Who Had The Best Premier League Debut? : Shinji Kagawa, Eden Hazard and Santi Cazorla Do Battle

Another summer, another array of talent imported into the Premier League. The fans of clubs around the country await the impact that their new addition will make. An inspired arrival? Or a untimely flop a la Torres? And it all begins with their first step. A debut.

Shinji Kagawa Vs Everton

A £17 million signing from Bundesliga champions, Borrusia Dortmund, Kagawa sent the Manchester United faithful into raptures when his move was completed. The jealousy of the Red Devils missing out on tricky playmaker, Eden Hazard, to rivals, Chel$ea was recouped by the ' Japanese Iniesta '. Here is the positives and negatives from his debut performances against Everton at Goodison Park :

Ball Collection

Given the Number 10 role by Sir Alex Ferguson, Kagawa was given a license to roam the pitch. He moved up top as a secondary striker, he came in deep alongside Scholes and Cleverley to build up attacks, and attempted to create chances from the flanks to aid a tightly marked Antonio Valencia, but focused on the left wing instead.

Attacking Third Impact

His energy in the final third was duly noted. Two passes in the final third to Antonio Valencia. That proved to be one of Kagawa's negatives throughout the game.

Chance Creation

Four chances created in a 90 minute game is a good number.

Unfortunately, Shinji started his Premier League career with the Reds with defeat as Everton triumphed 1-0. But his performance is encouraging to the Manchester United faithful. If they do exist.

Rating : 7.7 / 10

Eden Hazard Vs Wigan

The most expensive transfer so far in this year's window. No surprise coming from the West Londoners. Chelsea secured the services of the mercurial Belgian for a modest fee of £32 million from under the noses of some of Europe's biggest clubs. His first challenge was to overcome a tactically savvy Wigan side, coached by former Blue, Roberto Martinez.

Attacking Third

A pretty pitiful performance in the opposition's danger zone by the young Belgian. The stats speak from themselves. With 50% of his passes going astray, this was a very poor performance by Eden.

Overall Passes

Very low number at 23. And 6 of them going astray. Another terrible stat. Being given the Number 10 role by Di Matteo, Hazard should have been roaming the pitch in search of an opportunity to break the Wigan back three. The reality was far from it.

Chance Creation

1 chance created. 1 assist. Good efficency. Terrible number once again.

Despite Hazard's poor performance, Chelsea came out victorious in the tie, winning 2-0.

Rating : 6 / 10

Santi Cazorla vs Sunderland

Signed for a reported £16 million, Santi Cazorla arrived at North London with a proven pedigree. Masterminding his former club, Malaga, to their highest position in history in 4th place, gifting them a place in this year's Champions League. First up, a seemingly straight forward tie against Sunderland at the Emirates.

Defensive Contribution

Also assigned the Number 10 role, Santi's defensive performance was very good.

Ball Collection

The heat map shows that Cazorla's zone tended to be in the opposition's half, as he rarely dropped deep to create. He was roaming the final third, always demanding possession, right, left, and centre. A serious replacement for Cesc Fabregas.

Chance Creation

7 chances creating is an excellent number. Poor finishing and tight defending prevented Santi from opening his assist account.

Attacking Third

Unlike Kagawa and Hazard, Cazorla focused on every point in the final third. Providing service right, left, and centre.

A park-the-bus performance from Sunderland stalled Arsenal's campaign objectives as the Black Cats escaped with a stalemate at 0-0.

Rating : 8.5 / 10

So it looks like Arsenal's Santi Cazorla wins this round, but with 37 games left in the season, Kagawa and Hazard could easily catch up to the Spaniard.

Tactical Archive : Manchester United 1 Manchester City 6

Talk about a statement of intent. No one could have predicted the mauling that Manchester United succumbed that day. Complete humiliation in front of their own supporters. By their fierce cross town rivals. It was a day to forget for the Manchester United faithful as they made the journey home to the South.

POSSESSION

Manchester United - 49%
Manchester City - 51%

SHOTS ( ON TARGET / OFF TARGET / BLOCKED )

Manchester United - 4 / 3 / 4
Manchester City - 7 / 8 / 7

PASS ACCURACY

Manchester United - 83%
Manchester City - 86%

OFFSIDES

Manchester United - 1
Manchester City - 1

FOULS

Manchester United - 15
Manchester City - 12

TACKLES

Manchester United - 15
Manchester City - 19











Manchester United 0 Manchester City 1 : Balotelli 1st Goal

Manchester United make the fatal mistake of giving David Silva space in the final third. Smalling is distracted by the Spaniard and doesn't notice Milner pulling off to create space for himself.

Smalling doesn't pressure Milner quickly enough. Ferdinand and Evans fall back, which gives Balotelli a lot of space on the edge of the box. Fletcher and Anderson are nowhere to be seen.

Just look at the United defence shape. And the midfield shape. They deserve to concede the goal.
1-0 to Manchester City





WHO'S TO BLAME : CHRIS SMALLING



Manchester United 0 Manchester City 2 : Balotelli 2nd Goal

Evra switches from marking the most obvious threat, David Silva, to Micah Richards, who is much deeper. But Anderson has a lapse of concentration which allows Silva to move into the space on the right side. Bad defending on Evra's part

Milner loses his marker - Ashley Young - and heads into the direction of Silva, giving him an option.

Anderson is stood still while Milner breaks to the 6 yard box. And Balotelli pulls off of Smalling. 2-0 to Manchester City





WHO'S TO BLAME : ASHLEY YOUNG




Manchester United 0 Manchester City 3 : Aguero Goal

Yaya Toure's midfield splitting pass finds Balotelli who backheels to Milner. Jonny Evans had been sent off on 46' and Manchester United had been forced to make Evra and Smalling tuck in narrower as a 3 CB partner ship, leaving a lot of space for wingers and full backs to roam. Ferdinand commits to the interception and fails. Milner finds Micah Richards, who is allowed upfield due to Jonny Evans' dismissal, in a lot of space on the rigth.

Smalling doesn't know that Aguero running in behind him, because Jones probably has it covered. And there is only one outcome in this situation.









3-0 to Manchester City







WHO'S TO BLAME : JONNY EVANS




Manchester United 1 Manchester City 3 : Fletcher Goal

Rooney finds Fletcher in acres of space in the middle of the final third. Barry moves in to quickly pressurize and close him down.

Hernandez comes in deep to give Fletcher a passing option. Barry makes the oldest mistake in the book and follows the ball instead of the man.

Fletcher unleashes an unexpected right foot shot into the top corner that beats Joe Hart. 3-1 to Manchester City





WHO'S TO BLAME : GARETH BARRY





Manchester United 1 Manchester City 4 : Dzeko 1st Goal

Take a look at the situation. There are 5 defenders in the box, who are up against 3 attackers. Manchester City have no right to score from here. Especially when the defenders are Danny Welbeck, Darren Fletcher, Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, all of whom possess good heading ability. Take a look at what happens next.

Let's examine what went wrong :

1. Barry wins header - Why Danny Welbeck and Darren Fletcher are not able to beat the lumbering midfielder in the air is beyond me.
2. Jones and Smalling - I've seen bad defending in my time, hell, I am an Arsenal fan. But this is something else. I just don't know what the young duo were thinking when the ball came over to the near post. But it was probably, " Don't worry, Danny or Darren have got this ". But that is still no reason to clear out of defence so early.
3. Lescott run - Because Phil and Chris made that defensive error, Ferdinand is left with marking two people, and he opts for Dzeko. Meanwhile, Lescott makes a very intelligent run to the back post.

Ferdinand is frozen on the spot as Dzeko reacts quickly to tap in the goal from Lescott's pull back. De Gea shouldn't have commited himself to pushing the ball away and should have stayed on his feet. The Mancheter United defence is left with egg on their faces. Truly terrible defending. 4-1 to Mancehster City

WHO'S TO BLAME : JONES AND SMALLING

Manchester United 1 Manchester City 5 : Silva Goal

City hit Manchester United on the break and it is a 3v2 situation, Kolarov is bombing down the left to create a problem for Ferdinand and Smalling. Rio makes his move and moves in to close down Dzeko and narrow the passing angle to Silva.

Unfortunately, Dzeko's pass goes through Ferdinand's legs and leaves Silva with a lot of time to make a decision and exploit the space left by Rio. If I was De Gea, I would be charging down Silva and force him to make a split second decision. I know Szczesny would do it.

But De Gea stands his ground. This allows Silva to position himself for the finish, by leaning to the right. A rookie mistake by the young Spainard. 5-1 to Manchester City

WHO'S TO BLAME : DE GEA

Manchester United 1 Manchester City 6 : Dzeko 2nd Goal

A clearance from Lescott is incredibly poorly headed by Smalling straight to David Silva. That second that Smalling has lost to Dzeko will prove costly. Ferdinand has already given up on the game and looks disinterested.

Silva delivers an excellent ball between the CBs to an onrushing Dzeko. Look at the gap between Smalling and Dzeko. To the regular onlooker that is not much. But on the pitch, it seems like miles. No, really.

De Gea, this time, does leave his line, but doesn't commit to narrowing the shooting angle for Dzeko. And he pays for it when Dzeko finishes past his near post. Look at the gap between Edin and Smalling, he has closed the gap, but not enough. And he had 20-25 metres to close it. It is a lifetime on the pitch.

WHO'S TO BLAME : CHRIS SMALLING

Man Of The Match

It has to be the Spanish maestro, David Silva. He delivered, arguably, the best individual performance of the Premier League in that game. 92% pass accuracy, 1 goal, 1 assist, and put in 4 tackles to boot. And he also contributed 2 PBA's ( Pass Before Assist ).

Tactical Archive : Arsenal 3 Chelsea 1

A day that will live long in the memory of the Arsenal fan. The day when the Gunners delivered a tactical masterclass to beat their cross city rivals, Chelsea. It was a near perfect performance. But apart from Ivanovic's header from the usual trusty set piece, Arsenal dominated the game.

POSSESSION

Arsenal - 61%
Chelsea - 39%

SHOTS ( ON TARGET/ OFF TARGET/ BLOCKED)

Arsenal - 6 / 2 / 2
Chelsea - 1 / 7 / 4

PASS ACCURACY

Arsenal - 86%
Chelsea - 79%

OFFSIDES

Arsenal - 5
Chelsea - 7

FOULS

Arsenal - 13
Chelsea - 17

TACKLES

Arsenal - 29
Chelsea - 32


Arsenal 1 Chelsea 0 : Alex Song goal

Ancelotti has obviously taken extreme action into ousting the threat of an inform Nasri, so intense pressure is used. Unfortunately, Essien was draw far out of position on the left side. Fabregas has already seen Song behind him and makes a false run across Mikel which pushes the midfielder even further back, given Song a lot of space in the middle.

Alex Song now has a lot of time and space to make a decision. He has three options :

1. He could play in Fabregas with a first time pass. But chances are Terry would sweep up the ball as he already sees the Spaniard coming alongside him.
2. He could play the ball out to Wilshere and draw out Lampard and take him out of the defence leaving a 4 v 3 situation.
3. Or he could embark on a Messi-esque slamom past the defence and put the ball past Cech.

Wilshere makes a chipped pass to Fabregas which makes Ferreira commit to the challenge. He fouls Fabregas and would have conceded a penalty had Song not hit the ball past Cech already with his weaker left foot. 1-0 to the Arsenal

Arsenal 2 Chelsea 0 : Fabregas goal

Laurent Koscielny's midfield splitting pass finds Van Persie. Chelsea's narrow centre back formation leaves a large gap between the CB and the fullback. Essien gets draw into the battle. Big mistake. Theo Walcott has seen that Essien will make a challenge and has already made the run in behind Cole.

Fabregas reacts fastest and goes forward to give Walcott another option. Just look at the space behind the two centre backs. And Cole is on the back foot. Walcott had one option : To stroke the ball past Cech which would have proved very difficult. But since Cesc ran up to support him, he can now draw Cech from goal and lay the ball to Fabregas who would put the ball into an empty net.

Ivanovic doesn't recover in time. Cech does get drawn out. But Walcott takes up the option made by Fabregas and passes the ball across for the Spaniard to finish into an empty net. 2-0 to Arsenal

Arsenal 3 Chelsea 0 : Walcott goal

This is what makes Busquets, Iniesta, and Xavi the best midfielder in the world. Before Terry passed the ball, the Spanish trio would have already known their next move. They would have already analysed the situation around them and would have made a split second decision. Malouda, with his bad spatial awarness, doesn't know that Walcott is closely behind him, ready to intercept. Cole has already drifted out wide to widen the game and has left a huge space between him and Terry.

Had Cole been deeper, he could have tucked in and followed Walcott's run. Terry is forced to commit and Fabregas just chips the ball over him as the makes a block tackle. Walcott sprints through and makes an awesome finish into the bottom left corner past Cech. 3-0 to Arsenal

Arsenal 3 Chelsea 1 : Ivanovic goal

Simple really. Rifled free kick from Drogba. Koscielny keeps the defenders onside. Fabianski comes out of goal. Ivanovic nods it beyond him. 3-1 to Arsenal

Neutralising the full back threat

Arsenal have been at the mercy from flying wingback, Ashley Cole, in recent games, and Arsene Wenger found a way to omit the threat. He assigned Theo Walcott to track Cole's runs when Sagna was dragged out of position infield. Thus neutralising the threat from Cole.

Man Of The Match

For me, the man of the match is either Alex Song or Cesc Fabregas, the midfield duo were outstanding on the night. Both scored goals, tracked back to defend, broke up attacks, and started some of their own.