Sunday’s Premier League games are in the books, with Arsenal and Liverpool fans feeling similarly about their teams. They’ll get better, and they’ll be competitive, but there are still a lot of problems that might not ever get solved.
Arsenal and Liverpool have tons of work to do; optimism abound at Newcastle
Sunday’s Premier League games delivered just as much entertainment as Saturday’s.
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There was, however, a massive difference between the two. Petr Cech fell apart in a loss for the Gunners, while Philippe Coutinho singlehandedly willed Liverpool to a victory. Those extra three points might come in handy once May rolls around.
Sunday’s scores
Newcastle 2-2 Southampton
Stoke City 0-1 Liverpool
Arsenal should probably buy a midfielder
Santi is back at CM next to Coquelin. Not sure that's much better, but hey.
— The Short Fuse (@TheShortFuse) August 9, 2015 Cazorla sprinting back to head away crosses is peak banter
— The Short Fuse (@TheShortFuse) August 9, 2015 They won’t buy a midfielder, because Arsene Wenger has been dealing with the same problem for about seven years now and has failed to address it, but playing Santi Cazorla in the center is just wrong. And Francis Coquelin, though he was decent last season, had a pretty poor game in his team’s loss to West Ham.
Sami Khedira, Arturo Vidal, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Scheneiderlin are gone, but there are still quality buys out there for Arsenal. If Wenger recognizes the issue, that is.
Newcastle look like a totally new team
Steve is going to give Anita every chance this year. Turn is going to have to be better. A lot better.
— ComingHomeNewcastle (@ComingHomeNUFC) August 9, 2015 I’ll take that first half. Nice stuff on offer. Possession will clean up with time. Colo and Mbemba will learn to work together.
— ComingHomeNewcastle (@ComingHomeNUFC) August 9, 2015 You guys - would've been nice to take 3 points, but I can’t remember the last time I felt "this is going to be a good day" after #NUFC match
— ComingHomeNewcastle (@ComingHomeNUFC) August 9, 2015 A lot of teams that are undergoing dramatic change are concerned about whether or not it will come together, but any change is good change at Newcastle. And though they gave away points because they lost some headers in the box, there were way more positives than negatives for the Magpies. In general, they defended better than they did all of last season and looked creative going forward. Steve McClaren is doing good work, and even if Newcastle aren’t great, they’ll be massively improved.
Liverpool didn’t really bother to change anything
Gomez a kid out of position, midfield struggling without an anchor, Benteke isolated & ineffective. About what you fear seeing the lineup.
— Liverpool Offside (@LFCOffside) August 9, 2015 What's painful is how predictable it all is. And how much the set-up looks like the one that didn't work first half of last season.
— Liverpool Offside (@LFCOffside) August 9, 2015 The strangest part about this is all the players Liverpool had available -- Roberto Firmino, Danny Ings, Emre Can and Divock Origi are all fit and have had preseason matches with the club. Instead of finding a place for one or two of those players, Brendan Rodgers picked a lineup that lacked both support for his center forward and a defensive midfielder. The result was very few chances for Liverpool and some very good ones on the break for Stoke.
Liverpool were set up terribly and largely played terribly. Rodgers owes Coutinho a year or five of food for his pugs for that strike.
— Liverpool Offside (@LFCOffside) August 9, 2015 Ultimately, this didn’t matter -- Coutinho is one of the most talented players in the Premier League and he bailed out his team with one of the best goals that anyone will score this season. It was spectacular, and he’ll probably do that a few more times this season, but certainly not every game. Rodgers will take the three points, but with the knowledge that he should try something different next week.
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