Alexis Mac Allister has offered a blunt assessment of Liverpool’s recent past, saying “something wasn’t right” in the squad under Arne Slot before praising the impact of the Dutchman’s successor, Andoni Iraola, for correcting it.

Liverpool began the 2025-26 campaign strongly enough to disguise deeper problems, but those issues were closely tied to the tragic death of Diogo Jota the previous summer. The team’s form then unravelled badly, eventually producing their worst run of results since the rationing period in the United Kingdom after the Second World War.

Even after repeatedly insisting his job was secure, Slot was still dismissed once he had done enough to secure Champions League qualification. Iraola, who had finished one place behind Liverpool with Bournemouth on far fewer resources, was appointed soon afterwards.

The transition has not been seamless. Liverpool have moved away from the control-first approach of the previous regime and towards the more chaotic style associated with Iraola. The progress has not followed a straight line, but the overall trend has been upwards.

Mac Allister underlined that change after scoring twice in Tuesday’s 4-3 Champions League win over Villarreal. “Something wasn’t right in the group and this manager changed it,” he told Amazon Prime. “The way we play is different, I don’t like to compare,” he added, while making a fairly stark comparison.

Iraola himself acknowledged there were issues to address when he arrived. “When I came here, the owners told me everything is not perfect,” he admitted.

Defensive structure had clearly been one of the main concerns. Liverpool’s total of 53 Premier League goals conceded was their worst in the competition since 1993-94.

Iraola’s answer has been a major tactical overhaul. Instead of organising Liverpool around set zones within a defined shape, he has asked them to press opponents directly in a man-to-man system.

“Now it’s more man-to-man,” Mac Allister explained. “You have to communicate less. Last year, it was more like a zonal thing. I like both. In the national team, we do zonal and it works. It’s about us taking the responsibility. It’s one of the changes. Now it’s easier, you think less but run more.”

Michael Carrick has said he is keen to see which players in his squad are “really there” as Manchester United try to steady a poor start to the season.

United’s victory over Sabah on Sept. 10 in the opening round of Champions League fixtures has been one of only two wins they have recorded so far. With a difficult trip to the Metropolitano next on the schedule, Carrick’s side could now go five matches without a win.

That possibility sits in sharp contrast to the opening stage of Carrick’s first spell in charge, when his early months were followed by a far more encouraging run. United never went more than two games without victory during his interim period, but they have already moved beyond that point now.

Carrick used his pre-match press conference to frame the challenge in positive terms, insisting the difficult spell can reveal who is truly committed to the group.

“I love this part, sometimes when it’s not quite going for you, you see who’s really there, you see within the group, the players, the squad, the club, who’s really there and who wants to be here for the long term,” Carrick told his prematch press conference.

“[You see who is] really attached to it and [who it] really means something [to].

“The supporters are there, they’re desperate for it, and we’ve got to give them something. I think you’ve got to embrace the challenges to get to where you want to be. We’re right there now in the middle of it, but totally believe that we’ll work through it.”

United’s current position is a reminder of how quickly fortunes can turn. The club enjoyed a very different mood during the second half of the 2025–26 campaign, when Carrick’s first six months led to questions over why he had not been appointed permanently sooner.

Even so, United have been here before. It was only in January 2025 that Ruben Amorim’s side went five matches without a win, a run that included defeats to Tottenham, Bournemouth, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United before a 2–2 draw away at Liverpool brought it to an end.

Finn Jeltsch may still be unfamiliar to many outside Germany, but that is unlikely to last for long. Sky Sports Germany reported that Barcelona and Inter Milan were among the clubs scouting the defender during Stuttgart’s 3-1 Champions League win over Viking FK before the international break. Several top Premier League clubs are also said to be monitoring him closely.

The 6’2" centre back has spent only 18 months at Stuttgart, having joined from Nürnberg in February 2025. Before that move, he had already built valuable experience in Germany’s second division. After arriving at Nürnberg at the age of nine, he went on to captain both the Under-17 and Under-19 sides before breaking into the first team. He made 33 senior appearances before Stuttgart secured his signature for €9.5 million.

Stuttgart manager Sebastian Hoeneß wasted little time in trusting him at Bundesliga level. Jeltsch was immediately placed in the starting line-up and made 12 league appearances before the end of that campaign, while also featuring briefly in the DFB Pokal final win over Arminia Bielefeld. His first full season brought more responsibility, with the defender starting half of Stuttgart’s Bundesliga matches and playing an important role in the Europa League.

This season has brought another step forward. Jeltsch has started all four of Stuttgart’s Bundesliga games so far, and his progress was rewarded with a call-up to Jürgen Klopp’s Germany squad during the current international break.

“I would say I’m an aggressive defender, brave and also attack-minded,” Jeltsch enthused upon being called up for the senior Germany squad.

That self-assessment fits the evidence. He stands out for his physical approach and his work without possession, having ranked joint-first among Stuttgart players for blocks per 90 in the Bundesliga last season. Only three team-mates posted more defensive contributions.

There is also real quality on the ball. Jeltsch is comfortable passing short or long, and only Angelo Stiller has averaged more accurate passes per 90 for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga this season. His former Germany youth coach Christian Wück said: “For two or three years we’ve needed players in the defense who can win back possession and make tackles. Finn Jeltsch was the perfect player for this,”

Jeltsch has named Manchester United’s Matthijs de Ligt as a player he watches closely. “He is a player who I always watch,” Jeltsch admitted. “I always try to copy one or two things from him. His physicality and the way he defends is something that I really like.”

Stuttgart are expected to resist offers in the short term, particularly with Champions League football again on the agenda. But with major clubs already tracking him, the long-term picture points towards another move at the highest level.