Football News: Not Quite Manchester United For Ron Vlaar as Chelsea struggles continue

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1. Fabregas has become a liability
Cesc Fabregas has never offered much defensively, but right now he is offering the mobility and speed of a 90 year old a day after a hip replacement operation. His passing is poor too, which is about all he has to offer. While Pedro is not good enough, Baba Rahman is adjusting to the league and Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Matic and Diego Costa are struggling for form, Chelsea can ill afford a passenger like Fabregas.

2. Are Chelsea in a relegation dogfight?
While on the subject of the Pensioners, Chelsea's defeat at the hands of Bournemouth could, shockingly, put them into a relegation battle. Not just are Jose Mourinho's team playing poorly, but all the decisions are seemingly going against them, which is something you often see when teams get dragged into the relegation fight. It is difficult to believe that Chelsea are in any danger of going down, but each week I keep expecting this to be the start of a run which sees them get clear of trouble. It just never seems to happen for them though, and confidence is slipping away. They have to get going soon, before it is too late.

3. I am beginning to fear for LVG's sanity
Manchester United's Dutch boss seems to be living in a different world from the rest of us, one where his team are playing attacking football. Maybe he needs to spend less time looking at his clipboard writing notes and more time actually watching matches? Though it might be the only way to enjoy watching the Red Devils play these days, as sitting and watching it in full has managed to put me to sleep a few times this season. Could it be that he deliberately sends out the team to move forward so slowly to give himself time to write his notes? Or perhaps it is a new policy from the club to help attract more of Roy Keane's beloved 'prawn sandwich' brigade, by making sure they can enjoy their food without missing anything?

4. Arsenal fans need to calm down. A lot
I keep reading about how being up there right now is Arsene Wenger being proven correct about not buying, or how it shows what a great team Arsenal actually are. Neither makes sense to me. The Gooners are up there right now because everyone else, apart from Leicester City, is not playing to their potential, or even close to it. If Wenger was right and Arsenal were all that good, they would be streaking away with the league in a similar way to Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are in their respective leagues, or even the way Chelsea did in the Premier League last time around. If they do go on to win the league, it will be because everyone else threw it away, even more than Arsenal have tried to do by not buying in the summer. One top striker in the summer, feeding off Mesut Ozil's brilliance, and they would already be streaking away with it.

5. How did the richest league end up so lacking in quality?
The Premier League in England is by far the most wealthy in world football, with a TV deal only the NFL can beat, yet the quality of the players and play is much lower than many others. How does that happen with all that money to spend to attract the best players? It is time English teams concentrated on increasing the quality, rather than quantity, of players at their disposal. Though it does make for a more entertaining division having less players available that lift one or two teams way above everyone else.

6. Spurs need to turn draws into wins
Tottenham Hotspur have not been beaten since the opening day of the season, the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League right now, and yet they are still only in 5th position. They need to develop a real goalscoring threat other than Harry Kane. No matter how good he is, you can not rely on him alone to score all the goals each week. They could win the league with a more clinical attack to add to that defence.

7. What does Rhodes have to do to get a Scotland place?
With Scotland's struggles in recent years in front of goal, you would think Jordan Rhodes would walk into that team with no problems whatsoever. Playing in a poor Blackburn Rovers side for the last couple of years, Rhodes has continued to score goals, which is something entirely lacking from the Scottish team. He does need to do more to get involved in the build up play, but the Scotland team do not have any viable alternatives to him, so why is he sat on the sidelines during international breaks?

8. Look at what happens when the Newcastle players bother to try
The difference between the Newcastle United team that beat Liverpool and the one that has been playing so far this season is night and day. For the first time this season, the players looked to have a bit of fire in their belly, looked to actually care about getting a result and they go and win, and win well. The hard bit for head coach Steve McClaren is going to be to make sure the players continue this way, rather than reverting to the half-arsed game they have been playing since the season kicked off. The quality is there for a top half finish, it has always been the attitude letting the Toon down.

9. Vlaar ends up at Alkmaar
Things have not gone as well as Ron Vlaar might have expected after the 2014 World Cup, then the Aston Villa defender was being linked with Manchester United, as his then international manager, Louis van Gaal was set to take over. Failing to get a move, he rejected a new contract with Villa, before suffering a knee ligament injury which required surgery. Now the Dutch international has returned to Netherlands to sign for AZ Alkmaar until the end of the season, to prove his fitness to other potential suitors, ten years after they gave him his professional debut. All a far cry from being the potential answer to Manchester United's defensive difficulties.

10. Strange comments from Rabiot
Adrien Rabiot has upset Paris Saint-Germain manager Laurent Blanc by asking for a loan move from the French champions in the January transfer window. The midfielder has made 14 appearances this season, but still feels he is not really a first team player for PSG. Blanc has publicly voiced his displeasure at the Rabiot for those comments, which he labeled disrespectful. I just find them strange, he is playing the majority of the matches, so why on earth would he want to leave on loan? Bizarre.

Written by Tris Burke December 07 2015 17:01:21