Cultured Football #13
Cultured Football #13
The innovative tactics that have taken Portugal by storm
There has been some fantastic football played this week, particularly in the clash between Bayern Munich and Paris St Germain, a preview to the kind of game that top clubs want to see more of with the establishment of the European Super League. It is a tricky debate but given that these two clubs have won their last eight and seven of their last eight domestic seasons, it might not necessarily be a bad thing for German and French football.
Messi, Ramos have helped define El Clasico
The Spanish El Clasico is being played out this evening and, whilst the absence of fans takes away a lot of magic, that the two teams have managed to pull the previous runaway leaders Atletico Madrid to within touching distance adds to this game’s intensity. That the future of two of the more longstanding players – Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi – is still undecided and thus potentially making it among their last adds to the interest.
5 cheap creators: Midfield schemers for clubs needing a bargain Bruno
A recent, welcome trend has been the use of statistics when assessing players. Of course, there is still a lot of nuance missing – this piece talking about creative midfielders available for relatively modest fees has nothing in the model to allow for the quality of leagues that they play in, for instance – but it is still way more insightful than similar articles used to be without the use of analysis.
Meet Otto Addo, the coach responsible for guiding some of Europe's brightest young footballers
As a player, Otto Addo had to work hard to make it. Released by his hometown club of Hamburg, he slowly worked his way from the Regionalliga Nord (the German third division) to the very top with Borussia Dortmund with whom he won the Bundesliga in 2001-02. He has taken a similarly circuitous road as a coach having worked in Denmark before landing his current role as an assistant coach with Dortmund’s first team. And yet, what makes this article particularly interesting is the story within the story, how he came to the realisation of the problems young players faced in making the transition from youth to first team and what he is doing about it. Insightful.
The innovative tactics that have taken Portugal by storm
Carlos Carvalhal is a strange manager to pin down. At Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea he had decent starts (especially at the former) before failing to maintain momentum. Ultimately he was considered a failure in English football but thankfully for him first Rio Ave and then Braga were ready to give him another chance. They also allowed him to set up a team playing his innovative, attacking tactics which is delivering great results on a consistent basis. Bigger opportunities probably lie in wait.
Last Week’s Most Read
There is the belief that a team that goes into games looking to win and play on the front foot is bound to come out on top. There is also the conviction that defensive football played out with the primary aim of avoiding defeat is doomed to fail. And yet, there is much more to success than the definitions of how a team chooses to approach a game. Full disclosure: I wrote this piece.
See you all next week and, till then, happy reading!