Tuesday, 08.07.2025
Rúben Amorim’s Manchester United faced Hürzeler’s Brighton on Matchday 22. While Manchester United focused on creating a pressing system that was as difficult as possible to bypass, Brighton once again showcased their incredibly challenging vertical play. You can find the tactical analysis of the match here.
In two new seminars we will discuss “the game as a game”. The first seminar will cover the philosophy of “playing spirit” that is increasingly more important than “fighting spirit” in the game of football. The second seminar will discuss how we should talk about the game in an entertaining, interesting and realistic way.
Sebastian Hoeneß took over VfB Stuttgart in spring 2023 as bottom of the table and led the club to relegation. Just under a year later , Stuttgart qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 14 years.
What does the future of football hold for us? Why is the Guardiola-style so dominant? Can it be overcome by new “relationist” ideas? We will analyse and discuss the latest tactical trends, venture a prediction about upcoming developments and demonstrate how a unique playing philosophy can be created.
In this article we are trying to summarize a discussion about Positionism and Relationism in a somewhat different way. This discourse has evolved in various ways and shapes, often without a clear overview of the status quo of itself. By doing so, it did reach it’s intended goal already: Discuss football differently (again). Now we will try to give perspective and an update on the discussion by updating some premises of itself but also giving an outlook into practice and practitioners. Welcome to Spielverlagerung Discussion.
As all coaches and tactic-nerds want to use the summer break in a constructive way, Spielverlagerung is going to offer online seminars throughout the upcoming weeks. All dates and details.
On November 12th, 2020, following a start to the season with just one win out of their first nine, Celta Vigo fired Óscar García and replaced him with 46 year old Eduardo Coudet. In the two months following his appointment, Celta strung together an incredible run of results while implementing a style of play that captivated many fans.
In a parallel timeline, Timo Werner scores his chance and Germany are through to the Quarterfinals. Gareth Southgate is ridiculed, and England are once again out of a major competition.
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.
Chelsea set up in their usual 3–4–2–1 but with a range of changes in personnel, after a rotated side drew 1–1 away at Southampton and a game midweek against Atletico Madrid. Despite their European heroics, it was time for them to still try to address their lack of potency in front of goal, in the hunt to finish for Champions League football next season. Unfortunately for them, Manchester United haven’t been the easiest opponents, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer somehow being competent enough to be second in the league.
