It’s the #TacticalThursday newsletter – full of analysis, scouting and tactics! Come and fill up on your football knowledge – follow the Total Football Analysis page, join the newsletter squad and make us part of your day every day.

Benfica is a well-known production line of top talent and the latest star getting admiring looks from elsewhere is Joao Neves – Alexandra Hunt scouts the 19 y/o and explains why Premier League clubs are interested.

ICYMI yesterday, it was Women’s Football Wednesday. Jamie Steenberg looked ahead to the NCAA Women’s College Cup and picked out four players to keep an eye on in the semis and final.

In Scotland, Queens Park are very much on for promotion – David Astill broke down their tactical approach.

Selim Ben Hmida scouted Korbin Albert, a player with a bright USWNT future under Emma Hayes.

From the archives, Fintan O’Reilly has found;

Imani Dorsey is moving from NJ/NY Gotham to Utah Royals; though our 2022 tactical analysis piece focused on Gotham’s problems, her performances at left-back were one of the positives we highlighted — how big of a signing is this for Utah?

Mary Earps claimed the BBC Women’s Player of the Year award for 2023 in which she played an instrumental role in England’s run to the World Cup Final. Check out our scout report on what makes her the best in the world in her position.

Ricardo Pepi completed PSV Eindhoven’s UEFA Champions League comeback from 2-0 down to 3-2 up at Sevilla last night. We scouted the USA int’l as a teenager at FC Dallas a couple of years ago.

Viktor Gyökeres has scored 13 goals in 13 starts at Sporting CP since his summer move from Coventry City — we analysed the Swedish striker reportedly drawing the eye of several top clubs in a scout report.

Braga fought from a goal and a man down to earn a point versus Union Berlin in the UEFA Champions League last night. What did you make of their approach with 10 men? We recently analysed teams’ contrasting reactions to red cards in a tactical analysis piece.

That’s it for today – no regular newsletter tomorrow but we will be launching the December Total Football Analysis Magazine, which will be our 99th digital magazine produced!

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