The 2015/2016 EPL Weekend-Round 3

Manchester United's 100% recorded was ended in what was arguably their best attacking display of the season which ironically ended in a stalemate.  Newcastle put together a resolute defensive display that led by Collocini. United's final ball and finishing on numerous occasions left a lot to be desired. Depay failed to follow up his brilliant showing against Brugge in midweek more often than not failing to trouble Tim Krul in goal. Rooney fared even worse struggling to impose himself in the lone striker position. Louis Van Gaal insists he doesn't need to buy a striker but on the evidence of this game, United are laboring to finish off chances created. Rooney needs to play off a main target man. Depay at times seems to be trying too much. He needs to relax and enjoy his game. United also need to decide who will be taking their free kicks. They had more than one tasty looking freekicks that were wasted. The routine looks like when they get a free kick, either one of Rooney, Depay or Mata will take it, then they rotate the role through out the game. They need to settle on one person who will be under no pressure and will know how to correct the mistakes of a previous free kick. As poor as United were offensively, the opposite was true for the defence. United's defence has been rock solid so far this season under the stewardship of Smalling and Blind. The two seem to have discovered some sort of chemistry and are enjoying playing alongside each other. Darmian has been the stand out performer among the new signings and he continued with his good for. Luke Shaw looks a completely new plyer having shaken off his injury woes and he had a solid game. United are still trying to find the right mix for their mid field. Morgan Schneiderlin has slotted in well but it still a guess as to who will partner him their long term. So far Carrick and Schweinstiger have been used inter-changeably. Herrera has seen little playing time and Fellaini continues to serve a suspension. Juan Mata has consistently been in the starting line up this season and his perfoamnces have justified his selection. Perhaps the one player who will feel hard done by is Ashley Young. The winger has put in impressive perfomances whenever he has been selected to play this season but still finds himself unable to force himself into the starting line up. If i was Van Gaal Young would always be in my starting line up. His speed and skill means he is always a source of threat either when bringing in crosses ot finishing chances himself. I feel he has been a victim of circumstances in that United having signed big names, they have to start and Young has been one of the sacrificial lambs. United next play high flying Swansea in the league with Montero and Gomis sure to provide a stiffer challenge to the United defence. Montero was the architect of last season's win by Swansea in the same fixture last season.

Chelsea finally got a win in an action packed game against West Brom. New signing Pedro was man of the match scoring on his debut as well as providing an assist. That rubbed wounds into United wounds having failed to capture the player and struggling to score themselves. Chelsea looked comfortable uptothe Terry sending off which saw them withstand a second half onslaught by West Brom. In the end Chelsea were barely hanging on. Chelsea's defence has been the subject of scrutiny so far this season and that was the case again this weekend. They have already shipped in 7 goals in only 3 games. Chelsea will no doubt keep on trying to bring in a defender before the transfer window closes.

Arsenal and Liverpool battled to an entertaining draw in the last match of the weekend. This was as good a goalless draw as you can get. Both goalkeepers were well on top of their game with Petr Cech brilliantly making vital saves against Benteke and Courtois while fine reflexes saw Mignolet deny Giroud. Both sides also hit the wood work in a game littered with goal scoring opportunities. Both defences were shaky and Arsenal might feel hard done by with Ramsey's goal ruled out due to a controversial offside decision. Both managers will however be pleased with a draw.

Manchester City continued their impressive start to the season with a 2 nil win over Everton. City are yet to concede a goal this season. They have dominated games and it will take something special for them to be beaten. David Silva completely dominated midfield orchestrating play and providing the outlet for most of City's attack. The defence marshaled by Kompany totally nullified the threat presented by Lukaku and in the end it was a very comfortable win. At this rate ,it will take something really special to stop this City side from reclaiming their title from Chelsea.


Team of the week
Butland
Kompany
Kolarov
Smalling
Collocini
Pedro
Silva
Mata
Bolasie
Costa
Aguero

Player of the week
David Silva

The 2015/2016 EPL Weekend-Round 10

Arsenal continued their recent run of good form with a rather straight forward 2-1 victory over Everton with the scoreline flattering the Toffees somewhat  The gunners are the form team in the Premiership with 4 wins on the trot,13 goals scored and only 3 conceded in their last 4 games. In between they have also beaten Bayern Munuch in the Champion's league. Indeed Arsenal briefly led the table before City returned to the summit with their goalless draw with United in the Manchester derby. One reason for Arsenal's run of impressive results has been the good form of right back Hector Bellerin. The youngster has been very consistent in that position and his incredible pace has seen him provide a number of useful assists for the Arsenal forwards. He has made the position his and Chambers and Debuchy have been reduced to bench-warmers this season. Petr Cech's contribution cannot be ignored either and with each day his acquisition in the summer looks an incredible piece of business by Arsene Wenger. Especially when you consider Chelsea's struggle in that position with Courtois injured.

Chelsea's bad run of form shows no signs of slowing down. This time round they fell to a West Ham side that had already claimed the scalps of Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool.
Remarkably, Chelsea have already lost 5 times this season in the league after only 10 games. What's even more puzzling is the fact that this same group of players are the same ones that completely dominated the league last season. There were no notable exits in the summer and if anything, the arrivals of Pedro, Falcao and Rahman were meant to strengthen an already strong-looking squad. One major exit that Mourinho must surely be ruing is that of Petr Cech who has been a source of calmness and assurance in the Gunners defence.
Mourinho and Chelsea are running out of time and a loss to Liverpool in their next match might just be the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

City and United played out a rather dull goalless draw at Old Trafford. The game had very few chances as defences came out on top in a a game that neither team appeared willing to take risks. City must have been the happier of the two as the point took them back to the top of the pile and considering their two best players Aguero and Silva were missing. United dominated possession especially in the 2nd half but there was an obvious lack of bite with their forward play. Only Martial looked like he could beat a City player when he had the ball. Van Gaal needs to start playing Martial as a center forward and look for a different role for Rooney. At times Martial looked wasted on the left wing. Rooney might be United's captain but his form has been poor for a long time and the boss needs to do something about that. It would have been interesting to see Depay or Young coming in as a sub for Rooney to play on the left side and push Martial to the middle. All in all despite the lack of goal-mouth action, this was a resolute defensive display by both defences. My two outstanding performers were Rojo and Kolarov. Rojo had De Buyne in his pocket and never gave the Belgian a sniff. Kolarov completely nullified United's attack down the right side. Valencia never beat him even once despite numerous attempts.

Liverpool recorded their 3rd successive draw of the Klopp era concedeing a late equalizer from Mane.It's going to take a while before Klopp's influence starts to show in this team. The best the Reds can do is keep being competitive and grinding results before the January transfer window opens and then Klopp can start to exert his influence and build his team.Liverpool's target this season is top four so as long as they are within touching distance of top four they should be no panic. As it is right now Klopp has got to make do with the players he has. Liverpool also need for Sturridge to regain full fitness. Without him they look very short going forward. Divorck Origi despite being given plenty of opportunity has just failed to live up to the player who lit last years world cup with Belgium.

Team of the week

Cech, Koscielny, Walker, Tomkins, Rojo, Ozil, Payet, Dembele, Cazorla, Kane, Vardy

Player of the week

Harry Kane