In a must win game for both teams, Brighton & Hove Albion ended up surprise victors through Neal Maupay’s goal in the 95th minute. Graham Potter’s side came back from a one goal deficit in the second half to grab a crucial 3 points in their battle against relegation. Here’s how it unfolded:   Arsenal’s…

Two of the most exciting sides in Europe imploding with young talent met last weekend at the Red Bull Arena. Both Lucien Favre’s Borussia Dortmund and Julian Nagelsmann’s RB Leipzig spent most of the season in hot contention to achieve the Meisterschale before Hansi-Dieter Flick took over in November and led Bayern to another league…

After more than three months of suspension, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City return to the Etihad today where they will take on Sean Dyche’s Burnley. Despite a disappointing season that currently sees them 23 points behind Liverpool, City will be heavily favored for today’s clash. Nevertheless, Burnley will be a formidable opponent, as demonstrated in this…

Tottenham Hotspur released an 11v11 training game on June 5th that can provide useful information for the upcoming game against Manchester United.   Most notably, the side wearing the home shirt used asymmetric full backs, creating a 3-2 build-up structure and an outlet on the right flank thus suggesting continued use of the strategy by…

With La Liga resuming this week, relegation-threatened Mallorca took on league leaders Barcelona at the Son Moix stadium.  Barcelona needed to win to maintain their charge for a third consecutive league title, and they did it in a dashing manner by romping to a 4-0 victory.   Barcelona’s Possession Structure   Barcelona’s 4-3-3 morphed into…

On Sunday, Real Madrid met Eibar at Real Madrid’s training facility – Valdebebas at Estadio Alfredo di Stefano stadium with a capacity of 6,000 instead of the 13 times bigger Santiago Bernabéu, currently closed for renovation. But it wasn’t to matter, since the game was played behind closed doors.   It was the first of…

Earlier this month, Liverpool fans celebrated the 15th anniversary of their famous Champions League victory in Istanbul. The Reds trailed AC Milan 3-0 at the break, but three quick goals from Steven Gerrard, Vladimír Šmicer and Xabi Alonso brought them back to level terms, where the trophy was eventually won on penalties.   This tactical…

Wait, what?   Everyone thought the same thing, didn’t they? When Marcelo Bielsa, THAT Marcelo Bielsa, was announced as the manager of Leeds United, who were predicted to finish 11th in the Championship that season and were only just recovering from the typically tumultuous tenure of Garry Monk.   Photo: Sportsfile / Getty   Then,…

The concept behind wide target men is simple yet extraordinarily effective, both as a tactical tool for an individual match as well as a fundamental cog through the duration of a season. The most prominent and effective use of this was Mario Mandžukić under Massimiliano Allegri at Juventus.   My hypothesis behind the wide target…

To wrap up Matchday 29 in the Bundesliga, Champions League hopefuls RB Leipzig visited Cologne at an empty RheinEnergieStadion. The hosts were looking to pick up their first win in the league since the restart, whilst Leipzig were aiming to stretch their unbeaten run in the league to 10 games. The pressure was firmly on…