Match Tactics
What a False Nine Actually Asks of a Striker
The false nine gets described as if it were a clever diagram, a number nine who stands in a slightly odd spot.
It is 7.25 on a wet Tuesday, the pitch is booked until 9, and you were promised eighteen players. Eleven are in the car park, two are still at work and one has texted to say his hamstring "feels funny".
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Match Tactics
The false nine gets described as if it were a clever diagram, a number nine who stands in a slightly odd spot.
Games
Ask any club football supporter about the international break and you will get a groan.
Player Development
Every coach has watched it happen. A midfielder gets the ball in space, the pass is decent, and the touch bounces a yard too...
Coaching Notes
The club bought a camera. Somebody straps a phone to a telescopic pole on the halfway line every Saturday, or the committee...
Games
Goalkeeping is mostly what happens before the shot, and that is the part online football games understand worst.
Games
The offside trap is one of the great high-wire acts in football, a defensive line stepping up in unison to leave an attacker...
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Archive
Three writers who come at football from different angles: one breaks down match tactics and substitutions, one writes about player and youth development from time spent on training grounds, and one covers fan culture and club history. Every article carries a byline, and every byline links to everything else that person has written.