The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell take an almighty leap into the stats to work out what sort of player Cristiano Ronaldo is right now in 2020 as a 35-year-old at Juventus. We know his game has changed dramatically since his early days coming through as a brilliant dribbler and speed merchant at Manchester United, and the assumption is that he's even changed quite a bit since...

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are back with another tactical masterclass, this week casting their eye on some of the more unconventional roles and positions we've seen a host of players taking up this season in the Premier League and beyond. Has Nuno turned Wily Boly and Max Kilman into the first ever pair of inverted-centre backs? Pep Guardiola loves to conjure up inter...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Ali Maxwell are joined by Argentinean football expert Rupert Fryer to celebrate the career of Javier Mascherano as he announced his retirement this week after an outstanding 17-year career. We chart his career starting with the early days coming through at River Plate, his move to Corinthians in Brazil, that bizarre spell at West Ham before establishing himself along...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell for a whistle-stop tour across Europe to look at five unheralded teams who have found themselves in unexpectedly lofty positions in the league table so far. Starting on home soil with high-pressing Southampton. We also head over to Italy to look at a swashbuckling Sassuolo side who find themselves second in Serie A, before crossing to Sp...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell for the second part of our series looking at the challenges of staying up after being promoted to the Premier League. This week we look at the various ways teams have gone about trying to establish themselves in their second season. Looking at how Leicester famously managed to win the league in 2015/16, back-to-back 7th placed finishes f...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to debate the various 'do's and dont's' for a maiden season in the top flight of English football...  Is it better to sack or stick with the manager who brought you up? Discard the playing style and sure things up at the back? Splash the cash in the market or trust in the players who won so many games last year? The Zonal Marking team de...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to get a few things off their chests about the use of statistics in the general conversation around football. Do assists really tell us anything about creativity? Why do we harp on about manager win percentages? Does it really matter that Team A haven't won at Team B's ground for 27 years? And don't get us started on pass completion perc...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Sam Lee join Ali Maxwell to look at Manchester City's start to the season and assess the ways Pep Guardiola's side have changed their tactical approach since they last won the title. Why did they come up so short so often last season? What went wrong in the Champions League? Are there early signs of the same problems being an issue this season? Have we underestimated...

The Athletic's Michael Cox joins Ali Maxwell to assess what has been a goal-tastic start to the season in the Premier League as we head into the international break. They look at the numbers and the tactics to try and understand why there have been so many goals, high-scoring games and a distinct lack of 0-0 draws in the opening weeks of the season. Sign up to The Athletic now for just £1-a-month...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and James Horncastle join Ali Maxwell for an in-depth look at one of the most iconic clubs in world football: AC Milan. Taking the lead from James recent behind-the-scenes piece on the club we cast our eye back through the history books to examine the great sides and coaches that built the legend, before examining the past decade of disappointment, and finally looking at...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to profile every Premier League squad by average age, depth of quality and numerous other quirks along the way. Who is well-stocked across the pitch? Who are the unsung players who could have good seasons? Who could yet dip into the market for a bit more depth? All this and more answered in this week's ZM pod.  Subscribe to The Athletic...

Right now we're offering listeners of this show the opportunity to try out The Athletic for just £1 a month You can enjoy all of Michael's great tactical analysis, including a recent article on how Bielsa's Leeds approached their first game back in the Premier League and another looking at why Chelsea repeatedly went route-one against Brighton Just go to theathletic.com/zonalmarking  to sign up fo...

Right now we're offering listeners of this show the opportunity to try out The Athletic for FREE.  You can enjoy all of Michael's great tactical analysis, including a recent article on how Pep's decision to field a 'Mourinho Team', saw City crash out of the Champions League to Lyon. Just go to www.theathletic.com/zonalmarking to sign up for a 30 Day Free Trial. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

Right now we're offering listeners of this show the opportunity to try out The Athletic for FREE.  You can enjoy all of Michael's great tactical analysis, including a recent article on how Pep's decision to field a 'Mourinho Team', saw City crash out of the Champions League to Lyon. Just go to www.theathletic.com/zonalmarking to sign up for a 30 Day Free Trial. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

Sign up to The Athletic now for access to Michael Cox's tactical musings and Tom Worville's statistical masterpieces - including recent pieces breaking down the tactics that lead Arteta's Arsenal to triumph over Chelsea in the FA Cup final and why ball retention actually does matter a lot more than you may think Head to theathletic.com/zonalmarking for a 30-day free trial Hosted on Acast. See acas...

The Athletic's Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle and Dermot Corrigan join Ali Maxwell for a comprehensive look ahead to the return of the Champions League - looking at every single game on the schedule and all the potential storylines that could emerge from this truncated single-leg knockout format. It promises to be a furious festival of elite football and we've got every angle covered. We als...

There were seven managerial changes in the Premier League last season, three of them at Watford, but did Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham, Everton and the Hornets make the right calls in sacking their managers?     The Athletic's Michael Cox joins Ali Maxwell to evaluate those decisions, to look at what's happened since the likes of Mourinho, Arteta, Moyes and Ancelotti took over at their respective c...

The Athletic's Michael Cox joins Ali Maxwell for a look at the tactical increasingly fashionable trend of playing a back three this season after Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea all used the system last weekend in the FA Cup semi-finals. 13 of the 20 Premier League sides have tried a three-man defence at some point this season, some like Sheffield Utd and Wolves have used it in different ways but to g...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and James Horncastle join Ali Maxwell to assess Maurizio Sarri's first season at Juventus. On the verge of leading Juve to their ninth straight Serie A title, we look at how Sarri has measured up to expectations in Turin, how he has impressed his tactical philosophy on the squad, as well as how he's used key individuals like Cristiano Ronaldo, Aaron Ramsey, Matthijs de L...

The Athletic's Michael Cox & Laurie Whitwell join Ali Maxwell to look at Manchester United's recent transformation from a struggling mid-table outfit into the Premier League's form side with attacking options aplenty. They look at how Solskjaer has managed to fit Rashford, Martial, Greenwood, Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba into the same side, and how the individual roles they are all playing a...

The Athletic's Michael Cox & Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to look at a perhaps underappreciated aspect of this all conquering Liverpool side - their possession game.   We dive into the data to analyse how Liverpool use the ball and the passing combinations they most rely upon.   Looking at how crucial Alisson is to starting the moves, how Van Dijk's passing differs from Matip & Gomez, how...

The Athletic's Michael Cox joins Ali Maxwell to look at the first batch of Premier League games under Project Restart and pick out the teams & players who have best adapted to the unfamiliar conditions - with a particular focus on Tottenham, Man Utd, Brighton, Newcastle and Southampton. Elsewhere The Athletic's Crystal Palace writer Matt Woosnam drops in to give us the lowdown on how Roy Hodgs...

The Athletic's Michael Cox and James Horncastle join Ali Maxwell ahead of Serie A returning this week for a look at the next generation of Italian midfielders, starting with a man some have compared to the legendary Andrea Pirlo - Brescia's Sandro Tonali. Tonali has been lighting up Serie A this season and drawing comparisons to Pirlo but is there more to his game than that comparison suggests? El...

Ahead of La Liga returning this weekend The Athletic's Michael Cox & Dermot Corrigan join Ali Maxwell to look at current state of Barcelona. They discuss how recently installed manager Quique Setien is settling in, how his tactical approach differs from his predecessors, why they're more reliant on Messi than ever, why Griezmann hasn't really hit the heights yet, plus a wider look at what's to...

Michael Cox & Ali Maxwell are joined by The Athletic's Bournemouth writer Peter Rutzler to look at what has been a disappointing season for Eddie Howe's side. We pick apart the tactics - which may not be quite as open & entertaining as they once were - and look at the individual players who will be key if the Cherries are to avoid relegation when the season returns.   Sign up to The Athlet...