Brian Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha mask Man Utd’s flaws as Chelsea need real striker – Premier League hits and misses | Football news

Mbeumo and Cunha mask Manchester United’s flaws

Only Manchester United can comprehensively beat a team while at the same time looking like they survived a big scare. This was definitely a banana skin moment. United’s recent record against Brighton is abysmal and it’s a game that always causes drama. This latest installment followed a similar trend.

Just when United pull you in, Old Trafford, bouncing with unbridled jubilation at 2-0 up, drop you like a sack of bricks. It was easy to be charmed by the first half performance, but the second half showed that this United side was far from flawless. How can I make things look so easy and so hard at the same time? It’s art.

Until Brian Mbeumo scored the fourth in stoppage time, there was a sense of foreboding on the terraces. You could feel the atmosphere change. Of the four big chances the hosts created, three were missed. And yet they scored four goals.

That’s what Ruben Amorim meant when he emphasized at his press conference that this year’s squad has players who “fit in style.” He talks about the quality of Matheus Cunha and Mbeum. Manchester United’s new match winner brand.

Without them, this is still an average side trying to find its way.
Laura Hunter

West Ham will fail unless they – and Nuno – change

The result will paint a close game: but it wasn’t.

The usual problems arose for West Ham at Leeds, whose inability to defend crosses and corners struck again and gave them a huge task.

The question is not: when will West Ham learn? When will West Ham give themselves a chance?

When will Nuno Espirito Santo give himself a chance too, after two wrong formations against Leeds and Brentford as he experiments with reverse backs playing on the wrong side and without a centre-forward?

After a disastrous first 15 minutes in which they were 2-0 down, they were lucky that the Leeds side were pretty much missed as it could have been worse before half-time.

West Ham did not deserve to come back in this game. Leeds ran almost seven kilometers more than them, creating chance after chance straight through the heart of the team.

Given that West Ham have been in this league for over a decade, this is unacceptable.

There are holes in defence, holes in midfield and Nuno reluctantly using Callum Wilson as his only recognized, good striker, there is a hole in attack too.

If the Hammers play like this against their relegation rivals, how will they fare against better teams?

West Ham are going down unless Nuno changes – along with his team. It will take a miracle at this point.
Blitz himself

Chelsea sorely miss the number 9

Marc Guieu was one of three teenagers to score against ten-man Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday and had the chance to impress in his first Premier League start for Chelsea – against the team he had a brief loan spell with earlier this season.

But according to this evidence, Liam Delap’s return from injury cannot come soon enough. The Englishman could be involved in Carabao Cup action in midweek – and Chelsea really need a central threat on this stage.

The creativity of the injured Cole Palmer was another big miss for a Chelsea side who struggled to break through a well-organised Sunderland defence. This was illustrated by the expected goals figures, which showed Chelsea had 0.97 to Sunderland’s 1.16 – despite the hosts having 69 per cent of possession.

But Guiu was bullied by Dan Ballard as he couldn’t find the angle to receive a pass from his teammates and then couldn’t keep possession when he did get it. After 76 minutes he was withdrawn after only 10 touches.

Joao Pedro was up front later and substitute Estevao went to No.10, but Chelsea still struggled to produce meaningful moments. It was an afternoon to wonder why there was such a desire to offload Nicholas Jackson over the summer.

Enzo Maresca memorably insisted on minimizing any publicity surrounding his team in the first half of last season. This performance was proof that no one should get carried away with their recent victories.
Peter Smith

Sunderland are defying pre-season predictions

Paul Merson raised his hands Football Saturday before Sunderland’s win at Chelsea, saying: “I’ve made it the biggest certainty in the history of football that I’m going to be relegated.”

He was not alone. The Black Cats struggled through the Championship play-offs and were expected to struggle in the top flight like most promoted sides in recent times.

But Regis Le Bris has combined a summer of big spending with well-organized tactics to defy the doubters. Sunderland’s 17 points from their opening nine Premier League games is the best return by a promoted club at this stage since Hull City in 2008/09.

Most of their points have come at the Stadium of Light, where their raucous home support matches the team’s energy, physicality and intensity. But away to Chelsea they showed defensive quality to shut out their hosts and then threatened with set-pieces and counter-attacks to hurt them at the other end.

The win moved them into second place in the Premier League. The stuff of dreams for their supporters, who sang ‘We’re going to win the league’ in west London. They face Arsenal in a few weeks time…

More importantly, Sunderland are just nine points off the record that no relegated side managed to achieve last season. And it’s only October. Now nobody underestimates them.
Peter Smith

Big game Bruno lands a knockout punch

There are some players who have a natural ability to rise to the occasion.

Bruno Guimaraes is Newcastle’s top guy in that respect.

The crowd is looking for him, his teammates are growing around him, and his opponents are shrinking.

He comes alive in big moments. The moments that matter. He defines what this Newcastle team is: fight and heart sprinkled with plenty of quality.

Against Fulham after a tie that left the game at 1-1, it was Bruno who grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and shook off his midweek Champions League fatigue to earn his side the points. He broke up the game, went on the counter-attack and completely changed the momentum of the game with his tenacity. And when his team needed someone to break into the box for a rebound, he made that run and got his reward with the game-winning goal.

Big players don’t just appear in big games, they decide them. Bruno does this more than once.
Lewis Jones

Are Fulham threatened with relegation?

Fulham have a couple of problems. A flurry of newly promoted clubs showing no fear and no major concerns about their own bottom-third performance lacking freshness and quality.

Despite showing promise at various stages in the defeat to Newcastle, Fulham were dull at key moments. Amassing 47 final third entries and 25 touches in the opposition box at St James’ Park is a healthy number indeed, but they simply didn’t do enough with their territory.

It’s now four defeats in the round, and if the goals don’t start soon, the pressure will mount. It will test the mental resilience of a team whose recent seasons have provided stability, rather than fighting for survival. This is a season that could easily evolve into a tension-filled relegation battle instead of a comfortable mid-table campaign.
Lewis Jones

Baleba’s form is a concern for Brighton

Carlos Baleba’s form worries Brighton. He has been substituted in all nine of his starts this season, coming off just before the hour mark in the Seagulls’ chaotic defeat by Manchester United. It was worse. He was caught three times on the break.

After a better result against Newcastle, this was a return to the error-strewn efforts before that. Baleba gets off the ball and looks too relaxed in it. He was heavily linked with a move in the summer and doesn’t seem to have settled.

“It definitely affected him because at the start of the season the levels weren’t there and obviously the attention of a club like Manchester United will turn his head a bit,” he said. ski sports Jamie Redknapp speaks next Saturday Night Football.

“It’s up to the experienced players to get around him, ground him, have a couple of honest conversations because he’s going to be a world-class midfielder.” Still only 21 years old, that is most likely true given the potential Baleba has shown before.

But this is now an alarming dip in his form and the demands of the Premier League wait for no one. Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler is trying to get his star midfielder back into form, but he can’t wait indefinitely. It is up to Baleba to do more.
Adam Bathe