Chelsea and Manchester City have adopted this formation but it was a fraught night in Basel that caused the former Liverpool manager to set a growing trendIn a modern world in which style so often matters more than substance – and at times neither seems to matter much at all – moments of significance can be lost amid the swirl. It’s easy to dismiss Brendan Rodgers’ last full season at Liverpool: the ineffectiveness of Mario Balotelli, the falling out with Raheem Sterling, the final-day humiliation at Stoke … and yet it also included a nugget of genuine tactical innovation. It’s not to say that Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola or Serbia’s Slavoljub Muslin have copied Rodgers or have in any way...
False No9s are in; free roles, with the exception of Mesut Özil, are out; back threes are making a comeback; and pressing is en vogueA few years ago possession was the most discussed concept in football. Since then there has been a shift from a possession-based approach and more attention paid to pressing. Mauricio Pochettino’s Southampton and Tottenham sides pressed in advanced positions to win the ball quickly, Klopp popularised counter-pressing, winning the ball immediately after it has been lost, and Guardiola also emphasises the importance of closing down in advanced positions. Related: Tammy Abraham, Pontus Jansson and the Championship’s most eye-catching players | Nick Miller Continue reading...
Some teams have had harder starts, some spent more money, some sneaked results they never should have. We crunch the key numbers to produce the Premier League table of justiceLiverpool fans are no doubt finding the Premier League table extremely attractive but the truth is that at this stage of the season it remains deeply flawed, skewed as it still is towards teams that have had favourable fixtures and a couple of flukey results. Thankfully, though, we have been able to right some of these wrongs, allowing one side to make an incontrovertible case for the title of great overperformer if not, in the end, dislodging Jürgen Klopp’s entertainers from top spot.The biggest problem with the real table is that,...
Arsenal’s title hopes are on hold, Tony Pulis is hoping for money in the January transfer window and Loris Karius is keeping Jürgen Klopp happy Related: The Dozen: the weekend's best Premier League photos Continue reading...
Marcus Rashford needs restoring to centre stage, Victor Moses is shining for Chelsea at last and David Moyes should be allowed to rebuild SunderlandThe splurge of title-winning questions after Liverpool’s breathless victory at Selhurst Park provoked a wonderfully enigmatic response from Jürgen Klopp. Can his team conquer the league playing in this wild fashion? “I’ve no idea,” he said. “It’s my first proper season in the Premier League. I have no idea what to do to win the Premier League. I’m pretty sure it was never decided at the end of October. We feel good in the moment, that’s all.” The notion that an experienced manager with 15 years on the job – who won the Bundesliga twice and has...