Rough Diamonds #31- Kasey Palmer(Chelsea)
As Chelsea’s 2015/2016 petered off into a 10th place finish, there was a clear opportunity for Guus Hiddink to include some of the clubs more talented youngsters in the match day squads. He did just that. When the club faced Liverpool on 11 May, there were a host of youngsters from the academy named on […]
Euro 2016 Tactical Preview- Belgium
Bandied about as the dark horses and rank outsiders for the competition, Belgium’s squad has an embarrassing wealth of riches. As a ‘golden generation’ of talent breaks through and gains experience, expectations of the Belgium side should be raised. Manager, Marc Wilmots, has however chosen to reiterate that the Red Devils still remain outsiders. He […]
Euro 2016 Tactical Preview- Portugal
Portugal head into the EURO 2016 competition with a team containing both experience, and relatively unknown quantities that have begun to break through. Names such as Renato Sanches, Rafa Silva, and João Mário are beginning to introduce themselves in some of Europe’s top leagues, however Fernando Santos’ side will understandably be marked as a potential […]
Rough Diamonds #30- João Mário (Sporting)
A graduate from the famous Sporting academy, João Mário is the latest talent to roll of off the production line. After breaking into the first team in 2014, Mário has grown and impressed in Sporting team that has fallen short of Benfica and Porto in the previous two years. An adaptable and multi-functional player, João […]
Football Tactics for Beginners: Inverted Fullbacks
A relatively unknown quantity, the inverted fullback position is typically used to combat wingers that like to cut inside to get involved in the game. Bucking the trend of staying wide when on the ball, inverted fullbacks will carry the ball into central areas when going forward. One example of this niche position is Bayern […]
Football Tactics for Beginners- The False Winger
A relatively new one to the lexicon of the footballing world, the false winger is often associated with players that drift inside to make their mark on the game instead of staying wide and attacking the fullback. False wingers are often attacking midfielders, or number tens, that the manager looks to shoehorn into the team […]
Football Tactics for Beginners: Pressing and Counter-Pressing
Introduction: The idea of pressing is to put pressure on the ball with the intention of winning it back off of the opposition. By forcing the opposition to complete an action in a pressured atmosphere, every aspect of that action is made more difficult. An action consists of both a decision and the execution of […]
Football Tactics for Beginners:The High Defensive Line
Introduction: The high defensive line is a high risk style of play that see’s a team push up in order to shut down the amount of time an opposition has to play, however it requires high levels of skill and cohesion as the team stepping up leaves spaces to run into. The high line has […]
