North London Derbies are ones to mark on your calendar each year as must-watch games of football. Always feisty, always entertaining and always packed with talking points. This Sunday was no different. Coming into the weekend, Arsenal hadn’t lost in this fixture in six meetings between the two clubs, their last defeat dating back to May 2022, a run that only added to the anticipation around another high-stakes matchup. Spurs, meanwhile, were approaching their first North London Derby under new boss Thomas Frank. With their supporters fully aware that securing a result away at The Emirates could provide the spark needed to truly ignite their season.

The Tactical Battle

Arsenal set up in their usual 4-3-3, whilst Spurs came into the game with a more defensive approach in a 5-2-3, a shape we’ve seen used by many teams against the likes of Arsenal and Man City, given its flexibility to enable a high press but also to drop deeper into a 5-4-1 shape. It was a clear contrast in intentions, with Arsenal sticking to their familiar structure and Spurs adopting a system designed to adjust quickly between pressing higher and reinforcing their defensive line, creating an intriguing tactical battle from the outset…

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Going into yesterday’s 5:30 kick off: Pep Guardiola was 16-0 against Eddie Howe, the Geordies had lost their last two games against Brentford and West Ham, whilst City had only lost once in their last 14 games. Even with all of this added context, a floodlit St James Park brimmed with a quiet optimism.

With all due respect a full-back pairing of Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier is far from inspiring, the combination of Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall however is something I’d happily pay a match ticket for. The two former Chelsea graduates can ultimately do it all; I’ve had the pleasure of watching Hall play a number of games for England youth sides and each time he’s played in a different position, left-back, centre-half and midfield. This footballing education is apparent; his game intelligence is phenomenal.

On the ball his use of body to receive and evade pressure allowed Newcastle to be ambitious and play through Man City’s (half hearted, more on that later) press. Newcastle’s plan was quite simple when building up the pitch and they were heavily reliant on both Fabian Schar and Lewis Hall, with both having the most touches for Newcastle. Once Hall received the ball, he was able to either move with the ball up the pitch, completing two of his three dribbles, or play an intelligent line-breaking pass into the feet of Woltemade or the inverting Barnes. I don’t want to take anything away from the young man, but this was made a lot easier due to Cherki’s central position when out of possession.

Alternatively, on the right-hand side, Livramento’s physicality stretched Man City’s back line. Thanks to smart movement from Murphy to open up the byline, he was often threatening; however, defensively, he was excellent. No player would be comfortable up against Jeremy Doku especially in the form the Belgian’s been in this season, however Livramento marshalled him well, following him across the pitch, and limited the Man City player to just 40 touches, 16 less than his average. Ultimately, having two full-backs who are able to play any role, defend well and flourish on the ball is an absolute game changer.

A further, but less obvious change that Howe made was the tweaking of his midfield three, the illustrious trio have often brought success to Newcastle, especially in big games, however after successive underwhelming performances changes were necessary. Swapping Bruno G into the 6 pushing Tonali into higher areas, worked well. The Brazilian often received the ball deep and spread play into wide areas, playing nine passes into the final third. Whereas the Italian was everywhere, a powerful and willing runner resulted in a match high four tackles and interceptions.

With Newcastle’s want to press high and play through Man City’s press, this tweak made sense. With the further involvement of their impressive full-backs, I’d imagine Howe will look to build on this performance and increase the control they hold in games and continue this new slightly altered system.

From a City perspective, Arsenal go six points clear, so are they out of the title race? No, probably not. Is this still a blow? Yes. I’d imagine Guardiola and his players will be disappointed in both performance and result. Yes both Erling Haaland and Phil Foden missed big chances, but so did Newcastle. After seemingly fixing their defensive issues with some much needed consistency in both players and performances, cracks began to appear again on Saturday as Newcastle often cut through their back-line. They were often stretched and looked outnumbered when defending, especially on transition, which seems surprising. Yet, you look at who plays key roles in their out-of-possession structure and you’re no longer surprised.

Cherki’s role is peculiar, when in possession he either floats around Haaland looking to pick up on second balls and combine, or sits on the touchline in deeper areas. Because of this significant movement, he is constantly travelling large distances. To then ask him to combine tracking the elusive Lewis Hall and block Bruno G’s passing lane, is almost impossible. And as mentioned before, Newcastle were able to progress down their left-hand side far too often. Pep got this wrong. Furthermore, Nico Gonzalez has been a revelation in midfield and often provides the defensive output of two players this season. However, with the verticality of both Joelinton and Tonali, with Woltemade also often looking to drop in to deeper areas, partnering the Spaniard with an ageing Bernardo Silva and a non-combative Phil Foden, he was fundamentally overwhelmed when out of possession.

After 16 unsuccessful attempts, Howe finally got a win vs Guardiola and beat him tactically. Small tweaks to alter both their in and out of possession tactics, highlighted City’s weaknesses. Howe has definitely reminded the league that he and Newcastle are here to stay and compete.

Late on Sunday afternoon, the two winners of the last eight Premier League seasons went head-to-head, and if recent history was anything to go by, it promised to be an enthralling encounter. Matches between these two sides have so often defined title races in recent years, and this one carried a similar sense of anticipation. City entered the contest in strong form, having won seven of their last eight games across all competitions. Liverpool, on the other hand, arrived determined to continue their resurgence, looking to secure a third consecutive victory after a difficult spell that had seen them lose six of their previous seven matches in all competitions. Both sides had plenty to prove, the stage was set for another fascinating chapter in this modern Premier League rivalry.

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Arsenal’s 10-game winning streak came to an end at the Stadium of Light as they conceded for the first time in eight games and were hit by a late Sunderland equaliser courtesy of Brian Brobbey.

Sunderland who currently sit in 4^th place continued their incredible run of form this season as they held the league leaders to a point.

Le Bris’ Blueprint

Regis Le Bris’ side went out with a gameplan to make it extremely difficult for Arsenal, which they executed perfectly in the first half.

They showed their bravery and commitment to getting a result almost instantly in the first half, winning the ball high a few times and making Arsenal look very uncomfortable on the ball.

When the game settled slightly, Arsenal seemed more confident in possession, though they looked blunt going forward, which could’ve been expected with their attacking injuries, but Sunderland’s low block and brilliant box defending played just as much part.

Sunderland’s energy and commitment were absolutely phenomenal as they chased down every second ball, and looked like the side that wanted it more, something which is rare from any team facing Arsenal.

Their first half efforts were rewarded in the 36^th minute, when Robin Roefs launched the ball into the Arsenal box, where Nordi Mukiele would win the header against Gabriel after the ball had bounced over Daniel Ballard and Declan Rice.

With Mukiele heading it towards Ballard who got in front of Rice, who should’ve done better to track his man, with the Northern Irish defender taking the ball and finishing like a centre forward to put Sunderland ahead and ending Arsenal’s run of clean sheets.

Sunderland saw out the first half relatively comfortably after the goal, having played to their strengths and laying out a guide on how to make things difficult for Arsenal.

Arsenal’s Comeback Ruined

The Gunners came out for the second half with far more attacking intent and threat, as they put the Black Cats under far more pressure and looked a lot more like the league leaders we know.

This pressure would make Sunderland seem far less assured in build-up, dawdling on the ball in front of their own box, which they would pay for as Rice pressed Enzo Le Fee as he looked panicked, winning the ball and finding Eberechi Eze.

Eze played it to Mikel Merino who found Bukayo Saka, with the winger beating Roefs at his near post brilliantly to put Arsenal level and punishing Sunderland for their mistakes.

From the start of the second half, Arsenal really got into the game, having one of their best periods of the season, particularly at creating chances from open play, though they couldn’t quite beat Roefs from many of these chances.

Leandro Trossard would be the man to put Arsenal ahead however, as he received the ball on the edge of the box, with Noah Sadiki standing him up, he patiently waited for his opportunity to create separation, which he did so brilliantly.

Trossard fired an absolute rocket at goal, beating Roefs to put Arsenal ahead and setting Arsenal up to see the game out.

With Arteta’s side seeming to tire towards the end, they sat deep as they looked to see out the game, bringing only Cristhian Mosquera on, which saw them drop into a 6-3-1/6-2-2 low block at times.

Their tiredness, as well as their poor box defending on the day, something we don’t ever really see from Arsenal, came to bite them in the 93^rd minute.

With Trai Hume’s ball going into the box, Ballard pushed back into Zubimendi, forcing him into a poor header towards danger.

Gabriel was outmuscled for the goal, with testament to Brian Brobbey who’s ability to go against any defender with his physicality, he got onto the end of the ball before David Raya could claim it and hit home to secure the draw for Sunderland.

Brilliant Ballard

It felt as though Dan Ballard summed up Sunderland’s excellent performance at the Stadium of Light, defending his box extremely well, scoring the first goal and contributing massively to the equaliser.

Ballard, who used to be in the Arsenal academy, won man of the match and his numbers certainly prove why, as he dealt with every ball that came at him from Arsenal.

Sunderland once again showed against Arsenal why they’ve not only been one of the most impressive of the promoted sides this season, but one of the most impressive sides throughout the Premier League, with massive credit to Regis Le Bris.

Arsenal will be disappointed with not winning against Sunderland, though with the context of many of their players looking tired towards the end of the game, and the excellent performance of their opposition, it is a good point all things considered.

There will be plenty of reason for Sunderland to be delighted with their performance, and as long as Arteta is able to use his squad more and they can catch a break with injuries, there will be no reason for Arsenal to panic.

The best of Saturday’s 3 o’clock kick-offs featured a thrilling clash at the City Ground between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United. It was a fixture that promised plenty of intensity, with both sides entering the contest in vastly contrasting form. The visitors arrived full of confidence, having won four of their last five matches, including an impressive victory at Anfield and a dominant performance at home against Chelsea. Ruben Amorim’s team appeared to be finding rhythm and consistency after a mixed start to the season, and they travelled to Nottingham eager to continue their momentum. Forest, meanwhile, were in desperate need of a result. The home side had struggled for points in recent weeks and were still searching for their first points in the league since their trip to Turf Moor on the 20th of September. Sean Dyche’s men knew the importance of turning their form around, especially their home form. With both teams having plenty to play for, the stage was perfectly set for an engaging and hard-fought Premier League encounter.

How The Game Played Out

Games can often be won or lost in a matter of moments, and this match was no different. Forest once again found themselves undone by a familiar problem, conceding from a corner for the second consecutive week - and, remarkably, a corner that shouldn’t have been. That lapse proved costly early on, but Forest showed real character in their response. After going 1–0 down, they came out after the break with renewed energy and purpose, immediately taking control of the tempo. Their persistence was rewarded just three minutes into the second half when Morgan Gibbs-White rose superbly to meet a cross and guided a perfectly directed header beyond the goalkeeper in the 48th minute. Only two minutes later, Nicolo Savona capitalised on some shoddy United defending, reacting quickest inside the box to turn the game on its head and give Forest a deserved 2–1 lead.

United, however, continued to press as the game wore on, and their late equaliser felt a fair reflection of the overall pattern of play. Forest’s defensive frailties at set pieces again proved their undoing, as Amad Diallo produced a moment of genuine quality to strike home a controlled volley, punishing another lapse in organisation. It was a moment that summed up the afternoon - flashes of brilliance deciding a contest shaped by defensive uncertainty and small margins.

Tactical Battles

The average positions of both teams showcased how tight the game was in open play and even more so why all the goals came from lapses in concentration or set pieces.

Forest’s average positions (left) and United’s average positions (right)

You could see from the outset that there were mismatches all over the pitch, with both sides finding areas that suited their respective styles at different moments. Forest set up to go man-for-man against United’s back three, fully aware that, to make the most of his system, Amorim relies on his wide centre-backs - Shaw and Yoro - stepping forward confidently with the ball, while De Ligt stays deeper to provide cover. United, in contrast, preferred to form a 3–2 structure during their build-up, giving them greater stability and control in the first phase of possession. Forest, meanwhile, adopted a compact box shape between their midfield pivot and central defenders, a setup that helped them to close space efficiently. This approach benefited Forest by allowing them to isolate Sesko effectively while still maintaining numerical equilibrium in midfield.

For United, the use of Amad as a wing-back adds an extra layer of threat down their right-hand side and frequently creates a 2v1 situation against the opposing full-back (in this case, Neco Williams). This overload constantly tests Forest’s defensive organisation and their ability to provide support. When United manage to engineer this 2v1, it forces one of Douglas Luiz, Elliott Anderson, or Callum Hudson-Odoi to shift across to help cover the space. That defensive rotation, however, comes at a cost. As soon as one of those midfielders is drawn out of position, it frees up Casemiro to find pockets of space in central areas. In turn, that allows Bruno Fernandes - United’s main creative spark - greater freedom to operate between the lines, dictate play, and influence attacking transitions more effectively.

Individual Quality

Finally, despite those key moments ultimately deciding the game, there was one performance that truly stood out to me - up stepped Matheus Cunha.

In a match defined by fine margins and shifting momentum, Cunha’s influence was impossible to ignore. Even though he neither scored nor assisted, his impact went far beyond those numbers. He was a constant menace to Forest’s back four throughout, pressing intelligently, driving forward with intent, and consistently finding pockets in the left half space that unsettled Forest’s back four.

• 70 Touches

• 4 Key passes

• 60% Dribble success

• 11/17 Total duels won (both ground and aerial)

• 100% Long ball completion

On the surface, Cunha’s start to life at United has been slow, with just the one league goal thus far. However, his underlying numbers are impressive and this game showcased such, if Cunha can start getting similar output as he did last season - he and United will be a real problem for many teams this season.

The most intriguing game of the Sunday fixtures saw Aston Villa play host to Manchester City, a matchup that generated significant anticipation. Both teams entered the game in excellent form, with Villa having turned their season around following a somewhat rocky start. After a few challenging early matches, Unai Emery’s side had found their rhythm and were riding a three-game winning streak in the Premier League. On the other hand, Manchester City, despite facing occasional challenges, had been virtually unstoppable since their away defeat at Brighton in game week 3, remaining unbeaten in all competitions since. This clash brought together two sides in impressive form, setting the stage for an exciting and highly competitive encounter.

In the end it was Matty Cash’s strike in the 19th minute that won the game for Aston Villa. He found himself space on the edge of the box from a corner, beat Bernardo Silva and swept the ball into the bottom right corner on his weak foot - a superb finish.

How City Pressed Villa

City set out with an extremely aggressive press right from the first whistle, immediately asserting their intent to dominate territory and tempo. They adopted a man-oriented pressing structure, going virtually man to man against Aston Villa’s buildup phase. Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden were central to this approach, closely shadowing Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara throughout much of Villa’s early possession sequences. Rotations within City’s press were crucial, ensuring that numerical balance was maintained despite Villa’s attempts to play out from the back. As shown in this sequence, Villa initially had a spare man in Pau Torres, who found himself momentarily free to receive from Ezri Konsa. However, as soon as the pass was played, Torres became Phil Foden’s direct responsibility, triggering a coordinated chain reaction within City’s press. Tijjani Reijnders stepped up aggressively onto Onana, Bernardo Silva dropped onto Kamara to prevent an easy outlet, Erling Haaland curved his press to cut off the return pass to Konsa, and Oscar Bobb pushed higher to close down Lucas Digne on the flank. This synchronized movement effectively boxed Villa into their defensive third, showcasing the precision and intensity of City’s high press.

Emery’s Plan For The Press

Unai Emery was fully aware that his attacking players do not match up particularly well in terms of physical presence against Manchester City’s back four, all of whom stand well over six feet tall. This physical mismatch meant that he was forced to search for an alternative solution. Aston Villa therefore decided to bypass City’s aggressive press by exploiting the open spaces that were frequently left behind City’s midfield three. Watching this unfold immediately gave me flashbacks to how Oliver Glasner implemented a very similar approach during last season’s FA Cup final — comparable in concept, yet executed somewhat differently. City’s forward press, while extremely well organised and coordinated, still left a noticeable gap between the first pressing line and their defensive line of four, and at times that space became far too large. Villa’s defenders were clearly aware of this weakness and deliberately looked to bait City’s press before quickly dropping the ball in behind it. Their forwards would then swarm around the loose ball to contest the second phases, which often enabled them to launch swift counterattacks and escape pressure. In the example shown here, six of City’s players are positioned deep within Villa’s defensive third. Konsa then plays a long, direct ball straight through the centre of them, which not only eases the immediate pressure but also simultaneously allows Villa to spring forward on the break.

How Villa Managed The Game

Villa managed to fashion a significant number of chances throughout the entire game by repeatedly managing to beat City’s aggressive high press; however, despite doing so on numerous occasions, they never actually managed to score from any of those opportunities. Some of the most notable chances of the match fell to Jadon Sancho and John McGinn during the second half, yet even those attempts ultimately proved insufficient to double their slender lead. City, on the other hand, really began to push forward in the second half as they searched desperately for an equaliser, and their best opportunity of the half came through Phil Foden, who saw his effort heroically blocked. Over the course of the match, City generated a total of just 1.18 expected goals (xG), with 0.99 of that figure coming in the second half alone. However, that statistic should not mislead anyone into believing that they created enough clear chances to score - they did not. In fact, they attempted 16 shots during the second half, which meant their average xG per shot was only 0.062, reflecting how poor the quality of their opportunities truly was.

This lack of cutting edge from City was down to nothing less than a brilliant and extremely disciplined defensive display from Villa, who, for the final 20 minutes of the match, dropped deep and defended with all eleven players positioned behind the ball in a hybrid zonal and man-marking structure. The reason this setup was a hybrid zone/man system rather than the more traditional man-to-man structure that we have become accustomed to seeing from other teams was entirely due to the specific player matchups on the pitch. Unai Emery fully understood the tendencies and intentions of players such as Phil Foden, Jérémy Doku, and Rayan Cherki - each of whom constantly looked to exploit pockets of space - and he adjusted his defensive system accordingly.

Marking in this particular way enabled the centre-backs to effectively pick up an opposition player whenever that player moved into the half-space, while at the same time ensuring that they were not burdened with the responsibility of tracking them if they decided to drop deeper. In those situations, the defensive responsibility was smoothly passed on to another player occupying the appropriate zone. You can see this in the above example: Matty Cash is initially tasked with marking Nico O’Reilly. However, when O’Reilly drifts into a deeper area of the pitch, the responsibility of marking him is immediately transferred to Morgan Rogers, as O’Reilly has now entered Rogers’ defensive zone. Similarly, Phil Foden has just vacated Rogers’ zone and is on the verge of moving into Amadou Onana’s area of coverage. Because of the tight and compact nature of the spaces between Villa’s defensive and midfield lines, this kind of rotational marking becomes relatively straightforward for Aston Villa to execute. The players are able to pass on their marking assignments fluidly, ensuring there is minimal disruption to their overall defensive structure. This level of coordination allows Villa to rotate defensively without ever leaving a Manchester City player unmarked for long enough to cause any serious damage or create a dangerous opportunity.

Brentford came out on top at the Gtech Community Dtadium in an outstanding performance, beating champions Liverpool 3-2.

Arne Slot’s side have now lost four league games in a row, a run that would’ve been unthinkable this time last year.

Brentford’s Long Throws

The home side got off to a brilliant start as in the fifth minute, Dango Ouattara scored a volley from a Michael Kayode long throw in.

Arne Slot admitted after the game that Liverpool had only worked on long throws during their Friday training session, though it would prove to be ineffective as Kristoff Ajer beat Hugo Ekitike to the initial header.

Ouattara found space behind Milos Kerkez, allowing him to take on the volley relatively uncontested, which he finished to the right of Giorgi Mamardashvilli, against the momentum of the Liverpool keeper.

Once again, Liverpool showed their weakness in defending set pieces, which has plagued them for some time now and despite Slot’s constant reference to these issues in the media, it was something that saw them go down early once again.

Directness Kills Liverpool

Liverpool looked to progress up the pitch through Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai looking to break the lines, though after the ball left them two, they largely struggled to hold onto it.

This was evident for Brentford’s second goal, as Jones played a ball into Florian Wirtz, who found Ekitike who had dropped deep, looked to play a pass back into Wirtz, it went straight to Igor Thiago.

As soon as Brentford had the ball, Kevin Schade made a run, looking to isolate Konate who had minimal support with Conor Bradley high up the pitch preparing to get forward.

Schade ran in behind onto a brilliant Damsgaard through ball, leaving Konate in his dust before slotting past Mamardashvilli, who should’ve done much better for the goal.

This goal was the ultimate highlight of Liverpool’s problems this season, sloppy and uninspiring in possession and easily beaten in transition, it looks dire at the minute and aside from the impressive win against Frankfurt in midweek, there are very little signs of improvement.

How Brentford Won

Keith Andrews’ side were incredibly up for the game, winning so many of the second balls, showing toughness and looking like they wanted it a lot more than the Liverpool players today.

Liverpool’s goal kicks were met with an aggressive man-to-man press, which tended to see them win the ball, as they looked to put the weaker links in Liverpool’s build-up such as Kerkez and Mohamed Salah under pressure.

They defended incredibly well, limiting Liverpool’s attacking threat with a 4-4-2/4-1-4-1 low block, with many instances where the whole team was sat behind the ball and Liverpool struggled to break through.

Brentford played direct football including dangerous long throws and long balls which caused plenty of issues for the champions, and saw them having more big chances than Liverpool, though the same xG.

Were Liverpool Rattled?

With how well Brentford played and how eager they were to win every loose ball, as well as making the game as difficult as possible for a struggling Liverpool side, it was hard to see any sort of impressive play from Liverpool.

They did have their moments, such as Kerkez’s goal coming from a good Bradley cross, though it could have been dealt with better by Brentford, and a few attacks that looked like they had promise, Liverpool just didn’t seem to be anywhere near as eager to win as Brentford.

The players looked uninspiring in build-up, slow to react defensively in transition and they were bullied by the Bees, to the point where they looked weak and worried.

While Slot obviously has credit in the bank, questions will need to be asked of the Dutch manager when Liverpool continue to look poor due to issues that have been apparent for months now.

The only real positives that the Reds can take from this game is the exceptional performance of Dominik Szoboszlai who seemed to be the only player to give his all, completing the most passes (72), winning the most tackles (3) & duels (11), as well as making the most recoveries (10) on the pitch.

It will also be good to see the Hungarian assisting Salah who scored an exceptional goal, as it might be just what he needs to gain a bit of confidence and kick on this season to the levels we’ve grown accustomed to from him.

Man Utd’s Direct Tactics

Amorim’s men were able to find the breakthrough early in the game with a familiar routine, going direct from the goal kick and looking to battle for those second balls with their midfield net behind the first contact (Mbuemo in this case).

From this scenario, United are able to get the ball to Amad Diallo 1v1 against Milos Kerkez, opening space for Bryan Mbeumo to attack on the blind side of Virgil van Dijk, causing an issue for the Liverpool defensive line as they tried to pass the man on, allowing United to take the lead after just 62 seconds and change the frame of the contest.

United’s 5-4-1 Press

The early lead in this game allowed United to sit in a more compact 5-4-1 block, looking to defend zonally, giving Liverpool space and time on the ball in deeper areas, but forcing them to play risky passes between the lines or over the top.

Created using the JLA Tactics Board! Available Here: https://jlatacticsboard.com/

Liverpool have struggled this season when it comes to their build up, losing Trent Alexander-Arnold who would’ve likely thrived in a game like this, having time to drop deep and pick his head up, spraying those quarterback type passes into the front line.

Instead, Ibrahima Konate was often tasked with making these line breakers, with Mbeumo and Mason Mount looking to cut off the passing lanes to the fullbacks tucking inside, whilst Matheus Cunha dropped onto Ryan Gravenberch to stop him turning and carrying through the lines instead.

After an effective first half, limiting Liverpool to just 0.70 xG from seven shots, United went one step further in their compact 5-4-1 block, dropping the inside forwards behind the fullbacks to limit the space between the lines, putting the onus on Liverpool to break them down.

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After a poor season last year I don’t think anyone was predicting the title being brought back to Manchester, yet they currently sit in third and only three points of the leaders Arsenal. There’s never really been any doubt on their ability going forward, obviously due to the large Norwegian man they have upfront but also last season they were still the second-best attacking side according to xG last season. However, defensively they have been suspect, the conceding the 7^th least xG last year has now been transformed into the join third. After a slightly awkward start with two losses to Spurs and Brighton, they’ve now only conceded two in their last five Premier League games. A back five or Trafford, Rico Lewis, John Stones, Khusannov and Ait-Nouri has now been transformed to a much more solid and experienced defensive line of Donnarumma, O’Reilly, Dias, Gvardiol and Nunes.

Across the North-West, Everton this season have shown flashes of real quality, especially at home; where they remain unbeaten after an impressive win against Palace. However there away form has been underwhelming and expectations before the Man City match were particularly negative. However, despite what the scoreline might suggest, Everton compete at the Etihad without 2 of their five best players in Grealish ad Branthwaite. The away sides chance creation without their main assets was decent and as it seems to be every week the strikers disappointed.

Phil Foden is quietly making an impression

There is an interesting conversation to be had regarding what Thomas Tuchel is likekly to do with his midfield three next summer. There’s an array of options, I’ve seen suggestions from Eze to Bellingham to Rodgers for example. However, and I know we’ve been here before and he has been underwhelming but Phil Foden is quietly displaying real quality in a midfield three.

23/24 Premier League season.

24/25 Premier League season.

The above shows how his role on the pitch has changed compared to his PFA Player of the year winning season. He made the 5^th most touches on the pitch against Everton playing in a much deeper role where he was tasked to progress the ball through to attacking areas (7 progressive passes, 3^rd most on the pitch). Obviously, Phil Foden is a magnificent player to watch, however a year of incontinency’s does lead to a necessity of top form for him to truly return to these conversations, however he’s on his way.

Welcome to the mainstream, Illiman Ndiaye.

Ndiaye has always been a wonderful footballer, in my onion he’s one of the best dribblers in the world yet he often looks slightly limited from a creative aspect. He only registered his first ever assist for Everton against Liverpool this season, yet he has already matched his Xag (expected assists) from last season’s premier league campaign to this, 1.8. At 25 years old it does seem now he’s fully developing into a more rounded player; I spoke to someone who played with him during his season at Boreham Wood and he never passed, why would he? However if he can add these elements to his game then I really don’t think there’s a limit to where he can play. He’s take a shift to the right hand side in his stride and after a rejected bid from Inter Milan, I am sure Everton receive much more of the same in the summer.

So how did City come away with the win?

Like many sides away at the Etihad Everton looked to sit in a compact block that prevented progression through central areas. Both goals came from Everton’s lack of coverage in wide areas.

Jake O’Brien was tasked to man mark Doku, whilst Ndiaye would share responsibilities marshalling both O’Reilly and Foden depending on the positions they took up. The above shows a very simple but crucial movements from City’s triangle on the left hand side. Doku would first move inside drawing O’Brien with him creating an open wide channel, Foden would then attempt to draw N’diaye towards him by dropping deep allowing O’Reilly to have full autonomy to move across the left flank. Once he’s received the ball in an open crossing position with Haaland in the box there’s only ever so much a defence can do. This seems pretty basic from Everton and they almost looked like easy goals to score, however if you focus on defending that wide left area, then Foden would have had the entire half space to play in, ultimately a Guardiola side will find a way to engineer chances, especially with 71% possession.

So what next?

I think for both sides there were positives to take away from not brilliant performances, Everton were allowed to create chances and maybe on another day they score, however City are now looking like the side of old who can go on and win 10 games on the bounce comfortably, I now believe they’ve entered the title race.

Gameweek 6 saw Oliver Glasner’s high-flying Eagles travel up to the blue side of Merseyside to play Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Coming into the game, Crystal Palace were unbeaten in 18 matches - a run stretching back to last April after their 5–0 loss to Newcastle at St. James’ Park. However, this week they faced an Everton team that were, and still are, unbeaten at the Hill Dickinson.

Tale Of Two Halves.

Palace controlled proceedings in the first half, creating a multitude of big chances. Tyrick Mitchell struck the bar, and Mateta tested Pickford down to his right with a solid effort, all before Daniel Muñoz opened the scoring in the 37th minute. The Eagles enjoyed 53% of possession and produced 0.63 expected goals (xG) compared to Everton’s 0.04. Everton looked sluggish and completely unable to match Palace’s intensity and, in truth, could have found themselves in a far worse position than just 1–0 down at half-time had Palace enjoyed a little more fortune.

The match momentum bar displaying Palace’s dominance in the first half.

In the second half, the game was almost completely turned on its head. Palace still managed to create a couple of good chances - notably an effort from Mateta from ten yards out that had Pickford scrambling - but unfortunately for the Frenchman, he dragged his shot wide. However, these opportunities mostly came from counter-attacking moves rather than the patient, methodical approach we saw from them in the first half that baited Everton’s press many times.

The 2nd half momentum bar, almost the complete opposite of the first half.

Everton took complete control in the second half, they had 54% of the ball and created a huge 1.99 expected goals (xG) - this was astronomically better than their first-half performance. They matched Palace’s intensity and the early introductions of Carlos Alcaraz and Beto in the 46th minute helped them do this. Carlos Alcaraz’s chance in the 66th minute epitomised everything Everton were doing in the 2nd half; forward thinking, on the front foot and getting to every loose ball first - something they weren’t doing in the first half. He latched onto a loose ball that Chris Richards had failed to deal with, despite not really looking anywhere near favourite to recover the ball, he burst through the gap between Richards and Lacroix and his rifled effort forced a good save from Dean Henderson.

Moyes Boys Force Palace Mistakes.

Everton really took advantage of the momentum they built up throughout the 2nd half - they had Palace shaken and they knew it.

Everton’s equaliser stemmed from a well-executed overload on Palace’s right-hand side. By rotating their attacking midfielders and full-back into the wide channels and half-spaces, Everton created a 4v3 situation that forced Palace’s defensive line to shift laterally. This stretched their compactness and left Maxence Lacroix isolated against two runners (Beto and Tim Iroegbunam) without cover from his full-back or holding midfielder. The situation caused Lacroix to panic and commit to a diving tackle - something we’re not used to seeing from him, which subsequently resulted in the penalty.

The winning goal was one again that epitomised the second half of football from both sides, Everton looked willing whilst Palace were unorganised and honestly looked to be feeling the effects of playing mid-week in the Conference League. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a huge slice of luck for Munoz’s clearance to bounce off Grealish the way it did - but this was luck that Everton created for themselves. As the ball comes in, both Lacroix and Guehi are ball-watching whilst Beto and Alcaraz are completely unmarked - leaving Chris Richards unable to step up onto Beto due to Tarkowski’s threat. Grealish makes a run at the back post, strolling past Adam Wharton and into the position to be a threat.

Final Take-Aways

Whilst this game was ultimately lost by Palace due to a penalty and a deflected clearance, these facts shouldn’t take anything away from Everton’s efforts in making those moments happen. Palace went into this match with the joint-best defensive record in the league, having conceded just three goals in six games, yet Everton repeatedly found ways to disrupt their back line - causing complete disorganisation in a unit that is usually so astute.

For Everton, it was a very important three points, especially given that their next three fixtures are tough - trips to both Manchester City and Sunderland, with a home game against Thomas Frank’s Spurs in between.

As for Palace, they’ll be disheartened - of course they will be; no team wants to lose a game in which they took the lead. However, despite the defeat, they still sit in sixth place - just two points off fourth and four points behind league leaders Arsenal.

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An evening game at the bridge, Blue vs Red, an array of narratives to play out. My belly was always going to be full and after 96 minutes of football believe me, I was stuffed. An 18-year-old Brazilian wonderkid scoring a 95^th minute winner, sorry but Liverpool extending to three games lost on the bounce, and one hell of a tactical battle… wowzers. I feel this game was incredibly informative and both managers would have learnt a lot, and I expect this to have one hell of a ripple effect (great podcast) on the rest of the season.

So what did I notice and what did I learn? Chelsea’s out-of-possession structure led to an implementation of an aggressive press, utilising the speed of Gusto, Neto and Garnacho in particular led to Liverpool struggling to play out. I also think this was down to a failure from the Merseyside club. There are a multitude of reasons why I think Liverpool have struggled to control games and progress comfortably through their first third across this season.

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On The Fallout this week:

•⁠ Brentford vs Man United

• Chelsea vs Brighton

• Tottenham vs Wolves

• Newcastle vs Arsenal

Brentford vs Man United

The focus of the tactical discussion surrounding Brentford after this game, I imagine, will be on their decisiveness and directness.

This is slightly misguided, however. Brentford are only able to play so directly, and successfully, because of their off-the-ball play; this is what I’d like to reiterate and investigate in this post-match analysis: how their out-of-possession work enabled them to dismantle Manchester United.

Brentford made two changes from their last showing against Fulham, resulting in a formational shift from a back-3 to a back-4.

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This change arises from Keith Andrews’ recognition of a key battle: Manchester United all season have struggled with control in the midfield, they have trouble progressing the ball through the press in the centre of the pitch. Swapping to a back-4 allows Brentford to overload central areas, hence controlling the midfield – and winning the key battle.

This tactical change was effective. Throughout the game, the duo of Henderson and Yarmolyuk operated very closely together; at times, you can see Henderson coordinating the positions of himself and Yarmolyuk, telling Yarmolyuk to stay at a shoelace distance.

Out of possession, this works because Henderson and Yarmolyuk, when functioning closely together, allow them to quickly shut down and press the opposing double pivot, Bruno Fernandes and Ugarte. This affords the Manchester United midfield no time to take a breath and make a pass. The pressing structure, during Manchester United’s build-up, looked like this:

The aggressiveness of this press, often finding Henderson and Yarmolyuk in high positions, rattled and unnerved Manchester United, who were never able to dictate the ebb and flow of the game. The game, especially in the first half, consequently, was basketball-esque with no team really able to settle.

These common transitional phases, where the ball never seemed to be at rest – constantly moving – suited Brentford, who thrived on the chaos – granting them numerous opportunities to hit Manchester United on the break: the first ball after winning the ball back from the press was often played direct, straight over or around the Manchester United defenders who struggle defending facing the goal.

The three Brentford goals all arose from situations when the game was in transition. Henderson’s through-ball for the first goal is the perfect example of this.

Brentford win the ball back due to their aggressiveness and intensity; the ball falls to Henderson who straight away clips it over the Manchester United defenders:

Thiago’s brilliantly timed run (along with his equally brilliantly finished goal) led to the first goal and the blueprint for how Brentford will continue to exploit Manchester United’s vulnerabilities.

It is precisely these pressing structures that enable Brentford to play so decisively: win the ball, move it quickly and directly.

We must also pause to mention Brentford’s long throw-ins and corners. The throw-ins straight onto the head of the keeper always threatened and the corners, typically towards the backpost, created very solid chances even if they failed to convert them today.

To summarise: by pressing in fits and bursts, and through their quality set pieces, Brentford purposefully created uncertainty and precarity – managing to capitalise on this game state.

That they managed to hang onto the lead (something they haven’t done this season) by having the wingers tracking back and marking the opposing wing-backs, is extremely optimistic and further proof that they are very likely to stay up.

Ruben’s Ropey Rhetoric

There is often a simplification and exaggeration of the role of formations in popular football analysis: supposedly, all of Manchester United’s problems (leaky stadium included) will be solved if they switch from a back-3 to a back-4.

In contemporary football, where formations are dynamic and ever-changing, most if not all teams function with a back-3 and back-4 depending on the game state.

If not the formation, then what are Manchester United’s problems? They were on full display today.

You see, the frustration with Manchester United is that everyone, the manager included, can see what the problem is, and yet it never seems to be rectified from game-to-game. And it was the same problem again in this game: getting overrun in midfield and the profiles of the defenders.

Let’s start with the midfield. We’ve seen that Brentford purposely targeted Manchester United’s midfield through their shift of formation; Brentford, consequently, managed to overrun the midfield.

These are the average positions at half-time:

There is, evidently, a huge space between the double pivot and the attackers – meaning that progressing the ball central through the press is more challenging. The depth of the pivot, (25) and (8), is due to Brentford’s aggressive press which forces the Manchester United midfielders deeper in order to receive the ball.

However, because Brentford are committing their midfielders high up the pitch, there is space open to be exploited behind them.

This would allow through-the-lines balls that would help initiate Manchester United progressing the ball up the pitch.

After half-time, the average positions change, as more of these players move into the free space indicated above:

But, despite this, Manchester United still didn’t take enough advantage of this free space: if this is due to the players not enacting the manager’s rubric or the failure of Amorim to see this, we can only speculate.

Another problem area is the profile of the defenders.

Starting Maguire, on paper, makes sense; Brentford are a team that rely heavily on balls into the box, Harry Maguire is great at winning balls in the box.

However, the problem is that Amorim’s system requires defenders to be good on the ball and, due to the highline, confident at defending facing the goal: De Ligt and Maguire are neither. They neither play enough line-breaking passes nor avoid getting positionally caught out – when defending facing the goal, they end up in no man’s land.

For the second goal, four of the back five run towards the ball – opening up the space that causes the goal. Rookie mistakes.

Whether this underperforming Manchester United is due to the players or the manager, as we said before, is hard to say. What isn’t hard to say is that Amorim’s position as head coach is looking increasingly tenuous as the games go on.

Chelsea vs Brighton

In this age of multiclub ownership, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Brighton were (another) one of Chelsea’s feeder clubs, with four of Chelsea’s starting eleven being signed from Brighton. If you’d watched the game, however, you’d realise that this friendship is only fiscal in nature – there is no love lost between the players and the fans in this fiery affair.

The Typical Ten

Chelsea fans might be worried. The problems appear plentiful.

Chelsea have only won one in the last five games, the solitary win coming from a 2-1 beating of Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup. The subsequent substitutions and tactical tweaks after his team’s red cards have also come under criticism: seemingly too naïve and conservative.

Furthermore, it seems to have become a trend for Chelsea to finish the game with 10 men – having done so similarly against Manchester United in the last Premier League game. Is this a squad-wide disciplinary issue?

And, to top it off, Chelsea are undergoing an injury crisis, where their first four choices for centre backs are injured or suspended. And they play Liverpool next week.

Unfortunately for Chelsea, a lot of these problems were on full display against Brighton. In this piece, I primarily want to focus on Maresca’s game management, as this was, I contend, the most critical factor for their loss.

Maresca’s style involves a lot of short passes in the build-up. So far this season, Chelsea have attempted the most short passes out of any other team:

Stylistically, this is all well and good – what’s pertinent, however, is when teams choose to pass short. In this game, Chelsea were punished twice for this tactic: either, it’s a problem of discernment, for not choosing the right time to pass short – or an implicit risk of a style of play that commits to passing short.

In the lead-up to the first goal, Santos (17), receives the ball from a short pass – the Brighton attack, at this point, follows their press.

Obviously, a Premier League midfielder should make light work of this pass (as we can see above) and easily control the ball – but, this time, Santos doesn’t – taking a heavy touch that leads to Chalobah being sent off.

Poor individual play from Santos, to be sure, but that’s the risk of committing to playing short the majority of the time – even when the attackers are bearing down.

For the final goal, we see the same thing: an inopportune time to play short.

Chelsea are chasing a goal with minutes remaining, yet they decide to play the ball short – even though the defence hasn’t found their set positions and are positionally in disarray.

Chelsea fans better hope that these moments of madness from the players are the players acting out of turn, rather than being a condition of the football that Maresca wants to play; for we’ve seen all too recently how long tactically inflexible managers last.

He’s Mint, Eh?

Brighton’s tactics (before and after the red card) were the same: isolate the full backs and put the ball into the box. This was coupled with a semi-aggressive press. They took a little while to warm up, but eventually, Brighton started to threaten the wide areas, specifically targeting Cucurella.

We know they like to single out the fullbacks, and we also know that they are then very good at going past them. After all, they have the perfect players for this in Mitoma and Minteh. This season, they’ve completed the joint most take-ons:

For this game, their main outlet for take-ons was Minteh, who was (and sorry about the cliche but apt description) electric.

For the first Brighton goal, Minteh squares up Gusto – who didn’t look like he was enjoying marking Minteh.

Minteh’s turn of pace takes him easily past Gusto, then he puts in a fantastic cross for Welbeck to finish.

Minteh did this on both flanks for the whole of the game.

It’s always hard, in light of a red card for the opposition team, to judge how well they have played – considering they play against 10 men.

The conclusions we can draw, however, are twofold: first, this preeminent tactic of utilising their tricky wingers will be (and will continue to be) successful – their wingers are of such a quality that they can go past nearly all Premier League fullbacks; second, Hurzeler’s ability to change the course of the game through substitutions (two subs scored and two other subs assisted) is excellent and displays his tactical flexibility and astuteness.

As for the second point about Hurzeler – maybe Maresca should take notes.

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On The Fallout this week:

•⁠ Liverpool vs Everton

• Man United vs Chelsea

• Fulham vs Brentford

• Sunderland vs Aston Villa

•⁠ ⁠Arsenal vs Man City

Liverpool vs Everton

Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike scored the goals for Liverpool today in the Merseyside Derby as they made it five wins out of five maintaing their perfect record, even if the performance once again wasn’t up to the standard expected.

A strong start from the Reds

Liverpool started the game well, specifically with combination play on the right-hand side with Dominik Szoboszlai, Conor Bradley and Mohamed Salah causing massive issues for Everton, with each player happy to move out wide or drift inside, varying the positions they took up, keeping the Blues guessing.

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This was highlighted during Gravenberch’s goal, with Szoboszlai playing the pass into Salah, with Bradley’s underlapping run dragging both James Garner and Jack Grealish out wide leaving acres of space for Gravenberch to run into as he volleyed it home.

Gravenberch the Great

Ryan Gravenberch won the man of the match award in the game on the back of an imperious performance. The Dutchman won five tackles, won six of nine duels and made seven recoveries, while becoming the youngest player ever to score and assist in a Merseyside Derby.

Gravenberch, who has added goals to his game this season, has continued to show how important he is for the Reds, staking his claim as one of the best midfielders in the league, if not the world, excelling for Arne Slot’s side.

How Everton Got Back Into The Game

Having gone two goals up, Liverpool dropped deeper, inviting pressure, which has been a running theme for them this season, despite only seeming to lead to goals conceded.

Everton took advantage of this, with both Vitaliy Mykolenko and Jack Grealish coming deeper out wide, dragging Gravenberch across and leaving Bradley man to man with Grealish and freeing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to make the run in behind to cut it back, which was the Blues’ main way of creating chances in the first half.

Liverpool did manage to solve this issue, with Gravenberch more alert to the runs from Dewsbury-Hall, however, the Reds’ performances continued to drop following an impressive first half an hour, struggling to keep possession, allowing Everton to get at them on the wing, as well as Jake O’Brien given plenty of opportunities to take his long throw-ins.

The Reds for the most part handled the danger well, however, with Jack Grealish a constant threat, he beat Bradley on the edge of the box and played the cross over to Iliman Ndiaye, who cut it back for Gueye to make it 2-1 just before the hour mark.

How Liverpool Saw The Game Out

Curtis Jones coming on for Liverpool did make the difference, as he replaced Alexis Mac Allister who hasn’t looked fit this season so far. Jones, who helped Liverpool win it against Arsenal, today brought calmness to Liverpool, completing all his passes bar one, helping Liverpool in midfield where they were being overrun prior to the change.

With Liverpool staying atop the Premier League, it can only be seen as a positive sign that despite not looking like they’ve clicked fully as a team with the new signings, they have won every game this season.

For Everton, they showed positive signs, and with players like Grealish and Ndiaye, they pose a threat going forward as well as their solid defensive unit could see them continue their impressive season, even if the result didn’t come for them today against their Merseyside rivals.

Manchester United vs Chelsea

Manchester United bounced back from a loss against Manchester City as they beat Chelsea at Old Trafford, with both sides going down to ten men in the first half, with Casemiro and Robert Sanchez being sent off.

Sanchez Sees Red And Sesko Uses His Head

The start of the game will go down as one of the most bizarre in Premier League history, with Robert Sanchez’s sending off immediately a dramatic twist early on.

The lead up to the red card showed a very positive sign for Manchester United, with Benjamin Sesko winning the header, flicking it on to Bryan Mbeumo who was kicked by the Chelsea goalkeeper.

A flick on isn’t the most complicated or special action in the world, but it’s these sorts of basics that United have lacked for years and it could be something to build off going forward at Old Trafford.

Poor Crisis Management For Chelsea

Chelsea had very few positives to take from the first half, with the subs from Enzo Maresca raising questions, as he took off Estevao for Jorgensen to go in goal, as well as Pedro Neto for Tosin Adarabioyo.

Maresca was more concerned about staying defensively sound and seeing the game out for a draw, though they could only stand firm for seven minutes after the substitution before Bruno Fernandes got on the end of Patrick Dorgu’s header and slotted home.

It only got worse for Chelsea as a poor clearance from Reece James only saw the ball come back down with the defence seemingly confused.

Luke Shaw then won the header, finding Casemiro at the back post to nod home.

The Chelsea defence will be questioning why Filip Jorgensen didn’t come to claim the ball as it hung in the air for quite a while, but Shaw’s eagerness to win the header was rewarded as they went 2-0 up.

The first half showed that Chelsea would have been better off keeping Neto on as his blistering pace could’ve offered them an option to get up the pitch and possibly get a goal on the counter, instead every opportunity they got to go forward fell flat quickly.

A Lacklustre Second Half

Following Casemiro’s second yellow nearing the end of the first half, United were more than happy to defend their lead, allowing Chelsea possession as they sat back looking to hit them on the counter, with Manuel Ugarte now on for Sesko.

Chelsea made very little of their 72% possession in the second half, with very little threat going forward despite bringing Tyrique George on in attack, as they seemed to pass it side to side, unable to get into the final third and do anything of notice.

The biggest threat from the Blues was a few promising crosses from Reece James, which did lead to a Trevoh Chalobah goal to make it 2-1 in the 80^th minute, but not much else as United dealt with them well, and even the goal would likely have been dealt with better if Harry Maguire was still on the pitch.

After making it 2-1, Chelsea would have hoped to put the Red Devils under real pressure as they chased an equaliser, however, there was never really that feeling that Chelsea could go on and level the game, with United able to see the game out quite comfortably.

In a game that was essentially decided in the 6^th minute with Robert Sanchez sent off, it felt more as though it was about how bad Chelsea were on the day, rather than how good Amorim’s side played.

The lack of pace in the side killed any hope for Chelsea in progressing up the pitch, coupled with poor defending for the goals, it always looked as though United would win the game.

Manchester United fans will definitely take the positives though, as they did look the better side, and taking three points against another ‘big six’ side is certainly something that could be used as a turning point for Ruben Amorim.

Fulham vs Brentford

The West London derby ended 3-1 as Fulham move into 7^th with Alex Iwobi winning man of the match, handing Keith Andrews’ Brentford their third away defeat as they sit just above the relegation zone.

Damsgaard Delight

Brentford started the game well despite Fulham’s control, looking particularly threatening from Michael Kayode’s long throw-ins, though Fulham did handle them well.

Iwobi admitted that they worked hard in training on defending these situations and reacting to second balls in his post-match interview.

The goal came for Brentford from Fulham playing out of defence, as they pressed man for man, with Josh King coming deep to receive the ball, who looked for the more progressive option in Kenny Tete rather than the safer Joachim Andersen.

Mikkel Damsgaard anticipated this, as he left his man and intercepted the pass, before coolly slotting in the bottom right corner to put Brentford a goal to the good in the 20^th minute.

Iwobi Hits Back

Fulham made their dominance count as Sasa Lukic’s blocked shot caused issues as it came into the box, with Rodrigo Muniz using his strength to throw Nathan Collins off balance as he failed to clear the ball.

Sepp van den Berg failed to get it clear as well, with his clearance taking a bounce off both Kayode and Muniz.

Iwobi reacted excellently to hit the ball between Collins’ legs into the back of the net, showing that their work in reacting to second balls had paid off even outside of dealing with the throw-ins.

Iwobi wasn’t done there, as he received the ball from Muniz outside the box, playing a perfectly weighted pass to Harry Wilson who had found space in behind both Pinnock and van den Berg.

Wilson’s decision to take the shot first time proved vital, as it didn’t allow the defenders time to get back into position to close him down as the Welshman found the bottom left corner beautifully, making it his seventh goal against Brentford in his career.

Fulham Finish Brentford Off

The Cottagers’ third goal came early in the second half as Joachim Andersen’s long ball found Ryan Sessegnon in space out wide, whose cross came in and hit the back of Pinnock’s neck as he tried to get under the ball to head it clear, with Muniz once again causing havoc for Collins.

Muniz continued his dominance over Collins as he battled him in the air, and making the run for Wilson to find him, before unleashing a rocket on Kelleher which hit the back of the net with force, though his overzealousness in winning the initial aerial duel left Collins bleeding and saw the goal ruled out.

Fulham won the game through brilliance going forward, and a strong defensive performance as they move further up the table with their second victory on the bounce.

For Keith Andrews, it will be another learning curve as they struggled once again away at home, but there won’t be any panic just yet for a side that have had so much change ahead of this season.

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On The Fallout this week:

• Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest

• Bournemouth vs Brighton 

•⁠ Burnley vs Liverpool

•⁠ ⁠Man City vs Man United

Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest

Arsenal’s Sizable Arsenal

The ease with which Arsenal won this game is truly impressive. Without Saka, Saliba, Odegaard (for most of the game), Havertz, and Rice (rested after international duty) - all key starters - Arsenal still won comfortably: to win so easily is a testament to the depth of their squad - and is a formidable warning to their title rivals.

Let’s look at how this rotated Arsenal XI dominated the game.

Arsenal set-up as expected, in possession, a kind of 3-1-6: (The arrows indicate the typical movements of the players.)

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I want to particularly draw attention to the highlighted Eze and Madueke. After the game, Arteta expressed how their distinct profiles allowed the team to excel.

Madueke, on the one hand, is an old fashioned winger. He likes to hug the touchline, and is unbelievably singleminded in his approach: get past his man to the byline and cut the ball back. Defenders, of course, know this. That doesn’t allow them to stop him, however: in this game, neither Morato nor Williams could inhibit Madueke.

The corner that leads to the goal arises from Madueke’s direct approach.

Here, we see Madueke standing off his man, slowing the pace of the game. Then, with a burst of pace, he flies past him:

At the byline, Madueke cuts it back - the ball, this time, is cleared, but the resulting corner allows Zubimendi to finish his volley in an unbelievable fashion.

This is one example of Madueke’s continued terrorisation of the right-wing.

On the opposite side of the pitch is Eze, with the opposing type of profile. Eze, unlike Madueke, is more comfortable closer to the centre of the pitch. See, like Madueke, he has pace, but his greatest strength is his skill on the ball. Eze’s quick footwork seems to make time slow down, allowing him to thrive in the tightest spaces where every second counts.

This ability on the ball was instrumental in the second goal.

The ball is played over the top and Eze, first-time and on the half-volley, plays an exquisite ball across to Gyokeres who need only pass the ball into the net.

To draw attention to a couple of other excellent players: Nwaneri, who replaced the injured Odegaard within 20 minutes, looked completely at home; and, most notably, Mosquera, who has come in for the injured Saliba, has made the transition looking seamless - as though there isn’t a drop off from missing one of the best centrebacks in the Premier League.

This game helps to confirm that the floor of the Arsenal squad is so high that, even without 5 starters, they barely need to break a sweat. Title rivals, on the other hand, if they weren’t before the game, should be nervous - and sweating.

Marinankis’ Mob

Nuno Espírito Santo was relieved (in both senses of the word) of his managerial duties Tuesday morning.

It is not hyperbolic to say that, result-wise, Nuno is one of Nottingham Forest’s best managers in recent history: last season he led them to 7th position, European spots - something Nottingham Forest hadn’t managed to replicate in 29 years. He also started the season solidly, picking up four points in three games.

You’d be mistaken to think that this sacking is because of results, however.

The relationship between Nuno and the club hierarchy had, reportedly, been deemed irreparable. Nuno, dissatisfied with transfer policies, had fallen out of favour with the owner, Evangelos Marinakis, and disagreed with the methods of Forest’s (and Olympiakos, and Rio Ave FC…) Global Head of Football, Edu.

It turns out Marinakis’ first name, Evangelos, is only nominal. He did not deliver Nuno good news: a harsh, and maybe unfair, decision - but, “it’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.”

You see, blood and ethnicity are intricately intertwined for the Family. There is a desire to limit the diffusion of power, keeping it closely tied to familial bonds. He found that in the replacement, Ange Postecoglu; the Nottingham Forest (Mob) Boss, when presenting the Greek head coach award, said:

“What I want to say about Ange is that he has spoken about Greece many times, he is proud to be Greek and in the great success he had with Tottenham by winning the Europa League, he spoke about Greece.”

Footballing-wise, Nuno and Ange are polar opposites. Nuno favours defensive solidity - soak up the attack with a low-block, then hit them on the break: last season, Forrest had the deepest defensive line in all of the top 5 leagues and the lowest number of touches per player in the Premier League. Ange favours attacking entertainment - to win, he utilises a high-line: last season in the Premier League, Spurs had one of the highest possession percentages.

It is Ange’s stylistic difference, as well as the appeal of having a Hellenic household, that resulted in Marinakis, evidently, “[making] him an offer he can’t refuse”.

And yet, despite these marked, theoretical differences, they were scarcely evident against Arsenal.

Ange’s Inaugural Game

It’s hard to read into this game: Ange has only had one full training session with all the players since taking over; making such a change in so little time would be nigh impossible. And so, against Arsenal, there weren’t many differences between Nuno’s Forest and Ange’s Forest.

As we know, Ange has a very distinctive kind of football. But, despite the media narrative surrounding his entrenched and uncompromising style - Ange has, fairly routinely, adapted his game. The final three or four Europa League games with Spurs are an example of this: sure, his teams still attacked when the opportunity presented itself - but, they weren’t as gung-ho as they typically were. He’s shown he can be pragmatic when needed.

Ange, also, isn’t stupid. He knows that to repurpose the team, and the team’s style of play, requires a delicate and nuanced hand - not a blunt and unyielding bludgeon.

As such, Ange continued with his predecessor’s low-ish block, not switching to his preferred high-line. Nor did Forest press as aggressively (or as fluidly) as Ange teams have done in the past. And, to top it off, the score (3-0) was identical to Nuno’s Forest last year.

They set up as expected in a 4-2-3-1, and even though they did have passages of playing some nice football - they were pretty poor.

We did learn some things, however - after now gaining some concrete evidence of players under Ange.

First, Ndoye in particular - along with Hudson-Odoi and Bakwa - are the perfect fit for Ange. Spurs’ wingers didn’t suit his style - they struggled to beat a man one-on-one and so couldn’t hit the byline. Maeda at Celtic, under Ange, alternatively was great at this - and excelled.

The most significant chance for Forest occurred when this worked: Nodye went past his man and cut an early ball across to Wood.

After a chaotic sequence, the ball fell to Hudson-Odoi, who would likely have scored if not for an excellent tackle from Mosquera.

Second, we’ve learnt that Wood may not be cut out for Ange’s style. The pressing structure wasn’t fluid - and this disjointedness was largely due to Wood pressing alone, not in tandem with the team. This is not surprising - pressing has never been a core element of Wood’s game.

Third, Anderson is an absolute joy to watch - and, I think, will thrive under Ange. Where Ange lacked an expressive, and defensively sound defensive midfielder at Spurs (except for the few sporadic games where Bissouma turned into Xavi), Anderson is just this: brave on the ball, capable of line-breaking passes, and highly intelligent. If Ange is to succeed, Anderson must be at the heart of this new Forest side.

It’s difficult to come to a definitive answer over how good Ange’s Forest will be. Against the best defence in the league, with some of the best well-drilled pressing structures, Forest were always going to struggle.

Their next game against Burnley will be the real test.

Bournemouth vs Brighton

This game was poised to be a tactical tussle between two equally adept, young, and hungry managers with completely different styles and tactics. And it was so - so much so, that they essentially nullified each other. At moments it was fueled solely by heated intent, with Brexit tackles flying in - 8 yellow cards being handed out in total.

Both teams had moments where they excelled equally at their tactics: Bournemouth dominated the first half especially, their aggressive press restricting Brighton’s ability to play out from the back; Brighton looked great after the half-time break, managing to authoritatively dictate the flow of the game.

But, the game was separated by such small margins that the goals resulted mainly from moments of brilliance, and moments of madness. Let’s go through them.

Specifically: Scott

After winning two out of three games, and only losing to the Champions, Bournemouth went into this game confident. This was clear in their style of play, with Alex Scott embodying this confidence. Confidence ebbed through his game - for a man who often surreptitiously goes under the radar.

Scott, irrespective of his goal, had a great game. He swaggered around the pitch, brazenly playing line breaking passes, cutting open the Brighton midfield and rendering them ineffectual. These risky passes were the means through which Bournemouth had Brighton on the backfoot for large moments of the game.

His midfield partner, Adams, it should be noted, was brilliant at the base of midfield; it was only through Adams’ role and aptitude that allowed Scott to flourish; they both complemented each other.

Now, looking at Scott’s goal - it arises from some silky Semenyo play.

Scott hits a quickly-taken shot from just outside the box that catches the goalkeeper off guard; this was the cherry on top of a good performance for the Cherries man.

However, this is what I mean by separated by small margins: not only is this a moment of quality from Scott, but no-doubt, Brighton fans will feel hard done to because the chance only occurs after Semenyo cynically clatters into the Brighton fullback, De Cuyper - which affords the space and time for Semenyo and Scott to combine. A little fortunate.

We spoke of Bournemouth’s confidence preceding the game - well, Brighton, I think, also shared this feeling, having just beaten Manchester City the week prior.

Minteh, like Scott, is an example of this mood flowing through the players: every chance Minteh got, he tried to beat his man. The second goal is created through this.

Minteh got the better of Trouffert (routinely, it must be said) and, for the goal (pictured above), put in an unbelievable ball for Mitoma to place into the net. The exceptionality of the cross cannot be overstated: it perfectly loops over the keeper where Mitoma easily finishes it.

The third goal, unfortunately, is the antithesis of the first two goals, as it comes about through sloppiness. Misplaced passes and dangling legs lead to a penalty being given, which Semenyo coolly places in the corner.

Brighton fans will be rightly frustrated with this result; Bournemouth fans will be rightly vindicated with this result; so is the closeness in skill between the teams.

At the end of the season, there will be few points and positions separating these two teams, that’s what this game showed us.

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On The Fallout this week:

•⁠ Man United vs Burnley

•⁠ ⁠Liverpool vs Arsenal

Man United vs Burnley

The 3–2 scoreline at Old Trafford suggested a close contest, but the underlying dynamics told a more different story. United dominated possession and shot volume, yet their inability to control the flow of the game allowed Burnley to remain competitive through transitions.

Both sides struggled to build through central areas and were often forced to go long. United’s preferred structure involved playing into midfield, bouncing possession to the wide centre-backs, and then clipping longer diagonals. This style aligned with their personnel, especially Bryan Mbuemo and Matheus Cunha, whose direct qualities made them ideal outlets.

United pressed in a sort of 4-4-2 shape, as shown above, with man-to-man coverage in midfield. This approach forced Burnley to go long, preventing them from establishing rhythm in central zones. United’s pressing did succeed in pinning Burnley back, but it also contributed to a game heavily dictated by transitional moments rather than sustained control.

Individual quality wins

The distinction between the two sides was best illustrated by their chance creation, shown below.

Man United key passes.

Burnley key passes.

United had two players who completed more than five key passes, while for Burnley, only one player managed to register even a single key pass. This comparison highlighted the difference in individual quality: United, even if inconsistent, possessed players capable of decisive actions.

Mbeumo’s first touch and movement were standout features, allowing him to control long diagonals with ease, while Cunha’s relentlessness to carry the ball forward consistently unsettled Burnley’s defensive block. These qualities underpinned much of United’s attacking threat, and both have started the season well.

United often attacked with a wide front five, as their wingbacks pushed high and combined with the inside forwards, as shown above. Although not always smooth in execution, this system created overloads and forced Burnley’s compact defensive shape to constantly shift. One example was the decisive penalty incident, where quick combinations and wide pressure ultimately drew Jaidon Anthony into conceding the game altering penalty.

Despite their attacking patterns, United failed to exert true control. Their intensity out of possession dropped in the second half, and with only a midfield two, large spaces began to open. Burnley capitalised by growing into the game, using their wide players to progress attacks and exploiting United’s defensive lapses.

Parker’s Plan

Burnley’s game plan was pragmatic: remain compact, use safe passing zones in deeper areas, and look to progress play through the wings. Out of possession, they forced United wide and narrowed central lanes to prevent access to Amorim’s front three. This approach was largely effective until concentration lapses proved costly. The Premier League’s fine margins were starkly demonstrated, an unfortunate Josh Cullen own goal to open the scoring, followed by Anthony’s giving away of a late penalty, turned what could have been a valuable away result into nothing.

The double pivot of Cullen and Ugochukwu was central to Parker’s approach. Both players worked tirelessly to match United’s midfield pairing, screening the back four and denying passes into the feet of United’s attackers. Their energy allowed Burnley to maintain shape and resist prolonged spells of central progression.

However, Burnley struggled in duels, especially in the first half. United frequently won second balls, sustaining pressure in advanced zones. For a side with relegation concerns, competing physically is essential, and Parker’s team must improve in this aspect to avoid being overrun.

Transitional Threat

Burnley’s attacking output followed their established early-season blueprint: deep circulation within the defence and pivot players to draw out pressure, before releasing the ball wide to initiate transitions. This approach brought efficiency, two goals from just three shots on target. Lyle Foster’s role was crucial, and he really impressed me. As the lone striker, he dropped deeper to hold up possession, link play, and progress Burnley up the pitch.

Burnley also targeted set pieces, keen to exploit Altay Bayindir’s vulnerabilities. They applied consistent pressure on him during set pieces with their opening goal being an example of this.

Things to learn

For United, the match reinforced the need to balance individual attacking quality and far more collective control. Their wide combinations and direct outlet in Mbuemo produced moments of brilliance but lapses in midfield structure and defensive intensity allowed Burnley back into the game. Amorim must find ways to balance attacking risk with greater control, especially when protecting leads.

For Burnley, the performance reflected both progress and familiar shortcomings. Their compactness and transitional ability almost delivered a result at Old Trafford. Yet fine margins, an own goal and late lapse, proved decisive. Improving second-ball competitiveness, concentration, and discipline in critical defensive moments will be vital if Parker’s side are to convert resilience into survival.

Ultimately, this was a game shaped by transitions and individual quality. United’s superior attacking quality delivered, while Burnley’s admirable organisation fell just short. In the unforgiving Premier League, those margins define seasons.

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What is black and white and red all over?

“Isak in a Newcastle kit?” answer vehement Newcastle United fans, before spluttering accusations about him being a turncoat for wanting to join The Reds.

The headlines preceding this game write themselves. It’s set to be a blockbuster. And the chances are, the headlines say, it won’t take much for emotions to spill over (if they haven’t already prior to the game).

This is the first game this season at St. James Park. The Toon Army will be looking to reinvigorate their start to the season after a disappointing and frustrating display in Birmingham last week. Adding to the spectacle, this game has been a tense and testy affair in recent history: last year's 3-3 draw was played with fervidity and aggression.

Further stoking the flames, The Magpies have struggled to collect shiny objects this summer, being spurned by Ekitike, Mbeumo, Sesko, Delap, Pedro, and, at the time of writing, Strand Larsen. Newcastle tried to sign Ekitke on three separate occasions. Until, on Newcastle’s final attempt, Liverpool swooped in to usurp them.

And the nail in the coffin: their star man, the jewel in the crown – Alexander Isak, has decided that he wants a move to Liverpool.

This sense of grievance will be projected onto Liverpool, no doubt. The fans will be baying for blood – and they’ll let The Reds know.

And that’s what the Geordies did. And were the headlines correct, was the game a blockbuster, pure cinema? Absolutely.

This game, despite the obvious lack in quality for large moments, was heated and impassioned. Unadulterated emotion. It might as well have been written for cinema, with endless seemingly scripted moments. Liverpool go 2-0 up against 10 men; Newcastle through grit, determination and will claw it back to 2-2; and, out of Newcastle’s maws, a 16 year-old Liverpool player scores the winner on his Premier League debut, a week after receiving his GCSEs.

It seems that the headlines succeeding the game, similarly, write themselves.

Let’s try to break down some of these moments.

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Rio’s Remontada

We shouldn't let the cinematic, romantic moments gloss over the fact that Liverpool were pretty dreadful.

Liverpool, likely unsettled by the feverish atmosphere, looked shaken despite Newcastle playing with 10 men for most of the match. From the off, Arne Slot, attempting to combat the intensity of the Newcastle press and pacify the crowd, clearly instructed his players to disrupt the flow of the game. This was primarily undertaken by taking their time on dead balls and set pieces.

In reality, however, this did little.

For this to work, Liverpool needed to take control, dictate the ebb and flow of the game – but they couldn’t get a foothold. This was the same before and after Newcastle went down to 10 men.

The prime reason for this was midfield weaknesses – specifically, Liverpool’s inability to build-up and retain possession. Tactically, there isn’t much to say, beyond the fact that Liverpool’s midfield looks imbalanced.

This is, of course, impacted by the absence of Mac Alister, whose ability to quickly pass the ball through the lines would’ve been essential to beat the Newcastle press; further compounded by Szoboszlai playing as the makeshift rightback (and although, I think, he was Liverpool’s best player, this confused the build-up): he seemed unsure over whether to invert or stay wide, especially in this new system where Slot uses more traditional fullbacks who invert less, yet Szoboszlai wants to be in midfield.

It is no coincidence that for the winning goal Liverpool’s formation resembled the structure they used last season, with Konate, Van Dijk (off screen below) and Kerkez transitioning into a back-3 and Ramsey (highlighted) pushing up whilst holding the width and a midfield where Gravenberch is the deepest and Szoboszlai is furthest forward.

This allowed Liverpool to comfortably play through the Newcastle lines. Finding familiarity with the new iteration of this structure that effectively incorporates the new players, will be Slot’s immediate challenge.

In terms of individuals, to highlight two, Konate and Kerkez were especially poor: Konate repeatedly got caught out of position and was partly culpable for the second goal; Kerkez, too, shied away from the ball, leading to the first goal.

And the goals. In stark contrast to the other aspects of Liverpool’s game, all the goals were quality; but, the cherry on the top is the winning goal: Szoboszlai’s dummy was perfect, affording Rio Ngumoha the time and space to place the ball into the net, with composure and precision beyond his years.

Despite this movie-like ending, Liverpool fans should feel a little apprehensive about the rest of their season. Liverpool haven’t clicked. Arne has yet to find a midfield system that complements his players’ talents – and in these last two games, this has been plain. But, on the upside, it's better to learn this lesson by winning both games: is that not what champions do?

Tyneside Tempered

Newcastle were unlucky and, on balance, the better team. And, regardless of the Newcastle loss, their fans can be proud of their team's intent.

Newcastle started the game, as is typical of them, with an aggressive high-press. This involved the leftback, Livramento, pestering the makeshift Liverpool rightback, Szoboszlai – as well as Tonali marking Wirtz out of the game.

Newcastle’s Average Positions vs Liverpool

Livramento’s (21) average position was unusually high and central because his man to press was Szoboszlai. When Szoboszlai inverted, after receiving the ball from one of the centrebacks on the build-up, he could never turn because Livramento was constantly at his back. This press allowed Newcastle to make 8 interceptions to Liverpool’s none – and unsettled Liverpool, who weren’t able to confidently play through it.

Of course, the question lingering is whether the result would’ve been different with Isak. Because, despite the interceptions Newcastle made, they couldn’t capitalise: they had 7 shots off target, whereas Liverpool had 0.

And, the best chance, I think, Isak scores:

After the sending off – a clear red from a Gordon who got caught up in the emotions of the occasion – Howe had to adapt his tactics. Their formation shifted from a 4-5-1 to a 4-3-2 out-of-possession. They still riskily retained the high-press, despite the (on paper) ease with which teams can play through it when down to 10 men.

Howe’s adapted tactic was to keep the ball as close to the Liverpool box as possible, threatening the Liverpool goal by playing plenty of crosses, long balls, and long throw-ins. They did this effectively: 22% of Newcastle’s passes were long passes; Liverpool were forced to make 44 clearances to Newcastle's 20.

And, most crucially, the two goals arose from this tactic.

The second half was so rife with set-pieces that the ball was in play for a meagre 40.8% of the game time, the lowest percentage in a Premier League match since 2010.

Unfortunately, similarly to Gordon, Newcastle got caught up in the emotions of the occasion. Though they were clearly on top and Liverpool looked rattled, they became overzealous and started pushing for the winning goal, thereby leading Liverpool to cut through the 10-men. They overreached.

Newcastle can hold their heads up, nevertheless. They played fantastically with spirit and passion. The zeal and energy surrounding the team and Tyneside, along with the tactical aptitude of Howe, will result in them performing well this season – but, perhaps, only if they sign a striker or, God forbid, reintegrate the pariah…

On The Fallout this week:

•⁠ West Ham vs Chelsea

•⁠ ⁠Man City vs Spurs

•⁠ ⁠Everton vs Brighton

•⁠ ⁠Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest

• Fulham vs Man United

West Ham vs Chelsea

Disconnected and Disjointed – West Ham in Disarray

Normally, after such a dominant display Chelsea entertained against West Ham, the focus of the discussion will be on the winning team. Unfortunately, and perhaps harshly on Chelsea, this will not be the case here: West Ham’s terrible display deserves some analysis.

The problems for Potter are plentiful, with in-possession and out-of-possession play proving impotent.

Defensively, West Ham were shambolic. For the first goal, the corner was defended extremely poorly, with Wan-Bissaka losing his man; for the second goal, the same culprit was responsible, with Wan-Bissaka, again, losing his man. (We’ll skip the third goal and get back to that later.) The fourth also arose from a corner that was *shock* defended extremely poorly – the keeper suddenly thinking he’s playing volleyball and not football, palming the ball to Caicedo. The fifth goal (and you might pick up on the trend here), similarly, came from a poorly defended corner.

The analysis when it comes to poor set-pieces is limited, except to say that losing one’s man and a keeper’s lack of aerial presence is critical – and terminal.

Again, this is a slight disservice to Chelsea, who undoubtedly spend training sessions focusing on corners – but, what I really want to concentrate on today is Chelsea’s open play work and West Ham’s inability to deal with Chelsea’s fluid and interchangeable positional play that constantly pulled and dragged players out of position. The third goal is a great example of this.

As we can see, here, Estevao drops deep, gets the ball and quickly offloads it. Todibo, the left-most centreback, follows Estevao. However, with some fast, sharp passes, preceding an explosive turn and pace from Estevao, he gets the wrong side of Todibo and finds himself, as seen in the image below, dangerously running towards goal.

Soucek, a midfielder in the double pivot, now has to drop into defense to cover the rogue Todibo. This opens up plenty of space for Chelsea's attacking players, with Joao Pedro (20) and Fernandez (8), as we can see above, in acres of space.

Ultimately, through some fantastic play from Chelsea – their quick passes and movement relentlessly dragging West Ham’s defense around – Estevao ends up through on goal and plays a ball into Fernandez who easily puts away the third.

This happened routinely throughout the game. West Ham’s defensive frailties arose from their confusion and uncertainty over which Chelsea player they were responsible for marking.

In-possession, West Ham weren’t much better.

Typically one of the wingbacks, Wan-Bissaka (29) and Diouf (12) would find themselves progressing the ball in wide areas (as we can see from their average positions), but they would find themselves with no teammates to support them, resulting in them running down blind corridors. As was equally common, Wan-Bissaka would link up with Bowen (20), who would, through some brilliant ballwork, body positioning and strength, ride tackles and progress the ball – but who would also find himself isolated.

West Ham’s Average Positions vs. Chelsea

We can see this evidenced from their average positions, especially noting how isolated the two wingbacks are: perfectly illustrating West Ham’s disconnect between players and their lack of cohesiveness.

The goal is a pity – an unwarranted consolation – the result of a brilliant strike from Paqueta (and maybe questionable keeping from Sanchez), who took the gamble *wink wink* and managed to score from a 0.01 xG chance.

There are some serious concerns for West Ham (and for Potter), who must not only fix their weaknesses in midfield, probably by signing a more athletic, combative player, but also must rectify their patterns of play and positional build-up.

Are Chelsea Title Contenders?

When it comes to Chelsea, at this point in time, they are still hard to judge (sorry for the clickbait title). Sure, they scored 5 goals against West Ham, but this West Ham team is really bad. Really bad.

Interestingly, however, this game marked a stark contrast from the tactics Maresca employed in Chelsea’s game against Crystal Palace. Instead of Reece James starting, Malo Gusto replaced him. James, against Palace, inverted and tucked into midfield. This was a problem against Palace: leading to too many players in central areas without a creative spark. The solution, therefore, was to keep the fullbacks wide and allow a more naturally attacking player to roam the half-spaces.

In-possession, in the attacking third, this is what it looked like, a 3-1-6:

The wide players, Neto and Gusto, hold the width, occupying the opposing wingbacks whilst the two 10s, Estevao and Fernandez, tuck in. This causes a headache for the West Ham defenders (as we saw above in West Ham’s defending of the third goal). By overloading the final third and allowing Estevao and Fernandez a more free, roaming role, West Ham’s back-3 is in two minds of whether to press and shut-down the two 10s or maintain position.

Chelsea’s best passages of play came from utilising this tactical strategy, exploiting this uncertainty and hesitancy.

This tactical flexibility from Maresca, who recognised Chelsea’s creative issues against Palace and effectively addressed them, is promising. If they are going to challenge, this adaptability will be essential.

Man City vs Spurs

Frank: Precipitous and Pragmatic

It would be fair to say that Spurs are Pep’s bogey team: no team has beaten Pep Guardiola’s Man City more often.

When asked about his team's solid performance during the half-time interval, Thomas Frank attributed it to “being brave”, further noting that, if they were to take anything away from this game, they would have to continue to “be brave”. They did so, and confidently won the game. But what does this mean – how exactly did they perform “bravely”?

We can broadly chalk it up to their in-possession and out-of-possession work: the bravery in-possession leading to the first goal and bravery out-of-possession leading to the second.

In-possession, Spurs played a very direct form of football; put simply: pump it up to the attackers and win the first and second balls. Man City, despite the result on paper being very dominant, struggled with this against Wolves last week, often getting hit on the break after losing the first and second ball.

Spurs showed bravery by deliberately baiting City’s press.

For the first goal, Man City pressed aggressively.

Spurs allowed this to happen, drawing them in. Counter-intuitively, instead of their attackers dropping deeper to provide passing outlets that would enable Spurs to play through the press, the attackers do the opposite: pushing up the pitch, stretching it laterally. And so, when the long ball is played by Porro, several Spurs attackers are in position to contest the ball. Sarr manages to win the first ball and flicks it brilliantly into Richarlison’s path.

This is risky (hence the bravery involved) because if they lose these balls, with so many players committed forward and the huge amount of space in midfield, Man City would be able to freely progress the ball towards an accessible Spurs defense.

Out-of-possession, Spurs pressed really aggressively. Take a look at the press that caused the second goal:

Initially this doesn’t seem totally out-of-the-ordinary. Man City are playing quite narrowly, therefore the Spurs players are similarly narrow. This screenshot, however, fails to do justice to the aggressiveness of their press. Above, I’ve magnified Bentancur, who seems to be gesturing for someone to pick-up Cherki (who’s to the left of him).

From the behind-the-goal camera angle we can see the player who Bentancur is gesticulating at.

Van de Ven. The Spurs centreback is busting a gut to shut down Cherki who was close to the edge of his own box. What initially appears to be an unprompted mistake from the keeper, this only comes about because of this aggressive press. This resulted not only in the second goal, displayed above, but also disrupted Man City’s normal fluidity and ability to play through the lines.

Both this bravery out-of-possession and in-possession, a display of Frank’s precipitous yet pragmatic footballing tactics, completely enabled Spurs to nullify Man City – something rarely achieved against City.

Problems For Pep?

In terms of Man City displays, this was particularly a poor one. You could possibly (and somewhat fairly!) chalk it up to Spurs’ great performance – and yet, this Man City team looked very disjointed.

Personnel-wise, the Man City players had an off day. Oscar Bobb (an obvious talent), seemed lost out-of-possession, with Haaland repeatedly appearing to tell Bobb to press. Cherki looked lost out-of-possession and in-possession, seemingly receiving constant instructions from Pep. The injury to Aït-Nouri also undoubtedly affected Pep’s plans – Ake unable to replace the lost athleticism. Lewis, normally instructed to invert into midfield, has consequently been told to remain wide because of the plethora of Man City players in the centre of the pitch; but there are questions over whether this is Lewis’ best role.

Generally, in an attempt to rectify their problems in transition from last year, Pep has been using more centrally positioned players, thereby forcing the attacking team to play down the wings (a much less dangerous position than in the centre of the pitch). But this has led, as we saw today, to players getting in each other’s ways – unsure where they were supposed to position themselves.

Should Man City fans be worried?

Maybe. Even though this was an uncharacteristically poor Man City performance, where loose passes and disjointedness were rife – there are serious questions surrounding their defensive solidity, and whether the excessive use of central players to help solve their lack of defensive solidity stifles their creativity.

In a game where Spurs were quite easily able to bypass their midfield, winning the long balls – Pep will have to do some thinking to solve these problems: but if anyone can solve this, it’s Pep.

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GW1 is done and here’s what we’re analysing on The Fallout.

•⁠ ⁠Liverpool vs Bournemouth: Arne’s All-Out Attack

•⁠ ⁠Newcastle vs Aston Villa: Eddie Howe’s Side Holted

•⁠ ⁠Chelsea vs Crystal Palace: All Doom And Gloom?

•⁠ ⁠Man United vs Arsenal: Conflicting Feelings

Liverpool vs Bournemouth

Before getting into the analysis of the games, please allow me to try and put into words something that cannot be put into words…

15 minutes before the 8 o’clock game that kicks off the 2025/26 Premier League, the mood within Anfield is mixed. Liverpool fans are filled with complicated and convoluted emotions: optimistic, the club has moved unprecedentedly – to not only replenish departing players, but to also fortify positions of strength, all in the hope of retaining the ultimate honour, the Premier League title; at the same time, there is an air of melancholy: this marks a moment to remember the untimely departure of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva.

Words fail to do justice to this tragic event.

And when the Anfield congregation bursts into hymn for You’ll Never Walk Alone, the emotion is palpable: the voice cracks from devoted fans symbolic of the fickle flickering between hope and heartbreak. Perhaps, if there are any words that can do justice to Jota’s and Silva’s departure, the title of that famous song gets close.

For Liverpool, this mood frames the game. Optimism and sadness. But don’t get it wrong, this sadness is not placidity. It would be more accurately described as anger – nay fury: fury at the arbitrary and unfair nature of life.

After the minute of silence is observed for both men, the crowd shouts in outraged defiance.

And so, today, the red side of Liverpool, fans and players alike, desperately want to win. Not merely because they are expected to after their impressive transfer window – but infinitely more importantly, to win in memory of Jota and Silva.

Their opponents tonight are Bournemouth. Over the summer, Bournemouth have had their assets stripped, in such a manner that even Jim Radcliffe [sic] would shudder. As has been the case with Bournemouth's success in the Premier League, they recruit smartly. The loss of their core backline this transfer window (with Illia Zabarnyi, Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez, and Kepa Arrizabalaga all leaving this summer) has been astutely replaced with Adrien Truffert, Djordje Petrovic, and Bafodé Diakité. However, their defense still looks light – especially against this heavily attacking Liverpool team.

Yet, despite this defensive fragility, Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth don’t play a conservative, defensive gamestyle – sure, they play with tact and guile, but they also attack whenever they see weakness; and a ropey Liverpool defence means that they would have plenty of opportunities to exploit this weakness.

This is how the game was played, with breathless attacking gusto from both sides.

Arne’s All-Out Attack

Hugo Ekitike’s strengths lie in his ability to manipulate space: dragging defenders out of position and presenting his teammates with a chance to exploit this gap.

Against Bournemouth, Ekitike did this constantly.

Ekitike drops deep to collect the ball, dragging Diakité out of position – one touch, pass, and turn – pivoting round his marker, offering support to his teammate now rushing into the gap left by Ekitike’s marker. As was the case in this game (and one would guess most games hereafter), Wirtz was Ekitike’s main partner in crime. At times, they played together as two ‘10’s, bouncing passes between each other; as we can see from their average positions (Wirtz – 7, Ekitike – 22), they primarily played adjacent to each other:

Liverpool’s Average Positions vs. Bournemouth

This was very successful. Liverpool’s two goals, while Ekitike was on the pitch, came from this strategy.

Take a look at the first goal.

Ekitike drops very deep and Diakité follows (circled below); Wirtz moves across into the space opened by Diakité's absence (arrowed below); Senesi then has to cover this gap by picking up Wirtz.

Next, Ekitike passes back to Mac Allister, turns and runs into the space created when Senesi shifted to cover Diakité.

Diakité is left in no-man's land, unsure whether to press Mac Allister or track back; Mac Allister plays the ball through to Ekitike who gets a little fortunate with the ricochet, but ends up through on goal and is cool enough to pass the ball into the net.

The fortuitousness of this goal shouldn’t detract from the brilliant link-up play that is able to create the vulnerabilities necessary to allow this to become a real chance.

The same patterns of play are utilised for the second goal, but this time Ekitike drops into wider areas, linking up with Gakpo.

Ekitike drags Diakité wide (circled below), into an area he doesn’t want to be in; Adams, the holding midfielder, drops into the space left by Diakité; Ekitike, then, lays off Gakpo (arrowed below), who runs into the space left by the centreback and finds the bottom corner.

These two goals can be explained away, with discussion of the luckiness of the first goal and the terrible defending of the second goal. This might be the case – but Liverpool only get lucky and cause terrible defending because their patterns of play manage to manipulate the positions of the Bournemouth players.

In terms of the two succeeding Liverpool goals, to talk of tactics is a disservice. We must instead defer to the mood that frames the game: Liverpool’s visceral desperation to win. And they did.

What we learn from this game is that, when the interplay between Ekitike and his teammates, most notably Wirtz, worked – it really did work. If Liverpool are to push for the title, mastering this is key.

Iraola’s Tactical Fluidity

The threat that Bournemouth pose under Iraola, at this point, should not come as a surprise. Iraola’s ability to adapt his game, reacting to the tactics of the opposition, is excellent. Against Liverpool, Iraola’s tactical shrewdness was on full display; and even though they didn’t get the win – they got very close.

Throughout the game, Iraola identified two main weaknesses within the Liverpool defense and targeted those areas relentlessly: the gap between right centreback and the rightback, and the leftback.

Highlighted Areas of the Pitch that Iraola Targeted

Semenyo’s job was to target the leftback. In the first half, they primarily did this by launching the ball up to Semenyo – who is stronger and taller than Kerkez, and technically gifted enough to make the ball stick; he then either controls it and turns to run at the leftback or heads it down to an onrushing midfielder.

Evanilson’s job, on the other hand, was to target the space between the right centreback and the rightback. Against Konate, in the first half, Evanilson routinely dragged him out of position, getting the wrong side of him, and heading the ball down to his teammates. Evanilson’s strength, skill to ride the tackle and play in a teammate was critical. Konate looked all over the place largely because of the nuisance that Evanilson caused him.

We can evidently see the areas that Semenyo (24) and Evanilson (7) targeted in their average positions:

Bournemouth’s Average Positions vs. Liverpool

This tactic granted Bournemouth quite a few good opportunities, causing the Liverpool defense difficulties. However, Iraola was forced to change his gameplan after Slot made his first set of personnel changes: taking off his two starting fullbacks, Kerkez and Frimpong, replacing them with Robertson and Endo.

In one sense this change makes sense: Slot is addressing the problems that Kerkez was having against Semenyo; the aerial balls to Semenyo are no longer viable because, with Robertson now on the pitch, Bournemouth could not confidently rely on Semenyo winning the aerial battle. Furthermore, Endo and Jones provide a little more defensive security in midfield to challenge the aerial balls that Evanilison and Semenyo are knocking down to their teammates.

Yet, with the substitutions, Slot has weakened the areas on the pitch that Bournemouth were targeting. Liverpool, on the right-hand side, could no longer bank on Frimpong’s pace to bail out an out of position Konate. On the left-hand side, Robertson, still an excellent player, has been caught out of position plenty of times over the last season or so.

And so, with long balls up to Semenyo and Evanilson no longer viable – Iraola instructed his players to keep the ball on the ground, playing more through-balls that target the half spaces and wide areas.

We saw this with the first Bournemouth goal.

Plainly, we can see that Robertson (circled above, top of frame) is caught on the wrong side of Semenyo and Konate (circled above, bottom of frame) is well out of position. Brookes is free to run past Konate and receive an excellent through-ball, before he plays a wonderful back-post cross for Semenyo’s goal.

This defensive fragility that Iraola targeted must be solved by Liverpool, or else they’ll be more heavily punished.

Even without the win, Iraola’s tactical acumen combined with Bournemouth’s talented squad will cause problems for many opponents.

Where will Liverpool finish this season?

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Aston Villa vs. Newcastle United

With Aston Villa vs. Newcastle being the second game due for analysis, we go from the sublime to the ridiculous: from a six-goal opening day frenzy to a little bit of a drab showing from both teams in the 12:30 Saturday game – perhaps reflecting the apprehensive atmosphere surrounding both clubs after a not-too-great transfer window.

Despite the relatively stale game, however, both teams experienced their time in the ‘ascendency’ (as the commentators are wont to say) and have positives and negatives to take away from their performances.

Howe Holted in Front of the Holte

Newcastle completely controlled the first half, attempting 8 shots to Aston Villa’s 0. They did this through a pressing structure that prevented Villa from being able to play out from the back and retain possession.

Villa set up in a 4-2-3-1, with two deeper midfielders in Kamara and Onana.

Howe’s press was the following: Howe instructed Joelinton and Bruno to mark Kamara and Onana, Villa’s deeper midfielders; Gordon and Elanga then pressed the two centrebacks; Barnes and a very progressive Trippier would jump onto the fullbacks.

It looked like this:

As a consequence, Villa really struggled to maintain possession of the ball – with the Newcastle press resulting in several big chances they failed to convert. This led Newcastle to create 1.47 xG, compared to Villa’s pitiful 0.13. In light of this, Newcastle will be rightly frustrated and disappointed that they didn’t win this game, especially against a 10-man Villa.

Even though they didn’t win, such well-trained, proficient out-of-possession work, as has always been the case with Howe’s teams, means that Newcastle will be formidable this season – if and only if they improve their in-possession work and are able to push home their advantages and finish their chances.

Do The Villains Have Something to Worry About?

This game was a poor showing from Villa. As we’ve seen, Howe’s pressing structure completely nullified Villa’s ability to progress the ball.

To combat this, Emery made a tactical change at half-time.

Rogers in the first half retained quite a lot of width, functioning as a left inside forward. However, after a first half where Villa weren’t able to retain possession at all, Rogers was instructed to tuck further into the middle, to provide extra support in a midfield dominated by Newcastle. Digne, therefore, was charged with providing the width on the left flank, in contrast to his first-half role, where he was instructed to sit deeper.

Villa’s ascendency came after this positional change was made: in the time right after the half time break and prior to Konsa’s red card. Villa were now able to progress the ball through the midfield– and, since Rogers is the creative spark of the team, having him in a more influential position allowed Villa to create chances.

Their best chance came from this tactical change.

Rogers (circled above) picks up the ball in the centre of midfield; Digne (bottom left of frame) and McGinn (top right of frame) stick to the wings, stretching the pitch; Watkins makes a run off the shoulder of the last defender. Rogers has the vision and the precision to play through Watkins who unfortunately hits the ball straight at the keeper.

If Villa are seriously going to challenge the top four, they need to work on their build-up stage and ability to beat the press – as well as using Rogers in a position where he is able to dictate the state of the game

After a lukewarm display from both teams, in discussions about how well each team will perform this season, we will have to reserve judgment.

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