DW Kick-Off travels to Norway to learn about Erling Braut Haaland’s origins:
25
Apr
2020
24
Apr
2020
This Weekend: What to Watch, Read and Follow
It’s Friday again, regardless of what your lockdown-addled mind might be telling you so we’re here with another round-up of suggestions for football-related distractions over the weekend.
? WHAT TO WATCH
? If watching re-runs of old games is where we are now, you may as well go with the best. FIFA TV have been taking requests on line and then uploading full length World Cup matches to their YouTube. Why not start with the classic 2002 Final between Germany and Brazil.
?? La Liga club Sevilla have tasked their famed director of football, Monchi with providing 13 daily masterclasses. They’re subtitled and worth a watch if you want to find out what it takes to discover the likes of Sergio Ramos and Jesús Navas and scout talent like Dani Alves and Ivan Rakitić.
Still fighting on to increasing numbers of interested viewers from outside, the Belarusian season continues with Round 6’s set of fixtures kicking off this evening.
Earlier today we took a deeper look at what’s been a surprising campaign that’s seen the big teams struggle and the little guys prosper. You can read that here.
? ICYMI
In case you haven’t updated your app this week, make sure you do so now as we’ve been busy tweaking things behind the scenes – including making some massive changes to the appearance of the player profiles. Check it out!
? SOMETHING TO READ
?? You will have seen countless accounts of what it’s been like to be a professional footballer during these strange times, but we thought this one was interesting. It’s the account of English player, Laurie Bell who’s currently at a lower division club in Sweden where, with the league start postponed the clubs have been in permanent pre-season mode – read it here.
?? And something we’ve spent literally hours getting lost in – The Eredivisie Shirt Festival. In an attempt to find the most beautiful shirt ever worn in the Dutch top flight, all 1,754 different kits from all the clubs who’ve appeared in the league have been uploaded to this site. You can select a shortlist of 3 to submit as your favourites, or like us – you can just enjoy clicking through 64 years of history!
?? SEMI-FINAL TIME IN NICARAGUA
One of the only other leagues we currently have running in the app is the tail end of the Clausura campaign in Nicaragua’s Liga Primera.
We’re now in post-season and the semi-final line up in these play-offs takes place this weekend. Regular season frontrunners, Managua play Walter Ferretti who stunned their quarter-final opponent 5-1 in midweek but before that we have the nation’s biggest derby game as Diriangén host arch-rivals Real Estelí.
? SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO
The Golazzo Italian Football Show have brought out two special episodes looking at the history, growth and integral relationship that the country’s Ultras have built with Serie A and indeed clubs at every level of the Italian game. Parts 1 and 2 can be found in the tweet below.
?? SIOUX FALLS FC
If quarantine life has really got to you, why not fulfil that lifelong dream you’ve had to become a professional footballer? Well, sort of. You can now sign up to be a squad player at virtual club, Sioux Falls FC based in the US state of South Dakota.
The brainchild of designer, Andrew Brynjulson who was getting frustrating with the lack of a team to support in the city decided to start his own. And they’re going to play every team in the Champions League over the next few months – starting with Ajax tomorrow.
You could be selected to play against Barcelona, you could even score the winner against Liverpool! All you have to do is sign up and watch out for the team line-up to be announced via twitter each Saturday.
If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.
Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!
24
Apr
2020
?? From Belarus, with love
With their league being the last in Europe still standing through the Covid-19 pandemic, the Belarusian Football Federation took the opportunity to seize the moment at a time when all eyes are on them.
Social media campaigns, careful scheduling of each weekend’s fixtures and more than a little imagination from individual clubs has seen commercial broadcast rights boom, English-language fan accounts pop up all over twitter and provoked a 70% upsurge in gambling on the league.
And we have of course been covering it all both here in the app and across our social channels. At the start of it, we and a few committed (committable?) users even assigned ourselves with teams to which we’ll lend our support during these weeks with little distraction elsewhere. One went so far to set up his own twitter account for the student side, Energetik-BGU – now officially recognised by the club as their English language voice on social media!
Surprise Early Pacesetters
With Round 6 of the season starting today, we have already seen a lot of surprising results and previously middling sides rise to the top in what would appear to be a highly competitive campaign.
Top of the pile are FK Slutsk, a side who finished 11th in 2019.
We’ve already mentioned the state university side, Energetik who started the season with a shock win over giants BATE but their good form was ended by Torpedo Zhodino, who themselves have gone down just as well with new fans of the league.
In fact, only they and the wolves of Isloch from the current top six in the division ended last season in one of those prime positions. And it’s Isloch who’ve perhaps won over the most outsiders thanks to their small, but idiosyncratic band of supporters – including in their number an accordion player who performs throughout the game, that is apart from when the club mascot, dressed as a wolf steals it from him!
And in Momo Yansane, they perhaps boast one of the better strikers in the league.
What of the big 3?
Dynamo Brest, who ended BATE Borisov’s 13-year monopoly on the championship in dramatic circumstances in 2019 currently sit well off the pace down in 10th having won just 2 of their opening 5 games.
For their part, BATE look to have steadied the ship after their shaky start and with a game against Gorodeya coming up this weekend, they could move into the top 4.
That leaves us with Dinamo Minsk, the only Belarusian side to ever win the top Soviet league before the fall of the Iron Curtain. The have not done well, in fact they’ve even sacked their manager in a bid to turn the tide. At present, they sit just 1 point above the relegation zone.
This Weekend
We’ll have coverage of all Round 6 fixtures in the app but make sure you check for KO times where you are.
Games to look out for include a first test for Dinamo Minsk’s new coach, Leonid Kuchuk as they face Smolevichi this afternoon.
On Saturday there’s a clash between last years’ champions and the side who finished 3rd as Dynamo Brest host Shakhter and on Sunday, FK Slutsk vs. Belshina sees the top side play bottom and 2nd placed, Vitebsk travel to Isloch.
For more of this kind of thing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
23
Apr
2020
Quiz: Players with 30+ goals in a season
Twenty-four players have hit the 30+ goal mark in one of Europe’s top six leagues since 1999/2000. You have five minutes to see how many you can name.
Looking for more? The good folks at FourFourTwo have created a treasure trove of quizzes on Sporcle.
22
Apr
2020
The Gegenpress, who does it best?
The Gegenpress, the counter press, the high press – whatever you know it as, there’s a fair chance that the majority of the football you’ve been watching in the last decade has featured it. It’s the dominant tactic of the age we live in – favoured by the likes of Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola and explained perfectly by this handy video from @TifoFootball.
But who’s doing it best? We thought we’d have a look through the FotMob Team stats for the top 5 leagues in Europe to try and pinpoint who’s currently using the tactic of Gegenpressing most effectively.
To do this we’ve combined two categories from the stats – the first being ‘Possession Won in Final 3rd’ which means exactly what it says, the number of times a team has won the ball back high up in their opponents half.
So that should tell us who’s pressing. But then we thought we’d add ‘Big Changes Created’ in to see who’s effective with that press, as presumably it’s no good having the ball in and around the opposition’s penalty area if you’re not going to do anything with it!
No real surprises are thrown up by the stats for the French league as PSG, especially with Thomas Tuchel in charge were always going to come out high. With all their attacking talent AND Tuchel’s footballing philosophy grounded in Gegenpress – best seen by Dortmund’s decision to appoint him to replace Klopp back in 2015.
Obviously, not all big chances come from a side winning the ball back in the final 3rd – for instance, Olypique Lyonnais come third in this list having defied statistical logic by scoring a total of 45 goals despite only creating 38 big chances but lets ignore that for a second!
PSG’s status as the best pressers and effective with their big chances contributes to their goal haul of 75 – 30 more than nearest rivals Monaco. Taking Monaco as a comparison – the side from the principality are 2nd in both lists we’ve checked here but are languishing down in 9th in the league table, suggesting they may press well but there’s ineffectiveness elsewhere to worry about!
Everybody has kind of fallen in love with Atalanta this season, thanks to their exploits in the Champions League and their swashbuckling style has being paying off almost as effectively at home. They may have won possession in the final 3rd one less time than Juventus but looking a little deeper, they’ve won the ball back in midfield on over 100 more times than the league leaders.
Atalanta also lead our charts for the number of big chances created and they are easily the leading scorers in the league table. And yet they sat 4th at the time of Serie A’s suspension earlier this year.
So what does that tell us? That the Gegenpress isn’t effective in Italy? Perhaps so, as Juve have only created 45 big chances – sitting 6th in our chart for that particular statistic. Lazio, second in the table are 5th in our ladder and third placed Inter have fashioned a measly 32 big openings.
Zinedine Zidane isn’t known as one of the world’s most tactical managers, in fact he’s even described himself as not being the best at coaching but when you’re one of the greatest players of all time, it’s perhaps not surprising that he’s picked up a few things along the way!
His table topping Real Madrid side have won possession back in the final 3rd more than any other team we’ve covered so far in Europe and they’ve also created almost as many big chances as their Messi-driven rivals from Barcelona. Interestingly, the Catalan giants come behind Eibar (16th in the actual table), Getafe (5th) and Osasuna (11th) in terms of successful high pressing.
This probably tells us that Barcelona have other ways to hurt you. And that Eibar and Osasuna in particular are not using all that possession that they win up the pitch to secure 3 points!
?? 1. Bundesliga
Bayern, despite swapping managers this season seem to be dominating proceedings in the modern home of the Gegenpress. And proving that their very successful with it – scoring a total of 73 goals from their league leading 106 big chances. The pace at which you will have seen them attack in the Champions League will also back that up.
Looking at individual player performances; Bayern lead the way in the goalscoring charts (Lewandowski), number of assists (Thomas Müller), successful dribbles per match (Thiago) and accurate passes (David Alaba). No wonder they lead the existing table by 4 points.
A special mention here, for the side many observers have been most excited about this season – Borussia Mönchengladbach. They’ve created 72 big chances despite only rating 10th in terms of possession won in the final 3rd. Is there something to be said for doing things differently at the Borussia Park?
And what though of Dortmund, where Klopp supposedly honed his Gegenpress principles? They sit just above their Borussen namesakes in 9th!
So then, to the English top flight and the current home of two of the Gegenpresses’ biggest and most celebrated exponents; Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola!
Even if you’ve been living under a rock since last August (and who could blame you in more recent times), you’ll know Klopp’s Liverpool have lit up the Premier League – looking unbeatable, if it wasn’t for Watford. For our purposes here, they’ve won possession back in the final 3rd more than any other side in Europe’s big 5 leagues, thus maintaining Klopp’s reputation!
Guardiola’s City side sit second in this chart, but still scoring higher than his former club Bayern in the Bundesliga. And they may have proven more effective with that possession – creating 7 big chances more than their rivals from Merseyside and scoring a total of 68 goals to Liverpool’s 66. Albeit, once again that comes with the caveat that goals can obviously come from anywhere and Liverpool have managed to accrue a 25 point lead over them in the league table.
Southampton appear to be a particular anomaly in all this – they’ve pressed well – almost as well as City and noticeably sides from elsewhere such as Real Madrid yet they’ve only managed to create 36 big chances all season. And they sit down in 14th.
If you fancy a deep dive into any of the countless statistics we cover on various league around the world, simply search by country, select a league profile and swipe right to the stats tab.
For more of this kind of thing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
22
Apr
2020
Quiz: Can you name the top 25 Serie A goalscorers since 1990?
You have 10 minutes to name the 25 most prolific goalscorers in Serie A since 1990.
If this trip down memory lane has you wanting more calcio, we can’t recommend the Golazzo podcast (which we proudly sponsor) highly enough.
Looking for more? The good folks at FourFourTwo have created a treasure trove of quizzes on Sporcle.
21
Apr
2020
Quiz: Who has the most titles in each of the top 25 leagues?
You have 10 minutes to name the team with the most league titles across the world’s top 25 leagues. Tap Play below to get the clock ticking.
If you’re looking for more, the good folks at FourFourTwo have created a treasure trove of quizzes on Sporcle.
20
Apr
2020
The Ultimate Arsenal Quiz
You think you know Arsenal? You have 12 minutes to prove it. Tap Play below to get the clock ticking.
If you’re looking for more, the good folks at FourFourTwo have created a treasure trove of quizzes on Sporcle.
17
Apr
2020
The FotMob Fantasy 5-a-side Challenge
This weekend, over on our Twitter and Instagram channels we’ll be asking for your help in deciding the winner of our first Fantasy 5-a-side Challenge.
The Premise: We’ve taken the 8 most popular teams in the app, according to your favourites and put them in to a seeded draw – eg. Real Madrid seeded top through to Arsenal in 8th.
We then drew up Fantasy 5-a-side teams from each squad, using the FotMob Player Ratings from the 2019/20 season to pick the highest ranked players in each position – the top striker, two midfielders, one defender and a keeper.
Now we’ll pit them together and let you decide who’d win!
The Draw: Using their worldwide popularity in the app to seed the sides, here are the ‘games’ we’d like you to call in today’s Quarter-Finals.
Real Madrid ? Arsenal
This may not be a vintage year for the Gunners, but under the leadership of Mikel Arteta and honed down to their 4 best performers plus regular keeper – would they stand any chance on the small pitch against a Real Madrid side packed full of world class talent?
Cast your vote via the tweet below.
Bayern München ? Liverpool
The battle between the 4th and 5th seeds should be a belter! Some of the most in-form players in the world are included here representing clubs who were leading their respective leagues at the time of football’s suspension.
Some poetic licence had seen us slot Mohammed Salah in to a midfield role for Liverpool, we just couldn’t leave him out whilst Bayern are obviously led by the formidable Robert Lewandowski. He averages over a goal a game in real football, let alone make believe 5-a-side!
Who would you have winning this one?
Barcelona ? Manchester City
On the other half of our imaginary bracket, 2nd seeds Barcelona go up against one of their own in Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Can the man who’s won a total of 9 Spanish league titles and 3 Champions Leagues with his boyhood club do anything against their current incarnation?
We think on paper, the City line-up might actually be stronger but then they don’t have Messi. We usually ban him from our made up competitions but for this one, he’s in!
Vote for your winner below.
Manchester United ? Chelsea
An all-Premier League grudge match the close the round, and one that regular provides some of the most keenly fought games of the season in real life.
3 points separate Manchester United and Chelsea back in reality, but what will be the difference here? Both sides boast Spanish goalkeepers, great full-backs taking the defensive spot, a mix of flair and stability in the middle and exciting young English strikers up top.
Tough one to call.
Keep your eyes on our Twitter and Instagram for the results as we continue with the competition across the weekend!
17
Apr
2020
??????? Football’s Staying Home
As part of the England team initiative #FOOTBALLSSTAYINGHOME, aimed at providing entertainment, support and hope for fans of the Three Lions wherever they are – members of the nation’s main representative teams have been competing against each other on the video game, FIFA20!
The Round of 16 was played out last week with the pick of the games featuring a win for Jadon Sancho over Marcus Rashford, the winning goal scored by none other than the virtual Marcus Rashford!
The tournament, hosted by England’s social media channels is also trying to raise awareness for the National Emergencies Trust and their efforts to help those affected by the Coronavirus outbreak.
With the Quarter-Final line-up now set, we thought we’d do our bit by adding the remaining games to the app! You will now be able to follow the virtual score as the England stars go up against each other.
To follow the #FOOTBALLSSTAYINGHOME Cup, please click here and add your alerts for the results!
For more of this kind of thing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.