Premier League Review - Man City show up Chelsea’s lethargy

Mourinho’s outbursts don’t hide lack of investment

For the most part, Jose Mourinho’s attempts at distraction are an effective way to take the heat of his players. He doesn’t have to tell the truth as a requirement of his job, he just has to say the right things. So, while blaming referees, opponents, or the sky being the wrong colour, it won’t matter if he’s correct or not, he is simply doing what he deems necessary to make sure that a poor performance keeps the pressure off his players. It doesn’t mean we don’t know Chelsea played badly, it just means that it’s not the first topic of discussion.

What is so unpleasantly tedious and unjustifiable is when he picks the wrong target. Hanging his own medical staff up for criticism in public is of no benefit to anyone, and rumours of potential constructive dismissal suggest that it has already backfired more seriously than he might have anticipated. Similarly, going for Montse Benitez is not just beneath him, it should be beneath anyone, regardless of what and how she said anything. Then there was his daft claim that there was no racism in football. That episode was shamefully allowed to hang in the air before he clarified his view the best part of half a year later.

The comparison between his third year at Chelsea last time round, and his third at Real, is probably overdone. He has just signed a contract extension, for one, which would likely not have happened were the club not expecting him to stay for at least a couple more seasons, and as well as that, the squad could still end up improved on what he ended the year with.

But perhaps the reason Mourinho has picked a fight with his own doctor rather than someone else is an absurd way of pointing out he’s stuck with the same old squad as last year. City have added Fabian Delph and Raheem Sterling, and the team are reinvigorated from goalkeeper to striker. Mourinho has the knackered Radamel Falcao and the back-up Asmir Begovic. The Chelsea manager is into his third year, which is hard enough for most managers to shake things up, but in order to do so then he must be backed in the transfer market. Pellegrini has done an excellent job in bringing back City from the dead - so far, and there have only been two games - but Chelsea cannot be surprised that last year’s lethargy has not yet been cured.

Rooney’s struggles nothing new

We need to talk about why everyone now needs to talk about Wayne. Rooney has been in decline for at least three years, and offered almost nothing for the side last season. He was slow, his first touch had gone, his finishing was unreliable, and his passing was reduced to a speculative, slow pass out wide which would always receive applause, but be of no use to a side trying to open up deep defences.

The excuse that was made for him was that he wasn’t a midfielder, and was a striker - ignoring his public statement before the 5-3 Leicester defeat that he was a number 10. The fact is that after correctly identifying that United were no longer a club at the top of their own game as he tried to engineer a move to Manchester City, he drifted from his. First the explosive pace went, then the control went, and last season, basic footballing technique deserted him. That most people were willing to overlook that until he got moved 20 yards further forward on the pitch is their fault, not Rooney’s. His shocking performance is nothing new, and David Moyes, Ed Woodward and Louis van Gaal must take the blame for spending so much money with no proper replacement secured.

United have two weeks now to secure a central defender, Pedro from Barcelona and, ideally, some kind of competition for Rooney in attack. None of these positions should have come as a surprise to United, and if they do not secure at least two of the three positions, they cannot be shocked when they once again struggle to break sides down, or keep clean sheets.

Arsenal continue to ignore obvious problems despite victory

Having had time to get a degree, a masters and a PhD in failure twice over, Arsene Wenger really didn’t need his players to act as they usually do when something is expected of them. Against West Ham, Petr Cech showed that he had successfully made the transition to the Arsenal way of doing things by throwing two major mistakes into the game. Wenger talked of nerves, and of his side being too nice, something that could accurately be levelled at him given his indulgence of mediocre players and weak will.

Against Palace they benefited from the extended presence of Alexis Sanchez, who forced Damien Delaney into Arsenal’s match-winning own goal. But again Francis Coquelin showed why Wenger appears to be taking an unjustifiable risk. He should have been booked several times, and Arsenal were lucky not to concede a penalty. It’s not that Coquelin should be banished from every first team game, it’s that a player who is still so fundamentally inexperienced that having him and Mikel Arteta - now running on coal when everyone else is on hydrogen - is a pointless exercise. Olivier Giroud scored an excellent goal, but at 28 he won’t suddenly become sufficiently lethal for enough of the season. Arsenal deserved their win, but there’s no evidence from this match that they are any better than last year. They risked drawing against Crystal Palace, an emphatically mid-table club, for more than is sensible.