Ever seen this French television commercial from the telecommunications company Orange promoting the magnificent French men's national football team? It shows Gliezmann, Mbappe and Girout in their finest form. Or does it? Perhaps it challenges our perceptions about the supposed performance gap between elite male soccer players and their elite female equivalents. Take a look at … [Read more...]
Postecoglou coaching pointers
Is there are greater waste of time in the world of sport than in listening to post match player and coach interviews. Normally, very little is revealed. Cliches, complaints about officials and restating of the bleedingly obvious abound. It was refreshing to see a coach interview, earlier this week, that revealed clear insight into a prominent coach's coaching … [Read more...]
Penalty shoot-out? Nah. Let’s play Murderball!
The League Cup is over, and Liverpool wins the comp on penalties, 11-10. When I read a post on Instagram that puts the victory down to Liverpool’s exemplary data driven approach, I slap myself in the side of the head, grunt “derr”, and make a silly incensed reply stating what seemed to me the obvious - that the “data-driven approach” had little to do with a win that was … [Read more...]
Book Review – “CHEAT – The not so subtle art of conning your way to sporting glory” – by Titus O’Reily
What do Luis Suarez' teeth, Nancy Kerrigan's knees, Cameron Bancroft's pockets, John Hopoate's fingers, an Olympic Games Intellectually Disabled basketball competition and the Barbados national soccer team (oh... and lots and lots of other soccer teams and players) have in common? They all take center stage in some of the world's nastiest and most hilarious sports cheating … [Read more...]
“Talk it up!” – Nup, says Socrates. “If you’ve got nuthin’ useful to say, then shut up!”
Of all the dumb things that get yelled to members of a sports team from the sideline the most excruciatingly brain free is “come on… talk it up!” When did “talk among yourselves” become a thing? This is particularly so in soccer. Oh, soccer coaches have an array of stupid things that they bellow throughout a match (such as “give her an option” or “come on… let’s win those … [Read more...]