In circumstances demanding a less energetic approach, the manager has transformed his side’s Premier League prospects Ominously, Manchester City have eased towards the front of the title race. They went into the weekend third, just four points behind the Premier League leaders, Manchester United, with a game in hand. Their next five league games are against sides in the bottom half and Aston Villa. Had Liverpool beaten them on 8 November, rather than drawing 1-1, their lead over City would have been eight points. As it is, by the time City face Liverpool on 6 February, there’s a good chance they will be top of the table. That, really, is a triumph of coaching.It’s a triumph of resources as well...
Coaches whose ideas were considered almost extinct have re-emerged as teams battle fatigue and a lack of training timeFor football, this was the year evolution went backwards. It began with further victories for the high press, with Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich surging to the Champions League and the Bundesliga, and Jürgen Klopp’s side giving Liverpool their first league title in 30 years, but it ended with a widespread reversion to a more cautious style.A dozen years ago, Pep Guardiola led the rise of press-and-possess football; recently, the pressing element has come to be prioritised – and then Covid-19 arrived. There are those who will dismissively point out we had pressing in the 80s. And we did – we’ve had it...
Top finishers are a varied bunch, from classic or false 9s to target men and wide-rangers who cut in to score – and adapting teams to match their gifts is what makes the best sides tickAs Arsenal’s rebuild under Mikel Arteta has stalled over the past few weeks, one of the most common quick-fixes suggested has been to move Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from the left into the middle. He’s a goalscorer, runs the argument, so you need to put him in the middle, nearer the goal. Which, frankly, is the equivalent of those Victorian doctors who believed malaria was caused by the bad air around swamps – the theory isn’t entirely unrelated to the reality, but a series of vital stages...
Gobbling up possession from a holding role is what the Chelsea midfielder does best, as he showed against TottenhamA run of just two goals conceded in nine games is some riposte to the doubts about Chelsea’s defending. Some doubts remain, but given how exposed Frank Lampard’s side were to the break last season, when they had the worst defensive record of any Chelsea team in 23 years, stifling Tottenham, the kings of the counterattack, is not an achievement to be underplayed. Related: Tottenham return to top of table after José Mourinho frustrates Chelsea Related: Diego Maradona's personal doctor denies responsibility for death Continue reading...
This season of two-a-week fixtures suits the Spurs manager’s attritional style and is why he seems to be enjoying himself Ah, José, it’s good to have you back. It’s been too long since we saw this version of José Mourinho, and in that decade or so it had become increasingly hard to remember exactly what we ever saw in him. How had this sourpuss with the ideological aversion to possession ever charmed us? What on earth was it about this grouch who kept demanding “respect” and his almost unwatchable teams that had made his arrival in the Premier League in 2004 seem such a vital event in the history of football in England? Related: José Mourinho is the right man...