Sunday, 03.03.2024

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Build-up under Roberto de Zerbi: An early analysis of his Shakhtar Donetsk

After finishing 2nd last season, Shakhtar Donetsk hired esteemed, upcoming Italian manager Roberto de Zerbi. The ambitious and unique playing style demonstrated most notably at Sassuolo earned him acclaim for his tactical acumen, ending his tenure at the Sassuolo with an 8th place finish and a respectable 62 points. This article will investigate the rationale behind his build-up preferences and how that is translating to his new side.

Penalties and the magician: How Spain came close to reaching the final

A magician not pulling a trick in-front of thousands of spectators doesn’t mean the failure of the magic trick. Behind any magic trick, hours and hours of creativity are followed by more hours of practice. Alone in his room, a magician might perform the trick seamlessly without any interruptions but circumstances on the day of the show can result in the trick not coming off as intended.

The vein in Spain: A different approach from Spain in possession

There’s more than one way to the heart. Different approaches work with different people. Scientifically speaking, there is more than one way to the heart. Veins, which are blood vessels that carry blood towards the heart, fill our human body. Their amount? Numerous. All of them lead to heart. Football is the same. Different approaches work against different teams.

How Guardiola & 3-2-2-3 (ultimately) solved the defending meta

Guardiola’s image in the football world is complex to describe. While polarizing, everyone seems at least to agree that he is an unique innovator. Funnily enough, he is polarizing exactly because of this mutual agreement of critics and fans. The public discourse about his Barcelona team mainly revolved about the positional style of play and – even contrasted with Aragones’ successful EURO campaign with the Spanish national team – was highly focused on his idea of playing football and how it differed from most teams. Building up from the back with passes on the ground and involvement of the goalkeeper even under pressure, overload in the center while maintaining high width and depth, or even their extreme pressure with an extraordinarily high line to enable early regain of possession have conquered football back then (with two Champions League titles in four heavily favored campaigns) and since taken over the ideas of others teams more and more – some of them, Guardiola had started already in his first year as head coach back at Barcelona B.