1) Bolasie personifies Palace renaissance under Pardew
Instinct is to linger on Chelsea’s sudden and uncharacteristic deficiencies, but they were beaten by the more incisive, fluent side on Saturday with Crystal Palace’s cause very clear. Alan Pardew had taken a phone-call from Yannick Bolasie last Thursday with the winger insistent he was eager to play a part at Stamford Bridge after a period of compassionate leave back in DR Congo following the death of his father. José Mourinho had made a beeline for the 26-year-old in the dug-out to offer his condolences prior to kick-off, though it was the cameo offered up here late on that put a smile back on Bolasie’s face. The former Plymouth and Bristol City forward personifies Palace’s renaissance. He plays with such joy, utterly unfazed by the calibre of the full-back attempting to snuff out his threat, and that ferocious pace and lavish, if unpredictable, skill are key to this team’s bite on the counter-attack. They have mustered 10 wins from Pardew’s 12 away games in all competitions and a player who rose with them through the play-offs in 2013 – one of seven who remain regularly involved from that promotion winning campaign – has been a huge part of those successes.
Palace’s immediate task is to ward off any late interest in prising Bolasie away before Tuesday’s transfer deadline. The co-chairman, Steve Parish, has admitted it would take “an extraordinary bid, crazy money” to prompt business. “The chairman has done brilliantly since I’ve been here,” said Pardew. “We have constant communication. We know what we’re trying to achieve and, obviously, Yala is a big part of our plans. It will take an unbelievable offer to get him out of here. If someone was to make that, we’ll listen.” But that was said in anticipation of no bids being forthcoming. Palace will be happy to retain this force of nature, and will then spend the next few weeks tying him down to a new contract. For now, this team are happy just to see Bolasie’s broad smile restored. “I can’t stand here and say I know what he is going through, but we support him every way we can,” said Joel Ward. “The last two results have been for him really and for his family. We are a family, at the end of the day. When something like this happens it affects us all. We all stand side by side and that showed at Chelsea.” Dominic Fifield
- José Mourinho rounds on players for limp display against Crystal Palace
- Chelsea humbled at home after Sako and Ward strike and send Eagles soaring
2) Van Gaal’s United have issues from front to back
Where to start? Manchester United’s No1 goalkeeper is nowhere to be seen. Or, to paraphrase Louis van Gaal, David de Gea’s future is in Ed Woodward’s hands. Daley Blind, a defensive midfielder or left-wing back, is playing at centre-half. Juan Mata, a No10, is being deployed wide on the right. And Wayne Rooney... Wayne Rooney is not a No9. Not on the evidence of what we saw at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, or the performance he put on at Villa Park a fortnight or so earlier. Rooney turns 30 in October and it shows, particularly when Ashley Williams, who celebrated his 31st birthday last week, gives him two yards and catches him. Twice. Williams is an excellent defender. Usain Bolt he is not. Rooney still has a part to play, but surely that is deeper, where his brain, and not his legs, need to be quick.
All of which means United need a new striker to spearhead their attack – a Ruud van Nistelrooy in his prime. Good luck finding one of those with less than 48 hours to go before the window closes. But it is not just the personnel. What about the tactics? Possession with no penetration. Forget the passing stats; United have scored three times in four league games and one of those was an own goal. The United of old – dynamic, attacking, entertaining, relentless – would have responded to Swansea scoring twice in five minutes. Van Gaal’s players, by the United manager’s own admission, could not cope with the tactical changes Swansea made. As for Van Gaal, Plan B was to bring on Marouane Fellaini, stick him up top and hope he could make a nuisance of himself. United’s supporters surely deserve a bit better than that after a £230m spending spree. As for Swansea, they’re quite happy with André Ayew and Bafétimbi Gomis, a couple of free transfers. Stuart James
- Swansea stun Manchester United with Ayew and Gomis goals
- Van Gaal refuses to blame Romero for Swansea defeat
3) Lovren blunder adds to Rodgers’ challenge at Liverpool
One view shared by the two managers at Anfield on Saturday is that, when it comes to getting the best from Dejan Lovren, confidence is vital. Brendan Rodgers had claimed it was key to his £20m signing’s steady start to the new campaign. After that ended with a dreadful error that presented West Ham United with their second goal in the 3-0 win, Slaven Bilic said: “He was over-confident and that can happen.” Bilic was otherwise fulsome in his praise of his fellow Croatian, insisting that: “When he’s concentrating and thinking only about his own game, not about the left-back or whoever is alongside him, there are very few centre-halves who are better than him.” Though he did add the caveat: “I’m not objective about him because I like him.” But it is Rodgers who has the delicate task of ensuring Lovren’s focus remains firm and is not derailed by one high-profile blip. The Liverpool manager’s words and selections this season have made it clear that the former Southampton player ranks above Mamadou Sakho in his defensive pecking order. Sakho, who sparked ironic cheers on Saturday when he started warming up as a substitute on Saturday, was also overlooked when Rodgers reverted to a three-man central defence at half-time. The manager must hope his faith in Lovren is rewarded when a Coutinho-less Liverpool head to Old Trafford after the international break. Andy Hunter
4) Determined City maintain perfect start
Vincent Kompany has led a rear-guard that has so far not been breached in four outings. He is also the captain of a Manchester City team that has a perfect 12 points from those games. Elite sport is marginal, the difference between champions and also-rans decided on a close to quasi-intangible basis. Yet observed closely the big difference in a side that has featured only one of the new summer arrivals thus far – Raheem Sterling – appears the heightened determination from first to final whistle. As Kompany says: “The main thing I’ve seen this season is just an extreme amount of focus around the dressing room. No satisfaction whatsoever out of the first four wins. It’s nice for the defenders, for the strikers, for the club and fans but nothing more than that. We’ve got [next] a very tricky away game at [Crystal] Palace. We’ve all seen what they’ve done to Chelsea. But it’s good. You play Everton away and West Brom away – very tricky away games – and win so now it’s to Palace. It’s good to get those games out of the way and negotiate them in the way we have done.” After the international break, Alan Pardew’s men will welcome City to Selhurst Park following City’s 2-0 dismantling of Watford at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. This has been the story of City in August. All-comers have been cuffed aside. The fascination next month is to discover if it can be the story of City’s September, too. Jamie Jackson
5) Newcastle’s Mitrovic needs to get a grip
He does not celebrate his 21st birthday until the middle of September so, in many ways, Aleksandar Mitrovic is still really a baby. The trouble is that it cost Newcastle United, depending on who you believe, somewhere between £13m and £15m to move the Serbia striker from Anderlecht to St James’ Park, and Mike Ashley likes a return on his money. Newcastle’s owner probably believed he was buying a gifted young striker with high potential resale value once Steve McClaren’s undoubted stellar coaching skills had honed his potential but the problem is that McClaren is not superhuman: he cannot make a leopard change its spots. Arguably harsh but anything but entirely surprising, Mitrovic’s record of two bookings and one sending off in four Premier League appearances for Newcastle emphasises that he is immature – possibly with complicated anger issues – and trapped in the body of a formidable man. Newcastle’s manager is going to need all his man-management skills plus the psychological input of his motivational guru Steve Black to sort this one out. If anyone can help it is Black – just ask Jonny Wilkinson – but might it not have been simpler to have bitten the bullet and paid a little more to sign Charlie Austin from QPR earlier this summer? Only those with privileged information know the reality of Austin’s injury problems yet, on paper at least, he appears a more obvious answer than Mitrovic. Louise Taylor
- Arsenal capitalise on Mitrovic red and Coloccini own goal at Newcastle
- McClaren and Wenger are both in urgent need of extra firepower
6) Kaboul not the solution Advocaat is searching for
Sunderland remain a club resembling an accident waiting to happen and though more philosophical than this time last week, Dick Advocaat should know even a rash of last-minute window shopping will not solve all their problems. The goalscoring contributions of Yann M’Vila and Jeremain Lens in Saturday’s fortuitous draw at Villa Park will add credence to the manager’s appeal for what quality signings can offer. But the fact that Advocaat believes Younès Kaboul is the answer to his central-defensive black hole and that Jermain Defoe is best suited to tracking back wide on the left suggests the Dutchman is not necessarily the miracle worker that last season’s escape from relegation suggests. “You give me a solution then!” Advocaat said in good-natured fashion to the dilemma over Defoe before agreeing that maybe a striker who has scored 240 goals was tired out from all his defensive running to make the most of the one chance he had when clean through on goal. Not even a personal assistant could help the 32-year-old former England striker marshal his full-back safely in a 4-3-3 formation and still be at his composed best for when he gets his one chance per game. Yet Sunderland are not good enough to play two up front as they would get ‘done’ with just two men in central midfield. Switching to 3-5-2 would be an admission of their players’ deficiencies. Advocaat quite rightly claims Kaboul needs time to build fitness and understanding but the hesitancy he showed in allowing Villa to come on to him on Saturday showed a player who has misplaced his front-foot thinking. And with John O’Shea besides him and Sebastian Coates already dropped, Sunderland will continue to concede chances. Peter Lansley
7) Mason makes his case in Spurs midfield
Since most of the coverage of the Spurs-Everton stalemate focused on the performances of John Stones and Harry Kane, it is worth giving a nod to an England youngster who was more influential than either of them. Ryan Mason was excellent in an advanced midfield role, showing admirable dynamism, shrewd passing and a valuable knack for dangerous runs into space. He does not have the gifts of Ross Barkley but featured much more prominently – defensively as well as going forward – and it was a pity that his finishing did not match the rest of his display. It will be interesting to see where and how often Mason plays when Christian Eriksen, Clinton Njie and Son Heung-min all to come into the side, especially if Spurs sign Victor Wanyama or another deep midfielder this week. Paul Doyle
8) Mané man for Saints shows Wanyama the way
When Sadio Mané was withdrawn in the 81st minute of Sunday’s 3-0 home win over Norwich City, the Southampton support rose to acclaim him. They have come to know all about how central the forward is to their hopes and here was the latest evidence. Mané was the player who made things happen, with his pace, directness and awareness of his team-mates. He set up the first two goals while he had a hand in the third. Not unusually for a Southampton player these days, Mané has been tracked by transfer talk, with Manchester United having made an enquiry for him. But, unlike his team-mate, Victor Wanyama, he has not allowed it to affect him. Wanyama has told Southampton that he wants to leave them for Tottenham Hotspur and, also, that he was not in the right frame of mind to play against Norwich, so Koeman left him out of the squad. Wanyama will not be allowed to leave and everybody at the club hopes that he will be able to refocus after the deadline. Mané has also been told that there is no prospect of him leaving. He has responded rather better. David Hytner
- Dusan Tadic double helps Southampton to 3-0 win over 10-man Norwich
- Southampton’s Ronald Koeman says Victor Wanyama is risking future
9) Adam may suffer for his red card
Stoke’s immediate impulse was to blame outsiders. Their supporters booed referee Michael Oliver. Their manager, Mark Hughes, claimed Oliver should have showed more “common sense” and questioned whether Charlie Adam actually intended to stamp on Craig Dawson when he was sent off on Saturday, reducing City to nine men in the 31st minute. Yet replays are damning and Adam scarcely has an unblemished disciplinary record. This looked an act of violent conduct that received the appropriate sanction. It could come at a considerable cost, however. Adam’s reckless indiscipline may have denied a winless team, who were acquitting themselves well against West Brom with 10 men, a point. It may lead to a lengthy exile from the side. The Scot finished last season in fine form, scoring five goals in eight games, including a particular spectacular effort from his own half at Stamford Bridge. But Stoke’s squad has been upgraded since then and there is particular competition for the three places as attacking midfielders. Xherdan Shaqiri and Ibrahim Afellay, who now also has to serve a three-match ban, have joined. Bojan Krkic is fit again after a seven-month absence. Peter Odemwingie is due back soon. Stephen Ireland is underused, the mercurial Marko Arnautovic is another talent and Hughes is adamant he does not want Jonathan Walters to leave. Should any three of them excel during Adam’s absence, and he will be banned for the games against Arsenal, Leicester and Fulham, then his second start of the season could prove his last for quite some time. Richard Jolly
10) Wilson can follow Vardy’s route to England
Jamie Vardy’s never-say-die attitude should be an inspiration for Callum Wilson. They are forwards with very different styles – Wilson likes to play off the shoulder of defenders, while Vardy never hesitates to clamber all over them in his pursuit of the ball – but both have known the slog of the lower leagues and have emerged stronger for the experience. Vardy’s first season in the Premier League ended with him receiving an England call-up in June and the 28-year-old has kept his place in Roy Hodgson’s squad after rescuing a point for Leicester City against Bournemouth, proof that nothing is impossible in football. Wilson, who scored an acrobatic overhead kick for Bournemouth, should take note of Vardy’s rise. The 23-year-old can follow in Vardy’s footsteps if he continues to improve. “Callum has to believe that, he is young, very progressive, and will only get better,” Eddie Howe said. “He is a good finisher. He knows where the goal is and is composed.” Jacob Steinberg
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