The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 affected the market this summer?And after Messi finally won an international tournament with Argentina this summer we take a look at the curious position the great man now finds himself in - he's out of contract but undoubtedly still Barcelona's best player, but is he still the world's best player?We look at his numbers to assess his current role and cast an eye over the contenders lying in wait to take over his status at the pinnacle of the game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 & Mancini and of course the penalty shoot-out that ultimately decided the tournament.We also reflect on Euro 2020 as a whole and pick our alternative team of the tournament. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 ItalyWill 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 every possible tactical angle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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-finalsWill 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 side to take advantage of Luke Shaw's surges forward?And who will come out on top in the battle of the possession obsessed midfields of Spain and Italy? Could Italy's dependable centre-back pairing of Chiellini and Bonucci be the difference compared to Spain's haphazard duo of Pau Torres and Aymeric Laporte? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 masters of Spain, injury-wracked Belgium taking on the impressively deep squad of Italy, the resilient Czech Republic against gung-ho Denmark and of course Zinchenko-inspired Ukraine will face Gareth Southgate's rock solid and tactically flexible England. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 16There'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 tournament as a whole.We also go in-depth on the two most tantalising round of 16 ties in Belgium v Portgual and England v Germany. Can Belgium exploit Portugal's weakness at full-back? Will Ronaldo sweep aside Belgium's ageing back-line and break the all-time national goalscoring record? Will Gareth Southgate match up Germany's 3-4-3? Can he trust Jack Grealish in a game like this? Will Kai Havertz continue his excellent form and break English hearts?All this and more discussed on the Zonal Marking Euros Notebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 with the threat of Germany's galloping wing-back Robin Gosens.All that plus we pick some of our stand-out players of the tournament so far both good and bad - David Alaba, look away now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 than record-breaker Cristiano Ronaldo, and loads more, we've got every tactical and analytical angle covered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices