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During his time as José Mourinho’s Chief Opposition Scout, André Villas-Boas said the following about his head coach and scouting expectations: “Jose is obsessed with detail – He will leave nothing to chance, even if his team are playing the worst side in the league.  My work enables Jose to know exactly when a player from the opposition is likely to be at his best or his weakest.”

This article offers an extensive approach to constructing opposition scout reports. Data-driven research, tactical analysis, important questions and suggestions for studying the opposition offer a guide for a comprehensive report. With the research on hand, attention turns to red teaming and presentations.

In this tactical analysis, the topic concerns the interactions of attackers that lead to goals. Since scoring is the most difficult aspect of the game, analyzing and developing a clear understanding of the most effective attacking principles allows teams to improve their shot creation with the personnel available on the wage bill. The full analysis examines five tactical interactions that top clubs use to create more effective attacking moves. This post focuses on the last two, using the half space and vacating key areas.

In this tactical analysis, we’ll investigate the underhanded tactics at play in the age of VAR. Gamesmanship is not dead, but it has certainly evolved, mostly out of necessity. Our topics are tactical fouls and rotating fouls, discovering the “where” of yellow card offenses, finding our modern enforcer, and looking at the impact of simulation. Remember the full article will have much more detail, as well as a section on the usage of screens.

A brief quote taken from The Athletic’s interview of Los Angeles Chargers coach, Brandon Staley, struck Ian Sarachan and Aidan Reynolds.

Assistant coaches for Creighton University in the American NCAA, the long-time friends latched onto the line and created a theme.

The math should matter, especially for this Creighton team. In an NCAA soccer scene that has been a slow adapter to data analytics, the Creighton coaching staff found their secret weapon. Head coach Johnny Torres wanted something different, something that connected to his love of attacking football and high pressing.

Investing in data analytics was the answer, both for the coaches and the players. “We really wanted to grow the minds of our players. To do that, we motivated them in so many different ways, and a lot of it was through the use of data,” said Reynolds.

Defending against flighted balls and tussling with target men are not new concepts. They’ve been around the game for generations, if not from the start. While the game has evolved, football’s rich history not only points to several great, undersized centerbacks, but also shows us the best centerbacks in the history of the game are considered short.

This tactical analysis goes out to the centerbacks who stand at 186 cm or shorter. We’ll show how top undersized centerbacks in the modern game use their size intelligently, consistently gaining an edge on the opponent.

In a three forward system, teams like Real Madrid like to isolate the wide forwards, enabling them to either run onto a pass sent behind the lines, typically in the half-space, or running at a defender 1v1. With the current Barcelona squad, the front three are very narrow, offering vertical runs and outlets for deep completions and combination play. In either situation, the three forwards are tasked with occupying the entirety of the opposition’s backline.

In a two forward system, the occupation of the opposition’s backline is more targeted. In the majority of these tactical systems, the two forwards look to occupy just the centre-backs. They might position themselves between a centre and outside-back on occasion, but it’s nearly always the central player’s responsibility to pick up the central forward.

Successful World Cup appearances for England and Croatia got me thinking…these two squads exceeded expectations, but do most Golden Generation manage to live up to the hype?

Often when you hear someone speak about direct vs possession football, you’ll find “direct” used in a pejorative manner.

Whereas possession is associated with structure, control, intricate movements, and purposeful attacking, direct is often derided as a less aesthetically pleasing form of football. It’s simple, less intricate, and more easily replicated. There’s also the reduction of direct play to a hit-and-hope Route 1 philosophy. Any old squad can have success with the direct approach whereas possession is the burden of talent.

That’s where we’ll make our first distinction. Rather than distinguishing direct from possession, we’re reframing the concept to think of it as direct possession vs indirect possession.

Few players can boast the longevity to have matched up against both Maradona and Cristiano Ronaldo. In fact, only one player comes to mind.

His name is Paolo Maldini.

Though he played in a different era, Il Capitano’s brilliance on the pitch leaves us with timeless lessons in defending

This tactical analysis is part retro scouting report, part tactical theory. We’re going to dive into the core principles that made Maldini the defender he was, highlighting those characteristics for a contemporary audience. By the end, the goal is to have concrete ideas to take with us to the training ground, either as a coach or a player.

If you have read Jonathan Wilson’s extraordinary book, “Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics”, you are well aware of football’s historic march from attack-focused formations and the general progression to pragmatism. As the book portrays, football tactics started with attack-minded systems, then became more defensive in the pursuit of results.

In this tactical analysis, “Inverting the Pyramid” will serve as our guide to football’s earliest developments, then I will give an account of my research in the usage of outside-backs, a key cog in this project. In the end, this article will show how modern tacticians have resurrected and implemented the 2-3-5 pyramid formation.

Are certain tactical styles more conducive to hoisting trophies?

Put it in this perspective, Arsène Wenger won four league titles and 17 domestic cups, but he never won the Champions League. The Invincibles conquered England but bowed out of the Champions League in the quarterfinals.

Do you remember which club won the Champions League in that 2003/04 campaign? None other than a Porto side coached by a young José Mourinho. In the Arsenal ideologue’s most famed season, it was one of the game’s preeminent tacticians who claimed the highest honor.

Is there something the 2003/04 season is trying to tell us?