Cultured Football #06
Cultured Football
The Champions League returned this week and, thankfully, the games were exciting enough to overshadow the increasingly dispiriting lack of fans. This midweek also probably signalled the end of Barcelona’s modern golden era, a decline that was accelerated by the manner in which they forced Luis Suarez out of the club. Indeed, that story is one of the five we are putting in front of you this week.
“If you look closely at the management styles of game’s greats…you will notice that even though they all had big personalities they all could read and mould the feelings of those around them.”
Emotional intelligence is as important as tactical insight and capacity to spot players for a manager to be successful. Here’s why. Full disclosure: I am the author of this piece.
Missed it last week but this article on how Barcelona decided that they no longer needed Luis Suarez and the inner details on how he came to join Atletico Madrid, is too good not to share (especially now they they are virtually out of the Champions League and the probability that Lionel Messi will be leaving at the end of the season).
There are few strikers as clinical, powerful and dynamic as Erling Braut Haaland. He, along with Kylian Mbappe, heads a generation of strikers looking to take over the mantle as the world’s best once the stars of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo start to fade. Not bad for the boy from Molde.
Liverpool are said as being one of the clubs who would be interested in Haaland should he opt to move. Whether there is any reality to those rumours, or if it is just wishful thinking by fans is debatable. What is definitely the case is that Liverpool have their own promising young striker coming through. Seventeen year old Harvey Elliott was sent for a year’s loan at Blackburn and has promptly proven to be one of the stars of the Championship. All of which is not surprising for those who have been involved in his career so far as this piece highlights.
To conclude, something a bit different but still very interesting: a piece on eleven clubs that changed the course of football history.
Last Week’s Most Read…
It seems that there is plenty of interest around Brexit and how it is likely to impact youth football because the piece on Brexit and Liverpool’s academy proved to be the most read last week. If you missed it, check it out here.