A former England international was left raving about a key tactical tweak from Ange Postecoglou that already looks to be paying dividends for Tottenham Hotspur while the three promoted teams are learning the hard way about life in the Premier League.
Elsewhere, Liverpool fans are wondering if their star striker has finally turned a corner in what could prove to be a scary warning for the rest of the division.
Foxsports.com.au takes a look at the weekend that was in Premier League Talking Points!
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THE KEY ANGE TWEAK THAT HAS EX-ENGLAND STAR DROOLING
With every Tottenham game that passes, English pundits are slowly but surely turning into Ange Postecoglou fans.
The Postecoglou era began with a thrilling 2-2 draw against Brentford but it was a 2-0 win over Manchester United that really got the UK media to sit up and take notice.
A comfortable 2-0 win over Bournemouth continued Tottenham’s unbeaten start to the season and, for at least a few hours, Postecoglou’s side was top of the Premier League.
James Maddison’s opener left fans drooling as Dejan Kulusevski’s second-half strike sealed the three points.
Yet it was none of the midfielders or attackers that caught the eye of former England international Joe Cole during the game.
“The fullbacks in particular was an area of concern last year,” Cole said on TNT Sports’ broadcast.
“I looked at that and thought they never looked quite comfortable. But the (second) goal in particular came from (Destiny) Udogie in midfield.”
Cole asked Postecoglou if there was “some kind of trigger you’re using” for the fullbacks to tuck into the midfield.
“Because he’s in midfield, the ball comes out to (Ivan) Perisic and he just goes. It almost seems like they’ve been together forever. He went straight away and attacked that space.
“They look like they’re playing with freedom.”
However, Postecoglou refused to give any of his secrets away and had a brilliant response.
“I’m just copying Pep, mate,” Postecoglou replied.
Udogie, who operates on the left flank, hadn’t played for Tottenham until this season but has taken to Postecoglou’s style of play like a duck to water.
On the right, Pedro Porro has also impressed in his ability to get up and down the touchline while also adhering to the Aussie’s tactical instructions.
Who knows what element of Postecoglou’s game will be noticed in Tottenham’s next fixture, but it seems the English pundits are finally seeing ‘AngeBall’ for what it really is.
REDS’ ‘PERFORMANCE FOR THE AGES’ AS STAR FINALLY ARRIVES
What a performance from Liverpool. After conceding an early goal and playing with 10 men for an hour, Jurgen Klopp’s men showed remarkable grit and tactical intelligence to fight back and claim a smash-and-grab win.
Klopp was asked after the game what the comeback said about his team’s spirit. He replied: “Absolutely everything. In my more than 1,000 games as a coach, I never had a game like this, that is the truth.
“There have been other games, but with 10 men in an atmosphere like this against an opponent like this … It’s not that I can’t remember, I’m pretty sure it never happened because these moments are rare and super-special.”
“It was unbelievable, something very special,” captain Trent Alexander-Arnold told Sky Sport. “You come here with a game plan, dictate the play and kill the atmosphere as that’s an advantage for them.
“But we had to do it the hard way, a very hard way. We dug deep and pulled together. A performance for the ages, one of our best performances. There was some outstanding performances.”
Klopp now has 11 wins in a row against opposite manager Eddie Howe – the longest win streak between any two Premier League managers. The German mastermind was a class above Howe on the day – his reshuffle after the red card narrowed Liverpool’s formation and stifled Newcastle’s attack, before his substitutes Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez had an ideal impact.
Nunez had a tough first season after his club-record arrival for £85m last year, scoring 15 times in all competitions from 42 appearances – but missed plenty of chances with a lack of composure in front of goal. Per Opta Stats, he scored 12 big chances and missed 28.
That lack of consistency saw him drop down Liverpool’s pecking order in attack – and he was clearly ‘fired up’ by that demotion, having not started any of Liverpool’s matches this season.
Klopp told Sky Sports it was a ‘super performance’ from Nunez: “We calmed the game down and brought on Darwin, he was obviously fired up from not starting.
“It’s clear he’s not happy. It’s early in the season, we need to find stability and results. He will play, there’s no doubt about that. We need everyone. We need to find a way of playing. This is a new team with new key players. It needs time.
“He scores two goals and can’t get the smile off his face. For the team, it was super important. You need these things together. You cannot force it. I enjoyed that in the last second.”
There was plenty of pressure on Nunez last season given his price tag, but his maiden Premier League season began by losing his head and copping a red card. A year later he made himself the team’s saviour after Van Dijk was red.
As Manchester United great Gary Neville told Sky Sports of Nunez’s first goal: “It’s a huge moment in this match but an even bigger moment for Darwin Nunez.”
At 24, this might be the turning point in the gifted Uruguayan’s Premier League career. If he can develop the consistency and clinical edge that was lacking last campaign, he could play a key role in lifting Liverpool back into the title picture.
BRUTAL REALITY FOR TRIO OF PL NEWBIES
For the newly-promoted trio of Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United, they would have gone into this Premier League season with varying levels of optimism.
Burnley steamrolled the Championship last season to finish top of the ladder, Sheffield United also went up via automatic promotion while Luton Town did it by winning the playoffs.
But it’s taken just a handful of games for the three to remember just how brutal life in the Premier League is.
All three teams have failed to gain at least a point from their opening games and it is only Everton’s miserable start that is preventing them from being in the relegation zone.
In fairness, Burnley have faced defending champions Manchester City and Aston Villa in their opening two games, losing 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.
Same goes for Luton Town who lost 4-1 to Brighton and 3-0 to Chelsea in a rough start.
Sheffield United have also faced one of the Premier League’s big hitters and came up short, losing 2-1 to Manchester City on Sunday.
However, the Blades had two fixtures which they felt they had a chance in but ultimately ended in defeats against Crystal Palace (0-1) and Nottingham Forest (1-2).
As Burnley boss Vincent Kompany pointed out after his side’s loss to Aston Villa on Sunday, the step up from the Championship to the Premier League is a big one.
“Learning comes at a price in the Premier League,” Kompany said.
“When you get punished you have to learn from it really quickly.
“You play against the good sides and everything happens a little bit faster.”
There is still a long, long way to go this season so it is far too early to write off any of these teams.
Luton are yet to play at their famous Kenilworth Road ground, Burnley’s new signings will take some time to gel while Sheffield United have proven they won’t roll over for anyone.
But the longer these teams go without a win, let alone a draw, the pressure could quickly become insurmountable.
LUCKY LIVERPOOL AS CAPTAIN EXPOSED AGAIN
Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of the finest attacking fullbacks in the world, with his creativity on the ball delivering record assists in recent years. That’s why both Liverpool and England have experimented with playing him as a midfielder – with the Reds having him make underlapping runs to overload the midfield and get him on the ball as much as possible.
But his defensive deficiencies were badly exposed last year and he was given nightmares by Anthony Gordon against Newcastle. First he was given a yellow card for throwing away the ball after being shoved by Gordon – who appeared to have fouled him. Then he escaped a second yellow and a sending-off when he collected Gordon with a stray arm on a counter-attack.
Alexander-Arnold was also at fault for Newcastle’s opener, when he failed to control a Mohamed Salah pass and allowed Gordon to race through and score.
But the fact that the Liverpool fullback – and the team’s new captain – was even on the field caused significant debate.
Asked about the second Alexander-Arnold infringement, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said: “For me, yes. You don’t want to see a player sent off but, for me, that’s a clear red card.”
He added there were “two moments that are key in the game [Van Dijk’s red being the other] and the referee got the first one wrong. We’re not looking at that as the reason we didn’t win the game – that has to fall on our laps.”
Legendary former player Alan Shearer declared: “I think referee John Brookes had a really poor start to the game. The first 10 minutes, I think he got two big decisions wrong.
“I thought it was a clear foul from Anthony Gordon on Trent but he gets a yellow card for time wasting or chucking the ball away and rightly so, that was the right decision but that should have been a foul on Trent.
“And then a couple of minutes later, he’s on a yellow card and that should have been another yellow card. The only thing I can say for the referee is he probably thinks it’s too early in the game to be giving another yellow but that’s not right.”
And Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: “The first booking is a needless one, we’re still getting used to the new rules. He just throws it away, which is now a standard booking. He feels hard done by and is pushed and throws the ball away.
“The second incident is too big for him [the referee]. He doesn’t want to make the decision.
“Alexander-Arnold is lucky. He steps out to the left and puts his arm across Gordon. He knows one more and he’s done. I’m convinced that if he wasn’t on a yellow card, he would get one for that.”
Liverpool had Alexis MacAllister’s red card against Bournemouth overturned. For the second week running they had a sending off – but they could have easily have seen Alexander-Arnold off the park as well.
Asked after the match if he thought he would be sent off, Alexander-Arnold said: “It’s always difficult. Especially when you’re away from home, they [decisions] can go against you. It was a bit of a mistake from me and it didn’t help with the crowd on top of me and the team.”
While his attacking ability is unquestionable, there’s no doubt that opposition teams will be putting the fullback firmly in their sights as a potential weakness to exploit.
