Updated at 0130
1. Hoolahan absent as O’Neill watches on
IRELAND MANAGER MARTIN O’Neill and coach Seamus McDonagh were at the King Power Stadium today to see Leicester beat Norwich 1-0, consolidating their place at the top of the Premier League in the process and continuing their astonishing season.
The duo were ostensibly there to keep an eye on the form of Irish players Robbie Brady and Wes Hoolahan, though the latter was absent from the matchday squad.
Despite Norwich’s troubles, as they currently sit perilously close to the relegation zone, both Brady and Hoolahan have impressed at times this season.
While not a natural left-back, Brady has excelled going forward in particular with the Canaries, while Hoolahan’s stats this season are superior to some of the Premier League’s best attacking players.
But in the past, Alex Neill has tended to rest Hoolahan (as Martin O’Neill occasionaly does too) for difficult away fixtures.
Yet the playmaker has often done well when pitted against the bigger sides during the campaign — the ex-Shels midfielder has put in influential performances in the 2-1 win over Man United, the 1-1 draw with Arsenal and even the 5-4 loss against Liverpool. Conversely, he was left out of the starting XI for the 3-0 losses to Tottenham and Man City, and the 1-0 defeat by Chelsea.
So it’s natural to wonder whether the Dubliner’s presence would have given the Canaries the extra attacking ingenuity they patently needed to take points off the league leaders today.
2. Guus Hiddink deserves plenty of credit for Chelsea success
In the 11 league games that Guus Hiddink has been in charge for, Chelsea remain unbeaten, and the Blues moved up to 11th after defeating an in-form Southampton side 2-1 today.
It’s no small feat, given that Hiddink took over a team that was left reeling from the chaotic end to the Jose Mourinho era.
While today’s victory over the Saints was hardly a return to the type of vintage football that won Chelsea the league last year, Hiddink has undoubtedly restored a sense of unity and self-belief within their ranks, making the Londoners hard to beat and defensively sound again.
And while he may come across as an affable enough individual, there is no doubt that the veteran Dutch coach has an understated ruthlessness that’s necessary in top-level management.
After his mistake gifted Shane Long the opening goal just before half-time, Baba Rahman was hauled off at half-time, and Hiddink admitted afterwards that the youngster had been punished for his error.
“I don’t want to make a fake injury,” he told BBC Sport. “I took him off because of the error. He has to cope with that. He was very down in the locker room about his mistake, but we have to make decisions like we did.”
Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman said Southampton would assess Shane Long to determine whether he is ready to face Bournemouth on Tuesday, after the Ireland striker went off injured in the second half of today’s game.
3. West Ham’s success overlooked to a degree
Most people will rightly point to Leicester and Tottenham as the two most unexpected success stories this season, however West Ham also deserve plenty of acclaim.
Many critics suggested that letting go manager Sam Allardyce at the end of last season was an unwise move, given that he had instigated the club’s rise from the depths of the Championship and consolidated their Premier League status thereafter.
But appointing Slaven Bilic — a coach with no previous Premier League experience — has been a gamble that’s paid off handsomely.
Today’s 1-0 win came against former manager Sam Allardyce’s Sunderland side and somewhat ironically, the game was won with the kind of ugly football that the London club’s fans lambasted the much-maligned previous boss for employing.
Michail Antonio, one of West Ham’s many astute signings in recent times, hit the winner, and it means the Hammers leapfrog Man United into fifth, and they currently sit just four points off fourth-place Man City.
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