Premier League hits and misses: Are Liverpool feeling the pressure? Alejandro Garnacho costs Manchester United | Football News

Sky Sports’ football writers analyse the key talking points from Super Sunday where Liverpool got the job done – but were there signs of them feeling some pressure?

Are Liverpool resilient or fading?

“We are in title run-in season. There are huge cheers for a goal kick,” said Jamie Carragher on commentary. It summed up Liverpool’s relief.

After the loss to Plymouth and draw at Everton, Arne Slot’s side are back to winning ways via their 2-1 win over Wolves but was the victory the sign of champions or a team still feeling the pressure of a run-in?

Liverpool did not play well at Anfield, especially in the second half. Slot’s side managed zero shots after half-time and after Matheus Cunha’s strike created a grandstand finish, they were one superb Jarell Quansah tackle away from Wolves and Marshall Munetsi getting an equaliser.

It was an un-Liverpool performance – yet they still won. But they looked tired – and Slot agreed: “It was maybe the first time this season that players were more tired than they were in other games.”

So is the season and form starting to catch up with them?

Whether it’s resilience or a team starting to fade – what we do know is the next three games will decide which is which. Aston Villa away, Manchester City away, Newcastle at home – with three days between each fixture. We’re getting to crunch time in the title race now.
Sam Blitz

Garnacho the chief culprit for tame Man Utd

Manchester United have now failed to score in 10 Premier League matches this season.

It’s the same number as Southampton.

It’s a remarkable feat for a football club so synonymous with “attack, attack, attack” and ruthless finishing. Sir Alex Ferguson must wince watching this current United team play football.

Ruben Amorim’s side created and missed chances at Spurs – as the total expected goals tally of 1.54 identifies. You could feel the manager’s frustration – both on the touchline and in the press conference afterwards.

Alejandro Garnacho was the chief culprit, squandering 0.39 worth of expected goals from his four efforts, three of which drew saves from Guglielmo Vicario, who very much deserved his clean sheet on his return. It’s now 695 minutes and over four months without a Premier League goal for Garnacho since he netted in a win over Leicester.

He has yet to score in the league under Amorim’s watch. A player of his undoubted attacking quality should be flourishing based on the central striking role employed under this manager where he’s seeing chances drop his way in dangerous areas of the box. He needs a goal.
Lewis Jones

A new start for Postecoglou?

There was a ‘start of a new season’ feel to everything about Tottenham.

But this wasn’t August. This was February and Spurs’ Premier League season is set for mid-table obscurity. As Ange Postecoglou said, they won’t be getting relegated and they won’t be challenging for the European spots. But there is so much unfinished business for Postecoglou as he looks to rebuild some faith that he is the man to lead Spurs after a very rocky three months.

This was a good start. But only a start.

Postecoglou said: “This signals a little bit of an opportunity now for us to push on from here.”

Tottenham played with much more aggression and intensity as the characteristics of Postecoglou’s style of play were more evident. A week of training and more senior players to pick from were the obvious reasons for the improvement. But that said, Spurs still could have lost this game. Manchester United posted 16 shots on the Tottenham goal to a hefty 1.54 expected goals figure. A more clinical team would have punished Spurs but perhaps they deserved a bit of a fortune after suffering so much punishment themselves with injuries this season.

For Postecoglou, this result – he’ll be hoping – will be the springboard.
Lewis Jones

Encouragement for Cunha-inspired Wolves even in defeat

Wolves’ lopsided fixture list was a problem for them at the start of the season, having to wait until the 11th game of the campaign for their first win having faced teams currently among the top 12 in the Premier League in each of those first 10 fixtures.

They are in the reverse run of those games now and the task for Vitor Pereira, even if he cannot pick up the points, is to compete better against these sides than Gary O’Neil managed to do in the autumn. This spirited effort against Liverpool was encouraging.

Wolves made the second half particularly uncomfortable for Arne Slot’s Premier League leaders, not even conceding a shot on goal after the interval and coming close to fashioning an unlikely equaliser. Marshall Munetsi looked a real handful in attack.

Unfortunately for Wolves, the rest do not have the same quality as Matheus Cunha, who curled in to halve the deficit. Fortunately for Wolves, their relegation rivals do not have a single such a player either. The Brazilian dropped to the floor in frustration at the end.

Importantly, however, Wolves got to leave Anfield with heads held high, beaten but not broken by the experience. There are more winnable games ahead and if they are able to approach them with the attitude shown against Liverpool, there are points to pick up.
Adam Bate