“Watching a superstar in any sport have to cope with his own mortality is one of the more fascinating things you’ll see, especially so if the player is as stubborn as Zlatan Ibrahimovic. A fun example of seeing the battle between player X and father time is seeing what’s happened to Kobe Bryant over the past three seasons. Even your average person knows just how bad Kobe is currently. More than anything, Kobe Bryant is the cautionary tale of a headstrong superstar declining to a point where they’re way below a net zero in terms of value to a team.” Stats Bomb (Video)

“We all like free flowing football right? It’s fun seeing teams express themselves on the ball and do stuff that make your jaw drop; whether it be against a set defense and a team making intricate passes to bypass them (See: Arsenal, Bayern, Man City), or a wild counter attack that tattles the line of functional chaos and rips apart the souls of their opposition (See: Dortmund, Crystal Palace, PSV). Defense is fun and there’s a special place for defensive steel, but in the end we’re some form of degenerates on the inside that love bucket loads of goals. … Now what if I said that there was a team that was averaging a goal scoring rate better than the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Manchester City and it’s not a traditional super power, and they play in France as well. No seriously, it’s OGC Nice from Ligue 1. They’re scoring goals for fun this season through a fun mixture of possession football and counter attacks focused on capitalizing individualistic moments. The form Nice are on is equivalent to playing FIFA online against an overmatched opponent and they’re scoring goals for the fun of it.” Stats Bomb (Video)

“Les Bleus have plenty of talent at their disposal as they prepare to host next summer’s 24-team tournament. But their lack of competitive action makes it hard to judge their chances. France face the perennial problem of tournament hosts – they have played only friendly matches since their World Cup quarter-final defeat by Germany. But coach Didier Deschamps insists it is not a problem as, in the past year, France have played Spain, Belgium, Portugal and Brazil, with England, Germany, Holland and Russia lined up in the coming months.” World Soccer

“No one, and I repeat, no one could have expected what came from Olympique Lyonnais last season. Lyon were still at a point financially where they had to solely rely on their famous youth academy to get them by as their new stadium was still being constructed. It’s been that way for the last few years with Lyon as player transfer spending was cut dramatically. After having a seven year peak of dominating French football and being a relevant power in Europe, Lyon went through an awkward transition period that saw them significantly drop.” Stats Bomb

“Sometimes it is easy to forget that Marco Verratti is merely 22 years old. During his stay at Paris Saint-Germain, the Italian youngster has drawn constant comparisons with none other than Andrea Pirlo, and is widely expected to take over from ‘Il Architetto’ as the chief orchestrator in the Italian midfield. The diminutive Verratti has a unique skill-set. Blessed with a sharp footballing brain and equally nimble footwork, he usually uses these strengths to weave out of trouble in defensive areas. His ability to find wingers in advanced positions with 50-yard passes is exceptional, but he is equally adept at playing pass-and-move. Even more remarkably, he does his fair share of the dirty work and possesses a mean sliding tackle which can take an opposition player by surprise, given his 5 foot 5 inch frame.” Outside of the Boot

“An exciting Ligue 1 season came to an end with a bit of an anti-climax. After Lyon & Marseille both held their own as potential challengers to Paris Saint-Germain’s domination in France, the capital club showed their experience and retained their title, now making it three successive championship wins having gone 18 years without one. For manager Laurent Blanc, it was a fantastic response to all his critics, with an impressive showing in Europe as well and also the possibility of winning a domestic treble, something never done in France earlier. But he isn’t the only one to have impressed both domestically and in Europe, with a few others deserving as much credit as French domestic football begins to set itself up on the footballing map.” Outside of the Boot

“Marcelo Bielsa’s teams are just different. If you’re watching a game with the Argentine manning the sidelines, it’s obvious within minutes. His sides run more and they run differently than any other team in the world. With his unique approach, Bielsa has influenced managers from Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola to Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino. Chile’s current national team coach, Jorge Sampaoli, proudly counts himself as one of the most devout Bielsistas around, and his side was the most fun and most different team at last summer’s World Cup.” Grantland (Video)

“Despite the money spent at Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain last season, the story of the season at the winter break in Ligue 1 last year was surely Lille, who had conceded only eight goals to that point, buoyed by a remarkable run of eleven games without conceding. That run had come to an end in a Week 17 loss to Bordeaux, as an unlucky deflection found the back of Vincent Enyeama’s net and Les Dogues stumbled to a 1-0 defeat on the road.  Quickly righting the ship, a win against Bastia and a more than creditable draw at PSG left the northern side only a point behind Monaco and four behind the leaders at the break, a fine achievement in Rene Girard’s first few months in charge, especially considering the team had been stripped of much of its offensively minded talent in the summer, with the departures of Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin and Lucas Digne.” Outside of the Boot