If I told you during the nadir of Ralf Rangnick’s reign last season (I guess the whole tenure was a nadir) that in the 22-23 season Casemiro would thunder in a last-minute header to equalise against Chelsea away, what would you have said?    You would’ve probably told me I was bonkers and that it…

Space is critical in football, give your opponent too much of it, and you get punished; make the best of little space or try to profit from little space, and you might get rewarded with a goal, just like at a casino. This creates a problem for every manager, irrespective of the philosophical divide: how…

I am quite a bookworm and have been reading a lot recently, two of the books I enjoyed are The European Game by Daniel Fieldsend and The Barcelona Legacy by Jonathan Wilson. Both books mention the ever-controversial Jose Mourinho and his chosen method of training, known as Tactical Periodisation.    What is Tactical Periodisation? It is a training methodology developed by Sports…

After four consecutive Premier League wins, Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United went into the Manchester derby full of confidence. However, they suffered their latest humbling defeat in a terrible 6-3 loss. Following impressive defensive displays against Liverpool and Arsenal, they found themselves 4-0 down at half-time for the second time already this season, with their…

Fulham have made a flying start on their Premier League return and hold sixth position as the international break arrives.   “It has been really good,” said head coach Marco Silva, discussing his side’s form after their comeback win over Nottingham Forest. “I have to be honest of course. I have to say as well…

In today’s piece, I will be going over the Champions League game which was played between Celtic and Real Madrid and how Celtic’s system caused Real Madrid issues for the first half. Real Madrid did end up winning the game 3-0, where all the goals came in the 2nd half but for this write-up, I…

Steve Bould, former Arsenal coach and assistant manager has taken up a new post after a year away from football as the Head Coach/Manager of second-tier Belgian side, Lommel SK.   In 2020 Lommel SK were acquired by the City Football Group (CFG). This is the consortium of football clubs that are owned by the…

The hugely anticipated match between an unbeaten and top-of-the-league Arsenal side and the recently rejuvenated Manchester United finally comes to its head at Old Trafford. It was the first meeting between Erik Ten Hag and Mikel Arteta, with both managers once apprentices of Pep Guardiola. All these made up for an intriguing encounter.   Going…

Manchester United battled to secure a 0-1 away win against Southampton, recovering from their early disappointments during the first two Premier League game-weeks by collecting their first six points in two consecutive games after a valuable home win against Liverpool.    Crucially, there were plenty of important ideas and tactical plots throughout the game that…