The Man United flop who must go in January, the struggling club who FINALLY have a plan and which Man City star can Pep Guardiola no longer afford to overlook? Premier League things we learned

The Man United flop who must go in January, the struggling club who FINALLY have a plan and which Man City star can Pep Guardiola no longer afford to overlook? Premier League things we learned

When Ruben Amorim warned that ‘a storm is coming’ even he could not have predicted just how severe it was going to be for his muddled Manchester United side.

Mauled by a Newcastle side that are channelling towards a Champions League finish this season, things look set to get even worse for Manchester United before they can possibly start to get better and that is a worrying prospect when just seven points above the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, Ipswich Town are finally off the mark at home in the league this season, denting Chelsea’s title hopes in the process, while Liverpool look like an unstoppable force up top with West Ham the latest to be booked into the Arne Slot Penitentiary.

New Southampton boss Ivan Juric isn’t exactly getting the new manager bounce he was searching for, but the same cannot be laid at the feet of Wolves’ new man Vitor Pereira after a three-match unbeaten start for the Portuguese.

Fulham and Aston Villa were left to rue blown leads at home, Crystal Palace’s revival under Oliver Glasner (mentioned in a previous edition of this column) took another step in the right direction against Southampton – and Manchester City actually won a game of football.

In the latest instalment of this weekly column, Mail Sport picks out five of the most interesting talking points to emerge from the Premier League’s latest round of matches.

Ruben Amorim suffered his six defeat in 11 matches as Manchester United manager on Monday

Liam Delap terrorised the Chelsea defence as he inspired Ipswich to a 2-0 win over the Blues

Liam Delap terrorised the Chelsea defence as he inspired Ipswich to a 2-0 win over the Blues

Arne Slot's side moved eight points clear at the top of the Premier League with an emphatic 5-0 win over West Ham

Arne Slot’s side moved eight points clear at the top of the Premier League with an emphatic 5-0 win over West Ham

Mo is No 1 – and it’s not close

Mohamed Salah is the best player in the world at this moment. It’s not all that close either.

The regular competitors for such a title? Kylian Mbappe’s rollercoaster first season at Real Madrid continues to go up and down. Erling Haaland is looking human for the first time in years. Rodri is out injured. Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala are exceptional and yet no one is crowning them anything.

Salah is, for now at least, in a tier of his own. The most purple of patches.

In 18 Premier League games this season, Salah has 30 goal involvements (17 goals, 13 assists) and we’re halfway through the campaign.

On this current pace he is ready to smash the league record, jointly held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, of 47 goal involvements from one player in a single season.

In so many ways this is an historically great season; a season that is one for the ages when all is said and done.

Look back through Premier League history and see that nobody beats Salah’s 1.70 goals-and-assists per 90 minutes.

Mohamed Salah continued his one-man record-breaking crusade against the Hammers and became the quickest player to reach 30 goal contributions in the Premier League

Mohamed Salah continued his one-man record-breaking crusade against the Hammers and became the quickest player to reach 30 goal contributions in the Premier League

Top Premier League goals-and-assists per 90 minutes 

1.70 – Mohamed Salah 2024-25

1.43 – Erling Haaland 2022-23

1.35 – Sergio Aguero 2013-14

1.31 – Luis Suarez 2013-14

1.29 – Mohamed Salah 2017-18

Look, too, at the fact that the only players across Europe’s top five leagues to better his 30 goal contributions through 18 games of a league season are named Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Robert Lewandowski, Neymar, Erling Haaland, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kylian Mbappe or previous Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema have never been as hot as this.

Jamie Carragher said on Monday night that Salah is the frontrunner for the 2025 Ballon d’Or and few can argue with that assessment right now.

What is crucial is that Salah’s greatness this season is not taken for granted, regardless of whether he pens a new deal to stay at Liverpool or not.

‘We didn’t know Mohamed Salah could get any better… but somehow he has!’ Liverpool boss Arne Slot mused after the Egyptian toyed with West Ham in his latest showstopper.

‘Best player in the world? If you look at his numbers you can’t argue with it.’

This is one of the all-time great seasons from a player that is showing no signs of slowing down. The Premier League is lucky to have him.

Salah is putting together one of the finest individual seasons ever seen in one of Europe's top five leagues

Salah is putting together one of the finest individual seasons ever seen in one of Europe’s top five leagues

Zirkzee needs a fresh start

There is no escaping the fact that Joshua Zirkzee’s move to Manchester United has, so far, backfired for all parties.

But even by his standards to this point – just three Premier League goals and two of those came against a hapless Everton side – it was personal humiliation of the highest order when he was booed, and then cheered, off the pitch by his own fans against Newcastle United.

The jury has been turning on Zirkzee for some weeks now, even in light of his Everton brace. Social media is routinely awash with critique and vicious verdicts.

But for the first time there was a significant signal sent from match-going fans at Old Trafford that they too have turned their back on him just 171 days after he signed a deal that could run to June 2030.

‘I actually feel sorry for him, I really do,’ Gary Neville said on commentary for Sky.

‘I know he’s earning a lot of money here but there’s a human being in there basically being jeered off by his own fans and that is brutal. I’ve not seen it many times at Old Trafford in the 43 years I’ve been coming here, if at all.’

Zirkzee was not playing well. Nobody in United red was.

Joshua Zirkzee's 33rd-minute substitution in United's 2-0 defeat by Newcastle was met with cheers by supporters at Old Trafford

Joshua Zirkzee’s 33rd-minute substitution in United’s 2-0 defeat by Newcastle was met with cheers by supporters at Old Trafford

Zirkzee rarely plays well these days. Ruben Amorim doesn’t trust or value him as an orthodox No 9 due to his unreliability as a finisher, while he cannot provide the mobility required in this Amorim system to play in one of the No 10 roles.

When he came in he called himself a 9.5. In truth, Zirkzee has looked a square peg trying to fit into a round hole ever since he arrived and serious consideration should be given by all parties to him looking for a fresh start, even if temporary, in January.

‘I know that Josh is a really good guy,’ Amorim said in defence of Zirkzee, who looked to be on the brink of tears as he came off and went straight down the tunnel, before returning to the bench.

‘When he went to the tunnel, I can understand that some guys can be in a bad way but he is a really good lad. It is life, and we will support Josh and continue. Newcastle were better than Manchester United, they weren’t better than Josh.’

The facts are that in 33 minutes of action Zirkzee had 14 touches and managed to complete just three of his nine attempted passes. Overall in the league this season he’s managed just eight shots on target from almost 700 minutes of action, has created just eight chances, has won 34.1 per cent of his aerial duels and has one assist to his name.

Factor in too that he has played more than 55 minutes in the Premier League just ONCE since September and was the first hooked on a chastising night for Amorim and his players.

He may be a ‘really good guy’ but everyone has a breaking point and 33 minutes against Newcastle on Monday night looked to be just that for Zirkzee. It feels a long road back.

The Dutchman has endured a torrid start to life at Old Trafford and could be set for an early exit in January

The Dutchman has endured a torrid start to life at Old Trafford and could be set for an early exit in January

Wolves finally have a plan 

Wolves under Gary O’Neil had nine points from 16 games. Wolves under Vitor Pereira have seven points from three games. The impact is blindingly obvious.

For the first time in months Wolves have a plan that players and fans can get behind.  

‘What I am feeling is a good energy, I’m feeling that all the players are there to help the team,’ Pereira said after the 2-2 draw at Tottenham.

‘They want to play in the Premier League and for this we need points, we need to fight and to compete. This is what they are showing me, I’m happy and proud of their work.’

And what is particularly exciting for Wolves fans is that Pereira, who defeated Leicester 3-0 in his first game then Manchester United 2-0 in his second, wants so much more.

‘We need to improve a bit the possession and what we do with the possession because for me it’s not just to have possession, it’s to have possession with intentionality to open the spaces, to attack the spaces, to attract the other team in the spaces to go,’ he added. ‘This is the work that I need time to do.’

Wolves will continue to get better too the more time Pereira and his staff get to work with the group, plus the ability to make greater tweaks to the squad in January.

But in a microcosm of his impact so far just look at set pieces, where Wolves have been the worst in the league prior to his arrival.

Wolves came from behind to learn a late draw against Tottenham to consolidate their position outside of the relegation zone

Wolves came from behind to learn a late draw against Tottenham to consolidate their position outside of the relegation zone

The club are unbeaten in three games under Vitor Pereira, who replaced Gary O'Neil this month

The club are unbeaten in three games under Vitor Pereira, who replaced Gary O’Neil this month

In O’Neil’s 16 games this season, Wolves conceded nine times from a set piece and failed to score a single one at the other end.

Step forward Pereira as his record from set pieces this season stands at: 0 conceded and two scored.

Now, it doesn’t get much easier for Pereira, who has rewarded his players with a few days off after their three-game unbeaten run, with Nottingham Forest (2nd), Newcastle United (5th), Chelsea (4th), Arsenal (3rd), Aston Villa (9th) and Liverpool (1st) their next six Premier League games.

But Wolves can finally go into these games with belief they can take something from them and that’s all credit to the injection of positivity and passion Pereira has brought with him.

… But West Ham look clueless

Losing to Liverpool is hardly a reason to sound the alarm – but the manner of West Ham’s defeats under Julen Lopetegui are becoming increasingly harder to ignore.

One of the most glaring problems with West Ham is that they don’t seem to be improving.

They have won one of their last five games at the London Stadium and fans are befuddled by the lack of clarity from players and the lack of identity from the coaching side of things.

‘We have to learn, we have to look forward and to improve in many things to be able to stay closer in these kinds of matches,’ Lopetegui said after the 5-0 Liverpool drubbing.

The manner of West Ham's defeat by Liverpool has renewed pressure on boss Julen Lopetegui

The manner of West Ham’s defeat by Liverpool has renewed pressure on boss Julen Lopetegui

‘It is not an excuse to say that we lost against Liverpool because they are the leaders. I think that it’s one match of football when we played in front of our fans and for sure we can and we have to give them another face.’

Watching this current version of West Ham is to see a predictable side that continually suffer from the same problems in the press, in the build-up and in the final third and fans are tuning it all out.

January is a huge month for a lot of struggling teams but more so than getting players in, West Ham need to find themselves a plan that gives them a chance to win.

City’s McAtee snub makes no sense

I am continuing to have a hard time seeing James McAtee get overlooked by Pep Guardiola.

McAtee’s Premier League involvement this season extends to one minute against Ipswich Town, one minute against Nottingham Forest and a whopping 20 minutes against Leicester City in the game just gone.

The 22-year-old has made the bench in the other 16 games and has watched on like the rest of us, knowing that City have needed a spark plug to go in there and liven things up.

I was fortunate enough to watch McAtee in his element with England’s Under 21s in the last international break and while many will look down at the level, he was the best player on the pitch across two games against Spain and the Netherlands, two of the best teams in the world at the level.

McAtee is too good to be sitting and watching from the sidelines week in, week out, and that is why teams like Bayer Leverkusen are now feeling emboldened about getting him out of City.

‘There are things that sometimes feel unfair,’ Guardiola said after McAtee’s impressive cameo versus Leicester.

James McAtee made an instant impact after coming off the bench in Manchester City's win over Leicester

James McAtee made an instant impact after coming off the bench in Manchester City’s win over Leicester

Despite the Cityzens' woes with injuries and results, the 22-year-old has found gametime hard to come by under Pep Guardiola

Despite the Cityzens’ woes with injuries and results, the 22-year-old has found gametime hard to come by under Pep Guardiola

‘Sometimes in the situation you are living always you had the feeling to give the responsibility to the senior players rather than the young players, but sometimes the senior players have more pressure than the young ones who don’t have anything to defend. They want to conquer the world.

‘He’s a player with a generation that we had in City that has been unbelievable – Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Liam Delap., Taylor Harwood-Bellis. They are incredible players and Macca has come from there and been captain of that generation.

‘That’s why I said to Txiki (Begiristain), and I know it’s unfair to say now because “you asked him to stay and I didn’t give you the minutes you deserved” so that’s fair enough but I always had the feeling he could play with us.

‘I’m very pleased for him because he’s an incredibly lovely guy, he trains really good, never one bad face and he won his minutes. It’s simple. All the players, if you want to ask something, on the green is the best place to show it. Macca today proved it.’

It’s not too late to avoid another academy mishap and give McAtee a proper shot to prove he can be a central piece to this imminent rebuild.

Guardiola can say it’s been ‘unfair’ all he wants but now is the time to show that actions speak far louder than words.

After all, McAtee has held up his end of the bargain…


Source From: Premier League News, Fixtures and Results | Mail Online

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