scot was in charge — indeed, the last time the Toffees beat Arsene Wenger’s side was a gritty 1-0 win in the 2006-07 season.
While they were always hard to beat under Moyes, Martinez has brought a certain panache and palpable sense of adventure to their play, allowing the full-backs to maraud forward, with their two deep-lying midfielders providing cover when they do so.
Under Moyes, Everton only once secured a greater number of points than that which they currently possess, and consequently, the Toffees are now in pole position to secure the fourth Champions League spot.
2. Were Chelsea wrong to sell Juan Mata?
Watching Juan Mata’s masterclass against Newcastle as he was given a rare opportunity to play in his favoured number ten role, it was difficult not to re-evaluate Chelsea’s decision to sell the Spaniard in January.
The 25-year-old scored a brace and produced an influential performance as United earned a comfortable 4-0 victory over the Magpies on Saturday.
Mourinho’s stated reason for selling him still remains understandable to a degree — the likes of Oscar, while providing an attacking threat, are far more adept at putting in the intensive work-rate and defensive nous that the Portuguese coach invariably demands of his players.
Yet in recent losses against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, Chelsea often looked devoid of the type of inspiration that Mata tends to provide, even if they are arguably better equipped in the bigger games without him when their defensive game is tested more rigorously.
That said, Mohamed Salah gave a decent impression of his former colleague yesterday, scoring one and playing a part in the other two goals as his side secured a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Stoke.
3. Farcical scenes at Upton Park
There was a rather surreal scenario during Liverpool’s game with West Ham today.
After Steven Gerrard’s penalty had put the Anfield club in the lead, Guy Demel’s equaliser was allowed despite a blatant infringement from Andy Carroll on goalkeeper Simon Mignolet in the build-up.
The officials then hesitated in awarding the goal and as they did so, Liverpool players urged the referee to turn around and simply watch the incident on the big screen.
Yet Anthony Taylor ignored their pleas and allowed the goal to stand, despite assistant referee Stuart Burt appearing to indicate that he saw what everyone else did in the replays.
Granted, it was irresponsible of West Ham to undermine the officials by replaying this contentious moment at the ground, nonetheless the incident provided a poignant reminder of football’s odd and stubborn refusal to allow video technology to be used for key incidents.
4. Pulis the exception rather than the rule in managerial merry-go-round
News that Chris Hughton has been sacked by Norwich following their 1-0 loss to West Brom yesterday will provide a depressing reminder to managers of how tenuous the positions at the helm of their respective clubs invariably are.
Hughton’s sacking means the bottom seven clubs have now changed manager at least once over the course of the season.
Tottenham are another side who have parted with their manager this season, while other clubs only appointed their bosses during the summer (while some may well dispense with theirs come the end of the season).
This culture of instant success or bust sometimes has a (temporarily, at least) happy ending, as Crystal Palace and Southampton have discovered. Nevertheless, those two rare examples aside, for most struggling teams, the change of manager has had minimal (if any) success, with Cardiff, West Brom and Spurs among those who are arguably even worse off as a result of implementing these changes.
5. Southampton should learn from Manchester City’s ruthlessness
Mauricio Pochettino was far from happy after his side’s loss to Manchester City.
“I have seen them on TV and don’t think you can give a penalty like that after two minutes,” he fumed of the controversial nature of City’s win.
“The second was offside by two metres and it felt like a game you play at school when you get dumb refereeing decisions,” he added.
“There are two decisions that killed the game. The penalty and the second goal, they killed the game.”
Granted, the second goal was clearly offside, though perhaps he should have vented his wrath at the defender who stuck a leg out invitingly that led to the penalty from which Yaya Toure scored the first goal.
Moreover, there was a stark contrast with Liverpool today, who were also on the end of a bad officiating decision — as Steven Gerrard emphasised, they were determined not to “feel sorry for ourselves” despite this injustice, and consequently went on to win the game anyway.
The Saints, on the other hand, appeared to actually feel sorry for themselves, and barely put up a fight after that second goal, as they were easily beaten 4-1 by a typically clinical City.
