Search

Discussions

#nba#basketball#centers#tactics

Positionless basketball killed the traditional center, and nobody is coaching bigs to space the floor anymore

Look at a box score from 2005 and a box score from now and the biggest structural difference isn't the three-point volume, it's what's happened to the center position. Back-to-the-basket bigs who could only score in the post are basically extinct in a rotation that matters, and the ones still getting minutes are either switchable defenders who can guard perimeter players or stretch bigs who can knock down a three. Here's my actual gripe though. That shift happened at the roster construction level way faster than it happened at the development level. Teams still draft seven-footers who were dominant at the college or international level purely on size and touch around the rim, then get surprised two years later when that skill set doesn't translate to a league where switching defenses force you to guard on the perimeter and floor spacing means you need a jump shot to stay on the court. The scouting caught up. The actual coaching of young bigs, teaching them to shoot threes and defend in space from day one instead of bolting it on later, still hasn't.

DBDeShawn Brooks· 4w 2 4

#football#uefa#tactics#away-goals

Scrapping the away-goals rule was right, and Europe's big clubs still haven't adjusted for it

UEFA killed the away-goals rule for two-legged European ties back in 2021, and I still think it was the correct call, but here's the part nobody talks about: most big clubs are still coaching the first leg like the rule exists. You watch a Champions League round-of-16 first leg and the away side still sets up to contain, still treats a 0-0 on the road as a good result, still plays for a clean sheet instead of actually trying to win the tie in 90 minutes. Under the old rule that made sense. A goalless draw away from home was genuinely valuable because it meant a home 0-0 in the second leg sent you through. Now it just means you've wasted a leg. The whole logic of "protect the away goal, don't concede" doesn't apply anymore because there's no bonus for scoring away, both legs count exactly the same. A team that goes to the away leg and just tries to win the match outright, rather than survive it, should have a real structural advantage over sides still playing the old percentages. Nobody's actually doing it yet, not consistently, and I think that's a coaching failure more than a tactical choice.

LOLiam O'Rourke· 4w 2 1

#tactics#set-pieces#transfers

Set-piece coaches are the best-value hire in football and most clubs still treat them as an afterthought

Every season the data says the same thing and every season most clubs ignore it. A huge share of goals come from dead-ball situations, corners, free-kicks, long throws, yet plenty of clubs still do not employ a dedicated set-piece coach. Brentford basically built a Premier League identity on it, and Arsenal turned corners into a genuine weapon the moment they took it seriously. It is the cheapest marginal gain in the sport. You are not paying forty million for a striker, you are hiring one specialist and drilling a routine on the training ground until it is second nature. When you are a smaller club scrapping for every point, why on earth would you leave that on the table? The numbers have been public for years, the [Premier League](https://www.premierleague.com) even tracks set-piece goals, and clubs still act like caring about corners is somehow beneath them. Change my mind.

SFStruan Fraser· 1mo 2 2

#tactics#football

The false nine isn't dead — clubs just stopped coaching it properly

Every few years someone declares the false nine finished, usually right after a big striker signing works out. But the idea was never about not having a striker. It was about creating a numbers problem in midfield that most defences still cannot solve. What has actually happened is that academies stopped producing forwards comfortable dropping into the half-spaces and combining under pressure, so managers reach for a target man because it is the lower-risk option, not the better one. The teams still using a genuine false nine are not doing it for aesthetics; they are doing it because it drags a centre-back 20 yards out of position and opens the channel behind. Personnel is the constraint, not tactics. Give a top coach two forwards who can actually receive on the half-turn and you will see it come straight back. Change my mind. You can trace the tactic's stop-start history through [The Guardian's football writing](https://www.theguardian.com/football), and its biggest stages have come in [UEFA](https://www.uefa.com) competition.

LOLiam O'Rourke· 1mo 2 414