The fallacy surrounding Manchester United in recent seasons has been that of the midfield diamond. A tactical concept, and a strategical structure, deriving at Manchester United from how Bobby Charlton was deployed in the 1960s. A deep-lying center forward, alongside hard-tackling midfield creator-destroyers, such as Maurice Setters, Paddy Crerand, David Sadler, or Nobby Stiles. Bringing […]

Ange Postecoglou, the manager at Tottenham, watched Spurs continue their slide in the standings Thursday night against West Ham. Despite dominating their opponents for much of the match, Spurs once again squandered a lead to lose a game. The hosts went ahead early in the night thanks to a header by Cristian Romero. The central […]

Is it too soon to call Manchester City vs. Liverpool one of the best rivalries on Earth? It might not have the quality of 2010's Real vs Barca, nor the energy of AC Milan vs. Inter. It doesn't have the sheer violence and bloodshed of Red Star and Partizan. Yet, it may have the two […]

Monday saw Arsenal and Liverpool play out one of the better 0-0 draws in recent memory, with each side laying reasonable claim to dominating a half and finishing deserving winners. It could have finished 1-1, 3-3, or 4-2, to either side, and the fact that it ended goalless only added to the intrigue. Viewers were […]

Playing a formation consisting of three central defenders has long been perceived as taboo by your average soccer fan. While fillips of overseas influences have creeped into the English game and wholesomely enhanced it, the comfort in England and the USA of an elementary four-man back-line is something that fans still cling to. It seems as […]

In England, it's not uncommon to hear the saying that "Zonal marking is not defending." But, what the fact that these pundits often ignore is that goals are scored even when defenders are man marking. It's not that man marking is the be all and end all of defending. It's the system that leaks goals. […]

Another week, another victory! This week was a 4-0 route of Nuremburg. Bayer 04 have become, along with HSV, one of the dominant teams in the Bundesliga. But it was only a year ago that Bayer, under Bruno Labbadia had a blistering start. But it wasn’t anything comparable to this start, because the Werkself aren’t […]

Hamburg shook off their early season funk and tore apart Dortmund at the Nordbank Arena. It was the 4th straight victory for the Dinosaurs at home against BVB. A series of early goals seemed to settle the match by the 12th minute. Guy Demel pushed the first over the line after a massive keeper error […]

Last Thursday, Lucien Favre suspended his right winger Patrick Ebert indefinitely. While the reason for the suspension is that Ebert was out until 3 AM celebrating his birthday, which breaks team curfew rules; there is a bigger story is that during his drunken walk home (points for walking), there is every indication that Ebert along […]

Cologne dominated much of the game at home against Arminia Bielefeld, but in the end, couldn’t break down the central-half pairing of Herzig and Andre Mijatovic with Dennis Eilhoff in goal. With over 60% of possession and 16 shots on goal by Cologne, it was down to the organization of the two central defenders to […]

Karlsruhe and Eintracht Frankfurt repaid the 80 minutes of my life (and the 51,000 strong at the Commerz Bank Arena) that they stole with a scintillating finish. A game that was so boring that it would be offensive to compare it to the oft-used paint drying scenario, erupted into a comedy of blunders in the […]

Blue days at the Allianz Bate and Bayern had the same idea in the second halves of their respective matches. Hold on for a home draw. However unlike Bate, Bayern Munich happened to be one of the 10 richest clubs in the world. Lyon visited the Allianz tonight and scraped by with a 1-1 draw […]

Schalke has a superb record against Köln, but manager Christopher Daum has only ever lost twice in seventeen matches against them in the Bundesliga. That form continued today as Köln walked away deserved 1-0 winners against the league leaders. Indeed, the score line doesn’t do justice to the performance by Köln. They completely outplayed the […]

1. Assholes Anonymous Hi my name is Rafinha and I am an asshole. For a team that has some very likeable and fair-minded players in Neuer, Kuranyi and Westermann, there seems to be a need to offset it with a player like Rafinha. The sooner the fat Rafa from Liverpool buys little Rafa and takes […]