The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast
Episodes
How Good Is Your Team In Transition?
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Mark Carey join host Ali Maxwell to explore 'transitions' in football... How are they distinct from counter-attacks, ho...
Michael Cox on the WSL title race: Bonus episode
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A bonus chance to hear what happened when The Athletic's Michael Cox, joined The Athletic Women's Football Podcast, to discuss a fascinating title rac...
Van Dijk, Rudiger & Rating Premier League Centre-Back's Properly
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Mark Carey join host Ali Maxwell, to talk Premier League centre-backs... How to properly 'rate' them, both in and out o...
Declining Three-Man Defences & Crediting The Pass Receivers
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's tactics and data analytics writers Michael Cox and Mark Carey, join host Ali Maxwell, to explore the rise and fall of three-man defence...
Antonio Conte's Spurs
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's tactics writer Michael Cox and Spurs correspondent Charlie Eccleshare, join host Ali Maxwell to reflect on Antonio Conte's start to lif...
Correcting The Men's & Women's FIFPro World XI
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Mark Carey and Michael Cox join host Ali Maxwell to debate the results of this week's FIFPro World Xi... Have Ronaldo and Messi outstay...
Kane, Lacazette, Jota... Where Have All The Goalscorers Gone?
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Mark Carey join host Ali Maxwell to explore a recent trend, affecting goal-scorers in the Premier League...The trio ref...
Pep's Innovation, Lukaku's System & Ralf's False Start: Premier League Notebook
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are Man City simply playing against themselves now, did Lukaku have a point about Tuchel's system and why are Arsenal better in Aubameyang's absence?T...
January Transfer Window Scouting
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ali Maxwell. Mark Carey and John Muller are on a mission. A mission to go through the Premier League and identify a position and transfer for each tea...
Gerrard, Ancelotti, Venables & The 'Christmas Tree' Formation
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's tactics writer Michael Cox and data analytics writer Mark Carey join host Ali Maxwell for a festive dissection of the 'Christmas Tree' ...
'The Rise Of The Underlap'
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's newest signing and data analytics writer, John Muller, makes his podcast debut alongside Michael Cox and host Ali Maxwell, to discuss t...
Ralf Rangnick's Manchester United
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Mark Carey, join host Ali Maxwell to discuss what incoming manager Ralf Rangnick's Manchester United may look like from...
Musiala's Superpowers, Dysfunctional Dortmund & Wing-less Red Bull Leipzig: Bundesliga Revisited
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Mark Carey and host Ali Maxwell are joined by German football expert Raphael Honigstein as their European tour extends to ...
Simeone's Achilles Heel, Ancelotti's Vibes & Xavi's Teaching Style: La Liga Revisited
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Mark Carey and host Ali Maxwell, continue their survey of Europe's major leagues - Next stop, Spain, as Dermot Corrigan gu...
The 'MK Messi', Matching PSG's Possession - An Interview with MK Dons Sporting Director Liam Sweeting
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The now Germany-bound Tom Worville stopped off in Milton Keynes with host Ali Maxwell for one last interview with MK Dons Sporting Director Liam Sweet...
Mourinho's Roma, Cholo's Free-Scoring Son & Zlatan-less Milan: Serie A Revisited
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and host Ali Maxwell are joined by James Horncastle to discuss Jose Mourinho's latest vendetta with the Italian referees, w...
The Rise of Data Journalism & Farewell Tom Worville
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For Tom Worville's last podcast (before leaving us to join RB Leipzig!) host Ali Maxwell and The Athletic's Michael Cox, join him to reflect on the co...
Neymar, Robben, Lewandowski & Benzema: Out of Messi & Ronaldo's Shadow
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to assess how the careers of Neymar, Arjen Robben, Karim Benzema and Robert Lewandow...
How To Build A Premier League-Winning Team
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell, for a fascinating exercise in hypothetical Premier League squad-building... From u...
Rebuilding Newcastle & Improving the laws of the game
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to assess the Newcastle United squad following their takeover last week. Which areas will...
Why Chelsea, Liverpool & Man City Full-Backs May Decide Title Race + Euro Scouting
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to reflect on the chaotic but tactically fascinating contest between Liverpool and M...
Messi in Moments, Traore's Take-Ons, 'Direct' Brentford: Notebook Re-Opened
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to reflect on Lionel Messi's role in PSG's victory over Manchester City. Plus, a clo...
Salah, Mane & Sterling: The PL 100 Club Wide-Forwards
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Mark Carey join host Ali Maxwell to assess the respective journey's of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Raheem Sterling - on th...
How Creative Is Paul Pogba Really?
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to assess whether or not 'assists' tell the whole story when it comes to measuring a...
Who Won The European Transfer Window & Ultra-Consistent Mo Salah
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Tom Worville and Mark Carey join host Ali Maxwell to assess the big winners from the summer transfer window on the continent. How AC Mi...
Ronaldo's Return
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to assess the many ramifications of one of the biggest Premier League transfer stori...
Alexander-Arnold, Walker, James... Are Right-Backs Still Right-Backs?
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to discuss an interesting trend in the number of Premier League right-backs, simply ...
Premier League Opening Weekend Notebook
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville open their notebooks and join host Ali Maxwell for their reflections on the opening weekend of a new Premi...
The Premier League Season Preview
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join host Ali Maxwell to assess each Premier League club's chances for success this season. How might Euro...
Transfer market trends and the enduring greatness of Messi
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are here to gently ease you back in to the new football season as they take a look at how the...
Euros Notebook - breaking down the final and where England went wrong
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell open the Euros notebook for the last time in order to reflect on the final between England an...
England v Italy tactical preview
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell open the Euros notebook for the penultimate time as they look back at two contrasting but equ...
Euros Notebook - semi-final preview
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell open the Euros notebook once again for a look back at the key tactical moments from the quart...
Euros Notebook - How the round of 16 was won and lost + Quarter-Final preview
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are here with the latest edition of our Euros Notebook, picking out the key tactical observat...
Euros Notebook - Pogba impressing, Spain improving, England v Germany tactical preview
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville an Ali Maxwell open the Euros notebook once again to share their insights on the final round of group games a...
Euros Notebook - Cautious England, woeful Turkey and galloping Gosens
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are back with another Euros tactical notebook, picking out a variety of interesting things fr...
The Zonal Marking Euros Notebook - what we've noticed so far
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Micheal Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell have been hard at work watching every second of Euro 2020 so far and have been noting down an...
Euro 2020 Preview - Groups D, E and F
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are back with the second of our big Euro 2020 previews and this time we cover the second side...
Euro 2020 Preview - Groups A, B and C
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell for the first of our big Euro 2020 preview pods and we kick things off with groups A, B a...
Bonus Pod - England at the 2018 World Cup
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode originally went out in March but seeing as we're having a week off to prepare for our massive Euro 2020 preview episodes next week we tho...
Pep v Tuchel - Champions League final tactical preview
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Mark Carey and Ali Maxwell look ahead to Saturday's Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea from a tact...
The Alternative Team of the Season
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell gather to offer their distinctive take on football's traditional end of season awardsTasked b...
How Guardiola made Man City champions again
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On October the 15th, four games into the Premier League season, we released a pod titled 'How does Guardiola get Man City back on top?' - they were st...
What went wrong for Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield Utd?
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell have called time on Fulham and West Brom's stay in the Premier League and all but consigned t...
The defensive glossary - half-backs, sweeper keepers, the libero and beyond
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell complete their quest to classify every possible position and role on a football pitch with th...
We need to talk about crossing...
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week's Zonal Marking pod is a European Super League Free Zone, come shelter from the storm with The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville as th...
The race for the Champions League - analysis & predictions
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The race to qualify for the Champions League looks set to be the most exciting thing about the run-in as we approach the end of the Premier League sea...
What makes an entertaining football match?
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What makes an entertaining football match? Loads of goals? Tactical battles? Tension?The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell pick fiv...
The Championship Run-In Rundown - stats and players to watch for every club
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When Michael Cox is away... The Athletic's Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell will delve into the Championship and pick out the most interesting stats and b...
How good were England at the 2018 World Cup?
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With the international break upon us The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell thought it would be the ideal time to travel back to sum...
The goalkeeping blind spot - why is it so hard to measure the performance of keepers?
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Ali Maxwell are joined by our new analytics writer Mark Carey to tackle the thorny issue of how we measure the performa...
Quite Unique FC - finding Europe's unicorn players
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell set out to select an XI from across Europe's top five leagues consisting of players who are u...
The Attacking Glossary - Striker, Centre-Forward, False-9, Second-Striker and beyond
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to bring you the definitive guide to the many, many roles and positions you may find amon...
West Ham & Leicester - the top four gatecrashers
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Are West Ham genuine top four contenders? Can Leicester do what they failed to last season and hang on to a Champions League spot? The Athletic's Mich...
Champions League knockout phase - every team analysed
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to preview the Champions League knockout stages which get underway on Tuesday night.Coxy ...
Europe's biggest outliers - from Leeds, to Montpellier, to Berlin and back again
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What do Leeds, Nîmes, Montpellier, Union Berlin, Elche, Nice, Freiburg, Brighton, Burnley, and Benevento all have in common?They're all mixing it wit...
Running stats explained: Pace, intensity and the Premier League 'plodders'
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to delve into the world of running stats and explain the many different ways in which the...
What Chelsea can expect from Thomas Tuchel
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to tell us what Chelsea can expect from Thomas Tuchel, the tactical chameleon.We'll study...
Mesut Ozil's Arsenal legacy
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to assess the legacy that Mesut Ozil leaves behind at Arsenal as his seven and half year ...
The midfield glossary - 6s, 8s, 10s, Enganches and beyond...
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to bring you the definitive guide to the many, many roles and positions you may find in m...
What's going wrong at Chelsea?
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to explain what's going wrong with Frank Lampard's out-of-form Chelsea side from a tactic...
An interesting stat from each of the 20 Premier League teams
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell round off 2020 by looking at all 20 Premier League teams and picking at least one interesting...
Is Big Sam more than just a long ball merchant?
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is Big Sam really just a boring long ball merchant? The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell gather to look at the stats, the data and...
Do Arsenal have a problem with the 'big games' in the WSL?
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Ali Maxwell are joined by our women's football writer Katie Whyatt to look at why Arsenal are struggling in the big WSL...
Why have Arsenal become obsessed with crossing the ball?
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Mikel Arteta recently referred to Arsenal putting in 33 crosses in one game as "pure maths" it piqued the interest of The Athletic's resident ana...
What kind of player is 2020 Cristiano Ronaldo?
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell take an almighty leap into the stats to work out what sort of player Cristiano Ronaldo is rig...
Half-backs, inverted centre-backs and more unusual positions we're seeing this season
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox, Tom Worville and Ali Maxwell are back with another tactical masterclass, this week casting their eye on some of the more u...
Javier Mascherano: the accidental centre-back
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Ali Maxwell are joined by Argentinean football expert Rupert Fryer to celebrate the career of Javier Mascherano as he a...
The top five overachievers across Europe this season
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell for a whistle-stop tour across Europe to look at five unheralded teams who have found the...
Surviving the difficult second season in the Premier League
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell for the second part of our series looking at the challenges of staying up after being pro...
How to survive your first season in the Premier League
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to debate the various 'do's and dont's' for a maiden season in the top flight of English ...
Bad Stats - where we are all getting it wrong when talking about football
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to get a few things off their chests about the use of statistics in the general conversat...
How does Guardiola get Man City back on top?
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Sam Lee join Ali Maxwell to look at Manchester City's start to the season and assess the ways Pep Guardiola's side have...
Why have there been so many goals in the Premier League this season?
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox joins Ali Maxwell to assess what has been a goal-tastic start to the season in the Premier League as we head into the inter...
AC Milan: the history and reawakening of a sleeping giant
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and James Horncastle join Ali Maxwell for an in-depth look at one of the most iconic clubs in world football: AC Milan.Taki...
Every Premier League squad profiled
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to profile every Premier League squad by average age, depth of quality and numerous other...
Explained: Why left-footed centre-backs are so in demand
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Right now we're offering listeners of this show the opportunity to try out The Athletic for just £1 a monthYou can enjoy all of Michael's great tacti...
Breaking down the Champions League final - PSG's pressing & Bayern's switching of possession
27 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Right now we're offering listeners of this show the opportunity to try out The Athletic for FREE. You can enjoy all of Michael's great tactical analy...
Champions League Special
20 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Right now we're offering listeners of this show the opportunity to try out The Athletic for FREE. You can enjoy all of Michael's great tactical analy...
Lionel Messi - how many things is he the best in the world at?
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sign up to The Athletic now for access to Michael Cox's tactical musings and Tom Worville's statistical masterpieces - including recent pieces breakin...
The Big Champions League & Europa League Preview
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle and Dermot Corrigan join Ali Maxwell for a comprehensive look ahead to the return of the Champions...
Evaluating the managerial changes in the Premier League last season
30 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There were seven managerial changes in the Premier League last season, three of them at Watford, but did Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham, Everton and the...
The resurgence of the three-man defence
23 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox joins Ali Maxwell for a look at the tactical increasingly fashionable trend of playing a back three this season after Arsen...
Judging Sarri's impact on Juventus and Ronaldo
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and James Horncastle join Ali Maxwell to assess Maurizio Sarri's first season at Juventus. On the verge of leading Juve to ...
The tactics behind Manchester United's resurgence
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox & Laurie Whitwell join Ali Maxwell to look at Manchester United's recent transformation from a struggling mid-table out...
Liverpool's underappreciated passing game
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox & Tom Worville join Ali Maxwell to look at a perhaps underappreciated aspect of this all conquering Liverpool side - th...
Assessing the best performers since the Premier League returned
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox joins Ali Maxwell to look at the first batch of Premier League games under Project Restart and pick out the teams & pla...
Italian football's search for the next Pirlo
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox and James Horncastle join Ali Maxwell ahead of Serie A returning this week for a look at the next generation of Italian mid...
Is this Setién's Barca or Messi's Barca?
10 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of La Liga returning this weekend The Athletic's Michael Cox & Dermot Corrigan join Ali Maxwell to look at current state of Barcelona. They ...
Eddie Howe's Bournemouth - not as open & attacking as you think
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Cox & Ali Maxwell are joined by The Athletic's Bournemouth writer Peter Rutzler to look at what has been a disappointing season for Eddie ...
How Mourinho won the treble with Inter Milan in 2010
27 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jose Mourinho spoke to The Athletic's James Horncastle last week for an exclusive interview looking back at his treble-winning Inter Milan side ten ye...
What's gone wrong with Man City's tactics this season?
20 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox & Ali Maxwell are joined by our resident Manchester City writer Sam Lee for a look at the tactical reasons behind City'...
Bundesliga Special with Raphael Honigstein
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's German football writer Raphael Honigstein joins Michael Cox & Ali Maxwell to look at the teams, coaches, and players to look out fo...
Unique Athletic Bilbao
07 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox & Ali Maxwell are once again joined by our resident Spanish Football Writer, Dermot Corrigan, this time to give Athleti...
Why Norwich could be the best team to ever finish bottom of the Premier League
29 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Subscribe to The Athletic here for plenty more from Michael Cox, Michael Bailey and the rest of our unrivalled team of football writers and get a 90 d...
How has Zidane coached Real Madrid to three European Cups?
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sign up to The Athletic here and get a 90 day free trial Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There's more to Wilder's Sheffield United than overlapping centre-backs
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox & Ali Maxwell are joined by football data analyst Jay Socik - aka Blades Analytic - for an in-depth look at the tactics...
1998/99 Rebooted: Alberto Zaccheroni's AC Milan
08 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox & James Horncastle join Ali Maxwell for a look back at Alberto Zaccheroni's Milan side of the 1998/99 season, featuring...
What new tactics might we see from Pep Guardiola when football returns?
03 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this week Michael Cox joined The Athletic's Manchester City podcast 'Why Always Us?' for a chat about his recent written piece where he propos...
Why Atalanta are the most exciting team in Europe - with James Horncastle
01 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Athletic's Michael Cox & James Horncastle join Ali Maxwell to examine how and why Atalanta have become one of the most exciting teams in Europ...