Cultured Football #60
Cultured Football took a bit of a break last week but we’re back with another five great articles. Enjoy!
‘Barcelona is still special, players will lose money to be here’
By Sid Lowe for The Guardian
There could have been no better way for Barcelona to show how much improvement they’ve made under Xavi then the 4-0 trashing they inflicted on Real Madrid. Apart from the manager, much of the turnaround is down to some judicious additions which Jordi Cruyff - who has been involved in the running of the club since last September - has had a key role in recruiting. And, while the financial problems remain, there will always be plenty of players eager to push through moves to Barcelona.
Reading Time: 7 minutes
The Xhaka Soup
By Tim Stillman for Arseblog
Granit Xhaka is such a hard player to read. Often at the heart of pivotal mistakes, he has nevertheless retained the faith of every manager under whom he’s played at Arsenal. As this article states, he is a cauldron of contradictions.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Interactive Snapshot: Player xG Proportions
By Peter McKeever for The Analyst
We are often told that football is a team sport. Yet how important is each player’s contribution? It depends on what you look at obviously, and this is an attempt to answer that question by analysing xG.
Reading Time: 10 minutes
Is Graham Potter overrated as a Premier League manager?
By Richard Jolly for Four Four Two
I often read of the good work that Graham Potter has been doing at Brighton but then, whenever I do happen to catch one of their games more often than not I’m underwhelmed. Which begs the question: is he over-rated?
Reading Time: 5 minutes
The Turkish wizard they call Harry Potter whose magic is attracting Premier League clubs
By Sam Cunningham for iNews
There’s a player in Turkey who looks a bit like Harry Potter. And, when he scores, he pretends to be waving a wand. No, really!
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Take a look at this
Marcelo Bielsa - drawn here by Joshua Firth - might have departed Leeds but he’s cemented himself as a modern day great for the club.
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