Good morning analysis fans and welcome to the #TacticsTuesday newsletter – full of analysis, scouting and tactics. Fill up on your football knowledge – follow the Total Football Analysis page and be part of the squad that want more than just a match report.

The traditional target man number 9 is a role we might see less of in football nowadays but Matt Smith of Salford City in England is one of the most effective around – Jack Manship breaks his game down.

In his weekly set-piece column, Karim El-Shesheiny looks at how Independiente Santa Fe cleverly use screens and floated crosses at corners.

ICYMI yesterday, Fintan O’Reilly broke down El Clasico and how Ancelotti’s little adjustments turned the game in Real Madrid’s favour.

Fintan is usually our French football expert and he also took a look at the best ball-distributors in Ligue 1 and how each of them fit into their team’s tactical strategy.

Beth Limb continued her Academy scouting series, this time focussing on three players of potential at Swansea City.

Andrew Hanna explained how Liverpool’s rest defence has helped them improve massively this season.

And from the archives we have…

It’s official, Aitana Bonmatí has claimed the Ballon d’Or while her Barcelona side won the Team of the Year award. Revisit our article looking at how the 25 y/o midfielder and her coach Jonatan Giráldez coped without the injured Alexia Putellas last season.

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi claimed his eighth Ballon d’Or over on the men’s side — his role in Argentina’s FIFA World Cup victory will have undoubtedly played a big part in that win; our FIFA World Cup Final analysis explains exactly how La Albiceleste came together, finished the job and helped Messi achieve his crowning glory on the international stage.

At 37 years old, Olivier Giroud’s brace versus Napoli at the weekend ended his drought and made it six goals and three assists in his first nine Serie A games of 2023/24. Back in 2018, we looked at why the French attacker was vital to his country’s FIFA World Cup win.

Lastly, Botafogo are starting to stumble at the final hurdles in Brazil’s top flight, with the league leaders losing to 10th-placed Cuiabá at the weekend. They remain six points ahead of second-placed Palmeiras, who have now won three in a row — did they build up enough of a lead to hang on and claim the title or will they get pipped to the post at the end? We analysed how they were running away with the league earlier this season.

And that’s it for today – we’ll be back tomorrow with more pieces old and new about everything analysis in the football world.

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