Tag Archives: Football Manager

Benfica 0-2 Barcelona: Sanchez and Fabregas exploit the space between Pereira and Jardel

“Barcelona constantly attacked into an inside-left position in their comfortable victory over Benfica. Jorge Jesus chose 4-1-4-1ish system with Nemanja Matic sitting deep in midfield and Bruno Rodrigo having most license to get forward. Oscar Cardozo wasn’t fit, so Lima started alone upfront. Tito Vilanova brought back Carles Puyol into defence, while Cesc Fabregas played in Andres Iniesta’s left-centre midfield position. That turned out to be a crucial part of Barca’s gameplan – Fabregas stormed forward to turn Barcelona’s front three into a front four and overwhelmed the Benfica defence.” Zonal Marking

Tito Vilanova sticks to just tweaking Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona plan
“From the first day, the message was clear: keep calm and carry on. On 27 April, Pep Guardiola, appeared in the press room at the Camp Nou to announce that he was leaving at the end of the season. Sat among the journalists were a handful of Barcelona players but Lionel Messi was not one of them. He later said that he just couldn’t be there: the emotion was too great. Barcelona’s most successful coach was leaving, the man who symbolised the club better than anyone else, ever.” Guardian

Porto 1-0 PSG: Porto dominate with more width

“PSG remained narrow while Porto played with plenty of width – and the home side’s two wingers were the key attacking players. Vitor Pereira chose his expected line-up in the usual 4-3-3 system. Carlo Ancelotti left out Javier Pastore, preferring Jeremy Menez and Nene. At the back he brought in Mamadou Sakho. Porto played superior football throughout the match, and although PSG had a few chances on the break, Pereira’s side were fully deserving of the three points.” Zonal Marking

Carlo Ancelotti should sharpen his tactics
“For a double European Cup winner, a title winner in two major leagues, and one of the most celebrated coaches of his era, it’s surprisingly difficult to work out whether Carlo Ancelotti has any tactical nous. Wednesday night was a great example. Ancelotti’s Paris Saint-Germain club traveled to Porto and produced a poor performance completely lacking in creativity, width or ambition. PSG lost 1-0 after a late James Rodriguez goal, but the score line could have been 3-0 or 4-0 and not flattered the Portuguese champions, who had 20 shots to PSG’s eight, six on target to PSG’s two. It was a 1-0 thrashing.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Liverpool: Glen Johnson Proves Again That He Can’t Defend For Toffee

“The last two home games for Liverpool have seen superb performances undermined by a mix of gross incompetence from referees coupled with individual defensive errors which have ruthlessly been capitalised on by proven goalscorers, and the Reds have somehow come away from both games as the losing team, despite having dominated the majority of the play. This is nothing new for the Anfield faithful, who saw the same thing happen time and time again last season, but despite it feeling like the same old cycle, with each game that passes this team looks more and more comfortable in Brendan Rodgers’ system.” Sabotage Times

Arsenal – The Song Remains The Same

“It has been a mixed start to the season for Arsenal, as promising away performances at champions Manchester City and a rejuvenated Liverpool have been balanced against a disappointing home defeat to Chelsea. However, there is an air of quiet optimism among the fans that Arsène Wenger’s new-look side will be able to mount a challenge once the new players have fully gelled. It certainly feels better than last year when the Gunners were on the wrong end of an 8-2 thrashing by Manchester United. In fact, Arsenal recovered well after that disastrous start to finish in a creditable third position, securing qualification for the Champions League for a hugely impressive 15 seasons in a row.” Swiss Rambler

Manchester United 2-3 Tottenham: Spurs attack directly then defend deep

“An excellent first half performance put Tottenham in control, and they hung on with a fine defensive performance in the second half. Sir Alex Ferguson brought Paul Scholes back into the starting line-up and used Ryan Giggs on the left. Wayne Rooney was on the bench. Andre Villas-Boas chose Clint Dempsey ahead of Gylfi Sigurdsson, and played Jan Vertonghen at left-back with Steven Caulker coming into the centre of the pitch. Brad Fridel continued in goal. The halves were completely different – Tottenham were excellent going forward before half-time, before gradually sitting deeper and deeper in the second half.” Zonal Marking

Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea: both sides vulnerable down their left

“Chelsea stay at the top of the table after scoring two goals from free-kicks. Arsene Wenger went with the pace of Gervinho rather than the physicality of Olivier Giroud upfront, and continued with Aaron Ramsey on the right – although he had to shuffle into the middle after Abou Diaby’s injury. Roberto Di Matteo left out Frank Lampard and continued with the front four that failed to click against Stoke last weekend, with three versatile playmakers behind Fernando Torres. This wasn’t an inspiring game – none of the playmakers were on top form, and neither side played good football.” Zonal Marking

Lambert’s way to make diamond sparkle

“Diamonds are not forever, but they occur frequently in Paul Lambert’s management. The Scot is one of the most tactically flexible coaches around and played 4-2-3-1 in the Capital One Cup win at Manchester City, but he often reverts to the system he used for most of Norwich’s promotion season and at times last year: 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond.” ESPN

Napoli 3-0 Lazio: Cavani x 3

“Edinson Cavani hit a hattrick – and missed a penalty – as Napoli stormed to victory. Walter Mazzarri started Alessandro Gamberini rather than Salvatore Aronica in defence and Valon Behrami ahead of Blerim Dzemaili in midfield. Vladimir Petkovic moved back to his 4-1-4-1 / 4-3-3 after an unsuccessful experimentation with 4-4-2 against Genoa, with Miroslav Klose returning upfront, Stefano Mauri moved inside and Senad Lulic out on the left. Despite Klose’s early disallowed goal (struck off because he admitted punching the ball into the net), this was a fairly simple game. Napoli were more forceful, energetic and direct than Lazio – they won the battle in the midfield and counter-attacked swiftly.” Zonal Marking

Inverting The Pyramid-Barcelona’s 1-2-3-4 formation

“Modern football, has it’s foundations laid upon the ‘false’ tactics – so to say the ‘False 10′ and the more popular and widely accepted ‘False 9.’ The present era is a period of sustained innovation, where new formations, different chalkboards and novel setups come up to the fore every day. But the setup which I am going to talk about is the 1-2-3-4. Yes, you don’t need to rub your eyes and read again. It’s called ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ – Why?” The False 9

Fiorentina 0-0 Juventus: home side dominate in a clash of similar systems

“3-5-2 versus 3-5-2, and one point apiece. Vincenzo Montella made three changes. The most significant involved him selecting the industry of Romulo over the creativity of Mati Fernandez. Adem Ljajic came in for Haris Seferovic, and Manuel Pasqual for Mattia Cassani. Antonio Conte and Massimo Carrera decided to rest Claudio Marchisio, with Emanuele Giaccherini starting instead. Fabio Quagliarella replaced Mirko Vucinic after his impressive impact in the last couple of games. Fiorentina were the better side but struggled in front of goal, with Juventus seemingly happy with a point.” In Bed With Maradina

Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United: United come from behind to win

“Liverpool started stronger, but Manchester United gained control of the game after Jonjo Shelvey’s dismissal. Brendan Rodgers used Shelvey as the highest player in his midfield triangle, and Glen Johnson continued at left-back. Sir Alex Ferguson rested Nemanja Vidic, and played Ryan Giggs, rather than Paul Scholes or Tom Cleverley, in the centre of midfield. Liverpool dominated the first half, United the second – Shelvey’s dismissal was a huge turning point in terms of the tactical battle.” Zonal Marking

Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal: two goals from corners
“There was plenty of attacking talent on show, but centre-backs Joleon Lescott and Laurent Koscielny got the goals. Roberto Mancini chose Scott Sinclair on the left in the absence of Samir Nasri, with Sergio Aguero returning upfront to partner Edin Dzeko. Arsene Wenger was without Thomas Vermaelen so Laurent Koscielny came in at the back. Aaron Ramsey started on the right, with Gervinho as the primary forward. Arsenal can be more pleased with their performance – they dominated possession and got into dangerous positions in the final third – but they trailed for 42 minutes, and had to scrap to win a point.” Zonal Marking

Schalke 0-2 Bayern: Kroos controls the game
“Bayern dominated possession throughout the match, and eventually found a route to goal. Huub Stevens made just one change from the side that defeated Olympiakos in midweek, bringing in Julian Draxler in place of Tranquilo Barnetta. Jupp Heynckes’ Bayern side had played a day later than Schalke (beating Valencia 2-1) so he freshened up the side with three changes – Mario Mandzukic was back in for Claudio Pizarro, while Thomas Muller and Luis Gustavo replaced Franck Ribery and Javi Martinez. Bayern always seemed on top, but the game was lacking in excitement and tempo, so there were few goalscoring chances until the away side took command early in the second half.” Zonal Marking

Match Of The Week: Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United

“Perhaps, and this is a theory that it is impossible to substantiate, Sir Alex Ferguson has come to realise a fundamental truth of football which frequently seems to slip under our radar. It doesn’t matter whether you play well or not. It’s a result-based business and what matters, all that matters, is getting that result. Manchester United were poor at Anfield this afternoon, but when the ball needed to roll for them it rolled for them, when they needed referee Mark Halsey to make misjudgements, they got them. They came away from Anfield this afternoon with all three points, when all bar the most one-eyed could only consider that they might even have deserved none.” twohundredpercent

Red card ruins Liverpool’s midfield plan to dominate Manchester United
“This match was essentially two separate tactical battles; before and after Jonjo Shelvey’s game-changing red card. His dismissal will have been particularly infuriating for Brendan Rodgers, whose starting approach resulted in a fine Liverpool display before half-time. Sir Alex Ferguson is generally cautious in this fixture, naming a defensive-minded 4-5-1 system in each of his last two visits to Anfield. Unusually he selected a true playmaker, Shinji Kagawa, behind Robin van Persie in conjunction with two natural wingers.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/sep/23/liverpool-midfield-dominate-manchester-united”>Guardian – Michael Cox

Reds fall short on emotional day
“All things considered, Manchester United represented worst possible visitors to Anfield on such an emotional occasion. Not the club, who behaved with immaculate dignity, but the players, who pilfered three points their display did not deserve, and some supporters, who put a sizeable dent in their reputation, particularly when provoked by a moronic minority at Anfield.” ESPN

Manchester United, Liverpool set for emotional match at Anfield
“On Sunday afternoon, 96 red balloons will float up and out of Anfield, each one released by the captains of Liverpool and Manchester United to symbolize one of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster. It is more than 23 years since they died, but the match will be Anfield’s first chance to mark their passing since a report from the Hillsborough Independent Panel finally and formally allocated blame for the tragedy this month. After two decades of campaigning, it took a matter of moments for the chair, the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, to confirm that a catalog of poor decisions by the authorities had caused the deaths.” SI

Chelsea 2-2 Juventus: Juve take advantage of their areas of strength

“Oscar’s strikes gave Chelsea two-goal lead, but Juventus found a way back into the game. Roberto Di Matteo selected Oscar as the central playmaker in his 4-2-3-1, with Juan Mata on the bench. The rest of the side was as expected. Antonio Conte (and assistant Massimo Carrera) named the expected side. There were no major surprises in the way the sides lined up, either – it was 4-2-3-1 against 3-5-2, and both sides had areas of strength and weakness.” Zonal Marking

Oscar shines, but Chelsea’s defense breaks in draw with Juventus

“Sooner or later people are going to start believing in Oscar’s genius. Last year, in extra time in the final of the Under-20 World Cup in Bogota, he floated a chip from wide on the right over Portugal goalkeeper Mika to complete his hat trick and give Brazil a 3-2 victory. It was, everybody agreed, a sensational goal — if he meant it. He insisted he did, but there was doubt: could anybody really, in the heat of the game, have had the vision, the audacity and the control to execute such a shot?” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Dortmund 3-0 Leverkusen: Leverkusen caught out by Dortmund full-backs overlapping

“Dortmund recorded a comfortable victory over Leverkusen side that offered little attacking threat. Jurgen Klopp named a side familiar from last season, with Marco Reus carrying a slight knock and therefore only on the bench. Sami Hyypia made a single change, bringing in Jens Hegeler for captain Simon Rolfes. This was an interesting formation battle that favoured Dortmund, whose movement had a clear purpose and was effective at dragging Leverkusen out of position, before exploiting the space on the flanks.” Zonal Marking

Real Madrid 3-2 Manchester City: second half switches leave City exposed down their right

“An excellent match, defined by a chaotic final 15 minutes. Jose Mourinho surprisingly named Michael Essien, rather than Mesut Ozil or Luka Modric, in the centre of his midfield. Sergio Ramos was dropped, with Raphael Varane starting at centre-back instead. Roberto Mancini also made a surprise selection decision, with Matija Nastasic starting over Joleon Lescott at the back. Yaya Toure played at the head of City’s midfield triangle. Real dominated the majority of the game but twice fell behind, while City scored two goals against the run of play, before losing the game after some shambolic defending late on.” Zonal Marking

Genoa – Strange Relationship

“It’s fair to say that last season was not particularly enjoyable for Genoa. They only just managed to avoid relegation, while their defence was the worst in Serie A, conceding a horrific 69 goals. Matters came to a head when a group of their fans staged a protest during the 4-1 home defeat to Siena, throwing flares and demanding that the players gave them their shirts, leading to a 45 minute suspension of the match.” Swiss Ramble

Tactics for Beginners – an Introduction

“Mihail, I have been watching football for over 40 years, but recently I’ve increasingly realised that the way I have been watching games is very limited. I want to see more. I want to look at something that is familiar and ordinary and see it as fresh and extraordinary. You could say I know there is a different paradigm, and I’m trying to shift myself to it. …” Tomkins Times

The problem with Southampton

“The league table doesn’t lie — and neither do the record books. Bottom of the Premier League with no points, Southampton is faced with a statistical barrier to survival: no newly promoted side has lost its first four matches and escaped relegation.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Dortmund 3-0 Leverkusen: Leverkusen caught out by Dortmund full-backs overlapping

“Dortmund recorded a comfortable victory over Leverkusen side that offered little attacking threat. Jurgen Klopp named a side familiar from last season, with Marco Reus carrying a slight knock and therefore only on the bench. Sami Hyypia made a single change, bringing in Jens Hegeler for captain Simon Rolfes. This was an interesting formation battle that favoured Dortmund, whose movement had a clear purpose and was effective at dragging Leverkusen out of position, before exploiting the space on the flanks.” Zonal Marking

Sevilla 1-0 Real Madrid: Sevilla score after 2 minutes, then protect the lead for 88

“Sevilla triumphed in a fascinating tactical battle at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Sevilla coach Michel made an interesting selection decision, introducing Hedwiges Maduro into the midfield triangle. This pushed Piotr Trochowski forward to the left, and meant Manu had to settle for a place on the bench. Jose Mourinho chose a familiar side, with Luka Modric on the bench. Gonzalo Higuain started ahead of Karim Benzema upfront. There were two major phases to this game – the first half was about how well Sevilla’s initial gameplan worked, the second half was about how Mourinho adapted, and then the two coaches traded blows with substitutions until the end.” Zonal Marking

What is American Soccer?

“For Howler’s debut issue, Matthew Doyle (MLSsoccer.com’s Armchair Analyst) watched more than 50 hours of USMNT tape (going all the way back to Italia ‘90) to discern what—if anything—characterizes the American style of play. With tomorrow night’s WCQ against Jamaica looming, we thought we’d share it early, especially because his analysis has a lot to say about what went wrong in Friday’s loss to Jamaica.” Howler

Is Juergen Klinsmann as conservative a coach as Bob Bradley?
“In preparation for the release of Howler magazine, the whatahowler tumblr released the full text of an article with the ambitious title, “What is American Soccer?” by MLS Armchair Analyst Matthew Doyle, and it is a riveting read for CONCACAF nerds especially (full disclosure—I contributed a short piece for issue one). I was struck though by the final paragraphs on US mens national team coach Juergen Klinsmann’s dogmatic belief in the possession-based 4-3-3, and they should be of interest to Toronto FC fans in particular, still reeling from the collapse of the Aron Winter era…” The Score

Sabella meshes Argentina’s abundance of attacking talent

“It is possible to have too much of a good thing. Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Carlos Tevez, Angel Di Maria, Javier Pastore, Ezequiel Lavezzi … no other nation comes even remotely close to Argentina in terms of attacking and creative talent. The problem has been trying to fit as many of them as possible into the same squad. It did for Diego Maradona and it did for Sergio Batista.” SI

You Think You Know Me? The 5 Greatest Football Metamorphoses

“Thanks to the modern day media saturation of football, Sky TV, the evolution of the internet, twitter, etc., etc.; we are all very confident of our knowledge and familiarity with all involved; the clubs, players, managers, chairmen, pundits, presenters are all very well known to us. Sometimes there are those that surprise however, the ones that we think we have all figured out, only to learn that they’re not as crap as we thought, or not as much of an imbecile, or not quite the disaster waiting to happen that we had all concluded; these select few, are football’s five greatest metamorphoses.” Sabotage Times

To Boo Or Not To Boo? Why There Is A Time & Place For Dissent

“Three games into the Premier League season, the distinctive sound of burning pitchforks is in the air. Without a win from the six matches that they have played between them, both Andre Villa Boas and Brendan Rodgers are already being cast into a familiar mould – that of the hapless managerial failure. Both are managers whose appointments carried an element of risk about them. Villa Boas excelled at Porto in a way that few other managers have in recent years in coaching this team to the Europa League and the Portuguese championship, but his stock fell with his turbulent spell at Stamford Bridge, while Rodgers arrival at Liverpool came off the back of success at Swansea City but a nagging concern that his name might not be of the pedigree that supporters of that particular club might have expected.” twohundredpercent

Inter 1-3 Roma: Zeman collects the first win of his second spell at Roma

“An extremely open game finished with Roma on top. Andrea Stramaccioni surprisingly used new signing Alvaro Pereira on the left of his central midfield three in place of Esteban Cambiasso – otherwise, the XI was the same as in the 3-0 win over Pescara last week. Zdenek Zeman gave debuts to Panagiotis Tachtsidis, Alessandro Florenzi and Mattia Destro within his standard attack-minded 4-3-3 system. As with all games involving a Zeman side, this was very open with space all over the pitch, despite both sides trying to play with a high defensive line.” Zonal Marking

A Tactical Look at Southampton-Man United and Liverpool-Arsenal

“The two big games on Sunday provided us with some further insight into how the respective teams will approach this season. Here are some tactical points that proved to be key in determining the results, and some things that may be worth keeping an eye on for the upcoming campaign…” EPL Talk

Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal: Cazorla stays high up and exploits space between the lines

“Arsenal started nervously but eventually got into their stride to record an impressive win over Liverpool. Brendan Rodgers brought Daniel Agger straight back into the team after he was suspended for the draw against Manchester City, while Nuri Sahin was given his debut in midfield, in place of the injured Lucas Leiva. Arsene Wenger kept his back four intact despite the return to fitness of Laurent Koscielny. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced Gervinho on the right. Liverpool dominated possession – 53% – but Arsenal were more penetrative with their passing, thanks to the positioning and use of the ball by Santi Cazorla between the lines.” Zonal Marking

Liverpool could move for Michael Owen following defeat to Arsenal
“A fitting end to a dreadful few days in the Liverpool reign of Brendan Rodgers stemmed from a superior Arsenal display, carelessness and another error from the once formidable José Reina. But it was strikers in absentia who hogged the limelight. The Liverpool manager admitted he would never have loaned Andy Carroll to West Ham United had he foreseen Friday’s non-transfer deadline day and will consider an Anfield return for Michael Owen.” Guardian

Arsenal wins 2-0; Reds still winless
“Liverpool were condemned to their worst start to a season for half a century as Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla gave Arsenal a 2-0 victory at Anfield. On what would have been Bill Shankly’s 99th birthday, the Reds equaled the record of his newly promoted side in 1962-63 by collecting just one point from their opening three games.” ESPN

Liverpool’s style is taking shape, but problems loom
“There was a time when folks joked that Arsenal was the best Spanish team in the Prem. Pretty passes, triangle after triangle, keeping the ball on the floor — the Gunners were lovely to watch, a poor-man’s Barcelona. Leave it to their opponents to rely almost exclusively on fast, and sometimes crude, counterattacks. Arsenal would bring the sizzle. Except, of course, its style of play has rendered its trophy cabinet threadbare for seven years and counting.” ESPN

Good Riddance to a Grim Week
“There’s no point in me submitting a piece to the official site this week, as I can’t think of anything good to say about the past seven days. (It takes about five times as long to delicately word a piece at a time like this, and I don’t have the energy.) Aside from the bright sparks offered by Raheem Sterling, Joe Allen and a late cameo from Jonjo Shelvey (average age of 19.7 for that trio) against Arsenal, it’s been a quite wretched week.” Tomkins Times

West Ham quicker to the second balls in 3-0 victory over Fulham

“This game’s main story was always going to involve the debut of Andy Carroll. 24 hours after confirmation of his loan from Liverpool, he went straight into Sam Allardyce’s first XI. That came as little surprise – new signings often need time to settle in, but any doubt about his tactical role was unlikely. As with all Allardyce sides, it was long balls towards the big man straight away – and West Ham went ahead within a minute. But it wasn’t Carroll’s aerial threat that directly threatened the Fulham defence. In Brede Hangeland the away side had a strong centre-back that relishes physical confrontations, and although Carroll won the majority of his aerial duels (9 from 15, 60%), he didn’t have any headed attempts on goal. His only shot was hit from outside the penalty area, and was blocked.” Zonal Marking

Modric and Song arrivals indicate Barcelona and Real are thinking about each other’s style

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“Last night’s Supercopa match – a 2-1 win to Real, meaning they won the tie on away goals – highlighted the huge difference in playing style between the two sides. Real dominated the game in the opening period when the match was frantic and direct. Constant long balls in behind the Barcelona defence produced numerous chances and a red card for Adriano, and Real could have been 4-0 up before Barcelona had even started playing. But Barcelona dominated the second half, even with ten men, as Real dropped off and let Barcelona dictate the tempo. Barcelona’s passing is quick, in terms of going from player to player, but the speed of their attacks from back to front is very slow and patient.” Zonal Marking

Supercopa de España: Real Madrid 2-1 FC Barcelona: Player Ratings
“A day later than usual, but here are the Player Ratings for Barcelona’s 1-2 defeat against Real Madrid” Barca Blaugranes

Are Sergio Ramos And Gerard Pique Really As Good As They Appear?
“We are routinely told that these two Spanish defenders are the best in the world. But is their supposed greatness a fortunate by-product of being a member of all-conquering teams?” Sabotage Times

Football has gone back to the back three, but why can be a mystery

James Milner
“Everything tactical in football is relative. There are few absolutes; everything has meaning and relevance only in relation to everything else. The question ‘What’s the best formation?’ is nonsensical because it depends on so many subsidiary questions: who are my players? How fit are they? How confident are they? How motivated are they? What are they used to doing? What result do we need from this game? Are we home or away? What is the weather like? What is the pitch like? Who are the opposition? How do they play? What shape do they play? How are their form and fitness? Even if a manager can accurately assess all of that, it may still be that after 10 minutes it becomes apparent that he needs to tweak something because of a player, whether on his side or the opponent’s, suddenly having a great game or an appalling game.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Fabulous Falcao

“In the era of the ‘false 9,’ there is no truer No. 9 than Radamel Falcao. He’d look wrong with any other number on his back, having worn the traditional striker’s shirt for River Plate, Porto, Atletico Madrid and the Colombian national team. After Pippo Inzaghi’s retirement, the Colombian has assumed the role of being the most renowned penalty box poacher in European football. His hat trick against Athletic Bilbao on Monday night was another demonstration of his brilliant goal-scoring ability.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City: neither entirely comfortable with new approach

“Liverpool scored from two dead ball situations, Manchester City scored after some poor defending. Brendan Rodgers gave a full league debut to Raheem Sterling on the left wing, and played Sebastian Coates rather than Jamie Carragher at the back. Lucas Leiva started in midfield despite getting injured in the warm-up, and was replaced after three minutes by Jonjo Shelvey, with Joe Allen dropping into the Lucas role.” Zonal Marking

Man City salvages tie vs. Liverpool
“Carlos Tevez pounced on a Martin Skrtel mistake to continue his Manchester City rehabilitation by snatching a draw for the champions at Liverpool. The Argentinian, now firmly back in favor, seized on a backpass to strike his side’s second equalizer and prevent City from slipping to their first Barclays Premier League defeat of the season. Liverpool was much improved after crashing 3-0 at West Brom in its opener and twice led a pulsating clash with goals from Skrtel and Luis Suarez on either side of a Yaya Toure effort.” ESPN

Trading places: Cassano and Pazzini

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Antonio Cassano
“When assessing how realistic a transfer rumor is, you can be fairly confident that any mooted ‘exchange’ deal won’t happen, especially when big-name players are involved. They’re often touted, but they rarely happen. Therefore, it’s particularly exciting when an exchange does take place. Samuel Eto’o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic swapping clubs three years ago was an astonishing transfer. The consensus was that Inter Milan had got themselves a great deal.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Taking Comfort in Statistics

“The grand opening of Manchester City’s player data archives last week was, they pronounced, ‘for the benefit of analytics in football,’ aimed at creating a ‘data culture in the UK.’ There was something giddily optimistic, even futuristic, about what is (to some people at least) a relatively worthy, earnest ambition.” Tomkins Times

Arsenal place faith in brains over brawn

“Alex Song’s £15million move to Barcelona, only days after the club announced the sale of Robin van Persie, means Arsenal have now covered the cost of investment on Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla entirely. As Gunnerblog writes; ‘it’s almost as if we planned it like this.’ Whether or not you feel this is good practice for a football club supposed to be competing for top honours doesn’t matter; the mood of the Arsenal online Diaspora seems to be a resounding ‘meh.’” Arsenal Column

Atletico Madrid – It’s A Mad World

Radamel Falcao
“Atlético Madrid ended last season in some style, just missing out on a Champions League place after surging up the La Liga table and then winning a terrific Europa League final 3-0 against Athletic Bilbao with two goals from their prolific Colombian forward Radamel Falcao, the man known as ‘El Tigre’. This was particularly impressive after their faltering start following the sale of many leading players last summer, including their South American strikers, Sergio Aguero to Manchester City and Diego Forlán to Inter.” Swiss Ramble

Everton 1-0 Manchester United: Fellaini dominates in the air

“Marouane Fellaini was the game’s star player, and scored the winning goal with a fine header. David Moyes used a familiar 4-4-1-1 system, with Fellaini deployed behind Nikica Jelavic. Sir Alex Ferguson had major injury problems at the back, with Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Rio Ferdinand all out. Michael Carrick had to play at the back, and Antonio Valencia started at right-back, with Rafael still recovering from the Olympics. Further forward, Shinji Kagawa started as the number ten, but Robin van Persie remained on the bench.” Zonal Marking

Ferguson showcases a 4-2-1-3 against Everton
“The main story on the night was Everton’s excellent performance, but the more significant development in the long-term was Manchester United’s choice of formation and personnel. The arrivals of both Shinji Kagawa and Robin van Persie have seen many questions about precisely how they’ll fit into the side, and while this starting XI doesn’t solve the issue of where van Persie plays, it hints at a change in strategy.” Zonal Marking

Reading between the results

“The surprise opening day thrashing is becoming a routine part of the Premier League’s opening weekend. In 2010-11, newly promoted Blackpool beat Wigan 4-0 away from home. Last year, Bolton also recorded a surprise 4-0 road win over Queens Park Rangers. This time, we saw three big wins — Fulham defeated Norwich 5-0; Swansea traveled to QPR and was victorious by the same score line; West Bromwich Albion recorded a 3-0 win over Liverpool.” ESPN

Real Madrid 1-1 Valencia: Xabi Alonso dictates the game but Real fail to find the finishes

“Mauricio Pellegrino’s debut as Valencia coach resulted in a draw at the Bernabeu. Jose Mourinho’s side was very familiar from last season – no new signings played. The main surprise was that Lassana Diarra was fielded alongside Xabi Alonso in midfield. Valencia continued to play in a 4-2-3-1 system, the formation they’ve pretty much used since Pellegrino’s mentor Rafael Benitez was in charge of the club a decade ago. New signings Joao Pereira, Fernando Gago and Andres Guardado all slotted in where you’d expect. This was a game that started surprisingly open, before becoming increasingly cagey as the match wore on, as Valencia sensed they could pick up a draw by parking the bus.” Zonal Marking

Newcastle 2-1 Tottenham: Pardew switches formation; Ben Arfa excels in both systems

“Newcastle started their 2012/13 campaign with a hard-fought victory over Tottenham. Fabricio Coloccini wasn’t fit to start for Newcastle, so Alan Pardew used James Perch at centre-back. New signing Vernon Anita was on the bench. Andre Villas-Boas left Jan Vertonghen and Rafael van der Vaart on the bench. Jermain Defoe, Tottenham’s only senior striker, played upfront. This game started slowly but got progressively more interesting. There were three main points of interest – (a) Villas-Boas’ strategy in his first game at Tottenham, (b) the battle down Newcastle’s right in the first half, and (c) Pardew’s half-time change in formation.” Zonal Marking

Chelsea’s inventive midfielders will benefit Fernando Torres

“It’s difficult to work out Roberto Di Matteo’s preferred football style. When he was manager of West Bromwich Albion his side played an attack-minded 4-2-3-1 system, but he was sacked 18 months ago because the side conceded too many goals, among reports that little time was spent working on team shape in training. In stark contrast, Di Matteo won the Champions League last season by assembling an extremely defensive side that benefited from admirable organisation.” Guardian

Things to watch differently in the Premier League this season #1 – Corners

“Manchester United took more corners than any other team bar Liverpool in the EPL last season. They also scored 20% of their goals from headers. On top of this only Blackburn and Manchester City scored more goals from set-pieces than United. For these reasons Differentgame thought they’d be the best team to have a look at to set some things straight about the corner kick. Actually, mainly just one thing: ‘How can a professional footballer not even beat the first man from a corner?'” Different Game

Mancini to use a three-man defence as plan B?

“Sunday’s Community Shield was an enjoyable, eventful match – but it was difficult to take too many conclusions from it. It wasn’t just that the match is something of an irrelevance (a feeling supported by the fact Branislav Ivanovic escaped a ban for his red card because the match isn’t considered a first-team game – Ivanovic is instead suspended from three reserve matches), but due to the red card itself. It arrived a couple of minutes after Chelsea went 1-0 up, and though Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea have shown their ability to withstand heavy pressure with only ten men previously, this is a large caveat when praising Manchester City’s comeback to win 3-2.” Zonal Marking

How does RvP fit into United’s plans?

“Signing the captain of a rival side and the league’s reigning top goal scorer is quite a statement, but on paper, it’s difficult to see where Robin van Persie fits in at Manchester United. It was already hard to understand what Sir Alex Ferguson was planning this season. The partnership of Wayne Rooney behind Danny Welbeck functioned impressively last season — Rooney didn’t have a superb campaign but contributed plenty of goals, while Welbeck impressed in his opening season as a first-teamer.” ESPN

From the Tawe to the Mersey

“18th May 2012: Relief. Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers has rebuked an approach from Liverpool FC. Relief. Unlike his predecessor Roberto ‘they kicked me out as a player, they’ll have to kick me out as a manager’ Martinez, Rodgers had always stated that he was highly ambitious and I felt that an approach by Liverpool would probably turn his head. Amazingly, he chose to stick with the Swans and we looked forward to the good times and the stylish football continuing. Just over a week later, much of the local press had confirmed that Swansea had all but secured the permanent services of their highly talented loanee Gylfi Sigurdsson, subject to the usual medical, agreeing personal terms etc. on the Monday following. All was rosy in SA1.” Tomkins Times

Santi Cazorla can be the symbol of Arsenal’s attacking play

“Mikel Arteta might be well placed to comment on Arsenal’s unfulfilled potential. He was in the Everton team that was thrashed 7-0 inMay 2005 by an Arsenal side that gave the most compelling argument for football as an art form. More relevantly, though, it was an Arsenal side which featured an amalgamation of the “Invincibles”, and a sprinkling of potentially world-beating youngsters who supposed to carry the club through the move to the Emirates. On that day they were devastating and even though the title was already relinquished to Chelsea, there was a feeling that there was enough talent on show to ensure they deliver more trophies in the future.” Arsenal Column

Pirlo, Busquets and The Rise Of The Modern Libero

“Since the rise of the ‘flat back four’, the sweeper and more specifically, the libero role had all but disappeared from the footballing world for a number of reasons. In part, this was because the position itself was such a specialist one, which demands various abilities from those playing it: on a basic level, they needed both attacking and defensive prowess, while therein they require excellent reading of the game, strong passing both short and long range and vision that will allow the player to anticipate the movement of oncoming attackers as well as acting as their platform to trigger attacks and counterattacks alike for their own team.” Sabotage Times

Feyenoord 0 –1 Dinamo Kiev: Offensive intentions fall just short

“Despite their offensive intentions, Feyenoord fell just short of their target. In a match that proved quite open, both teams had their chances, but Feyenoord could just as well have pulled this one off. Returning to the 4-3-3 formation brought Feyenoord a handful of chances that just didn’t fell their way. Overall, Kiev sealed a bleak performance with an injury time goal.” 11 tegen 11

How can Manchester City strengthen their title-winning side?

“With more possession, more passes completed, fewer shots conceded, and more shots per game than any other team in the Premier League, you may think Manchester City don’t need to change a thing as they look to defend their Premier League crown. But City will want to improve on last season’s disastrous Champions League campaign, as well as firmly cement themselves as the best team in England.” FourFourTwo

Why it makes sense to play Huddlestone in central defence

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“A game, a season, a career – at whatever scale it’s observed, history turns on the smallest of details. Give Didier Drogba weaker neck muscles and Fabio Capello slacker principles and the scenario at White Hart Lane is probably Harry Redknapp leading Spurs into a Champions League campaign with Luka Modric pulling the strings. Instead, the King is dead (well, retired), ’Arry’s gone, and the Croatian playmaker is all but doing his bienvenidos ball-juggle at the Bernabéu.” Lifes A Pitch

How far are Liverpool from Brendan Rodgers’ vision?

“New boss Brendan Rodgers looks to oversee a revolution in style at Liverpool this summer, as Kenny Dalglish’s under-performers are given a much needed revamp. Alex Keble, editor of tactics website TheChalkBoard.org.uk, asks: what changes will Rodgers make? Who will be leaving, who will be joining, and which current players will come to the fore?” FourFourTwo

A Tactical Look At How Chelsea Might Line-up Next Season

“Having won the Champions League and announced Roberto di Matteo as their new manager, Chelsea have set about transforming the side that finished 6th in the Premier League last season. The club beat Man City and United to Hazard, arguably the most sought after player in Europe, as well as securing the less high profile signing of Marko Marin. Chelsea have further been linked with Brazilian play-maker Oscar, who has undergone a medical with the club, Porto forward Hulk and several leading right-backs. All of this indicates that an exciting new dawn could be on the horizon for Chelsea.” Think Football

You Can’t Fight the System

“Everton fans are a crazy lot. Once again the club goes out and gets a new striker. Once again everybody gets excited that maybe David Moyes will run out two true strikers for once. And once again the manager will disappoint everybody and only let one of his forwards out onto the field. Moyes has imprinted his system on Everton, and much like death and taxes, one of the few certainties in life is that after a manager institutes a system he isn’t going to deviate from it.” Royal Blue Mersey

Jonathan Wilson On World Football And Writing: Brazil, EURO 2012 And The Blizzard

“Following on from part 1, where Jonathan discussed liberos, zonal marking, back threes and more, we then discussed world football issues such as the Brazilian league and Poland and Ukraine’s co-hosting of EURO 2012, as well as his work on The Blizzard and his various football books.”
Jonathan Wilson On Tactics: Zonal Marking, Liberos And English Shortcomings, Jonathan Wilson On World Football And Writing: Brazil, EURO 2012 And The Blizzard

Sergio Busquets: Re-inventing the midfield pivot role

“Karthik Venkatesh (KV) lets his imagination run wild, likening Sergio Busquets to the sitcom character Barney Stinson. Oh, and he also argues why Busquets is one of this generation’s most important players. Sergio Busquets is the ultimate ‘Bro’ on the pitch. His game is so astonishingly altruistic that he can be fittingly compared to the perfect ‘wingman’ who will do his all to set you up with that girl of your wildest fantasies.” The Arsenal Column

Evolution or revolution? Who and what to expect this season from AVB’s Spurs

“Tottenham Hotspur have so far been relatively inactive in this summer’s transfer window, ahead of Andres Villas-Boas’s second attempt at tackling the Premier League. His two signings so far are telling, but a few more will be needed to consolidate his team and prepare them for a top four challenge. What can we expect of Tottenham in 2012/13?” FourFourTwo

A cross to bear: Liverpool’s crossing addiction | Full League Comparison

“In some recent interviews, Simon Kuper has suggested that Liverpool established a data-driven style of play focussed around crossing last season. He theorised that Liverpool attempted to cater to Andy Carroll’s heading strengths by buying players with good crossing statistics, such as Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson. Kuper then goes on to state that such an approach is flawed due to crossing being an inefficient means of scoring goals.” EPL Index

Paris Saint-Germain – Dream Into Action

“So, barring any problems with a medical, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will today sign for Paris-Saint Germain. Many in the football world have been shocked by PSG’s audacious €65 million swoop for the Milan duo of Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva, but it really should come as no surprise given the club’s massive transfer outlay ever since it was purchased by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) last summer.” Swiss Ramble

The State of Analytics: Crosses “are not an efficient way to score goals”—Kuper

“Won’t be a full column this week, but I wanted to point readers to Opta Pro’s interview with Soccernomics co-author Simon Kuper. I’ve written in the past that the perception of Soccernomics as ‘a book on soccer analytics’ has had unfortunate consequences for the popular understanding of statistics in football, reducing it to a set of curious ‘freakonomics’ style tidbits that have little to do with how teams play but instead how many fans kill themselves during tournaments, or why England doesn’t win World Cups.” The Score