In America’s Premier League fan fest weekend, we had two big matches on Sunday. The Red Devils squared off against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United while the champions City faced the Reds in the clash of titans. I think these two matches were important for the standing and team momentum.
In the 9:00 slot, Man United played a big match at Old Trafford. I think there is much more to Newcastle than what meets the eye. They play a terrific fast counter attack and are a very resilient team.They box the penalty area and shorten the pitch. In this game, I think Newcastle got really unlucky in this match just because it felt like they had the better chances. They had some close set pieces including the one where Joelinton hit the woodwork twice. They had more space to attack and should put at least one in the net. I think the Devils lacked quality and they never really had that crisp touch in possession. They needed to supply Ronaldo and I think the wingers weren’t aggressive enough to challenge the defender. Antony definitely created some chances but Sancho wasn’t great and United didn’t have that good final play. They got in good situations but it looked like they didn’t know what to do in that scenario. For Newcastle, I think they’ll be happy with a draw as they are now in 6th place but for Erik Ten Hag’s team, they’ll think of this as a missed opportunity ahead of their Tottenham match on Wednesday evening.
The premier match of the weekend, the two best teams in the last 5 years, Liverpool vs Manchester City at Anfield. From the moment it began, it was a fiery contest. It felt more than 0-0 for most of the game and the match was just breathtaking. Liverpool defended Erling Haaland like their life depended on it, it was marvelous. In American football, you play defense in zone or man coverage. Every other team attempted to play man coverage against Haaland and it failed miserably. He is just too strong and fast to defend 1 on 1. What Liverpool did against Haaland is they played zone against him. As soon Erling got the ball, they stepped in and boxed him in. It made him lose the ball or make him pass it backwards. It didn’t create space for the other City players and I think the Reds taught the rest of the league on how to defend this goalscorer. Klopp’s team didn’t get a lot of chances but Salah took his breakaway opportunity in the 75th minute. The final score was 1-0 as Liverpool got a huge win while Pep’s team dropped 3 points which means they are 4 points behind the league leaders Arsenal.
Valiant efforts from Newcastle and Liverpool mean both of Manchester’s teams drop big points in Matchweek 11. Can Manchester United bounce back against Harry Kane and the Spurs? Can Liverpool follow up their win? We’ll find out soon enough as we get weekday matches in the English Premier League.
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