The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast

The Athletic's Michael Cox and host Ali Maxwell are joined by James Horncastle to discuss Jose Mourinho's latest vendetta with the Italian referees, what Juventus and Manchester United have in common, Milan's best start to a domestic season since the 50s and a Venetian Xmas Tree... Plus, how Diego Simeone's son has become Europe's hottest striker, why Fiorentina's starting XI is perennially changi...

For Tom Worville's last podcast (before leaving us to join RB Leipzig!) host Ali Maxwell and The Athletic's Michael Cox, join him to reflect on the continued rise of data and analytics in football journalism and Tom's pioneering work in the field... From xG going mainstream, 'field tilt' being referenced on MNF, 'translating' the language of football data, the remaining 'blindspots' in the profess...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to assess how the careers of Neymar, Arjen Robben, Karim Benzema and Robert Lewandowski might be viewed if they didn't simply exist in an era dominated by both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell, for a fascinating exercise in hypothetical Premier League squad-building...  From unbalanced centre-back partnerships to midfield weakness, asymmetrical quality on the flanks and whether the goalkeeper or the main striker is the most important? Under strict parameters, our trio attempt to build one squad capable of lifting the Prem...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to assess the Newcastle United squad following their takeover last week. Which areas will they need to strengthen in January? And if and when a new manager is announced, will they be able to improve the performances of the current squad? Plus...Michael outlines a number of changes he would like to make to the laws of the game. Hosted on...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to reflect on the chaotic but tactically fascinating contest between Liverpool and Man City - and discuss how a common trend among England's top three clubs could hold the keys to this season's Premier League crown...  Plus, Tom explains how Mo Salah and Phil Foden were able to wreak such havoc last Sunday, and later, adopts the rol...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to reflect on Lionel Messi's role in PSG's victory over Manchester City. Plus, a closer look at how Adama Traore is performing under new Wolves boss, Bruno Lage, and how both Brighton and Brentford's numbers continue to impress. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Mark Carey join host Ali Maxwell to assess the respective journey's of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Raheem Sterling - on their way to scoring 100 Premier League goals... The trio analyse not only the changes in the individual players but the wider game around them, as well as, the influence of their coaches, as a new type of forward starts to join an illustrious group of...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to assess whether or not 'assists' tell the whole story when it comes to measuring a players creativity... The trio investigate how expected assists (xA) and other metrics can provide a clearer picture, if Pogba stands any chance of breaking the Premier League assists record this season, as well as, to what extent set-pieces 'stat-p...

The Athletic's Tom Worville and Mark Carey join host Ali Maxwell to assess the big winners from the summer transfer window on the continent. How AC Milan got back into the Champions League after an eight-year hiatus, why Norwich are better prepared for a season in the top flight this time around and more... Plus, Mark elaborates on the innovative new ways in which data can be used to assess how co...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to assess the many ramifications of one of the biggest Premier League transfer stories in history - as Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Manchester United... Does he slot into Solskjaer's team as a pure no.9 and how will his arrival impact the likes of Mason Greenwood and notably, Paul Pogba from a tactical perspective? Will it become a...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to discuss an interesting trend in the number of Premier League right-backs, simply not playing at right back... Our tactical trio discuss Trent Alexander-Arnold's narrow positioning against Burnley, a marauding Reece James at the Emirates, Matty Cash's long-throws, Livramento's debut and if Kyle Walker is better technically that he...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville open their notebooks and join host Ali Maxwell for their reflections on the opening weekend of a new Premier League season... The differences between Everton and Arsenal's crossing tactics, Mason Greenwood and Adam Armstrong's finishing, plus, Chelsea's "total dominance" and much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to assess each Premier League club's chances for success this season. How might European football impact on West Ham's campaign, are Liverpool and Man United genuine title contenders, will Bielsa's Leeds be immune to 'second season syndrome' and much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are here to gently ease you back in to the new football season as they take a look at how the transfer market and player recruitment is changing - with teams increasingly on the lookout for young talent could those teams who gamble on a slightly older vintage gain an edge? How have the combined forces of the Euros and the ongoing pandemic af...

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell open the Euros notebook for the last time in order to reflect on the final between England and Italy and work out how the game was won and lost. We look at England's cautious approach after going ahead so early, how the midfield of Verratti and Jorginho dominated possession, the substitutions and tactical decisions from Southgate & Manci...

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell open the Euros notebook for the penultimate time as they look back at two contrasting but equally thrilling semi-finals and then look ahead to Sunday's final of England against Italy Will the Italians dominate midfield? Will England's pace on the flanks be the difference for them? These questions and more answered as we preview the game from...

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell open the Euros notebook once again for a look back at the key tactical moments from the quarter-finals and look ahead to the semi-finals Will Southgate change England's system again or will we see a similarly high-pressing intense approach that vanquished Ukraine? Could Denmark switch their outstanding right-footed left-back to the right sid...

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are here with the latest edition of our Euros Notebook, picking out the key tactical observations that tell us how the round of 16 games were won and lost - particularly what went wrong for the big boys France, Portugal, Germany and Netherlands. We also look ahead to all four quarter-finals with versatile Switzerland up against the passing m...

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville an Ali Maxwell open the Euros notebook once again to share their insights on the final round of group games and look ahead to the round of 16 There's a look at how France are progressing and in particular how impressive Paul Pogba has been so far, talk of Spain's improvement as the group stage has gone on, and picking out some intriguing trends from across...

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are back with another Euros tactical notebook, picking out a variety of interesting things from across the second batch of group stage games. Topics covered include a possible explanation for Gareth Southgate's cautious use of England's full-backs so far, a look at Turkey's astonishingly bad defence, and Portugal's repeated struggles to deal...

The Athletic's Micheal Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell have been hard at work watching every second of Euro 2020 so far and have been noting down anything and everything they consider to be interesting enough to bring to your attention. From England's creative throw-ins, Sweden's flat pack four, France's surprising counter-pressing, a proliferation of alliteration, a Scotsman with a better xG th...

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are back with the second of our big Euro 2020 previews and this time we cover the second side of the draw with groups D, E and F Plenty to get stuck into here as England find themselves in group D with Croatia, Czech Republic and of course Scotland. Could Sweden be one of the tournaments 'dark horses' in Group E with Spain, Poland and Slovak...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell for the first of our big Euro 2020 preview pods and we kick things off with groups A, B and C. Michael has watched many hours of footage to bring you his considered take on every team and Worville has been scouring the data to try and unearth the key player to watch for each side. So if you want to learn more about the tactics and the pl...

This episode originally went out in March but seeing as we're having a week off to prepare for our massive Euro 2020 preview episodes next week we thought we'd kick this back up the feed for any of you who may have missed it first time round. Enjoy! The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell travel back to summer 2018, to the hazy days of waistcoats and wasted pints, as Gareth Southg...