Opinion

Three weeks ago in London, Arsenal beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the Champions League. This is not a particularly inventive sentence to start an Internet post, but it should be an attention-grabber nonetheless. Bayern Munich took this personally for some reason - “oh, so, a win against us on a Tuesday night constitutes a famous win?” - and got angry and took out their anger on the poor Gunners when Arsenal visited for the return leg. They bagged three before the half. They got five in total.

It’s a coaching nightmare. It’s the 89th minute and it’s 1-1. You’ve been working on passing drills all week, keeping possession and building your attack carefully to launch that final killer ball, but it just hasn’t quite been happening for you today.

And then Mr. Flash ignores everything you’ve been practising and sets off on a mazy dribble, beats half the opposition single-handedly and scores. How can you tell him that he’s ruining your system when he’s probably just won you the game? 

The FIFA Golden Boy award shortlist was announced and, surprisingly, it foretells of a European continent dominated by England, Belgium and, more traditionally, Spain.

With a whopping five nominations from each of these countries - the award is given to the U-21 player who displays the highest footballing prowess - the tides appear to be turning in Europe.   

The battle for the 2015/16 Premier League title is well and truly under way, and already we’ve seen fan protests over ticket prices, a new messiah and Diego Costa being suspended. Some things never change, but one this is certain: come May 15th, we’ll have a Premier League champion. It’s time to cast an eye over the pre-season English Premier League title contenders and see how their challenges are shaping up with just over a quarter of the season played.

Innovation is a game changer. The ability to put forward an exceptional idea, a more effective process or a brilliant new device has always been synonymous with success in the soccer world. This can go the other way though, with the worst soccer innovations making clubs and players look extremely silly.

Whether that success is then measured on the pitch, in the television ratings or with regards to the club’s bottom line, the game’s movers and shakers are always looking for bigger and better solutions. 

Have you ever tired of life’s most banal small talk? Footballers, while hardly known for being the wittiest and most eloquent bunch, know how you feel. Game after game after game, they're hit with the same questions regarding the match outcome, their personal performance and what the future holds.

Legendary Arsenal striker Thierry Henry once said that he would have his son study Thomas Muller, should his son take to football as a passion. It was interesting, because one would think that he would have had his son study one of the two best players in the world: Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. Henry’s logic was that, while he admires Ronaldo and Messi, they are freaks of nature, inimitable.

They are their national team's’ biggest stars and Barcelona’s strongest weapons. But during the first two rounds of South American World Cup Qualifiers, none of them was able to play for their respective national teams. That raised the question: who in the Barcelona attack trident is the most important player for his national team, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, or Neymar? Here we will look at three details: team’s performance with the player, the team’s performance without the player, and player performance.

It’s easy to predict that, without Lionel Messi, even for just a couple months, the 2015-2016 Barcelona season may be in jeopardy of falling short of expectation, nevermind silverware.

I like to imagine somewhere in Merseyside this week, Brendan Rodgers and Jurgen Klopp met at Liverpool Lime Street, at the train station, and had a cup of coffee. In my head the conversation was light and mostly not about soccer. Something like this:

Klopp laughs a shushed laugh at one of Rodgers’s stories about Jose Mourinho from his time at Chelsea, and then there’s a natural pause in the smooth, flowing conversation. This is uncomfortable for both men.

Rodgers: “This is a really good club, you know.”