Alan Smith’s weekend briefing: Chelsea vs Liverpool, West Ham vs Manchester United, Arsenal vs Watford and more

Marching on? Chelsea can leapfrog Liverpool with victory on Saturday
Getty Images
Alan Smith28 September 2018

Morris perfectly placed to reveal the challenge facing Chelsea’s kids

It was interesting listening to Jody Morris in the Sky studio at Anfield on Wednesday night.

Chelsea’s former youth team coach, now Frank Lampard’s assistant at Derby, remarked on the total lack of interest shown by some Chelsea managers in the kids coming through.

“If there was a Champions League youth game going on at the training ground, the boss would be sat up in his office taking no notice at all,” Morris said. You could understand his disappointment in such an attitude when Chelsea invest so much money, time and expertise into rearing young talent.

To be honest, I wouldn’t be certain it’s any different now, if Chelsea’s team to face Liverpool that night was anything to go by.

The highly-rated Ethan Ampadu didn’t even make the squad, while Callum Hudson-Odoi stayed on the bench. If they can’t get a run-out in the Carabao Cup, when will they ever see action for the Blues?

In Maurizio Sarri’s defence, he had a lot of senior players in need of match practice. Chelsea paid £25million for Emerson in January and, before Wednesday, the left-back hadn’t made a match-day squad this season. For different reasons, Gary Cahill, Andreas Christensen, Cesc Fabregas, Victor Moses and Ross Barkley also needed action.

With that lot to think of, how do you also incorporate academy products? You might think it impossible in these days of super-strong squads. But Trent Alexander-Arnold, home-grown by Liverpool, will surely turn out tomorrow, as will Joe Gomez, who, though originally schooled at Charlton, learned his trade from a young age on Merseyside.

It just goes to show it can be done. Take the time to look and you might be surprised.

Mourinho has to come out on top in battle with Pogba

Jose Mourinho might not be the charismatic figure of old or carry quite the same weight these days, but one thing he will still know for sure: in this ongoing fall out with Paul Pogba, the Manchester United manager must assert his authority to come out on top. He must show the rest of the squad in no uncertain terms exactly who’s boss, who’s running the show.

Because if he doesn’t, if Pogba is allowed to gain the upper hand, Mourinho loses all credibility in the dressing room, a development that would see him leave Old Trafford even earlier than looks likely at the moment.

The Portuguese knows that all eyes are on him now. When the gaffer starts arguing with one of his star players on the training ground, as happened with Pogba this week, the other lads will look across with great fascination to see how the manager handles such a major confrontation.

It has always been the same. Players can’t help but love this kind of spat, just as long as it doesn’t involve them. It’s a rare bit of drama in a disciplined world, something to gossip about over lunch in the canteen.

As a player, you normally want to see the boss come out on top, mainly because the alternative only ends one way. Once the manager loses his grip, performances plummet, which helps no one at all.

United, of course, aren’t exactly pulling up trees as it is. That deserved home defeat to Derby in the Carabao Cup laid bare their problems. There’s a lack of togetherness within an unhappy looking group. Team spirit has taken a battering under an increasingly morose Mourinho.

Mind you, you can hardly blame the manager for removing the vice-captaincy from someone who clearly wants away. If Pogba isn’t committed to United, he shouldn’t wear the armband. The only mistake was handing him the honour in the first place.

I’m fairly certain Pogba would privately admit he still loves United. For him, Mourinho’s the problem. But that’s out of his hands. The Frenchman doesn’t have any say in who sits in the dugout. Not yet anyway. Player power might be growing every day but it hasn’t quite reached that heady level.

As a result, Pogba must start concentrating on what he can influence — his performances. They just haven’t been good enough on a consistent basis. Too often he loses focus to try something silly in a dangerous area. He’s 25 now, no longer a young boy finding his way in the game. I’d expect more maturity and intelligence from the World Cup winner. For someone of his ability, he’s got to do more.

Mourinho clearly knows that, hence all the aggro. This is a fight the manager must win.

Iwobi’s getting his confidence back — and that’s got a lot to do with Emery

It has been enlightening and heartening to watch Alex Iwobi shine this season. Though not a regular Premier League starter, the youth product, by featuring in the cup competitions, has given us a glimpse of the promise first seen on initially emerging two years ago.

Since then, however, Iwobi’s progress has stalled, leading to some Arsenal fans getting on his back. Ponderous in possession, first touch often heavy, you could see the uncertainty in everything he did. I wondered if he would ever bounce back to reach full potential.

Lately, though, it has been the exact opposite. The 22-year-old (above) looks powerful and positive with or without the ball, as if he understands his role. We hear he feels confident under Unai Emery, suggesting the new manager has devoted some time to improving the attacker.

This all adds up to good news for the team as a whole, since Iwobi’s game can provide something different when Emery sees fit. Against a strong, physical side like Watford, he could prove useful, whether from the bench or from the start.

Talking of useful, Petr Cech will hope to build on his man-of-the-match performance last week when Everton failed to find a way past. With Watford’s best hope of joy perhaps coming from set pieces, Cech needs to be just as decisive and effective when coming for crosses.

Lamela and Alli will help fill the gap

With Christian Eriksen missing his first League game of the season, Spurs will have to look elsewhere for a bit of blue-sky thinking.

Fresh from his successful return to MK Dons in the week for the Carabao Cup tie against Watford, Dele Alli would appear the prime candidate. Two converted penalties would have left him feeling good.

But another player looking fired up just now is Erik Lamela, scorer of a goal himself in that midweek win. The Argentine doesn’t hesitate to carry the ball forward at pace before trying to slip someone in. Though totally different to Eriksen, Lamela’s aggressive style could severely trouble this Huddersfield side. This time last year, Harry Kane had a field day, grabbing a brace in a 4-0 win. Something similar, I think, would help the striker no end. Kane thought he had his best game for a while in the win at Brighton last week. In terms of his all-round contribution, he said it felt a lot better.

It was telling that Mauricio Pochettino chose to leave his captain out of the Cup game, feeling he could do with a rest. To my mind, Kane needs a bit more than that to feel properly refreshed but that’s not going to happen when Spurs depend on him so much.

Still, this trip to Yorkshire shouldn’t prove too taxing.

Ream brings calm to backline

In his attempts to find the right defensive blend, Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic deployed a three-man defence against Millwall in the Carabao Cup. Though that formation still couldn’t keep a clean sheet, the tie saw the return from injury of Tim Ream, the club’s player of the year last term.

Substituted after an hour of that eventual win, the US international will undoubtedly need time to reach full match fitness. Even so, I wonder if Jokanovic will throw in Ream, who could lend some calm to his ever-changing defence.

After losing their last two, Everton are wounded. Manager Marco Silva will certainly be eager to improve on their last outing at Goodison Park, a lame surrender to West Ham.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in