“Who remembers the holding midfielder? The no-nonsense anchorman who sat in front of the defence, protected that space, and contributed little in attack? The current trend in the Premier League is for players in that mould to push up, to press, to make runs into attack, and to provide goalscoring qualities too. The flip side, of course, is that the defence goes unprotected. And in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Liverpool, the story of the game was all about both sides being exposed between the lines. …”
NY Times/The Athletic – Michael Cox