Since Maurizio Sarri has led Chelsea, they're performing really well. Maintaining their position in the Champions League places in the Premier League and Manchester City - the leader - is still in close range. After 12 matches - eight wins and four draws - Chelsea have a wonderful stat, they've scored...
Filippo Inzaghi needs no introduction to football fans across the world. The archetypal 'poacher' scored goals for some of Italy's biggest clubs, won the Champions League, Serie A and most importantly the 2006 World Cup. Inzaghi was one of the greatest goalscorers of the modern era, with 313 goals in...
Werder Bremen is one of the Bundesliga sides who have surprised the most in the beginning of the 2018/2019 season. With their head-coach, Florian Kohfeldt, Werder play attractive football with success. Before the season, many derided their publicly claimed goal to reach European spots. However, at the moment, Werder are...
Much was expected of Carlo Ancelotti when he replaced Maurizio Sarri as Napoli head coach this summer. The experienced Italian has overseen some changes to the playing style so far. Despite those changes Napoli have kept getting good results with the highlight being the Champions League win over Liverpool. They...
When Gennaro Gattuso last played for Italian giants AC Milan in 2012, the club boasted players like Zlatan Ibrahimović, Thiago Silva & Robinho. An incredibly talented squad that was still sub-par to the great Milan side that preceded it, a side that reached three UEFA Champions League finals between 2003...
Liverpool and Manchester City. What do they have in common? Well, other than being two northwestern English clubs, they are also the only clubs with a better defensive record in Europe's top five leagues than Sampdoria. Yes, Sampdoria. Marco Giampaolo's team have only conceded four goals in their first eight...
When Italy were knocked out of the World Cup play-offs by Sweden last year, Gian Piero Ventura's reputation took a severe hit. Italy have hardly been much better under his replacement Roberto Mancini, but Ventura has been out in the cold in the unforgiving world of Italian football. But now,...
This tactical analysis of the problems at FC Barcelona was originally featured on our network site barcelonaanalysis.com - the home to all things tactical, match, coach, player and recruitment analysis for FCB Although Barcelona have conquered Wembley with a masterclass performance, they haven’t been able to continue along that path as...
With four matchdays gone the top of the Serie A table already has a familiar look. Juventus sit in their now customary position at the top of the table with Napoli close behind in second. Perhaps with Fiorentina in third place, there is something of a change with the Tuscan...
It was dubbed a disaster and a catastrophe. Some called it the apocalypse. After Italy missed their first World Cup in 60 years, something had to change. Out went Giampiero Ventura, and his chosen replacement is former Manchester City and Inter manager, Roberto Mancini. Mancini started work in May with...
The summer of 2018 has been an eventful one for Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo finally departed the Spanish capital for a new challenge at Juventus, and Florentino Perez surprisingly decided against dipping into his chequebook to replace the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, while earlier in the year, Zinedine Zidane also...
Patrick Vieira arrived in Nice to continue the work of his predecessors Claude Puel and Lucien Favre. But the start of the world champion has been slow, with only a point taken in three games. After all, he has only limited experience on a sideline. Reims, Caen and Dijon -...
Not long ago Niko Kovac was announced as the new head coach of Bayern Munich. Compared to former coaches of Bayern, Kovac has not exhibited a great career as a coach so far. This led to a lot of scepticism, especially among the supporters of the German record champion. However,...
Last season saw Borussia Dortmund enjoy something of a transition year. Having parted company with coach Thomas Tuchel at the end of the 2016/17 season their search for a new coach led to them appointing the former Ajax coach Peter Bosz. The Dutchman, however, did not last long in Dortmund...
Thomas Tuchel accepted one of the toughest challenges on the international football stage: Becoming the head coach of PSG. Expectations are higher than anywhere else at PSG where nothing but the triple counts. At his former clubs, Tuchel impressed with tactical flexibility, changing formations from match-to-match always depending on the opposition....
Marcelino took charge of Valencia last summer and led them back to the Champions League in his first season. Los Murciélagos are one of the biggest clubs in Spain, but after some disastrous managerial spells, García Toral has managed to turn the club around. The Spanish coach's method has been...
Last season was something of a transitional year for Sevilla. They were still coming to terms with the loss of their excellent sporting director Monchi, who left to join Roma in Italy, and the coaching situation at the club was uncertain with both Eduardo Berizzo and Vincenzo Montella taking the...
“I understand football through the ball." If ever a single quote encompasses the footballing identity and philosophy of a coach than the above does for Quique Setien of Real Betis. Setien was clear when delivering that quote that he sees the attacking phase as the most important phase of the...
One of the intriguing questions of the summer 2018 close season has been who would be the next Bayern Munich manager after Jupp Heynckes' departure. A bumpy start to the season last year under Carlo Ancelotti led to the Italians' departure from Bavaria, with steady-hand Heynckes taking the reigns and...
Summer of 2018 is an end of an era at Los Blancos, and also a big change for them. It started with winning the Champions League three times in a row and followed with the announcement of Zinedine Zidane. Suddenly, Zizou declared his leaving. Then the other great member of...
