Latest Articles
The Norwegians impress against two top European teams and draw attention to themselves. We take a look at the two matches. Translations of German match analyses on spielverlagerung.de Bodø/Glimt v Manchester City (3:1) Bodø/Glimt have been regarded as a hidden gem within the analysis community for several years now, but at the latest since Tuesday’s […]
Mjällby AIF are Swedish champions. For the first time in their history, the small fishing village of 1,300 inhabitants has managed to outperform the competition from the bigger cities, helped by an exceptional brand of attacking football. “Europe’s surprise team comes from a tiny fishing village on Sweden’s southern coast. The sporting director is a […]
A solid start was masked by an overly passive 5-4-1 and ultimately ended in a 5-1 defeat for Dino Toppmöller and Eintracht Frankfurt. After three winless games, Eintracht Frankfurt faced Liverpool on Wednesday evening. Dino Toppmöller lined up in a 3-4-3 formation. Zetterer started in goal after extended discussions in the media. Amenda and Theate […]
Eintracht Frankfurt won their opening Champions League matchday with a 5-1 victory over Galatasaray Istanbul. After about ten minutes, Frankfurt were trailing 0-1, but thanks in part to adjusted pressing, they were able to turn the game around. What follows is an aspect analysis of Frankfurt’s attacking press against the Istanbul side’s build-up play. Frankfurt […]
Conversion rate has statistically been proven to be one of the best indicators for predicting a team’s success (Souza et al., 2019). All the more astonishing, then, that the underlying influencing factors are still largely unknown to most, leaving chance conversion for many as something of a black box. This analysis aims to improve the […]
England wins the U21 European Championship final against Germany 3-2. After just 20 minutes, England leads 2-0. This aspect analysis focuses on the reasons behind the German attacking press’s lack of access to England’s build-up play. The U21 European Championship final offered several interesting tactical elements. This analysis focuses on Germany’s lack of access in […]
Over the last years, one of the main concepts regularly mentioned on this website – but so far rarely explained – is the one about Diagonality. Whether in the theory articles about the blind side, the discussion about relational football or 2014’s classic about The Half-Spaces, diagonality either played an implicit or a very explicit […]
Football is often framed in terms of vertical and horizontal play – attacking “directly” upfield versus spreading the pitch wide. Yet between these axes lies an equally crucial but subtler dimension: diagonality. Diagonal passes, runs, and structures connect the vertical with the horizontal, unlocking angles that pure north-south or east-west approaches cannot. In geometric terms, […]
Daniel Kahneman was one of the leading psychologists of our time. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, he presented extensive insights from his many years of research. This article explores how Kahneman’s findings, along with other insights from behavioral science, can be applied to (strategic and tactical) football analysis. Kahneman became well known in […]
The Timing Game describes a playing philosophy in which the right moment of an action is crucial. It not only allows pressing traps to be reversed but also enables teams to break down deep defensive blocks with precision. In the Premier League, Brighton’s then-manager Roberto De Zerbi took this tactical approach to a new level. […]
Inter Milan’s U19 team is the only side in this season’s UEFA Youth League to have won all their matches so far, finishing the group stage of the “Youth Champions League” in first place. They also secured victory in the knockout playoff round and will now face Bayern Munich U19 in the Round of 16. […]
On Matchday 23, the two surprise teams of the Premier League faced off. Nottingham, unbeaten in their last nine matches, has impressed this season with outstanding defensive work. Bournemouth, coached by Andoni Iraola and now unbeaten in 12 games, takes a completely different tactical approach compared to most other teams. In an interview with TNT […]
Tottenham Hotspur and TSG Hoffenheim disappoint on Thursday evening in Sinsheim, with Hoffenheim showing promising adjustments in the second half but still falling short. It was a match defined by approaches and ambivalence, as both teams displayed glimpses of potential but lacked the necessary consistency and presence. (MX) Christian Ilzer and TSG Hoffenheim were under […]
Rúben Amorim’s Manchester United faced Hürzeler’s Brighton on Matchday 22. While Manchester United focused on creating a pressing system that was as difficult as possible to bypass, Brighton once again showcased their incredibly challenging vertical play. You can find the tactical analysis of the match here. Manchester United started in a nominal 3-2-4-1 formation, which […]
A key tactical tool in modern football is the use of overloads. Creating a (situational) numerical advantage allows for more effective combinations, opening up spaces, and disrupting the opponent’s defensive structure. This article explains the strategic benefits of overloads in various areas of the pitch and demonstrates how they can be created and exploited to […]
The crisis at Manchester United keeps recurring. We take a closer look at the early weeks of Ruben Amorim’s tenure. In the first part of this analysis, we examine the development with the ball, carefully scrutinizing all steps taken. (MX) After Erik ten Hag was dismissed by Manchester United’s owners, Rúben Amorim took charge earlier […]
In two new seminars we will discuss “the game as a game”. The first seminar will cover the philosophy of “playing spirit” that is increasingly more important than “fighting spirit” in the game of football. The second seminar will discuss how we should talk about the game in an entertaining, interesting and realistic way. #1: […]
Sebastian Hoeneß took over VfB Stuttgart in spring 2023 as bottom of the table and led the club to relegation. Just under a year later , Stuttgart qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 14 years. By Danilo Kupke, former assistant coach for Werder Bremen’s under-16s and former analyst at Union Berlin’s […]
What does the future of football hold for us? Why is the Guardiola-style so dominant? Can it be overcome by new “relationist” ideas? We will analyse and discuss the latest tactical trends, venture a prediction about upcoming developments and demonstrate how a unique playing philosophy can be created. Introduction If you have not followed the […]
We will tell you (almost) everything about attacking play. After our introductory seminar and in addition to the continuing analysis-workshops, in the next topic of our academy we will dedicate ourselves to what’s probably the most beautiful and important part of soccer: the offensive game. We are going to present elementary ideas, models and concepts […]
We want to take a look at the team of the moment in a two-hour seminar at the Academy. What makes Bayer so strong and how can their style of play be classified in regard to tactical theory and history? Leverkusen are top of the Bundesliga table and we want to look in detail at […]
In this article we are trying to summarize a discussion about Positionism and Relationism in a somewhat different way. This discourse has evolved in various ways and shapes, often without a clear overview of the status quo of itself. By doing so, it did reach it’s intended goal already: Discuss football differently (again). Now we […]
Following up the successful launch of our “Academy” we offer a new format: Analysing football in groups. After having over 400 participants in our first topic of “Analysis and Coaching” and getting great feedback for it, we are happy to anounce that we will continue our “SV Academy” with another project. Before presenting the next […]