ACF Fiorentina
Michael Kayode Scout Report: Why Arsenal And Barcelona Want The 19-Year-Old Full-back
Who Is Michael Kayode? The full-back role has certainly transformed into one of the most important ones in modern football. The big clubs annually prepare their “most wanted posters” and go on the hunt for the best players in this position. That’s when the biggest names get mixed up with some exciting new talents brought [...]
Scouting the NWSL: Three U18s to keep your eye on this season
The NWSL is one of the leading competitions in women’s world football and has been flooded with talent from all over the globe for a number of years. However, over the past few years, it has also become a hotbed of young teenage talent. For example, Alyssa Thompson, who was drafted by Angel City as [...]
Ollie Arblaster: The cornerstone of Sheffield United’s future
The 2023/24 campaign has not been the return to English football’s top flight that Sheffield United were hoping for. The sale of arguably their two best players just prior to the season starting laid the groundwork for a pretty woeful time of it. Although the return of club legend Chris Wilder did bring about some [...]
Analysis
The Premier League has always been highly competitive; apart from the so-called ‘big six’ — a group that has essentially become dominant — clubs like Newcastle United, West Ham, and Aston Villa are investing and fighting for places in Europe. However, there has not been much talk about Fulham, perhaps because the build-up play has [...]
Analysis
Leny Yoro Style Of Play & Scout Report: Why The French Teen Is One Of Europe’s Most-Wanted Defenders
France undoubtedly has a wealth of talent all over the pitch, with a host of attackers vying for a place in the national team setup and an apparent conveyor belt of talent entering the fray for contention in midfield. The central defence certainly stands out as a particular part of the pitch in which the [...]
Marcel Schäfer bids farewell to VfL Wolfsburg, signalling a significant shift in his career trajectory. The 39-year-old has expressed his desire to leave his position as Managing Director for Sports, prompting discussions with RB Leipzig about potentially assuming the role of Sporting Director. Amidst these developments, Schäfer has informed Frank Witter, the chairman of the [...]
Renato Paiva: Exploring Toluca’s improvements from Apertura to Clausura
Deportivo Toluca are the latest team to embrace one of Mexican football’s most fascinating phenomena: the regresar, or comeback. Toluca’s first half of the 2023/24 season in the Apertura was far from ideal. They won just five of their 17 matches (six draws, six losses), scoring 23 goals and conceding 19, to finish 12th out [...]
Birmingham City FC
EFL Championship Data Analysis 2024/2024 – The Data Behind The League’s Most Unique Style Of Play
Have you ever wondered which tactical style is the best for the EFL Championship? We’ve seen an array of tactics and approaches throughout the EFL this season, and England’s second tier is a good advert for tactical variety. We have possession-dominant sides like Southampton, aggressive pressing sides like Preston North End, and direct teams like [...]
Raised from the Ashes: Pogoń Szczecin’s recovery road to potential silverware
When looking back at the roots of the women’s game in Europe, it might surprise some people to learn that one of the earliest countries to embrace its potential was Poland. The Eastern European nation fielded its female national team for the first time in 1981 in a friendly against Italy in Catania, which ended [...]
Analysis
Who Is Artem Dovbyk? Even though they eventually had to hit the brakes a little bit in their chase for the La Liga title, Girona are still the revelation of 2023/24. Going into the business end of the campaign, Real Madrid and Barcelona have overtaken the challengers-to-be, but their efforts may still see them clinch [...]
4-2-3-1 Formation
Okan Buruk Tactics At Galatasaray 2023/2024 – Explaining His Impenetrable Defence
Over in the Süper Lig, Turkey’s most decorated club, Galatasaray, are vying for a second successive league title under the leadership of Okan Buruk tactics, who has transformed the club’s fortunes after their record-low in 2022. As of late, things have been much more promising, setting up an eagerly anticipated end to the season with [...]
Goduine Koyalipou: Why the Challenger Pro League’s top scorer looks set for a summer move
This season in the Challenger Pro League has mainly been one of disappointment for SK Beveren. The club was one of the early favourites for promotion, but after a very poor start to the season, they are now stuck in the Belgian second tier for the 2024/25 campaign. However, one player who may not be [...]
Premier League 2023/24: How many points is enough to avoid relegation?
The Premier League 2023/24 season is entering its thrilling final phase. While it's a fun challenge to predict the champion, the real excitement lies in the unpredictable battle at the bottom of the table. At this point, the relegation picture is far from clear, adding a layer of suspense to the season's climax. Sheffield United [...]
La Liga 2023/24: Sevilla’s fall from grace
Sevilla, a club that had never finished below seventh in the table over the last 10 years until this past season, are very likely to finish lower than 10th in the 2023/24 La Liga campaign. For a club so consistent at the top end of the table, the recent years have turned out to be [...]
Serie A 2023/24: Biggest improvers and regressors since last year
Inter have won the 2023/24 Serie A title with 86 points to their name, 17 clear of Milan with five games to go. Last season, they finished third with 72 points. Juventus and Bologna have replaced Napoli and Lazio in the top four, while Milan remains in contention for UCL football next season. With five [...]
Bundesliga 2023/24: How many points does it take to win the Bundesliga?
We have a new champion in the Bundesliga — Bayer Leverkusen, who have broken FC Bayern’s 11-year winning streak; Leverkusen won the league after utterly dominating throughout the campaign. At the time of writing, they are unbeaten in the league and won the title with five games to spare. Xabi Alonso’s men currently lead Bayern [...]
Ligue 1 2023/24: Lyon’s descent into mediocrity
Lyon's recent performance paints a concerning picture. They are on track to finish outside the European spots for the third season in a row. Currently eighth in the table with only 41 points to their name, Lyon could finish below 10th, a stark contrast to their previous top-three finishes in four out of five seasons [...]
EFL Championship 2023/24: How quickly do teams bounce back to the Premier League?
All three promoted teams from the EFL Championship last season — Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town — are at risk of going down immediately this season. One has to go back a long time — to 1997/98 — for the last time all three promoted teams immediately went down, but the teams relegated from the [...]
EFL League One 2023/24: Tracking the finish of promoted teams over the last decade
The 2023/24 League One season is coming to a close, with only one game left to be played before the playoffs at the time of writing. Carlisle United are going down after seemingly finishing at the foot of the table. Meanwhile, Stevenage, Leyton Orient and Northampton Town, the other three promoted teams, will all be [...]
EFL League Two 2023/24: Studying the best-performing teams home and away
The 2023/24 League Two automatic promotion list is confirmed. Stockport County, as champions, Mansfield Town and Wrexham will all be playing in League One next season. MK Dons are set to finish fourth and make an attempt for promotion through the playoffs, while the race for the remaining three playoff places is still open, with [...]
Set-Piece supremacy: Dissecting PSV’s defensive dominance from set-plays
PSV Eindhoven is on the brink of clinching the Eredivisie title. After 31 matches, they have 84 points and a nine-point lead over their closest rival, Feyenoord. With only three matches remaining, a draw against Sparta Rotterdam in the upcoming fixture would be sufficient to secure the league title for the first time since the [...]
Racing Louisville: Tactical insights to help Racing Louisville turn draws into wins
At the time of writing this article, Racing Louisville has yet to win a match at the start of the 2024 NWSL season despite avoiding losses and playing relatively convincingly against Orlando Pride, Houston Dash, Portland Thorns, and San Diego Wave. Scoring goals was not really the problem for Racing Louisville, as they were able [...]
Tactical Theory
Europe’s Maestros: The Most Lethal Passers In The Top Five Leagues
The use of data in recruitment in football has become more widely discussed among fans and media in recent years. Previously, teams that used data to identify potential targets and cut through the noise were relatively few and far between, but now clubs at almost every level of the professional game are using data in [...]
