“Serie A 2010-11 club by club previews. Get ready for the big kick off as we give you a unique lowdown on all 20 Serie A teams. (Football Italia)
Tactical battles await in Serie A
“A valuable lesson was learned by the Italian FA (FIGC) during the World Cup in June: when things go wrong, when the national tem performs lousily and has a worrying lack of young players ready to step up and replace tired veterans, do what all authorities seem to do in a crisis – panic.” (ESPN)
“‘Everything must change so that everything can stay the same,’ Italian novelist Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote in The Leopard. The famous phrase is often used to describe the way cosmetic change is used to cover a lack of real reform in Italy’s political, economic and social spheres, but it may also be applicable to the country’s top-flight football this season. It’s all change at the big clubs, with three of the big four starting the campaign with new coaches. Nevertheless, the expectation is that we’ll have the same story of the last four seasons since the Calciopoli scandal shook things up, with Inter proving too good for the other contenders.” (WSC)
“The Premier League season is less than two weeks old, but a look at how the top sides lined up in their opening matches provides an interesting indication of how they plan to approach the season from a tactical perspective. The diagrams below, screenshots from the ESPN Soccernet website, show the average positions adopted by the players from Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool in their teams’ opening home games of the season. (Data is taken only from home games because ESPN’s average position diagrams inexplicably go a bit haywire for away teams.) Average position diagrams do not give a water-tight representation of a team’s formation – which is necessarily in a constant state of flux – but they do offer useful insights into basic shape.” (Football Further)
“Arsenal emerge with the points after a professional display in a decent match. Sam Allardyce chose to use the two Dioufs either side of Nikola Kalinic upfront, and continued to use Phil Jones ahead of the back four, in a very defensive midfield role. Vince Grella also came into midfield – Allardyce seems to see him as a ‘big game player’, since his three starts in 2010 have come against Arsenal (twice) and Manchester United, and the two before that were against Tottenham and Liverpool.” (Zonal Marking)
Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Arsenal – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – EPL – 28 August 2010
(The 90th Minute)
“Perpetual limbo. Seemingly no one knows anything about the negotiations that are not taking place about the U.S. manager position. We do know, however, that Bob Bradley is interested in opportunities in Europe. The only reason to reveal this tidbit is because Bradley is, well, interested in opportunities in Europe.” (Nutmeg Radio)
“Here is part 2 in Phil and Andrew’s trip visiting the Dogon Country in Mali. Catch them stumbling across a village funeral procession before heading out to the hills for some sunset soccer action. Music in this EP from a The Ball favorite Iba Diabaté with ‘Wala Yalala’ which you could download from here. Then we round out the EP with a track from Konteh Kunda and the great track ‘Jaraby’ that you can download from here or from iTunes. Both artists from the ever expanding Akwaaba Music stable, real African music direct from the source.” (Blip)
“Chelsea continued their EPL season in the third matchday hosting Stoke City after two 6-0 victories to open the season. The match highlights can be seen here at Free Soccer Highlights.” (The 90th Minute)
Scissors Kick 