"We tend to trace the route of a goal back to the opening of the move – or at most, the breakdown of the previous one – when in truth its foundations stretch back to kick-off and the first decisions made by every player on the pitch. The reason Götze scored that goal was no […]
Search Results for: tag/the-art-of-football
La Renaissance (with Philippe Auclair)
"True to type, France’s 1978 World Cup campaign was a shambles. The tone was set before the actual tournament by a tragicomic episode which must rank among the most bizarre in the history of the competition. On the morning of May 23, driving with his wife to Bordeaux, 24 hours before his team was scheduled […]
Greatest Games Quiz: England 1 Poland 1 (1973)
22 players, 5 minutes In this quiz name the starting lineups from Poland’s famous 1974 World Cup qualifying draw at Wembley against England. Let us know how you score on Twitter. LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE TO THIS EPISODE OF GREATEST GAMES ON YOUR PODCAST PLATFORM OF CHOICE OR YOUTUBE. Order our latest quarterly – including how the COVID-19 […]
The Best of the First Five Years Is Out Now
The Best of the First Five Years is now available to read online. If you’ve already ordered the physical version, then your copy will be with you now. Released in December 2019, The Best of the First Five Years is a selection of 23 of our favourite contributions from 2011-2015. There’s Uli Hesse on St […]
The Inverted Sheepdog
“Xavi’s movement is a kind of reverse sheepdog trick — instead of penning a flock in to an enclosed space, his darting, nipping and barking is about spreading them around the field, into unexplored, unpredictable spaces.” In Episode Thirteen we bring you ‘The Inverted Sheepdog’ by Graham Hunter, which looks in detail at how the […]
The Blizzard Live in Edinburgh – Part 1
The first half of the Blizzard’s live Q&A event held at the WS Society in Edinburgh on 19th May. Featuring a panel of Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair, Alan Pattullo and Kevin McCarra, hosted by Daniel Gray. The panel took questions from the audience and Twitter on a range of subjects including unintelligent footballers, the upcoming […]
Issue 28
Issue Twenty Eight is out now, and jam-packed full of interesting and enlightening articles – we’ve got David Winner, Anthony Clavane and Jonathan Wilson tackling Brexit; interviews with Andi Herzog and Carlos Alberto Parreira; a photo essay from the Polish non-leagues; eight of the worst seasons in living memory; John Brewin on the Nevilles, the […]
The Real Problem
"There’s something spectacularly silly about fans policing other fans for their adherence to the laws of fandom, as if not having one favourite club or preferring to watch from a seated position, is a VERY SERIOUS INFRACTION that should be SWIFTLY AND MERCILESSLY DEALT WITH. Because, you know, the economic recovery can’t gather steam if […]
Over Land And Sea
When West Ham went to China for the PL Asia Trophy, a video emerged from the Newcastle game of local fans belting out “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”. The reaction on Twitter was initially depressing, beginning with lots of cry-laughing emojis but eventually the comments were filled with “West Ham Family” tweets. So, Betway have posed […]
South Of The River
"South London, to fans who came to the game with the advent of the Premier League, probably seems rather similar to, say, East Anglia – not a hotbed, but with one or two clubs who occasionally spend a season or two among the elite before sinking back to their natural level." It was not always […]