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 »
IQ - Soccer Analysis
End-To-End Stuff: Real Madrid
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 »
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 »
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 »
How Strikers Fuel The Endless Vacuous Transfer Seasons
Goal-scorers are kind of like the headlines of soccer. They're the most easily legible players in the sport. Their primary job is obvious and uncomplicated. Read more »
Leonid Slutsky Learns The English Game With Hull City
In addition to millions of new supporters from Russia, Slutsky stated he has a new perspective to give English football. For Hull, the move represents a managerial version of Moneyball to close the gap on opponents where player wages cannot. Read more »
Chile's Golden Era Regroups For One Last Run
Chile's level of expectations were raised within a decade, as a generation of players and an overarching style molded into one. They were on the verge of three international trophies in three consecutive summers. Read more »
Jorge Sampaoli Finally Lands His Dream Job With Argentina
Jorge Sampaoli's mission statement for his time as national team manager is to expand the talent pool with fresh legs. He is not one who manages through small improvements and iterations. It's either all or nothing. Read more »
Ernesto Valverde Brings Calm To Barcelona
Ernesto Valverde's initial challenge with Barcelona lies in rebalancing the club's reliance on the MSN forward line. He must usher in the next generation of players, pass the ball with purpose, and maintain a sense of self above the Barcelona fray. Read more »
The Education And Energy Of Christian Eriksen
Christian Eriksen is as close to an old school No. 10 as there is in the modern game. The differentiating characteristic that allows him (and other playmakers of his mold) to thrive in 2017 is the versatility and mobility off the ball. Read more »
Antonio Conte And His Functional Rehearsed Orchestra
Antonio Conte has overachieved in his first season at Chelsea, but there remains doubts to how far he can take his sides in Europe. This is specifically aimed at whether a three defender backline is as effective in the Champions League as it is domestically. Read more »
Michael Carrick And The Era Of The Barca Influenced English Midfielder
Whether years from now Michael Carrick becomes a footnote or grows in history, he represented a moment and an ideal for a specific playing style. But eras go as quickly as they come. Read more »
What Does Carlo Ancelotti Have Left To Prove?
Carlo Ancelotti's present day role is turning big clubs with big ambitions into European champions, which makes judging his year to year success relatively straightforward. Yet there is more under the surface. Read more »