“There are many facets of a football team’s tactical identity, but perhaps the most instructive element is also the most basic part of football strategy — how is a side trying to get the ball into a dangerous position to score a goal? Imagine a particular team’s attacking style and you’re often visualising how they get the ball into the box. But between which players are the crucial passes made? Here, we have depicted each Premier League club’s most common passing combination into the opposition penalty area. You might expect some kind of general pattern or uniform approach, but the striking thing is how many different styles there are. …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox

“Forgive the self-indulgent introduction here but, back in 2010, I devised the term ‘inverted winger’. In an article about the increasing tendency for managers to field right-footed wingers from the left and left-footed wingers from the right — then something of a recent trend — it was time to come up with a proper phrase. At the time, the trend was to refer to them as ‘inside-out wingers’, which was clearly unsatisfactory. Not merely did it sound somewhat childish, but it also accidentally implied the opposite of what was happening. The wingers were moving from outside to in, not inside to out. …”
The Athletic

“Imagine this situation: you’re playing in a game of football and your side have won a corner kick. The planned routine is a short corner and your task is to get on the end of the eventual ball into the box. What if you could 100 per cent guarantee you would have several yards of space at the start of this move and you could be relatively sure that no one would track your run? …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox

“Unsurprisingly, the first meeting between Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick and Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, formerly colleagues at RB Leipzig, felt a lot like a Bundesliga contest. There were lots of turnovers, quick transitions and end-to-end moves. Southampton’s bravery in possession was responsible for most of the chances — at both ends. Hasenhuttl started with the 4-2-2-2 formation he’s generally persisted with throughout his time in the Premier League — and the formation Rangnick failed to successfully install at Manchester United. The away side’s ‘box’ midfield caused Manchester United problems, because it left them outnumbered in central areas. …”
The Athletic: Michael Cox