There has not been a player like Kylian Mbappe — at least, not since the turn of the decade.
According to TruMedia data, which goes back to the 2010-11 season, Mbappe’s 33 Ligue 1 goals last season were the most of any player, aged 20 or under, in Europe’s big five leagues in that time period. When they were in the same age bracket, Lionel Messi topped out at 14 goals, while Cristiano Ronaldo never got above nine.
More recently, Romelu Lukaku’s 2012-13 season with West Bromwich Albion and Kai Havertz…
It sure seemed like everything changed in August 2017, didn’t it?
Before then, there was an established food chain in soccer’s transfer market: Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top, and then everyone else. Those two clubs were as rich as anyone and for the most part, it seemed like it was every elite soccer player’s goal to end up in the Spanish capital or Catalonia. Once you got there, you only left when you weren’t needed anymore.
In this century, the only star who left either club in his prime…
Fair warning: Depending on your personal affinities, the following exercise may be either painful, hilarious or offensive. OK, now let’s quickly go through all of the once-in-a-lifetime incidents that happened in last year’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
First, Mohamed Salah, he of the 44 goals and 16 assists in his debut season with Liverpool, badly injured his shoulder after a (pick your adjective of choice) collision with Sergio Ramos. He was subbed off in tears…
Alex Iwobi has only five goals and six assists in 38 appearances, but his value is about more than goals and assists.
Football is very good at comparing young footballers to previous greats — there’s a desperation to look for the next Diego Maradona, the next Thierry Henry, the next Cristiano Ronaldo.
But what happens when a footballer comes along who doesn’t quite fit an obvious template? Well, the simple answer is that such players’ talents aren’t always appreciated.
Step up Alex Iwobi, Arsenal’s Nigeria international who isn’t really a winger, a central midfielder or a No. 10 and isn’t particularly prolific…
Since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, various different formations have dominated.
The 4-4-2 has long been considered English football’s default system, although there was a brief craze of 3-5-2 in the mid-to-late 1990s. Jose Mourinho’s impact in the mid-2000s meant many sides shifted to 4-3-3, before 4-2-3-1 started to become the most common system in the early 2010s. A couple of years ago, 3-4-3 became suddenly popular after the brief dominance of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea.
One…
After going unbeaten in their first 15 Premier League games, the FC crew try to pinpoint what’s gone wrong for Man City in their last three out of four.
As we hit the peak of the festive season and approach the start of the January transfer window, now is a good time to take a look back at the Premier League. The competition is hitting its halfway point after 19 matches, and following a suffocating performance from Manchester City last season, the race between City and Liverpool (with Tottenham Hotspur on the outside) is shaping up to present the most exciting second half of a campaign since Leicester claimed the title in 2016.
Today, I’m going…
The FC crew answer your tweets on N’Golo Kante’s positioning under Maurizio Sarri, what Unai Emery will do with Mesut Ozil and much more.
Stewart Robson analyses how Maurizio Sarri’s tactics mixed with quality individual performances were enough to inflict Manchester City’s first loss of the season.
The Premier League currently finds itself with the most impressive array of managers in its 27-season history, and the eclectic cast includes three managers who have contributed significantly to the evolution of modern football.
The first is Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola. His hugely successful Barcelona side repopularised possession football across the continent before he became an increasingly flexible manager during his period in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich. The second is Liverpool’s…
Craig Burley and Steve Nicol answer your questions on the Premier League, Alisson, Alvaro Morata, favorite Christmas beverages, and more.
The 2018-19 Premier League season has a markedly different feel from 2017-18. This is a campaign of identities, of philosophies, of ideologues.
The change has been evident at the top, where Chelsea’s Maurizio Sarri and Arsenal’s Unai Emery have stamped their authority upon their sides with remarkable speed. In midtable, Everton finally have a clear playing identity under Marco Silva, and Watford appear more settled under Javi Gracia.
But the pattern is also evident among bottom-half sides, which…
The FC panel share their thoughts on the impact football’s ‘dark arts’ are having on the game.
Football’s laws are always evolving. In recent years, there have been changes to the kickoff, alteration to the punishment for “last man” fouls and the long-awaited rollout of VAR.
The rules and regulations have not adapted much in terms of clamping down on gamesmanship, and in a way, that is the point: It is not about breaking laws as such but more about pushing their boundaries in search of an advantage.
A popular description of these actions is “dark arts,” but what are its major forms? Here…
After a limp first-half display, Liverpool burst into life in the second period winning in the end very comfortably 3-0 against Watford
Trent Alexander-Arnold praises Liverpool’s resilience and breaks down the relief after he scored against Watford.
It was a complex offside situation. Sadio Mane had converted the rebound, seemingly giving Liverpool a 1-0 lead at the Emirates, but a linesman’s flag had thwarted him. Mane had been offside when the initial pass was played, but wasn’t interfering with play. When he was interfering with play, in the second phase, he’d been level with Roberto Firmino as the Brazilian volleyed towards goal. Mane was onside, the goal should have stood.
From the freeze-frames on the replay, we were looking at the…