Daniel Sousa
Daniel Sousa Tactics At FC Arouca: How He Salvaged Arouca’s Season
FC Arouca spent the first five decades of its existence in the lower leagues of Portuguese football. In 2013, after four promotions in seven years, the club reached the Primeira Liga for the first time. Following four years in the top flight, the club suffered relegation back to the second tier in 2019 but bounced [...]
League Two 2023/24: Discovering the top five goal-contributing defenders
The 2023/24 League Two season has been a joyous ride for everyone following. The division has seen some amazing goals, high-scoring thrillers, and brilliant young talent rise to the challenge. Of the talent to emerge this season are some of the full-backs who have regularly upped their attacking game to feature among the best for [...]
League One 2023/24: Visualizing Portsmouth’s promotion pursuit
Portsmouth top the EFL League One table at the time of writing with 80 points on the board and only eight games to go. They were relegated to the third division of English football in 2012 and have since been relegated to the fourth tier before bouncing back and coming close to promotion to the [...]
Bundesliga 2023/24: A 10-year comparison of Harry Kane’s goals
Harry Kane might not win any trophy at Bayern Munich this season. This is not a statement that many people, including the 30-year-old himself, expected to make, but it is what it is. The German champions are seven points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who remain unbeaten throughout the season at the time of writing. The [...]
Analysis
Željko Sopić Tactics At HNK Rijeka 2023/2024 – Tactical Analysis
At the moment of writing, HNK Rijeka, led by their new manager, Zeljko Sopic, are at the top of 1. HNL, Croatia’s first division league. After a total of 26 games, they’ve accumulated 56 points, one more than the second-placed Hajduk Split and five more than Dinamo Zagreb, who currently sit in third. Things may [...]
Christian Wück: How he might reshape the German WNT
On the 23rd of March, it was announced that after just under a decade of working with the German men's U15-U17 sides, Christian Wück would be given the German WNT role following the 2024 Olympics. His German U17 side completed an impressive Euro and World Cup double this summer, defeating France in both finals. They [...]
Derby County: Explaining why they are EFL League One’s set-piece top-scorers
At the time of writing, Derby County occupy the second position in EFL League One with 78 points after 39 matches, trailing behind Portsmouth who hold the top spot with 83 points. Paul Warne's side has demonstrated a balanced performance both defensively and offensively. Defensively, Derby County rank third in terms of defensive solidity in [...]
With an estimated 250 million active players at all levels of the game, there is no doubt that association football is the world’s most popular sport, and some of the most-watched tournaments globally include the World Cup and the English Premier League. However, in the modern day, there is an appetite for both the men’s [...]
Brian Priske
Brian Priske Tactics & Coaching Style At Sparta Praha 2023/2024 – Tactical Analysis
For almost a decade, Sparta Praha had not won the Czech First League. That was until last season when Brian Priske took charge of the team and led them back to the very top of Czech football. This year, they’ve made another step while leading the league over rivals Slavia Praha, qualifying for the UEFA [...]
Jude Bellingham
Jude Bellingham Scouting Report – xG Data Analysis Of Expected Goals For Real Madrid
When Real Madrid sealed a reported £88 million deal for midfielder Jude Bellingham, the Galácticos were the envy of many. Regarded as one of the best young talents in football, the acquisition of the England midfielder was a coup. In addition to the overall quality that Bellingham possesses, his goal tally this season has been [...]
Analysis
Throughout the history of football tactics, certain coaches are synonymous with back-three systems. Helenio Herrera famously deployed a 5-3-2 system during the 1960s with great success at Inter, winning three Serie A titles and two European Cups during those glory years. Carlos Billardo was famed for using a 3-5-2 with Argentina during the 1980s, overseeing [...]
Scouting Japan: Top five J1 league players smart clubs will be aware of
As the J-League kicks off its 2024 season, anticipation is high as fans eagerly await the performances of the league's top talents. With a blend of seasoned veterans and emerging stars, the J-League promises to deliver exciting football action throughout the campaign. In this scout report, we'll take a closer look at five players who [...]
Set-Piece Roundtable: Dissecting the most effective set-plays in the Premier League
Welcome to the set-piece roundtable! Each month, we will travel to new leagues and nations across the world to bring to the limelight the most interesting and innovative tactical set-piece tweaks/ideas or any routines that stand out. These ideas will range from extremely effective to ineffective, but we will inform you of the thought processes [...]
Premier League 2023/24: Tracking each team’s player utilization
The 2023/24 Premier League season has seen players from different teams suffer from injury setbacks over the course of the season. The number of players getting injured seems to have gone higher in hindsight, but only data will tell if that is true — and that analysis is for another time. However, because of all [...]
Ligue 1 2023/24: PSG’s attacking depth beyond Mbappe’s brilliance
PSG are preparing for life without Mbappé — this time, for real — after it was announced that the world champion would be leaving the French giants at the end of the season. So, what would the team look like, especially in the forward line, without him? Do they already have players to replace the [...]
Barbra Banda: What will the second most expensive player in the world bring to Orlando?
Barbra Banda’s transfer from the Chinese Super League’s Shanghai Shengli to Orlando Pride has been creating a lot of buzz in women’s football media, generating increasing interest in Banda’s profile and what the Zambian international can add to the NWSL in general — Orlando Pride, in particular. The reason for this attention to Banda comes [...]
Serie A 2023/24: Analyzing Sassuolo’s survival saga
Sassuolo are the surprising favourites to go down this season from the Serie A. Currently sitting 19th in the table at the time of writing and having a game in hand over their relegation rivals, Sassuolo have 23 points and are five points below 13th-placed Leece in a really tight relegation battle. The visualisation below [...]
EFL Championship 2023/24: Highlighting the league’s best counterattacking teams
The 2023/24 EFL Championship season has seen some teams play exciting football. Several managers are young, emerging and not far away from managing at the highest levels of European football. The visualisation below looks at each team's average possession in the championship so far and the number of counterattacks that ended up as a shot [...]
Scouting the MLS: Unveiling the new stars with game-changing potential
While the primary transfer window in MLS does not close until April 23rd, plenty of high-profile and high-quality signings have come into the league since the window opened on January 31st. Each club has looked to improve, with signings ranging from experienced internationals to young, up-and-coming talent from all over the world. This tactical analysis [...]
Chance creators: Scouting the most creative talents across Europe’s top five leagues
Scoring goals remains the most critical factor in whether your team is successful on the pitch. This is why strikers retain a premium in terms of the prices for which they tend to be transferred from team to team. In recruitment, however, it is essential that we are able to take a step back from [...]