Tactical analysis of events on the pitch at Anfield, as Manchester City travelled to Liverpool in the 2026/27 Premier League ...

Former River Plate coach and director of methodology Jonathan La Rosa on how the club developed Manchester City’s £125m man Enzo Fernández ...

Positional play, also known as juego de posición, is a principle of play in football that many of the world’s top coaches adopt. When a team uses positional play, the players take up positions to ...

Michael Carrick is back in the hot seat as Manchester United head coach, having been appointed until the end of the 2025/26 season following Ruben Amorim’s departure. It is the second time the ...

Wing-backs are the wide players in formations that use a back three, such as 3-5-2, 3-4-3 and 3-4-1-2. When defending, the wing-backs drop back either side of the three centre-backs to form a back ...

When Mikel Arteta was appointed Arsenal head coach in December 2019, the club were 10th in the Premier League after 17 games. The Gunners – no longer regular Champions League qualifiers – were seven ...

What is the 4-2-4 formation? The 4-2-4 formation has a back line of four defenders: two centre-backs and two full-backs. Ahead of the defenders, a central-midfield pair operates in the next line, with ...

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola insists that formations “are nothing more than phone numbers”. The implication is that his players move from their positions so much that the stated formation ...

It is a sign of the impact he has had in only two jobs as a head coach that, less than four years after stepping into his first role at AZ Alkmaar, Arne Slot has found himself one of the most ...

What is a modern centre-back? A modern centre-back is a central defender with the same responsibilities as a traditional centre-back, but with more importance placed on their in-possession actions. As ...