After the opening weekend of the 2024/25 Premier League season, Alex Keble looks at the key talking points and tactical lessons, including:
- Alexander-Arnold key to unlocking impressive Ipswich
- Emery's system outwits West Ham
- Man Utd show progress with intense pressing
- Brighton's wingers set to be key under Hurzeler
- Kovacic steps up in Rodri's absence
- Is Southampton's possession-centric football too naïve?
- Wissa and Mbeumo duo shows Brentford can manage without Toney
- Arsenal appear eager and ready
- Proactive Iraola causes Forest to drop points again
Switches out to Alexander-Arnold unlock stubborn and impressive Ipswich
It is to Ipswich Town’s credit that it took a half-time rejig from Arne Slot for Liverpool to work out how to break down a stubborn, aggressive, and well-drilled opponent who arguably edged the first 45 minutes.
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Ipswich, going man-to-man all over the pitch, were sharper in the tackle and simply would not let Liverpool play, winning 58 per cent of their duels in the opening half.
“They were all on top of us and very aggressive,” Slot told TNT Sports. “We couldn’t find the rhythm or the balls in behind.”
That changed in the second, thanks to a clever switch from Slot, who instructed his players to play more direct balls in behind to bypass the press. Indeed, Liverpool completed more through balls, six, than any other side at the weekend.
“There was also the moment we showed them during half-time that if a team plays all over the pitch one-versus-one, don’t play the ball short constantly,” Slot said.
More importantly, he appeared to tell Trent Alexander-Arnold to move considerably wider on the right, thus helping Liverpool move away from Ipswich’s narrow midfield press.
An Alexander-Arnold cross from the right should have been converted by Diogo Jota, and a few minutes later a direct through ball from the Liverpool right-back - who was now staying wide - led to the opener.
Alexander-Arnold's highlights v Ipswich
TAA in #IPSLIV 💫 pic.twitter.com/ZCVqwxGCL8
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 19, 2024
The second goal was again a much longer pass, this time Virgil van Dijk finding Mohamed Salah.
Liverpool benefitted from Ipswich tiring in the second half, but Slot deserves credit for the tactical switch that stretched the game horizontally via Alexander-Arnold’s repositioning, and vertically, with longer balls bypassing the press.
The statistical difference between the two halves says it all.
| Stat | First half | Second half |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | 0 | 2 |
| Shots | 3 | 15 |
| Shots on target | 0 | 5 |
| Touches in box | 7 | 41 |
| Expected Goals (xG) | 0.1 | 2.6 |
Emery’s configuration on the left outsmarts West Ham
For the umpteenth time since his appointment, Unai Emery made a tactical adjustment that outwitted the opposition manager, handing Aston Villa their first opening day victory in four years.
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Villa effectively played a 3-4-2-1 formation on Saturday, with John McGinn and Morgan Rogers deployed as dual No 10s behind Ollie Watkins.
The pre-match graphics might have shown a 4-4-1-1, but that’s precisely why Emery so often catches teams out - the formation is never as simple as it looks.
It drew West Ham United inwards; right-back Vladimir Coufal and right winger Jarrod Bowen were forced narrow by McGinn, in turn opening up space for Lucas Digne to excel.
It was this move that forced the corner from which Villa took the lead, as shown below.
The same tactical combination on the left then led to the winner - only this time it was three substitutes combining.
Ian Maatsen, free on the left because Jacob Ramsey tucked inside as McGinn had done, teed up Ramsey to square for Jhon Duran’s winner.
Duran's goal v West Ham
The precision on these passes...
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 18, 2024
Simply magnificent pic.twitter.com/SmLL5azMzl
Duran’s six goals in 616 minutes of Premier League football gives him the second best goals-to-minutes-rate, with 103, in the competition behind Erling Haaland.
The headline, of course, is his impact off the bench against the club that reportedly tried to sign him this summer.
But as ever with Villa these days, the real star was Emery - and a tactical tweak Julen Lopetegui simply couldn’t handle.
Man Utd’s aggressive pressing shows signs of progress
Nobody could honestly say that this was a strong performance from Manchester United, but there was plenty of encouragement to be taken.
Erik ten Hag’s challenge this year is to implement a hard-pressing style of football and to eliminate the huge holes in central midfield.
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For around an hour - after United settled down around the 20-minute mark, and before a formation change scrambled both teams - Man Utd were more tactically coherent than they have been for some time.
Casemiro looked leaner and sharper than in 2023/24, and he led a much more organised pressing game. Along with Noussair Mazraoui, Mason Mount, and Lisandro Martinez in particular, Man Utd squeezed space between the lines by hounding the ball impressively.
One stat neatly captures the change - United’s combined 40 tackles and interceptions was the highest total in the Premier League this weekend.
With Matthijs de Ligt still to come into that defence and Joshua Zirkzee scoring on his debut, Man Utd fans suddenly have reason to feel optimistic about the campaign ahead.
Brighton’s speedy wingers will play a key role under Hurzeler
The most impressive feature of Fabian Hurzeler’s new system on Saturday was the directness of his wingers, who by stretching the game created all three goals.
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New signing Yankuba Minteh crossed for Kaoru Mitoma to score the opener, before Simon Adingra, on for the injured Minteh, continued the trend.
Danny Welbeck walked through the middle to score the second goal thanks to Mitoma (left) and Adingra (right) making distracting runs either side, and then in the second half Adingra drove forward from the right to score Brighton & Hove Albion’s third.
Hurzeler, like Roberto De Zerbi, likes to exploit attacking transitions with pace out wide. In other words, this was just the beginning.
Kovacic helps Man City end their Rodri-less losing streak
There were bigger stories from Stamford Bridge, where Kevin De Bruyne’s role amid an awkward-looking Chelsea 4-4-2 allowed Pep Guardiola to claim the tactical victory, as our analysis highlighted.
But Mateo Kovacic’s performance in Rodri's absence was arguably the most important part of Manchester City’s victory.
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Prior to Sunday’s win, Man City had lost four consecutive Premier League matches in which Rodri didn't play.
They ended that streak because Kovacic played in Rodri's role with confidence and elegance at the base of midfield, touching the ball more times than anyone else, 64, completing the most tackles, with six, and scoring the all-important second goal.
Kovacic and City were helped by Chelsea’s confusion in an under-stocked midfield, especially with Enzo Fernandez getting lost in the No 10 role, but we should not take anything away from Kovacic’s midfield masterclass.
Beats two and bends it in! 🙌
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 18, 2024
Sensational, @mateokovacic8 💫 pic.twitter.com/lCHyyhu06X
City could face Ipswich (H) and West Ham United (A) before Rodri is fit again. There is no longer any doubt the champions will be able to dominate both matches without him.
Southampton’s aesthetic possession game could be an issue
By any statistical measure this was a freak result and a hugely unlucky defeat for Southampton, who dominated in every department following Fabian Schar’s 28th-minute red card.
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Saints had 19 shots to Newcastle United’s three - which incidentally was the hosts’ lowest total since November 2015 - while Russell Martin’s side recorded a considerably higher xG.
Newcastle v Southampton attacking threat comparison
| Newcastle | Southampton | |
| Possession | 22% | 78% |
|---|---|---|
| Shots | 3 | 19 |
| Shots on target | 1 | 4 |
| xG | 0.3 | 1.7 |
However, before the season began there were concerns that Martin’s possession-centric football might be a little bit too open and naive for a promoted side expected to fight relegation.
Newcastle’s winner, courtesy of a misplaced pass from Alex McCarthy, suggests it is a valid concern.
This might seem like an overly negative analysis considering Southampton’s dominance of the ball and their calm, aesthetic style in almost every other moment of the contest.
But at Premier League level, it only takes one slip.
Wissa/Mbeumo partnership shows Brentford don’t need Toney
Ivan Toney missed out on the matchday squad for Brentford’s opening day victory over Crystal Palace because of “transfer interest” in the words of head coach Thomas Frank, although after the match Frank told the BBC that a deal is “not close”.
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There is no hurry to end the transfer saga one way or the other, or at least that’s the impression we got from another superb performance from Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.
Wissa assisted Mbeumo’s opener in the first half, a lovely flowing counter-attack that summed up the best aspects of their strike partnership, before Wissa scored the winner in more fortuitous circumstances.
Wissa became the first player to score and assist in three consecutive Premier League matches since Riyad Mahrez in December 2021, yet it was Mbeumo’s running that really caught the eye.
Toney reportedly has 12 months left on his contract at Brentford and he may or may not see out his deal with the club. On Sunday’s evidence, Brentford can afford to cash in.
Arsenal players look raring to go despite a busy summer
It was the perfect start for Arsenal, who eased past Wolverhampton Wanderers as if they were still in the groove of their six-match winning streak through April and May - a feat all the more impressive considering how many of their players had international football this summer.
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“I'm not surprised,” was Mikel Arteta’s response to a question about his team’s performance following a busy summer. “That was their mentality straight away after [the Euros final], they said: ‘I'm gonna be ready for the first game.’”
Bukayo Saka was the star, assisting the opener with a perfect cross before scoring the second goal, and his manager was full of praise for the professionalism with which he - and others - have returned in double time from international commitments.
A 59th goal in Arsenal colours for our Bukayo❤️ pic.twitter.com/SGy5EAy6JW
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 18, 2024
“I spoke to them after the summer and tried to arrange a plan. They wanted to come back and be here early. They were already getting prepared when they were on holidays.
“This is the mentality that we need. If players are doing that compromise it will grow around the team and they will step up the level.”
Proactive Iraola ensures Forest yet again drop points from a winning position
Chris Wood's opener after 23 minutes will not have inspired too much optimism among Nottingham Forest fans, and nor will it have deflated AFC Bournemouth’s travelling support.
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The 1-1 draw at the City Ground followed a well-established pattern from last season - Forest regularly drop points from winning positions, while Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola is one of the best at turning things around.
Since the start of last season only Brentford have dropped more points after taking the lead than Forest, with 30 and 28 points respectively, so it was hardly a surprise when Antoine Semenyo scored an 86th-minute equaliser for the Cherries.
Meanwhile Bournemouth had 17 goal involvements from substitutes last season, the fifth-most in the Premier League, and therefore we should have expected the goal to come from a substitute, as Ryan Christie's cross diverted into the path of Semenyo. Christie was one of four substitutes made by Iraola between 63 and 69 minutes.
Not for the first time, Iraola’s proactive approach paid off, while Nuno Espirito Santo’s reactive football saw Forest retreat until the inevitable happened.