Bernardo Silva sparked Manchester City in a comeback win over Crystal Palace. Arsenal’s lack of depth was exposed despite a win over Fulham and Steven Gerrard’s poor tactics continue at Aston Villa. Here’s five lessons we learned from the past Premier League weekend…
1) Dalot aggression overcomes locked-up United shape
It was hardly a vintage performance from Manchester United, and although Erik ten Hag will be relieved to have recorded back-to-back Premier League wins there was nothing about this game that represented the tactical ideas the new manager is supposed to be bringing to the club.
Their 4-2-3-1 formation was static and underwhelming, as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton sat back and found it relatively easy to block passes through central midfield; in a 4-4-2, Joe Aribo and Che Adams didn’t allow the ball to get into Scott McTominay or Christian Eriksen, forcing United to pass in a U-shape down the flanks in what was a tedious affair on the south coast.
The main issue, beside an absence of urgency or understanding in how to create the passing triangles necessary, was that Bruno Fernandes lingered too close to the centre forward – creating a disconnect from back to front.
After the game Ten Hag said that he told his players to attack more boldly for the second half, so perhaps we can give him credit for the game’s only important moment. Diogo Dalot didn’t get forward very often but he began the second half with greater aggression, eventually assisting Fernandes’s winner in what was a dull game that offered very little, tactically, to reassure United fans.
2) Guardiola’s Silva tweak sparks comeback but questions remain
When Crystal Palace were 2-0 up it looked like a tactical disaster from Pep Guardiola. He keeps playing the same ultra-narrow system this season and it rarely works. Kyle Walker again sat in central midfield for long periods, not only meaning Eberichi Eze had lots of time to counter-attack down the left but also that Manchester City’s formation left just one wide player on either flank. Palace could block the middle well, assisted by the fact Erling Haaland isn’t dropping to provide a numerical overload in midfield.
Noticing the problem, for the second half Guardiola instructed Bernardo Silva to stretch wide to the right and gave Walker licence to overlap more. Silva suddenly had lots of touches of the ball on the right wing, giving Man City more meaningful possession in the final third and dragging Palace players out of position. It led directly to City’s first goal, before Guardiola went even further with a surprising and unusual formation change.
He went to a 3-2-2-3 formation with Silva and Julio Alvarez holding the width as De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, and Phil Foden formed a four in the middle to cut through the Palace defensive lines. It simply overwhelmed the visitors and allowed City to take total control of the game. However, Guardiola’s initial selection was the wrong one and he was almost punished, once again, for playing Walker in an uncomfortable midfield position.
3) Tierney struggles as interior full-back to reveal lack of depth
Mikel Arteta deserves the plaudits for an unexpected tactical change with Arsenal 1-0 down at Fulham, and just as important was his capacity to spot that Kieran Tierney had been the problem up until that point. Tierney started as an interior full-back, largely deployed in central midfield as Oleksandar Zinchenko had been, but he struggled to understand the role or to move the ball quickly enough. Coupled with Mohamed Elneny passing almost exclusively sideways, this showed that Arsenal lack the squad depth needed to challenge for the title.
But Arsenal rightly celebrated a turnaround inspired by their manager, who moved to an attacking 3-4-1-2 formation when substituting Tierney for Eddie Nketiah. The young striker played alongside Gabriel Jesus and was supported by Martin Odegaard, with the width provided by very aggressive wing-back Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
Like Man City on Saturday, the sheer number of bodies Arsenal put into attack caused Fulham to crumble, although unlike the champions Arsenal just don’t have the quality in reserve to cope with key players missing out. That will ultimately hold them back.
4) Gerrard increasingly looks out of ideas
In the opening 45 minutes at Villa Park, West Ham were completely passive and there for the taking; without any confidence and lifeless. But Aston Villa could not capitalise and rarely looked like scoring. In fact, it seems as though Steven Gerrard has no idea how to coach these players and the players have no idea what is expected of them.
It is alarming to see that Villa are moving in isolated patterns, rarely – if ever – looking as though there is a preconceived idea of where or how they should be interacting with each other. To make matters worse, Gerrard is persisting with a diamond 4-4-2 despite it being wholly unsuited to the modern game, and especially against a deep-lying opponent that seeks to block the middle first and foremost.
David Moyes’s switch to a 3-5-2 was unexpected and Villa did not respond properly. Gerrard made predictable subs, at predictable times, and with the same predictable result. He seems out of ideas.
5) Forest look like a Cooper team for the first time this season
Before their 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, Nottingham Forest had made a very strange start to the campaign. Last season Steve Cooper’s side were defined by their excellent possession football and positional fluidity, and yet in their first three matches they relied heavily on long aerial balls forward and winning knock-downs, perhaps struggling to adapt with so many new signings.
But buoyed by Antonio Conte’s distaste for holding much possession, Forest were able to keep the ball for long periods and began to resemble the side we saw in the Championship last year, with its hybrid system of considered possession mixed with moments of directness. Morgan Gibbs-White, Jesse Lingard, and Brennan Johnson formed a fluid front three who used their strength and speed to burst through Tottenham, although ultimately a lack of quality meant they could not create many chances.
As for Spurs, questions still remain over whether Conte’s lower block is suited to a modern Premier League title challenger. In an age of territorial dominance among the elite, Tottenham seem likely to come unstuck without being able to apply the ceaseless pressure we get from Man City and Liverpool.
