We're accustomed to an all-access approach as clubs and players must remind us why exactly they resonate as we binge watch an HBO series or blast through a Spotify playlist. Read more »
Soccer Analysis
Retweets, Player Signing Reveals & The Battle For Our Timelines
How Ronald Koeman Is Johan Cruyff Translated To England (For Now)
Ronald Koeman said his mentor would approve of the Everton side he's currently built. But Johan Cruyff's principles are a state of mind, adapted to the rules of each club and league. Read more »
The Post-30 Stars Aging And Regenerating In La Liga
While Cristiano Ronaldo is spending his 30s playing on the deepest club of his career, Barcelona 30+ crew of Messi, Suarez, and Iniesta have to do more now than ever. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: AC Milan
There was a time where if AC Milan was not the best club in the Europe, they were the most stylish princelings. After several down years, their primed for a reboot under new ownership. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Juventus
For at least a few more seasons, Juventus is going to persist in this nigh untouchable stage of their history where they swallow opponents like a tranquilizing fog. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Borussia Dortmund
Since staring down financial oblivion in the mid-2000s, Dortmund have committed themselves to sustainability, and that means trying to balance squad continuity with selling players at a profit. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Bayern Munich
Soccer gives you more material than you can process and that becomes obvious when a club has been as dominant as Bayern has been over the past few seasons in the Bundesliga. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Real Madrid
Real Madrid are indisputably great and that's the only argument they care about. Method and style and ethos are unimportant. Then you study their trophy case and consider that you might be in the wrong here. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Barcelona
When your youth academy isn't producing world-class talent and you want to keep competing for domestic titles and Champions Leagues, you might start to look like the thing you define yourself in opposition to. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid are entering what you might call their corporate era. It would be inaccurate to describe what came before it as pre-corporate, but it was rickety and volatile and strange. Read more »
Ten Players Who Will Shape The 17-18 Premier League Season
Past the retweets, false starts, and rumors, transfer windows signings come down to one basic question: can the player in question improve his new team? Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Manchester United
Even healthy relationships don't transcend two parties using each other, and that goes octuple for when millions of dollars are involved, but Mourinho and United's partnership reads as especially transactional. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Tottenham Hotspur
Under Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham has lived in that blessed sliver of the sport's upper-middle class where they're just rich enough to compete with Chelsea and Manchesters (United and City) on the pitch without being able to touch them in the talent acquisition marketplace. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Manchester City
Pep Guardiola's mythology is more specific and ordinary than what's commonly said about him. He's convinced he can think soccer into submission. Which is probably what many coaches think, but they're not as bright or committed or fortunate. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Chelsea
We're coming up on 15 years since Roman Abramovich assumed control of Chelsea. Abramovich hasn't mellowed or grown less contemptible, but he has rivals in the oil baron/club owner sphere. He's been normalized. Read more »
Lucas Biglia, Vincenzo Montella Piece Together Milan's Summer Signings
The pressure of this season isn't just about winning for Milan, or justifying the high transfer fees paid to young players. It's about a club regaining their place in European consciousness. Read more »
End-To-End Stuff: Paris Saint-Germain
Neymar's going to cost some $550 million, because one unfathomably wealthy family have decided he's worth that much. Because sports matter to us that much, in more ways than we can know. Read more »
Real Madrid Has Become A Monster With Their Reformed Transfer Strategy
Real Madrid occasionally make dumb, exceedingly pricey signings, but they're rich enough to make big mistakes and still compete for trophies. They sign the most obvious players, but those players are obvious because they’re awesome. Read more »
The Spaces, Shapes And Geometries Of The Training Ground
Like a painting canvas, a manager divvies up the field to emphasize various aspects of a playing approach. How these spaces are manipulated, often in training, offers a unique glimpse into a manager's mind. Read more »
Leverkusen 2 - Dortmund 0: Tuchel & Schmidt Nine Months Later
Last October, Thomas Tuchel and Roger Schmidt were two of the most interesting and diametrically opposed tacticians in the Bundesliga. Here's why both have already moved on. Read more »