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Hello! A new – a new Manchester United?
Future :
? Amorim finds a formula
? North London EPL rage
?? Ranieri’s Roma revival
? ♂️ Goalkeeper facepalm
Manchester United: a lost cause in the end, but a bit of a mystery. They slipped up until Christmas, only to fall to a Harry Maguire blank while beating an almost unbeatable team. You have to make sense of that.
It was there for Maguire at Anfield yesterday (shown above), with United and Liverpool level at 2-2 and the goal at his mercy in added time. He popped up in the last place you want a centre-back to appear and his forgiving hoof was the margin between Liverpool and a first Premier League defeat in four months.
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Miss or not (later there was a debate about whether the ball had bounced), everything tells me that Ruben Amorim can handle it. It is true that an away victory against the league leaders would have been a step up, but after so poor until the end of December – 4 direct defeats in all competitions – it was enough to achieve a plan that worked.
Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte gave Amorim legs in midfield, and the difference they made to United’s shape and risk was huge: oiled wheels as opposed to the rusty cogs of Casemiro and Christian EriksenArray Diogo Dalot broke loose down the left, a definite merit of Amorim’s three-man defensive formula – one that will have to be value persevering with.
For sure, challenges remain. Rasmus Hojlund does not look like much of a No 9, and hitting him was like trying to land on a specific grain of sand in a long-jump pit. Marcus Rashford’s future is unresolved, something Laurie Whitwell has covered forensically. Matthijs de Ligt’s part in both Liverpool goals were errors a better player wouldn’t make. But successfully going toe-to-toe at Anfield must be a psychological boost. Surely.
The victim of Dalot’s electric afternoon was Trent Alexander-Arnold. In fact, it was a post-New Year’s Trent: dizzy, confused, and not knowing what day it was.
His positioning went haywire. His passing played Liverpool into trouble. His attacking threat dried up and Arne Slot saved him from himself (not to mention further Virgil van Dijk death stares) with four minutes to go, replacing him with Conor Bradley.
Was it a coincidence that, a few days earlier, Real Madrid came in for him? Slot said Alexander-Arnold was not distracted by fluttering eyes in Spain but the right-back looked like a man with his mind elsewhere.
It is curious: at no time did the contractual problems have any effect on Mohamed Salah. He scored again and when deciding whether to stay or go at the end of the season, it turns out he is enjoying the thrill of the chase. Alexander-Arnold is younger and potentially on the verge of leaving the only club he has ever known. Was it just a misstep? Or did Madrid interrupt its flow?
?️ The most clicked on Friday’s TAFC: the maximum, the best of sport.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, two episodes of ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you’.
First up, Ange Postecoglou who was ready to blow after Tottenham’s 2-1 loss to Newcastle United — not at his squad but at the match officials. Newcastle’s equaliser was allowed to stand despite the ball hitting Joelinton’s hand in the build-up. “On a fair and even playing ground, we would have won that game,” Postecoglou said.
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Maybe, but that already makes 10 losses for the Spurs. They only played 20 games. Despite everything, they did it through Alexander Isak, who simply does not miss the six-yard box. If I were Newcastle I’d tell him to pitch a tent there.
And then we had Mikel Arteta, equally harmed by the penalty that kept Arsenal in the 1-1 draw in Brighton. It cannot be denied that it was a rare decision, given the confrontations of William Saliba with Joao Pedro, but Arsenal also sends problems and the incorporation of Ethan Nwaneri to Bukayo Saka in the list of injured will not improve things.
At the other end of the division, an idea of the day: Will Southampton face the worst Premier League team of all time?They still have to move a leg under new boss Ivan Juric. They lost 5-0 to Brentford on Saturday and are stuck on six points. Derby County set the lowest overall record by achieving 11 in 2007-08. It’s there to break.
?️ Juric Brentford’s move to ‘getting kicked in the head’. The Totally Football Show had a few laughs at this quote. You can stay tuned on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
If and when Vinicius Jr chooses to continue his career away from Spain, he won’t leave with happy memories of Valencia.
He’s been the victim of racial abuse there in the past and on Saturday he incurred a red card at the Mestalla for the second time in three visits. It’s a sad fact that the Brazilian has only ever been sent off during games at Valencia.
This, it must be said, was deserved. The goalkeeper robbed Dimitrievski in the throat during an altercation and the North Macedonian theatre did not do the letter of the law. Somehow, Madrid took credit for the dismissal to come back from 1-0 down and win 2-1 thanks to Jude Bellingham’s 96th minute.
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The result just about appeased manager Carlo Ancelotti, who said Madrid’s first half was “so bad I couldn’t believe my eyes.” He plans to pull rank in designating a penalty taker after Bellingham missed one earlier in the game. All is not sweetness and light, but Madrid do top La Liga — and it doesn’t feel like they’ve really got started.
❤️ Today you won’t read anything better than James Horncastle about 73-year-old Claudio Ranieri bringing Roma back to life. How about this sentence?” Whoever accepts Roma’s fourth coach in 2024 would need courage, intelligence and a great cross, everything Ranieri had in his hands when he was a butcher’s child. “Arch.
How did you go with naming the players who’ve scored four or more goals in Premier League games between Liverpool and Manchester United?
They were: Salah (12), Steven Gerrard (8), Robbie Fowler (6), Wayne Rooney (6), Rashford (5), Andy Cole (4), Luis Díaz (4), Ryan Giggs (4).
(Selected games)
Copa del Rey: Deportivo Minera Real Madrid, 13:00/18:00 CET-ESPN (United States only).
Italian Super Cup: Milan vs. Inter, 2 p. m. /7 p. m. —CBS Sports Network, Fubo/Premier Sports 1
Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers – Nottingham Forest, p. m. /8 p. m. – US Network, Fubo/Sky Sports
Championship: Queens Park Rangers v Luton Town, p. m. /8 p. m. —CBS Sports, Paramount/Sky Sports
Win as a team, lose as a team. Or that’s what they say.
But if a goalkeeper makes a mistake like Illan Meslier’s at Hull City (above) on Saturday, patience will be tested. Leeds United were leading 3-1 with nine minutes remaining when he hit a ball that safely cleared the crossbar into the shooting line. Hull missed this and a 3-3 draw ensued.
His team-mates’ reaction is quite the montage: Joe Rodon (right) screaming at him, Joel Piroe (centre) giving it a more gentle ‘WTF?’ and Joe Rothwell (left) heaving the biggest sigh since I last told my eldest to put down her phone and read a book. Awkward.
(Photo: Zohaib Alam – MUFC/Manchester United Getty Images)