Manchester City have scored 15 goals in the Premier League's opening 8 matches. Erling Haaland has scored 11 of them. And among many of those goals, a common trend has emerged. I call it - the backstep!
Tag: Manchester City
Pep Guardiola, Copy-Cats & Why Team Tactics Must Work for Your Players
The weirdest of the weird proclaim modern football to be boring, because every team endeavours to play the same way. High-possession, high-pressing, building out from the back, goalkeepers involved in the build-up, inverted this, inverted that, and some degree of positional rotation. The man credited for starting or popularizing many of these modernizations is Pep … Continue reading Pep Guardiola, Copy-Cats & Why Team Tactics Must Work for Your Players
Pep Guardiola – Manchester City – Tactical Analysis (2023-24)
This might finally be the year. It might finally be the year that Pep Guardiola and Manchester City don't win the Premier League. Despite that, they've still been the most tactically complex team in the league, carrying on from much of the tactics that brought them a treble-winning triumph last season. Here is what Pep Guardiola has imposed in 2023-24, continuing to make City one of the most dominant forces in the world.
Chaos vs. Control: A Collision of Principles
Some like to approach games in a disciplined structure, intentionally and meticulously dictating games to their own tempo. Others opt for a more emotionally-charged philosophy, reliant on the belief, energy and willpower of their trusted eleven on the field.
Game of Numbers #37 – Forge FC’s use of centre-backs in midfield like Manchester City
For the unfamiliar, Forge FC are the Manchester City of the Canadian Premier League. They play a possession-based 4-3-3, stacked with ball-savvy savants, and a culture that embodies winning. The Canadian Premier League's been around since 2019 now. Forge have won the Playoffs in four of the five seasons, and lost the final in the one other at the hands of players they recruited to their team immediately after.
Why centre-backs are becoming fullbacks: The tactical trend that defined 2023
It might be wrong to credit this tactical approach to Pep Guardiola. After all, the origin story to the 'fullback' is because the defender was fully back. However, in operating with a centre-back that steps up into midfield, Guardiola also created a construction within his team that regularly positioned centre-backs out wide. From then on, this approach has only become more popular. It's been the top tactical trend of 2023, and often one that's allowed the best teams in the world to thrive.
Game of Numbers #34 – Dribbling lessons from Jérémy Doku
Gotham FC finished the 2023 NWSL season in sixth place, narrowly scraping into the playoffs on goal differential over the Orlando Pride. They were far from the favourites to make the playoff final, let alone win the whole thing over a star-studded team like OL Reign. Yet thanks to a double-assist from Midge Purce, the NJ/NY team claimed the highest honour the NWSL has to offer. Here is a dribbling masterclass featuring lessons from the electrifying Midge Purce and Manchester City's new kid on the block Jérémy Doku.
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