Bence Vályi

Milos Kerkez showcased everything that makes him a special talent with this assist: an intercepted pass, a 30-meter sprint with the ball, and a perfect cross to the far side. Lovely player.

I think the three most well-coached and well-drilled out-of-possession sides in world football right now are Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth, and Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.

If both Marmoush and Haaland plays, I'd advise against going man-to-man vs Manchester City. But if you go man-to-man against Manchester City, you HAVE TO press Ederson, too. If you don't, he'll wait until Haaland/Marmoush drags their man, then launch a perfect ball into space.

Newcastle have been going man-to-man since the 1st minute and Manchester City prepared expecting exactly that. They’ve been going long from the beginning.

He had several problems this season, but Ederson’s long balls are killers against m2m opposition.

Madueke regularly dropped into the backline if Gvardiol went high. Before his goal, Gvardiol had a chance after a run in-behind. Madueke didn't track, then talked to James with grand gestures.

Less than 2 minutes later, he loses Gvardiol again, who scores. Maresca calls him off to speak right away.

A team, therefore a coach is only able to do what the available squad’s talent is capable of. No more. There are no magicians in football. Guardiola is special because he is constantly able to maximize his squad.

But he needs good and healthy players. Like every coach.

Yes, it is about Guardiola and Manchester City.

The same people who think out of the box tactical changes are “for the sake of the manager to demonstrate how smart they are” are the same people who think managers should simply “coach better” or “coach themself out of a situation” if a squad is in an injury crisis/getting old.

Lucas Bergvall’s dynamism and ball-carrying ability is incredible, but it’s not an accident Postecoglou was cautious with his minutes in the first half of the season. He’s still raw, sometimes keeps the ball when it should have been realeased, and vice versa. But huge potential.

He’s not the fastest guy, but such a complete striker profile.

In a few years, Delap will explode at a big club that is more dominant and able to create chances for him to a greater extent.

I fckn love Liam Delap, what a player! Great technical and outstanding carrying ability, while being a strong and tall guy. Can create shots for himself in so many different ways. On top of everything, he has an incredibly cocky personality which very much suits him as a no. 9.

Maresca changed in the half, bringing on Malo Gusto for Lavia. Caicedo in the midfield, Badiashile on his natural side.

In the 2nd half Chelsea were able bypass Spurs’s press and much more easily found the the free man during build-ups.

And there were occasions when Chelsea were able to find Enzo or Palmer in the first half (31th minute before Palmer's and Neto's chance). But they gave away the ball too much in their own half. There were too many transitions, which suits Spurs' and Postecoglou's playstyle better than their own.

Chelsea have already had tactical advantages in the 1st half that they're unable to exploit due to personnel. When Spurs jumped m-2-m, either Enzo or Palmer was free in the half-spaces, but w/ only left-footed players on the right, they lost the ball before they could have baited Spurs.

They’re giving up one of their sides. Since the first 15-20 minutes Sanchez has been going long most of the times, but that could not be sustained.

I understand Maresca thinks Badiashile is their 3rd best CB, but Chelsea have only left-footed players on the right side (Badiashile-Palmer-Neto) and it hurts their ability to build from the back. There were already multiple interceptions because of bad passing angles.

Attack ‘wins you games’ but does defence really win you titles? Hamzah Khalique-Loonat crunches the numbers to reveal whether Sir Alex Ferguson’s maxim rings true

It you want to know why Brentford’s owner, Matthew Benham would want his team to attack under all circumstances: www.thetimes.com/sport/footba...

Speaking purely “statistically”, retreating after scoring a goal doesn’t make sense. It’s human behaviour, defending what you already have.

In their first two seasons in the Premier League, Brentford were a more pragmatic team. They tried to capitalize on the smaller margins that bigger teams might not have focused on as much as Brentford did.

Kind of stating the obvious, but Brentford are the Premier League’s most entertaining side. If you want to watch end-to-end matches with lots of goals, choose Brentford, whoever they’re up against.

This season they’re going full Matthew Benham: always attack, under all circumstances.

Been waiting to happen for months now. When Chelsea have the ball, Caicedo inverts to the double pivot, Enzo left #10, Palmer right #10. In the context of Maresca’s system, it brings the most out of Lavia, Caicedo and Enzo.

We’ll see if it stays regularly after Gusto is a 100% healthy.

Gotta be rational and stay on the ground, but that Rashford goal had Rúben Amorim written all over. A CB stepping up to the pivot during goal-kicks, forming a 4-2 in the build-up. A winger converted “wrong-footed” wingback. Verticality from deep build-up.

This was already Amorim.

The sequence before Szoboszlai’s goal is just ridiculous. No situational awareness from Southampton. It has absolutely nothing to do with positional play as a game model and everything to do with Russel Martin. This is not floor-raising with a system, this is blind stubbornness.

2 minutes passed and Southampton are already losing possession in their own third, while Liverpool are pressing high and aggressively. This match will play out very similarly to Arsenal-Southampton.

Still from Moneyball movie, Billy Beane pointing, which has the line "he gets on base" in the movie

"Why do we like Brennan Johnson"

"He gets shots at the back post"

And by “at the back” I mean the furthest 5-6 players.

RE: Guardiola’s OOP plan today. If you jump man-to-man, you *may* need a bit more physical presence at the back to win the duels if the opponent played through the first line of your press. Just maybe.

I'll have to re-watch it to be sure about the intentions, but this is exactly what Arteta and the club imagined when they chose their fullback profiles.

I particularly liked Calafiori's and Timber's movements. Nottingham Forest's 4-2-4 OOP were (obviously) most disruptable on the sides of the middle line. Whether they were deep and wide or inverted, it created space for the no. 8s and wingers.

The way Arsenal is playing today against Forest is exactly how I suppose Arteta imagined this team before the season. Very fluid positional rotations on both sides between the fullbacks, no. 8s and wingers. Unpredictability in the box at the end of cutbacks.

They just needed certain players back.