There’s a strange joy in finding a wonderkid on Football Manager before anyone else knows their name. That rush when you sign a 16-year-old for peanuts and five seasons later he’s bagging goals in a Champions League final. Football Manager has a knack for spotting talent long before it breaks through. Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney,…
Imagine turning on the TV to watch your club’s new signing make his debut, only to realise within minutes that he can’t even trap a ball. Now picture discovering that this same player had convinced your manager he was an international star with nothing more than a few phone calls and a smooth story. That’s…
“You see, they’re in a 3-2-5 in possession, inverted full-backs creating the box midfield. But out of possession, it’s more of a 4-2-2-2, with the wingers engaging the second phase in a hybrid press.” Now, read that again and ask yourself, what have you actually learned? The rise of Football Tacticos – those self-styled tactical…
Nowadays, you hear it everywhere. On Match of the Day, in WhatsApp groups, from pundits trying to explain how a team came away with nothing despite battering the opposition. xG is part of the football conversation now. But for all the talk, most people couldn’t tell you where it came from, or who came up…
Reading FC is a club with a long history in English football, but thanks to their owner Dai Yongge, they are close to extinction. Find out more here.
“It’s shameful letting us play such an important competition, where a lot of champions take part, with a ball like this”—Gianluigi Buffon. The World Cup in 2010 was one of the most incredible events in modern history. Taking place in South Africa, it would be the first time that an African nation hosted this major…
On the east side of Leeds, a mere 20-minute drive from Elland Road, Farsley Celtic are facing a major uphill battle to ensure their club’s status
Robbie Keane is an Irish icon. He will go down as the country’s greatest ever goalscorer, but his post playing career has been quite controversial.
There are some players in the footballing world that are simply born to play. Watching these players transcend the game to a new level is what makes fans adore the sport. A player that defined the term ‘natural born talent’ was none other than Adel Taarabt. Skill, speed, strength—you name it. Adel Taarabt possessed it…
