EPL Monday: Arsenal's Alpha Dog, Blown Calls & Sylvester Stallone Comes to Everton

Not sure why I’d start a column about the English Premier League writing about ESPN’s Bill Simmons, but bear with me. Anyways, we’re at a point in media where readers don’t only have opinions on Simmons, but opinions on Simmons’ opinions and his theories. The math is sometimes simple: type Bill Simmons _______________ and a reaction follows. If you’re into sports on the Internet, it’s difficult to field a neutral, non-opinion on the former Boston Sports Guy.

Whatever Simmons circa 2015 represents to you, some of his tropes, while easily mockable in the context of social media, hold a little water.

For instance, one of Simmons long-running theories for the NBA is the need of a designated “alpha dog.” Admittedly teams do not win or lose primarily due to an alpha dog. That said, there’s often a kernel of truth to it.

The nebulous alpha dog theory crept into focus during Arsenal’s rousing, script-flipping 2-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday. There are tactical reasons for the Gunners win and City’s limp failure, sure. Let’s not forget the unexpectedly fantastic performance of Francis Coquelin in defensive midfield for the Gunners, who were happy to cede possession for once. (Naturally the English press loves to jump to conclusions after 90 minutes, with The Daily Mail dubbing Coquelin as the next Gilberto Silva, already. As Barney Ronay noted in The Guardian, if not for injuries Coquelin wouldn’t have started.)

Of course, it was Santi Cazorla who imprinted his will on the game from start to finish. The Spanish midfielder assumed (clears throat) clear alpha dog status, manifesting itself in the form of a goal from the spot, an assist on a free kick and a shimmy that lifted the hearts of Arsenal fans everywhere. Those were his 90 minutes at the Etihad, everything else be damned.

Sunday’s showing had been coming for Cazorla, who stepped in and filled the void caused by Mesut Özil’s injury in late 2014. True, it’s a nice luxury to enter a season with a player of Cazorla’s ability as mostly an afterthought. Quality, tested depth often remains the separating factor in the Premier League as the season grinds on. As long as the team spirits are high and everyone buys into their role, you probably can’t have too many “good” players on a soccer roster. Hell, if anything it fosters competition on the training ground every day as guys push for a place in the starting XI.

[Side tangent: if anything, its this sort of internal, daily competition that goes on at top-level clubs around the world that Jurgen Klinsmann wants out his U.S. player pool.]

Anyways, Cazorla been fantastic for about six weeks now for Arsenal and it all came together on display at the Etihad Sunday.

The alpha dog musings don’t only apply to Cazorla, either. That’s actually the easy dot to connect.

It was the flip side, seeing how devoid of direction Manchester City looked out there in contrast, which helped Cazorla’s performance stand out even more. Part of this is because City’s most-important player, Yaya Toure, is away at the African Cup of Nations. Some could be attributed to Vincent Kompany’s poor form, which is injury-driven more than anything else. Kompany is at the veteran stage of a career where he needs four months off without so much as kicking a ball, let alone four days to let his body recover and heal. Granted, that’s not the reason City’s captain barged over Nacho Monreal in the box to set up Cazorla’s penalty.

City still fielded a quality lineup of pricey players on Sunday — David Silva, Sergio Agüero, Jesus Navas, etc. Yet no one from City left their personal imprint. Again, this is a product of City’s collective approach, where the quality melds so no one player is overly reliant — despite how timely Agüero’s goals have been this season. Manuel Pellegrini tried to shake it up and brought on Stevan Jovetic at halftime and ended the match with Agüero, Jovetic and Edin Dzeko all on the field together.

There just felt like there’s been something intangible missing from City.

Goal of the Week:

Eljero Elia scored twice for Southampton in a 2-1 win at Newcastle. Is this the “best” goal of the week? Probably not, but I wanted to point that goals like this — from a guy whose career fell off post-2010 World Cup and joined Southampton on-loan this month — remind us the futility of making predictions before the season. Southampton remain in third place. Note the Cristiano Ronaldo celebration by the Dutchman, too.

Stat of the Week:

Stewart Downing is a rarity, a soccer unicorn as it were: an English player in the EPL who is somehow having an underrated season.

Completely Random Celebrity Cameo of the Week:

Sly Stallone, the world’s biggest Everton fan, will be doing … something Monday at Goodison Park.

Requisite Suspect Officiating of the Week:

In the grand scheme of things, the linesman waving off Jan Vertonghen’s stoppage time goal for Tottenham vs. Sunderland doesn’t amount to much — gambling aside. Spurs won 2-1 regardless. Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino didn’t go crazy about the decision, via Goal:

Credit Pochettino for keeping a cool head, but it’s still an awful call. Sunderland keeper Costel Pantilimon came forward for a corner, so only one defender was left in front of the team’s goal meaning in this play the defender is the de facto keeper. That doesn’t matter since Vertonghen was inside his own half when the ball was played to him, so technically by rule he couldn’t be offside.

Poor officiating is, unfortunately, a staple of the EPL. Mostly we howl and moan about judgement calls, but a linesman screwing up the rules however insignificant the goal might end up being in the context of the match at hand, is woeful. Come May, the goal might end up meaning a lot more with all the poor teams at the bottom end of the team, goal differential for Sunderland could be huge with relegation.

Looking ahead:

Chelsea hosts Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. That’s kind of, maybe, an important game.

The Table:

22 matches played.

1. Chelsea, 52 points
2. Manchester City, 47
3. Southampton, 42
4. Manchester United, 40
5. Arsenal, 39
6. Tottenham, 37
7. West Ham United, 36
8. Liverpool, 35

[Photo via Getty]