Ole Gunnar Solskjaer shifted the acclaim onto his players as a Manchester United managerial record was broken. Juergen Klopp praised the character of title-chasing Liverpool. Maurizio Sarri, though, chose to eviscerate his Chelsea squad on Saturday, 19 January.
Deflecting blame from his own decision-making after a 2-0 loss at Arsenal, Sarri didn't hold back with a damning critique of his players' mental fragility as Chelsea's grip on fourth place in the Premier League was weakened by goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny.
“I am extremely angry, very angry indeed. This defeat was due to our mentality, our mental approach. It appears this group of players is extremely difficult to motivate.”Maurizio Sarri, Chelsea Manager
“As a group of players they are not particularly aggressive from a mental point of view, they don't have that kind of ferocity in their mentality and that is something that it's down to the type of players they are – their characteristics. That is difficult to change."
Sarri was far from finished with the outburst that was reminiscent of former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who was fired in 2015 over "palpable discord" with his squad.
"This is not a team that is going to be well known for its battling qualities," said Sarri, the former Napoli coach who succeeded Antonio Conte at Chelsea in the offseason.
That was clear on a freezing night in north London as Chelsea only managed one shot on target, late in the game when already two goals down.
Chelsea remain in the fourth and final Champions League qualification place, but Arsenal and Manchester United are now only three points behind.
The tone from Sarri was in marked contrast to Solskjaer after the Norwegian racked up a sixth successive league win at the start of his United reign thanks to Paul Pogba's penalty and Marcus Rashford's strike securing a 2-1 win over Brighton.
“The players have to be proud of the form and the momentum they are building,” Solskjaer said.
On a day of commemorations to mark 25 years since the death of Matt Busby, Solskjaer surpassed the start of the managerial great who managed five wins in a row when he set out at United in 1945.
“Maybe in 10, 15, 20 years’ time I’ll look back on things like this. I don’t care whatsoever about records at all. I’ve never ever bothered about these things. But of course to be part of a team that’s winning so much, that feels great.”Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Man Utd Manager
United remain sixth, just as they were when Solskjaer was hired to replace Jose Mourinho a month ago, but now Champions League qualification is back on the cards. The race for fourth position is looking wide open, with fourth-placed Chelsea only three points ahead of Arsenal and United.
United are still waiting for its first title since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. Liverpool have been waiting since 1990 but are now well placed to dethrone Manchester City as champions.
A 4-3 victory over Crystal Palace put Liverpool seven points ahead of City, who play on Sunday, 20 January against bottom-placed Huddersfield.
The Palace lead established by Andros Townsend in the first half was wiped out within eight minutes of the second half by Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.
After Palace equalized through James Tomkins' header, Salah restored Liverpool's lead. In a frantic conclusion in stoppage time, after Liverpool had James Milner sent off, Sadio Mane scored for the hosts before Palace substitute Max Mayer netted.
“I have known the boys since 2015 and I have found boys with outstanding character,” Klopp said. “It's not the first time this season we had to do it, but today it was pretty special and I really liked it.”
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