Salida Lavolpiana.

The tides are turning fast and maybe for the first time in almost a year Jose Mourinho would appear a not so frustrated man. Off late the Portugese has cut a forlorn figure seeming very tired and off-pace. This is in stark contrast to the guy who was charging down the touchline of Old Trafford for knocking out the very team he is managing right now, out of the Champions League. Having had a shaky start to his new job at the Theater Of Dreams, Mourinho seems to be slowly but surely pulling the right strings. After having withered storms of 3 back to back defeats in the same week and following that up with close to a little over two months without a league win at home Manchester United seem to have turned a corner now. They are no longer the team that has  a defense gaping with holes and a midfield filled with mistakes. One of the major concerns for The Special One was to get the best out of Paul Pogba having clearly witnessed that he can be a liability as a holding midfiel...

Do we have the next Leicester City, and that too in the Bundesliga this time? This might be early days and even if Leipzig manage to go toe to toe with Bayern as they've done until now, it should be nothing short of remarkable. Despite the problems off the pitch and being infamous among the fans due to some ownership issue, Leipzig have still managed to put up one good performance after the other. And, this high intensity pressing game has reaped them rich rewards [Vlookup Bundesliga table]. The fact that, they've done this just after being promoted from the lower tier is some achievement. Leipzig like all German teams do, play with a very high intensity from the off. Most of the credit should go to Hattenhusl. The way Leipzig play generally gives the opposition very little options to exploit. They generally tend to clog the middle and force the opposition to play from the wider areas. This not only channels the oppositions attacks and making them predictable, it enables ...

Gone are the glory days, along with the talisman of a Scot who is solely responsible for what United are or rather were until the end of the 2012-2013 season. Trophy laden campaigns, unquestionable superiority over the rivals, all seems to be a far cry to a team, that has at best divided opinion so far this season. Many have written them off already saying we have a Liverpool of the twenty first century. But United are far from that. Changes in the build-up: Ander Herrera and Juan Mata have been the most recent players to be drafted in to the United starting line-up. And if early signs are anything to go by they should be regular starters. Ander Herrera may not have the physicality of a Fellaini but that doesn't cover for the many technical shortcomings of the Belgian. In the game against Stoke City, Valencia could often be seen high on the right wing with  Herrera slotting in to cover for him while Jesse Lingard occupies the right half-space.   This  allows f...

It is fair enough to say that the most famous league in the world, richest league in the world is also the tactically poorest among the other major leagues. The already exorbitant demands of the premier league clubs and the immense pressure on managers to deliver was done no favor when Leicester City and Ranieri went on to lift the league title lasts season. But there are still people looking to strike a balance between the desire for instant success and playing good football. This, being a rare breed  includes the likes of Guardiola, Klopp, Koeman and Pochettino. Right after the initial few rounds of fixtures, there were few games which I really wanted to be played instantly. One of them was Manchester City v/s Tottenham Hotspur, and it was every bit the spectacle. When the league's best forward line faces the best defense it was never easy for both of them, but it was the Spurs who put in another rock solid performance to walk out well deserved winners. Right from the of...

"The objective is to move the opponent not the ball"                                                                                                                      -Pep Guardiola                   In a time where patient build-up from the back is becoming less and less fancied just how important is it to have a detailed first phase of play? With defending teams going in for an aggressive press it would seem like the ideal solution to cut short the build up and keep it simple and direct. The easy way out of this would be to play a long ball aimed at a distant player. Although this relieves pressure temporarily it doesn't give much of an advan...

Attack is the best form of Defense. Why Press? Imagine a team that sits deep in its own half and decides to shut shop from the word go. They are essentially inviting pressure on themselves by allowing the opposition time and space on the ball. And against top quality opposition, if the midfielders (or even defenders in some cases) are allowed the luxury of either time or space they will certainly pick out a killer pass before the defense can react. It essentially means that the opposition has control of the pitch and the ball while the defensive team is restricted to reacting according to the actions of the opposition. This control the opposition enjoys can be taken away by pressing them and forcing them to take decisions they wouldn't want to; purely out of panic.This is even more effective when done in the opposition's first phase of play. It involves trying to win the ball back immediately after losing it and catching the opposition off guard while launching our own a...

Having seen about how effective the inverted full backs can be for an attacking team we'll now have a look at a possible system to counter the same. When a team employs wing backs into midfield numerical superiority can be achieved in every region of the pitch. So it is essential that in order to counter their benefits the defensive team should work as a unit with the forwards also putting in their shift in defense. The 4-3-3 (With a false-9) The 4-3-3 is probably the most stable set-up to face any system. Now, off the three operating central midfielders, a CDM sits back as cover for the backline. This position is crucial in the sense that, should the opposition choose to play its wingers very wide attracting the full backs towards them it leaves the center-backs exposed in the middle. The other two midfielders will have to take up defensive roles in turns to team up with the holding midfielder in order to protect the half spaces that the two opposition attacking midfielders w...

It was almost certain that Pep Guardiola who had earlier stamped his philosophy in Spain and Germany would do the same in England. It's hard to believe that the success of the respective national teams of the countries he's coached in at international tournaments is a coincidence. It was his Barcelona that defined Spain during the 2010 World Cup and tasked with an almost impossible job of bettering a treble winning side his Bayern 2.0 was at the very heart of the current World Champions in 2014. Pep's foray into English football started off with a home fixture against last season's survivors Sunderland. Although many people expected this to be a cakewalk given that Moyes had just taken charge of the Sunderland outfit a couple of weeks back; it was anything but that. Sunderland almost hung on if not for a very late Own Goal from Paddy Mcnair. There was still plenty to talk about in regards to how City played the game. The Catalan reinvigorated the inverted Full Backs ...

Has there been a bigger Manchester Derby? In terms of sheer scale of the personalities involved I think not. Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will be looking to pick up things right where they left off in Spain. It was an infamous two years in Spain during which it would be fair to say that Guardiola had the upper hand. Jose would be dying to go one better in perhaps the competition he's most comfortable with. Jose would be dying to go one better in perhaps the competition he's most comfortable with. Come Saturday afternoon Pep and his team will definitely be going for the win which is synonymous with his teams irrespective of the opposition. On the other hand the pragmatist would adopt a more cautious approach trying to absorb all the pressure and strike on the counter, a tactic that has worked wonders for him. Mourinho would be glad that City are without suspended striker Sergio Aguero. Definitely one thing lesser to worry about this weekend. Thi...