Our weekly scan of revealing Premier League sound bites finds Arsene Wenger talking rotation, Dick Advocaat explaining his decision to move Jermain Defoe back down the middle, Tim Sherwood contemplating a formation change, whilst Louis van Gaal, Ronald Koeman and Alex Neil all hail the impact of new arrivals.
Wenger on Walcott starting role and rotation
Theo Walcott scored the opener against Stoke City on Saturday, latching onto a lofted through ball from Mesut Ozil and calmly slotting past the onrushing Jack Butland. The jet-heeled forward was preferred to Oliver Giroud in the lone-striker berth, marking his second consecutive start. Pressed as to why he favoured Walcott for the Potters clash, Arsene Wenger explained his reasons before going on to suggest he’ll continue to rotate the England international with Giroud up top…
“I know Stoke are a compact, organised team in their own half and Theo could find little pockets to get in there and maybe that you get two or three chances to counter attack at home, so maybe you can use that. He scored a great goal, because you needed technical quality to score and timing in the finish… When you come out of the game and look at the amount of chances he scored. The bigger the belief he has to score the more he will score… It is good Giroud came on scored as well… I think at the moment we play every three days for four weeks. I will have to rotate the strikers without robbing their confidence. But you cannot always play with the same player every three days especially up front.”
Walcott rues poor finishing
Although Walcott graced the scoresheet at the Emirates, he arguably should have added to that tally, having amassed the joint most – alongside Alexis Sanchez – number of attempts (eight) by any player in Gameweek 5. Moreover, he ranked top for shots inside the box (eight) and recorded more than double the volume of attempts on target (five) than any other midfielder. Walcott himself conceded that he should have converted more of his chances but was bullish about his ability to operate across the front three…
“I was pleased with that goal. Luckily I managed to grab one out of my many chances. I was disappointed because I should have got many, many more, but I’m getting the chances so I’m happy with that. When you get given the opportunity you have to try to grab the goals when you can. It’s nice to see Olivier among the goals as well, which shows it’s great competition that we have for places here. I’ve said to the manager that I’d like to play up front. I can play in any of those three positions up front, so it’s a good option for the manager to have.”
Neil hails Jarvis debut
Having made the loan switch from West Ham United in the summer transfer window, Matt Jarvis scored on his Norwich debut in a 3-1 home win over Bournemouth. The 4.9-priced midfielder netted his first Premier League goal since April last year, with Graham Dorrans dropping out of the double pivot – and Jonathan Howson shifting back – to facilitate his insertion on the left flank. Canaries boss Alex Neil sang the praises of their new arrival, before making note of the competition for places on the left wing…
“I said before the game he will give us a different dimension with his pace and trickery. We have Nathan (Redmond) on one wing, we have Robbie Brady and now Martin Olsson coming back we have more options. He scored an excellent goal, put in some quality delivery and we are getting to the stage where we showed how strong we can be if we perform to our maximum.”
Koeman lauds Van Dijk’s flawless display
Following his £11.5 million move from Celtic, Virgil van Dijk earned his maiden start for Southampton as they played out a 0-0 stalemate in West Bromwich Albion’s backyard. The Dutch centre-back – priced at 5.5 on the Fantasy market – bagged 10 goals in 58 outings across all competitions last term by virtue of his free-kick proficiency and aerial threat from set pieces. Saints boss Ronald Koeman raved about Van Dijk as the Saints chalked up a third straight shut-out, reserving a special mention for his distribution from deep…
“Virgil was in my opinion impressive how he played today. Looks very comfortable with his new teammates and good in defending and we know also one of his qualities is in his passing from the back. He played perfect today…That’s (the clean sheet) one of the positives of today. It’s an away game, we had the experience from last year and we knew we will have a lot of ball possession and then it’s always important what you make out of that ball possession and that was not enough. Not enough to score the goal. Sometimes we make too difficult choices in our final pass. If you can’t win, don’t lose.”
Van Gaal impressed by Martial’s application
Anthony Martial couldn’t have wished for a better start to his Manchester United career, having come on as a second-half substitute to net the Red Devils’ final goal in a 3-1 victory over Liverpool. With Wayne Rooney sidelined, Martial assumed the role of lone striker on his Old Trafford bow, lining him up for a potential start next time out at Southampton. Louis van Gaal offered his appraisal of the former Monaco forward when the dust had settled, insisting that Martial (who played 90 minutes up front against PSV last night) has the pace and physicality to excel in the Premier League but needs time to acclimatise to his new surroundings:
“When you make a goal like Anthony did you cannot wish for more. He has pace to dribble but his finishing was fantastic. A lot of players have made a debut and scored with me so it’s a good signal. We have scouted him and we wanted him because he’s the best in his age. But he needs time. He’s been with us for three days, that is too short to judge his personality but he made a very good impression in first three days, that’s why I selected him to be on the bench. He scored a marvellous goal and he physically can play in the Premier League, I believe.”
Advocaat explains Defoe’s reinstatement up top
Jermain Defoe turned out an impressive display as the lone frontman against Tottenham, sitting joint-top for attempts (five) amongst forwards over the weekend. Having previously stated that the pint-sized marksman was ill-equipped to lead the line in a 4-3-3 formation, Dick Advocaat switched to a 4-2-3-1 set-up, with Fabio Borini drafted onto the left flank and Ola Toivonen operating from “the holeâ€. The Dutch head coach said that the deployment of an attacking midfielder in a front four made all the difference with regards to how he views Defoe’s role in his first XI…
“I always said you could not play him on his own, but now you have a different situation with Toivonen. Normally, we have played with a holding player, but now we are playing more with an attacking midfielder… If you keep going this way, you create chances and have players who can do something in a one-on-one situation with Lens and Fabio. I think we saw some good moments from Toivonen and that gives us a good feeling.”
Kane unwilling to rest as fixtures pile up
In light of the Europa League group stages kicking off this Thursday and the League Cup Third Round starting up next week, Tottenham are set to play two matches a week until early October. Harry Kane – whose ownership has plummeted off the back of five successive blanks – is intent on playing in every fixture over that stretch, asserting that he’s in prime condition and determined to banish his barren spell…
“We have a lot of games coming up and I’m happy to play every game. I am fit and I’m ready to go. I will play as much as the manager (Mauricio Pochettino) wants me to play. It’s up to him and what he sees in his squad, but I’m ready to go. Any striker wants to be scoring so it was great to go away with England and get the two goals. We’ve got a lot of games coming up in the Europa League and we play Arsenal in the Capital One Cup. So there are plenty of matches ahead of us and hopefully I can get on the scoresheet for Spurs as soon as possible.”
Herrera on maiden penalty goal
Ander Herrera converted from the spot during Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Liverpool, having never taken a penalty for the Red Devils prior to that match. With Wayne Rooney injured and Juan Mata subbed off five minutes before the spot-kick was awarded, the Spaniard was the next highest-ranking candidate on the pitch. Herrera revealed to his club’s official site that he’s been told to practice penalties every week by Louis van Gaal but won’t take precedence over their usual nominees…
“Never, never (had he taken a penalty before). But the manager last season gave me the confidence. He told me I had the quality to take penalties and I have practiced every week. And, when I received the penalty, I thought the number one taker isn’t on the pitch, I’m the second taker so I’m happy for that. But, next time, if the number one taker is on the pitch I won’t be taking it.”
Rodgers looking for different approach
Liverpool have failed to find their groove on the attacking front this term, with only Newcastle (two) notching fewer goals than the Reds (three) over the first five Gameweeks. Brendan Rodgers believes that a prime issue is their over-reliance on Christian Benteke, which causes them to play it long and relinquish possession too frequently – as evidenced by the fact that no side has lost possession on more occasions (82) than the Merseysiders this term. Rodgers is also determined to improve their chance creation, given that Liverpool rank in the bottom half for key passes (45) this season….
“It is too easy sometimes for us to go direct to Christian Benteke, who was excellent given the service that he had. Unless you can keep the ball for longer periods to connect the game and get it higher up the pitch all that happens is you end up getting rid of the ball and it goes up to him. We have to be more superior and better with the ball to build your attack so that is something that needs a lot of work. Over the first five games now creating more goals is something we need to look at. We haven’t created anywhere near as much as what I would have liked. That is something I need to look at with the coaches and staff.”
Sherwood on the potential switch to a three-man defence
Having watched his side capitulate at the King Power Stadium on Sunday, there seems every chance that Tim Sherwood will be addressing defensive issues prior to the back-to-back derby matches with West Brom and Birmingham. New signing Joleon Lescott could provide the answer. Prior to the Leicester defeat, Sherwood outlined how the signing from the Baggies offered him the option to switch to a three-man defence. For Fantasy managers, this could see both Leandro Bacuna and Jordan Armavi shifted into wing-back roles:
“Joleon has played in three at the back so he gives us that opportunity to maybe go that route. He opens up a lot of avenues for us. He gives us the option to play three at the back. He did that with Micah Richards. They had Vincent Kompany in the middle of them. They have done it before and having them here gives us the opportunity to play a different style. It’s certainly something I will be working on.”
Sinclair told to make goals his priority
While Sherwood could be tinkering with his formation, it seems likely that he’ll always opt to find a starting berth for Scott Sinclair, regardless of having options like Jack Grealish at his disposal. Having talked up Sinclair’s natural talent for goals in last week’s “Say What”, we now find the Villa boss revealing how he’s lining Sinclair up for a central role, or at least demanding that he raids the box if deployed out wide:
“I’ve told Scott his best asset is scoring goals. Any player would like that as their best asset but he’s got to find the best way to get himself in the right positions as many times as he can. To stick Scott out on the left hand side when he’s got limited chances to score, I think is a waste. I’m not saying he can’t play on the left but he then needs to burst down the middle and make those runs. I’m telling him in training at the moment, and I only have to say it once, when the midfield player gets the ball, all I want him to see is your number running away. He can burst away. He’s fit, he can do that 30 times a game. I’m not sure centre-halves want to be chasing him that many times. He really is the fittest boy we’ve seen for a long time and when he gets in front of goal he can control with both feet and finish. You’re shocked when he misses. That’s a good trait to have.”
