The last bit about pushing the Germans back from Antwerp passes virtually unremarked in the historiography. The fact that you can't operate your key port when its within easy striking distance of the enemy is a curiously ignored in most analysis Eisenhower again:
It's doubtful the Germans would have been able to seriously threaten Antwerp had the Allies not pushed north, The Bulge clearly demonstrated the limits of the Wehrmacht by that stage. Eisenhower's writing reminds me of Patton's 'we could still lose this war' comment in his diary from early '45.
Monty was by no means the only one who wrote with one eye to the future...
The second bit, well that is in fact what happened when Eisenhower left 9th Army under Montgomery's command after all the Ardennes fun and games 😉