Touchline Notebook

Why Chelsea are insane for signing Anthony Gordon for £60m, or at all

Since Chelsea got a new owner in Todd Boehly, their transfer window really picked up and the approach has gone from targeting other club’s targets, to exciting youth, to just splashing cash. But arguably one of the most bizarre transfer sagas of the summer, across Europe not just for them, is the reported £60m chase…

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Casemiro, Carlos Henrique – How He Cements Man Utd’s Midfield

“There are lots of poets in football, but they don’t win many titles” Jose Mourinho, after beating Ajax in the Europa League final One of Jose Mourinho’s deep catalogue of quips. It came after defeating a young Ajax team under Peter Bosz. Playing football the ‘right way’, as many would regard and they had a…

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Case by Case reaction: Casemiro to United piece

This is not a Glazer face-saving article. The Glazers are parasites and must go for Manchester United to become the football club, and business, they were a decade ago. That is obvious and clear. In the last 48 hours the club have been heavily linked with a move for Real Madrid and Brazil holding midfielder…

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Brian Under Duress List Gameweek #28

The Brian Under Duress (BUD) List is back for Gameweek 28 of Premier League fixtures. Every week players, teams and managers will be assessed and narrowed down to a list of 5 who I believe are under the most pressure heading into the upcoming Premier League game week. Starting off in 5th place is: 5th:…

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Brian Under Duress List Gameweek #27

The Brian Under Duress (BUD) List is back for Gameweek 27 of Premier League fixtures. Every week players, teams and managers will be assessed and narrowed down to a list of 5 who I believe are under the most pressure heading into the upcoming Premier League game week. Starting off in 5th place is 5th:…

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Brian Under Duress List Gameweek #25

The Brian Under Duress (BUD) List is back for Gameweek 25 of Premier League fixtures. Every week players, teams and managers will be assessed and narrowed down to a list of 5 who I believe are under the most pressure heading into the upcoming Premier League game week. Starting off in 5th place is: 5th:…

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Brian’s Premier League Under Duress List

I’ll be producing a new series called “Brian’s under Duress” List aka as the BUD List. Every week players, teams and managers will be assessed and narrowed down to a list of 5 who I believe are under the most duress/pressure heading into the upcoming Premier League game week. Starting off in 5th place is:…

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2011 THROWBACK: WHY ‘NEW DROGBA’ IS DIFFERENT TO DIDIER

This article is a time capsule as I (Daniel Soff) wrote this on the 13th of May 2011 whilst Lukaku was still at Anderlecht. There is a very good chance young Romelu Lukaku will be a Chelsea player next season and in my estimation as an asset, he will prove a great buy. On first…

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Have Chelsea finally overtaken Arsenal as London’s biggest club?

On the 29th May 2021, Chelsea won their second UEFA Champions League (UCL) title. Going in as underdogs, the blues defeated the Premier League Champions Manchester City led by Pep Guardiola who had only lost one final up to that point in his illustrious career. The triumph was yet more bad news for Arsenal fans…

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Starboy rankings 2021/22

Touchline Analysts were challenged to do a rank that stands the test of time. The composite column on the left is what our combined rankings of the players are. You can see where each analyst rated a player by looking at the matrix. If you’re on mobile switch to landscape!! Only attacking players under 21…

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The night in Porto, three centre backs and the art of the ‘second chance’ in football

As a Chelsea fan, the past couple days since the triumph in Porto has allowed the observation of a beautiful irony with the discussions of our squad. The solidification of the ‘youth revolution’, with Reece James’ name now entering the upper echelons of right back discourse, along with the ever-increasing stardom of a future legend…

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“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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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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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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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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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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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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MUGA Special – Mason Greenwood: See Through The Forest

It’s easy to get lost. In the woods. With all the surrounding trees, reaching heights that scale way beyond that of us humans. They can block out any light, making our orientation to get out of our lost ways harder. The animals within that can jump out at you, attack you. There is a plethora…

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Touchline Fracas’ Mid-term Reports: Premier League 2020/21

As this god-awful year wraps up, we take comfort in having Premier League football front and centre once again. The return in June and then again in September was the tonic the nation needed. If you want to experience all emotions possible to a human being, all you need to do is join the Touchline…

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Spurs Special: The Right Wing Conundrum – By Tobi

It feels a tad ungrateful to discuss something ‘missing’ from a Spurs side riding high at the top of the table with the joint 3rd most goals scored so far this season (24) and yet, here we are, ready to scrutinize a specific position that simply isn’t operating on the same wavelength and quality as pretty much all the other positions in Tottenham’s starting XI.

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KOP END SPECIAL: Who should Liverpool target at Centre back In January? – By Peter

Let’s take a trip down memory lane. It’s the 17th of October and were 5 minutes into a heated Merseyside derby. Liverpool are bossing the game and lead 1-0 through a Sadio Mane strike and then it happened. The most destructive and calamitous moment of Liverpool’s season had occurred. Jordan Pickford injured Virgil Van Dijk with an ill-timed tackle. The 6ft 4 centre back was figuratively torn in half,…

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Chessy Hour Special: Equity and Balance – by Jerry

As I tuned into the pre-match broadcast for Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea, seeing Callum Hudson-Odoi absent from the squad and Olivier Giroud on the bench, one word kept rattling around in my mind. Equity. Or lack thereof.

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MUGA Special: Harry Maguire: Man Utd’s Emperor in New Clothes – By Elijah

One great thing about stories, fables and tales is that they are able to explain complicated phenomena quite easily. Such is the case of the pluralistic ignorance and Danish folklore, The Emperor’s New Clothes. The story goes that two weavers come to the emperor with new linen possessing a special power. It is invisible to…

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Touchy Gooners Special: “pLaY aUbA dOwN tHe MiDdLe” – By Dan Koogs

I think most people will agree that, on the whole, Arsenal fans were filled with a quiet, but lingering, optimism stepping into this season. Rightly or wrongly, this was mainly due to the more enjoyable way that the, generally miserable, 19/20 season came to an end. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team were able to beat both…

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“Stick to Football” – Politics & humanitarianism in the modern game

In a world that’s as polarised politically and socially as it’s ever been, it can be very difficult for anybody to air an opinion without being shouted down. Say something in support of A and people will criticise you for not supporting B, while judging you for not even mentioning C.  Add social media and…

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Jack Grealish will never not be a Manchester City flop

There has been plenty of talk this season already about Jack Grealish and his status in the Manchester City team since his £100 million move last summer. Grealish had just saved his boyhood club from relegation, and then led them to a season in which they were pushing for European football mainly because of his…

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ARE WE SEEING THE REBUILD OF A NEW LIVERPOOL TEAM? – BY PETER

On the 13th June 2021, I released an article DOES THE LIVERPOOL SQUAD NEED A BIG REBUILD OR SOME MINOR TWEAKS? – BY PETER – Touchline Media Group (touchlinefracas.co.uk) suggesting Liverpool needed to make some adjustments and start the rebuild of a new iteration of the team. After a tumultuous season last year, it was…

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In defence of the referees..

‘Extra money, with some slight abuse on the side’. I remember describing to my friends my rationale for becoming a qualified match official during my time at university. It was a decision I had made rather easily, having volunteered as an official prior in more disjointed, disorganized levels. Yet, 6 months on from my last…

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The Pulisic Paradox – Case of Mistaken Identity?

Since the departure of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid, Chelsea have lacked a true creative focal point in attack as a result. Eden was a playmaker in its true essence; painting beautiful pictures on his canvas (football pitch), his feet being the paintbrush and the ball the paint. Eden’s trademark back flick’s were imperious. Exploited…

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Brian Under Duress List Gameweek #26

The Brian Under Duress (BUD) List is back for Gameweek 25 of Premier League fixtures. Every week players, teams and managers will be assessed and narrowed down to a list of 5 who I believe are under the most pressure heading into the upcoming Premier League game week. Starting off in 5th place is:  …

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Still Finding Lukaku – Touchline Notebook Special

Sequels are always hard when they have to top what came before it. The more time that passes on from that first instalment, it becomes even harder still. In many ways, Romelu Lukaku’s big money transfer to Chelsea was a sequel in more ways than one. Not just back to the second club of his…

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5 Reasons why Tottenham fans hate Arsenal

The North London derby. Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur. A rivalry full of antagonism and hatred between both sets of supporters. As we build up to the 190th North London derby this weekend, we are going to analyse why Tottenham fans despise Arsenal so much. “F**k off back to Woolwich, North London is ours” Firstly, some…

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Taking the knee: why has the gesture caused so much debate?

When the England national team took the knee before their EURO 2020 warm-up games against Austria and Romania in June, the players were booed by a significant number of their own supporters. The reaction surprised many given that the players were kneeling in solidarity for the fight against racial discrimination, so it raises the question…

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Cristiano Ronaldo – Painting The Elephant. MUGA Special by Elijah

Invariably, where there is an Olympics, there is a new state of the art stadium to host the shining spectacle. A city with a great wondrous stadia in it, one that invariably stands out like a sore thumb as time passes. One only has to search Olympics and White Elephants to see the remarkable trend…

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Jorginho and the problem with individual awards

The Ballon d’Or and the UEFA Men’s Best Player awards are the two most coveted individual trophies within men’s football. The ceremonies are star studded, the candidates boast extraordinary statistics and feats, and the football world argues relentlessly over which incredible athlete deserves the immortalisation of their performance in the records. So, it is little…

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TG Special: What do you think they’re smoking over there at the Emirates? – by Dan Koogs

A real mixed bag Mikel Arteta has been in charge of Arsenal since December 2019 signing a 3 1/2 year deal. “A completely mixed bag” would be an accurate description of performance both in terms of off and on field performance. Fan opinion seems fairly split when evaluating his time at the club so far….

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