Tactical Theory
Coaching Concepts: The Concept Of Space In Functional Play
Positional Play has dominated football in recent years, not only in tactics but in our perception of football. Our interaction with football analysis began from a positional complex, where principles became fundamental and to a fault, non-negotiable. Positional Play provided the ultimate blueprint for a positional philosophy, a philosophy where football was to be rationally [...]
Brentford FC
Thomas Frank Tactics At Brentford FC – Longballs In Modern Football
It's about achieving goals. Sports, especially Football, can be divided into two primary ideas — the goal and the way. The way or approach has changed over the decades and varied according to desires. "A goal without a plan is just a wish." — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Over the last decade, the teams have tended [...]
Player Analysis
In this Serie A season, Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli are marching towards the Scudetto with a big margin over second in the league — they also entered the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League after beating Eintracht Frankfurt. Under Spalletti, many players thrived, notable individuals included Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Victor Osimhen, and Min-jae Kim, but Stanislav Lobotka’s [...]
Lionel Messi
What Is La Pausa In Football & Why This Spanish Passing Style Is So Effective
La Pausa Meaning ‘La Pausa’ is a term commonly used in football. La Pausa literally means ‘The Pause’ and describes a player's ability to slow down the game's pace, take control of the ball, and assess the situation around them. What is La Pausa Football? La Pausa is a technique midfielders and playmakers use to [...]
Liverpool: Using xGold to rebuild their midfield on a budget
Squad stability has been a staple of the majority of football’s most dominant sides over the years, and Liverpool under Jürgen Klopp fit right into that category. Yes, the Anfield club have spent big on a few players like Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, and Darwin Núñez to name a few, but they have had [...]
Everton Women: Identifying two positions they must strengthen this summer
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Everton Women head coach Brian Sørensen spoke about several topics surrounding his time at the club so far, including his preferred style of play, how he and Everton felt that they were the right fit for each other and his hopes for the future of the team. Also [...]
Analysis
Good defenders do tackle, but great ones are already in the position to make an interception. Paolo Maldini said these things after he had the world at his feet and won every prize he was ever eligible for. One of the sport's all-time best defensive players has walked through his years of expertise. It's although [...]
Südtirol: From Serie C minnows to Serie A promotion candidates – scout report
FC Südtirol are quite possibly the most interesting case study of a side that have gone against the grain of modern football, adopting principles that many have shunned over the past half a decade — a throwback to a simpler and more cultural time in Italian Calcio. The 2021/22 campaign saw Südtirol complete the greatest [...]
Xisco Muñoz
Watford Head Coach Analysis – The Managerial Merry-Go-Round 2019-2023
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein In 2019, Javi Gracia guided Watford to an 11th-place finish in the Premier League, the highest in the club’s history in the competition. Additionally, the Hornets also reached the FA Cup final, where they faced league champions Manchester City; although the [...]
Fact or Fiction: The truth around international tournament-induced slumps
“Messi is playing poorly.” “Benzema doesn’t look right.” “Enzo Fernández doesn’t look like he’s everything the pundits made him out to be.” Just a few of the lines we’ve heard in the months following the 2022 World Cup. Thinking back to previous international tournaments, comments like these seem the norm. Whether we’re blaming international tournament-induced [...]
EFL League One 2022/23: David McGoldrick’s season so far
In 2019/20, David McGoldrick playing for Sheffield United in the Premier League was struggling to find the back of the net, massively underperforming his xG. The forward then finished as the Blades’ highest scorer the following season. However, Sheffield United ended up getting relegated and McGoldrick once again struggled for goals and it wasn’t that [...]
EFL Championship 2022/23: Tom Bradshaw the Championship’s in-form player
Millwall are currently sixth in the Championship table and there is a very good chance that they finish in the playoff spots. Millwall have one of the form teams of 2023 and one player who has played an important role in helping the London club rise up the table is forward Tom Bradshaw. The experienced [...]
Bundesliga 2022/23: The relegation race
The race to stay in the Bundesliga for another season is heating up, just like the race for the title. With just 10 games to go for each team, only three points separate Vfl Bochum in 14th and TSG Hoffenheim in 18th. The below visualisation shows how the position of the teams battling it out [...]
EFL Championship 2022/23: Nathan Tella’s season so far
Burnley have been one of the most eye-catching teams not just in the Championship this season, but in the whole of Europe. Vincent Kompany and his men have taken the Championship by storm, sitting at the top of the table with an impressive 13-point lead. What has been most impressive with Burnley is that their [...]
Ligue 1 2022/23: Chancel Mbemba’s season so far
The 22/23 Ligue 1 title may be out of Marseille’s hands, with the club seven points behind PSG at the time of writing. After putting pressure on the defending champions Paris Saint Germain with an excellent run of form after the World Cup, there is little chance that Marseille will win the Ligue 1 title [...]
Serie A 2022/23: The race for European spots
Napoli are running away with the Serie A title and are set to qualify for the UEFA Champions league comfortably but below them in the table, it looks like the race to qualify for Europe is heating up. After 26 match weeks into the 22/23 season, six teams are fighting for five European spots across [...]
La Liga 2022/23: Aranau Martinez’s season so far
After getting promoted to La Liga this season, Girona are 12th in the La Liga table (at the time of writing) and are in the relegation battle with only four points separating them and Getafe in 18th place. In a season of inconsistency for the club, one player who has delivered above-average performances consistently is [...]
Premier League 2022/23: Philip Billing’s season so far
Bournemouth’s 2022/23 league season has so far been very underwhelming. The Cherries have been in poor form since the league resumed after the World Cup break. Off the pitch, they had to sack manager Scott Parker. After an interim period, Gary O’Neil was appointed the permanent manager. The Cherries also changed ownership recently and will [...]
Zdeněk Zeman
Il Boemo: The Evolution Of Zdeněk Zeman Tactics Over Time
On 27th February 2023, certain members of the football world were given a shot of excitement that left them salivating. Those people were the devotees of ‘Zemanlandia’. It was announced that Czech-Italian coach Zdeněk Zeman, affectionately known as ‘Il Boemo,’ would return to the dugout at Delfino Pescara, one of his former clubs, for the [...]
Under the Radar: Five young players impressing in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe remains one of the true hotbeds of football development from a talent perspective. Throughout the years this region has given us some of the most technically talented players that the game has seen with the likes of Hristo Stoichkov of Bulgaria and Gheorghe Hagi of Romania standing out. Now, we have the evergreen [...]
Zach Awe: Can he replace Levi Colwill at Brighton?
Brighton & Hove Albion are the talk of the town of late. Roberto De Zerbi’s brand of football, as well as the club’s overall model, are taking the stage by storm and doing it rather efficiently. From intriguing tactical principles to off-pitch transfer policies, the Seagulls are truly an excellent subject for analysis. All of [...]
Jong AZ: The young stars driving them up the Eerste Divisie
Jong AZ have been one of the most entertaining teams in the Eerste Divisie so far this season due to their high goalscoring and conceding tallies. With 49 goals scored and conceded each, Jong AZ are both one of the best teams in front of goal and one of the worst when defending their own [...]
Goa FC: What areas they need to recruit in
The end of the Indian Super League is here and with no doubt, we will know who the champion is by the time the piece reaches you. With most teams already starting to analyse what went wrong this season and trying to come up with a recruitment plan for the next season, I’ve decided to [...]
Gift Orban: Why Gent want a hefty fee for the Nigerian striker’s transfer
In the last couple of months, Gift Orban has gone from a relatively unknown striker playing for Stabæk in the Norwegian Eliteserien to scoring the fastest hat trick ever witnessed in a UEFA European club competition, with him scoring three goals in 205 seconds against Istanbul Basaksehir in the Europa Conference League. This hat trick [...]
Manchester United Women: The most suitable replacements for Ona Batlle
Ona Batlle has recently rejected a contract extension proposal from Manchester United Women and will most likely leave the club at the end of the current season. Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea, Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain have all shown interest in Batlle and it is very expected that she will join one of these teams or perhaps [...]
Analysis
Rafa Benitez Data Analysis 2022/2023 – Using Data To Identify His Next Club
Words may be superfluous at this very moment for a name like Rafael Benítez. Still, his recent experiences may have eliminated from the popular retina what the 62-year-old Spaniard means in the world of football. His career has been vast, important, and mythical; full of trophies, long-term projects, tactical variety, and top players whom he was [...]
Analysis
Arsenal Tactics Under Mikel Arteta Coaching Style 2022/2023 – Making Direct Football Stylish
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have reached a new level of play this season, having been developing for three years since Arteta took over as manager. The overhaul has been profound, and while this progress hasn’t yet been quantified by UEFA Champions League football or a top-end Premier League finish, this season looks set to change that. [...]