Analysis

The mid-block is a well-established tactic and will be seen at some point during most games at all levels. A mid-block can be broadly defined as players being positioned zonally rather than in response to the oppositions positioning, and occupying the middle zone of the pitch. Being positioned relative to one another, rather than in […] The post Unlocking A Mid-Block: Tactical Solutions From Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta & Unai Emery – Tactical Theory appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Liverpool went crashing out of the FA Cup at the weekend as another trophy passed them by, but if FSG's history says anything, then victory wouldn't have changed their view on Arne Slot

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal remain favourites for the Premier League title over Manchester City despite having suffered brutal cup disappointments in their last two games

With Barcelona now seven points clear in La Liga, the Champions League takes on extra significance for Real Madrid

Eduardo Camavinga joined Real Madrid from Stade Rennais in the summer of 2021 for €31m. Right away, he got off to a great start, playing 26 matches in La Liga and 37 the following season, becoming a key player in Los Blancos‘ midfield. Things have slowed down for Camavinga at Madrid; injuries played a part, […] The post Eduardo Camavinga Scout Report At Real Madrid 2025/2026: A High-Ceiling Recruitment Opportunity – Player Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Slot, Man City and FA Cup Fallout: Liverpool Facing Defining Moment Arne Slot’s tenure at Liverpool was never supposed to hinge on a single cup run, yet the fallout from the FA Cup has sharpened scrutiny in a way few anticipated. As reported by The Athletic, the Dutchman’s position is not immediately under threat, but […] The post James Pearce: FA Cup shocker a symptom of Slot’s Liverpool decline appeared first on anfieldindex.com.

The duel at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano between Atlético Madrid and Barcelona represented a collision of two distinct tactical universes that have begun to converge under the modern constraints of the 2026 season. Hans-Dieter Flick’s Barcelona arrived with a clear intent to impose a high-tempo positional game, while Diego Simeone’s Atlético, despite their evolving identity, […] The post Atlético Madrid Vs Barcelona [1–2] – La Liga 2025/2026: Pressure, Width & Control Seal The Title Statement – Tactical Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Max Dowman was the only positive for Arsenal at the weekend as a rotated cast were well beaten in the FA Cup quarter-final

Gary Lineker believes Mikel Arteta has shown signs of 'panicking' in recent weeks but still expects Arsenal to win the Premier League.

Former Chelsea star Frank Leboeuf fears Arsenal's season is on the brink of collapse and is concerned Mikel Arteta's squad could yet end the season trophyless.

Try The Athletic for FREE for 30 days: https://theathletic.com/tifofootball 📗 Tifo's new book, "How to Watch Football" is now available internationally: https://linktr.ee/tifobook In the 1990s, Italy had the most famous football league in the world. Serie A was the envy of every footballing nation; even the best English players chose to play there. But 30 years later, the league is a shadow of its former self. How did Italian football fall behind? Written by Kaya Kaynak. Illustrated by Marco Bevilacqua. Join the Tifo Discord Server - https://discord.gg/6nMGtSyyNM Follow Tifo Football by The Athletic: Facebook: http://facebook.com/TifoFootball Instagram: http://instagram.com/TifoFootball_ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tifofootball_ X: https://x.com/TifoFootball_ Listen to the Tifo Football podcast: The Athletic UK: http://bit.ly/TifoPodChannel Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TifoFootPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/06QIGhqK31Qw1UvfHzRIDA YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWYJXDKS21OHj085qILmy-O2-yZqFIcuM&si=1tSREkvPh3Gps5NR Watch more Tifo: Tifo Football Podcast: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWYJXDKS21OHj085qILmy-O2-yZqFIcuM&si=1tSREkvPh3Gps5NR Tifo Sports by The Athletic: https://www.youtube.com/@TifoSports About Tifo Football by The Athletic: Tifo loves football. We create In-depth tactical, historical and geopolitical breakdowns of the beautiful game. We know there’s an appetite for thoughtful, intelligent content. For stuff that makes the complicated simple. We provide analysis on the Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, World Cup and more. Our podcasts interview some of the game’s leading figures. And our editorial covers football with depth and insight. Founded in 2017 and became a part of The Athletic in 2020. For business inquiries, reach out to [email protected]. Additional footage sourced from freestockfootagearchive.com Music provided by APM Music #Football #Italy #SerieA

FSG wants to give Slot the chance to put things right next season, but the manner of the defeat to City should set alarm bells ringing

Today in TAFC: Is Arne Slot on brink at Liverpool? Plus: Yamal, Dembele, and the Ballon d'Or contenders.

Looking to take a giant leap towards officially booking their iconic Premier League return, Coventry will travel to Yorkshire on Monday night when they meet Hull. Continuing to shatter a string of records this season and rightfully receiving a string of plaudits from across England’s second-tier, Frank Lampard’s high-flying squad will simply be looking to […] The post Hull City vs Coventry City Bet Builder Tips – 7/1 Championship Special, Analysis & Predictions appeared first on Soccer News.

Real Madrid's clash with Bayern Munich headlines the Champions League quarterfinals, while Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will meet in another high-stakes encounter

Two games, two defeats, two trophies slip out of Arsenal's grasp. If they are to grab Champions League and/or Premier League glory they must bounce back this week.

West Ham United survive a penalty scare against Leeds United after Max Kilman collides with Anton Stach after the German midfielder had already got his shot away.

This was supposed to be Jamaica's chance to make it back to the World Cup, but nothing went right

Liverpool have been told they must drop Mohamed Salah for their crunch Champions League clash on Wednesday night. The Egyptian endured a horror show during the 4-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City …

Mikel Arteta has been urged to drop star defender William Saliba as Arsenal's season threatens to implode.

ESPN provides game-by-game analysis of Lionel Messi's performances for Inter Miami and Argentina.

Gunners will be feeling heat after two huge cup defeats

ARSENAL fans have seen this film before, and they didn’t like the ending. A season packed with so much promise, seemingly comes crumbling down when crunch time arrives. Saturday night’s defeat to Southampton was, by definition, a cup shock, but was anyone really that shocked by it? Arsenal have made a habit of making these...

Lack of specialist training may explain drop in influence, but many feel the centre-forward is due a revival Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke barely knew each other when the latter arrived at Manchester United in the summer of 1998, but the partnership they forged became the stuff of legend. In training, they were often found working together, practising runs, interchanges, dummies and combinations. That season they scored 53 goals between them as the club won the treble. Yorke shared the Premier League Golden Boot with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Michael Owen on 18 goals. Cole finished one behind. The top 10 scorers in the league that season were all strikers. But the training pitches and scoring charts paint a very different picture today. Finishing drills are infrequent, possession is paramount and the league’s leading scorers are more often wingers, No 10s or false 9s. Traditional centre-forwards are disappearing. Opta data shows the sharp decline in their influence. Two decades ago, strikers scored 41.6% of the Premier League’s goals – 387 of 931. This season, the figure stands at 25.9% – 291 of 845.

Hailed as ‘mentality monsters’ under Jurgen Klopp, Arne Slot’s side look in need of a new direction

On the face of it, Manchester City's 4-0 win over Liverpool was as emphatic as it gets. But the frustration for Liverpool supporters is that it is the details that are costing their side. Arne Slot puts some of that down to misfortune. It is much more than that.

In the rapidly shifting landscape of elite European football, the left-footed centre-back has transitioned from a tactical luxury to a fundamental structural necessity. As we move through the 2025/2026 campaign, few players embody the multifaceted nature of this role more completely than Nico Schlotterbeck. At 26 years of age, the Borussia Dortmund defender has reached […] The post Nico Schlotterbeck Scout Report At Borussia Dortmund 2025/2026: The Top Ball-Playing Centre-Back On The Market? – Player Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Edu Expósito has emerged as one of the most complete midfielders in La Liga during the 2025/2026 season with RCD Espanyol. The Spanish midfielder is 29 years old and primarily plays as a central midfielder, with the ability to adapt to multiple roles in midfield. Expósito combines defensive awareness, progressive passing, and creative output, making […] The post Edu Expósito Scout Report At Espanyol 2025/2026: A Midfield Orchestrator With Elite Creative Output – Data Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Southampton were seen by some as an easy route through to the semi-finals for the north London team. Yet it proved to be anything but

Arsenal must regroup after their hopes of a quadruple are wrecked in two weeks by successive defeats for the first time this season.

Mikel Arteta has been criticised for not deploying his first team from the outset against Southampton, as Arsenal suffered a second cup exit in as many games on Saturday night.

Mikel Arteta said the pain of Arsenal's Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City would help them in the run-in. Keeping the narrative positive after their FA Cup exit to Southampton won't be so easy.

LEWIS STEELE: As Man City fans briefly averted their starry-eyed gazes from the pitch to perform their famous Poznan dance, the 7,600 Liverpool supporters up on high decided to follow suit.

Jorge Jesus reveals why Ronaldo stepped aside Leer

Most of what has gone wrong this season can be put down to poor recruitment – but the manager must share the blame Even when the fixture list was revealed last summer, it was perhaps predictable that the middle of March would represent the crisis point for Newcastle. If they had reached the Champions League quarter-finals and won the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park, a lot of other frustrations could have been forgotten. Even better, that game against Sunderland would have had to be postponed had Newcastle reached a third Carabao Cup final since 2023. Those days of celebration a year ago feel a long time ago now, but the mood could easily have been very different. Newcastle were the better side in the home leg against Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League. Only the concession of a daft late penalty denied them victory and they were a persistent threat on the break in the first half of the away leg. Only in the second half of the second leg did the game get away from them: a 7-2 defeat made the difference between the sides seem much greater than it actually was.

Manchester City have beaten Arsenal and taken apart Liverpool in their past two games and Erling Haaland's return to goalscoring form has laid down the gauntlet for the run-in.

Now well into the Torneo Apertura, the Uruguayan Championship is beginning to reveal the frontrunners for the seasons first title. While the nation’s two heavyweights, Nacional and Peñarol, maintain their expected tug-of-war at the top, several underdogs are starting to make their presence felt. Chief among them is Deportivo Maldonado. After earning promotion to the […] The post Gabriel Di Noia Tactics At Deportivo Maldonado 2026: Breaking Positional Play With Relational Football – Tactical Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Josh King is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder who currently plays for Fulham and the England U21 national team. King is enjoying a breakout season, his first full Premier League campaign, in which he has amassed 24 appearances, including 13 starts and over 1,000 minutes of football. This Josh King scout report analyses his technical qualities in possession, […] The post Josh King Scout Report At Fulham 2025/2026: Marco Silva’s Breakout Midfield Talent – Player Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Arsenal meet Brighton with their sights set on reaching a second semi-final while Tottenham could be facing Chelsea at just the right time Riding high after their Champions League quarter-final win over Chelsea, Arsenal are ready to push on in the FA Cup. The WSL title may be almost certainly out of sight following Manchester City’s impressive victory over Manchester United, but the chance to go for a European and domestic cup double is very much there. Brighton stand in the way of securing a second cup semi-final within six days. Last weekend Dario Vidosic’s side earned a first WSL win since their 23 January defeat of Everton, securing a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Leicester. The Seagulls sit sixth in the WSL, eight points behind Tottenham and only ahead of London City Lionesses on goal difference. They are seven points off of last season’s total with four games remaining. However, those four games are against Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Spurs and inconsistency has blighted their campaign. The hope will be that they face a tired Arsenal after their Champions League exploits, with the 1-0 second-leg defeat to Chelsea a frantic and exhausting match. That is perhaps an ambitious ask given the depth at Arsenal’s disposal and the form they are in, Wednesday night’s inconsequential defeat being their first loss since 21 January.

For the U.S. national team, the March international window was both a gut check and a gut punch. The gap was wide at times between the USMNT and the top-tier European teams it faced. Mauricio Pochettino’s team had decent moments in both games, but both Belgium and Portugal raised their levels to a height the […] The post USMNT’s March backslide: Formation changes leave even more to untangle appeared first on Soccer America.

The Golden Generation of USMNT has not been able to reach its full potential Leer

The tactical impact of Raphinha’s absence on Barcelona is profound, with the team looking weaker, slower, and far less aggressive. As a key component of Hansi Flick’s system, his absence does not just remove an attacker — it disrupts structure. Introduction Injuries are part of football, but timing defines their significance. With Barcelona… The post Raphinha’s Injury: Tactical Impact on Barcelona Ahead of the Champions League Quarterfinal first appeared on Breaking The Lines.

Christian Pulisic is struggling to find his best form for AC Milan and the USMNT.

The Belgium midfielder hints at the Red Devils’ reason for crashing out of the tournament 10 years ago

With uncertainty over the City manager's future, how do the 26 meetings with his old adversaries compare?

As the 2025/2026 EFL Championship season approaches its decisive final stretch, the race for promotion has begun to crystallize, with clear separation emerging between the leading contenders and the chasing pack. Coventry City appear all but assured of automatic promotion, holding an 11-point advantage over third place with only seven matches remaining. Consequently, the analytical […] The post EFL Championship 2025/2026: Tactical & Statistical Trends In The Promotion Race – Data Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

In the historical corridors of Borussia-Park, the echoes of the Fohlenelf identity, defined by youthful exuberance and technical audacity, have found a modern vessel in Wael Mohya. At just 17 years of age, the Germany U18 international has not merely transitioned into Eugen Polanski’s first-team setup; he has effectively rewritten the clubs record books, becoming […] The post Wael Mohya Scout Report At Borussia Mönchengladbach 2025/2026: The Next Iteration Of Gladbach’s Creative Identity – Player Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Even though they failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, losing to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in the playoff semi-finals, Wales are currently undergoing an exciting tactical revolution under Craig Bellamy. It’s the 46-year-old Welshman’s first-ever managerial job outside of the academy level, and he is already showing his tactical acumen. For many […] The post Craig Bellamy Tactics At Wales 2026: Transforming The Dragons’ Identity – Tactical Analysis appeared first on Total Football Analysis.

Tony Pulis explores why Tottenham are in such a mess and what their new manager Roberto de Zerbi might do to change things as they seek to stay in the Premier League.