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Tactical Analysis: Southampton 2020/21
“Just over a year since their lowest point, Southampton reach their highest point”, said Sky Sports commentator Rob Hawthorne as Southampton, albeit temporarily, rose to the top of the Premier League for the first time in their history after a comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle on the most recent Friday Night Football. Southampton sat…
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Tactical Analysis: Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur
Before taking charge of Stade de Reims, Olivier Guégan took a tour across Europe to observe several training sessions and matches and get a glimpse of their respective managers’s patterns and tactics. He went to Rome to study Rudi Garcia’s Roma side, he went to Madrid to analyze Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid, and he even…
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Why Manchester United Struggle to Break Teams Down Under Ole Gunnar Solskjær
Since taking charge of Manchester United in December 2018, Ole Gunnar Solskjær has proven time and time again his ability to grind out a victory against top opposition. He demonstrated his tactical nous in his fifth Premier League match, which saw United muster a 1-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur. A month later, Solskjær sealed a…
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Tactical Analysis: Atalanta vs. Inter
Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta side bounced back from a thumping 5-0 defeat to Liverpool in the midweek as they hosted Antonio Conte’s Inter to a 1-1 draw on Sunday. Gasperini’s side looked sharp and a far more organised outfit than they did in midweek. Inter will also take encouragement from the result as they…
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Tactical Analysis: Der Klassiker
Over the past decade, few rivalries have lived up to the hype on such a consistent basis as Der Klassiker. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund’s clashes tend to provide a heaping dose of excitement and nerves, and in the most recent fixture on November 7, the match between Hansi Flick’s Bayern and Lucien Favre’s Dortmund…
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Tactical Analysis: Ralph Hasenhüttl’s Southampton
“If you want guarantees you should buy a washing machine. There are no guarantees in football anymore,” Ralph Hasenhüttl famously stated in his first press conference as Southampton manager on December 6, 2018. In contrast to Hasenhüttl’s parabolic statement, it seems like the biggest guarantee of the Premier League so far this term is the…
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Tactical Analysis: VfB Stuttgart 2020/21
Having been relegated to the Bundesliga 2 at the end of the 2018/19 season, the future was not looking particularly good for Stuttgart fans. They had only come up to the Bundesliga two years prior, and in their first season, managed an impressive 7th-place finish. They then slumped down to 16th in the league the…
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Tactical Analysis: Der Klassiker
The first Der Klassiker of the 2020-21 Bundesliga season did not disappoint. Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich side took on Lucien Favre’s Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park where the two German heavyweights put on a thoroughly entertaining end to end display. Although Bayern ran out 3-2 winners, Dortmund would’ve felt that they deserved more from the…
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How Sassuolo Adapted to Crisis and Defeated Napoli
Roberto De Zerbi’s Sassuolo faced off against Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo with several key players including talisman Francesco “Ciccio” Caputo, Domenico Berardi, and Filip Đuričić missing. In response to this, De Zerbi changed to a fluid system that allowed them to interchange between a 3-4-3 in possession and a 4-5-1 mid block off…
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Tactical Analysis: Leeds United vs. Leicester City
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City side travelled to Elland Road on Monday night to take on an in-form Leeds United side. With Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side having just thrashed an in-form Aston Villa side 3-0 and Rodgers’ Leicester side having beaten Arsenal 1-0 the previous week, the game promised to be an intriguing contest. …









