What, what have you made of Manchester United on the pitch, just with your sort of analytical head on? And I think really comparing United's first five games of this season compared to their, their second half of last season.

Yeah, I think we saw the perfect Man United performance in Carrick's first game, right, in that City win al- although back in, in January.

Um, they need to kind of decide what kind of team they want to be.

They're trying at times to be a high pressing team and, like, Fulham played through them quite easily.

Um, Brighton as well managed to kind of force them in- into turnovers and, and problems.

Um, a- and it's hard to know what kind of direction they should go in because there's players in that team when you look at Rashford and Muani, um, even Cunha to an extent, that work really well in big open spaces in transition.

Bruno Fernandes, of course, is, is perfectly suited to, to that as well.

[laughs]

What has been the major change tactically from Iraola to Rosa?

Well, you're looking at his...

Like I was saying, a not great change in terms of the actual style of play.

I think you're looking at someone like Evanilson who has taken a bit of criticism but is such a key point to their team.

His energy, the busyness really dictates how the, the, the press goes, how the, the chaotic nature of it.

And it, because it is chaotic, the ability to then see something through in a stodgy way doesn't happen.

So you look at the game against Brentford and, and they will have walked away and thought, "How have we not won this game?" And but they get caught with one goal.

Is it the most crucial facet of the game right now?

How do teams retain a sense of tactical identity when they are in transition like this?

Yeah, I think Everton have been curious for a while.

I mean, they were fighting relegation a few years ago.

I think it feels like long gone are the days when they were a top half European level Premier League side.

I don't know how much it helps with the kind of the Balogun saga as well of kind of having him, then not having him.

They're kind of churning their way through a few different strikers at the moment.

I mean, there's real obvious strengths to that team, but the problem is that they were kind of the...

And in terms of those coaches and that kind of malleable nature that you were talking about, Rob, is that key to how these clubs are set up?

But that other dimension Bruno Guimarães brings to the team.

All right.

And of course Arsenal didn't in the end get that deal for Julián Álvarez or Vini Jr if that was a real deal, uh, over the line.

Can they retain the league, Liam, without a elite attacker? Is that some Spurs quote marks [laughs] thrown around there? Um, I, I, I think absolutely on the, on the basis of two things.

The first is that I think the quality of the chasing pack in the league isn't probably as good as it was last year.

A lot of teams in I think like transition phases all kind of new, new coaches.

So there will probably be a team that do kinda contest them and are a bit of a surprise package that do really, really well, but I think it's hard to know who that is at, at this stage.

Hmm

Yeah

... bring through some, some fresh blood, academy graduates, you know, make, make signings.

You don't want a team to kind of stagnate too much either.

I think there's a case of timing and where it occurs on the pitch as well.

I mean, the classic example being last summer that the Isak saga went on for so long that Newcastle started the season playing a back three and had Anthony Gordon up top because that was their solution with the players that they had.

They didn't yet have a solution to a player that they were quite clearly going to sell but hadn't yet sold.

Um, and again, now to lose I think Howe so close to the start of the season must be really frustrating because you've then started pre-season and changed things, and that gets quite difficult.

Because this is, this is, this is gonna be such a tricky ask for, for Coventry.

Yeah

... bring through some, some fresh blood, academy graduates, you know, make, make signings.

You don't want a team to kind of stagnate too much either.

I think there's a case of timing and where it occurs on the pitch as well.

I mean, the classic example being last summer that the Isak saga went on for so long that Newcastle started the season playing a back three and had Anthony Gordon up top because that was their solution with the players that they had.

They didn't yet have a solution to a player that they were quite clearly going to sell but hadn't yet sold.

Um, and again, now to lose, I think Hal so close to the start of the season must be really frustrating because you've then started pre-season and changed things, and that gets quite difficult.

Because this is, this is, this is gonna be such a tricky ask for, for Coventry.

Yeah

... older in the, in the footballing sense.

And I think also the risk with this is, and I think something Tottenham have had too, when you bring in so many young players, there's also kind of the physical jump that has to be, be made, right, in terms of the robustness, the demands that going from either other leagues in Europe or especially academy football does a generally a really good job of preparing players, especially technically for the demands.

But the physical demands of the sprinting, the intensity, they're so much greater and you just can't kind of...

There's not really a way to coach that because you're talking about players who are really gifted technically.

You can't rush someone through, you know, physical development.

That can't just be accelerated.

Is, is there a danger that if things don't quite work, it becomes a, a bit of, you know, a, a pair of banter signings almost that, that people can, you know, batter Chelsea with? Or, or do you think that it is more likely to work because it's under Xavi Alonso and he's a, he's a cool, calm head, and he'll make all of this work?

[laughs]

Um, it's not inherently kind of flawed.

Um, and they were really good against Australia at basically manipulating the wing backs who, um...

And I've done a tactics piece on this if people want to go on site and kind of see it visualized, but the simple part was the wing backs were jumping out really early to, um, the, effectively the, the US wing backs, and it made space in behind for those kind of channel runs.

We see it from Balogun for the goal where he spins the center back, isolates the center back out wide, gets into the box, and Weston McKennie was doing the same down the right, um, as a midfielder, basically making those same darts diagonally, working really well with Sergino Dest.

Um, I think that's been really, really effective.

We've seen, as Liam mentioned earlier, about kind of the cutback down the left and the, the good moves against Paraguay when Pulisic was there, and you kind of could get him on the ball and into those spaces.

Yeah

What, what was the big difference for you? Because England, it felt like they were energized in that second half and had a real intensity.

Yeah, I think we saw bits of that intensity in the first half.

Kind of the counter-press was quite good.

They were actually really good I think when they lost the ball kind of in making those quick regains.

The problem was too many of those turnovers, and I think when they then got into pressing situations they got a bit stuck.

Kane was quite deep a lot of the time.

We had both Gordon and Madueke quite high marking the center backs, but no one really putting pressure on, on the goalkeeper.

Is this now, Thom, Tuchel's template for England moving forward? Jack posing the question there saying, "Can they replicate it? Can they do it again?"

That, that's the goal without us having to dictate, "This is what you should be doing in this moment, and this is what you should be doing in that moment." So, so that's been our general approach to, to trying to get it the way we want.

That's really interesting.

And in terms of kind of the shape I've seen, a lot of it seems to be kind of from the base of a 4-4-2 or at least starting that way in most matches, whether that be kind of with two 10s or kind of more traditional wingers.

Are there any challenges of coaching that as a shape internationally? I appreciate you have different players at different times in different camps, but it's obviously not a lot...

It's not a system, sorry, that a lot of teams play at domestic level.

I know you have to work with the super strength of your team and the players that you've got.

How does that, how does that look like?

So, you know, th- those are some of the things which I think we, we, we try to do.

So if there's any teams where people say, "Ah, they're good, but they're lacking a number nine," I say, "Well, that is actually probably okay." [upbeat music]

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[laughs]

He hasn't got too many players where you're saying, "Well, he could play there, he could play here." It's pretty obvious who the wingers are, who the number 10s are, who the midfielders are, and I think he's basically just picked the two that he thinks are most likely to, to perform best.

I mean, England aren't obviously the only ones to have kind of question marks.

I think inevitably there's always going to be, you know, "You've left out this player," or, "Why didn't you take this other player?" France have a very similar problem I think of so much kind of attacking quality and attacking depth, and we can say the same about the US side that Pochettino's picked, which look quite light in midfield.

They've got a lot of forwards, a lot of defenders.

But there's that whole point then actually all three of those coaches have kind of spoken on this and said it's about taking kind of the most tactically complete squad, that you almost want this problem where you've got too much talent.

From England's perspective, you've got, you know, kind of five or six number 10s that you could make an argument that a lot of these would start for other countries.

Well, that, that's great, that's fine, but we saw at the last tournament, the Euros, that England had a problem of really lacking balance because they were trying to shoehorn in all of these number 10s.

[laughs]

How's the feeling in the country at the moment? I mean, what are the expectations, Liam?

I mean, the expectations are through the roof, as they have been with England ever since, obviously, the 2018 World Cup, where they made it to the semifinals.

But, I mean, slightly funny story and a bit of a tangent.

I was on holiday when the squad got announced.

I was on the beach in Spain, in Mallorca, actually, and just seeing kind of on social media, I think, collective national kind of head loss, which I think when you initially look at the squad, it's perhaps a bit justified.

You see some of the players he's left at home.

I think Cole Palmer's the...

How big a factor do you see set-pieces being in terms of the broader scheme of things this summer?

Uh, Liam, what are your big dead ball takeaways from the 2025/26 campaign?

Well, it's something we first spoke about kind of on match day one in our first part of the season of, of being kind of-- We're-- I think we're all a bit taken aback by how direct a lot of the league felt.

But we've just seen a real shift towards basically, at least at corners, almost everyone trying to take the same corner almost all the time.

I think enough teams got fed up with kind of Arsenal and Aston Villa a few seasons ago, and their really smart in-swingers kind of crowding the keeper.

Um, I think we've gone a bit crazy with the blocking now this year, and I think that's a bit different.

I think Arsenal were quite good a few seasons ago at putting bodies kind of around the goalkeeper, but being smart to not actually be kind of grappling or getting hold of players, and that's gone a little bit wild now.

I mean, we're up to 70% of all corners this season being in-swingers, which-It's a jump from last year, and last year was a big jump from two seasons ago.

But also, why, why is that? Or is that a, you know, is that a hardened trend? Is that, you know, something specific there that we can really nail down?

Oh.

Uh, so I've got Granit Xhaka in there.

I think an unbelievable signing.

I mean, not in terms of, oh, that's a very clever signing, but just, you know, that season Leverkusen won the league two years ago, you'd probably have him in the best 11 in Europe, never mind in the Bundesliga.

Um, and so for Sunderland to get him in, I think just his personality, you know, his leadership, but also his footballing quality.

I think some of his passing's been exceptional.

I mean, he's had quite a few different eras, I'd say, of his career, Xhaka.

So what does your midfielder look like?

I, I th- you know, I think it could catch on.

No, I mean, the PSG team's built really well for a player of his qualities.

I mean, Bradley Barcola's been the other option on the left, and is probably a bit more of just a runner-in behind, whereas Kvaratskhelia can kind of do it all a bit better, can come to feet a lot, can spin defenders.

But we see how well they basically manipulate a team's back line.

It was the case when Liverpool switched to a back five, and, you know, you had Dembele dropping in really deep, and then runners going in behind him.

And the same for what the guy's talking about with Alvarez, as, as post-Kvaratskhelia in that, you know, a, a forward line that make, make a lot of runs, but make a lot of rotations as well.

We saw Desire Doue basically coming over to the left s- left side quite a lot, even when Kvaratskhelia was there, trying to kind of overload in, in a game where both sides are basically pressing man-to-man a lot of the time, and especially in central spaces.

Is that fair to say?

So I think that's been quite a significant change.

I think that's a really good point from Michael.

I mean, you take kinda João Pedro as one of the leading kind of Brazilian forwards now.

He scored forty in the season.

Th- that's a pretty big gap to, to Hugo Tiago, um, again, who's kind of seen as...

I think when he got called up to Brazil, people were saying, "Oh, he's not kind of like a true typical Brazilian forward." And you're like, "Well, you know, if you're a goalscorer, you're a goalscorer." Obviously, there's factors you have to consider tactically about how they fit into a team, but you can't just discount someone immediately just because their profile may be a bit different to, to how your strikers have been previously.

I had a look as well at the numbers, um, in recent seasons at just Premier League players who were scoring twenty-plus goals, and we were, we were spoiled quite a bit last season.

Why do you think he's outperformed all of the big money signings in his position this campaign, Liam?

But in this case, um, it looks like they're sort of finding some form at the crucial moment of the season.

One thing I've really enjoyed and found intriguing with City this year is kind of it feels like they've gone through a few different iterations, at least tactically, and part of that is owing to signing players in January.

Um, I think injuries as well than just the fact that they've not kind of had Rodri back to the full, you know, fully fit, match fit kind of extent that they'd, they'd wish for.

Um, and Guardiola seems to have leaned into the fact that the league has kind of very much changed.

I think actually one of the fair critiques is that A-Arteta probably, I think less so.

Guardiola is very much prepared to play into that kind of direct style and, um, leaning a, a bit more that way.

But we've seen them use real different shapes and different personnel at different times as being kind of the traditional four-two-three one that we've seen with them in kind of recent weeks, with Šćek is very much that number ten.

So does it feel like Arsenal's primary trio of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, and either Eze or Ødegaard, does that provide enough of the balance that they need, Liam?

So does it feel like Arsenal's primary trio of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, and either Eze or Ødegaard, does that provide enough of the balance that they need, Liam?

Not completely.

I don't think so.

I think they're still lacking kind of that player to truly sit at the base of midfield and, and really break lines.

I think they've kind of bought a weird number of players in midfield or midfielder-adjacent positions in recent seasons, kind of had the reverse thing with Havertz, where they were-- kind of signed him as everyone's like, "Oh, that's a striker," and then Arteta was like, "Oh, he might play kind of left-sided number eight." Merino kind of doing the reverse, signed as a midfielder, ended up playing further forward.

Even Zubimendi, I think is, you know, at times looks better further up the pitch, um, and hasn't always, I think, kind of taken too many risks on the ball.

I was looking at some of the, the line-breaking pass numbers that we have, um, on, on ProVision through, through Opta.

Have they, Liam, made the difference this season in their title challenge, maybe compared to other seasons?

How comfortable a game was it?

I don't think hugely.

Be interested to get Charlie's thoughts on this as well.

Um, the, the setup was interesting 'cause it was obviously so different to last week.

Um, Liverpool had to change shape, had to change tactics, and I think went really, really kinda direct from the off.

I think Anfield was kind of roaring every long pass early on, whether or not they were kinda sticking to the forward line.

It went with ease, uh, from, from the start.

Mm.

What makes them so special as a, as a three?

Well, to Michael's point, they all kind of match, and they fit together quite nicely.

I think they're three very good top-level players anyway, all probably at slightly different stages of, of their career.

But you kind of look at the profiles, and they're all a little bit different.

In Diaz, you've got someone who I think actually does a lot of his best work without the ball, you know, a really relentless kind of runner in behind, attacks the box really well.

We saw that in his final season at Liverpool, where he was functionally kind of a, a forward or a number nine, especially in the runs that he was making.

Olise is so outstandingly good in terms of his, his creation, likes those kind of back post curling crosses with his, with his left foot, but just a really good range of passing and weight of passing.

Mark, what, what, what do you make of it?

Someone similar to him, if not him, I think would be a good idea.

No, I think they need kind of their equivalent of the, the Moises Caicedo, Declan Rice-type profile.

That the real kind of ball winner, physical presence, really kind of big, big recovery runs.

And I know that both a-at times have, and, and Rice especially has obviously re-elevated his, his final third output too.

Chips in with goals.

Obviously, his corners are a real, real big strength for, for Arsenal.

But the, there's a whole point to this is that you need to kind of have someone that can, in terms of talking about balance, that you want to let Bruno Fernandes be as close to goal as he can be or have that freedom to rotate.

I don't think he's an unbelievable passer in terms of, you know-

And just how important is a preseason to what you can then do for the next 10 months, Liam?

Yeah, I think it's really important.

There were some interesting numbers.

I attended the...

There's a company called the Howden Insurance Group, and for the past few years, they've done a really comprehensive, what they call a, an injury index, uh, within football, where they track everything you can imagine in terms of who's picking up injuries, how long they're lasting, the position, the age, the type of injury.

And they had some interesting research.

I attended this conference, I suppose you can call it, in, in December at the end of last year, and they accepted that, fine, this was still a, an ongoing trend of looking at kind of the longer term impacts of things like the Club World Cup and the, the condensed schedule.

You have to look at it more on a team-by-team basis, manager-by-manager basis, rather than just one equals the other, I suppose.

But, uh, what, what were some of the new revelations that, that you discovered in, in the reporting process from these reflections on Breaking2?

Breaking2?Yeah, I mean, speaking to Brad Wilkins especially was really fascinating.

It, it's funny, he's now on a faculty at the University of Oregon, and he, he almost talks about Breaking2 as though it's like a, a different life for him.

Um, and he said some really interesting stuff kind of around the testing, that they were looking for kind of, you know, two, three real solid physiological markers, things they could really robustly look at, um, you know, VO2 max, kind of the, the commonplace things in, uh, in athletics.

Uh, looking at lactate turn points as well, kind of understanding basically who had, um, you know, the, the engine.

Um, Andy Jones also I spoke to on this was, again, like really I think open and insightful as much as they can be and as even more than I expected them to be, to be honest.

I'd have understood if they were like, "No, we're not talking about that.

You, you s- you said in one part of the book that you were surprised that, like, some people weren't bound by NDAs and all that kind of stuff, and they were pretty open, so, but what were some of the, the challenges that you found in reporting?

There does seem to be more variety than I think at most points within the last 10 years or so.

Yeah, I'd, I'd agree with that.

I think Brentford are a really good example, a really kind of penalty-heavy team, if that's the, the right way to talk about them.

A lot of their threat as well I think comes from set pieces, their long throws basically causing a lot of chaos and saying to teams, "Well, we're gonna kinda manufacture situations where there will be a lot of contact," and those moments to say, "Okay, we can try and win first contact," or, "You might have even fouled our players." Nathan Collins has won quite a few penalties for them.

Dangou Attara has been really good in, in this aspect.

I think his kind of goals and assists number is healthy-ish, and I know Mark's got some stuff to say on kind of, you know, how we view penalty winning and, and chance creation.

But yeah, Dangou's won quite a few penalties for them.

And I think Manchester City in, in years gone by were particularly intelligent in it because no one really thought of them as kind of high tactical foulers, but it's because of where and how they went about it.