Papering Over the Cracks

Another incredible weekend of football that started in Manchester and finished in North London as City looked to flash their title credentials, Chelsea and United both managed to grind out results they didn't really deserve, the SAS partnership flattened Palace, the Arsenal juggernaut hit a speed bump and the Spurs train suffered a dramatic derailment. So let's take a look at the results and where we're at going into the second international break.

Man City 3-1 Everton

I've seen nothing to convince me that City aren't the best side in the Premier League at the moment. The fact that they're currently in 5th, behind Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Southampton is more a testament to their inconsistency than their quality. They got a lot of luck in this result but nevertheless they completely deserved it. Toure and Zabaleta were excellent as usual but Alvaro Negredo was the star of the show for me. His hold up play is excellent and his goal was superbly taken, even if neither goalkeeper showered themselves in glory in this display. I was halfway through lamenting Sergio Aguero's wastefulness in the first half (three glorious chances spurned) before he stopped me mid-sentence with a stunning finish to put City in front and from there they never looked back. Everton have a lot of good players but aside from Lukaku and Barkley, I'm not sure they have enough quality in the final third. The likes of Mirallas and Naismith are decent players, but not in the same league as the likes of David Silva or Aguero. Everton will challenge for the top 6/7 places but they will ultimately, I think drop short. And whilst Lukaku is a good short term option, they need a long term world class striker, which they currently do not possess. If City can play this well coming forward every week (despite the fact that their penalty was as much a penalty as the two shouts Everton had which is not at all) they'll win the title but they need to shore up at the back. Kompany injured (AGAIN) is a blow and Lescott and Nastasic shouldn't be in the same side as him, good as they are. And I remain unconvinced about Fernandinho.

Liverpool 3-1 Crystal Palace

Brendan Rodgers felt the need to come out after this game and reiterate the fact that Liverpool have possibly the best strike force in the league. He need not have bothered. Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez are both in my opinion in the top 5 strikers in the league (RVP, Aguero and Benteke being the others) and Suarez remains in my view the crème de-la crème of Premier League attackers. They both scored stunning goals, with Suarez finding the net from basically falling over and Sturridge rifling in a strike to match Aguero's from a tight angle. Bang. Bang. Game over in 17 minutes. The two not only are both fantastic strikers in their own right and their goal tallys over the last 14 months or so speak for themselves (Sturridge has 19 goals in 25 games since joining Liverpool, Suarez has 32 in 47 since the start of last season unless I'm mistaken) but they're developing a terrific understanding and this looks to be an exciting season for us Liverpool fans. Nevertheless there are problems. The propensity to shut down in the second half (though understandable as we were 3-0 up here) is worrying and defensively we look very vulnerable off set-pieces. Toure and Skrtel have been excellent so far but Sakho has had a mixed time of it. That said, with injuries and suspensions to key players plaguing us, we currently sit joint top with 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat and we're in prime position. Palace meanwhile, look like a side in real trouble. Yes they've had tough fixtures but they don't look like they can cope with the pace of the league in any department of the pitch and it could be a long season for them.

Sunderland 1-2 Man United

7 points from 4 games was a below par start. 7 points from 7 games would have been a disaster. United were staring down the barrel of a third straight humiliating defeat at the hands of a managerless Sunderland side that are yet to win a single game all season. And they would have deserved it (both sides). Giaccherini was everywhere and only a fine save by De Gea and a poor pull back from Adam Johnson after single-handedly walking through the United defence prevented him scoring twice and United being 3-0 down at half time. Nemanja Vidic had an abysmal game, clearing straight to Gardner to rifle home the opener before on more than one occasion miscuing a clearance and deservedly booked after conceding a handful of free kicks in very good areas. Rooney and Van Persie were anonymous, the latter coming into the game late on to fire wide when set through on goal. He hasn't scored from open play since the opening day and neither had United. Carrick continues to be neat and tidy in midfield but not more than that and if you put pressure on him, he wilts, as the excellent Cattermole, Ki and Gardner did for the first hour or so of the game. Nani continues to look like he's going to do something and then fail miserably and whilst he was arguably United's best option coming forward for most of the game, it astonishes me that people call Evra a defender as he was awful at that part of his job all day.

That said, there were obviously positives for United. Phil Jones was the only member of the back four who looked like he knew what he was doing, barring a couple of early errors (which in his defence he made up for) he was very solid, dealing well with the handful that was Jozy Altidore in a way that Vidic looked incapable of doing. Tom Cleverly in the midfield gets a lot of stick but he had a great game, making 8 tackles and had a pass accuracy of 95% with 25 of his 65 passes being in the final third and he created 2 chances. But obviously, there was only one star of the show. Young Adnan Januzaj was excellent. He looked the most likely to cause problems for the Sunderland back four early on, despite the fact that they looked mostly solid (despite John O'Shea's best efforts) with good support from midfield and lots of men behind the ball. Januzaj's goals were both of the highest quality and he looks a cracking young winger, showing more than Nani, Valencia or the god awful Young have shown so far this season. The only poor note from him on an otherwise terrific day was his horrifically blatant dive that deservedly earned him a booking.

On this show, Sunderland don't deserve to go down but then that's been the way they've played all season, unable to get any results out of it. As for United, I can't see them winning the league. Hell I can't even see them finishing in the top 4 at this rate. They've only put in one even remotely impressive performance all season and that was on the opening day. They're a mile away from the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal at the moment, even if it is only 6 points. And they need to improve soon. This result only papered over the cracks in their side. Moyes doesn't know what his best 11 is, his supposed big players aren't performing and without Rooney in the side they have zero creativity, without RVP almost zero goals. They look shaky at the back and whilst you'd expect a full strength City side to brutally expose their flaws, you wouldn't expect a bottom of the league Sunderland side to. But they nearly did.

Norwich 1-3 Chelsea

Chelsea are a side in transition under Jose Mourinho. Like Moyes, Mourinho doesn't know what his best 11 is and this is worrying for them. They have a lot of quality in their midfield, that much is obvious and the fact that Oscar, Hazard and Willian all got on the scoresheet today shows that but they're struggling to score enough goals, with Torres, Ba and Eto'o all failing to score in the league last season whilst Lukakuvand Sturridge bang them in elsewhere and Chelsea fans bang their heads against a wall. Nevertheless, it's important for them to bear in mind that Lukaku will be back next season, even better than when he left (if that's even possible). It's odd, but Chelsea seem to be making a habit of turning brilliant goalscorers useless. When he joined, Torres was one of the best strikers in Europe but he's never even come close to recreating that form. Ba was on fire for Newcastle but since he joined, the goals dried up. Sturridge (who admittedly was being played badly out of position and never given a run of games) has looked twice the player at Liverpool and Bolton than he did at the Blues and it remains to be seen if Lukaku can bang them in for Chelsea. As for this game, they were very lucky to come out with all three points. Norwich maybe suffered a case of overconfidence as they piled players forward looking to beat the Blues with the game finely poised at 1-1 with a little over five minutes left, but that's no excuse for the horrific piece of defending from Tete to allow Hazard to get the ball and John Ruddy made an absolute howler of an attempt to stop Hazard's shot rolling past him and over the line. Willian's goal a few moments later however, was nothing Norwich should be ashamed of, but a stunning piece of individual brilliance. Chelsea have quality everywhere on the pitch and if they can get just one of their strikers near his best form, they'll be almost unstoppable.

West Brom 1-1 Arsenal

The fact that Jack Wilshere scored is ironic because up until that point he was probably the worst player on the pitch. He was absolutely awful for so much of the game that it was almost inevitable he would find the net. Credit to West Brom though, because they played out of their skins again today on the back of a fantastic win against United last weekend. Mulumbu and Yacob are both brilliant at what they do and Yacob even managed to pop up and score their goal, a fully deserved one and a brilliant move that caught the Arsenal defence napping. West Brom got plenty of men behind the ball and stopped Arsenal playing, but they also broke quickly with pace and men up the pitch and will feel unlucky not to have picked up all three points. Arsenal will be glad they picked up a point to keep themselves top but they'll also be disappointed that after a run of 10 straight wins, they've come crashing down to earth. Even so, they're starting to look the real deal.

And in the games I didn't watch...

Speaking of sides that came crashing down to earth, Spurs were humbled by a West Ham side who hadn't won since the opening day before they scored 3 goals without reply at White Hart Lane. A fantastic result for the Hammers but it has turned a lot of people against Andre Villas-Boas for his controversial team selection. Personally I think even a £26m striker has to earn his way into the team and two penalties are not enough to do so when Defoe is banging them in in Europe (admittedly obviously against lower opposition). Spurs haven't impressed me yet coming forward but defensively they've been excellent so it was a real shock to see them concede more goals in 12 minutes this afternoon than in the previous 6 games put together. But well played West Ham, who needed a good result to stop the rot and I'm pleased for them.

People laughed at Southampton when members of the side suggested that they were aiming for Champions League football. Even now it seems an unrealistic ambition but three straight wins and they're sat 4th with 14 points, more than Everton, City, Spurs and United. They have the best defensive record in the league, having conceded just 2 goals in 7 games and they have real quality in all areas of the pitch. Today's 2-0 win over Swansea is a great result for them, even with the Swans possibly suffering a European hangover. It's not been easy for Swansea this season but I'm confident they'll secure another mid-table finish with the players that they have at their disposal.

Fulham picked a much needed 1-0 win over Stoke on Saturday afternoon that drags them up to 17th on alphabetical order of all things. It's not exactly my preferred way to stay out of the drop zone but hey whatever works. They may have had more than a little luck along the way but good tenacity and a good goalscorer are always going to benefit you in the long run. In Darren Bent, Fulham have a man capable of finding the net at any time and he's a real asset for them. As for Stoke, they have a lot of work to do after their good start to the season went off the rails. Three straight defeats and they're not scoring anywhere near enough goals. Worrying times for Mark Hughes as he tries to change the footballing philosophy of this Stoke side.

Newcastle lifted themselves up to 11th with a huge morale boosting victory against newly-promoted Cardiff thanks to two goals from new French striker Loic Remy. There's no denying that this boy is quality, with 5 goals to his name so far this season in the league (only Daniel Sturridge has more) and Newcastle are going need him and Papiss Cisse to find form and score a lot of goals if they're going to stay in this league because they have a lot of problems defensively. Only Palace and Sunderland have conceded more goals this season. Cardiff's form has been mixed all season and this is another huge blow for them but they can't get disheartened. I've not seen enough of them to make too many judgements but they do have some good players and if they can grind out more results like last week's win over Fulham then they have a good chance of staying up.

And the drab draw result of the week goes to Hull and Villa, who failed to score at the KC. This leaves Villa unbeaten in 3 and Hull unbeaten in 4! Another great result for the Tigers, as Villa are a very dangerous side, especially away from home, though they clearly lacked attacking quality without the injured Christian Benteke. Hull look a solid unit and they're doing really well so I wish them all the best. As for Villa, it's not an ideal result, but it's far from a disaster either.