Scissors Kick

“‘Franco burned Gernika… but Franco, for me, was Spain’s saviour from everything.’ Rafael Madariaga is talking about the bombing of the northern Spanish town of Gernika on April 26, 1937, during the country’s Civil War. Carried out by the air forces of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini at the behest of Spain’s dictator, General Francisco […]

“Arne Slot is set to become the next man in charge at Anfield. On Friday night, Liverpool agreed a compensation package with Feyenoord that will allow the 45-year-old to become Jurgen Klopp’s successor following the conclusion of the current season. Slot’s pedigree has grown across European football in the past 18 months after he led […]

“Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw by West Ham United on Saturday afternoon. West Ham took the lead when Jarrod Bowen rose highest from a corner and headed past Alisson in the Liverpool net. Shortly after the break, though, Andrew Robertson curled the ball in to level the game. Liverpool went ahead in the […]

“When asked at which point a club gives up on a ‘project’, a mixture of current and former directors at Premier League clubs tend to arrive at the same answer. ‘When the fans say so,’ says one of them, who would like to remain nameless because he does not really want to admit publicly that, […]

“Wednesday evening’s Merseyside derby was as intense as so many of its predecessors. As they have so often in recent weeks, Jurgen Klopp’s team began the game sloppily, handing Everton the advantage in a crucial game for both sides. VAR ruled out an early penalty for the home side for offside but one of the […]

“The transfer window for players will open when the season ends but the movement of managers has no deadline — anyone can switch roles at any point. Jurgen Klopp’s announcement in January that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of this season after nine years at Anfield kicked off speculation over who would […]

“In modern football, you don’t really get classic strike partnerships any more. Few teams at the highest level play 4-4-2, or any other formation that features two out-and-out strikers. Today, attacking is about pushing multiple players into attack, surprising the opposition with a variety of threats. Arsenal are the best example of that. Eight sides […]

“Not this. Anything but this. It can’t happen. ‘It won’t,’ AC Milan’s captain Davide Calabria reassured the supporters. The thought of hosting a party for Inter Milan’s 20th scudetto sent shudders through the Milan fanbase. ‘They’ll win the league, but we’ll do everything to win the derby,”’coach Stefano Pioli said. It did not inspire confidence. […]

“There are many facets of a football team’s tactical identity, but perhaps the most instructive element is also the most basic part of football strategy — how is a side trying to get the ball into a dangerous position to score a goal? Imagine a particular team’s attacking style and you’re often visualising how they […]

“Fred Done had been a bookmaker for more than three decades, with more than 100 betting shops across the north west of England, before he unwittingly stumbled upon a brilliant but expensive way to make more people aware of his brand. In March 1998 he announced he was paying out early on the Premier Leaguetitle […]