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New York Times
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Inter and PSG's real brilliance is their technical quality in midfield
Over the last decade or so, football has been obsessed with pressing. This is not a new concept in the sport, of course — you can trace it back over the best part of a century — but recently it's reached a level that makes you question whether football is on the right track. The increased physical capacity of modern footballers means they can sprint faster, and run further, and do it again and again and again. Advertisement The benefits of pressing, of course, are perfectly obvious. Wanting to win possession high up the pitch is both valuable for the team and potentially exciting for spectators. The problem comes when footballers are selected primarily for their pressing rather than their ability in possession. At that point, running power has overwhelmed technical quality, and undermines the appeal of football, which should be aesthetically pleasing rather than just physically intense. So, when the former Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick complained that Cristiano Ronaldo 'was not a player who was crying, shouting 'Hurray! The other team has got the ball, where can we win balls?',' you start to question what football is all about. Do we really want world-class players who cheer when the opposition have the ball because they might be able to force a high turnover? Or do we want world-class footballers who, you know, actually prefer it when their own side is in possession? This isn't to deplore the concept of pressing. When Arsenal won the Women's Champions League final last weekend, their pressing was excellent. But it was intelligent pressing from a side whose deep midfield duo comprised two No 10s at heart, and a centre-back pairing featuring a converted central midfielder and a converted left-back. It was primarily a technical, ball-playing side — who also pressed well. That brings us to this weekend's men's final, where both sides should be considered along the same lines. The tendency has been to assess PSG in terms of their work rate without possession, because it's such a stark contrast from the days when Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar switched off. But there's a danger that we're considering things in the wrong manner. Yes, PSG are combative and aggressive at times, but they're also extremely technical in midfield. In an interview with The Athletic ahead of PSG's semi-final win over Arsenal, for example, Joao Neves spoke about how he enjoys hunting down the opposition and winning possession. But he also said something more interesting. 'I think they are maybe more physical and we are perhaps better with the ball,' Neves said ahead of the meeting with Arsenal. 'What we want to do is defend with the ball in their half of the pitch. Because having the ball is the best way to defend.' Advertisement Neves saw his side as the better footballers, and he was right. After that game, statistics were flying around on social media about Neves making the highest number of tackles in a Champions League campaign since Gennaro Gattuso in 2007-08. Fair enough, but the new structure of the competition has meant two extra group-stage (now 'league phase') games and two extra knockout stage games for PSG, which distorts things a bit. But we've become obsessed with judging midfielders through their ball-winning ability, rather than their ball-playing ability. Fabian Ruiz, while the most physically imposing player of the PSG's midfield trio, is excellent at keeping the ball and playing forward passes. He was probably Spain's best player in their triumphant Euro 2024 side last summer, with his brilliant double-chop-back and finish against Croatia a particular highlight. Behind them, Vitinha is the real genius. He starts deep, and is terrifyingly comfortable receiving the ball under pressure. But he's also unusually positive with his positioning, often popping up in advanced roles thanks to PSG's rotations in midfield. At times, you can't quite tell which of the three midfielders has which role, because of the fluidity and understanding in possession. That is surely more worthy of attention than their pressing. If anything, Inter are even more technical. Their deepest midfielder is Hakan Calhanoglu, who spent the first part of his career as a No 10, before dropping back into this deep position to produce the best form of his career. '(Andrea) Pirlo was always my idol,' Calhanoglu said last year. 'I liked the way he played, how cool he was on the pitch. He didn't feel stress.' Like Pirlo, Calhanoglu is a trequartista-turned-regista. But he's also the opposite of Pirlo, going from Milan to Inter rather than Inter to Milan. Slightly ahead, and to his left, is Henrikh Mkhitaryan, another converted No 10. This is a player who first attracted attention when he topped the goalscoring charts in Ukraine with 25 goals in 2012-13 for Shakhtar Donetsk. Dortmund signed him as a replacement for Mario Gotze. In his time in England with Manchester United and Arsenal, he was often wasted out wide, and thrived when brought inside to play as No 10. But, like Calhanoglu, he has moved deeper and, at the age of 36, feels more capable than ever of influencing the biggest games. The most tenacious of the three midfielders is also the most advanced. Nicolo Barella is an all-action player who scampers forward into attack. Under Antonio Conte, his running felt like his defining quality but he's turned into a calmer and more intelligent footballer. Inter, of course, press well too. They do so in different ways in different games, sometimes going man-for-man and sometimes being methodical in setting traps and then pouncing as a unit. But the more unusual aspect of their game plan is what they do in possession, particularly the way they suddenly move multiple centre-backs up the pitch, temporarily forming a back line featuring two midfielders who have dropped in. They're also notable for almost eschewing the concept of dribbling, and focusing on passing and movement to go beyond opponents. Advertisement The rise of pressing, of course, has created the conditions for this to happen. Because teams are being pressured across the pitch, they have turned to footballers comfortable on the ball in deep zones. They've worked on rotating positions to play through pressure. They increasingly bait the press to create space and attack at speed. All those things can be thrilling, but if the pressing itself is considered the most impressive aspect of the European champions, things have gone wrong. Saturday's midfield battle will be influenced by pressing. But hopefully, whoever wins, we'll all be talking about the technical quality. (Top photos: Getty Images)
The Independent
18-04-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
The fallen giants of German football - and the undying support that keeps them alive
'A thousand friends who stand together, then FC Schalke will never sink.' The final line of Schalke 04 's official club anthem, Blau und Weiß, wie lieb' ich dich, feels rather pertinent in light of recent seasons. It'll be heard and sung on Saturday as the Royal Blues do battle with once-titans of Europe Hamburger SV - likely in front of a sold-out crowd - but will come under far more humbling circumstances than it would have maybe a decade ago. Schalke were tussling with the continent's elite then. Gelsenkirchen is familiar with the jeopardy a Champions League night can bring, having appeared in the competition eight times over the past 20 seasons. In 2011, they managed to go as far as the semi-finals, with Ralf Rangnick's star-studded team - boasting the likes Raul, Manuel Neuer and bona fide club icon Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - only missing out on a final trip to Wembley at the hands of Manchester United. Jeopardy is still commonplace on matchdays at the Veltins-Arena - but the prospects that come with it are far more morbid. Once a staple of German football's upper echelons, Schalke are now dangling by a thread in the country's second division and have already begun to flirt with relegation to the third. The club are devoid of inspiration, both on the pitch and behind the scenes. Schalke are not alone in obscurity, however. They are a fallen giant in a sea of fallen giants that is the German second tier. There is no reminder of football's fragility more poignant than the one that comes by simply glancing at the Bundesliga 2 table, the like of which you won't see in another other sub-premier division in world football. From national champions to European champions, many are a shadow of their former selves. But the undying support they receive has hardly changed. Take 1. FC Kaiserslautern, for instance. Kaiserslautern are four-time German champions, last lifting the Meisterschale in 1998, and one of the Bundesliga's founding members. They play at the compact yet impressively overbearing Fritz-Walter-Stadium, which can hold nearly 50,000 fans in its four steep stands - almost half the population of the city it's plonked in. The club regularly records attendances of 40,000-plus - an impressive turnout for a top-flight team, let alone a side that three years ago were playing its football in the third tier. The Red Devils have not seen the light of the Bundesliga since 2012, but the fans still turn up in their droves. Kaiserslautern are not simply an anomaly. The likes of Hertha Berlin, Nuremberg and Hannover 96 are among the array of second-division clubs that pack their rafters with tens of thousands every other week, despite having often endured years of struggle. Glory hunters do not exist in these parts. How German football has come to be this sanctuary for supporters all boils down to the country's famed fan-first culture. The most wide-reaching example of this is the 50+1 membership regulation that prohibits outside investors from becoming majority stakeholders. In an era where clubs are stripping their identity and alienating their fanbases in the sole pursuit of profit, Germany have barriers in place to protect its outfits from losing touch with their roots. Add cheap ticket prices to the mix and football is more accessible here than anywhere on the continent. Clubs are at the centre of communities, and it's why attendances are so regularly through the roof, even when teams are enduring an era of underperformance. So strong is the football culture that in 2024, the Bundesliga 2 ranked as the fourth-best attended league in Europe as per a Uefa report, surpassing Spain's La Liga and France's Ligue 1. That brings us back to Schalke, who amidst their stark decline have become the latest to demonstrate that even when you stop winning, the turnstiles keep spinning. With an average attendance of 61,191 - filling out 99 per cent of its total capacity - Schalke were one of just two second division sides in the whole of Europe to boast an aggregated attendance of over one million across the 2023/24 campaign. The other was Bundesliga 2 rivals Hertha. Despite crisis on the pitch, there really is a feeling that Schalke will never die, so long as those 62,000-odd friends continue standing together. Usual matchday proceedings will take shape outside the Veltins as they come up against Hamburger, whose fall-off has been greater than any. They were continental goliaths in the 20th century. On top of six Bundesliga titles, they are one of only three German clubs - along with perennial big-hitters Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund - to win the European Cup, beating Juventus to the crown in 1983. Yet for the last seven years, the city has been without top-flight football. This could be about to change. Hamburger currently sit atop the Bundesliga 2 on 52 points, but have 1. FC Koln, SV Elversberg and Fortuna Dusseldorf breathing down their neck with five games to play. They will be desperate to claim at least one of the two automatic promotion places, having come out on the losing side of the promotion play-off twice in the last three seasons. For Schalke, Hamburger's current position will be one to envy. Having flirted with back-to-back relegations this season, how long it takes the former Champions League contenders to climb back up the ranks is anyone's guess. Should their Saturday opponents complete their return to the Bundesliga in the coming weeks, it will act as a timely reminder that there is indeed scope for fallen giants to one day a return to grace. But regardless of results, the fans will keep turning up and taking their seats in Gelsenkirchen - as they will for each and every club in this remarkable, refreshing division.
BBC News
02-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Why did Man Utd sell Elanga?
When Ralf Rangnick replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in December 2021, he quickly concluded Anthony Elanga had a bright clearly knew Elanga had pace - and felt his direct style was a threat to opposition defences, which in turn could create space for he also felt Elanga was aware of the space around him and did not forget his defensive duties, even if his preference was to go he featured in 26 out of Rangnick's 29 games in charge says it all about the current Austria coach's for Elanga, Erik ten Hag had a different Dutchman did not feel Elanga had the quality needed to be enough of an influence on his squad. That meant he was jettisoned in 2023 after a single campaign under the problem was the attacking players who came in the same summer – Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund – have failed to deliver. The wide attacking players United already had – Antony, Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho – were inconsistent at best, Anthony Martial was injured and Marcus Rashford's form fell off a Hag's assessment was probably right. United were third then, as Nottingham Forest are third now. Maybe that is Elanga's level. What he really did not bargain for was the Old Trafford side hurtling backwards at such an alarming rate. Third to them now seems light years away.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Austria's Arnautovic reveals panic attack during Nations League game
Austria striker Marko Arnautovic experienced a minor panic attack during the 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Nations League play-off against Serbia on Thursday. Shortly after the match began, the forward had to receive treatment following a fall in the opponent's penalty area. "I felt immense pressure in the upper abdominal area, and at the same moment, I had a panic attack," the 35-year-old told reporters. "I felt nauseous and dizzy. I don't know why, but then everything was fine. The doctor gave me some kind of remedy, and then I kept going." Ralf Rangnick's team missed out on a clear victory at Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium. "We completely dominated. Of course, it was also a bit my fault that we didn't win," said Arnautovic, who failed to convert several chances. In the return leg on Sunday in Belgrade, Austria are not only competing for promotion to the Nations League's top division but also aiming for a successful dress rehearsal ahead of their World Cup 2026 qualifiers, which begin in June.
BBC News
19-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Thomas Tuchel: How new England manager has gone from barman to Three Lions
A new era in English football starts on Thomas Tuchel will become the third non-British permanent manager to lead the England side after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Gareth Southgate, the Three Lions reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and lost in the 2021 and 2024 Euros the 51-year-old Tuchel, who has an 18-month contract, his job brief is clear, but hugely difficult – to qualify for and then win the 2026 World will be looking to make a lightning start as England have two home qualifiers first up – Albania at Wembley before entertaining Latvia on what can they expect from Tuchel, who guided Chelsea to the Champions League title in 2021, and who has also managed Borussia Dortmund, Paris St-Germain and Bayern Munich?BBC Sport has spoken to those who know Tuchel well to find out more. Pulling pints and collecting glasses Tuchel, who stands at 6ft 4in, was a defender during his playing began at second-tier German side Stuttgarter Kickers, before three years at third division team SSV Ulm until a serious knee injury ended his playing career in 1998, when he was boss at Ulm was Ralf Rangnick, who went on to manage Schalke, RB Leipzig, Manchester United and is now Austria's head coach."He was always interested in why we were doing certain things," said Rangnick. "After a couple of weeks, you can tell what player could become a coach - he was always asking questions."In 2000, a successful coaching career seemed a long way off for Tuchel, who was pulling pints and collecting glasses."When I became head coach of Stuttgart, I found out he was working in a bar to earn a living, I could hardly believe it," added Rangnick."I called him and said, 'Why don't you come to us and work as a youth team coach?' That's how his coaching career started."It was clear he shouldn't be working in a bar and would much rather be on a pitch with a team." 'A very bright, intelligent person' Tuchel worked with Stuttgart Under-15s and a few years later would guide their under-19s to their league first managerial role came in 2007 at FC Augsburg II and two years later he was in charge of Bundesliga outfit Mainz, who had Jurgen Klopp among their former was not surprised Tuchel would manage at the top level and added: "Thomas is a very bright, intelligent person. He studied sports in Stuttgart. It was obvious he had quite a few assets of what you need as a manager."Tuchel would also learn from, and emulate, those around five years at Mainz, he qualified for Europe twice, guiding them to fifth in 2010-11, their best ever Bundesliga position."Tuchel is someone who has been influenced by a lot of managers and coaches – it's clear he has a constant desire to learn, to be open-minded and curious," said former Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger."Ralf Rangnick is one of the coaches who has influenced him - what are you doing when you don't have the ball, how do you win it back, then how do you create chances and score goals?"Tuchel took elements of that, but another element is focused on what you do with the ball too."With that aspect, Tuchel is very close to Pep Guardiola in terms of the way he thinks about football and how to create chances from your own possession."Pep was more of a coach he looked up to, in the time they spent together in the Bundesliga [when Guardiola was in charge of Bayern Munich] there was a bond, a relationship forged. They are still friends and they talk regularly." Winning over the doubters In 2015, Tuchel began his next challenge, replacing Liverpool-bound Klopp as boss of Borussia Klopp's seven years at Dortmund, he had won the Bundesliga twice and reached the Champions League final, and Tuchel had to win over his new players, with not all of them keen."I honestly didn't expect much when it was announced he was going to be the new manager. I was even in talks maybe to leave the club," recalled former Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan."I had one phone call with him and he presented himself to me when I was on holiday in the summer break, and it was actually a really good call."He tried to explain a few things, how he wanted us to play, how he wanted us to train and everything he said he proved during that season."Gundogan joined Manchester City after Dortmund finished second in the Bundesliga at the end of that 2015-16 campaign, while Tuchel claimed the first major trophy of his career, beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 in the final of the German Cup in May 2017, in what proved to be his last match at the Germany international Gundogan, though, was completely won over by Tuchel in their sole season together."I can only say positive things about him from when we were at Dortmund," he added. "He's outstanding tactically and extremely honest and open. Personally, I got along very well with him."Hitzlsperger felt Tuchel's man-management skills would be key to success with England and added: "The players Tuchel has worked with in the past are very positive about him, and the way he communicates his ideas to them."I don't think the fact he is German will make any difference. Most of the England players work under foreign managers, or have done. He's a top manager so they will be open to his ideas and used to most of them, so it should be a smooth transition."Rangnick added: "He's somebody who loves to improve people. As a head coach, you need to be analytic and intelligent. He is curious, funny with a good sense of humour. A very specific humour and, if you know the humour, he can be funny." Successful but confrontational Apart from his almost five-year spell at Mainz, all of Tuchel's jobs have followed a similar pattern – successful, but not in the same role for Dortmund, he won Ligue 1 twice and took Paris St-Germain to the Champions League final in a two-and-a-half-year came next, getting the job in January 2021 and winning the Champions League just four months later, beating Guardiola and Gundogan's Manchester City side 1-0 in the despite also winning the Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup, he was sacked in September England, Bayern Munich was his last managerial job in March 2023, and he instantly won the Bundesliga title within a few months, but was gone at the end of the next campaign - a season that ended without any silverware despite the goals of England captain Harry Kane. "Thomas is not an easy person, or easy to deal with, but all good coaches are complicated," said Christian Heidel, Mainz's long-time executive and sporting director, in 2021."Complicated means they are also tough. They make demands of those around them, their players from morning to night and for that reason, they are incredible coaches."Former Augsburg youth coach Heiner Schuhmann described Tuchel as "an outstanding, passionate player on the pitch, who gave his all", but felt "he was so exacting and demanding, which didn't go down well with some of the players".Hitzlsperger also felt Tuchel could "rub people up the wrong way" in his dealings with club officials and would have to try to avoid that happening with the English Football Association."It's important Tuchel maintains a good relationship with the FA, the people who have brought him in, and he has to handle the media and public," said the former Aston Villa and Stuttgart midfielder."The same thing must not happen that happened in Bayern and Dortmund, where he fell out with his bosses. I am optimistic there won't be too many disagreements, because at his previous clubs it was often about transfers, which as a national team manager is not an issue."With the media and the fans, it's different. The advantage he has is he has worked in this country before with Chelsea, so knows what English fans are like." 'Putting one over Germany would be very sweet for him' Tuchel started the England job on 1 January and has been regularly spotted at Premier League has already shown he will do the job his way, handing a surprise recall to 34-year-old Ajax midfielder Jordan Henderson, as well as first international call-ups for 32-year-old Newcastle defender Dan Burn and 18-year-old Arsenal left-back Myles England captain Alan Shearer felt Tuchel would want to get the best out of the team immediately and said: "We've been down the route so many times of an English manager having this hope, this belief in three or four years' time we might be this."This manager has been brought in for now, for the next 18 months, to win the World Cup. That's his job. If he doesn't win the World Cup he won't be here." Hitzlsperger felt Tuchel could succeed and his nationality would soon be ignored if England were winning matches."His experience in club management will help him with England," he added. "He had to deal with some of the biggest names in world football at PSG for example, and was expected to win everything in France and in European competition."Hopefully the players want to play for their country because they think this is fun, they play good football and enjoy the way they play."He will get people excited and out of their seats, thinking 'this is great football, this is what we wanted to see'."The 2026 World Cup will be held in Canada, the United States and Mexico and Tuchel will be aiming to become only the second manager to guide England to World Cup glory after Sir Alf Ramsey in 1966."I would never say, 'he is going to win the World Cup', but he has got one of the best squads in the world, along with Spain, France, Argentina, and Brazil," said Hitzlsperger."Tuchel is probably hoping to play Germany at some stage. Can you imagine? Putting one over Germany in a World Cup – that would be very sweet for him and it probably wouldn't get any bigger."If he were to put one over them it would be one of the biggest achievements, just after winning the World Cup, and beating Germany on the way would be fantastic for him."
