A manager’s ability to sell a ‘project’ and a vision to fans of their club is fast becoming a key weapon in the armoury of any elite coach. Being able to demonstrate that players are adapting to a certain tactical style, or a recruitment strategy is putting the building blocks in place for success, is…
Taking the last two seasons as a guide, Premier League new-boys Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion, and Fulham have three roles to divide between them. It’s how the promoted sides do things now. One team challenging for Europe, one team in a traditional relegation scrap, and one team bombing completely. This might have emerged as…
Ohh Thiago Silva. The Brazilian completed his move to Stamford Bridge last week after his Paris Saint-Germain contract expired. The 35-year-old is a serial winner and brings experience to a youthful Chelsea team. It’s an exciting time at Stamford Bridge following the arrivals of Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech to their ranks already.…
That Ajax team from the 2018/19 season was pillaged when the campaign came to an end. It was inevitable. Barcelona secured the services of Frenkie de Jong while Juventus pipped a host of clubs to the signature of Matthijs de Ligt. Both were spectacular in their own right. However, it was a surprise to see…
With the Women’s Champions League final on Sunday, there are parts of the 2019/20 season still to be wrapped up, and yet 2020/21 is already upon us. New dawns, new faces, new outfits; our levels of knowledge drop again on the rollercoaster of sporting life. But a new season also tends to mean that we…
It wasn’t too long ago that most teams across Europe had at least one box-to-box midfielder in their team. The sort of player to make a crunching tackle on the edge of their own area before arriving late to finish off a team move just moments later. However, football is perpetually evolving and the demands…
The combined age of Barcelona’s two top-scorers is 66. That’s pensionable age. It’s no surprise, given the ground-breakingly embarrassing exit from the Champions League, that there’s talk of a rebuild at Camp Nou. Some are even wondering how Los Culés might look if Lionel Messi left. But the player that needs shifting most urgently is…
David Beckham was always going to sprinkle some stardust over Inter Miami. It’s taken a while but the arrival of World Cup winner and former Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Blaise Matuidi ticks that box. What makes the deal for the 33-year-old all the more impressive is he won’t be a Designated Player (DP). For…
Despite being one of Europe’s most upwardly-mobile clubs, few pundits could have predicted that RB Leipzig would enjoy such a successful UEFA Champions League this season. Relative newcomers to Europe’s top table, the German side have certainly ruffled a few feathers among the continent’s elite in 2019/20; knocking out the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus…
Only three players in the Premier League attempted 100 or more shots in the Premier League last season. Mohamed Salah topped the list with 125 and recently named PFA Player of the Year Kevin De Bruyne claimed the third spot with 100. If I gave you ten guesses to name the player sandwiched between the…