Nick Miller

Real Madrid vs Man City… again? Is an increase in repeat fixtures damaging the Champions League? Group match-ups have been repeated in the knockouts as many times in a season and a half of the new format as in the previous 32 years

Teams that have already played each other in the CL league phase have been drawn against each other again in the knockouts 11 times in the last two seasons. That’s the same as in the previous 32 seasons.

On a flaw in the ‘new’ Champions League format

www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...

New: Football Clichés: Literally ghosting, Larry David's Champions League commentary & Sir Alex's 2011/12 title curse Adam Hurrey is joined on the Adjudication Panel by Charlie Eccleshare and, for his 100th appearance, Nick Miller. On the agenda: a cultural review of the North London derby, the threshold for a tea...

𝐓𝐇𝐄
𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒
𝐏𝐎𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓

🔊 A cultural review of the North London derby

🔊 Larry David’s Champions League commentary

🔊 What constitutes a team "laying a glove"?

🔊 The REAL reason Man City pipped Man Utd to the 2011/12 title

🔊 MUCH MORE

@cdeccleshare.bsky.social
@nickmiller79.bsky.social 💯

Recording FOOTBALL CLICHES with @cdeccleshare.bsky.social & @nickmiller79.bsky.social on Monday...

Let's have your questions, observations, football-linguistic examinations, footballers' names in things & anything else at all for the Adjudication Panel

Cheers!

Pereira, the Fenerbahce years: Going AWOL, Van Persie and Ozil troubles, and an unlikely return

It's the Turkish football-Nottingham Forest Venn diagram - or the piece I was always going to write.

On Vitor Pereira's two spells at Fenerbahce. Some good, some bad, some lively.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/705...

Jose Mourinho sank to a new low with absurd and offensive claims about Vinicius Junior Mourinho was, in effect, telling Vinicius Jr that he didn’t hear what he says he heard, which was alleged racist abuse from a Benfica player

On Jose Mourinho sinking to invoking Eusebio, to tell a black player he couldn't have been racially abused, & turning to Clarence Seedorf for some wisdom

www.nytimes.com/athletic/705...

Anatoliy Trubin, Benfica’s goalkeeper who scored against Madrid: ‘It was like I was a striker. It was crazy’ His 98th-minute goal sent his team into the Champions League playoffs - he discusses that moment and his hopes for his homeland Ukraine

“Since I started to play football, I did everything to stop goals. Now, people know me because I scored a goal.”

An interview with Anatoliy Trubin, the keeper who scored in the 98th minute to put Benfica through to the Champions League playoffs

www.nytimes.com/athletic/703...

Anatoliy Trubin, Benfica’s goalkeeper who scored against Madrid: ‘It was like I was a striker. It was crazy’ His 98th-minute goal sent his team into the Champions League playoffs - he discusses that moment and his hopes for his homeland Ukraine

“Since I started to play football, I did everything to stop goals. Now, people know me because I scored a goal.”

An interview with Anatoliy Trubin, the keeper who scored in the 98th minute to put Benfica through to the Champions League playoffs

www.nytimes.com/athletic/703...

Recording FOOTBALL CLICHES with @davidcameronwalker.bsky.social & @nickmiller79.bsky.social on Monday...

Let's have your questions, observations, football-linguistic ruminations, footballers' names in things & anything else at all for the Adjudication Panel

Cheers!

Lindsey Vonn injury footage: How do sports broadcasters cover serious accidents? When competitors suffer horrific, or even life-threatening, injuries, broadcasters are faced with making difficult ethical choices

If you were watching on TV, you couldn’t see Lindsey Vonn’s injury close up.

You could hear it, though.

That footage invites the question: what do broadcasters do when an athlete is seriously hurt on live TV?

@nickmiller79.bsky.social

Lindsey Vonn injury footage: How do sports broadcasters cover serious accidents? When competitors suffer horrific, or even life-threatening, injuries, broadcasters are faced with making difficult ethical choices

How do broadcasters deal with serious injuries or illness in sport, when they happen on live TV?

I spoke to people who’ve been in that situation, including directors & Jon Champion, who was commentating when Fabrice Muamba collapsed

www.nytimes.com/athletic/704...

YouTube video by The Athletic FC Podcast Can a fourth manager save Forest's season?

If you have a curious fascination in football clubs doing weird things when it comes to managers, you’ll enjoy this. Not so fun for Forest heads like @nickmiller79.bsky.social & Paul Taylor though.

@theathleticfc.bsky.social
youtu.be/w0aEtQP-oL8?...

In praise of Pep Guardiola for speaking out, regardless of the inevitable ‘Whataboutery’ accusations For someone in his position to speak on difficult subjects is welcome. The fact he is ultimately employed by Abu Dhabi doesn’t negate that

There's an instinct to accuse Pep Guardiola of double standards when he talks about Gaza, Sudan or anything else, because of who he works for. It's understandable, but at least he's speaking out about something.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/701...

New: Football Clichés: Scorpion scepticism, 80% ball knowledge & Conor Coady's Football Clubs (2026 edition) Adam Hurrey is joined on the Adjudication Panel by David Walker and Nick Miller. On the agenda: subtle podcast references at the darts, goal probabilities with Clinton Morrison, West Brom fans' lim...

THE
FOOTBALL CLICHES
PODCAST

🔊 Scorpion scepticism

🔊 Football kit manufacturers in Latin epic poems

🔊 Conor Coady shatters his own Conor Coadying world record

🔊 The sheer perfection of "fair and POXY square"

🔊 MUCH MORE

@davidcameronwalker.bsky.social
@nickmiller79.bsky.social

Recording FOOTBALL CLICHES with @davidcameronwalker.bsky.social and @nickmiller79.bsky.social on Monday...

What questions, observations, football-linguistic crimes, commentary gems and/or footballers' names in things do you have for the Adjudication Panel this week?

Cheers!

Jose Mourinho’s rocky return at Benfica – and that special moment The dramatic finale against Real Madrid has helped change the tone of an otherwise disappointing first season back in Portugal for Mourinho

Jose Mourinho’s return to Benfica hasn’t gone to plan. 200 ultras showing up at the training ground will tell you that.

But it isn’t all his fault, & maybe THAT moment this week can change things.

A piece on a man we seemingly can’t stop looking at.

Jose Mourinho’s rocky return at Benfica – and that special moment The dramatic finale against Real Madrid has helped change the tone of an otherwise disappointing first season back in Portugal for Mourinho

Jose Mourinho’s return to Benfica hasn’t gone to plan. 200 ultras showing up at the training ground will tell you that.

But it isn’t all his fault, & maybe THAT moment this week can change things.

A piece on a man we seemingly can’t stop looking at.

Implausible, astonishing, ludicrous: Anatoliy Trubin and the 98th-minute goal that changed everything

I was at Benfica last night for the most astonishing finish to a game I've ever been present for.

A piece on that 98th minute goal, implausibility, Anatoliy Trubin, Jose Mourinho and a season potentially saved.

I still don't quite believe what I saw.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/700...

Props to @nickmiller79.bsky.social for finding some actual worlds for what happened last night.
On some level, I am still running around the house screaming.

Implausible, astonishing, ludicrous: Anatoliy Trubin and the 98th-minute goal that changed everything

I was at Benfica last night for the most astonishing finish to a game I've ever been present for.

A piece on that 98th minute goal, implausibility, Anatoliy Trubin, Jose Mourinho and a season potentially saved.

I still don't quite believe what I saw.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/700...

New: Football Clichés: The "what's eating Erling Haaland?" threshold, FA Cup anthem fears & Gary Weaver's Circle of Goals Adam Hurrey is joined on the Adjudication Panel by Charlie Eccleshare, David Walker and Nick Miller. On the agenda: a quickfire review of Arsenal 2 Manchester United 3, unacceptably-named Premier L...

THE
FOOTBALL CLICHES
PODCAST

🔊 Arsenal's Mighty Magic Millimetres

🔊 Finally, we can officially ask "What's eating Erling Haaland?"

🔊 FA Cup anthem, Cotterill's new low, Weaver wonder

🔊 Ex-PMs in Kenyan 5th tier

@cdeccleshare.bsky.social
@davidcameronwalker.bsky.social
@nickmiller79.bsky.social

‘Raw chicken & mouse dropping misery behind them’ is a sensational bullet point.

Liam Rosenior is the latest example of a manager using LinkedIn-speak to get his message across.

It is easy to ridicule — but does it work?

📝 @nickmiller79.bsky.social

🔗 www.nytimes.com/athletic/699...

The rise of LinkedIn manager-speak. Yes, it can be cringey. But does it work? It is easy to ridicule the way some of the new generation of managers talk about the game, but that does not mean it can't be effective

We all enjoyed/cringed our spines out at Liam Rosenior’s ‘man-age/ageing men’ thing, but it was the latest example of the LinkedIn-ification of how some managers speak.

A piece about how managers use language, & whether this stuff does actually work.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/699...

Marginal gains, deception and entertainment: This is why players take Panenkas

"The only way I thought I could beat him was a dink down the middle."

A piece on Panenkas, why players take them, why the numbers back them up, why some think they're actually more logical in high pressure scenarios a little bit of ego & showmanship.

Exactly the same, yes, great point.

Which is referenced in the piece.

The moral of Palace's demise? Smaller clubs can't have nice things

While I understand ‘this is just how it works’, Crystal Palace losing their best player, captain, manager & the Europa League in the eight months after their greatest day is a brutal reminder that football doesn’t allow smaller clubs to be happy for long.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/698...

THE
FOOTBALL CLICHES
PODCAST

🔊 A hierarchy of AFCON absurdity

🔊 Unexpected Premier League strikers in ghost stories

🔊 Could you get yourself fouled in a Premier League game?

🔊 Footballing body language at bus stops

@davidcameronwalker.bsky.social
@nickmiller79.bsky.social

➡️ pod.fo/e/37c2e6

I'm Jürgen Klopp, but I had no idea what that meant."

One year into his new job at Red Bull, I went to meet Klopp and talk to him about what that role has been like.

Interview, for @theathleticfc.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/athletic/698...

This is the last episode of our run. Threads are tied together.