While football is a team game in which everyone must contribute for a side to become more than the sum of its parts, there’s no doubt that special status is afforded to strikers. After all, strikers are widely considered to have the hardest job in the sport, while the...

There has been a great deal of speculation about the future of football on these shores, following a series of concerning events and the general influx of investment from overseas over the course of the last decade. These issues led to an independent, fan-led review...

When VAR was introduced to the domestic and international game, it was hoped that the quality of decisions would be optimised while the burden placed on referees would be lessened. However, it has managed to cause significant issues and debate in its relatively short...

In the continuation of our series exploring football formations, today we take a look at the rather unusual 3-3-4 system. Although this tactic is scarcely used in modern football (other than when chasing a late goal at the end of a game), it has had some recent...

It was the emergence of Jose Mourinho at Porto that first helped to revolutionise the notion of counter-attacking football in the modern age. More specifically, he transformed this into an aggressive tactic in which his teams created overloads and sought to control...

If there’s one formation and tactical setup that’s synonymous with the history of football, it’s the classic 4-4-2. This shape was prevalent in the UK throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, before tactical innovation took hold and the popular 4-2-3-1 variation (and...

There are few more contentious elements of football than VAR at present, with the use of video assistance and technology to review decisions polarising opinions within the sport. Certainly, the deployment of VAR through history would have ruled some truly iconic...

The informal origins of association football can be traced back more than 3,000 years, to the old Mesoamerican cultures who used to play a team game using a rock as a ball. However, the professional game that we know and love today emerged during the mid-1860s, during...

When Was the First International Football Match? The first international match took place on Saturday, 30th November 1872, kicking off shortly after 2pm. It was contested by arch enemies England and Scotland, who played out a tense 0-0 draw in a match that was played...

We recently penned the first in a series of posts focused on the various tactical shapes and systems used in modern football, and today we introduce another in the form of the 4-2-3-1. A clear variation of the 4-4-2 formation that dominated English football until the...

Today’s blog is the second in a series in which we will explain various coaching styles and training sessions with inspiration from some of the Premier League’s top managers. This blog will explore the training methods of Thomas Tuchel and help understand how to...

Today’s blog is part of a series in which we will explain various coaching styles and training sessions with inspiration from some of the Premier League’s top managers. This first of the series will explore the formation of Thomas Tuchel and help understand how to...

Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, there remains a suggestion in the sport of football that coaches and managers should have played the game at the highest level if they’re to lead the very best clubs. However, there’s absolutely nothing to stop football...

There’s no doubt that being a referee can be a largely thankless task, with the emotive nature of the game meaning that officials often have to maintain control in the face of immense pressure and sustained abuse. Some referees fail in this respect, of course. Most...

Football in the UK has undergone a marked transformation through the Premier League era, and not only in terms of the number of foreign players and the influx of huge cash sums. The game is also different tactically too, with pretty much all of the sides that lined up...