Midway through Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, a conversation takes place between two of the characters, Bill Gorton and Mike Campbell. After Mike explains that he misses the opportunity to use a good tailor after going bankrupt, Bill enquires as to how this bankruptcy came about. ‘Two ways,’ said Mike. ‘Gradually, then suddenly.’Looking backwards over another season of Premier League football, this description of the way things change feels particularly apt. Because Did You Notice that the Premier League has changed? And while that change may have been brought about gradually over the past few years, 2025-26 was when things changed suddenly.Over the course of the campaign, I have been documenting these changes in the form of my Did You Notice videos — short presentations where I look to tell the tactical story of one of the big Premier League games in 60 seconds. Here are four of the biggest changes that I have noticed while making these episodes as the season unfolded.1. Possession has become less controllingWe’ve already alluded to the gradual tactical change that has taken place over the past few seasons. That evolution, which catalysed around the turn of the decade, was primarily an out-of-possession one. Towards the late 2010s, we started to see a curious return of man-to-man ideas when teams were defending.Of course, these approaches never completely disappeared after Arrigo Sacchi had so revolutionised the zonal approach to defending that it became ubiquitous in the early 1990s. But this was slightly different. We were now seeing teams use a more hybrid approach, where players would jump out of a zonal structure into a man-to-man press in certain phases of the game.The idea is simple. Elite sides had become so comfortable at possessing the ball that they were able to force their opponents into situations that suited them, implementing a form of control on games that teams struggled to counteract.But while it proved increasingly difficult for the non-elite sides to compete in this high-possession landscape that had emerged, there was an alternative solution: look to destabilise possession in order to divest the elite teams of their source of control.By jumping into man-to-man phases as their opponents were looking to consolidate possession, the non-elite sides now had a fighting chance of pulling their talent-heavy opponents down to their level. Without an easy path from goal kick to comfortable possession, any team who wanted to control the game with the ball was going to have to rethink their approach.This has resulted in a somewhat confounding couple of seasons where possession has seemed to lose its edge. Yes, the teams in the title race this season — Arsenal and Manchester City — still put up high possession numbers. But both were down on last season’s. On top of this, the sides with the second and third-highest share of the ball — Liverpool and Chelsea — had largely disappointing campaigns.At the other end of the spectrum, there were a number of clubs with lower possession numbers who crept into positions higher up the table. Manchester United’s possession went down this season compared to 2024-25, as they jumped from finishing 15th place to coming third. Bournemouth in sixth just shaded over into 50 per cent possession for the season and Sunderland, one position below them in the final table, only managed to have 44 per cent of the ball.Although we did see similar outcomes last season — remember Nuno Espirito Santo’s Nottingham Forest? — this minor collapse in possession dominance is becoming a norm rather than an outlier.2. The way teams possess the ball has changedPerhaps unsurprisingly, the way that possession has become destabilised in recent seasons has changed the way sides retain the ball.In the world before man-to-man marking became so prevalent, the space that opened up for teams in build-up was around their back line. Once settled possession had been achieved, it was the responsibility of the back line, particularly the centre-backs, to progress the ball through the thirds and closer to the opposition’s goal. This brought about the rise of the ball-playing centre-back.But with man-oriented approaches now becoming the norm, the space is no longer around the back line but has shifted further up the field.Where the aim of build-up used to be moving the ball through the thirds of the pitch in a controlled manner, it has now shifted. As teams press higher, space appears behind the press.As a result, teams are now looking to find ways to play through or over these high man-to-man presses to access the vacated areas beyond. If they can do this, there is the potential to exploit this space, with your players often running at a relatively unprotected back line.Here’s an example from Manchester United, during their 3-2 win against Fulham in February.When Harry Maguire receives from the goal kick, you can see the Fulham players jumping into their man-to-man press.Under pressure, Maguire passes out wide to Diogo Dalot, who is immediately closed down. Notice how the Fulham players have locked onto all the United ones around the ball.Dalot turns back inside, and then immediately looks to play over the high press.On the face of it, this might just look like a hopeful long ball, but he’s targeting the space between the Fulham press and their back line. And it’s clearly the plan, because Bryan Mbeumo is already dropping off into this area to receive, before finding Kobbie Mainoo.When Mainoo gets the ball, he’s in behind the Fulham press with space ahead of him, allowing him to drive forward, with his team-mates putting Fulham’s back line under pressure.Possession play, then, has become much more direct — either focusing on working the ball quickly through a high press or bypassing it entirely with a direct ball. This has sped play up, and whenever the play gets sped up, a more transitional game emerges, with possession changing sides more regularly.