Monday Morning Manager WK11

No, this hasn’t suddenly become a literary column, we’ll get to the Premier League in a little bit but I’m going to start by going off script. I lost my father late last week and I hope you all will indulge me as I use my introduction to talk about a great man and what I hope are the footprints he left on the sands of time because I think they are significant not only for me but anyone who might be reading.

The first thing that is important about my father is that he’d bridle at the notion of being considered “great”. To his way of thinking the sorts of things that to my mind make him great are just what you do. The nature of his greatness and what I hope he passed along in some small measure is the importance of all of the little things.

His contribution to his community didn’t come in the form of starting a massive new enterprise with his name splashed on it. It didn’t come in the form of incredible wealth. His contribution to the community was showing up every day and treating even the smallest things like they were important to someone because they were. To his patients this meant keeping up with the latest in the medical profession for sure but just as important was engaging them on a compassionate, human level when they were at their most vulnerable due to ill health. It’s easy to assume that a parent is good at their job but I’ve had the opportunity to witness his diligence in keeping up with all the reading associated with his work and I’ve talked to enough of his former patients and co-workers to know he made a significant mark in many lives with the way he approached his job. Being a primary care doctor in a two doctor practice isn’t an easy job. You are on call every other night meaning that you might get a phone call or have to go to see a patient at any time of the night and then get up first thing in the morning to resume your normal office hours. He never complained about the hours or the sleepless nights to us and apparently none of the difficulties showed through to his patients who have uniformly gone out of their way to say nice things when I have encountered them.

At home, showing up and doing the little things took many different forms most of which weren’t readily apparent to me as exceptional or even unusual until much later in life. One of the most subtle and yet most impressive things about my father was a total lack of need to “keep up with the Joneses”. Despite having the financial resources for a typical upper middle class life, I can’t recall a single instance where he wanted or was impressed by a big house, a fancy car or an expensive thing of any sort. He never criticized others if they wanted those sorts of things but for him it was always about having meaningful experiences as a family and things were only important in the utility that they brought to that pursuit. Inhabiting a world where things and the status they convey are often substituted for happiness and success, having a living, breathing example to the contrary has made me a much happier person whether I’ve been in a position to afford nice things or not.

There were other little things at home that added up to greatness. My dad chose to be at home almost all of the time. He could have chosen to go to all manner of medical conferences all over the country but it was more important to him to be home for one of my soccer games or one of my sister’s track meets. It was more important for him to have a relatively mundane dinner with the family at home when I now know he probably had the alternative of having a drug company host him at some fancy dinner or a sporting event for free almost any time he wanted to go. At the time it seemed like a lot of routine to a child but, looking back, so many of my fondest memories of my childhood were the impromptu silly moments around the dinner table or listening to baseball on the radio or reading a humorous article as a family. Our lives would have been poorer had we had less of that time together.

The final thing I’ll talk about before we get back to our regularly scheduled program of Premier League punditry is the biggest gift that my parents gave my sister and me as we were growing up. It comes through in many forms but it is ultimately a fantastic example of how to integrate respect into every part of your life. They never lectured us on the topic that I can recall but by living it they became our example. What do I mean by integrating respect into every part of life? Here are a few examples (and what would one of my introductions be without a bulleted list with some boldface titles?):

Life Choices – My sister and I were given the freedom to find ourselves, create our own motivation, decide what we wanted to do, where we wanted to live and who we wanted to spend our lives with without our parents trying to impose their idea of what our lives should be. We were allowed to experiment and fail in a supportive environment and then make decisions that may or may not have thrilled our parents but they respected us enough to let us make those choices based on our preferences rather than theirs.

Debate – There was always a lot of discussion of ideas at our house and the thing I took away from those discussions more than anything else was that it was important to be able to debate a topic without having to argue it. That meant that my parents listened to our points of view even when they were understandably immature and ill-informed. They tried to use the conversation to expand our way of looking at whatever topic we were discussing but it was never an exercise in bludgeoning us either their opinions with the intention of ensuring that we agreed with their way of thinking. It meant that debates weren’t angry, passionate affairs but a chance to test our current beliefs, listen to others and possibly come away with an enhanced way of looking at the topic or feeling like you contributed to someone else doing the same. Debates were never about “winning”. As someone who has spent most of his adult life as a consultant and a writer of opinion this has served me very well.

Humor – Humor can be a great thing but it can also be a terrible thing. The easiest way to make people laugh and feel better about themselves is to find some difference between yourself and them and make light of it in a way that builds you up while tearing this down. Weight, race, age, gender, physical features, socio-economic standing, and sexual orientation are all frequent targets for this easiest form of humor. At the root of this form of humor is insecurity. Despite seeing people all day and likely having limitless fodder for telling humorous stories about the things about his patients and the things that they did or were that made him feel superior and them inferior I never heard it even once. Humor in our house was always based on cleverness, absurdity, or unusual situations but it was clear from this example that there was a line between harmless funny and potentially harmful funny.

As the father of a young son, I have spent time over the two years since Charlie was born thinking about my parents’ example and how exceptional it was. I hope that some of it rubbed off on me and I hope even more fervently that I am able to pass a significant amount of it along to Charlie as we raise him. Finally, it is my hope that in some small way that the virtual community that we’ve created over the years on our blog, at Yahoo UK, at Never Manage Alone and now here at Rotoworld reflects some of the same values that made my experience growing up such a great one. If I have and can continue to spread the footprints of a great man on the sands of time now that he has departed then I can say I’ve done something useful in my life. Rest in peace Dad.

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The Title Race – It’s essentially over unless something drastic happens so we’ll use this section to chronical Chelsea’s season and anything interesting about it but my guess is that this is going to get pretty tiresome unless there’s a major injury crisis.

Chelsea – It’s getting a little dull writing about Chelsea. Their relentless winning means that the title race is all but over and we’ve just turned the calendar to November. On the plus side for the Blues, we’re knocking Manchester City down to the “Race for Europe” category because Chelsea are just too ruthless. Yes, there are plenty that will say that Liverpool deserved a penalty and, thus, a shot at a draw. Somehow, though, Mourinho’s Blues like Sir Alex’s Red Devils before them seem to get that critical call in close matches. Oh, and don’t think for a minute that they wouldn’t have scored a third if that was what was needed to dispatch Liverpool.

The Race For Europe – Manchester City are playing poorly enough that they are being dropped into this category until further notice.

Manchester City – There are all sorts of theories that you could put out there about why City aren’t playing very well despite a lot of talent but at the end of the day they’re just missing something. There have been stories about Yaya Toure’s trying personal times that, combined with age and a heavy load of matches, may be leading to his dip in form but as big as that dip in form has been it seems like there should be enough talent around to keep City ahead of teams like QPR no matter where the match is being played. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised given the number of former Gunners that have been purchased since City’s finances took a turn for the better (Adebayor, Clichy, Nasri, and Sagna) but the Citizens are looking a lot like a latter day version of Arsene Wenger’s post-title teams. Still talented and theoretically in contention but missing the ruthless streak that has characterized Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho’s more frequent title winners since.

Southampton – Another week and another win against a team that they should beat. As their rivals for European places continue to drop points against the likes of Swansea, Stoke and Sunderland the Saints just keep building up their points cushion against the time when their schedule gets a little bit tougher. This was Arsenal’s formula last season and how they managed to maintain a Champions League spot despite getting beat up in their high profile clashes with Chelsea, City, Liverpool, Everton and even United last season.

Liverpool – They lost to a better team on Saturday but they weren’t embarrassed and if things (and by “things” I mean the officiating) had broken in their direction they might have had a point against the obvious champions elect. The rest we’ll pick up in the “Fake Narrative of the Week” section.

Arsenal – Unlike Liverpool, the narrative on Arsenal this week has been dead on. Arsene Wenger failed to buy a high quality reserve central defender and a starting holding midfielder and in the space of a few fateful minutes Anderlecht and Swansea turned Arsenal leads in winnable matches into important dropped points. On Sunday, a strong holding midfielder should have been in position to ensure that Kieran Gibbs didn’t have to make a desperation tackle just outside the box leading to Gylfi Sigurdsson’s goal. Similarly, a competent central defender would have done a better job of challenging Bafetimbi Gomis in the air on the second goal. Given that there wasn’t anything Wenger could do about those things on Sunday it is still a wonder that he didn’t see fit to replace Calum Chambers with Hector Bellerin. Chambers was abused all day by Jefferson Montero and while Bellerin may be inexperienced he is far more athletic than Chambers and might have at least had a chance of keeping up with Montero.

Manchester United – Such is the state of the Champions League contenders that United’s sub-standard win against Crystal Palace – a match that they would have expected to win easily in most years – was one of the better performances of the weekend by a “big” team. Juan Mata came in from the cold to score the only goal of the match. Mata had just replaced Adnan Januzaj who turned in his fourth straight start’s worth of unremarkable play. It makes you wonder what Mata and/or Ander Herrera have to do to get a start. You could argue that Herrera still isn’t recovered from his rib injuries but if that’s the case then why is he taking up a space on the bench? Very odd times at United these days.

Tottenham Hotspur – If ever there was a weekend to turn in a(nother) rotten performance, this was it. Spurs’ 2-1 home loss to an uneven-at-best Stoke City side with Adebayor and Vertonghen relegated to the bench would have captured massive headlines most weekends but with Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and City all dropping points Spurs were likely dropped to the secondary headlines in most quarters. Right now the only thing keeping Spurs in contention for a European spot is the fact that no one has really staked a strong claim to fourth place. At this point, Southampton and City seem to be in pretty strong position for two of the spots and Spurs don’t seem to have the horses to catch either of them. The big question is whether they even have the stuff to stick with faltering Arsenal/Liverpool and mildly resurgent Manchester United in the race for fourth.

Everton – The write-up for Everton looks pretty similar to the write-up for Spurs. On another weekend, the fact that they had to come from behind to draw with a Sunderland team that decent teams had been crushing would have launched a fleet of editorial columns on the pros and cons of Roberto Martinez and whether last season was a flash in the pan. Everton are relatively healthy and it isn’t clear exactly how they might go about improving. At least Spurs have the tried and true “still adjusting to Mauricio Pochettino’s system” excuse for another month or so before that storyline is exposed for the fraud that it is.

The Relegation Zone - where we examine events at the other end of the table as established clubs flounder and newly promoted clubs reveal who they are going to be this season.

Crystal Palace – A solid effort but still a loss. The three newly promoted teams have been dire so there’s still a very solid chance for Palace to stay up but a few wins in a row would certainly help put some distance between them and relegation worries.

Sunderland – A good point against Everton has them building a little momentum. They’re still not close to out of the woods but there are at least signs of life.

QPR – Speaking of good points, Charlie Austin and QPR were a revelation against Manchester City. It’s hard to know if this is a case of City just playing terribly or QPR taking it up a few hundred notches or some combination of the two but before we declare the R’s likely to start a march out of the relegation zone we’ll wait to see them keep up the solid form for at least a month.

Burnley – A win! A win! In the end it won’t help but it’s good to know that they won’t go through the entire season winless.

Leicester City – If you had told me six weeks ago that the Foxes would look more hopeless than QPR coming out of Week 11 I’d have told you that you were crazy. I would have been wrong, they weren’t abject against Southampton by any stretch of the imagination but they were never a threat to win the match either. Esteban Cambiasso must be wondering what he got himself into, he surely isn’t used to relegation scraps.

Newcomer of the Year - where we track the progress of players new to the Premier League this season

1. Cesc Fabregas – He didn’t produce a great deal but his season-to-date still represents the best season by a newcomer to the Premier League by a fair distance. In a short amount of time he has gone from Barcelona spare part to the heartbeat of one of the best sides in Europe. Not bad for the price.

2. Alexis Sanchez – Hard to blame the Chilean for Arsenal’s tepid results this week. All he does is continue to score goals and put forth incredible effort on the pitch. In most seasons he’d be the run-away “best newcomer” award-winner.

3. Diego Costa – Back among the goals with a clinical winner. His pace has predictably slowed but he’ll get a rest over the international break which will make Jose Mourinho happy (if that’s possible) and Costa that much more dangerous when the matches resume in a couple of weeks.

4. Angel Di Maria – The problem with being a support player rather than an out-and-out goalscorer is that you need your teammates to come through for the statistics to look good each week. Di Maria is every bit the talent that Fabregas is if not better but Chelsea have converted Fabregas’ creations while Rooney, RvP, et al have been less consistent in cashing in on Di Maria’s excellence. I don’t feel good about downgrading him for something out of his control but what choice am I left with?

5. Dusan Tadic/Graziano Pelle – Pelle took Tadic’s role this weekend with an assist rather than his typical goal and the Southampton machine kept rolling.

6. Gylfi Sigurdsson – A great free kick goal got him back on track after a few quieter weeks and the tally brought his season totals to two goals and seven assists in Premier League action. Hard to imagine that he couldn’t get a start at Spurs.

7. Diafra Sakho – Another quiet weekend from the forward but the Hammers maintained their place in the top four so we’re going to keep him here until they start dropping or he has a long barren run.

8. Enner Valencia – See Sakho above.

9. Fraser Forster – The attack has typically been the story but Forster and the defense just completed their fourth consecutive clean sheet (seventh overall) and have conceded only five goals all season. Only once have they conceded two in a single match and that was the opening match of the season.

10. Thibaut Courtois – He keeps winning although you’d like to see him register some more clean sheets to move him up the list.

Just Missing Out: Jefferson Montero, Toby Alderweireld, Falcao, Andrew Robertson, Leonardo Ulloa, Danny Welbeck, Daley Blind, Ander Herrera, Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier, Joseph Schlupp, Patrick van Aanholt.

Dropping Off: Falcao, Andrew Robertson

The Phantom Point All-Stars – Yes, we’re going to keep tweaking this one until we get it right. We’re going to re-instate the Joel Ward All-Stars (defending phantom statistics – blocks, interceptions and tackles), re-classify the Mido All-Stars (all attacking phantom points – SOTs, corners won, successful crosses) and add an all-around category for players who throw in a little of everything for a massive phantom point weekend.

This is without question the most time-intensive part of compiling this column (other than watching a lot of matches over the weekend of course) and given the family obligations this week I am going to suspend this section until after the international break.

The Fake Narrative of the Week - It is impossible to go a week without encountering a narrative somewhere in the football media that appears to be totally made up for the sake of gaining attention. They usually fall into the categories of made up transfer rumors, hanging on too long to a mental image of who a player was and not who he currently is, or preying on a long-held stereotype based on club, nationality, or position. When I come across them, I'll let you know and then let you know why I think they're silly.

Liverpool’s mid-week rotation against Real Madrid – There has been a lot written about how Brendan Rodgers rotated his line-up in an attempt to cope with his back-to-back fixtures at Real Madrid and against Chelsea at Anfield. Talk about a no-win situation. If he played his best players against both teams and they lost anyway (a very likely outcome given that they were facing what may be the best two club teams in the world) and then someone got hurt on international duty the cries would be that he was pushing his team too far. As it was, he rested a significant portion of his ostensible first eleven against Real Madrid and got crushed despite the fact that they acquitted themselves very nicely given the circumstances. Regardless, it is hard to blame Rodgers and Liverpool for the lost points in either competition over the past week, they were playing better teams and it showed. Outside of getting an improbable win or draw from one or both of these matches there was no way Rodgers wasn’t going to get crushed in the media. At least this way he hopefully has a marginally fresher side to attempt to pick up points where they are more readily available.

Sponsor I'd Like To See - As you can see from the lack of sponsorship for this column or this page, there's room for some additional corporate involvement here at the Rotoworld.com Premier League page. In a blatant attempt to solicit any sponsors who may be reading, I'm going to start suggesting some sponsors who might want to call the nice people at NBC Sports to find out what it would take to become part of the team.

Puma – I can’t say I love their add campaign but they are clearly making a big move into Premier League culture with their kit sponsorship at Arsenal. The ads are all over NBCSN’s broadcast of Premier League matches so why not double down during the week by sponsoring our little Rotoworld.com page? Usain Bolt…Mario Balotelli…Nik Argiropoulos…makes sense to me.

Random Closing Thoughts - Well, this one's pretty obvious and it will be how we close out the column each week at least until a better idea comes along.

• My Second Club – I’m not sure if anyone remembered Shane Long was playing for the Saints but he came off the bench to do what everyone who arrived over the summer has done, contribute to a win. If the Saints do make it to the Champions League here’s hoping that the roster isn’t ripped apart for a second time.

• This Week’s Good Points: So many to choose from this week with Swansea City, Burnley, Stoke City and Chelsea picking up three good points while Sunderland and QPR pick up single good points. You might question Chelsea’s inclusion here but let’s not write off “at Anfield” as a pushover fixture just yet.

• The Good Points Table: Leicester City: 8; Newcastle 7; West Ham 6; Stoke City 6; Swansea City 6; Burnley 5; Crystal Palace 4; Sunderland 4; Aston Villa 3; Chelsea 3; West Brom 3; Burnley 2; Hull City 2; Manchester United 1; QPR 1.

• This Week’s Bad Points: Who didn’t pick up bad points this weekend? From the top we have City, Arsenal, Spurs, and Everton all giving hope to clubs like Southampton, Swansea and West Ham that they might hang around in their current rarified air. We’ll spare Liverpool because of the opposition even though they lost at home.

• The Bad Points Table: Liverpool 11; Spurs 11; Manchester United: 10; Manchester City 8; Everton 7; Arsenal 7; Stoke City 3; Villa, Palace, Newcastle, Southampton, and Swansea all 2.

• Southampton’s Champions League Chances: It isn’t clear if things could have gone any better for them this weekend with all the points dropped by other clubs in the top half. Only Manchester United’s narrow win could been seen as a negative. Get your bets in now before the odds get too short of this happening. If gambling is legal where you live of course. If it isn’t legal then make sure you’re doubling down to the extent possible in whatever fantasy leagues you’re in.

• West Ham’s Rise – They solidified their spot in the top four less because of their own performance – a dull nil-nil draw against an Aston Villa outfit that they should have beaten – and more because of the incompetence of those around them. This will be a weekend that Big Sam regrets when the Hammers start fading from the European places.

• What did we find out? There was an MLS note here last weekend and we’re going to repeat that with the playoffs in full swing. What a match Sunday from soon-to-be-retired Landon Donovan. He scored a hat trick to see his LA Galaxy advance in the playoffs. There has been a lot of speculation about what the perfect ending to Donovan’s professional career might be with “walk-off goal” at the death to win the MLS Cup being the winner. We aren’t there yet but this was pretty close and you could see how much it meant to him. I’ve never been his biggest fan but how could you not be rooting for a big send off. DC United being eliminated from the playoffs this past weekend made it even easier as I don’t have any other dog in the race at this point either.

• Balotelli Watch – Would you take him on your pub league side at this point? Chelsea limited him to zero shots. How soon does Daniel Sturridge come back? How quickly can they ship Balotelli back out to Italy or elsewhere at a significant loss?

• What’s Next? Yet another international break is upon us meaning no matches next weekend. Coming back after the break will be a fascinating weekend that probably didn’t look terribly fascinating when the season started. Arsenal hosting Manchester United is always a big deal and it will be again as the points available, if either side can capture all three, will be crucial in the race for fourth place. The matches that didn’t look particularly interesting early but have evolved into fascinating matches will be Manchester City hosting Swansea and Everton hosting West Ham. City and Everton would have been prohibitive home favorites when the season kicked off but both visitors have been surprisingly strong and can advance their respective cases to be considered among the better teams in the league with results on Saturday. It might be that the tea time “undercard” matches are more compelling than the late duel between the supposed elites.

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