Analyzing football tactics

Finding the next edge.

Kyle Boas

Author of the Tactics Journal

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Teachers who feel ready for AI report more innovative work in their teaching

10 November 2026

Artificial intelligence readiness and innovative work behavior among university engineering teachers: parallel indirect effects of creative self-efficacy and technology integration self-efficacy study by Li, Yi, Jiang and Man:

Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory, this cross-sectional study surveyed 786 university engineering teachers in Chongqing, China. We examined the association between AI readiness and innovative work behavior and tested parallel indirect effects through creative self-efficacy and technology integration self-efficacy.

AI readiness was positively associated with innovative work behavior. The indirect paths through creative self-efficacy and technology integration self-efficacy were both significant. AI readiness remained significantly associated with innovative work behavior after both mediators were included, indicating partial mediation.

[…] Universities can support quality education by linking AI training to course design, laboratory teaching, project development, and research tasks, while using guided practice and feedback to build teachers’ confidence.

[…] AI readiness was positively associated with innovative work behavior among university engineering teachers in Chongqing. The indirect paths through creative self-efficacy and technology integration self-efficacy were both significant. AI readiness remained significantly associated with innovative work behavior after both mediators were included, indicating partial mediation.

[…] AI readiness includes knowledge of AI principles, applications, trends, and ethical requirements (Wang X. et al., 2023). This knowledge may help engineering teachers judge where AI is useful, how it should be applied, and what risks require attention.

If you are not utilizing AI in your work as a coach you are do a disservice to the players in your team.

There are so many creative ways to use things like 3D graphics, small video games, TikTok style reels to show your team created only with a few simple prompts.

Hamstring injuries may involve trunk and gluteal deficits even after recovery

10 November 2026

British Journal of Sports Medicine:

[…] the Nordic hamstring exercise cut injury risk by 49% across 15 trials […]

[…] less than 70% of maximum EMG activity recorded during overground sprinting.

It is not always the spike in the load that causes the hamstring injury. Reduction of match exposure in the 2 preceding matches has been identified as a significant injury risk factor, suggesting chronic under-preparation is equally dangerous.

[…] Athletes who have had previous hamstring strains display significantly lower mean frequency of hamstring activation compared to the uninjured during jumping and landing tasks, with the activation deficit associated with higher landing forces and loading rates.

This means the athlete lands harder and loads the joint more despite subjectively feeling recovered (14).

Weak trunk and gluteal support: footballers who went on to injure their hamstrings showed lower gluteus maximus, erector spinae and oblique activity during swing. The opposite iliopsoas can add more than 25mm of stretch to the biceps femoris long head, while gluteal and oblique contraction reduces it (7).

[…] The Askling H-test earns its own line. It is a ballistic active straight-leg raise that exposes the insecurity an athlete can still feel after strength, range and palpation look clear.

[…] athletes reported marked insecurity on the injured leg despite a normal common clinical examination; the authors also reported that 95% of athletes in their clinical use of the test felt insecurity before final clearance (23).

[…] However its evidence base is limited to two studies led by its own developer, so findings need further validation (41).

Hamstring injury risk isn’t just about hamstring strength. Trunk and gluteal activation during sprinting may matter, while altered muscle activation and landing mechanics can persist after symptoms resolve.

Original research: Prospective study of gluteal and trunk activation in footballers.

Why measuring perception accelerates learning

10 November 2026

Author of The Weasel Way and presenter of United Soccer Coaches’ Reading the Game series Tony Nicalo:

In perceptual training, measurement does more than become something that is managed. It accelerates learning.

When a player knows you’ll count their scanning, they scan more. Measurement creates attention, and what players attend to is what gets stored.

The instrument becomes part of the training.

I wish coaches taught me how to scan when I was a kid.

It’s exactly how we implemented it with a World Cup-winning coach and his team.

For them, we also built a library of pause-and-quiz videos. We measure the speed and accuracy of the players’ responses to rate their reading ability.

But this is what they measure on the pitch, in training and matches.

This would be a great app idea local to a club, if it doesn’t exist already.

Tony Nicalo on why measuring perception accelerates learning

10 November 2026

Author of The Weasel Way and presenter of United Soccer Coaches’ Reading the Game series Tony Nicalo:

In perceptual training, measurement does more than become something that is managed. It accelerates learning.

When a player knows you’ll count their scanning, they scan more. Measurement creates attention, and what players attend to is what gets stored.

The instrument becomes part of the training.

I wish coaches taught me how to scan when I was a kid.

Nicalo:

It’s exactly how we implemented it with a World Cup-winning coach and his team.

For them, we also built a library of pause-and-quiz videos. We measure the speed and accuracy of the players’ responses to rate their reading ability.

But this is what they measure on the pitch, in training and matches.

This would be a great app idea local to a club, if it doesn’t exist already.

Inter forward Marcus Thuram's share of the team's box touches rose from 11% to 27% after Lautaro's injury

09 November 2026

Francesco Lisanti for UltimoUomo translated from Italian:

A graphic produced by Sky Sport after the match showed Thuram’s “usage rate” percentages, a metric used far more in the NBA than in football in general, before and after Lautaro’s injury. Before, 11% of all of Inter’s touches in the box and 14% of all their shots on goal went through his feet; now he is responsible for 27% of touches in the box and 25% of shots on goal.

In purely numerical terms, this difference in centrality was natural (Lautaro is the most important player in the squad in every respect), but in terms of responsibility it was not a given.

[…] When Inter manage to build from the back without a single fixed playmaker, relying on the fluid rotation of the back four, in which even Çalhanoglu can often end up playing right back, as we saw yesterday, they automatically defuse the opponent’s aggression and create space vertically.

With a body feint Bastoni gets past Douvikas and opens up the pitch, while Akanji finds himself as the playmaker, forcing Perrone to switch markers, Barella plays centre-back and Calhanoglu full-back. When Inter play with this lightness and fluidity, it is difficult for any opponent to break shape and re-form without leaving space.

I think this plays a lot into how modern football is moving with rotations from midfielders moving back into the back line more often. Look at Frankie de Jong at Barcelona, Declan Rice at Arsenal, or Andrey Santos at Manchester United. Hold up play central becomes more important and more frequent when you lose a player in the midfield.