After a slow start to the season, Southampton are one of the in-form Premier League teams at the moment. Fielding a 4-2-2-2 on paper, the Saints recently picked up unexpected points against some of the league's biggest hitters - Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester United. Results in tow, Southampton’s implementation of quick and progressive attacking transitions have them climbing the league table, playing with a distinct style and groove.
The main task of any manager in the modern tactical era is to implement a tactical system and style of play that simultaneously suits their own taste, while getting the best out of their best players, if not the entire squad. Marco Rose has rarely accomplished that feat this season, and would be wise to stick with the back-three in the future. Here is why Dortmund should persist with the 3-4-2-1 in the future, following their 6-0 win over Gladbach on Matchday 23.
As a football analyst, I often get asked a very broad question - 'How do you watch football matches?'. What people really want to know is what I look for, the process of watching to disseminating that information to an audience, and how they can learn more about the game to see football like a true tactical analyst themselves. A little over a year ago, I wrote an article titled 'How to watch football like a tactical analyst', following a 'how do you watch football?' type of question from one of our long-time readers. Since that article, the way I watch football has evolved, with new processes and techniques to study the game and prepare myself for the subsequent analyses that follow. So with that, today I share how I watch football matches, and gain the necessary insights that guide my articles.
Often seen as the emblem of an overpriced transfer that failed to deliver, Joelinton has seen a complete transformation in position, role, and status under new Newcastle boss Eddie Howe. The former Bournemouth coach has harnessed the Brazilian’s tireless work rate by moving him from forward to central midfield, where he's performed brilliantly as a box to box midfielder. So with that, we decided to take a look at how Joelinton has transformed into one of Newcastle's most important players in the blink of an eye. Here is our latest Player Analysis.
While they won't be overly pleased with the result, Forge FC continue to showcase just how far soccer has come in Canada, going toe to toe with Cruz Azul in their first appearance in the CONCACAF Champions League. Cruz may have dominated the match, but Forge put up a valiant fight to the end, and could have easily gotten a result on a different day. Here is our tactical analysis of Forge's 1-0 defeat at the hands of Mexican giants Cruz Azul.
The current dialogue around Manchester United is boring. Every week, it's the same story in the media, whether or not they win, lose or draw. It's obvious that Manchester United are not at their best, but very few are discussing tangible ways for the Red Devils to fasten their seatbelts and shift the car into overdrive. So with that, today we take a look at why Manchester United should shift away from a back-four, and into a 3-4-1-2. Don't get us wrong, United need to drill several loose bolts. But, a change to the formation may help to mitigate several of their greatest issues.
Following its popular use for Vicente del Bosque's Spain at Euro 2012, the role of the false nine has continued to evolve in the modern era of the Premier League, accompanied by a shift in mannerisms, behaviors, and positional patterns of strikers on a football pitch. Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have been two of the dominating forces in world football since the mid-2010s, and both have operated throughout that time without a recognized out-and-out goal-scoring striker. For any possession-based team attempting to emulate Klopp and Guardiola, deploying a false nine presents a unique and innovative way of breaking the opposition down, and reaching new levels of performance. Some tactical experts have suggested that in the future we may see a formation without a striker at all, but truthfully, we may already be there.
Domenico Tedesco has achieved wonders in his first few months in charge of Leipzig, with the team accumulating an impressive 62.5% win rate after eight matches. Tedesco's inauguration has been marked by a return to a back-three, where Die Roten Bullen have fluctuated between a 3-4-1-2 and 3-4-2-1 formation.
TheMastermindSite 