The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast

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? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 FPlenty 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 Slovakia?And we've got the official Group of Death with France, Portugal, Germany and Hungary in Group FWe look at every team in-depth and pick out the player to watch for each side - the perfect way to set yourself up for the start of the tournament in a few days time Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 players of Italy, Wales, Switzerland, Turkey, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Russia, Austria, Netherlands, Ukraine and North Macedonia then step right this way! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Southgate's England came within twenty minutes of a World Cup final. We all remember the penalty shoot-out and the Trippier free-kick, but were England actually any good in that tournament?Cox and Worville have looked at the footage and the data to determine whether Southgate's Three Lions were worthy semi-finalists.We look at the supposed lucky draw, the reliance on set pieces and penalties, plus pick out some highlights featuring the likes of Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard that you've probably forgotten about by now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Mark Carey and Ali Maxwell look ahead to Saturday's Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea from a tactical and analytical perspective.Can we learn anything from the two games they've played against each other recently? Will City stick with their strikerless approach or throw in Jesus or Aguero? Which of Chelsea's array of attackers are best suited to exploit City's high defensive line?All this and more as we study the game from all manner of tactical angles Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell gather to offer their distinctive take on football's traditional end of season awardsTasked by Ali with picking an alternative team of the season, with the stipulation being that they can't pick any players who got more than one vote in The Athletic's writers poll, Tom and Michael have picked the players they think have gone under the radar this season and were perhaps more deserving of a bigger share of the votes.As well as the teams we go through a few alternative categories of our own including Tactical Change of the season, Underrated Player of the Season and the inaugural Zonal Marking Data Darlings award.DO YOU LOVE FOOTBALL MANAGER? WE'VE GOT THE PERFECT EVENT FOR YOU...Join The Athletic's Iain Macintosh on May 25th for the ultimate Football Manager masterclass.Sports Interactive's Tom Davidson will deliver a top level briefing on the secrets of FM21 and then former Rangers, Aston Villa and Birmingham manager Alex McLeish will be in the studio to pass on some real life lessons from nearly 25 years in management.There are top prizes to be won too, not least the opportunity to take on McLeish in a live streamed, winner-takes-all game of FM21.Your ticket will give you full access to the Football Manager Masterclass. This includes an audience quiz and a chance to take on Alex McLeish in a live streamed Football Manager game. You will also get top tips and game insight from Sports Interactive insider, Tom Davidson and a touch of football management reality from Alex McLeish. All for £7.link.dice.fm/masterclass Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.