Cule Thoughts - Over 30 years ago, this American came to love the sport by way of Guam. It may have been pivotal that his first coach was a Spaniard with the self-declared moniker of 'Don Pedro'. Since then, the love of tiki-taka and all things La Liga has been foremost. This especially applies to Barça. @ OleOle

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Time Out: Is the Complete Midfielder Dead?

Tuesday, 28 April 09, 12:59 AM

Culés worldwide fidget and moan as Barça's lead diminishes to 4 points, following a very tough game in the Mestalla and a rampant Los Merengues who mopped up on a gutted Sevilla side following their 4-0 loss to the Catalan club last week. All I can say in reply is: meh. As in so what? There just doesn't seem to be all that much to worry about. Barça are looking very strong as the match against Valencia showed. It was in the Mestalla against a rejuvenated Los Che, so to come back to bring the result level was no small deal. Not at all. It was not surprising that Real Madrid would get the better of Sevilla either. The Andalusian club are in some form of freefall at the moment, so they're very susceptible to crumbling after a few swift kicks in the shin, as it were. No, what I want to see is how well Real Madrid hold up in the Mestalla in about a fortnight. That should be interesting. In the meantime, we've got the league still...Read Post »

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Blaugrana Got Grit

Sunday, 11 January 09, 04:14 PM

Of the last three matches played byFC Barcelona, all tended to be gritty to some degree. The la liga match with Mallorca saw the blaugrana a little off their game with many of the top players resting. They played away as well and had to endure falling behind early on, but they came back to win it with Henry, Iniesta, and Toure all putting the ball into the net before the final whistle.

The Catalan side showed more flair in the Copa del Rey fixture with Atletico Madrid, but the level of cynicism the rojiblancos dipped to was brutal. Even here though, Barça weren't going to flinch one iota and Messi, despite (or maybe because of) the blatant hacking by Atléti, came away with a hat trick. And again, this was an away match.

And just an hour or so...

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Book Review: Inverting the Pyramid

Friday, 03 October 08, 03:32 PM

I really can’t say enough about this book written by Jonathan Wilson. Inverting the Pyramid is a detailed and illuminating history of football tactics, starting with the inception of the game over 150 years ago until the beginning of the twenty-first century. Wilson tracks its individual, formational and systematic development from England to Eastern Europe, from the Old World to the New. Within that development emerge the dichotomies of passing vs dribbling, organization vs creativity, attack vs defense, the individual vs the system, possession football vs direct football. Wilson relates the influence of key football figures such as Meisl, Chapman, Maslov, Bilardo, Michels, and Lobanovskyi, just to name a few. He also pulls no punches when addressing the deleterious effects on English football from the flawed works of Reeps and Hughes.
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Available: Inverting the Pyramid

Sunday, 31 August 08, 10:55 PM

My order for Jonathan Wilson's Inverting the Pyramid was just shipped from buy.com, so the book is out now. If you're into football tactics from a more cerebral vantage point, consider this work from Wilson.Read Post »

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An Interesting Book Around the Corner: Inverting the Pyramid

Monday, 14 July 08, 11:36 PM

This book by Jonathan Wilson is due out next month, and I for one am looking forward to it. I've enjoyed what Wilson has written on football in the Guardian, which is knowledgeable and insightful.

"For soccer fans, following, discussing, and arguing about the tactics a manager puts into play are part of what makes the sport so appealing. This fascinating study traces the history of soccer tactics back from such modern pioneers as Rinus Michels, Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Catenaccio, and Herbert Chapman. Along the way, author Jonathan Wilson, an erudite and detailed writer who never loses a sense of the grand narrative sweep, takes a look at the lives of the great players and thinkers who shaped the game, and discovers why the English in particular have proved themselves so “unwill...

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