Manchester City resemble the girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead, N’Golo Kanté’s return to Leicester shows Wilfred Ndidi what needs to be done and David Moyes regrets catching the bullet dodged by Mark HughesThis time last year Southampton paid £4m to sign Charlie Austin from Queens Park Rangers. It was a while before he made an impact, but he certainly made an impact during the early part of this season, scoring nine goals in 19 games. But Southampton’s form has tailed off since Austin suffered a shoulder injury last month. They have lacked a cutting edge and have won only three of their past nine games in all competitions, sinking into the bottom half of the...
Liverpool’s narrow system allowed space down the flanks which José Mourinho’s team exploited with regular switches of play, sapping the energy of the visitorsFor the first time in the 25 seasons of the Premier League, the two league meetings between Manchester United and Liverpool both ended in a draw. This, however, was a much more exciting contest than the dreadful 0-0 in October. Jürgen Klopp sprung a tactical surprise from the outset by deploying a diamond midfield, a considerably different shape to Liverpool’s regular 4-3-3. This involved Adam Lallana playing as a No10, allowing Roberto Firmino and Divock Origi to make dangerous runs across the opposition defence from out to in.The main outcome was Liverpool making life very difficult for...
While United’s dour days under Louis van Gaal are gone, Klopp has built the most complete Liverpool team since the Premier League beganDuring the buildup José Mourinho and Jürgen Klopp were careful to highlight each other’s qualities. Cut to his arrival at Old Trafford and the Liverpool manager quickly dropped that stance and ended the game arguing with his opposite number saying: “I read the programme notes and it is the first time there was nothing about welcome to Liverpool or something like this. Then I wanted a coffee and in the can was only tea. It’s started already, yeah? It’s all OK. It’s football and we are ready for it.”So, too, was the crowd whose vibrancy gave the stadium...
José Mourinho probably cannot repeat the Manchester United tactics from October’s 0-0 draw at Liverpool, in the latest clash with a manager who bested him in a pivotal 2013 gameFootball changed in April 2013. Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund beat José Mourinho’s Real Madrid and Jupp Heynckes’s Bayern Munich beat Tito Vilanova’s Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League and the hegemony of a Spanish model of football, based on possession or its opposite, was shattered by a series of rampaging German counterattacks.The lessons of that fortnight remain highly relevant to Sunday’s meeting at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Liverpool, Mourinho and Klopp. Or at least that is the convenient theory. Nothing is ever as neat and simple as...
Manchester United may go for jugular against Liverpool, Morgan Schneiderlin must settle quickly at Everton and Ahmed Musa has chance to shine for LeicesterManchester United were on the receiving end of heavy criticism when they shut up shop and successfully played for a 0-0 draw when they visited Liverpool in October. It was a classic exercise in parking the bus from an unapologetic José Mourinho, who reasoned that a cautious approach was necessary against a team who regularly overwhelm their opponents with blistering attacking play. But while it was possible to grudgingly respect Mourinho’s plan, there is no need for the United manager to play it safe at Old Trafford on Sunday. Although United are unlikely to veer too far...