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About 1960s: Days of Rage

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Book review: Fully Programmed – The lost world of football programmes

“Derek Hammond and Gary Silke have already achieved critical praise and impressive sale figures for their excellent ‘Got Not Got’ and ‘The Lost World of’ series of books on footballing nostalgia. Their regular articles are also featured in BackPass magazine. This book represents another worthy addition to their collection. To some people, programme collecting as a hobby is on a par with train spotting. It is considered to be the preserve of males still living at home with their mothers and is a peculiarly British tradition. Nothing could be further from the truth- programme collecting has always been cool.” Football Pink, amazon, [PDF] Fully Programmed: The Lost World of Football Programmes

Messi the favorite, but could Neymar jump Ronaldo in Ballon d’Or voting?

“What do Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Franck Ribery and Manuel Neuer all have in common? In the last four years, each was the ‘gooseberry’ on the Ballon d’Or podium behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. This year could be different; for the first time since 2010, when Ronaldo slipped to sixth (Iniesta was second and Xavi third) the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly could be broken by the player Barcelona signed to one day replace Messi: Neymar.” SI (Video)

A Compilation of EPL Model Predictions after Round 20/38

“The 3rd round FA Cup weekend is already under way which means a break from the arduous Premier League season. With 20 out of the 38 rounds finished and 200 current season matches to draw data from, it seems like a good time to attempt to predict what might happen at the end of the season. Will Leicester City carry on with their spectacular early, but recently waning, form and be crowned champions at the end of the year, having been fighting against relegation just the year before? Will Spurs win their first league title in more than half-a-century, or will it be one of the more usual suspects in Arsenal or Manchester City? What should we expect from traditional powerhouses Manchester United and Chelsea? And is there any salvation for Aston Villa? Too many questions and if you are looking for definitive answers, this is NOT the place to be.” Stats Bomb

Leicester City: The secret behind the success

“Sitting two points clear at the top of the table come Christmas was not the position anyone expected Leicester City to be in. Newly appointed manager Claudio Ranieri even stated himself that 40 points was the target for his side prior to the season, as 40 points usually ensures safety from relegation. Playing in a style of football which wouldn’t exactly be considered attractive by most, Leicester are certainly able to get the results irregardless of the popularity of their style.” Outside of the Boot

SI Now: Wahl on European coaching carousel, Arsenal, FIFA election

“The European coaching carousel is in overdrive, with a number of the sport’s biggest names on the move. Jose Mourinho is gone from Chelsea, and Guus Hiddink is in charge for the rest of the season. Pep Guardiola announced he’ll be taking a Premier League job after this season with Bayern Munich, where Carlo Ancelotti will then take over. Zinedine Zidane has taken over for Rafa Benitez at Real Madrid, where Zidane starred as one of the world’s greatest players. To make sense of it all, speculate on where the carousel might stop next and also delve into Arsenal’s Premier League title chances and the latest regarding the FIFA election, SI’s Grant Wahl joined Maggie Gray on Thursday’s SI Now. Watch the video above for the entire interview, and for more on the goings on in the world of soccer, listen to the new Planet Fútbol Podcast here.” SI

The Premier League: A New World Order or a temporary glitch?

“So is this the most extraordinary Premier League season ever? One where all the certainties of elite financial domination have been smashed and football is once more truly competitive and absorbing? Or is where we find ourselves after the first half of the season just a blip before the football universe’s financial masters reassert themselves? The truth is that we won’t know until the end of the season, until the game is played out. But it is also true that the very existence of that state of not knowing means there has been change.” Football Pink

The Tragic Flaw of the Modern Football Manager, and Why Ancelotti is Immune

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“The history of football tactics is defined by innovators. Managers who specialize in tactical theory and find ways to reinvent the beautiful game are forever engraved in the minds of supporters. It is the era of the philosopher in football, as systems based on ideas of the correct way to play are dominant in Europe’s top leagues. This dogmatic belief in one’s own philosophy is often the tragic flaw of managers who enjoy tremendous spells of success. FC Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola has a special stake to the claim of the most innovative mind in football history. However Die Roten now more than ever are an ideal fit for the versatile pragmatist Carlo Ancelotti.” Bundesliga Fanatic

Muhamed Besic, the cultured scrapper who could turn out to be an Everton gem

“It was only Muhamed Besic’s third start of the season but if he was anxious he hid it well. Standing in the tunnel before the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester City, he yawned. He went on to produce his best performance in an Everton shirt, a cultured scrapper buzzing around the more sedentary solidity of Gareth Barry. It is easy to be carried along by Roberto Martínez’s ebullience – although not so easy as not to raise an eyebrow when he describes Barry as one the great players in English history – but the match provided much for Everton fans to be optimistic about, and nothing more than Besic’s performance.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Pep Guardiola has a lot to prove in England

“Like anyone who has sat to write a CV in the last six months, I know what it is to be despondent. The enthusiasm of opening the laptop, of punching in those bold, visionary two letters at the head of the page, of seeing the unbroken vista of the paper spread out before you, ready for the imprint of your life’s achievements – it soon fades. For I have very few, and I’m left realising just why the unwelcome ritualistic reminder of drafting a resume is so hated.” backpagefootball

Stade de Gerland

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“The Stade de Gerland (otherwise known as Municipal de Gerland or Stade Gerland [stad ʒɛʁˈlɑ̃]) is a stadium, in the city of Lyon, France and home to Ligue 1 football club Olympique Lyonnais. It has a seating capacity of 40,494. Situated in the Gerland quarter, it is used by French professional football club Olympique Lyonnais, who will move to the Stade des Lumières in 2016. The Stade de Gerland is listed as a Category three stadium by UEFA‘s standards and has hosted matches for the 1972 Rugby League World Cup, UEFA Euro 1984, the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and the 2007 Rugby World Cup.” Wikipedia, The Stadium Guide, World Soccer

What would the Premier League look like if it were a knockout competition?

“At this early stage of the year, English football is all about knockout competitions: the busy festive period of league football is over, and instead we have midweek Capital One Cup semifinals, followed by the FA Cup third round. In fact, this year as a whole is also heavily based around knockout football, with the supposed offseason featuring three major competitions: Euro 2016, the Olympics and a bonus Copa America, too. Knockout football is interesting, in part, because it’s more likely to produce slightly unusual winners. Few would argue, for example, that Wigan were England’s best team in 2013 because they won the FA Cup. The element of randomness is precisely what people enjoy, and come to expect; the concept of a giant-killing in the cup competitions is arguably what the tournament is all about.” ESPN – Michael Cox

What’s wrong with Southampton?

“This season has been a rich tapestry of successes and failures. From the elevation of Leicester, Watford, Stoke and Bournemouth, to the fall of Aston Villa, Swansea and Chelsea, it’s been a season of maddening stories. At the turn of the year, the current side on the slide is Southampton. On Christmas Day 2014, the Saints were nestled in the top four and the pundits were asking if they could stay there come April. One year later, the 31st of December saw Southampton sat in 12th. Not quite Leicester’s fairy tale, eh?” Outside of the Boot

The Question: what is attacking football?

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“After Manchester United’s goalless draw with West Ham in December, Louis van Gaal professed himself baffled by the Old Trafford crowd’s demands for his side to be more attacking. ‘I don’t understand that they are shouting ‘attack, attack’ because we are the attacking team and not West Ham United,’ he said. In doing so, he raised a question that seems fundamental to football and yet is surprisingly hard to answer: what is attacking?” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

A Soccer Team, Its Foreign Owner and Local Discontent

“A new Chinese owner arrived at the Dutch soccer club ADO Den Haag in early 2014, promising multimillion-dollar investments and better days ahead. Fans of the club liked the sound of that. Yes, the money to buy the team arrived a few months late, but it did arrive in the end, along with firm deadlines for further investments and a handful of new signings. Even if the most ardent fans were wary of the new owner’s intentions, they held their tongues. ADO, a 110-year-old club, has not won the top Dutch league, now known as the Eredivisie, since the end of World War II. But the new owner, a wealthy businessman named Wang Hui, promised to turn the team into a powerhouse — one that could challenge the likes of Ajax, P.S.V. Eindhoven and Feyenoord, clubs that have long dominated Dutch soccer, and play well enough to qualify for top European competitions like the Champions League.” NY Times

The Argument: In 2016, Football is as Political as Ever

“‘Write a piece about something that is bugging you’ about the game. Blimey, where do you start? Footballs on plinths, rampant corruption, automatic bookings for taking your shirt off, the pointlessness of football phone-ins, York City in the mire of sub-mediocrity? The choice is endless and picking just one thing out is a thankless task. And yet… The notion that football and politics do not mix is absurd. Not just football, to be fair, but sport generally. And it’s a trope that comes around with alarming regularity. It needs to be stopped. There’s little in life that isn’t political, and football cannot escape.” thetwounfortunates

The Bundesliga at the Break: Bayern and Dortmund

“As the Pep era comes to a close and the Tuchel era dawns, it looks like business as usual in the Bundesliga. Bayern are 8 points ahead of Dortmund while BVB have a a comfortable 6 point edge on Hertha in 3rd. Bayern have pretty much wrapped up the title barring a shock but Dortmund’s improvements have seen them establish themselves as a legit rival if Bayern drop from their otherwordly level just a bit. Title races in the future have the potential to be something special, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Today we look at the teams as they have performed so far this season and some questions for the second half of the year.” Stats Bomb

Your Perfectly Average 2015-16 PL Side: Starring Watford

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“There’s been something of a lower class uprising in the Premier League over the last 9-12 months. Leicester were left for dead last season yet here they are lurking around first place despite most analysts saying they shouldn’t be there and won’t stay there (in fairness, they shouldn’t but that’s already been discussed). Bournemouth have remarkably remained a positive shot differential team this season despite a litany of injuries to their attacking core (with expected goal numbers not painting Bournemouth quite as highly, locations have hurt them), and have Crystal Palace somehow found a formula of making the shots that hit the target incredibly valuable? (Well, no they haven’t but the divergence between TSR/ xG formulas that count all shots versus SoTR/xG models that count only SoT is fascinating).” Stats Bomb

Tactical Analysis: Everton 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur | Both sides fail to take chances

“Everton and Tottenham Hotspur played out a fascinating 1-1 draw at Goodison Park, a result which helped neither team’s cause. Everton were left stranded on 11th, while Spurs failed to maintain a positive push for the title as rivals Manchester City and Arsenal won their respective games.” Outside of the Boot

Time To Give Up On Klopp?

“With no magic wand, why are we even bothering with Jürgen Klopp? Wasn’t he supposed to have fixed everything by now? What’s he waiting for? As I saw on the BBC website, some Liverpool fans are saying that the football is even worse than under Brendan Rodgers; indeed, someone said it to me on Twitter. Clearly Klopp has overstayed his welcome, and wasted too much money on players. He’s had long enough to sort this all out. He’s been found out. Or something.” Tomkins Times

Brighton Floored by a Wolves Sucker Punch

“When the Football League’s longest unbeaten run from the start of the season came to an end, it at least did so with a degree of finality. Being the last unbeaten club in the upper echelons of the English league system had, in all honesty, become something of a millstone around the neck of Brighton & Hove Albion. After last season’s closer than expected or wanted brush with the possibility of relegation back to League One, a year of mid-table security might have been enough for the club, but from the start of the season Chris Hughton’s team had been grinding out results week after week, seldom looking likely to set the world alight, but being consistently difficult to beat.” twohundredpercent

South America’s brightest want a slice of ‘Paree’

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“At the end of the First World War there was a new hit tune in the United States, one that made reference to the experiences that US servicemen were having on the other side of the Atlantic. The title – ‘How can you keep ‘em down on the farm, now that they’ve seen Paree?’ It is a song with relevance to modern football. Because in today’s globalized world, footballers from the four corners of the globe have all seen ‘Paree’ – meaning, in this case, the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and (why not?) Paris Saint Germain. It is where they all want to be. And so it has become impossible to keep them at home.” The World Game – Tim Vickery

Unhappy New Year in Russia

“While working on a year end review with all the fun of the fair and recovering from a series of dentist appointments, a brilliant article flashed across my LinkedIn page that sent me into uproar. It nudged to restart an article from October which I felt was going to sound too unreal. Thanks to our apparatchiks here in Russia, I needn’t have worried, the unreal just got real again.” backpagefootball

How wonderful life is: The joy of Watford’s world

“Even though I’m a Watford boy, I used to hold a season ticket at Tottenham Hotspur. I went between 1998 and 2003 with my dad, alternating with my brother Richard, who was there for Sol Campbell’s return. I was at the 3-5 defeat against Man United, and also the 1-3 loss in the Worthington Cup against Birmingham. Unpredictable, full of flair, and lots of foreign talent, Spurs were fine, but Man United won things, so I switched to them in 2003.” Football Pink

Back Page Football’s five most read articles of 2015

“It’s been another big year for Back Page Football as we published almost 1000 articles that covered news, views and opinion from all across the globe. As we head into 2016, there’s no better time to look back at the 12 months that was, and below are the features that grabbed the attention of our readers the most.” backpagefootball

EPL Notes: Leicester City in a rut; Diego Costa shines for Chelsea

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“English soccer’s long-standing habit of cramming extra games into the public holidays around Christmas and New Year is one of the quirks that add to the Premier League’s appeal. It also rewards the clubs with the deepest pockets and the deepest squads. Elsewhere in Europe, teams catch their breath with a mid-season rest. English soccer celebrates the halfway point in its marathon by sending the players out to play extra games with little rest in the winter wind and the rain. It’s a muddy boot camp for millionaires.” SI

Garth Crooks’ team of the week: Rooney, Alli, Willian, Defoe

“Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the Premier League with an unconvincing win over relegation-threatened Newcastle. Leicester City missed a penalty as they failed to scored for a third consecutive match in a draw with Bournemouth, while Manchester United and Manchester City both won. Chelsea beat Crystal Palace for their first win under Guus Hiddink. But who were the outstanding performers? Here are my selections.” BBC

The Best Of The Bundesliga 2015/16 Hinrunde

“The Bundesliga Hinrunde certainly lived up to its reputation as one on the best leagues in football with five months of excitement, incident, drama, goals and above all mouth-watering football. Bayern may have stormed the first half of the season, but the title is by no means a foregone conclusion. The race for the Champions League spots is heating up, the newly promoted sides continue to surprise everyone, while the battle against relegation looks set to be as intriguing as ever. Let’s take a look back at the best the Hinrunde had to offer…” Bundesliga Fanatic

The 100 best footballers in the world 2015 – interactive

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“Welcome to the Guardian’s choice of the world’s top 100 footballers for 2015. Led by Zico, Javier Zanetti and Gheorghe Hagi, our panel of 123 experts from 49 nations compiled a countdown of the greatest male players on the planet. Click on an individual to read more about their year. Guardian: Barney Ronay: Messi regains No1 position, How our judges voted: the complete statistics, Datablog: the numbers crunched, Video: the ten best footballers in the world, Read the full list of judges and top 100 rules

Tuchel’s Tactical Positioning Revs Borussia Dortmund’s High-Powered Attack

“Borussia Dortmund have been amazing to say the least, in the first half of the 2015-16 season. It’s only half a season, yet Dortmund have scored a whopping 85 goals in all competitions which, astonishingly, is seven more than they managed all of last season. New head coach Thomas Tuchel has changed the commonly used ‘Gegenpressing’ philosophy of Dortmund, which was used by Jurgen Klopp. Tuchel’s new game model of positional play (translated from the Spanish juego de posición) makes them unique in a league dominated by pressing and counterattacking teams.” Bundesliga Fanatic

Rock-Paper-Scissors: A Brutal, Cutting League

“It’s fair to say that I don’t watch enough of the world’s other leagues to make a definitively accurate comparison, but the more I think about it (from inside my bubble) the more it strikes me that the English Premier League’s unique challenges lay not in the quality of the teams and the tactical acumen of their managers (although there are some good teams and some very clever coaches), but in the brutal intensity of almost every 90 minutes – as well as the number of games played (without a winter break) and the wide variety of approaches faced.” Tomkins Times

Swansea City – Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me

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“Even though Swansea City’s form has not been great, it still came as something of a surprise when manager Garry Monk was sacked this month, not least because the customary smooth succession to a capable replacement seems to have foundered. There have reportedly been talks with former Argentina and Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa, but coach Alan Curtis remains in charge for the time being.” The Swiss Ramble

Italy’s Future Left Back? Adam Masina

“Less than three years ago, Adam Masina was the reserve striker at Bologna Primavera, the under-19 team of the club. He was barely fielded and for him a future in football was very unlikely. Dumped by the club, he ended up in the third tier of Italian football, on loan at Giacomense, just because at the Emilian club were looking for youngsters, in order to receive the FIGC subsidies assigned to teams which regularly field under-21 players in their starting formation. To find him a place in the team, Giacomense manager Fabio Gallo, decided to field him as the left wingback in his 3-5-2 and then even as the left-back when he switched to a 4-3-3. Gallo’s intuition has been Masina’s salvation: he became a regular of the team and his good performances granted him a return in Bologna.” Stats Bomb

Tactical Analysis: River Plate 0-3 Barcelona | Barca’s enterprising play too much for River

“In Yokohama, the final of the FIFA World Club Championship, saw on one hand the champion of the Copa Libertadores River Plate, who had beaten in the semifinals Sanfrecce Hiroshima of Japan, and on the other the Champions League winners, FC Barcelona that without Messi and Neymar beat Chinese team Guangzhou Evergrande. In the end, the Spanish team had their South American trident, as both Messi and Neymar decided to play the game despite not being 100%. River Plate made one change from the team that played the semifinal, with Uruguayan Tabaré Viudez replacing Leonardo Pisculichi. Luis Enrique presented his classic 4-3-3 system, River Plate alternated between their usual 4-3-1-2 and 4-4-2, the two systems being used by the team of Marcelo Gallardo.” Outside of the Boot

The devil and José Mourinho

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“At the beginning of May 2015, Chelsea wrapped up the Premier League title with a scrappy 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. It was not a great game or a great performance – for a couple of months Chelsea had looked exhausted, dragging their fatigued limbs over the line and grateful no contender was able to mount a serious challenge to them. It was a day of relief as well as exultation, manager José Mourinho’s third title with the club, his first since he returned in 2013 for his second stint as manager, and only the fifth Chelsea had ever won, despite all the recent investment from their billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Tactical Analysis: Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City | Disciplined Arsenal win the match

“Arsenal have been regarded as title contenders all season, as demonstrated through their strong performance on Monday The Gunners were forced to dig deep at the end but got the result from another solid and disciplined team performance – the same of which cannot be said for the entire Manchester City side. Manuel Pellegrini’s side was the complete opposite of Arsenal’s: they were lazy, lacked teamwork, and appeared as if they ran out of ideas until the last 20 minutes of the match. Combined with mistakes and poor decision making (both from the players and the manager), it was yet another match against a top team where City could’ve lost by more than one goal. It is clear that City was missing Vincent Kompany, and the situation was further worsened by the fact that Aguero looked completely out of sorts. Arsenal’s victory leaves City six points off the top, and if City’s poor performances against top sides continue, their title hopes will be over. To understand why this happened, Arsenal’s game plan will be analyzed, in addition to a brief editorial on City’s shortcomings, shown by the analysis of the goals and goal-scoring opportunities.” Outside of the Boot

#IBWM100 2016

“On Wednesday, 23 December at 10am (GMT) we will publish the #IBWM100 for 2016 – our list of the most exciting young* players in world football. As always, we’ve stuck with the format that served Don Balon so successfully for many years; 100 names and details of where each player is from. We’ll revisit the list in twelve months’ time and assess how the year has panned out for each of the players concerned. The process we use for selection remains exactly the same. We talk to scouts, coaches, players, journalists, fans and bloggers from around the world to get a clear a picture of exactly who we should be watching and why. Across the year, we monitor each player on our long list to see how things are going while considering what the future is likely to hold for them. Eventually our long list becomes the #IBWM100 – nothing definitive, just the players that we believe will really soar in 2016.” In Bed With Maradona – INTRODUCTION, In Bed With Maradona – 100 2015: Our twelve month review of the class of 2015

Deportivo Cali: Colombia’s Cantera de Oro

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“It may sound like a truism but South American football usually finds itself adopting a short term mentality. With many clubs steeped in debt, the fragile state of their finances means that squads are dismantled after any success and young stars are whisked away at an increasingly early age. The gulf between South America teams and Europe is bigger than ever and shows no sign of reducing any time soon.’ Outside of the Boot

Unpredictable English Premier League Keeps Us Guessing

“If uncertainty makes for compelling competition, nothing can rival the English Premier League. While every other major league in the world shut down for Christmas, all 20 English clubs played on Boxing Day. Not too many followed form, although Manchester City’s 4-1 crushing of Sunderland, which is haunted by the specter of relegation, was predictable enough. And Tottenham’s 3-0 win over Norwich City might also have been foreseen.” NY Times

The USA – world football’s final frontier

“In American folklore, when the British redcoats came to Massachusetts in 1775 during the Revolutionary War, the message amongst the colonists was ‘one if by land, and two if by sea’. They came by land. In mid-November 2015, it was the Americans who came to New York City by land, air or subway (or my trek via a 13-hour shoddy bus ride to China Town) to see the British — two of them, with friends — packed in a Brooklyn convention center to celebrate ‘BlazerCon’. Redcoats were swapped for blazers (tweed ones were the most memorialised). Guinness was poured. Meat pies were consumed. This was a modern-day revolution of sorts, only through ‘soccer’.” Football Pink

The game that changed Italian football

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“PAUL GRECH looks back to 1920s fascist-regime Italy and an incident between two northern powerhouses that would alter the country’s football landscape forever. It was meant to be a season of celebration for Bologna. Not because of any anticipated success – sadly such dreams have faded away – but in remembrance of past triumphs. In particular they wanted to celebrate once more their last triumph in the league on the fiftieth anniversary of that success. They had hoped to honour that scudetto win with a calm league season, as they had done in the previous two years, and perhaps maybe even push for a Europa League spot. Instead, the team collapsed and when they lost to Catania with a game to go, it confirmed what had been evident for months of listless performances: Bologna were getting relegated to Serie B.” Football Pink

Allegri, Dybala and Mandzukic recover from slow start to put Juve in title race

“What a wonderful year it has been for Juventus and all those associated with the club: from the highs of winning the double and reaching the Champions League final to the lows suffered at the start of this new season. Yet whatever turbulent times the Bianconeri have experienced, they have stayed faithful to their winning mentality, coming back stronger than ever to put themselves in a great position to target yet another league title.” ESPN

Liverpool’s Premier League hoodoo

“Few can doubt that Liverpool have had a fantastic footballing legacy, but what are their chances of future Premier League success? Let’s compare their Premiership record with their pre-Premier League record. Whilst the team always do well in the cups, they often under-perform in the league. Many will be looking ahead to see if Leicester City can do a Blackburn Rovers and win the Premier League to rub Liverpool’s nose in it.” backpagefootball

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini Are Barred From Soccer for 8 Years

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“Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, two of the most powerful figures in global soccer, were barred from the sport for eight years on Monday morning after being found guilty of ethics violations. The suspensions were imposed by the independent ethics committee of FIFA, soccer’s international governing body. Mr. Blatter, who is FIFA’s longtime president, as well as Mr. Platini, who is the president of UEFA, which oversees soccer in Europe, are prohibited from taking part in any soccer-related activities while barred — a sanction that, in Mr. Platini’s case, seemingly ends any chance that he will be able to run in February’s special election to fill the post Mr. Blatter has said he would vacate.” NY Times
NY Times: The Rise and Fall of Sepp Blatter
NY Times: A Hemisphere of Soccer Corruption

Ten Intriguing Ligue 1 Attackers

“Last season, I did a piece on 10 intriguing Ligue 1 players and looking back on it nearly a year later, it’s kind of funny to see what’s happened since. Origi has for the most part reaffirmed my opinions on his caliber as a player (scoring goals in the league cup doesn’t count), Nabil Fekir and Jordan Amavi kept going and going and they both looked like legitimately great talents until they tore his acl’s while Jordan Ayew and Florian Thauvin are floundering away in the abyss known as the relegation race in the Premier League.” Stats Bomb

Tactical Analysis: PSG 5-1 Lyon | Fournier’s men exposed by long balls

“When Ligue 1 announced its fixture list prior to the start of the current season, it was all too easy to focus on Paris Saint-Germain hosting Olympique Lyonnais as the marquee matchup of the campaign’s first half. After all, Lyon had run PSG hard for the title in the previous season, only just slipping out of contention over the last ten matches.” Outside of the Boot

Global Series | Top 10 South American Players of 2015: Alexis, Neymar and Suarez feature

“In this new annual feature, we at Outside of the Boot aim to unearth the best performing footballers from each of the 5 primary Confederations in the past calendar year. Rather than do the work ourselves, we had the bright idea of crowd-sourcing the answers and the football-sphere has spoken with its votes. Drum roll please. And the winners of Global Series: South America is…” Outside of the Boot

Hard Premier League slog would take Pep Guardiola into the unknown

“After Chelsea had won the league last season, José Mourinho made a not especially veiled dig at Pep Guardiola. … The jibe was unfair in a number of ways but it carried enough truth to sting. At Bayern Munich, Guardiola took over a club that had just won the treble. Inevitably, in terms of trophies won, the trajectory has been downward: two Bundesliga titles have followed and there will surely be a third this year but in each of the past two seasons Bayern have gone out of the Champions League in the semi-finals. In terms of the football played, though, Guardiola’s reign has been a triumph. Bayern stand in the avant-garde of football’s tactical evolution.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

The good, bad and ugly of FIFA’s Mad Men

“I discovered it late but I’m glad I got there in the end. As a 1960s nut, the TV series Mad Men was made for me. In the last few months I ploughed through all seven seasons of a program that looked at the decade and its changes, especially in terms of gender relations, through the prism of the advertising industry.” The World Game – Tim Vickery

Tactical Analysis: Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 Borussia Monchengladbach | High press and good positioning the difference

“Bayer Leverkusen edged high-flying Borussia Monchengladbach for most of the first hour of the match before the floodgates opened for what turned out to be a feast for die Werkself‘s two strikers, Stefan Kiessling and Javier Hernandez, the Mexican scoring his first hat-trick in Leverkusen colours. An hour of finely poised action was soon to be a rout for the home side, as Gladbach were punished for their lack of conviction in the attacking third combined with Bayer’s craftily created and ruthlessly finished goals. Both clubs saw their Champions League run for the season end in midweek, but Gladbach were on the back of last weekend’s stunning 3-1 win over Bayern Munich.” Outside of the Boot

Three ways Bayern Munich could line up in Carlo Ancelotti’s diamond system

“Normally things would be rather quiet around this time of the year for Bundesliga clubs, soaking up the tranquility that comes with a winter break which suspends top-flight German football until late January. However, for Bayern Munich, that hasn’t been the case in the last few days. While the Bavarians are only midway through the current campaign, eyes are already turning towards a new era starting at the end of the season. With Pep Guardiola set to stand down next spring to seek pastures new after what will be three years at the helm, Bayern have moved quickly to appoint his successor in waiting ahead of 2016/17.” Squawka

Klopp: Saviour, Not Magician

“The role, impact and influence of the modern manager becomes ever more intriguing. Even in just the past ten years we’ve seen so much change: increased player power, and along with social media, decreased fan patience. There are frequent hysterias to get rid of managers, but also over their appointments in the first place. Jürgen Klopp has had the temerity to not arrive with a magic wand; a trio of outstanding away displays, the like of which the Reds probably only produced once in Brendan Rodgers’ final season-and-a-quarter (the 3-0 at Spurs), have been followed by familiar flaws that have been troubling the Reds for years, often perpetrated by the same players. The only thing you can criticise Klopp for, beyond a judgement call here and there, is not working miracles.” Tomkins Times

Poor Aston Villa, Farewell Mourinho and Leicester On Fire

“So, the end of the road came for Mourinho. Mutually frogmarched out of the club having presided over a dip in performance deeper than the journey taken by Villas Boas and without precedence in his own career. Nobody is denying that the human factors behind this drop in performance have precluded his retention but beyond that it seems wrong to presume that in turning his Champions into Chumpions, he had much leeway to continue. The demands of helming a mega-club require only the finest returns and presumably only his reputation, or financial considerations, kept him alive for this long.” Stats Bomb

Brilliant transformation of Wes Morgan embodies the miracle of Leicester

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“There was a moment early in the second half on Monday when Wes Morgan jinked inside Pedro then found himself faced with Diego Costa. Through some sleight of the upper body, Morgan persuaded Costa to go clattering into space to his left and strolled away. This was Wes Morgan, the same Wes Morgan who last year became a byword for haplessness, a series of errors and moments of misfortune culminating in the moment when he slid helplessly across the turf against Liverpool and saw a penalty awarded as a cross hit his face.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Euro 2016 lacks a clear favourite as France, Germany, Spain all flawed

“Euro 2016 will be the first-ever European Championships comprised of 24 teams, a format that opens up the tournament to the continent’s minnows. Yet assessing the runners and riders ahead of Saturday’s draw, it feels like one of the most closed European championships in a long time. There are three clear favourites who each have something obvious to shout about: France are the hosts, Spain the holders and Germany the world champions. Other than this trio, it’s incredibly difficult to make a case for anyone else triumphing.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Inter stay top of Serie A as Roma’s home struggles continue

“Inter solidified their position at the summit of the Serie A table, Bologna continue to fly under Roberto Donadoni while Juventus registered their sixth victory on the spin. It was, as always, a frenetic weekend in Serie A. And below are this week’s talking points.” backpagefootball

Maurizio Sarri – A tale for hipsters and dreamers alike

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“The latest instalment in one of the most extraordinary football stories of recent years is currently playing itself out in Serie A – the wonderful tale of Maurizio Sarri, manager of Napoli. I’ve always been a sucker for those managers who without stellar football careers behind them have risen by dint of their coaching and inspirational qualities, their intelligence and their sheer perseverance to some of the top jobs in the game.” backpagefootball

Gerard Pique takes on Real Madrid: Will it ever end?

“Even when he’s halfway around the world, Gerard Pique just cannot let it lie. The Barcelona defender’s running verbal battle with most of the Real Madrid squad continued in Japan on Wednesday as he refused to back down after igniting yet another row, this time with Bernabeu duo Alvaro Arbeloa and Sergio Ramos. We all know there’s little love lost between Barca and Madrid, but no figure on the pitch seems to embody the rivalry more closely than Pique.” BBC

Bundesliga MatchDay 16 Team of the Week

“MatchDay 16 gave Bundesliga fans another exciting weekend, full of thrilling matches and outstanding performances. The leaders, Bayern Munich took care of business against the scrappy boys from Ingolstadt, turning it on in the second half for a 2-0 victory. Dortmund players flexed their collective muscles with an impressive 4 goal performance on 24 shots, despite the excellent Henrik Mkhitaryan with perhaps two of the misses of the season, as well as goal scoring machine Pierre Emerick Aubameyang missing a penalty.” Bundesliga Fanatic

The Boys in Green vs. McGregor

“Last Saturday was a busy day for Irish sports fans. Aside from the usual Premier League games to keep an eye on, the draw for the group stages of Euro 2016 cast a long shadow over the day. If it felt as though we were waiting a long time for that draw to start in the early evening, it was a longer wait still for those brave (or foolhardy?) souls who stayed the course a further 12 hours to watch one of the most talked about Irish sporting events of the year – Conor McGregor vs Jose Aldo in UFC 194.” backpagefootball

2016 UEFA Championship: Host France gets favorable draw

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“The 2016 European Championships draw was made in the Palais des Congres in Paris Saturday. UEFA president Michel Platini was not present—he is currently suspended from his duties by FIFA—but there was support for the Frenchman when footage of player-turned-politician helping France win Euro 1986 was met with applause in the draw auditorium. It was Platini who instigated this new-look Euros format: there are now 24 teams in the tournament, eight more than in previous competitions.” SI (Video)