There was a clear sense of World Cup hangover during the opening weekend of the 2014/15 Premier League. But no matter, as it still elicited a number of talking points:
Liverpool's attacking shape
Liverpool's system post-Suarez was always going to be fascinating given that Brendan Rodgers has not sought to replace him directly.
In the hard-fought 2 - 1 win over a vibrant Southampton side, the Reds went with a 4-2-3-1. But there was a lopsided nature to it, conditioned by the players available.
The shape was visible during one of Simon Mignolet goal kick early in the second half, before substitutions and a change of system. Daniel Sturridge led the line as expected but Raheem Sterling could be seen pushing up very high on the left hand side, with Philippe Coutinho not far off Sturridge, who also made space by pulling to the right.
On this week's Monday Rewind, I discuss the potential transfers of Angel Di Maria and Marcos Rojo to Man United and Liverpool's capture of Alberto Moreno with Oisin Langan. Listen above or download the Monday Rewind for free via iTunes.
On the other side of the pitch, Jordan Henderson, who is not a natural winger, could be seen in a far more withdrawn position, in comparison to Sterling on the opposite side. But it was that lopsided nature that partly led to Liverpool's opening goal.
Henderson's fine ball from deep on the right beautifully played in Sterling who had pushed up high from his left wing berth and made an excellent run inside of Southampton's Nathaniel Clyne.
Noticeably new right back Manquillo also seemed to remain noticeably deeper than Glen Johnson on the opposite flank. He put in two crosses during the match, in comparison to Johnson who put in double that tally.
That's not too dissimilar to last season when Jon Flanagan played a more conservative role on the left, whereas Johnson had licence to break forward on the right.
But with a left-back arriving in the shape of former Sevillista Alberto Moreno, Johnson and Manquillo are likely to be fighting for one spot on the right.
Man United
A bird aiming fecal matter into Ashley Young's mouth was not a pretty sight at Old Trafford, but the biggest party poopers were Swansea.
Both goals conceded by Louis Van Gaal's men came when the opposition had the United on the turn down the flanks and the ball was shuttled across for a midfield runner (Ki Sung Yueng and Gylfi Sigurdsson) to run onto and finish.
It wasn't a case of back three issues as the second goal came when the system had been shifted back to a four-man defence.
The relationship between the backline and the midfield of Ander Herrera and Darren Fletcher also needs some work as it appeared all too easy for Ki and Sigurdsson to make their runs into dangerous areas.
Perhaps the question with the back three against sides like Swansea who are capable of dominating the midfield area with three central players, is that too much is asked of Fletcher and Herrera, especially when the three-man defence is in fact marking just one player - Wilfried Bony in Saturday's case.
This graphic by Squawka shows just how much ground that midfield pair had to cover in the 2 - 1 defeat compared to the Swansea trio of Ki, Sigurdsson and Jonjo Shelvey.
From Squawka.com
Other points of interest from the weekend
- Everton may not have been able to hold on for a win at Leicester, but the left-sided partnership between Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar was a joy to behold. Indeed it has been for a number of years and as one pundit put it, it's almost "telepathic".
- On Sky Sports, Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp had an interesting discussion after Arsenal's late win against Crystal Palace. As they explained, the Gunners were missing a player between the lines (or an Ozil-shaped hole) and that Jack Wilshere is likely to be the fall guy, especially if Arsene Wenger sticks with Mikel Arteta as the pivot. In truth, Wilshere is not a natural 10 even if he wears that number on his back, excelling when he gets turned and drives forward - and as the Carragher and Redknapp put it, there is a lad called Aaron Ramsey who is doing that quite well.
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