From the Touchline

One of the things I love most about the Bundesliga – and this may be falling into a stereotype but it’s true – is how even the clubs are every year. Yes, Bayern dominate and Leipzig is upending the long-time business norms, but clubs like Gladbach and Wolfsburg are title contenders one year, and relegation […]

The match was billed as a true test for both sides. Lazio of course already had a big victory over Juve but in the league itself had not shown a consistent form. Milan stole the headlines in the transfer window and had dispatched lesser sides in Serie A and Europa League to this point. The […]

How do you solve the enigma wrapped in a puzzle that is the U.S. Men’s National Team? With two opposite coaches in pedigree, style, and almost everything else, neither Jurgen Klinsmann or Bruce Arena 2.0 have this side playing consistent, quality football. That leaves one of the few countries to qualify for every World Cup […]

Much ink has been spilled about the away goal advantage in a knockout competition, and we will not relitigate it here. What we will say is undeniably it gives the result of the first match an outsized advantage as it alters the tactics of the second leg. If there was any doubt about this statement, […]

The end of the summer transfer window is an insane time for a manager. January is a short burst of insanity in player acquisitions but because it is midseason, most major names say put. Summer is when your squad can be altered at the last second because a rival club makes your Board an offer […]

The Liga Nos season started with an intriguing matchup, as the defending title holders Benfica hosted Braga, who finished fifth in the league last season. While Benfica are the favourites to defend their title, Braga would prove a good opening test for manager Rui Vitoria. The squad sheets had both sides lining up in a […]

The U.S. Open Cup is not held in the same esteem as other league cups around the world. However, there are times when the matches send a message about the state of the game in the U.S., and the make-up match between Miami FC and FC Cincinnati seemed to be just that. There were a […]

The modern manager is part showman, part lawyer, part negotiator, and part masochist. At any level, from the Premier League to the semi-professional leagues, the man in the tracksuit or coat and tie roaming the side lines is an intermediary between the players, fans, and ownership. At the highest levels, those managers who succeed are […]

As we have mentioned repeatedly in this column, managers have an incredible survival instinct. They seek whatever advantage they can on the pitch and in the boardroom. Another potential ally or hurdle is the media. The way a manager interacts with the media is key to his or her longevity in their career. One wrong […]

Two weeks ago, I wrote about two interesting statistics about football managers. First was the large number of unemployed one-time managers and how hard it was to get rehired once you were sacked. The second was the dearth of opportunities in the U.S. for women managers, even in the women’s professional league. The common thread […]

This week two news articles from different sides of the Atlantic caught my eye. They were about different subjects in football but they play into the same idea of why certain people are hired to be managers at the professional level, and some are not. The first was an article from the States about the […]

On Tuesday, a legend of the game of football passed away rather suddenly at the young age of 68. This man was a manager extraordinaire, a giant of the game whose legacy will long outlive him. However, many people, even football fans, will not recognize the name Tony DiCicco and fewer will realise his impact. […]

The U.S. got a much-needed result in World Cup qualifying this weekend with a 1-1 draw with Mexico. The Azteca has long been a house of horrors for the Yanks but in this match, they looked more than a match for the home team. In fact, the U.S. side that was on the pitch looked […]

Like many of you, I watched the Champions League final with intense interest to see what promised to be a fascinating tactical battle. Like most of you, I was rather surprised with the ease in which Real Madrid dispatched of a Juventus side that had conceded three goals in their entire Champions League campaign. In the […]

Huddersfield Town were having a fairy tale season before defeating Reading on penalties to win promotion to the Premier League. They had finished near the bottom of the Championship last season and had one of the lower payrolls in the division. They gambled on hiring a first-time manager who had never worked outside of Germany. […]

Quick, name the top assistant manager of your favourite manager for a club you don’t support. You may be able to do this, but I’d wager many of you cannot (unless that team is the Republic of Ireland). In football, we focus on the manager, what he does and why he does it, and rethink […]

We still have another two matchdays to go but for Walter Mazzarri, the final day has come and gone. Watford fired the Italian manager and there are a laundry list of reasons why he needed to be relieved. Blame the bad man management, poor relations with the media, or unusual training methods, but some in […]

This week in From the Touchline, we will not be focusing on a specific match and how a manger’s choices influenced the outcome. Instead we will be walking through a debate that occurs every year but has been outsized the past few weeks. That issue is of course who plays. The media circus has focused […]

It’s not every day that From the Touchline flips on the Jupiler Pro League, but with the Championship playoffs on, now is a good time to catch up on Belgian football. So like Roberto Martinez, we discretely took in the Club Brugge / Oostende match this week to see if the home club could put […]