Now more than ever, Premier League teams need to be tactically flexible and willing to adapt. Stick with the same strategy for too long and opponents will figure you out ... you'll soon start sliding down the table.

The 2024-25 season has seen a number of ingenious or surprise tactical tweaks, leading to excellent performances or a dramatic change in fortunes. We've listed five that we think have been the most impactful, from Arne Slot's novel solution up front for Liverpool to the simple, yet effective way Nottingham Forest have catapulted themselves into the top four.

Usually when you compile a list like this, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is front and centre of it -- yet he's nowhere to be seen. Take that as another reminder of how surreally poor his side have been.

Slot and Díaz revive the 'false No. 9'

Around 10-15 years ago, a spate of false No. 9s appeared at the top level of European football, taking their lead from Lionel Messi's mesmeric performances for Barcelona. Ezequiel Lavezzi, Raheem Sterling and Roberto Firmino, among others, all tried their hand at the curious role, which involves playing up front but spending barely any time testing opposing centre-backs. Instead, the player drops back into midfield to conduct play and try to feed goal-hungry wide players.

You don't see many of these nowadays, as the sport feels so athletic and compressed between the lines, there's barely any room for a player like this to exist. From Erling Haaland to Robert Lewandowski to Alexander Isak, strikers are typically big and strong, able to run the channels and hunt goals like a traditional No. 9 would.

So that makes Liverpool's Luis Díaz somewhat of an anomaly: He genuinely looks like a false No. 9, constantly moving away from central zones while the Reds have the ball and combining in deeper areas, often on the left. Manager Arne Slot opted for this setup when Diogo Jota got injured in October rather than simply fielding Darwin Núñez as the focal point, and it has worked brilliantly for the league leaders.

Luis Díaz (7) often drifts left to combine with teammates, freeing up space for Salah (11)

Liverpool have been imperiously effective with Díaz up front, while he has chipped in with a number of important contributions (12 goals and three assists in all competitions), most notably a hat trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. Meanwhile, Cody Gakpo has excelled from the left flank and it's been well over a month since Mohamed Salah played a game without scoring or assisting. Perhaps the most important consideration for any tactical move Slot makes is, "How does this affect Salah?" This one has arguably taken him to another level.

Tonali unlocks the potential of Guimarães

Newcastle are on a five-game winning streak in the Premier League, scoring 15 times and conceding just once during that span. It's a patch of form that coincides directly with Sandro Tonali's first run of games in the starting XI in over a year, due to the 10-month gambling ban that wrecked his 2023-24 season and forced a slow start to this one.

Tonali has slotted into the centre of the Magpies' midfield three, his bustling style rejuvenating the physical and aggressive edge that the best versions of Eddie Howe's Newcastle United have had. That has pushed Bruno Guimarães into a freer role just ahead, usually to the right, and it has transformed the Brazilian's game too.

Guimarães (39)'s new role brings him closer to Alexander Isak (14), which delivers a range of benefits

Now situated higher up the pitch, he's able to link up more with striker Alexander Isak, influence play in the final third and get into the box more. And when Newcastle press and win the ball high up, it's Guimarães who can play that first, incisive pass to create a big chance -- as seen for Anthony Gordon against Tottenham.

So, not only has Tonali's presence shored up the team defensively -- their expected goals against (xGA) figure is below 1.0 in each of the last five league games -- but it has also extracted Guimarães' best run of form of the season (seven of his eight goals and assists this season have come in the past nine games). As a result, that has had an impact on Isak, who has scored 10 goals in his past nine appearances in all competitions.

Arsenal's set piece havoc

A lot of good came out of Arsenal's midseason trip to Dubai in January 2024, most notable of which was a vast improvement in set piece performance.

Fast-forward a year and Arsenal have earned the moniker "Set Piece FC" from some -- a nickname that's intended to be a criticism, but also naturally hammers home the fact that they're lethal from dead-ball situations.

Their corners were good last season; but now, each one is so potent that they represent major events within games ... almost like a free kick close to the area. Arsenal take a long time to put the ball into the box and that's seemingly by design: The wait builds fear, anxiety and anticipation ... it builds a sense of drama.

The deliveries have also levelled up: Declan Rice's offerings from the left are now as good as Bukayo Saka's from the right, and there's more variety to the placement of the ball. Their classic routine is a group rush from the back post to the near post, where centre-back Gabriel Magalhães (who has four goals this season) is the target and everyone else causes a ruckus. But they've added layers to this routine now, sometimes using Gabriel as a decoy, sometimes scoring via flick-ons and back post deliveries.

Gabriel has taken 17 shots in the Premier League this season, 13 of which have been from inside the six-yard box.

Their free kicks are just as dangerous, with almost every player standing offside then curving their runs back to an onside position as Rice swings the ball in. Arsenal are not the only team to do this kind of thing, but they probably do it best.

The monotonous work preparing and practicing these routines on the training ground with specialist coach Nicolas Jover is certainly paying off: Arsenal have scored the most set piece goals (10) in the Premier League this season -- just over a quarter of their overall tally (39).

Morgan Rogers moves wide for Villa

Morgan Rogers has had the kind of season that has made people sit up and take notice. His powerful dribbles take Villa from one end of the pitch to the other in a flash and it has been exhilarating to watch him swat tacklers aside, charging forward to break open defences.

Indeed, he tops all Aston Villa players for a series of dribbling metrics, most notable of which is his 40 carries into the final third, and has left some of the best players at the top clubs in the world -- from Manchester City to Bayern Munich -- trailing in his wake.

The issue for Villa is that Rogers' style of dribbling is high-risk/high reward. As effective as his runs are when they come off, he's been dispossessed 38 times and has miscontrolled 56 passes this season, both by far the highest numbers in the squad. Worse yet are the areas of the pitch where he loses the ball: playing as a support striker it's in centre of the pitch, which leaves Villa vulnerable and open to counterattacks.

So Unai Emery moved him to the left flank, asking John McGinn to play as the support striker instead. Rogers has continued to motor forward with the ball -- and in fact, thanks to playing close to the touchline in smaller areas, his footwork and close control have improved -- but when he does lose possession, it's in the wide areas, which is less dangerous.

Since the move, Rogers has delivered four great performances (vs. Brentford, Southampton, Manchester City and Brighton & Hove Albion) to help cement Emery's strategy.

Nottingham Forest: Gamestate kings

It's much easier to win games if you take the lead. That's hardly a revelation, but it's worth keeping in mind at times when football can feel incredibly complex.

Forest are certainly doing so as they continually take the lead in matches, then successfully turn those leads into victories. They've scored the first goal in 15 of their 20 Premier League matches and have won 12 of them, which has vaulted them into an unexpected chase for a Champions League spot.

It's a tried-and-trusted strategy for punching above your weight. Forest are effectively matching what Leicester City did during their miraculous 2015-16 title win (40 points from 20 games), the only difference being that at least one of the traditional big guns have avoided a complete disaster of a campaign this time.

Leicester take the lead and kept clean sheets a lot; Forest are doing the same. A more recent comparison could be Villa, who continually took the lead and then won games during Emery's first 12 months, quickly leading them into ... you guessed it ... a Champions League place in 2024.

It will be interesting to see how opposing teams react to Forest now that their secret is out and people start to set expectations based on what they have accomplished so far. In 2016, it took Premier League managers an astonishingly long time -- more than half the season -- to adjust to Leicester's devastating counterattacking tactics. Will the response to Forest be faster?

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Jordan Love will have to take the next step in his career as the Green Bay Packers' quarterback without his revered position coach, Tom Clements.

On the day when the Packers announced that Clements, 71, is retiring, head coach Matt LaFleur said the next part in Love's evolution as a quarterback is to assume a more vocal leadership role within the team.

"I think the next step is just to continue to evolve as a vocal leader," LaFleur said of Love during Tuesday's season wrap-up news conference.

Clements will go down as the only person to coach Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers and Love.

This is actually Clements' second or third retirement, depending on how he views it. He initially came to Green Bay as Mike McCarthy's quarterbacks coach in 2006 and left after the 2016 season. Clements was out of coaching for two years until the Arizona Cardinals hired him to work with Tyler Murray, who became Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019.

Clements also coached for the Saints, Chiefs, Steelers and Bills.

Clements told ESPN in 2023 that if he was retired after his first stint in Green Bay, then he was "retired, retired" after the 2020 season in Arizona. That was until Rodgers convinced him to come back to Green Bay in 2022 after Luke Getsy left to become the Chicago Bears' offensive coordinator.

"Man, it's been a cool ride with him for the last three years," LaFleur said of Clements, a longtime star quarterback in the Canadian Football League following his college career at Notre Dame.

"Talk about Favre, Rodgers and then the development of Jordan Love. I mean, that's pretty cool. I know he's meant a lot to this organization -- his contributions -- and he will definitely be missed. I can't say enough great things about him. I really appreciate him."

The Packers have several in-house candidates to replace Clements, including assistant quarterbacks coach Connor Lewis and former NFL quarterback Sean Mannion, who joined the Packers' staff this past season as an offensive assistant. Getsy also spent the last portion of this season with the Packers as a consultant after he was fired as the Raiders' offensive coordinator.

Whoever coaches Love next season will be tasked, in part, with helping him take the next step in his career as a starter. LaFleur called Love "an ascending player that is going to get better and better and better" and believes his leadership role will continue to grow.

"I think that just kind of comes with the position naturally," LaFleur said. "I think he's taken steps to get there, but I think he can really demand a lot because the locker room respects him. And they respect him not only as a person but by the work he puts in. He's a grinder. He's one of the guys; I think that's one of his best qualities, is he is one of the guys.

"They all respect him, but I think, when things aren't quite right, I think he can voice that as well. When guys aren't quite doing what they're supposed to be doing, and he's one of the guys to talk to [them] about that. I just think it means more when it comes from your quarterback than it does from me or one of our other coaches."

After a strong finish to his first season as a starter in 2023 that resulted in a four-year, $220 million contract extension, Love missed two games because of a knee injury early in the season and also dealt with a groin injury at midseason. He threw 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in the regular season, but he went the last seven regular-season games without an interception until he had three of them in the playoff loss to the Eagles on Sunday.

The Packers finished an 11-win season on a three-game losing streak, including the playoffs, during which the offense sputtered.

"Do I think he can play better? Absolutely," LaFleur said. "Do I think I can help him out and be better? Absolutely. Do I think we can play better around him? Absolutely.

"I just think it's too much to put it on one person. I really do. I think collectively, we have to be better, and I expect better. We performed at a pretty high level a majority of the season and then took a dive. That's why it feels, I'd say, different than a year ago."

PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles coach Nick Sirianni offered a strong defense of A.J. Brown on Tuesday, saying he was "definitely OK" with the star wide receiver reading a book on the sideline in-game, and pushed back on those who speculated what was behind Brown's actions.

Sirianni's comments came Tuesday during a radio appearance on 94.1 WIP after Brown stirred conversation by reading "Inner Excellence" by Jim Murphy on the bench during the Eagles' wild-card playoff win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

"Some guys pray in between, some guys mediate in between. A.J. reads in between. Whatever these guys need to do to put their mind in a place where they can play with great detail and great effort, I fully encourage them to do that," Sirianni said.

Brown had one catch on three targets in the game, leading to questions of whether he was acting out of frustration.

"We don't do any research, and we jump to a conclusion of, 'Oh he must be disgruntled.' That to me is lazy," Sirianni added. "Everyone needs to figure out why he's doing it before they jump to judgment on the man. Because the man, A.J. Brown is a great, great, great person. The man A.J. Brown is the best receiver -- and I'll say it without hesitation -- the best receiver that this city has ever seen ... It's hard for me to watch when people are getting on him without doing the proper research of who the man is and what he's doing in the first place."

Brown explained that he brings the book to every game and reads it because there are passages that bring him a sense of peace. And no, he wasn't reading it because he was discontented.

"I wasn't frustrated at all. I figured that's what y'all probably thought," Brown said Sunday. "Why do you always think I be frustrated? Dang. I like to read."

Brown went on social media to further explain why reading during games works for him. "I use it to refocus and lock in despite what may transpire in the game good or bad," he wrote on X. "People tend to create controversy when they don't know the truth."

All of the attention has been very good for book sales. "Inner Excellence" took the top spot on Amazon's trending list after previously being ranked 523,497th.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Michael Lewis, who was arrested on a felony charge for allegedly stalking WNBA star Caitlin Clark, appeared in court Tuesday and immediately was rebuked by the judge for talking.

When he entered the courtroom at Marion County Superior Court, Lewis sat back in his chair and said "guilty as charged," and he interrupted the court's proceedings multiple times.

"You have a right to remain silent, and I expect you to exercise that on me," Judge Angela Davis said. When Lewis, 55, continued, she told him again to "stop talking."

Davis entered a not guilty plea on Lewis' behalf, stating that she wouldn't accept a guilty plea at an initial hearing. She assigned public defender Gavin Uitvlugt to Lewis's case.

Lewis was ordered held on $50,000 bail, and Davis ordered him to stay away from Indianapolis basketball arenas Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Hinkle Fieldhouse -- where Clark and the Indiana Fever play their home games -- and to not have any contact with the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year.

Lewis could face up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Lewis is listed in court documents as being a resident of Denton, Texas, but in court he said he lives in his vehicle, which he drove to Indianapolis. Lewis was arrested at an Indianapolis hotel after allegedly posting multiple explicit messages on social media and tagging Clark.

"I'm getting tickets. I'm sitting behind the bench," one message read.

"They said I was sending threatening texts..but the only though on my mind was....CAITLIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNN," another read.

Additional posts contained sexually violent material.

Prosecutors wrote in court documents that the posts "caused Caitlin Clark to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened" and that an implicit or explicit threat also was made "with the intent to place Caitlin Clark in reasonable fear of sexual battery."

"It takes a lot of courage for women to come forward in these cases, which is why many don't," Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said Monday. "In doing so, the victim is setting an example for all women who deserve to live and work in Indy without the threat of sexual violence.

"We commend Pacers Sports & Entertainment, and the Marion County Sheriff's Office for the swift and serious action that led to this weekend's arrest."

Lewis is due back in Marion County Superior Court on March 31 for a pretrial hearing.

In December, a 40-year-old man from Oregon pleaded guilty to stalking UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers and was given a one-year suspended sentence and three years' probation.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Kawhi Leonard is in no rush to break free of the minutes restriction he has been playing under since making his season debut recently.

"I'm taking my time," the LA Clippers superstar said. "I done that in the past and it led me on the bench, so I'm good where I'm at."

Leonard had six points on 3-for-9 shooting and five rebounds in 21 minutes of his third game, a 109-98 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday night. He didn't play in the fourth quarter of a game in which the Clippers trailed by 13 early.

"Happy we got the win," he said. "Good team win."

The Clippers are 21-17 and sixth in the West.

"I'm just playing really and trying to do my job to help the team win," Leonard said.

Leonard has totaled 26 points and 10 rebounds in 61 minutes over the three games. The two-time NBA Finals MVP started the season late while needing time to rehabilitate and strengthen his surgically repaired right knee that ended his previous few seasons early.

"I feel good and as long as I'm feeling good on the court, I'm able to move quickly, get to my spots," he said. "That's all I'm looking for."

Leonard's teammates are working to slowly incorporate him into what they built over the early part of the season. They were 19-15 before he came back.

"He's just working his way into conditioning-wise, playing-wise, flow of the game, like all of the above," James Harden said. "He hadn't had a training camp, preseason, none of that, so for us it's just trying to make his job a lot easier."

The Clippers provided few and typically vague updates on Leonard's progress over the early part of the season, when he didn't speak to media.

"Kawhi is one of the best players in the league," center Ivica Zubac said. "When he gets his legs under him and rhythm, he's going to be really good."

Leonard didn't play at Denver last week after wildfires broke out in the Los Angeles area. He left the team to return to his family.

"Just trying to get the family in order, making sure that everybody is settled and safe," he said.

Asked if his house was OK, Leonard responded, "As we know everybody is not OK. You seen the houses burn down, so it's self-explanatory."

LOS ANGELES -- Knox and Kai Redick are two basketball-obsessed kids who had amassed a big collection of NBA jerseys, trading cards and autographs thanks to their dad's careers as a shooting guard, a podcaster and the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

JJ Redick's sons then lost their entire memorabilia collection in the catastrophic wildfires that burned down their family home and much of their neighborhood in Pacific Palisades last week.

After the Spurs beat Redick's Lakers on Monday night, San Antonio stars Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama sought out the Redick boys and presented them with their game jerseys.

Redick, who is close friends with Paul from their seasons as teammates on the LA Clippers, said the 12-time All-Star was aware that his sons lost their basketball memorabilia collection in the fire.

"When you've been in the league long enough, you have this big circle, and it's people you like, people you love and then it's your brothers -- and Chris is in that inner-inner circle of brothers," Redick said after the Lakers' 126-102 loss.

"He called me this afternoon and said, 'Whether you win or we win, Vic and I are going to go over and give the boys our jerseys.' ... I appreciate all the love, and I'm not surprised Chris did something like that."

The gesture put big grins on the faces of the two boys.

"I didn't know they were huge fans like this, but JJ is a person that I like and who was directly impacted by this," Wembanyama said. "So if I can make those kids' day, I'll do it."

Paul, who was Redick's teammate for four seasons with the Clippers, swelled with emotion when discussing his relationship with Redick and his family.

"You play a lot of years in this league and some guys are just teammates, but JJ is part of my family," Paul said. "So, him and his wife, those kids -- Knox and Kai ... I know a lot of people lost family members, homes, stuff like that. It hits different when the people are close to you.

"So me and JJ are ultimate competitors. As close as we are, we hate to lose, win, or whatnot. But I actually told him today that I wanted to do that for his boys. I know how big of basketball fans they are. It's a tough situation."

Redick said a few of his players had been under evacuation warnings in recent days, and one couldn't make it to work on time because of activity around his home. Redick and his family lost almost everything they owned in their rented home.

"I've been overwhelmed with the amount of support and love and generosity that people have shown to me and my family, and really all families that have been affected by this," he said.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.