Paul Merson assesses Enzo Maresca and Arne Slot’s first games in charge of Chelsea and Liverpool, why Raheem Sterling holds all the cards in the standoff at Stamford Bridge and what makes Mohamed Salah unique.
Chelsea didn’t drop the gloves on Man City
To be honest, I don’t think Chelsea put the gloves on Man City. Home advantage, no Rodri, Phil Foden, or Kyle Walker – there is a time to play Man City and I think this is one of those times. They are very nervous, playing from behind in the preseason.
I know it’s only the beginning of the season, but there is time to play Man City and it will be a good time. You can’t judge them only in their game, but at the same time I said, it’s the right time to play them.
But he can’t be judged yet – I’m pretty sure he’s waiting for 10 games, he told you to the league.
For Many City, you saw yesterday, it was a difficult game, Chelsea away and they have won and won. I think Arsenal can get a head start on Man City this season with them possibly drawing at Chelsea.
I’m surprised X-factor Raheem Sterling didn’t play against City, but he’s holding all the cards now.
I have something wrong with (released a statement) – he wants to know that he plays. It has come to the end of his career, he has played a lot of football, he wants to play football and he doesn’t want to be stuck there.
I just think this doesn’t need to happen now. With the club, the manager had a rough idea when Pedro Neto signed that he would not be involved two weeks before the start of the season.
Sterling has a lot of money and he needs to get rid of it immediately and I dread to think what he will have to pay for it.
I don’t know what will happen, but I will buy him. I’m surprised he didn’t join yesterday. He’s got a lot going for him, he’s one of those guys who has the X factor in his day.
For me, I was very surprised, but, you know, the manager makes the decision. But I just thought this could have been nipped in the bud two, three weeks ago.
Raheem holds all the cards now, but I just want to play football. Not as good as he was at Chelsea in that kind of situation. Nathaniel Chalobah played a lot of football last season, now training with the boys and not training with the first team.
Conor Gallagher is not in his country with Atletico Madrid, which is not looking good. It’s like, we’re the boss, but we’ve been moved from there. I think the days when you do nothing and you are in reserve are long gone.
There are people who can still go if they don’t train with you and if their attitude is not good, then you go, you know, you go to the reserves, you train with the kids. I don’t like that kind of vibe, a lot of people practice, maybe because there are millions of players now.
Maresca needs to find out which team is best and fast
I’ve said it from the beginning and I’ll say it again with Chelsea as manager – he (Enzo Maresca) needs to find the best team as soon as possible. We saw it last year with Mauricio Pochettino – he never knew what the best team was and every weekend we would go: “What Chelsea team will it be?” And you can be five out.
Now I can tell you what Arsenal’s team is next week. One hundred percent, I understand. And I can tell you what the Arsenal team is in five weeks’ time. And there he had to solve it quickly. Yesterday, he brought three forwards, there must have been a balance.
The two most important to win anything are goalkeepers and strikers – nobody wins anything without a top goalkeeper and you need a centre-forward.
Yes, Arsenal don’t have a striker but they have a really good goalkeeper and you saw the other day when he (David Raya) saved the world to deny Jorgen Strand Larsen – that’s a game changer like him. that score, Wolves get air in their lungs and it’s a different game.
You look at yesterday and Chelsea would have had a chance at 1-0 because they would have had a chance before the end of the game and then the keeper let it in the second and last time of the game. It’s like putting a pin in a balloon, that’s it, the end of a football game – he has to save it.
So worry about Chelsea as well as the two most important things you need. You saw Erling Haaland yesterday – people made me laugh when he only touched the ball three times. I’d rather him score a goal than touch the ball 1,600 times and not score!
Mohamed Salah who cannot be replaced one by one
The worst thing you want to do is play one of the promoted teams first if you are one of the big players. You want to play in November when the reality sets in, they can’t win football games and they have a lot of injuries.
It was the leveler at the start of the season and Liverpool saw the leveler come out in the first half. Maybe with a little more class, Ipswich could have scored, but in the second half, that’s what happened.
The cream will rise to the top and not be cruel. In last year’s Championship, they would have won the game at 99.9 percent. But in the end, there’s a damage limit and you think, it’s going to be four or five. He didn’t do anything wrong.
You can’t say the same about Salah – how many goals are there now and he plays on the right wing? He’s a right winger, just amazing. He does it every season and he’s Liverpool’s Frank Lampard, but playing on the right wing!
Who put up a figure like a player on the right wing? It’s not that many, he’s just one, he’s incredible and you can’t replace that player. He turned up every week, he was fit and never missed many games.
Saturday Night Football The trip to Villa is a real test of Arsenal’s title confidence
Arsenal were very good at times, not for 90 minutes, but for phases of the game – their style of play. No disrespect to Man Utd, good result on Friday night, but you watch Arsenal the next day and it’s chalk and cheese. The gulf between the two teams is staggering.
Meanwhile it was an unbelievable result for Villa, it was a tough and tough game. I’m not sure what the West Ham head coach (Julen Lopetegui) is doing, buying all these players and not playing. It was incredible and I found it a bit strange.
But I feel sorry for him because it doesn’t matter how hard you work and who you buy, if people don’t pick up on set plays and drop your markers, it doesn’t matter who you are. Pep Guardiola is the best in the business, but if Ruben Dias keeps losing men, it doesn’t matter what Guardiola does.
But we saw it with Newcastle last year – it’s a big ask for Villa (to make the top four again), there’s an extra game in the Champions League, players haven’t played before – it took Man City three years to win. it’s not just competitive, turn it back there, it’s hard, it’s hard.
But it’s a good start because if they lose that game and then get beaten by Arsenal, the next game will be lost and it could be three defeats from the first three games. Then all of a sudden, it’s a negative start to the season.
But it’s a big game coming up against Arsenal. It was a benchmark for Arsenal and a good test. Villa did it twice against them last year and it cost them the league. But at Villa Park, the best I’ve seen Arsenal play all season, they won comfortably.
But in other games, I think Villa did the job, they just sat on the ropes and got hit and thought, “Now we’re going to…”
It’s a big game because Man City are now winning at Chelsea because Arsenal have to go to Chelsea and it’s a tough game for them, it’s a London derby.
But if Arsenal win and win this game against Villa and then Arsenal’s advantage again, that’s how I see it. While Arsenal lost to West Ham and Fulham last December, it was the end of the title, as Man City knew they would never lose those types of games.