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.

A regista among registas: Andrea Pirlo

So the Ballon d'Or shortlist is in and it's a mighty fine shortlist too. Barcelona's Lionel Andrés Messi features, the man who competes with Diego Armando Maradona and Edison Arantes do Nascimento. Then there's the goal machine Ronaldo (no, not that one) who competes with Lionel Messi. Finally, Barcelona has another representative in Andrés Iniesta whose feats for Spain in Euro 2012 drew merited praise. A fine trio indeed: Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Iniesta.

165 days & 159 days

I last posted an article up here 159 days ago. I'm wondering whether that's a long time in life. It can be. Some things change, some things stay the same. Sometimes you learn things. For example, I found out that I love cats and I now have two. I found out that for some people, you're just some people even if they're not some people to you. What about football? Specifically, a direction of a football club? Brendan Rodgers took over Liverpool 6 days before my last post and the only thing I wrote about his appointment was the following:

"I believe he will provide a progressive footballing philosophy which will make an impression on the club and fans. There'll be a post on this later but hope is a dangerous thing."

I still believe that and here is the "post on this later" albeit 159 days later. A couple of days ago, on the way back from a wedding, a very good friend of mine asked me about my blog. I said I didn't have time but that was a lazy hangover-induced lie. I just thought that maybe I should focus elsewhere yet I kept writing and posting my thoughts on the Guardian, the Times and elsewhere so I had plenty to say. So, here we are. 159 days later.

7.6.2012 Quickies

Sometimes there's no time to write a new article but I'd still like to comment on a few things that have been going on in football. Which is what "Quickies" are all about. Anyway, here are some thoughts for the day:

A few words on statistics

It's true that I am generally happy with the greater use of stats in football and access to them by fans. It's something that has been so important in American sports. When I used to watch Channel 4's coverage of NBA in the 1990s and 2000s, I found it strange when the commentators kept on putting stats on players as well as teams during play but I liked it! I can't remember the name of the programme though but I followed it as much as I did Football Italia and the excellent delivery of the legend that is James Richardson. I thank the powers that be on the Guardian's football section who continued James' review of the football papers across Europe. Good times continue to roll on.

Mid-season Victory!

Okay, this is not a neutral post but my team happened to win a trophy over the weekend! I thought Liverpool would see more finals after losing to Milan in the Champions League final in 2007 but power in football shifts quicker than we realise. 

Thoughts on Spurs, after watching Spurs beat Newcastle 5-0 at White Hart Lane and the draw away at Stevenage

A crucial North London derby is underway and to complement the event, a guest blogger has decided to contribute to the site which I always encourage . JK Saturnine has focussed on Tottenham Hotspurs and the different elements which have contributed to the club's success this season. So here it is, enjoy:

Adebayor

On signing for Spurs, Adebayor, it was said, would start brightly before petulance, laziness and indifference would rear its head.  He would lose interest and form; and prove, once again, that he is a mercenary, a passenger at the club.  Adebayor has, indeed, shown many facets but more so of his tremendous ability rather than his ability to alienate himself from popular support

Redknapp has played Adebayor predominantly as a target man, though he is not a classic ‘number 9’.  He often moves and stays wide, happy to link play and create space for the attacking midfielders to move into. 

In this game, against Aston Villa, we can see Adebayor picking up the ball frequently in wide positions in his own half as well as the opposition half.

Back with a bang or maybe not...

As a Liverpool fan, I am bitterly disappointed for various reasons. Yes, there was a poor game in which Manchester United emerged victorious without too much effort to temporarily climb ahead of their local rivals and seeming champions elect, Manchester City. Our display was poor for many reasons and a couple of close friends of mine have some texts in their possession from quite a maddened individual. His whereabouts are currently unknown but he may be bouncing around between now and May. We were victorious in the FA Cup which was pleasing but in the most important English competition of all, where domestic history is made, we were beaten by a superior side. United may have certain problems which may prevent them from retaining their title but they are not team spirit, experience, determination and tactical intelligence. Well done United but on Saturday 11 March 2012, you didn't have to beat a very good team.

Poor potato head

So Steve Bruce is the one to go eh? I read somewhere that Steve Kean is so inept that he couldn't even win the sack race. Good one. I don't think Steve Kean isn't a bad manager but just inexperienced but Sam Allardyce must be happy with the decent retrospective PR he's getting at Blackburn. Time is always the greatest storyteller it seems. It's slightly haphazard in Blackburn at board level and on what can be loosely termed as "football level" from what I've seen this season which isn't as much as previous years. I had to scale back the football watching which affected my writing. Well that and sheer inertia. In life. Football can be obsessive and consuming. Think about it. Match of the Day? Check. MOTD 2 and Colin Murray? Check. Gillette Soccer Saturday? Check. Football First? Check. Revista de la Liga? Check. Live games on Sky Sports? Check. Streaming football online? Check. Joy of Six and endless football surfing on youtube? Check. Milankakabaros and footylounge.com? Check. Cheap Carling Cup tickets to provide winter solace in a global economic recession? Check. Serie A? Check. It's exciting you know and we can now add more happy memories to watching Gazzetta. Bundesliga? Check. Best value league in the world apparently, so have to see what the fuss is about.

I'm only little...

You start something up which engages you and there's plenty to say. That's the plan anyway. The summer was busy and there was no time to write on the summer transfer window amongst other things. The Manchester clubs have started remarkably well, Real lead Barcelona in the league, documentary shocks viewers with evidence of wrongdoing by professional footballers, strikes in Europe, tweets, summer managerial appointments and Gyan going on loan...for the money.

I will be posting articles more frequently and for those reading this, thank you for your patience and support. Oh, and I really didn't see that 8-2 scoreline coming. At all. Those lengthy posts in defence of Messrs Wenger never happened ok?

The world's going to end for Arsenal: Part Two

 

If you haven't read part one please do before ruining your breakfast

Let's look at who will probably be in Arsenal's path to domestic success. Tottenham have one of the best midfields around in Bale, Lennon, Modric, Huddlestone, Sandro and VdV and plenty of good players elsewhere. Tottenham being at the top end isn't a surprise anymore and Redknapp needs to progress with the squad this season, use it effectively and not hide how talented it really is. Redknapp really wants the England job after Euro 2012, is the clear favourite for it but knows a poor season may harm his chances. They just need a couple of players and Redknapp will do his best to impress the wise old FA. As long as he has better luck with the courts than Ryan Giggs had then he should get the gig performance permitting.

The world's going to end for Arsenal: Part One

If anyone was listening to a well-known radio station in England on Friday, their ears would have absorbed an indictment of Arsene Wenger and the state of affairs at Arsenal. Arsenal are in crisis. No really they are. Didn't you know? I didn't. Maybe it was because I was out of the loop. It wasn't the mid-season crisis when they lost the in Carling Cup final to now relegated Birmingham or the fact that Arsenal managed to finish 4th in what seemed to be a two horse race. It was the early transfer window crisis. Their crime? Well it's not something Arsenal did but it's what they didn't do. They didn't sign Jordan Henderson and Phil Jones. Maybe one but preferably both. Liverpool and Manchester United did, wisely stocking their central defensive and midfield positions respectively. Yet not all is as it appears.

Why Liverpool need Leighton Baines

So, the silly season has begun. The top six teams in the Barclays Premier League are all on the lookout for players and it will be an exciting summer trailing newspaper websites, newsnow and twitter in search for transfer updates. It is rumoured that Kenny Dalglish will look to acquire a left back already playing in Britain which brings Leighton Baines, Emilio Izaguirre and Jose Enrique into strong consideration. Liverpool need a starting left back and as Jonathan Wilson has discussed, full backs are key positions in the modern game:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/mar/25/the-question-full-backs-football

Media reporting in football

Ok, I'm not someone who is a fully paid up member of the Wayne Rooney fan club but I do realise that he is a quality footballer who has been around for a while now. I even thought that when he was bagging all those goals in the 2009/2010 season, he was not fulfilling his original promise as a creator and finisher. However, now he is being deployed in a deep-lying striker role, he's looking like a truly world class player. I completely appreciated his relaxed and amiable appearance on Talksport. Talksport has its critics but I miss Richard Keys and Andy Gray on Sky Sports so I'm glad they've got a spot on Talksport. Reproach me if you will but feelings aren't always logical. Just ask Andy. Even though I'm not a Sky Sports subscriber, I miss the fact that there previously was an option to see the duo whenever I popped round to the home of a friendly Sky customer. Nostalgia aside, when Wayne Rooney joined the duo for the last hour or so of their show, a solitary eyebrow was raised at his appearance. I thought, "What is Wayne doing? So soon after a Champions League final defeat? Sir Alex must know..." As I pondered the potential unsavoury consequences of such a decision, I realised that it was Keys and Gray. My mind stopped wondering.