Mauricio Pochettino followed up a shrewd first-half tactical shift with a disastrous piece of half-time tinkering to seemingly hand victory to Pep Guardiola. But Manchester City’s familar defensive vulnerability, coupled with some poor refereeing, salvaged a fortunate point for Tottenham Hotspur. Continue reading
Pep Guardiola’s insistence upon fielding players out of position within a bewildering array of tactical systems that they scarcely understand led to a facile evisceration by Claudio Ranieri’s under-fire champions. Continue reading
Out-pressed and overrun by Manchester City’s midfield throughout, Chelsea weathered a storm of spurned chances to secure a ruthlessly efficient eighth consecutive league victory. Continue reading
Manchester City’s new-look 3-2-2-3 formation survived the effects of an ingenious half-time tactical switch from Everton’s Ronald Koeman to emerge with a point. Continue reading
Manchester City survived José Mourinho’s second-half tactical copycatting and a catastrophic debut from goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to translate their first-half pre-eminence into Pep Guardiola’s maiden Manchester derby victory. Continue reading
Writing this piece just minutes after a turgid encounter between last season’s top-two finishers, it’s difficult to escape the suspicion that this season’s edition of the English Premier League is going to be a tough watch. Continue reading
Pep Guardiola’s decision to field two out-and-out wingers failed to bear fruit against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid. Continue reading
Arsenal’s 2-0 victory at home to Bayern Munich a fortnight ago was built on the foundation of a solid defence, married to a relentless counter-attacking determination to prevail upon the German champions’ poor defensive transitions. Continue reading
Arsene Wenger is not renowned for his tactical flexibility. The longest-serving manager in the Barclays Premier League has long lived by the “we’ll play our own game” maxim, only to be hoisted over and over again on his own petard – most notably in the countless counter-attack inspired drubbings at the hands of Alex Ferguson’s United sides over the years. Continue reading
Tactics Truck v2.0 