xG
He missed.
Overperformed xG
He scored.
Underperformed xG
He cannot finish his dinner.
Pivot
The lad who stands in the middle and passes it sideways.
Double pivot
Two of them.
Six
Defensive midfielder. We managed for decades without a number for “the one who doesn’t go past the halfway line.”
Eight
Midfielder who runs about.
Ten
The clever one. Unless he isn’t.
Hybrid eight
He plays midfield. Stop it.
Profile
Position, with a LinkedIn account.
CDM
The destroyer. Used to be called a tackler.
CAM
The one behind the striker. Used to be called the one behind the striker.
Rest defence
The players who stay back while the rest attack. Previously known as: not everyone go up.
Build-up
Passing it out from the back until someone loses it.
First phase
Still in their own half.
Progress through the thirds
Get it forward.
Between the lines
In space. In front of the defence. Where footballers have always stood when unmarked.
Half-space
The gap.
Half-spaces
Two gaps.
Inverted full-back
The full-back has gone into midfield.
Create width
Stay wide.
Occupy the half-space
Stand in the gap.
Pressing trigger
Chase him.
Press-resistant
He can take a touch when someone runs at him.
Press-proof
Same thing, now waterproof.
Aggressive mid-block
Ten men behind the ball, but they look annoyed.
Low block
The bus.
High line
The defence has pushed up and is about to get done on the bounce.
Defensive transition
They’ve just lost it.
Attacking transition
They’ve just won it.
Compactness
They’re close together.
Vertical compactness
They’re close together, up and down.
Positional rotation
They swapped.
Overload
More of our lads than theirs, in that bit.
Isolate the full-back
One against one, out wide. The game, since 1872.
Progressive carry
He ran with it.
Progressive pass
He passed it forward.
Chance creation
A cross, a through ball, or a ricochet. Paul will tell you which.
Facilitator
Doesn’t score.
Not in his profile
Doesn’t score.
The data says we won
We lost 3-0.
If you need a caption for that Reel:
Games gone.
xG, pivot, half-space, rest defence.
He missed.
He stood in midfield.
It was a gap.
The rest stayed back.
Proper da? Good.
“Just bloody get it forward.”