Soccer Analysis

Jordan Morris developed in the American soccer system but his game, built on power and speed, is perfect for the transition oriented approach of Europe. Morris still chose the MLS over the Bundesliga coming out of Stanford. Read more »

Arsenal were reliable title contenders during the first half of Arsene Wenger's tenure before evolving into a perpetual state of backdoor slides into Champions League safety in the second half. The parity coming with the EPL's TV money will take away his preference for reliable returns. Read more »

Cristiano Ronaldo joined a lineage of beautiful mercenaries at Real Madrid and the utility of their extraordinarily fruitful business relationship appears to be waning. Read more »

The ability to find space, especially in counter attacks, highlights the distinctness of Angel Di Maria's game. He ranks highly on tangible stats like chances created, but even those numbers only scratch the surface as his value is measured in how he allows a team to function. Read more »

Both Max Allegri and Pep Guardiola sides are distinguished by their innovative use of center midfielders, and this is where the battle over two legs will be won. Read more »

Until their infrastructure improves and talent attracts more talent, China will be little more than a hapless business associate for Europe. When Atleti and Inter and Wolfsburg and Benfica are jonesing for additional funds, they will look east. Read more »

Marcello Lippi caught the tail end of tiki taka and missed gegenpressing altogether. Yet as Lippi heads home to Italy, he may find that the future of soccer is heading to the country he just left. Read more »

Rafa Benitez's tactics at Valencia that made him successful were in large part reactionary, aimed to close off space without the ball. The idea remains the same 15 years later. But it may be one step too far for Benitez this time around. Read more »

It shouldn't matter how good a manager was a player, but it does for a club devoted to stars like Florentino Perez's Real Madrid. For this reason, Zinedine Zidane has as good of a shot as any to maximize the potential of this broken assembly of stars. Read more »

Soccer has a fairly solidified yet ever-changing landscape, but this creation of a hierarchal ranking gives a look to how we would choose their collective situations at the end of 2015. Read more »

His public insights make Gary Neville perhaps the very first manager of the social media age. We can project how Valencia will play under his watch: a high press, passion, winning with youth - the signature hallmarks of the modern game. Read more »

No one would argue that Jose Mourinho doesn't have a keen tactical mind or that he isn't extraordinarily charismatic, but he also verges on being unemployably temperamental. Read more »

Florentino Perez governs Real Madrid with a philosophy that's no philosophy at all: he loves big-name players and doesn't realize he has too many of them for too few positions. Read more »

Tasked with more responsibility than Paul Pogba has ever had this season at Juventus, he responded after a slow start with a consistency in his passing, dribbling, and midfield presence that Alex Ferguson tried so hard to keep years ago. Read more »

It's getting closer, the end of this Clasico era defined by the dominance of Barcelona, mighty Real Madrid as the underdog upstarts, and the unavoidable and unceasing Ronaldo versus Messi debate. Read more »

To find success at New York City FC, Patrick Vieira doesn't need to find the "the next Vieira" - developing a group of cost effective players will do just fine. Read more »

Diego Costa has made Bayern practically unbeatable domestically, but they now also have their best shot of winning the Champions League under Pep Guardiola. He could have also been Jose Mourinho's. Read more »

Rafa Benitez has made his career on stifling more talented opposition sides, but there must be a conductor to unlock the vast individual talents in their attack. Real Madrid are Luka Modric's team - and they have been for some time. Read more »

Neymar and Robert Lewandowski are playing the best soccer of their career and possess the necessary traits that will be most important come the knock-out stages in the Champions League. Read more »

The open, gorgeous play Arsenal built their reputation upon under Arsene Wenger still exists, but there is a tangible lack of guile and flexibility to their tactics both on the pitch and with their transfer strategy. Read more »