Alex Stewart looks at who could play in a similar style and looks at why United want that sort of midfielder anyway “We are looking for a player who can play in the holding midfield position, but it has to be the right one. There are not many in...
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In part one of this deep dive, Abhishek Sharma looked at how Arsenal played in possession last season under Mikel Arteta. In part two, he looks at defensive approaches and set pieces Pressing & Rest Defence Off-the-ball, Arsenal are a pressing side. They press aggressively with the intention of...
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In two articles, Abhishek Sharma digs deep into Mikel Arteta’s style of play with Arsenal last season. This first part analyses their approach in possession Overview Arsenal 2020/21 2021/22 Points 61 69 League position 8th 5th Goals scored 55 61 Goals conceded 39 48 Goal difference 16 13 Arsenal’s...
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Tactical diversity often makes for interesting match-ups. Alex Stewart and Piotr Wawrzynów look at coaching styles across Europe’s top leagues What makes a league watchable? As football fans, we look for excitement and, perhaps, a degree of unpredictability. While some leagues seem to have assured winners going in to...
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James Nalton looks at how the Vancouver Whitecaps’ smart scouting has brought them recent success and laid the foundations for more Last Tuesday night, Vancouver Whitecaps won the Canadian Championship for the first time since 2015, defeating newly-star-studded Toronto FC whose team featured recent marquee signings Lorenzo Insigne and...
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Assessing the impact of goals and assists has real value. In this piece, Alex Stewart looks at creators A few weeks back, we revisited an article that Analytics FC Managing Director Jeremy Steele had written in 2019 about ‘clutch’ goalscorers. These are athletes who come up big when it...
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In this piece, Varun Vasudevan uses an array of data to suggest which club would make the most sensible destination for the Croatian centre back Modern football scouting has come leaps and bounds from the days when the act of scouting was limited to travelling to see players in...
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Mia Eriksson casts her eye over a player currently lighting up the Damallsvenskan and assesses where she could go next Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (JRK) is a winger who made her debut in the Swedish national senior team in a friendly match against Austria on February 19th, 2021. The 25-year-old...
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Dan Pritchard uses data to look at how the Lionesses forward has reshaped her approach to football under successive coaches Data is a useful tool, an incredibly useful one in fact. Its increased use in football by the most successful teams and federations is testament to that; it removes...
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Alex Stewart builds his ideal midfielder, even though Ibrahim Sangare already exists Scouting players is hard. Metrics can show actions by volume, while more sophisticated platforms can also show the impact or quality of certain actions. Players need to pass the eye test, while clubs will also dig in...
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