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Robin Van Persie is in the jacuzzi. He’s finished training for the day at Arsenal and is enjoying a relaxing soak. The gym and recovery facilities at Arsenal’s training ground were designed by Arsène Wenger for maximum light. There’s lots of glass and windows. From the hot tub, Van Persie is looking out onto the training pitch and watching Dennis Bergkamp. The Dutchman is on his way back from injury, practicing with two youth team players and the fitness coach. It’s a complicated exercise involving shooting and giving and receiving passes at speed. Van Persie tells himself that he’ll get changed when Bergkamp makes a mistake. 45 minutes later, he’s still in the jacuzzi and his hands are wrinkly.

Continue reading “How Did Dennis Bergkamp Get So Very Good?”

We’ve all been there. Rolling the ankle the day before a big game. It’s the biggest pain in the arse. You go home, you google ‘how to fix a swollen ankle’, you follow the R.I.C.E. protocol and you cross your fingers. You wake up the next day and the swelling’s gone down but not enough for you to play. You’re out of the game. Gutted.

Continue reading “How To Fix A Swollen Ankle Like Michael Jordan”

I’ve been reading Ruud Gullit’s book, How To Watch Football. It’s a good mix of an instructional approach for new soccer fans getting to know the game and deeper insights from Gullit’s career that even specialists won’t have heard before. He pointed out one thing in particular that I wanted to share.

Continue reading “Striking Thought: How Forwards can Make Their Coaches Love Them”

People are always asking me what I eat before a soccer game to optimise performance… right now, this is the answer.

Continue reading “The Pre-Match Meal I Eat Instead of Pasta”

 

When Pep Guardiola brought his Barcelona team to Wembley in 2011, the television cameras captured one of the most mesmeric sights in the game. In the studios before kick off, pundits around the world were busy scratching their heads at the team news. Amazingly, Sir Alex Ferguson had decided to field Park Ji-sung and Michael Carrick against the three-man Barcelona midfield of Sergio Busquets, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta (the second time Ferguson had made this 2-against-3 mistake, the first being in the 2009 Champions League Final in Rome). Out on the Wembley turf, the warm up told you everything you needed to know about what would happen next.

Continue reading “Doing The Rondo: A Practical Analysis Of Barcelona’s Secret Weapon”