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We've glimpsed gegenpressing Liverpool-style and Ozil's stats do not lie

The Premier League is back to hog the limelight - at least until the midweek Champions League act...



We've glimpsed gegenpressi...
Soccer

We've glimpsed gegenpressing Liverpool-style and Ozil's stats do not lie

The Premier League is back to hog the limelight - at least until the midweek Champions League action - and here's some of the things that jumped out over the weekend. 

Gegenpressing galore 

Jurgen Klopp's philosophy is clear and what was just as clear is that he was imparting key aspects of it to his players as Liverpool and Tottenham played out a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane.

You may have heard the stat that Liverpool were the first team to out-run Tottenham this season, although of more importance was the point of all that running.

This graphic from Squawka.com shows where Liverpool made their tackles and it is obvious to the eye that much of the ball-winning was done in Spurs' half:

The trio furthest forward (Divock Origi, Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho) were the players exerting the most pressure on the Tottenham back-line in the early stages. 

However, as was clear when watching the match, Liverpool were not able to maintain their frenetic pace as the match wore on.

But as former Ireland defender Paddy Mulligan said on the Monday Rewind, they at least looked more soild defensively, even if there was little attacking threat as the game wore on.

You can listen in to Paddy Mullian's take on the Premier League action and Ireland drawing Bosnia in the Euro 2016 playoffs via the podcast players:

 

Rooney behind enemy lines

The Manchester United striker has been under pressure this season after a lacklustre start, but did find the net against his former club Everton in a comfortable 3-0 win at Goodison Park.

What was interesting though was the number of times he was able to get behind the Toffees defence. When playing as a lone striker, the England captain can have a tendency to try and drop too deep but Saturday was different as he broke though Everton's high line down the channels both for his goal and a couple more chances - one that Tim Howard was able to block and another which Rooney squared for a colleague.

His cause was also aided by the positive influence of the line of three behind him (an area that is key for United to exploit) with Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Anthony Martial all contributing. 

 

Ozil on song?

The jury has been out on Mesut Ozil since he arrived at Arsenal, although he has shone subtly at times. But while numbers are not the be all and end all, the Arsenal attacking midfielder is contributing in spades.

Along with Manchester City's David Silva, the German World Cup winner has the joint-most assists in the Premier League this season with six (Ireland fans and Eamon Dunphy will be delighted to note that Wes Hoolahan is right between them with five for Norwich) but Ozil is second only to West Ham's impressive Dimitry Payet for key passes in 2015-16.

His contribution was also impressive against Watford in Arsenal's 3-0 win on Saturday evening when it comes to stats as he created more chances than any other player (six) and provided two assists (one for Alexis Sanchez when he was about to score and one pull-back for substitute Olivier Giroud). 

If he maintains that form and provides an excellent foil for Alexis Sanchez, then Arsenal's chances of keeping pace in the title hunt is far more realistic.

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