Cultured Football #259
Davide Ancelotti. Championship Play-Offs. Hunger in Como. Waterford FC. Arne Slot.
Davide Ancelotti: My dad, my tactics and Brazil’s World Cup prospects
By Umir Irfan for the BBC
As he explains why modern defending is increasingly fluid, how Guardiola overloads central areas to dismantle 4-4-2 systems, and why PSG represent the “complete” modern side through their mix of structure and freedom, Davide Ancelotti emerges here as far more than Carlo’s son. He’s a deeply analytical coach shaped by football’s elite minds and years inside top dressing rooms. Yet the piece’s most interesting thread is Davide’s emphasis on human connection: inspired by Phil Jackson, he gifts books to players and views coaching as teaching as much as tactics.
‘Who Will Win the Championship Play-Offs in 2025-26? The Opta Supercomputer Predictions’
By Matt Furniss and Matt Sisneros for Opta Analyst
The Championship play-offs are often a clash between momentum, style and statistical weirdness. This makes Southampton rated favourites after an explosive turnaround under Tonda Eckert and a 19-game unbeaten run. Even so, and despite all statistical analysis, the Championship’s annual habit of making predictions look silly by Wembley weekend, so there is still plenty of room for chaos.
‘“We bring in hungry, humble players”: How Cesc Fàbregas is leading the incredible rise of Como’
By Sam Dalling for The Guardian
Como are a club that that through obsessive long-term planning and the magnetic pull of Cesc Fàbregas, have been transformed from Serie D obscurity into genuine Champions League within barely seven years. Fàbregas emerges as a demanding but self-aware modern coach, blending Guardiola-style possession football with relentless pressing while building around young, “hungry” players. Ultimately though, you can’t escape the sense that Como are trying to become more than a football team: a lifestyle project that just happens to play exceptional football as well.
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Inside Fleetwood Town’s Ownership of Waterford FC
By Tom Hyland for Boardroom Ball
Multi club ownership is all the rage these days so a new one barely makes the news. But a League Two side owning a League of Ireland team? Really?
The inevitability of Liverpool and Arne Slot
By Kevin Coleman for Game Over Ball Burst
Arne Slot’s dazzling beginning at Liverpool has been thoroughly forgotten after a season of awful defeats and even worse performances. Many Liverpool supporters no longer believe there’s someone on the touchline worth “running through walls” for. Slot may survive because there are few alternatives and Champions League qualification papers over the cracks, but Liverpool now feel close to that dangerous space where mediocrity becomes acceptable, hidden behind words like ‘transition’.
Each week on Cultured Football we pick the five great football stories from the previous seven days.
In Case You Missed It Here’s Last Week’s Most Read: From Café to Catapult: How Football Training Lost the Plot (or Found It)
By Woz for Headers and Volleys Fanzine
Brian Clough took his European Cup winners for a coffee. Pep Lijnders ran triple sessions and tracked every heartbeat. Both won everything. So what changed?
