Monthly Archives: July 2023

Special report: What Roman Abramovich did next

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“‘I hope that I will be able to visit Stamford Bridge one last time to say goodbye to all of you in person,’ Roman Abramovich said in a statement on the Chelsea website on March 2, 2022, when he confirmed his intention to sell the Premier League club after 19 years as its owner. Eight days later, any short-to-medium-term hopes of this visit were curtailed when the British government announced sanctions had been placed upon Abramovich following the full Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24. The British government now describe Abramovich as a ‘prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch’. …”
The Athletic

The Problem With The Premier League’s Money

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“The Premier League has grown to become the richest football league in the world, but in doing so it’s created a problem for itself. It’s wealth is the reason the very best players want to come to the Premier League. But it also means clubs in other countries struggle to buy players from the Premier League. Leading to immovable players and squad stagnation. How big is the downside of having all the money in the world? Seb Stafford-Bloor explains, Alice Devine illustrates.”
YouTube

Wolves: Fosun, finances and an uncertain future

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“Wolverhampton Wanderers are experiencing a difficult summer. Sporting director Matt Hobbs and frustrated head coach Julen Lopetegui are negotiating the task of refreshing a tired squad while answering a broader challenge from Fosun. Wolves’ owners require a profit in the summer transfer window — a big one. …”
The Athletic

Lionel Messi: The evolution of the greatest footballer of all time

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“The way his first coach tells the story, the kid wasn’t even supposed to be on the pitch. It was his older brother’s game. They were a player short. Salvador Aparicio looked over at the stands and saw a small boy playing by himself, in private communion with the ball. When he asked his mother if he could borrow him, she said he didn’t know how to play football. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Replacing Fabinho: How Will Liverpool Fill Hole Left by Brazilian ‘Lighthouse’?

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“In 2019, Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders waxed lyrical to ESPN about the role of Fabinho in the team, describing him as a ‘lighthouse’. ‘Inside the organised chaos that we want, that we like, he is like a lighthouse, he controls it… His timing, his vision, his calmness, it gives another dimension to our midfield play,’ Lijnders said. His arrival from Monaco in 2018 coincided with Liverpool going from a team that challenged for the top four to one that challenged for titles. Along with Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, Fabinho helped take Jürgen Klopp’s men to the next level. …”
The Analyst

Inside the Saudi Gold Rush

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“The cold calls and text messages started arriving on Jan Van Winckel’s phone a couple of months ago, and they have not stopped. They come at a rate of about 10 a day, he said, a steady stream of hope-you’re-wells and long-time-no-speaks from old acquaintances, archived contacts, friends of friends of friends. The bromides change but the brass tacks are the same. Van Winckel, 49, now works in the United Arab Emirates, but he has spent a good portion of his career in soccer in Saudi Arabia, serving as both a coach and the technical director of the country’s national teams. …”
NY Times

Ukraine Waits for a Tomorrow It Cannot See

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“There is still room for life, still room for sport,” Andriy Shevchenko said. “That is why we are fighting: for the right to have a normal life.”
“There are certain things Andriy Shevchenko cannot talk about. The feeling generated by the wailing of an air-raid siren. The dread instilled by learning just how many missiles had been aimed the previous night at you, your loved ones, your home. The sensation of knowing another swarm of drones is on its way, the only hope that each one can be shot from the sky. Shevchenko does not want to repeat all he has heard from the Ukrainian soldiers posted to the battlefield, that rift that runs through places that were once nearby and familiar but are now alien, part of a terrifying front line. …”
NY Times

Where Does Your Team Need to Strengthen? One Solution For Every Premier League Club

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“The summer transfer window is hotting up. Every team is spending (or preparing to spend) millions of pounds to try and improve ahead of next season, while managers and coaching across England will have put in hours of work to try and find a way to get even more from the players already at their disposal. Each team has a weakness – yes, even Manchester City – that the staff will need to address this summer, either through recruitment or tactical tweaks on the training ground. Here, we have highlighted an area of the game that each Premier League team could do with improving (that they haven’t already addressed) ahead of next season. Read on to see where your team needs to strengthen. …”
The Analyst

Does football need Fifa? Breakaway threat may test Infantino’s grip on global game

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“Jesper Møller, it’s fair to say, is not a natural rebel. The Danish football federation is one of the more progressive authorities, but its president is a conservative with, and let’s be kind here, a healthy sense of his own interests. Last November, though, at the height of the World Cup’s rainbow armband affair, Møller did – briefly – hint at an unexpected radicalism. Might Denmark consider quitting Fifa, he was asked, and replied. …”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Feet (not hands), X-rays and seat-belts: How you scout – and train – a goalkeeper

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“… Martyn Margetson, goalkeeping coach for the England men’s national team and Championship club Swansea City, sighs as he thinks about that question. … The role and profile of goalkeepers has emerged as a hot topic during this summer’s transfer window, bearing in mind that Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion and Burnley have all paid substantial fees to strengthen that position, and it is only a matter of time before another Premier League club, Manchester United, do the same. …”
The Athletic

Oriol Romeu to Barcelona makes perfect sense – he has all the tools to succeed

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“They knew this problem would come one day. Yet, for Barcelona, finding the perfect replacement for the legendary Sergio Busquets at the base of their midfield has quickly become about finding the sum of his parts before the new season begins. With Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi off the table for at least another year, Barcelona manager Xavi’s options to play as the ‘pivote’ have thinned. …”
The Athletic

Liverpool, the box midfield and where Dominik Szoboszlai fits in next season

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“There were two key questions around Liverpool’s midfield rebuild this summer: which players would comprise it, and which formation was the club buying for? More specifically, would Jurgen Klopp return to his traditional 4-3-3 system or continue with the 3-box-3 set-up in which Liverpool ended the season. The addition of Dominik Szoboszlai appears to have provided more clarity because the 22-year-old looks extremely well suited to the right-sided No.10 role of the box midfield. …”
The Athletic
Where Dominik Szoboszlai could fit in at Liverpool in 3 systems
W – Dominik Szoboszlai

Why Football Is Banning Towels

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“The long throw can be one of football’s most feared weapons. But thanks to a change in the English Football League rules to combat time wasting, the long throw is at risk. From 2023/24 using a towel to dry the ball before a long throw is banned. But why? Will it really make a difference? Written by Nancy Froston. Illustrated by Marco Bevilacqua.”
YouTube

Crystal Palace and Roy Hodgson Part IV: The process, the logic and the consequences

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“When Roy Hodgson returned to Crystal Palace as interim manager in April, the question came up time and again. Would he be prepared to stay on for longer if everything went well? His response was to bat the subject away. Firstly, he did not know how things would go, secondly, he did not know what plans the club had for the future. So in the end he simply wanted to focus on the job at hand. …”
The Athletic

Soccer’s Next Big Thing Is Buying in Bulk

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“On Wednesday evening, the Colombian club Atlético Huila decided to treat its players and its coaching staff to what could be best thought of as an office night out. Huila has had a rough season. It finished at the bottom of the Apertura, the first half of the Colombian campaign. It won only five of its 20 games. A field trip was more a restorative than a reward. …”
NY Times