EPL Game week 5 Winners And Losers – Rodgers humbled, City earn bragging rights, Wenger feeling smug and Moyes difficult to understand

Hello and welcome to the winners and losers column where we go over this week’s round of games and discuss the teams, players and coaches that should either pat themselves on the back for a job well done or take a hard long look at their recent actions and should perhaps start making drastic life changes.

This column is in the spirit of good fun and as usual, your comments and opinions are welcomed.

WINNERS

Manuel Pellegrini

Half of a coach’s job is finding the right formation to counter your opponent’s. Pellegrini’s selection and high-tempo game plan took United by surprise and it wasn’t till after the 4th goal when he seemed content to let them see more of the ball did United ever look threatening and that was around the 65 minutes mark. The other half is making tactical or personnel changes to the team based on how the game is going. Suffice to say, the Chilean never needed to switch things up and as he read Moyes perfectly.

Tactically, he was playing at a level that Moyes was unable to comprehend. This is the most clinical attacking performance from any team this season and there are 4 goals to show for it. He seems to have solved his striker dilemma by dividing Champions League and domestic duties among his front men. The title race is wide open and the Engineer is finally getting his vital clogs grinding. To the other EPL contenders, be afraid, be very afraid.

Manchester City

During the post-match interview, captain Vincent Kompany couldn’t stop himself from smiling. The whole point of a derby game when it comes so early in the season is to earn bragging rights. It is the male equivalent of ‘I can pee further than you’. City were simply unstoppable and the only player that had a bad night was a certain Joe Hart and only because he failed to keep a clean sheet.

Zabaleta gave a fullback performance that should be studied in football academies and Kompany was the very definition of a centre-back – instinctive, calm and just unplayable. Yaya Toure is proving this season that he has more to his game than just brute strength and even Nasri who couldn’t put together a decent string of performances under previous coach Mancini is showing the sort of form that made both Manchester clubs chase his signature when he decided to leave the Emirates.

It is unlikely City will play with such a high-tempo game in and game out, but this win shows that when called on, they do have different strategies in their repertoire. So far, none of the big six have registered big wins when they have played each other. This season might just end up being decided by head-to-head results and the noisy neighbours just turned the volume up.

Wenger & his boys

There is something annoying about Wenger when he is proved right. His smug look over the last couple of weeks since signing Özil just screams, ‘This was my plan all along.’ Okay, I might have exaggerated that but if he were to say that, there aren’t many that will challenge him openly. Last week, this column wondered if Ramsey was playing above his level and his form would eventually decline as the season progressed. After all, everything regresses back to the mean right? The only way this reasoning ends up being flawed is if Ramsey has indeed improved his all-round game.

For the video game enthusiasts among you, that is to say he has essentially levelled-up. He has scored 7 goals this season for Arsenal from 8 shots on target. He is also doing the business for Arsenal in the defensive end. He is the most essential player on the team right now. In Özil, Arsenal have a player determined to continue his assist onslaught and was credited with 2 goals on match day. Madrid probably have enough talent to make up for losing him but you have to wonder if they will end up paying for this somehow. Surely, there must be a cosmic God that punishes people who mistreats his children. Just to be clear, this analogy is saying that if there was a God of football, Özil will be one of his children.

Arsenal have always won the unofficial title for the most entertaining team in the EPL. Özil’s arrival is making them the most dangerous. Suddenly, all the possession Wenger’s team has is actually counting for something – goals! The only fears Gooners should have if any are the following:

1. What to Do with Wilshere? Jack the lad is proving to be a problem. Until the arrival of the German playmaker, he was one with license to roam, pick up the ball from deep and play just off the forward. As his play showed this weekend he is quite ineffective when played out wide but he is not talented enough to displace Özil. Will he accept a back-up role and be the de facto #2 when the German needs a rest or can he, like Ramsey re-invent himself? Gooners are praying it’s the latter.

2. Is The Squad To Thin? This is more a criticism by analysts and commentators such as myself but you do worry for a team whose only other striker is the Great Dane, Nicklas Bendtner. Barring injuries to key players (which have already happened) or a sudden drop of form, Wenger could easily address his squad issues in the January transfer window and he does have players due to make a return to the first team after a long injury layoff. It really isn’t that bad.

3. Is It Safe To Dream? This EPL title race is as open as its going to be for the next 5years. Why? Wenger’s team is the only top 6 team that has some sort of stability. Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United are dealing with new men in charge and it’s having a telling effect on the team and individual players. Liverpool and Spurs have players and managers untested when it comes to handling the pressure (to varying degrees). If you had to make a bet based on pure logic, current form and include the experience of the coach and his team, you can do no better than Arsenal.