Things continue to go from bad to worse for Manchester United, with one legend calling out a superstar who continues to flap his arms in frustration.
Meanwhile, another flailing giant of English football sunk to a humiliating new low as a proud record looks more baffling by the day while Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham continue to sit atop the ladder.
Foxsports.com.au takes a look at the weekend that was in the latest edition of Premier League Talking Points!
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PL wrap: Calvert-Lewin fires for Everton | 01:20
RED DEVILS DISASTER DEEPENS
Manchester United have been torn to shreds by former players after their dismal performance in the Manchester derby. City cruised to a 3-0 victory, hardly needing to get out of first gear in a match that exposed the gap in class that still exists between the sides.
“It was a footballing lesson. Manchester United didn’t know what to do,” Micah Richards declared on Sky Sports.
But who – or what – is to blame?
Former Liverpool stalwart Jamie Carragher pointed the finger at manager Erik ten Hag, who has failed to instil a clear style of play.
Carragher said on Sky Sports: “He has been here 18 months and none of us here can explain what Manchester United try to do with how they play. They play underdog football. They play counter-attack and long balls – no other top team plays that way.
“It’s nothing to do with what’s going on above him. What’s he doing on the training pitch, with the players he brings in, and what’s he asking them to do? You can’t see it.”
Gary Neville, meanwhile, declared: “The second half wasn’t a contest. It became a shambles. United went missing in the second half.”
“But,” he added, “my anger isn’t with Ten Hag. I don’t think he is the fundamental problem. The toxicity at this club is eating alive every manager and every player that comes here.”
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He pointed the finger largely at the ownership – the controversial Glazer family who this year put the club up for sale then pulled the pin on a deal. A new sale of a minority stake in the club to Jim Ratcliffe has been mooted, with reports stating that the Glazers would transfer footballing decisions to the new part-owner.
Neville believes that that situation – and the clean-out of the footballing department that would likely ensue – has staff looking over their shoulders and suffering from the instability.
“It is toxic, and embedded negativity. They all think they are all going to lose their jobs.
“Jim Ratcliffe is going to come in with David Brailsford, they are gong to sweep out the football department. That’s what’s happening and I honestly believe this toxicity that exists at this club, and has done for years, it eats alive every manager that comes and every player that comes.
“Harry Maguire was going to go to Man City. Mason Mount was going to Liverpool. They come here and it’s a graveyard for them. Are we going to keep blaming the kids in the class, or the head teacher?”
Responding to Carragher’s criticism of Ten Hag’s lack of playing structures and patterns, he said: “I don’t like the football at all, I’ve no idea what the patterns are they are trying to put in place, but the bigger picture with United that we have seen is that great managers and great players with great reputations come here and die in front of our eyes.
“Why is that? How do we answer that question?”
There hasn’t been an easy answer to that question for years, and United still look a world away from challenging for the title.
TIME TO STRIP BRUNO?
If there is one thing Ten Hag can – or should – do immediately to turn it around, it’s change his captain for the second time in less than six months. That’s according to a former Red Devils captain in Roy Keane.
The manager stripped England centre-back Harry Maguire of the armband prior to the season, hardly a surprise given the player had fallen down the pecking order behind Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez and was even up for sale.
But Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes has been repeatedly criticised for his attitude on the field and a perceived lack of leadership, and Keane believes ten Hag must make another change.
“Today having watched him again I would take the captaincy off him 100 per cent,” Keane said on Sky Sports.
“I know it’s a big decision, obviously they changed the captaincy with Maguire, but Fernandes is not captain material.
“He is a talented player no doubt about it. But what I saw today – we’ve discussed many times before, it was last season at Liverpool – his whinging, his moaning and throwing his arms up in the air constantly.
“It really isn’t acceptable. From what we saw today, I’m thinking I would take that off him.”
He added: “Fernandes is a brilliant footballer but in terms of captain material – he is the opposite to what I would want in a captain.”
LEGENDARY BOSS’ ALL-TIME ANGE PRAISE AS SPURS GRAVY TRAIN ROLLS ON
Ange Postecoglou has delivered a record-breaking start to the season to Spurs, and he’s earning plenty of admirers along the way. That includes former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who has declared that his old North London rivals are well and truly in contention for the title this time around.
Wenger said on beIN Sports: “If I said after 10 games [they’d be] top of the league… You ask me, not a tricky question because I like always to say what I feel deeply, and I believe Tottenham will be one of the contenders for the league.”
Wenger was full of praise for a trio of Postecoglou signings who have started the new campaign brilliantly – midfielder James Maddison, centre-back Micky Van de Ven, and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Wenger said: “They bought Maddison, who is a great player and who is that link from low midfield to high midfield, and added some technical creativity to the team.
“They bought Van de Ven who I find exceptional. I find him absolutely exceptional.
“They had weaknesses there [at the back] and last year [Hugo] Lloris didn’t have the best of seasons as well. And overall, the movement from Son into the middle looks very good.”
Whether Son Heung-Min could successfully transition into a more central position following the departure of Harry Kane was one of the biggest question marks for Spurs this season.
And while Kane has enjoyed a dazzling start to life at Bayern Munich – with a hat-trick this weekend including a goal from inside his own half – Son’s goal in the win over Crystal Palace took his tally to eight goals and an assist in his first 10 league games this season.
Postecoglou says fans can dare to dream of a shock title this season.
“Let them dream, that’s what being a football supporter is all about and, fair to say, this lot have suffered a bit,” said Postecoglou.
With games against up-and-down Chelsea (home) and struggling Wolves (away) next, there’s a strong likelihood of extending their unbeaten league start.
Things then get harder with a match against high-flying Aston Villa, before a fixture that could prove truly momentous – travelling to reigning champions Manchester City on December 4.
For now, though, even Tottenham’s bitter rivals like their ex-Arsenal enemy in Arsene Wenger can’t help but admit that something special is happening at Spurs.
BLADES REMAIN ROCK BOTTOM AS UNWANTED DEFEAT LOOMS LARGE
Spare a thought for Sheffield United and their fans. The team’s 5-0 defeat to Arsenal on the weekend (which featured a hat-trick to Eddie Nketiah) means that the Blades have now got just one point from their first 10 matches.
Besides this weekend’s hammering, they’ve also been battered 8-0 by Newcastle – at home no less – and they boast a miserable goal difference of minus 22 (seven scored, 29 conceded).
Their only point came against Everton in early September in a 2-2 draw.
It is the worst ever start to a Premier League season after 10 games.
The only other team that ever had just one point through ten games? That was also Sheffield United, back in 2020-21, when they ended up rock bottom with 23 points and a goal difference of -43 for the season – and were relegated by a full 16 points.
The Blades failed to win any of their first 17 games that season. Paul Heckingbottom and his side this season will be desperately looking forward to games against the likes of Bournemouth and Burnley in a few weeks to try and get their season off and running. As it stands, the infamous record of Derby County in 2007-08 – and their 11 points all season – is looking like it could be broken this year. Things have to change, and fast.
And it might just start with Heckingbottom.
BLUES’ HOUSE OF BRICKS TURNS INTO PILLOW FORT
It seemed like Chelsea had finally turned a corner under Mauricio Pochettino.
They beat Brighton in the Carabao Cup and then followed it up with league wins over Fulham and Burnley as well as a thrilling 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
But the wave of momentum came crashing back down after a 2-0 defeat to Brentford at Stamford Bridge.
The loss to the Bees means Chelsea have still won just once at their home ground this season and that was against Luton Town, who were promoted from the Championship.
Even worse, Brentford have won more games at Stamford Bridge in the past seven months than Chelsea have themselves.
It’s a far cry from the record-breaking days when Chelsea didn’t lose once in a run of 86 games from March 2004 to October 2008.
Yet their alarming home form isn’t the biggest worry of this Chelsea team.
The inability to find the back of the net against Brentford meant the game was the 14th time Chelsea failed to score in 2023.
A front four of Raheem Sterling, Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson huffed and puffed but failed to blow Brentford down.
However, Pochettino and Chelsea could be given a major boost as summer signing Christopher Nkunku nears his return from a pre-season knee injury.
The Blues boss revealed Nkunku is likely to return after the November international break.
Will he be the man to reverse Chelsea’s fortunes in front of goal, or will Nkunku prove to be yet another expensive swing and miss?