Premier League Week 2: Takeaways, reactions and other points of analysis

At about 4:10 p.m. local time on Saturday, the Premier League reached its first real crossroads of the season. With 35 minutes to play in three concurrent games on the league’s second weekend, Tottenham was locked in a 0-0 stalemate with Crystal Palace, Chelsea trailed Watford 1-0, and Liverpool found itself 2-0 down at Burnley.

Earlier in the afternoon, Manchester City had stormed past Stoke. The day before, Manchester United had seen off Southampton. Both Manchester clubs sat on six points from six. Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool had work to do to keep pace.

It’s not that those three were in danger of seeing their seasons plummet. It’s too early for that. But in a league where the second game counts for just as much as the 37th, and especially in a season where six teams are expected to battle furiously for four spots, it wasn’t too early to recognize the importance of the present.

If a similar situation were to present itself in March, it would bring tension, and would be treated as momentous. But if the league plays out as expected, the final 30 minutes of this weekend’s three games — in which Chelsea launched a late comeback, Spurs scraped three points, and Liverpool did nothing of the sort — could be just as significant.

Now for some forward-thinking analysis…

1. Slow down the Manchester United hype train

With a comfortable-in-the-end 2-0 win over Southampton, and big names bagging goals, there’s a lot of excitement surrounding Man United. But there’s still a long way to go.

For long stretches of the first 60 minutes Friday, Southampton had the better of the play. The Saints completed 175 attacking third passes to United’s 110. Mourinho’s side was pretty uninspiring, apart from Zlatan’s overpowering leap and one of the most foolish “tackles” you’ll ever see from Jordy Clasie.

Of course, one of the reasons to be excited about United is Zlatan. And Pogba. And others — the Red Devils arguably have more players capable of those moments of brilliance than any other side. But they still haven’t clicked as a unit.

2. Enforcement of new rules could lead to new problems

Man City-Stoke was punctuated by three controversial incidents in the penalty box. One, Aleksandar Kolarov’s tackle on Joe Allen, was a clear-cut penalty that Mike Dean missed.

It’s the other two that raise a thorny issue. One of the directives to Premier League referees this offseason was to crack down on the shirt-pulling and grappling on set pieces. Dean apparently took that to heart. He gave one very legitimate pen when Ryan Shawcross hauled down Nicolas Otamendi, and another very questionable one when Raheem Sterling face-guarded, but barely touched, Shawcross.

The specific incidents aside though, if refs across the league are going to start giving these types of spot kicks consistently, another problem is going to rise. We’ve accepted there’ll be an adjustment period for defenders. But on the other side, when attacking players see these penalties being given, they see opportunity. They’re going to start throwing themselves to the ground at the slightest touch rather than fighting for the ball. That’ll create a whole new problem.

3. Liverpool’s bottom half struggles

Liverpool had over 80 percent possession against Burnley, but lost 2-0. The Reds had 26 shots to Burnley’s three. On the surface, this was a one-off, a desperately unlucky night for Klopp’s team. But when we look at where those 26 shots came from …

But against the bottom half of the league, when opponents often refuse to get sucked into a high-tempo, end-to-end game, Liverpool struggles. Those 18 shots outside the area represent Liverpool’s inability to play through congested spaces. That’s what teams like Arsenal can do, and it’s why the Gunners won 2.4 points per game against the bottom half last season. Under Klopp, Liverpool won just 1.75 per game.

It’s too early to conclude that Liverpool will have similar problems throughout this season. But it’s a legitimate concern.

4. Antonio Conte’s dilemma

Two games, two 4-2-3-1s for Antonio Conte. Two games, two impactful substitute appearances for Michy Batshuayi. Two games, two late victories for Chelsea with Batshuayi and Diego Costa on the field.

Conte is a tactically flexible manager. He’s not a single-formation guy. But he’s had much of his success playing two strikers, whether in a 4-2-4 or a 3-5-2, and he can attribute five of his six points so far at Chelsea to a twin-striker setup.

Conte is eventually going to have to make a decision. Does he go to the 4-4-2/4-2-4 as his primary setup? Or does he stick with what he’s been doing?

Another factor in that decision is the midfield personnel. Both Oscar and Nemanja Matic seem to suit the manager’s style. N’Golo Kante obviously does. But playing the three together limits Kante’s effectiveness. He was so valuable to Leicester because he basically allowed the Foxes to play both two up front and three in midfield. He covered so much ground. In a three-man midfield, that ground is already covered. Conte’s most efficient lineup, therefore, probably includes Batshuayi and excludes one of Matic or Oscar.

5. It’s unfair to analyze Arsenal, but …

Here’s the thing about Arsenal: The Arsenal you watched on Saturday isn’t yet Arsenal. Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil, who combined for 5.6 chances created and 5.1 shots per 90 minutes a year ago, are still working their way back to full fitness, and were left on the bench against Leicester. Aaron Ramsey also missed out. The three should all be back to 100 percent by next month. So let’s hold off on the Arsenal hot takes until then.

With that being said, however, the Gunners are already behind. One point from six is bad, even if the early fixture list was harsh. Arsenal hasn’t proven yet that it’s a better or worse team than its title rivals, but after an opening day loss and a 0-0 draw at Leicester, it won’t just have to prove it’s better than them over the next 36 games, it’ll have to prove it’s five points — or roughly 6 percent — better than United, City and Chelsea. That’s not insignificant.

6. Hull is not going to ‘do a Leicester’

C’mon. Stop. Hull is probably still getting relegated, despite two straight wins to open the season. Its first-choice 11 isn’t awful, but that’s not why everybody picked the Tigers 20th. The reason was the lack of depth. That reason hasn’t disappeared, it just doesn’t doom teams in August. It dooms them in December and January, and will doom Hull unless it has ridiculously good luck.

7. What the hell is Alan Pardew doing?

On the road against a top-six team, Alan Pardew started a five-man midfield that featured four wingers and a defensive midfielder. At halftime, at 0-0, he then yanked off that defensive midfielder for an attacking midfielder. And guess what? It looked about as messy as you’d expect it to look:

Jason Puncheon has now started two of two games as a holding midfielder. Pardew gonna Pardew.

8. Christian Benteke’s Crystal Palace career is off to a great start…