Pick of the month: January

January's pick of the month is an interesting tactical analysis of Liverpool from EPLIndex . There's no joint award this month and even if there have been brilliant articles since the turn of the year, this one is a fantastic insight into the direction Rodgers is taking Liverpool.

Why Daniel Sturridge Solves Liverpool's Tactical Problems is more than just an analysis of what Daniel Sturridge brings to Liverpool on the pitch, it is a comprehensive overview of the changes in formation, the solutions brought by such changes and the attacking as well as defensive approaches Liverpool adopt in such a tactical arrangement. Since this article has been published, Liverpool have played in a similar way with slight modifications to Jordan Henderson's and Luis Suarez's positioning on the field. It's great reading after the away draws against Arsenal and Man City last week.

Kudos to Jed Davies otherwise known as TPiMBW.
You can find out more about Jed Davies through his site at jeddavies.com

Liverpool's February Agenda

A few quick observations on Liverpool's February schedule with two league games and a two-legged European tie to round off February after a fantastic, dominant performance against Man City at the Etihad Stadium. Another silly mistake saw a potential victory end in a heartening/deflating (delete as desired) draw. Noel C at The Liverpool Offside intelligently looked at whether it was just mistakes that have resulted in dropped points this season. If anyone actually wants to get a closer look at how good Liverpool actually were, Nate at ohyoubeauty constructed a fantastic visualisation full of stats, images and analysis as per usual.

Pick of the month: December

Following last month's pick of the month from The Hard Tackle on Borussia Dortmund, there was the realisation that one day, one month there may have to be a joint award from different websites. The Anfield Wrap ensured that 13 December 2012 would be an excellent day for football fans who visited the site with two fantastic articles.

Falling Out Of Love? [MODERN FOOTBALL IS SHITE] is a timely appraisal of modern football in England and where it's heading. Football is littered with denizens from the working classes but with the behemoth known English Premier League growing larger with each TV deal and billionaire owner, is falling out of love inevitable? Kudos to Ben McCausland.

Lucas the Lazarus is a brilliant overview of Lucas Leiva's journey at Liverpool from unwanted man in the middle to essential cog in the Liverpool machine. Not every underwhelming young player will make supporters feel like finding their words and grinding them into oblivion but perhaps it would be wise to temper our criticism of young players. Kudos to Andy Gargett.

There can only be one

January is a funny time in modern football. It's an opportunity for football managers, directors of flying footballs and the chiefiest of executives to scour the globe for bargains. Some will wait until the last day of the window to sign a couple of players much in the same way Daniel Levy has successfully done. Others will overlook the sense used by Levy and others to sanction the signing of the next Andy Carroll. It was truly "a hell of a deal" indeed. January is also a time where losing key players is to be avoided. At all costs? Last January, one Demba arrived to support another and this January one Demba leaves another.

12.12.2012 Quickies

Considering today's date is 12-12-12 regardless of preference for the British or American date format, here's a special set of quick musings for the month. Think pesky foreign managers in England and overlooked aspects of European competition.

Pick of the month: November

Each month, The Football Neutral will pick an article from the previous month worthy of being highlighted and revisited. It may be that the article is topical or that the issue merits greater discussion in football. The Football Neutral is not one for rehashing article's crafted elsewhere, it is better to allocate credit and kudos where it belongs. Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and all that jazz. November's pick of the month comes from Siddharth Mohan of The Hard Tackle on the perceived team of the moment, Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund are truly relevant once more on the biggest stage domestically and on the continent in a manner not seen since the mid 1990s under Ottmar Hitzfeld. Jürgen Klopp's Dortmund could repeat history. After all, Dortmund won the Bundesliga twice in succession and tasted Champions League success in the in the season following the retention of Dortmund's league title. Klopp's Dortmund have also won two domestic league titles in a row and have qualified, undefeated, for the knock-out stages from a group containing the champions of Spain, England and the Netherlands...in the season following the retention of Dortmund's league title.

Can Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund Echo Hitzfeld’s Champions League Success?

German football's inconsistent dinosaur

So there's a bit of a love-in with the Bundesliga at the moment, which is nice when you ignore hooligans, extremists and all. Borussia Dortmund has been propelled to European relevance and domestic success by general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke and trainer Jürgen Klopp. Nice. The club that exists to dominate all domestically and dine at Europe's top table, FC Bayern München, seems imperious once again with a mightily impressive squad. Behemoth. Schalke are proving to be a decent Champions League side too. Depth. Yet the interesting story is at Hamburger SV, Germany's oldest professional football club in its 125th year of existence under the guidance of head coach Thorsten Fink.