Watch closely. Write slowly.

Touchline Notes is an independent football publication about the details that linger after the whistle: tactical ideas, match observations, histories and football culture.

What belongs here

Match observations, tactical analysis, predictions with an argument behind them, retrospective pieces and essays about how football lives beyond the pitch. The focus is on the Premier League and Turkish football, with room to follow a good idea wherever it goes.

What does not

There is no live-score centre, transfer ticker or obligation to publish for the sake of volume. Reporting and outside research are credited in each article. Opinion is labelled and written in the first person when that is the honest form.

Editorial standards

Definitions are checked against the methodology published by the data providers and tactical writers listed under each article's sources, and those sources are linked so the reader can check them too.

The 'Updated' date on an article changes only when its text changes, never because the site was redeployed.

Each language edition is adapted by hand rather than machine-translated: terminology follows how analysts and commentators in that language actually use it, and every article links to its counterparts in the other languages.

If a definition is wrong or out of date, email the editor. The article is corrected and its update date moves. owen01@touchlinenotes.com

The name

The touchline is close enough to hear the game and far enough away to see its shape. These are the notes made from there.