When Romelu Lukaku left Manchester United to join Inter, parts of the English media appeared to write the then 26-year-old off as past his best. His second and final season at Old Trafford yielded just 12 Premier League goals and it was evident from the off that Ole Gunnar Solskjær didn’t think there was a…
Up until this season, Patrick Bamford’s Premier League career had yielded just one goal. That solitary strike arrived during the 2016/17 campaign when he was a Middlesbrough player. He’d drawn blanks for Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Burnley prior to that despite plundering goals at Championship level. Fast forward four years, however, and only four…
RB Leipzig get a lot of praise for their innovative approach, both on and off the field. Manager Julian Nagelsmann is often lauded for his forward-thinking systems and it’s why he’s regularly tipped as a potential successor to arguably the two best tactical thinkers in the game today: Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp. They’re often…
Hitting the target and making the goalkeeper work is no longer good enough at the very top level. More often than not, chances are at a premium in the must-win clashes and failing to make the most of an opportunity is viewed as a waste. What’s more, these must-win matches are becoming increasingly more common.…
Chelsea found themselves in an odd place as the new season kicked off. Their spending spree heaped the pressure on Frank Lampard and his side, with the view that they should be challenging for the Premier League title. However, the large number of arrivals also appeared to lessen the expectations being placed on the team,…
Bayer Leverkusen are one of only two unbeaten teams in the Bundesliga this season. They’re currently one point off leaders Bayern Munich and after a slow start – scoring three goals in their opening four matches – the floodgates have opened. Peter Bosz’s side have notched 13 in their last four outings in the German…
There’s something strange going on with Manchester’s Premier League teams. For a start, at the time of writing, both of their points totals combined would only put them four points clear of top spot. But also, Manchester City might get worse when they’re winning. When drawing, their shot maps for and against in the league…
Since day one of the season for Liverpool, a narrative has been pushed that defensively they’re not as secure this time around. Virgil van Dijk had a lapse in judgement against Leeds United to gift Patrick Bamford a goal and Marcelo Bielsa’s team carved out multiple openings against the champions. In reality, a number of…
In a world where we have Siri, cars that park themselves, and roombas, why manually make graphics by typing in all the text yourself? Why not just hook up bespoke, branded templates directly to a database, a suite of data visualisations, and your image library? Sounds useful. Sounds smart. Well, that gives us a perfect…
Bruno Fernandes has transformed Manchester United. The Portuguese maestro has been a creative menace for the Red Devils ever since his £50million move from Sporting in January. The 26-year-old quickly put his stamp on the team and he’s now viewed as the club’s franchise player, with Paul Pogba having to settle for a place on…