Sunday, 09.03.2025
Constantin Eckner and Abel Meszaros discuss the state of Spanish football. They take a closer look at Barcelona’s issues on the field, Real Madrid’s road to the title, Atlético being as gritty as ever, Sevilla reviving the careers of many, and the greatness of Real Sociedad and Granada.
In this piece, authors GJ, JD & MK, discuss aspects of designing and coaching sessions focusing on numerically un-balanced teams.
The Canaries entered the 2019/20 Premier League season with an abundance of hope, fresh from finishing their promotion campaign in the Championship on top of the pile with a notable 94 points, 5 clear of runners-up Sheffield United and a whole 11 from Leeds United back in third-place, Daniel Farke would have surely been confident of steering the new boys to safety in their return season to the top flight. However, this has not played out in the manner to be expected.
Solskjaer’s in-form Manchester United hosted a similarly buoyant Southampton side at Old Trafford on Monday evening. With the hosts locked in a battle with Chelsea and Leicester for the final Champions league positions, a win was vital. Whilst their opponents had no such clear targets, their recent performances and results show they do not lack motivation.
The first half of Brighton against Manchester City was a great example of how City’s positional play adapts to create stability as well as positional superiority against their opponents. This analysis will therefore focus on City’s possession game against Brighton’s midfield press in the first 45 minutes, and not touch upon the second half.
One of my favourite matches this season was Manchester City’s 4-0 win over Brighton from early September, where the home side scored their first in the 2nd minute, and the match itself was overshadowed by Aymeric Laporte’s injury.
Looking past the result, Brighton made one of the best performances with the ball that I have seen for an away side at the Etihad in recent years, and also attempted a rather daring plan without the ball, too. But don’t just take my word for it, here are Pep’s views on the game in the post-match press conference – note he was not prompted this question, but rather wanted to make a key point of it besides Laporte’s injury.
In an ultimately inconsequential match, where one team likely engaged in more parties than pre-match video sessions, we were treated to a fairly interesting tactical spectacle. This match analysis will focus on the most important phase of play in the game, being Manchester City’s build-up against Liverpool’s press.
VfB Stuttgart did it. One year after their promotion they made it back to the 1. Bundesliga. Having moved from Hoffenheim to VfB at the end of December 2019, head coach Pellegrino “Rino” Matarazzo, led the team to this success. What kind of football does the Italian-American focus on and what are the prospects for the upcoming challenge in the first division?
After the heady days of the first season under Quique Setién which culminated in a 6th placed finish, Real Betis endured a more difficult second season finishing in 10th place. Despite a number of high-profile arrivals, most notably Nabil Fekir from Lyon, Betis’ fortunes have not improved under the new coach “Rubi”. From analysing the current team to preparing for the La Liga restart, this series details how MK, JD and AB would approach taking over the Andalusian side in their current form.
The first week of the Premier League’s return culminated at Goodison Park with the Merseyside derby. Everton looked to continue their upward trend with Carlo Ancelotti from before the season’s suspension, whereas Klopp’s Reds were looking to maintain their impressive unbeaten derby record, and with a win, would move three points away from becoming champions.
