The 1st half of the #UEFASuperCup nicely illustrates why Guardiola (& then Artera) moved towards a 4 CB, Target Man, tall Midfielders approach In the Premier League, top teams need to out football the football sides & out fight the direct sides Spurs’ athletes on top so far

There’s a nice relationship developing between the Premier League & Serie A The better Serie A players (Huijsen/Milenkovic/Calafiori/Tonali/Reijnders/Thiaw etc) improve Premier League sides whilst fringe PL players (McTominay/Tavares/Ferguson) can have a big impact in Italy.

The test for Thomas Frank will not be versus the Champions League level teams but against those teams who adopt similar tactics to his own.

Slot’s substitutions have rocked Liverpool tonight Endo, at right back, vs David Brooks was a mismatch that played a big part in the first goal, which eventually led to another substitution in order to move Endo into midfield and Gomez at RB The balance hasn’t quite been there

Plenty to work on for Slot as he searches for balance whilst building this new Liverpool team. - Rest defence, both in terms of a back 3 and/or the make up of the Midfield - The defensive relationship down the left hand side. Gakpo losing runners+Kerkez diving in was not ideal

Big winner of tonight

1 aim of build ups is to find the spare player To do that, teams need to identify the player that has a dual role (covering 2 players) & drag them out of position This has the domino effect of giving dual roles to multiple players Alisson effects Scott (8), the rest follows

Liverpool pressed in the diamond formation last night. This asks a lot of the two No.8s, especially when it is a wide Forward like Gakpo. The shape requires the full backs to deal with 2v1 situations, a defensively intelligent 6 and CBs comfortable defending wide areas.

Aston Villa missing Tielemans ability to dictate and progress play from deeper areas in that first half with Onana often trying to force forward passes that aren’t on. A severe lack of width, especially on the right hand side. Newcastle unlucky not to be ahead.

Newcastle United obviously missed Isak but they also looked a Paqueta type away from being a very good team.

What a player

The difference here is that most top teams eventually build play using a back 3 but they don’t start attacks in this way (from the GK) as they push an outside CB to full back with the wing back advanced (to make a back 4) This keeps the ball players in the middle of the pitch

You’re only ever as strong as your weakest player.