England U20s became the first England team to lift a World Cup at any age level since the home victory in 1966. England’s possession game The main feature of the first half was England’s play in possession. Their starting formation was a 4-2-3-1, but this shifted somewhat in possession. The right-back Kenny occupied an advanced […]
Jorge Sampaoli’s Argentina side faced Brazil in a friendly for the former Chile and Sevilla coach’s first game as manager of his country. Sampaoli’s team started in a 3-4-2-1 shape, with a back 3 made up of Otamendi, Maidana and Mercado, who featured under Sampaoli at Sevilla. Gomez took up a role as right wing […]
Arsenal met Chelsea at Wembley, looking to salvage an FA Cup win out of what has otherwise been a poor season. For Chelsea, it was a chance to complete an impressive double. Arsenal dominate with midfield overload Arsenal were able to dominate the opening stages of the game by virtue of the control they were […]
This is a video analysis I made in February 2017 about Barcelona’s first-leg 4-0 defeat against PSG in the Champions League round of 16. The analysis covers Barcelona’s lack of intensity and compactness in their defensive game, the disconnected structures in attack, as well as the lack of staggering in both of these phases, which […]
This is a short video analysis I made in February 2017 about a goal that Manchester City scored against Bournemouth. It highlights their use of ‘overload to isolate’, i.e. overloading one side of the pitch in order to create an isolation situation (1v1) on the other. Key to this is Fernandinho’s positioning in the ball-far halfspace as […]
The following is a video analysis I made in January 2017 about Napoli’s possession game. It highlights Napoli’s use of various tools, such as blindside movements, bounce passes, and the deep positioning of their midfielders in order to provoke their opponents into pressuring them, which reduces their vertical compactness and opens higher spaces for Napoli to […]
Tottenham comfortably beat a rotated Manchester United side in their final game at White Hart Lane. Spurs dominate with fluid possession game For the duration of the first half Pochettino’s team controlled the game and were able to pin United into their own half. Of course, this was also down to Mourinho’s passive and rather reactive […]
Lucien Favre’s OGC Nice side met PSG in a top 3 clash in Ligue 1. Nice’s defensive block The key tactical feature in this game was the manner in which Nice played against PSG’s possession game. PSG ended the game with 67% possession, with Nice spending large parts of the game in Favre’s trademark position-oriented mid/low […]