1. Stoke City are a short passing team?

Stoke did a lot of this. More than Liverpool.(105 to 71).

Ok, so they’re not the new Barcelona. That would be stupid. I’ve no shame in admitting that I’ve created this headline purely to grab your attention and – *look* – it worked, right?

But seriously, Stoke might be changing.

New manager Mark Hughes has clearly put an emphasis on implementing a more short-pass focused style in contrast to Tony Pulis’ former long-ball merchants. Even their supporters thought as much as they chanted “We’re Stoke City, we’re passing the ball“** in the early stages of their encounter with Liverpool.

Stoke played less long balls than Liverpool (35 to 43).

Admittedly, they didn’t get too far into Liverpool territory but their success against a team like Crystal Palace (who they face this Saturday) should be a greater indicator as to whether Stoke can really go tiki-taka (or just generally stop lumping it as much).

2. A return of the poacher?

One remarkable stat stood out to me over the weekend. It read thus;

Norwich City’s Ricky van Wolfswinkel (or just “Ricky” to Alan Shearer) managed a mere 12 touches in 90 minutes in his appearance against Everton.

The 12 balls played in for RVW’s touches.

Take into account that one of those touches was a headed goal for the Dutchman and you’re not left with a great deal else from your club record signing (apart from the goal, of course, which is pretty valuable). In fairness, this used to be the norm for a top-quality striker. Just think of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Pippo Inzaghi or Michael Owen.

In an era of the game when forwards are meant to be much more than just “goalscorers”, perhaps Ricky van Wolfswinkel could prove there’s life in the poachers yet.

3. New boys are firing blanks

They say its inadvisable to predict the fortunes of a team after just one 90 minute outing of a 38-game season.

However, the matches involving Crystal Palace, Hull City and Cardiff City made it fairly evident all three are likely to struggle in front of goal.

Not only did the trio manage a paltry six attempts on target between them, but you never felt like they had the players capable of finishing the chances presented to them. Hull, for instance, are relying on an on-loan Danny Graham who failed to find the back of the net once for Sunderland while Palace are currently without their leading scorer from last season – Glen Murray – and depending on a striker from Peterborough.

Oh, and Marouane Chamakh.

4. Manchester United win convincingly without playing well

One of the hallmarks of Sir Alex Ferguson’s final years in charge at Manchester United was his side’s innate ability to win games without playing particularly well – or at least without holding territorial dominance over their opponents.

In David Moyes’ first proper game in charge (nobody counts the Community Shield, do they?), United overcame sustained periods of Swansea dominance – particularly in the first half – to come away with a convincing 1-4 scoreline. One that, if you hadn’t seen the game, would have offered a much different impression to how it actually panned out. United were unphased by Swansea’s possession and characteristically clinical in their finishing.

New season, new manager. Some things never change.

Image from EPL Index.

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**Coincidentally, my favourite chant of the weekend. Just ahead of “Spend some fucking money” by Arsenal supporters which, to be fair, was very amusing.