Assists are the thinking man's goal.It takes a special sort of footballer to have the eye for a pass in the final third of the pitch, and these are the lads who are exactly that kind of player.We're talking the footballers with eye-of-a-needle vision - the ones capable of whipping and dipping balls right in front of a keeper.Yes, even the ones who have claimed assists simply by virtue of the ball hitting their backside en route to an on-rushing striker.There have been a nice, round 20 players in the Premier League this season to register five or more assists.That means anyone who had the final pass to the goalscorer.We've given you ten minutes to list them. Remember, as always...
Watford’s defeat to Everton over the weekend was a rare occasion on which a team a recovered from a two-goal deficit to win a game, but their performance was still really beside the point.It was a catastrophe of a result for Nigel Pearson and his players, who would have been out of the relegation zone had they held the lead given to them by Adam Masina and Roberto Pereyra. But as a study into how football teams can be prisoners of their own state of mind, it was actually fascinating. Awful for supporters, shattering even, but revealing in that slightly uncomfortable, voyeuristic way.Watford began the game with confidence. Abdoulaye Doucoure and Etienne Capoue were both hugely influential and even the...
Tuesday’s FA Cup fourth-round replay against Shrewsbury Town will be the third time since he became manager that Jurgen Klopp has been absent for a Liverpool match.The first was due to an operation back in February 2016, the other more recently when Club World Cup commitments created congestion last December.This time, the reasons are more nuanced and debatable. Klopp has insisted upon “respecting” the Premier League’s newly-created winter break and therefore he and his first-team squad will be absent from Anfield on Tuesday.Klopp has been probably the most vocal person in football regarding the failures of football authorities to consider the welfare of players when making decisions, and he recently gave an eight-minute answer on the topic in a press...
The call for FA Cup replays to be scrapped has become an annual tradition in its own right. Each year, managers complain that their squads are already overstretched and can’t contend with any additional games. To their minds, something must be done.Typically, those protesting the loudest are in charge of Premier League clubs and so have no shortage of players to choose from, although Oxford United’s Karl Robinson choosing to join the chorus after his side earned a 0-0 draw at St. James’ Park was an interesting, if unexpected, development.More predictably, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have both said that getting rid of replays would help ease problems with fixture congestion, but this overlooks the importance of a longstanding FA...
Goals. Where would we be without them, eh?Probably kicking the ball out for throw-ins like they do in rugby.There have 631 goals in the Premier League this season. There have been 575 in Ligue 1, 587 in the Bundesliga, 555 in La Liga and 632 in Serie A.That's 2980 goals all in all. An average of 29.8 goals per club - though PSG are no doubt skewing the average for everyone else.All we want you to do today is let us know the primary net botherers per country.There are some usual suspects in there, some surprise packages, and no, we're not counting own goals, obviously.We've given you six minutes to list the hitmen. Let us know how you did @FourFourTwo-...