Jurgen Klopp saw his Liverpool players return to their chaotic best, Graham Potter's Chelsea offered promise at West Ham and Erik ten Hag's intervention won it for Manchester United at Elland Road. Here's five lessons we learned from the Premier League weekend...
1) LIVERPOOL RETURN TO EARLY CHAOS AS BAJCETIC SHINES
The most eye-catching aspect of Liverpool's 2-0 victory over Everton was the surging, chaotic energy with which Jurgen Klopp's team took the game to their rivals. From quick throw-ins to longer passes up to Darwin Nunez, the aim – particularly in the first half – was to unsettle Everton and stop them from setting themselves in the 4-5-1 defensive shell that had stumped Arsenal the previous weekend.
Beyond that, it was a sign that Liverpool can pick up the energy for big occasions, a good omen for the Champions League tie against Real Madrid, and more interestingly that Klopp may have to rewind his team back to the start as he looks to rebuild. Liverpool's era of domination was built on opposition fear that resulted from the carnage of the purely vertical football that preceded it, and therefore to get back to winning titles Klopp's side may first need to recreate some wild, frantic football.
Of course, their biggest problem has been the lack of hard-pressing and hard-tackling players in central midfield. Not only has Klopp failed to replace Georginio Wijnaldum he has also moved away from the workmanlike profile he always needed to balance the attacking ferocity, but he may have found the solution in 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic. He was phenomenal on Monday evening – and another sign that Liverpool may be on their way back.
2) MAN CITY REGAIN FORWARD MOMENTUM THROUGH SILVA AND KDB
Having been too easily slowed down by Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, in yet another sign of Manchester City becoming too rigid with Erling Haaland lost in the front line, Pep Guardiola worked hard to find a solution on Sunday. He ensured City were a lot more direct than usual, able to find progressive passes by hitting longer passes and releasing Haaland before Aston Villa could set themselves.
The change was subtle but important. Kevin de Bruyne consistently looked for an out-ball to Jack Grealish on the left wing and generally drove Man City forward with purpose, looking for quick passes to catch Haaland's runs. Perhaps, at last, Guardiola is starting to consider adapting Man City to suit his new striker, rather than expecting Haaland to do all the changing.
Bernardo Silva was the most important player. Fielded as an interior left-back, Silva was able to add greater control and purpose in the build-up phase alongside Rodri, but equally significant was his work to overlap Grealish and operate as a traditional left-back when needed. Grealish has often been stumped by the lack of help he gets on the left at Man City, and Silva's presence helped create space for the former Villa man to excel.
3) SMALL BURSTS OF DIRECTNESS GIVE CHELSEA HOPE
For the most part, this was another incoherent performance from a Chelsea team that have not spent much time together, and it was no surprise to see West Ham United apply pressure in the middle third of the pitch to break up the play and earn a well-deserved point. However, in the first half at least, Chelsea showed signs of life that provide some hope for the Graham Potter project.
Joao Felix was superb alongside Kai Havertz, and the two players were sharp in flitting between the lines and running on the shoulder of the last defender, with the Chelsea midfield keen to release both players as early as possible. Here was a verticality that we have rarely seen so far under Potter.
Still, it was hardly a vintage display from the visitors and the match fizzled out after a positional error from Reece James allowed West Ham to score the equaliser. Potter needs to hope the owners have enough patience in him to accept a year without Champions League football.
4) TEN HAG SUBSTITUTIONS UNLOCK DEFENSIVE GAME
Manchester United are nowhere near as good without Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in central midfield. That is hardly surprising, yet one would have expected Fred and Marcel Sabitzer to do more at Leeds United; they were shockingly static, never showing for the ball and therefore creating a dreadful match in which the Man Utd centre-backs were forced to endlessly pass the ball sideways.
The match was going nowhere until Erik ten Hag made a double substitution on the hour mark that unlocked the contest, and for that he deserves all the credit for a hard-earned win. He brought on Lisandro Martinez, which finally infused the Man Utd defence with a forward passer, and Alejandro Garnacho, whose dribbling skills forced Leeds into retreat. Ten Hag also changed the formation to a lopsided 4-4-2 with Marcus Rashford deployed alongside the static, and poor, Wout Weghorst.
All of a sudden Martinez was firing passes through the lines to Bruno Fernandes – who had been moved into more space on the right – while Rashford and Garnacho made runs that put the visitors in more advanced positions. Goals for these two forwards showed that Ten Hag is a very smart tactician capable of turning a game in his favour.
5) SIMMS PERFORMANCE SHOWS WHY EVERTON MAY STILL STRUGGLE
Dyche's defence-first 4-5-1 was perfectly designed to stop Arsenal last weekend, although in retrospect it was heavily reliant on Dominic Calvert-Lewin holding up the ball or flicking it on from those long punts downfield. In his absence on Monday night Everton looked lost, suggesting their relegation fight would go right to the wire if Calvert-Lewin was to suffer a more serious injury.
Ellis Simms was not very effective at holding onto possession or making the right runs, and that meant Everton had no way of getting the ball to stick. Consequently their midfield trio was always too far away from Simms, disconnecting the lines and allowing Liverpool to take control of the contest.
Supporters were desperate for Everton to sign a new striker in January. Monday proved they were right to be concerned.
