Football journalist Alex Keble analyzes Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League matches for Premier League clubs.

Manchester United fans prepare for ‘new Ferguson’ as family flaws put City in ‘dark place’

Sporting 4-1 Manchester City

“If we win tomorrow they will think that the new (Mr.) Alex Ferguson It has arrived. That will be very difficult. “It could raise expectations.” Those were the words of Rubén Amorim, the incoming manchester united The coach, in his press conference prior to the match against which his current Sporting team faces city ​​of manchester.

“Difficult” was the assessment if Sporting simply won. Not even Amorim had planned to win 4-1.

Manchester United fans won’t be thinking about Ferguson just yet, but they can be forgiven for getting carried away.

Here was a masterfully executed tactical plan led by a rapid three-forward counterattack not unlike the options Amorim inherits at Man Utd, with hat-trick hero Viktor Gyokeres looking like Rasmus Hojlund in particular.

Amorim’s Sporting punished Manchester City in a way that we rarely see. pep guardiolaThe team has not conceded four goals in a UEFA Champions League match since October 2016. Man Utd, by the way, have not scored four against City since beating them. 4-2 in the Premier League in April 2015when Louis van Gaal and Manuel Pellegrini were on the bench.

Could Amorim then be the man to change the course of the rivalry?

For that to happen, they will need Manchester City to go down and United to go up, and after Tuesday’s result made it three defeats in a row for the first time in a single season since April 2018, the chances of the first half have increased.

“We’re in a bit of a dark place right now.” Bernard Silva he said after the game. “Everything seems to be going in the wrong direction. Even when we play well, we don’t take advantage of our opportunities and concede them too easily.

“We definitely have to look inward and check what we are not doing well and start improving very quickly, otherwise it will be difficult to recover from these losses.”

The analysis of what Manchester City is doing wrong begins, once again, in the center of the field, where Guardiola’s decision to line up is. Mateo Kovacic only at the base did it prove counterproductive.

Kovacic was at fault for the two goals City conceded from open play.

He failed to close down Geovany Quenda as he set up Gyokeres for the equalizer, giving the 17-year-old too much space to pass the through ball. Pedro Gonçalves then deflected Kovacic too easily for the second goal.

But the analysis will also show that Manchester City were unlucky. They dominated a first half that looked a lot like Sporting’s 5-0 loss to Guardiola’s team in February 2022, only a poor finish allowed Sporting to claim a crushing victory.

Ironically, Sporting’s openness in the first half, their deep defensive shape in the second and their half-time goals had more in common with a conservative team. Erik ten Hag these types of matches (like the FA Cup final, for example) than how Amorim usually plays.

“At Manchester United you can’t play exactly like that,” Amorim said after last night’s game. “You can’t play so defensively and there we will have to adapt. It is clear that it is very difficult to beat this team and beat Pep Guardiola. And he is no worse manager than me.

“It will be a completely different world, a different team. We won’t have much time to train and we will start from a different starting point. “People can make their own decisions, but I say to the people of Manchester that this was something exceptional.”

The 4-1 victory has greater symbolic meaning than the actual performance, which will be erased from history in lieu of the more favorable narrative.

Amorim arrives in Manchester already, in a way, as a cult hero. Manchester United fans are ready to embrace him.

See: Man City Report and Lineup

Highlights from Sporting 4-1 Man City

Liverpool fans appreciate that Alonso is just a tourist at Anfield

Liverpool 4-0 Bayer Leverkusen

It was widely reported that Xabi Alonso it was on LiverpoolThe radar before the club entered. Arne Slot.

Three months after Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool fans will be very grateful that everything worked out the way it did; that Alonso, who “had no time for tourism” on his first visit to Anfield as coach, was in fact just a visitor.

Slot makes all of this look very easy. It is not. Nobody beats Alonso’s Leverkusen 4-0.

Leverkusen came into this match having not been behind at any point in the Champions League this season, having conceded just one goal and having lost just one European game under Alonso. That was last season’s UEFA Europa League final.

That’s why Tuesday’s victory is the best result of the Slot era so far, although the scoreline ultimately flattered Liverpool a little. It was a close match until Liverpool’s first goal in the 61st minute, after which Leverkusen were forced to open up and the hosts intercepted them three times on the counterattack.

But the arrogance in Liverpool’s goals and the confident performance of Ryan Gravenberg and Curtis Jones He especially highlighted the magnificent work that Slot has done in a very short time.

See: Liverpool Report and Lineup

Only two Liverpool managers have won their first four games of a Champions League season. Slot has achieved it on its first attempt. Klopp was the other to do it, in 2021/22, when they reached the final.

Slot has also set a record for most wins by ANY Premier League manager in their first 16 games in all competitions. What a start you’ve had.

Most wins in first 16 games

Wednesday’s Champions League matches for PL clubs

17:45 GMT Club Brugge – Aston Villa
20:00 GMT Internazionale-Arsenal