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Articles by Ben Lyttleton
Ousmane Dembélé quietly becomes the main man after long journey to the top
Ben Lyttleton What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature . My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career.
World Cup penalty kicks and the psychology behind the shootout Original
The penalty kick is soccer in its purest form: a ball, a goal, a kicker and a goalkeeper. You’d think that any player talented enough to represent their national team would be able to score from 12 yards. And yet, competing in a World Cup penalty shootout is as emotionally fraught a task an athlete can be asked to perform.
How do we ensure humanity stays ahead of technology?
Data and decisions in soccer The beautiful game is in a race for off-the-field talent that can deliver a competitive edge through big data. by Ben Lyttleton s+b latest How do we ensure humanity stays ahead of technology? Episode 9 of the Take on Tomorrow podcast series explores what CEOs need to know to be able to harness fast-moving technologies, how businesses should use AI and other technologies responsibly, and what’s at risk if they don’t adapt to the pace of change.
Data and decisions in soccer Original
The beautiful game is in a race for off-the-field talent that can deliver a competitive edge through big data. Photograph by NiseriN As the 2022 FIFA World Cup gets underway in Qatar on November 20, some of the most important action will be taking place off the field. Most teams will be furiously crunching data on goalies’ tendencies to try to determine how to win a penalty shoot-out if there’s a draw at the game’s final whistle.
The Top 22 Players Under 22 at the 2022 World Cup Original
The sophistication of modern-day scouting means that the days of the World Cup providing a genuine breakout star out of the blue may be in the past, but the tournament still provides an incredible opportunity for young players. After all, Kylian Mbappé was already a French Ligue 1 title-winner when he became the first teenager since Pelé to score in a World Cup final. Mbappé was already known in 2018, but World Cup success took him to another stratosphere.
Scoring under pressure
England soccer coach Gareth Southgate exceeded all expectations when he guided his country’s national team to the FIFA World Cup semifinal in the summer of 2018. Along the way, the team made history by beating Colombia in a penalty shoot-out — the final, free-kick tiebreaker for separating teams that are even after 120 minutes — following four failed shoot-out efforts in international competitions going back to 1990.
Four tips from top soccer clubs on how to build cohesive teams
The keys to improving clubhouse comity also apply to the office. Whether it’s sports or business, cohesion is a key ingredient for any successful team. Groups with high cohesion possess traits that help them unite in the pursuit of a common ambition — they communicate better, have higher levels of participation, perform more efficiently, and have more trust in their organization than less cohesive groups do.
Make the “new manager bounce” work for you
When an organization’s performance starts to decline, at least one if not three things need to change: strategy, culture, and talent. In soccer, the go-to method to stop a run of bad results is a change at the top. The expectation is that the appointment of a new manager to coach the team will strengthen strategy, improve culture, and upgrade talent. That’s a big ask for one person.
Successful teams: Superstars need not apply
The role of the superstar within a sports team—even in individual sports such as tennis and golf—is undergoing an interesting change. The biggest soccer stories of the summer bear this out: first, an Italy team with no obvious stars won soccer’s UEFA European Championship.
Dale Vince has a winning strategy for sustainability
The Inside the Mind of the CEO interview series explores a wide range of critical decisions faced by chief executives around the world. In 2010, when Dale Vince purchased his local soccer club, his primary motivation was to save it from bankruptcy. But Vince, the founder of the British company Ecotricity — which says it was the first company in the world to sell green electricity — soon realized he could transform the club into a model for sustainability.
England, Southgate and penalties
Let’s get one thing clear here. This is not a return of England’s penalty curse. This is not England ‘reverting to type’ by losing another shoot-out. If anything, the events of the Euro 2020 final are the total opposite. Let me explain… For a start, the (unsurprising) reaction of England coach Gareth Southgate to the Euro 2020 final defeat is unlike any of his predecessors.
Mbappé, Culture & the Superstar Curse
The fall-out whenever France is eliminated from a major tournament is always fascinating. All sorts of reasons were put forward for last week’s dramatic defeat on penalties to Switzerland: compared to 2018, France were not as unified or as scintillating; they had lost their insouciance and gained more egos; their families were feuding and the tactics were unsettling. Photo: Getty Images All good reasons, but one was conspicuous by its absence. No-one mentioned the penalties.
Southgate, Germany & Euro 96 trauma
He may not have won a trophy, but Gareth Southgate has already succeeded as England coach; he has rid the England national team, and indeed the nation, of its penalty shoot-out trauma. Southgate turned his experience of missing the decisive penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final into a positive: he realised that penalties are a trainable skill that can be improved, and set about teaching England’s players how to do it.
Time to sub GKs for a shoot-out!
As the Euro 2020 knock-out matches approach, the prospect of a penalty shoot-out is never far away. Historically, the Euros has provided plenty of penalty drama (Panenka 76, Van Basten 92, Southgate 96, Holland 2000, Postiga 2004, Pirlo 2012, Zaza 2016) and the chances of a shoot-out in the quarter-final are as high as 37 per cent.
Dale Vince has a winning strategy for sustainability
In 2010, when Dale Vince purchased his local soccer club, his primary motivation was to save it from bankruptcy. But Vince, the founder of the British company Ecotricity — which says it was the first company in the world to sell green electricity — soon realized he could transform the club into a model for sustainability.
Real Madrid's penalty drought
When Karim Benzema opened the scoring from the penalty spot in Real Madrid’s 3-0 win at Cadiz last Wednesday, it ended the club’s run of 24 La Liga matches without being awarded a penalty. It was Real Madrid’s longest league run without a penalty since 1974. Today, we are going to look at why.
Diego Alves, penalty master
Last week’s Brazilian Super Cup final between Flamengo and Palmeiras went to penalties after a 2-2 draw. Flamengo won a dramatic shoot-out 6-5, after nine players from each side took penalties, thanks to Fla goalkeeper Diego Alves saving three penalties. Photo: Getty Images This will come as no surprise to fans of Valencia, or indeed any of the Spanish teams that Alves, now 35, faced during a record-breaking ten-year spell in La Liga (four seasons at Almeria, six at Valencia).
The worst shoot-out ever?
The recent Europa League final between Villarreal and Manchester United featured 21 consecutive scored penalties and was memorable for the denouement in which United goalkeeper David de Gea had his vital spot-kick saved. While fascinating to watch, there was, I felt, something missing from the shoot-out. Then I realised what it was: misses. The most dramatic shoot-outs feature a combination of conversions and misses; we love to see imperfection as well as metronomic success.
Women’s sports face a post-pandemic reinvention
This should have been the year that women’s sports grabbed the spotlight. Revenue projections for 2021 were set at more than US$1 billion. Appeal was on the rise; in 2018, 84 percent of sports fans around the world said they were interested in women’s sports, and viewing figures had been breaking records in women’s soccer, cricket, basketball, and tennis.
The Messi Paradox
In the space of ten minutes during last week’s Champions League draw between PSG and Barcelona, we saw the best and worst of Lionel Messi. His exceptional goal out of nothing from 30 yards was the best; his penalty, a few minutes later, which would have put Barcelona 2-1 up just before half-time, the worst. Messi’s record from penalties is amazing in one respect. He has taken over 130 penalties in all, an astonishing number. He has scored 102 and missed 29 with a conversion rate of 78 per cent.
The power of Kiricocho
Erling Haaland steps up to take a penalty in a crucial Champions League tie for Borussia Dortmund. His opponent, Sevilla goalkeeper Bono, exclaims just before Haaland strikes; he dives to his left and makes the save. Before he has time to celebrate, VAR spots an encroachment and the penalty is retaken. This time, Haaland scores. After scoring, Haaland runs up to Bono and shouts in his face. What does he shout?
High or Low - where to aim?
Is it better to aim high or low when it comes to penalties? It’s a question I’m often asked and I usually reply with a facetious answer: “You can kick the ball too high but you can’t kick it too low.” We now have a better answer, thanks to Portuguese academic Carlos Almeida. He studied the height of 536 penalties taken in Champions League and Europa League over a five-year spell and came up with some interesting findings.
Should Ederson take penalties for Man City?
Should Ederson take a penalty for Manchester City if the opportunity arises? It looked like he was going to last Saturday, as he ran upfield when City were awarded a penalty when the score was 0-0 in the win against Spurs. Getty Images By that point, Rodri had snatched the ball and was spotting it. Ederson spoke to Bernardo Silva, who relayed his message to the kicker. Rodri admitted that Ederson had told him ‘some specific points about Lloris and where I should put the penalty’.
Interview: Antonin Panenka
I once sat outside a pub near Prague with Antonin Panenka talking about players who had football moves named after them. We went through the Cruyff turn, the Zidane roulette, the Papin scissor-kick, the Madjer back-heel, but found none were as loved, or ubiquitous, as the Panenka.
Football School - World Book Day
Discover 20 mind-blowing football stories in this awesome collection created for World Book Day 2021. Find out the true stories of the star players, top teams and game changers who have shaped football history. Stories include: - The secret behind Lionel Messi’s success - The footballer who pooed on the pitch - The greatest goat in football - The incredible story of women’s football after World War I The bestselling Football School series explains the world through football.
Chelsea Draw 0-0 In 1st Game Of Tuchel Era
Chelsea Draw 0-0 In 1st Game Of Tuchel Era Episode Notes On this episode of Chelsea Mike'd Up, Michael Ryan Ruiz and Chris Wittyngham recap Thomas Tuchel's first game in charge of Chelsea, a 0-0 draw at home against Wolves. Author Ben Lyttleton joins the guys for his thoughts on Thomas Tuchel after he sat down with Tuchel for his book Edge: What Business Can Learn From Football. Chelsea Academy coach Sam Page joins to discuss how players are recruited to the Chelsea academy.
Chelsea Draw 0-0 In 1st Game Of Tuchel Era on Apple Podcasts
Football Weekly The Guardian The Totally Football Show with James Richardson Muddy Knees Media The Official Leeds Utd Podcast Leeds United Football Ramble Stakhanov Arseblog - the Arsecasts, Arsenal podcasts arseblog.com The Robbie Fowler Podcast Chris McHardy
When is a Panenka not a Panenka?
Everyone loves a Panenka penalty – sometimes, actually, a little too much. In the rush to commemorate one of the most famous penalty-kicks of all time, I think we are often too quick to label a penalty struck down the middle of the goal as a Panenka. So I decided to ask Antonin Panenka, the man behind the penalty, about the ingredients required for a perfect Panenka. The full interview will run in next week’s edition.
Solving Griezmann’s penalty woes
As a Dutchman, Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman will know all about penalty disasters, but last week was a new low even for him. Barcelona missed two penalties in open play (Miralem Pjanic and Ousmane Dembele) as they edge past Segunda B side Cornella in the Cup. Their record from the spot this season is seven scored from 12, a 58 per cent success rate; five different players have now missed penalties (Messi, Griezmann and Braithwaite are the other three).
Analysis: Real Sociedad 2 Barcelona 3
What timing! Two days after launching this newsletter, Bayern Munich lost to second division side Holstein Kiel in a penalty shoot-out, and Barcelona beat Real Sociedad in a penalty shoot-out. This is why we are here, people! I want to look in more detail at the shoot-out in Spain, because it threw up some fascinating talking-points that we will be exploring in more detail as this newsletter continues. The match was the Spanish Super Cup semi-final.
Welcome to Twelve Yards
Welcome to the Twelve Yards newsletter! My name is Ben Lyttleton and I am the author of Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty. Twelve Yards will be a regular newsletter looking at funny, brave and dramatic penalties from around the world. I will analyse the important penalties in all the big matches and will include exclusive interviews with psychologists, coaches and penalty heroes and villains to get their takes on the biggest penalty stories of the day.
Do people work better without a crowd?
On June 20, Manchester United’s star player Bruno Fernandes scored a late penalty to earn his team a draw against English Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the stands at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were empty when he took the shot. It was the first of many soccer games to be played behind closed doors, and afterward, Fernandes was asked if it was easier to take the penalty without the distraction of the opposing team’s home fans.
Book Reviews for Football School Epic Stories: 50 Incredible and True Football Moments By Alex Bellos and Spike Gerrell
Celebrate the greatest names and teams in football history with this collection of 50 true stories. Discover the greatest football moments of all time in this collection of 50 exciting stories, perfect for fans of Football School: Star Players . Discover the incredible stories of heroes such as Messi, Ronaldo, Klopp and Rapinoe, but also the tales of the dog that helped win the league for his team and the team who won the championship with the very final kick of the game.
'Super-creative' - Football School/Guardian Young Sportswriters of the Year revealed
A report of England’s dramatic 2019 Ashes victory told from the perspective of the batsman’s glasses has been crowned a winner of the 2020 Football School/Guardian Young Sportswriter of the Year award. Rebecca Close, aged nine, won the category for children from seven to nine years old with her story about the 76-run partnership between Ben Stokes and Jack Leach at the Headingley Test against Australia from the point of view of Leach’s famous specs.
Measuring the social impact of sporting superstars
Ideas that work August 20, 2020 Share: Developing and Leading High-Performance Teams (Live Online) Oct 5–16, 2020 Empowering executives to maximize the impact of their teams, this virtual program examines how to develop team solidarity, “followership,” and broad support for change throughout your organization and how to harness the power of teams through better decision making and leadership. Learn more.
A new measure of success for sporting superstars: Social impact
In June, just before England and Manchester United soccer striker Marcus Rashford persuaded the British government to perform a U-turn and extend its free school meals voucher scheme into the summer because of the continued impact of the novel coronavirus, he said: “Ending child poverty is a bigger trophy than any in football.” His England national squad teammate Raheem Sterling has inspired young players with an eloquent takedown of structural racism in the media.
The Inevitable Conclusion
“Prick! You incredible prick!” Frank de Boer was yelling at himself in his car. He thumped the wheel. It was July 2000, weeks after the Netherlands had lost the Euro 2000 semi-final to Italy. It was the third straight European Championship that Holland had lost in a shoot-out and, including a loss to Brazil in the 1998 World Cup, a third elimination on penalties in four years. The circumstances of this one were particularly tough to bear.
Sports, health, and cash flow: A delicate balance ahead
The coronavirus pandemic has driven professional sports into crisis management mode. As fans have been forced by the lockdown to question their relationship with sports, so too have some sporting leaders started reevaluating their business models to manage costs and keep those fans engaged.
How do you write an article about sport when there is little sport on?
How do you write an article about sport when there is so little sport going on? This is just one of the challenges for entrants into this year’s Football School/Guardian Young Sportswriter of the Year competition. We are here to help, so follow these tips and you will be just fine.
Following sports in the time of COVID-19
How is everyone coping without sports in their lives? Once you’ve read about the cancellation of all major sports events due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, and seen the reactions from the managers, players, and sports organizations, what is left for the billions of fans across the globe? The world still turns, albeit with less drama, less diversion, and less color in it. For many, a world without sports is monochrome.
Better than right: Turning mistakes into an advantage
A new breed of soccer managers is owning up to vulnerability, and it’s helping them to connect with their teams (and get results). Jürgen Klopp, head coach of soccer team Liverpool FC, and recently voted of 2019, likes to tell a story about motivating his players ahead of an important match. He showed them movie clips from Rocky IV of Rocky Balboa preparing to take on Ivan Drago. Klopp gave a rousing speech about Soviet technology, Siberian training camps, and good versus evil.
Looking Forward
He played against Pelé, Cruyff and Beckenbauer. George Best was suspended for his testimonial match but Eusébio came instead and played alongside Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst. He scored against Real Madrid in a European final, and was one of the outstanding performers in a classic FA Cup Final. But there is much, much more. He has, through sport, enriched the lives of many people with Down’s Syndrome and learning difficulties.
The grass is always greener: Examples from the world of soccer on changing jobs
On the eve of the biggest soccer match of his coaching career, Tottenham Hotspur’s manager dropped a bombshell. It was May 7, 2019, the night before Mauricio Pochettino’s team played against Ajax Amsterdam in the UEFA Champions League semifinal; the coach declared that if Tottenham won the trophy, he would leave the London club. “It should be fantastic, no?” Pochettino said. “Close the five-year chapter and go home.” Reporters asked him if he was joking (he wasn’t), and fans were stunned.
Safe as Houses
Every now and then, Espen Baardsen gets a reminder of his former life. "One of the guys in the office will come in and say they were channel-surfing and saw Premiership Years," he says. "It's a TV show where they have the save of the season, the goal of the season, all sorts of stuff for a particular year.
Football School Season 4: Where Football Explains the World Book Reviews | Toppsta
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Pep Talk
Prague, 30 August 2013. It’s a feverish, tense, agonising final. Bayern equalise 51 seconds after the 120 minutes have been played. The Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson has added one minute for stoppages and there are nine seconds to go before Pep Guardiola’s team lose their second final in a month when a player who only three days previously was booked in for surgery scores for Bayern.
How to manage mavericks
A version of this article appeared in the Winter 2019 issue of strategy+business. The maverick needs a rebrand. The term, usually defined as someone who is independent or unorthodox, can carry negative connotations that imply complication, contrariness, and chaos. In a society in which echo chambers create siloed workforces, where algorithms and the march of artificial intelligence could threaten to inhibit human creativity, talented freethinkers need to be cherished, or they will walk away.
How to manage mavericks
The maverick needs a rebrand. The term, usually defined as someone who is independent or unorthodox, can carry negative connotations that imply complication, contrariness, and chaos. In a society in which echo chambers create siloed workforces, where algorithms and the march of artificial intelligence could threaten to inhibit human creativity, talented freethinkers need to be cherished, or they will walk away.
The Quiet Man
On his first day at Anfield, Naby Keita was handed the No 8 jersey by his predecessor Steven Gerrard in a pleasant but unusual ritual. It marked a watershed moment for the man from Guinea, while simultaneously illustrating the expectation that had fallen upon him. As a child, he had worn the famous red shirt in the streets of Koleya and pretended to be the now Rangers boss, but here he was required to emulate him on a much larger scale.
How virtual reality is improving decisions in soccer and in business
I am standing in a fashionable London hotel bar wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset. My right foot occasionally kicks out, as though I’m dancing (badly) to a silent beat. All I can see is the green grass of a soccer field, my teammates moving in different directions, and a ball coming toward me, rather fast. My job is to find the right pass before an opponent tackles me. I have one second. This task is designed to improve my visual perception and decision making under pressure.
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