Manchester United have been linked with Mauricio Pochettino, Liverpool were thrashed by Aston Villa and Everton sit top of the Premier League. Express Sport reporter Matthew Dunn takes you through all the talking points from a crazy weekend in his latest column.
UNITED’S BIG SIGNING COULD COME AFTER THE DEADLINE
After the terrible performance against Tottenham on Sunday, it was clear to everybody that Ed Woodward finally had to pull his finger out and back his manager Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer on transfer deadline day.
But failing to sign a centre-back or Jadon Sancho was more like two fingers.
The way a great club like Manchester United has gone about its business this window has seemed at times inexplicably clumsy.
Unless there is actually an explanation. What if the club were not really that committed to spending the money in the first place.
No sooner has the window shut and United are being linked with Mauricio Pochettino. It seems that rather than splash the cash on players Solskjaer wanted, the club could be lining themselves up for the one signing that really could make a difference.
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BLIP HAPPENS, LIVERPOOL DISCOVER
Bill Shankly once lost a game 7-2… and 12 months later was lifting his first League Championship trophy with Liverpool.
A drubbing like the one to Aston Villa on Sunday does not suddenly turn a legend into a bad manager or a mighty team into minnows.
But it does show that both might be less immortal than they are at times portrayed.
Alisson’s injury, Joe Gomez’s off-day, every possible type of deflection – it all seemed to go against Liverpool and effervescent Villa refused to let them cope. They bullied them into submission.
Players will tell you that after such a defeat they just want to get out there and play again as quickly as possible.
The international week, then, could not have been worse-timed. But sometimes it’s not about when you play next, but where.
Goodison Park. For all the talk of high lines being too high and the midfield press suddenly being too weak, I think we will see a very different Liverpool next Saturday.
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ARSENAL PUT THE ASS INTO JURASSIC
Gunners fans Partey as the Arsenal board finds a final £45m down the back of the sofa for one more last-minute signing despite failing to get four high-earning surplus players off their wage bill.
It is clear Sead Kolasinac, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis and of course Mesut Ozil play very little part in Mikel Arteta’s plans.
But Arsenal found it much easier to get 55 lesser members of staff cleared from the pay-roll earlier this summer simply by making them redundant.
It turns out that includes the lifelong fan who loyally played the role of Gunnersaurus every matchday since 1993.
Extinct? Something certainly stinks. Although there is a ready made replacement currently doing little within the club who could perform a similar role.
Mascot Ozil.
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IS HE THE SPECIAL “ONCE MORE”?
He’s been to Bulgaria and Macedonia and even back to his former haunts at Old Trafford. But somewhere in his travels, Jose Mourinho seems to have rediscovered his mojo.
He put the pat into patronising in consoling Ole Gunnar Soskjaer after the 6-1 win on Sunday, mirroring the the hand-on-head gesture that the United boss performed the other way round when his own side were victorious last season.
10 months is a long time to store up a grudge but that is the energy Mourinho feeds off.
It was Mourinho who, out of nowhere, brought up the Maccabi Haifa video that caused such a storm ahead their vital Europa League qualifier.
It was Mourinho how began the war of words with Solskjaer, with his jibe about United’s large number of penalties, which escalated the closer we got to kick-off.
And now he has got Gareth Bale to do some of his talking for him. Definitely a team to watch over the coming weeks.
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