Premier League winners and losers: Spurs expose Ten Hag, Kompany the ‘joke’ and Guardiola shines | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola and Vincent Kompany: master and apprentice

Ange Postecoglou and Pep Guardiola exposed Erik ten Hag and Eddie Howe respectively, but Vincent Kompany might be the biggest Premier League loser of all.

Kevin De Bruyne .

Pep Guardiola Considering Nolito’s four goals in 2016/17 remain the most scored by a Manchester City substitute in a single Premier League season under Pep Guardiola, changing the game with his bench is not often heralded as one of the Spaniard’s typical strengths. Rarely indeed does he need to activate a Plan B when Plan A tends to work so well.

And altering the course of a match seems far simpler when a player the calibre of De Bruyne is one of the replacements who can be called upon; that much is clear. But for only the second time in 286 games as a Premier League manager, Guardiola had two substitutes score in the same game.

With all due respect to August 2021’s 5-0 victory over Norwich, in which Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez duly applied the icing with the final two goals, this was a more notable achievement. Manchester City were struggling against Newcastle and needed their manager to be proactive, decisive and ruthless.

Both of his substitutes scored, the pair combining for the glorious match-winning goal in stoppage-time.

Guardiola has long held up De Bruyne and Erling Haaland as players who do not necessarily make Manchester City better or different, but those whose individual brilliance can exist outside of his system and produce magic in the key moments. One is back, the other is close and the champions are here.

Pep Guardiola and Kevin De Bruyne are here to break hearts.

Late, late Luton Only Liverpool (17) have scored more Premier League goals from the 76th minute onwards than Luton (14) this season.

Rob Edwards stressed the pre-match importance of being “right at it in every single game to make sure we can achieve something this year,” but more specifically vital has been the Hatters’ ability to remain right in every single game until the final moments. Just two Luton matches have been settled by more than a single goal either way since their opening defeats to Brighton (4-1) and Chelsea (3-0) in August. It is a handy and potentially decisive trait that none of their closest relegation rivals can match.

Carlton Morris Without starting any of Luton’s last six Premier League games, Morris has nevertheless made perhaps their most telling contribution in attack throughout that crucial time. Between the coaxing of two own goals in victory over Sheffield United, and his controversial but trademark equaliser against Burnley, those four points have kept Luton within touching distance of survival.

“We’ve put on a decent performance today,” Morris said after the game. “But to come away with something when we were down and out at one point shows character and that’s what it takes.” The Hatters have more than most, it seems.

Ange Postecoglou The semi-regular comments about Spurs always playing in their own way (mate) attract derision from rival supporters but they are only ever really intended for internal consumption: to give fans an identity to take pride in, and players a clear path to follow.

That Chelsea ‘high line with nine men’ defeat was an extreme example but the upshot is games like these: away at Old Trafford, without their three best forwards in Heung-min Son, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski and two most effective midfielders in Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr, their centre-half partnership in place for the first time in months and a debutant starting up front, Tottenham played with clarity in The Postecoglou Way and were frustrated with just a draw. That is excellent coaching.

Chelsea Three consecutive Premier League wins for the first time since October 2022 – or to phrase it differently, for the second time during the ownership of Todd Boehly, whose £5.25bn investment was surely made with single-goal victories over Crystal Palace, Luton and Fulham to go 9th in mind.

Then again, Strasbourg have won four of their last five games and drawn the other so Boehly’s plan for world domination is essentially unstoppable at this point.

Vitaliy Mykolenko With more Premier League charges and potentially further points deductions incoming for FFP breaches, it hardly feels the time to praise any aspect of Everton’s transfer conduct over the past few years. But the £17m capture of Mykolenko sits alongside the £20m purchase of Abdoulaye Doucoure as the closest they have come in the profligate Farhad Moshiri era to finding true value for money.

On his third permanent manager in just over two years – Rafael Benitez signed him! – the battling, resolute defender has found a sort of coaching kindred spirit in Sean Dyche.

Neither manager nor fanbase needed convincing of Mykolenko’s credentials, but a stunning late block on Matty Cash just outside the six-yard box, with his head bandaged after an earlier bloody clash with James Tarkowski, was cult-hero stuff.

After years of Everton screaming into the void that they had a better left-back than Liverpool on their hands, Mykolenko has built a quieter but far more compelling case to be at least involved in the same conversation as Andy Robertson.

Manchester United A positive result, if a performance which at best didn’t pose any more questions and at worst provided no answers.

The relationship between Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford at least offered green shoots of hope, but surrounding them still seems to be a barren wasteland on which little will be able to grow.

And while injuries remain the most compelling caveat for Erik ten Hag’s inability to establish consistency this season, the way Spurs played in their stadium in similar circumstances was damning. Considering their starting positions in the summer, for Postecoglou to be this far ahead of Ten Hag in terms of developing an elite club is ludicrous.

Still, another point against an apparent title challenger is a fine effort and still no club has done the league double over them this season. They’ve only faced two clubs twice and lost to both once but baby steps and all that.

Losers

Vincent Kompany Burnley supporters might well agree with his “joke” assessment of refereeing standards and VAR implementation, but they could find Vincent Kompany’s game management equally laughable.

There is more than a degree of outcome bias in assessing mid-game changes after a 1-1 draw with a controversial stoppage-time equaliser which might very well have been ruled out more times than not. But switching to five at the back to defend a one-goal lead at home to Luton is asking for trouble, as is throwing Mike Tresor on up front to scrap for every loose ball in the final 10 minutes before sending Jack Cork to sweep up the ashes after the damage had been wreaked.

While some pundits and critics pontificate as to whether Kompany will ever change his style or compromise on his philosophy to improve Burnley’s chances of survival, the Belgian is already making clear adjustments to no avail.

The Clarets have had less than 40% possession in five of their last six games, a defeat to Everton in which they trailed 2-0 after 25 minutes and were thus chasing for over an hour the outlier. In their first 15 fixtures they fell below that 40% mark just twice, and on seven occasions had more of the ball than the opposition.

Kompany would have been hailed as the tactically flexible genius Burnley need if the hosts had held out for victory, but he knows the game and must accept that criticism is inevitable when those gambles backfire, particularly in the six-pointers on which any survival hopes rest.

Fulham A truly ridiculous season. No club has won as many Premier League games by five goals or more, Fulham managing both of their such victories in one five-day December spell. Yet no club has lost more Premier League games to nil, the Cottagers’ eight matching Sheffield United and Burnley on that front.

That might ordinarily imply that the key to beating Fulham is to get ahead early, but the only one of their last five matches which did not end in defeat was a deserved win from behind against Arsenal.

Being as close in terms of points to the probable European qualification place of 7th as they are the relegation zone feels fitting.

Armando Broja As conflicted as Mauricio Pochettino seems over whether Christopher Nkunku’s injury setback leaves Chelsea needing a new centre-forward option or not, the manager can be relatively certain on one point: Broja is not yet ready to capitalise on the opportunity.

“It’s not easy for him to perform and to be at the level we expect,” Pochettino admitted ahead of the Fulham game, taking into account Broja’s recent long-term injury before saying the striker will soon “realise that never it is enough” at a club of this stature.

Broja was broadly fine in the 1-0 win but little of Chelsea’s best attacking play – there was some, promise – seemed to involve him. And when their captain, a much better fit and player in many senses, is vulnerable to a course-correcting sale, Broja should probably start considering his own options.

Pochettino praised the 22-year-old’s ceiling before the Fulham game but with Chelsea’s entire house under reconstruction and renovation, they can ill afford to wait for him to realise his “amazing potential” in this similarly inexperienced team.

Eddie Howe The impact of Manchester City’s substitutes made for an unflattering comparison, as did the respective bench options themselves. Two goalkeepers, some 30-something defenders in Jamaal Lascelles, Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett and one attacking player – teenaged Ben Parkinson with his 24 career Premier League minutes – suggested the starting line-up was sent out with a remit to finish the game, too.

That has become the norm of late; injury crises do inhibit squad depth somewhat. But Howe’s thoughts on not wanting to make a “negative” change seemed curious from a naturally pragmatic coach, particularly considering any game against Manchester City which does not end in defeat can only be construed as positive.

And the matter can hardly be one of trust when 17-year-old Lewis Miley has been integrated so successfully in the middle of a difficult campaign.

Newcastle have conceded 32 goals this season, exactly half of which have come in or after the 61st minute. It is not difficult to draw a correlation between that and Howe’s current stance on substitutions.

Moussa Diaby A goal and an assist each in his last 11 Premier League games. In that time, Ollie Watkins has four goals and three assists and Leon Bailey has three of each.

It is brutal but this is the level Aston Villa have shown themselves to be at and one player in that attack is not currently pulling their weight. Tarkowski almost breaking his ankle probably didn’t help, mind.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin Just take the three-game suspension next time and embrace the break, fella.