That role might not be his favourite but it plays to his strengths while Szoboszlai brings more solidity and stability in the middle. Freedom to roam and so many of those little passes in tight areas carried a real threat. Wirtz’s best performance for Liverpool so far
www.nytimes.com/athletic/677...

That piece is from 2021, reflecting on 20 years of Levy. There are criticisms of him which I certainly share — esp re failure to capitalise on their growth under Pochettino & loss of direction post-Poch — but #THFC could so easily have been left behind in "super club" era
nytimes.com/athletic/293...

A lot of people's immediate answer will be "PSR!!!" 🤬

But PSR was introduced in 2013, not 2023. And — this surprised me — the "Big Six" have contributed a far smaller proportion of PL spending than they did in the pre/early-PSR period.

It's more complex than that

www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...

Time to vote for the @fwaofficial.bsky.social Footballer of the Year awards. I've gone for ..... Mo Salah and Alessia Russo.

Firmly expecting a landslide win for Salah, which would be his third award, equalling the record held by Thierry Henry #FOTY2025

Enjoyed this exercise, picking our most underrated Premier League XI.
Could have just filled it with #AFCB and #NFFC players, but it's maximum one player per club — and I tried to look beyond the more *obviously* underrated ones and go slightly more niche

nytimes.com/athletic/628...

Such terribly sad news re Joe Thompson. Spent an afternoon with him last year for an interview and he was one of the warmest, most engaging people I've ever met.
He'd just been diagnosed with cancer for the third time but was so full of life and positivity. RIP Joe ♥️
www.nytimes.com/athletic/583...

Twenty years hits the nostalgia sweet-spot — but don't let that stop me doing them at five years, 20 years or any other point, frankly. Twenty-one. Key of the door.

On a related note, this kind of phraseology needs chucking out.

I mean, respectfully, it just wouldn't have been, would it?

I agree, but I wouldn't call it entitlement. I think in both cases there's just this massive send of drift, with the empire crumbling around them and a complacent belief — within the club, in both cases — that everything will be fine. Wrote about it here recently www.nytimes.com/athletic/588...

"Idea for a programme called 'Pulis, Camera, Action' ..."

Breaking: Premier League clubs have approved changes to associated-party transaction rules this morning.

A blow to Manchester City, who had challenged the previous rules and forced the rules to be written ... but still not to their satisfaction, evidently

www.nytimes.com/athletic/593...

Not sure why the thumbnail above has come out as a massive New York Times logo. Not very inviting ...

Here's some proper @theathleticfc.bsky.social artwork instead

🔗https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5917161/2024/11/13/premier-league-best-era-comparison-nostalgia/