Moyes shows he could have made an impact at Parkhead
...and other talking points from the weekend in England
1
Perhaps Celtic should have acted sooner on David Moyes
West Ham’s four-game unbeaten run in the Premier League might have come to an end on Saturday but there was no shame in that as they lost to a Manchester City side who were racking up their 20th consecutive victory.
The Hammers still occupy a Champions League spot and look well placed to maintain a challenge for that lucrative berth, albeit with some tricky fixtures on the immediate horizon.
David Moyes, their manager, opened a window into his state of mind in his press conference prior to the City game when he said: “I am really happy here, I enjoy the people I work with and there has been great improvement on and off the field here at West Ham.”
Changed days. There was a period last year when Moyes would have contemplated taking the Celtic job but it seems an awfully long time ago now.
At one point in the autumn, Moyes was the 5/2 favourite to succeed Neil Lennon as manager but he has presided over such a remarkable transformation since then at West Ham that he is now as big as 66/1.
His position at the head of the market was a reflection of two things. Celtic were lurching from one crisis to another under Lennon and in the midst of a 12-game streak in which they had won just twice.
Meanwhile, West Ham were in seventh but just four points above the relegation zone at a time when there was no real sense of the strides Moyes was making, and his struggles with the hierarchy over transfers – the Scot was still smarting following David Gold and David Sullivan’s decision to allow Grady Diangana to join West Brom – were still fresh in his mind.
Now, all talk is about rewarding him with a new contract at the London Stadium.
2
Not much to shout about
Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney’s status as the best left-backs in the Premier League has been challenged this season by Luke Shaw, who is finally demonstrating the kind of form he showed at Southampton – marauding flank play that encouraged Manchester United to pay £25 million for him.
The England defender set up United’s best chance in a tame affair at Stamford Bridge yesterday, crossing into a dangerous area before the ball eventually landed at the feet of Scott McTominay, who forced a good save from Edouard Mendy in the Chelsea goal.
The Scotland man also showed his value in the other area when he foiled a solo effort by Mason Mount, recovering from an initial dummy to block when the Chelsea man pulled the trigger.
United, meanwhile, had a good shout for a penalty in the first half when Callum Hudson-Odoi handled in a manner that drew spot-kicks earlier in the season.
Billed as Sky’s match of the weekend, it was otherwise a game to forget.
3
Stand up and be counted
Where do you start with Lee Mason’s decision to disallow Lewis Dunk’s goal for Brighton against West Brom? How about with the player himself?
The centre-back deserves credit for calling out a growing discrepancy between referee’s mistakes and their ultimate accountability.
Asked by Match of the Day why his free-kick was ruled out after Mason allowed him to take it quickly and he duly stuck it into West
Brom’s bottom corner, Dunk said: “Who knows? It’s embarrassing. I have got to come here and speak about it in front of the camera. Why doesn’t he come here and speak about it? I know what he said. I said: ‘Can I take the freekick?’ and he said ‘Yes’. I took it, I scored, he gave the goal. [There were] massive protests from them [West Brom] and he changed his mind.”
Dunk’s point was salient. Mason appeared to allow his decision then panicked when he saw Sam Johnstone, the West Brom goalkeeper, rooted to his left-hand post and blew his whistle to halt play.
The referee got it wrong. Quick free-kicks are allowed everywhere on the pitch and Dunk’s quick-thinking should be applauded. Mistakes are an inevitable part of the game. Referees should be required to own them.
4
Leicester will be diminished without Harvey Barnes
Mikel Arteta made six changes for Arsenal’s trip to Leicester City yesterday having been involved in a frenetic Europa League encounter against Benfica on Thursday. Brendan Rodgers made four following his side’s exit at the hands of Slavia Prague but it was the Londoners who coped better with the fixture load as they came from behind to win 3-1 at the King Power Stadium.
The common denominator in both defeats for Leicester was the absence of James Maddison – a player whom this column discussed at length last weekend. The midfielder’s spark was clearly missing and his injury status is something of a grey area so the last thing Rodgers would have wanted was to lose Harvey Barnes, his other creative, goalscoring midfielder.
Of course, that is exactly what happened. Barnes was stretchered off six minutes into the second half and Rodgers confirmed he will undergo an operation.
5
Bale clicking at just the right time
When Tottenham secured the loan signing of Gareth Bale last summer, Spurs supporters and football fans alike salivated at the prospect of watching him in a trident with Heung-min Son and Harry Kane.
Instead, as Bale has sought to condition himself it has felt like a failed experiment, one that has been more beneficial to the player as he seeks to build-up his fitness prior to this summer’s European Championship finals.
Until yesterday, that is. The trio were sensational for the first half-an-hour at the Tottenham Stadium, blowing Burnley away with a mixture of pace, power and precision.
The timing of his run might just be opportune for Spurs.