Sublime

Football, as a more complex team game without a form of real possession, is largely about triangles. One such triangle might be the player currently touching the ball, the one about to receive it, and the off-ball player currently causing the greatest deformation in the defence’s shape. Triangles might replace ‘ball events’ as the key unit of

In part II, “Tribal Signals,” the three layers of culture—peer, hero, and ancestor codes—reveal themselves as not just manageable but also malleable. Hiddink reshaped the Reds’ team norms

‘workmanlike’ players were selected instead of ‘stars’ and the appeal of the ‘David Beckham’ narrative (the instinctive belief that good-looking players are somehow better) was rejected.