Podcasts

“Should I stay or should I go?”: An analysis of life under Roy Hodgson

‘Should I stay or should I go’  the famous words sung by the London punk band, The Clash, perfectly sums up the situation regarding the future of Crystal Palace manager, Roy Hodgson. As we come towards the conclusion of the 2020/21 Premier League season, Crystal Palace face major uncertainty where current first-team manager Roy Hodgson’s contract,…

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KOP END SPECIAL: WHO SHOULD BE GINI WIJNALDUM’S SUCCESSOR? – BY PETER

Gini Wijnaldum’s contract expires at the end of the season and his time at Liverpool is coming to an end. The Dutch midfielder has been at the Reds for five years. A key cog in Jurgen Klopp’s machine, which has won the Champions League and Premier League in recent years. Wijnaldum is 30 years old…

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TLF Interview: Wales International Rhys Norrington-Davies

Sheffield United’s struggles this season have been in the margins, and they will look to bolster their squad to take another run at the Premier League. One such reinforcement waiting in the wings is Rhys Norrington-Davies. Norrington-Davies is a full Welsh international, fresh off his 4th senior cap in Wales’ victory against Mexico. He is currently…

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From The Sublime to the Ridiculous

They often say that one game can define a season. An interesting concept when you consider the highs and lows of any 90-minute period on the pitch. Shifts in momentum can occur without warning, pulling us all along on an emotional rollercoaster married to our swiftly changing hopes and expectations.  The North London derby is…

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MISSING: “Have you seen my assist?” The concept of ‘robbed assists’ by Dan Soff

There’s a serious crime happening against the creators of this world. (Thankfully for you, I am not talking about the fact that you are yet to sign up to the Touchline Patreon). This crime is being committed specifically in the world of football and people are not talking about it enough. So in all my…

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“Trust the process” – Football’s greatest fallacy? – By Dan Koogs

New season, new nightmare   On Monday Night Football on Sky Sports, following a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur Jamie Carragher came out in a bold defence of Mikel Arteta. “I wouldn’t even think about Arteta’s position. I really like Arteta. Arteta brought in Partey and Gabriel and they look Arsenal’s 2 best players. They’ve…

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UEFA Euro U21 Championships: France Deep Dive

“Les Bleuets” kick off their u21 campaign tomorrow against Denmark and with the star quality that runs through their entire squad, they have to be considered one of the favourites for the competition. They are in an interesting situation in that respect, given that they have not been a big feature historically in the tournament….

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UEFA Euro U21 Portugal Deep Dive: As Novas Esperanças

“Portugal are not considered among the main favourites with France, Spain, Germany and England taking up that mantle. However, Portugal won 9 of 10 qualifiers and internally will be confident going into the tournament…”

In the first of our Euro u21 previews @JerryJuniorB tells us who and what to look out for from the Portuguese competitors.

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UEFA Euro U21 Championships: England Deep Dive

England have qualified for every U21 EURO tournament since 2007 but have not reached a final since 2009. In case you didn’t feel old enough, that side had the likes of James Milner and Theo Walcott in it. The teams managed by Stuart Pearce, Gareth Southgate and Aidy Boothroyd since always seem to be overwhelmed…

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The Truth behind Thomas Tuchel’s Tricky Blues – By Jerry

   Thomas Tuchel has enjoyed a fine start to life as Chelsea’s manager. Save for a few teething problems, the Blues have recorded some impressive results. Notably wins against the likes of Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. Tuchel’s first priority seemed to be to restore control to Chelsea’s play and solidity to the defence….

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Special Bird or Choking Cockerel by Yaw

Opinion Piece At the time of writing this, Spurs have just lost yet another North London Derby to their bitter rivals Arsenal at the Emirates. The result itself although frustrating, was not surprising when you factor in Tottenham’s record at Arsenal. This stands at a paltry 1 league win in close to 28 years. What…

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The Wheels On The Bus

I sometimes hear more of Thomas Tuchel than I do from some of my friends, this may not sound so strange when you consider that Chelsea usually play twice a week, for which there will be a pre match and post-match press conference, usually one for general broadcast and another for the club’s own channel. To summarise there has never been this sort of immersion for football fans, however it can only go so far, there are aspects of the game that as a fan will always have some element of mystery. Transfers and negotiations

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Chessy Special: Sound Progress, Long Way to Go

It has now been a month since Thomas Tuchel took charge of the Blues, succeeding club legend Frank Lampard at the helm. With seven victories, three draws and zero defeats, from a results perspective it has been a pretty good start to life in London for the German coach. It is a run that has…

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KOP END SPECIAL: THIAGO ALCANTARA – THE ‘IDEA BALLER’- BY PETER

The announcement of signing Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich on the 18th of September was big. It was a statement of intent from the Champions to regain their Premier League trophy. This was a marquee signing which put the league on notice. He was almost guaranteed to hit the ground running. Wayne Rooney stated “if…

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MUGA Special: Man Utd – In Defence Of Nothing – By Elijah

“Goals win you games, defences win you titles” – Everyone has heard of this. Famously said by none other than Sir Alex Ferguson. Check the statistics however, and you’ll see that it is rarely the case that the best defence wins the league. More often than not, the highest goalscorers are the ones that will…

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Martin Ødegaard: A Mødern Creatør we prayed før – Touchy Gooners Special

The Midfield General In my time watching Arsenal, the team has gone through two clear cycles in terms of player profiles. Under Arsene Wenger, the team went through a drastic evolution before my very eyes. The initial squad, largely inherited from George Graham, had its own unique depiction. Big, tall powerhouses not afraid to get…

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“Cross and Inshallah” – Premier League’s Team Crossing in 2020/21

‘Cross and Inshallah’, a phrase adopted by Football Twitter in recent years. A term of derision, it’s usually reserved for instances where players and teams have run out of ideas. In doing so, they adopt a hit-and-hope approach of crossing from deep. Often when frustrated, players will prefer to deliver a ball into a ‘dangerous…

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Lost in Translation: Why English managers are so bad

The first in a series of articles detailing why I think English managers are currently bad, using the story of Frank Lampard’s managerial career, to date, to better help in explaining my thoughts.

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KOP END SPECIAL: KIRKBY BOYZ – BY PETER

Barcelona, Ajax, Athletic Bilbao, and even the ‘rivals’ Manchester United are renowned for their great youth academies. Many players have been able to forge careers at the highest level with the education they gained from these institutions. The development of young talent is often at the top of many club’s ambitions and the forefront of…

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Touchline Hotspur – Oh, Spurs do have starboys?

Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and even the Arse all have starboys, so where are Tottenham’s? It’s a question asked by rival fans across the board, Spurs do have a respectful history of bringing through talent. Players as recently as the last decade such as Gareth Bale, Danny Rose, Tom Huddlestone, Andros Townsend, Nabil…

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