Decided on the spur of the moment to start doing these U23 GBE Status Reports on players that have played in the WC. They aren't necessarily recommendations to sign, but I thought people might find it interesting

1,000,000 Views 🎉🎉🎉 Honestly can't thank everyone enough for liking, sharing & tagging friends in this analysis thread. 1m hits with 7 days still to go & adding to the findings everyday with the friendlies so keep checking out updates 👌 Much much more to come 🕺

🚨 What To Expect From Iraola At Liverpool 🚨 —Tactical Analysis of B'mouth —Can Iraola Coach ‘Possession’ Football? —Why ‘Directness’ Is GOOD —Who Liverpool NEED To Buy? —Combinations, Verticality 3rd Man —Deep Runs, Mobility Flexibility Out now, watch below! 👇📎

Podcasts Incoming on Patreon I have been engaging with Pundits, Podcasters & Players from all over the world and loads have kindly agreed to give up their valuable time. These will initially be part of the Patreon Paywall & then released for everyone after. Other content like the Betting Articles & Discord Chat will only be available to the paid tiers on Patreon as a thank you for their support. Thanks to Karan, Bowzer, Arran, Murray & Colin who have all joined this week. If anyone is up for joining and only if you can absolutely afford to do so 👇 patreon.com/JohnWalkerFootba…

If you’re looking to break into recruitment/scouting in football the reality is that most agents/clubs don’t want to read a 5-10 page dossier. You’re more likely to get noticed for being able to display relevant information/data within a single page.

Full Agenda: ⚪️Jay Socik: Levelling up your analytics - Why more isn’t always better 🔵Kristian Kjaer: How FC Midtjylland built one of Europe’s most innovative recruitment operations ⚪️Garvan Stewart Q&A: Data, decisions and development 🔵 Rich Byrne/ Alexander Hinton: Signing the player they are vs. the player they'll be ⚪️ Andy Watson: How to use GBE to your advantage 🔵 Neil Whitbread: The intelligence layer: Behaviour, context and clarity in recruitment ⚪️ Brad Pryjmachuk: Using AI to Power Recruitment Insights

If you’re a coach, this is the best 15 minutes you’ll spend today. Thiago Alcântara masterclass 👇

🇦🇹 EP306 - OUT NOW. 🇨🇷 Dundee review; ⁉️ Where now? LINKS -> linktr.ee/abzfootballpodcast

Listeners: open.spotify.com/episode/5Ze…

Sitting down and trying to explain what’s in my head is difficult. It’s made much easier by speaking to @tomocurr and @Jon_Mackenzie. We covered: • what does ‘midfield’ mean? • what is a ‘midfielder’? • what type of ‘midfielder’ does everyone want to buy? Have a read/listen.

This is a must read on using our On-Ball Engagement data and contextual flags to profile the behaviour of central defenders

You can pre-order my book, The Spectre of Pep, now by clicking this link: geni.us/TheSpectreOfPep

Thierry Henry brilliantly breaks down the origins of Total Football and the Rinus Michels coaching tree 🔥 Stop what you're doing and watch this 📚

All open-play threat in football can be essentially divided into two categories: threat in front of the defensive line and threat in behind the defensive line. Regardless of whether it’s a front four or front five, an elite team that can scale against various opponents and styles needs two of each at a minimum. Even the best players, who can provide both to an extent, end up specialising towards one, as did Messi and Cristiano. This is the fundamental basis of achieving balance in any attacking unit. If you skew towards one side, you become vulnerable to certain styles of opponents accordingly. Generally, not enough in-behind threat leads to struggles against high-pressing teams, while not enough in-front threat leads to struggles against deeper zonal teams. Although opposition teams can have hybrid elements, that’s why it is even more important to have a balance of both. The great 2011 Barcelona team had Villa and Pedro providing in-behind threat, while Messi and Iniesta provided in-front threat. Through this model, you can also understand most attacking inefficiencies. For example, the front four Arsenal started against Bournemouth had no specialists providing threat in front of the defensive line. Newcastle infamously do well against bigger teams who press and struggle against weaker zonal teams. Their squad has a severe lack of threat in front of the defensive line. Both feed into each other; the better threat you have in front of the defensive line, the more effective your threat becomes behind the defensive line, and likewise the other way around. Written by @MeiaArmador__

NEW: Lincoln City promoted to second tier of English football for first time in 65 years. They’ve done it with a wage cap of £3,500 per week, seventh lowest budget in League and lowest average possession. Inside their remarkable rise. nytimes.com/athletic/7167961…

🚨Who Should Be Man United’s Next Manager? 🚨 —Joined by ex Liverpool head Recruitment Analyst, Patrick Montgomery. —Analysis of Luis Enrique, Julian Nagelsmann, Eddie Howe & Michael Carrick —Search Criteria for the PERFECT Man United Manager Watch below, it’s out now! 📎👇

Radars are everywhere now. They weren’t always. @mixedknuts shares how football data viz evolved from early radars to modern scouting tools, and how clubs built a shared language between data and coaching. Full breakdown on Patreon: patreon.com/posts/154638461

I need some new podcasts to listen to while working. Any recommendations on what I should be listening to?

Why we get players wrong, and how to get them right. Back in late 2023, @billycarpy took us on an odyssey through Descartes, Don Carlo and De Visser in search of clearer thinking and better scouting. If players improve, so can we. This is Mind Games: bit.ly/47215zK

Building Modern Structures - Strategic Club Development in the Age of AI At Hudl Performance Insights 2025, Alexander Schmalhofer, Sporting Director at Jahn Regensburg, discussed the frameworks needed to stimulate growth in modern football Watch now 🔽 hubs.la/Q047W99v0