In college, we came up with a thing where our coach was supposed to yell out different cities and colors to call set pieces. The trick: any city represented play A, and any color represented play B. Then, the first time we tried to use it in a game, he just yelled the word "COLOR", and it was dead.

"Sweden are celebrating a spot in the World Cup. They didn't win a single game in qualifying."

If you're into reading the things I've written, I'm planning on sending out links trough my not-dead-yet newsletter: nograssintheclouds.substack.com

I wrote about this earlier in the week: Arsenal have just kind of stopped playing out of the back/being able to play out of the back. Maybe The Odegaard Effect, but it definitely showed up today. www.espn.com/soccer/story...

"About 85 percent of losing teams were 'winning' at some point, according to win expectancy."

What a great Mo Salah game looks like in 2026: -goes like 1/10 in take-ons -trips over the ball on two breakaways -misses four huge chances -scores once, assists once, leads all players in touches inside the box, xG, and expected assists

column on arne slot, meat sacrifice www.theguardian.com/football/202...

The two Liverpool-Wolves games — same teams, same locations, three days apart — were a nice little experiment to show just how volatile soccer is from a game to game basis, even when nothing fundamental changes at all.

ICYMI: The USL emailed every Championship player an FAQ doc that included guidance on “crossing a picket line” and “Union membership resignation.” An active player said teammates couldn’t find it until they checked spam. “I just think it’s a bunch of bullshit.” Full report at @us.theguardian.com.

If both teams have more fouls than shots, the game should be canceled at halftime. No one gets any points.

The Premier League has been terrible to watch this season, and the league is stuck in a tactical stalemate that can seemingly only be broken by corner kicks and throw-ins. I wrote about how one brave coach might be able to break free: www.espn.com/soccer/story...

Liverpool scored a bunch of goals from set pieces recently, so you know what that means: Arsenal fans are back, posting “kill yourself” on Instagram pictures of my fiancée.

Every time you see a team from the Turkish Lig play, there's: -a guy with the widest mohawk you've ever seen -Ryan Babel -someone the announcer keeps calling Marvin but whose shirt says "Ataturk Bocuckglu" -Fatih Terim -at least one backup striker who had a sex scandal in Serie A

The new Moneyball is diving facefirst into the bottom of another guy's foot.

I have one (1) rule in life: respect, honor, and embrace the spirit of the Ronaldo haircut. I will give money to anyone who does the same.

Igor Tudor has been screaming and gesticulating on the sideline for 75 straight minutes, as Tottenham continue to be exactly as bad as they were under the previous manager.

Liverpool in the first 85 minutes without their best playmaker: 0.5 xG Liverpool in the final 10 minutes after they brought on the guy who can throw the ball far: 1.2 xG

I wrote about why the Premier League is harder than the Champions League: www.espn.com/soccer/story...

Subscribe to Rodg’s newsletter. It’s great.

Fifteen years ago, I got my dream job writing for MLSsoccer. Last week, that came to an end. I'm off on my own, and it's time to build something new – with a little help from all of you. tacticsfreezone.ghost.io/an-end-to-my...

A fun little fact that tells you everything you need to know: Per the passing grades from @gradientsports.bsky.social for the Premier League, there are zero Tottenham players in the top 50, and there is one Tottenham player in the top 100.

“This game is terrible”, I think to myself, for the 25th straight week, while watching the richest soccer teams in the world play soccer against each other.

From the "records no one other than me and maybe, like, 14 other people care about" department: Liverpool's win over Qarabag was the most lopsided Champions League match (by xG differential) since 2010.

Not just this, but Benfica didn’t know they needed another goal! They were wasting time! Mourinho subbed on an extra center back in injury time! And they still scored!

Is there a “mute the people who are eating during the Golazo Show” button?

I wrote about how nobody wants a manager anymore -- even if they don't really have a plan for what to do instead: www.espn.com/soccer/story...

My halftime team talk: KICK THE BALL AS HARD AS YOU CAN AND MAKE IT GO INTO THE CORNER OF THE GOAL.

I came up with a new, simple power-rating system for the Premier League. It had West Ham ahead of Sunderland and therefore is perfect: www.espn.com/soccer/story...

Wrote about the state of play for football, getting data, and getting insight, in the aftermath of the FBref news www.getgoalsideanalytics.com/square-one/

Teams ahead of Tottenham in the Champions League: Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool Teams ahead of Tottenham in the Premier League: Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Brentford, Newcastle, Sunderland, Everton, Fulham, Brighton, Crystal Palace

I wrote about what Sean was doing with FBref in NET GAINS because publicly available data ultimately makes things better for everyone whose stakes should matter: fans, media, players, and clubs. Yes, even the inane xG convos between supporters are a good thing! Hopefully someone else steps up.

I wrote this two weeks ago. Seems like it might be relevant today: www.espn.com/soccer/story...

If you'd like to read every story I've written in 2025 before the end of 2025, the last one just went up: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Continuing the tradition, I have compiled an end-of-year overview of the soccer analytics content that I liked the most in 2025. This edition includes pointers to about 200 resources, including research papers, blog posts, news articles, podcasts, and webinars. janvanhaaren.be/posts/soccer...

We examined which goalkeeper metrics are the most stable for evaluating performance. Using Spearman correlations, we found that avoiding negative actions is far more stable than save percentage or PSxG. 📊⬇️ www.gradientsports.com/blog/why-sta...

🧵 Thread: I recently looked into the concept of escaping pressure 👇 1️⃣ 3rd player, up-back combos are the most efficient at escaping pressure 🔷 I defined a press-escaping situation as a pass that found a free player (not pressured in 3 seconds), after 2 consecutive ball carriers were pressurized

Check out @americansocceranalysis.com for this year's edition of my MLS Superdraft Big Board. This year, there's more depth and more room for discovery. Also, for college soccer fans it includes ALL Division 1 players regardless of draft eligibility. There's some exciting players coming in 👀

If you enjoy checking this document, then I have good news. I have updated this document to include everything I've written, including a piece about who's to blame for Liverpool's struggles. Hint: it's not Salah or Slot. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I wrote about the birth and the death of the Group of Death: www.espn.com/soccer/story...

⚽️ Just launched xstandings.com Inspired by FiveThirtyEight, xStandings simulates the rest of the season to forecast final standings: ✅ Title, playoff, relegation odds ✅ Match-by-match win/draw/loss predictions ✅ “What if” explorer for upcoming games

Seven Total Shots, Six Total Cards: The 2025-26 Premier League season

Really tough result for Liverpool. You just can’t afford to lose a relegation six-pointer at home.

Cristiano Ronaldo is so desperate to enter a US market that he has been kept out of for nearly a decade that he's now shilling for not one but two of the worst autocrats in the world newrepublic.com/article/2033...