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El Barça de Flick se mete entre los mejores. Más puntos en la 31ªJ de una Liga de Primera: 80 Barça en 2009-10 (Guardiola) 84 Barça en 2010-11 (Guardiola) 79 Madrid en 2011-12 (Mourinho) 81 Barça en 2012-13 (Vilanova) 79 Barça en 2017-18 (Valverde) 79 Barça en 2025-26 (Flick)

La visión que tenemos los culés de él está totalmente distorsionada por jugar en un equipo disfuncional como era aquel Barcelona de Xavi donde todos parecían peores. Talentos como el de Cancelo tenemos dos o tres en plantilla, no más. Bienvenido sea.

Menuda bakalá el Manchester City, un buen equipo sin más, muy lejos de aquellas versiones de 2022 o 2024. Lo normal es que tampoco ganen nada este año.

Using a player’s foot preference is the most effective way to condition individual intentions and, consequently, team intentions. As a general rule, strong-footed players offer more “push” dynamics, while wrong-footed players offer more “pull” dynamics. These intentions can be further categorised into off-the-ball movement and dribbling or carrying intentions. To put it simply, push dynamics are what push the defensive line deeper, for example, a run in behind from the winger. Pull dynamics are what pull the defensive line higher, for example, a winger cutting inside. This is the crux of stretching any defensive block vertically. You can use these concepts to reverse engineer exactly what you want from the player or the team, based on what you want to emphasise or who you want to maximise. The clearest recent example is Raphinha, who went from a creator-type winger on the right to an in-behind outlet on the left. On a team level, the City Centurions are a good example. With strong-footed interiors and wingers, as soon as they found the front five, the tempo went up, and they were direct in pushing the defensive line, which is primarily why they were so effective offensively.

🚨🟢 Panathinaikos agree deal to sign Adriano Jagušić for €5.2m plus €800k add-ons and 20% sell-on. 4.5 years contract agreed, here with his agent Matej Škegro ✈️

JAVIER MASCHERANO: "When I arrived at Barça, I was a natural holding midfielder. But in that position, it was either Sergio Busquets or me. I imagine Guardiola thought that instead of moving the best in his position (Busquets), he would move the other one. So that's when I started playing as a central defender, and I liked it. He had two midfielders, put the best in his position, and the other one had to figure it out (laughs). That’s part of a footballer’s evolution: being ready to realise that in one position, you’d have very few chances to play and survive, as was my case as a holding midfielder, because obviously, I wouldn’t play much. I was able to find a spot in defence, and well, I held onto that and fought to play more. I’m very clear about it—if that change hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have lasted very long at Barcelona."

🚨🔵 Getafe are closing in on deal to sign Zaid Romero as new centre back from Club Brugge. Loan move with fee until June, no option to buy clause.