Conor Bradley's runs helping Mo Salah, Nico Gonzalez's passing for Man City and flexible Ferdi Kadioglu in The Debrief

Welcome to The Debrief, a Sky Sports column in which Adam Bate uses a blend of data and opinion to reflect on some of the key stories from the latest Premier League matches. This week:

• Bradley's underlapping runs
• Gonzalez's forward passing
• Kadioglu's unusual flexibility

Bradley links up with Salah

Conor Bradley produced his best performance of the season for Liverpool in their 2-0 win over Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday evening. Nobody on the pitch won possession of the ball more times than the tenacious Northern Ireland international.

But even more encouraging than his defensive display were the signs, albeit belatedly, of a partnership developing between Bradley and Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian winger has missed Trent Alexander-Arnold but perhaps this connection can work too.

Bradley makes different movements but there are lots of them. No defender made more underlapping runs than he did over the Premier League weekend. Unlike Bradley, the next two defenders on the list actually made more overlapping runs. It is a specific tactic.

The run comes straight from the training ground and is not necessarily designed to receive the ball himself but to create space for Salah. Against Villa, it worked. They exchanged 12 passes but Bradley's runs bought his team-mate the time to shine.

Asking Arne Slot about that in the press conference afterwards, the Liverpool head coach explained: "The more players play together the better it will be. You cannot compare Trent with Conor, but Conor played an outstanding game like many others."

He added: "I think the team performance is what made the difference today. Everyone was really fighting to get that win over the line, throwing themselves in front of shots. There were a lot of positives today also from individual performances like Conor's.

"The challenge for him now will be to make himself ready because he's not been used to 90 minutes a lot this season. After two days of rest the next one is coming up so we have to think about that. But your question was, did he play well? Yes, he played well today."

Next up is a reunion with Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe. Bradley's tackle on Mbappe last season produced one of the great Anfield roars and was a highlight of the defender's career so far. His showing against Villa suggests there will be more highlights to come.

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Gonzalez's forward passing

"Right now, the first option when Rodri cannot play is absolutely Nico Gonzalez." Those were the words of Pep Guardiola on the eve of Manchester City's game against Bournemouth on Saturday, a view vindicated by the Spaniard's excellent performance.

Gonzalez was instrumental in City's 3-1 win, involved in the moves that led to both of Erling Haaland's first-half goals. What was particularly impressive about his work was that Gonzalez was not content just to keep the ball, he so often looked to pass forward.

His passing statistics reveal that. The player to receive the most passes from him during the match against Bournemouth was Phil Foden. The next two players on the list were Rayan Cherki and Bernardo Silva. It was a conscious effort to look to progress the ball.

Guardiola often insists that the possession principles remain the same but Bournemouth had more of the ball than City at the weekend and his team's overall possession numbers are down more than 10 percentage points on five seasons ago.

The importance of the Rodri role remains, however. Speaking to Pau Marti, Gonzalez's former coach at Barcelona, not long ago, he explained what makes the player so press resistant in midfield. "I think it is how he moves the ball so quickly," he told Sky Sports.

"For his size, that is not usual. He is so confident and so calm with the ball, protecting the ball using his body." Pau compared him to Sergio Busquets. "Being so big but good with his feet, I think he is very similar. He is very strong, able to read the game."

That was certainly evident against Bournemouth in what was a notably mature performance from the 23-year-old midfielder who is taking the responsibility in Rodri's absence for Guardiola, but also putting a 2025/26 Premier League season spin on the role.

Kadioglu starring for Brighton

And finally, a quick word on Brighton because their win over Leeds was only the fifth time this season that a Premier League team has registered an expected-goals total in excess of three. The attackers took the plaudits but it was a complete performance.

Brighton kept their first clean sheet of the Premier League season too and someone who contributed to both aspects of the game was Ferdi Kadioglu. Quietly, the Turkey international has been one of their most impressive players since returning from injury.

His defensive work was aggressive, only Mats Wieffer making more tackles, and his attacking play is enterprising - as one might expect from a player who can operate as an out-and-out winger as well as in the back line. It is at left-back that he is being used now.

Fabian Hurzeler believes that Kadioglu can play in any of the full-back or wing slots. "These four positions are no problem for him. So it's great to have a player who has that flexibility. He's very good at decision-making, very good at understanding the game."

At 26 years old now, acquired from Fenerbahce in the summer before last for £25m, Kadioglu might not be a typical young find for Brighton. But that flexibility is emblematic of the club's approach and his quality on the ball marks him out as a special player.

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Conor Bradley's runs helping Mo Salah, Nico Gonzalez's passing for Man City and flexible Ferdi Kadioglu in The Debrief