Gunning for glory, but lacking killer touch

Let's be frank, if the English Premier League (EPL) was to end today, would we complain about Arsenal being Champions?

Of course not, simply because they have been consistently good.

At times looking a little flat after being comfortably in control for long periods, Arsenal breezed through the final 10 minutes of their match on Saturday with some brilliant play by Mesut Ozil as well as a blistering counter-attack finished off by the man of the moment (and arguably, the season) Aaron Ramsey.

Substitute Mathieu Flamini scored as well, with a brilliant bursting run that put him in the box to meet the perfectly weighted ball by that man Ozil once again, then finishing emphatically. 

Not the ideal performance as Arsenal should really be hammering certain teams but as was evident against Cardiff City, they do allow opponents to worry them by failing to kill off games early.

The Gunners need to be ruthless, and they should be observing Bayern Munich and noting how the Bavarian side go out with a mission to hammer home their superiority.

Yes, when you are superior, you need to make a point and Arsenal has to start doing that. It is all well and good to score two goals in the last minutes but then again it is only Cardiff City (no disrespect to the Welsh side but there is an obvious gulf in class).

Scoring and settling the issue early allows for substitutions to rest tired legs, allows for young players to be given a run and not work and spend unnecessary emotional energy in closing out matches in those very tricky final 10 minutes too.

Everton looked in control from the get-go at Goodison Park, coming out winners in a resounding 4-0 thumping of Stoke City. Gerard Deulofeu's first goal in the EPL was something to savour - neat one-twos followed by a quick shift of weight and an emphatic finish only increases the Spanish youngsters' credentials as a fast-maturing winger.

I picked Roberto Martinez as my Turning Point last week after the Merseyside derby as it was a genuinely fantastic game of football, especially from Everton.

This weekend the Toffees had the right attitude and were simply brilliant against a team that in seasons past would go down fighting.

However, this Stoke squad has yet to show us if they are truly capable of playing the passing game that Mark Hughes is trying to implement. There is ability in their team; however, Charlie Adam was obviously bought for his dead ball delivery and not intricate passing.

Well, most certainly, Mark Hughes must realise he has to marry the two cultures of long ball and short passing to add variation as a total and complete change certainly looks farfetched at the moment.

Speaking of attitudes and culture... I simply could not believe Andre Villas-Boas saying it was okay for his Tottenham Hotspur to have a poor performance as they were still only two points away from Champions League places.

That is not the point! The point is spending bucket loads of money and then serving mediocrity is unacceptable, regardless of how your biggest rivals are doing. Inconsistency is not acceptable just because others are inconsistent as well.

Spurs's failure to hold on to another lead over Manchester United, as we have seen them fail time and again, just shows how much progress Daniel Levy's investments have made. Absolutely zero! Note, in this instance, we can say zero in football but not when calling the score.

The return on investment is losing narrowly at the Etihad after a hard fought game. The return on investment would be beating Manchester United (MU) at home after taking the lead (twice) to bury the ghosts of the past.

The return on investment is getting a Spanish striker more suited to English football, i.e. Fernando Llorente and not a one-paced Roberto Soldado.

To add insult to injury, the one-paced Soldado is keeping the pacey finisher Jermain Defoe on the bench.

Spurs had two glorious chances to put the game out of MU's reach in the first half – Soldado firing horribly wide from inside the penalty box and a feisty Aaron Lennon shooting straight at David De Gea on his weaker left foot. As we all know from Alex Ferguson's days, you have to finish off MU early and ruthlessly.

An absolute stunner by Sandro was quickly followed by very poor decision making from Hugo Lloris, charging out and tripping Danny Welbeck when the Englishman's touch took the ball away from immediate danger.

MU under David Moyes is very much like Moyes' Everton, only with better personnel. Challenging for the title seems a bridge too far for a reactive rather than proactive team like MU this season.

We said it was going to be difficult for Liverpool but they did themselves no favours with such a poor performance.

I have banged on about needing two to three class players and when Philippe Coutinho is left on the bench, there was a complete lack of imagination in midfield. The uncertainty in defence and mediocrity in midfield, apart from the holding midfielder Lucas Leiva, made for a shambolic Liverpool.

Big ambition needs to be backed with big players and Liverpool need to get busy in January if they desire any hopes of Champions League action next season.

Finally, Jose Mourinho deserves credit for an astute substitution at Stamford Bridge. The introduction of Demba Ba put pressure on both Southampton centre backs and did not allow them to build play from the back, forcing the ill-equipped Southampton team to go long.

Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic easily overpowering Pablo Osvaldo and later, Rickie Lambert. A come-from-behind win is always morale-boosting and Mourinho's men find themselves in second spot with a trip to the Stadium of Light midweek. –  December 3, 2013.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.