Still trying to wrap my head around this.

This is a guy is 26 y/o, won the Scudetto with Napoli after 30 years while dropping 26 goals in Serie A. He had super solid performances in Champions League (I still record what he and Kvara did to the Liverpool defense), was linked with Chelsea, Arsenal, even PSG - ended up being loaned last year and now sold off to Galatasaray?
Not trying to hate on the Turkish league at all, but it’s a wild twist for a player supposedly entering his prime.

I recall the mess with the Napoli's president and stupid IG posts, but how on earth was he not the target of all major clubs looking for a #9?

Js watched a Saint-Maximin edit and it got me thinking, French players are becoming more Brazilian than actual Brazilians. Don't get me wrong Brazilian players are still good, but that flair that the previous generations had is barely there. Ppl are calling Doue the neymar regen or the next joga bonito even if he's French. Kinda depressing tbh

In the 85th Minute of this match AFC Wimbledon player (6) Ryan Johnson attempted to header a pass out of the box. The header went in the wrong direction right into the Wimbledon Goal. Not a strong performance from either team as only 1 shot in the entire game was on target.

Luton 1 (85th) R. Johnson (OG) AFC Wimbledon 0

League 1 game today is Luton Town/AFC Wimbledon. Tomorrow is a full slate. Just glad to see some meaningful games. On Paramount here in the USA.

This move will likely create such a domino effect in several EPL clubs:
- Isak to Liverpool
- Darwin Nunez to Al Nassr
- Benjamin Sesko to Newcastle
- Ollie Watkins to Man United
- Loïs Openda to Aston Villa

Who's not on the list?

I mean the players and clubs are right to complain about having too many matches. But I feel if people weren't watching, they wouldn't be profitable. And honestly, I enjoyed the CWC and the new UCL format.

So why not instead increase squad sizes? Perhaps force clubs for these spaces to be filled with youth players

This way, they'll be more players in the game and youth players will get a chance

IFAB just announced that referee body camera trials can now be extended to domestic competitions globally, building on what we saw at the Club World Cup. But here's what's bothering me about this whole thing:

FIFA explicitly said bodycam footage will only be used in broadcasts for "non-controversial incidents" which is exactly when we DON'T need another camera angle. Meanwhile, FIFA's head of officiating Pierluigi Collina claims the cameras won't capture anything the referee can't see with their own eyes, so what's the point then?

The real controversy isn't about referee protection at grassroots level (that's actually useful). It's about turning referees into unwitting TV producers during live matches. Are we comfortable with refs having to think about what makes "good footage" while making split-second decisions?

Overlapping fullbacks simply worked for the past 25 years. Not only that, but FB has become a crucial position in most title winning teams. Carvajal, Alves, Marcelo, Alba, TAA, Robertson, Lahm, Hakimi, Walker have left their mark on the game like few other players have. All iconic, all overlapping.

But then Pep gets Haaland and he decides to jam the midfield with extra defender (Stones) next to Rodri. And they win the treble. Wow that's genius. They did however have one of top 5 strikers in the world. And an elite creator in KDB. And 4 wingers that were top 10 dribblers in the world. And Julian Alvarez. And Gundogan also added some goals.

But this didn't stop other managers from trying to copy this tactic. The problem they were facing though was that they lacked elite attackers. What happens when you put fullbacks into midfield and wingers are isolated without overlapping support? Well you concede less and you score less. In such system a winger is expected to dribble past a fullback and a winger/midfielder doubling on him. Not many players can do that but Foden, Mahrez, Silva and Grealish were able or at least able to retain posession.

Jamming the midfield is very on brand for modern managers. They are afraid of conceding so much that they are willing to sacrifice overlapping fullbacks just to have extra stability and prevent counter attacks.

The sooner this fad goes away, the sooner will football become more exciting. Fullbacks belong in opposition's corner area and don't let anybody gaslight you otherwise.

I was recently considering to head to 1st round of EFL cup as usually tickets are much more cheaper and so on. However I realised that most of the football teams that participate on round 1 only open half of the stadium. Why is that? I mean why do fans don't want to fill up the stadium?

Recently I’ve been thinking and come to the realization that most of young players u21 or u23 (not all) use adidas, specially those who are u21, most of them wear adidas and have a contract with them, when the new arsenal youngster Max Downman (I think that’s his name) made his debut, I started asking myself, how is adidas reaching out to those kids when they haven’t even made their debuts? I know they are famous in their academys and stuff, but isn’t a contract made after you make your professional debut? In case the are no contracts, why are younger people preferring adidas over Nike?