Tag Archives: Football Manager

Twente 2 – 2 Ajax: Clash of the top sides living up to expectations

“This weekend saw the first clash of last year’s Eredivisie’s top two sides. Both clubs managed to win an impressive 16 out of 17 home games last season . Ajax’ only draw was, ironically against to-be-relegated Sparta (0-0), in the second home game of the season and Twente’s against PSV in their first home game of the season. Ajax managed to win their final 14 games of the season, scoring a magnificent 50 goals while conceding only 4 in these series. In spite of that, Twente managed to just hold on to their early season lead, keeping a one point margin intact over the final six matches, ensuring a thrilling end to the 2009/10 Eredivisie season and claiming their first ever title.” (11 tegen 11)

Roma 1-0 Inter: Roma win it from the bench

“Substitute Mirko Vucinic scored a superb last minute header to record a crucial win for Roma. Claudio Ranieri lined up with a 4-4-2 / 4-2-3-1 formation that saw Francesco Totti playing off Marco Borriello. Simone Perrotta was naturally more defensive on the left than Jeremy Menez was on the right. Rafael Benitez played the usual 4-2-3-1 system. Their side was also slightly lopsided, as Goran Pandev was both deeper and more central than Samuel Eto’o. Dejan Stankovic played as a deep-lying regista.” (Zonal Marking)

Marx, Engels, Mao, Castro, & now…Vucinic
“You saw the well-timed run. You saw the diving header. And you saw the fiery celebration. But what you didn’t see was…. The simmering tensions amid the eternal struggle between proletariat and owner. First, read John Foot’s excellent piece at Goal on the history of the infamous ‘Sindacato Miliardari’, the Serie A players’ union. Up to speed on the current crisis? (futfanatico)

Excelsior 0 – 2 Vitesse: Half-time words of wisdom win the game for Vitesse

“Seven games into the new season and not a word spent on Vitesse yet in 11tegen11. And yet, in some regards Vitesse has been one of the most dynamic teams so far. Disappointingly, however, this only held true for the off-pitch events so far. A change of ownership last August meant that Vitesse is the first, and so far only, foreign owned club in Holland. Georgian Merab Jordania took over the club, speaking of title challenges within three years and building the club into a stable force in European club football. Not the smallest of ambitions for last year’s number 14 of the Eredivisie, is it?” (11 tegen 11)

Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea: Tevez wins it

“Chelsea’s 100% run ends with a third consecutive defeat to Manchester City. Roberto Mancini chose Dedryck Boyata at right-back to ease his defensive worries, with Pablo Zabaleta at left-back. David Silva got the nod over Adam Johnson, and started on the right. Carlo Ancelotti named his side on Friday afternoon, and stuck to it. Indeed, with injury problems, there were few other options for him, and Chelsea lined up in the 4-3-3 shape they’ve favoured so far this season.” (Zonal Marking)

Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – EPL
(The 90th Minute)

Liverpool desperate for win against Sunderland

“Liverpool needs a morale-boosting home win over Sunderland on Saturday to relieve the pressure on manager Roy Hodgson at the end of a depressing week for the 18-time Premier League champions. After losing to rival Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford last weekend, Liverpool went down to an embarrassing League Cup third-round defeat on Wednesday to Northampton, a team struggling near the bottom of England’s fourth tier.” (Yahoo)

Football transfer rumours: Fernando Torres to Manchester City?
“Over the past few weeks the Mill has been ruminating on the tabloids’ attempts to coin a nickname for Liverpool’s manager Roy Hodgson. ‘Uncle Roy’ has done the rounds as have ‘Hodgy’ and ‘Hodgo’ but none have stuck. But today’s Mirror backpage splash of Steven Gerrard under the headline ‘Don’t panic’ has opened up a whole Dad’s Army world to explore and makes Hodgson perfect casting as ARP Warden Hodges, the officious bane of Captain Mainwaring’s life who has a tendency to undermine his authority by falling into rivers.” (Guardian)

Liverpool’s Gerrard sets target of top four finish
“Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has set a target of a top-four finish at the end of the season, maintaining that the 18-time champions will be happy to settle for fourth place. Liverpool have picked up just five points from as many games in the Premier League so far and suffered the humiliation of being dumped out of the Carling Cup by League Two Northampton Town on Wednesday. But while Gerrard stopped short of writing off their title challenge, he has set some realistic targets for the club this season.” (ESPN)

Reflecting on Northampton: Time is Running out for LFC’s Disappointing Squad Players
“The word will become etched into our collective consciousness in the same way Worcester, and to a certain extent, Burnley, and Wimbledon are. I can almost see the tortured faces of Babel, Lucas, Kyrgiakos et al as they travel past Northampton during future coach journeys to away games in London. (Assuming they remain Liverpool players and that they really care enough to be as humiliated as they should be.)” (Micro LFC)

Dig deep enough, you can find beauty in the most ugliest of things: West Germany, 1990.

“The 2010 World Cup was a World Cup that brought twenty-five year old men and above together for one reason – to collectively preach about how dismal the 1990 World Cup was. Such derision implanted an idea in this writer’s head that they need to watch the thing to let them know what they were missing out on. It is this apparent self-tortury that is all part of footballing character building, just what you know what boring, bland and characterless football is really like, or so I thought.” (Talking about Football)

Thoughts from the weekend: All Boys 2 – 1 Estudiantes

“I’m a bit late with this, but here it is at last. Last weekend saw a lot of goals scored in the first division, but in some ways perhaps the most important ones were scored in Floresta at the clash between newly-promoted All Boys and title-chasing Estudiantes de La Plata. Estudiantes’ defeat in that match has handed the impetus in the title race, for the moment, to San Lorenzo, and the victory for All Boys has given the club confidence that they could pull off an amazing survival this season. There were dramatic scenes before the match as well, when Estudiantes’ barra brava almost pulled guns on a group of All Boys fans (not the Albo barra, I feel compelled to point out).” (Hasta El Gol Siempre)

La semaine en France: Week 6

“A bite-size round-up of the week’s events in French football, for anyone who wants to keep up with what’s happening in Ligue 1 but hasn’t got the time (or the French) to do so.” (Football Further)

Rolling out of control

Pierre Henri Revoil, Jeanne d’Arc in Prison in Rouen
“Real Madrid is broke. It was broke before completing the two most expensive transfers ever in 2009, bringing in Kaka for $86 million and Cristiano Ronaldo for $123 million. And it was broke when setting the previous transfer records, buying Luis Figo for $57 million in 2000 and Zinedine Zidane for $71 million in 2001.” (ESPN)

The EPLtalk Beginner’s Guide to Tactics

“Following on from the Gaffer’s suggestion for articles to use as resources one of the key elements of a Football match are the Tactics each team employs. Unfortunately for converts the terminology can be impenetrable – 4-4-2 & 4-3-3 are just random numbers and with two teams lining up it can be hard to understand how it all works.” (EPL Talk)

Bordeaux 2-0 Lyon: a tight game won in the second half thanks to three factors

“Yoann Gourcuff’s return to Bordeaux was an unhappy one, as the home side won a good contest. Bordeaux made significant changes to the side which lost 2-1 to Nice the previous weekend, with Moussa Maazou being given his first start of the season in a lone striking role. Jussie also came into the side, meaning Jaroslav Plasil started in a deeper role.” (Zonal Miarking)

Out of the frying pan and into the fire
“Half-a-season is a long time in football. At the winter break last year Yoann Gourcuff, French football’s long-awaited successor to Zinedine Zidane, was leading Laurent Blanc’s Bordeaux on an imperious march to retaining their title. Everybody knew he would leave the Chaban-Delmas sooner or later, but he was meant to return as part of one of the world’s finest sides. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” (ESPN)

Are Liverpool Using The Correct Formation?

“Argent a Cormorant in the beak a Branch of Seaweed called Laver all proper.”
“Watching Liverpool thus far this season, it’s apparent that things are not how they are supposed to be. They are not scoring as they should and they are not really that convincing at the back. Roy Hodgson admitted that his transfer activity was a bit limited, but as they say, the show must go on. Until January or even the summer, Hodgson’s managerial credentials and experience would be put to the ultimate test. He is going to have to make the best out of the club’s current plight. His playing staff, although threadbare, is by no means hopeless. How can he get the best out of them and thus stop the club from it’s ignominious free-fall into oblivion?” (Flix and Trix)

Willem II 2 – 4 ADO Den Haag: Willem II lacking manpower upfront and ADO producing another high-scoring game

“Willem II and ADO Den Haag are amongst the teams that expected to battle against relegation this year. The ‘Tilburg Tricolores’ avoided relegation only in the play-offs of the past season after finishing in 17th place, while ADO only just avoided these play-offs by grabbing six points from the final four games of the season.” (11 tegen 11)

Atletico Madrid 1-2 Barcelona: Busquets takes ‘modern centre-half’ role a little further

“Barcelona claim a narrow victory in a fixture they’ve found difficult in recent years – but Lionel Messi was injured late on. Quique Sanchez Flores chose a 4-4-2ish system with few surprises, similar to the team which reached the Europa League final last season. Sergio Aguero passed a late fitness test, but didn’t look 100% and had little influence on the game. Simao Sabrosa and Jose Antonio Reyes were deployed as inverted wingers.” (Zonal Marking)

A Mauling For Messi In The Calderon…
“There are a handful of players in la Liga who are genuinely scary people – the kind that have the opening minutes of Saving Private Ryan playing endless loops in their frequently-addled brains. Two of them, Walter Pandiani and Carlos Aranda, play up front for Osasuna. Both sport shaven heads, boast long histories of off-the-field ‘incidents’ and most probably have kennels stuffed with slobbering, testosterone-chomping pit bulls back at their evil lairs.” (Football365)

Atlético Madrid 1 – 2 Barcelona
“Barcelona put their poor recent record at the Vicente Calderon behind them to end Atletico Madrid’s 100% start to the Primera Division season – but there was an injury scare for Lionel Messi. Barca had lost their three previous league visits to Atletico’s home 2-1, 4-3 and 4-2 but they deservedly earned all three points on this occasion thanks to first-half goals from Messi and Gerard Pique.” (ESPN)

Lionel Messi Injury – Atletico Madrid 1-2 FC Barcelona – La Liga
(The 90th Mniute)

Premier League chalkboards analysis

“This week we look at Cheick Tioté’s debut performance, Liverpool’s shooting, Ahmed Elmohamady’s tackling and Manchester City’s passing strategy” (Guardian)

Sampdoria 1-2 Napoli: late turnaround as Hamsik and Cavani snatch the win

“Napoli dominated the game and yet fell behind, before rallying in the final ten minutes to record their first win of the season. Sampdoria lined up with their diamondish formation, with Stefano Guberti as an attacking midfielder, Antonio Cassano off to the left (but narrower than usual) and Franco Semioli on the right.” (Zonal Marking)

Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool: Berbatov x 3

“Manchester United threw away another two-goal lead – but a Dimitar Berbatov hattrick saved them. Sir Alex Ferguson went with a 4-4-2 – the first time he has done this in a ‘big’ game since Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over United last season. John O’Shea moved to right-back to replace Gary Neville. Roy Hodgson went for Fernando Torres upfront alone at the top of a compact side. Raul Meireles was the link player, with Steven Gerrard deeper in midfield. Joe Cole made his return on the left side of midfield.” (Zonal Minute)

Berbatov treble inspires United
“Sir Alex Ferguson was indebted to the “genius” of Dimitar Berbatov after the Bulgarian’s brilliant hat-trick floored Liverpool at Old Trafford. Every single member of the United side had need to thank Berbatov at the end after they had tossed away a two-goal advantage against Merseyside opposition for the second weekend running, only for the former Tottenham man to net the winner six minutes from time.” (ESPN)

Match Of The Week: Manchester United 3-2
“Manchester United vs Liverpool. Aon vs Standard Chartered. Nike vs Adidas. The warm, sticky smell of testosterone and hubris hangs large in the air this afternoon for this match, but all is not well at either Old Trafford or Anfield. Manchester United are still unbeaten since the start of the season, but they are a curiously unsatisfactory team this season so far.” (twohundredpercent)

Dimitar Berbatov’s hat-trick halts Liverpool’s spirited recovery
“Dimitar Berbatov has so far been taking personal responsibility for Manchester United’s Premier League campaign. Liverpool had come back to draw level after being 2-0 down but with five minutes left the striker climbed to meet a John O’Shea cross and head the winner. He has now scored in four of his club’s five league matches to date.” (Guardian)

Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats
(The 90th Minute)

Feyenoord 1 – 2 Ajax: A disappointing Classic and signs of an unwanted trend in the Eredivisie

“Feyenoord and Ajax contested each other in the 164th edition of ‘The Classic’ today. Regardless of actual rankings and present from, this Classic encounter remains one of the high-points of the year for both teams. The fierce rivalry between these clubs tends to bring out the best of games on the pitch ,but unfortunately also the worst of ‘supporters’ behaviour outside of it. In an effort to control this violence, until 2014 the Eredivisie matches between Ajax and Feyenoord are to be played without any attending away fans, taking away much of the stadium atmosphere.” (11 tegen 11)

FC Groningen – FC Utrecht 1-0… Patient Groningen overcomes a lacklustre Utrecht side

“In the Euroborg, a fine example of a modern stadium that offers an excellent footballing atmosphere, home side FC Groningen took on ‘Celtic-beaters’ FC Utrecht in a match that could be seen as an early six pointer in the battle for the European Football qualification spots. The home side saw their patient and controlled attacks rewarded with a late winner to defeat a rather tame and defensive-looking Utrecht team.” (11 tegen 11)

Real Madrid 2 – 0 Ajax : Big Real makes Ajax look very small

“Ajax’much awaited return to the Champions League turned out to be a big deception in their first Group Stage match against the stars of Real Madrid. Although the final 2-0 score-line made it look like a football match, it was in fact a very one-sided affair. Real dominated all areas of the pitch, creating an impressive number of 33 goal-scoring chances and if it was not for Maarten Stekelenburg’s excellent goalkeeping, Ajax would never have come away with only two goals conceded.” (11 tegen 11)

Bayern 2-0 Roma: Ranieri’s side show shocking lack of ambition

“Bayern dominated the game from start to finish, but it took a superb Thomas Müller goal to break the deadlock. Bayern lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1 shape. Hamit Altintop started on the left in the absence of Franck Ribery, whilst Ivica Olic was the lone forward. Roma played a conservative, narrow 4-4-2 formation with Francesco Totti and Marco Borriello upfront. Aleandro Rosi made a rare start at right-back, so Marco Cassetti played on the left. Matteo Brighi was used in a right-sided midfield role.” (Zonal Marking)

PSV 1 – 1 Sampdoria: A misfitting 4-2-3-1 does not beat a defensive diamond

“For the first time in 18 years, PSV has to settle for Europa League (former UEFA Cup) football for two consecutive seasons. And despite 12 Champions League participations in these 18 years, they’ve only passed the group stage three times, with a Hiddink-managed side reaching the semi-finals of 2004/05 as their best result.” (11 tegen 11)

Barcelona 5-1 Panathinaikos: the away side take the lead, but eventually crumble

“Barcelona had another scare, but hit back to record a convincing victory. The home side weren’t taking any chances after their shock weekend defeat to another Greek big name, Hercules. Pep Guardiola named his strongest side, bringing back Carles Puyol, Daniel Alves, Xavi Hernandez, Pedro Rodriguez and Sergio Busquets, playing a vague 4-3-3 system.” (Zonal Marking)

Real Madrid 2 – 0 Ajax : Big Real makes Ajax look very small

“Ajax’much awaited return to the Champions League turned out to be a big deception in their first Group Stage match against the stars of Real Madrid. Although the final 2-0 score-line made it look like a football match, it was in fact a very one-sided affair. Real dominated all areas of the pitch, creating an impressive number of 33 goal-scoring chances and if it was not for Maarten Stekelenburg’s excellent goalkeeping, Ajax would never have come away with only two goals conceded.” (11tegen11)

Tactics: Fluid Real dance to Mesut Özil’s rhythm

“As the latest batch of world-class international players joined the assembly line at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu over the summer, speculation quickly turned to how José Mourinho would attempt to shape his talent-packed Real Madrid squad into a cohesive team. Two games into the La Liga campaign, his strategy is gradually beginning to emerge.” (Football Further)

Werder Bremen 2-2 Tottenham: Schaaf’s early tactical shift rescues a point for Bremen

“A frantic game that Spurs looked set to win at a canter, only to be pegged back in the second half. Harry Redknapp went with a fairly basic 4-2-3-1 shape, with Rafael van der Vaart in behind Peter Crouch. Jermaine Jenas was a surprise starter in the centre of midfield alongside Tom Huddlestone, whilst the rest of the side was as expected.” (Zonal Marking)

Tactical titbits, 11/12th September

“Another pulsating weekend of football action in EU member-states has been and gone; and all we can do is reflect and hope next Saturday and Sunday are just as marvellous! I began my weekend with two successive 2-0 triumphs – Hoffenheim’s conquest of Schalke on Friday evening, followed by Zenit’s cruise to victory over the downwardly-hurtling Tom Tomsk. Subsequent to that interjection of Russian action, I found myself back in the realms of the Bundesliga as Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund sought to inflict a third successive defeat on Wolfsburg.” (Tactics, analysis, opinion, & scouting)

Porto 3-2 Braga: Hulk dominates the game

“A great encounter with some terrific goals – Porto narrowly recorded an important victory. Porto lined up as expected, 4-3-3 with Fernando dropping deep ahead of his own defence, and Hulk and Silvestre Varela switching wings upfront. Braga used a counter-attacking 4-2-3-1 shape, with Domingos Pacienca leaving out Matheus, instead using Paulo Cesar on the left and Lima the the main striker, with close support from Luis Aguiar.” (Zonal Marking)

Barcelona 0-2 Hercules: Valdez beats Valdes twice to give Hercules shock victory

“Barcelona were defeated by a two-goal margin in La Liga for the first time under Pep Guardiola, at the hands of newly-promoted Hercules. Guardiola’s side were without Carles Puyol through injury, whilst Sergio Busquets, Daniel Alves and Xavi Hernandez all started on the bench. Bojan was the central striker, whilst Javier Mascherano made his debut in the deep-lying midfield position.” (Zonal Marking)

Twente’s dominant midfield triangle undone by cleverly organised Roda… Missing Kenneth Perez?

“Yesterday evening saw the much awaited kick-off of the Dutch Eredivisie. And it was the defending champion’s honour to feature in the first match, away against last year’s number nine, Roda JC. A potentially tough fixture as Roda performed particularly well in the second half of last year’s competition and, in contrast to Twente, succeeded in keeping much of their squad together during the summer transfer window. Of their regularly featured players, only midfielder Marcel de Jong and central defender Jean-Paul Saeijs departed. New signing Jimmy Hempte from Belgian outfit KV Kortrijk was attracted as the new central defense partner to the athletic and passionate part-Norwegian, part-Gambian Pah-Modou Kah.” (11 tegen 11)

FC Groningen – FC Utrecht 1-0… Patient Groningen overcomes a lacklustre Utrecht side

“In the Euroborg, a fine example of a modern stadium that offers an excellent footballing atmosphere, home side FC Groningen took on ‘Celtic-beaters’ FC Utrecht in a match that could be seen as an early six pointer in the battle for the European Football qualification spots. The home side saw their patient and controlled attacks rewarded with a late winner to defeat a rather tame and defensive-looking Utrecht team.” (11 tegen 11)

Birmingham 0-0 Liverpool: Reina Earns Liverpool A Point But Hodgson Has Big Problems In Midfield

Roy Hodgson
“Liverpool secured a draw against a determined and robust Birmingham side, but were once again dominated in midfield. Although Konchesky and Merieles made their debuts, there weren’t many positives from this encounter for Liverpool. We review the game and look at where the Reds need to improve.” (Micro LFC)

A rationally explainable, but emotionally dissatisfying 2-1 win of Holland over Finland

Hubert Robert, The Bridge
“Another slightly delayed post on our recent national team’s performance. And yet again, for future reference and for the message conveyed in this particular match, it still is important to review Holland’s performance against a stubborn and, apart from the first 20 minutes, well organized Finland side. Oranje, as always, lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with man-in-the-hole Sneijder given a high degree of positional freedom, looking to see a lot of the ball and being involved in a very high proportion of the attacking plays.” (11 tegen 11)

Real Madrid 1-0 Osasuna: Özil stars in narrow victory on Mourinho’s home debut

“The Jose Mourinho effect: Real Madrid averaged exactly three goals per game at home last season – here, they began with just one, but it was enough to get the three points. Mourinho made four changes from the opening day draw at Mallorca, giving full debuts to Mesut Özil, Sami Khedira and a surprise start to Karim Benzema on the right. Sergio Ramos shifted across to right-back, so Pepe came in.” (Zonal Marking)

Juventus 3-3 Sampdoria: All-out-attack from both sides produces a superb match

“A brilliant, open, end-to-end classic as Miloš Krasić and Antonio Cassano dominated the game. Sampdoria continued with the interesting Roma/Brazil-esque shape they used against Werder Bremen, with Franco Semioli wide on the right, Daniele Dessena tucked in on the other side, and Antonio Cassano drifting in from the left. They were without Giampaolo Pazzini, so Nicola Pozzi came in, whilst Vladimir Koman played an attacking midfield role.” (Zonal Marking)

Tactical Variety vs Wolves

“Something at the Fulham-Wolves game really sprang to my attention. In contrast to the disciplined 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 that the team played under Hodgson, there was a fair deal of variety in the way the team lined up on Saturday. Watching the team’s set up during goal-kicks is always a fairly good indicator (if not a perfect one) of the formation in which they are being set up by their manager.” (Hammy End)

Premier League chalkboards analysis

“This week we look at Nani’s preference to play on the right, Arsenal’s short passing, Andy Carroll’s physical dominance, and Milan Jovanovic’s poor crossing.” (Guardian)

Cesena 2-0 Milan: familiar problems for Milan

“Newly-promoted Cesena have four points from two tough opening games against Roma and Milan after this deserved victory. The home side were unchanged from the opening, playing a disciplined 4-5-1 system that became 4-3-3 when they had the ball. Milan gave a debut to Zlatan Ibrahimovic upfront, in a 4-3-3 formation largely similar to the one Leonardo favoured last season. Andrea Pirlo played deep, with Massimo Ambrosini and Rino Gatusso either side.” (Zonal Marking)

Hércules flex muscles to record a famous victory

“Outside of the Barcelona – Madrid axis it was a relatively quiet summer transfer window in Spain, many of the country’s clubs beset by crippling debts and unable to make significant additions to their squads. Newly-promoted Hércules, however, were one of the few La Liga clubs to truly catch the eye with the calibre of the players they brought in. The biggest name to arrive at the Estadio José Rico Pérez was undoubtedly former France international David Trezeguet, the striker signing on the back of a bounteous decade at Juventus having been released from his contract by the Turin giants.” (The Equaliser)

Barcelona 0 – 2 Hercules
“Barcelona were left stunned as Nelson Haedo Valdez struck twice to give promoted side Hercules a famous win at the Nou Camp this evening. Valdez gave the Alicante-based outfit the lead when he poked home from a free-kick against the run of play after 26 minutes. And the Paraguay forward, making his debut for the visitors, silenced the Nou Camp with a superb second on the hour to give Hercules a two-goal lead.” (ESPN)

Everton 3-3 Manchester United: Amazing stoppage time comeback

“Manchester United concede two goals in stoppage time for the first time in Premier League history and throw away what seemed a certain win. Everton were without any fully fit strikers, and so were forced to play Tim Cahill upfront with support from Marouane Fellaini. Leon Osman came in on the right, whilst Jonny Heitinga started just in front of the defence.” (Zonal Marking)

Everton 3-3 Manchester United – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – EPL
(The 90th Minute)

Turkey 3-2 Belgium

“A fiery, frenetic affair saw the Turkish national team prevail from yet another of the epic games they habitually partake in. With two wins from two games, Turkey will push Germany all the way. I was flabbergasted upon reading the Belgium line-up – Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen, Daniel van Buyten, and Thomas Vermaelen – all of whom play centre-back at club-level – started.” (Tactics, analysis, opinion, & scouting)

Andrey Arshavin looks left-field in search of his old mojo

“To most people, Andrey Arshavin would have registered on their consciousness in the summer of 2008. He was boyish in his looks; his plum cheeks and fluffy hair were never going to hide his impish charm but it wasn’t before long he displayed all his cunning trickery. Suspended for the first two games of the European Championships with Russia – one of which included a 4-1 defeat to Spain – Arshavin made an instant impression. He was instrumental in seeing his side progress out of the group stages in the final game against Sweden before producing a performance which made everyone stand up and notice. Arshavin was devastating in a 3-1 win over Holland, scoring a fantastic counter-attacking goal to see off the Dutch and was so effective every time he got the ball that ITV pundit Andy Townsend claimed it would be the best £20million a club could spend in the transfer window.” (Arsenal Column)

Norway 1-0 Portugal: A crazy Eduardo mistake and a resilient Norwegian defensive display

“Portugal continue their dreadful start to the qualification group – after two games they’re already five points behind table-toppers Norway. The home side made two changes from their win in Iceland – left-back John Arne Riise was injured, so was replaced by Espen Ruud, a player more comfortable on the right. John Carew was fit to start, so replaced Mohammed Abdellaoue – but only lasted 38 minutes before getting injured, and Abdellaoue was back in.” (Zonal Marking)

Holland in fine display against small San Marino

“This analysis of the Holland – San Marino game might come as a somewhat dated publication, which, in fact, it is… Although it’s been delayed due to busy times on several fronts, I’ve still decided to publish it, mainly for future reference. Last week saw the opening fixtures of the Euro 2012 qualification rounds with Holland kicking off against San Marino in the big-named, but small-sized Stadio Olimpico de Serravalle. The other teams in group E are Sweden, Finland, Moldova and Hungary and it looks like a two-horse race between Holland and Sweden for the qualification place with vice-World Champion Oranje being the big favorite of course.” (11 tegen 11)

Argentina 4-1 Spain: good audition for Batista

“Argentina beat Spain at their own game – passing them off the pitch, and finishing chances ruthlessly. Sergio Batista has replaced Diego Maradona as manager, but is not yet certain of the position on a full-time basis. He chose a 4-3-3 system, bringing back Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso, who had both been omitted from the World Cup squad. Ever Banega played in a tight midfield three, whilst the Messi-Tevez-Higuain trio was retained, in a different format.” (Zonal Marking)

Spain put to the sword
“Argentina handed Spain only their third defeat since 2006 after putting the reigning world and European champions to the sword early on in their friendly at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires. Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain, two players who ply their trade in Spain, put Argentina two up inside the opening 14 minutes and Carlos Tevez made it 3-0 in the 34th minute following a costly slip by Jose Reina.” (ESPN)

Spain lose ‘the final that never was’
“See. Even when La Liga Loca is completely wrong, it’s right. While the blog was suggesting that the Argentina v Spain friendly was the flounciest of flimflams, something to tune into if there was nothing better to do of a Tuesday night, a channel-filler during the normal 35 minute blocks of adverts on TV and a chance to swoon at Santi Cazorla’s little hamster face, the Spanish press was happily hyping the game into something that resembled a meaningful game of football.” (FourFourTwo)

Argentina 4-1 Spain – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Friendly
(The 90th Minute)

Interview: Michael Cox, Zonal Marking

“The graphs, diagrams and match reports on Zonal Marking are pored over by thousands of football fans the world over and have helped push tactical analysis towards the centre of mainstream football debate in the United Kingdom. Set up in January this year, the phenomenally successful website received an average of 210,000 visitors per week during the World Cup and counts tactical mastermind Jonathan Wilson among its many admirers.” (Football Further)

Switzerland 1-3 England: more positives for Capello

“England dominated the majority of the game and fully deserved their victory. Switzerland were very underwhelming.
The hosts went for a 4-4-1-1 shape with (initially) inverted wingers – David Degen started on the left, Xavier Margairaz on the right. Alexander Frei played very deep off Eren Derdiyok, who was isolated upfront.” (Zonal Marking)

Switzerland 1 – 3 England
“Wayne Rooney put his personal problems to one side just as he promised and fired England on their way to a Euro 2012 qualifying win over 10-man Switzerland. Substitutes Adam Johnson and Darren Bent also found the net after Stephan Lichtsteiner had been sent off, to ensure Xherdan Shaqiri’s thunderbolt was of no real value.” (ESPN)

Match Of The Midweek: Switzerland 1-3 England
“Two games, six points and seven goals. On the pitch, at least, it is starting to feel worryingly as if this summer’s meltdown in South Africa never happened for England. Off it, meanwhile, it has been a busy week in very different ways for England’s players and their PR people, and the suspicion remains that the team are hanging on by their fingernails with their opening two results from the qualifying campaign for Euro 2012.” (twohundredpercent)

Switzerland 1-3 England – UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifying – Tuesday, September 7, 2010
(The 90th Minute)

Estonia 1-2 Italy: a decent start for Prandelli

“Italy fell behind and looked to be struggling for goals, but Estonia’s awful marking from set-pieces came to their aid. Tarmo Ruttli chose an experienced XI, in a broad 4-4-1-1 formation, with Konstantin Vassiljev playing just behind the pacey Sergei Zenjov. Cesare Prandelli set his side out in a 4-3-3, with Simone Pepe keeping wide on the right, and Antonio Cassano just off Giampaolo Pazzini to the left, a combination that works well at club level.” (Zonal Marking)

France 0-1 Belarus: A compact Belarus side with a classic smash and grab

Eustache Le Sueur, L’Amour ordonne à Mercure d’annoncer son pouvoir à l’Univers
“A disastrous start for Laurent Blanc, in his first competitive game as France manager. Blanc had severe selection problems before the match. He was without Nicolas Anelka, Patrice Evra, Jeremy Toulalan, Franck Ribery, Yoann Gourcuff, Samir Nasri, Hatem Ben Arfa, Karim Benzema and Lassana Diarra due to injury or suspension. His starting line-up was a system that was broadly 4-4-2, with Yann M’Vila very deep ahead of the back four, and Loic Reomy dropping off Guillaume Hoarau upfront.” (Zonal Marking)

France 0 – 1 Belarus
“Laurent Blanc’s first competitive match as France coach ended in a shock defeat which deals an early blow to their Euro 2012 qualifying bid. Sergey Kisliak scored the only goal four minutes from time to punish France, who failed to capitalise after dominating possession.” (ESPN)

French Soccer Still Can’t Shake the Blues
“Nearly two months have passed since Raymond Domenech left his post as manager of the French national team. Yet anyone watching Les Bleus in their European qualifier against Belarus Friday night would be forgiven for thinking he was still around.” (WSJ)

France 0-1 Belarus – UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifying – Friday, September 3, 2010
(The 90th Minute)

England 4-0 Bulgaria: Hattrick for Defoe as England cruise to victory

Jermain Defoe
“A great start, a quiet first half and then a dominant end to the game, as England opened their qualification campaign with a much-needed high-scoring win. Fabio Capello chose to play Wayne Rooney with a partner, Jermain Defoe, rather than in the lone striker role he occupied in the recent friendly against Hungary. Theo Walcott and James Milner were the choices in wide positions, whilst the rest of the team was as anticipated.” (Zonal Marking)

Defoe hat-trick sinks Bulgaria
“Jermain Defoe gave the surgeon’s knife a swerve and instead carved up Bulgaria with his first England hat-trick to bring a smile back to Fabio Capello’s face. Defoe put off a groin operation that threatened to rule him out of England’s opening Euro 2012 opener and gained perfect reward in a deserved win that eased some of the pressure that has been building around Capello.” (ESPN)

England 4-0 Bulgaria – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Euro 2012 Qualifying
“England began their Euro 2012 qualifying with a home match against Bulgaria on Friday, September 3, 2010. The match was important with England’s disappointing run in the 2010 World Cup and failure to qualify for Euro 2008. The match highlights can be found here at Free Soccer Highlights.” (The 90th Minute)

FIFA’s 289-page Technical Report on the 2010 World Cup – in 15 points

Iker Casillas
“This week, FIFA have unveiled their ‘technical report’ on the 2010 World Cup. Technical reports are, in FIFA’s words, ‘published after each and every FIFA competition in order to analyse how the game is progressing’. Some of the information is not particularly fascinating, an example being the revelation that ‘all successful teams have excellent strikers who arecapable of converting goalscoring opportunities that come their way’. Nevertheless, the document does identify some intriguing patterns, and offers a variety of interesting theories about the success, or otherwise, of the 32 teams competing in the tournament. Even the most ardent football fan would struggle to find the motivation to read all 289 pages of the document, so here’s 15 key quotes, and some comment.” (Zonal Marking)

Hodgson’s men struggled through no fault of their own

“With Javier Mascherano refusing to play, a response to the Liverpool board rejecting a derisory bid from Spanish giants FC Barcelona, Roy Hodgson had a tactical headache. He had options to replace El Jefecito with youngster Jay Spearing or risk Christian Poulsen, who was recovering from his debut on Thursday. This would have resulted in Steven Gerrard playing in an advanced midfield role, something of a ‘hot topic’ among football-fans. However, Roy Hodgson opted for a 4-4-2 with Gerrard and Lucas in midfield with N’Gog and the now-fit Fernando Torres up-front.” (Talking about Football)

Blackburn 1-2 Arsenal Analysis

“There was a lot of talk before the match about how Arsenal would cope with Blackburn’s long ball and set piece-orientated style of football, particularly after comments made by both sets of managers. In the end it was fairly comfortable for the Gunners as they defended their box well and exposed Blackburn’s lack of possession retention.” (The Backwards Gooner)

How will Milan line up this season?

“In what was a predictably mellow summer transfer window, AC Milan bucked the general trend around Europe by making a number of high-profile acquisitions. The arrivals at the San Siro of Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Manchester City and Barcelona respectively have provided Milan with what is, at least on paper, one of the finest attacking units on the continent.” (The Equaliser)

Fiorentina 1-1 Napoli: the away side’s lopsided defensive shape works rather well

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“The closest thing to a ‘glamour tie’ in the first round of Serie A finished all square – 1-1 both in terms of goals and red cards. Fiorentina’s only debutant in Sinisa Mihajlovic’s first game in charge was Gaetano D’Agostino, the central playmaker who is effectively taking Stevan Jovetic’s place in Fiorentina’s 4-2-3-1 from last season. Otherwise, it was a distinctly Prandelli-esque team, with no major changes.” (Zonal Marking)

Tactics: Robinho arrival threatens Ronaldinho’s renaissance

“Right-footed, left-sided attackers are currently one of football’s most fashionable commodities (think David Villa and Robinho at the World Cup; Franck Ribéry at Bayern Munich; Nani at Manchester United), and like any self-respecting wealthy Italian man, Silvio Berlusconi has to be up with the latest trends. So he bought two. But while Robinho is hoping his transfer deadline day move to Milan will allow him to re-launch his stuttering club career, his arrival at San Siro may well turn out to be bad news for Ronaldinho.” (Football Further)

Bologna 0-0 Inter: Benitez starts with bore draw

“A low-key game with few goalscoring opportunities – the result was celebrated by managerless Bologna like a win. The home side included new signings Andrea Esposito, Matteo Rubin, Gyorgy Garics and Albin Ekdal in a 4-1-4-1 system that saw Belgian midfielder Gaby Mudingayi sitting very deep in front of his defence, with Marco di Vaio isolated upfront. Rafael Benitez used the 4-2-3-1 formation that Inter played towards the end of last season, and the system Benitez favoured at Liverpool. Maicon was unavailable so Javier Zanetti started at right-back.” (Zonal Marking)

Aston Villa 1-0 Everton: Villa strike early, then hold on
“A bizarre game that Everton dominated from start to finish, and yet still managed to lose. Stephen Ireland suffered an injury in the warm up, so Nigel Reo-Coker replaced him in the centre of midfield. James Collins returned at the back, and Gabriel Agbonlahor wasn’t fit enough to start, so John Carew continued upfront.” (Zonal Marking)

Late August looks at Bundesliga and Serie A

“As per usual action in Germany’s top-flight commenced on the Friday, and for the second week in succession Bayern Munich got things under way. Unfortunately for Louis van Gaal, they didn’t quite gets things all their own way. Much to the delight of a rapturous home-crowd in Kaiserslautern, the 2009/10 2. Bundesliga champions defeated the illustrious treble-winners by a comfortable two-goal margin.” (Tactics, analysis, opinion, & scouting)

Blackburn 1-2 Arsenal: Wing play the perfect escape from aerial bombardment

“In the face of wanton intimidation Arsenal never cowered but out-fought such typically irksome opponents. Sam Allardyce had yet to lose at home to Arsenal since 2002 and was similarly undefeated last season at Ewood Park to each of the “big four” through a bullish and no-nonsense style. It may be a divided style in England at least but there is no doubt that for a side like Blackburn it can level the playing fields somewhat against what is known as superior opponents. For a good part of the game Arsenal survived a barrage of long passes – and throws – and with the growing confidence of Theo Walcott in particular found an outlet to exploit Blackburn’s in mobility.” (Arsenal Column)

AZ 1-1 Excelsior: how to execute a 4-1-4-1…

“It’s only slightly over a year ago that Dirk Scheringa’s AZ broke the 27-year span in which either Ajax, PSV or Feyenoord won the Eredivisie title. However, things look rather different for AZ at present. The worldwide financial problems induced the bankruptcy of Scheringa’s DSB Bank, AZ’s main sponsor since 1993 and the driving force behind their success, culminating in the Eredivisie title of 2008/09.” (11 tegen 11)