As we all know, Patrice Evra has faced with a horde of criticisms regarding his performances last season. Fans have lamented his defensive capabilities, with the increasing feeling that he was not the player he once was. Some blame it on the racism storm with Luis Suarez; others point the finger at his complacency at [...]

Introduction: the foundations (part 3/5) – Defence This is a five-part series of articles that aims to introduce football coaches and fanatics to basic concepts in a systems football approach (such as tiki-taka). The systems approach to football is founded upon a system of complexity and unity. Part three of this series promised an illustrative [...]

A few weeks ago I read an article by Stephen McCarthy on EPL Index which aimed to use statistics to identify the strongest team in the Premier League. Using the same approach, with a couple of minor tweaks, I have attempted to carry out the same analysis of Norwich City’s defence. It’s especially interesting because a [...]

Since Wolves won the Championship in 2009 it’s been evident that reinforcements have been required to bolster the back four to cope with the relentless pressures of a Premier League that doesn’t take pity on repeated nervy and panicky defensive blunders. On numerous occasions last season, points were thrown away due to such errors but [...]

Arsene Wenger is not known for big spending during transfer windows. That is evident again this summer, with Gervinho the only big money signing so far in the summer months. As always, there are rumors of other targets joining the club including Juan Manuel Mata and a few Premier League center backs, but the losses [...]