Bundesliga Mid-Season Review: Bayern Back on Top

hi-res-149296310_crop_exactWith the German Bundesliga amidst a Winter Break, The False Nine’s David Dodds casts his gaze towards their dominant force this season…

The 2012/13 season for Die Roten has been about re-establishing themselves as Germany’s dominant club. Borussia Dortmund captured the title for the second consecutive year last season, and showed Bayern up in a 5-2 victory in the DFB Pokal final. All of this, compounded with the loss on home soil in the Champions League final left Bayern trophyless for the second season in a row (minus the pre-season Supercup).

Continue reading

The Hypocrisy of the FA Cup

FACUP TROPHY

In the aftermath of the Third Round of the FA Cup, James Dutton takes a look at the media coverage which shapes its positioning in the football universe…

The FA Cup has found it difficult to grasp its place in the over-arching landscape of modern football. It sits as a representation of the traditions inherent in English football, a link to the past yet, supposedly, little more.

Continue reading

Third Generation Thoroughbred Hernandez Back To His Best

javier_hernandez_praying-1920x1080

Making his TFN debut, Will Jones looks at the footballing DNA of the Hernandez family and Chicharito’s renaissance in 2012-3…

His father never thought he’d make it. But now Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is doing it in a way that his forefathers never could.

Continue reading

Match-Fixing and the Balance of Power in Russian Football

xcqtfupr

As part of a series of articles on Russian football during the Winter break, False Nine Russian correspondent and debutant contributor, Andy Shenk, pores over the latest scandal in a saga of incidents that have brought match-fixing to the forefront of the squabbling authorities’s attention…

Russian football rumbles often with news of match-fixing, from the lowest to the highest levels. In 2009, Kryliya Sovetov lost 3-2 to Terek in Grozny in a Premier League encounter that reeked of corruption. Though neither team suffered any consequences, Leonid Slutsky, Kryliya manager at the time, commented several years later on the suspiciousness of the match: “I understood that the substance of that history was known at all levels – from Mutko [head of the Russian Football Union then] to the journalists. It’s just that no one’s yet to write the truth of the match in Grozny.” Continue reading

Ten Years of the January Transfer Window

tumblr_ly3uqvHvMA1qasd3b

2013 marks the tenth anniversary of the January Transfer Window, Freddie Mickshik looks at some of the transfers that have become part of football folklore…

It’s the start of 2013, which aside from futile resolutions and intense hangovers means the opening of the January transfer window, as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. This mid-season shopping window gives managers the chance to add to their squad and potentially find those extra few goals or tighten a shaky back four enough to secure a title or beat the drop. The shortness and timing of it, however, means the new year sees many a panic buy  (Savio anyone? Thought not.)

Continue reading

The Greatest Ever Premier League Finale

Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Manchester City v Queens Park Rangers - Etihad Stadium

In the final part of our look back at 2012, False Nine editor, Andrew Belt, salutes one of the best moments in Premier League history…

As was the case 44 years ago, Manchester City would be going into their final day clash with only their city rivals able to wrestle the title off them.

Continue reading

The Welsh Derby Preview: Newport County v Wrexham

Immagine

Ahead of an intriguing Welsh derby at the top of the Blue Square Conference, James Dutton pays special attention to a club looking to relive past glories…

The beginning of the new calendar year marks the fifth year since the oldest football club in Wales graced the Football League. After 87 years, during which the club experienced fluctuating fortunes as it traversed through the lower leagues of English football, Wrexham were eventually relegated from League Two in May 2008.

Continue reading