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Attacking in a Front Five vs. a 4-4-2
Attacking with a front five is becoming more and more common in modern football. This is largely because it is paramount to positional play. Positional play is predicated on the occupation of specific spaces and zones, and attacking with a front five facilitates occupation of the five vertical corridors associated with positional play (two wide…
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Tactical Analysis: Steven Gerrard’s Rangers
After 10 years of waiting, Rangers put an end to Celtic’s domestic dominance by winning the Scottish Premiership this season. Their 55th title, which is the most of any club in the world, was a much-awaited one as it marks the end of an arduous decade for the club. The club wrapped up the title…
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Player Analysis: James Garner
James Garner, the Manchester United prodigy, the player they managed to bring to their youth academy having being brought up in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Garner is signed to Manchester United until 2022 with the club holding an option of another year. In the 2019/20 season, Garner was promoted to the first team starting eleven for Europa League group…
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Creating a Qualitative Superiority: Sassuolo
A qualitative superiority refers to a situation, where instances of numerical equality are in real terms not equal. It can be used holistically as a complex way to describe the ‘better team on paper’ or is something more individualised within games, which is where I feel it has more analytic use. Using the principle…
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Player Analysis: André Silva
After becoming the latest promising talent coming through the FC Porto academy, André Silva stagnated after moving to AC Milan in June 2017 for €38 million. He was unable to get going for the Rossoneri and was shipped off to Sevilla on loan in 2018/19. Another disappointing spell saw him sent out on a second…
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Player Analysis: Sérgio Oliveira
Throughout Futebol Clube do Porto’s history there has been a lot of memorable and heroic moments, from Rabah Madjer’s backheel against Bayern in 1987, to Costinha’s goal against Manchester United in 2004, to Kelvin’s 92th minute goal against Benfica in 2013, to name a few, and most recently Sérgio Oliveira’s free-kick goal against Juventus, which…
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Lopetegui Bounces Back From Madrid Disaster With Success At Sevilla
On July 21, 2018, the Royal Spanish Football Federation appointed Julen Lopetegui as the manager of the senior national men’s team with the objective of leading them to glory in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The former Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper had previously led Spain to the U-19 and U-21 European Championship titles in…
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Tactical Analysis: Real Madrid vs. Chelsea (First Leg)
In the rain in Spain, Chelsea gave a brilliant account of themselves in a game where they did more than enough to win and may come to rue their chances. In a zone of Madrid under construction: Valdebebas, literally a stone’s throw away from Madrid airport, I’m not sure many would have predicted a Champions…
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Daniel Sakari: Kenya’s Marauding Right Back
Daniel Sakari was born in Mathare North a district of the Kenyan capital Nairobi on 23 May 1999. He has an impressive academic background having attained a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, based in Nairobi. In early 2018, while at university, Sakari trialed at Kenyan National Super…
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Thomas Partey’s Rise to the Top of European Football
Born in Odumase Krobo in the southeast of Ghana, 18-year-old Thomas Partey captivated Atlético Madrid scouts with his technical skill and physical dominance whilst trialling for a second division club in Ghana. The scouts would go onto offer Thomas Partey the opportunity to showcase his talents in Spain. Partey accepted the offer with eager eyes…
