Fábio Carvalho
Fabio Carvalho: Fulham’s Teenage Starlet Targeted By Real Madrid
Fabio Carvalho has caught the attention of many Championship viewers early on into the season. After making a handful of Premier League appearances last term after Fulham had their relegation status confirmed, the question was; would Marco Silva show the same faith as Scott Parker did in England’s second tier. The Portuguese teenager performed admirably, [...]
Bruna Vilamala: The next Spanish superstar?
Barcelona Femeni are unquestionably one of the strongest teams in global women’s football, having secured the Primera Division, Champions League and Copa de la Reina treble last season, whilst their squad boasts some of Europe’s best footballing talent. One player who is catching the eye is Bruna Vilamala, a 19-year-old striker who has impressed since [...]
Analysis
The Benefits Of Negative Passing – Tactical Theory
The ultimate goal in football is quite simple – to win the game by scoring goals. However you turn it, you always have to score to win, and whether that’s done in full time, extra time, or via penalties, it doesn’t really matter. And regardless of the style of play a team adopts, they all [...]
Adam Armstrong: Can he replace Danny Ings at Southampton?
This summer, Southampton’s no.1 striker, Danny Ings, departed from the Saints to join Aston Villa with his contract having been due to run out next summer. Some might have worried about Ralph Hasenhüttl’s forward options as he only had Ché Adams and Shane Long, while Chelsea loanee, Armando Broja, is still young and inexperienced. When [...]
Data Analysis: Best central midfielders from the top five African leagues
Even if most players move from Africa before making their senior debuts in the local leagues, the strongest competitions in the continent still have the power to keep their best young players and use them before they leave to higher-level leagues. One of the latest examples of a great African player who played in one [...]
Head Coach Analysis
At the beginning of the 2016/17 season, Portuguese manager Vítor Pereira was sacked as the head coach of Fenerbahçe, with the case being taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In a statement released by the club, Fenerbahçe’s board cited a change in tactics—a switch to a back three—as one of the overarching factors [...]
Dante Vanzeir: Union SG’s young Belgian forward
In 2018/19, KRC Genk academy product, Dante Vanzeir (175cm/5’9”, 68kg/149.9lbs), who primarily plays as a centre-forward but has also been sporadically used as a right-winger during his young career, scored 13 goals and made two assists during a loan spell at Beerschot V.A in Belgium’s second-tier - Belgian First Division B. He played a significant [...]
Serie A 21/22: What to expect from Juventus’ attack post Cristiano?
Juventus have begun their life post Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese forward secured a return to Manchester United 12 years after he left the club to join Real Madrid. At the time of writing, Ronaldo has had a smooth start at United scoring four goals in his first three games since return, however, Juventus have [...]
Analysis
How Inter Milan Look Under Simone Inzaghi Tactics 2021/2022 – Tactical Analysis
Last season’s Serie A champions Inter Milan have jumped into a new challenge with a managerial change that will make their title defence journey even more intriguing. Antonio Conte left after helping them win their first title since 2009/10 with José Mourinho. After his departure, Inter introduced their new manager, Simone Inzaghi, who left Lazio [...]
Tactical Theory: The intelligent movements of elite attackers
We’ve all been there. We’re watching our favourite teams, maybe a big match in the Champions League, and a world-class player scores an outrageous goal that leaves us bewildered. We are blown away by the quality of the goal, maybe of the sequence as a whole. From a fan's perspective, we get to see replays [...]
PL 21/22: Comparing Saúl Ñíguez with the other Chelsea Midfielders
The last eight odd months at Chelsea Football club, since Thomas Tuchel took over the position of manager, has simply been extraordinary. Chelsea, under Tuchel, not only secured Champions League football by finishing fourth in the league, the Blues also won the 2020/21 Champions League beating Manchester City in the final. The good news does [...]
Bundesliga 21/22: Leroy Sane’s first season at Bayern Munich
Leroy Sané spent four seasons in Manchester City winning eight trophies including back-to-back Premier League titles in 2017/18 and 2018/19. He scored 39 goals in 135 appearances for the team from the blue half of Manchester. Leroy Sané also won the PFA Young player of the year award 2017/18. In July 2020, Bayern Munich agreed [...]
La Liga 21/22: João Félix’s time at Atletico Madrid
João Félix signed for Atlético Madrid from Benfica in the summer of 2019. The 21-year-old Portuguese international came off the back of an amazing season with Benfica finishing with 15 goals and seven assists as an 18-year-old. So, naturally, there were huge expectations surrounding his move to the Spanish club. However, it is fair to [...]
Ligue 1 21/22: Which forwards are good at finding the back of the net (so far)?
The 2021/22 Ligue 1 season is up and running. At the time of writing, most teams have played five games in the current season and PSG are the only team with a 100% record winning all their five games so far. Defending champions Lille have won just one game, at the time of writing, and [...]
Scout Report: Scandinavian stars to look out for
Recruitment within football, and in a European context, is not constrained purely to the two transfer windows. Instead, it is a year-round endeavour and with the summer window now firmly closed, clubs and agents will be firmly embedded in the planning stages for upcoming windows. Clubs with smart processes will already be planning at least [...]
Arsen Zakharyan: Dynamo Moscow’s versatile 18-year-old
For football fans from around the globe, one of the most exciting moments of any given season is that in which a homegrown talent emerges from the academy. You can only imagine the excitement, then, at Dinamo Moscow when Arsen Zakharyan emerged from their academy. The youngster of Armenian parentage but Russian birth, however, is [...]
Data Analysis: Top 5 leagues transfer window overview
This summer was an interesting one with EURO 2020 played all over Europe, a lot of talk about the “Super League” and the two biggest stars in the game making a surprising move. This summer transfer window’s numbers suggest that Spanish football has been hit the hardest by COVID-19 and it is clear why their [...]
Scouting Report
Manuela Giugliano is one of Italy’s best midfielders and one of Roma Women’s most impactful players. She has regularly played with the Italian national team, participating in numerous international competitions, including the 2017 UEFA Women's Euro and the 2019 FIFA World Cup, during which she delivered excellent performances, although she did not reach the final [...]
Wolfsburg: Examining their red-hot start to the season
At the time of writing, after four Bundesliga fixtures, Wolfsburg are top of the table. It is somewhat of a surprise to see them there, given Oliver Glasner’s departure and Mark van Bommel’s appointment. They have seen off VFL Bochum, Hertha BSC, RB Leipzig, and SpVgg Greuther Fürth, scoring only six goals in these games, [...]
Jamal Musiala
Jamal Musiala Scouting Report: How He Is Making Bayern Munich’s Attack Tick
Who Is Jamal Musiala? Jamal Musiala was recently the subject of a tug of war between the German and English football associations as both nations looked to secure the international future of the 18-year-old attacking midfielder. Despite spending most of his childhood in England playing with Chelsea’s academy, Musiala opted to play for the country [...]