Dennis Wise picks his best XI from the opening matches
Monday 13 August 2018 14:38, UK
Who looked like the "missing part of the jigsaw" on the opening weekend of the Premier League season and who looks like a "better version of Patrick Vieira"?
Former Chelsea and England midfielder Dennis Wise has picked his best XI from the opening round of matches of the 2018/19 season.
Here's who he picked and why...
Sky Sports Fantasy Team of the Week
Alisson's (Liverpool) distribution was fantastic and of all the goalkeepers in action at the weekend I thought he was the best. Everything he did he did correctly.
Jurgen Klopp has added to the places where he really needed players and that's key for Liverpool. The goalkeeper was massive for them; that was something that was needed and his distribution was absolutely outstanding as well as his overall presence. He is one of the missing parts of the jigsaw for Liverpool.
Andy Robertson (Liverpool) was involved in a couple of the goals and he got forward a lot and caused West Ham problems.
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) and Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham) were both solid. Vertonghen also scored for Tottenham and Van Dijk controlled Liverpool as a back four and organised things extremely well.
Kyle Walker (Manchester City) caused Arsenal plenty of problems with his pace and desire to get forward. As a winger he is great to play with because you know he will get up in support and overlap.
Jorginho (Chelsea) controlled the game and he is like a captain already. He understands the way Maurizio Sarri plays and that can only be helpful for the team.
Ruben Neves' (Wolves) free-kick was a wonderful strike and then he also put the ball in for Raul Jimenez to score in Wolves' draw with Everton.
Naby Keita (Liverpool) was outstanding. He's like an offensive N'Golo Kante going forward, breaking things up and getting on the end of things and making incisive passes. Klopp had to wait a year for him and couldn't wait to get him in the building and I can see why.
Paul Pogba (Manchester United) is a wonderful player and has a real opportunity to progress in the team and be a leader of the football club. He was brilliant against Leicester. You can see Jose Mourinho wants more from him and he produced it. He has hardly had any training, he has just come back from the World Cup, and you see that and think you can do a lot more for the club. He has everything you could want from a midfielder, he is a better version of Patrick Vieira.
Sadio Mane (Liverpool) caused West Ham problems with his runs behind and scored twice in a comfortable win.
Richarlison (Everton) made a perfect start. He cost a lot of money but he performed on his debut and was very cool with his finish for the second goal.
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