Welcome to The Debrief, a Sky Sports column in which Adam Bate uses a blend of data and opinion to reflect on some of the key stories from the latest Premier League matches. This week:
🔴 Robertson’s worrying decline at Liverpool
🔥 Tielemans’ passing under pressure at Villa
🔶 Strand Larsen’s hold-up play for Wolves
Robertson’s physical drop off?
“What a mess,” exclaimed Jamie Carragher as Andy Robertson’s awful error allowed Fulham to take the lead over Liverpool. “It is such a poor pass from a player of Robertson’s quality. He then does not make the header and it hits him on the way in.”
For Robertson, his part in the 3-2 defeat to Fulham – Liverpool’s first away from home in the Premier League this season – was unfortunately timed. The club have been linked, in his words, with “every left-back in the world” as talk of Milos Kerkez persists.
The Scotland captain has been robust in his defence of his form, referencing those “doubters for the first time in a long time” and suggesting there is always the need for a scapegoat. Speaking to Sky Sports recently, he acknowledged the criticism.
“A lot has been spoken about me this season, something I have not quite experienced in my time here. In one way it is pleasing because I have had seven years of kind of going under the radar, but probably this season there is a bit more spotlight on me.”
Nobody would expect a character like Robertson to do anything other than push back against this. Huge respect for his contribution remains. As Carragher put it in January: “Robertson is an absolute legend, he is just hanging on in every game now.”
Some of the statistical evidence does suggest that his game is in decline. His top speed has steadily dropped over the past five seasons, dipping to a low point during the current campaign. The number of carries into the penalty box by Robertson is also down.
At 31, perhaps that is to be expected. It also reflects a shift in his role under Arne Slot, with less emphasis on his attacking output. That could have been well-timed for him given his age. Tactically, the change has not exactly harmed Liverpool, the champions-elect.
But what has been surprising is that with greater focus on his defending, Robertson has looked so shaky. Even when Liverpool were winning games, such as the 2-1 win against Chelsea in October, his own performances were attracting the wrong sort of attention.
“There is something not quite right about Robertson in these opening 15 minutes or so,” said Gary Neville, on co-commentary for Sky Sports. “Usually, he is right in the face of his winger but he is standing off [Noni] Madueke. He is sitting off him five or 10 yards.”
In the very next Premier League game against Arsenal later that month, Bukayo Saka got the better of him, twisting and turning to score. In December, there was a sending off against Fulham that was later rescinded but nevertheless hinted that all was not well.
In January, Kostas Tsimikas came on to set up the equaliser at Nottingham Forest, leading to some calling for the Greek left-back to get his chance. Bigger competition than Tsimikas awaits Robertson soon. He is a club legend. But a legend now fighting for his place.
Tielemans’ passing under pressure
There are a number of passing statistics that, when combined, highlight why Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans is such a special player. The first is that no midfielder has played more passes under the pressure of a challenge within three metres of him.
That indicates the confined space in which he is working. But what makes him so good is that, despite this pressure, Tielemans has also played more of those passes forward than anyone else – 131 of them have bypassed four opponents.
No other midfielder has played even 100 such passes, so it tells us Tielemans is doing something different to the rest. It is a product of his scanning ability, an unusual level of awareness that helps Unai Emery’s Villa side move the ball up the pitch.
Against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Tielemans showed what can happen when a team sits off him and affords him space instead. His angled pass over the top to Morgan Rogers for the opening goal of the game in Villa’s 2-1 win was too good for the sleeping Morato.
Surprisingly, this was his first assist of 2025 for Villa, but his form has been excellent and Villa have come to rely on him. Incredibly, he has started every single game in not just the Premier League this season but the Champions League and the FA Cup too.
“He has been consistent,” said Emery, speaking in the press conference. “We are trying to identify if he needs rest, but he did it for some minutes at Preston and Brighton. He is feeling good and physically he is playing 90 minutes more or less comfortably.”
Emery also talked of how important Tielemans is because of his role in dictating “the tempo on the field” and that will certainly be put to the test over two legs against Paris Saint-Germain. He will be under pressure. But his numbers suggests he can cope with that.
Strand Larsen’s hold-up play
Exclude penalties and there are now only six players in the Premier League who have scored more goals than Wolves striker Jorgen Strand Larsen this season. One of those is team-mate Matheus Cunha whose absence through suspension risked costing Wolves.
Instead, Wolves have picked up 10 points from their four matches without him, culminating in Saturday’s 2-1 win against Ipswich at Portman Road that ended any fears of relegation. Strand Larsen scored the winner. It was his fourth goal in three games.
His role in the equaliser was actually even more impressive, cleverly timing his run to beat the offside trap. It was reminiscent of his late equaliser at Tottenham in December, but this time he held the ball and picked out Pablo Sarabia on the edge of the area.
Strand Larsen’s hold-up play is not flawless but he has done so on 71 occasions this season – the most by any Premier League player. Crucially, he has looked less isolated under Vitor Pereira – and particularly since the arrival of Marshall Munetsi in support.
“Now Munetsi is playing close to him,” Pereira explained, “creating spaces, attacking spaces every time, supporting the first ball. What we felt before was that when Larsen receives the first ball, the man close to him to support this ball was not there.
“Now they have a physical player that runs a lot, creating spaces every time in the box with him. It means that when the cross comes, the markers a lot of time go with Munetsi and Larsen is free to finish, and this is teamwork.” No Cunha then, but no problem for Wolves.