Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz finally gets his moment and what took Ruben Amorim so long to change Man Utd formation? – Premier League hits and misses | Football News

Wirtz finally gets his Anfield moment

“I wanted to start scoring and assisting earlier,” Florian Wirtz told Sky Sports after finally netting his first Liverpool goal. Talk about an understatement.

Few could have imagined that Wirtz would have to wait so long for his first goal in a Liverpool shirt but it finally came at the 23rd time of asking. There have been moments when some thought it had come, such as the deflected equaliser against Sunderland.

His effort against Wolves was the sort of goal Wirtz had been expected to deliver, a product of his off-the-ball movement and technical ability. The partnership with Hugo Ekitike is certainly promising. Indeed, the forward was returning a favour from early in the game with his pass.

Arne Slot certainly enjoyed the performance. “I thought he was special in a lot of moments. I think he is getting better and better.” But he knows too that Wirtz needed this moment, the relief inside Anfield palpable once the ball hit the back of the net.

Liverpool supporters have seen enough to know that the Germany international has the quality to play and thrive at this football club, but the onus is still on Wirtz to show it. Anfield demands end product to go with the flicks and tricks, the sways and the skills.

A goal at home to the bottom club in the Premier League with his team already ahead is hardly seismic in its significance but if it proves the launch pad for more, a weight lifted from the shoulders, then this could yet prove a pivotal point in Wirtz’s Liverpool career.
Adam Bate

Arsenal need to find cutting edge

Arsenal continue to be dogged by defensive injuries but their attack is the bigger issue right now. Their narrow win over Brighton was just the latest game in which their profligacy has almost cost them.

The Gunners needed a penalty shootout to see off Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup after conceding a late Marc Guehi leveller. They needed a stoppage-time own goal from Yerson Mosquera to beat Wolves. Here, they needed a David Raya wonder-save to prevent Yankuba Minteh from hauling Brighton level.

All that despite dominating all three games. Arsenal racked up a combined total of 65 shots against Brighton, Palace and Wolves and yet only scored five goals, four of which were netted by opposition players, with Georginio Rutter the latest culprit.

Mikel Arteta talked up the quality of their performance against Brighton. “Individually and collectively,” he said, “we were so dominant.” But the wastefulness is becoming a theme which needs to be eradicated if they are to hold onto their position long-term.

Because, as Arsenal continue to spurn chances, Manchester City are having no such problems. Pep Guardiola’s side are two points behind them in the table but they have scored 10 goals more. Viktor Gyokeres continues to struggle but he is not the only one missing chances. Arsenal need to find cutting edge collectively.

It could make or break their title challenge.
Nick Wright

Cherki could be Guardiola’s joker in the pack

Manchester City’s win at the City Ground was supposed to be about control, about the steady suffocation that has defined Pep Guardiola’s reign. A style that has led them to so many victories like this one down the years.

Instead, it became a reminder that football still bends to the will of the unpredictable. Rayan Cherki, with a goal and an assist, bent it sharply in City’s favour. He is a maverick capable of moments that win games. Guardiola’s system thrives on predictability among team-mates and unpredictability for opponents. Cherki flips that equation.

When Cherki picked up the ball between the lines at the City Ground, there was a sense of disorder creeping into Forest’s defensive structure. His ability to escape with a swivel of the hips or a disguised touch is a thing of beauty.

Cherki can accelerate the play too – as shown by his assist. A fifth of the season. One touch to shift the defence, another to slide Tijjani Reijnders through. Cherki could just be the joker in Guardiola’s pack this season.
Lewis Jones

What took you so long, Amorim?

Ruben Amorim finally changed formation and his back four delivered a first clean sheet in nearly three months. Many will be wondering what took him so long – and rightly so – after more than a year of stubbornly sticking to one shape.

Amorim delivered the surprise with maximum impact by having his players warm up in a back three before the 1-0 win over Newcastle. It was quite the shock when United lined up at kick-off. This was the first time Amorim had started with a back four since taking charge.

The Man Utd boss explained his thinking in his post-match interview with Sky Sports: “I felt that was the only way to create more danger, to have more opportunities by playing a back four with a lot of guys inside.”

But it begs the question of why now? This can’t have been the first such game of his tenure that demanded a back four.

The change becomes even more curious when you hear Amorim’s comments about Patrick Dorgu, the goalscorer against Newcastle, and how he benefitted from playing as a winger rather than a wing-back.

“You put him in one position that is more in front, the responsibilities are not the same, and he has more freedom to lose the ball. I think it helped Patrick to play better.”

These are points that onlookers have been making ever since Amorim took the job over a year ago. What might have happened had he listened earlier? It makes you think.

After spending so long defending his way, there is no telling what Amorim is planning long-term. It would seem almost silly in a way, albeit totally necessary, if he were to go back on his word now and move on from solely playing three at the back.

Surely, however, the conclusion for Amorim must be that his previous position of having one shape and sticking to it, regardless of personnel or game state, is a mistake not to be repeated.

There are signs of genuine improvement thanks to Amorim’s flexibility. That’s what he should stick to.
Zinny Boswell

Newcastle’s away form is a concern

“I think we can make an argument that we should have got something from today, but obviously we have had that feeling too many times,” said Eddie Howe after Newcastle’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United. His side dominated possession but could not score.

As Howe points out, it has been a theme of Newcastle’s season on the road. They have won only one away game in the Premier League. Only Wolves have won fewer. The problem is clear. Newcastle rank among the bottom three for away goals scored.

Asked whether the balance of the squad is correct between the physical and the technical, Howe did not dismiss the suggestion. “We’re always analysing the squad and seeing where any potential weaknesses are and any areas that we can improve.”

Indeed, he acknowledges that the chance creation “is not where we want it to be” despite the presence of Anthony Gordon, Jacob Ramsey, Anthony Elanga, Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy as the apparent providers for the Newcastle forwards.

They must do more in the second half of the season if Howe is to lift this team up the Premier League table. But there is hope too that Yoane Wissa’s return to fitness can reduce the level of responsibility on Nick Woltemade, keeping them both fresh.

Asked about the intensity this season, Howe said: “It has certainly been more difficult for us to do that.” The return to the Champions League has undoubtedly placed greater demands this term. But whatever the reason for it, Newcastle’s away form is suffering.
Adam Bate

Relegation becoming a reality for West Ham

“Say hello to QPR,” taunted the Fulham fans as they revelled in West Ham’s plight.

Raul Jimenez’s late winner at the London Stadium only made a Championship visit to Loftus Road next season much likelier for West Ham, as they remain in the drop zone and are five points from safety.

Relegation is now becoming a reality.

West Ham have taken just 13 points from 18 Premier League games this season, their fewest at this stage of a league campaign since 2010/11 when they were relegated, finishing bottom.

The numbers this season make for relegation reading – they are on a seven-game winless run, they have not kept a clean sheet since August and have lost seven of their nine league home games.

Confidence is extremely low at the Hammers, and it was reflected in their finishing against Fulham, with Jarrod Bowen, Callum Wilson and Soungoutou Magassa all wasting great chances.

But it was Bowen’s second-half miss that was most worrying for West Ham, because if their ever-reliable talisman is not firing, then they really are in bother.

“When you don’t score, the situation that we are in, everything bad happens to us,” said West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo.

And that was certainly true on Saturday as West Ham academy graduate Ollie Scarles made a huge error to allow Jimenez to nod home an 85th-minute winner.

The 20-year-old, who had been impressive up until that mistake, was left in tears at the full-time whistle.

But come May, he will not be the only one crying if things continue like this for West Ham.
Declan Olley

Andrews’ Brentford continuing to defy doubters

“The reality is that we’re ahead of where a lot of people thought we would be,” wrote Brentford head coach Keith Andrews in his programme notes ahead of the visit of Bournemouth.

“The narrative around the club from day dot in the summer has been sceptical, to be polite.”

Many thought the club were making a mistake in replacing Thomas Frank with last season’s set-piece coach. Many expected the Irishman to fail.

But six months in and he has done far from that. Brentford are eighth going into 2026 – and with their highest Premier League points tally at the end of a year since they were promoted. The record is 26 now, up from 24 at the end of 2024.

Before Christmas, he had touched on looking towards qualifying for Europe and with just five points now separating the Bees from Man Utd in sixth and Chelsea in fifth, that talk is not looking quite as unrealistic as it might have been before.
Dan Long

Wolves claim unwanted record

Rob Edwards’ wait goes on. Seven games into his Wolves tenure, he remains point-less and seems to be unable to inspire a different outcome despite much-improved performances. What will frustrate him just as much will be this latest defeat against Liverpool was the product of an 89-second capitulation.

Few teams travel to Anfield with a proper sense of endeavour, and in the first half Wolves looked like a side waiting to get beaten. But the second 45 minutes at least offered hope, scoring via Santi Bueno and generating more shots on target than the home side managed. Now that glimmer of belief must translate into something tangible.

Wolves have failed to win any of their opening 18 games this season, the longest wait for victory of any side in the Premier League era, and their ongoing run of 11 defeats is the worst such streak since Norwich’s stretch of 16 in 2021. At some point the rot must stop – or at least get a breather.

Edwards will have a measure of the massive task ahead as he sizes up a trip to Old Trafford before hosting West Ham in the next two outings. A point on the board is surely the bare minimum requirement.
Laura Hunter

Atrocious Bournemouth defence showing no signs of improvement

A humbling 4-1 defeat at Brentford extended Bournemouth’s Premier League winless run to nine – and the source of their recent poor form, despite being easily identified, doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

Since the start of November, Andoni Iraola’s side have conceded 22 goals – staggeringly, that’s more than any other team in Europe’s big five leagues.

They have been involved in the three highest expected goals tallies in Premier League games this season (6.5 vs Crystal Palace, 6.0 vs Brentford, 5.3 vs Manchester United) – and the Cherries have not won a single one.

Against Brentford, it took just six minutes – and a build-up of four passes – before Kevin Schade brushed Bafode Diakite aside to break the deadlock. The French defender’s afternoon did not get any easier when his shambolic clearance attempt ricocheted off his own goalkeeper to hand the opponents a second.

Bournemouth’s attack subsequently awoke and produced a spirited performance, creating 2.32 xG in the second period alone, but were given no chance in the game when their defence let them down again by conceding three minutes after the break. Schade’s hat-trick goal summed up the day – yet another botched clearance allowed the German to head home unchallenged from point-blank range.

Iraola may have predicted a decline after he lost his two best defenders – Milos Kerkez and Ilya Zabarnyi – to huge transfer fees in the summer. But no one could have predicted that a team who were second in October could have dropped to 15th before the New Year.

Bournemouth need defensive reinforcement desperately in January. Without it, they could be facing relegation trouble – and fast.
Noah Langford

A star is born…

Nottingham Forest may have fallen short in the end against Manchester City, but their centre-forward Igor Jesus left with an enhanced reputation and with two of Europe’s most accomplished defenders knowing they’d been in a proper fight.

With Chris Wood sidelined following another injury setback, Forest needed someone to occupy the space, absorb pressure and give their team a platform. Igor Jesus didn’t just fill the role, he owned it. Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol, usually so serene in City’s defensive structure, spent much of the afternoon retreating, grappling and fouling – four times between them – as they struggled to contain Forest’s physical focal point.

Dias, in particular, looked rattled. Already walking a disciplinary tightrope, he was fortunate not to see red after stopping Igor Jesus as he darted in behind in the second half. On another day, with another referee, the second yellow card was there.

On this showing, Igor Jesus looks capable of leading the line with authority at Premier League level. No problem.
Lewis Jones

Everton are missing their creativity

Even by David Moyes’ own admission, Everton were not at their best at Burnley. Their lack of creativity was evident, especially with Jack Grealish missing out through injury.

Add to that, the likes of Illman Ndiaye, Idrissa Gueye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were also not available, with the four players making up a large chunk of the Toffees’ 18 goals this season.

At Turf Moor, Tyler Dibling was Everton’s best attacking player. In the first half, he sent in a series of good crosses, but they could not be converted. He was going past defenders and looked like a player with a point to prove.

He was not as effective after the break, but Everton will need more than a 19-year-old with only a handful of Premier League minutes to help light a spark. It is a team game after all.

Everton’s Premier League goalless drought has now extended to 280 minutes. They haven’t scored since Dewsbury-Hall’s strike in their December 6 win against Nottingham Forest, who they face again on Tuesday.

They beat Sean Dyche’s side 3-0 that day, but every game is different. They will be hoping to have Grealish back in action and maybe a few others to help them back to winning ways.
Charlotte Marsh

Burnley need to turn style into substance

If Burnley had beaten Everton – as they deserved to – they would have closed the gap to Premier League safety to four points. A not insurmountable challenge.

But after a goalless draw, six points still remains daunting. However, there were positives.

Firstly, back-to-back draws after seven successive defeats. It’s a credit to Scott Parker and the players that they have persevered through a difficult period. They also kept a first clean sheet in over two months.

In their overall play, there was a good press, nice passing and the Clarets were by far the better side in the second half. Their chance creation was decent as well, registering 16 shots.

But none of those were on target. Jacob Bruun Larsen and Zian Flemming will replay their own huge misses in their heads for the next few days, as well the series of players who struck wide and over. In reality, Jordan Pickford had few saves to make.

A lack of finishing and some slices of bad luck stopped Burnley from making the breakthrough, but they must start burying the kinds of opportunities they had on Saturday if they are to have any chance of beating the drop.
Charlotte Marsh