“Following on from the Gaffer’s suggestion for articles to use as resources one of the key elements of a Football match are the Tactics each team employs. Unfortunately for converts the terminology can be impenetrable – 4-4-2 & 4-3-3 are just random numbers and with two teams lining up it can be hard to understand how it all works.” (EPL Talk)
“I take a month off to deal with some personal business (successfully, thanks for asking) and look what happens in the world of football. When I last looked, Liverpool’s ownership situation was one of utter chaos, with the current owners insisting on handsome reward for their failures – just like any other bankers. Blackburn Rovers were about to be taken over by an Indian businessman about which little was known.” (twohundredpercent)
“Those who suggest – often quite forcibly – that LLL has absolutely no clue about anything are probably quite right. The blog went to bed (extremely late thanks to evil Spanish TV bosses) having watched an unspectacular but perfunctory 3-0 win for Real Madrid against Espanyol. ‘No story here,’ thought LLL. ‘Ten points from 12. Team still gelling but winning nonetheless. Benzema scoring. Higuaín scoring. Ronaldo scoring. And passing, too. Nothing to see. Move along, now.’” (FourFourTwo)
“Yoann Gourcuff’s return to Bordeaux was an unhappy one, as the home side won a good contest. Bordeaux made significant changes to the side which lost 2-1 to Nice the previous weekend, with Moussa Maazou being given his first start of the season in a lone striking role. Jussie also came into the side, meaning Jaroslav Plasil started in a deeper role.” (Zonal Miarking)
Out of the frying pan and into the fire
“Half-a-season is a long time in football. At the winter break last year Yoann Gourcuff, French football’s long-awaited successor to Zinedine Zidane, was leading Laurent Blanc’s Bordeaux on an imperious march to retaining their title. Everybody knew he would leave the Chaban-Delmas sooner or later, but he was meant to return as part of one of the world’s finest sides. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” (ESPN)
“For the few remaining stragglers in Europe who still see the United States as a footballing backwater, the country’s television schedules make for an instructive read. With relatively cheap subscriptions to the appropriate channels this past weekend, you could have watched eight Premier League games, another eight from the Mexican League, four Bundesliga match-ups, six from La Liga, five from Serie A, two from Brazil and two from Major League Soccer (and another four if you subscribe to the league’s bargain Direct Kick package at around 50 quid a season).” (WSC)
“According to the narrator of this cool short, DNA: The Brazil Sessions, those four things define Brazilians as much as Brazilians define those four passions. The film is about the passion of futebol in Brazil, particularly the game as it’s played in the street.” (Kicking and Screening)
Scissors Kick 