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Robbie Savage’s Winners & Losers: Worst Man Utd ever; Liverpool show title mettle

Robbie Savage

In association with Planet Sport Bet, Robbie Savage will give us his Winners and Losers from the weekend’s action…

Robbie Savage bemoans the worst Manchester United side in Premier League history while praising Liverpool for their resilience to maintain their lead at the summit…


Robbie’s winners

My winners this weekend are Liverpool.

On the back of conceding such a late goal in the last ever Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, questions were being asked. Could they bounce back? Especially after Arsenal closed the gap to four points with a morale-boosting win of their own against Leicester.

They had to show resilience, mentality, desire and I thought it was a fantastic, outstanding win. Wolves played great in that second half, threatening a fightback from 2-0 down, but Liverpool held on, showing the mettle of champions, with some great defending. Jarell Quansah made a great block, Virgil van Dijk was a rock too.

It was a brilliant, brilliant win. To get four points in those two games, that point at Goodison could be a huge point in the title run-in. The three against Wolves, when far from their fluent best, was massive.

There were questions too around how Everton would cope with the come-down after the drama in the derby, but the Toffees were superb while beating Palace. Under David Moyes, they have taken 13 points from a possible 18, which is a fantastic haul given how they seemed to be drifting prior to the manager’s return.

Tottenham did just enough to see off a very poor Manchester United side – more on them to come – but there are glimmers of hope for Ange Postecoglou. His injury list is easing, important players are coming back, and a first home win in 105 days is a good base to build on for the rest of the season.

Manchester City can take great heart from tearing Newcastle apart before they go to the Bernabeu to attempt to overturn last week’s deficit in the Champions League.

Pep’s new boys impressed; Omar Marmoush looked every bit the lethal goalscorer he was in the Bundesliga with a 14-minute hat-trick, and Nico Gonzalez was dominant in midfield. City’s first half display might have been their best 45 minutes of the season so far.

I have to mention Bournemouth again – I love what Andoni Iraola is doing with them and we shouldn’t ever be blasé to the fact that the Cherries are above Newcastle and Chelsea in the race for the Champions League places.

 

Robbie’s losers

My losers, again, are Manchester United.

I’ve got to say, it is the worst Premier League side Manchester United have ever assembled. It’s unbelievable to think that Manchester United are 15th in the table in February, with minus-seven goal-difference and only 29 points.

David Moyes’s Everton have gone above them, Spurs jumped them, Crystal Palace are above them, it is a frightening situation at Old Trafford.

How is it going to get better? What players can they bring in in the summer? It increasingly looks like it will take much longer to fix. This is a deeply worrying time for Manchester United.


Chelsea were rotten on Friday, losing at Brighton for the second time in six days. Enzo Maresca said the positive of losing in the cup was that it allowed them to focus on their league form. So he must be have been fuming to see his players then turn in that performance against a side they know are gasping to beat them.

It was a bad weekend for another ex-Chelsea manager – Graham Potter. They were better in the second half against Brentford after the manager made changes at the break, but it was still a poor performance from West Ham.

There are little signs of improvement but one win in six since he arrived highlights the scale of the job on Potter’s hands.

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