Tuesday, 02.07.2024
Manchester United have suffered a turbulent start to the 2020-21 season, despite surprising victories against PSG & RB Leipzig that leave them on the verge of qualification from a challenging Champions League group, Ole’s team have stumbled against too many an opposition.
Americans call aubergines ‘eggplants’. For those familiar with the deep purple skin of the vegetable(?), this seems peculiar. To British ears, it’s one of those “oh, America!” things to roll ones eyes at and quietly mock, like ‘pants’ and ‘soccer’ and the missing ‘u’ in ‘colour’. And then you learn that there’s a variety of aubergine that is white, and small, and generally looks quite like an egg.
Simone Inzaghi & Lazio enjoyed a hugely successful 2019-20 season, with a Supercoppa Italia to their name and achieving domestic qualification for the Champions League for the first time in five years. The way in which they did so was equally impressive, scoring the 3rd highest goals in Serie A with Ciro Immobile the centrepiece of their attacking prowess.
Two teams seeking to disrupt the status-quo of the ‘big six’ in the Premier League met on Sunday afternoon at the King Power Stadium. Both sides have seemingly aimed to control more possession this season as the next stage in their evolution.
Borussia Dortmund are in a tough spot. The German powerhouse have established themselves among the best teams in Europe and even more so in the Bundesliga where there is a considerable gap between Dortmund, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and the rest of the pack. Dortmund are expected to command the action on the pitch, and they themselves like to be in command.
Constantin Eckner and Abel Meszaros go to place where the sun never shines to take a close look at the three Bundesliga teams that are currently at the bottom of the table. Among other things, they discuss Mainz’s structural issues, Schalke’s possession game, and Cologne’s ineffective high press.
Constantin Eckner and Abel Meszaros examine some of the winners of the Bundesliga transfer deadline, analyse Bayern Munich’s last-minute shopping tour, dissect VfB Stuttgart’s attractive playing style, talk about the reasons for Eintracht Frankfurt’s success and discuss whether Werder Bremen are the worst 7th place team in recent memory.
Following on from the first of this two part series where the predominant offensive structures Manchester City used were outlined, this part will examine the methods used to create chances within the aforementioned structures.
Manchester City were the most potent attacking force, in Europe’s major five leagues, during the 2019/20 season. They ranked first for expected goals (xG), shots taken and goals scored compared to the other top performing teams in Europe.
Constantin Eckner and Abel Meszaros discuss whether anyone can stop Bayern Munich from winning their ninth title in a row. They also talk about Dortmund’s youth, RB Leipzig in the post-Werner era, the hole that Kai Havertz has left at Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke’s downturn, and much more.
