Theo Walcott has started consecutive home games for Arsenal now, and has looked lively in both. His performance against Sunderland was promising but was typical of his stereotype – he showed great pace but rarely provided a good ball into the box. Read more »
Extended highlights of the 1998 World Cup Final is currently on repeat on a particular British television channel showing ‘classic’ sporting encounters. Most famous for Zidane’s two headers and Ronaldo’s pre-match breakdown, it’s not a game that is generally held up as a great tactical victory. Read more »
Some great inventions were the result of years of design and graft, eventually producing something roughly approximating the design brief. Others, like Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, were an happened upon by complete accident. In that sense, Luciano Spalletti is modern football’s Alexander Fleming, and the 4-6-0 was his great discovery that he never intended on inventing. Read more »
Some international selection dilemmas are a case of “Who is the least bad?”. Others are a little more positive, and often result in top-class players being left out of squads. Here is a list of ten positions featuring tremendous competition ahead of the World Cup. (Leighton Baines v Stephen Warnock missed the cut.) Read more »
Dunga’s Brazil side isn’t popular back home. The use of two holding midfielders, the tendency to play on the counter-attack and the overlooking of the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Pato have all seen him accused of playing in an un-Brazilian way, by ditching the classic Brazilian principles of yesteryear for a more patient, less spectacular way of playing. Read more »
It’s difficult to make the case for Michael Carrick being in the England side without coming across as a pretentious, know-it-all bore. Comments like “He does the quiet things well”, “He keeps things simple”, and “He brings the best out of his team-mates” are all classic ‘underrated player’ arguments. But like it or not, they’re all true in Carrick’s case, so it’s pretentious, know-it all bore time. Read more »
Is there a side in Europe at the moment that plays more attacking, exciting football than this Benfica side? With two forwards, three attacking midfielders and two extremely offensive full-backs, the side is packed with creativity and energetic runners, making them extremely difficult to defend against. Read more »
A strange game. Atletico dominated it from the outset and yet still went behind, to a classic rapid Valencia counter-attack. They equalised through a Forlan penalty, an incident in which Marchena was dismissed, and then Atletico had an hour of football with an extra man, and yet only went ahead within the last 15 minutes. After that, Miguel was also sent-off for Valencia, and Atletico added two more.
Stoke against Arsenal offers the most blatant difference in playing styles you will encounter in any major European league game. Stoke are the scrappy long-ball team who rely on set-pieces, Arsenal play a short, quick, neat passing game. Read more »
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