Analyzing football tactics

Finding the next edge.

Kyle Boas

Author of the Tactics Journal

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Harry Kane credits electrical acupuncture with transforming his injury record

11 November 2026

Asked whether his acupuncture work with Dr. Alejandro Elorriaga Claraco transformed him after years of ankle and hamstring injuries, Harry Kane said:

Yeah, without a doubt. I tore my hamstring pretty much off the bone in 2020, I believe, and that was off the back of having many ankle injuries and rarely having a full season where I was fit.

We got in touch, then started working a few months later. COVID happened, so it gave me, I think, seven months between my injury and getting back playing again, which looking back gave me the time I maybe needed to get the help.

And then from that moment we pretty much work every month for a few days, with all the needles, a lot of nervous system stuff. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d be at this stage in my career without that work and without him.

It was an incredible find, I guess. Not everyone’s lucky enough to maybe find someone like that who can help them at that stage in their career.

On the results of his treatments:

The results, and I think just the facts, are there. I think I’ve maybe missed, you know, around 10, 15 games in the last seven years, and the previous seven years was more around 60, 70 games.

So just from that point of view, I know it’s worked, and just the level I’m playing at at 33 years old just tells me that everything we’re doing is on the right track.

In a separate lecture, Claraco explained the goal of his treatments:

The ultimate goal of most treatments is to vasodilate, improve perfusion, and then let the cells regulate themselves with the new energy and the new temperature that facilitates activity.

On repeated treatments:

Repeated treatments are like exercise. They will reinforce the aspects involved in the response to that given input.

On his treatment philosophy:

The power is in the body, not in the tools.

Kane was also asked whether he could emulate Wayne Rooney by moving deeper into midfield as he gets older:

Maybe, yeah. I think it’s possible for me to play in midfield, no doubt. I think it kind of depends on the system that you play, the coach you’re playing for.

Right now, you know, I have a lot of freedom in where I can go, where I can move. So although I’m a striker on paper, I think I play in many different positions on the pitch, and I kind of find the space where I think it’s going to affect the game and use my different qualities to help the team.

But also, it then allows me to arrive in the box in different areas, and I’m not so easy to pick up for defenders.

I think I’d always be a player that wants to score 30, 40, 50 goals a season, and I think any manager out there would probably see me as that type of player.

But I guess time will tell, and there might be a time where it will suit the team to drop a little bit deeper. But right now that free role I have is working really well.

He basically is a midfielder today. Just don’t ask him to play as a fullback.

Freedom to fail

11 November 2026

Netherlands 3x3 basketball programme manager Victor Anfiloff in De VoetbalTrainer translated from Dutch:

You can’t fake it. My first question is always: has that athlete already shown it in training? If someone hasn’t mastered a skill there yet, I don’t find it credible to suddenly shout during a match that they can do it. That athlete knows themselves that they can’t do it yet.

But I have very often seen someone show something in training and then no longer dare to do it in matches. Then that person is no longer focused on the skill, but on the possible consequences.

At a moment like that I try to create freedom. Freedom to do the right thing, but above all freedom to fail. I take over part of the responsibility. I can literally say: do it. You have my full permission. If it doesn’t work, I’ll take responsibility for it. I know you can do this.

You must have no fear of failure if you want to succeed in anything.

Dark mode themes for Tactics Journal Board

11 November 2026

I present to you dark mode for Board, our minimal tactics board.

You can now draw with the board, in any theme, and then export the same board in a different theme.

I was never a fan of dark mode before, but I started using it recently. We needed this desperately because the white is blinding, but people do love the white theme.

Now I can edit in the dark theme and then export in the light theme, which is nice.

I will also be adding something special thing to our website that will allow me to embed the board directly into the post for you to edit yourself, and then it will change to the light or dark mode depening on your device’s theme.

You can, of course, share a link to a board with other people or agents to collaborate on a board.

Export in a different pitch type or theme.

And you can export a board in a different pitch type, which will allow you to, for example, edit in a “Full Pitch” view but export in a “Pitch” view.

Board is completely free to use and open source. Give it a try.

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.