We trawl the post-match press conferences from the previous round of fixtures this afternoon and roll out some pertinent soundbites for your perusal. Manuel Pellegrini talks tactics, Andre Ayew hails his partnership with Bafetimbi Gomis, Jose Mourinho contemplates changes to his Chelsea side and Alan Pardew praises Bakary Sako’s impact on Palace’s goal threat:
Pellegrini explains tactical switch
In response to Manchester City’s failure to break down Watford’s regimented defence in the first half of their match-up last Gameweek, Manuel Pellegrini switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2 formation after the break, shifting David Silva over to the right flank and fielding Samir Nasri – who came on for the ineffectual Jesus Navas – on the left. The Sky Blues opened the scoring two minutes into the second period through Raheem Sterling, who benefited from an advanced striker role alongside Sergio Aguero, with the summer signing notching his first league goal for the Etihad side. Speaking to the club’s official website, the Chilean discussed the reasons behind his change in formation:
“I was pleased because last week they asked me that now we are playing 4-2-3-1 we are playing better but we returned to 4-4-2 and won the game! I think it was important at half-time to make a change, we had a lot of possession but didn’t create many chances, because – especially against Raheem – they had very tight marking. I think that making that change with Nasri on the left side, making David [Silva] more free on their left side, where they have less markers, and playing Kun [Aguero] with Raheem is the way that we must try, and especially at the start of the first half when they didn’t know what we were going to do.”
Ayew Talks up Gomis Understanding
Bafetimbi Gomis and Andre Ayew have been at the forefront of Swansea’s breathless start to the campaign, racking up seven goals and one assist between them. While the former has netted in every league match so far, the latter – whose only blank arrived in a 1-1 draw at Sunderland in Gameweek 3 – sits second in the midfield standings, having also bagged six bonus points thus far. After supplying a superb pass for Gomis’ winner against United last Sunday, the Ghana international explained why their link-up play has made such an instant impact:
“Bafe is a player I know very well, I know a lot of his movements. I’m not able to find him every time, but if I’ve got the ball I try to look for him first. Then we have other people around…He is a complete striker. He plays in the air, he keeps the ball, he goes behind the back, he’s quick. He moves really well, I always try to find him, and at the moment he is on fire, four goals from four games. We need to feed him as much as we can so he can get us the goals.”
Advocaat praises Kaboul’s return to form
Last weekend saw Dick Advocaat name his third unique centre-back pairing already this term, with Younes Kaboul and John O’Shea pairing up in defence for their 2-2 draw at Aston Villa. Although the Wearsiders were unable to record a clean sheet – and have now shipped more goals than any other team (10) over the first four Gameweeks – Advocaat’s remarks suggest that Kaboul has impressed sufficiently to secure a run of starts ahead of a king run of fixtures (TOT, bou, mun, WHM, wba, NEW) for the Wearsiders:
“I said before that I was not happy with the central defenders. And I think Kaboul did really well on Saturday. He’s a good player, but he’s needed a bit of time. But I think everybody needs a bit of time. I thought the combination of (Sebastian) Coates and (John) O’Shea was really good last season, but I started with the younger players because I thought they could do it. There was an issue with Kaboul’s knee and he did not train totally, but on Saturday he did really well.”
Lens relishing reunion with Toivonen
Following his summer transfer to the Stadium of Light on a season-long loan switch, Rennes midfielder Ola Toivonen came on for a 45-minute cameo for the Black Cats and delivered a scything through ball for Jeremain Lens’ equaliser. Given that the pair played together at PSV Eindhoven for a number of years, Lens – who’s delivered attacking returns (one goal and three assists) in every fixture this term – reckons their flourishing partnership will prove fruitful for the Black Cats:
“He understands the way I play and he knows I have the speed to make the most of passes like that [Toivonen’s assist]. It was a great moment for him and a great moment for me. He’s very good on the ball and his touch is excellent so he can support the attackers and also create and score goals, so he will be very important for the team and as you saw on Saturday he delivered.”
Sherwood keen to include Sinclair
Fresh from a hat-trick against Notts County in the Capital One Cup, Scott Sinclair (4.9) underlined his budget potential with a brace last time out against Sunderland. The former Manchester City winger sat out the Villains’ Gameweek 3 loss to Crystal Palace but was reinstated to the starting XI after fellow wide options Jack Grealish, Gabby Agbonlahor and Adama Traore were all ruled out. Head coach Tim Sherwood now has a quandary as he looks to accommodate the in-form Sinclair into his plans:
“Scott’s one of those guys who has a knack of finding himself in the right position at the right time. He is a cool, calm finisher and I think you either score or you don’t and Scott has shown that he can score in his career. You could see that from that spell he had at Swansea so I’m looking to finding a place for him in the team so he can score goals.”
Mourinho threatens personnel changes
By their own lofty standards, Chelsea have endured a dreadful start to the campaign, claiming just four points out of a possible 12. The Blues’ underperforming rearguard is most at fault for their early-season travails, considering that they rank first for big chances conceded (13), second for goals against (nine) and joint-third for shots inside the box conceded (40). In an attempt to rectify the situation, Jose Mourinho admitted that he’s far from happy with a number of his first-team players after losing 2-1 at home to Palace last weekend:
“Two or three of them, their individual performance was far from good. I blame myself for not changing one of them because I kept him in the game for 90 minutes. When I made the third change I realised that I needed a fourth and I don’t have a fourth.…If you ask me if I’m going to accept this, cross my arms, sit in a nice chair and wait calmly for the performance level to be back – no [I am not]. I have to work, I have to react, I have to analyse, and if I feel the players are not in conditions to react and give more, I have to make changes. It is not about being loyal or not loyal, it is for me to analyse if they are ready to give an answer and try to fight against that bad individual form or not.”
Pardew hails Sako Impact
Bakary Sakho has risen from obscurity on the Fantasy scene following a pair of hugely impressive showings for Crystal Palace that harvested two goals and an assist. After just 179 minutes of pitch time, the Mali international leads the Eagles’ midfield contingent with regards to shots (11) and attempts inside the box (eight), while his tally of eight shots on target is two clear of any midfielder in the league. Alan Pardew conceded that Sako presents much more of a goal threat than the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie, rendering the 5.5-priced midfielder an enticing budget route into Palace’s blossoming attack:
“He’s been a real boost for us and the two wins we wouldn’t have had – against Aston Villa and Chelsea – without him. We sensed he was a Crystal Palace player in the way he plays, but he threatens the goal and we didn’t always do that from wide areas. [Wilfried] Zaha and [Yannick] Bolasie probably don’t get enough goals but he will. It’s important to be on the front foot at places like this and we kept creating chances and that’s very difficult to do here. To overcome the power of that team takes some real considerable effort. This team is definitely better than last year because we have better technical players. And if we can keep the spirit we had [against Chelsea], we’ll be a good team.”
Koeman impressed by wing duo
Dusan Tadic was deployed on the left flank for the first time this season during Saints’ 3-0 win over Norwich – a tactical change that produced a brace for the Serbian playmaker. In addition, Sadio Mane bagged a brace of assists after being moved out of a central role and onto the right, marking his first attacking returns in four starts. No midfielder racked up more key passes (five) than Mane in Gameweek 4, encouraging Ronald Koeman to retain a similar set-up when they pay a visit to West Bromwich Albion next Saturday. The Dutch boss sung the praises of the south-coast duo for their respective performances:
“He (Tadic) came in last Thursday on a good level and today he made the difference in the team with Sadio. Of course the good organisation, the clean sheet in the team. We need that kind of players to make the game open. He is creative, good crosses, good football, clever boy and happy about his performance. It was not only the left side but the right side we had some good attacking football. With Sadio if he takes good position on the right time, the right moment, he can play and he can run and he can do his movements then it’s a very good player.”
Koeman Backs Ward-Prowse in Double-Pivot Berth
With Victor Wanyama left out of the matchday squad amid interest from Spurs, James Ward-Prowse was fielded in the double pivot alongside Oriol Romeu – a departure from his customary attacking midfield role. Koeman was impressed with how the Southampton academy product distributed (three key passes) and pressed from the deep-lying position, hinting that Ward-Prowse could earn further starts in the centre of the park:
“He was very good. Maybe we have to talk about that position finally being a better position for Prowsey. It’s because he is playing more behind the ball. His passing is important to the team. Without his passing he did a great job to do on the right moment the pressing with Oriol. That was important in the second half.”
