Sam Allardyce has West Ham in form; Southampton impress again
Monday 27 October 2014 12:56, UK
Chris Kamara has his say on the weekend's Premier League talking points, including the fall-out from Manchester United's draw with Chelsea, Tottenham's defeat to Newcastle and West Ham's win over Manchester City...
A point is better than none for Chelsea and Jose Mourinho
KAMMY SAYS: It seemed inevitable Chelsea were going to win at Old Trafford on Sunday when they were 1-0 up with just a few minutes to go but the Manchester United spirit of old, which has seen them come back late-on so many times in the past, returned, with Robin van Persie grabbing the injury-time leveller.
It’s not a bad point for Jose Mourinho’s side though. With Man City losing on Saturday to West Ham, the draw moves Chelsea one point further ahead of their main rivals for the title.
I’m sure Jose believed Chelsea could go to Old Trafford and win but at the end of the day a draw away from home on the weekend City lost away from home is a good outcome for them. We know Chelsea are a force to be reckoned with and they’re in a better position after the weekend results than they were on Friday.
Robin van Persie delivered for United – and they’ll need their key men to fire them up the table
KAMMY SAYS: Louis van Gaal will be delighted with the spirit of his Manchester United team on Sunday, who battled right until the last kick to get a point out of their match with Chelsea. He’ll be pleased to see Robin van Persie getting on the scoresheet, too.
Van Persie, just like Radamel Falcao, Wayne Rooney, Angel di Maria and Juan Mata, will be a key man for United this season. No one knows Van Persie better than Van Gaal, who made him captain of his country. That shows how much respect the manager has for him.
Van Gaal’s quotes after the game, where he said United could have won the game, shows he’s not going to take second best. He’s obsessive about being successful and won’t tolerate sloppiness.
Sam Allardyce is showing why clubs must stand by under pressure managers
KAMMY SAYS: West Ham had a fantastic win over Man City on Saturday – and it must have been a great moment for Sam Allardyce, who was getting so much stick last season. People have pigeon-holed Sam for a long time but they forget the sides he put together at Bolton, where he was given time. He was allowed to build there and he put together some fantastic teams. At West Ham he got them promoted through the play-offs, kept them in the Premier League two seasons in a row and now the fans can see progress in the way they play on the pitch.
When you don’t have loads of money available these things take time – but now you can see the players are playing out of their skin for him. Stewart Downing, in that new central role he’s got, is excelling, Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia are playing really well up front, Alex Song has come in and done a great job along with Mark Noble and they’ve allowed the attacking players more freedom. They’re not there yet but they’re going the right way.
It will take time for Mauricio Pochettino to get Spurs playing his way
KAMMY SAYS: Everything was rosy for Pochettino in his first full season in the Premier League. It couldn’t have gone any better for him at Southampton. Everyone thought he was going to go into Spurs and do exactly the same but it’s not proved to be the case. He’s finding it difficult to get the players playing like Southampton did. Southampton took everyone by surprise with their quality and performances last season. That isn’t the case for Spurs, though, because they’re an established team, never expected to be out of the top eight. It’s a different scenario.
It will take time for him to have the same impact there. He’s only just arrived and I can’t see there being any knee-jerk reaction from Spurs. Losing to the likes of Newcastle – their third defeat at White Hart Lane this season – isn’t what people expected when he was named manager, but he just needs time to get in what he considers to be his team and getting them to play the way he wants them to play.
Southampton’s 1-0 win over Stoke is just as impressive as their 8-0 drubbing of Sunderland
KAMMY SAYS: I was at Southampton’s 8-0 win over Sunderland and it was obviously a great day for the club and the fans. But they had to dig in the week after that against a Stoke side that was very determined to make life difficult for them. Southampton did just that. They’ve shown two sides to themselves in the past two weeks – an open side, which can attack and take chances, and a side that can dig out a result. That must be really pleasing for Ronald Koeman. Probably, out of the two, he’ll say they enjoyed the 8-0 but that doesn’t happen every week, so digging in to get a 1-0 against Stoke will make him proud of his team. Defensively they were sound on Saturday.
I like Koeman and I like his philosophy. A lot of people can learn from him. He held open training sessions at Feyenoord and welcomed the press. We saw him on Sky working as a pundit on the Champions League and this is a manager who is good at his job but also knows you have to play the game with the media as well and promote your football club.
Sean Dyche is doing the best he – or anyone – could do at winless Burnley
KAMMY SAYS: Sean Dyche is under no illusions about the size of the task facing Burnley this season. Burnley were the surprise package in the Championship last year and now you’re asking them, one season on, to be the surprise package in the Premier League, when they’ve spent virtually no money and have the same players as they had before. It just doesn’t happen like that.
Goals are much harder to come by in the Premier League but I’m pleased to see Danny Ings get on the scoresheet because he’s a player I believe can do well in the top flight. If you put him in a strong team, one of the top eight, you could guarantee he’d score at least 15 goals-a-season. But put him in a side that doesn't create that many chances because they have to defend most of the time and you’re not going to get as many from him.
Burnley fans understand that this season they’ll lose more than they’ll win. All that rubbish we hear about ‘he’s taken the club as far as he can’, it’s not a case of that with Dyche. You can’t transform a club over night without spending money, certainly in the Premier League. You have to bring in players who are up to that next level. Hopefully Dyche will be able to do that in January. He’s no fool, though and I think he’s doing a fabulous job. Burnley are yet to win, but they are competing with the opposition; they’re not getting blown out of sight in every game.
