Larry Ryan: Getting naughty in search of football's next idea

Inverted full-backs, ball-playing keepers, high blocks. When they are all at it, it’s getting harder for a Premier League gaffer to differentiate himself, to build his brand

POINT TO MAKE: Chelsea's Argentinian head coach Mauricio Pochettino speaks to referees at the end of the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Luton at Stamford Bridge (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)  

We are in a holding pattern at the moment, waiting for football’s next big idea. Talking to Alan Shearer for The Athletic last weekend, Mauricio Pochettino complained it was all getting a bit samey in the Premier League. “Now it’s like all teams try to build from the back, all the teams try to press high all the time. It’s like it was contagious.

"(Before) you would have 20 teams in the Premier League and it was difficult to find two or three teams playing in the same kind of style. It was all different and really attractive and exciting."