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

Mbeumo and Cunha mask Man Utd’s flaws

Only Manchester United can completely beat a team and still look like they survived a major scare. It was definitely a banana peel moment. United’s recent record against Brighton is dismal and it’s a game that always stirs up drama. This latest episode saw a similar trend.

Just when United lure you in, Old Trafford bouncing with unbridled joy at being 2-0 up, they drop you like a bag of bricks. It was easy to be charmed by the first half’s performance, but the second proved that this United team was far from perfect. How can they make things so easy and so difficult at the same time? It’s an art.

Until Bryan Mbeumo scored a fourth goal in stoppage time, a feeling of apprehension pervaded the terraces. You could actually feel the atmosphere change. Of the four big chances created by the hosts, three were missed. And yet, they still scored four times.

This is what Ruben Amorim means when he pointed out in his press conference that this year’s team contains players who “fit the style”. He talks about the quality of Matheus Cunha and Mbeumo. A new mark from Manchester United’s match winner.

Without them, it’s still an average team trying to find its way.
Laura Hunter

West Ham collapse unless they – and Nuno – change

The score will depict a close game: but it wasn’t.

The usual problems appeared for West Ham at Leeds, whose inability to defend crosses and corners struck again to hand them an uphill task.

The question is not: when will West Ham learn? When will West Ham get their chance?

When will Nuno Espirito Santo also be given a chance, after two incorrect formations against Leeds and Brentford which saw him experiment with inverted full-backs playing on the wrong side and without a centre-forward?

After a disastrous first 15 minutes which saw them lose 2-0, they were lucky that it was a fairly failed Leeds team as it could have been worse before half time.

West Ham did not deserve to come back in this match. Leeds ran almost seven kilometers further than them, creating chance after chance at the heart of the team.

Considering West Ham have been in this division for over a decade, this is unacceptable.

There are holes in defense, holes in midfield and with Nuno reluctantly using Callum Wilson as the only recognized and fit striker, there is also a hole in attack.

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

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

Chelsea are sorely lacking a number 9

Marc Guiu was one of three teenage scorers against 10-man Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday and had the chance to impress on his first Premier League start for Chelsea – against the team he was briefly loaned to earlier this season.

But based on this evidence, Liam Delap’s impending return from injury can’t come soon enough. The Englishman could be involved in the Carabao Cup midweek action – and Chelsea really need a central threat on that stage.

The creativity of the injured Cole Palmer is another big failure for a Chelsea side who have struggled to find their way through Sunderland’s well-organized defence. This was illustrated by the expected goals figures, which showed Chelsea at 0.97 to Sunderland’s 1.16 – despite the hosts having 69 per cent possession.

But Guiu was manhandled by Dan Ballard, unable to find an angle to receive a pass from his teammates, then unable to retain possession when he regained it. After 76 minutes he was withdrawn after just 10 touches.

Joao Pedro then moved up front, with substitute Estevao moving up to 10th, but Chelsea still struggled to produce any meaningful moments. It was an afternoon to wonder why there was such a rush to get rid of Nicolas Jackson this summer.

Enzo Maresca memorably insisted on downplaying any hype around his team during the first half of last season. This performance proves that no one should get carried away by their recent winning streak.
Pierre Smith

Sunderland defy pre-season predictions

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

He was not alone. The Black Cats fought their way through the Championship play-offs and were expected to struggle in the top flight as most promoted teams have done in recent times.

But Régis Le Bris combined a big summer madness with a well-organized tactic to defy the skeptics. Sunderland’s 17 points from their opening nine Premier League matches is the best return by a promoted club at this stage since Hull City in 2008/09.

The majority of their points have been scored at the Stadium of Light, where their raucous home support is a match for the team’s energy, physicality and intensity. But on the road at Chelsea, they showed quality in defense to blank their hosts, then on set pieces and counter-attacks to hurt them at the other end.

This victory propelled them to second place in the Premier League. Enough to make their supporters dream, who sang “We are going to win the league” in west London. They will face Arsenal in a few weeks…

More importantly, Sunderland are just nine points off a total that none of the relegated teams were able to reach last season. And it’s only October. No one underestimates them anymore.
Pierre Smith

Bruno, the big game, delivers a finishing blow

Some players have a natural ability to rise to the occasion.

Bruno Guimaraes is Newcastle’s go-to person in this regard.

The crowd seeks him out, his teammates grow around him and his opponents shrink.

It comes alive in big moments. The moments that matter. It defines what this Newcastle team is all about: fight and heart sprinkled with an abundance of quality.

Against Fulham, after the equalizer left the game at 1-1, it was Bruno who took the game by the scruff of the neck and shook off midweek Champions League fatigue to give his side points. He interrupted the play, initiated counterattacks and completely changed the momentum of the game with his tenacity. And when his team needed someone to burst into the box for a rebound, he made that run and got his reward with the game-winning goal.

Great players don’t just appear in big matches, they decide them. Bruno does this several times.
Lewis Jones

Are Fulham in danger of relegation?

Fulham have some problems. The influx of newly promoted clubs showing no fear and great concern about their own result in a final third that lacks freshness and quality.

Despite showing promise on several occasions during the defeat at Newcastle, Fulham were frank in key moments. Racking up 47 third-line entries and 25 touches in the opposition box at St James’ Park is a really healthy number, but they simply haven’t done enough with their territory.

That’s now four defeats on the clock and if the goals don’t arrive quickly, the pressure will mount. It will test the mental resilience of a team whose recent seasons have brought stability rather than fighting for survival. It’s a season that could easily evolve into a tense relegation fight rather than a comfortable mid-table campaign.
Lewis Jones

Baleba’s form worries Brighton

Carlos Baleba’s form worries Brighton. He has been substituted in all nine of his starts this season, leaving just before the hour mark in the Seagulls’ chaotic defeat to Manchester United. It was worse. Three times he was hung up on the break.

After an improvement against Newcastle, this was a return to the error-strewn efforts before that. Baleba fades out of possession and looks far too loose. He was heavily linked with a move this summer and doesn’t appear to have settled.

“It definitely affected him because at the start of the season the levels weren’t there and obviously the attention from a club like Manchester United, you’ll turn your head a bit,” said Aerial sports Jamie Redknapp speaking on Saturday Night Football.

“It’s up to the experienced players to get around him, get him on the ground, have a few honest conversations, because he’s going to become a world-class midfielder.” Still only 21, that’s probably true given the potential Baleba had shown before.

But this is now an alarming drop in form from him and the demands of the Premier League wait for no one. Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler is trying to get his star midfielder back into shape, but he can’t wait forever. It is up to Baleba to do more.
Adam Baté