Joined November 2009
- Tweets 163,865
- Following 1,260
- Followers 275,518
- Likes 13,883
1,666 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
23 Jul 2024
The 2024 version of The Mixer is out now. The most comprehensive account of the Premier League’s on-pitch development over its first 32 years.
Amazon link ⬇️
amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0008708…
30
38
499
277,875
Brazil v Morocco a much better game before this ludicrous 15-minute "half-time" thing they've brought in to show some adverts, really broke up the momentum
18
56
1,026
82,574
Jun 13
Weirdly there was quite a similar feature to this on the BBC website about 20 years ago (with FA Cup goals). This was before you could find highlights easily online so you could catch up with “did you see that goal?!” by watching this kind of thing
Jun 12
What sorcery is this my @BBCSport colleagues… you can watch in virtual 3D on the BBC website, this is the Canadian goalies view of the Bosnia goal….
3
3
150
42,060
Jun 12
These days, FIFA lists the USA as finishing 3rd at World Cup 1930. But there was no third-place play-off. For years, they & Yugoslavia were listed as joint-third. So why the revisionism, and can we really consider them to have finished 3rd? ⬇️
nytimes.com/athletic/7347531…
7
10
103
31,032
Jun 11
Three red cards! There were only four red cards in the whole of the last World Cup. One was after full-time so barely counts. Another was for Vincent Aboubakar taking his shirt off after scoring in the 93rd minute and he seemed to love it.
16
90
1,506
91,845
Jun 11
I really enjoyed this book. As well as a portrait of Messi over the last three years, it's an excellent account of the current state of MLS. x.com/PaulTenorio/status/206…
Jun 2
“He just got up like, ‘Okay, screw it. I’m gonna do it.’”
Messi stood up on a chair.
“Hola,” he said. “Soy Lionel Messi.”
Then, he started to sing.
On book launch day, I wrote for @TheAthleticFC on what I learned reporting The Messi Effect 📕. Out today!
nytimes.com/athletic/7325761…
3
8
82
35,532
Michael Cox retweeted
32 teams to 48 teams fundamentally changes the World Cup. Here are the probable ramifications: more rotation, more defensive play in the first two games, Africa the major beneficiary. And other things. ⬇️
nytimes.com/athletic/7324882…
18
22
238
70,480
Jun 10
fair play, Qatar can treat this as a winter World Cup x.com/Conor0Neill_/status/20…
Jun 10
It took an inordinate amount of time to collect the data and make this graphic, but at least we now have conclusive proof that Sweden is, in fact, colder than Texas
6
5
119
45,710
Jun 10
Niche World Cup fascination: the French & African love of giving the No 16 shirt to a keeper. 8 WCs in a row for France. An 80% success rate for African sides here. Enjoyably, Canada are now also in - thanks to Quebec-born netminders James Pantemis & Maxime Crépeau in 2022/2026.
15
22
471
46,670
Jun 10
No-one else bothers. Only 2 of the other 36 sides at this tournament think a goalkeeper should wear No 16. Continental tournaments? 18 of the 24 No 16s at the Afcon were keepers, but only 5/24 at the last Euros and 1/16 at the last Copa America (Canada, obv).
9
3
53
15,590
consistently the best newspaper preview of a Euros / World Cup 👍
Jun 9
Of the newspaper supplements, this one from the Racing Post is excellent. Out today and would definitely recommend.
2
1
48
34,634
This is the strongest managerial lineup at a World Cup for a long time. And maybe, at a time when club football is all about intensity and physicality as much as strategy, the international game is where coaches can have the bigger impact.
nytimes.com/athletic/7338785…
5
33
300
73,727
predicting the bracket for a World Cup when third-placed teams qualify is, let's be honest, really unsatisfying. There's 495 possible combinations of which groups will provide those 8. You aren't getting that right, and there's so many moving parts that it's basically pointless.
47
92
2,064
170,300
Your instinct is to then automatically eliminate all the third-placed sides from the round of 32. But hang on, the best third-placed side from Group I is probably better than the winner of Group B. But will that be the fixture? Almost certainly not! It doesn't work at all.
8
4
223
22,795
5 Jun 2018
World Cup dark horses? Italy. Traditionally slow starters but never write them off
44
65
551
15 Nov 2022
Not much talk about them this time - but as always, they will NOT concede many goals.
16
13
375
Unbeaten at the World Cup since 2014. Could this be their year?
9
17
232
18,108
This is great and makes a good case that attendance figures are vital. Everything flows from that. Take out Arsenal (huge outlier) the Everton (probably less-than-hoped-for Goodison bounce) and crowds are on the slide. The WSL has wasted a couple of years.
x.com/FloydTweet/status/2060…
May 29
Our. insight report on the commercial future of women's football is now live on @The_Cutback
Never before seen rights values for sponsorship and media rights, and insight from experts from across the women's game.
Free to read.
thecutback.com/p/from-visibl…
7
14
117
65,646
May 10
France, 2018. Probably a bit underappreciated considering how comfortable they were throughout the knockout stage.
nytimes.com/athletic/7263144…
1
1
7
20,171
Argentina, 2022. The most flexible winners in terms of system. Messi the main man. They tended to collapse a bit in the last 20 minutes of matches but Martinez got them through it.
nytimes.com/athletic/7317733…
3
9
8,699
Michael Cox retweeted
May 31
Good Arsenal gameplan, inevitably more cautious (especially after going ahead early) and they largely defended excellently. But also they just weren’t not technically good enough in attack, especially after the subs, to offer any real goal threat. ⬇️
nytimes.com/athletic/7320465…
28
61
388
113,036
Michael Cox retweeted
May 27
A possibly unpopular view but I don’t believe Arsenal have been "defensive" this season. I think they’ve simply not been as good in attack as they intended, and had a reliable defence. Saturday against PSG, however, is probably the time to be defensive.
nytimes.com/athletic/7309066…
43
145
1,115
202,115