Football writer Alex Keble highlights the hot topics and tactical lessons from Matchweek 22, including:
- Postecoglou’s new hybrid formation backfires
- Liverpool’s attacking variety in stark contrast to rivals'
- Arsenal again take one step forward and two steps back
- Hurzeler’s tactics create uncertainty in Man Utd’s defence
- Brilliant front four benefit from Bournemouth’s pressing
- Ruthless Foden helps Man City get 'closer' to their best
- Mateta form gives Palace hope of best league finish
- Anderson emerging as Forest’s main man
- Van Nistelrooy hits lowest ebb as Leicester fall short
Postecoglou’s new hybrid formation backfires
Ange Postecoglou has faced accusations of failing to adapt his tactics or try new ideas as Tottenham Hotspur’s league position worsens, but that cannot be levelled at him after he switched to a hybrid 3-4-3/4-3-3 formation at Everton on Sunday.
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Unfortunately the move backfired. Everton’s first and second goals resulted from defensive holes that were directly caused by the formation switch.
Archie Gray played as the right-sided centre-back when Spurs were out of possession and pushed up into central midfield when they were in possession, shifting the formation between 3-4-3 and 4-3-3.
But when Gray moved between the two roles, too often his team-mates were unable to recalibrate and shuffle across to fill the gaps, getting caught in the transition between formations.
For Everton’s first goal, the central midfielders didn’t get across to cover up the space vacated by Gray, and then for the second, the centre-backs similarly didn’t move across, as you can see below.
Spurs how now lost 12 Premier League matches this season, the same number as in the whole of 2023/24.
The end result was the same, but at least on Sunday, Postecoglou showed a willingness to try new things in the search for better form.
Liverpool’s attacking variety in stark contrast to rivals'
Saturday was a significant moment in the title race, not for the two-point swing in Liverpool’s favour, but because it revealed the crucial difference between the two main contenders.
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Liverpool showed that a deep bench is perhaps their greatest strength. Arsenal showed a lack of firepower up front remains their biggest weakness.
Entering stoppage time, Liverpool had failed to score from 35 shots on the Brentford goal. They were knocking on the door and looked almost out of ideas - before a clever pass from substitute Harvey Elliott opened a pocket of space for Trent Alexander-Arnold to cross for another substitute Darwin Nunez.
Nunez’s second, assisted directly by Elliott this time, was a goal to hammer home the point: Liverpool’s attacking options give them a relentlessness that, hours later, would be conspicuous by its absence at the Emirates.
Crucially, it isn’t just about fresh legs. Nunez’s battering-ram approach and Elliott’s guile in tight spaces offer Liverpool something different. It is the variation – shaking up the rhythm of the attack – that affects tired opposition legs and provides Liverpool with the impetus to win late points.
Arsenal again take one step forward and two steps back
Arsenal, by contrast, are increasingly accused of repeating the same patterns again and again, making it easier for opponents to find their defensive groove.
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Mikel Arteta does not have the same options as Liverpool from the bench, and although that became all too clear as Arsenal chased a late winner against Aston Villa, they ought not to have been in that position in the first place.
It left Arsenal supporters with the familiar sinking feeling of an opportunity missed, of their team shooting themselves in the foot.
Arteta’s side have dropped 12 points from winning positions in 2024/25, already more than in the whole of last season (11), while they have failed to win 10 Premier League matches, the same number as 2023/24.
Too often they just haven’t been able to get over the line, although Saturday’s result was an unfamiliar story: the first time they have failed to win a home league game in which they’ve led by two or more goals since October 2019.
Injuries have played their part. Thomas Partey isn’t a natural right-back and therefore cannot be blamed for losing Ollie Watkins for Villa’s equaliser, and had William Saliba been on the pitch, it’s hard to imagine Youri Tielemans winning the header so easily for Villa’s first goal.
But however valid the excuse, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Arsenal’s season is a case of one step forward and two steps back.
Hurzeler’s tactics create uncertainty in Man Utd’s defence
“We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United.”
Ruben Amorim doesn’t pull his punches. Perhaps emboldened by the way his players reacted to relegation talk with a 2-2 draw at Liverpool, the Man Utd head coach has again gambled on getting a reaction out of his team after a lacklustre defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
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It was, again, a tactical victory for United’s opponents and another day when Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation was called into question after Fabian Hurzeler cleverly pulled the flat back five around.
By deploying two “false nines” in Danny Welbeck and Joao Pedro, Hurzeler knew the United centre-backs would be forced out of defence to track them, in turn opening up holes for the Brighton midfielders to hit long balls into wingers Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh.
Brighton did exactly that, most notably for the tone-setting early opener, when Matthijs de Ligt was drawn out by Welbeck, leaving space for Mitoma and Minteh to get in behind.
Minteh's goal v Man Utd
Kaoru and Yankuba combining to open the scoring… 😏 Highlights in partnership with @MPBcom. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/g3hfzIzAhl
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) January 19, 2025
Brighton’s wingers repeatedly found space against a confused Man Utd backline, before combining again – this time Minteh for Mitoma – to score the second goal.
It seems like every week teams are finding new ways to expose the 3-4-3, while every week Amorim’s side set new unwanted records.
This was Man Utd’s sixth home defeat from their first 12 league games of the season, their worst record at this stage since 1893/94.
When the stats are referencing the 19th century, you can’t help but wonder whether Amorim’s assessment is right.
Brilliant front four benefit from Bournemouth’s pressing
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Andoni Iraola’s side gave arguably their best performance of the season in a huge win at St. James Park that puts them in the race for Champions League football.
That has to be the conclusion from such a complete tactical performance, which blew away a Newcastle United side that suddenly looked bereft of energy after an explosive few weeks.
Maybe tiredness has crept in, or maybe Bournemouth’s pressing was so good Newcastle simply couldn’t breathe.
The visitors pressed man for man all over the pitch, pushing onto their hosts and swarming them with a high-risk strategy that led to multiple turnovers in the first half and defined the momentum of the match.
Bournemouth made 13 interceptions to Newcastle’s three, 14 tackles to their eight, and 18 fouls to their seven. They swarmed and harassed from kick-off, leading to midfield turnovers that set away Iraola’s brilliant front four.
Justin Kluivert was the hat-trick hero but Antoine Semenyo, David Brooks, and Dango Ouattara were just as effective in their dribbles, give-and-gos, and daring forward intent.
It was textbook Iraola and typical of Bournemouth’s season: hard pressing, rapid transitions, and, in the words of Tyler Adams, “controlled chaos”.
Ruthless Foden helps Man City get 'closer' to their best
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“We are back to doing things that defined this team for the last 10 years,” Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports after a 6-0 thrashing of Ipswich Town on Sunday.
“[It was] much better. Maybe not our best, but closer.”
That’s a fair assessment. Ruthless finishing from Man City helped them into a 3-0 half-time lead despite Ipswich performing relatively well outside their own box, and certainly once City had the second goal they were able to easy themselves into a steady rhythm.
They need more of that going forward; more early goals to settle the nerves and allow classic Guardiola possession and suffocation to re-emerge, and with Phil Foden returning to form – that’s five goals in three or him – they might just get it.
If Foden can continue this renewed ruthless streak, Man City can slowly but surely play their way back to full recovery.
However, Man City have won 21 of their last 22 matches against promoted sides, including each of their last 12. Beating Ipswich doesn’t necessarily signify much.
Lose at Paris Saint-Germain in midweek and City could be plunged straight back into a crisis of confidence.
Mateta form gives Palace hope of best league finish
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Another brace from Jean-Philippe Mateta took his Premier League tally to eight for the season and 21 goals in 35 Premier League games since Oliver Glasner’s appointment.
Mateta has slowed down this year compared to last, but the quality of his two goals at West Ham was confirmation, if needed, that the 27-year-old is now among the best strikers in the Premier League.
Having benefited from the form of Ismaila Sarr, who has started to form a Michael Olise-like bond with Eberechi Eze, Mateta has scored four goals in his last three Premier League games to lift Palace well clear of the relegation battle.
Now above Man Utd and into 12th, Glasner’s side can even set a target of ninth, which would be a club-record performance in the competition.
Brighton currently occupy that spot and have seven more points than Palace, so it’ll be a tough ask, but here, at least, is something tangible to target; something to stop mid-table Palace from becoming aimless over the next three months.
Anderson emerging as Forest’s main man
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After surviving a worrying onslaught towards the end – a nervous retreat that might have pessimistic fans concerned for the future – Nottingham Forest remain level on points with Leicester City at this stage of 2015/16.
The dream is still on, then, and indeed the Leicester comparisons keep coming.
In that famous year, Claudio Ranieri’s team remained fresh partly because a new star player would emerge every couple of months, and something similar is happening at Forest.
Murillo has had his moment in the sun, Chris Wood and Callum Hudson-Odoi too, but now it’s Elliot Anderson’s turn.
Anderson scored a superb opener, before carrying his team forward with urgency and attacking intent from a deeper midfield position.
It was the kind of driving, high-energy midfield performance that inspires team-mates to keep running – and keep believing. Forest fans will do the same.
Van Nistelrooy hits lowest ebb as Leicester fall short
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Already dark clouds are gathering at Leicester, a new-manager bounce nowhere to be seen and points nowhere to be found.
“We weren’t good enough today in all facets of the game,” Ruud van Nistelrooy said on BBC Match of the Day.
Asked if this was his lowest point since taking charge, he replied, “Yes, this is the one, because I thought we lacked in all areas - and that’s a big blow.”
Leicester have now lost seven consecutive Premier League matches and have failed to score in four in a row at home for the first time since September 1983.
Worse, they’ve drawn blanks in five of their nine Premier League matches under Nistelrooy, after doing so in just one of their first 13 matches of the season under Steve Cooper and Ben Dawson.
Leicester are moving in the wrong direction.
