“When the post-match discussion focuses on the player who has been dominating headlines in the previous days, it’s fair to question if that analysis is reasonable, or whether it’s simply a convenient narrative to keep everyone talking. On this occasion, the analysis was entirely fair: Trent Alexander-Arnold, subject of a transfer approach by Real Madrid, had a very difficult game in Liverpool’s 2-2 home draw against Manchester United on Sunday. The idea that Alexander-Arnold can struggle defensively is, clearly, nothing new. He is, at heart, a playmaker who got converted into a right-back because that was the simplest pathway into Liverpool’s first team. The last couple of seasons have featured attempts to field him more centrally when they are in possession, but he remains a problem without the ball. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
NY Times/The Athletic: Liverpool 2 Manchester United 2 – Something for everyone in incredible rollercoaster game at Anfield
Tag Archives: Premier League
Newcastle’s Alexander Isak is the king of the six-yard box
“Talk to Newcastle’s greatest ever goalscorer Alan Shearer about the scoring of goals and he will bring up the importance of the ‘second six-yard box’ — meaning the space between the actual one and the penalty spot. For him, it’s where strikers should get their chances. No 9s, however, have idiosyncrasies. Current Newcastle centre-forward Alexander Isak’s winner away to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday was his latest in a growing collection of tap-ins from within the actual six-yard box. It made the Sweden international the third Newcastle player to score in seven consecutive Premier League games, after Shearer in 1996-97 and Joe Willock in 2020-21. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
How does this end? Amorim’s best Man Utd XI? Is 1-0 to the Arsenal a problem? – The Briefing
“Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday during this season The Athletic will discuss three of the biggest questions to arise from the weekend’s Premier League football. This was the weekend when Manchester City recorded a convincing scoreline (if not performance) against West Ham, Chelsea dropped more points, Newcastle’s fine form continued and Southampton arguably reached a new low with their 5-0 home defeat to Brentford. Here we will ask if the remainder of the Premier League campaign is a confusing mess, whether Ruben Amorim has found his best team and whether Arsenal have a 1-0 problem. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Best of 2024 from The Athletic UK: Our staff pick their favourite pieces (by their colleagues)

“We didn’t expect to write about flowery wallpapers in 2024, that’s for sure. Or Taylor Swift. We did expect to write about Jurgen Klopp, Erik ten Hag, and Lamine Yamal, and Andy Murray retiring. It was a wild old year in the world of sport and we wanted to take a moment to look back at — and celebrate — the excellent work of our writers over the past 12 months, covering not just football (soccer), but tennis, the Olympics, the Paralympics, and athletics, too. We wanted to know what they liked, too, so we asked them to nominate articles, podcasts or videos produced by their colleagues and tell us why. So here are all the pieces of work selected by writers, editors and producers on The Athletic UK and North American soccer staff (the editors in the U.S. did their own version of this, too). Enjoy! …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

Johan Cruyff and the incredible wallpaper drawings that explain modern football
Ranking every team in England’s top four divisions based on their performance in 2024
“English football in 2024 served up a bit of everything: stunning strikes, comical own goals, baffling errors, refereeing controversies, promotions, relegations, trophies lifted, CVs sifted and much more besides. So as 2024 draws to a close, we have decided ignore those opposed to calendar-year stats and unify all 94 teams (yes, Sutton United and Forest Green Rovers, you may no longer be in the EFL but we haven’t forgotten your efforts between January and May), even if it is only for a few hours before yet more football gets under way on New Year’s Day. You can sort the main table by games played (which includes play-off games), wins, defeats, win percentage and points per game (the latter excludes play-off games, for obvious reasons). Click on a column header to sort by that category. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Pace, swerve, angle – the art of the ‘olimpico’, football’s (usually) rare phenomenon

“Oscar Wilde once famously wrote that ‘to concede one goal direct from a corner is a misfortune, to concede two in eight days looks like carelessness.’ The thoughts of Oscar, noted corner-kick scholar, may have been rushing through the heads of anyone associated with Manchester United recently after they allowed not one but two ‘olimpicos’ — which, if you’re not familiar with the term, means scoring directly from a corner — in just over a week, in two different competitions. The first came from Son Heung-min in that madcap Carabao Cup quarter-final against Tottenham, his corner sailing over second-choice keeper Altay Bayindir and into the net. The second saw Matheus Cunha flummox Andre Onana, with the help of some judiciously positioned Wolves defenders, in the Premier League on Boxing Day. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

‘It’s always intense’: The eight teams leading the fight for Premier League promotion

“… Burnley had just beaten promotion rivals Watford 2-1, a scoreline unreflective of the home side’s superiority. Both clubs were at the beginning of the Championship’s un-festive, five-games-in-15-days Christmas and New Year fixture special. The home fans witnessed a sixth win in eight games and had been given fresh evidence of a team that captain Josh Brownhill tells The Athletic is ‘gelling more and more… getting stronger and stronger’.All in claret and blue could look forward with confidence to the next game – Sheffield United away. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Premier League half-season review: Tactics and trends that have shaped 2024-25 so far
“This week brings up the midway point of the 2024-25 Premier Leagueseason. It’s already been a memorable campaign, with Liverpool clear at the top, the two Manchester clubs in turmoil and the increasingly-familiar sight of the three promoted teams in the bottom three. But what have been the tactical and numerical trends that have captured our experts’ attention, and how do they see the second half of the campaign playing out? Ahmed Walid, Thom Harris and Anantaajith Raghuraman discuss their key takeaways. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
The four ‘seasons’ of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign so far

“As we ease into the dreamy relentlessness of football’s festive period, it’s easy to forget the staccato nature of the opening months of the season, short sprints of fixtures punctuated by the four words most Premier League fans hate hearing: ‘It’s another international break.’ Supporters may despair as their favourite players disappear around the world three times in three months but these mandated interruptions do allow the season to be divided into four neat sections, something many managers exploit by targeting a block of games almost as a hyper-focused mini-season. For those of us on the outside, splitting the campaign into smaller chunks can offer us a bit more insight than simply looking at the league table, especially as the campaign progresses. Welcome, then, to The Four Seasons of the Premier League So Far. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

The Transfer Radar 2025: The Athletic’s ultimate guide to players who could be on the move
“Welcome to The Transfer Radar. Each major tournament, The Athletic has built a scouting guide highlighting the players to watch. This winter, we are launching a new version of The Radar — one focused on transfers across 2025. We began with 25 players we expect to be of transfer interest to major clubs across Europe over the January and summer windows in 2025. As of December 19, we have added three more players we expect to be of interest. This is not to say that they will move, but based on the conversations our reporters have been having, they are players that are being talked about among recruitment departments. While most fans are focusing on the January window, clubs are already having conversations about next summer. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
‘I don’t digest food properly now’: The all-consuming pressure of managing a football club
“Pep Guardiola’s list of symptoms is long and unsettling. He has trouble sleeping. He can only take light meals in the evening. On some days, he does not eat at all. He finds it difficult to read because his mind keeps wandering. He feels, at times, intensely lonely. Things can get so bad that they begin to take on a physical form: bouts of back pain, breakouts on his skin. They are not isolated to moments like the one in which the Manchester City manager finds himself trapped, when his team are locked in a tailspin he has spent the better part of two months trying and failing to halt. By his own admission, he is always like that. Guardiola cannot sleep, or eat, or relax even when things are going well at work. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Introducing the most dangerous pass in football
“A sharp, anxious intake of breath, followed by a round of applause that carries a mixture of quiet admiration and, more than anything, relief. On other occasions, it ends with supporters shaking their heads and asking why. We are talking about the crowd reaction to — and I’m borrowing this description from a colleague who is a regular at Stamford Bridge — ‘the most dangerous pass in football’. It’s the short, vertical ball from the goalkeeper to — typically, but not always — the midfield pivot, who is receiving under pressure, back to goal and close to their own penalty area. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
What makes Thomas Frank special: ‘Secret sauce’, training for stoppage time and games of Risk
“The setting was Brentford’s buoyant home dressing room and Thomas Frank was delivering a rousing speech. It was last Saturday, minutes after Newcastle United had become the latest side to crumble at the Gtech Community Stadium. Brentford dispatched their visitors 4-2 to earn a seventh home win in eight Premier Leaguegames this season, but rather than salute the club’s star goalscorers Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, Frank made a beeline for less-feted players. There was praise for captain Christian Norgaard for making 100 Premier League appearances and for Ethan Pinnock for reaching 200 games for Brentford. Substitutes Mikkel Damsgaard and Kevin Schade were heralded for their ability as ‘finishers” while defender Ben Mee, who only came on in the 87th minute, was hailed for offering encouragement and leadership. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
Thomas Frank – Brentford – Tactical Analysis
W – Thomas Frank
The Best Penalty Takers in the Premier League
“… The accolade for the most penalties taken with a 100% success rate used to be solely held by former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré. The Ivorian star might have lost his cool about not being given a birthday cake for his 31st birthday, but he certainly kept a cool temperament from the penalty spot. He took 11 penalties in the Premier League and scored with every single one of them. Seven of Touré’s 11 Premier League penalties turned out to be the winning goal in the game, while five put his Manchester City team into the lead. …”
The Analyst (Video)
Inside the mind of Erling Haaland: Everything and nothing

“Inside the mind of Erling Haaland there is a searing, scorching, unplayable nothing. This may not sound like much of a compliment, not when we are considering the most prolific striker of his generation — a man who has taken a flamethrower to the history books — but it is precisely this destructive blankness that elevates the Manchester City and Norway centre-forward into football’s stratosphere. Not convinced? This is what Haaland said to Alan Shearer, the Premier League’s record goalscorer, in an interview for The Athletic a couple of years ago when the pair of them bonded — communed, really — over the art and obsession of ball meeting net. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
NY Times/The Athletic: Putting Manchester City’s month-long losing streak into too much context
Man City loss feels seismic, Salah’s contract claim, is Mascherano right coach for Messi?
“… Hello! Manchester City have won fewer games than San Marino in the past month and Mohamed Salah could leave Liverpool. It’s all happening. City show weakness again. Another friend to coach Messi?. Galaxy shining bright. ’Keeper howler of the season? Every once in a while, the Premier League throws up a genuinely seismic result that feels like it symbolises the end of an era. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
The Premier League Owners: Who has invested the most?
“From the local businessmen propping up boyhood clubs to the Gulf states chasing reflected glories, an eclectic mix has taken over English football’s top 20 clubs. Owners of Premier League teams have spent millions to secure a seat at the top table but no two stories are the same. Some are in for billions, gambling on long-term prosperity. Others have already assured themselves of vast returns. To begin a series on the Premier League’s owners running across this week, The Athletic has calculated the total investments of those at the top of all 20 clubs. And, yes, we’ve even put them in descending order for you to argue over. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
The Briefing: Are we set for a thrilling title race and can Forest’s form continue?
“Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday this season The Athletic will discuss three of the biggest questions to arise from the weekend’s Premier League football. This was the round of games where Tottenham produced a brilliant second half to thrash Aston Villa, Southampton finally got their first win of the season — and Ipswich came so close to theirs — while Chris Wood’s amazing form continued. We will ask whether the flaws of the contenders will give us a thrilling title race over the coming months, what Ruben Amorim will think after watching Manchester United’s draw against Chelsea and whether Nottingham Forest are the most impressive team in the 2024-25 Premier League so far. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
The overstuffed football calendar is reducing quality but increasing drama – Jonathan Wilson
“It was a very good weekend for Liverpool, and a pretty good weekend for the Premier League. It’s one round of games, and blips and quirks do happen. But that three of the top four on Saturday morning could lose felt not only invigorating – maybe this isn’t a league entirely predetermined by how much money you have – but also, perhaps, part of a pattern. And that pattern is of football that is a bit patchy, a bit scratchy, a bit lacking the sort of fluidity and quality we’ve become used to, which is perhaps not so good. Moisés Caicedo’s equaliser aside, Chelsea’s draw at Manchester United in Sunday’s showpiece was an extremely limited game. The sense this autumn has been of a lot of sides packed with good players not playing particularly well. …”
Guardian
Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Wolves 1-2 Manchester City
“… 2 – Tight margins go against O’Neil again: The obvious topic of debate at Molineux centred on whether Bernardo Silva impeded José Sá’s ability to save John Stones’s 95th-minute header. The officials concluded Silva had no impact on the goal and, while hugely disappointed, the first thing Gary O’Neil did when he got into his manager’s office was to study how Stones was able to register an effort on goal. O’Neil acknowledged the minutiae make the difference in tight games, leading him to bemoan having to substitute the 6ft 4in Wolves goalscorer Jørgen Strand Larsen, owing to fatigue. …”
Guardian
English football’s 3pm kick-off is dying – does anyone care?
“‘At three o’clock on Saturdays, we know who we are, where we belong, and where we should be even when we aren’t,’ wrote Daniel Gray, the author and historian, in his 2016 book Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern Football. Gray calls that sacred point in the English week ‘football time’, the opportunity for hundreds of thousands to escape the humdrum and stresses of everyday life and find a fleeting, common sanctuary. ‘What a privilege that is,’ he concludes. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Five tactical takeaways from the Premier League’s first five weekends
“It is unwise to draw firm conclusions about your Premier League team in the early weeks of the season. While it might be premature to spot any statistical trends, that doesn’t stop us from identifying some fun quirks that have stood out. As luck would have it, each of the five teams in question finished outside the top five positions in the Premier League last season. Don’t you love the symmetry? From West Ham United’s woes to Fulham’s flanks and a word from the xG gods, let’s dive in: feast your eyes on five tactical takeaways from the first five weekends. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
Is there a trend of Premier League head coaches getting younger?
“Life provides us all with many reminders that we’re getting older. Your body aching for no ostensible reason. The increasing realisation you have no idea what music is cool anymore. Hangovers appearing after a couple of quiet beers, rather than a big night out. Measuring the time since you last visited a nightclub in decades, rather than years. For us football fans, there’s another: managers getting younger. And in the Premier League, they are getting much younger. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
How the best Premier League managers stay one step ahead: New ideas, adaptation, evolution
“In the future, looking back on current tactical innovations and unique styles of play will not provide a dopamine hit. By then, they will be normalised. What seemed novel 20 years ago is the minimum requirement to excel in football nowadays — just ask Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez. Their meticulous planning before Chelsea and Liverpool faced opponents was on another level by Premier League standards and helped them create defensive structures that opposition players hated. Mourinho also worked on attacking and defensive transitions in his first period at Chelsea — when he won the Premier League in 2005 and 2006 — which was not conventional at the time. ‘Mourinho placed more emphasis upon the transition than any previous Premier League coach,’ writes The Athletic’s Michael Cox in his book, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
The Biggest Question Facing Every Premier League Team
“The most popular soccer league in the world returns on Friday at the Theatre of Dreams as Fulham visits Manchester United. If it feels like the soccer season is never-ending after the European Championships, Copa América, and Olympicinternational tournaments all summer, you’re correct. Just 89 days after Manchester City won a fourth straight Premier League title, the English top flight is back for the first of 38 matchweeks. While many in England remain on summer holiday, the clubs have been busy with preseason tours and final preparations for the grueling marathon season that will go into late May 2025. To preview the 2024-25 Premier League season, I ranked all 20 teams by posing the biggest question facing each club. …”
The Ringer
BBC: Who will finish in the Premier League’s top four?
One tactical question for every club ahead of the 2024-25 Premier League season
“The Premier League returns tomorrow and a lot has happened since the 2023-24 season drew to a close. Chelsea have continued collecting players like there is no tomorrow, while Liverpool await the first signing of the Arne Slot era. Manchester United seem to have caught fans off guard by taking a sensible approach to transfers, while Tottenham Hotspur have pivoted towards youth (and Dominic Solanke) and West Ham United towards experience (and Crysencio Summerville). …”
NY Times/The Athletic
The Premier League’s age timebomb: High prices and low supply are keeping out young fans
“It was in the House of Commons eight years ago that Justin Madders, the Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, spoke of his concerns for football’s long-term health. A private members’ bill put forward outlined the case for reform long before the notion of an independent regulator for the English game began to crystalise in 2021. There was a proposal to add a levy to all transfer fees to aid the grassroots game and another to offer matchgoing supporters greater protection against rescheduled TV fixtures. Madders also warned of what he called a ‘demographic timebomb’. The Premier League, he argued, had become prohibitively expensive for young supporters and faced losing a generation of fans. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Build-ups, line-breaks and counter-pressing: How Premier League sides may evolve next
“We are just days away from the Premier League’s return. Saturday’s Community Shield meeting between Manchester City and Manchester United provided us with an amuse-bouche to the main event, but there is still time to build further excitement by asking some key tactical questions that might emerge ahead of the new campaign. To guide our path, The Athletic has picked out some statistical trends from last season with an exciting box of new tools to rifle through — using data from Footovision, an analytics company that uses video broadcast footage to combine event and tracking data to provide new contextual metrics at the team and player level. So, let’s dive in… …”
NY Times/The Athletic
2024-25 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts
“The map is a basic location-map, with an inset map of Greater London. Also shown are small labels which point out both the three promoted clubs (Leicester City, Ipswich Town, Southampton), and the three relegated clubs (Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United). And there are three charts… The Attendance chart, at top-centre of the map page, shows 4 things for each of the 20 current Premier League clubs…A) 2023-24 finish (with promotions noted). B) 2023-24 average attendance [from home league matches]. C) Stadium capacity [2023-24]. D) Percent-capacity [2023-24]. At the right-hand side of the map page are two more charts. The chart at the top-right shows Seasons-in-1st-Division for the 20 current Premier League clubs. …”
billsportsmaps
W – 2024–25 Premier League
Five years of the ‘new’ goal-kick law – this is how it has transformed football
“It was in the autumn of 2017 when goal kicks first started to become viewed as a legitimate attacking instrument. After signing from Benfica, it soon became clear that the left leg of Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson was more of a trebuchet than a human limb, capable of striking the ball 80 yards over the top of the opposition defence to set up goals. The ploy befuddled teams, as it was something that had not been seen before. City’s entire front three would position themselves 20 yards beyond the opposition back line, safe in the knowledge they could not be offside from a goal kick. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Revealed: The results of our Premier League season ticket survey
“The Premier League continues to be watched by millions across the world, with its popularity surging and the latest record broadcast deal pointing to an interest that never seems to wane. But despite record income for clubs from TV deals, supporters who attend matches every other week — the ones who have had the virtues of their support extolled by clubs consistently in their marketing literature — are facing an ever-increasing cost to their loyalty. All but one of the 20 Premier League clubs have increased the price of their season tickets to watch their men’s teams in the 2024-25 campaign, much to the annoyance of many supporters’ groups. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
2023–24 Premier League
“The 2023–24 Premier League was the 32nd season of the Premier League and the 125th season of top-flight English football overall. The season began on 11 August 2023, and concluded on 19 May 2024. Manchester City, the defending champions, won their fourth consecutive title, the first men’s team to do so. … All three of the newly promoted teams were relegated (Luton Town, Burnley, and Sheffield United), the first time this happened since the 1997–98 season; those three teams had a combined total of 66 points. Nottingham Forestavoided relegation with 32 points (including a 4 point deduction), a record low for a team to do so. …The new stoppage time rule was used in the league for the first time this season. In an effort to improve clamping down on time-wasting and to improve the accuracy of time added on, stoppage times were longer across matches. The new rule accounted for stoppages due to injuries, goal celebrations, yellow and red cards, and VAR reviews. …”
W – 2023–24 Premier League
Watch: How 2023/24’s FINAL DAY unfolded (Video)
VAR vote: What Premier League fans want their clubs to do

Everton fans have been battling the Premier League most of the season. They’re not alone.
“With five minutes left in his team’s penultimate game of the Premier League season, Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola found the tension just a little too much. As a rival striker bore down on his team’s goal, Guardiola — crouching on his haunches on the sideline — lost his balance and toppled over onto his back. Lying on the grass and expecting the worst, he missed what may yet prove to be the pivotal moment in the Premier League’s most enthralling title race in a decade. But the striker did not score. His effort was parried by goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, sending Manchester City above its title rival Arsenal in the standings and positioning it, if it can win again on Sunday, to become the first English team to win four consecutive championships. …”
NY Times
The Athletic – VAR vote: What Premier League fans want their clubs to do
Guardian – Two points in it: the fine margins that could haunt Arsenal in title battle
W – Video assistant referee: Criticism

Anthony Gordon scores the controversial goal for Newcastle that condemned Arsenal to defeat in November.
How to win a Premier League penalty: A deep dive into the best masters of the dark arts

“Arsenal are still level with Bournemouth after 41 minutes and are getting frustrated. They need a win to keep the pressure on Manchester City, who play Wolverhampton Wanderers later that day, in the battle for the Premier League title. Kai Havertz has made a career of finding pockets of space and does so again, gliding into the penalty area to meet Martin Odegaard’s through ball. He uses the outside of his left boot to flick the ball away from onrushing goalkeeper Mark Travers — before keeping that foot down on the turf, elongating it towards the floor like a ballerina performing an axel turn. Travers cannot avoid it and makes contact. …”
The Athletic (Video)
Why progressive actions are football’s most important metrics

“Every sport needs a currency, some basic stat to keep track of the important stuff that happens along the way to scoring and winning. A good currency should be easy to count and have an obvious relationship to the point of the game. … Progressive actions are not advanced metrics. You can see them with your eyes instead of a statistical model. If you got bored enough, you could sit in the stadium and tally them up with a Sharpie on some accommodating seat-mate’s bald head. But simple as they are, progressive actions are fundamental to how the game works and can give you a pretty good idea of which teams and players are good at it. …”
The Athletic
Manchester City 0 Arsenal 0: Defences on top as title rivals cancel each other out – The Briefing

“Manchester City versus Arsenal was one of the most anticipated games of the Premier League season but its sheer importance in the title race — and how equally matched the two sides are — resulted in a cautious and goalless first half. The energy and aggression were dialled up after the break but chances remained at a premium. After we witnessed 99 touches in the penalty area in Brentford’s game with Manchester United yesterday, this was a very different sort of game. Technical, tactical, tense. …”
The Athletic
The Premier League, where scoring first doesn’t matter anymore

“It takes commitment to support Norwich City. There’s the flitting between the Premier League and the Championship. There’s your arch-rivals becoming very good at football. There’s competing in a financial world that feels increasingly distant from Carrow Road. And speaking of distance — the travel distances from East Anglia make every away day an odyssey. …”
The Athletic
Nottingham Forest’s points deduction explained and what it means for Everton and Man City

“For the second time this Premier League season, a points deduction for breaching its profit and sustainability rules (PSR) has dragged a club down the table and into the relegation zone. First it was Everton, whose initial 10-point penalty last November was recently reduced to six on appeal, and now it is Nottingham Forest. A four-point deduction, confirmed by the Premier League on Monday has pushed Nuno Espirito Santo’s side from 17th to 18th, suddenly a point adrift of safety. Here, The Athletic analyses the 51-page verdict of an independent commission that has heightened Forest’s fears of relegation to the Championship after two seasons back in the domestic elite. …”
The Athletic
Cheick Tiote’s magic to ‘Crystanbul’ – our writers’ favourite comebacks

“As surprise results go, Bournemouth beating Luton Town at home would not usually register, but Andoni Iraola’s side became just the fifth side in Premier League history to come back from being 3-0 down at half-time to win, securing a 4-3 victory. The match was not broadcast live in the UK, but the result will live long in the memory of those who witnessed it at the Vitality Stadium. With that in mind, we asked our writers to pick their favourite comebacks they have seen live. It features EFL play-offs, Champions League and World Cup games and plenty from the Premier League. You can comment below, adding your favourites and debating where Bournemouth’s comeback ranks among the best ever… …”
The Athletic (Video)
Union takes criminal action against club for first time as footballers fight ‘widespread’ abuse of rights
“A players’ union has launched criminal action against a football club for the first time in an attempt to stop what it calls the ‘widespread’ behaviour of alleged bullying and intimidation of players. The Slovenian players’ union (SPINS) has filed a criminal complaint against national champions Olimpija Ljubljana, who won the Slovenian domestic double in 2022-23 and stand accused of alleged ‘bullying, harassment and humiliation”’of four players. SPINS has filed criminal charges against the club and its management, accusing them of leaving the players out of training sessions or camps in an attempt to get them to leave or sometimes to sign new contracts. Olimpija has yet to respond to the complaint. …”
The Athletic
The 4-4-2 is dead. Long live the 4-4-2

“Nobody plays 4-4-2 anymore. Correction, nobody attacks with a 4-4-2 anymore. Almost 44 per cent of Premier League line-ups in the 2008-09 season were a 4-4-2; it is down to just seven per cent this season. Realistically, teams play multiple formations — 43, if you ask Mikel Arteta about his Arsenal side — throughout a game, depending on the phase of play. And the top ones are defending in the midfield third, a mid-block, with a 4-4-2. …”
The Athletic
The art of the nutmeg

“‘Nutmegs, for me, are a beautiful thing to do,’ Javier Pastore, the former Argentina international, said. ‘They’re beautiful to watch. In fact, even when I get nutmegged myself I find that beautiful – and that actually happens quite a lot too!’ Whether using the inside or outside of the foot, or the sole or the heel, Pastore was an absolute master of slipping the ball between an opponent’s legs, creating the illusion that he was running through people at times. Eliminates is a good word. Humiliates would be another. There are more elaborate skills on a football pitch, for sure, but it’s hard to think of any other trick that brings one player so much adulation and strips another of their dignity in quite the same way as a nutmeg. …”
The Athletic (Video)
Why are Premier League forwards increasingly choosing one of football’s most difficult shots?

“… It’s a quirk we seem to be enjoying more regularly — the one where players shoot from a wide angle and, just when they look nailed on to whip an effort into the far corner, they swiftly reverse the shot to the near post — wrong-footing just about everyone in the stadium. … Let’s go straight into the tape. In this first instance, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah comes inside against Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko, his body shape — and the large area of the goal uncovered — suggests he will shoot across David Raya (black arrow), but he swiftly pivots to close his body and strike through the ball towards the smaller area at Raya’s near post (white arrow). …”
The Athletic
Free agents in 2024 – the players who can now sign pre-contract transfer agreements

“This season’s winter transfer window is now open, meaning clubs can officially start the scramble to add reinforcements or offload players deemed surplus to requirements. Premier League sides can do business until 11pm GMT on Thursday, February 1 — and, following discussions with the major leagues around Europe, that will also be deadline day in La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Ligue 1 (France) and the Bundesliga (Germany). But while clubs who want to sign players under contract must negotiate and, usually, pay a transfer fee during a FIFA-determined transfer window, wise forward planning allows ‘pre-contract agreements’ in some circumstances. The Athletic explains what these are and which players due to be out of contract in the summer could now step up transfer plans. ….”
The Athletic
Coventry City 2–2 Bristol City (1977)

“On 19 May 1977, the English association football clubs Coventry City and Bristol City contested a match in the Football League First Division at Highfield Road, Coventry. It was the final game of the 1976–77 Football League season for both clubs, and both faced potential relegation to the Second Division. A third club, Sunderland, were also in danger of relegation and were playing their final game at the same time, against Everton at Goodison Park. As a result of many Bristol City supporters being delayed in traffic as they travelled to the game, the kick-off in the Coventry–Bristol City game was delayed by five minutes, to avoid crowd congestion. … Sunderland made a complaint about the incident, and the Football League conducted an investigation, but both Coventry and Bristol City were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. …”
YouTube: COVENTRY CITY 2 BRISTOL CITY 2 MAY 1977
The biggest punishment in Premier League history

“Everton have been given the heaviest points deduction in Premier League history. It is a ruling which puts them at serious risk of relegation and it’s a judgement they also intend to appeal. How did they get here? What have they done wrong? Why are they going to appeal? Explained by Patrick Boyland and Matt Slater.”
YouTube
Conspiracies, suspicion and mutiny – this is the Premier League in 2023

“Walking down Goodison Road can feel like stepping back to a time a world away from the steel-and-glass office-block conformity of the modern Premier League landscape. On one side of the road are terraced houses as well as the Blue Dragon Chinese takeaway, the Goodison Cafe and The Winslow Hotel. On the other side, the faded grandeur of one of England’s most historic football grounds. …”
The Athletic
Four tactics teams don’t use anymore – and why they went out of fashion

“Football is changing. You don’t need to be Grampa Simpson shouting at a cloud to realise things are not what they used to be. The top level of the men’s game is widely different from how it was even 10 years ago. Many things are disappearing from football, some of which are slightly intangible — raucous atmospheres, community, the feeling that having so much football available to watch is dulling our senses and making us numb to the excitement of it — but some of them are more measurable. …”
The Athletic (Video)
The sweeper-keeper is redefining soccer’s sense of risk – Jonathan Wilson

“Johan Cruyff believed soccer was too obsessed by obvious mistakes, by what looked embarrassing. What did it matter, he asked, if his goalkeeper was caught out of position a couple of times a season if the risk of playing a long way from goal contributed to a better structure overall? It was a line he used repeatedly to defend Stanley Menzo, his goalkeeper when he was Ajax manager in the late 80s, at a time when sweeper-keepers were still rare. …”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
Explained: The tensions surrounding Tottenham regarding the Israel-Gaza war

“English football’s response to the Israel-Gaza war has been divisive. And for Tottenham Hotspur, with its strong Jewish heritage and the only Israeli player in the Premier League, these divisions have been especially acute. The Athletic spoke to dozens of fans, representing as wide a range of views as possible, to try to understand and explain the depth of feeling involved. Some fans expressed their feeling that Spurs’ response to the conflict has been a ‘betrayal’ and said there are fans in Israel who won’t renew their memberships. Others praised the club for its response. …”
The Athletic
The Premier League’s ‘new deal for football’ and what it means for the EFL

“The late Quentin Crisp is not quoted in many football stories, but the gay icon could have been talking about the negotiations between the English Football League and Premier League when he noted that ‘euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne’. Under pressure from the government to sort out the game’s structural cash-flow problems, the two tribes have been talking about how best to share the Premier League’s wealth for at least three years and are edging towards a deal that will probably annoy everyone a bit but disappoint nobody entirely. A result, then. …”
The Athletic (Video)
How Eddie Howe’s Newcastle neutralised Kylian Mbappe

“When facing Paris Saint-Germain, there are two defensive questions to answer: how to stop their attacking collective and how to stop Kylian Mbappe. It’s not a simple equation, because even if you disrupt PSG’s rhythm and restrict their chances, one moment of brilliance from Mbappe can turn things around. ‘I struggle to think of any better players in the world than him at the moment,’ Newcastle United’s head coach, Eddie Howe, told TNT Sports before his side met the French champions on Wednesday evening. …”
The Athletic
Guardian: Newcastle’s quest to become northern powerhouse gathers momentum
US owners understand profit but do they appreciate clubs’ tradition and values? – Jonathan Wilson

“It’s just over a year since Gary Neville declared US owners of English soccer clubs ‘a clear and present danger to the pyramid and fabric of the game’. The comment provoked a furore but the former England full-back turned high-profile pundit was unrepentant, insisting that if profit is the priority, there are vital aspects of the roles of soccer clubs that risk being lost. …”
Guardian
Investigation: The football club owner with four names believed to have been convicted of fraud

“With the cupboards bare, bills to pay and another relegation looming, Scunthorpe United fans were holding out for a hero. Then David Hilton arrived. The Nottingham-born businessman bought the club from the deeply unpopular Peter Swann in late January, clearing a six-figure tax bill and pledging to take Scunthorpe back to the English Football League. …”
The Athletic
The secret world of football boots

“Anti-clogs. Blackouts. Mixed soleplates. Customised conversions. To the uninitiated, that will sound like gobbledygook. To the modern-day professional footballer, it’s the language of the dressing room and the tools of their trade. We are talking about football boots, in case you were wondering, and Jon Tootle’s garage — now converted into a workshop — is full of them. A garish pink pair on the workbench — Nike Air Zoom Mercurial Vapor, for those of you who know your ‘cleats’ — belong to one of last season’s leading Premier League goalscorers. …”
The Athletic
Bitcoin football: the story of Real Bedford FC

“Football has become the establishment. Thirty years since the publication of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch, the gentrification of professional football in England is no longer confined to the executive suites. Where once the middle-class enthusiast—like Hornby—was an exotic presence, now the entire culture of the game is awash with the instincts of the bien pensants. Whatever demotic power football had in the 1970s and 80s has completely dissipated. Like Glastonbury Festival or the Labour Party, Premier League football has mostly decoupled from the affiliations, tastes, and preferences of the everyman. …”
Football Paradise
Luton’s Kenilworth Road… A Premier League stadium like no other

“A 20-minute walk west from Luton train station takes you to one of the most peculiar stadiums in England. As you approach the four streets Kenilworth Road occupies, in what seems to be a quiet, residential area, it is remarkable that you find a football stand located in between a row of terraced houses. The location is unlike any other and feels like a secluded area that is separated from the rest of Luton. …”
The Athletic
A Premier League Love Story Has Heartbreak Ahead

Luton Town’s home, Kenilworth Road, is not your usual Premier League stadium.
“Within a few days of Luton Town’s promotion to the Premier League in May, the construction crews were moving in and the scaffolding was going up at its stadium, Kenilworth Road. The club’s first home game in English soccer’s top flight since its money-spinning, supercharged rebrand into the richest, most popular league in the world was not quite three months away. There was an alarming amount of work to do, and not nearly enough time to do it. …”
NY Times
David Silva – The Sorcerer in Plain Clothes
“On a December evening in 2010, Andy Gray was in a studio, possibly somewhere in London, discussing Manchester City’s recent defeat against Everton at home. It was brought to Gray’s notice that Lionel Messi had, as was usual then, turned on the magic for Barcelona. His response is now part of football folklore. It is a genius statement – irreverent, filled with equal amounts of comic intent and pure English hubris. …”
Football Paradise
The Premier League Bad Predictions Amnesty 2023-24

“The Premier League is back tonight, promising thrills, spills and all manner of footballing chaos. Our team of writers at The Athletic have gone to great effort to make some sensible predictions and season previews for 2023-24. But for those who want their football forecasts to talk about xVibes more than xGOT, this week has brought a return of our Bad Prediction Amnesty. …”
The Athletic (Video)
