Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

In real time it looked as though the VAR check for Phil Foden’s disallowed goal related to the challenge on Alisson by Erling Haaland. The fact it was for something earlier, Haaland’s foul on Fabinho, a kind of disdainful toss to the floor which seemed entirely unconnected by the time the ball was put in the net by Foden, emphasised again the oddity and inconsistency of VAR. That challenge had been within the referee’s eyeline at the time. Was this video tool really intended to allow the officials to re-referee such 50-50 moments? Was there an obvious injustice here that simply had to be corrected? The answer probably depends on which team you support, or how slowly you replay the collision. But again, it was hard to feel the spectacle was improved by this intervention. This has been an unintended consequence of VAR: over-refereeing, and bizarrely excessive prominence for the enforcer of some necessarily subjective laws. Football is entertainment. Bald men looking at screens is not. Barney Ronay

Match report: Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City

“The performance was good, a clean sheet – we pressed well, we controlled the game and in stages we were good on the ball – especially in the second half.” Erik ten Hag made no mention of how his Manchester United team are yet to be a consistent pass-and-move outfit who play for long swathes in the opponent’s half. Instead, the Dutchman’s team are a variant on Solskjær-ball. As with his predecessor’s United side, Ten Hag’s early matches have been harum-scarum, his team relying on counter-attacks and pace, running out of ideas against a low-banked, stacked defence. Against Newcastle, there were glimpses of the five a-side moves that make Manchester City so dominant. The hope for Ten Hag