Articles
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Player Analysis: Patrick Bamford
Bolstered by the unshakable trust of Marcelo Bielsa, Patrick Bamford has come into his own in the Premier League this season since Leeds’ return to the top-flight last summer. A player who has previously proved erratic, a culmination of finishing maturity and refining his role in a highly functional attacking unit has seen Bamford catch…
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Tactical Analysis: The Early Days of Marcelino’s Athletic Club de Bilbao
18 months after being fired by Valencia, Marcelino García Toral has returned to management, replacing Gaizka Garitano as manager of Athletic Club de Bilbao. The fixture list after his appointment provided a fantastic opportunity for the Spanish manager to win over the faith of the Athletic Club supporters with massive matches in La Liga against…
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Player Analysis: Florian Neuhaus
In July 2017, Borussia Mönchengladbach signed a talented young midfielder from German second-tier club TSV 1860 Munich. His name: Florian Neuhaus. Gladbach then decided to send the 20-year-old back on loan to the second division with Fortuna Düsseldorf. Neuhaus helped the Flingeraner win the championship in the 2017/18 season, playing 27 league matches; scoring six…
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Génération Foot: Senegal’s Footballing Factory
“Personally, I didn’t think he’d make it with us because he was too shy. It was as if he didn’t want to play”, recalled scout, Abdou Diatta to The Straits Times, when Sadio Mané’s showed up at Génération Foot with battered boots and shorts unsuitable for football. But after just 15 minutes of watching the…
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Problems Await Mismanaged West Ham
West Ham United, flying high in the Premier League, are heading towards a squad management crisis. There is every chance that they can pivot away from the issues that are set to plague them. But significant changes are required in order to do so. The Hammers returned to the Premier League nine seasons ago,…
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Player Analysis: Abdallah Sima
Two developments have sparked some well-needed life into Czech football this season: That Tomáš Souček has surpassed expectations since signing for West Ham United last summer for €21 million, and the sudden rise of 19-year-old Senegalese striker Abdallah Sima, who has now scored seven league goals in just nine appearances for first-placed Slavia Prague, taking…
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Tactical Analysis: Manchester City’s Recent Build-Up Patterns
Perhaps the most significant rule change within recent times in football was the adaptation to the static goal kick. As of 2019, outfield players were given the license to touch the ball inside their 18-yard box from a goal kick, rather than having to wait until the ball exited the box. This alteration added a…
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Borussia Dortmund’s Ongoing Dilemma
On Friday night after Borussia Dortmund’s 4-2 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach, I was asked if I thought Dortmund would finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League next season. The answer to that is difficult: I was hesitant to say no because of the obvious quality in their squad – they…
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Tactical Analysis: Backwards To Go Forward
The concept of verticality is often mentioned positively when discussing teams’ style of play. Typically, this is in reference to progressive verticality which seems intuitive considering the end goal of reaching the optimal destination to score, generally deep in the opponent’s half, wherever that may be contextually. However, progression is not linear. Sometimes to reach…
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Mechanisms Of Space Creation: Analysing Villarreal’s Possession Play Against Levante’s 3-5-2 High Press
Space creation is one of the most fundamental and important concepts in football. As Xavi puts it, “I understand football as a time-space concept”. Whether you need to play out of the opponent’s high press, break down a low block or press yourself, you need to establish control over the influential spaces (these “influential spaces”…
