Sameer Chopra

Michael Cox, founder of the popular website Zonal Marking, and a respected journalist with a specialty in football tactics was unimpressed by Liverpool's opening game of the Premier League season, a drab 1-0 win away to Stoke City lit up by a Philippe Coutinho shot from distance for the winner. The 86th minute aside, nobody […]

Only days away from the start of the 2015/16 Premier League season, Liverpool do not have the squad they would like. While there are reports that the spending, similar in scale to what happened last summer, may continue, more interesting are the departures, or lack thereof. It has been widely reported that at least three players […]

Belgium and Argentina were both among the favorites to win the World Cup before the tournament started, and both have underwhelmed through their four games thus far despite both winning all their games. Argentina, with a serious case of Messi-dependencia, have looked unbalanced and shaky defensively while Belgium have struggled to finish flowing moves and […]

Belgium have been international media and fan darlings long before this World Cup began. With a young core of exciting players fans were looking forward to seeing this side make its mark on the international stage. Belgium is a country with divides not only between immigrants and natives, but also French and Flemish speakers. The […]

On paper, Germany should have enough quality in their squad to deal with Algeria no matter who starts, but the north African side has impressed in this World Cup, beating South Korea, drawing with Russia, and only narrowly losing to talented Belgium. Both teams have should have their first choice players available, which should set […]

Italy against Uruguay was always marked as an important game, but perhaps not for the reasons that it will be on Tuesday. With Costa Rica surprising everybody and topping Group D going into the final round of fixtures, only one of the two previous champions will join them in the knockout phase of the World […]

After Brazil and Mexico played out a 0-0 draw leaving both with four points, Croatia and Cameroon has become an even more important fixture, especially for Croatia who have already played Brazil and thus gotten their toughest group match out of the way. Should Croatia beat Cameroon by anything less than three goals, it would […]

Recently in England there’s been an obsession with the playmaker. Every side has one or more, even teams fighting to avoid relegation like QPR and Southampton. The recent infatuation with creativity and technique is a classic case of sides copying success. Barcelona have won everything with small, technical players, so leading Premier League sides mimicked […]

Queens Park Rangers struggles in this season’s Premier League are well documented. Despite having an expensive squad with several glittering names, the London club have been rooted at the foot of the league table for almost the entire season. Taking over from Mark Hughes with the aim of keeping QPR up, it initially seemed that […]

Stability in football is an exceptionally unsexy, yet necessary topic. While fans and the media love big-money buys and managerial changes, the truth is that there is only one surefire way for teams without ridiculous money or talent to outperform expectations: familiarity. Swansea and Wigan are but two examples of how focusing on clear playing […]

As silly season descends upon the Premier League again and the transfer rumours start heating up, it becomes quite easy as fans to forget about things like budgets and stability and start dreaming of shiny new player acquisitions to help your club avoid relegation or reach Europe. Truth be told, precious few transfers ever reach […]

Ever since Rafael Benitez left Liverpool, fans have seemingly lurched from one crisis to another, even if that word is thrown about all too loosely these days. From struggles with ownership and transfers to constant managerial upheaval, Anfield has rarely looked like a fortress since the Spanish manager’s departure. For a time, Liverpool fans could […]

This writer must confess, Lucas Leiva has never been his favorite Liverpool player. The Brazilian is articulate, tidy, and one of the best holding midfielders in the world. Still, my eye is shallowly drawn to flashes of genius, readily shown by those who have the luxury of playing high up field where every twist and […]

Researching or studying football tactics can seem like an overwhelming task, simply because aside from the basic framework provided by the rulebook, so much else is left fluid. Formations, player roles, player positions, they all mean something different depending on the context and meaning of the speaker. Is a striker always a striker? What about […]

When Brendan Rodgers got the Liverpool job, he brought in a very Spanish-Dutch style of play. Possession is everything. All offensive and defensive work starts with the ball. When you are without the ball you need to win it back as quickly as possible. Rodgers has already spoken about his desire to see Liverpool play […]