I think quite a few teams have developed a strategy that when they play the (big four) they will unsettle them by not allowing any time on the ball. It seems nowadays more and more teams are doing this more and more regularly. Everton did it to United, and as a consequence Everton looked the better passing team over the 90 minutes. In that clip you see several little passes into the attacking third where our players were in space, the opponents sitting off the player in possession and allowing space for others to stroll into.
In most games this season we are seeing teams not even allow time for defenders to receive the ball from the keeper, without putting them immediately under pressure. The City/Liverpool match looked untidy for long periods because both teams were putting all their energy into shutting down rather than creating.
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