Premier League talking points: Warnock and Puncheon mend fences

Lukaku off to a slow start while Shawcross excels, writes Paul Radley

Jason Puncheon, left, of Crystal Palace battles with Massadio Haidara of Newcastle United during their Premier League match at St James' Park on August 30, 2014, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. NigelShow more

After a thrilling third week of the Premier League season, Paul Radley picks out some of the talking points.

Warnock and Puncheon make up

The last time Jason Puncheon and Neil Warnock’s paths crossed, it ended up in a tirade of Twitter abuse, an FA fine, and a threat of legal action. All of which is so last season.

Now, of course, they are best buddies, having been portentously reunited at Crystal Palace when Warnock was reappointed as manager last week.

Rather than firing off salvos about his boss being crooked and never turning up for training, Puncheon opted for smiles instead after scoring in the 3-3 draw at Newcastle United.

“Wow what a game! Team spirit was immense and we fought till the end,” he tweeted.

For his part, Warnock was fawning all over Puncheon, too. “It wasn’t hard not to bear a grudge against him,” Warnock said. So that is the end of that then.

Lukaku’s slow start

Roberto Martinez, the Everton manager, apparently would have been happy to pay £100 million (Dh610m) for Romelu Lukaku. He got away with forking out just the £28m this summer.

His value for money so far, though, is not great. If the Belgian striker was ever going to get up for any fixture, it was likely to be against the club he was deemed unworthy of, especially when his hero Didier Drogba was back in their ranks.

Yet Lukaku was off the pace, not for the first time this season. Nine goals were scored at Goodison Park and he did not get a sniff of any of them.

Shawcross excels

It is a cliche to suggest Roy Hodgson, the England manager, only looks to fashionable clubs that are pursuing Champions League football for international standard recruits.

The selection last week for forthcoming friendlies of the likes of Jack Colback and Fabian Delph gave a lie to that theory.

But Hodgson’s travel expenses still must not stretch quite as far as Stoke City, judged by the continued absence of Ryan Shawcross.

"I see other players getting an opportunity and think England are missing a trick," Stoke manager Mark Hughes said of his captain after Shawcross's excellence in the 1-0 win at Manchester City.

Cattermole the wise choice

Shawcross is a little bit like rugby league: his supporters know that they have gem and if nobody else is in on the secret, then that is their loss.

The same goes for Lee Cattermole at the moment. Many Sunderland supporters rate their in-form midfielder as good enough to play for England. If the national team do not see it the same way, more fool them.

Gus Poyet, the Sunderland manager, encapsulated the Cattermole conundrum this weekend when he compared him to Dennis Wise, the Marmite midfielder who was a teammate of his at Chelsea – and he meant it as a compliment.

“He’s my Dennis Wise,” Poyet was quoted as having said. “I don’t like all very nice people, it’s not my team, I need a little bit of nastiness as well.”

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