A Calm Start to the Madness

By Jonathan Gault

Note: This recap does was written before Monday’s Arsenal-Chelsea game.

Saturday kicked off the most active period of the Premier League season, a 12-day span during which every team will play four times. There are plenty of massive games that will impact the title race – Arsenal-Chelsea on Monday, Man City-Liverpool on Thursday, and Chelsea-Liverpool on Sunday. But through the first nine games of the holiday madness, things have remained relatively calm.

GETTY IMAGES

Yes, Man City looked as if it might blow its third away win of the season when it allowed Fulham to come back from 2-0 down, but the Blues eventually prevailed after late goals from Jesus Navas and James Milner – the latter the result of a sublime pass off the outside of Alvaro Negredo’s left boot. Apart from that potential hiccup, everything else went according to form; Newcastle and Everton stayed hot, West Brom and Fulham stayed cold, and Luis Suarez was Luis Suarez.

Like every other journalist with at least a passing interest in soccer, I’ve already spilled many words trying to quantify Suarez’s brilliance this season. He was magnificent again in Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over Cardiff on Saturday, scoring twice and adding an assist. How good has Suarez been? Consider the following.

·       His 19 goals (in 12 games!) lead the Premier League by a comfortable margin

·       Liverpool has scored eight goals in its last two games. Suarez has had a hand in all of them (five goals, three assists)

·       He’s on pace to score 52 goals this season. Only eight TEAMS scored that many last season

Whenever Suarez picks up the ball near the penalty area, Liverpool instantly becomes a threat to score. Suarez only had about a yard of space when he came into possession outside the penalty area in first-half stoppage time on Saturday, but he was still able to release a dipping right-footed strike that curled around David Marshall in the Cardiff goal. Suarez’s speed, vision and finishing ability are all among the best in the Premier League – if not the world. The Reds did well to lock up the Uruguayan to a long-term contract last week.

There’s no easy way to defend him, but my best suggestion would be to mark him tightly and prevent him from getting the ball in the first place. Cardiff didn’t do this on Suarez’s first goal, leaving him open at the top of the penalty area. Jordan Henderson quickly delivered a cross, and Suarez volleyed home before anyone was even near him. If Suarez does come into possession, teams must work hard to close the space around him immediately or else he will find it and exploit it. It’s a tough task, but a strong, committed defensive team has a chance to slow Suarez down. Fortunately for Liverpool, its next opponent, Manchester City, has not been a strong, committed defensive team this season.

Liverpool’s victory was well-deserved, but the same can’t be said for the possible dismissal of Cardiff manager Malky Mackay. Mackay has had a successful spell at the Welsh club, taking the Bluebirds to the League Cup final in his first season (where they lost to Liverpool on penalties) and gaining promotion to the Premier League in his second (their first time in the top division since 1962). Now in Mackay’s third season, Cardiff is 15th right now, and though there have been ups (wins over Man City and local rivals Swansea) and downs (losses to Crystal Palace and West Ham), he has done nothing to merit a firing. But Cardiff owner Vincent Tan is unpredictable – remember, this is a man who requires a team nicknamed the Bluebirds to play in red – so Mackay’s fate certainly bears watching for the remainder of the season.

Before finishing, I’ll briefly mention another team with managerial trouble – Tottenham, who beat Southampton 3-2 on Sunday at St. Mary’s Stadium to win its first game after getting rid of Andre Villas-Boas. Interim boss Tim Sherwood made five changes from last week’s 5-0 loss to Liverpool, and one of them paid off big-time.

Emmanuel Adebayor has played so infrequently this season that you’d be forgiven for forgetting that he’s still under contract at Tottenham. But Sherwood gave him his first start of the season on Sunday, and the Togolese forward rewarded his manager’s faith, scoring twice to propel Spurs to its most impressive league win of the year.

Spurs still have to pick a new manager, whether it’s Sherwood, Glen Hoddle, or Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal, who wouldn’t take over until after the World Cup. But whoever the new man at White Hart Lane is, he should consider giving more playing time to Adebayor, who scored 17 Premier League goals (and added 11 assists) as recently as two years ago. Spurs only have 18 goals this season – less than Suarez by himself. It couldn’t hurt to change things up.