Premier League expert Alex Keble runs through the best and worst from the eighth round of games of the 2019/20 season.
Brighton used a narrow 4-4-2 formation on Saturday for the very first time under Graham Potter - a bold move for such a tough game, but ultimately the perfect strategy to compound Tottenham’s misery.
Still in shock after conceding seven against Bayern Munich, Spurs were easily confused by the unusual position of Brighton’s supposed wingers in the system. Potter instructed both Aaron Mooy and Pascal Gross to roam into number ten positions when Brighton won the ball, creating a narrow 4-2-2-2.
It worked primarily because an abject Eric Dier simply could not keep track of these late movements behind him, allowing Mooy to frequently ghost into enormous pockets of space between the lines and help his team break into the final third.
Tottenham twice changed formation, first to 4-4-2 and then to 3-4-2-1, and when the latter started to work (thanks mostly to Harry Winks wresting control of midfield) Potter mirrored it with his own three-man defence.
It was a tactical master class from Potter. Should Mauricio Pochettino leave this season, Potter might just be on the shortlist to replace him.
Wolves exploiting City’s defence as further cracks appear
Nicolas Otamendi seems to get worse every week.
He made several bizarre and frantic darts out of defence against Wolves, giving the visitors three one-on-ones in the first half alone. Patrick Cutrone did not have the speed or confidence to capitalise, which is why Nuno Espirito Santo moved Adam Traore up front – a tactical decision that clearly paid dividends.
But even before the change Wolves had control of the game. Their compact 3-5-2 shape closed off the half-spaces completely, meaning David Silva and Raheem Sterling were both kept quiet as Man City failed to force Wolves out of their unit.
Normally it would be up to Kevin de Bruyne to find pockets wide right and pull opponents apart, but with the deeper and more conservative Ilkay Gundogan City were oddly flat.
They badly lacked incision, runners in behind or attacking energy from the full-backs. However, we shouldn’t let a City off day distract from Wolves’ organisation and diligent work.
Aston Villa’s growth in rout of Norwich
Many Villa fans were starting to worry that the club’s attacking options weren’t good enough to stay up following several early-season games in which Anwar El Ghazi and Trezeguet looked isolated out wide, aimlessly playing crosses.
But Dean Smith’s side have grown very quickly, tweaking their tactics week by week to create more passing options in the final and greater quality chances from the middle column of the pitch.
Last week Conor Hourihane started in midfield, Jack Grealish was shunted wide and on Saturday the Villa captain cut inside to link expertly with Hourihane (making two goals and winning a missed penalty).
On top of that, El Ghazi was given a new role, moving into the number ten position whenever Villa had the ball out on the left. From here, El Ghazi helped create the opener and was a constant menace providing give-and-gos with Grealish, Hourhane, and John McGinn.
Suddenly Villa are bunched together in attack, allowing for higher tempo football and considerably improved chance creation. Smith and Villa are getting better with each passing week.
Premier League highlights
👎 WORST
Tottenham’s capitulation tells us Poch is nearing the end
It isn’t just their performances, the heavy legs and heavy defeats that tell us the Mauricio Pochettino era at Tottenham is fading out.
There is something in the way the players and the manager are carrying themselves that hints at a sense of dejection, and a weariness, that runs too deep to fix with the current regime. Years without major reinforcements has seen things go stale, and after so dramatically overachieving last season Spurs are left in existential crisis.
Several first team players are already thinking about their next move as their contracts run down while others know they were on the transfer list in the summer. Meanwhile Pochettino knows a big job, with a big budget, is just round the corner.
Daniel Levy has failed to invest enough money to keep things fresh and consequently the coach is struggling to motivate the group. The dressing room must be fractured and unhappy.
Brighton tore them apart at the AmEx. Everyone needs a change. It might happen before Christmas.
Liverpool’s chance creation makes eight-point gap misleading
According to xG statistics Liverpool have seven more points than they ought to so far this season, which reflects the big strokes of luck that brought them victory against Sheffield United and now Leicester City.
This winning streak is masking structural flaws in how Liverpool build their attacks, with deep-lying opponents increasingly working out how to deny the full-backs space to cross while cutting off the passing lines to Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
Jurgen Klopp’s midfield is too flat and workmanlike for these sorts of matches, lacking a playmaker who can break the lines with a sudden burst of pace or play a killer through ball even when the opposition defence is tightly packed.
They should have looked for an attacking midfielder this summer in the mould of Jack Grealish, as they did in the drawn out pursuit of Nabil Fekir 12 months ago.
Continuing slump means changes imminent at Everton and Man United
Both clubs harboured ambitions of a top-four finish at the start of the season, but now Everton and Manchester United are currently in more danger of being relegated than qualifying for the Champions League.
United’s problems are well documented, and after another woefully lifeless performance on Sunday we are surely reaching the point at which Ed Woodward sacks the manager. The club’s problems go much higher than the coach, but nevertheless Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is out of his depth - and no matter the circumstances any manager presiding over the worst start to a league season in 30 years should be hanging by a thread.
Things are more complicated at Everton, who at the beginning of this season still thought Marco Silva was only just getting started at Goodison Park.
Four consecutive defeats has left them in the bottom three and looking increasingly directionless; claims that Silva flatters to deceive, cannot organise a defence, and only succeeds in bursts are holding more and more weight by the week.
Unlike Man United, Everton’s squad is too good to be so far down the table.
Follow Sporting Life on social media - find us on Facebook here or tweet @SportingLifeFC
Related football links
- WATCH: Premier League MD8 highlights
- Rodgers upset with Mane pen
- Watch all the Championship goals
- Lloris out with elbow injury
- Pochettino calls for Spurs unity
- Premier League - As it happened
- Watch: PL Goal of the Month September nominees
- Lampard tips Abraham for England success
- Southgate warns Premier League stars
- Pope eyes England number one spot
- My Football Life: James Coppinger
- Super 6: Enter NOW!
- Fantasy Football: Pick your team now!
- Football results
