TWUTAB - Relaunch!
TWUTAB - Relaunch!
After tinyletter ate a considerable draft I've decided to make the move to an alternative platform and have found myself here on Revue with a fresh new look. We'll see how it goes but so far so good! Obviously if anyone has any objections to the move of platform feel free to unsubscribe.
The Week In Ball
So I was intending to send a newsletter last week with a round up of the first weekend of the WSL and some thoughts on England Men's international games, specifically the one against Hungary and the events of that, but a week is a long time in football and a fortnight even longer, so let's keep it brief before we talk about the weekend just passed.
The WSL season started with a win for Manchester United against Reading on Friday (3rd) evening. It was notable mainly because of the awful disarray United found themselves in not long ago, they lost their talismanic manager (drip queen Casey Stoney), star players (including Lauren James who went back to join her brother at Chelsea) and found themselves embroiled in arguments about their treatment by the club and the awful training conditions they had to put up with.
Saturday (4th) saw wins for Villa, Spurs and a resounding and not unexpected victory for Manchester City. Then on Sunday the Big Match: Arsenal vs. Chelsea at the Emirates. Would you believe it? Arsenal only went and won. It was a thrilling game, Beth Mead, scorer of the second and third goals, was on fire and of course the GOAT Vivienne Midiema scored the opener. Chelsea fought back with two goals of their own and one of Arsenal's was very definitely offside but currently the women's game doesn't have VAR in place. If you want to hear more on this I highly recommend this week's Wrighty's House where Flo Lloyd-Hughes and Ryan Hunn talk with Wrighty about the priorities needed in the game. Here's the article they reference about toxic positivity, Sophie is also a great follow on Twitter for insight into women's football.
We're also just coming off the back of the men's international break which saw England all but cement qualification to World Cup 2022 and be the only team to stop Robert Lewandowski from scoring so far this season.
Much has already been said about the horrible scenes in Hungary, which the team dealt with fantastically in my opinion. None of them seemed outwardly rattled and we witnessed some excellent trolling by Declan Rice and Jack Grealish.
In the Premier League the season finally started for Arsenal with a tortured 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Norwich. The goal was a weird, messy affair but it was allowed and finally, hopefully we can kick start our season.
Elsewhere a frantic game with some delicious 'scenes' (the like of which commentators insist we don't want to see) between Spurs and Crystal Palace lead to a 3-0 win for Palace and a red card for Spurs.
Ronaldo made his re-debut for Man United and they ran out 4-1 winners against Steve Bruce's beleaguered Newcastle. The one thing I want to say about this game is that I nearly put Pogba into my FPL team the first week of the season but decided he was too unpredictable. He's now got seven assists in four games and I hate him (and myself lol).
In the Leeds Liverpool showdown a horrible mistimed tackle left Harvey Elliot with his ankle bent out of shape and being stretchered off. However, being a lunatic, perpetually online Gen Zer he was soon posting to say he was doing OK
Finally Everton beat Burnley 3-1 last night in what was ticking along as quite a boring 1-1 before a madness by Andros Townsend a pass of such beauty from Doucoure that lead to a beautiful Demari Gray goal and a stunner of a disallowed goal turned the whole thing upside down within six minutes.
The Bundesliga saw a thrilling 3-4 game between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund that I'm so mad wasn't on Sky. BT's Bundesliga coverage used to include a full day on the Monday after where they just showed full games back to back. Sky's coverage is woeful by comparison.
They're now sitting 3rd just under Bayern and will sly dogs Wolfsburg at the top.
Of course this weekend's Serie A action was dominated by a last gasp winner for José Mourinho's Roma, a match which was his 1000 in management, that caused him to recreate his infamous touchline sprint from his Porto days. They're now top of the table and Roma can bask in the Good Mourinho glow while the rest of us sickos wait for the cracks to show...
I turned on the Real Madrid v Celta Vigo match on Sunday and watched the slightly tepid first half which ended with the shock result of Celta going 2-1 up. Then I turned over to watch Life Drawing Live and Madrid went wild. A goal almost immediately after kick off to draw even followed two more then a penalty at 87 minutes to cap it off.
The only thing I have to say about Ligue 1 is that a French football account tweeted early on in the PSG Clermont Foot game that Clermont were doing well and having the better chances so I of course QTd it saying I told you they were ones to watch. Anyway they lost 4-0 and PSG are now top of the table.
In the WSL Arsenal beat Reading, a resounding 4-0 victory and with it game the GOAT Vivienne Midiema's 100th goal for the club, an effort achieved without even a single penalty.
Elsewhere Brighton are now top on goal difference, just above Arsenal, Man United and Spurs, and poor Everton are languishing at the bottom. We're only two games in though and everyone has an international break to regroup.
Kick Off
Now that we've completed our basic team we can start to look at ways in which we can mix up the team and play with a less traditional make up.
The first position I'm going to discuss for this is the much spoken about 'False 9'.
This excellent article gives a wide-ranging overview of the history of false 9s, dating back as far as 1890 but brings it up to date with the following explanation:
"‘False nine’ is a term that has only been used in more modern times, however. The idea is that the striker might have a number nine on their back but move into ‘false’ positions – that is, areas in which you would not usually find a number nine."
Essentially a striker, a traditional 9, would be expected to play high up the pitch, ready to receive balls and then go for goal, whereas a false 9 plays deeper, receiving the ball in midfield in order to distract defences and disrupt the shape of the defending team.
You will see that the article gives a detailed explanation of the responsibilities of the false 9, including the above disruptive qualities as well as an excellent ability to read the game, knowing when to move, good ball skills (dribbling, turning, passing) and of course finishing.
Perhaps the most famous proponent of this method, simply because he often doesn't also include a recognised striker alongside the false 9, is Pep Guardiola. Anyone who's watched City will know that there's always a threat of scoring and the aforementioned disruption is key.
The Offside Thirst Trap
Here at TWUTAB we like to welcome people of all identities and sexualities, however at this point, despite being bisexual myself, I've only included cis men in this section. The fact is that male footballers are my absolute ideal but I want to give props to those overlooked cuties in the women's game too. I'm not hugely familiar with the players at this point though so if there's anyone you particularly like the contact details are at the bottom for your nominations!
Onto this week though and for now we're sticking with the hot boys I know and love and for me, one of the absolute best there is.
Friends, please look upon Eintracht Frankfurt's Kevin Trapp.
I have no doubt that Kevin knows. His instagram is a joy to behold from early morning shots of him in his building's lift or his car, usually wiedling a coffee which I'm sure will be made with his own brand of non-dairy milk, to topless workout shots and many many gameday pics. He's almost too handsome.
Football 'eritage
I referenced this earlier so here's an explanation, if you're unfamiliar.
Way back in 2004 José Mourinho was fairly unknown in the UK. He was managing Porto who were playing in the Champions League. During the first knockout round they played Manchester United and came away 2-1 winners in their first, home leg.
In the second leg United went ahead via a Scholes goal midway through the first half which, under away goals rules, put them on the front foot; if they could just keep it that way they would win and go through to the quarter finals.
It seemed like they were going to. They held on right until the 90th minute when Portuguese midfielder Costinha bagged an equaliser meaning Porto were through.
In what is now an iconic moment an ecstatic José clambers out of the dugout and runs down the touchline to his celebrating players, his frankly ridiculously large coat flapping behind him. Four months later, not long after taking Porto all the way to victory in the Champions League, he was appointed Chelsea boss for the first time.
Kit Bag
I'm making a change to this section formally known as Merch Stand because the truth is I really really love kits and this seems like a perfect space to show off some of the ones I like the most (I also have an ongoing thread here for when I spot something I particularly enjoy), especially as we seem to be getting new ones all the time at the moment.
This week's shout goes to the gorgeous PSG third kit. I've always said that I've never met a black kit I didn't like but this is an especially decent example. I like the central position of the badge, the red swooshes and the grey and white for the sponsor. In some ways it's got a whiff of the mid-00s emo to it.
Extra Time
Hopefully you like the new format. There's lots more you can do on Revue like embedding tweets and videos which imo makes a better read than a flurry of links. I'm going to leave you all with this poser:
For comments, clarifications, questions or corrections drop me a line at thewayutalkaboutball@gmail.com
If you really like the newsletter, which I do in my spare time and do spend a little bit of cash on for e.g. the logo, please feel free to buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/emilyoram
And finally, if you want more real-time football nonsense and frankly all sorts of other nonsense, follow me on Twitter @_emilyoram.